A single solitary figure marched through the snow around Lake Axewell, shaking from exhaustion as well as the cold. There were plenty of layers of warm clothes keeping this figure otherwise safe from the cold...but fatigue weakens the constitution and - "I'm...Gonna...Make it through...This shirty...daft...barmy…shambolic weather!" Well then, so much for 'less brooding'. Jasper's so done he's reached the point of grumbling and shouting Galarian terms. "It really is Arceus-damned monkeys out here for Mew's sake!"

Normally he tried to avoid Galar-isms, too uncomfortable with his lack of an accent and how easily it pointed him out as a foreigner when he didn't want any attention. Yet…"Well you can bugger off, snow! Donkey's Years of this shit, yeah? I'm going Full Monty on this one!" That's definitely a lot of them in a row, and not really strung together with much wit or grace. At this point, however, one must remember Jasper had been in the snow for more than two weeks. He was as tapped for creative ways to curse the weather at this point as he was energy and patience. At this point he was running on spite. He had only seen two things since leaving Bede behind: snow and wild pokémon, both of which seemed determined to fight him every step of the way.

Jasper felt like he could never complain about Dispo's girth or lethargy anymore at this point. Having a Munchlax in a tent that was sheltering you from the cold really was a lifesaver. As reliable and ready to weather the cold as Faust was, one thing he wasn't a bit of use for was keeping anybody or anything warm. At least dealing with the Avalugg and Darmanitan had smoothed things down from a raging blizzard to mere snow with some frosty wind. Once he could see more than ten feet in front of him, the frustrated and half-frozen young man had been able to find some rest stops here and there to resupply and rest by a fire for a time.

Sometimes people take antisocial behavior beyond most logic and Jasper just so happened to have only ever spent any time at the stops when it felt absolutely necessary. Otherwise that angry, tired voice in his head simply told him 'There are people in there, and more are guaranteed to show. What's worse? The cold, or gormless tourists caught in the snow and other tired, pissed off travelers?' It was rare for Jasper to ever deem something worse than other people, so he'd stayed mostly in his own tent, but he was pretty close to deeming the weather of the Wild Area "A bigger todger than any fucking person!"

It was upon contemplation of moving people down the totem pole of 'things wrong with the world' that Jasper heard the cry of a Wingull. All at once the trainer came back to life and ran after the sound as if it meant immediate release from his torment. He saw his quarry by a tree that was standing strong in the face of the snow, even if half of its berries were dead and the other half were frozen. The Wingull was thawing berries with Water Gun and snapping them up, one at a time. Jasper crept closer and closer, slowly sliding the pokédex out of his pocket and waking it up, then holding it up towards the sea bird as he approached.

"Wingull rides updrafts rising from the sea by extending its long and narrow wings to glide." No sooner did the pokédex begin speaking than did the Wingull squawk in surprise and spray Jasper off of his feet with another Water Gun before flying away, but he didn't care. He had eyes only for the fantastic little device in his hand, even falling back into the snow with a smile on his face as he stared at it and it continued. "This Pokémon's long beak is useful for catching prey, which is why it has the habit of carrying prey and valuables in its beak and hiding them in all sorts of locations. This Pokémon rides the winds and flies as if it were skating across the sky."

Jasper smiled like a basket case, no longer feeling the cold as he backed up a screen and navigated his pokédex to the local map. "That's all of'em...fuck yeah." Wingull, Minccino, Snover, Snorunt, Snom, Swinub, Bergmite, Darumaka, even Avalugg and Darmanitan! He'd recorded so many pokémon along the way despite the terrible conditions. Because of the terrible conditions, in the case of the two evolved and much rarer entries he'd catalogued. What's more: upon standing back up and dusting himself off, Jasper saw Motostoke in the distance! Even if it was still a day or two's walk away from him...it was there!

"Ha! Fuck you, weather! Fuck you, Wild Area! You can't stop me! Here I come, ceremony! Here I come, Pokémon League! Here I come!...Whatever else I decide to do!"
​

Three weeks of fucky weather, finally over. Never before in his life had Jasper so enjoyed the thought of a warm room and a soft bed. Almost as much as he expected he'd enjoy actually making use of them. He'd dragged his feet to the Pokémon center and forced his eyelids not to sag while Motostoke's Nurse Joy tried to make conversation with him, even if he wasn't much good for speaking back. The instant he could feel secure in the knowledge that he'd done his due diligence for Faust and Dispo, he shuffled to the Budew Drop Inn and lazily shoved the door open.

Jasper's drooping eyes and big yawn made it easy to ignore everything around him until he reached the counter and put his Advanced Trainer ID on the table, letting it speak to his purpose for itself, The only response he received was for the receptionist to point over his shoulder, back towards the door. The nervous look on his face woke him up just enough to actually take in the sight that awaited him when he turned around. "Aw, fuckin' Slowbro taint."


Rosa had finally escaped the Wild Area. It'd been a long three weeks, and she'd spent far longer in it than she'd intended. With the bikes that her and Simon had fought for, getting through the Wild Area unscathed should have been a non-issue. However, every time she stopped to rest something else just had to pop up.

After healing her Pokemon and heading for the stadium - knowing that the Inn they were supposed to be staying at was nearby - Rosa was dead tired and running on fumes. After the fight against the red-eyed Pokemon, she'd rode nonstop to Motostoke. She'd finally had enough of the Wild Area's wonders, and its charm had completely worn off. The prospect of a soft bed and a warm bath delighted her immensely. Not to mention that she hadn't really eaten anything besides fruits, granola, and a little bit of smoked Magikarp she'd found lying around an abandoned camp. It wasn't exactly a graceful experience by any means, and she was glad that there was no-one there to see her at her lowest points, but she did what she had to do. She'd already made a mental note to prepare better before entering the Wild Area again.

But that was all consideration for some other time. For now-

"Bed," the girl grumbled as she shuffled along. Her body was slow, and sluggish. Her eyes felt like they weighed a ton, and every few steps that she took was followed by a loud and ugly open-mouth yawn. But, despite her desperate need for sleep, when she finally reached the Budew Drop Inn she was met with a sight that she just couldn't ignore. "Oh for fuck's sake." She groaned, after seeing a number of officers crowding around the entrance to the Inn. "I just want to sleep." She rubbed her eyes and cried lightly. Her eyes were already bloodshot and on fire, and her bun which she'd managed to keep intact for the last three weeks looked more like a bird's nest at this point than anything.

"Hey, you bobbies mind?" Rosa was surprised to hear a voice from the opposite side of the commotion break through and grab the cops' attention. "Some people are lookin' for a little shut-eye, can't you take your shit somewhere else?" She knew that grousing from anywhere.

She groaned slightly once more, not knowing if she had the energy to put on a face for her ex-classmate. She'd had some hope that getting here early enough she could avoid running into anyone she knew, but her luck was already running on empty. With a sigh, she straightened up and stood on her tip-toes, doing her best to peek through the wall of officers between them. "Ja-Jasper!" She called out as she leaned from side to side in response to the officers quick shuffling.

She grunted, irritated that this was happening at all when she was already so tired. But having someone to vouch for her person in case they tried searching her could be helpful. "Maximum effort," she whispered as she crouched down and crawled through the wall of men and women who were shouting and arguing indistinguishably.

As she popped out from the other side, she found herself right in front of the boy she'd been calling out to before. As far as appearances went, she was a complete trainwreck, but she did her best to put on a cute face. "J-Jasper!" She stumbled forward, acting as if she hadn't seen him until just now since her voice had been drowned out. She didn't want it to seem like she was too desperate to find him. "Didn't think I'd see you here so early. Do you know what's going on with all… this?" She tried her best to play innocent while motioning behind her, despite the fear that was beginning to eat away at her about the styler in her bag.

""Not a damn thing. I just wanted some sleep after the three shittest weeks of my life since coming to Galar, only to find out the coppers don't want to let me. What's up with you? Pretty brave crawling through cops." He asked with a raised eyebrow.

Rosa nodded and gave a weak, but triumphant smile up at him. "Really just the same. The Wild Area knocked me down and kicked me all over. I'm honestly just ready to get in and sleep before the big day tomorrow. With all the time that's passed, I've already got all these ideas for my uniform but-"

Just as Rosa began to get too deep into her reply, their conversation was broken up by the screeching of the woman who was now being taken to the ground in the center of the group of officers. It was a young girl, no older than either of them, but they were being forceful with her and treating her as if she were a person twice her size.

"I didn't do it! Let me go! Please, please! I have to be at the ceremony tomorrow! I was set up, please, you have to listen to me!" The girl pleaded with the officers who were pushing her against the ground. Her eyes were filled with tears as they frantically darted around, searching for anyone that might be able to help her.

Rosa took a few steps back, all the color in her face disappearing as she watched the police forcing themselves upon the girl. "That… that doesn't look or sound good…" She squeezed her arm, contemplating whether or not she should get involved in the current situation. Her gaze slowly rose to Jasper's face, waiting to gauge his reaction before taking action herself. Without knowing the situation, getting involved could potentially serve to only worsen things, but it's not like anyone would pay attention to her on her own anyways.

His face clenched up and reddened. Before he even realized what he was doing Jasper shoulder-checked one of the policemen away from the girl and put a hand on Faust's pokéball. "Oi! Th'fuck is wrong with you bunch of shitbricks! Beatin' up on a little girl just for being a suspect?!" The officer Jasper had shoved lurched toward him only for one of the others to put a hand on his shoulder and step forward to speak. "Stay back unless you want to get taken in for obstruction of justice, young man."

Rosa stepped up behind Jasper, closing the distance behind them. He was within arm's reach now, but she was well-enough hidden thanks to her small stature. She dropped her hand into her pocket, feeling around for Yzma's ball in case things got too rough and they needed to run. She glanced up at the towering figure of Jasper, and then over at the cop who was scrambling to pick himself up after having been knocked over.

She looked up to a few of her classmates for various reasons. For some, certain traits of their personality resonated with her. For others, they had traits that she wished she could also have. For most, it was how true they were to themselves. She was the only one who felt she had to put up fronts around everyone else, but all the other classmates could just be who they were. And now, there was Jasper. In the two times she'd run into him since graduation, he'd shown that he was much more than she'd initially thought. She'd looked up to him initially for the constant care he'd given to his Larvitar, but now… it wasn't so much looking up to him, as it was just a feeling of respect. But… how would she be able to tell him how she felt? At the very least, that wasn't the most important thing to be worried about right this minute.

Jasper opened his mouth and each of the three officers not holding down the suspect put a hand on their nightsticks, forcing him to take a breath. "At least tell me what it is you think she did."

The cops looked at each other, then back at Jasper. The one he'd pushed off the girl looked like he still wanted to tackle the young man for his insolence, but before he could say anything the calmest of the three spoke up. "Well, with the amount of traffic this place gets and all the commotion going on it's not like there'd be any hiding it even if we wanted to. The crown jewel of the Budew Drop Inn is a solid gold Budew statue. This girl has been at the inn all day and several different people saw her admiring the statue at different times. Wanna know where the statue is now? So do we, because it's nowhere to be found. Someone stole the statue."

"Just because she liked the thing doesn't mean -"

The officer put up a hand to silence him. "As soon as we tried to question her, she freaked out and tried to run. Ever since we grabbed her she's been ranting and raving. We have no other suspects, what are we supposed to do, let her go?"

Jasper didn't have anything smart to say to that, he looked down at the girl, then at the cops, teeth grit in frustration. "Can't you at least restrain her more quietly? Take her down to the station to calm down or something?" He finally forced out.

"Not until the detective gets here to question her and launch a proper investigation. She's across town, already dealing with something else. But until she's here we need every potential witness to stay awake and available, and she can't go anywhere."

Jasper rubbed the back of his head in frustration, messing up his hair even worse under the hood than it already was. "All I want to fucking do is get some sleep...Fine then! If you cross-eyed Slowpokes won't let me get any rest, then I'll just figure out what happened myself so you can naff the hell off!"

"J-Jasper," Rosa tugged at his jacket, not wanting to irritate him any further. "If it'll help to expedite the process and to potentially clear the girl's name, I'd be happy to help you figure out what exactly is going on here."

"Course you can." He said as if he'd been waiting for her offer. "You pay a lot of attention to the stuff and people around you. Like analyzing things, understanding them. Or at least, you put in the effort to. The sooner this is dealt with the sooner we can sleep, right?"

"Amen to that." She didn't even register his reasoning behind it. All she heard was him giving her the go-ahead. She glanced around quickly, taking in all the people around them. "I think it might be better if you take the route of questioning the suspects and passerby. Seeing how I am, they'd probably just laugh me off as a little kid playing detective. So I'll search around the building and see if I can uncover anything; that sound good to you?"

Jasper looked up at the ceiling curiously. "I guess. I figured people'd be more accommodating for a cute girl who dresses nice than some angry guy in a hoodie, but if that's what you want." He cracked his knuckles and smirked. "Faust and I will get everyone to spill the beans or I'm a Mankey's uncle."

Rosa smiled. Yeah, he'd definitely be able to get a more direct story than she would. Her eyes felt like they were burning out of their sockets, but it was time to go full detective. She pulled the sweater over her head, folded it, and placed it in her bag before walking over to the check-in clerk. "Do you mind holding these things for me? Thanks."

The clerk nodded his head and took the items. "Until the investigation is over we aren't giving out any more rooms, but are you planning to check-in as well or-"

Rosa had already turned away and was walking out the door. Her mind was set on figuring this investigation out as quickly as possible and getting to sleep. Everything else could wait.

There was only one place to go first and foremost. No sooner had Rosa exited the room than did Jasper stomp over to the front desk - half for effect and half to keep his balance through the exhaustion. The clerk's eyes widened at the aggressive gait of the guy he'd seen come close to tackling an officer and get away with it. When Jasper slammed his hand down on the desk and leaned down to eye level to properly glare into the man's nervous eyes, he couldn't look away. "So, you're here all day for the most part, yeah?" The man started to nod but Jasper cut him off to continue. "Statue was over there, right?" He punctuated his query with a thrust of his finger towards the now-empty shelf between the two elevators to the left of the desk.

"Yes, sir." The clerk responded, starting to calm down a bit. "But I don't just 'sit here all day', I have many other duties, like -"

"Tch!" Jasper interrupted the man with a click of his tongue Bede would be proud of, leaning closer to get in his face. "I don't give a shit if the idea hurts your pride, bell boy. Nobody spends more time around or within view of that statue than you. So it stands to reason, you should've seen the girl most of the times she was looking at it, ay? You can see pretty much everything on this level from here and she couldn't see the statue from anywhere that YOU couldn't see HER seeing it." The man nodded rather than try to say anything else he knew wouldn't be of use.

The trainer straightened up and out of his personal space to sigh. "First real question should be easy enough for you. Were the bobbies for true? Did the girl spend a lot of time out here looking at the Budew?""

After a moment of more nodding, the clerk found his voice. "Yes sir, of course she did. I mean, a lot of people stare, but not usually multiple times a day in a single visit. I really hope she isn't the culprit…" The man sounded almost heartbroken at the idea. "I just thought she was a fan with good taste in decoration - and pokémon." Jasper rolled his eyes and rested his left elbow on the desk.

"Anyone else do some window shopping?"

"As I said, I'm not at this desk scanning for suspicious activity the whole day, but no. Nobody that I saw gave the pride of the inn much more than a cursory glance. I found it a bit insulting, to be honest."

Is he being serious? Are all the workers here like this or is he just crazy? What kind of twisted orientation must this place have if it's not just him? Jasper shook his head. This numpty's as useless as a legless Ariados. "Fuck it, gimme a staff key."

"Excuse me?"

"Staff key, the ones that open any guest room? Give it. I got questions for some other people too. C'mon, help out that girl who shares your love of...fine art."

"Sir I can't just give one of our staff keys to some boy just because he's taking some investigation on his own sho-"

"You're right." Jasper interrupted the man yet again and pushed off the counter, strolling towards the elevators. "Banging on their doors will be faster anyways. Cops said nobody sleeps until the detective gets here, right?

"Nonononono, please!" The man huffed, stumbling over to Jasper and holding out the card with an alacrity that actually impressed him. Jasper smirked and took the card, then gave a cheeky salute with it and stepped into the now open elevator - which immediately closed.

The first floor of guest rooms was almost a waste of time. Jasper hadn't expected too much from it, figured most of those people were down in the lobby or had already left to go sleep somewhere else. Every room was empty of both occupants and guests...up until the very last one. When Jasper raised his hand to knock on the door it opened with such inconvenient timing that he almost lost his balance when his knuckles swung through empty air.

"Oh, hello there." Standing in the doorway was a tall, almost statuesque man in a very crisp black suit, gleaming lapel of a pokéball standing proud on his chest. His hair was slicked back in a suave business cut and his brown eyes took in everything before him with an air of mild amusement. "Can I help you?" He queried the would-be intruder on his privacy.

Jasper raised an eyebrow at the man's appearance. Where the hell did he have to be tonight that he was this done up? "I wanted to ask if you knew anything about the whole mess with the Budew statue."

The man smiled warmly up to his eyes and reached into his coat. "Ah, yes, strange bit of business, that. I'm afraid I don't have much in the way of answers for you. I've been in my room most of the day today, reading and relaxing." The probing hand withdrew a small platinum case, so pristine that it glinted unmistakably even in the dim light at this end of the hallway. "I was just on my way out for a smoke before I go downright Zubatty from lack of fresh air."

"You're going to smoke...for fresh air?" Jasper asked.

At that the man's smile became flat thought for a moment before he laughed and pinched the bridge of his nose with a black-gloved hand. "Oh dear, hell of a contradiction, isn't it? Makes about as much sense as smoking in the first place...terrible habit, but I can't quite seem to kick it. Tell you what: you seem like an alright young chap. I don't know much, but ask me anything that comes to mind and I'll tell you what I can."

"Why are you here?" Jasper took him up on his offer without any hesitation.

"The best reason there could be to visit Motostoke about now: the Opening Ceremony to this year's run of the Pokémon League, of course. It's soon and I'm a big fan. I got this lapel when I went to watch last year's championship, you know."

"Did you see the girl looking at the statue like everyone else?"

"I only passed by the poor thing once and she certainly was looking but it didn't strike me as anything beyond mere admiration, maybe a touch of nostalgia."

"Did you see anyone else looking at the statue?"

"Only the receptionist, but perhaps he was simply watching the girl? The staff of the Budew Drop Inn certainly seem quite attached to it. Maybe they aren't completely trusting of anyone looking at it as much as she supposedly did."

Jasper wanted to say more, wanted to search the guy's room...but he was already pushing his luck with these questions. He had the key and all but the guy hadn't said anything that he could really use to justify barging in if it came back on him. He'd have to come back after the guy was gone if he couldn't find anything better.

The man stepped out of his room without missing a beat when Jasper backed up, then closed the door behind him. "You could ask anybody else around here but I'm not sure how helpful it would be. I was hoping staying here might let me witness some interesting meetings between league hopefuls, maybe even some impromptu battles but it appears not many have shown up yet. The clerk downstairs told me every room in the inn is spoken for already...and yet barely anyone is here."

That opened Jasper's eyes a bit wider. Then it's not just a coincidence that the rooms I passed before this guy were empty? I came straight here after getting into town but I honestly expected to be a bit late, not early. "Hold on… if the place is still practically empty, why didn't the bell boy tell me so?"

"I couldn't say." The man responded, pressing the button to call the elevator. Jasper hadn't even realized they'd started walking, but he'd stayed beside the man the whole time as they conversed. "But what I can tell you is that I certainly wouldn't be caught dead trying to take that statue. It's the pride of the inn. In this day and age what business wouldn't have proper surveillance on such a thing? I dare say no mere customer could nab it so easily." He was right, was it really possible there were no cameras in the lobby? Hell, if it was such a big deal it should have stuff pointed at it 24/7 for something like this. A ding heralded the elevators' arrival and as soon as they opened, the man stepped into the one on the left, holding the door for Jasper."I'm up to the roof, high places relax me just as much as a good smoke, heading up to the other floors?"

"Nah, you go on ahead. Enjoy your cigarette or whatever...but if you try to bolt you'll regret it, I'm gonna make sure the police know you were here." The guy only laughed as both elevator doors closed. As soon as they were well and truly separated a powerful chill ran up Jasper's spine and only then did he realize "Ah, Muk-shit, I didn't get that suit's name!" The doors opened in time with that revelation. Jasper almost bashed the up button to go fix his mistake when something caught his eye: the reception desk was unmanned. Peeking around the doorway, he couldn't see any signs that anybody was left in the lobby at all. The insistent beeping of the elevator wishing to close its doors spurred him into action.

Stepping into the center of the Lobby, just behind the statue of the ancient hero, Jasper looked up at and all around the ceiling. Sure enough, dotted here and there around were little black spheres in which one could see the faintest hint of a little red light if they looked hard enough. Stepping behind the front desk, Jasper peered at the computer, then smirked. That fucking ponce didn't log out before he walked away! No wonder shit's getting stolen. Being a work computer, the desktop wasn't exactly full of icons, though Jasper did notice the names of a few games for a good healthy roll of the eyes.

Finding the camera feed was actually easier than Jasper would have expected, but it made sense it wasn't too terribly complimented. Counting on people to be smart was a fool's errand, and he doubted the spineless goon had the brains to handle anything much more complex. A typing prompt appeared along with big bold letters nobody trying to sneak into someone else's stuff wanted to see: Please enter password[/I Jasper squinted in annoyance and clucked his tongue, he was no hacker, that was for damn sure! However, there was an apparatus next to the monitor with a flat slot in it. After a moment's consideration it was clear that it matched the slots Jasper had seen in the guest rooms he'd passed. "Aces!"

One slip of the staff card key bullied away from the attendant into the little machine, and the password prompt went away to be replaced by a grid of files. Hacker or no, Jasper at least didn't have any trouble navigating to that day's recordings and fast-forwarding through all of them. He didn't notice anything until reaching the footage of the past couple of hours, where he slowed down. There was that girl, the same one the cops had picked up, staring longingly at the statue for minutes straight until her shoulders sagged and she went into the elevator, presumably heading to her room. Jasper kept watching but nothing happened for a while. He cycled through some of the other cameras - including one with a clear view of the very desk he was at - and got nothing…

Until there was a tiny little skip. A slight moment of static that made Jasper jump, then glue his eyes even tighter to the screen. Nothing had changed. The clock was still on track, everything in the room was same...except the receptionist looked different...No maybe it was more like he didn't look any different. Just before the skip he'd been leaning on one elbow staring off into space, but the instant the skip happened he looked alert. Hands folded in front of him, watching the monitor. Nothing happened for a few more minutes, then the elevator doors opened and the girl came back out into the lobby. She waved at the receptionist and he waved back.

The suspect left. Then, after a few more minutes of nothing, the clerk got up and left through the door to the employee area behind his chair. Not even a minute later, the girl was back on camera, looking at the golden Budew again. Doesn't she have anything better to do? This is the exact same thing she's been do- Two gears grinded against each other in Jasper's head so violently that he had to stop thinking for a moment and just watch. The girl kept staring, then there was another skip and she and the statue were both gone! Once a couple more minutes passed the clerk returned to his post and quickly noticed the statue's absence, frantically running to where it normally sat, then - upon failure to find any sign of it - back to the phone at his desk.

This wasn't even all that long before I got here. What the fuck? He went back and watched the last chunk of footage again, fast-forwarding through all the dead air until the girl made her last appearance. "Just the same as before...no, exactly the same!" His eyes widened and he immediately shut the computer down, lest anything happen before he could talk to anyone. Slipping out from behind the front desk, Jasper practically flew down the stairs and out of the lobby, where he found a rather perturbed looking older woman staring at the policemen gathered around the patrol cars on the curb.

"Making me wait, out here, in the cold! I didn't even have time to go back to my room and slip into my nicest faux Minccino-fur coat!" Her silvery, wispy hair and stretched, worn out skin marked her age just as much as her grumpy, entitled attitude and it wasn't lost on Jasper that despite her complaints she was still wearing a rather ritzy-looking designer jacket and nice gloves.

"Hey. gramma, quit your grousin' for a moment I gotta ask you something." Jasper interjected.

The old lady turned around with a fire in her eyes straight outta hell, as well as Jasper could reckon. "You wot? I'm no gramma of yours, you little twit, is that how you speak to someone you need something from? I've half a mind to-"

"For fuck's sake, don't start your little tirade!" Jasper cut her off abruptly enough to hold the floor for a moment. "I was just hoping to know when was the last time you saw the Clerk at his desk before th-"

"Don't get me started on that worthless excuse for a bellhop!" Moment lost, now it was her doing the interrupting and the shouting. "That buffoon calls himself a receptionist? No less than three times today did I call the desk and get left on busy tones so long I gave up. Both times I came down to go out or ask him something in person, he was 'out to lunch'! Both times!? How does he still have a job? Who's out to a second lunch at 6:30 in the evening?! For me to miss him that much he'd have to either be directly avoiding me, or so negligent that-"

"6:30? You saw the desk empty at 6:30?" That was around the last time he'd seen on the camera feed before the statue disappeared….but he hadn't seen the old woman around that time...or anyone else, for that matter, aside from the girl. Jasper was starting to feel some of the pieces fall into place, and he didn't like the pictures they painted.

-----​

There were people hanging around all over the place. The excitement leading up to the ceremony tomorrow had caused a lot of people who would normally be sensible and kind enough to be around, to become absolute shitshows. The list of endorsed trainers had been leaked, and already people were choosing sides. Names that were both known and unknown were being tossed about in between slurs and curses. Thankfully, Rosa's first stop on her investigation which was behind the Inn was free of any such ruckus.

"Thank Arceus," she muttered to herself, "finally a moment of solitude." She looked up at the night sky, hoping and wishing that she could just wake up well-rested and find that this whole endeavor was just a dream. She'd even be okay if she woke up and was still in the Wild Area. But despite her numerous attempts to wake herself via pinching her arm, she was still here; this was still reality, this was still happening, and she still had the opportunity to save an innocent girl. She just wished she wasn't so tired while trying to do so.

"Oi' innit that girlie that da boss'd been waitin' fer?"

"Ay' I thinkin' it is."

"Let's scat 'fore she sees."

"Ay', the boss'll wanna hear about this. This may change summin'."

Rosa searched around the exterior of the building, hoping to find any kind of clues. Much to her dismay, there was absolutely nothing of note. The grass was perfectly maintained, no stray cigarette butts, not even the trails of a leaky garbage bag hastily carried to the dumpster. She found a few cinder blocks in the trash area that she stacked up and used as a step stool to peer into the dumpster themselves, but even with that it was impossible for her to reach anything inside.

"Okay, guess I'll need a little help." She dug around in her pockets for a second, finding the pokeball that contained the possibly most useful - or most detrimental - Pokemon to her current situation. "Come on out, Ezra."

She tapped the center of the ball and released the Pokemon into the pile of garbage. Ezra stretched out as she appeared on top of a bag which sunk under her weight. The Pokemon looked around and then sniffed a few times. "Munch?" She looked up at her trainer who was peering down at her. "Munch." She fell backwards, laying out on the pile of bags before rolling around in the filth. "Muuuunch."

"Ezra, please. I know you smell the food in there, but there's no time to mess around. I need you to find something."

The Pokemon stopped, mid garbage-angel, and looked up at the trainer. It's eyelids lowered as it sighed. "Munch Munch Munch. Munch, Munchlax." The Pokemon slowly pushed itself up and shook its head.

"Good, now I need you to look and see if you can find a golden statue in there somewhere. It doesn't matter if you make a mess or not, just start tearing into the stuff. We need to make sure it wasn't buried in there somewhere."

Ezra rolled her eyes and then began to tear open bag after bag. The Pokemon would scavenge through the items, contained within, sorting out the edible from inedible before tossing the remains off to the other side of the dumpster. She moved quick, despite being so large. Perhaps it was due to the fact that she was finally going to be able to eat until bursting, but she didn't stop until every bag had been torn open and sorted.

"Mmmmunch." The Pokemon fell down with a huff. Ezra placed both hands on her bulging stomach and yawned. "Munchlax." Her eyes closed as she dozed off, having completed her duty.

"Great. You did fine. Just go to sleep without me." She said spitefully. She tapped the center of the pokeball, recalling the fulfilled Pokemon. "Well, nothing else outside needs sorted through, so the only evidence would be inside in that case."

Rosa quickly placed the stones back where she'd found them and went in through the back door of the Inn. As she did so, three men in slick leather suits passed by her. Two younger men in their mid-twenties stood on either side of a man in his late fifties. His hair was dark and slicked back with three long streaks of silver, his eyes were a powerful crystal blue, and his suit was much fancier than either of his escorts. And his shoes-

"You can tell a lot about a man by his shoes, sweetheart." Her eye twitched for a second as her father's voice echoed in her head. Nevertheless, as the men drew closer her eyes drifted to the older gentleman's shoes. There were no creases in the freshly shined leather. His toes came to a rounded point, and he walked without any kind of gait that you might expect as one grows older.

"Ah, if you'll excuse us miss." The older gentleman's voice was warm, and soft. A kind smile was spread gently across his face as he passed by the trainer, offering her the smallest obeisance.

"W-Wait!" Rosa turned on her heels, momentarily caught off guard by the appearance of the three men.

"Ay', just get on wit' yer' investigation lass. Ain't no mind to pay us." one of the guards spoke up, waving the girl off as they passed.

"But the police said-"

"Don't worry child." The elderly gentleman turned on his heels, and faced Rosa for a short second. "I'm sure you'll be able to solve this investigation without the aid of the impartial detective they've called for."

"Impartial?" Rosa tilted her head and furrowed her brow. "What do you mean by that?"

The older man shook his head. "This city has a lot going on behind closed doors. It's better that outsiders don't get caught up in the thick of it, but it seems you've already found your way in; however unintentional. Maybe this development will be for the better? If you save this girl from her fate, you may yet be able to make a small change in the dynamic of Motostoke's inner workings."

Rosa's mind was racing. She'd gone to investigate the exterior so she wouldn't have to consider how to present herself to people and yet a possible key witness had found themself to her. "Are you a witness or-"

"That's enough chatteh then." The other guard stepped between Rosa and the older man. He waved at the girl to continue on. "We've got otha' things that need attendin'. Go off'n keep playin' detective then, ay'?"

The elderly man cleared his throat, causing the guard to step back with a worried look on his face. "Forgive my bodyguard, he can be a little harsh. Believe me, if you prove yourself useful in this expedition, you'll be sure to see me around again. But for now, as he said, we've other things that need tending to. If you'll excuse us."

Rosa watched as a blackened Metagross hovered just above the ground with a blacked-out carriage dangling from its claws.The Pokemon appeared just a few feet away, allowing the men a quick and clean getaway before she could get any more answers out of them. The Pokemon placed the carriage gingerly atop its head before distancing itself from the ground and hovering away over the city. "Well shit… I hope they weren't important to this investigation. Jasper's gonna kill me if he finds out." The girl's face had completely drained of color. Luckily for her, the door leading to the back was connected to a short entryway which trailed off in a few different directions.

She'd wondered if perhaps she should ask for permission to look around in the employee only areas she currently found herself in, but the police had probably already been given the go-ahead, and they'd given the two trainers the go-ahead, so it should be fine, right? She pushed the thought out of her head and shrugged slightly to herself. "No use worrying about it now," she mumbled as she made her way to the employee lockup room.

The first thing she noticed was her bag, which was sitting on a chair just inside the room and wasn't all that interesting on its own. They were already dealing with one thief, it'd be a shame to leave her possessions out for just anyone to get into. She walked slowly around the room, noting that a lot of the lockers were without locks or nametags. The Inn wasn't exactly small, but there were definitely more lockers around than were necessary - but that was besides the point.

She looked through the holes in each box, trying to peer inside and see if there was anything that would catch her interest. Each locker had an envelope chute, just large enough to push some papers through without having to open the door. It also happened to be just large enough to slip her dex into. She turned the brightness up on the device and slid it into the lockers, trying her best to see if the light reflected off of anything.

She'd made it through the majority of the lockers when she happened upon a locker which had been left unlocked. She peered through the holes, shining the light to see if it caught on anything when she saw something familiar within. "Is that…" she muttered, pulling the lock off the door before opening it to reveal the busted styler sitting in the bottom, covered mostly by a couple of dirty shirts. "That's interesting," she whispered to herself, picking up the device and slipping it back into her pocket.

She pondered for a second about how she should approach this piece of evidence. She couldn't exactly tell the officers that her busted up styler had been stolen - they'd end up having to take it in for evidence and then find out that it belonged to some dead ranger. That definitely wouldn't look good on her, regardless of how the current case turned out. She slowly walked over to her bag, looking around the entry room to ensure nobody was coming. She dug around for a second before finding the stone which had mysteriously appeared in her bag during her escapades in the Wild Area. She wouldn't exactly be upset over losing it since she didn't even expect to have it in the first place, so if they decided to take it as evidence it wouldn't be the biggest loss. Besides, she didn't really have a use for it at the moment seeing as how she didn't know what exactly it was.

"That should work," she whispered to herself as she placed the Dawn Stone in the locker and made sure the lock clicked. One piece of evidence down, but it wasn't damning. If anyone had seen those men from before come back this direction it could easily be dismissed as their doing. Besides, the statue wasn't even in there. There had to be something else to go off of.

Rosa walked out of the locker room and crossed down to the other hall before hearing footsteps coming from behind her. She pressed herself up against the wall, hoping that whoever was coming wouldn't go down this direction. She wasn't doing anything bad, exactly. She was investigating, but she was too tired and braindead to have to deal with anyone's prying lines of questioning.

Lucky for her, the footsteps continued off down the hall she'd just come from. Just a few minutes longer and she'd have been caught in the act. She took a quick glance down the direction she'd just come from, recognizing the figure as the front desk clerk. As he entered the room, he immediately turned and picked up Rosa's bag before disappearing behind the first set of lockers. She'd have to make a mental note to check the contents of her bag again later just to be certain.

She continued off into the kitchen, the thought eating away at the back of her head that he might be doing something with her personal belongings. She shook her head, not wanting to think about anything disturbing. For now, she had no reason to believe he might be anything other than a thief. Most of her clothes were dirty anyways, so she'd need to do laundry tonight regardless.

The chefs had headed home for the night, presumably before the news had broken about the missing statue. She quickly searched the kitchen for any clues, but nothing was out of place. She searched the numerous storage cabinets, the refrigerators and freezers, the cleaning supply cabinet, and every other little nook, cranny, and shelf. Everything was as it should be.

Rosa made her way out of the kitchen and back into the back entry room, where she found her only avenue left was the front of house. She walked down the somewhat winding hallway before coming out just behind the front desk clerk. Her bag was sitting on the shelf just beside him, but when she reached down to take it back and he noticed her, his face went white with shock.

"M-miss? How- When did you get back there?"

She shook her head and hid the smile that crept beneath her currently tired and cold stare. "I just finished my search of the perimeter." The corner of her mouth twitched. She was pleased with how formal she sounded. Maybe she had a future as a detective… so long as nobody found out she was tampering with evidence that is. "I came in the back door and searched around for a few minutes. Everything in the kitchen was in order, and from what I could find in the locker room-" she paused for a moment, leaning into the dramatic effect that her report was having on the clerk."Nothing seemed out of place. Nobody's been in or out of the building back there besides me that I know of."

The color quickly returned to the clerk's face as he smiled and nodded. "Yes, I would hope that no-one on our staff would have been the one to steal the statue. That statue is a sense of pride for us all her at the Budew Drop Inn."

Rosa nodded her head, knowingly. He was obviously hiding something, but she didn't have enough evidence to pin the theft of the statue itself on him. Most likely, his biggest concern was that she'd found out he stole from her. She looked around the crowd of people who were in various states of argument. Some of the people who'd been kept in the lobby were slouched over on the floor mid-slumber, while others were still arguing over why they couldn't return to their rooms.
​

"Jasper should be around here somewhere… I wonder if he found anything more useful than me?"

It didn't take long to find him. It looked like was still in the middle of his own string of interrogations just outside of the building. If he'd been able to get anything out of the patrons or front of house staff then they should have enough to work with at this point. She didn't want to interrupt him exactly, but it was exhausting trying to stay awake. The gaudy woman he was in the midst of talking to definitely seemed like a chore to deal with, but everything she'd seen was floating around in her mind and she was doing her best to keep each individual idea pinned down.

"J-Jasper. Did you find anything out?" she tugged on his shirt again, noting that he'd been too caught up in his own conversation to notice her the first time.

He had never been so glad to turn from a conversation in his life as when he ignored the bitchy biddy to acknowledge Rosa. "Hey, perfect timing! Honestly, I didn't have much luck with the interviews. Barely anybody's even actually here right now. Most of the rooms are reserved. The people I did talk too didn't know much, especially this hag." A fresh slew of complaints and insults exploded behind Jasper's head, to which he grabbed Rosa's shoulder and ushered her away to a clear spot, before leaning in close to her. "There's definitely some shit going on here beyond petty thievery. The cameras have been fucked with. There's no way the girl did it, the footage of her right before the statue disappears is some sort of edited copy of the same footage from earlier."

Rosa listened to Jasper's explanation, nodding along with it all understandingly up to the point where he mentioned that the camera feed could have been doctored. Could it have anything to do with the three men she'd run into earlier? They definitely seemed important, but were they the criminal type? Rosa didn't have enough to go on, so she did a mental shrug and leaned in closer to Jasper. He'd probably have only gotten upset if she told him she'd let some possible witnesses and/or suspects get away without question. "I agree, something's definitely off about this. Depending on what else you found, it may or may not be important but-" she paused for a second, making sure that the clerk hadn't followed her out after her run-in with him earlier. "Some of my personal belongings were stuck inside a locker which I assume was the clerk's. I haven't seen any other employees around, and he was the one I passed my bag off to earlier so I think it fits."

"Yeah, that bellboy is definitely off." Jasper agreed, eyes narrowing after a few seconds of silence. "In fact, I'm looking at him for this right now. Let's see what all we got." Jasper made the rare move of pulling off his hood so there were as few communication barriers as possible. "He's the one who made the girl a suspect in the first place, by itself that isn't much since he's not the only one who reported she was starin' at the thing. Problem is, it ain't consistent. In the first instance I saw today of her looking at the thing for a long while, he was there, watching her just like he said. But the part that looks messed with is after he walks away, when he's not even there. His part of the footage is different, but hers is identical to the one from earlier until suddenly she's gone and so is the statue. On top of all that, the guy let me run off to interrogate all the guests in the tower even though almost nobody's up there, he even ended up giving me the staff key to get into their rooms without saying anything about it. We've also got people complaining about him spending way too much time away from his post."

Rosa furrowed her brow, concentrating with what little brain power she had left. Things were definitely starting to line up, but it all was still getting away from her somewhat. She couldn't help but feel the three men were a vital piece of information, but emotionally she couldn't handle being yelled at over letting them go if they were the lynchpin in the whole operation.

"When I was coming back in from my investigation outside, I saw him in the locker room going through my bag. If he keeps coming and going from his post without warning and is going through other people's things… if he did steal it, maybe he's nervous about it being found? If he keeps going to check on it, that would explain the number of times that he's disappeared." She scratched her head vigorously as she sighed. "If he even considered me a player in this charade, then maybe he thought I'd end up going off with you and that was why he was so surprised to meet me coming in through the back. If he sent you off on a prizeless hunt then that would give him enough time to hide the statue better. And since it looks like everyone inside has given up on waiting to check in, there'd be nobody to question where he went or why he left again."

Rosa shook her head. Being this tired was not helpful whatsoever. She pulled her notebook from her pocket and ripped a page from the unused back portion. "I need to make a list," she muttered. "This is hurting my head."

She pulled out a pen and scribbled a few loops on the page to make sure it could still write and then began to list her own observations before summarizing the results of Jasper's investigation. After it was finished, she looked it over for a few seconds and then passed it to Jasper.

"That's better." She nodded triumphantly. "I think that's everything we've got so far. Having it on paper makes it a little easier to notice. I don't know about you, but taking everything into account, there's undeniably a pattern forming here. But… if he did do it, why was he so sloppy about it? He sees the statue every day, surely he'd have come up with a better thought out plan than this?"

"Not just him." Jasper added. "Why were the bobbies so sloppy? They made it seem like there was no evidence anywhere except what points at the girl. I ain't exactly their biggest cheerleader but I don't think most of them could possibly be that dumb or lazy, right? Even if they're mostly waiting for that investigator shouldn't they have seen something useful before we got here?"

Rosa looked over Jasper's shoulder. A few of the cops had seemed a little standoffish when they'd declared they'd investigate for them. Even now, two of them were staring off in their direction. Once more, the three men who came out the back of the building crossed her mind. They definitely had a role to play in this, but she bit her tongue. This should have definitely come up sooner. At this point, it was best to just not bring it up at all but rather… "Maybe they were paid off?" She whispered, nodding her head slightly. "It wouldn't be all that weird. My dad used to tell me stories about border police that were paid off for different reasons… If someone had paid off the police to make the supposed setup look like the real deal, then maybe…" she shook her head and rubbed the back of her neck. "It would make sense if they didn't even try to do a cursory search of the building. They were ready to just haul the girl off without the detective ever showing up. Even if the detective wasn't able to find anything then they'd still be able to take her in for resisting and possibly assault…"

Jasper squinted and then pinched his temple, feeling a headache come on as he once again lamented that all this couldn't have happened after he got some sleep. "Even then...Why would they -" His words died at the sound of squealing rubber. Both trainers looked towards the sound to see a khaki car, unmarked save for a portable red and blue strobe light on top. It appeared whoever drove it had been in enough of a hurry to toss away their camouflage and, sure enough, a single glance at the man stepping out told them it was the detective.

Well-worn brown shoes, a pair of black slacks and a warm, colorful holiday sweater with a tan trench coat over it, all topped off by a matching trilby hat marched straight to the group of officers. They conferred for a bit, then the investigator locked eyes with the pair of amateurs and made his way over to them. "So." His voice was gruff and tired, clearly irritated at being called out. "You kids the junior detectives playing guardian angel for the girl?"

"All I want is some fucking sleep." Jasper all but spat at him. "But I can't because your people don't know how to do their damn jobs, too busy beating up on weak kids."

Rosa nodded her head several times from behind the shelter of Jasper's back. Her lips were pursed, and she was wetting them repeatedly inside her mouth, ready to jump in on the stream of insults. Her brain was fried, and any hope of maintaining the facade of a personality at this point was out the window.

The detective looked at Rosa and smirked before looking back at Jasper. "Well, what've you got then if you're such big shots? Solved this investigation yet, or are you ready to get out of the way so I can properly do my job? The two've you ain't the only ones trying to get some shut-eye around here. I've got my own lady to get back home to so I'd like to wrap this up as soon as possible."

Rosa just knew that Jasper was going to take offense to that, but she couldn't let him lead the conversation every time. Besides, if the two men got into a dick measuring contest at this point then none of them would ever know rest, and worst case scenario, Jasper could get in trouble too just from irritating the detective. She took advantage of her current mental state to step out from behind her ex-classmate and presented a piece of paper. "I've got all of our current leads here. I don't want to infer anything about your intelligence, but you should be able to see that there's definitely a pattern to all this based on what we've uncovered. I can read it to you as we walk, if you'd like, just so we can get this over with quicker and all be on our separate ways."

The detective took the paper from the girl and scanned it for what felt like only seconds before gruffly pushing it back into her hand and beginning to trot towards the officers. By this time they were desperately trying to appear as if they hadn't been watching the trainers' interaction with nervous attention. "Hey fuckwits! I don't know what's gotten into you but -" He stopped dead in front of the patrol care and glared at each and every one of them in turn. "Ah, I see.Truman, Perez, Cole, Ruth. I've been seein' a lot of you four lately, haven't I? This is starting to make a bit more sense now." There was some awkward attempts at a greeting from the gaggle of goons until he slapped a hand on the roof of the patrol car.

"The girl stays in the car but the cuffs come off, and I swear to Arceus that if any of you pull anymore shit tonight I'll make sure the chief gets every single bit of dirt on all of you thrown right to her desk." Three of them gave suitably cowed responses while Truman - the same one Jasper had nearly gotten in a brawl with - tried to look snide and unimpressed. The detective was satisfied that he'd said all he needed to and paid them no further mind, much to his credit. He gestured for Jasper and Rosa to follow him as he trundled towards the inn's entrance.

Jasper let out a small, short whistle, glad to see them put in their place. "Bout time things started to look up, I hope he ends up making good on his threat even if they do what he says. Nobody needs trash like them having any sort of power."

Rosa perked up slightly at the sight of the men being put in their place. It was definitely nice to see someone being able to make them back off the supposed thief. She was definitely getting a feeling that her previous idea about them having been bought could hold some weight with the way the detective had approached them after fully realizing the situation. She balled her hands up and placed them next to her eyes, making a crying motion as she stuck out her tongue towards them while trailing close behind Jasper.

When the trio passed through the inn's doors they were immediately greeted by the Receptionist, who jumped at the sight of them and stumbled a step as if he'd been about to leave himself. "Wh-why hello there, sirs and ma'am! Did you find anything useful?"

"Tell ya in a minute." The detective growled before fishing a leather case out of his coat pocket and allowing it to hang open, showing the front desk attendant his badge, despite how clear it was the man could guess why he was there. "Take us to the employee lockers."

The man actually brightened up at that, much to both Jasper and Rosa's surprise and perturbation. "Ah, yes! Of course, right this way!" He led the way towards the very same place he'd just barely missed running into Rosa earlier with a spring in his step. In no time at all they reached their destination and Jasper gave Rosa a curious glance. "Which locker would you like to see first?" He had a shine in his eyes and a grin on his face; a look that radiated confidence.

But why? Rosa furrowed her brow and looked over at the detective. "I'd like my sweater back first."

The clerk narrowed his eyes, confused at Rosa's words. "Your sweater?I assure you, I have no idea…" he slowly turned to look at his own locker, knowing what was supposed to be contained within shouldn't be visible from this point. His eyes widened as he saw the Wooloo sweater hanging from the hook inside from between the holes in the grill. His lips trembled as he mouthed out a few words with a visible confusion. He shook his head and looked back at the girl and then at the detective. "I- I assure you, I have no idea how that ended up in there. It must have been one of the other staff playing a prank!"

Rosa shook her head. "I haven't seen any other staff back here besides you," she started as she took a couple steps towards the man. "You're the only one I've seen back here going through my personal belongings."

The clerk swallowed hard and then shook his head, clearly confused at the current situation. "I don't kn-"

"Don't lie to me! I saw you with my bag!" Rosa's face was flushed with rage as she stood up on her tiptoes, trying her best to appear a little bit taller and get more in the man's face. "What else have you stolen today, huh? What else! What other clothes did you take? What other items are missing from other people's bags?" She pressed her finger into the man's chest, doing her best to seem intimidating. It wasn't the best line of questioning to be sure, but her head was pounding and she was just done with everything.

A hand grasped Rosa's shoulder and pulled her away from the guy. When she wheeled on the interloper she saw Jasper, brow furrowed with something other than anger for once. He shook his head. "Hey, relax. We're here now, time will tell. No use having an aneurysm."

"But I… It's different for boys, y'know?" she sighed, knowing this was only derailing the current situation. Clothes could be replaced if nothing else. What was important now was nailing this guy. "You're right, I'm sorry." She motioned for the detective to take over, not that he needed any invitation to do his job.

It was then that Rosa was given a rare sight. Jasper actually chuckled at her and smiled despite himself. "Yep, you're definitely better like this."

Before he could explain himself any further, the detective snorted - they couldn't tell whether in amusement or annoyance - and stepped closer to the new suspect. "Open the locker. Don't try getting cute again, I mean your locker. I've got dinner waitin' to be reheated."

The clerk slowly turned to his own locker. His head hung low as he'd already accepted there was no getting out of this. But a smirk crossed his face, unbeknownst to everyone else. They might be able to get him on the petty thievery of the sweater, but at least the statue was still- No. He looked down into the locker as he slowly pulled the door open. No, no, no. The light caught on a metallic surface just enough for him to recognize it and he slammed the door before bolting back towards the back entry room. He was still feet away when of all things a Tailow slammed into his back, and before he could regain his balance Jasper tackled him to the ground. The Tailow nobody had ever noticed the detective call out landed on his shoulder and let out a proud touch of song. "Good work, Peabody. You weren't half bad either, kid."

Jasper just grunted, simply too exhausted to talk while trying to hold down the struggling man. After a moment of wrestling, he ripped the guy's keyring out of his hand and tossed it to the detective, who wasted no time using it, and pulling the door open. Right next to Rosa's sweater, still pristine as if it'd just been polished, was the gold Budew statue. The detective nodded and turned to look at Rosa, then the receptionist. "Would you look at that?"

Rosa should have looked excited, but it was all she could do to hide the confusion that was broiling deep inside of her. The statue definitely wasn't there earlier. Did the clerk think he could hide it back in his own locker before the detective even got there? No, the confidence he had coming into the room definitely didn't feel like that. Someone had to have moved the statue, but who? She glanced over at the man who was crying on the ground and struggling beneath Jasper's weight to free himself.

"This isn't what they promised!" He cried out as he reached for the door, hoping for a miracle. "This was supposed to be the last time! Please, I didn't do it, you have to believe me!"

They? Who were they? Rosa subconsciously furrowed her brow, not realizing the detective was still watching her, waiting for a reaction. She recalled the three men from early and the words that the older gentleman had said to her.

"It… it all makes sense now." It didn't, really, but she hoped it would force an epiphany if she said it anyways.

The men from earlier had flown off on the Metagross. If they were the ones who'd put the statue in the locker, when would they have done it? She shook her head, knowing that the detective was still waiting on her. There had to be someone else still behind this, even if the clerk was complicit. But that was the actual detective's job. At the very least, with the current evidence they should be able to let the girl go and get on with their night.

"Yes, that's my sweater!" She smiled awkwardly, noticing the detective's glare had become suspicious during her long pause of thought. She pulled the sweater from the locker and pulled it over her head, taking in a deep breath as she bunched the wool up around her face. Home. She smiled, convincingly enough that the detective shelved his curiosity. They all had places to be other than this, after all.

"Looks like I owe you guys some thanks. This all would have taken a lot longer by myself. I may actually get to see my wife tonight, maybe even sit down n' eat with her." He took his hat off for a moment, dusted it off, then handed each trainer a business card. "I'm not technically official, much as the idiots on the force need me, so you might be able to call me some time if something comes up. Martin Beasely, I solve mysteries easily. Usually by actually working instead of having it handed to me on a silver platter." He smiled a genuine, if tired smile and gave a weak attempt at a wink before donning his hat once again and heading for the entrance. Jasper scowled at the card in his hand and nearly threw it away, but thought better of it in the end and stowed it in a small pocket of his backpack before following Martin.

Rosa followed suit, inspecting the card thoroughly before dropping it into her pocket. If she made a habit of collecting business cards she'd need to find a better way to store them. She quickly fell in line behind the other two men, taking a quick look back at the room with a small shake of her head. None of this made much sense to her, but maybe a good night's rest would change that.

By the time the trainers caught up to the detective the girl this had all started over was already outside the car, sniffing and tearing up with relief. Detective Martin pat her on the shoulder and offered a few words before shoving the real culprit into the back of the patrol car and offering the police some words of their own, much harsher ones, it could be assumed.

"Huh...Feels a little weird how quick it cleaned up at the end…" Jasper muttered. "One thing I don't understand...who's they? That guy's a terrible actor, he was nervous the whole time we were on to him and yet suddenly he was so sure he was in the clear when we went to look in his locker...but that's exactly where the statue was. That panic, that confusion, pretty sure that was real. So if he was telling the truth...who set this up, and why?"

Rosa shook her head. She had an idea to be sure, but there were still holes in it. "I'm not sure. It's all still really confusing to me on that front… If it is something deeper than just a forgetful thief, then I kind of hope we don't get caught up in it too much. If they can doctor camera footage in relatively real time and slip in and out unnoticed even during an investigation albeit by a couple of amateurs, I'd hate to see what they can do when they're serious. Whoever they might be…"

---

Nearly an hour had passed since the detective had left and people were finally starting to get checked in. The owner for the Inn had come in to finish up business for the day, and was taking his time to apologize to each individual customer. As Rosa and Jasper got to the front of the line, the man bowed his head.

"Thank you for helping to solve the case earlier tonight. I'm indebted to you both. That statue is quite important to me for a number of reasons."

Rosa shrugged. "It wasn't a big deal. It just… it wasn't right for them to treat that poor girl like that. I don't think either of us could bear to watch it so we just had to make sure. It was the right thing to do."

Jasper rubbed the back of his head and pulled his hood tighter over his face. "It was made clear real quick that I wouldn't be allowed to get any sleep unless this was dealt with, and I really, really need some shut-eye. Besides, good-for-nothing layabout bobbies piss me off."

"It's nice to see kids these days still following their hearts and doing what feels right to them." The man lifted his face to show the smile which was plastered across it from ear to ear. His eyes were watery and on the verge of tears as he looked between the two trainers. "If there's anything I can do for you during your stay, please, just let me know."

"Free room service wouldn't hurt." Jasper responded instantly. "And make sure whoever you have touching up rooms knows waking me up would be a death sentence...Oh yeah, for the love of all things not-shitty, don't hire anymore weaselly assholes. Just pay more attention to your people.

Rosa stopped to think for a moment. Really, most of the investigation had been the result of Jasper's actions. Not only that, but even before they got on the train Jasper had helped her to capture Ezra and she'd yet to repay him for that. She looked over at the ex-classmate and smiled. "Jasper, what do you think about having breakfast together before the ceremony? I've got a little bit of experience in cooking, so I think it's only fair to repay you for pulling more than your own weight."

Jasper raised an eyebrow at her. "What weight, Doll-shoes? All I did was talk to people, and none of them were any help."

Rosa shook her head. "It wasn't just today." She paused, wondering if he'd even remember something so menial that happened over a month ago. "Back when we were fighting the Munchlax too. I didn't do much to help at all, but you… I just want to repay you, if that's alright. A nice home-cooked meal made by a cute girl." She gave a weak and lazy wink to the boy, trying her best to look cute despite the bags under her eyes and numerous stray hairs shooting out of the crow's nest she was calling a bun.

"No, it's not alr-" He immediately started, eyes flaring up at her words, but something stopped him. The irritation cooled as suddenly as it ignited and he let out a sigh filled with more fatigue than any of his earlier complaints. "Come to my room in the morning, bring whatever you like to cook with." Was as much as he'd elaborate and with that said, he turned and stomped over to the elevators, disappearing into one without another word or a single glance back.

"Very good." The owner smiled and wiped the tears from his eyes. "Ah, you and him remind me of me and my late wife when we were young." He chuckled lightly and opened a yellowed book. "I'll put a note here to have breakfast ingredients and a portable range delivered to your rooms in the morning. In the meantime, I hope you both enjoy your stay here. I wish you the best of luck on your journeys."

Rosa blushed and took the key to her room, not really knowing what to say. She'd have to spend a little time thinking about what to make Jasper that he'd actually like. Food was not one of the things that she'd put much thought into when taking notes on her classmates. Maybe it was safest to just go with what she liked and hope he liked it too? She walked over to the elevator, chewing on her lip as she pondered what actually sounded good. "Maybe an omelette? That'd be easy, and we'd have enough ingredients hopefully to make a couple different ones and do a kind of sampling? Hmm." The door slid close as she continued to talk out loud to herself.

Morning of the Opening Ceremony

Rosa had unintentionally woken up extra early. Maybe it was the excitement of a promised meal, or perhaps it was just one of those times where no matter how tired you are you just can't sleep. Regardless, she was up and ready two hours before the ordained time. She'd done her laundry, fixed her hair, and even applied the smallest amount of makeup to help accent her eyes. She wasn't exactly trying to impress anyone, but they'd be appearing on television later so she might as well put in some effort.

She grabbed the bag by the door and headed out. They'd checked in at the same time, so she knew what room he was staying in. She walked down the hall and rapped on the door lightly, just a few times. She wasn't sure how well Jasper was at getting up on time, and she didn't want to pull him straight from sleep or else he might get angry with her for waking him, regardless of whether or not he was late. Whatever the case, she hoped he was hungry. This would be a rare chance to make a good impression if she could cook up something tasty for him.

It was only seconds before the doorknob turned and clicked, What Rosa saw when it opened truly floored her. Ther Jasper stood, no hoodie, no messy hair, and to top it all off: wearing an apron with a Smoochum next to a Torkal wearing a chef's hat underneath the words "Sweet Kiss the cook."

"Good, you're not too late."

Rosa shifted nervously, taking in the sight in its full glory. "Y-yeah. To be early is to be on time, after all." She stammered, trying to find herself again. "It's a nice apron. Were you in the middle of making Faust's food?"

Jasper's eye twitched at her comment, but he couldn't be angry, since he'd certainly be surprised by it. "I hate this fucking apron...but...it's the one Sonia made me wear when she gave me cooking lessons. 'S good luck, so I wear it when I cook."

Rosa let out a sigh of relief. "Yeah, it didn't seem like something you'd wear…" she started, wondering what she should say next to finish her thought but not ruin the tone of the morning. "But I definitely understand the sentiment. There's a similar story behind this sweater, but I won't bore you with it. Besides, I'm sure we're both hungry, yeah?"

"Yer damn right I am, so come inside, we've got work to do." He turned and led her in without further ado. It looked pristine, like nobody had even slept in the room. Everything was already packed, the bed was made, the only signs anybody was there were his backpack on the floor and the kitchenette, which was all prepped and ready to go. "Alright, first thing's first. Fuck off with that shit about not helping, and carrying weight. Give yourself a little credit, don't put everything that happened on me. I didn't do all that myself, and being talked to like I did pisses me off. So you're not cooking me breakfast. We're both gonna cook and we're both gonna eat, just like we both stopped those sleepy sacks of lard and we both caught that stupid bellboy."

Rosa shrunk at Jasper's words. She flinched slightly with each expletive, and bit her tongue when she thought to interject. Was he right? Or did he just not like being glorified? Either way, Rosa wasn't going to argue with him this time. Regardless of her own thoughts, it wouldn't be good for either of their mental or emotional states to go into today upset. She put on a smile and straightened up. "You're right. I should be more confident in what I have to give. That's why I'm gonna make you the best damn breakfast you've had in the past month. Just tell me what part of breakfast you want me to make."

He smirked at her determination. "That's better. But take some initiative. What do you wanna make? I'm not picky, and food is always best with a little love, yeah? When I think of that tired old adage, I don't think of people. I think of the food. What's something you really like that we could make right here?"

She furrowed her brow and brought her fist up under her chin, supporting it as she thought. "Hmm. Well, growing up I baked a lot of sweets as offerings so I know I'm good at that. But we'd always take okonomiyaki to dad's grave after he... " She shook her head. "I like omelettes. I think we have all the ingredients for omelettes, so that's what we should do. Quick, easy, customizable, ticks all the boxes. Yep." She talked hurriedly, doing her best to move the situation away from her past and into the present.

She dug around somewhat frantically in the bag she'd brought over and pulled out several items. Smoked Arrokuda, cream cheese, jalapeños, cheddar, gruyère, crumbled bacon, black olive, and mushrooms. She nodded her head. Everything she'd asked for before was here. She'd gotten a little off track with Jasper's little speech about love and food, but she was back to the plan.

"I didn't know what you'd want in an omelette, so I just asked for a bunch of different ingredients. We're going to be staying here a few days anyways, so nothing should end up being wasted."

"Looks like a pretty good spread." I've got some Clamperl sea salt and some black peppercorns smoked by a 'gourmand Torkoal' as the guy called it. Dunno if they're really all that but they've done right by me so far, put'em in everything I make. I've got some Gogoat cheese and green onions too. Can't go wrong with an omelette.``

Rosa nodded. "It's a shame we don't have a Torkoal or Camerupt around now. There's apparently a type of bowl that you can put into the fiery spots on their bodies and it'll melt the cheese perfectly to the point where you can scrape it right off the wheel." Rosa wiped at the corner of her mouth, clearing away the drool that was starting to fall as she thought about the prospect of molten cheese being drizzled over her omelette. She grabbed a bowl and started to gather up the eggs. "How many do you want in yours, two, three, or four? And if you could, start mincing the other ingredients?"

"Four." Jasper answered, taking his own place closer to the fridge and withdrawing a grater. "I'll get the cheese ready, little bit of each should be nice. You prefer your veggies cooked and then mixed in, or tossed in raw to cook with the eggs?"

"Raw is fine. I like them to be a little crunchier inside my eggs." She cracked the eight eggs into a bowl and pulled out a whisk from one of the drawers. "Where'd you say the salt and pepper were?"

"On your left, next to the spare cutting board."

--

"Now we're cooking!" Jasper exclaimed once they finished the prep and actually poured the eggs in.

"No, don't put that there!" Rosa whispered as she nudged Jasper away.

"What'dya mean? It's going everywhere." He questioned in annoyance

"Well concentrate and it'll all get in there." She whispered with a blush on her face. "My hands are shaky so you need to guide it in for me."

"I can just pour it, we don't need to both do it, and I can definitely do it better if you don't shove me."

"Well if you're not worried about squeezing out every drop it's fine," she sighed. "It's big enough as is, I think. I can just scoot around if you want to put the other part in."

"Yeah, yeah. Good idea, I'll grab the veggies."

"Thank you," she muttered, her eyes glued to the eggs as she watched the various ingredients drop in. "By the way, have you thought about the Pokemon? I'm sure you've already got Faust's food made up, but the Munchlax just eat, and eat, and eat… regardless of what you give them. I figure'd it'd only be right to eat as a family, I just don't know if you've got any more Pokemon or if they're on a special diet like Faust or-" she rambled off as Jasper started to pour in the ingredients, watching with a close eye to make sure everything was evenly incorporated.

"Family? Pfft, I'm done with families. As for the pokémon, I've always got food for them. 'Sides, remember when I asked for free room service? I actually had someone run and grab something for the lardheads." He smiled a bit as he sprinkled the mix of diced veggies into the eggs in time with Rosa's rolls and folds of the bits solidifying on the bottom.

Rosa bobbed her head as Jasper spoke. "You're always ahead of the game." She muttered as she looked around for the Munchlax's food. "If you'll grab another pan out, we can mix that up with an egg and maybe some cheese just to give it some variety for them. Otherwise, I think we've just about finished these eggs. We can do open-faced and top it off with the rest of the ingredients or split it down the middle and close 'em up. Just depends on whether you care about preserving the essence of an omelette or not."

Jasper set up a new pan on a second electric burner and stepped away to a little roller table with a box on it that said Lax Snax and had a Munchlax laying on a Snorlax's stomach, both napping peacefully with extra bulging bellies. "This stuff has no flavor, but it's hyper calorie dense while still serving basic nutritional needs...as long as a Lax eats it. Special interaction with an acid only they have in their stomachs, I think. Probably the one that lets them eat infinite anything they want."

After plating the food for the two of them and smaller portions for their other Pokemon, Rosa dug around in her pockets for the filled pokeballs and released her Pokemon in the direction of their prepared plates. "Come on out and enjoy y'all."

"Join the party, boys!" Jasper called out as he brought Dispo and Faust in on the celebration. Faust immediately approached each of Rosa's pokémon in turn and sniffed them, finally settling on the Snorunt and tilting his head.

"Snorunt?" The Pokemon shook as the icy mist flowed off of its body as it fixed its gaze on the Larvitar in front of it. The icy breeze caused the newly released Wyatt to shiver in the cold. "Wh-wh-whis."

Faust stood between the two and grabbed one of each pokémon's hand, delighting in the difference between cold and warmth he felt on either side. A happy, stoney warblue issued forth and the Larvitar pulled the pair into a sort of happy ring-around-the-rosey. Wyatt struggled to keep up with the spinning, but Yzma grinned happily as she shook and shivered away the ice which formed upon her peak.

"Munchlax?" Ezra looked over at the other Munchlax which had been released and slowly recognition dawned on its face. "Munchlax!" Dispo didn't vocalize his response, but he did open his maw in delight and run up to poke Ezra's face, glad to see an old friend. Ezra responded in kind, slapping her paw against Dispo's bulging stomach before motioning towards their plates.

While the Munchlaxes wasted no time getting to their food, Jasper walked through the ring of dancing pokémon and waved them off towards the little coffee table that was just the right height for them all to eat like people.

Rosa took her seat at the human's table and clasped her hands together. "Thank you for the meal," she whispered.

Jasper dropped right down and dug in right away, closing his eyes and humming with satisfaction. "Home cooked meals are the best, I'm so glad I learned."

"You should give thanks before you eat," She muttered as she picked up her fork and knife before delicately cutting off the tips of the omelette.

"This is Galar, not Johto." Jasper grumbled through his food. "And even if it was Johto, I don't owe anybody anything for this food. I earned it, just like you did."

Rosa shook her head as she took a bite. "It's not about thanking the people who brought it here. It's about thanking nature, for the spirit of it." She pressed the food to the side of her mouth, covering up slightly with her off hand so as to seem polite as she ate. "Regardless of who provided it, we should thank those who created it. At the very least, I think you should give thanks to that which you take from the spirits of nature. Whether it's Pokemon, or the goods they can produce."

He finished his bite of food and looked at her sideways through narrowed eyes. "I just spent 3 weeks in nature trying not to get torn to shreds by it. If any of those pokémon had ended up scarfing me down, you think they'd be thanking me? OR nature? Don't tell me how to eat,"

Rosa shrugged as she swallowed the bit she'd been chewing. "That's the nature of it. Circle of life and all that." She waved her fork around in a circular motion before stabbing the next bit of egg. "It's just the way it is…" she sighed, staring at her fork for a second before shoving it in her mouth. "It's the responsible thing to do. Whether you believe in the gratuity or not, it's important to recognize where it comes from. It's important to give importance to everything you partake in. Just like you wouldn't capture every Pokemon you came across in the Wild Area, you shouldn't consume without question just because it's easy for you. That's why I give thanks."

"Putting the work in to survive isn't enough?!" Jasper demanded, setting his plate down. "Being glad to be alive and enjoying the food isn't enough?"

Rosa sighed as she swallowed her food. "Surviving shouldn't be a benchmark. There's so many other things that go into living. Being happy to be alive and enjoying the food is good for sure. It's just… everything survives to a point, but we're always the ones who decide when something's survival is no longer necessary… if you don't acknowledge your power then you'll just..." she shook her head as she forked another bit, he gaze focused on her plate. "I won't tell you how to eat."

"Yeah, just how I should live, right?" Jasper asked. "Like you're some sort of font of wisdom. Like you've got something I don't. Such an expert that you can't just live life yourself, right?" He scoffed. "As if somebody who -" He stopped himself, about to say something that had no business at a meal. Instead of continuing, he kept his mouth busy chewing, eating faster than before to get the meal over with.

Rosa winced, as she continued to chew. "I wouldn't dare to… no, I'm not... " tears started filling up in her eyes as she shoved another bit of omelette into her mouth. "I'm just regurgitating what my parents always told me. I'm sorry. You don't have to hold back for me. I'm in the wrong, so you should just speak your mind." Small tears dripped onto her plate, hidden behind her omelette and her drooping locks of hair.

Jasper sighed and paused his eating, then dipped his head and closed his eyes. "No. There are better times to go ballistic than at breakfast, at someone who wanted to cook for me out of a sense of gratitude...even if I didn't do anything for it." He took another deep breath, chewing on his words instead of the food. "Hey...We all do dumb shit because of our parents. They're where we come from, for better or for worse. Nobody's free of that baggage. But we can be different than them...better. We have to be, or what was the point? At least, that's how I feel about mediocre and bad parents."

Rosa nodded her head lightly, taking a few more quick, successive bites in between dabbing her sweater against her teary eyes. "I hope…" she whispered, her words muddled by the mouthful of food she was fighting to get down as quickly as possible. "I hope you're right." She lifted her head and smiled gently at Jasper, bits of eggs skirting her lips. "For now, I think it's best if we just…" she quietly placed another bite of food in her mouth and nodded her head as she chewed. "I'm worried about being late to the opening ceremony."

She glanced up at the clock from the corner of her eye, wishing now that the seconds would tick by even a little bit quicker. She'd messed up the atmosphere. There was no saving it this time around. She'd lost all control of her facade the night before, and now it was slipping even more. She'd have to be careful around Jasper from now on, or else… he might end up finding out more than she wanted him to.

"Finish your food." He said coolly, taking in several bites at once and fully finishing the mess before following up. "I am thankful for the food, you know. I just don't really direct it anywhere...But I can thank you for the help and the extra ingredients. So eat, don't waste our effort. I think it tastes pretty good." He started really going hard on the last third of his eggs, partially to avoid saying anything stupid, partially because he really did enjoy it. He got a special satisfaction out of cooking that few things gave him and...there was something to be said for someone else eating it too.

Rosa lifted her gaze to meet Jasper's eyes. As he spoke, she listened intently and watched his bodily motions. "I appreciate that." She smiled, tilting her head slightly to the right as she placed the next bite between her lips. "I'm really thankful for your help too. I've enjoyed cooking for a long time, but these last several years we just haven't been able to do anything special. It does taste good. Your cuts were really good, and you seasoned the toppings well enough. I wouldn't mind sharing another meal with you at some point."

"Don't count on it." He threw out just as he finished his last bite. "I don't buy into all that stuff. Don't think just because you crack eggs perfectly, whisk like a pro, and have a good sense for balancing flavors means we're gonna be foodie buddies now." He allowed just the tiniest bit of a tease into his tone as he watched the pokémon finish up their own portions. Even Dispo and Ezra looked full and content, ready to take long naps in their pokéballs.

Rosa scoffed before hurriedly trying to quiet the noise. "Sorry, you're right." She smiled and shook her head, resting her eyes on the now sleepy Pokemon. "My specialty lies in baking anyways. Wouldn't want to hold you back," she teased as she took the last few bites of food from the plate and scraped it off in front of the foggy-eyed Munchlax that followed her movements. "Here you go, Ezra."

The Pokemon smiled as it lethargically scooped up the egg and stuffed it into her mouth. "Muuuunch."

Rosa looked over at the sink which was now full of dishes from their prepwork. She quickly pushed up her sleeves and put on a pair of gloves from beneath the sink. "If you're ready to get going, I can clean the bigger dishes and tableware if you'll take the bowls and plates."

"Always more work to be done." Jasper agreed, standing up with a huff and collecting the plates and bowls from the little poképarty around the coffee table. "That's one thing that never changes."

--

After they'd said their goodbyes and cleaned up Jasper's room, Rosa made her way out first. It was awkward finding a reason to stay any longer than necessary, but she was afraid of looking ungrateful to the boy. Her mind kept going back to the little argument they'd had during their meal, but she was hoping that a trip around the shopping center would help clear her head of the matter a bit. Besides, he didn't even let her prep breakfast by herself so she still had to repay him in some way. Maybe an accessory shop for his Pokemon, or a different apron.

As she was lost in thought over what to get the boy, she barely even noticed the girl as she left the elevator. Even when the girl started to follow and call after her, Rosa remained lost in her own head and the words fell on deaf ears. It wasn't until she was starting down the stairs that the aggressive tug on her sweater sleeve pulled her out of her thoughts.

"I said excuse me!" the girl exclaimed as she forcefully turned Rosa around. She looked familiar, but Rosa couldn't place from where. She looked the girl up and down as she crossed her arms in a huff. The girl shook her head in frustration and then motioned over towards an open seat in the lobby. "Do you have a minute? I wanted to thank you."

"Thank me?" She questioned, focusing harder on the girl's face as she stepped back up the stair and looked over to the previously motioned towards seat. "Thank me for what?"

The two took their seats and the girl crossed her legs and clenched her fists before bowing her head slightly to Rosa. "I wanted to thank you for last night. I'm afraid of what would have happened if you and that boy hadn't come along to help."

Realization washed over her as she could finally place where she'd seen the girl before. Oh, from last night. It was all really still a blur to her. She could recall fragments of what had happened, but most of it just blended together into one clusterfuck of information.

"That detective seemed like he would have just taken the cops at their word and moved along. But you and that boy went out of your way to do their job for them without any question. I hate to think where I'd be right now if not for you. I hear the jails in this city aren't too pretty to stay in."

Rosa shook her head. "It was really nothing. It's not like we were going to be able to get any sleep anyways. I don't know about Jasper, but I don't really have the money to stay anywhere else right now. I just barely got through the Wild Area by scavenging what leftovers I could get to." She laughed awkwardly, not realizing what was coming out of her mouth until the words had already escaped. She wasn't used to being so truthful in her explanations.

The girl nodded her head knowingly and smiled. "I understand completely. The Wild Area really is rough if you're not prepared. It's hard for teens like us to make any reasonable amount of money too without spending our entire days battling random passersby or taking on part time jobs. The rich kids that are competing against us really have it too easy."

Rosa nodded. She wondered what kind of money she'd have at this point if she'd decided to go on a challenging spree in the Wild Area. Probably at least enough to rent a room for a few days. There should be work somewhere in the city, but she didn't have the time to go exploring right this minute. "So since we both know just how hard it is to get through it, there's no need to repay me. We both need every poke we can get our hands on."

The girl laughed lightly and shook her head. "Yeah, for sure. I wasn't really expecting to give you any money since I'm more or less broke at the moment." She sighed as she picked up her bag. "Actually, this repayment may end up being more of a hassle for you than its worth. Y'see, there's a reason I was suspected for stealing that statue."

Oh no. Rosa's mind began to race as she considered the possibilities. Was this girl actually a thief? Or could it be that-

The girl produced an egg and gently held it out, motioning for Rosa to take it. "As you may have guessed, I'm a trainer myself. My starter was a Budew, but it was recently stolen from me. Luckily, my family are breeders so part of the start of my journey was to take and hatch a couple of eggs. Everyone in my family has the same three Pokemon; a Budew, a Roselia, and a Roserade. The rest of our party is up to each of us, but it's been a family tradition for many years to carry these three with us through our journeys. Unfortunately for me, I've already lost one."

Rosa slowly took the egg, listening to the girl's story. "So you were looking at it so much because you felt-"

"Yeah, I was upset to be sure. A little bit of longing, admiration, and loneliness. A couple of eggs aren't really great conversation partners." She laughed gently. "Fortunately, my parents live in Turrfield so if I can manage to hatch the egg I've still got before the ceremony I'll still be able to participate and can breed new eggs myself. But… I'd like for you to raise one of these eggs for yourself. Just a little something to remember me by, whether it bring you luck or misfortune. Raising a Pokemon from birth is supposed to be even more rewarding than raising your starter Pokemon from what I've been told. I know I'll always miss my Reggie, but…"

Tears slowly started filling the girl's eyes as her gaze drifted back to the statue which had been re-displayed. She shook her head and pulled the other egg from her bag and placed it in her lap. Rosa smiled and gently placed the egg she was holding in her own lap, pulling her sweater up over the sides of it to keep it warm. "Well, I don't assume to know what it's like to lose a Pokemon, but I'm-"

The girl shook her head. "It's alright. It happened right when I got into Motostoke, so it's not like I've had it very long. It was a wild one too, so I guess I'm kind of happy now that it's gone. The thing was outside my current abilities as a trainer, so maybe it's for the best. Once I get stronger I'm sure I'll have the chance to search for him. And when I do…"

The girl clenched her fist as the tears began to fall. She shook her head and rested her chin atop the egg in her lap. Rosa watched the girl as she broke down, pursing her lips and trying not to say anything to worsen the moment. What she said earlier about raising a Pokemon from hatchling being more rewarding was probably more for her own benefit than a reason for me to take the egg. Not that voicing that opinion would do anything but worsen the current situation.

"Anyways, I just wanted to thank you." the girl wiped her eyes and cleared her throat. "I don't know if I'll be able to hatch this egg before the opening ceremony, but I should be able to see you there regardless."

Rosa nodded. "Yeah, no problem. Thank you for the egg." She glanced down at the large, warm, object between her legs and tilted her head slightly. It was a good thing she'd caught Yzma in the Wild Area, otherwise her bag would probably be too full to carry anywhere.

The girl quickly rose to her feet and gingerly placed the egg back in her bag before bowing to Rosa once more and heading off down the stairs. Rosa stared at the egg in her lap for a few more seconds before looking up. She'd left her personal belongings in her room, knowing she'd be coming back to look for work after the opening ceremony. If there was a Pokemon thief around, it wouldn't be a bad idea to go back upstairs and drop the egg off as well. But first…

"Excuse me, do you happen to have a map of the Motostoke shopping district?" She asked the manager who was now manning the front desk.

"Of course Miss." He stated politely as he pulled a pamphlet from behind the desk. "Is there anything in particular you're looking for?"

"Well, I need a thank you gift for a boy or his Pokemon. Something that isn't too obtuse or expensive but still would properly convey a sentiment of thankfullness."

"Well, there's a few places around here," he remarked as he took a pen and began to indicate the various locations on the map. "They sell homemade accessories over by the stadium, but the rest of the shops you'd be looking for are over in this strip mall. It shouldn't be too hard to find any one place."

Rosa nodded, taking the pamphlet. "Thank you very much."

"No problem. Please, don't hesitate to ask if you happen to need anything else."

Rosa smiled and turned on her heels, heading back towards the elevator. She wondered if she had enough money to afford a gift for Jasper or either of his Pokemon. At the very least, she'd be able to see how much she needed to make before moving on to the next route in order to afford something decent.

​