Chapter 5: To Remain True

Late morning was one of the more lively times of day in Mahogany, and the day being a Saturday compounded this liveliness. Children treasured the brief respite from school, and were active even with a sheet of clouds and the tragedy of several days ago hanging over the town. Adults often looked forward to it as well, being able to spend some time to relax and focus on their personal affairs with the day off from work. With each new day, it brought forth opportunity, and there were those who, even at times like this, were not going to rest on their laurels and take it easy.

Detective Frederick Holle among them. He was sitting in his personal office, a privilege from being the head of a division. He ensured the room was always well lit. Natural light filtered in from the large window behind him during the day, with violet drapes on either side. Lamps above and on his desk provided white light when wanted or needed. Along the left side of the room from his perspective were a number of filing cabinets that contained all his case files, grouped alphabetically. Opposite them were shelves with law books, other reading material, and trophies that he had earned over the decades. The floor around his desk was covered in a gold and white silk carpet. The desk itself was made of mahogany like many of the high ranked officers' furnishings, the chief's idea of irony. He always made sure to keep it sorted and clean-looking, even when there were numerous things cluttering it like there was at that moment.

The detective was furiously writing in his notebook. He still could not believe that woman who came in here yesterday, begging to be arrested in her daughter's place. He was more than happy to oblige with the arrest portion, at least. Scum like her who led a youth to crime deserved to be locked up and have the key thrown away. Of course, her daughter still had done wrong, and he was going to see she was punished for it regardless of excuses others made for her. The only thing that woman did right was having the decency to turn herself in. That's perhaps the only reason they'd even think of leniency towards her.

Though on the other hand, she demolished all that goodwill by threatening to sue the department for allegedly treating her daughter poorly. He chuckled to himself, knowing she did not have a legal leg to stand on. They had been treating her daughter exactly to protocol. There was no argument to be had. Even if there was, they had a defense. There had been an influx of prisoners in the holding cells due to the raid at the Team Rocket base. Even if it had been a little over a week since then, there were still many who had yet to be processed. That meant they couldn't afford to give special accommodations to anyone.

A knocking at his office's door brought him out of his thoughts, "Mr. Holle," an officer with a bushy black mustache spoke as he poked his head in. "I have some reports for you." He looked about, entering with a measure of hesitation in his step. "I'm...not interrupting your work, am I?"

"No, the paperwork can wait. Come on in. And stop being so meek." Holle was well aware of how some of the force acted guarded around him. It was to his benefit when he needed it to be, but seeing his subordinates do it annoyed him. Even in his presence, he expected them to carry themselves with dignity and confidence.

"Y-yes, Mr. Holle!" came the instantaneous response. Entering with artificial pride, he swiftly marched over to the desk, presenting two clips of papers in either hand upon getting there. "Here you are, these were just sent in. The charges in both the cases you're handling are expected to be made official on Monday." He put them down for the detective to examine for himself.

"Excellent," Holle said, as he gave the documents a brief glancing over. They had come in from the head magistrate of Johto's police. As he had thought, this was only a formality. "Nice and swift. Exactly how I like it." He periodically nodded as he pored over the documents in further detail. "No issues with the Parisa case despite that hiccup yesterday, either." He would have been annoyed if that woman's confession had drawn things out, but it appeared to have a minimal effect at best.

"Great, great." His subordinate nodded several times in succession, before tapping his chin. "By the way, I swear I heard that name Parisa sometime before this, but don't remember where."

Without so much as a beat, Holle answered, "Most likely from her sister's case, Amara Parisa." The detective actually had that case file on his desk, pulling it out to show to his subordinate. "Wanted on counts of larceny, assault and battery, Pokemon cruelty, and training Pokemon whilst on the blacklist. Among other sins and offenses." He shook his head with disgust. Evidence that they blacklist people for a reason. "I first heard about her earlier this year from my counterparts down in Violet. Her rap sheet has grown considerably since then."

The mustached man clenched a fist. "Oh, Arceus. How've they not caught her yet?"

Holle shook his head in disgust again. "That's beyond me. But given her recent movements, it'll only be a matter of time before she's in here too."

"Seems the whole family is bad in some way..." Detective Holle shrugged at this response, putting the Amara Parisa case back in place. He had planned to use it if need be to call the whole family's judgment into question, but with the news he had just been delivered it appeared unnecessary. People had sense. His subordinate snickered. "A mother who led them to this, one daughter who's becoming a career criminal, and another who...well. It's kind of a shame about her, if you think about it. She's nothing like them at all."

Holle's face instantly soured. The officer shrank back simply from this glare. "Are you really allowing yourself to be taken in by those cries of pity? The only ones who deserve pity are the ones making those pleas. They're pathetic. A crime is a crime, no matter the circumstance. Whining won't absolve a person of his or her crimes or magically make them less of a crime." His stunned subordinate nodded, but still wore doubts on his face. Noticing this, the detective stood up and walked over to him. "Listen to me. It is our job to protect the region from the young delinquents of today so that they do not become the criminals of tomorrow. The only thing these hoodlums understand is punishment. It's the only way to drill the message into their heads."

With a serious look, he continued. "Now, this is a bit of a different situation, but the same rules apply. She is responsible for her own actions and will have to suffer the consequences. And I do not believe this girl has the capacity to learn from this incident." This was his usual way of wording it. Perhaps it was unfitting in this case due to her condition, but he was not considering it in making this decision. "As I mentioned before, I'm pushing for permanent blacklisting along one year imprisonment, followed by four years probation with mandatory community service through the duration." The maximum sentencing possible under these circumstances. It certainly helped that the permanent blacklisting was typical when deaths were involved. His eyes briefly darted to the ceiling before coming to rest back on the man before him. "I admit, I also want an example to be made of her. Don't take on a Pokemon you can't handle, or suffer the consequences."

His subordinate slowly nodded. "I get it," he acknowledged. It made sense. "If you punish someone like her severely, it'll make other would-be delinquents behave. So you prevent crime in the process."

Holle smirked in approval. He patted his subordinate on the shoulder. "You're a good man, Pools." Though a rookie, he was learning the ropes swiftly. "You'll make a fine member of the force someday. Both you and your partner. You both have already been doing an excellent job during this incident."

"Thank you, Mr. Holle! We will!" Holle smiled further. People who thought the same as him were those he would rely on. It pleased him to see this man come around to his line of thinking. If there were more people like that, the world would be a far better place for it. A little praise helped cement it. Pools spoke up, "If I may voice a concern though, there's a couple things on my mind."

The detective nodded his approval. "If you have something to say, say it."

"Well for one, the Parisa case is getting a lot of coverage on the press," the young officer said. He was sure that his superior had seen it too. He had always been used to the media being an extension of promoting justice. Yet it almost seemed like recent reports had been trying to call attention to matters, and not in their favor.

"Don't worry about the media. They're allowed to put out what they want," Holle brushed off. "We're not obligated to pay them any mind."

"I see." A simple and to the point answer. It satisfied Pools, so he moved on to his second concern, "But more importantly, there's that teenaged kid who calls himself an official that's been hanging around." It was certainly his interview on the news that was responsible for calling attention to this media.

"Do not get me started on him," the dark uniformed detective scoffed. "I have no idea why they decided to give him his position, but what he's doing now only furthers my belief he's a disgrace." He'd heard everything about this person, the circumstances behind him obtaining his position and what happened in the aftermath. "It's clear he's learned nothing since he became an official. He's just some idealistic kid who thinks he knows how the adult world works. I tried to help him understand, I tried to explain things to him yesterday, but it seems he's chosen to ignore what I said. So now he's going to find out the hard way. He's going to have to face reality soon. That girl threw her life away. And he's going to have to accept that no matter how much he tries to fight it. Justice WILL be served."

Pools chuckled deviously. He always enjoyed seeing people get a cruel dose of reality. "Speaking of which, I got word he's visiting her now. Should we...?" He let his question hang in the air with a grin.

Holle shook his head. "There's no need to. Let them have their moment."

Indeed, Nori was in the holding area's visitation room with Julia. He'd decided to come as early as he could manage this time, which worked out to be now. The room they were in, one of four in the station, was nondescript. Two chairs on either side of a thick pane of glass which separated the two. Both a guard who was still as a statue and a surveillance camera were keeping watch.

Though they exchanged greetings on sight, a brief but awkward silence drew over them afterwards. Julia sitting with her hands folded, unsure what to say. She glanced back at the guard, unused to others blatantly listening in on her conversations. Nori to contrast was sitting patiently and looking at Julia expectantly.

He noted she was wearing a much better look on her face today. Obviously tired and worn out, but far from the scared and crying visage he saw before. As for the clothes she was wearing though, she had on the same white shirt and pink shorts as when they met. More importantly, it seemed to him they appeared in desperate need of a wash, with wrinkles decorating the fabric and stains from various sources visible. A few of the latter looked like they tried to be cleaned, unsuccessfully.

Nori eventually sighed. There was no use remaining silent like this, May as well open proper conversation himself. "So, how are you feeling today?" he asked. The obvious question to ask, especially given, "Yesterday was probably crazy for you."

Her gaze went to the guard momentarily, but did reply in spite of his presence. "I'm okay," she blatantly lied, or at the very least unconvincingly brushed off. "Yesterday was a surprise, but...not completely a bad one." In truth, she was just trying to be brave and stay optimistic. It was nice to see her mother again, even if the circumstances were the worst possible. Her eyes involuntarily darted down, catching sight of her outfit. She sighed. "Really wish I could change my clothes, though."

So it wasn't just him. "Can't you ask to have some delivered?" he asked the obvious, just in case it really hadn't occurred.

"There's some clothes in my bag, but they haven't let me get them." She had asked, but every time was either ignored or told her bag and its contents were being held in evidence until further notice. "At least mom was able to clean these up a bit. She's been trying to help get me get a change of clothes, too."

"O-Oh!" That's right. He kind of needed to address that. "So about what I said to your mother-" he tried to begin, but couldn't find the words. He wasn't sure how to explain he'd got into an argument with her. Actually, Julia probably had already heard herself. So scratch that. He wasn't sure how to explain himself.

His fears were quashed when the dark brown haired girl vaguely smiled. "It's okay," she reassured him. "I talked to her a bit. She understands you just felt very strongly about what happened." Nori almost recoiled in his surprise. Julia stood up for him? Guess that was her way of returning the favor for vowing to help her. That was one load off his mind. The green eyed girl frowned. "And apparently she got it far worse from that detective."

"I heard." And it still bothered him. Being on the same level as Holle in any way was nothing short of perturbing.

"Mom knows you really are trying to help, though. She also asked me to tell you she's sorry for calling you incompetent and a brat."

"That's okay. And tell her I'm sorry for lashing out at her how I did, too." He'd already done that, but it wouldn't hurt doing it again. "Thanks for talking to her."

"You're welcome. And I will." She nodded at the young official. Taking a look at him though, she noted dark bags under his eyes. "You look like you haven't gotten much sleep, Nori."

"I've been up all night thinking, that's why." He had only a day left in Johto before his flight back home. He needed to pull out all the stops today. That said, something kept eating at his mind. Why was Julia so calm? Well, he couldn't mind that for now. "Thinking about how to help you out of here."

"Really?" The brown haired girl was in awe. "You were?"

He confirmed. "Keep doing what I'm doing. I figured that if I could discredit what they're saying about you, that might mean they could see you're a good person." He'd be the first to admit that was flimsy, but he could only think of one other thing. "And it's a long shot, but I might see if I can have some strings pulled for you." He was an official, after all. If Lance could do it, maybe he had the ability to directly influence this. He wouldn't know unless he tried. "How about your friends? Do they have ideas? I know they came to see you, and Perrine was thinking about lawyers." He had seen them this morning, but hadn't interacted with them. They rightfully were looking very depressed, probably having heard of Julia's mother's arrest themselves.

"She tried, but her parents said something about their lawyers not knowing stuff like this." That was interesting. Nori himself knew laws, as part of becoming an official. But he didn't know much about how the legal system really worked. "Mom said it's not worth it, anyway. Plus she doesn't want to burden dad with the costs we won't get much out of." So it seems that approach was a dead end after all. He was trying to think of anything else when he girl let out a heavy sigh that made him shudder. The type of sigh that said he would not like what she had to say next.

"Well, you don't know unless you try!" he declared, cutting in to try to delay whatever it was. "You don't know if you'll get much out of it or not unless you check and see for sure!" In fact he was dead positive that if her father was worth anything, he'd be looking at one anyway.

"No, it's fine. And also...I've been thinking." Nori steeled himself for whatever was to come. "I've been talking to my mother about some things. She was trying to help me out and got put in here because of it. And I don't want the same to happen to you." She looked at Nori, her eyes holding a peace in them yet at the same time drooping. "It's okay. You don't have to do any of this for me. I'll accept whatever happens from here."

The young official gritted his teeth. Any shock and confusion was dulled by his anger. What had happened to make her so resigned all of a sudden?! Had this been Holle's work? He thought back to his own conversation with the detective yesterday. Back then that jerk of a detective was trying to make him face reality, in his words. Could he have broken her down, made her think her fate was inevitable?

First that jerk detective. Then Mrs. Parisa. Then Lance the dragon master. Her friends were getting pessimistic this morning. And now even Julia herself was telling him to give up and let this go. It was like everyone was either telling him to stay out of this or giving up hope, one by one.

None of that mattered though. He gave a determined, defiant shake of the head. "I can't do that."

To say Julia was horrified was an understatement. "But...you could go to jail!" she protested. Rather, she was begging him not to go through with it. "I don't want you to end up in here too. Please, you don't have to do this for me!"

She must have been confused. After all, her mother had tried to help her in her own way, and she got put in prison. But that didn't mean he would too. "No I won't," he explained. "Not if I don't do anything to warrant it." He took a deep breath. This wasn't just about proving that detective wrong. Sure, it was motivation, but that wasn't the point of this. "Besides, there's another reason why I can't agree to let this go."

"What's that?"

Nori had done a lot of thinking last night. A lot. The fruits of his efforts was that he finally had his answer. His motivation, his drive. The reason why he felt he could not give up, beyond his own moral views and conscience.

He brought out his Pokemon, who stood on either side of him. Julia recognized one as a Nidorina much like hers, but she could tell from how this one was built and the look in her eyes this specimen wasn't anything like hers. The other she didn't recognize, a small black and red thing with blades on its body. If only she had her Pokedex she could scan it and know.

"See, I became a Pokemon rehabilitator to make a difference. To help others, just like these guys. People gave up on my Nidorina and Pawniard for being difficult, but not me. I know you're not what I'd usually help, but I feel I have the power to help you." He looked back and the two Pokemon an assuring smile. "In a way, I feel like I'd be doing them a disservice if I didn't do everything I could to save someone. Because I don't want to give the impression that I'd ever give up on any of them. So I'm not going to give up on you, either."

Julia's eyes went wide. She didn't need to be able to understand Pokemon to tell the Pawniard was displeased at being here. The Nidorina appeared more at ease, but had a certain unnerving look in her eye. Nori may have been putting it lightly when he was describing them as difficult. "Um, your Pokemon don't seem like they want to be out here..." She gestured with a shaking finger.

He turned back and saw his Pawniard's unamused glare and crossed arms. "Oh! Sorry." He swiftly recalled them, Nidorina as well even though she didn't seem to care too much. "Er, guess I got too demonstrative, huh?" Julia chuckled slightly. "But...yes. That's why I want to do this. Even though there are people who might not like me for it. I'm used to it." He had already realized this from the moment he got into this, from his past experience. "To do right, you sometimes have to go against the flow. And, well, more importantly, I realized something through all this." He took another deep breath. This would certainly be a choice that was going to shape what he would be moving forward. "I know my position involves helping Pokemon, but I want to do more than that. I want to make it more than that, to help Pokemon AND people."

When she woke up this morning, Julia had decided she wanted to be brave. She told her mother she wasn't going to cry anymore. Yet she found herself tearing up at these words anyway. If she were in Nori's position, she'd find it hard to give up too. She had never wanted to give up on Geraldine. She wouldn't have done so if she weren't forced into doing it. And if he didn't want to let his own Pokemon down, or her down, she could relate. They were the same views on people and Pokemon as she had, after all.

No longer containing her emotions, her tears gave way to a smile. It wasn't being herself to bottle it up, anyway. As far as she saw it, Nori was now more than just some random samaritan who wanted to help her. He was on the level of Perrine and Caiseal. That gave her all the more reason for her to be concerned, though. "Thank you," she sniffed. "Just...promise me this."

"Yes?" Nori asked.

She got up close to the glass, her eyes pleading with him. This time not out of worrying about a stranger, but caring about a friend. "Don't do anything to get yourself put in here too, okay? Promise?"

"Okay, I promise. And I also promise I'll do whatever I can to save you and your mother."

Internally, Julia had her doubts. Anyone challenging the authorities would have a difficult time considering how powerful they were, let alone someone like Nori. She didn't think they'd listen to someone his age, let alone someone who acted how he normally did. Yet the determined look in his eyes gave her some assurance. "I hope you can," the brown-haired girl mused. She did want to stay optimistic, so all she could do was believe in Nori.

Nori stood up and stretched. "Guess I better get moving, then. Not gonna accomplish anything sitting around here."

"Okay," Julia nodded, giving him a kind wave. "See you later."

"Later, Julia!" And with that said, Nori picked up his stuff and left the visiting room. It was time to hunker down and figure things out.

Lunchtime at Connor's was by far its busiest hour. Mahogany citizens and tourists seemed drawn to the retro Unovan diner at that moment of the day over any other time. A recent feature on it had served to bolster its notoriety. And more notably, how it featured in the background of a certain interview. Not everyone watches features, but people who hadn't seen the colorful building before saw it there and had their curiosity piqued. Connor didn't take the extra fame for granted. Nor were the reasons behind it lost on him. He just continued on doing what he always did - trying his best to make sure his guests would leave with smiles and full bellies, wanting to come back for more in the future.

The former baseball player slapped down a plate with two corndogs on it in front of one of his finest customers to date. "Here ya go son. You askin' for these was way outta left field, but I did my best." These were not something even on his menu. But he figured trying was the least he could do for Nori given the publicity he had brought to his establishment. He just skewered a hot dog and wrapped in in a bread roll. Hardly the same as a real one, but it was the most he could do at such short notice.

"Thanks," Nori said. He'd heard of these before and that they were popular in Unova. But he had never gotten to try them until now. He picked one up and took a bite. "Mmmm..." he vocalized, while chewing. It felt plain. "It's all right, but it's missing something."

"Try with some ketchup!" Connor recommended. Nori appraised the red bottle before him. "Just put some on your plate and dab'em in."

He did as suggested. His eyes stretched on taking the next bite, now coated in the red condiment. "That's what it was." It just needed some added texture. "These are really good."

Connor flashed his shining grin. "Glad they turned out okay. Should see if ya can try the real deal sometime!"

"I will, if I can find any." He only very recently had started going shopping for himself, so he had no idea what stores would carry them. Nori methodically worked down the pair of makeshift corndogs, accompanied by the occasional sip of water. When he was finished, he thanked Connor again, and sat quietly at the counter.

"So how goes the fight?" the diner owner asked. He was always willing to lend an ear to people. But with regulars he would occasionally decide to take a more direct approach.

"Not too hot," Nori admitted. He might say otherwise if there were relevant people about. But in here with strangers he felt comfortable with full disclosure. "I did go and see Julia this morning. We talked for a bit, and I told her why I'm trying to keep at it." He sighed. "But, truth is, I was mostly spouting a bunch of things to make her feel better." Maybe that was an exaggeration, but it wasn't that far from the truth either. "I have some ideas of what I want to do. But I'm not sure. I've been going in circles a lot lately. Wasting all this time...and worse yet, my flight back home is tomorrow."

"Guess you really gotta start steppin' it up now," Connor said.

The young official sighed. "This is my fault. I should've been trying harder this whole time." If it hadn't been for doing a whole lot of nothing, he wouldn't be in this situation with so much to do and so little time to do it in.

"Just don't go stressin' too much about this all now, hear? That'll only make it worse. Let it come natural." He'd heard stories like this many times. From salarymen struggling to meet deadlines to schoolkids stressing about homework. He even gone through it himself trying to cram in practice before huge games. From that past firsthand experience, he felt he could give sage advice to anyone in this position.

Nori shook his head at himself, unable to deny that. "Yeah, and I hope to step it up." He looked down at the floor for a moment. "I guess what's most discouraging is that I'm fighting this on my own. I doubt even more than a handful of people are supporting me, if that."

"Now that ain't true at all," Connor laughed, standing firm and scanning over all his customers. He spoke as loud as he could without actually shouting, his baritone voice reaching all corners of the building. "Ain't no one in this diner who wants to see that girl get dinged for this. Right?" When the owner asked, a whole bunch of people in the restaurant spoke up to voice their support.

"Yeah!"

"Don't give up on this!"

"I'm rootin' for you."

"Give that girl her freedom!"

"I know you can do it, Mr. Nori!"

To say Nori was stunned by the response would be an understatement. "What the..." It was foreign to him, having an entire room containing a good twenty people of all walks of life expressing their backing. From a child to an old lady, from a hobo to what he figured was a corporate suit. He had to verify, "People...you actually are on my side?" They followed up with confirmations.

"You made me see that Julia girl's a pretty good kid."

"You're a pretty good kid, too."

"You're pretty stupid. But sometimes you gotta be a little stupid to make things right."

A smile crept onto his face. So his efforts were paying off, at least in one sense. It likely wasn't going to do much to change Holle's mind, but knowing the support was there gave him confidence. Still, that didn't erase all his troubles. "Thanks. But now I'm feeling a ton of pressure knowing you're all cheering for me." He chuckled.

Connor gave him the most disappointed look he could muster. Nori had never known his father, but he figured that was supposed to be something close to the look one gives his children when he's unhappy with them. "Now what'd I tell you about not actin' that way?"

Unabated, he shrugged. "I was mostly joking." He'd only been trying to make light of his situation, but the pressures were real. Especially with the very real possibility of failure hanging over him. People would no doubt give him all sorts of criticisms for not trying hard enough, even though he was trying as hard as he could. And even if he somehow succeeded there'd be people saying he could've done more.

No, there he was actually acting that way. Connor was right. He had to ignore that for now. He sighed at himself. It wasn't like him at all to be this way. He had to get back to focusing. "Er, well." Wait, what was he thinking about before this? Not going in circles and focusing, right. "That champion," Nori spoke with some venom, "He said I need to consider the victims' families too."

"Actually, one of 'em swung by here last night. Some fisherman." The young official blinked. He knew who Connor was talking about, remembering what he saw at the lake well. "But ya ran on outta here 'fore he could chat ya up."

Nori was silent for several seconds, before simply blurting, "Oh." He wouldn't deny his reaction last night was extreme. But did it really matter? "Well, he probably just wanted to yell at me anyway."

"If he wanted that, think he woulda given ya your space?"

Nori involuntarily looked away. That was a fair point. "Even so..." That is just one relevant person. But he did get through. So maybe he got through to the others? Still, that didn't change the real issue at hand. He wasn't going to get through to that detective no matter what. Julia's situation wouldn't be nearly as dire if it wasn't for him. Especially with him seemingly going as far as to mentally break her down. At least it seemed he'd reverted any of that. And there he was just going in circles and reflecting on stuff he already knew.

"Ya know somethin'," Connor suddenly spoke up, "Standin' on the mound is a lot like what you're goin' through. Every time a guy stepped up to the plate, it'd be a battle between me and him. I threw the pitches, my opponent tried to hit 'em. Not everything I threw out was gonna get by, but I could make sure it wasn't easy."

"What are you even saying?!" Nori stressed, not needing this right now. "And didn't you say I was going to bat before?!"

"That was just a turn of phrase before. This is a bit of a life metaphor for ya." The young official grumbled at himself. He was getting way too high-strung at someone trying to help. He nodded and let the man continue. "What I'm gettin' at with it is, remember that you're the one who's throwin' things out there. You're in control of what ya do to help that girl out. It's on them to react to what ya do." Nori slowly nodded as Connor adjusted his bow tie. "Piece of advice though. Just like in baseball, if ya keep throwing out the same thing, they're gonna catch on."

That made a lot of sense. The young official figured he understood where the former baseball player was coming from. "So...you're saying," he started, "Mix it up? Do something unexpected? Throw a proverbial curveball at them?"

Connor smiled with approval, particularly at the last part. "You're gettin' it, son. Best case, ya give'em somethin' so good there ain't nothin' they can do about it."

"Something he can't do anything about, huh? Something that could decisively shut down Holle..." If only he'd thought of that sooner. This most of all was that detective's fault. If he wasn't a factor, everything would be fine. Right?

Nori stood up with a resolute nod. "Okay. I need to do some serious thinking about this. I only have one day left to get this right, and I'm going to get it right." He may have been the only one fighting. But there was nothing to it but buckle down and push through. "Just need to head to the hotel so I have a quiet place to think." He retrieved a few bills and slid them towards Connor, who shook his head and slid them back.

"Keep the cash. Food's on the house for you."

"If you say so..." he agreed with a shrug. He wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. "But yes, I need...something. I need to come up with something that'll a hundred percent help get her out of there. I can't waste any more time." He retrieved and assembled his skateboard, intending not to dawdle in the slightest. "I'll be back later."

Nori skated his way back to his hotel room at the Kunoichi's Rest. He didn't mind the hustle and bustle one bit, but when he really needed to seriously think about something, he preferred as much silence as possible. That way there are no distractions, just him and his thoughts. He had one day left in Johto, one day to get it right. He had some things in mind, but there was so little time to achieve them. He needed to seriously weigh his options and go for the best one.

The traffic made getting back there a hassle. Nori never enjoyed being out during rush hour. All the traffic, pedestrian and vehicles, got in the way and made any travel take longer. He tended to only go out into it when absolutely necessary, and this was one of those times. Sitting around waiting for it to die down was only going to take longer overall. The disadvantage is that it hardly gave him time to getting some thinking in on the situation on the way there. He had to focus on not crashing into anyone or anything.

The young official eventually made it back. He dismounted on reaching the stairs and carried his board the rest of the way. He fumbled around retrieving his key with one arm - it was in the same side pocket he was holding his skateboard in, and he belatedly thought to switch it to his right arm. He finally managed to open the door and made to step inside. He barely caught himself before his foot came down on a small black rectangular box.

"Huh? What's this?"

Had to split this one up due to excessive length and design-related reasons.

I also cut a few subplots and scenes. I originally had the actual fisherman show up in this chapter, but wanted to keep down the number of characters. Another was where Nori would capture Twilight and earn her respect in his own way - she would've shown up during the scene with Nori and Julia here. However, it distracted from the overall narrative in several ways. Minor consequence, it meant I couldn't show off Nori as a trainer as much as I wanted to and made the battle in the first scene the only one.