Water Veil Cove

[Dragonfree]

Hayes looked up in surprise, then flinched at the sight of May. "I-" he glanced between her and Enora, then shook his head. "It doesn't matter. I'm sorry, don't worry about me." His tone was forced, though he didn't seem deceptive or shifty. Just distressed.

May took a deep breath. "I think it does matter," she said between clenched teeth. "Somebody just disappeared, and you..." Were there.

"Please," Spirit said, lowering her head. "Anything you saw might help."

 

[Hanafuda]

"Young Nosepass have the capacity to learn 'Block.' That's a normal type move, is it not?"

When Odette brought that up, Jack looked up and scanned the area for a second.

"No," Nosepass rumbled in reply, voice dull. "Not anymore." There was a lethargy to its tone, a finality.

He found it. He tapped Zack’s shoulder once to get his attention. “Zack, do you see that Pokémon over there?” He pointed his leek forward.

Zack raised his head and looked to where the leek was pointing. “Yeah, it’s a Nosepass. What’s so special about that rock dude?”

“Let me give you some context about the ‘bad guy’ we’re dealing here.” The Farfetch’d cleared his throat before continuing. “There’s been a few witnesses talking about a yellow Pokémon, and the Psychic-types that are with us detected psychic energy, if I remember correctly. We might be dealing with a yellow Psychic-type Pokémon.”

“Yeah, I get ya.” The Pidgeotto nodded along. He tapped his beak a few times in thought. “I think I remember havin’ talked about this with ya. It wasn’t the Alakazam, right?”

“No, he seems too kind to be the culprit, but I can’t completely rule out that possibility.”

Gladion crossed his arms. "Sounds like there was a longer struggle than last time. I think we can make a good inference about three of four of those moves, at least. Lots of normal moves out there. Could have been either the kidnapper or the Mightyena. The dark move is logically from the Mightyena. The psychic move has to be Teleport again, because psychic attacks would be nullified. The fighting would be an energy-based fighting move, because a psychic attack would be useless."

Jack raised his head and gasped. “Write that down!” he exclaimed to Zack, who quickly obliged.

“I’m listenin, I’m listenin’!” The Pidgeotto’s feathers were basically zooming through the keyboard as he took note of things. “But what was the point again?”

“Okay…” The Farfetch’d took a deep breath and sighed to calm down before speaking again. “I think Nosepass tried to intercept the kidnapper’s Teleport with Block.”

Zack tilted his head a few times in thought. His eyes widened in realization. “Hey, didn’t Block prevent anyone from running away? Kinda like Mean Look?”

“Exactly!” Jack opened his wings and smiled.

“Guess we’re gettin’ somewhere.” Zack smiled at the crowd in the cove.

“Wait.” Jack looked down in thought with some worry in his expression. “I think that Mightyena was one of the Pokémon that was with us on the boat. Weird. I thought the culprit only kidnapped the ones who weren’t with us when we arrived.”

“Damnit,” Zack said with a frustrated glare, “not another unknown!”

 

[Hanafuda]

"We're also advising that from now on, trainers travel in groups. Keep your pokemon partners with you at all times, and try to stay in groups of four. As I said, everyone should remain where they are until we speak with every witness."

“What the…?” Zack looked around in worry after having heard the officer. “Did Seb come with us?”

Jack looked around, trying not to panic. “I don’t see him. I think he fell asleep back at the cafe. He didn’t wake up when we heard the screaming.”

“And that’s when we ran off with his phone.” Zack facepalmed. “You have got to be kiddin’!”

 

[Sinderella]

“Okay…” The Farfetch’d took a deep breath and sighed to calm down before speaking again. “I think Nosepass tried to intercept the kidnapper’s Teleport with Block.”

Zack tilted his head a few times in thought. His eyes widened in realization. “Hey, didn’t Block prevent anyone from running away? Kinda like Mean Look?”

“Exactly!” Jack opened his wings and smiled.

“Guess we’re gettin’ somewhere.” Zack smiled at the crowd in the cove.

“Wait.” Jack looked down in thought with some worry in his expression. “I think that Mightyena was one of the Pokémon that was with us on the boat. Weird. I thought the culprit only kidnapped the ones who weren’t with us when we arrived.”

“Damnit,” Zack said with a frustrated glare, “not another unknown!

Odette felt her fingers curl up. A bout of anger surged from her lower back and up through her nerves, causing a frown to take hold of her face. She didn’t appreciate being eavesdropped on when she was trying to keep her voice down—not that she had any room to be upset, as a master eavesdropper herself—and especially didn’t appreciate having her thoughts broadcasted about at top fucking volume by these two who seemed to be twenty thousand notches behind her.

“If you’re going to listen to me hypothesize to myself,” she said through clenched teeth, projecting her voice just loud enough to be heard without turning her head, “then keep it to your fucking selves.”

Seriously, if that guy—Hayes, apparently, as Steven so heroically called out to him—did try to do something to stop the kidnapping, then the last thing that needed to happen was have it be broadcasted to the entire surrounding group so the true culprit could overhear it. Of course, that was provided he didn’t fucking say anything about it in the first place. All bets would be off after that.

“Pssst.”

Enora’s ears perked, and she calmly turned her head around. She caught sight of Odette motioning at her with her head, and took that as a sign to step back. Perhaps a good idea. Steven had arrived, and seemed quite frantic upon seeing the poor trainer.

Maybe he’d have better luck coaxing something out.

 

[Hanafuda]

“If you’re going to listen to me hypothesize to myself,” she said through clenched teeth, projecting her voice just loud enough to be heard without turning her head, “then keep it to your fucking selves.”

Zack and Jack turned and saw Odette’s angry expression, fear evident in their expressions.

“Y-Yeah, sorry about that,” the Farfetch’d said with a whimper.

“Y-Yes, Your Majesty!” the Pidgeotto exclaimed with a stiff salute. A few sweat droplets fell from his forehead.

“W-We’ll just be here watching in the corner.” Jack slowly slid away, Zack following.

 

[HelloYellow17]

"Our kidnapper has struck again," Caden said soberly, addressing the assembled trainers. "I believe..."

"It took that guy with the Mightyena." Toby grimaced ruefully. "And we're no closer to answers." Regalia, hovering at his side, gave a furious snarl.

Wes felt as though the air had been sucked from his lungs. Mitch. They were talking Mitch and Mightyena.

He spat out a curse and ran a hand through his hair, fury swelling up inside him. It wasn’t like he’d known the guy all that well—hell, he still didn’t know for sure if Mitch was actually his name—but he’d seemed decent. Sincere. Perhaps a few skeletons in his closet, but Wes of all people could understand that. Neither he nor Mightyena deserved to have this happen to them…

He clenched his fists. He was getting real tired of this charade. It was time to actually do something and find who was responsible.

Further away, at the fringes of the group of trainers gawking, stood Noro and Blair. As soon as they saw the area, they started to leave, going seperate paths, but were almost immediately stopped by the appearance on Officer Jenny and Victor riding on his Arcanine.

"Nobody leaves the area!" Victor called out, his voice commanding and firm. He was backed up by a fierce bark from Pyre the Arcanine. "Not until we get a chance to speak to each of you. Understand?"

Noro’s eagerness to leave was not lost on Wes. Neo had more or less confirmed the boy’s motivations to be unrelated to the events here, but that Alakazam…

He filed a mental note to challenge them to a battle later. Try to get inside that mon’s head.

“So, hear me out. We already know where three of the disappearances happened. It might be complicated getting into Franklin’s room, but I could hide out here and follow whoever attacked Nate or Reena, see where they’re being held. Or at the very least, see if I can figure out exactly what happened to them and by who. Maybe stop them before it happens. And after yesterday, well… I didn’t want to just go off and do it and make everyone else think I’d been taken, too.”

Kimiko was nearby, chatting with Odette, though she was talking loud enough for others to hear. Wes cleared his throat and spoke up. “Actually, I…have something to share about that. My Pokémon and I looked through Franklin’s room two days ago…and we went with Mitch. The guy who just got abducted.”

He frowned down at Novo, who was fidgeting restlessly and sniffing at the air, tail bristling. “And…I have something else to share, too. Last night in the infirmary, Novo here sniffed out a…strange smell. It was similar to a smell we noticed in Franklin’s room. I’d describe it as a sort of…sweet chemical smell. I don’t know if they’re related, but it seems important to share.”

He shifted uncomfortably at the number of eyes that turned to him when he spoke. How many of them were secretly hostile, he wondered…

"Huh. We might actually be parallels. Celebi was my plan B."

Celebi? Celebi?

Wes barely managed to hold back a bitter laugh. Of course there were multiple legendaries and mythicals on this island who were sitting around doing nothing. Really, he shouldn’t have been surprised. If Celebi hadn’t cared enough to save Orre, then why would it care about a couple missing trainers on a luxury island?

Useless. All of them. What good was a powerful Pokémon if all it did was hide away and ignore the world?

He clenched his jaw. Well, they could hide all they wanted. He was going to find them and demand to know what the hell they were doing here if they weren’t planning to be helpful. And he could certainly start with Orre’s so-called goddess.

Gladion crossed his arms. "Sounds like there was a longer struggle than last time. I think we can make a good inference about three of four of those moves, at least. Lots of normal moves out there. Could have been either the kidnapper or the Mightyena. The dark move is logically from the Mightyena. The psychic move has to be Teleport again, because psychic attacks would be nullified. The fighting would be an energy-based fighting move, because a psychic attack would be useless."

Wes managed to set aside his simmering anger for just a moment to appreciate Gladion’s insight. The kid was sharp, though he’d figured as much already from their interaction yesterday. He nodded and said, “Good thinking. Any idea what Pokémon around here would have that kind of move set? Not many can teleport, anyway.”

His mind immediately went to that Alakazam again, but he decided not to make his suspicion known just yet.

 

[ShiniGojira]

Trudging through dozens of crumpled paper and forgotten books was much harder than one might think, especially when you had a literal fire hazard attached to you.

Probably didn't help that he hadn't slept for a little over a day. Researching about the various mythicals in this island was a lot more time-consuming than he thought.

His eyelids felt heavy and he succumbed to a short moment of sleep before suddenly waking up by a cove with trainers and cops around and the soft feeling of Evie's fur on his face.

"What... happened?" he murmured with a yawn, burying his face deeper into her fluff. Had he ever told her how great of a bed she was? "Something going on?"

"Someone's been taken," Evie replied, eyes narrowing and scanning the people around them.

"Oh." Nothing too serious then, just someone who's– "Oh. Oh crap."

Evie nodded.

Gulping down his panic, he jumped off of her, almost falling onto his face in the process, and took out a notepad from his bag. He glanced around, trying to blink away the drowsiness. "Who was it?"

Moving closer to the Charmander, Evie allowed him to leaned onto her before answering, "That Mightyena and their trainer."

"A Dark-type? Wait, Teleport can't work on Dark-types, can they?" Flipping through his notes, he hummed in thought. So either that Mightyena was taken in its ball or the teleporter could use Miracle Eye.

"You'd be surprised," Evie muttered.

Scratch that thought then.

"Nobody leaves the area!" Victor called out, his voice commanding and firm. He was backed up by a fierce bark from Pyre the Arcanine. "Not until we get a chance to speak to each of you. Understand?"

Oh... great... guess the Celebi hunt was going to be postponed then.

“No, I was thinking I want to find Celebi.”

She went back and forth with it as she tried to fall asleep. She figured it'd be best to run it by somebody who wasn't a fucking idiot or shady, at least to get it out in the open. "Celebi's time abilities could very well be helpful, but Manaphy was blocked from the body swap. Who's to say Celebi couldn't be blocked from using their time abilities? Or have them manipulated to show something different? Manaphy isn't all-powerful and was able to be intercepted, so I'm sure Celebi would be in the same vein. Jirachi too, of course. But...a wish is a wish. Would anybody be able to fuck with a wish before they even knew what the wish is?"

Manaphy? What did she mean by blocked?

"Sorry, if I'm intruding but–" He yawned. "–did something happened yesterday? I'm a little out of loop."

 

[Flyg0n]

View attachment 3737
"Darling, you've just witnessed something traumatic. You deserve a little worry. There's nothing to apologize for."

She pursed her lips. She wasn't getting too much out of him. He was far too distressed, it seemed. Hm...

"Do you have a friend you'd feel more comfortable talking to? I know you don't know me too well, so it can be a little strange; I understand. Do you have another partner somewhere else on the island who could help put you at ease?"

No, no he didn't deserve to worry, Hayes wanted to say. Not when he'd failed. But he kept his thoughts to himself.

Wallace’s jumbled up brain tried to form a coherent comment.

“Energy-based? Like a Focus Blast? Several Psychic types can learn it, but Nosepass… I think Nosepass can only learn Rock Smash. It can learn a lot of Normal type moves. Mightyena too. It makes sense to use a Fighting type move on a Dark type. Maybe there was retaliation with a few Dark and Normal type moves, and then Teleport.” He sighed.



As Victor spoke, Victoria’s gaze wandered to Amara and Xavian… and the Hypno. Given the way Wallace was scowling at them, it was probably best to keep them away from the three, especially in their current mental state.

(“Thank you, Victor.”)

Wallace scrolled through his Pokénav. He could have sworn that Hypno could learn Focus Blast. Sure enough, he was right. And it could learn Teleport. (By TM? There was a Teleport TM?)

Wallace stumbled to his feet and approached Amara and her Hypno, despite the protests of his beloved Milotic.

He was an angry Coordinator, but he was going to have to suppress the angry part and embrace the Contest part.

“What a… beautiful Hypno you have there.” He waved a fakely polite hand. “My apologies for the out of place comments, it’s a coping mechanism of mine. It’s better than my sad jokes. I know you’re occupied with this case. Truly dreadful situation. Truly. I don’t think I can trust anyone anymore. Can you?” He forced a pretty boy smile. “Forgive me for my rambling, but would you mind telling me and my partner here if you’ve ever participated in Contests?” And why the fuck did you bring us to this death trap? Are you kidnapping us all? What did I do to deserve this? “And do you have any… suspicious folks I should watch for? I think I can trust the word of my beloved, honest, beautiful, kind, compassionate, trustful, wonderful, glorious hosts.”

Amara gazed at him, clear concern written across her face. She shared an uncomfortable glance with her Hypno, who offered a baffled shrug and a careful nod of acknowledgement at the compliment. They both seemed a bit unnerved by his behaviour. "No," she said. "We've never had the pleasure I'm afriad. Neither Honzo or I had much interest in participating, although we've watched our fair share."

She paused to scan the area, then shook her head. "We can only assume the kidnapper is working by using teleportation. Beyond that... just watch your backs," she said with a sigh.

A Tropius arrived, looking worried, a small Oshawott clutching onto her neck. She'd left mid-chat with her friends when she heard the scream, and now...

"What happened?" she asked, sniffing around for any odd scents.

[Coleane used Odor Sleuth!]



Gen whimpered as they arrived at the cove. He could still faintly smell the stench of blood here from yesterday...

Beneath the scents of Nate and Mightyena, and all the trainers and pokemon, was another scent. A strange smell, not unlike the one Wes himself had mentioned. It lingered all around the area... clearly something had left behind that smell...

Steven burst through the underbrush and bent over at the waist, breathing hard. Gods, when was the last time he ran that far? (Probably never.) The ground shook as Aggron thundered up from behind, finally catching up to his frenzied trainer.

"Aggron--" he said between breaths, "Find Hayes. We have to find Hayes."
View attachment 3740
Aggron growled in confirmation and sat up to his full height. There were already so many people gathered in the cove, it was hard to see... A flash of yellow here-- No, a Hypno. Yellow over there-- No, that was an Alakazam. A glint of gold, peeking out between a huddled group of trainers--
View attachment 3741
Aggron let out a startled snort and thumped his tail against the sand.

Steven's head shot up to look where his partner was pointing. "He's here? You see him?" he asked frantically.

Steven was on the move the second Aggron's helm tipped up in a nod. He rushed down to the sandy beach and shouldered his way through the crowd. He didn't care any more about appearances, ignoring the looks he got as he hurried to the spot Aggron had pointed out.

View attachment 3738
"Hayes? Hayes?!"

Odette was there, and so was a girl with a Ninetales, and-- There was no mistaking it, the gold of Nosepass's hide.

View attachment 3739
"Hayes! Oh gods, you're alright," he breathed, stepping past Odette and into the group. "I thought you might-- I heard something--" Steven stumbled over his words, voice shaky. He took a breath to try to compose himself, and it was then that he saw the distraught expression on the young man's face.

View attachment 3742
"You're not alright," he stated. "Hayes, what happened?"

May took a deep breath. "I think it does matter," she said between clenched teeth. "Somebody just disappeared, and you..." Were there.

"Please," Spirit said, lowering her head. "Anything you saw might help."

Hayes seemed to brighten briefly at the sight of Steven, then his shoulders drooped again and he hung his head in shame. "I tried Steven," he muttered. He continued to speak, the words tumbling out. "After what you said the other day I wanted to do more. Make a difference. So we practiced the move and it worked it really did, I even asked a wild Cloyster to help me test it. Then-then today I saw him... the mightyena. His trainer. I was following them an-an-and there was a big flash..."

His voice faltered and he clenched his fists. "I used Block, like you said! I tried to save them but I could't see anything but I called the move anyway. But I must have messed up somehow because now they're gone!" His voice cracked, anger and frustration boiling into it. "I couldn't stop them. I was right there and I couldn't do anything!"

Nosepass gave a furious cry, the intnt clear enough - It's not your fault, its mine!

 

[Phoenixsong]

From above, perched on Charizard's back while the dragon did a quick circle around the cove, the second disappearance site looked just as crowded as the first, if not moreso. Which was probably technically a bad thing—seemed like the hoopa thingy had invited a whole boatload of lookie-loos, himself admittedly included—but at least this time Officer Desperate and Officer Useless had gotten there before him, and, quelle surprise, were even doing their damn jobs and not allowing anyone to leave without being questioned.

Presumably that meant he'd be questioned as well at some point, which, eh, whatever. Annoying, but not like Blue or his partners had anything to hide. No skin off his back, in the end... so long as he got a chance to ask some questions of his own first. There were definitely some faces down in that crowd who could do with a friendly chat right about now.

One more quick scan as Charizard made a final pass: no sign of the weavile that knew how to text. Whatever; they'd just have to find her later. "Grill that fucking hypno," Blue whispered, pointing to the yellow pokémon standing a short distance away from Amara. "I mean question-grill, not the other one," he added quickly as Charizard let out a confused puff of smoke. "Unless he tries anything funny, then absolutely, barbecue his ass with my permission and my blessing. From what I hear, sounds like people keep running into the lady while he's conveniently not with her. Where's he been, what's he been doing, what's he know, anything else you can think to ask. You can tell the phone-weavile what he said later, so she can share it with the rest of us."

Charizard dropped toward the least-crowded spot and flared his wings to slow his descent; Blue didn't even wait for him to touch down before leaping onto the shiny sand and winding through the throng. "While you're working the hypno," he called back, preempting his starter's question, "I'm gonna get some goddamn answers from our generous benefactor.

"Hey, Axolotl!" he said, marching right up to the host. "I know your big fancy party's been going super great so far and all, but I think it's high time we had some more details on exactly what this whole song and dance is. You said the events were canceled; what exactly are we canceling here? What 'prizes' were you offering for the tourney, and what'd the groups on the first boat know about them? What'd you tell them about anything you had planned?"

---

Charizard watched his trainer shoulder through the crowd before turning toward the hypno. He wasn't sure he felt quite so confident—hadn't people been saying it was possible that the hypno was responsible for this? Not that he was likely to try anything in the middle of such a large group, but Charizard couldn't help remembering how guarded Alakazam could be, how infuriatingly vague Exeggutor could be, how difficult it was to read either of them, and they were his friends. It seemed unlikely that a powerful psychic would let anything slip to him.

But if he was in fact trying to help, then it was important that they shared information. And if he wasn't... well, Charizard had to try and learn what he could anyway. He had to keep Blue and Gyarados safe.

So he made his way over to the hypno, standing tall, tail blazing: I know that you are here. You will know that I do not fear you. "You helped organize this event, and your human claims you have been helping with the search for the missing. What have you found? What do you make of this?"

[[ @Flyg0n Mind Reader—I'm assuming that a single free mind reader use from a single player can only apply to one NPC, so I'm angling to read Honzo here. Won't say no if it can also apply to Artaxerxes without raising sus, but I doubt that's the case!]]

 

[Shiny Phantump]

“And…I have something else to share, too. Last night in the infirmary, Novo here sniffed out a…strange smell. It was similar to a smell we noticed in Franklin’s room. I’d describe it as a sort of…sweet chemical smell. I don’t know if they’re related, but it seems important to share.”

Hazel ran up to Wes. She cooed to signal she was friendly, then signed [Yes yes yes] and looked back at Gladion to translate.

Gladion's eyes widened when he saw Wes. "Oh, hey, you're up and about? Sweet. Hazel- Uh, my partner here noticed a smell from his room, too. Wasn't perceptible to me at the time, though. Wonder if it was used to sterilize the machines or something." Would explain why Hazel was so sensitive to it.

“Good thinking. Any idea what Pokémon around here would have that kind of move set? Not many can teleport, anyway.”

"Many psychics can channel their energy into fighting moves, but most can only do it with specialized training. Still, relatively popular among those who can manage to get the hang of it. Powerful, when it works. Might be worth seeing if someone can check the record of that shop with the stupid-cheap TMs... Though, really, I doubt they'd slip up like that."

Hazel shut her eyes, focusing carefully. There was another source of powerful moves she could think of, and one she was uniquely attuned to detect.

Hazel is focusing on her embedded sensors, checking for the radiation left by Z-Moves (as well as potential false-positives in totems, UBs, and ultra wormholes) in her own sort of Aura Reading. @Flyg0n

I used Block, like you said!

"Well, that's our normal move. I think we can more or less picture how the fight went down now."

 

[Sinderella]

“Y-Yes, Your Majesty!” the Pidgeotto exclaimed with a stiff salute. A few sweat droplets fell from his forehead.

She opened her mouth to yell, but caught herself as the words made it to the tip of her tongue. Relax, relax, keep it together. Not worth your energy.

"That's 'Odette' or 'Miss' to you," she snarled. "Nothing less, nothing more."

Your Majesty just brought up bad memories. She didn't need that right now.

Wes cleared his throat and spoke up. “Actually, I…have something to share about that. My Pokémon and I looked through Franklin’s room two days ago…and we went with Mitch. The guy who just got abducted.”

He frowned down at Novo, who was fidgeting restlessly and sniffing at the air, tail bristling. “And…I have something else to share, too. Last night in the infirmary, Novo here sniffed out a…strange smell. It was similar to a smell we noticed in Franklin’s room. I’d describe it as a sort of…sweet chemical smell. I don’t know if they’re related, but it seems important to share.”

"Sorry, if I'm intruding but–" He yawned. "–did something happened yesterday? I'm a little out of loop."

She wasn't sure if it was because she'd grown so aggravated at Zack and Jack, but the sudden arrival of all these people, talking like they were out at a fucking club while the kidnapper stood among them, suddenly made her bristle with onset rage.

"Guys," she fumed. A deep breath. She lowered her voice back to the low volume it had been at. Only then did she decide to break her gaze from the other trainers further down the way to glare at the newcomers. "If I wanted to broadcast all my thoughts about the situation at hand, I'd be at the center of this gathering singing it all into a fucking microphone."

She brought her hand up to adjust her glasses. "Do you understand the severity of what's happened here? The missing persons were previously just people and 'mon from the first group, but they've officially turned on us. Our group. The only group we were advised to trust."

She eyed Wes questioningly, lowering her voice to a near whisper as she dipped her chin downward. "His name was Mitch? Well. You and Mitch went poking around. Found some useful info. Mitch was also with us at the Manaphy meeting. Where we also went to poke around and find some answers, no? That's what I was there for, so I'll assume the same for the rest."

With roll of her eyes, she peered back out toward the other trainers, her eyes falling to Victor as he talked up somebody else. "I didn't know Franklin. I didn't know Reena. I didn't know Kalo. But did it dawn on you that perhaps they got grabbed because they were also trying to dig something up? And now that we've started blatantly doing the same, whoever's up to this is going to start moving in on us too?"

Her eyes slipped shut, and it was a while before she spoke again. "It's great you found some things. That's extremely helpful. But advice from somebody who's been under a nefarious mystery before? Don't broadcast it to the world, and keep it among who you trust. The last thing we need to be doing is letting these undesirables know we know shit, as little as it might be. A little bit is already too much for others like them. They're definitely already onto us; at Mitch's expense."

Gods, she hoped they were okay. Fuck.

She started shaking her head again. "I am not getting fucking kidnapped again. I am not letting my friends get kidnapped." A pause. "And I want to find them all alive. Keep it among the group, or don't say a goddamn thing at all."

"I used Block, like you said! I tried to save them but I could't see anything but I called the move anyway. But I must have messed up somehow because now they're gone!" His voice cracked, anger and frustration boiling into it. "I couldn't stop them. I was right there and I couldn't do anything!"

She gasped and grabbed Kimiko's arm excitedly. "Holy mother of fucking hell I was right, he did try to block it."

But...there was nothing to glean from that. Aside from the fact that now the culprit knew what he'd done, if they didn't already. And he couldn't even see anything. But, at least now she had a clearer picture of how this fight possibly went down.

That had to be something. Because there was barely anything as it was.

 

[Hanafuda]

"You helped organize this event, and your human claims you have been helping with the search for the missing. What have you found? What do you make of this?"

Zack perked up when he saw Charizard nearby. He looked around and noticed a familiar face and hair. Blue. Odd. He arrived with a Charizard? He went up to the draconic Pokémon, wings on his hips as he looked up.

“Yo! Seb told me ‘bout ya guys! You’re that Red champ’s Charizard, right? Whatcha doin’ here with Blue? Did you and Blastoise switch or something?”

 

[Panoramic_Vacuum]

Hayes seemed to brighten briefly at the sight of Steven, then his shoulders drooped again and he hung his head in shame. "I tried Steven," he muttered. He continued to speak, the words tumbling out. "After what you said the other day I wanted to do more. Make a difference. So we practiced the move and it worked it really did, I even asked a wild Cloyster to help me test it. Then-then today I saw him... the mightyena. His trainer. I was following them an-an-and there was a big flash..."

His voice faltered and he clenched his fists. "I used Block, like you said! I tried to save them but I could't see anything but I called the move anyway. But I must have messed up somehow because now they're gone!" His voice cracked, anger and frustration boiling into it. "I couldn't stop them. I was right there and I couldn't do anything!"

Nosepass gave a furious cry, the intnt clear enough - It's not your fault, its mine!

Steven listened, the shock on his face turning to despair as he watched Hayes crumble right before his eyes. The relief of him actually being here and safe crushed with the loss of another (the prickly mightyena trainer?!), and the fact that Hayes thought he was responsible for it. The pang in Steven's chest was so sharp, he nearly flinched.


Acting on pure reflex, he stepped forward, placing a hand on each of Hayes's arms and squeezed. "Hayes, look at me. This is not your fault." He gave the despondent trainer a small shake to try to pull him out of his self-inflicted misery. "Block isn't foolproof, even when used by the highest level trainers. For all we know, it did work and you forced whoever did this to panic and make a sloppy mistake. You tried to help, and I'm proud of you for that."

He held onto Hayes for a moment longer, until he couldn't feel him shaking as badly in his grip. Steven loosened his hold but still kept a gentle hand on Hayes's shoulder.


"Now, please, take a deep breath and help me understand what happened. We're going to find who did this, but we need your help for that."


"You said you were following the mightyena trainer? Why? And you said you couldn't see because of a big flash? Was it a surprise attack? Or the clash of two moves against each other? If you can help us build a timeline of the events leading up to the flash, maybe we can get to the bottom of this."

 

[Phoenixsong]

Zack perked up when he saw Charizard nearby. He looked around and noticed a familiar face and hair. Blue. Odd. He arrived with a Charizard? He went up to the draconic Pokémon, wings on his hips as he looked up.

“Yo! Seb told me ‘bout ya guys! You’re that Red champ’s Charizard, right? Whatcha doin’ here with Blue? Did you and Blastoise switch or something?”

It was hard to retain an imposing, confident demeanor with a pidgeotto (...? something was very off about this one, not at all like Pidgeot before she'd evolved) fluttering around his head and chattering inanely.

"It seems pretty obvious, at least to me," he said, unable to keep a slight growl out of his voice, "that I'm trying to have a conversation right now. I want to hear what the hypno has to say about recent events. Or were you not aware that someone else has gone missing? Because they have. This is a crime scene, not a social gathering.

"No, Red is not my human. No, Blue is not Tank's human. They are my friends; we've trained together; but Blue is mine, and I'm getting very, very tired of people claiming otherwise. Perhaps you're also the last to learn that this is some sort of gathering of 'different worlds'?"

He brought his face very close to the bizarre pidgeotto, enough to make the embers dancing behind his teeth readily apparent. "Rather than continue making a fool of yourself, I'd strongly consider doing something useful. There'll be time for small talk—and for introductions rather than ridiculous assumptions—after this problem is resolved and our humans' safety is assured."

He reached out and, assuming Zack didn't duck out of the way, turned the bird's head toward the waiting hypno. "If you're going to hang around here, then don't pester me; help me. The hypno's been kind enough to give us his time. What would you like to know?"

 

[Hanafuda]

He reached out and, assuming Zack didn't duck out of the way, turned the bird's head toward the waiting hypno. "If you're going to hang around here, then don't pester me; help me. The hypno's been kind enough to give us his time. What would you like to know?"

“Y-Yeah, yeah.” Zack backed away nervously a bit from Charizard in surprise after the dragon’s face came close to his. “Forgot about this multiverse shenanigans for a bit.” He passed his wings through his crest and sighed. He put up a serious expression as he looked at the Hypno in front of him. “For reals, though, I wanna catch the bad guy just as much as everybody here. Hope we can dig some info about the missin’ humans outta this guy.”

 

[Flyg0n]

From above, perched on Charizard's back while the dragon did a quick circle around the cove, the second disappearance site looked just as crowded as the first, if not moreso. Which was probably technically a bad thing—seemed like the hoopa thingy had invited a whole boatload of lookie-loos, himself admittedly included—but at least this time Officer Desperate and Officer Useless had gotten there before him, and, quelle surprise, were even doing their damn jobs and not allowing anyone to leave without being questioned.

Presumably that meant he'd be questioned as well at some point, which, eh, whatever. Annoying, but not like Blue or his partners had anything to hide. No skin off his back, in the end... so long as he got a chance to ask some questions of his own first. There were definitely some faces down in that crowd who could do with a friendly chat right about now.

One more quick scan as Charizard made a final pass: no sign of the weavile that knew how to text. Whatever; they'd just have to find her later. "Grill that fucking hypno," Blue whispered, pointing to the yellow pokémon standing a short distance away from Amara. "I mean question-grill, not the other one," he added quickly as Charizard let out a confused puff of smoke. "Unless he tries anything funny, then absolutely, barbecue his ass with my permission and my blessing. From what I hear, sounds like people keep running into the lady while he's conveniently not with her. Where's he been, what's he been doing, what's he know, anything else you can think to ask. You can tell the phone-weavile what he said later, so she can share it with the rest of us."

Charizard dropped toward the least-crowded spot and flared his wings to slow his descent; Blue didn't even wait for him to touch down before leaping onto the shiny sand and winding through the throng. "While you're working the hypno," he called back, preempting his starter's question, "I'm gonna get some goddamn answers from our generous benefactor.

"Hey, Axolotl!" he said, marching right up to the host. "I know your big fancy party's been going super great so far and all, but I think it's high time we had some more details on exactly what this whole song and dance is. You said the events were canceled; what exactly are we canceling here? What 'prizes' were you offering for the tourney, and what'd the groups on the first boat know about them? What'd you tell them about anything you had planned?"

---

Charizard watched his trainer shoulder through the crowd before turning toward the hypno. He wasn't sure he felt quite so confident—hadn't people been saying it was possible that the hypno was responsible for this? Not that he was likely to try anything in the middle of such a large group, but Charizard couldn't help remembering how guarded Alakazam could be, how infuriatingly vague Exeggutor could be, how difficult it was to read either of them, and they were his friends. It seemed unlikely that a powerful psychic would let anything slip to him.

But if he was in fact trying to help, then it was important that they shared information. And if he wasn't... well, Charizard had to try and learn what he could anyway. He had to keep Blue and Gyarados safe.

So he made his way over to the hypno, standing tall, tail blazing: I know that you are here. You will know that I do not fear you. "You helped organize this event, and your human claims you have been helping with the search for the missing. What have you found? What do you make of this?"

[[ @Flyg0n Mind Reader—I'm assuming that a single free mind reader use from a single player can only apply to one NPC, so I'm angling to read Honzo here. Won't say no if it can also apply to Artaxerxes without raising sus, but I doubt that's the case!]]

Xavian smiled tiredly in greeting as Blue marched up to him. He didn't seem too put off by Blue's demeanor. His eyes were ever so slightly bloodshot looking and dark circles had formed under them. The past two days had been unkind to him it seemed. He spoke, but his thoughts seemed elsewhere and he kept glancing towards the site of the disappearance. "Just tournaments..." he said, shaking his head. "Silly things. A contest showcase. The prizes weren't even special. A bit of money, rare items, stupid things." Xavian ran his hands through his hair. "Nothing worth this. Nothing." Bitterness touched his voice.

"No one knew anything much more than what was said on the invitations. I just hoped to give everyone a chance to enjoy themselves. That was all."

--

Honzo gazed at Charizard for a long time, his expression unreadable. "I know what you are thinking." Honzo's telepathic voice came across to Charizard, guarded and cautious. "Because I am psychic I am being targeted. Because I can teleport. I am well aware of the rumors and hearsay. But have you ever considered that someone is causing chaos on purpose, to distract us from the true culprit?"

Charizard is studying Honzo intenetly! He's... hard to read, but he isn't showing any signs of deception...

---

Hazel ran up to Wes. She cooed to signal she was friendly, then signed [Yes yes yes] and looked back at Gladion to translate.

Gladion's eyes widened when he saw Wes. "Oh, hey, you're up and about? Sweet. Hazel- Uh, my partner here noticed a smell from his room, too. Wasn't perceptible to me at the time, though. Wonder if it was used to sterilize the machines or something." Would explain why Hazel was so sensitive to it.


"Many psychics can channel their energy into fighting moves, but most can only do it with specialized training. Still, relatively popular among those who can manage to get the hang of it. Powerful, when it works. Might be worth seeing if someone can check the record of that shop with the stupid-cheap TMs... Though, really, I doubt they'd slip up like that."

Hazel shut her eyes, focusing carefully. There was another source of powerful moves she could think of, and one she was uniquely attuned to detect.

Hazel is focusing on her embedded sensors, checking for the radiation left by Z-Moves (as well as potential false-positives in totems, UBs, and ultra wormholes) in her own sort of Aura Reading. @Flyg0n

"Well, that's our normal move. I think we can more or less picture how the fight went down now."

Hazel scanned the area! All reports indicate a negative reading!

There are no traces of radation from such moves or techniques. Still, the energy reading was strong. Whoever did this was not weak.

---

"Do you know anything about Contest Spectacular mechanics? There are certain moves that calm down a Pokémon, or keep them from getting startled by Pokémon. Protect, Light Screen, Reflect, Teleport..." He drew out every word, sort of to gauge Amara and Honzo's reactions, but mostly because he was on the verge of passing out. "By the way... does the Skill Swap Shop have every Technical Machine? Have you ever been? Does it have Kantonian Technical Machines? What kinds of Technical Machines does Kanto have?"

Amara eyed him again before continuing. "Yes, we do have access to just about every TM they have at the shop... Are you sure you feel alright? Perhaps you should rest at the infirmary more. It's been a very long day." Genuine concern filled her voice. "But yes, to answer your question I am aware of how contest moves work."

---

Steven listened, the shock on his face turning to despair as he watched Hayes crumble right before his eyes. The relief of him actually being here and safe crushed with the loss of another (the prickly mightyena trainer?!), and the fact that Hayes thought he was responsible for it. The pang in Steven's chest was so sharp, he nearly flinched.

View attachment 3747
Acting on pure reflex, he stepped forward, placing a hand on each of Hayes's arms and squeezed. "Hayes, look at me. This is not your fault." He gave the despondent trainer a small shake to try to pull him out of his self-inflicted misery. "Block isn't foolproof, even when used by the highest level trainers. For all we know, it did work and you forced whoever did this to panic and make a sloppy mistake. You tried to help, and I'm proud of you for that."

He held onto Hayes for a moment longer, until he couldn't feel him shaking as badly in his grip. Steven loosened his hold but still kept a gentle hand on Hayes's shoulder.

View attachment 3748
"Now, please, take a deep breath and help me understand what happened. We're going to find who did this, but we need your help for that."

View attachment 3749
"You said you were following the mightyena trainer? Why? And you said you couldn't see because of a big flash? Was it a surprise attack? Or the clash of two moves against each other? If you can help us build a timeline of the events leading up to the flash, maybe we can get to the bottom of this."

"Right," Hayes whispered, taking comfort in Steven's firm grip. "Thank you," he said softly.

Hayes seemed to relax a little more and nodded to himself. Right, he needed to be focused here. He had to get a grip. Taking a deep breath, he steadied himself further. "Right," he said, his tone switching to something more logical and direct. "I've been trying to keep an eye on things. This morning I was out early practicing again, and I spotted them leaving the infirmary. I wanted to see what they were doing so I follow them for a little bit. Then, before I could really say anything to him, there was a huge flash of light. But not from a clash, it was like the actual move Flash."

Hayes shook his head. "We were blinded, and I guess the Mightyena and her trainer were too? I figured it was an ambsh and thats when I called for Nosepass to use Block!" He clenched his fist. "I should have worked. We went over that move together for hours. But when the light faded they were gone...."

He turned to look up at Steven properly. "What did we do wrong? Block should have worked."

 

[Hanafuda]

Zack looked confused at Honzo, crossing his wings and tilting his head. “Hello? Can you talk? Or are you doin’ some mind talkin’ with our dragon friend here?”

 

[Flyg0n]

Zack looked confused at Honzo, crossing his wings and tilting his head. “Hello? Can you talk? Or are you doin’ some mind talkin’ with our dragon friend here?”

Honzo directed his attention to Zack. "Do you have an actual question for me?" he asked plainly, his telepathic voice carrying a note of dismissivness.

 

[Hanafuda]

“Nah, just want in on the convo, is all.” Zack flicked his bang with a feather a few times. His voice carried a relaxed demeanor in his tone.

 

[Panoramic_Vacuum]

"Right," Hayes whispered, taking comfort in Steven's firm grip. "Thank you," he said softly.

Hayes seemed to relax a little more and nodded to himself. Right, he needed to be focused here. He had to get a grip. Taking a deep breath, he steadied himself further. "Right," he said, his tone switching to something more logical and direct. "I've been trying to keep an eye on things. This morning I was out early practicing again, and I spotted them leaving the infirmary. I wanted to see what they were doing so I follow them for a little bit. Then, before I could really say anything to him, there was a huge flash of light. But not from a clash, it was like the actual move Flash."

Hayes shook his head. "We were blinded, and I guess the Mightyena and her trainer were too? I figured it was an ambsh and thats when I called for Nosepass to use Block!" He clenched his fist. "I should have worked. We went over that move together for hours. But when the light faded they were gone...."

He turned to look up at Steven properly. "What did we do wrong? Block should have worked."

"There's several ways that a Block can be circumvented," said Steven, scowling. "Some pokemon have abilities that will stop it. Other pokemon can learn moves that will prevent it from working."

His gaze slid over the assembled pokemon in the cove... Grumpig, Alakazam, Hatterene, even Kefki...

"Perhaps there were multiple attackers, and the Block only affected one of them."


"I'm sorry, Hayes. I wish I had a better answer for you."


"Still, your being here and using Block must have affected the attackers' plan in some way. We'll look for anything that they might have left behind by mistake."


Steven nodded to where Aggron was waiting at the edge of the group. The big steel type began to search the area where Hayes had said he last saw the Mightyena and her trainer. He couldn't help the pang of sadness that hit him when he realized the Mightyena's prints were all that was left of her. He let out a snarl. She deserved better.

[[Aggron used **Foresight** @Flyg0n]]


While the group was discussing amongst themselves, Steven leaned closer to Hayes so only the two of them could hear. "I still want to speak with you about your note. You said you had some ideas. I still want to hear them, but in light of what's happened, I think it's best if we kept our conversation private. Once this investigation is over, meet me back at the dorms, first floor. I have a place we can talk without being interrupted."