THE BOOTY LANE KILLER

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As Zorua said, she most certainly did not scream.

Her eyes did widen as far as they could go as her limbs locked up, however. Watching a dead body answer your question tends to make one panic.

She suddenly gets the feeling that she needs a feeling to tell her what's going on. What's going on?

Instead of a feeling answering her, the body did. Its jaw barely moves as a guttural, small voice comes out. "I wouldn't panic if I were you, Sheila. Just take a quick look at the other white girl next to you."

Not knowing what else to do with calm instructions from a corpse, she listens to it. While Absol has her neutral expression firmly in place, she seems nowhere as panicked as Zorua. She does, however, notice the look of panic on her face. "Zorua? What's wrong?"

Instead of answering with a classic "Everything." the small fox looks back down to the body. Okay, she doesn't notice the body talking. Why isn't she seeing this?

"Oh, that's an easy answer, Coppo." The body doesn't move any more than it usually does, but she gets the impression that it's leaning closer to her. "You're fucking insane."

The blunt insult throws her for a loop, for a moment. Then she shakes her head, glaring back down at the body. Okay, I'm not letting a corpse insult me. You're the one dead on the ground, and I'm not.

"Somehow, I feel like I won in our arrangement." The corpse snarks.

Now seriously, why is this happening? I might have no memories, but corpses aren't supposed to talk.

"Ah, I'm just fucking with you, Sheila." She hears a wheezing laugh, which most of it seems to escape from the open wound on its neck. "The real reason this poor soul is talking to you is…"

Slowly, a wide, open-mouthed grin stretches the patrat's face. "IMAGINATION."

Zorua blinks.

…so I am going insane.

Finally, a feeling speaks up. This might be enhanced by those long nights of no sleep you've been having. Either you're starting to get really tired, or the boredom from doing nothing for hours on end is warping your perception of reality. Neither option is good.

Another sums it up. Yes, you are going insane.

Great… Zorua frowns down at the corpse.

Then yet another feeling answers. This doesn't have to be a bad thing, necessarily. Perhaps talking to the corpse can help gather details that you haven't noticed before?

She thinks about it for a moment. On the one hand, entertaining her new reality of pretending to talk to the dead feels like a slippery slope to Crazy Town and straight into Schizo Square, where nobody takes you seriously. On the other hand…

Fuck it, going insane is better than being bored for six hours straight. I needed this.

"There you go, Sheila!" The corpse cheers. "Welcome to Crazy Town, where the population is one but it's always bustling. How can I help you, Coppo?"

Zorua relaxes slightly. Not much, I'm afraid. I've got a killer to catch. Yours, actually.

"Yeah…" The corpse of Patrat draws out. "It was a lot more comfortable than I thought it would be: dying. See how laid out I am?"

Her eyes draw up his body, then around him, then back to his eyes. Yeah, gave you the honor of tucking you in before slitting your throat.

"Even gave me a kiss goodnight." The lips pucker for a moment before falling back to rigor mortis. "Such a sweetheart."

Zorua gives a small laugh. Well at least you get some kisses. Maybe that's what I need in order to get a good night's rest?

"No, that won't do it for you." The corpse disagrees. "You're a proper Coppo, a real Sheila. You're the one who gives, but doesn't get. No sleep for you."

Nooo. Zorua moans to herself. But I wanna sleep. Sleep sounds good for the body and my body sucks.

"Don't worry, funky baby. Something good will come your way."

Really?

"Fuck no!" Another windy laugh. "No sleep for the Coppos, and no sweethearts to get kisses from. You've been a bad, bad girl."

Ey, fuck you, Imma get those sweethearts. I got a chance to, it'll happen… eventually.

"That's what they all say, then they go off and die alone." The face suddenly looks sad. "Like me."

That brings up a good point, actually. What killed you, oh mighty Dead Patrat?

The face gets sadder. "Trust did me in, Sheila. I gave them my trust and they stabbed me in the back for it."

She glances at his throat. Looks like they got you from the front, actually.

"You're arguing semantics to an imaginary talking corpse. Don't correct me."

…point. Trying not to think about how she lost an argument with her imagination, she pushes onwards. Well, you got anything to ask me? I should probably keep looking around for actual clues instead of talking to you.

"What's your name?"

Of all the questions, it had to be that one.

Oh. Um. I don't know. She gives the corpse a raised brow. You've been calling me Sheila a lot. Is my name Sheila?

"No, you're not Sheila. I just call you a Sheila, a right Coppo; whatever funky, wacky thing that comes to mind." For once, the eye squints. It's very disturbing to look at. "I bet you're an Annie, or something."

Zorua frowns. It's… simple. Sounds like something you'd name your dog, or whatever.

"That's just from the perspective of a corpse, I'm afraid. The dead are 'funny' like that, only talking to people's imaginations."

Fair enough. Alright, that's enough talking, I should probably talk to Absol so she doesn't get too worried.

"Ah…" The corpse sighs, face falling back into place, right where it was before it 'spoke' to her. "There you go, giving your all, again. When will you just quit?"

The last question makes her do a double take. What do you mean?

The corpse, being dead, stays silent.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Another, very much real question comes from her side. She looks back at Absol, seeing actual worry on her face. "You've been staring at the corpse and giggling for a while."

"...I was?"

An annoyed tone enters Absol's voice. "Yes, you were also making faces at it and I swear you were about to lick it from how close you were."

"Oh." She shrugs. "I was communing with the body, seeing if it could tell me anything."

Absol's face is carefully blank.

She's starting to regret accepting your help, but it's too late for that: you're already giving her a lot of good info, in her eyes.

Zorua levels a stare on her. "That's code for 'I was thinking about something while looking at a dead body,' Absol."

"Ah. That's… good." She says slowly, then repeats it. "That's good. What were you thinking about?"

Zorua clicks her tongue. "Debating if my name is Annie or not."

For once, throughout their entire conversation, Absol shows more than a mild expression. Her face is some amalgamation of confusion and shock, but she doesn't say anything.

Hint hint: you said a name in front of someone. Taboo, remember? A feeling reminds her.

Oh, right. Um… "If it's any consolation, it probably isn't. It doesn't really capture me well enough, you know?"

Relief floods Absol. She lets out a breath, face carefully crawling back to neutrality. "Okay, I admit, that was a good joke. I wasn't expecting something like that out in Treasure Town and it caught me off guard."

"I don't see what was funny."

Another voice, this one new to Zorua, surprises both her and Absol. They both sharply turn to the side, looking at whoever snuck up to stand next to them when they weren't looking.

After looking at them for a second, she amended the statement to 'floating' next to them.

For most pokémon that she has met, Zorua can safely say that she can see how they're, well, people. They have limbs, bodies attached to said limbs in a way that makes sense, a head, and perhaps some strange oddity that makes them stand out in their Type. All in all, she can see how they're alive.

This one, however, spits in the face of what she knows and sets her back on square one. Instead of a normal body that can contain organs and a circulatory system to pump blood and guide nerve-endings, this one can be best described as a wind chime with a bulbous, golden antenna sticking out of the top of its 'body', which in itself is just a ball with two nubby little arms sticking out of it. The whole form is mostly a pale white, with a red coloring nearing the bottom of the tassel-like appendage below it and the aforementioned orb-antenna.

Being the most confused out of the three, Zorua starts first. "What are you?"

Two tiny, beady yellow eyes blink in confusion, looking at the small fox. "Have you not seen a chimecho before?"

"If I have, I don't remember." If anything, the one good thing about people using their species' name is that they constantly remind you what they are when you talk to them. "So… why are you here?"

Absol answers her. "You must be the one sent from the Wigglytuff Guild. I would have appreciated any expertise in examining Patrat's wounds, but Zorua here has helped me already with that."

Another blink. This one does a lot of that. "Is that so?" She looks back to Zorua. "I didn't realize you were knowledgeable in such matters."

That was a dig at your memory. She was one of the eavesdroppers from yesterday: the living wind chime knows you're an invalid.

"I'm not an invalid." The words left her mouth before she could think of it.

Chimecho's eyes widen, which isn't much because they're so small. "Oh, I apologize; I wasn't implying…" She gently shakes her head. "It's just that I heard rumors about you, and this contradicts those rumors. I'm surprised."

She doesn't like how that implication slipped out. This floating wind chime appears to be a mentally-collective individual.

Another feeling. This one has opinions, but doesn't want people to know them.

She chews on that apology - and her lip - for a moment. "...eh, that's fair. I was surprised too, when I remembered I was a detective."

"...a what?" The look of confusion on Chimecho is odd, in Zorua's eyes. A lot of emotion is in her body and face, but the eyes almost don't tell her anything. Just two yellow dots, either open or closed.

Zorua shrugs. "An Explorer, of a sort. I specialize in investigative matters, and can do forensics in a pinch. Although…" She trails off, looking back at the body. "Speaking of the dead, can I have a third opinion on something?"

The weird wind chime person floated up next to her, glancing down at the body and pulling a face mixed with pain and uneasiness. After doing so, she forces the face off and nods. "Yes, I can. Do you need me to examine the injuries?"

Zorua sucks in air through her teeth, a slight hiss leaving her lips. "That's part of it, yeah. I'm asking if you can find any other injuries beyond the obvious one." She points at the patrat's neck for emphasis. "I checked for head injuries, but I couldn't find any- if there are any, that is."

Chimecho didn't give a verbal response, but nodded all the same and got to work. It was around then when Zorua was introduced to the Psychic Type and what it's capable of. Gently, as to not disturb the body too much, some unseen force is used to nudge, pull, push, and lift parts of the corpse. Every time that this 'force' is used to do more than a nudge, Zorua swears that something about Chimecho changes in the light.

Internally, her feelings on the matter are… varied.

Okay. So. If this feeling could sigh, it would. Fire is one thing. Electricity is another. Flying is just birds. But this? This disobeys so many laws of physics that you can barely remember, that this might as well be straight-up magic.

Another. Yet another thing that seems unnatural to you. Why does this feel wrong, if both of these Explorers seem to act like it's normal?

And another. You need to have that power. Imagine all of the stuff you can touch with your mind!

And another, if a bit quieter than the rest. This won't help your physical turmoils for long. You need your strength to protect yourself, not this cheap binoclard trick.

In the end, Zorua resolved to ask Absol about it. "What's that weird floaty-thing she's doing to Tyler there?"

"Who?" Once again, another bewildered expression crosses the blade dog's face before she remembers, face relaxing back to neutrality. "You mean what Chimecho is doing to Patrat, right?" At Zorua's nod, she continues. "Some sort of psychic move, I suppose. She has fantastic control, doing what she is right now." Another glance at the fox. "Why did you ask?"

Translation: "Why did you not know that was a psychic thing?"

The lie comes easily. "We don't have a lot of psychics, where I'm from. Never had to deal with one, personally."

Absol nods. "Well, as you have seen, Treasure Town is a lot more varied in its types of pokémon. Expect to see a lot more unusual things around here; it helped to know that when I first visited."

Zorua tilts her head. "You're not from around here, either?"

"No. I used to apprentice under the Clefable Guild, near Blackstone Town, but I travel alone most days. My first day here was… interesting."

"How so?"

"The Murkrow Incident."

Zorua waits for an explanation, but doesn't get one. "And?"

Absol shakes her head. "No."

"...that's it?"

"That's it."

And that was that.

For about five seconds. "Well, I guess Treasure Town is cursed, or something. Less than twenty four hours in town and somebody gets jumped."

A small exhale in place of a laugh is all she gets, so they return to watching Chimecho work.

After a couple more minutes and a thorough investigation of the dead rodent - in which Zorua felt mild indignation at Chimecho looking over the back of his head, in spite of her observations - she sighs and sets down the patrat gently. "I cannot see any other injuries on Patrat, but I have identified him. Sunflora talks about someone she gossips with every now and then, who lives near the exit heading towards Sharpedo Bluff."

Hey, so it is the racist! A feeling yells. Fucker had it coming to him.

Absol gives her a quick glance before nodding to Chimecho. "Thank you for confirming a suspicion of ours. Zorua had seen him yesterday morning when she entered town with a shinx, at his home. Have you determined anything about the lethal wound?"

Chimecho nods grimly. "Thankfully, I have. The attack that killed him was Normal in nature."

Zorua couldn't help but snicker at that. When that earned her a flat look (Absol) and a dubious one (Chimecho) she tried to sober up. "You have to admit, saying that a murder is 'normal' sounds weird."

After a moment, Zorua can see crow's feet on the edges of Absol's eyes again. "Yes, it is very weird, I admit."

"That is not all." Chimecho says, drawing both of their gazes. "It is very faint, but there is a lingering Psychic energy around him. He might have been addled in some way before he…" She trails off, looking back at the body.

She's trying not to show it, A feeling mumbles. But she's worried.

Another feeling follows up, barely a whisper. Fear of more death. There's a beast within this peaceful town.

And then- Wait, how does she know this? Absol said it would be hard to determine the type of attack used, and now she can just feel them somehow?

"Uh… Chimecho? Am I the only one who doesn't know how you do that?"

The question tears the wind chime's gaze away from the cadaver and back to the fox. "Don't worry, it's not well known how one knows about the particulars of Types and what they're capable of, nor how to read into them. For now, just say that it's a 'psychic thing' and let it be. Now…" She turns back to the body and, with a use of that Psychic energy of hers, carefully lifts the body, along with a bit of dirt along with it to take the blood off of the road. "It is not often that someone dies like this, in Treasure Town. I will make sure he is treated well."

And so off she drifts, floating alongside the dead, levitated form of Patrat. It's odd, and not for the reason that there's just a corpse floating towards a point away from the dirt streets of Treasure Town, but of how unceremonious it all seems.

The spirit that inhabited his body will no longer be able to give unto this world, for better or for worse. A feeling bemoans.

Wait- catch up to her! One suddenly shouts in her mind.

Wha- why?

She mentioned that Sunflora knew Patrat, she might know more clues as to why he might be on this street!

Zorua's eyes widened. "Oh shit-" She bites off more curses as she starts running after Chimecho. "Wait! Wind chime lady! I've got a question!"

If anything, the absurdness of her shouts seem to be the reason Chimecho stops instead of her tone. She stops drifting away and turns back to the fox loping up to her. Her face is screwed up in concentration. "What is it?"

She's strained. Perhaps the psychic move she is using is more taxing than it looks?

She shakes off the feeling and stops in front of her. "Where's Sunflora? I think she might know something that can help us."

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As Shinx would say, he would give Zorua a verbal thrashing for worrying him by disappearing for no reason.

"Would" being the key word here, because Zorua still hasn't been found.

He's had a good night's rest, waking up when the sun has actually risen - unlike Zorua's definition of it, when he can't even see the sun yet - and got himself ready to do something productive, today. It didn't take him long to get a drink of water and cram a berry into his mouth, then the next thing Shinx knew he was on the way to Treasure Town. He kept an eye out for any white foxes asking questions, just in case he…

Well, he's not there yet. He'll cross that bridge when he gets to it.

Everything in town seemed fairly normal, too. There's pokémon walking, flying, or whatever means of travel they have available to them to go about their business. He passed by Kangaskhan and said hi, promised to see the Kecleon Brothers later when he could, and wowed at some particularly interesting bauble that Murkrow was selling (before Shuppet started an argument, in which he left swiftly) as he went along.

Then before he could greet Duskull, the ghost pokémon spotted him first and waved him over with an urgency he hadn't seen before.

"Good morning?" Shinx said, unable to keep the questioning tone out of his voice.

"Ah, it is good to see you safe this morning, young Shinx, hee-hee." His laugh has lost a lot of joviality that Shinx is used to. "Very good, indeed."

The electric cat folds his ears back. "Um… okay? Is there a reason you waved me over?"

Duskull nods. "Yes, for a couple of reasons, in fact! I was happy to see you safe, because the most foul crime has been committed in the dead of night. It was only discovered in the twilight of morn', when we found Patrat."

There were several thoughts running through Shinx's mind at that moment. One was that he was glad to be safe, and for Duskull to tell him about this. Another is a pang of worry for Zorua, whom he still doesn't know where she went after going inside the Guild.

For a split second, almost like a traitorous thought, he wondered if she was involved in this crime, somehow. He almost viciously shook his head to get rid of the thought, managing only a small shiver and a spark from his tail.

Putting most of those feelings aside for the moment, he responds to Duskull. "Oh, that's terrible! What did Patrat say?"

At his words, Duskull seems to float down lower, his singular eye looking to the ground.

"I say this with heavy spirits, but Patrat did not say a word. He has been murdered."

That sent a jolt through his system, his tail very much sparking off this time. "W-what?!"

Duskull nods once again, and this time he recognizes the solemness in it. "Indeed, young Shinx. I only heard of such news because I was close to the crossroads when pokémon started spreading word. By the end of the day, I assume most will know of his death."

"That-" He shakes his head again. "That's awful! Who could've done such a thing?"

At that, Duskull shakes his head. "I do not know. I'm afraid that most do not know how it happened, for I was only told of his untimely demise and that it occurred in the night. The reason why he wasn't discovered earlier by nocturnal pokémon, was that he was found on the end of Booty Lane."

What went unsaid was "Nobody goes down Booty Lane." Shinx knew that, though.

Shinx's ears fold back further, face dropping. "That's really sad, Duskull. Thanks for letting me know, though, and for worrying about me."

Duskull nods again, this time with a bit more energy put into it. "A lot of pokémon care about you, young Shinx. I am just another soul amongst those numbers, hee-hee~"

Somehow, the creepy laugh didn't seem so creepy to Shinx, and he smiled. "Thanks again, Duskull." He tilts his head. "Oh, right, you said there was something else that you wanted to tell me?"

"Yes, I do." He raises up back to his normal floating height. "In fact, it is good news, one to chase away the bad taste of bad news, hee-hee!"

"Well that's good! What is it?"

"I saw Zorua yesterday, who was looking for you." He leans in closer, his one eye rolling between his two sockets. "I believe you two have missed each other on multiple occasions, hee-hee."

Shinx grinned, a certain relief flooding him. "Oh, really? That's good! And, uh, bad that we missed each other. Where did she go?"

"Thrice, she has passed me by. First, she asked me some questions before-" If Duskull could glare, he would. "-I had to deal with a rude customer. She put off Zorua from talking anymore and said that she'll go for a walk to wash away the experience. The second and third time, however…"

When Duskull doesn't say anything else, Shinx cocks his head to the side. "Uh. Duskull?"

Suddenly, he burst into a fit of laughter. "Hee-hee~ Oh, it was odd, very odd indeed! She deserves the moniker of 'strange' that I gave her, last morning. She seemed to have been leading young Litleo to somewhere just outside of Treasure Town to show that she can, and I quote, 'Shoot massive Dark lasers' to show up Litleo. Litleo did not seem to believe her."

That… was unexpected. He couldn't help but feel his ears pin back once again. "What was she doing with Litleo?" He couldn't help the bad taste in his mouth when he mentioned the bully.

"I do not know, I'm afraid. It did not seem like she succeeded in her goals to 'show up' Litleo, either."

"...how'd you know that?"

He shakes his head. "The third time I saw them, when I was going home after closing the bank, I saw Litleo laughing at her while she followed after him. Her tail was dragging and seemed to be very embarrassed, hee-hee~"

Part of Shinx felt bad for Zorua to be laughed at by his childhood bully, but another part felt like it was par for the course with the pale fox. She seemed to, for a lack of a better phrase, dream big. Whenever she commits to something, she tends to go all in for it. Like how she dealt with Litleo so that she and Shinx could go to the Wigglytuff Guild in peace, or the endless stream of questions that should fit better on someone a lot younger than her. Which, well, fit her in the sense that someone with amnesia as bad as hers might act like a child.

With that said, Shinx thanked Duskull and continued on his way. There was still something he needed to do, and as much as his legs want to turn all wobbly when he thinks about it, he still needs to go to the Guild to ask for Zorua's whereabouts. That part of him that's worried about the missing fox demands that he finds out where she is, so that he could apologize for not planning as well as he had.

And, well, to see if she's still alive. It's almost ironic that Shinx thought about her being in danger the previous night.

So deep in thought he was, that it was almost a shock to suddenly hear a familiar voice. "-it could be full of diseases, or something!"

A sigh, one that he entirely sympathizes with. "The water constantly flows, so it'll stay clean. There's even a pokémon that's designated to keep the water here clean."

His head snaps up to the intersection, the very one at the bottom of the Wigglytuff Guild's staircase. Right there, standing in front of the stone well providing fresh water, is a pale zorua with an absol standing next to her. Said absol has an exasperated look, shaking her head at the smaller pokémon.

Zorua's ears fold down, glancing back at the well. "...oh." She still takes one step away from it. "My gut tells me not to trust it, still."

Another sigh from the absol, which seems to say "You're impossible" but in less words. Shinx feels for her.

Still, he runs up to the two, shouting "Zorua!"

Zorua's head snaps up in his direction, at first surprised then letting a grin cross her face. "Shinx, there you are! I was looking for you yesterday. What happened?"

As Shinx reaches them, Absol takes the time to give them some distance and wait. Beyond a glance, Shinx ignores her in favor of giving Zorua a frown. "I was, too! From what Duskull told me a few minutes ago, we missed each other a couple of times."

Her face freezes. "...oh. Well that sucks."

"I guess." His ears fall back slightly. "Sorry about leaving you alone, yesterday. I thought you would take longer in the Guild and went to the beach for a bit."

Zorua pulls a series of faces at that, muttering something that started with "I could've just…" before giving a half-hearted shrug. "It's alright, kid. I ended up alright in the end, didn't I? What were you worried about, anyways?"

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

It was then that Shinx remembered the reason why he was scared for her. "Oh, right, you probably don't know…"

The pale fox gave him a deadpan stare. "I don't know a lot of things, apparently. What's up?"

Shinx's tail flicks nervously as he speaks. "A pokémon has been murdered. Only some 'mons know right now, but Duskull told me that, too. When I heard, I wondered if…"

Her eyes widened slightly at the silent implication. "Oh no, no no, I'm alright! I kinda camped out in an abandoned home for the night." She turned and pointed a paw down a road. "It was just down that way, past where that patrat got killed."

"Well, at least you found a place to stay for the-" He stops as he registered the last part. "Wait, you know about the m-murder?!"

"Of course I do!" Zorua grins. "I'm investigating it, after all!"

…

Shinx thinks it wasn't worth getting up this morning, in hindsight.

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He appears to regret waking up to find you.

Zorua takes that information in as her grin slides off her face. Oh. I'm giving this kid a lot of grief, aren't I?

Ah, who cares? Another feeling answers. You're a badass detective: it's ride or die when on the detecting train!

She shoves that thought aside and focuses on Shinx. "Are you alright? I didn't worry you too much, did I?"

Shinx looks a bit flustered at her pointing out his anxiety. "Oh no- I mean, kind of? I was going to go to the Guild to ask for some help to look for you, but you're here now…" He trails off, looking off to the side.

She smiles. "Thanks for caring, Shinx. But I'm an adult, brain damage or not; I can take care of myself."

"...Zorua, you put yourself into a loop of failing to say your name. In public."

A sigh from next to Zorua has her glance at Absol. Internally, she's saying to herself "Why am I not surprised you did that?"

Zorua's expression falls. "That was a fluke. I'm stronger from the experience."

"Actually, hold on," Shinx furrows his brows. "Why are you helping out with the m-murder?"

He's scared to say the word with a straight face.

"Right, you wouldn't know yet." She holds herself up higher, trying to put on a proud visage through her perpetually depressed one. "Turns out that I'm a Detective!"

"Oh." A pause. "What's a detective?"

"They're like an Explorer, but different."

"Oh." He repeats. "Wait, really?!" He starts smiling.

There is that wonder of his for Explorers. A feeling tells her. You are now 'cool' in this kid's eyes.

His smile gets bigger as he talks. "Does that mean you remember anything else? Like, where you're from, your name, anything?"

Uh oh. Again.

"Um…" Zorua starts.

"What?" Absol speaks up for the first time in this conversation. "Why do you not remember those things, Zorua?"

Oh shit. Zorua panics. She's going to know. Absol's going to know and she might force me off this investigation.

Before she could do anything about it, Shinx answered Absol. "Oh, she woke up on the beach with no memories. She didn't even know what a pokémon was; she screamed and ran away from me when she saw me for the first time."

…well. A feeling sighs. You're fucked. There's no use in lying your way out of this one.

Absol's face is scarily still, red eyes sliding from Shinx to Zorua. "Is that so…"

Shit shit shit, what do I do? She screams on the inside. Come on weird thoughts in my brain, give me something to work with!

While Shinx answers with a nod, which seems to be very, very slow to her panic-induced eyesight, she waits for an answer. Her skin crawls at the sight of how unreadable Absol's face remains, waiting, waiting, waiting-

Then, after an agonizing second in real time, a feeling answers. Why not be honest?

…what?

It continues. Look. You're a mess, let's be honest about that. Nobody's perfect. And if you'll be honest, your current problems do not withstand the importance of finding a killer on the loose. Tell Absol that you have some personal problems, but that they're secondary to this case.

…okay. I'll try.

"It's true."

Absol's eyes narrow minutely. "And you have not mentioned this issue when saying that you were an Explorer, why?"

Zorua shrugs. "Because it's a personal issue. As in, I'm dealing with it on my own time. Right now, this isn't my own time; it's the job's time."

Absol gives her a searching look. "If the issue you have is as bad as it sounds, then you shouldn't be pushing yourself to chase after a murderer."

This time, Zorua raises a brow at Absol. "Oh? Then what was all of that-" She gestures a paw back in the direction of the crime scene. "-supposed to be? I have the talent, I'm useful for this, and you'd have to be shooting yourself in the foot to not bring along someone who can pay attention to details like that. Hell," The paw then shifts up towards the pink eyesore at the top of the cliff. "I had the initiative to go and get a location on someone who can talk to us about the victim, and that was before we even left the scene of the crime!"

Absol's face doesn't shift.

She doesn't say anything, either.

Shinx looks uncomfortably between the two women, as if he intruded on something.

Then, Absol nods. "Alright. You've made a good point. I apologize for intruding on personal matters."

Is it me, or is that a touch of respect? A feeling points out.

Zorua gives her a nod back. "It's no biggie; I've been brushed off by worse in the past twenty-four hours."

Shinx looks worried. "Y-you don't mean me, do you? I'm sorry about that."

Zorua shakes her head. "No, not you, you're okay. I was talking about some nark in the Guild; Chatot, if I remember right."

"Chatot?" Shinx looks surprised. "I… still don't know what a nark is, but what did he do?"

"He said a lot of words, but it all boiled down to "If you don't have money, then you're last on the list of people who we'd help." And I'm broke. So… Yeah."

Shinx's face turns confused. "Really? Chatot said that?"

"As I said, not like that, but he really looked like he didn't want any part of me."

Shinx doesn't seem to know what to say to that.

To him, the Wigglytuff Guild always helps those in need. To say otherwise is a violent disruption of his life.

"Ahem."

Both cat and fox look towards Absol.

She levels the two shorter pokémon with another bland look. "Just to remind Zorua, we do have a killer we need to track down. The sooner we can speak to Sunflora, the better chance we have of finding our murderer."

Zorua feels her eyes widen a little. "Oh, right." She turns back to Shinx. "Sorry to cut this reunion short, but I kinda do have a job to do. Just try and avoid…" She waves a paw down the road. "Whatever the name of that street was, just in case."

Shinx nods. "I know the name; it's Booty Lane."

Part of Zorua's mental faculties break down upon hearing that.

Wow. Almost feel bad for the guy now. A feeling says. Dying on Booty Lane sounds…

Another feeling. Awful?

Another. Embarrassing.

And another. Sublime.

And back to the first. I was going to say hilarious, but any of those work.

Then, somehow, through all of the mental calculations that she performed in the split second of Shinx telling her the street name, then thinking of all that, it equaled her laughing. Loudly.

Which left Absol and Shinx to look at her oddly, when she recovered. "W-what?" She breathed out sharply to get rid of any lingering giggles. "It's funny."

"...it's not that funny." Shinx mutters.

"Right, right. Anyways, I'd say avoid B-" Another sharp breath to hide a giggle. "Booty Lane, but your friend Litleo lives down there and I don't know how he'll feel about there being a murder just up the street from his home. Think you can check up on him, if I don't get to him first?"

Shinx looks shocked. "Y-you want me to go to Litleo?!"

Litleo is considered his bully. You saw that firsthand, yesterday. A feeling explains. Perhaps explaining your experience with him will open Shinx's eyes a bit.

…I think I'll word it differently, but sure.

Zorua takes in another breath, this one not hiding any giggles. "I know, he's not the kindest to you, but he lives alone on B- that street. He needs someone to tell him about there being a killer on the loose, and I need to keep an ear to the ground so I won't be able to do it for a while."

"But he-"

She shakes her head, interrupting him. "I'm not asking you to be friends with him, but…" She glances down another road, this one towards the market. "Well, if it isn't me, then nobody would tell him."

Shinx still pulls a face like he licked a lemon. "...okay, I'll try. But I'll wait a day, just in case you get to him first, alright?"

Zorua smiles. "Thanks, kid." She waggles a paw in the air, mimicking a so-so gesture. "He isn't the worst, really. Just acts like he's backed into a corner that you need to drag him out of."

"Ahem." Absol clears her throat. "If that is all, we might be working with time not on our side."

A not so subtle way to tell you to get going. A feeling states the obvious.

Zorua glances back at Absol to nod. "Right." She looks back to Shinx. "Sorry, duty calls. Have a murderer to catch, and all."

Shinx was a bit more subdued with his goodbye, but that isn't something she can help with without wasting more time. Zorua sees him off as herself and Absol climbs up the steps to the Wigglytuff Guild.

When Absol doesn't say anything on the way up, Zorua clears her own throat - it stings from overuse, most likely from your screams last evening - nervously. "Sorry about the kid. Yesterday was a bit of a mess and, well…" She huffs a bit to catch up to the pokémon with longer legs. "It was a mess. I can't sugarcoat it."

Absol doesn't respond, at first.

Be patient. She's not ignoring you.

"...don't worry." She eventually says. "I normally don't tempt such forces."

One slow blink from Zorua later, her head tilts to one side. "'Forces'?"

Absol just nods.

"...okay," She huffs again, trying to catch up. "Do I want to know what those 'forces' are?"

Absol gently shakes her head in response, blade slashing through the air. "No."

…what. Zorua looks at the taller pokémon in confusion. Uh. Voices in my head? Explain?

She means the children. One helpfully explains.

Oh. Zorua looks back up the steps, then back to her. "So… I haven't really asked who you were, yet."

That earns her a glance. "You have."

"Yeah, but," She huffs again, then gives Absol an exasperated look. "You know what I mean; I know that you're an Explorer, but that's kind of it? I don't really know who I'm working with."

"..." Absol slows down some, which Zorua is thankful for. Her legs are too short to keep up without leaping up the steps. "Why do you want to know?"

"Oh, you know." She finally catches up to her, taking in a deep breath. "We're partners on this case, so building a bit of rapport is good."

Absol gives her another glance, then looks back forwards. "Okay. Ask away."

Ooh. A feeling makes the corner of her lip twitch. So many options to choose from. What sort of button are you going to press on this creature?

Another feeling eases the twitching. Take it easy. Start small, possibly informative.

Start physically. One feeling whispers. Look at those lean muscles, ready to sink those blades into something like a warrior. You could stare at those all day.

Why not something abstract? Another suggests. There's so much to this world; what's her perspective on this rock we live on?

Woah, slow down. She looks to the side to hide the discomfort on her face. I'm not asking for someone's life story. I'll just…

"What…" Zorua looks back to Absol. "Type are you?"

Absol looks back, opens her mouth, then shuts it and looks forward again. "Dark, same as you."

She was about to ask something, but stopped.

"Oh, cool. That's cool."

"Mhm." Absol nods absently.

"Does… that mean you know how to shoot Dark lasers?"

"...what?" Absol shoots her an annoyed look. "That's not something I specialize in. My attacks are much more physical than that. Also there's no such move called 'Dark Laser', I'm certain."

"Oh."

Maybe that's why I couldn't do a move last night. Zorua thinks. I was just trying to do something that wouldn't work! Right?

The small fox glances behind them, watching the town get smaller and smaller as they climb the cliff. "So, you might need to know that I have a problem with moves, at the moment."

Absol sighs. She thinks she knows where this is going. "Does this have to do with your inability to use moves?"

"...oh, right," Zorua's ears pin back. "I told you already. Yeah, that has something to do with my whole brain damage issue."

Her jaw tenses ever so slightly. She's biting back harsher words. "Hence why I asked why you wanted to chase down a murderer. If they want to kill a fellow pokémon, you'll be caught off-guard."

"..." Zorua thinks for a moment, as she sees the top of the cliff - and the pink eyesore - come closer and closer. "Are you sure they're that capable?"

The next thing she knows, Zorua is left alone near the final handful of steps. Pausing, she turns around to see Absol stopped, head tilted in thought.

"Absol?"

Slowly, she looks back to the pale fox. "That makes some sense, actually. Can you explain your thoughts, first?"

"Uh, sure?" She turns fully and sits down. "I mean, it's weird how clean the kill was. No signs of struggle, a simple cut, and all done in the middle of the night. The killer sounds more like an opportunist than someone trained to fight." She chews on her lip for a second. "No, definitely someone who doesn't fight a lot, or at least someone who isn't one for anything dragged out."

Absol digests this, then nods. Her shoulders sag in minor relief. "That's what I can imagine, too. While it's not safe to say for sure, the killer isn't a very strong pokémon, if they had to strike from the shadows." A claw taps against the stone stairs. "What worries me is that Psychic influence that Chimecho found. It's very possible that our mystery murderer can inflict an attack on one's mind, which makes it much easier for a pokémon of any capacity to end a life."

"An…" Zorua tries to swallow down a lump in her throat. "Attack on someone's mind?"

Does that mean we can be hurt? A feeling wonders. Or will it be a psychokinesis battle between wills?

Absol seems to see the expression on her face, because another frown tugs at her face. "You really don't know the extent of pokémon's moves, do you?" Another shake of the head. "Just leave any fighting to me, if possible. I'm well experienced and quite capable, enough to handle requests on my own… most of the time, that is." She taps the blade on her head with a claw. It makes a clear tink sound. "This blade is not for decoration."

She sells herself short. A feeling purrs… for some reason. That blade is a fine decoration. Really sells the femme-fatale look.

…I guess? She shakes off the feeling and nods to Absol. "Alright, all the fighting of dangerous people shall be on your shoulders. I hope you can take it."

A small smile. "I will."

With that done, the two women approach the grate outside the strange, pink, tent-like building with its gate shut. Zorua looks over it again, and not much has changed about it from the day prior. With all of the gate operators hidden from plain sight, with only strange totems to the side for company (not including Absol) then it's as if nothing has changed.

Almost casually, Absol walks onto the grate and waits.

"Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!" The very same Voice Below shouts up from the hole.

This time, Zorua manages to sit down and cover her ears before the loud one shouts back. "Whose footprint? Whose footprint?"

It's not long before she hears a response. "The footprint is absol! The footprint is absol!"

After a few quick moments, the loud one yells back. "They're good! Let them in!"

The gate before them opens up, and Absol steps off the plate. She waits before the gate, looking back to Zorua and giving her an expectant look.

Looking at the grate with apprehension, she stands up and walks over to it. She stands on it, bracing herself for the loud one's voice.

"Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!" Says the one beneath her.

"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?"

A pause, this one longer than Absol's check. "Oh, it's that weird zorua again!"

"AGAIN?!" The loud one shouts, making her ears ring. "Wasn't she here yesterday?"

Absol walks back over to the grate and looks down into it. "She's with me. We're here on official Explorer business."

"Oh!" The Voice Below squeaks. "That's new! We'll make sure to let Chatot know you're coming in, then!"

"Thank you." Absol nods, even though Zorua is pretty sure whoever is down there can't see the motion. She looks over to the small fox, motioning with her head to the open gate.

Yet again, Zorua enters the bland foyer of the Wigglytuff guild, this time with a companion. Deciding to get something out of this room, she looks over to Absol. "Hey."

"Hm?" Absol stops at the top of the spiraling slope. "What is it?"

There's definitely something wrong with this room. A feeling tells her. You can make a statement of professionalism all you want, but clean rooms mean they have some dirt to hide.

Zorua looks around the room. "Doesn't this room seem… suspicious?"

Slowly, Absol's brow raises. "No?" She looks around the room. "Should it? It's just an entrance, nothing special about it."

"But you see, that's the problem." She waves a paw around them. "How come everything else about this place screams 'wow look how unique I am' except this room? Sounds suspicious, if you ask me."

Absol's face looks bemused. "If you ask me, you're over-analyzing this room." She sighs. "Now come on, I believe someone is waiting for us on the second floor."

Zorua grumbles to herself, but trudges on down the slope with her taller companion. Leaving the room that really isn't hiding anything, they continue down to the furthest point the fox has ever been in the guild.

The first basement floor of the Wigglytuff Guild is about the same as she last saw, if colored in a different light thanks to the sunrise leaking through the windows. There are a good bit more people lurking around this floor, which includes some familiar faces and others unfamiliar.

Their entrance garnered stares, but thankfully the first one to approach is Chatot. Said bird hops up to them with ruffled feathers, gives Zorua an odd look, then looks back to Absol with badly disguised urgency. "Are you the same Absol that Geodude spoke of?"

Absol nods. "Correct. I have examined the body of Patrat, along with the assistance of Chimecho and Zorua."

The last word took a moment to register for the bird, but he widened his eyes after a moment and looked at her. "What? Why did you help her?"

He certainly didn't expect you, of all the people currently in this town, to "be able to" help. One feeling points out. The brain damage might work against you here… well, besides the usual problems.

Zorua gives Absol a glance before replying. "Was I supposed to not help?"

Chatot ruffled his feathers, which served to muse them up further. "A-apologies, I didn't mean it like that. I was just surprised," He gives her a curious look. "How did you help Absol, if I may ask?"

"Oh, you know," Zorua waves a gray paw around lazily. "I answered a few questions for Absol, did some initial forensics work before Chimecho showed up, and some other odds and ends that are still in the brainstorming phase."

While she watches Chatot's beak frown while digesting that information, Zorua glances about to see what else is going on in the area. The first thing she notices is that most everyone on the floor is watching the three of them. Of course, when the fox looks around back at them they quickly look away.

Hungry for gossip, I assume.

Well I don't feel like entertaining the peanut gallery today. Zorua looks back to Chatot. "I can spare more details if we take this behind closed doors. We, uh, have the same problem as yesterday."

It takes a moment for the confused bird to understand, but he turns to look around before it dawns on him. "Right, that would be a good idea," Under his breath, he mutters "I need to have a talk with them again…"

Absol just nods. There's a slight relaxation around her eyes. She didn't appreciate the audience either. "It would be best to officiate the request as soon as possible, Chatot. Is…" She sighs. "Is Guildmaster Wigglytuff's office open?"

Woah. A feeling exclaimed. That was loaded. And… oh?

Before Zorua could question her feelings, Chatot gives a sigh in return. "Yes, if you don't mind the Guildmaster himself being there."

Slowly, Zorua feels a confused frown tug at her face. "Isn't…" She pauses and looks between the two of them. "Is he… not supposed to be in his office? Why would it be his office if he wasn't in there?"

Both of them seem to realize something, because they start giving the pale fox a look of some sort (another one that deems you crazy) before stopping themselves. Chatot answers her first. "There is no problem with that, Zorua. In fact, Guildmaster Wigglytuff is known to be very kind!"

Absol just sighs again. "But, I say politely as someone who was trained at another Guild," She nods to Chatot, who doesn't seem bothered, but is expecting the next few words. "Wigglytuff is someone who is… odd, to say the least. Especially when it comes to the Explorer business."

Both of them are tight-lipped about this 'Wigglytuff' guy. A feeling speaks back up. Best I can say is "Be prepared for anything," but that is nothing new.

Zorua takes both the replies and her internal feelings and slowly nods. "Okay, lead the way, then."

Chatot takes the lead, hopping his way back towards the spiraling slopes, then starts heading to the one descending further into the ground. Absol follows as if this is something she's done often enough, so Zorua doesn't expect to see much going down.

One level down later, she has to feel disappointed at how disappointing her assumptions were.

At first, there wasn't much to look at: a large underground area with dirt and grass below her paws, a couple of halls heading out of the room, a hole in the ground with a thick vine going down, and a decorated door directly to their left.

To their right, however, is a giant stone statue of a frog, of all things. The sight of it made her stop stock still, looking over its gaping maw and the strange ring of rocks sitting in front of it.

Like an altar for offerings to this strange pagan being. A feeling comments.

Leaning her head to the side, she can see a small alcove inside of the frog statue, where she can see a sort of bipedal blue frog contemplating a cauldron with a dry look. The cauldron itself isn't set into the stone below it, and it seems to be off-center to the whole thing. After a moment, the blue frog drags its dry look over to Zorua, but only enough to acknowledge her existence before it turns back to the pewter appliance.

Zorua herself has a lot of questions about this, but a feeling stops her. You will have time for this later. Right now, you have work to do.

But, but… She looks desperately at the statue. I have so many questions!

Later.

…fine. She tears her gaze away from the nearly-eldritch frog statue and back to the rest of her little group. Both of them had made it over to the wood door to her left, giving her some level of expectancy as she trots up to them.

Zorua tries her best to shrug. "I was getting a lay of the land. It's one of my Detective quirks."

"...one of your what quirks?" Chatot almost repeats.

Absol answers for her. "It's what her type of Explorers are called. They specialize in investigative matters," She pauses for a moment. "Also, if I am not mistaken, you only just found this out now. Yes, she is a sort of Explorer."

Chatot's eyes widen, before they narrow to look at the fox. "Are you certain?"

She nods happily. "Absolutely, one hundred percent. Sadly, that information came with the knowledge that I'm not Dick Mullen's secret daughter that was taken away from him in some dark, dastardly scheme to keep him away from a cold case."

A myriad of emotions cross his face, which a feeling happily tells her that, in order: surprise, trepidation, shock, confusion, more shock, then tiredness. When it finally sets on tiredness, the bird looks like he's about to say something, then seems to think better of it and shakes his head. He turns to the door they are standing next to, and Zorua gives it another look.

Strangely enough, this is the first sign of something vaguely modern - or, at least, more modern than thatched roofing and weird buildings that are in the shape of pokémon - by having bricks around the door. Framing the door itself is a series of light red and pink bricks, and now that she's closer she can see the odd swirl design painted in a dark pink on the door.

It also doesn't seem to have a lock.

Well that's not safe. She muses. At least the front gate is guarded and locked.

Maybe it doesn't need to be guarded. A feeling mused back. If Litleo was so quick to pull a move on you and attack, then maybe the Guildmaster is so bold to say that he's too tough to be successfully robbed?

Chatot then clears his throat and looks back to her. "Now, remember this Zorua," He points a wing at the door. "Inside is Guildmaster Wigglytuff, who is a pokémon deserving of great respect. He will help officiate this request, so be thankful!" He even ends his spiel with a ruffling of his feathers.

…

After a few moments of silence, Zorua blinks once. "Okay."

"I'm serious," He exclaims. "If you don't hold yourself up to the proper conduct of an Explorer - or an equivalent, don't get smart with me - then we will bar you from this investigation!"

Properly threatened, Zorua gives the bird a nod. "I understand."

Seemingly satisfied with her acknowledgement, Chatot turns back to the door and, with a single brush of his wing, opens the door. It looked oddly practiced, as if he only opened the door that way for years.

He appears to be showing off. A feeling notes. To be fair, he opened a solid wood door with a wing. Wings are mostly feathers and hollow bones.

Showoff. Another feeling scoffs quietly.

Absol and Zorua are led into the office, and Zorua gets another room to look around in. The walls are still mostly carved earth that is slightly overgrown, but the wall behind her is still bricks. The same goes for the floor, which holds four notable objects. The first is a crude desk, which almost looks to have been grown instead of built. It hoods a mix of papers, set into particular stacks here and there, with a wide inkwell that almost looks like a small bowl set to the side. Off to one wall is a door, which is much less decorated than the entrance, and not much is noted about it.

Then there's a throne in the corner of the room. The absurdity of it, from the material looking to have come from a half-dozen different things that she can't name, to the fact that it seems to be placed there to be out of the way, just looked so weird to her.

And lonely. A feeling adds. Its owner abandoned it to rot in that corner. So unloved…

There's a thick layer of dust on it. A feeling drags her eyes to the seat and arms of the throne. Possibly more than a year's worth.

You know… Her head tilts slightly. I kinda want to sit in it. Give it a good dusting first, sure, but I bet it would make me look regal in a sort of 'wasteland queen' way.

(Heavy Is The Weight Of The Crown That Drowns Monarchs)

She shivered suddenly, an ominous feeling crawling over her spine. Don't. It could be cursed.

Fair.

Tearing her eyes away from the paradoxical throne, she looks to the last thing in the room.

It's a pink monster.

Zorua really, really wants to leave the room suddenly. It's this sudden feeling that crosses over her, with those bug-eyed greens staring at her as if she did something wrong and she's about to die for her sins. With a horrible realization, this monster looks just like the building that they had to walk into.

The pink judgment monster is here for you! A feeling yells. Don't move, it might only see movement.

Her legs lock up under her, and her amber eyes stare right back into those sickening emerald depths. It almost felt like an eternity of torment, hoping that those eyes will tear away from her first and she can run as far as she can from this thing.

"...Zorua," She hears Absol sigh. Again. "What are you doing?"

Quietly, without opening her mouth too much, she whispers to Absol. "If I move, the monster will kill me."

She hears a quiet scoff from the side, then Chatot's voice. "That is not a monster, Zorua. That's the Guildmaster, Wigglytuff."

She still doesn't move. "Why is he staring at me?"

"Because he's still asleep and he's staring in that direction."

…what? A feeling tickles something in her mind. Okay, this is going to be a risky maneuver, but you can do it.

What do I need to do?

You need to move one step to the left. If its gaze follows, then you will be spotted. If it doesn't, then you'll be safe.

Sounds dangerous. But what do I have to lose at this point?

A lot actually, but don't think about that.

Slowly, Zorua moves one of her body's width to the left, eyes never leaving the creature's empty gaze.

It doesn't follow.

"...okay," Zorua sighs in relief. "The scary pink monster is asleep, it won't hurt me."

Chatot looks like he wants to say something about that, then thinks better of it and ignores the sagging Zorua. He hops over to the lone desk in this room, which both lacks a proper floor to sit on so it seems to tilt to one side, and a noticeable lack of any chairs to either sit behind it or sit in front of. It almost seems like an afterthought to use a desk in this room, which is odd considering the papers on top of it.

Chatot leaps on top of a cleared portion of the desk and grabs a blank page from one stack. "I was going to make a listing before you showed up, Absol, but you arrived faster than I anticipated. If you will, we can go over as many details for this as we can, as quickly as possible."

Zorua looked over to Absol to see if she would play ball with the colorful bird, and the blade dog goes over and sits in front of the desk. Almost automatically, she looks back at Zorua.

She's waiting for her partner to back her up. A feeling says.

Casting one glance back at the pink beast - who is, thankfully, stock still - she walks up to the desk and copies Absol.

Then came the more boring part of the investigation: paperwork. While the organization of it feels off to the amnesiac fox, it works well enough to get the job done. There was the time of day that the murder was committed - which was left as a vague "some time in the night" - along with the general time it was discovered this morning. Then came the identity of the victim, their injuries, position they were left in post-mortem, the surroundings of the crime scene (normally to describe the aftermath of a battle, which there was none,) and it's location, then a half-hearted list of people who discovered the crime scene, in which Zorua was technically one of them.

Then came the harder part of the list: the murderer themselves. Based on the information that Chimecho gave them, the murderer can use a pokémon move that uses Normal type energy to make a dangerous cutting attack, along with some sort of Psychic move that can cause some sort of debilitating effect on the target pokémon. Zorua tried to ask if it would make sense to know exactly what kind of pokémon is capable of those abilities, which led to her getting some odd looks.

"That," Absol starts slowly. "Would be difficult, Zorua. If there was another type other than Normal used for this murder, then it would have been easier to narrow down the type of the murderer."

Chatot chips in, next. "Unfortunately, Zorua, Normal type moves are one of the most common types of moves that every pokémon can use. You, er, would have known this if…"

"If I had my head screwed on straight," Zorua finishes.

He looks relieved to not have to be the one to say that. Outwardly, he just nods. "Not as demeaning as I was implying, but yes. While the combination of Psychic and Normal is a boon of knowledge in this investigation, it hardly narrows it down to a single species of pokémon."

With that out of the way, there was little else that could be filled out. The description for the 'outlaw' is left void, the request is being accepted by both Absol and Zorua, and Chatot made an unusually dry comment about how this would be one of the fastest requests that he has to make a copy for a certain 'Officer Magnezone'.

Then came the words that Zorua never thought she wanted to hear. "Then there's the matter of payment."

Her ears shoot straight up, eyes widening as far as they can go. "Payment?"

Payment?! A feeling pulls at her insides in a fit of greed. Alright, look woman: there are few good graces in this world as beautiful as getting those fat stacks. Very. Few. The only exceptions are the adorably socially-inept catboys that you know and maybe the budding partnership with Absol, but money? You need that poké, sïster.

Chatot is too busy looking down at the copy he's making to see her excitement, but he answers her question. "Yes, normally for standard requests the client gives payment for a job well done. But, in cases where an outlaw is involved and there isn't a direct client, the Exploration Team Federation compensates us instead. It's not often that it happens, but they tend to dole out stipends for particularly dangerous criminals being brought to justice." He sighs, idly tapping a claw on the wooden desk. "Although it always feels dour to benefit from the death of others, this will be a decent payment for a murderer."

Hold on- bonus cash for taking on dangerous criminals?! The greedy feeling shouts in her skull, making her right eye twitch. Sïster, you need to take this killer down, and take them down now!

I thought we were going to do that anyways, regardless of pay? A stern feeling questions.

I'm more curious about this Federation of theirs. A different feeling hums. They seem to have big pockets if they can just throw money at whoever turns in a criminal. Why are they like that?

Blah blah, who cares where it comes from? Sïster here needs the dough, and she needed it yesterday!

Chatot continues on, ignorant of the arguments in Zorua's head. "I shall put in a request, and by the time this criminal is put behind bars the Federation will have determined how much the guild will be rewarded." After a pause, he coughs into a wing. "And yourselves too, of course! We can't have the brave Explorers solving this case go unrewarded."

…I don't like the look in his eye. The same feeling sneers. He looks too happy for a moment there.

Absol, surprisingly, rolls her eyes. "And the same tax is applied at the standard rate?"

"Always, Absol." Chatot doesn't skip a beat.

Ew, taxes. Zorua internally groans. Sounds like less money for us.

Don't care, we'll still get the money. The feeling reassures.

Besides, A different feeling starts. It's time for the best part of these cases.

Besides learning that we're getting paid?

Yes, better than getting paid.

Curious, Zorua waits patiently for whatever Chatot is going to do next. He goes and scribbles some more things down on the paper, in which the white fox wished she was a bit taller so she could see what's being written, then lets out a short sigh. "There we are. Request has been officiated, and everything is ready for you to start in earnest." He looks up to Absol and taps one of the pages with a clean talon. "I made the liberty of signing you two down as the Explorers for this job, now I make copies and get to do even more paperwork." Now he truly sighs, looking down at the desk as if it wronged him somehow.

…what the fuck?

The feeling startled her. What?

Isn't he…

Absol interrupts her, nodding once to Chatot. "Thank you, Assistant Guildmaster Chatot. If you don't mind me asking, do you know where Sunflora might be?"

Isn't he what? You didn't give me a lot to work with other than 'the best part.'

It's the best part when it comes to making a case file! All the other bits are tedious and boring - but informative - and this part is always the fun part of the whole thing.

…the fun part of making a case of someone dying?

Yes, exactly.

Chatot cocks his head at Absol's words. "Why do you need to see her?"

"Chimecho made a passing mention that the two knew each other. It was Zorua who had the initiative to talk to her first, actually." She nodded to the smaller fox, then paused. "Is there something wrong, Zorua?"

Apparently there is. Zorua says to herself. Just tell me what it is so I can ask them.

Titling a case! The feeling yells. You're supposed to give these things a good, all-caps, catchy name that fits the murder. Either he named it and didn't tell us, or they don't do that sort of thing here and just name it "Case#: 8433-A/2028-Z 147B" or whatever boring nonsense they come up with.

…and a good example of this would be?

If there was an accident that involved a piano falling onto someone and killing them, and witnesses noted a large series of a piano's strings being hammered all at once, and the victim is a male, then a good title would be HIS LAST NOTES, or something.

Huh… that does sound cool.

Zorua shakes her head, then notices the other two looking at her. "Sorry, it's just…" She looks at Chatot. "Did you name the case?"

His eyes narrow for a moment, then glances down at the papers that Zorua still can't see. "Do you mean the request? If so, then yes: 'Find Patrat's Killer', it is titled."

"Really?" She scoffs. "Wow, that's boring as hell. Where's the flair for naming a case? The pizazz for it all?"

"The what?"

"Okay, how about we give it a name befitting a case about finding a murderer, like," She thinks about it for a moment, then looks over to Absol. "What's the convention you used over at your old guild?"

She got a blank look in return. "Ours was alphanumeric. It's to help keep it sorted in record rooms. Was Precinct 41 different in some way?"

"Precinct 41?" Chatot murmured.

"Yeah, we had something like yours - I think - along with a titular name for our cases. Now come on, help me out with a name; anything is better than whatever petit oiseau came up with."

Absol stares at her for a long moment.

She recognizes something in you. Whatever good or bad that it brings, it makes something in her crack.

"...oh what the hell," A small smile cracks her stony visage. "Why not? Can it be anything?"

Zorua makes a so-so gesture with a paw. "Eh, it has to make enough sense in context, but as long as it does…"

An answer comes quickly. "How about, THE CRIMSON SMILE, because of the cut on Patrat's neck."

Chatot gasps from the desk. "We are not calling it that! That is highly disrespectful of the victim-"

Zorua shakes her head. "Eh, it's kinda weak if you ask me. Now if the killer also cut his lips to make a literal 'crimson smile' then I'd go for it."

Absol nods her head solemnly. "I understand. I'll keep that in mind for whenever that happens."

There's a smile in her eyes. She's enjoying this.

A hum comes from next to her. "How about THE BOOTY LANE KILLER?"

Zorua blinked once.

Woah. The feeling sends a quiver down her nerve-endings. That's… really good, actually. Give a metal to whoever said that.

The corners of her vision darken. Wait, that wasn't Chatot or Absol who said that. Then who…

She feels her senses sharpen, and everything looks both darker and brighter than they should. Suddenly, a familiar feeling speaks up. This should give you enough time to think something up. Be quick.

A haze of something yellow flickers from somewhere just outside of her line of sight. The one who spoke is right around there, about two body lengths from you. Not too close, but still close enough for a lunge.

The haze turns blue, shifting to the other two occupants. They're safe enough as they are. The stranger and Absol have you in between them, so she's safe. Chatot can get behind the desk for cover, so let's hope that he's quick about this.

Then, strangely, a spark of purple dances across their faces. They're surprised, but not tensing up in any way. Is the stranger not dangerous in any way?

The last feeling gives her pause. You know, it might not be. I'd be better off getting a look for myself and seeing who I'm looking at.

Smart. Be quick about it.

Quickly, almost enough to put a crick in her neck, Zorua whips her head around to look at the stranger.

The monster's green eyes stare right back at her, an expectant smile on its face. "That sounds good, doesn't it?"

Zorua screamed.