Ciao! Hope all of you are doing well. I just got back from vacatiooooooon, where my cousin forced me to stay up a lot, playing cards (We played this game called Signal, it was really fun).

Now, for a part I always forget (I'll be adding these to all the chapters... I think.)

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon in any way, or the hard-boiled character of the Looker.

It hasn't been that long, has it? *Looks at Calendar* Oh, shi-


..

Dolus
==

"This is... 20 years ago? But how did I get here?" Ash said while looking dumbfounded at his realization. He walked to the bar, not knowing what to do.

Not being tangible, he had problems placing himself in the room.

"So, what did you find in your latest expedition? The one to Fogbound Lake?" a man said to his friend, who was sitting beside him at the bar. "It was amazing. The fogged lake and swamps were beautiful." His friend answered while sipping his cognac.

"Did you find what you were looking for? That gear thing?" the man turned to his friend while making out a circular object with his hand. "The Time Gear? No. And I don't think I should be messing with it, to be honest. After my research results, I think I'm not brave enough to actually snatch one. I'm afraid if I take the gear out of its place, the time in that region will completely stop, although I'm not sure. Besides, the scenery was worth the trip there." The second man explained. "Better safe than sorry."

Overhearing the conversation, Ash stood beside them the whole time.

"Right, so you're not going on any expeditions again?" the first male raised another question. "Not for a while, I'll be stuck managing this cafe for some time. Probably continuing my research at the back, like usual." Said the other man while pointing to a door beside the bar with a "Staff Only" sign.

"Time Gears?"Ash thought inwardly. Just then, another dizzy spell attacked and the young man blacked out again.


10:05 PM
Indigo Plateau
Cafe Le Grand

"Pikapi!" A Pikachu cried when he saw his trainer is gaining consciousness.

Having fainted for nearly fifteen minutes, Ash tried to open his eyes. When he came to, his vision returned. After a few seconds of readjusting, he saw that he was still in the cafe. In front of him was the key that he found before he saw the strange vision. Curious, he picked it up again.

Nothing happened.

Being the curious man that he is, he inspected the key one more time. He stood up and approached the door in the back beside the bar. After trying to open the door a couple of times with no avail, he attempted to unlock the door with the key he randomly found buried in the wall. He inserted the old key and turned it clockwise to hear an unlocking noise from the door's lock. Content with he had done, he opened the door while smiling to himself, impressed at his luck. Ash went inside the room after telling Pikachu to stand by outside.

There he saw the room was filled with papers all over the place, like the property was ransacked before it was closed off. Being once again curious, Ash looked at some of the papers, who he classified as reports after looking at the outline.

"Treeshroud Forest"

"Limestone Cavern"

"Underground Cave"

"Crystal Lake"

Nothing piqued his interest in those papers, as he read he found that those papers are just mere speculations of what could have been there. Ash skimmed over the papers quickly, not knowing that he was missing important parts of the papers. Then he saw another set of files, this one being in front of the work seat.

"Fogbound Lake"

Ash remembered the vision he had when he fainted, and quickly walked over to grab the papers. He found himself looking at the table of contents. Introduction, Location, Surroundings, Necessities, Guardian, Time Gear. He raised an eyebrow at the last entry, and flipped over to that specific section to check to details. "This is..."

"Pika Pika!" His little yellow mouse cried from the main room.

"Yeah, be right there, buddy!" Ash said. "It doesn't seem like there's anybody here anymore. Guess me taking these papers will do no harm. I'll place it back here later."He thought to himself. He gathered up all the papers and folded all of it in half, placing it in his pocket. He exited the room and closed the door behind him, locking it with old key.

Not long after, Gary entered the scene.

"So, what's up with all the secrecy?" he asked while walking up to the three unconscious employees. "Wow, you really gave these guys the beating of their lives." Said the young researcher while looking at work that his rival had done this afternoon. He looked over to Ash who had just taken a seat on one of the stools of the bar. "It's about Team Galactic."

"Hmm." The brown-haired man said while helping himself to some drinks from the bar. "What about them?"

"Let's wait till the champ gets here." Replied Ash while lightly pinching Pikachu's cheek, getting a slight complaint from the little mouse.

"You mean your girlfriend?" the other man mocked.

"Ah, music to my ears."

The two young men swapped stories about their journeys and work for the last four years, and reminisced about the times they used to compete over the littlest things when they were young. Ash brought up the topic of the half Pokeball they both hold, and Gary pulled a necklace from under his shirt to show Ash his half. Not long after, the awaited person arrived.

"Well, she took her sweet time, didn't she?" Gary commented while nudging Ash.

"Let's not worry about that, man. But you are late, Cynthia." Ash added.

"Well, being the Sinnoh Champion isn't exactly the easiest job. But sorry for my tardiness." The female replied while taking a seat beside her boyfriend.

"No problem. Now, let's get down to business." Said Ash, while putting Pikachu on the bar, which had fallen asleep from his trainer's petting.

"Uh-huh." Answered the other man while taking a sip from his drink.

"I see that you're not here for the Conference only, Gary." Stated the young man with the ponytailed hair. Gary flinched a little at the statement. "Man, you're sharp. And here, I was about to talk to you about that."

"Right. I assume the Looker put you up to this?" Ash asked.

"Again, righty-o."


10:30 PM
International Police Headquarters
Intelligence Sector

A lightly bearded man was sitting down on his chair, holding a cigar in his left hand and a glass of what seemed to be Camus on his right. "Looker" was written on his work desk's prism nameplate, jolted down with a black marker. On the other side of the nameplate, "Kozenikata Heiji" was in scripted.

(A/N: Camus is a long running brand of Cognac)

He was wearing a set of clothing similar to Michael Corleone in his years as the Don. Graceful, neat, and accurate. Near his desk was a coat stand, with a Fedora hung on top. He lighted his slightly dying cigar one more time.

One of the ice cubes in his Camus moved, signalling the heat in the room which was filled with smoke.

One of his men came into the room after knocking a couple of times.

"Sir, I need your..." He was quickly cut off by the sophisticated looking man.

"Sit down, boy." Suddenly, the stereo turned on, playing Slow Jazz Blues, Count Basie and Oscar Peterson style, silenced Trumpet. The employee sat down with a confused look on his face.

"Do you know where the phrase "Hard-Boiled" comes from?" the man asked.

"Excuse me, sir?"

"It comes from hard-boiled eggs. That's right. It's like tonight's hard-boiled moon." The man said while looking out the window, taking a puff from his cigar. "Why would "Hard-boiled" that used to mean hard-boiled eggs have a different meaning now?" he paused. The younger man was still sitting there with a blank face.

"This may be still too early for the kids who are still reading Playboy to understand... So ask that question again when you've started reading Business Playboy." The man pointed to the younger male with his cigar.

"However, there's one thing that remains clear." He paused again, and approached his drink.

"That is... On this "hard-boiled" night, you will feel compelled to have a drink." He picked up his glass of Camus, and shook it a little. "Men can only quench their thirst with alcohol." He then took a sip from the glass. "I'm a hard-boiled detective... A sly and cunning fox..."

"Uh... Sir? I just need your signature right here." The employee finally mustered up his courage to say something and to immediately get out of the room.

"Oh right, sorry."

After getting his paper signed, he exited the room in a hurried manner.

"I'm a hard-boiled detective... Who lives for the sake of battles." With that, he took another sip from his Camus while once again looking at the hard-boiled moon. "I live entirely for fights with crimes. I constantly deal with evil deeds in the busy street of the Downtown area. They are the only thing can boil my hard-boiled heart..."

"Brother Kozenikata!" A young female tomboy entered the room in a hurried manner. "What is it?" The Looker quickly replied after putting down his cigar.

"Criminals have been spotted in the outskirts of Indigo Plateau carrying out suspicious activities! They are requesting that we go to the scene!"

"Aaaaah, no, no. I'm too lazy. More like, I've got no "mou-tee-va-zion" y'know? These cases are all the same, they're boring, y'know? Monotonous!"

"Brother..."


10:30 PM
Indigo Plateau
Charleston Hotel
Computer Lounge

"Hey Max. What're you doing with in here?" Brock asked while getting in the Lounge after seeing his younger friend inside.

"You remember how that Thanatos guy is freakishly strong, right? And how he was recommended by some nobody figure?" the younger male answered while still typing away. "Of course. That Pikachu he has is something else. So what about him?" the man with the squinted eyes asked back. "Well, I did some superficial research about Dr. Raito. You know where his name came up in?"

"... I've got nothing."

"Well, feast your eyes on this." Max said while opening a page from the net.

A silver outlined web page was displayed on the screen. The title read Galactic Corporation. Under the headline was a line of links showing different sections of the site that can be explored, such as home, about us, mission & vision, contact us, and many more. Max had opened a page under head personnel, sub section of Research Department. The name Raito Light can be seen on top of the names list.

"Okay. So this means..." Brock broke the silence that had plagued the room for a minute or two. "That Thanatos guy is with Team Galactic?" The Gym Leader shouted in surprise while Max covered his ears.

"What's going on in here? Why all the noise?" May came in with Misty, who heard the noise from outside.

"You won't believe this! That awesomely strong Thanatos guy is part of Team Galactic!" Brock once again shouted out loud. Max placed his hand on his face, as if silently saying Why did I tell him?

"What? Is this true, Max?" May asked her little brother.

"Yeah, I'm the one that told him. But I'm not 100% sure about this; it can be some other Raito in Team Galactic." The little brother answered with a shrug.

"Raito? Team Galactic?" Misty said in confusion.

"Let me explain." The young teen said while scratching his head. "But, we need to figure out what to do with this guy... My instinct says he's trouble."


11:00 PM
Indigo Plateau
District 9
City Exit

A figure could be seen walking down the street of Indigo Plateau at night while the shops close for the day. He was wearing a dark attire, with his Pikachu walking beside him. He had just finished the meeting with his old rival, explaining the situation about Team Galactic occupation of the village. He sent off the Sinnoh Champion to her hotel afterwards. With nothing exciting happening for the last half an hour, he walked it off in District 9, heading to the outskirts in a very relaxed manner. His next match was in three days, the last of the preliminaries.

"Pika pi Pikachu pi." Pikachu started the conversation.

"Oh come on, I thought we cleared this up already. I like naming my techniques! It clears off any confusion about which attack I'm going to use so my allies can think about what to do next..." Ash stopped his sentence to find Pikachu looking at him in a sceptical way. "Y... Yeah, okay... But in all those battle mangas they name their techniques all the time! And I even got to the trouble of learning fragments of Latin from the net! But still, I think my previous point was valid also. It's not lame. Not lame at all."

The two continued walking leisurely to find that some sort of trouble was brewing. In a clearing in the outskirts, a commotion was going on. Cops were present, while what seemed to be Team Galactic is on the other side of the clearing. Ash got closer to hear one of the officer talking in the loudspeaker.

"Once again, knees on the ground and hands on the back of your heads! We have reports of suspicious activities in the area!" the police shouted.

A group of people came in the scene after hearing the noises. It was Ash's old gang, who was there to see if they can help, just like always. Having missed 'Thanatos' in the scene, they started to talk to the officers to see what they can do. Ash ignored them and looked at the Galactics.

The five Galactic members got down to the ground and did like the police said, which came to a surprise for Ash. The Galactic members were wearing a different outfit than the usual grunts. They looked more built; they wore balaclavas and fingerless gloves. They were wearing black tights this time, still with the lightning yellow 'G' imprints. Over the uniform, they wore something else, however, it was hard for Ash to see because of the darkness of the night and the torches from the Police shifted positions constantly.

A number of Police Officers, walked near the five suspects, with standard edition Compact G19s. A few officers lighted the five people on the ground, giving visibility to those around.

Uninterested and not wanting to be seen by his old gang, Ash walked away from the scene to head to his home much further in the outskirts. However, his eyes caught a glimpse of the five people who were then fully visible. They were wearing something strange and not needed unless there was something big. They were wearing something that meant that they were ready to be captured. Ballistic Vests. They were ready to be captured, and they were ready to fight back.

The first officer was ready to frisk the first Galactic member, and got closer. The unsuspecting officer started to search for weapons, however, only finding his face being squashed to the ground like a mosquito by the Galactic behind the one getting searched. All of the Police Officers immediately pulled out all of their firearms, but they were too slow to save the leading squad in front. With a number of standard pistols aimed at them, the leader of the five raised his hands in a mocking manner.

"Now, now, don't get hasty; we didn't kill any of them. Though I wonder, where's the standard Police Growlithe?" He said while stepping back with his hands still up. "Your puny guns won't be able to damage any of us here."

"Silence! Who sent you and what is your objective here!" one of the officers said while getting closer and pointing the gun to the man's head.

"Did you really think we're going to tell? You must be joking." He laughed and soon he was joined by his four comrades. "Tell you one thing though. There's a timed explosive somewhere in the International Trade Center in this town. Are you going to waste your time here?"

The officer seemed uninterested at the statement. "Joe! Get some of your guys to check the building!" He said while turning his head to Joe.

When he did, unfortunately, the five saw the opening and scattered into the woods and retreated. "Better go there fast or the building will be destroyed!" Many officers tried to pursue them, only to be stopped. "Let them go, we have a bigger problem if what they were saying is true."


Ash and Pikachu followed the officers to the Trade Center, while the gang was given a ride by the Police. When they arrived, the Police already barricaded the place.

"What's the situation?"

"It's bad, sir. They really were telling the truth. There's one discovered time bomb currently, and we only have 6 minutes left."

"Are there civilians in the building?"

"Yes, but we've evacuated some of them, not all. We need more man power."

"Well then, let us help!" Dawn said while stepping forward, offering help to the police.

"This isn't some games for youngsters, you should go home."

"I think we're more useful than just some kids, officer. We can take care of ourselves. Besides, you're in desperate need for men, right? Don't worry, we just want to help." Offered Brock. The Officer sighed and gave in to Brock's reasoning. The man was right, and they could use their help to evacuate all the people in there. "Fine." He said. "But when the timer hits 2 minutes, you're all getting out of there, finished evacuating or not. We've called the EOD team for this. I don't want to be responsible for young people like you getting killed."

"Alright, let's go!" Brock said, leading the gang to the building.

"Are we that desperate, sir?"

"Apparently, yes."


Ash and Pikachu wasted no time talking to the officers. He used the supplies entrance to enter the building, and he started to look for the explosive. He could have asked the police officer, but he doubted that they would tell him where it is. He hid several times from his friends trying to evacuate, until he finally found the explosives. It was on the Third Floor, attached to many of the pillars. Most of the room was covered with the timed explosives, the timer glowing red all over the place. It was showing 2:25.

The Pillar with the explosives was positioned close to the line of glass windows, facing the police barricade. Outside the big room was the Police, standing guard in case something happened.

"What's their purpose of putting a bomb here? This is ridiculous." Ash thought to himself while getting closer to the explosives. Having no time to waste, he pulled his hair into his usual ponytail, and wore his balaclava part way, like he always did with it. He took off his overcoat and kneeled in front of the explosives. He had some experience in the field of bomb disposal, he got experience from back when Raito taught him how to. He had never thought he would try his hands at disarming explosives in real life, though.

Without having second thoughts, he examined the explosives. C4 charges only. "This doesn't make sense... These charges aren't even connected to the timer." Thought the young man while trying to figure out how the explosives will detonate. He took the timer off the pillar, and inspected it one more time. An ordinary clock counting down. He threw the clock away and started to look at the explosives again. He could probably disarm a few, but not all of them. "Tsch. Where's the EOD team when you need them." He complained.

"Pika!" Pikachu cried out while pointing in a direction.

"Unfortunately, the EOD guys won't be coming anytime soon. Or maybe they're not coming altogether."

Ash quickly stood up and turned around to get into a battle stance. There he saw a familiar face from Team Galactic; the vice-captain of the encountered five.


"The bomb's going to go off soon! The EOD team isn't coming, are they?" A police officer shouted in panic.

"Calm down, man! They'll be here, we just have to wait!" a fellow officer tried to calm him down, but failed.

"No, no! They're not coming! I'm outta here!" Said the first officer before running off the scene. The second quickly followed, seemingly affected by what the first said.

"This is the bomb site, we have no time to waste, Brother Kozenikata!" A young female said to her companion. "What are you doing, Brother!"

"On a night like this... Camus on the rock is a perfect drink." Said the man while looking out the window. "You're scared, aren't you? Your legs are shaking, brother." The female said. "No. My legs are shaking merely because of the beast that has been stirring inside of me- *Bleeeeeerghhh*" "You're totally scared aren't you? You're throwing up because you're scared! Come on, we've got no time to waste!" Both ran to the door of the room planted with bombs, only to be stopped by the sight of two people conversing in front of the bombs.

"Buneary, wait!" A female voice was heard across the hall near the two Police. "Don't just run off like that, we need to get out of here!"

"Dawn, wait up!" Another female followed her, and she was followed by two guys. "We need to exit the building!" she said to Dawn.

"I know, I know! Let's go, Buneary!" the brunette replied in a hurried manner.

"Wait, I want to see the bomb site!" Max shouted before running off to the door to find the Looker. "Oh hey, look! It's the international Police agent! The weird hard-boiled one!" he signalled his friends. "Max, we need to get out of here, what if the bombs go off while we're still inside?" Brock warned the younger trainer, before getting a glimpse of a familiar figure in a distance in the bomb site. "Hey, look! That's Thanatos!"

"And that's a Team Galactic member! I knew he was bad news!" Max added.

"Shush! They're talking!" The female police said while getting a better position to eavesdrop on the conversation.


"What a surprise, meeting the infamous Thanatos here. Although it would seem we don't share the same goal." Said the armed man while approaching Ash. He took out a firearm and aimed it at 'Thanatos'.

"Kudos to you, Neptune. What's the vice-captain of the highly acclaimed Bravo Company doing here?" Ash shot back a question while he raises his hands. "The opposite of what you're doing, obviously."

"I would take that the documents you're holding is your objective?"

"Who knows, maybe 'tis, maybe 'tis not."

Ash eyed the man, looking at his gear. The man was pointing a machine pistol at him, and he was not carrying any other firearms. At his side, he had a mechanism that Ash quickly classified as the missing piece of the puzzle.

"Ah, I see. A detonator. That's how this whole thing is going to go."

"Cut the crap, Silent-killer. I knew something was fishy about you. Never actually meeting the higher-ups, only taking orders from Raito? Knowing Raito, I should've killed you when I had the chance. Fortunately, your life will be spared right now. My objective is just to deliver these documents. Maybe I could say one or two nice things to the Boss about you." Said Neptune while making a dash to the windows.

"Not so fast, buddy." Said Ash, running after Neptune. He grabbed Neptune's wrist and threw him back like a ragdoll. "Anything Cyrus wants, I want. All part of the 'bring-Cyrus-down' plan, you see?"

Neptune quickly recovered from the fall, and took a battle stance after putting the documents away. "Well then, you'll just have to die, you traitor!" Neptune took his machine pistol and aimed it at Ash once more.

"One time, Team Galactic has screwed me over... And that's one time too many." Said Ash before he ran towards the vice-captain of the Bravo Company.

Neptune pulled the trigger out of reflex, letting out a burst of bullets in Ash's direction, however, to find the target was already out of the line of fire. Ash grabbed Neptune's hand pulled the man towards him, while he launched his knee to the man's face. Having a broken nose, Neptune released his grip on the machine pistol to grab his face. Ash quickly got ready for one his techniques, his right metallic hand opening holes to suck in air. The air pressure changed around the two, and Neptune's face was pale, and one could guess soon it would turn blue. The man was holding his neck and was deprived of oxygen, which was being sucked to Ash's metallic hand. Not being able to breathe, Neptune fainted. He took the detonator from the Galactic member.

"Now, let's see those documents, shall we?"


There, the 8th chapter done. Not much Rayshipping on this one.

I should be uploading more frequently now, University's starting soon, and I'll be spending lots of hours with my laptop.

Introduced another character, there's going to be one more in the coming chapters.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter.