Chapter Text
File: 1
Case: 1
Location: Slateport City, Hoenn
It was a calm, slightly dreary day when I arrived at the Pokémon center in Slateport City. The boat trip had been long but luckily I have grown accustomed to travelling by sea when Pokémon cannot take me by air. The, mostly, gentle rocking of the waves have actually proven quite conducive to falling asleep. Thankfully it is all at the IPD’s expense as well.
My job was a routine checkup on the region to make sure no villainous teams had started popping up, and if they had, to report back and take care of them once assistance arrived. As per usual the Pokémon Center was a good place to start my investigation. A gathering place for trainers both local to the area and travelling on their own Pokemon journeys.
There I met an unfortunate trainer, Cassidy, whose friend, a hiker by the name of Marco, had recently gone missing. The last Cassidy had heard from him was that Marco was heading to Mauville City through route 113 and 111 from Fallarbor Town. Before he would continue on through route 110 to Slateport to meet up with Cassidy. This was a week and four days ago. Cassidy expected him to call once he had arrived in Mauville, which shouldn’t have taken more than a week to get to. But admits that Marco might have just forgotten to call before heading onto route 110. Nonetheless, Cassidy was concerned and asked if I could keep an eye out for him on my way north to Mauville. I accepted the job as I was heading north anyways and got a description of Marco from Cassidy.
Investigation target: Marco. 5’11. Mid to late twenties. Rotund build. Thick beard. Full head of brown hair. Wears a distinctive big red backpack with a white pattern on it.
After speaking with Cassidy I turned my attention to the Pokémon Centers computer where I grabbed a couple of Pokémon and some items from my IPD storage. Notably I got my Mightyena, Swellow and Growlithe. As well as my trusty grappling hook pistol among other items. With that done, I lastly sent a contact in Mauville a message saying that I would be arriving later that day.
Entering route 110 I followed Cassidy’s information. Marco was a hiker, not a man much for bicycles so I chose to follow the pedestrian path along the water instead of taking the bicycle road above. Flying above I had my Swellow on the lookout for the large red and white backpack. I had just about turned the second major bend when I heard Swellow sing. I looked up and saw it dive down towards me so I stopped. It gracefully landed by my side and looked at me with a tentative look in its eyes. I understood then that there might be trouble ahead. I told it to fly back up and circle the area it saw trouble in, and so it did. It was not that much further ahead, near the next turn in the path where, as I approached, I found two ruffians harassing a young woman. They did not seem to notice me as I came closer, even though the woman did. Her eyes clearly told me she was in need of assistance.
“Excuse me.” I said in a raised voice as I poked the one on the left on the shoulder. He turned his head towards me with a nasty look on his face, as if his dinner had just spoiled in front of him. “Screw off geezer,” he replied in a tone as nasty as his expression. “You are harassing this woman, cease immediately.” I said, my tone cold and mildly indifferent. “Or what? You gonna call the police on us?” He said in turn, smacking his friend on the side of his shoulder to get his attention. “Or I will teach you a lesson young man.” I replied, looking him straight in the eyes. His friend chuckled deeply and started rummaging through his pocket, from where he pulled out a grimey looking Pokéball. “You should be worried old man, cause I’m gonna teach you a lesson if you do not leave us alone.” He said, calling out his Nuzleaf before continuing. “Me and Nizzy here are pretty strong you see, so why don’t you just leave us to our business?” I rolled my eyes and whistled, a move which seemed to confuse all three of them. I took two steps back, and in a sudden, swift motion Swellow surprise attacked the Nuzleaf with an Aerial Ace, knocking it for a loop down on its butt. “Oh shit!” the other ruffian yelled as Swellow circled around and came to a floating halt behind me. “T-Thats fucking cheating!” The ruffian who owned the Nuzleaf exclaimed and called it back into its ball. “You never challenged me to a duel, you merely intended to have your Nuzleaf attack me. As if I wouldn’t defend myself. Now scram you two.” I said, my voice raised even higher, mimicking anger. The two looked at each other briefly and then quickly ran past me and back towards Slateport.
“Are you okay miss?” I asked, gently. “Y-Yes, thank you mister.” She replied. “What brings you out to these parts” I asked. “I-I was just on my way towards Slateport when I bumped into those two knuckleheads. The center in Mauville is currently closed for some reason, so I was going there to have my Pokémon treated. They’re currently in no condition to fight after I fought a really tough trainer north of Mauville.” She explained. “I see, well, I’ll have my Swellow escort you to Slateport then. If that is okay by you.” I offered. “That would be very nice, thank you.” She said. “Oh, before you go. You wouldn’t happen to have seen a hiker named Marco coming from up north would you? He wears a big red and white backpack.” I inquired. “N-No, not that I can remember at least.” She replied. “Alright, well, you better head off then before it gets dark.” I advised. “Okay, thanks again mister.” She smiled. I nodded to Swellow and the two of them began walking back towards Slateport as I continued forwards towards Mauville.
It wasn’t long before I arrived at the outskirts of Mauville and Swellow again joined me. I called out Growlithe and Mightyena to help me search the area while letting Swellow take a break in its ball. The small amount of forest between route 110 and Mauville was quick to go through but sadly did not hold any leads as to Marco’s whereabouts. So we met back at the entrance to Mauville and I let my Pokémon rest as I headed into the city.
My contact's house was nearby. Locally he was known as the Rock-Smash Guy. I knew him as Riley. It was around eight when I got to his house and knocked on his door. He opened with a coy smile on his face, one that I recognized well from the other times I had asked to borrow a couch to sleep on while in Hoenn. Riley was always fond of a good drink and a good story to hear over it, and with my job, I guess I tend to have some quite interesting stories. “Good to see you Looker, it's been a while.” He said, waving me inside. I obliged him. “Good to see you too Riley. Yeah, it's been a bit since I was last in Hoenn.” Inside I went and sat at the dining room table. On it, waiting for us already, was a bottle of Sitrus Berry liqueur and some tonic water. “Sitrus this time huh?” I commented. “Yeah, I thought we’d try something different this time.” He replied as he came and joined me at the table. “But before the pleasure you know I have to ask about some business.” I said to which he nodded a go ahead. “Have you heard anything about Aqua or Magma lately? Or someone new perhaps?” I proceeded to ask.
“Nothing on the Aqua and Magma front luckily. But I have heard rumors of some people going missing for a while up north on 113 and 111. They usually go missing for a few days to a week before someone finds them walking around confused, not remembering anything about what had happened to them. I don’t think any of the previous people who have disappeared are in town, but you could check the Center to see if anyone there have heard more.” He explained as he began to pour both of us the first drink of the night. “What about their Pokémon?” I followed up, to which he thought for a while. “I’m unsure, in some cases the Pokémon were hurt or exhausted, but the trainers remember having fought rough battles before they disappeared against various, seemingly unrelated, opponents. In other cases the Pokémon are completely fine.” He answered, taking a sip of his drink. “So nothing definitive sadly.” I said to which he shook his head. “Well, I might very well currently be investigating one of those disappearances it seems. A young hiker called Marco.” I said scratching the back of my head. “How long has he been missing?” Riley inquired. “He left Fallarbor one week and four days ago, heading this way.” I replied, taking a sip of my drink. It was well balanced, if a little bitter from the tonic water, but all together pretty smooth. “Hmm, yeah he should have arrived in town then. It usually only takes about a week to get here. Maybe a little longer if you’re slow on your feet, but a hiker, might do it in six even. So yeah, sounds a bit unusual.” He said, continuing to sip at his drink. “My thoughts exactly.” I sighed before continuing. “I guess, I’ll check out the Center tomorrow before heading onwards north to Fallarbor.” “Sounds like a good idea, for tomorrow, but for tonight. How about a story?” Riley said, grinning and leaning a bit onto the table as he drank. And so I began telling him the tale of one of my investigations as we drank until late into the night.
The next morning came, and with a slight hangover I headed over to the Pokémon Center in Mauville. It was fairly empty except for a couple of people who clearly had slept in the waiting room overnight. I approached the two and engaged with them in conversation regarding the recent disappearances. Though they were more than willing to help me with whatever information they had, it wasn’t of much help. The first one, Jona, had an acquaintance who had disappeared for a week in the area, but that was more due to trouble reading a map and bad luck rather than any seemingly malicious force. Meanwhile, the second person, Allie, did know of a person who went missing in the area as well, but had never talked with that person about it, while it had also been about half a year since their reappearance. I thanked them for their help and headed to the Center’s computer to retrieve my camping gear as my journey north would see me spend several nights in the wilds. While there I also grabbed my Croagunk and added it to my team. With both my team and gear ready I set out northwards, onto route 111.
It took me about a day to reach the desert of route 111, where I would set up my first camp. The desert would be the first area I searched for clues of Marco’s disappearance. The first night I spent camped there at the entrance to the desert, with Mightyena on the prowl for any passers by in the night. Unfortunately, or fortunately, there were none the first night. On the second day I began my investigation of the desert. I divided it into two halves, the northern and southern desert. I started with the southern part. Following the mountain wall down to the farthest part. There I searched the Desert Ruins. With no success. It was as empty as ever since Regirock had been captured. Nonetheless I had Growlithe give the place a thorough sniff, just in case I had missed something. Nothing. So I ventured back out into the desert and continued my search through the southern part of it. I stumbled across a couple of trainers throughout the day, but sadly they had no useful information.
The following day I searched the northern part of the desert. My first thought that day was that perhaps something strange was going on inside of the Mirage Tower, so that was the first place I searched, though it itself was rumored to be difficult to find. Yet luck happened to be on my side as it did not take me long to find it. Rather than climb the entire tower myself I sent Swellow up through the tower as it could avoid the weak floors and rocks that might be in the way. Even for Swellow it took a while to get up through the entire tower and back, but from its response once it had returned to my side there was no one within. So I spent the rest of the day searching the remainder of the northern desert. However, except for finding the Tower, not much else went my way that day, so I returned to camp where Mightyena was waiting, having found as much as myself.
On the fourth day I packed up my camp and moved to the northern exit of the desert. From there I ventured into the northern forest of route 111. The longer I searched for Marco that day the worse the sensation in my stomach became as if some ill omen was on the horizon just waiting for me to find it. Yet once again I found nothing. The same goes for most of the fifth day, until I arrived at the Old Lady’s Rest Stop at the north eastern side of the route.
There I met Harold, an older gentleman, also a hiker. So I presumed that he probably had taken, or at least knew of, some of the trails that Marco might have taken to get to Mauville from Fallarbor. At the start of our conversation I gave him an overview of what Marco looked like and why I was searching for him. “On your way here from Fallarbor, did you happen to see Marco?” I asked, curiously. “I believe I saw someone matching his description while I took a rest not too far from here.” He answered, running a hand through his thick beard. “What condition was he in?” I followed up. “From what I could see he was just fine, no visible injuries or anything if that is what you’re wondering.” He answered. “So nothing seemed odd about him?” I continued. At this Harold took a few moments to think before answering. “He seemed a little complacent maybe, not quite considering his footfalls on the trail, just looking straight ahead like something kept his attention. But maybe he was just lost in thought?” “Could be, could be.” I said rubbing my chin. “You wouldn’t happen to have time tomorrow to show me where you saw him?” I requested. To this he agreed and we both slept at the rest stop for the night.
On the sixth day Harold took me west on route 111 and onto route 113. It wasn’t more than a few hours walk before we found ourselves at a clearing in the ashy woods of 113. It was quite calming. “This is where I saw him, he was headed in that direction.” Harold said and pointed towards an alternate path than the one we took to get there. “Alright, thank you Harold.” I said as we made our goodbyes and we split. Harold headed back the way we had come and I ventured onto the path that Marco had taken. Now that I had a lead I brought out Growlithe and Mightyena to help keep an eye and an ear out for Marco. It wasn’t long before Growlithe barked and brought my attention to a low hanging branch near the path. On it we found a small strand of red fabric. With that I increased our pace. An hour or so after we came upon a campsite. The fire had long gone cold, but some gear had been left behind, as if Marco had been in a hurry. As we checked the camp my two Pokémon made me aware of two sets of footprints leading away from the campsite. One set clearly matched a pair of hiking boots, the other though, looked more like Pokémon tracks. This was one of those times I was thankful for having a Dex on me. I pulled it out and scanned the Pokémon tracks. A Hypno. “Strange“ I thought. Usually Hypno might abduct children, but an adult? I guess it wasn’t out of the question, but it was very unusual. We quickly set off again, following the tracks. They led to the northern shore of Hoenn and followed the coast for a while before turning inlands again. There we found a cave and close to its mouth, unconscious by a still smoldering fire. Marco.
He was unresponsive, so I left Mightyena by his side should the Hypno return, and went deeper into the cave with Growlithe and a flashlight. After a while we came to a crossing with 3 paths. 2 of which came from seemingly similar directions as the one we had just walked. With the third leading deeper into the cave. First we checked the left path on the same side of the room as our original tunnel. It leads upwards and out onto a small cliff which I would approximate to be just north of route 111. We returned to the crossroads and took the right path. It led to a dead end. With the path blocked by a large boulder. But from around its edges I could see light. I decided to pull our Croagunk and asked it to use Strength to move the boulder. It was a rough job, but with a little help from Growlithe and I we managed to move it out of the way. What became apparent to us was that we were now on route 111. Not too far from the Old Lady’s Rest Stop. Examining the ground outside it seemed that either the boulder hadn’t been moved in a long time or someone was covering up its movements. I decided we better “close” the hole again as we went back inside so as to not let anyone know that we had been there. Or at least make it harder for them to discern. When we got back to the crossroads and were just about to head deeper into the cave I heard Mightyena’s bark, signaling a change in Marco’s condition. Calling back Croagunk to its ball, Growlithe and I quickly went back to the original entrance we had entered through where we met back up with Mightyena and a now semi-conscious Marco.
“Good to see you’re awake.” I said, kneeling down next to him. “Who are you?” He asked. “My name’s Looker, I’m with the International Police.” I replied, taking a closer look at his body, there were no visible wounds. He sat up. “What are you doing here?” “Your friend Cassidy was worried about you. So I went looking for you in Mauville and heard about people disappearing recently. So I got curious. And look at where I find you, in a random cave at the northern shore of Hoenn. Not exactly a regular path between Fallarbor and Mauville would you say?” I answered, rubbing the back of my neck. “N-No, I was… I was… ehhh. What was I doing?” He said, trying to answer. “Do you remember a Hypno?” I inquired. “A Hypno?” He asked back as he thought and began to sit up. “Yes a Hypno. I found its tracks along with yours a few hours away.” I replied, sitting down next to him. A thought seemed to come to his mind and he turned towards me. “Actually now that you mention it, yes I did see a Hypno, but, it was different. The coin it… There was something off about it, but I can’t remember what.” “Alright.” I said, making a mental note of it before continuing. “Do you know how long you’ve been in this cave?” He shook his head. “Okay, well, we better get you out of here then. There is a way out deeper in the cave that leads to route 111. Near the Old Lady’s Rest Stop. If you know it.” I said getting back up to my feet. He followed. “I do.” “Good” I said and started heading into the cave, towards the crossroads with Mightyena and Growlithe. Once there we took the right path again and let out Croagunk, who helped move the large boulder blocking the path out. This time though, we would let it stay open. I gave Marco directions towards the rest stop just in case and told him to wait there for me to return. To this he agreed and set out. I however, still had one path left to investigate, and went back to the crossroads.
As I ventured deeper into the cave's last path I prepared myself for a fight against the Hypno which Marco had supposedly followed. I knew that I would have to rely on Mightyena for the fight to take advantage of its Dark typing. I followed the snaking path for quite a while before I reached a door. It was old and wooden, yet seemingly untouched by time. I gripped the handle tightly, it was icy to the touch. I looked at Mightyena and Growlithe and then back at the door as I took a deep breath. With a quick, fluid motion, I opened the door for my two Pokémon to leap through and shone my light into the room. As we had trained so many times before, both of them did as expected, jumping in through the door, one on each side, ready to fight at any instance. Meanwhile I yelled “International Police, seize any activity and put your hands into the air!”.
In the immediate light of the flashlight was nothing but a desk, some writing paraphernalia, a stool and a lantern. Moving the light around the room it revealed that the rest was empty, just cold cave walls. I entered the room and approached the table. There was a journal on the table along with the other paraphernalia. I sat down and opened it, reading the first page.
“The following details are from my experiments with the Pokémon Hypno and the artifact which I have named ‘The Transfixing Coin’ which was provided to me by my anonymous benefactor.
The coin is a relic from approximately 1000-1200 years ago. Only a few have ever been found. But they seem to hold some kind of psychic energy within them which can capture people’s and Pokémon’s attention.
I have used this fact to enhance my Hypno’s hypnotic powers to make even adults easily susceptible to them. Its hypnosis’ sleep inducing effects also seem heightened as people affected by it fall into a far deeper sleep.
It took a while for Hypno to grow comfortable with the coin but it has since grown quite fond of it.
So far my experiments have stopped at luring people back here to the cave and letting Hypno feast on their dreams for a while before leading them back into the forest and letting them go.”
I closed the book and put it in my backpack before getting up from the table. I turned around and looked at my two Pokémon valiantly watching the door. “Let’s get out of here you two.” I said quietly as I exited the room and with them headed back to the crossroads and out the right path to route 111. From there I headed to the Old Lady’s Rest Stop to find Marco. As I had instructed he had waited there for me. It was getting quite late in the day. I had acquired evidence of something going on in the area, but I suspected that when they find their plans disturbed that they would most likely seize their operations here for a while. I was determined to inform the local police forces of what I had found when I returned to Mauville. But my first priority was Marco. And at the Old Lady’s Rest Stop I found him once again. We stayed there for the night, before heading to Mauville the next day. As we walked, we talked.
“Did you have any strange dreams while under Hypno’s influence?” I asked, curiously. Marco thought for a while before responding. “Not that I remember, no. Why do you ask?” “I found a journal in the cave detailing experiments with a Hypno and adults. Seeing as part of Hypno’s MO is putting people to sleep and eating their dreams, I was wondering if there were any particular dreams that might have come up among the victims.” I answered his question. “Ahh, well, I’ll let you know if I remember any.” He said. “I would appreciate that.” I said in turn. “You know, I had heard about the disappearances before I left Fallarbor. But honestly I just thought it was people getting lost.” He said, looking over at me. “That was my first suspicion as well, but the roads are so well travelled that as I traversed them myself I grew skeptical of that notion. I am surprised though that no one has noticed the Hypno. However, I haven’t talked to many witnesses or victims either.” I said, pondering. To this Marco shrugged. As we continued to walk our chat turned to small talk instead.
It was a few days later when we arrived at Mauville. In the Pokémon Center we met Cassidy who had come up to look for Marco and I as he had not heard anything from me since I departed Slateport. The two were happy to see each other again and as I had parted ways with them I went to the Center’s computer and contacted the local police, informing them of my investigation and the outcome. They responded with gratitude and last that I heard, sent some officers to watch over the cave in case the culprit would return. Meanwhile I continued my routine checkup on Hoenn.