As the group was getting ready for the day, Titanica would go into the Galaxy King's lounge. She saw Leia there, deep in thought.
"Couldn't get off your mind about what the Unitas grunt said?" Titanica asked. "I can understand why. You beat him twice before, but now it seems like he's back. I guess in the world of Pokémon, Ghestis will always be your worst enemy."
"Yeah. I didn't think I'd end up having to face him again so soon." Leia said. "But to think he is in league with the Unitas… I mean… I can totally see that happening, he will use anyone and anything to get his way. But still…"
"It's still too early to say what his game is in all this." Titanica said. "But knowing he's out there… I have a bad feeling."
"Yeah. It's N I'm worried about, though." Leia said. "If Ghetsis really is back, N might be in trouble."
"I'm sure he's fine. You did help him in Unova." Titanica said.
"Yeah. All I can do is know he can handle things in Unova until we get there." Leia said. "Though that might not be for quite a while, the way things are going."
"Yeah…it's pretty strange that Ghetsis hasn't made any major moves if Team Plasma really is back." Titanica said.
"Yeah…you're right. He would have immediately tried to go for me or at least N." Leia said. "But…Unova hasn't been shaken up at all."
"Leia…I think there's something bigger going on behind the scenes." Titanica said. "Something that's gonna drag in the whole world."
"Yeah… I can feel it in my bones. David said that most of the evil teams have turned a new leaf, but there are a few that still haven't. Rocket, Galactic, Ghetsis' side of Plasma, Flare… Kind of strange that we haven't heard anything from them yet." Leia said. "Well, in Flare's case, it would be heard to tell because there is a chance Lysandre is dead."
"If that's the case, Team Flare shouldn't be trying to reform at all. And somehow…I think it's more than just those four teams." Titanica said. "We've seen it happen before with Rainbow Rocket…it could happen again."
"Which means there could be another one pulling the strings. Then again, the mention of Shadow Pokemon back in the PWT makes me think back to one in particular." Leia said. "Cipher. You don't think they could be back, do you?"
"...Mark, Himiko and Shun'ei mentioned that Pecharunt was acting bizarre. And the one masquerading as all the leaders was a Cipher agent with a Shadow Togetic." Titanica said.
"So, yeah. High chance that Cipher is back too. Probably with more Shadow Pokémon than before." Leia said.
"But we can't just go acting on a theory. We need concrete proof. Evidence that they actually are back." Titanica said.
"...Are you sure you're part of Hope's team?" Leia joked.
"Well someone's gotta be the voice of reason. Anyway…we should…" Titanica said as they could hear loud banging on the ship's doors.
"Open up! Pokémon Protection Bureau!" a voice called out.
"Huh…what could this be abou…." Leia said as she opened the doors are officers were swarming the ship. "Hey!"
They swarmed the ship before stopped after capturing and arresting Jexi's Eevee, Titanica's Cinderace, Leia's Lurantis, David's Beautifly, Sectonia's Vespiquen, Simon's Sigil, Mari's Mercury, Dan's Charizard, Ash K's Pikachu, Carmine's Sinistcha, Nemona's Pawmot, Mark's Rilou Ranmaru as well as Asura, Himiko's Meowscarada and Kieran's Hydrapple.
"What's going on here?" Leia asked.
"These Pokémon are being detained for all the crimes they've committed." one of them said.
"That's ridiculous, they haven't left this ship since we got here." Shun'ei said.
"Explain this." one of the officers said showing each of the Pokémon committing various crimes.
"What is this crap you're trying to pull?" Simon glared.
"We're simply doing our job, sir. Your Pokémon will be held in the detention center until we can deem them safe and well managed." the officer said. "Look, it's nothing personal. We just want to be sure they're not of any danger to the public. Please understand."
As the pokemon were hauled off, the group were confused.
"I don't understand, what's the point of this?" Simon asked.
"Simon….just let them go." Jexi said. "If we try to fight it, its just gonna make things worse."
"Come on, you can't be falling for this s*!" Mark argued. "Our Pokémon get arrested for crimes we know they didn't the day after we capture a member of this Unitas group?! Sounds just a bit too coincidental!"
"Mark, calm down. Our Pokémon got arrested too." David said.
"Besides…I wasn't saying we abandon them…" Jexi said as he waited for the officers to leave with the Pokémon. "I'm saying…while they play to this false tune…we actually try and figure out who set them all up."
"Yeah. First things first. We need to get in contact with Tim. I'm sure Pikachu is caught in this as well." David said. "Once we do that, we can check the sites our Pokémon allegedly attacked and see what we can find."
At the holding facility…
"(This is not right! We may be Pokémon but we have our rights!)" Sinistcha called out.
"(Hmm…looks like we're stuck here for awhile.)" Pawmot said. "(Whoa…look at this.)" they said noticing the cubes on each of them.
"More of those weird cube things, huh? Yeah…I know what you mean." a voice said as they saw Detective Pikachu there.
"(You got arrested too?)" Lurantis asked.
"Yeah. Stuck me with property damage." Detective Pikachu said.
"(Hey, quit all your muttering, newbies!)" a Sableye spoke up.
"(Sorry if we're bothering you. We're just trying to get our bearings here.)" Hydrapple replied.
"(Well you're in the detainment room.)" a voice spoke as they saw a Pangoro standing tall.
"(Meaning you all must have done something really bad to end up here.)" Sableye said.
"No way! All of us were just relaxing where we live, and then those humans in the PDS barged in and arrested a whole bunch of us!" Cinderace protested. "We didn't even do anything, but they said we did a whole bunch of crimes."
"Whoa, you can speak normally?" Detective Pikachu said.
"Long story. Some of us can, some of us can't." Cinderace said.
"(You're nothing special. That other guy can speak like you can.)" Sableye said, pointing to the cell doors.
"Let me outta here! I have my rights! Hear me!" a Pokémon called out as the group looked over to see Meowth. "Huh? Ah! The twerp's friend's Pokémon?!"
"(You? Why are you here?)" Ash K's Pikachu asked.
"Me? I assure you I wasn't up to anything sinister." Meowth said.
"(Yeah, right. We've known each other for a very long time. You think I don't know when you're lying?)" Ash K's Pikachu asked.
"(So you know him?)" Pangoro asked.
"(We have a history.)" Ash K's Pikachu said.
"I really wasn't up to anything. I am an upstanding member of the Universal Villains. I wouldn't do anything to cause trouble for Mr. Flux or the other guy." Meowth said.
"(Weren't you just trying to attack the trainers on a cruise ship with some whack job during the auction?)" Ranmaru asked.
"Hey, he forced us into it. It wasn't by choice!" Meowth said.
"Guys! Stop. This isn't going to get us anywhere." Eevee said.
"Eevee is right. We need to work together to figure out a way out of here." Beautifly said.
A siren then went off.
"Exercise time. All Pokémon single file to the roof." a voice called out.
The cubes on each of the Pokémon soon activated as they found themselves moving up to the roof. The moment they reached it, their cubes shut off as the Pokémon looked around confused.
"What the? Weren't we all just down in the cells?" Detective Pikachu said.
"(We all blacked out for a few minutes? Are these cubes on our backs the reason?)" Ranmaru pondered.
"This sort of thing has been happening every day around here." Meowth said. "But we do mingle with the other cell mates." he said pointing to Pangoro, Sableye along with the additions of Impidimp and Liepard.
"I guess it wouldn't hurt to mingle." Cinderace said.
"(Don't act like you're hot stuff, newbies.)" Sableye said.
"(He's right. I wouldn't act so tough. You haven't met the boss around here yet.)" Impidimp added.
"The boss?" Vespiquen asked before they heard some footsteps as the other prisoners moved aside as a Luxray came into full stride.
"(A Luxray…)" Meowscarada noted.
"(So you all are the talkative newbies I've heard so much about.)" Luxray said as he circled them.
"Correct." Sigil said as Mercury clinged onto him.
"(I think you all need to learn the rules around here.)" Luxray said.
"What? Like Jail 101?" Detective Pikachu joked.
"(Wow. You don't know when to stop talking.)" Luxray said. "(Rule number one!)" he declared, charging up up a Thunderbolt.
"Get ready guys!" Cinderace said.
"For what?" Beautifly asked.
"For the big counter! I saw this in a few prison movies." Cinderace said. "Stand up to the biggest guy in the yard, and you get everyone's respect."
"(Cinderace might be right.)" Ranmaru said. "(We must show these Pokémon our strength to have any chance of escape.)"
Luxray blasted his Thunderbolt at the group, which everyone dodged...except for Detective Pikachu, who was shocked and fell to the ground.
"(Detective Pikachu!)" Ranmaru exclaimed.
"(Only one got hit? Strange. My attack shouldn't have even been that effective against it.)" Luxray said. "(Pathetic.)"
"(That's enough boasting.)" Asura finally spoke up. "(Merely dodging your attacks won't earn your respect, I can see that. So, I won't dodge again. Go ahead and strike me.)"
"(Hmph. If you say so.)" Luxray said, charging another Thunderbolt.
"Is that Breloom crazy? He's not gonna avoid the attack at all?" Meowth said.
"(Oh right, you haven't seen Asura fight in person yet.)" Hydrapple realized. "(Don't worry, he'll be fine.)"
The Gleam Eyes Pokémon launched the attack at Asura, who made no attempt to side step the attack. Instead, he put his arms up, the stretchy appendages being coated in green metal as the lightning hit. The bolts coursed across the arms harmlessly, before the Mushroom Pokémon waved his arms outward, dispelling the attack.
"(Whoa, what was that?!)" Impidimp exclaimed. "(He just took that Thunderbolt like a champ!)"
"(Wait a minute…I recognize that Breloom now!)" Sableye realized. "(That's the same Breloom whose Trainer took third place at the second PLT! His…Perfect Link, or whatever it's called!)"
"(Hold on…)" Impidimp said looking to Cinderace. "(You couldn't possibly be the same Cinderace owned by the Galar Champion, are you?!)"
"I am, actually." Cinderace confirmed.
"And you all know me. I'm that famous Meowth that's with Team Rocket." Meowth said as the inmates just stared and tilted their heads. "Now that's just not fair." he said curled up in a corner out of sadness.
"Well…I think we've earned their respect now." Beautifly said.
"(If there's rules in this place, then by all means, feel free to enforce them. But I feel that none of us are meant to be here.)" Asura spoke. "(We intend to break free from this place and return to our trainers. Will you help us, or are you content with being used as a tool?)"
"(...We'll help in any way we can.)" Luxray said.
"(Thank you. Rest assured, we will find out the truth surrounding all this.)" Ranmaru promised.
Human Side…
"We gotta prove our Pokemon's innocence. But the incidents reported are so numerous we don't know where to start." David said.
"It's true. Looking at all these pics…it's hard to decide which we should follow." Shuichi said, shuffling through various pictures.
"Well…if that's the case, let's focus on one incident and work from there." Jexi said.
"Hmm… The most damning one is the one in the Fountain Plaza. I think we should start there." Tenko said.
"Excellent choice." Jexi said. "Let's move then."
They moved over to the plaza where they saw the broken Slowpoke statue before them.
"Wow…they weren't kidding about the destruction of property." Vector said as he saw a scorch mark on the grass. "Something definitely generated a lot of heat here."
"And look at these stones…" Hatsume said, reaching for some only to get shocked. "Whoa…these stones are charged with electricity."
"But Detective Pikachu can't use any moves, can he?" Merrin asked.
"Not normally, but we're the only ones who know this." David said.
"He's right. We'll need to find something else to prove his innocence." Jexi said. "If only we could get something from that night. Like a photo or video or something."
"We know Detective Pikachu frequents the Hi-Hat Cafe. Maybe someone there might have seen him." Sectonia said.
"Plus, other Pokémon have been detained besides ours. Maybe we'll get some clues as to where they were before they got picked up." Leia said.
"The other Pokémon will have to wait for tomorrow. For now, let's go to the cafe." Hope said.
They entered the cafe. Upon speaking with the owner, they were able to confirm that Detective Pikachu was there that night and even managed to get a picture.
"Well…that certainly is Pikachu." Tenko said.
"Hmm…hold on." Jexi said. "Look at Pikachu's back."
"What? I don't see anything." Eddy said.
"Exactly. Pikachu have brown stripes across their backs. But the one in this…doesn't have a single stripe!" Penny said.
"That is weird. There is no such thing as a Pikachu without a stripe." Tsumugi said.
"So that's definitely not our little Sherlock…but then, who is it?" Eddy asked.
"Hmm…I have a theory…but I'll need to look the other crime scenes in order to confirm it." Double D stated.
"Guess we will be looking at the other scenes today after all." Jexi said.
They started looking around before reaching a restaurant with a ruined table and chair.
"So what happened here?" Double D asked.
"According to the report, a Morpeko attacked with Aura Wheel and stole some food the other day." Adora said.
"Aura Wheel's type changes depending on Morpeko's mood. Given the scorch marks…it was an electric type move at the time." Shuichi said. "Meaning Morpeko was…in Full Belly Mode."
"Wait, so Morpeko stole food even though its stomach was full?" Ochako asked.
"Wouldn't that be a contradiction, then? If Morpeko was in Full Belly Mode, there wouldn't be any need to steal food." Shun'ei said.
"Once is an anomaly, twice a coincidence…" Double D trailed off. "A Pikachu with no stripes, a Morpeko who steals food even with a full belly…perhaps the picture is beginning to form for all of you as well?" the sock-headed boy asked.
"Yeah… Gears are starting to turn for sure." David said. "Not to mention these detainments are getting more and more frequent lately. Just what the heck is going on here?"
On the Pokémon Side…
"Oh yeah…loving this." Detective Pikachu said as he rode on Luxray as he and some of the Pokémon moved through the building.
"Picking Luxray was a good call, Asura. Specially since he can see through walls." Eevee said.
"(Yeah…and you're sure you saw the code to the door?)" Sinistcha asked Meowth.
"I'm sure, I'm sure!" Meowth said as they arrived at the chief's office as they input the code, earning their way inside.
"(Alright, detective, what should we be looking for here?)" Ash K's Pikachu asked his speaking counterpart.
Detective Pikachu looked at the desk and the papers on it. "A list of the incidents caused by Pokémon detained here. Property damage, stealing food, wrecking a florist's flower shop…All our names are on here. I know I didn't destroy that fountain and the others are saying they didn't do any of this stuff too. Luxray, it says you were running amok with Mightyena. What happened there?"
"(Now is not the time for a talk like that.)" Luxray said.
"Fine fine. I get it. We'll…wait…what the? There's a Ditto on this list…but I didn't see any Ditto in the cells." Detective Pikachu said.
"A Ditto? Wait, Ditto has the ability to change form, does it?" Beautifly asked. "You don't think it took our forms and did all that stuff, do you?"
"(It's possible. But we can't discuss this now. If we linger too long, we're bound to get caught and thrown back into our cells.)" Lurantis said.
"Look over here." Meowth said, looking at a list. "It's a list of Pokemon wanted by the PPB. Wow…they wanna detain all these Pokémon? Would they all even fit in here?"
"No, we've seen our cells. They're much too small for big groups." Beautifly said.
"(Is Mightyena on that list?)" Luxray asked.
"Hmmm…yep. Says Mightyena right here." Meowth said.
"Wait a second… David has a Mightyena too! Oh, I hope he doesn't get caught in this mix-up…" Beautifly said.
"(I'm sure he's fine. He's a tough one. But the one Luxray is associated with… I wonder what happened between them…)" Lurantis said.
"(Hey, look at this!)" Hydrapple said, one of his heads holding a picture in its mouth. "(Is this important?)"
"(A picture of the mayor with several other people? I fail to see the importance.)" Asura stated.
"Wait, lemme see that." Detective Pikachu said, receiving the picture. "Hang on, that's…what was her name… Jessica!"
"(Who's Jessica, and why should we care?)" Sinistcha asked.
"She a friend of a Rachel, a new friend of Tim and I; she helped us and your trainers out back in the ruins." Detective Pikachu said. "But why is Jessica circled in red? And that guy on the right, that's the weirdo who pulled out some of my fur a few days ago, Merloch."
"(Hmm…we should get this picture back to our trainers.)" Ash K's Pikachu said.
"(Yeah, it's about time for visitation hours, isn't it?)" Lurantis asked.
"Yeah…I'll pass it along to Tim and make sure he hands it off to your trainers too." Detective Pikachu said.
"Meanwhile, the rest of us should get back to our cells so as not to look suspicious." Beautifly said.
"Yeah. It'd look pretty bad if we were discovered outside them." Cinderace said.
"(Haha, look at you taking charge, Beautifly. Seems your Trainer is starting to rub off on you.)" Lurantis said.
"Well, I'm no Froslass, Swampert, Dustox or Mightyena, or Incineroar for that matter… Heck, I'm not even much of a fighter in general. But I could still help out in other ways." Beautifly said with a happy look.
The group arrived for visitation where Detective Pikachu managed to hand off the evidence he had secretly been collecting.
"Your find inside the prison with the others confirms it. Someone within the PPB is working with Unitas, and is the one responsible for locking up you and the other Pokémon with false crimes." Mahiru said.
"The only questions that remain are, who is the culprit and how did they frame all those Pokémon, including ours?" Leia asked.
"All questions we'll need to work hard to figure out. Oh…one other thing." Detective Pikachu said. "Somewhere out in the city is a Pokémon called Mightyena. If it's not too much trouble, could you guys maybe try and find him?"
"Yeah, we can do that." Klonoa said.
"Do you have any idea where we can start?" Mark asked.
"We can probably check somewhere downtown." David said. "Maybe down the alleyways."
"Great. Appreciate it." Detective Pikachu said.
"Time's up." The officer said.
"Uh-oh. Looks like it's that time again." Detective Pikachu said.
The cube on Detective Pikachu activated as he moved out of the room and headed back to his cell.
"You guys noticed how strange he was walking, right?" Shun'ei asked.
"Yeah, he has one of those cubes that controls the Pokemon on him. Kinda hard not to see it." Hatsume said.
"No doubt our Pokémon have those too. What are these cubes really for?" David asked.
"Control Cubes. Meant for controlling Pokémon." Emo said. "For what reason, I couldn't tell ya."
"How do…" David said.
"Interrogation of the Unitas guy. It was kinda fun to watch honestly." Hope said.
"Uh….right." David said. "(Knew I should have gone to that.)" he thought.
"Anyway…let's try and do what Pikachu asked and look for Mightyena." Ash K said.
Human's Side, Day 2…
"You sure Mightyena is around here?" Shun'ei asked.
"Yeah, I'm positive. I have a Mightyena of my own, remember?" David asked. "They like to hang around dark places."
"Speaking of which, Brad has been making investigations of his own. But here is the weird part, he's checking sites where the Pokémon have already been detained." Shuichi said. "It's strange… For all we knew about him, we've never seen him act like this."
"He's probably realizing there's something off about all these detainings like we do." Jexi said.
"Yeah. Probably realizing there is corruption within the ranks. I swear, no matter what city you go to, there are always gonna be dirty cops." Mayumi said.
"Not always, but it happens more often than any of us care to admit." David said as the group walked past two women as they entered an alley.
"Oh, hold on!" one of them got their attention. "You shouldn't go this way, it's dangerous."
"If I may inquire, how dangerous?" Double D asked.
"There's an angry Pokémon back there." the other woman answered. "I called the police, so they should be taking care of it right now."
"What kind of angry Pokémon?" Arven asked.
"It was a Mightyena and a very savage one at that." the first woman said.
"Mightyena?" a number of them said as they hurried down the alleyway to find Mightyena on the ground and moving very weakly, surrounded by several officers, including Brad.
"Now then, we're going to have to detain this Pokémon properly…" Brad ordered the officers.
"There's something up with Mightyena…" Chopper said. "Ah! I see…it's incredibly injured!"
"It must've been attacked. Likely by the culprit. Brad's got the wrong Pokémon!" Hope said.
"We probably can't stop him from taking Mightyena, but we can at least try and heal his wounds." Titanica said as she drew a Pokéball. "Let's go, Blissey!" she said sending out a Blissey. "Heal Pulse!" she said as Blissey let out a healing wave as Mightyena's injuries were healed up. "There…he's all healed up."
"Hm? Oh, it's the 'Great Detective'." Brad realized. "Good job healing Mightyena, but please don't interfere beyond that. They're preventing citizens from passing through, not to mention it was involved in an altercation. We have to take it in until it calms down."
"Wait, before you do, we need to ask you a few questions!" Double D piped up. "Haven't you noticed something odd about all the Pokémon related incidents as of late?"
"...Like what?" Brad asked, fishing for an example.
"All the incidents - every single one - were caught on camera. That sounds a bit too convenient, doesn't it?" Double D asked.
"So, you're suspicious of the surveillance camera…" Brad noted. "That footage is incriminating. Unless you have any proof that can dismiss it…"
"As a matter of fact, we do." Double D replied. "Shuichi, would you show Mr. McMaster the surveillance photos?"
"I don't need to. You know it, don't you? How odd these arrests are. You have to have your doubts." Shuichi said.
Brad was quiet for a moment. "There's nothing I can do right now. You just better do what you do…and solve the case." he said as he and the officers took off with Mightyena.
"Seems like Brad really was doing his own digging after all." David said. "We weren't able to show him the surveillance photos Pikachu and the others gave us, but… I think we pretty much already have the culprit locked down."
"How can you tell?" Kazuichi asked.
"Let's think about this for a minute. Each of the Pokémon in the photos have a detail about them that's a little off. And since our Pokémon haven't left the Galaxy King since we got here… How did they seemingly get to these sites?" David asked.
"It's got to be a Ditto." Simon said.
"Ah, that's right! Ditto is able to transform into any Pokémon! That explains why the partners know their Pokémon didn't commit those crimes. It's because a Ditto transformed into them and committed them in their stead." Tsumugi said.
"Plus, take notice that each Pokémon in question has a Control Cube on their back when the allegedated Pokemon were detained after the fact." David said. "It may be possible that someone in the police force detained Ditto a little while ago and is using its Transformation ability to frame the local Pokémon and detain them at a rapid rate."
"But…why the haste in the detainment? Who would want to detain so many Pokémon so quickly?" Mayumi asked.
"Hmm… The only ones who would be able to authorize something like this would be someone very high in the chain of command. Someone who knows the ins and outs of the city and knows how each Pokémon operate." Shuichi said.
"Maybe someone like the police chief?" Rebecca asked.
"We can't go making claims like that….but it's not completely off the list of possibilities." Vector said.
Pokémon Side…
"Okay…round 2." Detective Pikachu said as he and some of the Pokémon made their way into the chief's office once more. "There's gotta be something….aha!" he said, finding a large safe.
"A safe? Can we hack it?" Meowth asked.
"No. Looks like it needs a passcode to…whoa!" Detective Pikachu said before seeing a small Ditto in there.
"So you're the Ditto we've heard about." Eevee said.
"(Oh. Hi there. Are you all friends of Mr. Man too?)" Ditto asked.
"(Sort of…why are you here?)" Ash's Pikachu asked.
"(Oh, Mr. Man keeps me here. He asks me to turn into all sorts of Pokémon and then my memory gets fuzzy and I remember nothing until returning here.)" Ditto said.
"Hey, check out his back." Eevee said seeing one of the Control Cubes on Ditto.
"(So…are you Chief Butler's partner?)" Ranmaru asked.
"(No. My partner is Granny. Will I be able to see her again if I stay here?)" Ditto asked.
"(Afraid not.)" Lurantis said.
"(What?!)" Ditto said.
"This Ditto is just another victim in all this." Detective Pikachu said.
"(But Mr. Man is always so nice, especially with his little song. Fife-wun-fife! Ooh-too-ooh!)" Ditto said.
"A song?" Cinderace asked.
"(Yes. He sings it every time he's in front of that metal box.)" Ditto said, pointing to the safe.
"Wait… That sounds like… A passcode for the safe!" Beautifly said.
"(Really? Let's give it a try then. Okay… 515020…)" Lurantis said as she put in the code. The safe then unlocked and opened up after that.
"(Wow…your singing is pretty good too.)" Ditto said.
"Now…let's see what's were dealing with….hmm…a manual for those Control Cubes…says they can be remotely controlled using a special remote." Eevee said.
"(So they don't have to get close to us to use these things.)" Sinistcha said.
"Next…oh…the damage reports. Yep…destruction of property and…hey wait…where's the one for the flower shop? And no reports for stolen food? So…that means that Inteleon and Morpeko were arrested for those crimes…but none of that was ever reported?" Cinderace said. "And I don't see any reports about the crimes a lot of us were claimed to have done."
"Next comes this. These look like orders from some group called Unitas….wait…these are orders to Butler! Looks like they request Pokémon and he detains them and sends them off to them and he gets paid. Looks like this has been going on for 6 months now." Detective Pikachu said.
"(And it looks like a number of us were on the high priority list.)" Pawmot said.
"Okay, but why me? If they wanted someone from David's team, they could've picked up Froslass, Dustox or even Mightyena. Those three would have seemed like better options." Beautifly said.
"It's because you can talk like a human. They wanted you and some of us talkers as subjects for experimentation and…ugh…dissection?!" Cinderace said.
"Okay, that sounds pretty disgusting." Beautifly said slinking back.
Mercury squeaked in slight panic.
"Mercury…what's…" Sigil said as he was alerted. "Someone's coming!"
"Dang it!" Detective Pikachu said as he ripped out the important papers before hiding the documents and shutting the safe. "Quick, behind the desk!"
They rushed behind the desk as Butler came in with someone.
"I take it you are dealing with that woman and Pikachu and its companions?" a figure asked.
"Don't worry about them. Those Pokémon are being shipped tomorrow…detective hat and all." Butler said.
"Good. I won't tolerate any mistakes. And if you can get that woman, there will be a nice bonus for you." the figure said.
"Of course. Leave it to me." Butler said.
"Now…I'd like to see how progress with the Control Cubes are going." the figure said as both of them soon left.
"(Who was that guy? Also…did he say we're getting transferred tomorrow?)" Hydrapple said.
Mercury's eye warbled as his wire tail went flat.
"(We will be free, Mercury.)" Asura said, seeing their tears. "(Even if I have to tear this place apart, we won't become tools. I swear it!)"
"(Let us hope it won't come to that.)" Ranmaru said. "(But his words ring true, Mercury. Be strong, little one.)"
"They won't have the chance to make us tools. Cause first thing tomorrow morning…we're breaking outta this joint." Detective Pikachu said.
"Jailbreak, I love it!" Cinderace smiled.
"See those in your prison movies too?" Eevee asked.
"Not really. But it's still pretty cool." Cinderace admitted.
"(Still, I wonder who that was talking with Butler?)" Meowscarada asked.
"(Not sure. His voice though…it seemed familiar.)" Lurantis reminisced.
Visitation, Day 2…
The two sides reconvened during their visiting hours. With Detective Pikachu representing the Pokemon.
"They're moving you all tomorrow?!" Mark exclaimed.
"On the expectations from someone Butler was talking to." Detective Pikachu said. "But don't worry. We're going to break out tomorrow morning."
"Good." Simon said simply, having had enough.
"How do you plan on doing that? If you're caught…" Kieran shuddered.
"Don't worry, we have a plan." Detective Pikachu said. "We managed to find some important looking documents and-"
"Wait, don't show them in front of the cops!" Emo hissed in a whisper.
"I'll distract them." Rachel said, having joined with the group earlier as she distracted the police officer. The detective handed over the documents.
"Whoa…this is quite a lot." Jexi said.
"Alright, let's think about this…" Tim said.
How are the Pokémon being controlled?
"With the remote and the control cubes." Hatsume said. "That's how they're being controlled and how those crimes were carried out."
Who is the real culprit?
"These orders give us all the proof we need." Double D said. "The culprit behind all this is the Chief of the Pokémon Protection Bureau…Will Butler."
"This evidence should be enough to convince Brad of the truth." Mark said. "But…we don't know what time tomorrow the transfer will happen. What if we're too late?"
"Good point…we'll need to escape ourselves." Detective Pikachu decided. "Which is why we'll need to do a jailbreak. We'll do it tomorrow morning. Be sure you all get there."
"Right. We'll be there with bells on." Pit said.
Humans Side, Day 3…
They stood outside of the station.
"Okay…I showed Brad all the info…he should be keeping Butler busy as we speak." Shuichi said.
"Right…it's time." Tim said as they marched right into the headquarters just as Detective Pikachu, riding on Luxray, as well as the other Pokémon that were detained. "Pikachu!"
"Hey Tim." Detective Pikachu said.
"How did all these Pokémon get out? Detain them already, Brad!" Butler ordered Brad who just went and ignored the order.
"You won't be arresting anyone. Because the culprit behind this whole mess…is you, Chief Butler!" Shuichi said.
"I'm the culprit? Ha! What's gotten into you all of a sudden? Pikachu is the one who destroyed the Slowpoke statue. You can't talk your way out of this." Butler said.
"Sorry, but no. We have reason to believe all of these Pokémon were detained under false charges." David said. "Besides…Detective Pikachu was seen at the Hi-Hat Cafe on that same night. Witnesses saw him drinking coffee."
"I don't give a damn about that. We have irrefutable proof. Surveillance camera footage showed that Pikachu committing the crime." Butler replied.
"No…the one that was caught was…a Ditto using the move Transform." Simon said.
"Ditto is able to transform into any Pokémon. And one recently went missing from its partner. And from what we learned, Ditto isn't that great at transforming and only imitates what it sees." David said, showing the footage. "Pikachu…has no stripes! Meaning…this is not Tim's partner."
"You think I was using Ditto? Didn't you say Ditto already had a partner? If I gave it orders it wouldn't listen to me!" Butler said.
"There was a way you could, though. Take a look at the Pikachu's back in the footage. It's the same device you use on the Pokemon here." Shuichi said.
"We use those devices in order to manage them." Butler said.
'No. They're used…to completely control Pokémon!" Jexi said.
"Now that you mention it…the Pokémon always seemed more obedient when the devices were glowing." Brad said.
"This is complete nonsense! A device that controls Pokémon? Nothing like that exists and even if it does, you have no evidence that I used it." Butler said.
"Actually, that's not true." Kieran said showing the document of the controller and cubes.
"How do…you have this?" Butler said.
"These were found in your office. Meaning you did use it!" David said.
"This is ridiculous! I'm the chief of the Pokémon Protection Bureau! Besides…you're forgetting the important thing…I don't even have a motive!" Butler said.
"Wrong again, Butler! You had one of the oldest motives in the book: money!" Double D said, pulling out the orders from Unitas. "Orders from Unitas. They provided you with the cubes, you provided them Pokemon and in exchange for large sums of money. Well…did we miss anything?"
"Exposed…by these brats…" Butler said, sounding defeated.
"You're done, you dirty cop." Klonoa said.
'Well…as of now, we'll be canceling the transfer. On behalf of the Ryme City Police Department…you all have our gratitude." Brad said.
"Whoa…Brad…" Shuichi said.
"Butler…we'll be taking that controller from you." Mari said.
"Oh…you know about that huh?" Butler said as he pulled out the controller. However, the moment it was about to be handed off, smoke started releasing from it.
"What the heck?!" Carmine coughed. When the smoke cleared, the group saw that the controller was broken.
"Of course Unitas wouldn't let their tech get out." Entrapta said.
"Come on, Butler." Brad said as he started walking off with Butler.
"Blinded by cash…he lost sight of the path of justice." Detective Pikachu said.
"Phew…are the rest of you okay?" Mark asked Asura, as the trainers reunited with their Pokémon.
"(Don't think a few nights apart is all it takes to break us.)" Asura stated. "(We were fine. The Meltan shed some tears, but they pulled through. Though, there is one thing…)" the Breloom said, pulling Meowth to his side.
"Meowth?! You were in there too?" Ash K asked.
"Hey, I was framed!" Meowth said defensively.
"Uh…we know, we just proved it." Penny pointed out.
"Oh…right. Sorry, force of habit." Meowth replied.
"Wait, if you're in Ryme City, does that mean that those two weirdos you hang out with are here too?" Eddy asked.
"Hey, they got names, y'know!" Meowth replied in anger. "I mean…we are here for very legitimate reasons!"
"Okay, now we're suspicious…what were you doing here?" Jexi asked.
"Uh…" Meowth said as a black haze filled the room.
"Ugh…what is this?" Carmine said as the haze slowly cleared before they saw Meowth was now missing.
"What the heck?!" they all said.
"Okay, really starting to hate that whole smokescreen thing…" David said.
Outside of the police station…
"Hahahaha! Those nummskulls never saw it coming!" DaDan laughed as he, Jessie, James and Meowth fled and retreated into an old building where the other villains waited.
"Aw…you guys didn't forget me…" Meowth said.
"Oh stop it. Just tell me you managed to get what I asked." Flux said.
"Hehehe….without fail, boss." Meowth said before pulling out a hidden file as Flux took it from the cat and opened it.
"Hmm….looks like my hunch was right…Butler was pulling this with multiple organizations…Cipher included." Flux said.
"Quite the opportunist, wasn't he?" Techno remarked dryly.
"Yes. Hmm? Shadow Pokémon plans….Cipher must have sent this to him by accident. Oh well…can't all be…." Flux said as his eyes looked on in shock at a certain file marked XD001. "Damn…so they're trying to revive that project too?"
"What're you talking about?" Spinel asked, looking over Flux's shoulder. "XD001?"
"It's a project name that I worked on a bit when developing the Shadow Drug. It was an attempt…to make the shadowfication process…permanent." Flux said.
"Permanent? You mean…making a Shadow Pokémon…that can never be purified?" Jessie asked.
"Yeah, that's the jist. I didn't go through with it cause it would ruin my business model of selling the drug." Flux said. "Plus the process was always a failure, but I always believed it was because I was using such common creatures."
"So do you think Cipher can perfect this formula?" James asked.
"Heh…not a chance. I'm the only one who knows how the formula worked. Plus they would need a more powerful test subject. Maybe a legen…." Flux said as he realized. "Of course…that's part of the reason they're teaming up with these organizations…"
"They want Deoxys." James said.
"No…that's Unitas's goal. Besides, Deoxys is too small…they would go for something…bigger." Flux said. "Either way, if they actually do manage to figure out the method to make the process permanent…it's curtains for my Shadow Drug business."
"This is troubling." Techno said. "Perhaps we should alter our plans?"
"Hey, don't be too antsy Techie. Flux said he's the only one who knows the way the perma-drug can be perfected." Spinel said. "Sides, taking matters into our own hands with these guys is too risky anyway, and it's not like those goody two shoes hero groups can do the job for us-"
"Spinel, you're a genius! The heroes always get involved with stuff like this!" Meowth said. "And when they're done, we'll be free to take whatever's left for ourselves!"
"More than you might think…look what they also accidentally included in the file." Flux said as he held up a picture of Pecharunt.
The Loyal Three looked in shock and excitement.
"So Cipher does have Pecharunt." Techno said. "So…"
"Can't tell where it is from this photo. But given its Cipher, odds are its being kept somewhere in Orre." Flux said.
"Orre?" Team Rocket asked.
"It's a desert-like region known for being a place with very few wild Pokémon." Flux said. "In fact, most of the Pokémon owned by trainers come from other regions. It's also lacking in any real law enforcement, which makes it perfect for teams like Cipher."
"Hmm…if Pecharunt is there, then we can't simply go get them, they're too well-protected." Techno remarked. "Like Spinel suggested, we'll have to wait for any signs of weakness. Once the cracks start to form, and their plans fall to pieces…that's when we'll strike."
"Along with the fact, we have no idea where exactly Pecharunt is being kept. But yes, we'll have to bide our time and see how things play out for the time being." Flux said.
And so, the Universal Villains stayed in the shadows, waiting for the time to strike. And as for the heroes, a revelation will some come to them, as the truth about what happened to Harry will finally be revealed…