Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Hello! I'm Professor Tree, from the Serva Region. Yes, I know it's rather on the nose. Don't mention it. Here in Cyber City, we have a wonderful relationship with strange creatures known as POKÉMON, who live and work alongside humans every day. To get you started on your adventure, I have to ask: Are you a HUMAN or a POKÉMON?

Wow, a HUMAN! I'm really sorry, we have to ask that question. I've had five Dittoes this month, and yesterday I caught three Wooloos in a trenchcoat trying to get a trainer's license. Of course, we all know why YOU'RE seeking to get a trainer's license, unless you plan to give it to the Wooloos. Hah hah, that's just a little bit of professor humour.

Your application says, ah...

• ACE TRAINER - This trainer's calling is TO BEAT THE CLUB CHALLENGE. They will start with a Battle Edge, determined later, and their story would revolve around building a team to challenge the LOCAL CLUB, and perhaps more.
• VIGILANTE - This trainer's calling is TO BE BATMAN. They will start with Martial Artist of some kind and will be attempting to take down some sort of NEFARIOUS OPERATION.
• COOL TRAINER - This trainer's calling is to TRY TO MAKE A VIDEO ESSAY, BUT STUMBLE INTO INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM BY ACCIDENT. They will start with Connected or another Social edge that is appropriate. They will be seeking out new and interesting Pokémon and trainers to make into INTERESTING CONTENT.
• ??? - This trainer's calling is a WILD CARD. Essentially, a write-in. Discuss below the poll and see if you can come up with something better!

cooltrainer64

Heart: d8
Fitness: d4
Research: d8
Tactics: d4

Edges: Connected (Social Media), Pokémon Researcher

Hindrances: Reckless (Minor), Disability (Autism, Minor), ??? (A Surprise Hindrance that will help? us later!)

Ah, yes, one cooltrainer64. My mista... hey, what's your real name? You have to put your real name down, you know. And while you're at it, it looks like you already have a Pokémon! This handwriting is kind of awful. Are you a doctor? Let's see, that's a...

Hey, why is "my editor" your emergency contact?

Ah, yes, ROBIN! I don't know that "sass machine" is relevant work history, to, er. Get your trainer license, but here we are. I'll go get your ABRA, Magikarp, registered as your official starting Pokémon!

Species: Abra
Nickname: Magikarp
Type: Psychic

Toughness: 4
Max Mastery: 1

Moves:
Teleport d8
Reflect d6
Calm Mind d6
Ally Switch d8

Welcome to the world of Pokémon!

...

Yup, that's pretty much how it went a week ago. You are ROBIN, channel name Cooltrainer64. You picked that one when you were eleven and it's too late to change it because all of your subscribers are on there. Recently, you've been doing really well at your JOB as a CONTENT CREATOR. You've covered it all: video game speedrunning, the history of Pokémon materials in textile development, and a particularly hard-hitting video on the infuriating influx of hoaxed primitive technology videos. How hard is it to leave the charmander in-frame? Honestly. You'd hoped that getting your trainer license would get the juices flowing, but...

You swivel your chair around to survey your room. Magikarp, your Abra, dozes in his special little seat for good Abras next to your computer. There's only space for one on that seat, but there has never been an Abra that is unworthy of it.

Nearby is your EXHAUSTIVELY ORGANIZED AND COMPLEX SYSTEM OF ROOM ORGANIZATION, which involves sticky notes, colour coded bins and shelves, currently invisible but still appreciated help from your brother, and a laundry inbox/outbox system. You schedule things pretty cleanly. Yes, as long as there are no big surprises on your schedule, you can basically do a whole job and sometimes even remember to cook and clean! Man, if anyone ever messes with your system, you are so screwed. (Note: Robin's home support and their organizational system is their support aid for their Disability Hindrance.)

A little bit further away from your chair, you can see your ASPIRATIONAL MAP OF SERVA (with little magnets for adding and shuffling around cities!) and your MOTIVATIONAL POSTER OF HATSUNE MIKU. Don't give up, Robin!

Why, all of this is enough to make you forget that you REALLY REALLY need a topic for your NEW VIDEO. A message from your editor, Ursula, is flashing in your DMs, and by gum, this is enough procrastinating. You are going to ROCK this. You are going to make THE BEST VIDEO EVER. You

have no ideassssss whatsoeverrrrrrrrr

Sage advice as always. Well, it's a starting point. You suppose there's an arcade opening somewhere nearby. And you remember hearing about a break-in at the convenience store nearby, which is sadly hardly unusual but could be exciting. There's the local type club having a new trainer event soon - Professor Tree mentioned that. Or you could just ignore Ursula and do whatever. After all, who's the content creator here? You don't need to touch grass or go outside or whatever.

GAMING. Eternal muse of the modern mind. Arcades are much rarer these days than they were in the heyday of the 80s, and so a new one opening up is pretty significant. You do a quick Smoogle search to unearth some details (Research: Success), which nets you some basic facts about the event:

• The arcade is being opened by a company called Gurdurr Practical Computing.
• Their star attraction is that, while they have some mainstays, a good chunk of their games are hooked up to the Pokémon PC system and supposedly give enrichment to Pokémon in the boxes.
• It's in- UH OH! a half hour from now!!! You'll have to go straight there if you don't want to miss it.

This seems extremely promising as a premise for a video! If nothing else, you'll be able to crank out a good ten minutes just covering the basics of the tech. Yes, this seems like a subject that will make for an extremely brief and fleeting but informative runtime, and will not barrel out of control into a research rabbithole or anything.

…

Of course, regardless of how in-depth things go, you'll need to come prepared. You cast about for your equipment. You don't have a very large bag, so you'll probably only be able to fit one specialty piece of gear for this video. Obviously, you have a NOTEBOOK and your WALLET, KEYS, and a STANDARD SMARTPHONE (no Rotom included - it's kinda an old piece of shit). You have in front of you:

• A GOOD QUALITY CAMERA. You could probably get some great footage from this, and it can pick up a lot of audio that normal cameras can't by some miracle of modern technology. But it's somewhat bulkier than your phone camera and would take both hands to operate.
• An ABRACAM. Fitted to a collar around Magikarp's neck, this GoPro-lookin' thing is great for getting shots from weird angles and over crowds.
• A FAKE PRESS PASS. This thing is questionably legal, but it's great for getting places you're not supposed to be. You got great use out of it in your video on the security convention. You are banned from the security convention. It's definitely risky, but this thing and a smile can open doors!

You pack the desired item away with you, put on pants that aren't pajama pants, and pet Magikarp's fuzzy little head awake.

"C'mon, boy," you say, and Magikarp makes a kinda "mrrrrp" sound in response, roused. Your brother isn't home right now, so the two of you head out the door into the hustle and bustle of the city.

It's a bit of a train ride, but when you get there, you're surrounded by a pretty big crowd. The Out of the Box Arcade is styled after a 90s pizza parlour, and you wonder briefly if they've ever heard of FNAF (Five Nights at Furfrou's). Probably not. The place is wall to wall with all sorts of arcade cabinets, some familiar and some not, and people are already lining up to play. You could probably get a good sense of how the games with the Pokémon in the boxes play if you give some of them a demo run. Thankfully, all the games are free today, though food is decidedly not.

Up on a sort of raised stage-ish area, someone in a suit is giving some kind of speech, but you can't hear it over all the hubbub. You'd have to get closer and really tune in to hear them. From your research, it's easy to figure that this isn't the CEO, and by looking at the pamphlet you got coming in the door, you figure this presentation is running a few times and isn't time sensitive. They're probably going to talk about their revolutionary tech or give out some other details you might have missed after rushing to get here, though.

Looks like the choice is really about what to do first.

You decide that you may as well catch the promo - after all, ad copy is always revealing. You take a moment to orient yourself in the (loud, grating, full of screaming children) crowd, making sure Magikarp is still firmly in view (he is - he's hovering sedately above your head) - and push through the throngs to get to the podium. You make a special sign to Magikarp to start recording, and point to the stage, and he blinks away only to reappear a few yards closer to the speaker and up above the crowd for a clearer view.

The Abra-cam was definitely one of your better ideas. As you're well aware, you are ABLE TO ASK MAGIKARP TO START OR STOP RECORDING WITH EITHER A VERBAL OR NONVERBAL COMMAND. You've also developed a SPECIAL COMMAND to ask Magikarp to record COVERTLY, though you still don't have that one entirely down pat yet. (Translation: You'll need to make a Tactics roll to successfully execute this command.) Obviously, you are also aware that the camera automatically stops recording when Magikarp teleports, that it saves whatever is being recorded when it does, and that you can't offload footage from the cam until you have access to a standard USB.

"-ur state-of-the-art algorithms match Pokémon that are dying for some time to play with lucky arcadegoers!"

The speaker looks to be in their mid-20s, dressed in a polo shirt with the arcade's logo on it and slacks. A Fletchling hops from shoulder to shoulder and sometimes lands on his head as he speaks, captivating the younger members of the crowd with its antics. There's a powerpoint going behind him.

"As we all know, many Pokémon have long stays in the PC Box system, and Pokémon Professors do their very best to provide each Pokémon with the care and enrichment they need. GPC is proud to lift some of the burden off of the Professorship Association by bringing Pokémon to the care of the community. Here, in Out of the Box, we've opened this initiative for the mutual benefit of customers and Pokémon alike! With the support of PC administrator Jillian..."

As a slide comes up with a not-very-clear and buzzword-laden demonstration of their network configuration, you (Research: Success) notice something awry off to the side - somebody, who you can't get a very good look at from here, is slipping into a door that you're pretty certain is employee-only. A security guard rotation takes up residence there not moments after. Was that timed? Did they elude the guard on their break or something?

They weren't wearing the company polo that the speaker and all of the other employees are wearing. HM. It could be someone who's lost on their way to the bathroom, or it could be something more. Following them would be risky - what if you get in trouble and get thrown out of the arcade?

On the other hand, looking more closely at the speaker, something about them is bugging you. Like there's something at the tip of your tongue, a connection you're just missing. If you spent a moment focusing on that and asking your online chums, you're certain it would shake loose the fact that is eluding you.

And, well, you could just play it safe. Play some games, look up the tech later, make a video about a curious oddity. Get your ten-minute video done and uploaded and see your Patratreon subscribers happy.

…

Surely this couldn't be all that complicated. Right?

Okay, you don't have time to be chasing random people into doors backstage right now. The thread is in front of you! The chase is on! In fact, in concentrating a bit, you now recall a bit more that had eluded you earlier about GPC.

(Pokémon Researcher) Gurdurr Practical Computing was started not too long ago by one Frank Turffield, who used to work as a systems engineer at Macro Cosmos. It's a tech startup, and this is their first major project. They're not publicly traded, and information on their investors is private. That's not too unusual, though, as they aren't required by law to disclose that information. Judging by the size of the arcade, almost every employee they have must be here today.

Though, that mysterious figure... you're sure you didn't see them on the website, and they REALLY didn't look like an employee, you're more sure of that with every passing moment... damn. Okay. Time to pull out the big guns.

... you pull out your phone, trusting Magikarp to keep recording in your stead.

There's a pause as she watches the video. Presumably. You look back up at the presenter. They're now talking about network protocols.

(Question refunded: Ursula and your other online contacts don't know anything directly about this mysterious figure!)

(Question answered: What is the relationship between two characters (the presenter and the person who slipped through the door) in this scene?

Answer: The mysterious figure seems to have some connection or history with the security of GPR.)

(Research: Critical Hit) It hits you just then that the security of this place is way outsized for an arcade. In fact, the size of GPR that you know of means that they almost certainly outsourced their security for the opening - and if they outsourced, that means that the mysterious figure who has experience with their security just happened to also have a beef with the security's client. Which implies a few possibilities, none of which fit in a ten minute video. While you can think of a few reasons off the top of your head (previous employee, professional thief, colluding with a GPR employee), you're almost certain that this means that there is something well worth stealing or looking at in the backrooms.

You waste no time updating Ursula on the situation.

(Question answered: Who here can meaningfully help me?

Answer: The Pokémon in the video games may know more than they first appear to.)

You put your phone back away. At this point, it's a stroke of luck that you brought the Abra-cam; you won't miss anything from the presentation that just wrapped up while you were DMing. As you make the motion to cut footage, Magikarp bumps against you, worried. He must sense your unease. You bring up a hand to pet him as you look between the door and the arcade cabinets.

You're sure that you'd find something important behind that door, but it's still just as risky as before, and you left your handy FAKE PRESS PASS at home.

On the other hand, while you don't speak Pokémon, you're also fairly certain that if you keep a sharp eye out while playing the games, that you'll get the message if the Pokémon in them think something is wrong.

What to do?

(Hindrance: Reckless)

You know what? Screw playing it safe. You're not gonna play video games, you're not gonna try and infer what Pokémon are saying while they do Donphan racing or whatever. You're going to try to send Magikarp into the system directly. Into the matrix - to talk to one of the Pokémon in the games. Sure, he can't tell you what exactly the Pokémon are saying, but he can send emotional impressions to you via his Synchronize ability, and if something is wrong, that should be enough to get a solid lead.

Emboldened, you stride through the crowd to one of the arcade cabinets. Furret Frolic, the label reads, adorned with an adorable Furret and friends. Including a Girafarig, for some reason. If you were playing it, you might note that the objective of the game is to herd as many Pokeballs as possible into one's own goalposts. But you're not, so you simply slip around the back of the machine and look for a jack. (Tactics: Failure) You fail to do so covertly - the kid playing the game is giving you a weird look. (Hindrance: Reckless) Whatever, they'll be delighted when an Abra enters their game. Everyone loves surprise Abras. This won't have consequences.

(Research: Success) You do find that jack - it's labelled "Emergency evacuation port", which makes sense. Wouldn't want the Pokémon to be trapped inside if the network connection failed and something happened. It's a moment's work to connect to that port with your phone, which despite being kind of a piece of shit, still has the portable PC Box app that's been slowly radiating outwards from Galar for the last few years. Returning Magikarp to its ball with a whisper of assurance, you quickly upload it into the game.

(Heart: Super Critical Hit) It doesn't take more than a few moments for the impressions to come to you - and they're overwhelming in intensity. Magikarp and you have been on the same wavelength for a very long time, so he's able to -

- a boy's face flashes across your vision, as seen from below, promising to see Furret tomorrow. tomorrow never came. why is she here, she is supposed to be with her human -

- holy shit. You reel a little from the directness of the emotional connection, blinking up at the ceiling. Other impressions, none so striking as that one, flash through your mind. Some of the Furrets in this cabinet's PC have no such waiting trainer, or they were trained for this, or they know when their "shift" is over and when they'll be cycled out so someone else can play with the kids. But that first one was plain as day.

Some of these Pokémon aren't supposed to be here at all. Some of the Pokémon are STOLEN.

The kid playing the cabinet is saying something, but you're thrown a little out of whack and can't really hear them. No, instead, as you're processing this, you notice movement out of the corner of your eye. Wait a tick. What's that in the rafters. Some kind of shadow? It's coming close-

(Fitness: Success) You dive to the side as a figure lands in front of you, what moments before was on top of you, clad from head to toe in black. Unsheathing a Pokeball like a blade and making ready to throw it out.

> Mystery Hindrance unlocked: WANTED (NINJAS?????)

A fucking ninja stands before you, and they don't look friendly. You have only the time to process how absurd this is, and that the kid who was playing with the Furrets has wisely beat feet, before you're gripped with the realization that you must act, and you must act now. Magikarp is in danger, stuck in the arcade cabinet, and through your still-active Synchronize link he can feel your rising panic. You're going to need time to get him out.

You open your mouth without thinking.

"Did it hurt?" you ask, and the ninja, who was probably expecting you to dodge or run or something, hesitates with one hand on a Pokeball. "... when you fell down from the Spear Pillar?"

(Heart: Success)

"Huhbwuh?" the ninja responds, eloquently. You can't see their face, but bro sounds absolutely flabbergasted.

"I'm," you start, feeling a little red in the face as you fully commit to the bit, "making a video on hot people. And you should be in it."

You punctuate with finger guns. The ninja makes a choking sound. Off to the side, you hear someone laughing, and immediately become painfully aware that while the kid wisely booked it, you're surrounded by a ring of people who probably think this is some kind of opening day entertainment. (Calm Mind: Success) Luckily, Magikarp senses your oncoming freeze and, in a practiced gesture, sends you relaxing thoughts to counter your oncoming social anxiety. You're going to give that little son of a gun SO many treats when you get out of this.

"Cooltrainer64," the ninja says, sounding out of sorts. They have a deep voice and a hint of a Kantonian accent that (Research: Success) sounds genuine. "You made a mistake coming here, enemy of my clan -"

"We're like Romeo and Juliet!" You blurt out. What the fuck do they mean by that WHAT THE FUCK DO THEY MEAN BY THAT STALL FOR TIME MAYBE SECURITY CAN HELP BEING IN TROUBLE FOR JACKING INTO A MACHINE HAS TO BE BETTER THAN THIS - "What are your pronouns? Not that it matters, I just - yeah."

"Oh, it's - I am a man?"

"He / him, then?"

"Yes. I." He seems to recover himself somewhat, tensing up. "Wait, this is stupid. Enemy of my clan, taste your defeat!"

"Wait," you say, holding out your hand. "I don't have a Pokémon to battle with! And you haven't even bought me dinner!"

"STOP MAKING THIS WEIRD," The ninja says, and oh boy. That's about as much stalling as you're getting out of this. For one terrible moment, you think that it's over, and you're going to have to leave Magikarp alone to run for immediate safety, but then there's a crash and another voice from the rafters shouts out.

"It's the Steel Samurott! She's here!"

The mook who was fixated on you looks up, and that's all the distraction you need to dive for the jack and pull out your phone. You (Research: Success) can pull out Magikarp safely and book it, but over the connection that is still active, you feel Magikarp's twinge of sorrow at the idea of leaving the stolen Furret here.

You could risk trying to pull out an additional Pokémon that doesn't even belong to you, but you don't know how long that might take or how long the ninjas are going to be occupied. Nor do you know if your own Romeo is going to leave you alone for long.

There's not enough time to look up or think about what's going on - impressions of the Furret's distress still echo in your recent memory. You have to bring that poor girl back to her trainer, and it's worth the risk. Magikarp is now safely back in his Pokeball, so as the crowd around you turns into a cacophony, you open your PC application and start trying to find a way to interface with the storage inside the cabinet.

(Research: Failure. 1 Mastery spent.)

You're quickly stonewalled. Uploading was easy, and you were able to immediately reclaim the Pokémon registered to you thanks to a quirk of the system (it's illegal to keep Pokémon from their trainers or something, you recall vaguely), but the emergency withdrawal function is password-protected. No way in hell you're going to crack this thing with your dinky-ass phone and no specialized scripts and no real hacking experience. You swear to yourself thickly, standing up and withdrawing from the machine.

You will be back for Furret. Somehow. There's absolutely no argument in your mind. You don't have much, but you do remember what her trainer looked like thanks to Magikarp, and you're nothing if not a person gifted with superhuman research stamina.

(Opposed Fitness: Success) Just as soon as you've made this oath to yourself, you notice that the ninja who you'd thrown off earlier did not in fact leave and is in fact still here and is in fact flying at you. You scramble into a dive and roll to your feet - reflexes you attribute to the adrenaline that's roaring in your veins, heart pumping in your ears. Security is starting to swarm and you think you see more ninjas in the rafters, headed (Research: Success) in the vague direction of the door you remember seeing someone sneak into. Okay, so it doesn't take a rocket scientist to discern that maybe those two events are related.

At this point, all vestiges of common sense left in you are saying that the heat is too much and it might be time to get the fuck out of Dodge. The police are probably on their way, and given you tried to break into a cabinet with no obvious cause, uh, they might not be inclined to listen to your side of the story if you're even uncaptured by ninjas to give it, or there might be other unknown forces at work that are waiting to jump out at you - like Mr. Ninja over there who appears to be winding up for round three.

If you leave now, you can try and work this from another angle from relative safety. Staying might uncover more details, but you might get in serious, irreversible trouble.

... No, you can't. You can't leave just yet. By the time you come back, there's a good chance everything you found today will be much better hidden. Arceus knows where the Furret will be. Also, they'll probably know your face and won't let you in. And you're not some kind of DISGUISE EXPERT, so what are you going to do?

You have a stupid plan.

You spin to see Ninja boy coming around for another pass, and point out a finger like you're goddamn Phoenix Wright because you've lost control of your life.

"You thieves won't get away with this!" You say, and you see the ninja visibly tense and cock his head to the side to clock the audience's reaction. A child cheers; it's hard to get evil mook-ier than a ninja, so it appears that for now, the crowd is on your side. You think some of the adults look uneasy, though.

He dashes forward and you sandbag, sending up gasps from the assembled audience; he gets you in a hold from behind, and says into your ear, urgently and hushed so only you can hear it:

"Don't struggle. We need to talk."

(Fitness: Success) You elbow him in the ribs. He mutters a strangled oath and you artfully pretend to struggle just enough to make it look believable. You're not super sorry if that hurt, because this guy almost stopped you from rescuing Magikarp.

In response, he tightens his grip and your stomach does a loop-de-loop as you find yourself in the air and on the rafters in short order. He leaps from column to column, holding you up effortlessly like he's in an anime or something.

"I said don't struggle!" he hisses, now that you're out of earshot of the crowd, and you grin, absolutely drunk on the adrenaline.

"Had to make it look good. Are you taking me to another castle?" you ask. "Do I have to wear a dress, or is this outfit okay?"

There's one terrifying moment where he actually fumbles you and you have a moment of suspension thirty feet above the crowd, but he manages to find his footing soon enough to save you from hat could have been a fatal fall.

"I ALSO SAID STOP MAKING IT WEIRD," he says.

"'Kay," you croak. You cling to him like a Komala for the rest of the headlong dash to a secluded maintenance area, breaking out into a cold sweat.

The ninja dumps you unceremoniously on the grate, or at least tries. In practice, your body hasn't caught up with the fact that you aren't going to fall to your doom and he sort of has to scrape you off. Magikarp pops out of his ball and sort of chills off to the side supportively as your butt connects with metal.

There's an awkward silence.

"So, uh," you say. "Enemy of your clan? Big news. Fucked if true, OP."

"Absolutely none of this is going the way I thought it would," he says, sounding glum. He rubs his ribs where you elbowed him. "Did you actually mean any of - never mind. That's not important. We don't have much time before they notice I'm missing."

"Enough time to explain why I came down on the bad side of a ninja clan?" you ask. "I'd really like to know that."

"It's not actually a "clan", I was playing it up to throw off suspicion. Who would actually say that unironically, that's so cringe." He pauses. "But... you don't... know?" He seems genuinely confused. "You've been sabotaging Team Smoke's ventures for years. We all know the name Cooltrainer64."

"I've been what?" you ask, feeling like you must be dreaming. His response has the same kind of tone to it.

"You know? The video on validation practices that brought down our bounty collecting agents in the speedrunning community?"

You stare at him.

"We had to shut down an antique circulation scam after you publicized in Part 4 of your textiles video that many of the kimonos that sold for tens of thousands from the Hisui era were forgeries made from non-native Pokémon fibers?"

No way.

"Your video on primitive technology knockoff channels knocked out one of our most profitable side-ventures?"

You are losing your god damned mind.

"You can't tell me that you were just making videos about whatever happened to interest you and you went down a research hole that just happened to lead to us!" he says, starting to sound desperate. "All for a barely livable Patratreon income? With no further motive than, what, a love of educational content?"

You nod.

He slumps down to the ground.

"This is a lot to take in," he says.

"Yeah," you agree.

After a moment, he turns to you, taking off his hood to reveal his face. Kantonian features, which you guess makes sense with the accent. Messy black hood hair. Piercing blue eyes.

"I'm Hideo," he says. "And I never wanted to steal any Pokémon. I... didn't know until today what we were doing here."

"I'm Robin." You stick out your hand. "I want to help."

He takes it.

(HEART: SUCCESS)

> Recruited Hideo to your research team. He will now be able to give his perspective as a mook of Team Smoke on Connected questions in a pinch.

> You have one post's worth of time to coordinate with Hideo and make a plan. Do you ask him to go undercover? Try to convince him to leave with you to interrogate him as to the details he knows, coming back later better prepared? You don't have time to get everything out of him now, but contacting him if he's trying to carry on business as usual would limit interactions to asking him questions through Connected as he finds brief windows to answer you and planned rendezvous.

There's a moment as the two of you shake hands and look each other in the eyes, and then Hideo pulls away, looking flustered. Damn, you never time these things right. Handshakes are truly the most awkward form of social interaction.

You lean back on the railing, and reach over and pull Magikarp to you. He settles in your lap with a little "aaab".

"And this is Magikarp," you say, wearily. "He is a very good boy that is getting a lot of treaties when this is over."

"Hello, Magikarp," Hideo says, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "I hate to hurry you, but what are we going to... do?"

You hum in thought. The urgency of the situation isn't lost on you - you probably don't have too long before someone comes after the two of you. Unless they're too distracted with... oh yeah.

"Who's the Steel Samurott?" you ask. The name tickles the back of your brain, but you're coming up empty.

"She's some kind of vigilante," Hideo says. "Popped up out of nowhere one day and started messing with Team Smoke's operations. We don't know how she keeps finding out about them, either. There was a theory that you were the Steel Samurott or working with her at one point, actually."

"I could be," you say. "After all, has anyone seen the two of us in the same room before? I don't think so."

That wrangles a surprised laugh out of him.

"I take it you aren't, though, if you're asking that," he says.

"No," you says, shaking your head. "I hadn't even heard of her before this... I think."

You hum in thought, resting your chin on Magikarp's head. He's already lightly snoring in your lap, as is the Abra way, and the vibrations travel up your jaw softly.

No matter what, you're going to need evidence to take down Team Smoke. The police will likely be here soon, but there's little you could do right now to give them probable cause to search the place. Your word versus whatever failsafes they likely have in place in case of a leak. With a clutching of your chest, you consider the nonzero possibility that they could have some awful fallback plan that hurts the Pokémon in the cabinets or whisks them away somewhere unreachable on a panic button. Like, it's PROBABLY not like that, but could you risk it? You need more information to understand what you're stumbling into, time to gather more evidence, and you need to get out of here before you get captured by ninjas that DON'T miraculously want to help you.

You look up at Hideo, who's already on watch for anyone else to come calling, shoulders tensed and eyes flying here and there around the two of you. You could ask him to take the Abracam and record evidence to take to the police. Firsthand evidence of wrongdoing would be extremely valuable if he could get it, and you'd have a man on the inside.

But it feels risky. What would they do to him if he was caught helping you while in the Ekans' nest, so to speak? In that case, you might not even be able to recover the footage. It'd all be for nothing. And now that Team Smoke doubtless knows you're coming, they might just send people after you to snuff out a possible threat who obviously knows something.

"You could come with me," you say, finally. "Help me run down leads."

"Really?" Hideo looks surprised.

"I have a lot more questions, and we can't stick around here to answer them," you say, starting to stagger to your feet with Magikarp in tow. "I know it's asking a lot to ask you to leave your, uh, team, but -"

"No, it's - it's fine," he says, cutting you off with a shake of his head. He scratches the back of his neck. "I don't know how long I'd be able to pretend I'm okay with stealing Pokémon after today anyway. I'm just... surprised you trust me that much. What if I was setting you up?"

Whoa, you didn't even think about that.

"Whoa, I didn't even think about that," you say.

"Okay... yeah," he says, looking pained. "I need to go with you. You're going to get nabbed inside of a day without my help."

"So far, I have a one hundred percent success rate at flirting my way out of trouble," you say petulantly, and Hideo reddens and drags a hand over his face.

"We should go," Hideo says, and then, without any warning, he scoops you up in one effortless motion. Sweet mists and shifting lands, he is strong as a Mudsdale.

"What are you doing?" you ask, and he blinks.

"Carrying you out?"

"Magikarp can teleport us."

"... Oh."

He puts you back down.

The two of you stand in awkward silence for a moment before you ask Magikarp very nicely to teleport you back home. You have a lot of work to do.