Intermission 2: The Keepers

"An idealistic rookie will tell you that we work in pairs so someone can make sure we're doing the right thing. Ask anyone who's been here a decade, they'll tell you it's to make sure we're doing things right."

~ Officer Jennifer Buckley, Castelia City Police Department ~

The late evening light of the Alolan sun glinted gold and bright copper across the trees, the land, and the numerous buildings lining Heahea. Sharp hues of blue and pink littered the sky among the few clouds that crossed it, painting a beautiful vista above the islands that went practically unnoticed amidst the myriad of other colors that made up Akala. The lights came on, and the sun went down. Tourists walked back from the beaches hauling pokemon and towels alike, while locals clocked out of their jobs for the day and gathered at the bars, restaurants, or simply returned home to do it all again the next day.

A man of the former made his way along the sidewalk, approaching the steps of an elegant hotel with a grandiose sign, lit by colored lights that read, "Tide Song Hotel," and welcoming the cooling breeze as the automatic doors slid open for his arrival. He nodded politely to the hotel staff as he passed, taking the stairs up a floor to reveal a long and well-kept hallway, decorated with lovely paintings and plants that looked almost authentic enough to be real. He followed it down, whistling to himself for a moment before whipping a black card out from his wallet, flashing the reader, and stepping into his hotel room with a welcome sigh.

As he stepped inside and turned to close the door, he glanced back to see the other occupant of the room sitting atop the furthest of the two beds, legs crossed, eyes buried deep in the laptop that was situated perfectly on top of her knees to allow for proper airflow. The man smiled and let out a small chuckle, unbuttoning his dress shirt as he slowly strode over to her.

"Good to see you too, Chief," Looker greeted, taking a hanger from the closet and sliding his shirt into place. Perhaps he was just old fashioned, but there was something satisfying about a clean lineup of shirts hung in a closet. The Chief had teased him about it the first day they'd arrived, but now she was silent. Her hair was down, something Looker didn't see very often, and she'd finally traded her suit for a pair of Alolan exeggutor-dotted sweats and a nice white blouse. "You look cozy. How was your day off?"

"Don't call me 'Chief', just Anabel will do while we're not at the office," Anabel murmured flatly, not even looking up from the screen. It was something of a game for them; he'd call her Chief, she'd ask him not to. She'd ask for his real name, and he'd give her his code one. "Was just looking over the security footage the Aether Foundation submitted to see if we missed anything. Pity the blast knocked out the cameras. How did your meeting with Kahuna Olivia go? I take it not well, judging by the slouch of your shoulders, but you're trying to be optimistic for my sake, going by your cheery demeanor."

Looker stared at her for a second before scoffing and putting his hands on his hips, shaking his head. That fact she could pick up on that with just her peripherals impressed him; she'd come a long way since they had first met nigh on a decade ago.

"Well, you'd be correct, yes. As always. Mind if I watch the news?" He smirked at her, moving towards his bed with the excited expectation of finally taking his shoes off. As he did so, however, his own attentiveness kicked in and he gave her a cursory glance, noticing how glazed over her eyes were, how she was hunched over the laptop with a slouch of her own, and how a firm heat expelled from the laptop's vents. With a sigh, Looker gave her a reproving glare. "Chief-"

"Anabel. And no television, I'm concentrating."

"I thought we agreed you were putting too much strain on yourself, and that you would relax on your day off. As the name implies." He strode off towards the kitchen immediately, opening the microwave to find a bowl of instant noodles that had certainly already been heated and long since gone cold. "And you haven't eaten today, either. Honestly, if I didn't know you as well as I do, I'd be quite sure you were making a cry for help, instead of just overworking yourself down to the bone."

"Mm."

With a roll of the eyes, Looker filled a styrofoam cup with tap water and brought it over to her knowing all too well she probably hadn't even gotten up for a drink. She took it with a hum of thanks while Looker sighed and returned to the kitchen, grabbing four slices of deli meat from the fridge and getting them crackling and popping in a skillet. He made the excuse that he himself was craving a sandwich, and that making her one as well was hardly a chore, despite the fact he'd just had dinner at a Paldean restaurant.

People were always surprised when they found out Anabel was the chief of their division. He didn't necessarily blame them; the perception that age and experience were the sole contributing factors to ranking was one that society had ingrained long ago, but the truth was that Anabel was a better agent than he was. Her skill in a pokemon battle was unrivaled, her dedication to each job was inspiring, and her keen eye was such that she could count the change in your wallet in the time it took for you to pull a dollar out of it.

Looker did not bemoan this, he relished in the fact that the younger generation was surpassing him. Getting to see it happen in real time was a gift, one that he would have otherwise been deprived of due to his work. He pressed the spatula into the ham, smiling despite himself as he threw in some pepper. If someone had walked in on them with her outfit, his lecturing, and the fact that he was cooking them ham in a tank-top and suit-pants, they might've thought him a father trying to connect with his shut-in daughter after a day at the office. He probably wouldn't have corrected them.

"Here, eat before you collapse," Looker insisted as he sat beside her and held out a plate. "Since you worked your entire day off, why don't I just move mine back a few days, and you can take off again-" But Anabel shook her head.

"No point putting yours off for my sake. Take it, and I'll handle the case," she mumbled through a mouthful of bread and ham. "When is it, tomorrow?"

"Day after, actually, but I-"

"Take your day off, that's an order."

Looker huffed and shook his head; he had never had much luck arguing with young women, especially ones that could pull rank.

"So, how poorly did your meeting with Kahuna Olivia fare?" she asked, sending an email. Looker glanced over and saw that it was to the Aether Foundation, with the subject being about building blueprints. Looker snorted and swallowed a bit of his own sandwich at her question: poorly was an understatement.

"I might as well not have met with her at all, looking at all that it accomplished. Kahuna Hala, while skeptical, at least met us halfway. Olivia on the other hand refuses to do even that," he grumbled. "I'd say she trusts me about as far as she could throw me, but I suspect she'd actually get a good couple hundred meters. Not outright, of course, but I got the feeling she didn't much care for our presence on the island." Anabel didn't look at him still, but he caught her blinking. Acknowledgement.

"I received an email this morning that the permits were sent over along with the warrant. Was that not enough?" she asked, peering at her screen as though something was confusing her. Looker nodded, reaching into his pocket and pulling out several papers that Anabel took and glanced at briefly.

"I had hoped, but no." Looker sighed. "She assured me that she's more than happy to assist in the investigation, but then insisted that her people ascertain that the documentation is sound, and that the warrant is viable. Then, she wants us accompanied by at least two members of her own law enforcement while we search the island." He gave her a knowing shrug as she looked over the documents, knowing all too well what was happening to their investigation. The light in her eyes told him that Anabel knew too.

"She's trying to slow us up through legal loopholes," Anabel guessed correctly, taking another bite, "and it's working because she knows that since said investigation hasn't transitioned into one of actual perceived risk yet, nobody with the authority to push the issue will." She breathed through her nose and closed her eyes for a moment, thinking as she mouthed out silent calculations. "And… she can withhold us from making any considerable progress for at least another day, possibly two, if her officers are spread thin. That'll give our quarry just enough time to leave Heahea if she's here, and more time to hide herself in the jungles if not."

Looker nodded his head solemnly. There was truth in thinking that being a member of a global police force allowed for perks and opportunities that simply couldn't be found on a regular force, but whether you served a small town or the world itself, those who cared to follow procedure would be held up by it eventually. He'd tried to instill that sense of propriety into the Chief when she had trained under him, that following protocol and the law strictly rather than when it benefited them kept themselves and others safe. But even he knew there were exceptions, that sometimes not following protocol kept more people safe from harm.

What worried him was that someone who felt quite differently had trained her just as much, if not more.

When he glanced back at and saw her eyes still closed, he knew she was finally giving out. He took the paper plate from beside her, stacked it with his own, and put them both in the trash before shutting her laptop. That gentle clasping was enough for her eyes to shoot open, but before she could give so much as a voice of complaint her body stiffened as a yawn forced itself out of her, and Looker chuckled.

"Negative, Chief. That's enough for one day. You've been up for far too long; I know for a fact you were up and working before I was even awake. Come come." He took her cup and set it on the bedside table separating their respective beds, earning himself an unimpressed glare from his superior.

"I'm hardly a little girl anymore, I can put myself to bed," she grumbled as she felt around the bed aimlessly. Looker merely chuckled as he noticed the bedspread tucked neatly beneath the pillows. The truth was he still saw a bright-eyed twenty-one year old, with no memories and no purpose, lost and confused in a place she didn't know. He wouldn't quite tell her that, however, there was too much respect between them for that. Instead, he merely turned off the lamp and climbed into his own bed, having to only wait a mere minute before hearing the telltale sound of gentle snoring, and allowing himself the simple pleasure of turning on the evening news with a smile.

The next morning, Looker awoke to an already dressed Anabel in the middle of cooking them each a plate of eggs and bacon. As usual, it was straight to business from dawn to dusk with her, but there was a hint of intent behind her movements that Looker hadn't quite expected. They had nothing to be late for as it was barely eight in the morning, and so when she quickly handed him his eggs and began to politely eat her own with haste, Looker couldn't help but give her a glance.

"You've figured something out, haven't you?" he asked, recognizing the signs of an epiphany. But to his surprise, she shook her head.

"No, I have a new question, and the fact that I have that question is enough for me to want to investigate immediately," she explained, taking her laptop off of the table and turning it around to show him the screen. "I sent an email last night to the Aether Foundation requesting the floor plans for the foundation's main site, because I was trying to retrace the escape route the girl took. But look, as of this morning they've flat out declined any chance of that."

Looker leaned forward and looked at the email for a moment, silently reading it before leaning back and shrugging. "Well, that's their right Anabel. I mean, private corporations and the like enjoy every bit of independence they can get, especially with sensitive information like that. Becomes a security issue-"

"I'd agree if we weren't trying to solve what they keep calling, 'the biggest theft and danger to pokemon conservation, ever'," Anabel murmured, turning the laptop back around. "They requested our assistance after all, so why impede their own investigation? That is my current question." She immediately went back to typing as Looker poured himself a cup of coffee, shaking his head.

"Well, you know what I say about following protocol. I'm sure they just want us to get a warrant for it – assuming of course the kahuna doesn't need to look over that one too." He scoffed into his mug at that, but he was never one to undermine a genuine inquiry, and he trusted his partner's judgment. "Didn't the cosmog release a blast that knocked out everyone? Kid ran to a boat, grabbed it, tried to sail without knowing how to drive, sank the boat or went overboard, and woke up on Melemele. Seems straightforward; why do you want the building plans?"

Anabel practically shoveled the last of her eggs into her mouth as she tossed the paper plate away and grabbed a pokeball from within her coat. On the outside she was poised, calm, and professional, but Looker knew beneath the surface her curiosity was leaving her more eager than a joltik in the famed Chargestone Cave. Looker began to eat faster; he knew better than to keep her waiting when it came to something like this.

"Because, the security footage we were given seems to show the night sky in the background window, from the top of the foundation," she answered simply, throwing on her black coat. How she wore it in this weather, he simply could not understand. "The docks, naturally, have to be at the very bottom, which implies that either she somehow managed to disable an entire compound and its security force on numerous floors with a single attack, or she did not leave via the boat. Coming?" She was already standing in the door, waiting for him, and he managed to suppress a chuckle as he hurriedly threw on his shirt and vest before following after her.

Anabel ensured the door was locked and then hailed a cab. Without the support of Kahuna Olivia yet, transportation was unfortunately restrained to public means, though Looker had considered checking into the local "poke-ride" system, as he didn't look forward to searching the jungles of Alola for a teenager on his own two feet. For now though, he'd happily accept the comfy, albeit slightly scratchy, back of a taxi for a few minutes. The cool air of the air conditioning along with the growing warmth of the sun shining through the rear window onto their backs made for a surprisingly pleasant trip.

Looker had closed his eyes for a moment, taking in the weather and the calm tunes playing through the cabbie's radio when a thought struck him, and he glanced over at Anabel while shaking his head. "How on earth do you wear that thing? I haven't worn my coat since we got here, it'd give me heatstroke for certain." She glanced back over at him, possibly recovering from being lost in thought, but continued sitting politely with her hands in her lap.

"Perhaps it's because I remember growing up in Hoenn that the heat doesn't bother me. The suit itself is also rather thin, though it does soak up heat like a meowth on a rock." Her professional demeanor broke slightly as she gave him a small smirk. "Or maybe you are getting too old to deal with such weather. Retirement might be a more merciful fate than subjecting you to the temperatures of Alola."

"Ah, the confidence of youth," he chuckled, cozying himself into the corner of the seat where the sun hit just right. "Trust me, you'll get to my age one day, and then your body becomes all economics."

"Meaning?"

Looker chortled and patted his stomach."Hairline's got a recession, belly's got an inflation, and it's putting me in a depression." Anabel cracked a wider smile and shook her head, until the both of them were quietly chuckling in the back seat of the cab for a minute straight. "Old Nanu taught me that one. I swear he'd say it to me every time I complained about a foot cramp, or got hit with paralysis. Eventually I learned to stop complaining, which was probably the point."

Anabel nodded beside him, her gaze returning to the window as they passed by the docks. "Hm, that does sound like him indeed. I should very much like to visit him while we are here, if we can." Looker smiled, but it didn't quite meet his eyes, and he was thankful she didn't see it because he knew she'd be able to tell. He hoped this case wouldn't last so long that they would see Nanu, personally, but something told him that it might just. Before he could ponder the possibility more, the taxi pulled up to the curb and stopped.

Both agents hopped out, Looker giving the man a tip, and stared out at the wide open expanse of the ocean as it lapped up at the beach before them. But alas, this was not a vacation.

"What's the plan, Chief?" Looker asked over the cawing of wingulls above them. Rather than answer, Anabel decided to let her actions speak instead, and released her pokeball into the sand where a massive cyan dragon with blood-red wings materialized before them. Looker blinked once. Then twice.. He turned slowly to look at his superior, who was already climbing atop her pokemon without so much as a word or second glance..

"Really? You're going to fly there? Even we don't have permission to just fly in a personal air zone without permission, let's just wait and see if we can't get a warrant, or just ask if they'll send a boat-"

"I'm done waiting," Anabel said simply, scooting forward on her salamence to make room for one more. Looker sighed and looked back at her, and she did the same. "We're going on flight around the island, remaining within the legal height limits of the region, and possibly passing by the famed floating island of the Aether Foundation. There are no rules being broken, now hop on." Yep, that was an order alright. Looker had barely climbed behind her when she let out a crisp snap with her fingers that sent her salamence soaring skyward with all the velocity of a runaway jet plane.

Flying was not something Looker did very often. It wasn't that he was scared of it; flying with a trained pokemon was safer than flying in an airplane, as a pokemon would at least try to save your life. It was just that if your plane crashed, you wouldn't really see it happen. Riding a pokemon, on the other hand, didn't give you much of a choice since you could see almost everything in every direction for miles on end. In the wide open sea of Alola, it was a magnificently breathtaking sight, one that photographs and videos would never fully replicate. It was the wind in your face and the sun on your back, the breathing of the salamence below, those seemingly minor aspects that separated the photos from real life.

That said, it was certainly more real than the photographs, and so he felt no shame when he wrapped his arms around his superior's waist for what he considered to be dear life.

After roughly fifteen minutes of straight flying, the so-called "fifth" island of Alola came into view far below them. The Aether Paradise, as it was called, sat atop a massive platform that floated along the ocean in a way that made the entire thing resemble an aircraft carrier. Helipads adorned the opposite ends of the carrier, while the center building rose skyward like a shopping mall, littered with windows and glass to allow the sun to filter inside. Behind the main structure sat a mansion, elegant and composed of the same bright white metal that reflected the sun outwards like a mirror.

It made approaching the building difficult, that was for certain. Looker wondered if that was intentional.

"Can you see through the glass any?" Anabel called over the rushing of the wind. She lowered a pair of sunglasses onto her eyes, flying closer towards the floating island, and Looker managed to grab her attention with a sleeve tug.

"Don't get too close! The last thing we want is for them to send a security patrol to escort us out of the airspace," Looker warned, but if she heard him she didn't acknowledge it. Looker squinted as they circled the building from far above, trying to peer down through the glass, but their height simply made the glass reflective and opaque.

Anabel frowned, and with a gentle kick of her heels, the salamence went into a steep descent. "I'm going to get closer and do a single pass by the windows on the opposite side so the sun isn't as harsh. Try to look inside!"

"Anabel, do NOT-"

But it was too late. Her salamence clearly didn't understand fly-laws, nor did it care to as it soared like a bullet past the glinting windows of the Aether Paradise. Looker was forced to grip Anabel's waist as the wind buffeted him and seemed to practically blind him, all the while the threat of his grip slipping and sending him splattering into the pristine white walls seemed more and more imminent. He held his breath, and strained to keep his eyes open as they passed the windows.

For just a mere second, a fraction of a second, he saw inside.

Just as fast as it had picked up speed, Anabel's salamence began to slow into a turn and curve away from the building as she steered them back in the direction of Akala island. Looker never let go of her waist, merely hoping they hadn't tripped some kind of alarm while he solely replayed exactly what he had seen through the glass for that split second over and over again. To make sure there was no mistake. Though, he wasn't convinced of the significance quite yet. Anabel had yet to ask, perhaps to avoid being drowned out by the wind that seemed to buffet them, and so he held his tongue.

Ten minutes later, the two of them came to a slow stop along the shoreline of Heahea City, not a single skarmory or fearow in sight behind them. Looker heaved a sigh of relief as he hopped off, relishing in being on the ground once more. So maybe he was a little scared of flying, who wouldn't be? Salamence was quickly returned to its ball, after Anabel had pressed its forehead to hers and silently gave her thanks, before quickly turning to Looker.

"What did you see?" She took off her sunglasses, and Looker could tell by the look in her eyes she'd been dying to ask since they had started flying back. With his hands on his knees, Looker took a deep breath and straightened himself, popping his back in the process with a wince.

"Well, you were right… that glass area we flew past is the conservatory," he confirmed. "Very top, too. But I'm still not following you exactly on the significance of it… Doesn't change that she stole the cosmog and a boat." To his surprise however, Anabel smiled and nodded towards the street where several tourists were staring at them curiously.

"You saw the docks at the bottom as well?" she asked, and he nodded. "Good. I'll tell you back at the hotel when I've got my laptop and can show you." And without a word she hailed a cab for them once more. Neither one spoke of such confidential things within the cab, and instead remained quiet the entire trip back to the Tide Song, whereupon they quickly returned to the comfort of cooled artificial air and privacy of their room. Without wasting a beat, Anabel tossed her jacket over the back of a chair and slid over to where her laptop sat, popping it open immediately. Looker grabbed a water bottle from the fridge and leaned over her shoulder, watching as she pulled up a familiar file.

A video player opened showing static for a moment before cutting to a grayscale security feed overlooking the conservatory. A single pane of the window showing the starry sky could be seen from this angle, and among the foliage and plant life was a long metallic catwalk that showed a group of people in white uniforms engaging in some kind of scuffle. Looker and Anabel both knew who was below said pile.

"Doesn't exactly look like they're holding back against the poor girl" Looker muttered as they watched two uniformed security members hold her down. He pointed at the most visible one, part of his body cut off by the angle. "I almost thought that one brought out a baton of some kind, but it's impossible to tell with this angle and camera quality."

Anabel nodded, her brow furrowed as she watched the footage beside him. "It's worth looking into. I asked for the rest of the footage of the chase, but this is all I've received so far. Here, watch her." The camera itself started to shake suddenly, and the people in uniforms must've felt it as well because they quickly stood up and started to back away, revealing a subdued figure within the middle they had surrounded. Glowing waves of strange energy begin to pulse outwards from the unmoving figure.

The uniformed employees brought out their pokemon just in time for a wave of the bizarre shimmering energy to expand rapidly – and then the footage went black. Looker nodded at it, but he didn't see what was so different about it now; they'd both watched it at least half a dozen times before. Well, perhaps Anabel had, he'd given only a few minor look overs. He glanced at her for an answer, and his partner silently rewound the video back by only a few seconds. Then, frame by frame, she played it again. Slowly. Each frame flashed by, one after another, but Looker's brow suddenly furrowed as they reached the end.

He'd seen it this time.

"You noticed it too?" Anabel asked, and without waiting for an answer she tapped back a couple of frames on the feed and began switching between two that were right next to each other. Back and forth. "You can see their silhouettes in the energy for three frames. On the fourth frame, here, she rises up slightly from her original position. On the fifth, the feed ends. I noticed this just this morning before you got up. It's why I wanted to see the floor plans, because there was no conceivable way she got to the very bottom where the docks are from that far up. Not after they'd already subdued her." She shook her head and went back a few frames to where the strange light first began to emanate, looking over the feed with her chin in her fingers.

Looker hummed softly and thought to himself for a moment. It was certainly a flaw in the story, but how she escaped didn't detract from the fact that she had in fact escaped, with a potentially very dangerous pokemon in tow. Did it?

"Couldn't she have teleported down to the docks?" Looker suggested as he took a swig and pointed at the shimmering energy in the video. "The foundation did say the pokemon had shown instances of using the move 'teleport' before; maybe this was one of those cases? The shockwaves almost look like it could be… a psyshock, perhaps? Maybe psywave? And then in a panic the pokemon teleported them away…" That was reaching though, and Looker knew it. A pokemon could only teleport to places it had been before, and sure, it seemed a logical conclusion to Looker that perhaps it had teleported to the docks of the facility as opposed to the beaches of Hau'oli. That didn't change the fact that the shockwaves glittered and shimmered like...

Looker felt his stomach drop. "Anabel…"

"I don't think that's what's happening here. We might chalk this up to some sort of psychic overload on the pokemon's part, but look at the waves," she murmured, unaware of her junior's sudden unease. "I wish the footage were colored, we might be able to discern the nature of what move it's using here. I almost thought dark pulse, but-"

"Anabel."

"- definitely too brightly colored. I know you think this isn't relevant, but you were the one who taught me that there's always value in fully comprehending a situation. I was correct about the distance between the docks and the conservatory-"

"Chief!" Looker insisted, finally snapping her out of her analytic stupor. Anabel blinked up at him in surprise, but he leaned over and pointed at the twinkling swirls of energy on the computer screen. Now it was his turn to be caught up, and her turn to miss the connection. "Chief, that's not psychic energy, it's Ultra Space energy. It's becoming stressed and discharging a blast of the stuff, and then it… it disappears. It's an Ultra Beast, and it disappears…" His voice trailed down to a murmur as the pieces started to finally click together in his head, the last pieces of the puzzle falling into place, while Anabel turned in her chair to face him.

"Yes, I'd considered that. We knew the possibility of such, that's why they called us…" Anabel said, looking at her partner strangely. She'd worked with him long enough to tell that he was working an entire case in his mind, she could practically see the steam engines puffing behind those wispy gray eyes. But the tone in his voice wasn't one she heard often. It was fear, wrapped in the warm fuzzy coat of concern. "But everything the foundation told us seems to indicate that it's simply a rare pokemon, not an Ultra Beast. We have the reports they've been sending for the past decade, and it seems to exhibit no behaviors that-"

"The foundation is wrong," Looker murmured, reaching down and flickering between the frames on the screen once again. One frame she was on the ground. The next she rose slightly. Then she was gone. "She vanished after a burst of Ultra Space energy, and look, she's lifted a few inches slightly in that frame. She didn't teleport, she rose up straight through the roof. And I'll bet you anything I know exactly where she went after that." He turned and stared at his partner, and he stared at her hard. She knew what he was getting at.

"A wormhole?" She was incredulous, but not doubting. They'd seen too much in their time to dismiss something just because it didn't seem likely. "They would notice that, there's no way one could open above them and not a single person notice – the ceiling is a glass window, for goodness sake. You saw it yourself when we flew by."

"Then the foundation isn't wrong. They're lying," Looker insisted, rapping his knuckle against the desk. He was right, he was sure of it. It made too much sense, and explained the lapses in the information they'd been given. "You were right to question how she got from the conservatory to the docks, because she didn't. She entered an Ultra Wormhole,I have no doubt about it. Anabel, remember the report? The professor said she woke up-"

"On a beach…" Anabel murmured, her pupils dilating as she finally caught up to her junior, and the gravity of the situation hit them all at once with the tenderness of a gyarados in heat. Suddenly the eggs she had cooked that morning did not sit so well in her stomach, and her eyes flickered back towards the computer screen once more. It made sense. It made more sense then what they had been told. It was realizing you'd worn sandals to work, not knowing why your feet felt so breezy until you dropped a heavy bolt onto one.

They had been wrong.

"Anabel?"

They had been chasing the right girl.

"Anabel, is this too much? I know you're an adult, but if it's bringing back memories we can take a breather-"

For all the wrong reasons.

"The situation has changed…" she murmured, wiping the small beads that had formed along her forehead. She took a breath. In an instant, the clouds of doubt and uncertainty were pushed aside, replaced by the determination and perseverance she always displayed while on the job. It was time to work. "Looker, we now have a Code Luminary on our hands. Potential Faller identified, all previous orders to apprehend the subject are now secondary. Our priority is to ensure the safety of the subject and monitor them on account of potential Ultra Beast activity."

"Understood," Looker acknowledged, stepping aside as his superior rose from the desk and immediately began donning her coat. He began to follow her lead, straightening his tie as he prepared for the inevitable order to mobilize. "I doubt this fact has eluded the Aether Foundation, and that they've purposefully chosen to withhold the information is nothing short of alarming. They put in a claim for that missing boat and a reward for the pokemon's return – sounds like fraud at the very least, doesn't it?" Beside him, Anabel scoffed.

"Fraud at the bare minimum. Obstruction of justice, conspiracy, that's where I would start," she muttered between each button of her jacket. "This brings into question everything they've told us, and I'll be damned if we don't pursue the action of just how they subdued that girl now. It's all the more important we find her now before something happens." She flipped her ponytail out of her collar and began striding towards the door, with Looker just behind her.

"Agreed. What do you plan on doing about the kahuna's lack of urgency regarding the papers?" he asked, but Anabel turned and raised a hand to stop him dead in his tracks. Her eyes were steely and fierce, and in them he saw not just her strength and resolve, but her devotion to the job, and the underlying concern she had for their quarry. He suspected it mirrored his own.

Those outside of the International Police had no idea of the existence of Fallers. Those inside didn't know or care much about them, and couldn't understand just what kind of pain that sort of fate brought about. But Looker, and his Chief…

They could.

"You will remain here in Heahea and await for the kahuna to forward our paperwork and warrant," she said in a tone that left no room for argument. "Legally she can only only take another six hours to validate everything before her concerns are overruled by the twenty-four hour time limit. By that time, I will be further along on Routes 4 and 5 respectively as a tourist, while also ensuring our potential Faller hasn't moved ahead of us." Her orders were swift and so self-assured that even Looker had a hard time believing they hadn't received permission yet. Despite that, he couldn't help but close his eyes and let out a sigh.

Another rule they were tiptoeing around.

Anabel noticed his expression as she reached for the door, and gave him a soft smile that was both confident and understanding, her lips just barely curved upwards. "I know what you're thinking, but if we wait we both know there's the risk of Ultra Beast interference. At least this way we can find and keep an eye on her, even if we can't do anything more than that, we'll be ready if something happens." He understood how his superior's mind worked, he knew that she was dead set on this, especially now that they knew the wider consequences of what they were involved in. Now, it was personal and professional.

For a second, he wanted to stop her as she strolled through the doorway. He wanted to end her determined gait and close the door, or insist that he come along to make sure that everything went to plan and to assist her should she need it. It wasn't just because he had found her, trained her, watched her rise through the ranks to become the powerful agent that she was today. It was because he knew that this was a turning point in their case; that her walking through that door would signify the start of something they might not be able to back out of. When she turned back for a fraction of a second from feeling his eyes on her back, the small smile she gave him reminded him of someone else.

For a second there was a different girl walking out the door, an espurr on her shoulders as she waved goodbye and gave a soft but genuine smile. Looker blinked, and Anabel was already turning and continuing on her way.

He closed the door and walked back to the chair she'd occupied minutes ago, sitting at the desk and untightening his tie with a low sigh, waiting for the little notification to pop-up signifying an email had arrived. And to think, tomorrow he'd be doing nothing more but slacking off and wasting the day away. Perhaps he could still enjoy it, however, distance himself from the hustle and bustle of the case. Perhaps he'd try that coffee shop they'd seen on their way into Heahea – he didn't know he had been craving Kalosian coffee since he'd seen the neon sign advertising such. It reminded him of a different time.

He sniffed and leaned back at the chair, glancing over at the television. Yes, that's what he'd do. He'd get himself some coffee tomorrow, enjoy a rare day off, and then come the next day? They'd put their noses to the case. They'd get to the bottom of this mess, that only seemed to pile up higher and higher as they dug deeper and deeper. Maybe, just maybe, they could step in before anything happened..

And prevent those poor kids from digging their own graves.