Chapter Fifteen - Darn, the PokéTinker!

August 11th, 2022

Sparrow Town, Asture Region

Raine was beyond exhausted when they stumbled into Sparrow Town. He never imagined having to make the journey back and forth to Jay Town in a single day and he would never do it again. His feet throbbed with swelling and blisters and every muscle in his body screamed at him to just stop and rest.

"It's quiet," Mirella observed. "Too quiet."

"It was like this when I left this morning," Raine explained, dropping his pack on the ground outside of the Pokémon Centre. "As far as everyone knows Team Omni was never even here. They're just going on living their peaceful lives. So I suppose we did actually succeed in something."

Mirella dumped her own pack with a sigh of relief. "I wonder if Constance and the others have already gone off to Robin City."

"When I passed Claire, Spencer and Reuben on my way back to Jay Town this morning they were set on continuing as far as possible today. Even though they were plodding along rather slowly."

A man stepped out of the Pokémon Centre and almost bowled Raine over.

"You!" Mirella scowled, glaring daggers at the eclectic PokéTinker.

The Tinker had an armful of Poké Balls and was barely managing not to spill them.

"Ah Mirella, this is rather awkward," the Tinker said, dropping a single ball and kicking it straight into Raine's hands. "May I offer you a Pokémon as a peace offering?"

"No." Raine placed the Poké Ball straight back on top of the Tinker's stack. "You owe us an explanation. What is your relationship with Team Omni?"

"Team Omni? Who is that, dear boy?" the Tinker asked, darting his eyes everywhere but Raine's face.

"You know exactly who they are," Mirella growled. "When you left Jay Town several days ago you came straight here and told them about my apparent lineage. Don't mess with me, I'm in no mood for games."

"Nope, never heard of them."

Mirella seethed through clenched teeth and staring at the Tinker saw that his exposed forearms were covered in bruises. "What happened to your arms? And why are you protecting Team Omni? Do you work for them?"

"So many questions, dear child," the Tinker said, "but wouldn't you rather know what I'm doing with all of these Pokémon?"

"I do want to know, but that's far less important right now."

"It really isn't. You see, I'm returning these rescued Pokémon to the residents of Jay Town."

"What do you mean rescued?" Raine asked incredulously.

"I mean," the Tinker said, dropping a ball and kicking it straight back up onto the pile, "that I retrieved them from Team Omni's hideout here in town. It was what I received in exchange for providing information about you and the Pokédex. They were more than willing to make the trade."

"I don't believe you for a second," Mirella interjected. "First you claimed to have never heard of them and now you say that you struck a deal. The timeline also doesn't make sense. They knew about me and the Pokédex before they stole the Pokémon. You work for Team Omni, I just know it."

"Now why on Earth would I do something as foolish as that, dear girl?"

"You tell me. Why would someone who traverses the World selling and trading wares and providing assistance to all those who seek it betray the people he claims to support?"

The Tinker shrugged as best he could with his arm load and said, "Does this generous gift not show my true intentions. Why would I be giving these Pokémon back to the people if I had helped steal them in the first place? Besides, it's not like I knew that I would run into you so that you would see this act of good. I was taking them back after I healed them and I would have done it whether anyone knew or not. Ha! Explain that."

"Okay," Raine conceded, "but why did you tell them anything about Mirella in the first place? You clearly did so before they had stolen Jay Town's Pokémon."

"What possible reason should I have had to keep her identity a secret. I didn't intentionally seek out Team Omni to tell them. I just couldn't keep my mouth shut when I saw the resemblance of a great man." The Tinker laughed and shrugged again. "I know myself too well and I'm not one to keep such an exciting discovery quiet."

"You played a part in Professor Sakura's death and the destruction of more than half of Jay Town," Mirella said. "How does that feel?"

The Tinker threw his arms up and all of the Poké Balls crashed to the ground and rolled everywhere. "Uh, no, I am not guilty of that. Whatever Team Omni did they were going to do anyway. I just gave them one more thing to look for in Jay Town."

"Where can we find them?" Raine asked. "You said that you got those Pokémon from their hideout in town."

"I can show you the house, but they're long gone. They took me there yesterday and left me with a duffel bag full of these Pokémon and more. The rest are safely locked in my PokéCart."

"I still don't understand why they gave you anything after they already had the information that they needed," Mirella said. "There's something off about this whole situation. But please show us the house."

The Tinker crouched to gather up all of the Poké Balls that he had dropped and Raine and Mirella simply watched on once they had picked up their backpacks.

"This way, then," the Tinker said and strode off whistling.

Raine and Mirella stayed several metres behind him as they walked.

"I don't trust him one bit," Mirella said quietly.

"Me neither," Raine agreed. "I'm just glad to finally have at least one clue to follow up on. Maybe they left something behind that will help the others track them down."

The Tinker led them to the very edge of the residential village, past all of the nicely presented houses and well manicured gardens, all the way to a rundown house. "Here she is," he said happily.

"I'll wait out here and keep an eye on him," Mirella said. "You see what you can find inside."

Raine steeled himself for an ambush, not that there was much he could do if he got into an altercation, and stepped in through the doorway which had no door. The inside of the house was surprisingly even worse than the outside. It was covered in grime and mould and the walls were covered in holes, yet somehow it remained standing. There were only two rooms, a large conjoined living, dining and kitchen and a single bedroom with an ensuite bathroom. In the middle of the lounge area was the only piece of furniture, a wobbly wooden table. There was a clean area amidst the dust atop the table where a bag had been placed. Likely the bag that had contained the Pokémon stolen from Jay Town. Everything that the Tinker had said seemed to match up.

Raine walked slowly around both rooms, looking for any clues, but found nothing at all besides discarded food wrappers and years of rubbish. Eventually he went back outside and shook his head at Mirella. "Nothing in there," he said. "This was a dead end."

"I told you that they were gone," the Tinker chided.

"What do we do now?" Mirella asked Raine.

"We go and get some rest so that we can make more progress tomorrow."

"And what about our friend, the PokéTinker?"

"I suppose that we let him continue on with his task. Unless he has something more valuable to tell us?"

The Tinker shook his head and said, "I've told you all that I can. I'm not a bad guy and I'm certainly not a part of Team Omni."

"I wish that I believed you," Mirella quipped. "But as long as you don't know anything about what we're up to that's the least I can hope for."

"Goodbye, Tinker," Raine said gladly. "Let's hope that we never run into you again."

"How rude, dear boy," the Tinker said, adopting a look of astonishment and then he just turned and walked off on his own.

"I was tired enough already, but he just saps my energy. Let's go and rest for the night."