17.

Kanto Dreams of Electric Rats

Orla finds Friede drinking coffee alone in the airship's kitchen, Captain Pikachu nowhere in sight.

Pewter City was a dead end.

No one had seen the poor girl, and the local gym leader, Brock, hadn't been able to help them much. He had sent a few gym trainers to check if anyone had seen Liko near Mt. Moon, and Mollie, much to everyone's surprise, had walked straight to the local Pokemon Center to ask for her family's help.

Friede told her she didn't have to but Mollie shook her head and said, "She's an innocent kid. And…I have the connections to help us out."

But Liko was nowhere to be found.

"The Captain didn't get to finish off our coffee?"

"...he tried."

Orla sighed.

"It's not your fault, Friede."

"...I'm the one that was out there flying around with Charizard. I should…I should have known better…"

"We moved too fast," Orla said. "We got worried for the kid and messed up. It happens to the best of us."

"..."

"Friede, listen to me…you…you're not doing us any favors acting like this. You haven't been sleeping, it's been three days since we last saw you in the kitchen. We are already worried about the kid, don't make us worry about you too."

"...I…"

Friede just stared at his coffee, already cold.

Blue Oak had offered him coffee that day.

Friede had asked to see him after the whole mess in Indigo Academy had gone down. Blue agreed, and invited him to come over to the gym later that day. A girl from Kalos was there too. Blue introduced them. Serena Gabena from Kalos, a Champion.

Friede was hopeful.

The girl didn't talk much during the meeting, neither did Blue, preferring to let Friede do all the talking. Serena frowned a bit here and there, glancing at Captain Pikachu once or twice before asking, rather calmly, if Friede's airship had disturbed a Beedrill's nest. Friede was confused, shaking his head. Serena sighed, excused herself, and left the men alone.

"Uh…"

"Sorry about that. A wild Beedrill has been keeping her busy," Blue explained. "She's weird about that kind of stuff…usually there's a method to her madness."

"I see…"

"As for your…situation…" Blue stared at Friede. "I understand…but between you and me, I find you suspicious."

"Look, I get it. It's hard to explain but…"

Blue raised a hand to stop him.

"I said that I find you suspicious, not that you're lying," the younger man told him. "I was already informed about the situation in Indigo…but really? A school's roof is destroyed and one of the students goes missing…a student, who apparently doesn't exist because there's no records of her being there, and suddenly you show up with a story about being hired by that girl's mother to bring her back home…what do you want me to tell you?"

Friede didn't know about the records.

"I don't know what's going on, you do, and that's not helping."

"It's the truth."

"I bet…" Blue sighed. "Fine. I'll take your word for it. For now, anyway. I don't have the authority to stop you, if you're so worried about that…but for both our sakes, don't do anything stupid. I don't care to chase trouble, you understand?"

And with that, the meeting was over.

And now, Friede was busy trying to stay awake and alert.

Liko was gone.

Mollie's relatives hadn't seen a thing.

Everything was a mess.

Friede called Alex, asked him if Lucca had called, and was disappointed when the man shook his head with a sigh. The poor man looked like he hadn't slept a wink but he looked more alive than Friede felt.

"Gabena, are you responsible for sending that Friede guy and his crew over to Pewter City?"

Serena pouted at Blue.

"What if I did? It's not like you trusted him either."

"I was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt and you didn't help at all going behind my back like that and doing…well, whatever it is you did."

"Liko was my priority, not your feelings."

"I'm hurt…but that's fair, I think…any word about that other crew?"

"Nothing. Mr. Looker hasn't found anything concrete yet…old man Nanu did tell me the other day that there's too many unknown organizations out there. It could be anyone."

"Not Team Rocket?"

"Nope. Greninja couldn't get too close but the pictures he took that we sent to Mr. Looker didn't show him much…it's an airship, not cheap, no symbols, no marks, nothing. Unlike our suspicious professor's ragtag team, our mysterious rooftop crew seems pretty professional…and with money to spare, too."

"Professionals," Blue scoffed. "So much for that."

"I wouldn't put it like that…if anything that jerk that hurt Liko only failed because he didn't know what he was dealing with in the first place."

"...was her leg better before leaving?"

"Oh, her leg was all fine and dandy! Except, you know, that scar and the fact she's not walking right."

Blue shook his head.

"What about that Pokemon she told you about? Is that pendant of hers some fancy Pokeball?"

Serena shrugged.

"I'm not sure…it was given to Liko by her grandmother…but…"

"It's a family heirloom, then?"

"That…or a dark family secret…whatever it is, those rooftop bandits went to a lot of trouble for it…but they might not understand its true nature, not entirely, anyway. He made quite a mess of things at Liko's school, too…and, Blue, he had a Beheeyem with him."

"Ah…"

"A Beheeyem at your disposal and you attack your target instead of using your Pokemon's power to make them forget about the pendant you came to steal? What's up with that?"

"Hmph…heartless prick."

"More than that…he was smart. Think about it. We were here and the rangers were in the area around the academy due to that poacher alert. If a teacher found a very confused girl walking around with no memory of how she got there, everyone would be a bit concerned, start asking questions…and if they go and check their cameras they might see they're not working right and in trying to fix it, the technician might find out someone's hacked their system…but if Friede and his crew were to arrive and our suspicious professor asks her about her pendant and she can't remember a thing, everyone would be in high alert and with that poacher watch going around, our suspect wasn't going to go running back home without risking being found with his prize…so, what does he do? He plays dirty. He corners Liko, hurts her leg so she can't escape, makes her doubt her own family, lying to her face, and tries to take the pendant away…he'll take it, and maybe, just maybe, he'll order his Pokemon to make her injury worse, bad enough that no one would care about the missing pendant with a kid bleeding out…but he failed." Serena grinned with a bit of venom. "And it also helps that that jerk wasn't as sneaky as he thought."

"Looker's people recovered the videos?"

"Yep! Although…it wasn't a lot. That Magneton crew screwed over most of the school cameras but they caught him. Our jerk is there, right and center, in one of the shots but…"

"He's a complete unknown jackass."

"Pretty much."

Blue sighed, passing a hand over his head.

"...I swear…this was much easier when Team Rocket was the only menace around."