Chapter 26: Yagi, Pokemon Bloodhound Detective

Gardenia’s gaze narrowed as she barked out a quick command. “Roserade, use energy ball! Don’t fall yet–”

Shirou gestured. “Hit her with Aerial Ace, Fafnir,” Shirou ordered, his newest Pokemon blurring forward to slash into his opponent’s final Pokemon. With a cry, Roserade collapsed, allowing the Gabite to stand over her prone form, bellowing in triumph.

“Roserade is unable to battle! With one Pokemon remaining, Challenger Emiya has won the match!” The referee called out.

Withholding a sigh of relief, Shirou nodded, thinking back on how the battle had gone. He had led strong, Yagi sweeping the first opponent aside with relative ease, before falling to Gardenia’s second Pokemon after falling into a feint by the Roselia and getting hit by Sleep Powder. He’d countered the Grass-Poison type with Ritsuka, who had, unfortunately, overextended and been poisoned by toxic, and had fallen before Roserade, though not before managing to slam the evolved form of the Pokemon who had poisoned him with a nasty dual wingbeat. Fafnir had come in after that, finishing off the Roserade with an unsurprising ease, showing off their two weeks worth of training rather well as he and the Dragon worked together like a well-oiled machine to take down Gardenia’s Pokemon.

“Well commanded, Shirou,” the aforementioned Gabite nodded. “I can see three instances where I would have fallen into that Roserade’s trap if you hadn’t pointed the traps out.”

“Thank you for trusting me, Gabite,” Shirou responded with a humble shrug, still not exactly comfortable with praise.

“It’s good to see you handling a wild dragon with such ease, Mr. Emiya. A lot of young trainers struggle to deal with born dragons, less so with ones who become as such after evolving,” Gardenia said as she came closer. “Origins know I had some trouble with my Applin, and I still haven’t managed to get them to accept a second into my stable.”

Shirou cocked his head. “...I really don’t see why that’s an issue? You just need to be able to prove you can fight on their level, right?”

“...Shirou, may I remind you that most humans can’t summon swords and break rock with their fists?” Fafnir rumbled in amusement.

“... That’s a good point,” Shirou acknowledged with a blush. “Have you tried the approach of humbling them so thoroughly they seek you out for training?”

“That’s what I eventually went with, though now I can only use him for eight badge and elite battles. Flapple does not know how to hold back, and does not care to learn.” Gardenia sighed. “But you’re not here to have me complain about my team.” She handed over her badge. “Here you are, one Forest Badge.” She looked around, seeing only Isabella descending from the bleacher. “Where’s your sister? I thought she’d be watching your match.”

“Dad decided to call, and I told her to spend some time talking to him. She’ll watch the recording later,” Shirou answered with a smile. He didn’t begrudge his sister for wanting to spend some time with their old man. After all, she had three or so years of missed time to catch up on, and Dad wasn’t really all that available, constantly working to make sure Flare didn’t do anything too stupid.

“Keeping up with family is important,” Gardenia agreed. “My sister and I make sure to meet up at least once a month.” She waved as Shirou walked out, heading to the Pokemon center. “Take care!”

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Walking into the Pokemon center, Shirou raised one eyebrow as he spotted a man arguing with a Jenny, a pair of trainers standing behind the policewoman. “...I don’t care what your badge says, you cannot detain every visiting trainer for questioning without probable cause, sir,” Officer Jenny hissed.

“These artifacts are from the pre-Tribal era, which makes them Celestic in origin. We cannot allow them to leave Sinnoh!” The man argued, his long coat shifting as he growled back at the policewoman. “We need to lock down all traffic out of the Region until we find them, and that means-”

“You have no proof that it even was a foreigner! Knock it off!” Jenny growled back.

“They’re the only ones with a motive! Our heritage is in peril!”

Isabella groaned from her place beside Shirou. “Oh great.” She raised her voice. “Uncle Chihiro, what’s up?”

“Isabella. Please do not interrupt me, I am… what are you doing here?” The man turned, revealing a Diamond clan tunic beneath his longcoat. “You’re supposed to be escorting the hero candidates, not–” He paused as he spotted Shirou, taking in his garb and red hair. “...nevermind. This is beyond your remit, young lady.”

“Uh-huh. Why are you making a scene, uncle?” Isabella crossed her arms.

The man sighed, pushing back his hair. “None of your business.”

“A recent landslide uncovered a new set of ruins on Mount Coronet. The first responders boxed up the artifacts from the dig and sent them to the local museum to be cataloged, but the shipment vanished within city limits,” Jenny said drolly. “Could be a shipping error, could be theft, could be divine intervention. We don’t know.”

“We know exactly what’s going on! Once again, outsiders are here to plunder our heritage!” Chihiro shot back at her. “If we just search everyone here–”

“Without a warrant?” The two fell back into arguing, even as the trainers behind Jenny quickly dodged out of the room.

Blinking in abject confusion, Shirou pulled out his poketech, resolutely deciding to let the authorities handle the situation for now. Pulling up his messaging app, he tapped out a line to Illya.

[Are you and dad done talking?]

[We are. I left a message for you at the desk. LSS, visiting the local Underground Explorers club. Wanted to trade my Orbs for something useful and get some more excavation explosives. See you for dinner?]

[Something came up. You’ll want to come back to the Pokemon center now.]

[Really? I’ll just do the trades and come on back, then. I was hoping you could stay out of trouble, brother.]

Shirou sighed and put the device away, walking over to the counter and handing his Pokemon over to the nurse. As she bustled off, Isabella leaned up against the counter, her eyes fixed on the still arguing adults. “Gah, this is going to be a mess…” She groaned, watching as the whole room watched her uncle indulge in xenophobia. “...I may need to intervene, and I may need your help if I do,” she admitted quietly.

“Illya will be coming to join us shortly. I just informed her that something came up,” Shirou answered as he looked Isabelle in the eye. “How big of a deal do you think this might turn into?”

“At the absolute worst? International incident,” Isabella replied bluntly. “I don’t think Uncle has the authority to lock down the city or start searching every visitor, but if he gets Ferrus to back him, he could piss off a lot of foreigners.” She snorted. “The League would get involved if enough people complained, and then either Ferrus and Chihiro would have to back down, or would fall back on traditional rights. Which would not help matters.”

“And meanwhile, the relics that got stolen would likely disappear completely,” Shirou mused.

“Maybe. I mean, even if he’s right about who stole them, if they were stolen at all, this isn’t the way to find them,” she groused. “Best way to resolve everything is to find the relics, cut off his antics before they escalate. And for that, I need your Faller Luck.”

“... Right.” Shirou winced. “Can you tell me a bit more of that? I was under the assumption that the public didn’t think all that highly of fallers?”

Pausing, Isabella looked back at Shirou, as if checking to make sure she had heard him correctly, before shaking her head vigorously. “It’s complicated, but the short answer is yes, the long answer is no.” Pausing to take a breath, she launched into an explanation, “Fallers have been responsible for saving this world countless times, or, at least, so the Legends tell us. It’s just that Faller is an all encompassing term covering both those that fall through dimensional tears and such and those that are Chosen.” Pausing to make sure Shirou was following what she was saying, Isabella continued, “The specific brand of Faller Luck I’m referring to is more akin to the Curse of Interesting Times from the lands west of Sinnoh, and is something specific fallers share with Chosen Ones. Which, of course, Lady Akari has essentially outright stated applies to you and Illyasviel...”

“...so in other words, if we help you, we’re likely to just stumble into whatever happened to these relics, whereas if you went alone you’d just be relying on your skills,” Shirou concluded as his Pokeballs were returned to him. Brushing off his legs and clipping the balls to his waist, he straightened. “Alright, we’ll help…” He paused. “Illya would insist I ask for payment,” he muttered.

“You are absolutely right, brother!” Illya sang as she popped up beside him. Her long white coat over her purple blouse should’ve stood out like a beacon, but through big sister magic, she’d remained undetected on approach. “Now then, what’s your offer?”

Anabelle tilted her head, then shot a glance over at her Uncle. “...if this really is a Celestic ruin, I can swing you rights to explore it. Plus, I’m authorized to post missions to the local job board. So, money and possible ruin diving enough, Lady Sidhe?”

“A fae wouldn’t even bother to help you, actually. Not for that price,” Illya tutted. “I would have helped for just the ruin diving, but we’ll take the money as well. We’ve been tight on funds, mostly because we’ve got enough of a reputation that we can’t reliably battle traveling trainers for rewards.”

Shirou, demonstrating significant wisdom for his age, declined to comment on the cost of Illya’s new wardrobe. “If we stay in town for another week, I should be able to do some repair work. For now, let’s just find those relics; otherwise, we may get stuck here anyway.” He observed, looking at the door. “If we’re relying on luck, should we just wander around and try to stumble into things?”

“Nope!” Yagi popped out of his Pokeball, snapping off a salute. “We need to do this properly! Come on, to the Museum!” He dashed to the door, leaving all three young humans flummoxed for a few seconds.

Shirou blinked. “Well, that’s different from his normal enthusiasm.”

Ritsuka manifested in a flash. “Yep. I wonder what’s bugging him?” He stretched and loped after his teammate, the humans following behind.

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“Rules of investigation! First, check for an inside job,” Yagi yipped as they arrived at the Eterna Historical Museum. He ran between a pair of statues to Giratina and Palkia and past the statue of Dialga standing before the doors. “And interview the affected parties! So we need to start here.”

Shirou nodded as they entered. “That makes sense, though I think we’ll need to have a better reason to talk to anyone important than–”

“Welcome to the Eterna Historical Museum!” A cheerful shout came from the center of the lobby, an older man in a suit waving to the kids. “It’s always nice to see youngsters taking an interest in history. I’m Director Nagato.” He extended his hand to Yagi, the little Rilou blinking before taking it in his.

“Yosh! It is good to meet you, Nagato-san.” Yagi greeted the man, whose eyes widened in joy to match his smile.

“Good to meet you as well, young Mon.” He responded, before standing, his eyes shifting over the others before fixing on Isabella. “Oh, I was not expecting a member of the Clans today.” He said, straightening. “I assume you’re here for free admission?”

Isabella blinked. “Ah, no. Did you not know about…” She trailed off at the man’s befuddled look, shooting Yagi a glance.

“No, he’s really confused.” Yagi clarified.

With a roll of her eyes, Illya looked the man in the eye, “We’re here to inquire about the artifacts that were allegedly stolen.”

“...stolen artifacts?” He blinked. “Why don’t you tell me a little more about this? Considering you have a Riolu with you, I’ll assume you’re not just spinning tall tales.”

Illya frowned. “From what we heard, you were set to receive a shipment from the recently discovered Celestica dig, and that they never arrived. Is that correct?”

Director Nagato’s face lit up. “Ah, the dig! Yes, we are sponsoring the dig on Coronet. A small shrine, we think.” His smile dropped into a pensive frown. “But I’ve heard no word about any shipment of relics. Let me go speak to our curator team.”

“We’ll be coming with you, yosh!” Yagi proclaimed.

“Not a problem, young Mon. Ah, could I get your names?” Nagato said as he led them back down the central hallway, exhibits visible through the doors on either side.

“Illyasviel von Einzbern-Emiya,” Illya introduced herself, “My brother, Shirou Emiya,” She gestured towards Shirou, “And Isabella, of the Diamond Clan.”

“Well met.” He acknowledged, walking up to a pair of double doors marked Employees Only. Swiping a card to let them all in, he walked on ahead. “Miss Pencilla! There may be something amiss!”

A figure in a yellow dress with bright red hair looked up from a desk, a granola bar hanging out of her mouth. Biting off a piece and putting the rest on a napkin, she stood up and walked around with quick strides. “Director, is there something wrong?”

“These children mentioned a missing shipment from the Celestic Dig site. Has such a thing happened?” Nagato asked.

“Not that I’m aware of–” Pencilla stopped and looked back at her computer. “...although, there were a few odd emails I was copied on which seemed to imply our office had some missed communications. One moment.” She stepped over to her computer, fingers blurring across the keyboard.

“Miss Pencilla is our most capable administrator. She holds the entirety of our catalog in her head at all times, and works with our staff to coordinate new exhibits, advertising, and accounting. She is, however, entirely blase on the subject of history itself.”

“I must focus on the present, sir,” Pencilla stated dryly. “...not good.” She looked up, eyes narrowed. “Director, when you were contacting the dig team, did you give them my email address?”

“No, they should’ve already had it.”

“As I thought. But apparently, someone at the dig site has been in communication with me via an account I do not possess. And they were told to drop off the first shipment of relics at the back loading bay at 2 AM this morning.”

“Interesting.” Yagi explained, paw against his chin. “May we investigate this loading bay, sir and ma’am?”

Pencilla stood up. “We’d better. Come along.” The group of people walked back to the loading bay, passing by other people in white lab coats and an odd mixture of rock, fighting, and ghost type pokemon poring over faded papers and working in small labs. “All deliveries are supposed to happen when we are open. This seemed like a good way to steal a shipment.” The group turned to walk into a wide space, small crates on pallets arrayed around the roller doors to the outside.

One man looked up to see Pencilla approaching. “Ma’am, what’s going on?”

“Was there a crate left out here when the team got in this morning?” She asked.

“No ma’am,” the man responded, pointing out to the open roller doors. “Nothing like that. We rolled up the doors to let in some light and air, and got our shipment for the cafe in. Nothing else.”

Yagi walked over to the back of the bays, sniffing, then looked over at Illya. “If they were Celestic relics, there might be some… residue. Yes? I think you might be able to sense them, if that was the case.”

“Let me.” Ritsuka, appearing out of their ball, stated, breathing deeply as they focused, placing a paw on the ground, a pulse of mana echoing through the room, mixed with something more. “Shirou. It was here. Yagi, you should be able to get an auric trace if you stop pretending to be stupid. Or, well, a meathead, I suppose.” Pausing, they turned and looked into the shocked face of their teammate. “If you wanted to pretend to be a meathead, you shouldn’t have included meatheads who are noted for being shockingly intelligent, silly.”

“I have never pretended to be stupid, Ritsuka!” Yagi retorted, then looked aside. “...I may be trying too hard to be strong, though. It’s important!” He gestured wildly.

“But this argument isn’t, not now,” Illya sighed, weaving a small tracking spell. “No, I’m not picking up anything specific. Yagi, Shirou, it’ll be up to you to track the relics, I suppose.”

“I’d appreciate it if you would do so,” Nagato said, closing his phone. “One of our junior archaeologists apparently has been in communication with a fake account, which explains all of this. Thank you for your efforts, children; even if we do not recover this shipment, it will keep them from so easily seizing future transports.”

“Yosh! You are most welcome!” Yagi shot a thumbs up, then leapt off the loading dock, dashing down the street. “Come on, let’s go!”

“You are not getting out of explaining yourself that easily!” Ritsuka growled, taking off with a flap of his wings, in pursuit of his teammate.

“... They’re going to be arguing about that the whole day, aren’t they?” Shirou sighed, looking at Illya with a tired smile.

“Yep!” His sister chirped back, looking far too pleased with his suffering. “Enjoy the drama, dear brother~”

Isabella sighed. “...I need to learn to speak Pokemon. Only hearing half of these conversations is getting very, very old.”

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By the time the humans caught up with the two Pokemon, they’d managed to find their way to the Eastern part of the town, where the cliffs dropped down towards the river. Ritsuka was perched atop the little Riolu, Yagi vainly struggling to get out from under his teammate’s pin. “This is embarrassing, and you’re wiggling too much to be a good exercise weight.” Pausing, the Wyrmeon took a second to take a good look at his friend, taking in the panicked expression the Riolu was giving off, before sighing, and getting up off him, “This is more serious than I thought it was, isn’t it, Yagi? I’m sorry if I poked something a bit… deeper than I expected it was.”

“...not deep. Just… something I am trying to move past.” Yagi admitted, ceasing his wiggling. “What do you call someone who works twice as hard for the same results as everyone else?”

“A hard worker,” Illya responded immediately. “Not everyone is born the same, after all.”

“Which is what I say!” Yagi huffed as Ritsuka stepped off him. “But when you’re surrounded by people who can do what you do with half the effort, even if you pick up all the theory faster…” Yagi shook his head. “It sets you apart a little.”

“You were an outcast?” Ritsuka asked, seeking clarification, “... I suppose I could see it.”

“Not an outcast! The elders wouldn’t stand for that.” Yagi snarled, then drooped a little. “But when keeping up means you don’t have free time to hang out or play, especially if you get praise in your studies… you don’t make any friends. Not outcast, but… I just didn’t have anyone to spend time with. So I spent more time training.”

“That’s a lot like I was at home,” Shirou said aloud, stepping forward to crouch beside Yagi. “If I’m going to follow my own experience… you looked forward to keep from focusing on the present, at least somewhat, right?”

“Yosh– yes.” Yagi admitted. “I didn’t think I could become a knight, and I have no interest in becoming a sorcerer. Yes, we have sorcerers.” He answered Shirou’s eyebrow. “Mostly enchanters and healers. So… I studied investigation!”

“Well, I for one,” Ritsuka chirped, “Am happy you did. It’s going to be very useful in the long run.” Far more cheerful than before, he stalked up to his friend, “Hug?”

“...sure.” Yagi got wrapped in a wing hug, before Shirou wrapped them both in his arms.

“...I missed a lot here, didn’t I,” Isabella said despondently, even as Illya snapped a picture of the situation and sent it to Cynthia.

“...right.” Yagi muttered, getting loose from the hug. “Let me just… get back in character…”

“I’d rather get to know my friend without the masks, please,” Shirou shot back. “I’ll be honest, I get why you want to train so much, and I can’t argue. But you don’t seem to be falling behind with your training even with rest and distractions.”

“You are… probably right.” Yagi admitted. “Still, I am very enthusiastic about training, that’s no act.” He paused. “And I need something to stand out in this group.”

“Yagi, you’ve never had that problem.” Illya rolled her eyes, glancing at her watch. “Also, if you’re not hiding it, maybe you can speak up so Isabella can understand?”

“...whoops.” Yagi said, altering his aura speech. “Better?”

“Much.” Isabella sighed. “So, about that tracking, what are you doing?”

“I was attempting to lock onto the auric signature left behind by the individual when they passed through this location, and, failing that, attempting to get a general idea of what happened in this location by utilizing a rather complicated auric technique to mimic the properties of a Time Flower so I can gain an extremely limited form of retrocognition.” Yagi mumbled as he placed a paw against the ground, feelers flapping behind him as if carried by an unseen wind, “Yes. They did come through here. I can’t make out who they are, but the thieves did pass in this direction, hours ago. I have their scent.”

“Alright, let’s hurry up; the longer this takes, the higher the chances Uncle does something stupid.” Isabella motioned, Yagi nodding and heading down towards the river, the group following.

Illya frowned as the group approached the odd tiers cut into the stone, houses and structures perched upon the steppes leading down towards the river. “What is all this?”

“Used to be the industrial and artistic hotbed of Sinnoh, actually.” Isabella explained. “People built lifts and pulleys to get water for the town, and later to move up and down. The river is rough, but before the rail was completed you could use Water-types to ferry finished goods to Jubilife or Oreburg via the river.” She shrugged. “When the rails were finished, the industrial shops moved closer to the lines, but there are still a lot of artists over here.” The groups passed a shuttered building, a small shrine next door attracting a few visitors. “And as the old buildings get refurbished, some people move in with new businesses or make homes out of them.”

“Also a good area for criminal activity. Lots of ways in and out, no-one knows everything, lots of different people rubbing shoulders, abandoned buildings.” Yagi muttered as they passed through an alley which had seen better days. Pausing, he closed his eyes, focusing as they gained a soft blue glow , then peered around the corner. “...I think I sense something coming from that studio. The scent trail leads there, and I can somewhat make out a few life-signs in there, and something that might be an artifact. I can’t tell exactly,” he stated, pointing at one large, sturdy two-story building, sliding doors shut and windows shuttered.

“Ritsuka, can you get us a clearer picture?” Shirou ordered softly, the Wyrmeon humming in agreement as he sprung into the air on deft, quiet wings, hovering in place just below the window that Yagi had pointed out as he pressed a paw against the brickwork, a pulse of mana radiating out to canvas the room and the building as a whole.

“...at least four people. Maybe more on the second floor, not sure how many Pokemon they have on them. There’s some stuff with weird energy signatures spread out on a couple of tables.” He eventually said, his ears twitching. “The humans are just hanging out, but one of them just asked when their contact will be getting back to them.” His nose twitched. “...and I think I smell guns. Or something like them.”

“Shirou, I’m going to send Fubuki with a few familiars to take a peak. Can you start thinking of a few different entry methods, and call the Police? We might want backup, and I’d rather not have us get in trouble with the League for vigilantism,” Illya called as she deftly tossed Fubuki’s ball into the air, the Froslass gracing the streets as Illya caught the ball with the ease of a professional.

With a considering nod, Shirou replied, “Of course. Probably a good call.” He pulled out his Pokenav and hit the first speed-dial. As it rang, he looked over the building. “The roof has a skylight, and there’s probably another door on the far side. But we can probably just go in through the door if we distract them first.” He stopped as someone picked up the call. “Ah, hello, Sergeant Jenny?”

As her mistress’ brother spoke to the police, Fubuki floated up to the second floor and poked one eye through the wall, finding herself in a small bathroom. Phasing through the wall, she peered through to the main meeting room, a balcony overlooking the main floor.

Along with the four people on the ground floor of the small warehouse, three more were looking down from the catwalk. Two of them were dressed similarly to the four on the ground floor; plain clothing in whites and browns, with red scarves or bandanas accenting their apparel. But the third, a woman, was dressed in a business suit and glasses. As Fubuki listened, the woman spoke to one of the men. “-confirms the scroll is what they’re looking for, they’ll transfer the payment and give us leave to sell off the rest of the take,” she said shortly. “If it isn’t what we’re looking for, we’ll need to maintain the ruse until the researchers find it, understood?”

“Listen lady, you’re not the boss here.” The man beside her grunted. “I appreciate your help, but my guys need to eat; we can’t keep sitting on our hands with a small fortune on the table down there.” He gestured to the table below, covered in crystals, pottery, and fabric. “We can fence the dross out without giving anything away, and find buyers for the best shit.”

“We can’t afford to have our ruse uncovered until our contact has their prize,” she shot back. “That means no evidence, and no leaks.” She turned, and Fubuki recognized the pokeballs and holster at her belt. Looking around the room, she counted three more handguns and what looked like a single hunting shotgun. She fell back, eyes narrowed, and floated down to her party.

“Seven people, four armed. Looks like an established group with one woman in a suit offering advice; she’s the only one not wearing the gang’s colors. They’re waiting to hear back from their backer,” Fubuki summarized.

“This is a professional operation,” Yagi declared grimly. “I can’t say for sure, but my gut, training, and instincts all agree that this is backed by a decent sized organization and that at least one of the members involved is a professional.”

“Likely whoever organized the theft from the museum.,” Illya figured aloud.

“What’d she say?” Isabella asked, blanching after they explained. “Wait, guns? Okay, should we just back off until the Jennies show up, then? I’m not bulletproof, even if you both can magic up some protection for yourselves.”

“The police are sending one officer over to check things out,” Shirou interjected sourly. “They’re not… particularly trusting of what I had to say.”

“Come again?” Yagi blinked. “You did mention- nevermind. Even with how traditional Sinnoh is, invoking a Riolu would not do much. Protocol and all. The responsible thing to do here would be to wait, and assist the Officer who arrives in investigating.” He paused, glancing at Ritsuka, who still had his paw placed against the building, who flicked his tail and shook his head. “... Sadly, we likely do not have the luxury of time.”

“Yes, and if they’re willing to start shooting, that officer may not be in a position to respond– or survive,” Fubuki observed. “This is going to turn into a brawl, I know it.”

Isabella grimaced, unclipping her balls from her belt. “Right. My team isn’t trained for police work, but they’re capable. I’ll let them know they need to follow your orders, and I’ll hang back here. Unless one of you can make me bulletproof, maybe?”

Illya tilted her head in consideration, before shaking it. “If I had time, I could enchant you a bulletproof vest fairly easily, but not on this short of a notice. As it is, I don’t believe any of us are capable of enhancing ourselves to the point of being bulletproof. We’ll have to be professional about this.” Pausing, she looked towards Fubuki, a sly smirk on her face. “Fubuki, do you think you can hit their gun and ammunition cache? Freeze it or destroy it. It doesn’t matter.”

“...I might be able to get the guns on the ground floor. They’re off to one side, on a table; it looks like they hand-load their ammo. But the woman in the suit has her gun on her waist; if I try to disarm her, I’m not likely going to get away quietly.” Fubuki admitted. “Should I go ahead and secure the rest, then try for hers?”

“Secure the ones that you can, ignore hers. We can handle a single gun,” Illya stated after a singular second of thought. “Shirou, we’re going to need multiple entry points. This needs to be a coordinated attack.”

Nodding, Shirou placed a hand against his chin. “Hard and Fast. Ritsuka enters through the window he’s spying on them through. Yagi, Fafnir and I will enter from the ground floor. Illya, can you make your way to the top?” At his sister’s nod, Shirou continued, “Go through the skylight. Isabelle, your team?”

“I’ll let them loose through the back door, keep the thieves from running off. Try not to break the relics, that’s the whole reason we’re here,” Isabella said, walking over to the other side of the building. “I’ll send them in when the shouting starts.”

With a determined nod, Shirou smacked his fist into his palm. “Disable the thieves, secure the artifacts, and hopefully, have them nice and gift wrapped for the police when they finally arrive.”

Fubuki nodded, heading back to freeze their weapons. “I’ll head in first, as soon as Illya heads in through the roof.”

Illya walked up to the building, releasing Matilda. “Throw me, please.”

“Yes ma’am!” Two tendrils lashed out, tossing Illya to the roof. She returned her starter from the ground, then released both Feebas and her starter once again. Moving to the edge, she peered over, then waggled one finger to feel out where Shirou was. “...okay, I think he’s in position. Let’s go; Matilda, make a hole.”

“Are you sure you wish to be loud instead of quiet? I know you know at least one or two mysteries that could alchemically convert the glass into something that wouldn’t make so much noise. Like sand.” Matilda asked, cocking her head to the side, “That way, we could start things off with an attack aimed at our foes, if we’re lucky.”

“...and this is why you’re my right hand.” Illya studied the roof, then grinned. “Better idea.” She reached out and pulsed magic through the rusted hinges, a quiet Wish restoring them to working order. She slid the latch open and flipped the skylight open. “There. Okay; hit the businesswoman.”

“Okay then!” Matilda hopped around to get situated pointing at the woman in the suit, who was checking something on a tablet. “HEY, LISTEN!” she Hyper Voiced.

The blast of fairy-tuned sound smashed into the woman, throwing her against the wall as Illya unwove several alchemical wires from her hair, forming the mystic codes into wireframe swords, and sent them rocketing towards the smartly dressed thief, where they embedded into the wall around her, then unraveled, wrapping the woman in wires tightly against the wall. The woman squirmed, even as the man beside her jerked upright and snatched a ball from his belt.

On the ground floor, Shirou slashed the lock off the sliding door, allowing Yagi to kick it open, drawing the eyes of the few people not gaping at the attack from above. Ritsuka burst through his window, tackling the man nearest to the weapon table as Fubuki breathed frost over them all, a coating of ice covering the firearms. Shirou and Yagi spoke as one. “Citizens arrest, get your hands in the air!”

One man shook off his shock immediately, slamming his hand to his belt and triggering some sort of quick release. “Not today! Get back!” He yelled as a pair of Duskull and a Roselia appeared around him, Shadow and Energy balls materializing as he pulled a knife from his belt.

The man on the upper level tossed a pair of balls up onto the rooftop. “Cuffs, Slammer! Keep them busy!” A Monferno and a Scizor appeared opposite the Einzenbern Magus.

“Matilda, keep the Monferno busy!” Illya called, pulling out more of the wires she’d woven into her hair, manifesting them into small, birdlike creatures that immediately began spitting bullets of condensed mana towards the Scizor. “Feebas, focus on the Scizor, I’ll support you!”

“Oh, the shiny human and her sushi are going to fight me. Whatever will I-” Scizor hummed before a ballistic fish smashed him with an Aqua Tail. “OW! Okay, maybe not just food!” He snarled, his fists blurring into a rain of Bullet Punches as Illya’s shots crashed into his torso. His claws broke several of the projectiles and knocked aside Feebas, but it wasn’t enough to keep from taking some hits.

The Monferno charged to meet Matilda, his fists burning with heat. “Welcome to the ring, bitch!” He crowed as he attempted a leaping strike.

Rather predictably, in the face of such terrifying levels of straightforward stupidity, Matilda screamed. Very loudly. Predictably, the Fire/Fighting type was sent hurtling into the rim of the rooftop, shattering the barrier and barely saving himself from a steep drop.

“Cuffs, don’t–” Scizor’s next words were interrupted as Feebas blasted his face with water, causing the bug to sputter and dodge backwards into the air. “Guh, fucking fish. Okay, human, if you’re gonna fight, you’re gonna get hurt!” He swiped his claws and pulsed his wings, sending a shotgun blast of air cutters across the roof, trying to catch both Illya and her fish in one blast.

Monferno shook off his stun in time to see Illya take the air cutter on crossed arms, a thin cut opening on her limb as Feebas Splashed out of the way, and breathed in to sweep them with a flamethrower. Before he could, Matilda closed in, her eyes and ribbons blazing lavender. “Heya! Did you know we can learn Psyshock?” she chirped, ribbons cracking as she slammed smashed him off the roof. The blazing monkey was already close to blacking out, before landing head first onto the ground and passing out.

Isabelle blinked at the enemy landing beside her, before shrugging, turning back to the small brawl at the back door. Basculin, Roselia, and Growlithe were busily occupying the two men and three Pokemon which were trying to escape. Glancing past the brawl, she caught sight of Shirou bashing aside a Duskull with his bokken, the cursed weapon draining its target. “So far, so good, I suppose…”

Inside, Shirou easily ducked a swooping Zubat, before Ritsuka leapt to smash the flying-type out of the air. The room was filled with a tangle of bodies, Fubuki and Fafnir keeping the group disorganized and off-balance. Yagi, meanwhile, was in the thick of things, swatting aside a Roselia, Machop, and Kirlia by switching between different elemental punches. “Yagi, need some help?” Shirou called out, ducking a hasty Shadow Ball as he did so.

“I am fine. Focus on your fight,” Yagi barked, a spinning kick throwing the Machop briefly out of the fight as a flurry of bullet punches checked the Kirlia, just before she could catch the small jackal-like Pokemon in a psychic grip, “As soon as you can though, Ritsuka, I would appreciate a hand.” He managed to get out in a ragged gasp as the Roselia nailed him from behind with a Mega-Drain, sending him reeling.

“Fafnir, hold the line! Right behind you, Yagi!” Ritsuka crashed into the reinvigorated grass-type, wings smacking the stolen energy out of it as he moved to cover his partner’s rear. “Good onya, asking for help!”

“Don’t get cocky!” An Abomasnow roared, erupting from one of the few unopened Pokeballs in the room. “Come on, let’s–”

The ice-type’s trainer screeched as he emerged. “Discord, no!”

“-get iced over! AVALANCHE!” The ice-type roared, an indiscriminate wave of icy blasts ripping out of him, smashing towards every part of the room at once. Fubuki barely managed to erect a barrier to protect the relics, even as everyone else in the room was forced to avoid becoming buried in the instant snowdrift.

Yagi popped out of the snow, fists igniting to crash into the Abomasnow. “Most unyouthful! To attack everywhere, without heed for allies!” He spat as he slammed fists into the bulky conifer.

“If they can’t take it, they can get snowed under!” Discord yelled back, swinging his fist into a Wood Hammer, Yagi Detecting the strike and hopping out of the way. “Sheer Force and Sheer Cold! It’s the only way to win!” He reared back for another blow.

Yagi stood firm, letting the strike come at him, then seizing the incoming arm and flipping his off-balance opponent over. “Power isn’t everything. Sometimes, being clever triumphs,” he retorted, his usual cheer absent as his opponent struggled to rise. “I believe it is time for you to sleep,” Yagi continued grimly, leaping into the air and slamming his leg into the back of the Abomasnow as the ice type tried to rise, bouncing the large Pokemon off the floor.

As the bedraggled gangsters began to cough and hack as they pulled themselves free of the instant snowdrift and Illya battered the Scizor above into submission, an enraged, high-pitched voice sounded from the upper level catwalk. “I hired you assholes because you were supposed to be professionals! Why are you being defeated by three teenagers and a handful of Pokemon?” the formerly well-dressed woman screeched, her outfit in tatters. Pistol clenched in one hand, she glanced around, then turned, firing at the second floor window and running to leap through as it shattered. “Tone, catch me! Glitch, keep them busy!” She yelled, dropping two Pokeballs behind her. A Bronzong appeared outside, quickly moving to lower her to the ground.

The other sprung open, a large, erratically moving red-and-blue form manifesting in midair. “^&^(&#^$&” the Porygon-Z screeched, a trio of orbs manifesting around it as it swung back and forth.

With the Scisor largely under control, and the Monferno out of the fight, Illya made a snap decision, “Feebas, handle the Scizor. Fall back to the ground floor for assistance if you need it, and link up with Fubuki! Matilda, you and I are pursuing the actual culprit!”

Feebas nodded in her water sphere as the Scizor struggled to rise. “Of course.” She launched out of her conveyance, slapping him in the face once more. “Oh, give up already.”

While her fish dealt with the insect, Illya leapt from the rooftop, just as the woman was lowered to the ground by her psychic type. Illya grinned as her boot connected with the woman’s head, sending her into the pavement with a shrill scream of pain. From the roof, Matilda smashed the Bronzong with a shadow ball before leaping off to join her trainer on the ground, the bulky steel-type shuddering before it began to drift towards them.

At the same time, Shirou finished off the last of the Duskull before he was forced to dodge aside, a three-tone blast of energy smashing into the wall. Hastily returning Fafnir, who had been almost defeated by the earlier blast of cold, he turned to face the final threat, the artificial Pokemon hovering in the middle rapidly shifting targets as it fended off all comers. “Fubuki, Ritsuka, can you force that thing closer to the ground? I’m kinda melee-focused!”

“Project a bow or something!” Ritsuka barked, a gout of Dragon Pulse slamming into the Porygon and driving it backwards. “Fubuki and I fight best in the air, though we’ll do our best to herd it towards the ground,” the Dragon snarked, throwing himself out of the way of another Tri-Attack, only to scream as he was caught by the followup, crashing into the ground with a sickening crunch.

The Z screeched in victory, only to buzz angrily as Fubuki appeared behind it and blasted it with Frost Breath. As it spun to face her, she dove for the floor, the crazed monster following her as Shirou raced to engage. With a crack, his shinai shattered on the lightweight enemy, sending it back a pace. It straightened, aiming at the human, only for Yagi to smash its torso with a flying uppercut.

Dazed and beeping anxiously, the Porygon Z dove into the snow, Fubuki sweeping it aside to reveal a flickering Pokenav and an absence of Pokemon. “What–”

“No time!” Yagi leapt on the device, hastily turning it over and ripping the rear off, yanking the battery loose. As the portable computer died, the Porygon reformed above it, flickering and confused, just in time for Yagi to cut it down with a second punch. “I knew those cybersecurity classes would come in handy.”

“Very nice,” Shirou managed to get out as he hurried to check on Ritsuka, the Wyrmeon struggling weakly within one of the melting snowbanks. “Stop wiggling and let me check you over–”

“Nobody move!” Everyone swung to face the main doors, a woman with green hair in a tactical vest with a Staraptor, Wishcash, Aggron, and Typhlosion arrayed around her. “What the hell happened here?”

“Ah, afternoon officer! We’ve done a citizen’s arrest!” Yagi saluted with one paw, his other one casually dropping the unconscious head of the Z back onto its body. “As per subsection 5 of the appropriate legal code, we need to hand off the apprehended thieves, stolen property, and Pokemon to your possession.”

“Handoff– wait, I know these guys,” the Jenny muttered as she glanced one of the gangsters sitting up in a snowbank. “Alright–”

Her observations were cut off as a bedraggled wet man and his equally wet bug-type dropped from the upper level into the snowmelt. Feebas drove her waterball to the ground, looking at her with some annoyance. “You could’ve arrived sooner.” As she spoke, Illya appeared at the backdoor, a struggling woman over her shoulder and Matilda limping at her side.

“...I’m going to have to deal with so much paperwork…” the Jenny groaned.

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…and fortunately for the police, we were able to direct them to the Faller incident forms. Apparently, Yagi is technically a police Pokemon, at least in training, so that allowed SWAT Officer Jenny to get out of the worst of the paperwork,” Shirou summarized as he spoke to his big sister.

Cynthia smiled back at her adoptive little brother. “You did a good thing, kid,” she stated, patting Shirou on the back. “Next time, you might want to wait or invoke my name to the police though.”

“That’d be really rude, though. I know you’re busy…” Shirou said as Nurse Joy looked over Ritsuka. “And we were able to handle it with our team on our own, which has shut down most of Chihiro’s objections. The clans are backing off without this turning into a major problem, and everyone’s okay.”

“Except Ritsuka, who has a wing fracture.”

“Well…”

“And Fafnir, who’s gotten a minor case of frostbite.”

“Umm….”

“Matilda has a pulled muscle, Illya a twisted ankle, you have a–”

“Alright, we’ll be fine by tomorrow,” Shirou said. “And next time, we’ll use your name to get people to listen.”

“Attaboy.” Cynthia rustled his hair. “Now, about those Relics; they seem to really be from the Celestic tribe.”

“Really?” Illya walked up, Feebas flowing along beside her.

“Yes, really. Your adoptive grandmother and I are both descended directly from the Celestic Peoples, so we have a bit more insight into the manner than most others do,” Cynthia clarified, pausing as she looked over the relics, “Of course, the most interesting thing about these relics is the absence of another relic that should be with all these.”

“Really? You can tell?” Illya asked.

“Since several of the items were scrolls and historical displays, the missing one was evident, yes.” Cynthia explained. “The scroll in question detailed how the Ancient Celestics attempted to bind the Creation Trio, only to fail and learn hubris. It was one of the events which precipitated the downfall of their civilization.”

“...that seems dangerous.”

“Not particularly. It’s an old legend, if not one well known.” She paused. “Though the other scrolls in the set were much more detailed than usual… I wonder why it was singled out in particular?”

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“Sir, it appears we won’t be getting anything else from the Celestic dig site.” A purple-haired woman spoke to her commander, snapping off a brisk salute. “Our potential recruit was captured before she could funnel any further artifacts to us. We have not been exposed, but she was our best candidate for Mercury. I can break her out and stage a raid if you wish…”

“It is not necessary, Jupiter.” The dour man on the other side of the stark, futuristic office murmured, inspecting the scroll before him with a careful eye. The images of three two-tailed beings floating around a string of red gemstones had all his attention. “This was all we needed to confirm my suspicions about our goal. To bind Space, Time, or Unreality, one must use an object as immaterial as they are; a chain forged of the powers of the mind.” He looked at the broken gemstone which had accompanied the scroll. “We may be able to synthesize the chain with this sample. And if not, we know where to look.”

“Yes, Commander Cyrus. Should we–”

“Take no further actions, not yet.” Cyrus cut her off. “We will need to move decisively to create and use the chain at the proper time; we are not ready to do so yet.” He glanced at her, dead eyes meeting her own. “For a better world takes Time and Space.”

“For a better world.” Jupiter murmured in response.

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“...we’ll see if the woman who ordered this knows why they wanted the scroll. And who wanted it, for that matter,” Cynthia finished. She stopped as Yagi emerged from the healing room, his form lightly bandaged but his cheer restored. “Well, I heard your past has been brought to the fore. Any interest in going back into police work, young mon?”

“Nope! Or at least, not yet!” Yagi yipped, putting up a thumbs up. “Although, I may need to make use of more rest days to catch up on my studies; my training schedule hasn’t left enough time to keep up with my online classes.”

“... You’re getting bullied into going back to school now, Yagi,” Matilda stated with a roll of her eyes. “Mostly because the most amusing thing I could do at the moment is tell Ritsuka and just watch.”

“Yosh! That’s… maybe not uncalled for,” Yagi chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. “I will be moving to a 4-3 schedule, with three days of study and four of training each week.” His smile dropped. “...and I’m going to have to apologize to my sensei. He’s going to be upset that I stopped calling him…”

“Oh, that won’t be necessary.” Yagi froze as a stoic voice came from entrance to the room. He turned to see a Medicham with crossed arms, his brows down near his eyes, a yellow tunic across his chest. “Imagine my surprise when my student, who I assumed was on vacation, turns out to have ran off to join a trainer, and run himself even more ragged. The shame.”

“Shishou.” Yagi swallowed, “I… ahem, did not run away. I volunteered to accompany the new fallers. I… merely failed to inform you of that.”

“Right. You’re wounded, and you did good work. So I won’t put you through any training right now.” One grey hand emerged from the tunic, and with a fingersnap, a pile of papers the height of Yagi fell in front of him. “Here’s your make-up work and readings.. I expect all of that to be finished in a week, whippersnapper.”

“...yes shishou…” Yagi groaned.

Shirou chuckled softly as his second Pokemon lifted the massive stack of papers. “I suppose we’ll be here for a couple more days. I’m just glad that’s not going to be a forced situation.”

“Yeah.” Illya sighed, sitting down beside her brother. “...I wonder what dad would think of our investigative skills?”

“We can ask another time,” Shirou said after some thought. “For now, let’s just rest.”