It was far from a front page headline, but neither was it a footnote, witnessed and written by one Akari Schrader who was staking the place out. Last night, Prema Kannagi had attempted an exorcism at the old Magcargo Express building – where those spirits who attacked those workers were. It ended in disaster, and one person was seriously injured. Nariya Yaznik, aged 16. The important takeaway was knowing why Prema was so busy. If he'd been able to help her, though…

First thing in the morning after breakfast, Nori skated off to East Veilstone General where e figured Nariya should have been admitted. Not only was he concerned about her condition, he had his fingers crossed about something.

Nori walked over to the receptionist's desk, where a man with navy blue hair sat. "Hi!" the young official greeted him.

The man's eyes went round as Voltorbs, even sparkling like they might. "Nori Carino…" he gushed.

"Mhm, that's me!" He struck a pose and pointed inward at himself.

"It's an honor, sir!" The man meekly stuck out his hand, which Nori promptly grabbed and gave a firm shake. The young official found it strange to be getting used to stuff like this. "What brings you here today?"

"I've come to visit a friend of mine, Nariya Yaznik," he kept it straight and to the point, even given the warm welcome. "I can go see her, right?"

"Of course, Mr. Carino!" the receptionist replied. "She's in ward C5. Head down the right hallway. I'll let the doctor know you're coming."

"Okay, thank you!"

"The pleasure is all mine."

Step one, complete! That was easy! Maybe it was his fame at work, but he wasn't going to complain about that part of it. Step two, hope he actually could speak with Nariya. Or maybe even…

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He wasted no time, walking through the halls just fast enough that it wouldn't be considered running. He made his way over to the C-wing, avoiding carts and people along the way. The room numbers were to the right of each door. The first he came to was C20, on his right. He kept going. He counted the numbers off under his breath. Suddenly, a gurney came out of C10, way faster than Nori expected.

"Coming through!" he shouted a warning. He swiftly turned left, just barely avoiding crashing into a uniformed nurse.

They glowered at him, but he spoke first.

"Sorry, sorry!" Maybe they were moving too fast, and maybe he was getting overenthusiastic, but this wasn't the time or place to argue. He turned around and kept going, more slowly.

"Ah!" Nori jumped at the sudden sight of Prema Kannagi. It was exactly who he was hoping to see. If she wasn't present, he wanted to have Nariya pass a message along to her. But now that she was in front of him, he had no idea what to do! He glanced away to find a balding bespectacled doctor with the name tag Whitman, and a woman who looked a lot like Nariya. They were all standing before a door.

"Room C5! This is the one!" he blurted his thoughts aloud.

Before he knew what was happening, the doctor was in front of him. "Hold on, sir, you can't just walk in without permission. Who are you and what business do you have?"

"I'm one of Nariya's friends," he introduced himself. He stole a look at Prema, who was simply watching on in stunned surprise. "I heard she got hurt last night, and I want to go see her!"

Visit her at the same time as Prema. That made the most sense now. The doctor glanced over at the woman. It was safe to assume she was Nariya's mother. With an angry noise, she walked over to the door and stood in front of it.

"This is a private ward," she declared. "Family only."

What?! That made no sense! Nori stomped, taking a step towards her while shaking a fist. "Do you really think not letting any of her friends see her is going to do her any good?!"

"Considering she is in here because of her so-called friend?" She fired a hateful leer at Prema, who shut her eyes in response. "I think so, yes. I don't know you well enough to trust you, and Lady Kannagi is clearly a toxic influence."

"You let her into YAMS, though!" he countered. "You let her be with a toxic protest group!"

"Yes, but she never got hurt over the course of their protests."

He scowled. Mental and social injury is way worse than physical! He knew! He had his arm broken at Sunyshore Gym, but having to wear a cast on his dominant arm for a few months was nothing compared to becoming a pariah! Not to mention emotional injury! He couldn't claim to know autism like Nariya had, but he imagined not being able to see a friend again would feel horrid for anyone!

This woman was being more stubborn than a Mudbray, but he knew what he could do about that. He reached into his jacket, pulled his wallet back out, and retrieved his Officials' ID. "My name is Nori Carino, doctor," he introduced, just for the sake of formality. "SPRT-01. I'm requesting permission as an official to see the patient."

He caught sight of Prema, who was suppressing a surprised gasp. The doctor raised an eyebrow, but his expression was otherwise blank. If it didn't work, he'd still get to see and talk with Prema.

Nariya's mom was unamused. She marched up and crossed her arms, standing over him in a feeble attempt to intimidate. "Mr. Carino," Nori was a little surprised she was addressing him that way. "What reason do you have for wanting to see my daughter?"

He knew the rules! He aced his test about this stuff! The young official stood on his toes and powerfully explained, "This incident concerns a highly dangerous Pokemon. As a Pokemon Rehabilitator, it is my job to work with these Pokemon. And as a Special Trainer in the International Police, I have the authority to become involved in Pokemon-related incidents if I deem it necessary."

The mom shook her head. "And what about speaking with Nariya do you deem necessary?"

"Nariya–" he caught himself. "Er, your daughter, the patient, is an important witness. It is important to know what we're dealing with." He turned to face Prema. "For the same reason, I'll have to speak with you about it as well, Miss Kannagi."

"Very well, Mr. Carino," she replied. Nori couldn't help but smile wildly at her deciding to play along. "I will do what I am able. I'm afraid I will be busy for the rest of the day, however."

"That's fine," he said to her. "Do what you can, when you can, as long as you do."

Mrs. Yaznik sighed in exasperation, holding her temple with her palm. She and the doctor spoke for a bit before Dr. Whitman addressed him.

"Your request is granted, Mr. Carino," he said. Nori had to contain his grin. "The patient needs to rest, but I can give you fifteen minutes to speak with her."

"Thanks a–" He paused. Have to be formal, right. "I mean, thank you for your cooperation."

"It is I who should be thanking you." Nori felt a warmth in his chest as Prema gave him a light bow. "The Kannagi Shrine truly appreciates your assistance with this matter."

"Happy to help." He flashed her a thumbs-up and winked before heading to see Nariya.

His heart was nearly pounding out of his chest, not from that tense situation, but from getting to speak with Prema there. She was still his friend! Everything was going to be okay! But for now, he'd gotten himself a chat with Nariya. He had to admit, he was curious about what happened. Maybe it was the newshound in him. Either way, he said he was here to do something, so even though it wasn't really what he came for, there was nothing to do but do it.

Nori had an intriguing conversation with Nariya, who was thankfully in the condition to speak with him. She said she heard the word 'ghoul' in her head, just like he heard those workers say. While she felt guilty for burdening Prema, Nori assured her otherwise. And got some reassurance in kind when musing she had been far more of a friend to her than he had been able to. After all, she'd been able to be there. He pondered if there was something he could do for her in this situation. At the least, it would be something other than homework to distract himself with.

After his time was up, the young official skated back home. As he entered the trailer park and made his way over to his home, he found somebody leaning against the vehicle. She was engrossed her cell phone.

For whatever reason, the thing that distinguished Yumi Takao the most to Nori was her trendy sense of fashion. She was wearing white sneakers, bellbottoms, and a small vest with an Elekid pattern (Electric types being popular since June thanks to a certain individual) over a splotchy pastel shirt. Her rectangular sling bag was at her side.

He called out to her. "Oh, hey!"

Yumi glanced up, pocketing her phone when she saw it was him. "Hey. Your mom had to step out for a while."

"Well, come in," he said, walking over and unlocking the side-door. Pachi, at his feet, hurried on ahead and jumped into the bed at the back; he liked doing so whenever Nori's mom wasn't around. "I was just visiting Nariya in the hospital."

The girl with light-brown hair was halfway inside, pausing mid-step. "What? What happened to her?"

"She got hurt protecting Prema from a ghost."

"Oh no…" Yumi closed the door behind them. "Is she all right?"

"I don't know much about any side effects from the attack, but she seemed fine physically." He walked over to his bed and folded it up. "I was able to talk to her for a bit."

His friend let out a sigh of relief. Nori had properly met Yumi at the same time he'd met Prema and Nariya, at the same meeting of Youths Against Mistaken Society. There were never any hard feelings between her and Nariya, although both were hesitant to approach the other for their own reasons.

Nori sat down at the table where his bed had been. He scooted over in case Yumi wanted to sit beside him – there was plenty of room. Her feet became frozen to the floor, eyes darting from the seat across to the space to Nori's right. Ultimately, she chose the former.

Yumi slumped in her seat. "So I came to let you know that I heard Quade's surgery was successful."

"That's a relief," he said, leaning back. That wasn't high on the list of things he was expecting her to come here for. That said, "It sounds like there's more to it than that."

She nodded solemnly. "Yeah, the good news ends there," she continued with a heavyhearted sigh. "He'll never be able to safely battle again."

He knew it. "He was Anthony's strongest Pokemon, wasn't he?"

"By far."

Nori felt more than a little guilty. Middle school battling wasn't as noteworthy as high school battling which had an entire national circuit. You'd still see battling clubs, but some of them – Tobari included – still competed on a regional scale. It had to have been a big blow to lose one of their best battling Pokemon, to say nothing about possibly Anthony himself. And no matter what, it was still partially his fault for agreeing to the battle…

Yumi leaned over the table, her brow wrinkling. For a second and from how her arms moved, it seemed like she wanted to grab his hand. "Nori, about Pawniard…"

"I know, I know!" he said as she trailed off. "But I still have to keep trying. I have to. Plus, I still want to." Nori may have been uncertain about a lot of different things, but that was one thing he was sure about. "If I stop now, everything so far will have been a waste. Including what just happened."

"Are you afraid?" she tremored. It was almost a yell that was choked back. "That he might hurt another Pokemon? Or even…even y…" She trailed off and, for a moment, she appeared to be staring off into space.

"Yumi…"

He wasn't sure what to do or what to say. The fact was he worked in a dangerous profession. Just because he approached it with optimism didn't mean he wasn't aware of what could happen to him.

He took a deep breath. "It's a risk that comes with what I'm doing. It's going to come with many of the Pokemon I rehabilitate. Even with all my training to prevent these situations. I know, I get that you're worried about me, I really do. And it means a lot that you care. I swear I'll be as careful as I can be."

All he could give was his word. And that hurt. But it wasn't as if he could give a guarantee. Anything could happen. In fact, knowing his own luck, he fully expected to be hurt by one of his Pokemon at some point. It was yet another reason why he usually kept Pachi out of his Poke Ball, besides the squirrel liking it. He was a means of protection.

He was thinking about actually explaining that part, when Yumi lightly smiled. "Okay," she sighed. It was more of a happy one than relief or sorrowful. Maybe his words alone really did reassure her. "What are you going to do next?"

That was a good question. He had mostly been considering damage control or worrying about fallout from the incident. "I think I need to go back to the basics. That is, looking up Pawniard behavior, just like I did with the Demon. I don't know how much of it is going to be applicable, but it can't hurt to do the research."

Yumi nodded. "That sounds like a good idea." She turned her head lightly away, although kept looking at him. She held her bag close. "Are you heading to the library? I'll come with you if you are. I need to return the books I finished and check out some new ones."

He rubbed his neck. "Actually, I was thinking an internet place. I'm not sure if there'll be many books, given the really detailed ones only cover Japan-natives." They pretty much had to, given there were thousands if not tens of thousands of species out there.

Yumi fidgeted in the seat. "Well, they have free Wi-Fi at the library if you want to bring your laptop. You'll still be able to look at any books while you're there."

Nori could take a hint. He understood that Yumi wanted to hang out with him. And frankly? He wanted to hang out with Yumi.

"When you put it like that, sure." He flashed a smile at her. "Just let me get ready."

Nori got up, pulled up a rug, and unlocked a hatch on the floor of the trailer. He pulled his laptop out from its case underneath and grabbed his backpack. It was not something he was expecting, but he was glad about it.

Of the two public libraries in the city, the one known simply as the Veilstone Public Library was both the older and closer of the two. One wouldn't necessarily be able to tell from looking, however, given the renovations over the years. Nori did not have a library card himself, so he primarily came by with his mom. It would be something to rectify as soon as he was able to afford to get his own. Thankfully for his purposes, reading in the library itself was permitted.

He found a good open table to sit at and open his laptop while waiting for Yumi. He was able to figure out how to connect to the internet on his own easily enough. The young official was starting to learn this computer stuff. By the time his friend came and found him, twenty minutes had already passed.

"What took ya?" he asked. Nori very slightly moved his machine to the right to open up some more space.

Yumi blinked rapidly for a second before sitting down beside him. "Just had trouble deciding what to check out," she stated.

"So what did you get?"

"I picked up three, since that's my limit."

Yumi held out her loaned books one by one. The first of these depicted a sapphire citadel over a sunset backdrop, entitled The Crystal Kingdom. The second depicted a teenage girl who could've been any aspiring trainer: a League hat, a backpack, travel-ready clothes, and a starter Pokemon (specifically a Flambear) at one side; on the other, in step with her, was an exasperated male trainer. Love of Journeys. The third caught Nori off-guard. It was The Wild Minx.

"What's wrong?" asked Yumi as he stared at it in a bit of disbelief. After a second, she retracted the book and placed it face down.

He blinked. "Oh, just my mom was reading that last one."

Yumi leaned back, a smile slowly reaching her lips. "That's…a surprise," she remarked, pressing a hand over her heart.

"You like romances?"

"That and fantasy. Those are my two favorite genres." She hesitated before asking, "What about you?"

"Well, I like crime and mystery the most. Romance can be nice sometimes, but I like sci-fi over fantasy. Don't really have any genres I hate."

Nori had to admit, that wasn't what he was expecting out of Yumi. But he felt he should've, given how sensible it seemed in hindsight. From the smirk on her face though, she evidently completely expected his response.

Yumi adjusted her bangs before picking up The Wild Minx. "Did your mom like it?"

"She didn't hate it," he answered as he shut his laptop. "If she did, she'd have ranted about it to me."

His friend giggled a little as she opened the book. "Well, I guess I'll get started on it myself."

Nori stood and stretched. "Okay, look after my stuff," he told Yumi as he cracked his knuckles over his head. "I'm going to see if I can find any behavioral books." He knew where they were from the last time he came to the library. Hopefully they didn't move stuff around.

"I'm surprised you didn't get them before sitting down," she said, glancing up from the book.

"I wanted to make sure we got a spot for ourselves!"

Yumi laughed. "I guess that makes sense." She placed her bag on his seat as he set off.

Like a homing missile, Nori went directly to the Pokemon resource section. His eyes darted across the many rows of books. As he thought and knew from before, many of them were regional or national focused and would never include information on Pawniard. Others seemed way too broad, likely only to have regional information. Then there were very specific ones like Pikas Worldwide or Be a Better Bird Keeper. There were a few that seemed promising, so he grabbed them and took them back to the table.

"That was fast," remarked Yumi. She briefly folded up her book, using her finger as a bookmark as she picked up her bag and placed it between them.

"I work fast!" he boasted, showing her the four books he'd grabbed for now. "This one's about the Dark type, this one covers Pokemon from the US regions, there's one on handling Pokemon with sharp claws for hands, and finally, grabbed a Pokemon A-Z (and more) book just in case."

"Hopefully, they'll be able to help," she remarked before diving back into the novel.

"Yeah, let's hope." He'd already been looking online, and what he'd found so far hadn't been helping. With any luck, he'd be able to find something here.

Nori periodically got up to put books back and grab more. He jotted things that were important enough in a notepad he'd bought on Thursday. Yumi eventually left after reading a hundred pages, wishing him luck. As the hours went by, Nori's investigation started going in circles.

The information he was finding on Pawniard as a species, be it in a book or online, was generally unhelpful and most of it was repeated between different sources. The best he found spoke about their pack mentality, which at least seemed to correlate that Pawniard would listen. The wild ones were led by the Bisharps, and sometimes, a Kingambit. Some of them left their packs in pursuit of their own goals, but this was rare. Mostly carnivorous, but also known to feed on metal like many other Steel types – often gorged by the alphas in packs. The most interesting bit of information came from their different slashing motions; it appeared they had knowledge of how to slightly adjust their angle to get the desired cut on various targets. It was intriguing in a scientific sense, but not particularly helpful for taming one.

He had the sense to look up the Blackout Killer, thinking the behavior had something to do with their training. That mostly got information on the man and not his Pokemon. From the accounts, there was no way to tell anything was wrong when battling him. One of them even fought and beat the Pawniard, so assuming it wasn't a lie, it put a kibosh on the theory that the killer slew his own Pokemon for failure. That said, the killer had only two Pokemon at the time of his death. He had to have had others, at least at some point, given standard battles were typically three-on-three.

He sighed. "Come on, Nori," he whispered to himself. "There has to be something here."

The young official went over what he knew in his head. Fact, Pawniard belonged to a murderous trainer. Fact, he instinctively hurt and killed. However, he did not default to killing. The other Pokemon the Blackout Killer owned was not involved in any incidents after the fact – maybe it was a possible avenue? Pawniard would listen to him, perhaps seeing him as the leader? Pawniard had a cruel side, once called a malice like few others. Perhaps he was a misanthrope? This was only according to Prema who was either vague or couldn't get a read, but…

His mind drifted to Prema. She was dealing with a group of wicked Pokemon, seemingly far more dangerous than Pawniard. At least he wouldn't attack people. But she had it far worse than him, come to think of it. And there actually was a chance he would be rehabilitating those Pokemon after she got through with them.

Nori paused. He was sort of using semantics. Yet part of him wanted to do something to help Prema. She'd done so much for him already. How could he return the favor? It was kind of a crazy thought. But given how poorly researching Pawniard was going, he figured it might actually help. After all, distractions can help you step back and get some retrospective.

"Well, let's do it," he whispered to himself as he brought up the search engine.

A/N: The scene where Nori goes to see Nariya wasn't important to the overall plot of this fic. Read it in Memory of a Ghoul if you're curious. Random aside, publication/editing took so long that I was able to name Kingambit directly rather than just saying "Bisharp's evolution." It was in there since I learned of the leaks and they turned out to be credible. Too much gaming and distractions.