Officer Jenny called out her Growlithe, and Jim, not wanting to be left out, released his Houndour from its Pokeball. Gingerly, Jenny walked towards the cabinet and flung it open.

"Houndour, Ember!" Jim called out immediately.

But before the Houndour could leap, Vulpix growled at him. *Stop!*

Inside was a Smeargle, quivering in the corner. It shrank away at the sight of the Officer.

A Smeargle? Then suddenly, it all made sense.

"Smeargle," It said fearfully, holding on to its yellow-tipped tail and swaying it in the air. That yellow ink was the same one that was used to make the counterfeit Weeping Charizard.

"Jeremiah's been using a Smeargle," I gazed back at the splatters. There were reds and blues. I corrected myself. "No. He's using a whole team of them."

The Smeargle in the cabinet made a squeaking noise. It must've been separated from the rest. Vulpix inched up to it and began to ask some questions.

I couldn't understand what Smeargle was saying. It takes a while for effortless communication to be established between an owner and her Pokémon. It took me five long years to finally understand what Vulpix's growls and barks had meant.

"What did it say?" I asked when Smeargle cowered back and refused to say anything else.

*It said that Jeremiah and the rest of the Smeargle left not more than fifteen minutes ago,* Vulpix explained. *Smeargle hid here because it didn't want to be with its owner.*

I relayed to Jenny and Jim what my Pokémon had sad. I looked at the poor Pokémon, quivering in fear inside the cabinet. It had a few gashes across its chest and back. "Jeremiah probably maltreated it."

"Fifteen minutes," Jenny looked at her watch. "He could still be in the city. I'll tell the department to send out units."

While she took out her walkie-talkie and contacted the police, Jim pushed his Houndour towards Smeargle. The latter whimpered in fear as the dog-like Pokemon leaped at it and sniffed its tail.

"What are you doing?" I hissed at Jim. The Pokémon was clearly traumatized and here he was being insensitive again.

Jim gestured towards his mother. "Sherriff Dunbar's not going to move until he's finished with his card game. I suggest we track down this Jeremiah ourselves."

I stared at him and wrinkled my nose. "What?"

Jim sneered at me. "I had my Houndour pick up Jeremiah's scent off the Smeargle."

"Jeremiah's –"

Of course. That blonde snob probably hit Smeargle many times. His sweaty human scent was still on the Pokemon.

"Vulpix, do the same," I ordered and then added, "But be gentle."

"Good," Jim said, acting worse than a foreman. "I'll take the East End and you take the West."

Before Officer Jenny got off her walkie-talkie to give the okay, we both dashed out of there.

The city was still packed with tourists so I had a hard time following Vulpix without bumping into someone.

"Sorry, excuse me," I said to a person with sunglasses and a T-shirt saying "I survived Olivine". I turned around and kept on running until I spotted Vulpix's red bushy tail stop at a corner. When I finally neared her, she darted full-speed ahead.

I looked up and knew why.

Ahead of us were the Olivine City Docks. In front of the ticket booths were long lines of people, chatting with each other to pass the time.

Damn! Don't tell me he had already boarded the ship!

"Vulpix! See him anywhere?" I called out. Vulpix ran to the middle ticket booth and tilted her head towards the line in front of it. Sure enough, there was Jeremiah, with his signature tailored outfit and neatly combed blonde hair.

"Stop that man!" I called out. Immediately, the line dissolved and people began to panic. I saw Jeremiah make a run for it. "Vulpix! Tackle!"

Vulpix managed to hit him in the shin, but it was only enough to slow him down. Jeremiah fumbled for his Pokeballs and in a flash, he threw three of them at once. His team of art thieves popped out.

There were three Smeargles in all. And they were all after Vulpix.

The one with the blue tail dove at Vulpix from the right. The one with the red ink tackled from the left, while Green-tail attempted to use Tail Whip from behind.

"Dodge it Vulpix!" I called out as I pushed myself through a throng of people.

Vulpix leaped out of the way, but Green-tail's attack landed.

"Come on, Vulpix!" I coaxed as my Pokemon struggled to get up. "Use Firespin!"

A spiral of flames emanated from Vulpix's mouth and headed straight for the Smeargle.

Suddenly, Jeremiah called out. "Use Sketch! All three of you!"

The Smeargle grabbed their tails and swirled it in the air. Then, just like that, three flaming hot spirals emerged from their tails and spun towards Vulpix.

"Vulpix!" I called out desperately to warn my Pokemon.

But it was too late. I watched as the Fire Spin attacks zoom in on my Pokemon, ready to knock her out permanently.