"Hey, guys," Nori Carino announced his arrival as he strutted through the door to the miniature computer lab which served as a clubroom. The thirteen-year-old was around 140 centimeters tall with chestnut-colored hair and soft red eyes. Besides his job with the Officials, he was the president of the newsletter club at Tobari Central Junior High. Taiiku no hi was today, and they needed to cover the school's festivities!

He glanced around the room and noticed that there was only one other person present besides him. He considered everyone in the club a friend, although there was only one person he was close to in the traditional sense. She was sitting alone in front of one of the many computers in the room.

"What's up, Yumi?" he addressed her personally.

His words did not appear to register with her. Yumi Takao was not wearing headphones of any kind and there was no sound coming from the speakers. Her short beige hair was in perfect order, styled in a cute bob cut. Her clothes were as fashionable as always: a long pleated flannel skirt and designer shirt, pink and white respectively. She was staring blankly at the monitor with her chocolate brown eyes. Was she reading something?

"Yumi?" he called to her again, a little louder. She was a lot of different things, but she wasn't the type of person to suddenly ignore someone. Was she?

"Oh, ah. Nori." Her hand jerked forward and to the right. Whatever was on the screen quickly disappeared. Nori didn't get a good look at it, but it seemed like she had been reading an email.

"What's up?" he repeated.

"Nothing, really," she told him unconvincingly. He'd learned to read body language as part of his training with the Officials, but he didn't need to see her twitching and unnaturally rigid posture to know that it was hardly nothing. "What about you?"

"Well, I'm getting close on teaching the Demon something new," he said. She was one of his Pokemon and where he got his moniker 'The Demon Tamer' from. Specifically, she was a battle-crazy Nidorina who had terrorized Veilstone with hit-and-run attacks for many months. "Mostly for her battles and to see if I can. It's not much, but it'll be cool if it works."

"Uh-huh." She was looking his way, but not at him. Her eyes were elsewhere. Maybe nowhere.

He carefully sat to the left of her. "Is something wrong?" he prodded, leaning in slightly.

She shook it off with a gesture. "Don't worry about it," she dismissed, albeit in a hasty fashion that made Nori worry even more.

All he could do was shrug and say, "If you say so." Forcing it wouldn't do him any good.

Yumi exhaled, turned away, and lowered her head. There was something wrong. She didn't want to talk about it right now, that much was clear. Maybe someone said something mean to her, or she found out about some bad news? He could only speculate, but he wasn't going to dwell on it overmuch.

The young official turned to the computer before him, switched the machine on, and brought up the web browser. He went to his favorite world news site. Nori never had the internet while growing up, or much of anything, really. But he did have the radio in his mom's trailer. The news was what he listened to the second most. That was how he became so interested in it.

The top headline jutted out like a tall tree in an open prairie. He didn't normally care for celebrity news, but this one was something big and meaningful. He couldn't help but read it aloud.

"The Krookodile Tracker, Pete Stephens, passes away at 49?!"

"What?!" Yumi's reverie broke as she jumped to attention. She leaned over his shoulder. "When?!"

"Five minutes ago!"

"What happened?!"

"I'm bringing it up now!"

Things like radio dramas were what Nori listened to the most on the radio. There was one he had fond memories of which featured a retelling of one of Stephens' adventures where he encountered a Legendary Pokemon from his home region. Plus, there was that interview on Natureworld with Nami. He had even seen a few episodes of the guy's TV show, mostly at school. Nori may not have known much removed from popular culture, but even he knew Pete Stephens, the Krookodile Tracker.

Yumi peered over as he scrolled through the pages. He read fast, and thankfully, she read faster. That didn't surprise him. She liked to read and even went with him to the library on a couple of occasions.

The article explained that he was in Johto to document a mass outbreak of Qwilfish. There was a stray Sinnohian specimen which investigators speculated was released there. It panicked and attacked him when he tried to approach, piercing a weak spot in his diving suit, which was designed to withstand even things like a Sharpedo's bite. It was nothing short of a freak accident. Attempts to resuscitate him on the scene failed, and he was pronounced dead on arrival to Violet City General.

"You were just in Johto yesterday, weren't you?" Yumi inquired.

"Yeah, but I didn't want to stay there longer than I had to." He could've stayed a week, but he decided to fly back on Sunday night, so he wouldn't miss any school. It was a mandatory vacation that he didn't get the point of. Something to do with the policy of the Officials. He would have gone to Sunyshore to visit his mentor Volkner and his bestie Arumi, but it had to be out of region. "Even if I hadn't, I was up near Mahogany and Ecruteak. Not anywhere close to where it happened."

"Yo."

At that moment, Reiko Azuma entered the room, followed closely by Terrance Lee. The two of them were in the same grade as Nori.

"Wh-what are you two doing?" Terrance stammered, his chocolate brown eyes darting between them. He wore baggy black sweatpants with an equally loose shirt of the same color.

Nori and Yumi exchanged glances. It was the latter who broke the news. "The Krookodile Hunter passed…"

Reiko stamped a foot. "What?!" she exclaimed with a flick of her fiery orange hair. She had on jeans and a blue jacket. Reiko was short and had a bit of weight on her, though not an unhealthy amount. "Lemme see!"

Nori scrolled to the top of the article. Reiko sat down to his left, while Terrance shuffled up and tried to look over his shoulder. He went through it again.

"Scroll slower!" Reiko snapped.

"Read it up yourself, then!" Nori fired back, getting out of the seat to allow her to do so. It was the best way, anyway.

She took him up on it. When he turned away with a huff, Nori noticed Terrance's expression. His eyes were watery, not to mention distant. His mouth was hanging open.

"What's up?" he asked, with a bit of concern.

"That was my favorite show…" he spoke flatly. He shook his head and took a step away from the computer.

"The Krookodile Tracker?" he said. "Wasn't my favorite, but I liked it too."

Reiko grumbled. "Hard to find someone who didn't," she remarked as she continued to slowly make her way through the article. "You'd have to be a bigot or a freak to hate the show."

"That's taking it too far," Nori commented. "Not everything's for everyone." He was pretty sure just about everyone disliked at least one thing most people loved. Like for him, it was Pokemon journeys. A lot of people wanted to experience one at least once, like Reiko or his former friend Claris, but he never had any interest.

Yumi looked between them. "I think most would like Pete Stephens himself, at least."

Nori couldn't disagree there. As he was about to speak up, a faint sob came from a table behind them.

Reiko stood up immediately, maybe reflexively. "Terrance, you okay?" she said, placing a hand on his shouder.

He and Yumi exchanged a smirk. Those two had been friends since they were little, and the only ones at the club not aware of Reiko's feelings was Terrance himself. Or if he was, he did a good job of ignoring them.

"No," came a huff. "I…I don't know what…" He laid his head on the table, burying it under his arms.

The two waited. When Reiko remained silent with uncertainty, Nori spoke.

"It'll be fine, Terrance," he assured him.

Yumi concurred. "I'm sorry. I know, it hurts me too. But we can't…" She trailed off, uncertain of how to put it to him.

Nori sat up straighter as a realization struck. "Actually, we can do something."

"What, necromancy?" Reiko spat.

"I meant, write an article."

"Oh." She slapped herself and smirked. "Yeah, we could. And you know him best, Terrance."

"It'd be a good way to honor him," Yumi agreed, nodding at the idea. "You know?"

Still using his arms as a chin rest, he peered up at them. Nori maintained that it was a good idea anyway. They would technically need the others to agree, but he was sure they would like it too. That is, if Terrance was comfortable writing about it so soon.

He finally sat up. It took a few seconds longer to give his reply. "Okay…"

After what they managed yesterday, they had one day to hammer it out and get it to print, since they published on Wednesday. The atmosphere at school changed with the news of the sudden passing of a beloved celebrity. It was a subtle shift, yet it was not lost on Nori. Aside from the talk about it that he overheard in the halls, there were fewer smiles on faces and people were moving slower. It was clear to him that the Krookodile Tracker meant a lot to almost everyone in the school. The others unanimously agreed to write an article about him. Their weekly newsletter always had one global story anyway.

Their two fieldworkers were out getting quotes from their peers for the article. Adelle and Yasmin were ninth-years who tended to be inseparable. Saqid, an eighth-year like Yumi, was in the school library looking for some books that might be relevant. That left the rest of them to begin the brainstorming portion.

It took Terrance several minutes to compose himself after sitting down. He fidgeted and inhaled. Three of them were looking at him with expectant encouragement. The other, Mitsu Chisaka, was hunched over a monitor as usual.

"I think, well." Terrance huffed again. He spoke with slow uncertainty. "We should open with a biography of him and what happened."

Even before Nori had come to the club, Terrance was only in it because his friend was. His contributions were minimal and limited to only small additions. That didn't mean they didn't appreciate him, of course. He was one of them, and every little bit helped. This was the first time he was taking on a leading role, and as far as Nori was concerned, he was doing fine. Reiko beamed. Yumi couldn't help smiling either. Nori opened his mouth to say something, when a sneeze interrupted his train of thought.

They turned to the source, Mitsu. The teal-haired teenager let out a sheepish chuckle as he wiped his nose with his hand.

"Did you really have to come in here when you're sick?" Reiko snapped. She turned away with a grimace, but kept her narrow eyes leering at him.

"I'm not that sick…" Mitsu replied with a sniff as he wiped his left eye. "Some of this is from crying."

Nori had to agree with the orange-haired girl. "You could at least wear a mask," he said. He respected that Mitsu came to school anyway, but that was just common courtesy.

He reached for the roll of toilet paper in front and to the right of him, next to his green water bottle. "It'll be fine." He blew his nose.

"I don't want to catch your damn cold, dumbass!" Reiko shouted the thing that was on everyone's mind, but only Nori himself would've said it to him outright too.

In fact, he said so too. "Yeah, no one does. And put that rag in your bag."

Yumi giggled at his unwitting rhyme. Reiko continued to glower. Mitsu eventually groaned and put the tissue where he was asked, instead of the wastebin. He was a good person and a hard worker, but sometimes he seemed off in his own world.

"Hey!" Terrance squeaked out. "Does that…sound good?"

"Sorry. It works," Nori confirmed. Stupid interruptions. "It's simple, but simple is best sometimes."

"Then after that we can put some of the stuff others said," Terrance continued. "Like their memories about him."

"I'm not sure if we can print some of it," Yumi said grimly. Nori glanced at her as she elaborated. "I overheard some people in the halls saying they felt like going out and beating up Qwilfish."

Reiko snorted, giving her head a toss. "That's stupid. They should be blaming the one who killed him, not all of them."

An uncomfortable silence drew over them. Even Reiko, realizing what she had just said, crossed her arms and turned away with a frown. But the fact remained that a lot of people were going to demand justice. And at the most extreme, some might take matters into their own hands and exact it upon proxies. Nori hoped those people were outliers and not the norm. No, he hoped people weren't stupid enough to do that.

"I wonder what's going to happen to that Qwilfish," Terrance mused the question on everyone's mind.

Yumi turned to him. "You would know, Nori. Right?"

"Yeah. It's case by case," he told them. He had to extensively learn Pokemon-related law as part of his studies to become an official. "Typically, a wild Pokemon that kills a human is sent to assessment, and if deemed necessary, put down. But there's two things complicating this case. The first is the argument that he provoked the Qwilfish. The other is that it may have been a released Pokemon. That changes things."

"Wait, it does?" asked Mitsu.

He confirmed. "Trainers who release a Pokemon into the wild are responsible for its actions for at least six months afterward."

"So they just need to find the bastard that did this!" Reiko declared. She rubbed her hands together.

"Right!" agreed Mitsu with a sniff. It wasn't clear if it was from his grief or the cold. Maybe it was both.

But Nori had to burst their bubble. "I don't think they're gonna find whoever did this." They were looking, but no one had seen anything. Time would tell if whoever did it would come forward out of guilt or be exposed because of it. "Even if they do, the first thing I said, the provoking aspect, might be their defense like the Qwilfish's."

"That's dumb!" snapped Reiko, slamming a palm on the desk. "And why don't they like, get someone to ask the thing who its trainer was?"

"There's a lot of reasons why they don't often do that." On paper, getting someone who could talk to Pokemon was simple and obvious. But it wasn't that simple from a legal perspective. "Most of the reasons why were because of a high-profile case from the 1960s. An interpreter – Kentaro Kannagi – got accused of fabricating Pokemon testimony."

His fellow club members all reacted with varying degrees of surprise. But he'd caught all of their interest. Especially with the part about the Kannagis. "What happened?" Terrance asked.

"A real mess happened," Nori said. "They eventually found out that the Pokemon was the one who lied, but not before a media fiasco nearly destroyed Kentaro. He left the Kannagi Shrine anyway despite getting cleared. It ended up exposing a lot of the flaws with Pokemon witnesses. It wasn't used much before, but there's been more restrictions put upon it since then, like special permission and multiple interpreters being needed."

There was much more to Pokemon-related law than one might expect. It wasn't like, super restrictive or anything like that. A little kid could still own Pokemon, and once they turned ten, they could get a license to participate in officially sanctioned activities throughout most of the world. But there were still rules, both obvious and obscure. If someone didn't follow them, they could get put on a blacklist and be legally barred from ownership.

"You're really smart, Nori," Yumi said, leaning in with a soft beam.

"Oh, uh," He could feel the heat rising in his face. "It's nothing special, really."

Reiko, Terrance, and Mitsu only laughed a little. It wasn't clear if it was at him or what. The point became moot when a buzzing sound from his pocket interrupted them. Nori reached in and retrieved his radio. A small rectangular earpiece that worked as a very limited phone, could tune into emergency scanners, and served as identification.

"What kind of ringtone's that?" Reiko snorted.

"I think it's supposed to be some kind of alarmy noise?" It was annoying, but maybe that was supposed to be the point. "Sorry, I'll be right back."

He grumbled. What was he getting a call now for?! It was Tuesday, not Sunday! He stepped into the office at the back of the room and shut the door behind him. Nori put the device in his ear and pressed a button on the side to answer.

"—lo? Sir? Hello? You there?" came the voice of a man with a thick European accent.

"I'm here," Nori answered.

"Ah, it is good that you had answered! I am right that it is lunch hour at your school, yes?"

"It is, but I'm busy with my club." He didn't hide his impatience. This guy liked to ramble a lot.

"Oh, sorry sir!" the man said. He didn't sound very apologetic, but that was just how he spoke. "Okay, briefly. I was just calling to say to you, a new assignment is on the way!"

"What?! Already?" He hadn't had his first one for a month yet! He got Pawniard on the 21st of September, and it was the 13th of October!

"It was a surprising matter for me too! Sorting out will need to happen. But two days! Friday! In the usual place! Prepare yourself."

"But Friday is three days from now?"

"I mean Friday!" he quickly spoke. "Three days! Be pre–"

"Fine. See you then." He hung up, pocketed it, and went outside.

"That your handler?" Reiko quipped with a smarmy smirk.

"It feels like the opposite sometimes," he answered, returning her expression. "But yeah. I'm getting a new assignment."

Reiko arched an eyebrow. Mitsu, as usual, was too engrossed to react. But Terrance and Yumi both recoiled. The latter's hands flew to her mouth.

"Another one?!" she shuddered. "But Pawniard's… You're still…"

Terrance was able to speak. "Has he been rehabilitated yet? Pawniard, that is?"

"No, not yet." He was comfortable enough to have him battle random trainers like he did on that vacation, but not enough to say he had finished his job. Actually, he wasn't sure what counted as being done.

Nori was a Pokemon Rehabilitator, or rather, the only one. He worked with highly problematic Pokemon that no one else could or would; ones that even the best conventional trainers couldn't (or had no time/obligation to) train and care facilities couldn't (or wouldn't) do anything for. His job was to rein in the nastier parts of their personalities to acceptable standards.

Reiko crossed her arms. "Well, hopefully you don't let this one almost kill anything."

"Hey!" He appreciated her criticism, but she took it too far sometimes. "Not going to let that happen again! Not after that! But I'm hoping this isn't the usual pace I get assignments." He paused, then added, "I better ask about that." It seemed it wasn't the case from the man's reaction, but who could say?

"But we should get back to work," said Terrance. "I'll start…trying to make a draft. Points to hit on, and…stuff."

"Right," concurred Reiko. "I'll help if you need it."

"Mhm." Nori had to agree. Whatever this was, it wouldn't be a thing to worry about until the weekend. Not that he was going to let it get in the way of the article anyway.

Yumi fidgeted in her seat, drumming her fingers together. "Yeah," she said, although she was glancing at him instead of Terrance. He could only nod at her in assurance for now.

As Terrance dug into his bag to find a pen and some paper, Nori thought a bit more about his impending assignment. Whatever it was, it was hard to be worse than a serial killer's Pokemon. And he was up to the task! Not like he had a say in the matter. So, as he always liked to say, there was nothing to do but do it!