Chapter 4

An Olive Branch

Cassius went to go check in Cerberus and Patriot with Nurse Joy. He thought a check-up after a skirmish with some gang bangers would be best. Plus, he still needed to get his report written up for Chief Ryodan. "Nurse Joy, is there a computer that I could use? I have to write something up real quick." She nodded and pointed in the direction of the lobby where there were a few computers that were set up for use by trainers. No one was currently working on any of them.

He logged in and proceeded to access the Kalos Region Police Server. He pulled up the proper documents from the paperwork database and began to fill them out: Shots Fired report, Pokemon Usage against Armed Combatants report, and an After Action report. Gotta love paperwork, Cassius thought, even though I despise constantly having to justify every little thing that I do. This was the part of the job that got tedious. Cassius spent the next hour and a half typing up his report for Chief Ryodan. He printed out the reports. As he got up to leave he saw the Poke Mart and decided to head in to pick up a folder and bag to keep them in.

"Mr. Proctor! Your Pokemon are all done," Nurse Joy called. He turned to see her motioning to the desk, his Pokeballs on a tray. He strode up to the counter and grabbed his Pokemon. He looked back down the hallway where his Grandfather sat and questioned whether or not he should try to comfort him. Maybe it would be best if I don't. He took in a deep breath, exhaled and turned towards the door to leave, determination propelling him forward to do his job.

Cassius finally made it back to the police station after half an hour of flying with Patriot due to the inconvenience of the destroyed railcar. He walked through the front doors and up to the desk. The clerk was a pretty brunette with her hair pinned up in a bun. She wore wire rimmed glasses and a white blouse under a blue blazer. She was hurriedly typing away on the desktop computer, a look of concentration taking over her pale features and her slender fingers flying on the keyboard.

Cassius was a little apprehensive to disturb her, but he had to anyway. "Excuse me," Cassius said. She looked up for a moment then said "One moment." She continued typing for a few minutes before she turned back to him. "May I help you?"

That was when Cassius recognized the voice. It was the same woman who answered all of his phone calls. Small world, huh? "Yes, I'm Detective Cassius Proctor of the Lumiose City Police Department. I'm here to see Police Chief Ryodan to give him a full report on the railcar incident. He's expecting me."

She eyed him, as if to find any deceit in his words, and then went back to her computer. "Badge number?"

"Badge Number 68425."

She typed into the computer then looked at him again. She picked up the phone next to her computer monitor and dialed a number. "Yes, Chief, there is a Detective Proctor here to see you about the railcar incident …alright, I'll send him in." She hung up the phone and motioned him to follow her. She walked out from behind the desk and walked out into the bullpen. There wasn't much of a difference between the layout of this police department from the Lumiose one, just that it was smaller. She came up to a door in the back of the building and rapped three times on it. "Come in." The clerk pushed the door open and let Cassius in.

"Chief Ryodan, Detective Proctor is here to report to you." Ryodan waved Cassius in with his hand, motioning to the chair in front of his desk. Cassius sat down then pulled out the report file for him to look at. "This is the report. I've included the proper documents for you to read. I'm available to fill in any blanks that you feel I missed in my report, but it's safe to say that everything in there is accurate."

Ryodan opened up the file and began to read through the report. He flipped from page to page, reading the details that were provided: the explosions, the flaming railcar, the shot that injured Gogoat, everything. He looked back up with a questioning look on his face. "Only one of them was armed and used their Pokemon in this incident? That's quite surprising."

Cassius looked him straight in the eye and said "I didn't give them the chance to. I believe that I stated it in the report. As soon as my grandfather's Gogoat was shot, I got him back in his Pokeball, while my Houndoom caused a smokescreen with his Smog. With the criminals coughing their lungs out, I had my Luxray use Shock Wave on the cliff that they were on to knock them down and further into the Smog. I had my Luxray and Riolu escort Ramos back to the Pokemon center while my Houndoom and Braviary polished off the rest of the criminals."

"You have amazing reflexes and battle sense for a new police detective. How come?"

"I was on the training circuit back when I was a beginning trainer. My father was a strong trainer and my grandfather is Ramos. I got all 8 gym badges and only needed three Pokemon to get them. I even came very close to taking on the Elite Four before I realized that this was my passion in life. I've been training my Pokemon for these kinds of situations ever since."

Chief Ryodan's eyebrows went up slightly and nodded his head in approval. "Well you did good. You single-handedly took down a lieutenant and a leader of the Coumarine Crew. It's a local gang that has its members identify themselves with a tattoo of a burning tree located somewhere on their body. Strictly a local gang, so they never venture any further than Fourrage Road. They normally are just involved in B&E's, not full blown assassination attempts on a Gym leader."

"The leader of the trio said they were getting paid," Cassius stated. "I'm pretty sure that if they were paid the right amount, they would go far outside of their comfort zones. Give me an hour with them and I'm sure that I will be able to get the who, what, when, where and why."

Chief Ryodan looked down at the report again, considering whether or not to let Cassius take point on the interrogation. He scrunched his forehead in thought then looked back up at Cassius. "Alright," he said with a sigh. "Get in there and get me some answers."

Cassius nodded his head in gratitude. "Yes, sir. I will get you everything that you need." Ryodan stood up, cuing Cassius to stand as well. Chief Ryodan motioned for Cassius to follow him. They walked out from Chief Ryodan's office and maneuvered around the bustling bullpen to the holding cells. Each gang member was in a separate cell. The first cell had the black haired man that Cassius believed to be one of the gang's top leaders. He looked like he was just chilling out in there, as if it were his second home. The second cell had a pale gangbanger in baggy jeans, a blue t-shirt and a blonde crew cut, military style. He looked pretty stoic and still. He was calm. The third cell held a young man, probably no older than 16. A skinny brunette with a serious case of mophead, he wore a large red t-shirt and baggy pants. He was looking all around and was frightened, scared. Bingo, we have found the weakest link.

"I'll start with the youngest. Give me ten minutes max and I'll get the information that you need," Cassius said. "Be sure you can. We need to get as much information as possible. See to it that it gets done," Ryodan responded. With a nod of his head, Cassius walked over to the interrogation room door, pulling up a seat for himself. The teen came in not long after Cassius got himself settled.

As soon as he laid eyes on Cassius, his eyes went wide with recognition. "You," the kid exclaimed, "why are you here?!" The kid took a seat in front of Cassius, staring at him. Cassius stared back, etching every detail of the kid's face into his mind. He wanted to make sure he remembered the faces of everyone involved in the railcar incident. The teen looked like he still had some baby fat in his face. He looked as if he was toned, but still young enough to not be built.

"You have been read your rights, I assume?"

"Yes. It's not like this hasn't happened before." The kid crossed his arms in front of him, averted his gaze off to Cassius' left and curled in on himself, as if trying to hide from his interrogator. Shit he's clamming up on me. I gotta get him to open up.

"What's your name, kid? And how come you're mixed up with this gang, this Coumarine Crew?" As Cassius asked his questions, he leaned in slightly to let the kid get a better look at him. To get some, I gotta give a little.Cassius softened his gaze just before the kid tossed him a sideways glance.

"Shouldn't you already know this before you come into an interrogation?"

Cassius tossed him a smirk and said, "I prefer to learn about a person firsthand. A file doesn't tell me what kind of person you are, just what you've done. I want an unbiased opinion of you." As he was saying this, he looked right at the kid. The kid relaxed his arms a bit, lowering them slightly and his face began to soften. Typical misunderstood kid.

He turned his head to face Cassius and said, "My name is Jason Dryer. And it's not like I joined the crew by choice." He looked down and away from Cassius, as if ashamed by his association with the crew. Cassius was beginning to suspect that the kid was being truthful. Keep focused. I need this information.

"So how come you're with them? Are they forcing you to or holding something against you?"

Jason took in a deep breath and sighed. "They threatened me. They said that they would kill my mother if I didn't join up. They forced me into it." He shook his head, still looking down at the floor. "You gotta understand my mother works two jobs to keep us fed. I feel like shit doing this, but I have to do this to protect her. Whenever my mother looked at me before all of this, she was proud. Now she's disappointed in what I've become. I hate making her feel this way. But I can't get out. I'm stuck and I have no way of getting out."

Something inside of Cassius broke a little inside. He felt sorry for the kid and angry that the police let something like this happen. He wanted to help this kid so bad. This wasn't the first time that he's met someone who has joined a gang out of necessity, but this was ridiculous. This kid's got some balls doing this. Doing something that he knew his mother would be disappointed in him for doing to protect her.

"I see. You're a brave kid for doing that. It's terrible that the police in this region haven't been able to get the gang problem taken care of." Cassius shook his head in disbelief. "We've failed you and the people of this town and for that I'm truly sorry." Jason looked at Cassius with wide-eyed amazement at the sound of his words, as if the kid had never been praised before. "I can tell that you're a good kid. I can cut you a deal here but that depends on how much you're willing to do for me."

Jason put up a front again. "There's always a catch, isn't there."

"Kid, I'm not going to lie. What I can do for you and your mom depends on what you can tell me. If you can tell me what I need to know, then I can promise you that I will get you and your mother relocated to a place safer than this. I will bring down the Coumarine Crew and I will get you out. I'll stick my neck out for you, but you gotta do this for me." As Cassius was saying this, he could tell that the kid began to soften up. Come on kid, I'm counting on you giving me what I need to know.

Jason looked up and held Cassius' gaze. He no longer saw a teen trying to put up a front, but a frightened child who was looking for help. "All right, what you want to know," Jason asked with a sigh.

Now Cassius can finally begin to get some answers. "First, I want to know who it was that paid your gang to assassinate Gym Leader Ramos."

Jason let out a sigh and shook his head. "They didn't give us any of their names but they told us the name of their organization. Seven of their leaders came to our hideout to propose a deal with us. Help them to assassinate Ramos and they would pay us a lot of cash. I really didn't want to do this. Murder isn't something that we would normally do but our leaders, The Triad, decided that it was time to start branching out and showing the world that we were no longer a small time crew."

"Who was it that paid your gang to do this? I need the name of this organization if I am going to be able to help you."

Jason shuddered before he spoke. "They call themselves the Evolution Origin Movement. They didn't tell us why they call themselves that and that's all I know."

Cassius kept his gaze on Jason, trying to reassure him that he was safe to do this. "When did they approach your gang with this 'proposition'? Did they say why they needed Ramos dead?"

Jason shook his head. "They didn't tell us why they wanted him dead. Only The Triad knows why. But I can tell you that they came to us about a month ago with this proposition, so they're probably long gone by now." Jason paused to gather his thoughts, closing his eyes to decide what to say next. "The guy with black hair is Kita. He's the lieutenant for Faust, the blond haired man. The Triad doesn't publicize who they really are. Their Lieutenants take on the titles of Triad members to protect the leaders. The only reason I know this is because I have a knack for…eavesdropping. If you want to get the why, Faust would know."

Cassius smiled reassuringly at Jason and said "I promise I will get you and your mother into protective custody by the end of the night. I will get a police escort for you and your mother and we will get you guys out of here. But I want you to promise to tell your mother everything about why you joined the gang. She has a right to know."

Cassius stood up to leave when Jason spoke up. "Why do you care about me? Why, when everyone else has given up on me?"

Cassius looked him dead in the eyes and said "Because it's our job to keep the people of Kalos safe. I failed to keep you and your mother safe, so I will do everything in my power to help. There will be another officer coming in to ask a few more questions, but I want you to know that I am here to make things right whenever and wherever I can. And I'm going to start with you."