Phil woke with a groan, clutching his head.

What the hell had hit him?

He tried to get up only to have something press down on him. Blinking, he caught sight of a familiar hue of pink before being blinded by a light.

"Please relax, Officer Phillip; take a deep breath for me, okay?" The voice was odd, gentle, but commanding. He followed it without a second though, inhaling deeply.

Butterscotch.

He held it in, not wanting to let it go.

"Release Officer Phillip. Breathe normally, please."

There was a moment of hesitation before he acquiesced. It proved to be the correct choice, as he allowed himself to experience the fragrance again

The small flashlight was turned off, and slowly he regained his vision. Pink curls and lightly tanned skin. Compassionate azure eyes bore into his soul. There was a thin sheen of sweat on her brow; it only made her radiate even more.

"Do you know where you are?"

It took a second to process those words, and he didn't think it was because of any supposed injury.

Heaven.

A melodic giggle brought him out of his stupor, and suddenly he was aware of his surroundings. More importantly, he was aware of what he'd just said out loud…

He was betting he could pass as a fire type right about now if the heat in his cheeks was any indication.

If that wasn't all enough, a beeping from his side told everyone exactly how fast his heart was pumping.

The angel nurse quieted the machine by pressing a button on a remote, and he launched into a campaign aimed at salvaging whatever was left of his reputation.

"Pokemon center. Coumarine city. Diantha is the current champion, and Ramos is our city's gym leader." He rattled off the date and other bits of information to show he was competent. After finishing, he took a gulp, feeling oddly parched. A cup of water was placed into his hand, and he drank it gratefully. "Thank you, Ma'am."

A fingertip graced his nose, and he was certain if the machine had not been put to sleep, it would have registered a missing beat.

"Silly goose, just call me Nurse Joy. " She leaned in and whispered; the smell of butterscotch intensified. "Or Mel."

First name!?!?!?

She stood straight again, smoothing out her apron.

"But that's right. You were in a crash. Looks like you should be fine, but we'll keep you for the night to be sure. We're very busy right now so I have to go, but press the red button on this remote and I'll be over in a jiffy. Do you understand?"

He nodded dumbly at the very pretty nurse and took the remote, accidentally brushing up against her smooth skin and dropping it. That turned out to be the best decision of the night, as she held his hand while placing the device into his grasp and closing his fingers around it.

She gave him one last smile, and he tried to work up the courage to say something, anything, to keep her around for a second longer. He failed and could only watch her retreating form. Which was not a bad consolation prize.

A wad of paper hit him, causing him to slowly turn. Right, he wasn't alone. There were three of them squeezed into this small hospital room.

"Get your jaw off the floor, rookie." In a bed to his right, his colleague Officer Benny mocked him with a smile. "What's the matter, first time seeing a Joy?"

No, that family was ubiquitous in the health industry. He'd just never talked with one directly. Were they all like that?

"Lay off him," a voice from his left said. He turned to find Officer Yvvone in a similar bed. "But Benny is right, wipe that dumb look off your face before Jenny comes." She sat up in her bed, looking around warily before speaking in a hushed tone. "You didn't hear it from me, but they have a weird rivalry going on. Like, it's all smiles on the surface, but their eyes?" She shivered. "Whatever it is, you don't want to get into the middle of it."

Phil's first thought was that he very much wanted to get in the middle of it. It must have shown on his face as Yvonne's face twisted and she rolled her eyes at him.

"Men. End up in a hospital after a chase gone wrong, and this is what you're thinking of."

Chase? Memories came flooding back. He was at a pastry shop when he'd gotten the message from dispatch. An officer and his partner were down, and an unknown assistant was fleeing due south on 3rd Street.

Second week on the job or not, he'd hopped on his bike and joined the pursuit.

"Oh, please, like you'd be any different if you woke up to Grant." Benny shot back and then addressed him again. "Before she plants any ideas in your head, tell us what you think you saw. Then we can compare notes."

Right, they'd talked about this in the academy. The terms for everything escaped him right now, but he knew the best practice was to independently give your report before hearing any others. Studies showed that respondents were likely to reinforce existing stories even if they had conflicting experiences. Normally, someone would have come to debrief him right after waking up, but there must be a backlog.

Which was ominous.

His eyes searched around, and he found a small table by his bed with another plastic cup filled with water. He replaced his empty one with it and drank it greedily.

Setting it down, he pulled on his mind before the events became foggy. Closing his eyes, he imagined the scene again, what he smelled, what he felt. It was another technique they taught them to better recall events.

"I was at Donny's when I got the call," he began, only to be promptly interrupted.

"Donuts? Seriously man?" Benny said in an exasperated tone. "Please leave that out of your report; we don't need that on public record."

"Cool it, they don't just sell donuts," Yvonne cut in. He cringed, as while she was correct, donuts had been what was on the menu. "Just continue. Ignore that idiot."

He refocused on the night, choosing not to mention how, in the rush, he'd dropped his powered lemon donut while heading to his bike. And definitely not mentioning how he picked it up afterward and shoved it in his mouth.

Fuck, was his bodycam recording? He'd need to delete that footage…

Kicking the thought to the side, he began speaking again.

"I got to my bike and took 8th." There was a scoff from someone, and he suspected he'd be made to memorize the city grid again. "I pulled up alongside Jenkins, I think, halfway down. When we were crossing 2nd." It was difficult to tell who everyone was when wearing their helmets. Not that he'd ever complain about them after today. "We tried to cut them off before they passed the old dance parlor, but the driver took a crazy turn. I thought they were for sure going to crash into a light pole."

Rookie or not, he'd aced his defense driving test. Even Jenny sang his praises. But he would never have dared to take a turn at that speed; that was just asking to become an organ donor.

"Did you get a good look at the driver? Or the passenger, for that matter?"

Phil froze, the image coming to the forefront of his mind unbidden. He didn't move a muscle, forgetting it was just a memory.

Opening his eyes, he tried to drink more water. It was empty.

"The driver was small?" It had been dark, and they were moving fast. "Tan maybe? Like they were wearing a small jumpsuit. It was hard to see them, almost like…"

He trailed off, not wanting to say something foolish.

"Like the shadows were dancing around them." Benny finished his thought and then spoke louder to preempt Yvonne's chastisement. "I know, I'm contracting my own advice. But he was already going to say it. Everyone else saw the same thing. Moving, undulating, slithering—we've heard it all. I'm telling you though, they were dancing."

Phil found himself nodding; that was an apt description.

"The passenger," Yvonne said unhappily. Getting them back on track. "Did you see the passenger?"

A cold feeling, like death itself, was embracing you.

"Oi! Rookie! You okay?"

Something soft hit his face; it was Benny's pillow. He breathed, being disappointed by the lack of butterscotch.

Distantly he was aware of the heart monitor he was attached to going nuts again, for a wholly different reason this time.

A nurse might have come in, not his nurse, but he was too out of it to focus. Slowly, he got himself back under control.

He was a proud police officer, damnit! A defender of the peace! At one point someone had refilled his cup, and he made quick work of it.

"Blue," he said, placing it down. "Blue eyes. That's all I saw."

It felt a wholly inadequate way to describe them, but objectively, that was all they were. At least, that's what he kept telling himself. Repeating it like a mantra in his head.

"Damn," Yvonne spat. "I was hoping you saw something more."

He did not share that sentiment.

They fell into silence, and he realized that, as much as he didn't want to, he needed to finish his recant.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"After we joined the pack, I kept pace but decided to hold off on calling out Electrike. He's a sprinter; I wanted to wait until we go closer before brining him out."

It was a reasonable argument, but it wasn't the truth. Something in his gut had told him to leave his partner safe in his ball. Whether it was Arceus' voice or a random delusion, it had been the right call.

"I'm not sure what happened after. I saw them raise their hands?" He said it as a question and saw Benny giving him an intense look. "Then the next second I'm flying through the air. It's all black after that."

Then he'd woken up here.

"Nothing new," Benny commented with a frustrated groan. "Well, your jackass got a little lucky. I had fucking ninja stars thrown at me."

Phil had heard the report of more officers down while getting to the scene, but he hadn't known how it was accomplished.

He found it difficult to believe they'd run into an actual ninja.

"He's right," Yvonne confirmed. "We recovered them from the scene. The lab geeks will be going over them with a fine-toothed comb. But my buddy there already told me it's not looking good. They were cleaned professionally."

He asked the question on everyone's mind.

"Okay, what actually was that? I know you said ninja, but do we even have those here?"

Other regions sure, but Kalos? He'd never heard of them.

"We do. They're somewhere out East." Benny informed. "Greninja are a favorite of theirs, so in this officer's humble opinion." Phil doubted the humble part. "A Greninja handled the actual theft, while the wheelman was their trainer. The colors were off, but it might have been a Shiny or a regional variant. Hell, maybe it just painted itself."

That was not a Greninja.

"It was a Mawile driving," Yvonne disagreed. "I'm sure of it. I got a good look before taking a flight."

A Pokemon driving? Sure it wasn't unheard of but…

"Mawile are what, like two feet tall? Can it even drive like that?"

It had been a while since he'd taken his trainer exam but he was pretty sure he studied that. Not that it ended up being on the damn test.

"Excellent point, rookie. See? No way that was a Mawile. That was a professional, someone who spent years training. I swear I've never seen such smooth driving. Trying to keep up with them was nearly impossible."

From what little he saw, that was very much correct.

"We'll let upstairs decide that." Yvonne conceded. "Maybe it was a trainer in a Mawile costume or something ridiculous like that. Greninja might fit, given what bystanders saw." He looked at her with confusion, and she elaborated. "Right, so to fill you in. We got a call for a fire at the Meurice. A newly minted Ace trainer happened to be at the rooftop bar that night; she was searching for people needing rescue with her flying type when something." She stressed the word. "Threw some rich twat out a window. Whatever it was, then just stepped off the ledge like no big deal. Some lookie-loos were filming the fire and actually caught it on camera. Fell like ten stories before deciding to carve up the side of the building."

"Which was clearly night slash," Benny butted in, reinforcing his theory. "Which is insanely hard to teach a Greninja."

Phil didn't even know they learned it. But there was a reason he didn't go pro.

"Yeah, well, it lands, and the fireman's Blastoise gets spooked and sprays the damn thing."

There was a snort from Benny.

"Leave it to a fireman not to be able to control their Pokemon."

If it saw the same eyes Phil did, he didn't blame Blastoise in the least.

"Things get hairy here. Some people swear the Hydro Pump hit them. Others don't. Apparently, our novice filmmakers didn't get that part." Phil hoped they had the good sense to run. "Anyway, what we do know for sure is that they had a Gible of all things."

That wasn't a common Pokemon. Wait. She'd used the word theft before. Was this all for a Pokemon theft!?!?!?

"What type of ninja goes around starting fires and stealing Pokemon?" It made no sense to him. "And when you say 'had a Gible', like they were carrying it?"

Yvonne gave a sound of understanding.

"They were holding it like a football. I agree that it doesn't add up. If the Gible was the goal, why not have a ball ready for them? With what we saw them pull off, I find it hard to believe they couldn't get their hands on unregistered balls or old-school Apricorn types."

Unless the Gible wasn't the point. Benny had described the shadows as dancing, and Phil thought he was closer to the mark than he knew.

"Was anything else stolen?" He asked, needing more information. "Or just anything in general you've left out."

Yvonne let out a small laugh; it wasn't out of good humor.

"They're still taking an inventory and statements at the scene. The fire is going to make things take longer." It might have been to cover their tracks then, but that still didn't seem right. "What I'm surprised you haven't asked is how we all ended up here."

Huh? Motorcycle crash; he knew that. The thing lifted its arms and then…

What had happened?

"Short answer, we don't know." Yvonne continued. "It's one of the things everyone keeps saying different things about. That idiot over there thinks it was Tornadus." She pointed at Benny. "And then someone down the hall was ranting about it being an Enamorus, never mind the fact that's a fairy tale." Enamorus, why did that feel so right and yet so wrong? "And somehow, the craziest and most supported theory is that just about every damn Wingull in the city showed up and gave a big fuck you to the Coumarine police department."

What?

Wingulls? Sure, the city had a lot of them, but all they really ever did was try and steal his donuts.

"And you call me an idiot." Benny shared his thoughts. "What's more likely, a legendary showing up at just the right time or a hoard of Wingulls working for some random ninja?"

He found himself agreeing with the legendary theory. He'd seen a pair of Wingulls get into a fight over a pretzel once; there was no chance they would all work together.

Their cameras must have caught something; they all wore them. Then again, they were probably all pointed toward the road.

"Say what you want, but we have multiple accounts of increased bird activity across the city. And then that Skarmory in the intensive care unit had some damage that could have come from that line of Pokemon."

"Skarmory?" There weren't a lot of flying types in the department, and he thought he'd remember that type of Pokemon. "We have one of those?"

Benny shook his head.

"Nah, that was from the Ace we talked about. After rescuing the thrown victim, she dismounted and had it pursue the suspect while she helped with the evacuation." Technically, a formal request from the department would have had to be made for that to be legal, but no one tended to question when an Ace lent a helping hand. "It caught up with them right after they stole O'Brian's bike." So that's who'd been their first casualty; he hoped the man was okay. Sensing his question, Benny expounded. "He's fine. The unlucky bastard had just pulled up to an alley where his partner, Mighteyena, was cornering the suspect when the poor pooch was flung back. Took him straight off the bike."

He'd seen that Mighteyena; it wasn't a pushover.

"Are we sure they were actually fleeing then?"

It stunk to him. Why take the bike? Wouldn't disappearing in the city be easier? Unless the bike was the goal the entire time.

"All we're sure of is that we got our asses handed to us, and Jenny is going to put us through our paces," Yvonne said, much to his dread. "The saving grace is that Skarmory also got its ass kicked. After we all got blown away, it caught up to the suspects; not sure what happened, but it was later recovered with a massive dent in its chest and out cold."

Denting a Skarmory? That was possible?

"Hurray for us," Benny said in false cheer. "Well, both of you shut up now. I'm going to try and get some sleep before all of that remedial training."

The man clicked something, and the lights inside dimmed; the effect was dampened by the door remaining open.

Phil could do anything but sleep, his mind racing.

Realization hit him like a thunderbolt. Which, given his partner, was a known feeling.

All the pieces fell into place. This was a performance, a show.

The question was, who was the audience?

Him? Certainly not. This was far above his pay grade. He was lucky he'd come out of it unscathed.

Well, physically. A sinking feeling inside told him that his future would have sleepless nights aplenty.

Those eyes. It wasn't a Pokemon at all. Or a human, for that matter; no, that was something else.

He rubbed his hands together, feeling cold all of a sudden.

A familiar blur of pink raced by the door; he caught only a glimpse, but his nose was filled with butterscotch again.

A not-so-insignificant part of his brain told him this was all worth it.