Private/Closed A PI's Moonless Adventure

[Merciless Medic]

(OOC: This is between me and @Apollyon91 only. Nobody else can post, but they can read at their leisure. Enjoy!)

The moonless night sky had at least several stars, that weren't blocked by clouds, shine down onto the mountain. The Clefairies weren't as active tonight, as they couldn't see the moon like all the other nights before. Large explosions could be heard from deep within the mountain, as two young people, both age 30, were sparring in the windy cavernous tunnels of Mt. Moon.

Akin to a walking popsicle, a tall, blue haired, and blue eyed man was against a sister of his, smaller than him and had long hair with a flurry of colors with the same kind of colored eyes. Despite her dark circles, she seemed to be riled up by their mock fight. The woman was wearing a lab coat over her black booty shorts and shirt, while the man had taken off his casual, blue dress shirt to allow his skin to breathe during the intense fight. His off-white tee was even duller in the dim lighting from the cracks and makeshift vents through the tunnel's ceiling leading straight to the outside world.

The man had his Lapras against the woman's Alolan Raichu. They were both as old as their trainers, and they both had a similar amount of experience. The cave was covered in ice crystals and broken particulates from rocks that were smashed during the fight. There was an Electric Terrain happening at the moment, while the Lapras had set up a Hail. The fight needed to be ended soon, they all knew for sure. The woman and the exhausted Raichu didn't exactly know how.

The man smirked as the hail buffeted the Alolan Raichu, and the exhausted Lapras was told with a booming, authoritative, and bassy voice to use Sheer Cold. The Lapras let loose a wave of ice that dropped the Chu's temperature considerably, knocking her out. The woman sighed in defeat and returned her now fainted mouse, kissing the Poke Ball. She walked over, careful to not slip and hugged Lapras, thanking her for the battle. She then walked over to her brother and smiled. "Good job, Miel. You finally beat Chu and I."

"Thank you, Shadara. It only took Laplace and I a decade to finally beat you. Albeit, only by a little bit," the man's booming bass and his humorous chuckle echoed throughout the chamber, while the woman's voice seemed soft and kind and gentle. Miel returned his Lapras and put on his blue over-shirt and forewent buttoning it up this time, and brotherly hooked his arm around his sister's waist, while Shade sisterly did the same with her brother. They both began to walk down to the first floor, ignoring the Zubats that tried to bite them.

 

[Apollyon91]

The Previous Day

Wyatt sat across from a distraught couple. The woman wept into her husband’s chest as the man recanted the tale to Wyatt once more. This was the third time they had explained their situation and the circumstances surrounding their son’s mysterious disappearance. While Wyatt understood the freshness of that wound and the fear that ran rampant through their minds, he also knew he had to remain emotionally uninvolved if this boy had the slightest chance of survival.

Wyatt paused from the notes he had been taking to take a drag off of his cigarette. He felt Houndour lean against his leg, the Pokémon’s way of reminding his master that he was there and that Wyatt was safe. Wyatt immediately patted the canine on his head before returning to his notes.

“Out of all the places, why Mount Moon for a family outing?” Wyatt thought to himself. “All the wild Pokémon are threats to a little boy, especially one that’s only five. Namely Zubat amongst countless others. Wyatt questioned internally.

Wyatt put his pen down and closed his notebook before letting out an exhausted sigh. He raised a single hand to cut the man off mid-sentence and then put his cigarette out in the makeshift ashtray the couple had placed on the table for him.

“Do you have any of...”

“Jonathan.” The man stated coldly. “Our son’s name is Jonathan.” He snapped.

“Right.” Wyatt replied as he rubbed one of his temples with his free hand. “Do you have anything Jonathan kept close to him in the house?” He asked, adding emphasis to the boy’s name to not forget it again.

“Yes, he had a Jigglypuff doll that he adored. Why?” The woman asked.

“If he kept it close to him, it’ll have his scent. Houndour and I will be able to track him down off of that.” Wyatt explained.

Wordlessly the woman got up from the table and raced towards the back of the house. Once she was gone Wyatt dropped his eyes from the woman’s husband’s gaze and to his Houndour. Despite his best efforts to hide it, Wyatt firmly believed he wouldn’t be bringing back the boy alive; statistically it was impossible for the child to survive.

Houndour must have sensed it’s trainer’s distress because it let out a small whine before laying on his feet. When the woman finally returned with the doll, Wyatt took it without saying another word. After he gathered his things and headed to the door, Wyatt turned and simply stated.

“I’ll let you know when I find something.”

The Next Evening

Houndour had quickly picked up on the scent from the doll within Mount Moon, which was good. Wyatt wasn’t sure how much longer the few repels he had scrapped together would last and he’d prefer to not have to fight through a small army of Zubat on his way out. However, the scent trail was leading the pair deeper into Mount Moon than Wyatt had expected.

This was both a good and bad sign, as it could mean the child had somehow managed to illicit enough sympathy from some creature to find protection. But if that was the case, Wyatt knew whatever was protecting the child likely wouldn’t give him up without a fight. To Wyatt, that thought was more concerning then the possibility of finding the boy dead.

However, Wyatt’s attention was pulled from his thoughts as he felt the temperature drop and heard the sounds of battle in the distance. Houndour placed himself between the possible threat and his master. The Pokémon bared his fangs and growled deeply at who or whatever was just around the bend from their location.

When the person or Pokémon rounded the corner they would be confronted by Wyatt who had one of his hands out stretched to halt them. The other hand was on the handle of his revolver.

“That’s close enough!” Wyatt shouted, as he issued his warning to the potential threat.​

 

[Merciless Medic]

As the two siblings walked around the bend, they were met with a strange guy and his Houndour. Noticing his attire, Miel immediately recognized him as a PI, and took his arm from Shade's waist and held out his hands in surrender. He elbowed Shade to do the same, to which she reluctantly did, but mainly out of shock. Miel raised an eyebrow and decided to state who he was, while slowly pulling his wallet out of his back pocket to show the man who he was.

"I'm pulling out my wallet out of my back pocket, and both of our Pokemon are injured, so don't be pointing your gun at us. There is a reason why you are here, but I don't know that reason. I am Doctor Darastrix, but you can either call me Mielshtrix or Miel. I work for the Kanto Regional Police Force as a crime psychologist and a police officer, but I'm off duty at the moment. This here is my sister, Shadara, but you can call her Shade. She's also a doctor, but in the field of genetics and Pokemon behaviors. What can I help a private eye, such as yourself, with?"

Shade was still frozen in place, her hands in the air, but Miel slowly relaxed his arms down at his sides once he showed the PI his wallet, and even gave the man his wallet to verify that he was telling the truth. The wallet contained his Officer's Badge, his Police ID that had his height, weight, blood type (O-), occupation within the work force, what force he works with, his rank, and the picture of him five years ago, which still held true to his look now. There's even a list of the Pokemon he has used on the crimes he has solved at the back of his ID, which can easily be flipped, since the ID was on a laminated sleeve to easily see his identity. He peered over to the Houndour, with Shade recognizing it as some kind of a specialized breed of Houndour with the way it behaved, or it at least went through police canine training.

Spoiler: List of Pokemon Miel Has Used In His Job

• Squirtle
• Golduck
• Poliwhirl
• Seel
• Krabby
• Seadra
• Goldeen
• Starmie
• Magikarp
• Lapras
• Vaporeon
• Croconaw
• Marill
• Azumarill
• Remoraid
• Octillery
• Sneasel
• Delibird
• Mantine
• Marshtomp
• Pelipper
• Corphish
• Milotic
• Castform
• Walrein
• Luvdisc
• Empoleon
• Floatzel
• Glaceon
• Samurott
• Simipour
• Ducklett
• Cubchoo
• Frogadier
• Greninja
• Alolan Ninetales
• Primarina
• Bruxish

 

[Apollyon91]

Wyatt didn’t remove his hand from the grip of his holstered revolver at the man’s words. While he didn’t necessarily doubt what the man had said, he didn’t trust it either. Instead, Wyatt simply placed his trigger finger overtop the holster but kept his hand in a relaxed position on the grip.

When the man who identified himself as Miel offered identification to verify his story, Wyatt immediately turned his outstretched hand inward and motioned with his index and middle finger. Once the identification card was in his hand, Wyatt used the same hand to quickly rummage through his bag until he produced a flashlight. He clicked the flashlight on wordlessly, placed it in his mouth and held the card up so he could inspect it while keeping the pair of them in his line of sight.

“Alright.” Wyatt stated after he removed the flashlight from his mouth. “You check out well enough.” He continued.

Wyatt offered the card back to Miel and once the man had taken it back Wyatt would remove his hand from his revolver. He then turned his attention to Houndour and snapped his fingers once.

“That’s enough.” He barked.

The Houndour immediately gazed up at Wyatt, it’s growl and snarl fading almost instantly. However, the Pokémon didn’t move from its protective positioning between his master and these strangers. Instead, it leaned against Wyatt slightly while keeping its piercing gaze on the newcomers.

“As for your question Special Interrogator Miel, I’m here looking for a missing child.” Wyatt replied. “And I’m an investigator, not an eye. Any hack can watch someone, it takes someone with real intuition to solve a case.” Wyatt quickly and rather sharply stated, correcting the man on his job field.

As Wyatt spoke he dug through his bag once more and produced his notebook, two repels, and two potions. He offered the items to Miel along with the flashlight so the man could review his meticulous notes on the case. The additional repels and the potions were Wyatt’s way of offering a wordless apology to the pair.

“Everything you need to know on the case are in the first ten pages.” Wyatt explained. “Feel free to skim it over.”

Wyatt would then stop to rub his Houndour’s side, to acknowledge the Pokémon’s efforts in protecting him while Miel read. Should Miel turn past the tenth page, he would find the eleventh page to be utterly blank. This was an indication of either a new notebook or Wyatt’s company being recently founded.

“The name is Anthony Wyatt Aberforth.” Wyatt stated, introducing himself once the man was done with his notes. “But you can call me Detective Aberforth.”​

 

[Merciless Medic]

Miel watched with little apprehension, seeing the guy expertly look at his ID like a cop would. This guy used to be in a police force... What happened? He nodded apologetically for calling him the wrong PI, saying "I apologize for the incorrect title." He looked at the papers with a raised eyebrow, wondering how much information they got on the subject. Miel took the papers calmly, while Shade behind him still had her hands in the air. Miel looked at her and chuckled, signalling her with his hand to lower her hands. She did so, but slowly, still not sure what to think about the situation.

Miel looked over everything, his time reading books helped in skimming all the information in the papers with ease and catching the details quickly. He turned past the tenth page to find the eleventh page empty. He raised an eyebrow at that, but he instead took special notice at a few pages that caught his interest. A young boy lost, and the last place was Mt. Moon? Interesting.... He read a little more before returning the pages to the man.

"Nice to meet you, Detective. I assume you were on the trail. May we help in finding this lost boy? We can let out our Pokemon now and heal them, so we aren't at a disadvantage when we run into trouble," as he said that, he looked at the detective with a quizzical look, as if he were asking if that was alright.

 

[Apollyon91]

Once the man had taken the notebook from his hand Wyatt immediately reached into his jacket pocket. He produced his pack of cigarettes and his lighter, blindly opening the pack before managing to slip the butt of a smoke into his mouth. The flame from his lighter flickered to life as he ignited his cigarette.

Wyatt was in the process of putting his pack away when the man apologized. Which reminded him of some social etiquette. Wyatt immediately turned the pack towards the man before shifting it towards his sister, offering either of them a cigarette if they desired. As he did this, Wyatt offered a shrug at the man’s apology.

“Don’t worry about it, I’ve been called much worse. He replied with a half laugh.

With that Wyatt allowed the pair of them to study his notes while he smoked in silence. Finally, when Wyatt was nearly done with his cigarette, Miel addressed him once more. The man asked if Wyatt was on the case presently and if they might join him.

These questions caused Wyatt to pause for a moment as he pondered them briefly. The answer was an easy one, another trained pair of eyes and a woman who likely held more knowledge then a Pokédex? Of course they could tag along!

This however was not Wyatt’s answer. Instead, he simply nodded as he flicked the cigarette off into the darkness of the cave. With that the decision was made, they would be his partners, at least for the time being.

After that, Miel almost requested to heal their Pokémon which was something Wyatt found odd. If they did encounter any danger Wyatt would need his partners to be fully capable of helping him in a fight.

“Yeah. I need you both at your peak should we bump into anything...” Wyatt’s voice trailed off as he imagined countless worse case scenarios. “...serious”

Once the pair of them had taken care of their respective Pokémon, Wyatt would make a hand gesture to Houndour. It was a non-verbal command for him to continue onward with the trail. Something that would present a problem when the trio ran into the melting ice from Miel and Shade’s battle earlier.

“Well, this could be a problem.” Wyatt muttered as he surveyed the scene.

With water covering a large portion of the cave, the scent trail Houndour was following would be washed away. Instead of being able to utilize the canine to his fullest extent to find the boy quickly, Wyatt would have to rely on foot work and luck. Wyatt gazed down the dark and frozen tunnel, there was a fork in the road and some of each tunnel was frozen over.

Wyatt glanced over towards both Miel and Shade.

“Suggestions?” He asked in an unenthusiastic and lax tone.​

 

[Merciless Medic]

Shade and Miel both shook their heads dismissively when offered the cigarettes, although they refrained from making a disgusted face, so as to not appear rude. When Wyatt had made the comment on being name-called, Miel couldn't help but give a slight chuckle. When his request was granted, he released his Lapras and Shade had released her Alolan Raichu in a flash of light. If Wyatt was astute enough, he could see that the Lapras had won the fight, due to her lack of electrical burns and the cold, clammy appearance of the Alolan Raichu getting hit by her Sheer Cold. Shade administered a spiky star-like medicine, known as a Max Revive, and the Alolan Raichu let the strange medicinal jelly melt in her mouth before she consumed it with an adorable little squeak of delight afterwards. The medicine also had hints of sugar to make it more appealing to eat. With Lapras, Miel just started to spray all of her wounds with his Max Potion, and she flapped her flippers about happily. Miel smiled and kissed her affectionately on the snout, while she gave back a delighted coo and then tickled Miel by licking his face. He chuckled and playfully pushed her head away, to which she made a giggle with her coo, and then bumped the Poke Ball to return immediately. Chu, not liking to be in a Poke Ball, stayed by Shade's side and floated about on her tail, happy to be fully awake and alert for any dangers nearby.

When the group had arrived at their battling destination, both Miel and Shade gave a sheepish chuckle. Whoops. Shade then had a brilliant idea. She jumped about happily and looked to the ceiling to see if any of the Zubats had migrated back to this area of the cavern after their duel. It seemed that some had, so she pulled out a flashlight from her satchel and shined it at the Pokemon. The sudden warmth and the click of the flashlight turning on caused the Zubat to stir in their sleep and they woke up, screeching loudly to see what the matter was. Three out of five Zubats fled the area, while two brave ones swooped down. They normally would have bitten Shade, but Shade pulled out something from her satchel. The familiar feel of the shape from their echolocation caused the Zubats to stop in their tracks. They looked quizzically at the offering in Shade's hands and then one of them cautiously glided down to see how dangerous they were. Shade carefully and slowly let the Zubat eat the Grepa Berry from her hand, the yellow berry's firmness acting as some sort of substitute for human/Pokemon skin and the tangy taste puts the pleasure in the Zubat's mouth. After confirming to his buddy that the berries were safe, the two started to eat from Shade's hands, happily eating the dry and sour, yet sweet rotund berry. Shade then spoke up in a soft and quiet whisper, careful to not startle the sensitive Pokemon due to their sensitive hearing.

"Hey, we are wondering if we can have you use Supersonic throughout the cave system to detect if there is a small boy nearby. Can you do that for us? I'll give you more Grepa Berries~," she added the last words teasingly, with the Zubats looking at each other with glee. Free and easy food! How could they not?

They did as she said, both flying over to the fork. They each used a Supersonic attack down the cave system, using their sensitive ears to hear any vibrations coming back that alerts them to a human's presence. After some time of silence, they noted that the cave tunnels were too long. Each one then dove through the tunnels, using their echolocation to find the boy. When they find him, they'll come back and guide the rest of the humans to them. Shade turned back to the detective, her voice a little louder now, but still noticeably quiet.

"The Zubats will come back for their food and to guide us to the human boy if they find them. The Pokemon here are quite willing to do what you want, just as long as you give them food for their service. That's what we did for most of the powerful Pokemon living deep in this cave anyway, so now they are used to humans and getting food from them. I wouldn't doubt if the boy was being protected by a Pokemon here, particularly a large one. The large ones tend to either look at small human children as pets, kids they want to protect and adopt, or as a potential source of food or a bartering system. I've seen Bisharps trade in humans for food and to expand their territory, so I wouldn't be surprised if a Pokemon here did that. Then again, there are hardly any Dark-Types living here in Kanto, let alone Mt. Moon. I think we'll be fine, so long as the kid isn't protected by a super motherly Onix. Then again, Onixes aren't usually found here, unless it's a very rare occurrence or someone released an Onix around here. Come to think of it, I think I remember seeing someone heartbreakingly leave their Onix here. Didn't that Onix have a blue bandanna around its tail?" she asked this question to Miel, as if to verify that she wasn't going through memory loss, to which Miel agreed with a simple nod. "If that's the case, then maybe the Onix is protecting the boy. We've seen the Onix around here, and she seemed so sad... It didn't help that after we learned of the Pokemon's story. She was abandoned here after having a few eggs, and she doesn't know where they are. Such forceful release of a mother Pokemon without their eggs causes them to want to mother just about any small thing they find, which isn't difficult for an Onix to find... I mean... They are longer and bigger than a Gyarados..."

At this point, Shade was just spouting out ideas to no one in particular, looking around the cave and the reflections of the ice letting her reflect on her thoughts a little more in-depth, but of course they had to be out loud.