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Chapter Text

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Solid rock crystallises all around them, the fusion of the Doctor and UB growing more and more unstable as poison begins to choke the underground chamber’s air. Lloyd can feel the fruitless attempt of his partner trying to burn the vine like rocks. He doesn’t know what kills him first. The poison or the rocks. Not that it matters. They’re all gone now…

Guy…

Cecile…

Everyone…

I’m…

Please…

I’m so…

Find me…

Sorry…

…

…

…

Lloyd’s eyes flutter open, adjusting to the bright light steaming through the window of… Wait… where was he again? 

…

It takes a few moments for Lloyd to remember where he is: On the train from Calvard to Crossbell, he really must’ve been out of it to forget that. “Are you alright young man?” The elderly woman sitting across from Lloyd asks, “You were tossing and turning quite fiercely.”

“Some dream you must’ve been having. Drowning in a pile of Skitty?” The old man asks.

Lloyd laughs awkwardly, “N-nothing that nice…”

“Oh don’t tease the poor boy.” The older woman chides.

The old man chortles, “Well, well, if you insist. Though I must say, your fashion certainly doesn’t look Erebonian. Are you from Crossbell my boy?”

“Y-yeah…” Lloyd nods, “Though I moved away three years ago, I’m glad to be coming home.”

“Oh is that so. Well, if you ask me, you’ll hardly recognise the place.” The old man says, “Ever since the ink dried on the nonaggression pact two Decembers ago there’s been an explosion of investment. Department stores and Orbal stores are popping up left and right, not to mention all the high rises.” 

“I-is that so?” Lloyd says, not exactly sure how to respond to the old man’s sudden fervour.

“Quite, though it hasn’t seemed to help the diet be anymore useful.” He scoffs, “It’s all Republican Faction this, Imperial Faction that, the only person in the government you can really trust is Mayor MacDo-”

“That’s quite enough dear.” The old woman interjects before her husband can really get started, “Honestly.” She scoffs, “Sorry about him, he becomes rather animated when talking about politics.”

“I-it’s alright.” Lloyd awkwardly laughs again, “It’s good to have something you’re passionate about.” He says before looking out the window again, the small silhouette of Crossbell growing closer and closer. 

Guy… Cecile… I’m finally coming home.

+

S.1204 - January

“W-whoa…” Lloyd mumbles as he walks out of the station and out into Crossbell’s central square, “Y-you really weren’t exaggerating.” Lloyd looks around at the city’s main square, the only thing that Lloyd can see in the same place is the old bell. What was once a regular general store had been replaced with a multistory building labelled Times Department Store while what was once a simple Factory had been upgraded to an entire store for Orbments, every major manufacturer being advertised on the windows. Before he can get fully caught up in taking in the city Lloyd finds himself clearing his throat. “Would you like help getting your luggage back to your home?”

“Oh no dear, it's quite alright. We wouldn't want to make you late on your first day back at work.”

“Right.” Lloyd bows his head respectfully and hands the elderly couple back their luggage, “Maybe I'll see you around.”  

“Yes, yes, and good luck at your new job.” The old man says before departing in the direction of East Street.

Lloyd takes a deep breath of the Crossbell air, letting the mid-winter cold sink into him a little before walking through Central Square and to the Administrative District.

Luckily the police department building is the same as it was three years ago, the only difference being the slightly more weather worn facade. Wasting no time Lloyd pushes the door to the station, the same blue vinyl benches sit in two rows on either side of the reception. Standing at the front, behind the reception desk, is a young woman with pigtails who looks just a little bit younger than Lloyd himself, a small Dedenne sleeping on her desk.

“Excuse me.” Lloyd says as he approaches the desk.

“Ah, hello! How can I help you?” She asks in a voice that was too energetic to just be a customer service voice.

“Ah, Lloyd Bannings, reporting for duty.”

“Oh, you're a new recruit! What division were you assigned to?” She asks, and Lloyd feels his stomach drop.

“The letter I was sent said I'd been assigned to the ‘Special Support Section’.” Lloyd knows that division didn't exist back when Guy worked here, and the way the receptionist’s face contorts into one of confusion tells Lloyd it clearly was a very recent addition.

“You ain't gotta scroll around for anything, Fran.” A gravelly voice from down the hall says to presumably the receptionist, “He's one of mine.”

“Oh! Chief Sergei! I see, so that's what you ended up calling your division.” She says beaming.

“Come with me kid.” The man - Chief Sergei, it's safe to assume - beckons Lloyd to follow him down the hallway, “everyone else is already here.”

Lloyd follows the Chief down into a conference room where three other people were already seated around the table. Closest to the door and to Lloyd is a man who’s definitely older than him, but not by much. Long crimson hair is tied feebly behind his neck with a blue hair tie. He’s obviously tall, his legs folded awkwardly under the table, and muscular, with eyes so blue they look like they’d glow in the dark. 

There are two girls sitting on the other side of the table, one a woman who’s probably around Lloyd’s own age in pink, long pearl-grey hair tied half up half down by a black ribbon, light greyish-green eyes seeming to scrutinise him. 

The other girl is a fair bit younger than him, dressed in black and purple, with the notable exception of a silver breast plate. Her icy blue hair pulled half up into pigtails, fake looking Skitty-ears acting as a head band, golden-yellow eyes staring blankly in his direction.

“Alright. That makes everyone.” Sergei announces, “Now go round and introduce yourselves. Name and where you're from ought to do it.”

“R-right…” Lloyd stammers, “Lloyd Bannings, I was raised in Crossbell, though I’ve been living with relatives in Calvard for the past three years. I look forward to working with you.” Lloyd bows his head before sitting down in the chair next to the red-haired man. 

“Maaan, you real wound up!” The older man laughs, “Randy Orlando, you ever decide you want to loosen up, just come to me, I’ll show you a good time.” He says, a strange smirk across his face. 

While Lloyd is fumbling to make sense of whatever Randy meant, the younger girl across the table gives them a flat stare, “Tio Plato, Leman State.” She turns to the other girl, “Your turn.”

“Elie MacDowell, like Lloyd I was born in Crossbell, though I have spent the past two years studying abroad.” She says.

“Alright then.” Sergei drolls, “Now then, about what your division is fo-” He’s cut off by the sound of something beeping in his pocket, “Gimme a moment.” He sighs before taking what Lloyd thinks is a communicator out of his pocket.

“Yeah… No, your timin’ great. I’ll take care of it.” Sergei turns the device off before turning back to their group.

“Alright, I was gonna explain what this division’s about. But instead I’ll show you. Follow me.” 

+

Sergei leads them all to station street, down a set of metal stairs and stops in front of a locked heavy duty door. “Alright, we got a call about some monsters messing around down here. Your job’s going to be to exterminate them.”

“Eh?” Lloyd tilts his head to the side, “Isn’t that the Guardian Forces’ job?”

“Normally.” Sergei shrugs, “But today it’s yours.” He says before pulling a medium sized box out from somewhere and handing it to Tio, “These are your Enigma units, fresh from the Epstein Foundation in Leman. Oh,” The chief hands a pouch to Lloyd, “There’s some quartz in there, make sure you assign them appropriately, all the details of the available quartz for this orbment is compatible with is printed on the back pages of your detective notebook, and you can put any Sepith you get into there as well. The key to the door’s in there as well. And, one more thing. Lloyd, you’re in charge.” He states.

“W-what?”

“You’re the only one with a detective licence. Therefore, you’re in charge. If you need the Enigma explained to you, you can ask Tio. Let me know once you’re done.” Is all Sergei says before leaving.

There’s a short beat of silence before it’s broken by Randy’s hand landing on Lloyd's shoulder with a hearty laugh, “Looks like you got left holding the short end of the stick.”

Lloyd laughs awkwardly, “M-maybe so…” Before he can say anything else, Tio holds the box out to himself and Randy, gesturing for them to take one of the Enigma units inside.

“Do both of you understand the function of a combat orbment?” She asks.

“I trained with them at the police academy but…” Lloyd pauses, “These are a new style of orbment, could you give us the full explanation?” 

“Of course. Under normal circumstances, a Pokémon is only able to use a limited selection of four moves. However, when linked with a trainer that is synced up with a combat orbment, they are able to use an extended list of moves, bolstered through a quartz matrix. The fifth generation Epstein Foundation combat orbment is much like its predecessors, though it has a greater number of compatible quartz, as well as a few new out-of-battle features. I will explain those as they become relevant.” Tio tucks the box away into her pouch beneath her cloak.

“Detective Bannings.” Elie says, “Would you be so kind as to distribute the quartz the chief gave you?” 

“S-sure… B-but you can drop the formalities, I think we’re all around the same age.” Lloyd says.

“Ah, is that so? I’m eighteen, by the way.” She says.

“Same here.” Lloyd feels himself relax just a little bit, “What about you two?”

“Twenty-one.” Randy states, “But I better not catch any of you calling me sir.” He jokes.

Tio pauses for a few moments, “I am fourteen, will that be a problem?”

“No that’s not-” Tio’s blunt way of speaking almost makes Lloyd miss what’s obviously off with her statement, “O-of course that’s a problem! You have to be at least sixteen to join the Police Academy!”

“Well, I am not a police officer.” She states, “I thought it was implicit in my earlier explanation, I am a member of the Epstein Foundation, my transfer to the Crossbell Police was for the purpose of testing this.” She pulls out a weapon… At least Lloyd thinks it’s one, he’s never seen anything that looks like it, “An orbal staff, a prototype conduit developed by the Epstein Foundation. And while I am at it…” Tio plucks a pokéball off her belt and opens it up, “My partner, the flash Pokémon: Shinx.” The small blue Pokémon quietly sits at his trainer's side as Tio continues, “My combat orbment has a water locked slot, may I please have any water quartz the chief gave you?”

“O-of course.” Lloyd opens the pouch and passes the dark blue quartz inside to the younger girl.

“Thank you.” She says before slotting the quartz into her orbment and snapping it shut, “Now, considering all I have shared, you should all show off your conduits and partners.”     

“Of course.” Lloyd nods before pulling his pokéball off of his belt, “this my partner.” from the ball emerges the familiar form of Lloyd’s closest friend.

“Cyndaquil. The fire mouse Pokémon.” Tio states, does she have a Pokédex on her?

“That’s right.” Lloyd confirms as his partner takes a moment to orientate itself, Lloyd had kept it in his pokéball since they’d gotten on the train, he probably needed a moment to adjust to their new environment, “As for my conduit, I use these.” Lloyd pulls out his tonfa and gives them a twirl before settling into a combat stance, “I trained with all sorts of weapons at the Police Academy, but I found these fit me the best.”

“Um, if I may ask: What are those?” Elie asks.

“Those, Mademois-Elie, are tonfa. You don’t see ‘em all that often these days, but with how focused on defence they are, I guess they’re pretty fittin’ for a cop.” Randy explains, breezing past his strange nickname for Elie.

“That’s right.” Lloyd nods, “More police cadets prefer pistols these days though.” he adds.

“Alrighty! My turn!” Randy exclaims, “This,” He pulls a large, heavy looking weapon out and brandishes it at no one in particular.

“That looks like a halberd from the middle ages.” Elie says.

“I have seen those in our factories before.” Tio states, “It is a stun halberd, standard issue for Crossbell’s Guardian Force.”

“Yup! Yup! Full marks for Tio-tot. And here’s my partner.” Randy flicks a pokéball off of his belt and lets it open.

If you had asked Lloyd to guess what Pokémon Randy might have, he probably would have listed three quarters of the Pokédex before he even named a single psychic type, let alone a small one that makes it maybe a fifth of the way up Randy’s leg.    

“Espurr, the Restraint Pokémon.” Tio says as a small, grey and white feline Pokémon emerges.

“That’s…” Elie mumbles, “Certainly not what I was expecting.”

“Yeah…” Lloyd agrees, seeing the expressionless Pokémon float up onto Randy’s shoulder and nuzzle his face.

“I believe the expression you are looking for is: ‘Gap Moe’.” Tio states with an almost bemused expression on her face.

“Oh, by the way, my orbment’s got a fire locked slot. Chief give ya one?” He asks, ignoring their commentary.

“Yeah.” Lloyd digs his hand into the pouch and pulls out a red fire quartz and hands it to Randy, letting him shove the quartz into his orbment.

“I suppose it's my turn then.” Elie says, pulling a tarnished silver pistol out from a waist mounted holster, “This is my weapon.”

Randy exhales a low whistle, “That's one fancy lookin’ pistol.”

“It is an antique.” Elie confirms, “an old pistol for marksmanship competitions. And finally…” Elie takes a pokéball off of her belt and opens it up.

“An Eevee, the evolution Pokémon.” 

“That's right.” Elie nods as her Eevee, complete with a silver bell around its neck, sits down and proudly puffs out its chest, “She's been with me ever since I was a girl, though we have very little battle experience, so we will do our best not to slow you down. Ah, and my orbment has a grass locked slot.” She says, and Lloyd holds the pouch out for Elie to take the dark green quartz for her orbment, leaving Lloyd with a warm brown ground type quartz.

“Alright, I think that’s everything. I guess all that’s left to do is go inside…” Lloyd takes a deep breath before pulling the key out of the pouch the chief had given him, unlocking the door labeled ‘Geofront A Sector’ and walking inside.

+

Monsters: creatures that aren’t quite Pokémon that began appearing in the wild after the orbal revolution 50 years ago. They share a few common traits with Pokémon, many of them have type affinities and others are capable of using certain moves, but they aren’t the same thing. They’re less intelligent, more aggressive, and cannot be captured in pokéballs. There’s plenty of speculation on what they really are, but right now, they’re nuisances that they need to get rid of. 

None of the monsters down in the Geofront are very strong, not that it’s of any surprise to Lloyd. Monsters that lurk in the city sewers have never been able to grow as strong as the ones in the wild; they're usually taken care of by wild Grimer, Ratata, and Zubat. Though obviously sanitation efforts had pushed the usual trash eaters out of the Geofront. 

“Is there light comin’ in down here?” Randy asks as they all enter into a large chamber with a high ceiling.

“This room is directly beneath Central Square.” Tio says, “There is a manhole directly below the bell, I presume the daylight is coming in from there, I suppose it was left open by whoever used it last.”

“Then we ought to stop by City Hall once we’re finished, so they can send someone to close it.” Elie says. 

“Right.” Lloyd agrees before they continue through the Geofront.

The next room is a mess of ventilation shafts so wide they look like Randy could walk through them with very little difficulty. As they’re walking under the vents, the sound of a child crying reaches them.

“That sound…” Elie mumbles, “W-where is it c-coming from.” She asks.

“I believe it is coming from the ventilation shafts in this room.” Tio points over to a large grateless entry point to the ventilation system.

“We should probably investigate.” Lloyd says, not noticing Elie’s palling face.

Cyndaquil waddles ahead of Lloyd, forcing out its bright flames to light the ventilation shaft. Everyone follows Lloyd in, including the hesitant Elie, as they all walk down the shaft. Randy’s head awkwardly hovers closely to Lloyd’s face, his long red hair curling over his shoulder, the strange scent of citrus and smoke combining in Lloyd’s nose. They find the source of the crying, a young boy cowering in the corner of the vent, not responding when Lloyd calls out to him. 

Elie quickly moves past them, kneeling down to the boy’s eye levels and gently putting her hand on his shoulder. “There, there.” She whispers, “It’s alright.” She says, her voice accompanied by the tinkling of Eevee’s bell.

The boy's sobs dissipate into sniffles before he’s finally able to calm down and is able to face Elie. “Are you okay?” She asks, “You’re not hurt, are you?”

“N-no…” He squeaks.

“That’s good. What’s your name?” She asks.

“A-Anri.”

“That’s a very nice name. How about we get out of here? Take my hand.” Elie holds her hand out to the young boy before ushering him out of the vents, everyone else following behind them. 

“Now, Anri, how did you get down here?” Elie asks once the boy seems to have calmed down a bit more.

“W-we… We c-came down from the square… Then we were attacked by some monster… S-so I ran into the vent…” He mumbles.

“We?” Lloyd repeats, “You didn’t come down here alone?”

Anri nods, “I-I was with m-my friend R-ryu… B-b-b-but… When that monster attacked w-we got sp-spilt up…”

“That ain’t good.” Randy says, “What should we do?”

Lloyd takes a moment, this was his first important decision as leader, “We should bring Anri with us while we look for Ryu.” He states.

Randy nods, though Tio looks sceptical, “Would it not be better for one of us to escort Anri to the surface while the rest of us continue with the extermination?” She asks.

“No, we don’t have the manpower for that.” Lloyd states, “We can’t afford to split up.”

“Okay, I understand.” Tio nods.

“Anri, make sure you stay close to Elie and Eevee, got it?”

Anri nods and Elie assures him that she’ll keep him safe.

+

“Crimson Gale!”

“Eather Buster!”

Randy and Tio move immediately, faster than either Lloyd or Elie were capable of, wiping out the left and right groups of almost Grimer-like slime monsters before they’re able to close in on Anri’s friend. 

“Phew.” Randy sighs as the fiery aura from his S-Craft dissipates around him, “That was close.”

“Indeed.” Tio agrees as her own staff returns to its original form, small sparks bouncing off of the metal floor, “I need to stabilise it…” 

“R-Ryu!” Anri runs up to his friend, and he seems almost close to crying as he grabs the other boy by his shoulders, “You’re okay!”
“Heh! Of course I’m fine!” The boy gloats, well, at least he didn’t seem too rattled.

“Are you quite sure?” Elie asks.

“Yeah!” He exclaims, “I’m totally fine! But man! You were pretty cool for rookies!”

“Hm,” Lloyd tilts his head to the side, “I’m surprised you can tell. None of us are wearing uniforms.”

“Huh?” Ryu gives Lloyd an incredulous look, “Why would you be wearing uniforms?” He asks before looking back at Anri.

“I believe there has been a misunderstanding.” Tio says flatly.

“Eh? What’re you talkin’ about? Aren’t you newbies with the guild?” Ryu asks, making Lloyd squirm.

“We ain’t members of the Bracer Guild.” Randy says, sounding almost offended by the association.

“Huh? Then what’re you doing down here?”

“We’re with the Crossbell Police Department.” Lloyd says, “Our task was to clear out the monster that had taken up residence in the Geofront.”

“You’re cops?!” He shouts, “No way! The cops would never come down here!”

“R-Ryu…”

“C’mon Anri! They’ve gotta be pulling our legs!”

“Come now Ryu, it’s a rather odd thing to lie about.” Elie says, trying to get Ryu to believe them.

“Lloyd! Above you!” Before anyone can continue Randy yells before yanking on Lloyd’s collar and pulling him back as something heavy falls against the mesh grate, shaking the whole platform. 

If the smaller slimes were comparable to Grimers, this new monster appeared to be an entire Muk. It’s hulking blue body blocking their way. Lloyd whips his head around, only to greeted with a mocking bright red Ⓧ telling him the only other exit is blocked. They’re completely trapped.

Still, Lloyd has to do something! He can’t just stand here and- and- and-!

Faster than Lloyd’s eyes can follow, faster than Randy and Tio had been earlier, something moves against the large monster striking it down in the blink of an eye, the only thing left standing in front of the door is a man with long blue-hair and burgundy coat, tachi in hand with a Skarmory landing on the railing next to him.

Naturally the two kids are impressed by the A-rank Bracer Arios Macclaine, both of them immediately moving to fawn over Crossbell’s greatest defender. Despite them having been saved Lloyd can’t help but feel a little bitter about it. Arios scolds them on their lack of awareness, before telling them he would be escorting the kid out of the Geofront.

“Who the hell was that guy?” Randy asks, slightly miffed.

“He seemed to possess incredible strength.” Tio adds.

“Arios Macclaine.” Lloyd states, “An A-rank Bracer that’s been celebrated as the protector of Crossbell.”

“With how tied up in internal politicking the police is, most people would rather put their trust in the Bracer Guild.” Elie adds.

“Right, right, a Bracer…” Randy shrugs, “Well, let’s just get outta here. All the monsters have been taken care of, so, mission accomplished on our end.” He says.

“Yeah…” Lloyd nods before putting Cyndaquil up on his arm, “Let’s get out of here.”

+

The sun is already setting by the time they leave the Geofront. Light orange tinges the early evening sky, soaking the ground in a warm hue of nostalgia- *Click*

*Click* *click* *click*

“-And once again the police had to be saved by the Bracer Guild!” A woman in a yellow jacket with a Rotom hovering over her shoulder. 

“Grace, please.” Arios says, his tone somewhat grave, “Their job was not to rescue these children, the fact that they took the initiative to at least try, is worthy of commendation. Even if they failed to follow through.” He finishes, it’s somewhat of a backhanded compliment but Lloyd can somewhat appreciate the gesture. 

“I guess.” the reporter shrugs, “Welp, how ‘bout that interview, Arios?”

“Perhaps next time, Grace.” he says before leaving with a swish of his coat.

“Aw… That’s what he says every time.” The reporter pouts, “Grace Lynn. I’m with the Crossbell Times.” The reporter says while shoving a stiff white card into Lloyd’s hands, “Welp, I have an article to write, better luck next time SSS!” She shouts before running off, perhaps after Arios, or perhaps back to whatever building the Crossbell times was operating out of now. 

Elie’s the first person to break the silence Grace had left behind, “I suppose that could have been worse.” she sighs before turning to the two boys, “Are you two going to be alright returning to your homes?”

“Yeah! We’ll be fine, Miss Police lady!” Ryu shouts, “See ya!” He shouts before dashing off up the stairs with Anri close behind, leaving the four of them quiet and alone, none of them quite sure as to what they should do, seeing as the chief had disappeared on them.

A quiet broken by a beeping sound coming from Lloyd’s pocket.

“What is-”

“Your Enigma.” Tio states, “It's a brand new mobile communication function. Take it out of your pocket. And press on the button next to the red blinking light to receive the incoming call.” She instructs.

“R-right…” Lloyd nods and pulls his Enigma out, doing as Tio says to take the call, “Um, hello.” Lloyd says, he supposes it's the same as picking up a call from a landline.

“Ah, Lloyd!” The peppy voice of Fran the receptionist comes from the other end of the phone line. 

“Oh, Fran! Did you have a message from the chief?” Lloyd asks.

“Um, no, a-actually the vice commissioner wanted to speak with you.” She says, “Um, he seemed a little miffed, so I’d be careful if I were you.”

“R-right…” He looks over at Tio, “How do I hang up?”

“Same button you used to receive the call.” 

+

“I think that was rather unkind.” Tio says as they’re released from the vice commissioner’s office.

“How the hell’d he even catch wind ‘a that so quick.” Randy asks, not that anyone has an answer for him.

“Still, it is rather demoralising to hear.” Elie adds, and Lloyd can only nod in agreement, finding himself at a complete loss for words. 

Still, the four of them make their way over to the building in the middle of the city that the police department had converted into their combination dormitory and office. It’s the old Crossbell New Service building, one of the few older buildings still standing in the mostly remodelled Central Square. 

The Chief calls them all into their office, telling them the purpose of their division is to curry favour with the public, who have lost trust in the police to the Bracer Guild. He gives them 24 hours to decide if they want to accept their assignment before dismissing them from his office.

Lloyd finds himself sitting on the bare mattress of his assigned dormitory, looking at the old photo of himself, Guy, and Cecile, standing in front of the police station. Cyndaquil is sitting on his shoulder, Cecile’s Glaceon is barely visible on the bottom left corner while Guy’s Lucario stands at his brother’s side. 

A month after they took the photo Guy was found dead in the Orchis Tower construction site, his partner Pokémon and conduit tonfa having never been found. Lloyd came back to Crossbell to find the truth about that incident. He knows he’s woefully underprepared to even attempt trying now. He needs experience, more than what training at the Police Academy could give him. But was the SSS really where he could get it?

 The others must also have a reason for joining the police, he should probably go talk to them. He puts the frame down on the desk and walks over to the door, Cyndaquil rising from his small bed and waddling along with Lloyd. “You don’t have to come with me.” Lloyd kneels down and pets his partner, only to be met with an indignant squeak, “Sorry, sorry, I guess you want to meet everyone else’s partners.” Lloyd finds a small giggle bubbling up in his throat as Cyndaquil gives a cry of affirmation. 

Lloyd knocks on the door next to his, the door belonging to Randy. “Pardon me, can I come in?”

“Oh? Lloyd? Yeah, of course!” Randy's voice is warm and inviting, beckoning Lloyd to come inside.

Lloyd opens the door to see Randy’s room fully unpacked, his room is sparsely decorated with only an old-looking couch, cheap looking coffee table, and desk now occupied with bottles of what Lloyd thinks might be alcohol and two photo frames, the pictures inside Lloyd can’t quite see. Espurr had taken up the pillow on Randy’s bed while Randy himself sat on the couch looking at Lloyd with an amused expression, “I see you've already made your choice.” Lloyd says.

“Yeah, I ain't gotta reason to turn it down.” He says with a shrug, “Doesn't seem like there'll be too much pencil pushing here, so I think it’ll be right up my alley.” He says, “Guessin’ you’re still undecided.” 

Lloyd laughs awkwardly, a small amount of guilt bubbling up in his chest. “Hey it’s fine.” Randy says, “You busted your ass gettin’ that detective licence, so I’m sure playin’ poster boy is not what you signed up for.” He says with a surprising amount of clarity and frankness.

“It’s not, no.” Lloyd shakes his head, “But, isn’t that the same for you?” Lloyd asks, only to be met with a light laugh from Randy.

“I signed up to exchange my labour for mira and a roof over my head.” He states, “I ain’t too picky about whatever the CPD has to throw at me.”

“R-really?” Lloyd finds that hard to believe, “Then, why go through all the effort to become a police officer if you’re not invested in the work?”

“Ah…” Randy looks a little sheepish as he leans forward on his couch, “To be completely honest, I didn't exactly choose to be here.” He says, “I was a member of the CGF, but after taking three sheets to the wind one too many times I was discharged.”

“Three sheets to the- you were getting drunk on the clock?!” Lloyd sighs, releasing his shock with a breath, “P-please tell me you've learnt your lesson?” he asks, sceptically eyeing the line up of bottles on his desk.

“Yeah, yeah, lesson learned, I'll keep the imbibing to when I'm off the clock.” He smiles wolfishly, “Mr detective can supervise me, if he likes.”

Lloyd sighs, he’d only drank once, a single can of cider three months ago with his uncle when he turned eighteen, but it probably wouldn’t hurt to join a coworker for drinks, “Sure, so long as you don’t go overboard.”

“Really?! That’s great!” He exclaims, a broad smile across his face, “Mademois-Elie probably won’t wanna come, and Tio-tot’s definitely too young, but I’m sure I can show you a good time.” 

Lloyd nods, “I’ll be looking forward to it.”

“Glad to hear it!” Randy beams, “Oh, and if you need a hand unpacking, just knock on my door, Espurr loves organising things.”

“She does?”

“Yeah, most days she’s just rearrangin’ my desk, but she’s had a ball gettin’ us all unpacked.” He says, fondly looking over at the Pokémon sleeping on his pillow, completely unaware of Cyndaquil trying to get her attention.

“She sounds more like a shop keeper’s partner than a soldier’s like you, Randy.”

“Oh yeah?” Randy says, and Lloyd misses the way Randy’s cheer seems to falter for just a few moments, “You’d be surprised how much logistics goes into working at one of the gates, doing it manually’s a pain in the ass, Espurr’s always been a real help.”

“I see.” Lloyd nods.

“I’m guessin’ you’re going to have a chat with Mademois-Elie and Tio-tot, yeah?” Randy says, “Don’t let me keep you here.”

“Ah, right. Thank you, Randy.” Lloyd opens the door and leaves Randy’s room, Cyndaquil following up the stairs to the third floor. 

The door closest to the stairs in the room assigned to Elie, so Lloyd knocks on the first door, an airy “Come in” echoing from inside.

“Pardon me.” Lloyd says as he enters.

Just like Randy, Elie had already unpacked, and was now sitting at a small table with her Eevee sitting politely on her lap allowing Elie to brush its tail. “Good evening.” She says, setting a brush of mostly dark brown fur down on her table before getting up. 

“I guess you’ve already made your decision as well.”

“Yes.” Elie nods as Eevee calmly walks over and holds her paw out to Cyndaquil, as if to offer him a hand shake “Were you still giving it some thought?” 

“Yeah…” Lloyd sighs, “I wanted to know what you thought about all this?”

“Hm…” Elie nods, “I understand. Well, personally, I suppose I don’t mind if this division dissolves in six months.” She states, “I don’t plan on making the police my long term career.” There’s an ambitious coldness to her voice that sets Lloyd on edge.

“Then why-”

“To see the truth for myself.” Elie states, “Crossbell constantly sits on a knife’s edge, I want to see how that affects our home. We caught a small glimpse of it today, but I want to know how far it will go. Honestly, I think a division designed to liaise directly with the public is best fit for my purposes.”

“W-wow…” Lloyd finds himself stunned.

“I apologise for perhaps coming off too strong.” She says, clearing her throat.

“No it’s okay.” Lloyd says, “Actually I think our reasons for joining the force are quite similar.” The experience they both want are very different but maybe he can make the best out of it like Elie plans to do, “Thank you, Elie.” 

“Of course.” Elie smiles, “Next time you come over, I’ll be a proper host and make some tea.” She says with a smile.

“Sounds nice.” Lloyd says before bowing and leaving Elie’s room. 

He lets out a sigh, he feels more like he just spoke with the Mayor than with a girl his age. All that was left was Tio. He turns to the door next to Elie’s. Tio was perhaps the member of the division he was most curious about. She wasn’t old enough to have even graduated Sunday School, yet she was already working for the Epstein Foundation, Zemuria’s foremost developer of orbal technology. A part of him worries she’s not doing this of her own will. 

He knocks on her door but receives no response, there’s light coming from underneath her door but Lloyd can’t hear anything coming from the other side. He supposes she must’ve gone down to the first floor, either to the bathroom or to the kitchen. 

Downstairs he finds Tio, not in the kitchen but in the main room standing in front of a pile of what are probably orbal machine parts, Shinx quietly sitting beside her feet. “Tio.” He calls out, getting the girl to turn and face him. “Good evening Lloyd, do you need something?”

“I came to ask you something but, what are you doing with those?” He asks, pointing at the stack of parts behind her.

“I am checking to make sure all the terminal parts arrived safely and do not be repaired.” She says.

“A terminal?” He repeats, the term sounded vaguely familiar but he couldn’t place it in relation to any kind of orbal technology.

“A computing system built off of Zeiss Central Factory’s Capel system. The terminal is part of the user interface. It is how you access the computer’s data.” She explains as Cyndaquil sniffs an unresponsive Shinx.

“R-right…” Lloyd nods, “I guess you’ve already made your choice.”

“I have no reason to refuse this assignment, after all, joining this division was my own selfish request.” She states.

“Your request?” Lloyd repeats.

“That is correct. Do not think I am going along with what my bosses have told me to do, simply because I am younger than the rest of you.” She flattens her stare in Lloyd’s direction, reading his apprehension like a book. 

“I-I see…”   

“I suppose you are still undecided.” Tio says, “If you want my opinion, today you showed yourself to be an effective enough leader, with good situational awareness, and solid decision making. However, you succumbed to panic at the final moment and you let your guard down too early, had Randy not acted quickly, you would not have gotten out of the Geofront uninjured, you may not have even gotten out alive.” She analyses, “That being said, I think you have great potential, and I would be honoured to work with you at the head of the team.” Tio adds, her expression still unreadable, “Now then. I have finished examining the terminal. I shall be retiring to my room for the evening, good night, Lloyd.” Tio dismisses herself from the annex’s main room and climbs the stairs, Shinx quietly at her side.

“I think I need to go get some air…” Lloyd mumbles before turning to the annex door and walking outside, letting Cyndaquil waddle out alongside him. 

The mid winter Crossbell air sends a chill down Lloyd’s spine, his own breath condensing in front of him as he leans against the banister and looks out over the city’s outskirts, dim lights in the windows of rundown apartment buildings light the grass-filled cracks of the grounds left to rot by Crossbell’s recent development. He wills himself not to look in the direction of the half-built Orchis Tower, the foundation of which is a long abandoned crime scene. He thinks maybe he should call Cecile, maybe she’d have some insight for him, she’d know what Guy would have thought at the very least. 

Cyndaquil jumps up onto the railing beside him, his partner’s warm body staving off the winter cold. He makes a few determined sounding squeaks before nuzzling his head into Lloyd’s arm, beckoning him to scratch under his chin. “I suppose, either way the two of us are home now, aren’t we.” Lloyd whispers softly into the cold night.

“Hey!” A young boy’s voice shouts from the stairs.

Lloyd turns around, Cyndaquil jumping up onto his shoulder to see the two boys from earlier in the day running down the stairs and up to him. 

“Ryu and Anri? What are you doing here?” He asks.

“Um… W-we wanted to thank you for earlier.” Anri says.

“Yeah!” Ryu nods, “We went to the police station but they said you’d be here.”

“O-oh…” Lloyd clears his throat, “I’m glad the two of you are alright, and I hope you’ll think twice about going down any open manholes.” He adds.

“Sure.” Ryu huffs, “Thanks for saving us… Even if you weren’t as cool as Arios.” He adds, the young boy’s face turning red with embarrassment.

“It’s after dark.” Lloyd notes, “Do the two of you need help getting home?” He asks.

“Nah, I just live on West Street. Anri’s over in the Residential District, we’re fine!” He says.

“Alright.” Lloyd nods, “Have a good evening.”

Lloyd watches the two of them leave, a small bit of amusement doubling up inside of him. The most adventurous thing he would have gotten up to with Wendy and Oscar when he was their age was go into the church graveyard at night and maybe encounter a stray Ghastly or Shuppet. 

He sighs, “The gratitude of two kids is all it takes for you, what a simple guy you are.” He laughs, before scratching Cyndaquil’s head, “C’mon. I think it’s time for bed.”

+

“So, four for four, huh?” Sergei sniffs, “Not bad.” He says, taking the last vestiges of his cigarette out of his mouth and extinguishes it in the ash tray on his desk, “Your official duties will start tomorrow. Today, Tio’s gonna be supervising the construction crew wiring in the terminal, as for you three, you can spend your days running errands, you’ll be cooking and cleaning for yourself, and you don’t want the reception to look messy when people come in here. Once you’re done, consider the rest of the day off” He says, “Understood?”

“Yes sir!” Everyone choruses. 

“Great, then you’re dismissed.” He says pulling another cigarette out from a box, signalling for them all to leave his office.

“Alright.” Lloyd says as the four of them exit out into the main room, “I suppose we'll have to divide up chores and cooking duties.” Lloyd turns to the other three members of the SSS, “Can the three of you cook?” It’s a question mostly aimed at Tio, he’s sure Randy and Elie - being adults - must have some experience cooking for themselves, and Lloyd’s had to cook for himself ever since he was a small child.

“I am fully capable of following instructions, so long as a recipe does not contain any techniques that are too complex, I am fully capable of making a meal.” Tio says.

“Basically the same story here. I can cook a few recipes off the dome, but I ain’t a chef or anything.” Randy shrugs, “And like Tio-tot I’m able to follow instructions.” 

“I have really only ever baked for myself.” Elie admits, “But I suppose some experience is better than none.” She nervously laughs. 

“If you are not confident, you can spend some time cooking with the rest of us.” Tio suggests, “I cannot promise to be able to teach you anything, but I am sure Lloyd and Randy could be of assistance.” She says. 

Elie looks to the two of them obviously embarrassed, “W-would that be alright with you?”

“Sure, I don’t mind.” Randy says with an upbeat smile.

“Neither do I.” Lloyd agrees.

“Thank you, both.” Elie smiles.

“Alright. While Tio supervises the construction we should go get what we need.” He turns to face Tio, “Did you have any requests?”

“I only ask that you avoid any cleaners with incredibly strong scents, they do not agree with my nose.” She says.

“Got it.” Lloyd nods.

“I would also recommend visiting the Orbal Store. Genten, I believe it is called. You can use the Sepith we got yesterday to synthesize quartz or upgrade your slots.” She suggests.

“Should we take your orbment as well?” Elie asks.

“No. The phone line will be temporarily cut off during the re-wiring process. I will require my Enigma in case I need to contact you three or the Epstein Foundation Office.” Tio explains, “But I appreciate your asking, Elie.” She adds.

Elie smiles, “I understand, do you have any other requests?”

“...I do not.”

“Alright.” Elie nods, “Then shall we be off?” She asks.

“Nothin’ keepin’ us here.” Randy says.

“If you realise you need something, Tio, just call one of us.” Lloyd tells her.

“I will.” She affirms before the three of them leave the annex, their partners following along with them.

+

“We should probably go to the Orbal Store first.” Lloyd says, knowing it would be difficult for them to adjust their orbments with bags of supplies with them.

The inside of Genten is almost overwhelming, every major producer has a stand displaying their civilian orbal devices, there’s even a car on display in one corner. “Hard to believe this place was just a factory three years ago…” Lloyd mumbles.

“Yes, it was upgraded about 3 months ago.” Elie says, “I was also rather surprised when I saw it. But there should be a regular factory kiosk at the front.”

“Got it.” Lloyd nods before walking up to the counter at the back.

The counter above the sign label factory is unmanned, though there is a bell on the counter with a ‘ring for service’ placard beside it. Lloyd gives it a tentative ring, and a familiar sounding “Just a sec!” sounds from a backroom door. Emerging from the back room, in a pair of blue and red worker’s overalls with a Magnamite carrying a tool box with its magnets following behind her, is Wendy MacIntosh. “Oh Lloyd! I didn’t know you got back!” She says, quickly skipping up to the factory counter Magnamite following her and setting her tool box down on the bench, “You’re with the cops now, right?” She asks as Cyndaquil jumps up onto her bench and allows Wendy to pet him.

“Yeah… Glad to see you’re doing well, though I can’t say I’m surprised to see you here. I never got to write you congratulations for finishing your apprenticeship, so, congrats!” 

Wendy laughs, “Thanks! But enough of that, you came here for business, yeah? We can catch up another time.” She says, “Since you’re with the police now, I’m guessin’ you want your orbment tinkered with?”

“That’s right.” Lloyd confirms while pulling his Enigma and setting down on the bench for Wendy to look at.

“Ooo, they’re finally deploying the Enigma units.” She says as she takes the orbment off of the counter and opens it up before scoffing, “Typical.” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Of course you have a 3-1-3 circuit line.” She says, rolling her eyes, not that Lloyd knows what that means, “Welp, if you’ve got the Sepith, opening up one of your slots will cost you about 100 mira.” 

Lloyd pulls his Sepith pouch out from his bag and sets it on the counter for Wendy along with the payment. “Perfect!” She exclaims, “I’ll open one of these slots for you right away!” With that, Wendy skips off over to her work bench behind the counter, Magnamite joining her.

It takes Wendy a few minutes of contented humming to bring back his orbment with a satisfied smile on her face, “There! Slot opened!” She says.

“Thanks Wendy.” Lloyd smiles, putting his orbment back into his pocket.

“Not a problem.” She says, “We should find some time to meet up later, grab Oscar and have a proper catch up for the three of us.”

“That sounds nice.” Lloyd agrees.

“Man, hard to get a word in edge wise.” Randy injects with notable humour in his voice.

“That’s just how it is with childhood friends.” Elie says, clearly unbothered and perhaps even slightly wistful.

“Oh…” Wendy leans to the side and takes a quick look at Randy and Elie, “They your coworkers, Lloyd?”

“Yeah.” Lloyd nods.

“Randy Orlando, nice to meet’cha.” He waves and gives a hearty laugh with it.

“Elie MacDowell. I’m sure we’ll talk again soon.” She says.

“Yeah, yeah!” Wendy nods, “Come back when you’ve got a good pouch full of Sepith, Magnamite and I will take care of your orbments!” She says, “Anyway, see’ya around!”

“Yeah, see you later Wendy!” Lloyd waves along with Cyndaquil before the three of them leave Genten. 

“She seemed rather lovely.” Elie says as they return to Central Square, “Though I’m surprised you hadn’t spoken to her since your return.” She adds, and Lloyd can’t quite tell if she’s being judgmental or not.

“Haha, well, I had to go straight to the Police Department right after my train came in, so I haven’t exactly had the time to check in with everyone.” Lloyd explains.

“You went straight from the station to the department yesterday?” Elie’s eyes grow wide, “Aidios, you must’ve been exhausted!”

“W-well, I really only noticed how tired I was when my head hit the pillow.” He responds.

“Welp, we’ve still got places to hit.” Randy says, “Let’s keep goin’.” 

+

“Yo! If it ain’t Lloyd!” Oscar Collins, another of Lloyd’s childhood friends greats from the counter of Morges’ Bakery, “What’s it been? A year?”

“Oscar… It’s been three.” 

“Wow, really? Time really does fly!” His old friend laughs as his Milcery floats over to the counter, “When’ja get back?”

“Yesterday, I started work right as I got in, so I haven’t had the chance to say hi.” Lloyd says.

“Man, guess I shouldn’t be surprised, but you’ve become a real workaholic.” He leans over the counter and looks at Cyndaquil, “Make sure you keep Lloyd in line little buddy.”

Cyndaquil cries out an affirmation, Oscar’s Milcery spinning in agreement.

“Another one ‘a your buddies?” Randy asks.

“Yeah.” Lloyd nods, “This is Oscar and Milcery.”

“Nice to meet you!” He waves at Elie and Randy, “Oscar Collins, I’m a trainee baker here at Morges.”

“You never mentioned you started an apprenticeship here. Did you start recently?” Lloyd asks.

“Nah, I think I started about… five months ago.” Oscar says.

“Oscar!” A girl’s voice from around the corner yells, “You’ve worked here for two years!” She exclaims.

“Oh! Wow! Has it really been that long?” Oscar looks genuinely shocked as a girl with messy green hair rounds the corner with a Fidough down at her feet.

Lloyd can’t stop himself from laughing, “I’m glad you’re still the same.”

“The same idiot…” She pouts.

“Anyway, you came here for bread, yeah?”

“Of course.” Lloyd nods before ordering a loaf of bread from Oscar.

“I throw in a little something I made. We aren’t selling it, so don’t complain, and come back later and tell me what you think!” He says, adding a small paper bag to the bag he’d put Lloyd’s bread into. 

“Haha, I will.” Lloyd affirms before leaving the bakery with Randy and Elie.

“Was there anything else we needed?” Lloyd asks as the two of them walk back out onto the familiar streets Lloyd was raised on.

“I don’t believe so.” Elie says.

“Nothin’ comes to mind.” Randy agrees.

“Then we should head back to the annex.” Lloyd says.

“Nope.” Randy says while easily snatching the bag of groceries out of Lloyd’s hands, “I’ll take these back. The chief said we got the rest of the day off once we were finished runnin’ errands, and you’ve got more folks you’ve gotta check in with yeah? Leave the rest to me.” 

“Are you sure?” 

“Course. It’ll be Espurr doin’ most’a the work anyway.” He shrugs, “So if Mademois-Elie wants to call it a day here as well, feel free.” Randy adds, though Elie shakes her head.

“It’s fine, I can still help.” She says.

“Alright then, suit yourself.” 

“I… Um… Thank you, both of you.” Lloyd bows his head, “I’ll see you both this evening.” 

+

Elie watches in amazement as Espurr unpacks their groceries and deftly organises them in the cupboards. “Did you train her to do that?” Elie asks, looking over to Randy, who’s leaning against the counter only half watching his partner.

“Nah.” Randy shakes his head, “She just likes doin’ it.” He says.

“I see… I suppose an Espurr needs an outlet for their psychic powers…” She mumbles, watching Espurr fold up the now empty grocery bags before she passes them to her trainer, Randy petting her and giving the small Pokémon praise in response. 

Despite his rough appearance Randy appeared to be a genuinely gentle guy, Elie supposes she still must be learning not to judge people by their appearances.

“The wiring has been completed.” Tio says, suddenly entering the kitchen, “Where is Lloyd?”

“We sent him off to go play catch up with his folks.” Randy says.
“I see.” Tio nods, “It appears as though our errands are completed. I shall retrieve a glass of water and retire to my room. Please let me know when it is time to eat.” Tio bows her head before following through on her plan and leaving the kitchen with a glass of water in hand.     

Tio lightly closes the door behind her, leaving herself and Randy alone in the kitchen again. “She's rather unsociable.” Elie sighs.

“Kiddo's probably just nervous.” Randy shrugs, “seems like the type of girl who's slow to warm up to people, we just gotta give her time.” 

“Of course.” Elie nods, “I can't imagine myself acting any differently at her age.” reminding herself that Tio is only fourteen years old. When Elie was her age she sequestered herself within the MacDowell Estate, with only Johanna and Helmut, and occasionally Ernest and Bell for company. It was on one of the few occasions when Bell visited her, she first met Eevee…

“Elie, my darling, are you in?” A voice called from beyond her bedroom door.

“Bell?” A younger Elie looked up from her writing desk, “Yes, I'm here. One moment, I'll be-” 

But as usual, Bell didn't wait for Elie to open the door. Only waiting to hear that she was in the room to barge in, and even that was a courtesy. No doubt whoever let her in told her exactly where Elie was.

Elie had barely swung out of her chair when she stopped short of getting up to hug her friend. “Bell what are-” The younger Elie had stared wide eyed at the two light brown Pokémon in her arms.

“You recall that egg father brought back from Liberl?” Bell had asked her, a sly smile across her face.

“Y-yes…” Bell had brought her to the top floor of the IBC after uncle Deiter's return to Crossbell, showing her the Pokémon egg he'd found and given her to incubate.

“Well it hatched!” She exclaimed, “and these two darlings came out!”

“But…” Elie still remembers tilting her head to the side, “There's two of them. Did you catch the other one?” Elie didn’t think you could find Eevee in Crossbell.

Bell shook her head, “No, they came out of the same egg!”

“I didn't know that was possible.” Elie had said, finally getting out of her chair and walking over to Bell and the two newly hatched Eevees.

“Neither did I!” Bell said, “But I asked Father, and he said that, while exceedingly rare, it is by no means an anomaly.”

“Really?” Elie didn't quite believe it.

“Indeed! Why, I found a book at the library that said as much!” Bell says as Elie stretches out her hand.

Before her hand could reach either of them, one of the Eevees stretched out its paw and grabbed at Elie’s hand, forcing it down to pet her. 

“Aw… She likes you!” Bell coos, “How about you keep that one?”

“Huh?!”

“Well, that’s the reason I came here. Adorable as they are, I can’t take care of both of them, and I could think of no one better to hand one of them over too.” Bell said as Elie continued to pet the twin Eevee.

“I…” Elie had fumbled, “I don’t think Grandfather would allow it.” She finally says, her grandfather’s old and well behaved Claydol was one thing, but a newly hatched completely untrained Eevee wasn’t something she could see her grandfather allowing, no matter how much he doted on her.

“On the contrary.” The voice of her grandfather said from Elie’s doorway, “I think you would benefit greatly from having a Pokémon of your own.”

“Grandfather?! A-are you sure?”

“Of course.” Her grandfather nodded.

Bell holds out the Eevee and Elie takes it up into her arms, the Pokémon lifting its head up to lick her cheek. “Here.” Bell pulls a pokéball out of her pocket and hands it to Elie, “Take good care of her.” Bell instructs before putting the other Eevee up on top of her head, “Now then, I shall you tomorrow at school, have a good evening.” 

Elie’s gaze moves toward the floor where Eevee had found a sunbeam to sleep in, Randy’s Espurr tentatively approaching her before leaning against her tail and flopping down. Eevee doesn’t stir, and she finds herself glad. “Cute…” She whispers, resisting the urge to go up and pet them both.

“It’s good she’s settlin’ in.” Randy agrees, a subtle smile across his face. 

+

Lloyd kneels down in front of the grave inscribed with ‘Guy Bannings’ setting down a small bunch of flowers below the headstone, “I’m home.” He whispers, “I know it’s been awhile, but I’m finally back, Guy.” Lloyd quietly breaths in the cold mountain air, the last time he was here was during Guy’s funeral. 

He remembers barely being able to breathe, a piece of him still unable to comprehend that Guy was really gone. His uncle and Cecile did their best to comfort him, though it only made him feel worse. How selfish was he being? He should have been the one to organise the funeral, instead he found himself so paralyzed he had to have help from Cecile.

He looks again at the cold stone of Guy’s grave. “I joined the police force, they put me in some strange division, but I’m going to try to see it through.” Guy always told him that when he does something to put in 100% of his effort into it, “I will find out what happened to you.” Lloyd whispers to no one but the cold mountain air and Cyndaquil, who squeaks in agreement.

Lloyd smiles and pets his friend, “C’mon, we’re finished here.” 

Cyndaquil climbs up Lloyd's arm before Lloyd stands up to leave the Cathedral. While walking down the old stone steps Lloyd's gaze lingers on a patch of thorny thicket just a few rege off the path. 

Lloyd was alone at Sunday School - Oscar had gotten sick while Wendy was at home helping prepare for the soon to be born Pansy - and the rainy weather was doing little to improve his mood. Guy wasn't there to pick him up, he'd gone off on an escorted mission to Remiferia and probably wouldn't be back for another week at least. So he was sullenly walking down the Cathedral stairs when he heard something crying out in distress. That's when he found Cyndaquil tangled in the thicket. Normally, a fire type like Cyndaquil would have simply burnt away the thorns and vines before leaving. But in the rain Cyndaquil’s fire couldn't spread, leaving it to mewl in the hopes someone would come for it. Luckily Lloyd had heard it, and ended up awkwardly hunched over the distressed Pokémon trying to keep his umbrella over his head while rifling through his bag for the scissors in his pencil case.

Eventually he managed to cut Cyndaquil free, though it was so weak it could go back to wherever it had come from. So Lloyd took the little Pokémon back into the Cathedral, asking the only adult he thought would be available to help him. Sister Marble had carefully healed Cyndaquil before moving to heal the cuts and scraps on Lloyd’s hands.

At first, Lloyd had tried to send Cyndaquil back to the wild, but, maybe it was because of the pouring rain, Cyndaquil refused to come out from under Lloyd’s umbrella, clinging to his arm when he tried holding him out into the forest. 

So Lloyd ended up taking Cyndaquil back home to their apartment, the small Pokémon refusing to leave his side. No matter what he did, he couldn’t get Cyndaquil to go back to the wilds, by the time Cecile came over in the evening to check on him he’d given up trying to get him to leave and had instead pivoted to figuring out if Guy would let him keep the small fire type. Cecile had smiled and laughed, she told him Guy would never say no and that he shouldn’t worry about it. She gave Lloyd an empty pokéball for Lloyd to use before double checking all the bandages on his hand.

“Do you remember?” Lloyd whispers, eyes still locked with the patch of thicket.

Cyndaquil squeaks in response. 

“Maybe we should go see uncle Miles and aunty Leyte.” 

Cyndaquil squeaks an affirmation and Lloyd smiles, “Alright, let’s go.”

+

“We will get our requests from the department from this terminal.” Tio says, “Though our first tester request is just to go to the main department building.”

Lloyd nods, “Got it.” He lets Cyndaquil get up onto his shoulder, the small Pokémon not really able to keep up with their walking speed, “Let’s go then.”

Their walk to the Police Station is uneventful, well, as uneventful as a walk through Crossbell can be. The city seems to vibrate with a life that the streets of Edith never did and it’s difficult to walk in a straight line without getting swept up in the crowds. 

Their group walks up to the reception desk where a blue-haired bespectacled young woman is sitting at the front, Fran sitting further behind the desk in front of her own terminal. Rebecca gives them the rundown of their duties, confirming that the connection between their terminal and Fran’s terminal was stable. They’re sent back to the annex to properly start their duties. 

As they pass through Central Square Lloyd’s eyes drift over to the roof of their building, where something stirs. “Huh? Is there a Pokémon on the roof?” He mumbles. 

“Oh, yeah…” Randy says, “Looks like a Purrloin.”

“A Purrloin… Perhaps we should check on it.” Elie says.

“They are known for stealing items of minimum value.” Tio says, “We ought to make sure it is not causing any trouble.”

After returning to the annex, Lloyd jots down the details of the requests on their terminal. One to help a tourist who lost something in the city, another from city hall to verify vacancies, and another to investigate a series of power surges in the A-Sector in the Geofront. 

Before they leave the building again, they make their way up to the roof of the building. Sure enough, lazing about in the sun is a Purrloin, legs out stretched and eyes half closed. “I wonder if it lived here before us?” Lloyd mumbles only for Tio to kneel down in front of the Purrloin.

She reaches her hand out to the Pokémon and carefully pets it, getting the Pokémon to purr in response. “Her name is Coppe.” Tio suddenly says, had she just decided that? Well that was normal enough for a girl her age.

“Perhaps we should feed her as well.” Elie suggests.

“Well, we’ve gotta pay the rent to the madam of the house.” Randy says, a wide smile on his face.  

“We’ll make sure to feed her when we have the chance.” Lloyd says, nodding at Tio who moves her hand away from the Purrloin. 

“She appears to be satisfied.” Tio says, standing back to her full height, “Now then, we have business to attend to, we don’t need to dawdle here.” 

“Of course.” Lloyd nods.

+

They find their first job in the Millennium Hotel, a tourist named Tront whose bag was torn somewhere in the city and all their things fell out. He’s rather frazzled, so they’re not able to get too much information out of him, but they are able to learn where he went before he got back to the hotel. He’d had everything when he went to the department store to buy a souvenir, he then went from the Harbour District via East Street before returning to the hotel and realising everything was gone and there was a hole in his bag.

They leave the man’s hotel room and quickly check with the receptionist of the hotel and her Indeedee, though the hotel’s lost property had nothing matching the description of Tront’s lost items.

So they go to the Department Store and ask the front desk about any lost items. The receptionist Cynthia hands them a wallet that fell from the bag of a tourist who came into the store a few hours ago, the trainer ID inside proving it to belong to Tront. Their group thanks the receptionist before leaving for East Street.

Lloyd had neglected to visit East Street the day before, but it’s just as lively as he remembers it. Markets line the lower side of the streets while the seemingly out of place Eastern style architecture makes you forget you’re still in Crossbell city proper. He glances over to the building with the bronze supporting gauntlet over it, “I think we should check in with the Bracer Guild’s reception.” Lloyd says, “If he dropped something around here, I think that’s the most likely place to be turned in.”

“Agreed.” Elie nods her head.

“While I do not like the idea of us consulting with the Bracer Guild after what happened the other day, I do agree that if it were turned in, it would have been there.” Tio says.

“You’ve got a point there.” Randy agrees, “Let's take a look.”

With everyone’s assent they enter the guild - thankfully empty of Bracers - Lloyd quickly walks up to the front desk, “Pardon us.” Lloyd calls out to the receptionist facing a terminal of his own.

“Ah! Clients…? No, you’re that new Police Division, the SSS, right?”

“That’s right.” Lloyd nods.

“Well what can I do for you?” He asks, “Funny as it would be, I doubt you're here for any of the Bracers.” He says, and Lloyd laughs awkwardly in response.

“We were wondering if any lost items were turned in recently? Between 8-9 this morning.”

“Tracking down lost items, huh? Well, sorry to disappoint but, nothing's been turned in so far.” The receptionist shakes his head.

“I see.” Lloyd nods, “We’ll see you another time, then.”

The receptionist laughs, “Good luck you four.” He says while waving them out of the door.

“Well it was worth a shot.” Randy says with a shrug, “How ‘bout we ask ‘round the stalls?”

“Good call. If he hadn’t realised his wallet was gone he might have gone looking around the stalls for more souvenirs.” Lloyd reasons. 

“Let’s ask around then.” Elie agrees.

They go from stall to stall, asking about a tourist with a ripped hole in their bag, finally, the woman running a seaweed stall with her Chinchou hands over the missing souvenir. They thank the stall keeper before leaving from the Harbour District. 

“The Harbour District is one of the busiest commercial areas in Crossbell city.” Tio says, “I doubt anyone here would have been in the same place when Trent was here.” She says.

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that Tio-tot.” Randy says pointing across the small courtyard in the middle of the district, “You got food vendors in there, they woulda been ‘ere in the early hours of the morning.”

“So we are asking them?” Tio asks, turning to Lloyd.

“Yeah.” Lloyd nods his head.

They ask around the Harbour Districts food vendors, and the man running the noodle stall points them to a jogger running around the park, who hands over a train ticket bound for the republic. With all the missing items found, the four of them return to the Millennium Hotel and return them to Tront. Moving on to their next job.

+

Their next job takes them to City Hall, where they’re given a list of possible vacancies in the city they’re asked to verify. First they head to East Street, where the address is for a building that’s very clearly occupied by a business of some sort. Inside is a group of men, all confused by their building being listed as vacant, the Fisherman’s Guild had the lease for years with perpetual occupation. “That’s alright.” Elie says before any of the men can panic, “The vacancy was marked as suspicious, it’s likely someone misspelt their address on their Declaration of Vacancy paperwork.”

“Woo! Thank goodness.” One of the men sighs, “I was about to march up to City Hall and give them a piece of my mind.” He laughs, “Welp, good luck to you kids, I’m off to survey the waters around Armorica!” He explains before rushing out of the door.

“W-well, we’ll see you around.” Lloyd says before the four of them exit the building.

“Now what is our next move?” Tio asks.

“I guess we have to verify which of the buildings here is actually vacant.” Lloyd says, though he has no idea how to do that.

“Perhaps you should call Fran.” Elie suggests.

“Most of Crossbell City Hall’s records have been digitised, so she should be able to search the database from her terminal for any records of a resident moving to a new residence out of East Street or a citizen emigrating.” Tio explains.

“Right.” Lloyd pulls out his Enigma and dials Fran by turning the dials on the inside of the device’s face.

“Hello! Fran speaking!” Their operator’s cheery voice comes from the other side of the line.

“It’s Lloyd, Can I ask you to check something?”

“Of course!” She says, “That’s what I’m here for. What do you need?”

“I was hoping you could tell me about any records of people who lived on East Street moving away?”

“East Street?” She repeats, “Oh! Apartment 201 in the Acacia Apartment building, they moved out a little while ago!” She says.

“Wow, that was quick.” 

“Haha, well, I live right across from that room, so I kinda already knew.” She laughs, “I would have taken longer if I had to use the terminal.”

“O-oh…” Lloyd should have guessed, a terminal may be faster than leafing through paper documents, but not that much faster, “Thank you for the information.”

“Not a problem! Good luck!” She responds before hanging up.

“Sounds like she had something’ for us.” Randy says.

“Apartment 201 in the Acacia Apartments building.” Lloyd says, “Apparently someone moved out of there recently.”

“Alright.” Elie says, “Let’s go verify that.”

So they head up to the second floor of the Acacia Apartment building and knock on the door of room 201. Sure enough there’s no response and the layer of dust on the door handle confirms it’s empty for a while.

They continue on, verifying the exact room that was vacant in the Downtown District’s Lotus Heights Apartment building. Leaving a house in the upper class Residential District. Elie pales upon seeing the address, and she looks like she’s about ready to pass out by the time they arrive in front of the rusted iron gate. “You alright Mademois-Elie?” Randy asks.             

“O-of course!” She stammers.

“Riiiiiiiiight.” Randy says before a smirk forms on his face, “Y’know that’s good, this place looks like it could be full of wild ghost types.” He says, getting Elie to release a little scream and her Eevee jumping into Elie’s arms.

“Elie are you…” Before Lloyd can finish, Elie cuts him off.

“That’s ridiculous!” She exclaims, “Ghost types are no different from any other type of Pokémon!”

“Oh, so you’re scared of spirits themselves, huh?” He asks, no change in his shit-eating grin.

“D-d-don’t be silly, Randy!” She shouts back.

“I believe you’ve been ‘read like a book’.” Tio sighs.

Lloyd can only laugh awkwardly, making a mental note of Elie’s fear before clearing his throat, “But we do still have a problem.” He says, gesturing at the rusty gate.

“We ain’t got no way in.” Randy says, “I could probably clear the fence, but that’s definitely not allowed.”

“I-it doesn’t look like there’s a knocker on the gate.” Elie says, “And the house has been covered in ivy since I was a little girl…” She mumbles.

“Shinx.” Tio commands her partner before taking out her staff and lifting it into the air.

Lloyd’s not sure what happens next. Shinx eyes glow as Tio is surrounded by bright orbal energy - as though she were casting an art - for a few moments before she puts her staff away and turns to face them. “The house appears to be full of various supplies. In short, it is being used as a storeroom. Considering the gate and front door are locked, we can assume it is in active use.” She says.

There’s a small moment of silence that seems to make Tio wither, “A-assuming you believe me…” She mumbles.

“That’s a pretty swanky conduit.” Randy says, “Using it to see what Shinx does when he uses his ability to see through walls yeah?”

“Ah…” Tio nods, “Yes, that’s right. It… Makes me feel rather nauseous… Sometimes.” She adds, face pink with embarrassment.

“The Epstein Foundation sure is something.” Lloyd says, “That finishes the last of the checks, we’d better go back to City Hall.” Lloyd says.

+

“Back down in the Geofront.” Randy sighs as Elie closes the door behind them all.

“The power surges are supposedly coming from farther down than when we went last time.” Tio reports.

“What do you suppose is causing it?” Elie asks.

“My guess would be a wayward electric type Pokémon.” Tio says, “You mostly find poison type Pokémon living down here, but it is possible one from the surface got in the same way those children from the other day.”

“We should probably be quick.” Lloyd says, “If it’s causing power surges, it’s probably in distress, assuming it is a Pokémon.” 

“Welp.” Randy shrugs, “There’s only one thing we can do about it.”

“Yeah.” Lloyd nods, “Let’s go.”

They reach the same part of the Geofront they got to the earlier day, the locked door now unlocked, if the symbol of the door is any indication. They continue downward, reaching a similar open platform they’d reached the day before. Lloyd can hear the crackle of electricity throughout the air, and Cyndaquil shoots fire out of his back in response. Lloyd can see Eevee and Espurr’s fur stand on edge, though Shinx looks completely comfortable. Lloyd looks around, looking for any sign of an out of place Pokémon.

He catches it out of the corner of his eye, a small flash of a deep orange in the corner near one of the vents. “Up there!” Lloyd shouts pointing up to the vent.

There’s a small sound of a zap and the lights flicker. When the light returns to normal, the colour is still there, “Is it stuck?” Lloyd asks.

If it was stuck then it was likely discharging electricity due being distressed, a not uncommon reaction from electric types. “Randy, do you think Espurr can get it down from the vents?” He asks.

Randy nods before whistling at Espurr, who floats up to the vents before slowly approaching the frightened Pokémon who slinks out of view to Lloyd on the ground. The lights flicker again and there are a few sparks of electricity, though none of them reach Espurr, who floats forward, small paw outstretched.

Espurr too, slips out of sight, though a quick glance at Randy shows he’s not worried about his partner. So Lloyd waits, until Espurr floats back, levitating what Lloyd can now recognise as a Pawmi. She sets it down on the mesh floor, though Pawmi doesn’t seem very comfortable on the grate.

So Lloyd kneels down and extends his hand out, “It’s alright.” he says in the softest voice he can muster, “We’re not going to hurt you.” He holds his hand in place waiting for the Pawmi to move.

A part of his braces for a shock of some kind, but then Lloyd notices a shadow above him. He doesn’t need Randy calling out to him to know what’s coming. Without thinking, Lloyd grabs Pawmi and rolls to the edge of the platform, narrowly dodging a monster that falls from the ceiling. He quickly turns around to be met with a monster that looks like an unholy amalgamation of a Swoobat and Snorlax. 

Was this monster what had made Pawmi go into the vents and get stuck? Lloyd doesn’t have time to wonder that, only readying his tonfa and preparing to fight the monster. 

Lloyd’s tonfa sink into the fat of the monster, Cyndaquil’s fire doing nothing to the oversized monster. Randy’s natural strength is able to do more damage than Lloyd, and the enhancement from Espurr’s psychic powers are more effective than Cyndaquil’s fire. 

A flash of lightning from Tio’s staff does make the monsters visible flinch, while a grass art from Elie doesn’t do much.

Then the monster makes its move, charging at Lloyd with surprising speed, opening its mouth and trying to bite into him. He raises his arm and catches the monster’s mouth on his tonfa. He tries channelling Cyndaquil’s fire but is instead met with frantic squeaking from behind him. Not from Cyndaquil but from Pawmi. Lloyd glances back, seeing sparks of electricity coming from the Pokémon’s cheeks. 

Lloyd nods, releasing his link with Cyndaquil and moving instead to Pawmi, making his tonfa crackle with electricity. The monster screams out in pain, the electricity going directly into its body in a way that was more effective than Tio’s earlier spell. 

It releases Lloyd’s tonfa from its mouth and tries to move back, only to be struck by a heavy blow from Randy’s Halberd, defeating it before it could try another attack. 

“Phew!” Randy sighs as they all put their weapons away, “Nasty little bugger.”

Lloyd has to agree, though he’s yet to see a monster he wouldn’t describe as nasty. Lloyd kneels down and holds out his hand to Pawmi. “Thank you for your help, Pawmi.” Lloyd says as Cyndaquil waddles up to them both. 

The small rodent Pokémon makes its way to Lloyd’s hand, before softly nuzzling it, “C’mon, let’s get you out of here.” Lloyd says, picking up the Pokémon and walking out of the Geofront with the rest of the SSS.

Elie takes a loud deep breath, “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the air of the Geofront.” She says as Eevee stretches herself out.

“Where are we takin’ the little one?” Randy asks, gesturing to Pawmi.

“Pawmi can be found in the area east of Crossbell city.” Tio recites. 

“They we should take it-” But Lloyd’s cut off by Pawmi squeaking and clawing at the dog tag around his neck.

“I believe Pawmi wishes to stay with you, Lloyd.” Tio says, to which Pawmi reacts with a happy sounding squeak.

“Do you have a pokéball, Lloyd?” Elie asks.

“Yeah.” Lloyd nods and fishes a spare pokéball from his bag and puts it in front of Pawmi, who taps his paw against the ball, willingly going inside.

“Congratulations Lloyd.” Tio says. 

“Haha, thank you Tio.” Is all Lloyd is able to say before his Enigma starts ringing, “Hello? This is Lloyd speaking.”

“Yo, Lloyd, it’s me.” The chief’s gravely voice comes from the other end of the line.

“Chief. Is something wrong?” Lloyd asks.

“Something like that. Got another job for you to get to now.” He says.

“What is it?” Lloyd asks.

“Couple of delinquent gangs in the Downtown District look like they’re getting into a fight. Got a few calls from the local businesses. Go break it up.” He orders.

“Ah, y-yes sir!” Lloyd responds, closing his Enigma and looking at the rest of the SSS, quickly telling them about the mission from the chief.

+

“Don’t think you’ll get away with this, you blue bastards!”

“You dare come onto our holy grounds and defile it?! Don’t think you’ll walk away from this alive!”

“Yeah! We don’t need Wazy with us to kick your asses!”

“Well we won’t be embarrassing Wald by losin’ to you freaks in your creepy threads!”

“Freeze!” Lloyd shouts as the four of them rush into the open square of the Downtown District.
“Huh?” All of the delinquents and their Pokémon turn to the SSS as they stop in front of their burgeoning fight, “Who the hell are you?”

“Crossbell Police, Special Support Section, we’ve recieved complaints from the residents about a fight starting!”

“The cops?!” One of the red clad delinquents with a Scraggy exclaims, “Don’t screw with us! The cops don’t come down here!” 

“It is true.” Tio whispers, “Patrols in this area were discontinued some years back due to budgetary constraints.”

“I doubt the people here have much faith in the police.” Elie adds somberly.

Lloyd reaches into his jacket and pulls out his detective notebook, “As I said, we’re members of the Crossbell Police department, and right now you’re all causing a disturbance to public order!”

“Do you really think we give a shit about what the cops tell us to do?!” another of the red clad delinquents with a Shroodle shouts out.

“Yeah! We oughta send you runnin’ with ya tails between your legs!” The other one agrees.

“By some miracle, it seems we agree.” One of the blue delinquents with a Poochyena says.

“Tch, we’ll get rid of these Grumpigs before we can begin our holy war!” The other blue delinquent shouts, his Morelull lighting up in agreement.

“Y-you’re kidding…” Lloyd can’t believe they were so gungho about fighting police officers. 

“Looks like we don’t have much of a choice.” Randy says with a shrug.

“P-perhaps they just need to blow off some steam…” Elie sighs, drawing her gun.

“Defeating them does seem like an effective way to make them listen to us, at the very least.” Tio adds, pulling out her staff.

“Hopefully.” Lloyd nods, readying his tonfa, “Try avoid causing them any major injuries.”

One of the red delinquents pulls a knife out of his jacket while the other one pulls a nail-bat out from behind his back. While one of the blue delinquents pulls out a pipe that had been fashioned into a quarter staff, while the other pulls out a sling shot. The delinquents clad in blue are much more refined than the delinquents in red, if Lloyd’s being honest with himself they’re more like martial artists than delinquents. The ones clad in red, however, fit the stereo type of an unrefined brawler to a T. Swinging their weapons around haphazardly, the wild energy from their Pokémon only running through their conduits for the briefest of moments right before impact. 

The blue delinquents put up a better fight than the red ones, but they’re still no match for the SSS with their formal combat training, easily bringing the delinquents to their knees and fainting their Pokémon.  

“Damn it, no way these guys are cops!” One of the red delinquents shouts out, “They’ve gotta be Bracers!”

“Are these guys serious?” Randy mumbles.

“I suppose they cannot handle being humiliated by the Police.” Tio says, “They are bargaining with the universe.”

“Oh dear, what on earth are you two getting up to?” A calm sounding voice comes from around the corner.

“I go and take a damn nap and this is the shit you pull?” A deeper, rougher voice comes from the opposite road. 

“W-Wazy?!”

“Wald?!”

Rounding either corner is who Lloyd assumes to be the gang’s leaders. In red is a tall, broad man who’s probably around Lloyd and Elie’s age, wearing nothing but a cropped red vest and loose pants, a midnight form Lycanroc swaggering alongside him. In blue is a slender man, shorter than himself, possibly younger than Lloyd with short green hair and garments of various shades of blue, flanked by both a midday Lycanroc and an older bald man in sunglasses who was wearing the same style of clothing as the rest of the blue gang, but looked way too old to be part of a street gang. 

“What has Wazy said about being hasty?” The older man asks.

“Abbas…” One of the blue delinquents mumbles, like a child caught stealing from the pantry.

“You two idiots really think you’re gonna get anywhere just the two of ya?” the red gang’s leader asks.

“S-sorry Wald! But those blue bastards started talkin’ shit!” 

“I didn’t ask.” Wald says, “You got your asses kicked by the cops before our final showdown. Don’t think you’ll get off easy.” He casts his eyes across their group, “Red over there is built like a Bouffalant, but you also lost to a couple weedy lookin’ weaklings and a little girl. I hope you’re embarrassed.” He half laughs.

And with that, they all leave, with nothing but a breezy half apology from who Lloyd assumes is Wazy.

“Well, I suppose that’s mission accomplished…” Elie says, clearly uncertain.

Lloyd shakes his head, “One of their leaders said something odd to me.”

“You mean what he said about ‘our final showdown’?” Tio asks.

Lloyd nods, “Yeah, I get the feeling they’ll be right back at it as soon we turn our heads.” He sighs.

“According to the police database, both the gangs, the Testaments and the Saber Sevipers are known for their frequent skirmishes in the area.” Tio states, “They have both been around this district for around two years. The Testaments were the delinquents in blue and the Saber Sevipers were the group in red.”

“Yeah…” Randy starts saying something, though he trails off.

“Is something wrong, Randy?” Elie asks.

“Hm…” Randy seems to wither a bit, his expression darkening, “Somethin’ about the way that Wald guy said it… Sounded like they were gearin’ up for somethin’ bigger than their usual scrums.”

“Yeah.” Lloyd nods in agreement, “He did say it would be their ‘final showdown’.”

“Shouldn’t we contact HQ for assistance?” Elie asks, “Added patrols in this area would likely deter any reckless action from either side until they lose interest in each other.”

“I don’t think HQ would send resources down here.” Lloyd says, “We’ll have to deal with this ourselves.”

“You’re…” Elie sighs, “You’re probably right.” She nods, though there’s a notably dejected look in her eyes.

“Let’s try talking to them.” Lloyd suggests, though even he feels as though it’s not his greatest idea, “I don’t think we’ll be able to talk them down. But it would probably help if they could tell us why they’re suddenly escalating their conflict.”

“Yeah.” Randy agrees, “Not really much else we can do, but, you gals down to come with us? Can’t imagine a group of drop outs actin’ very, uh, gentlemanly.” The last word said in air quotes.

“Your consideration is appreciated, but Tio and I shall be fine.” Elie says, “We’ve already defeated them in battle, so I don’t think they’ll try anything.” 

“I agree with Elie, do not look down on us, Randy.” Tio adds, though Lloyd thinks he was looking down on the delinquents instead of the girls.

“I think we should start with the Testaments.” Lloyd says, “Their leader seemed a bit more level headed than the Saber Sevipers’ leader.”

“The Testaments are listed as hanging around an underground billiard's lounge and bar, Trinity. It has both a valid business licence and a licence to sell liquor.” Tio says, did her staff also link her to the Police database somehow?

“Alright then.” Lloyd nods, deciding not to press, “Let’s go to Trinity.”

+

Wazy’s laughter cuts through the tension of the underground bar, and Lloyd can’t help but think he overplayed his hand. Sure, honesty was the best way to get through to people, especially since he wanted Wazy to trust him. Still, maybe he exposed a bit too many of his personal ideals to someone as cynical and edgy as the average gang leader. Still Lloyd doesn’t flinch. He wants the truth, and he wants it for everyone in Crossbell, Wazy and the Testaments included.

“Man you’re a riot!” He continues to laugh, “I haven’t heard a speech that earnest since, well, probably ever!” the gang leader contains his giggling, “Fine, fine, you win.” He says, “I’ll tell you what happened, but I don’t plan on repeating myself. So listen carefully.” He smirks and regains his composure, “It happened the other night.” Wazy begins, “A member of the Saber Sevipers ambushed and beat one of our members within an inch of his life while he was out on his own. He’s currently in St Ursula Hospital, his condition is stable though he’s still unconscious.” Wazy says, “Their actions were both cowardly and extreme, we cannot let their transgressions go unpunished.” Wazy narrows his gaze but Lloyd can see something beyond it, a small kernel of doubt somewhere in the delinquent leader’s mind.

“May I be able to ask a question?” Elie asks.

“Go ahead.”

“If the member of the Testaments who was attacked is still unconscious, and he was alone when it happened, how do you know the Saber Sevipers are the ones responsible?”

“Hm, I wonder about that.” Wazy smirks, seemingly to challenge them to figure it out.  

It doesn’t take Lloyd long enough to deduce the reason, “His wounds. The nail bats we saw the Saber Sevipers using would leave a distinctive combination of blunt force trauma, lacerations, and punctures.”

“Well done. I see your title of detective is well earned.” He laughs and jokingly claps his hands.

“Indeed.” The older man behind the counter, now flanked by a Golurk, says, his voice a low rumble, “We provided as best first aid as we could, though he was still sent to the hospital via ambulance.”

“I see.” Lloyd nods, hearing Elie’s pen scratch against her own notebook, “Thank you for your cooperation.”

With that, the four of them turn to leave Trinity, as they approach the stairs Lloyd hears one of the gang members from earlier grumbling about something. Sensing an opportunity Lloyd stops, “Is something the matter?” Lloyd asks.

“Huh?” The gang member glares at him, “Nothing’s wrong, just feelin’ bad for Azel. Get’s beat on by the Saber Sevipers then havin’ to take the same ambulance as one of ‘em.” He huffs.

“Your friend gets his head bashed in and you're more concerned about him sharin’ an ambulance with another guy?” Randy clearly tries his best not to scoff, “You’ve got some whack-ass priorities kid.”

“Hmph, I may find him a pain, but my old man’s a good doctor. Azel will be fine.” He shrugs, and Randy looks almost like he’s going to laugh, but he refrains, walking out of Trinity with the rest of them.

“I suppose that leaves the Saber Sevipers…” Elie says as they walk back to the centre of Downtown.

“I don’t think dear leader’s little speech is going to work all that well on a guy like Wald.” Randy adds.

“According to the database, the Saber Sevipers hang out in a decommissioned music venue called Ignis.” Tio says, “It should not take long to get there.” 

“Alright then.” Lloyd nods, “Let’s go.” He tries to portray some level of confidence, though he’s entirely unsure as to how he’s supposed to go about this.

The area surrounding Ignis is quiet, slightly dirty, with only a few wild Trubbish hiding in the darkened corners of a few grimy allies. The solid metal building of Ignis sticks out in the mostly cobbled sandstone area. Clearly it was once a warehouse, before it was a music venue, and before it was The Saber Sevipers’ hideout.

“Hm…”

“Something wrong, Tio-tot?”

It is… The gang is called the Saber Sevipers, yet…” She points at the spray painted logo on the door, “That is clearly a depiction of a Salandit.” She says, gaze flat.

“Oh yeah…” Randy says.

“It’s certainly an odd choice.” Elie adds.

“Hey!” A young sounding voice shouts from in front of the door, “You’re those cops who beat up on Huey and Slash!” A younger boy wearing the same red and black track suit as the rest of the Saber Sevipers, blue hair held back by the same black and white head band as the other members of the gang with a Dino standing beside him.

“Another member of the Saber Sevipers?” Elie asks, “Are you on look out?” She asks.

“Y-yeah, Wald said no one’s allowed in! So scram!” He shouts and his Dino makes a not very intimidating snarl. 

“Oh dear.” Elie sighs, “That won’t do…” Elie puts on an almost sincere looking smile, “We’d like to speak with Wald about the member of your group that was attacked the other night.”

“W-well you can’t. There’s no way I can let you in! You’re cops! And you have weapons!” 

“Hm, then how about this?” Elie pulls out her pistol and hands it to the younger boy, “I’ll give you my weapon, it’s very important to me, you can consider it a hostage of sorts. Is that a suitable arrangement?” She asks.

“H-huh?!” The boy shies away from Elie’s pistol, “I-I don’t want your gun lady! J-just go in and be done with whatever you wanna talk about. And if you try anything, I won’t let any of yous leave!”

“Thank you.” Elie says, putting her gun back into her holster, “We’ll be quick.”

The four of them walk past the younger gang member and into Ignis.

“Not the kind of intimidation I’m used to seeing.” Randy says with a low whistle, “Not bad, Mademois-Elie.”

Elie giggles softly, “Thank you, Randy.”

“Now comes the hard part.” Lloyd adds, “I can’t see Wald cracking to the same tactic.” 

“Agreed.” Elie nods, “I think a direct approach would probably work best.”

“I’ll do my best.” Lloyd takes a deep breath as the loud music hits them all as they enter the venue.

The volume shakes the air, Lloyd can feel it rumble in his chest, looking to his companions, Elie's expression looks strained, her Eevee’s ears folded down to dampen the noise. Tio’s covering her ears and looks genuinely pained, her Shinx glaring at the speaker, small sparks coming off of him, though Randy and Espurr look unphased.

“Well if it ain’t the fuzz.” Wald says, “What the hell was Dino doin’?”

“Growlin’ at us. Wasn’t really doin’ much as a guard ‘mon.” Randy says with a shrug.

“Huh? I wasn’t… Y’know what, screw it. I don’t care all that much.” Wald shrugs, “You broke up that little fight earlier, not bad for cops.” He says, “Doesn’t explain why you’re here now. Don’t tell me you wanna get us to stop?” Wald’s got a wild smile on his face, as if challenging Lloyd to say yes.

“No. I know you won’t stop just because we ask you, or even if we threaten to arrest you.” Lloyd says, “But two people were assaulted that night. As police officers, we have a duty to look into an incident like that.” 

“That so? You planin’ on bringin’ in whichever one of those blue bastards got Koki?” Wald asks.

“I’ll consider it. If they turn out to be the culprit.” Lloyd says, “We’ve already gotten the Testaments’ side of the story. We’d like to hear yours as well.”

“You want me? To talk to the cops?” Wald gives a boisterous laugh before picking up his bat, “You’re a damn joke!” He roars, standing to his full height and lifting his chain-wrapped bat, Lycanroc lifting one of its claws, “I got an idea.” He growls, “You and me detective, show me a good time, and I might tell you something.”

Lloyd feels a hand drop onto his shoulder, “You don’t have to do this.” Randy whispers (well, as much of a whisper he can manage in the loud music venue), “We can go without info from these guys, probably. You don’t wanna risk getting busted up by this guy.” Randy warns.

He probably wasn’t wrong, Wald probably was a lot stronger than him. But he’d already come this far, and he probably didn’t have to win, just last long enough to satisfy Wald.

“I’ll be fine.” He assures, moving Randy’s hand off of his shoulder.

“Alright, I don’t mind going a few rounds against you and Lycanroc.” He says, returning Cyndaquil to his ball before sending out Pawmi.

“Haha, alright clear out!” Wald booms and all of the Saber Sevipers move away from what was once the stage.

+

Lloyd’s shoulders ache, so does the rest of him, Pawmi’s a little scuffed up but they’d made it through and gotten their information from the Saber Sevipers. Much like the Testaments they never saw the assailant, however, unlike the Testaments, their own member had regained consciousness, though he didn’t see his assailant having been hit with a projectile. Lloyd feels as though he’s getting a good idea of what happened, though he’s definitely missing a few key pieces of this puzzle.

“Are you alright Lloyd?” Elie asks as they step away from Ignis.

“I’ll definitely be sore tomorrow, but other than that, nothing major.” He says.

“I, for one, am glad to be out of that place.” Tio says, accompanied by an indignant yip from Shinx.

“Still with everything we’ve learned, it’s safe to say neither side is actually responsible for the initial assaults.” Lloyd says.

“What makes you say that?” Elie asks.

“Do you remember what that Testaments member said about the ambulance while we were leaving Trinity?”

“What, that their guy had been on the same ambulance to the hospital as one of the Saber Sevipers?”

“Yeah.” Lloyd nods, “If they were on the same ambulance then the attacks would have occurred at around the same time. Considering the small size of the Downtown District, they should have passed each other when they were retreating. Yet from what we were told, they never saw each other on that night.”

“Meaning the culprit would have to be someone other than the opposing gangs.” Elie says.

“So if it ain’t the gangs, who wouldda done it?” Randy asks, but Lloyd has to shake his head.

“I don’t know. We still don’t have enough information to say that.” 

“Oh ho, sounds like someone’s hit a wall in their case!” A cheery and familiar woman’s voice echoes from further ahead in the alley way.

“You’re…”

“Teehee! I hope you haven’t forgotten about me already!” Grace Lynn smirks, her Rotom buzzing around her shoulder.

“How could we forget?” Tio asks in a flat, unimpressed voice.

“Aw, c’mon don’t be like that. I really am rooting for the four of you, y’know.” She says, “So much so that I might have a few pieces of information for you kids, if you wanna hear it?” The report smirks, “Now then, if you wanna have an exchange of information, come meet me at Long Lao Tavern and Inn on East Street. I’ll even treat you to a meal. I hope to see you later!” She waves gleefully before skipping off down the road.

“You think she’s baitin’ us?” Randy asks.

“I… I can’t quite tell.” Lloyd admits.

“Well, we don’t have any other leads…” Elie says.

“I say we take it!” Randy says.

“You simply wish to eat on someone else’s mira.” Tio says, only get a cheeky heehee from Randy.

Lloyd rolls his eyes, he’s not sure if treating someone to a meal counts as bribery, but Grace isn’t related to the case, so it probably didn’t count. “Elie’s right, we don;t have any other leads.” Lloyd says before turning his attention to Randy, “But you are not allowed to drink anything.” He says.

“Yeah, yeah, no drinkin’ on the job.” Randy shrugs before the four of them make the quick walk over to the Long Lao Tavern and Inn.

+

“I’m glad you enjoyed yourselves.” Grace says as the five of them finish their meal, “Now, now, for what you came for. About a month ago I was chasing a story that didn’t really go anywhere.” She begins, “Apparently Revache & Co. henchmen were seen talking to both Wald and Wazy in the Downtown District. I couldn’t get a solid lead on what exactly they were asking about. But all my sources said they both laughed them off.” Grace explains.

“Revache & Co.” Lloyd bites his lip.

“Revache & Co.?” Randy repeats.

“You’re a Police Officer and you don’t know?” Grace says, genuinely surprised, “No, scratch that, you live in Crossbell and you don’t know who Revache & Co. are?”

Lloyd has to agree with Grace, though Randy seems to lock up a bit, “I don’t really pay attention to stuff like that.” He shrugs, though it looks a little forced.

“According to the Police Database, Revache & Co. is the reigning kingpin of Crossbell’s underground. In short, they are a mafia.” Tio says.

“Oh, right, gotcha.” Randy nods, “So they were attempting to negotiate with the delinquents awhile back, huh?” 

“So the story goes. Sounded like you were in need of a third party, this connects Revache to the Downtown delinquents.” She says.

“It does but…” Lloyd trails off, “Without knowing what Revache talked with Wazy and Wald about, we're no closer to connecting Revache to the assaults. And I doubt Wazy and Wald are going to tell us anything more.”

“Hm, true enough.” Grace says, “So I’ll throw in a little extra. Recently the CNS building in the harbour district got a new neighbour just down the streets. An Eastern company called Heiyue Trading Ltd. I don’t know much about them, but, rumour has it they’re… in competition with Revache.” She says.

“B-but that would mean…” Elie’s face turns pale and her eyes grow wide.

“Hey, hey, I wouldn’t be too hasty to assume they’re correct.” Grace says, “Sad as it is to say, most Eastern companies have rumours that they’re actually mobsters.”

“Yeah…” Lloyd nods, “I remember when I lived in Calvard, even small Eastern-style food carts had rumours like that.”

“That certainly seems prejudiced.” Tio remarks.

“Oh it is.” Grace shrugs, “Of course, a company as big as Heiyue is probably doing something shady behind the scenes, but whether or not they’re a mafia, I can’t say for sure.”                   

“I see…” Lloyd nods, “Thank you Grace, this was surprisingly helpful.”

“Aw, c’mon, I know we got off on a bad paw, but I really mean it when I say I want to see your division succeed.” She says, her expression serious for the first time since they’d met. 

“I will believe it when I see it.” Tio says.

“Eitherway, we should head back to the annex and talk this over with the chief. He probably knows the most about Heiyue Ltd.” Lloyd says.

“Seems like the only place we can go to, yeah.” Randy says, though there’s something about his tone Lloyd can’t quite properly pin down.

+

“Real mess you’ve found yourselves in.” Sergei says when Lloyd finishes his debrief, “To be completely honest, you’re probably out of your league trying to take them on.” 

“I was afraid you’d say that…” Lloyd sighs, the First Investigation Division is barely in the same league as Revache & Co.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean you’re out of options.” The chief says, “It could turn out this is a couple of goons going rogue, I ain’t gonna stop you from looking into this case until you know the higher ups in Revache are involved. Consider this a warning from me, you get a whiff of anything bigger than a couple of grunts doin’ something stupid, retreat. But until then, those delinquents are going to keep going at it until it’s proven they were tricked by Revache.” He says. 

“Right! Thank you chief!” Lloyd bows his head.

“Now, I’m sure you wanna ask about Heiyue.” He begins, “Unfortunately, I ain’t got much for you. But, I know someone who might.” The chief searches around in his desk for a few moments before pulling a business card out and putting on the desk, “There’s a law office over on West Street, Ian Grimwood, is an old friend of mine and a well connected man. He might have something to tell you.”

Lloyd takes the business card off of the chief’s desk and looks it over, he’s pretty sure he remembers the law office on West Street, though he can’t remember the man who ran it. “Thank you chief.” 

“Just don’t get in over your heads, and you’ll be fine.” 

The four of them leave the chief’s office and linger around the conference table.

“Ian Grimwood…” Elie mumbles, “I feel as though I’ve heard that name before.” 

“I think I remember the law office. My friends and I would play around the area when we were kids.” Lloyd adds.

“Oh yeah? Lead the way then.” Randy says with an easy smile.

“S-sure.” Lloyd shoves the business card into his pocket. 

The four of them take the back door back out of the annex, taking them directly into West Street. It doesn’t take them long to reach the office, down a shaded alleyway covered in latices of ivy. As the four of them approach the door it opens, and a tall man with glasses wearing a well tailored suit appears, a Gallade following behind him. Upon seeing them his expression shifts, “You…” He takes a moment to inspect them, “You’re those strays Sergei took…” He narrows his eyes, “Hmph, don’t waste the good lawyer’s time.” He scoffs before walking off.

“Was that… Another detective?” Elie asks.

“I don’t know what else he would be…” Lloyd mumbles.

“His attitude was rather dismissive.” Elie says, “Is something wrong, you two?” Elie asks, clearly noting Randy and Tio contemplative silence.

“He certainly had the skills to back it up. Man’s built like a truck and had a weapon to back it up. A pretty heavy duty pistol under his arm, if I had to guess.”

“Indeed.” Tio agrees.

“Considering he had a Pokémon with him I suppose he must have a weapon with him as well. I doubt a serious detective is just commanding his Pokémon.” Lloyd says, though he certainly didn’t notice anything in the few seconds he walked past.

“We should probably just go inside.” Randy says, and Lloyd nods, opening the door to the law office and walking inside.

Lloyd had never been inside of the law office before, and he’s not surprised to see that it’s exceedingly dull. Old furniture and rows of filing cabinets and book shelves make the office smell like old wood and aging paper.

“Oh detective Dudley?” An older man’s voice comes from around the corner, “Did you forget something?” A large, bearded man in glasses comes around the corner accompanied by a Teddiursa holding a stack of files, “Ah, you’re not the detective.” He says, “You kids in need of legal advice?”

Lloyd shakes his head, “No, we were told by Chief Sergei that you might have the information that we were looking for.” 

“Sergei? Ah, you must be the Special Support Section.” He realises, “Sergei came to me when he was trying to get it set up. I’m glad to see it worked out!” He chortles, “Now, come sit down and let’s see if I can’t give you a hand.”

He ushers them over to a set of couches and beckons them to sit down. Only once the four of them were situated does Mr. Grimwood himself sit down. “Now then, what was it you wanted to ask?”

“We were hoping you’d have some solid information on Heiyue Trading Ltd.?” 

“Heiyue hm…” He nods his head, “Well you’re in luck, I happened to meet with the manager of the Crossbell branch just the other day.” 

“R-really?!” 

“That’s correct. He came here to ask about any obstacles to Heiyue setting up business here in Crossbell.” He states, “Cao Lee, He struck me as a rather shrewd man.”

“I see…” Elie says.

“To be honest, there was one main thing about Heiyue we wanted to ask you about.” Lloyd begins, “When it comes to their competition in Crossbell, is Revache & Co. included?” He asks.

“Revache, hm?” Mr Grimwood hums for a moment before nodding, “I believe so. The rumours of Heiyue being a crime syndicate are indeed true.” He confirms, “However, they also engage in perfectly legal business on top of their shadier dealings.”

“Right…” Lloyd nods and resists the urge to sigh as he stands up, “Thank you Mr Grimwood, that’s all we wanted to know.”  

“Is that so?” The lawyer nods, “Well, feel free to come back if you ever need advice or information from me. Sergei’s an old friend of mine, so don’t be a stranger.”

“We won’t, thank you sir.”

+

Everyone gathers around the conference table as Lloyd wheels the white board over. “Alright.” Lloyd begins, “To start with, let’s go over all the information we have.” He clears his throat, “The incident started two nights ago, when a member of the Testaments, and a member of the Saber Sevipers were assaulted simultaneously late at night, with neither side seeing their attacker. It's caused both gangs to declare war on each other, with the hopes of wiping out the other side in revenge.” He continues, “What's more, around a month ago, members of Revache and Co. were seen attempting to negotiate something with both Wald and Wazy, though both were rebuffed. Does anyone have any ideas on what they were trying to negotiate?” Lloyd asks, looking to his teammates to fill in the gaps of his theory.

“If you askin’ me.” Randy says, leaning forward in his chair, “I'll bet they were tryin’ to recruit the gang members into their organization.”

“What makes you say that?” Elie asks.

“Because of Heiyue.” Lloyd interjects, “Revache is facing competition for control of Crossbell's underworld. They probably wanna bolster their forces.” 

Randy follows on, “They pro’lly started by offering Wazy and Wald mergers, but after they got laughed off, they decided to try breakin’ up the gangs through an all out war so they can scoop up what's left of them.”  

“I agree.” Lloyd nods, “and even if the gangs stop their fighting, Revache will likely do something else to instigate conflict between them.”

“So, what do you propose we do?” Elie asks.

“First, I think we should let Wald and Wazy know. It's possible the two of them might have something to add.”

“They would at least be able to confirm whether or not Revache proposed a merger with them.” Tio says, “That is our fundamental assumption about the case. If they were to disprove that…”

“Yeah, let's see if we can get them to meet somewhere secluded.”

“What about in front of the entrance to the Geofront on Station Street?” Elie suggests.

“Good idea.” Lloyd agrees, “it's quiet enough and away from any locations of interest.”

“You wanna make a move now?” Randy asks.

Lloyd nods, “We need to act as fast as possible. Before they can have their final showdown.”

+

Wazy smiles, golden eyes narrowing as mischief fills them, “So, we really were played by those Revache goons, hm, how annoying.” 

“I don't like that look on your face, Wazy.” Wald grumbles, “the hell're you thinkin’ about.”

“Oh, simply about how we might exact revenge on them.” Wazy says, still smiling, “Don't you feel the same, after being played the fool like that?”

“Hmph, never said I didn't.” Wald scoffs in response, “I just don’t like how you’re schemin’.”

“Hey, wait a minute.” Lloyd interjects, “you better not be thinking of doing anything illegal!”

“Me? A delinquent? Do something illegal? Why! Detective Bannings, I'd never dream of it!” He responds, “I simply think we should catch them in the act.” He says, “Revache has assaulted us in the hopes we'd break out into all out war, sounds like’ conspiracy to riot’ to me.”

“You…” Lloyd huffs, “You're not wrong.”

“Wonderful! You'll be taking part too, seeing as we actually need to arrest them.” Wazy smiles and Lloyd feels just the smallest sting of regret.

+

A sting turns into a great crack of regret as a Revache goon cracks him over the head with a nail bat, even through the helmet Wazy had given him. Still, Lloyd hits the ground unceremoniously, just like Wazy had told him to do. “Hehe, too easy.” one of the grunts laughs, “We just gotta rough him up a little more.” 

Lloyd holds still, waiting, waiting, waiting, now!

He catches the nail bat with his tonfa, catching the goon off guard and easily pushing him away. “Haha, you really fell for that.” Wazy’s voice laughs from the rooftops above him.

“Shit! Was this a set up?!” One of them shouts, his Murkrow fluffing out its tail feathers.

“Screw this! We gotta scram!” Another one shouts before they all bolt off.

Wazy and Lycanroc jump down beside him, “Two of yours can go help cut them off, we’ll take two that went down the alley.”

Lloyd nods, Wazy knew the area better than he did, and there was no point arguing with him here. “Randy! Come with me!” The girls’ ranged attacks would be better suited to helping the rest of the gangs.

“You got it!” Randy joins them on the ground while Elie and Tio run off toward the centre of the district. 

Randy, Wazy, and Lloyd sprint down the cobbled streets after the two goons that were probably attempting to escape by leaving the city all together. But Revache doesn’t know the area well, and they certainly don’t know the area as well as Wazy does, and he’s easily able to herd them down a dead end alleyway.

“Damn it!” One of the grunts shouts, his Murkrow squawking in agreement, “You’re just a few kids! Don’t think you can actually bring us in!” He adds, pulling out a pistol that Randy quietly whispers is a Reinford modal, Lloyd assumes it’s one of their smuggled wears.

“You kids don’t stand a chance!” the other grunt with a Skrelp shouts, pulling out a machete.

“My, someone’s confident.” Wazy smirks, “Let’s see how long that attitude lasts.”

Wazy sets his sights on the pistol toting mafioso, Lycanroc rushing down their Murkrow with an Accelerock, while Wazy imbues his own fists with a similar power. Lloyd hears Randy’s orbment swing open. Without thinking about it, Lloyd goes after the machete wielding mafioso. At the same time Lloyd’s tonfa collides with the man’s machete, a psychic type art slams into the mafioso’s Skrelp, fainting it. In another instant, Randy is right behind the Revache member, his halberd raised in the air and an almost sadistic look in his eyes. “Time to black out.” Randy’s voice comes out as a growl before his weapon slams into mafioso’s back, leaving him in a collapsed heap on the floor.

“My my, rather impressive.” Wazy says while gently petting his Lycanroc’s head, “Hard to believe your team’s only been around for a few days.” He smirks, “I presume you’ve got handcuffs?”

Lloyd nods, “Of course. We’ve got everything we need to arrest them.”

“Perfect. Let’s wrap this up then. The others should have cornered them by now.”

+

“Gotta say, I wasn’t expectin’ you to actually catch them in the act. You did good, kids.” Sergei says, his voice marred by cigarette smoke.

“So, will the members of Revache be facing charges?” Elie asks.

The chief sighs, “Nah, you may’ve caught them in the act, but Revache is Revache. They’ve got half the Crossbell diet in their pocket, they’ll get out on bail and the state won’t press charges.” 

“Y-you’re kidding!” Lloyd shouts.

“He’s not.” Elie says solemnly, “Revache does indeed hold a great deal of sway in Crossbell’s diet. Bribing their way out of this would be child's play to them.”

“Still, they seriously willin’ to shell out the resources needed to bribe four guys outta trouble after they went rogue?” Randy asks, “Forcin’ them into doin’ time seems like proper punishment for disobayin’.” He adds. 

“Considering Heiyue’s slow encroachment on Crossbell, they probably decided they couldn’t lose face by letting a few of their guys get saddled with charges. But those four will probably face some internal punishments. So, at the very least, they won’t try anything else in the Downtown District.” Sergei tells them.

“I suppose that does mean we accomplished our original request.” Tio says.

“Still, seeing them get off is rather frustrating.” Elie says, and Lloyd nods in agreement.

“Well, sometimes you’ve gotta take what you can get.” Randy says. 

“I suppose we must…” Elie sighs.

“Hey, chins up you four. I really meant it when I said you did good.” The chief says, “This ending may seem unsatisfying on the surface, but you saved those kids bumming around in the Downtown District. And the rank and file of Revache will likely stay in line and not attack any more civvies.” He adds, “And take a little pride in having done more than most of the force is able to do against Revache.” Despite his bored sounding tone, he seems genuinely proud of them.

“We will, chief.” Lloyd says with a nod.

“Good. Now get your asses in gear. You’ve got plenty more work to do.” He says, “Day’s still young. Make sure you get plenty of requests finished.”

Lloyd gives a firm nod, “Yes sir!”

Lloyd feels a small smile creep onto his face, maybe this strange division would work out after all.