Michelle "MJ" Jones

I've never been a fast eater. I don't think I'm a slow eater or anything. For the most part, I just never have been one to scarf down my food. I like to enjoy the taste of what I'm eating. With that said, it took a lot of effort not to quickly devour my food. I wanted this lunch to be over so Buford and I can go to the X-Men's apartment as soon as possible. I wanted to see what Buford had in mind. Still, I ate at a steady pace. When Buford asked if I wanted dessert after I was done, I couldn't keep myself from glaring at him. Getting the hint, he asked the waitress for the check. After payment and tip was handled, Buford and I exited the restaurant, got into his SUV, and drove off.

"So, why are we headed to Scott's place?" I asked.

"To search Craig's room," Buford answered. "I figured if I go through his room, maybe I can find some clues that can help me figure out the meaning of that text."

I nodded as I looked forward. "That makes sense."

That made all the sense in the world. More often than not, a person's room could provide insight into who that person is. By being in Betty's room, I knew she had a thing for romance and mystery novels (especially those of the noir category). Even if I didn't know him personally, Ned's room would have told me he loved Star Wars and Lego. And Kitty's room told me she loves martial arts/Kung Fu movies, if her DVD collection and the poster for the movie IYes, Madam/I was anything to go by.

"We should probably give Scott a call," Buford suggested. "He's the only person who may be home at the moment."

"I'll take care of it," I said before I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone. I pulled up Scott's number and called it. I put the phone to my ear waited for him to pick up. I looked out the window briefly before Scott picked up.

"Hello?" Scott said.

"Hi Erik," I replied. I was a bit paranoid that someone could be listening in. "Are you home by any chance?"

"Sort of? I literally just stepped outside of the door to go run an errand."

"How important is it?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"What I mean is, is your errand urgent?"

"Not really, no. Why?"

"Well, a friend of mine and I are on our way over. We wanted to see Clayton's room because we figured there's something in there that could give us a clue on the meaning behind that text Clayton sent for the scavenger hunt."

There was a small pause. I wondered if the call dropped. Scott spoke up. "Why didn't I think of that before? Okay, I'll be here when you guys arrive."

"Okay, see you soon."

We arrived about twenty minutes later. After Buford knocked on the door, Scott opened up. I couldn't help but take note of his attire. He was dressed in black slacks, a white undershirt, and a red button-up shirt that was left open. I also smelled the scent of mint and cedar – that must've been his cologne.

"Are you sure we didn't keep you away from anything urgent?" Buford asked.

"I'm sure," Scott assured before he stepped aside.

"Are you really sure?" I said as Buford and I walked in. "You're kind of dressed up."

"I was just going to pick up some things on my way to Joanna's place. I kind of wanted to surprise her."

"I'm sorry for interrupting," Buford said.

"Ditto," I added. I honestly felt bad. I mean, Buford and I were there for a very good reason. But I still wasn't cool with interrupting Scott's time with Joanna.

"Don't worry about it," Scott reassured as he closed the door behind us and locked it. "Like I said, I was going to surprise Joanna. It wasn't something I planned in advance. Besides, considering present circumstances, I'd like to think that Joanna would agree that your current endeavor takes precedent." I nodded. I still wished we didn't interrupt things, but I felt a bit better knowing that Scott wasn't the least bit upset over it. With that in mind, I began taking my shoes off. Once they were off, I nudged them aside with my foot.

"So, shall we?"

Scott led us to Craig's room. I looked at the door, seeing the Miami Dolphins logo in black and white adhered to the door. I smiled in amusement. Craig may have been forced to leave South Florida, but South Florida definitely didn't leave him. I doubt it ever will. I looked over at Scott. He looked back at me. After a few moments, he nodded. I smiled gratefully before I grabbed the doorknob, twisted it, and opened the door. I walked inside before stepped off to the left, leaving room for Buford and Scott to come inside.

"I'm not going to lie to y'all," Buford muttered out. "I feel some type of way about being in Craig's room without his permission."

"I'm pretty sure he'd understand," Scott replied. "And if not, well, I'll take full responsibility. So please, search away."

I nodded before I took a look around the room. There was a queen sized bed with black sheets and bedding. Next to it was night stand. I saw what looked like some kind of electronic device. I couldn't quite tell what it was. On the walls were a few posters. There was one of three basketball players, each in a Miami Heat uniform. While I didn't follow the NBA like that, even I recognized them as centerpiece of that team's Big Three Era – Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, and Chris Bosh. Interestingly enough, there was also a poster of the Phantom Thieves from Persona 5. The other two posters I saw were one of red sports car (I found out later that it was a 1997 Mitsubishi 3000GT VR-4) and one of, of all things, an axolotl. There was also a small desk in the room with some drawers, along with an office chair. On top of the desk was a laptop with what I figured was an external hard drive plugged into it. There were a couple of books on there, along with an ESU course catalog. Next to it was some figurine with three characters with red, black, and white football uniforms, pads and all – except for helmets. I didn't recognize the characters in question, but I assumed they belonged to some anime.

Craig really was a nerd low key.

Good for him.

"I'll leave you two to it," Scott said. "I'll be in the living room if you need me." I looked at him as he exited the room. I then looked at Buford.

"Let's get to work," Buford said. I nodded.

We searched through the room, making sure to put everything back to the way it was when we were done. At first it seemed like a fruitless search. As we searched, we ended up learning more and more about Craig. With a quick Google Lens search, I found out that the three football players shown on the figurine were Sena, Hiruma, and Kurita from Eyeshield 21, a sports manga/anime about a high school (American) football team of misfits trying to win the national championship of Japan. After going through the catalog, I knew that Craig was heavily considering Theatre, Accounting, and Communications as a major. And after finding some old photos, we learned that Craig wore the number 21 when used to play football for his old high school before he was expelled from school and, by extension, the team due to the emergence of his powers.

People are shit.

We tried to check his computer, but it was password protected and I really didn't feel like trying to hack it. So, out of desperation, I walked over to the device on his nightstand. It turned out to be a Nintendo 2DS. I picked it up and looked into. The slot was empty. Sighing to myself, I placed it back down before I opened the drawer underneath. Unsurprisingly, there were quite a few game cartridges in there, arranged in rough alphabetical order. I looked over them, looking over the titles of each one.

"Looks like he's quite the gamer," Buford said. I almost jumped. I didn't even know he was near me.

"Yeah, he is," I agreed. "But something tells me he only plays his 2DS when he doesn't want to get out of bed." I kept on looking over the games until my eyes landed on two in particular.

Pokémon Black and Pokémon White.

Black and White.

B and W.

At that moment, my intuition was becoming active, causing a feeling in my gut. I had a theory that maybe, just maybe, the code was Pokémon related somehow. Was it a reach? Maybe it was. But if I didn't test that theory now, it was going to drive me crazy until I look into it.

"…I have to make a phone call," I said as I pulled out my phone.

"Need a little privacy?" Buford asked.

I shook my head. "Not at all." I went through my contacts before I pulled up Ned's phone number. I dialed it and put the phone to my ear. "I have an idea. It might be a reach, but we'll see."

"In my line of work, one detective's reach is another man's key."

A second after Buford said that, Ned picked up.

"What's up, MJ?" Ned greeted.

"Hey Ned," I greeted back. "You got a minute?"

"Yeah, I'm just eating lunch at home. Is everything okay?"

"As okay as I can be given the circumstances." I looked back down at the drawer. "How's your Pokémon knowledge? As in, do you know a lot about the games?"

"I think I know quite a bit. Why do you ask?"

"So I'm with Buford right now in Craig's room. I met Buford earlier to ask him about the message that Craig sent him on that night. Now that I'm here and looking at his drawer of games, I noticed that he has a copy of both Pokémon Black and Pokémon White, and I wonder if the message may be Pokémon related."

"…I'm not going to lie to you, MJ. That sounds like a major reach."

I took in a breath as I resisted the urge to make a snarky comment at his expense. "I get that. But right now, my intuition is urging me to look into this. So, if you can help, that would be greatly appreciated." I was trying to keep the annoyance out of my voice. Apparently I didn't because Ned quickly obliged me.

"Okay, okay, I'll see what I can do. What's the message that he sent anyway?"

"B/W 135. Does that mean anything to you?"

There was a bit of a pause before Ned answered. "…Off the top of my head… maybe it's the regional dex number."

I raised my eyebrows. "I'm sorry but you're going to have to break that down for me."

"Okay, in Pokémon, you do battle with these creatures called Pokémon, which you get usually by battling wild Pokémon and catching them."

I rolled my eyes. "I know that much."

"So you know the in-game device known as the Pokédex, right?"

"I do."

"Okay, so there's two types of Pokédex. There's the national dex, which has information of every Pokémon there is. Then there's the regional dex. Every set of mainline games takes place in their own region. If I remember correctly, Pokémon Black and White takes place in the region Unova, U-N-O-V-A. So, maybe B/W 135 might refer the 135th Pokémon of the Unova dex." There was another pause. "If that's the case though, it's kind of weird that Craig would send a message like that. It's even weirder that he would have a whole dex memorized."

"Be that as it may, Craig wouldn't send a message like that without good reason. I'm going to look into this. Thanks Ned."

"You're welcome. Keep me posted."

"Will so."

I hung up the phone. I then stood there in thought.

"What's this about Pokémon?" Buford asked.

"I think there's a chance that my text Craig sent you is Pokémon related," I replied. "Ned thinks that if it is Pokémon related then it's like indicating a specific Pokémon." I paused. I then grimaced. "Ugh, those words sound so ridiculous coming out of my mouth." I sighed before I looked over at Buford. "I know it's a strange tangent, but..."

Buford shrugged. "I've seen cases solved off of stranger things."

I raised my eyebrows briefly before I hit up Google. It took me a couple of minutes to find what I was looking for. Eventually, I ended up on Bulbapedia and went through their article on the list of Unova Pokémon. I scrolled down the list until I found the Pokémon in question.

"…Vullaby?" I said as I looked down at the screen. I tapped the name, hitting the link to the page on said Pokémon. I narrowed my eyes as I looked at the picture. "…Is that a baby vulture… using a skull fragment as a diaper?"

"So it seems," Buford commented. "…You want to check to see if it has an evolved form?" I looked at him and raised an eyebrow. How would he know about that? He looked at me. He apparently read the look on my face. "What? I play Pokémon Go every now and again." I held back my smile of amusement before I looked down at the screen tapped the link to the Pokémon's evolved form - Mandibuzz. Unsurprisingly, it was a larger female looking vulture with a bone skirt and a bone in the feathers on its head. "Well that makes sense."

"I'm starting to think this is a cold lead." I locked my phone and pocketed it.

"Are you sure about that?"

I turned and faced Buford, prompting him to take a step back, probably for the sake of my personal space. "Buford, think about it. What makes sense about this? Why would Craig send you a message about a Pokémon based on a baby vult–?" I cut myself off before I could finish that word. It was at this point that it slowly sunk in. I just stood there. On the inside, I was fighting, doing everything I can not to believe the realization I came to. It couldn't be, could it? It would be impossible, wouldn't it? But no matter how hard I tried to come up with a reason, it felt like my intuition was grabbing me by the head and forcing my eyelids open, making me stare straight at the realization.

"…MJ, you okay?" Buford asked. I didn't answer him. Instead, I slowly walked past him and took a seat on the foot of the bed. I was going through different stages of emotions – disbelief, confusion, anger, betrayal, sadness, anguish, and more. Memories of the last few weeks or so started to pop up in my head, and I was started to see them in a new light. "…MJ, what's wrong?" I didn't look at Buford. Still, I spoke.

"…Buford, please get Scott," I whispered out.

"Why?"

I swallowed the lump in my throat. Maybe it was just in my head, but there was a taste of something foul in my mouth.

"Because I think I know who Firestar is."