Barney Filovitz grumbled under his breath as he lit another quick cigarette. Inhaling, he tried to let the smoke calm him. He wasn’t sure which was going to be worse; losing his job from being caught wasting time waiting for the criminals he was going to let in, being caught letting in said criminals — and losing his job — or losing teeth or fingers from having to pay back his gambling debts and being unable to do so. It was a good thing he was already balding, or he’d have pulled his hair out. His hands were shaking by the time the knocks came at the door, which was weird because normally the shakes only started before he’d got to the cigarette.

“Yeah, whaddaya want?” he gruffed, pulling the door open. Three youngsters looked up at him owlishly. They panted, red faced and out of breath, quite unable to speak at first.

“Are you—” the red headed kid began after a few seconds, but Barney just sighed and ushered them in, rolling his eyes.

“Get in here before somebody sees you. They said the cameras are off but who knows. No, no, don’t look up for Arceus’ sake. Get in there… janitorial closet, that’s right. Suit up, get some caps on and keep your heads down. Nobody notices the cleaners so… get cleaning! I was never here, I never saw you, and you tell those sons of bitches at the game corner that this clears my slate, you hear?”

Barney ushered the interlopers into a small room off the corridor behind him, closing the door to New Mauville that led to the out-of-the-way entrance the kids had used.

“I, uh, yeah, sure, clear.” Sly shared a look with Ed and Becca, and all three agreed.

Barney nodded appreciatively, as the red headed kid rifled through the cleaning supplies, that at least one of them had some sort of sense. Idly he wondered if they’d end up poisoning themselves or anyone else by mixing the wrong supplies, but that was no skin off his nose. Still, he decided to get as far away as he could just in case. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d pulled a sickie, but it certainly wasn’t going to be the last.

“Hi, I’m—” the sandy haired boy began, an idiotically benign smile on his face. Barney grumbled deep in his throat.

“Tch tch tch, nope nope, hold your horseas. I didn’t see you because I was never here, so I certainly don’t know your names, capiche? You’re not my problem any more, so stop tryin’ ta be,” he interrupted reproachfully. “I don’t even have my pokemon with me, and I don’t wanna see yours either.”

“How do we get out of here?” asked Becca, frowning as she looked around the place, peering out of the janitorial closet. The lights were long fluorescent strips hanging from the ceiling, the floor a dull black, the walls dark green. The whole place was starting to look like a diglett warren, and most likely was.

“How should I know? Why should I care? My job was to get you in and to give you these.” Barney handed over a set of keys and some keycards. “ Just… walk out, why don’t you? Leave me out of it. Look, this place isn’t exactly open to the public. Far as most people in the city know, New Mauville was never completed and got shut down. That’s not quite true, so watch your step. Feh, I don’t owe you brats nuttin’ more than that. I’m outta here.”

Sly shook his head as the older man wandered out of the large closet, closing the door behind him. “I suppose we’re on our own, then. Okay; Ed, you’re mopping. Becca, you’re sweeping, ahead of Ed. I’ll be checking the panels.” He brandished a toolbelt heavily laden with tools before slinging it around his waist and tightening it up.

“But—”

“If you don’t like it then switch, but choose now. Whoever’s mopping, fill that bucket there with water, a-a-and…” Sly set to with enthusiasm, picking up and handing out bottles and sprayers and tools. “Some of this. Take that bottle with you. Grab some rags, yep, those, nice and dirty ones as well as the clean… and you’ll need some of this, and that… shine anything that looks like it needs shining. If somebody looks like they’re going to approach you then just slop some water about and ask them to get out of the way.”

As the two trainers’ arms began to fill with cleaning supplies, cloths, mops and other sundries, the realisation dawned on them that Sly had done this sort of thing before.

“How come this is so…” Becca lifted her arms full of supplies up, raising an eyebrow as she shook them.

“Easy?”

Becca nodded. Sly grinned, winking, as he grabbed a cart and pushed it over to her.

“Whoever said investigative journalism was a walk in the poke-park was lying through their teeth. And yes, occasionally I do a spot of poking my nose into more serious things. I’m handy with a camera, but if I wanted to settle down into full-time photography I’d do baby shoots and pokemon battles over in Unova or something. Nope, won’t catch me tied down like that.”

“So you do this thing often?” Ed asked.

“Often enough to know that, when we go out there,” Ed pointed roughly towards the door, “all anyone’s going to see is a cleaning crew. So lets get clea—”

“Vee!”

Ed screwed his eyes shut and tilted his head so his gaze searched the ceiling at the pop from the ball stuffed into his bag as a burst of light formed into a familiar figure. “Lux! You better not be here to cause trouble!” he hissed.

“Vee eev vee vee,” Lux replied, ears flopping down, but then she shook herself out and stood up straight… and sniffed all around the room, before taking a traditional pointer stance, one forepaw raised, bent.

“You want to help search for… what? You think you can find something? How?”

“Vee vee. Ee veveveee eevee eev!”

Ed tilted his head thoughtfully. “You’re not sure, but you want to try anyway?”

“Vee.”

There was another pop from Becca’s bag, as Shadow joined them. The two pokemon looked at each other, yipping and barking as quietly as they could, before Shadow shook himself out, a shower of sparks grounding themselves around the room.

“Manectric!” Shadow drew himself upright to attention, then he head-tilted like Lux, hanging his tongue out and panting happily.

“You too, huh?” Becca asked. Shadow yapped briefly in reply, the manectric’s chest puffing out. “Hmm. What do you think, Sly?”

“Might be a bit recognizable, there aren’t too many eevee’s around, and though manectric’s are common down here, the two together…” Sly pursed his lips thoughtfully. “Well if they can spot… something? We’ve only got the rest of the day, and the sooner we’re in and out the better.” Sly bent down, crouching with knees and balancing on his feet. His knees popped. “Lux? Shadow? You think you can find something to help us?”

“V-vee!”

“Man-man!”

“Okay, look. You two stay out of trouble, alright? We’ll take a trolley of stuff and you two can stay on the trolley at the bottom. Guys? Keep your cleaning things tightly closed, if Lux and Shadow’s got a chance in heck of actually sniffing something out, it won’t be with all these sorts of things spilling all over the place. And… we all ready? Mops, buckets, water? Let’s get cleaning!”

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Shadow and Lux kept low as Sly, Ed and Becca spent the better part of the following hour doing the most nerve-wracking, tedious work they could. True to form, nobody in the complex gave any of the group — the two pokemon included — a second glance. In fact, most people seemed to go out of their way to ignore the menial workers.

True to the word of the guy who’d let them in, the upper layer was mostly old, broken and neglected. Thus, they didn’t try too hard. However, as they ventured downwards, the complex became more active, better maintained. And oddly enough, that made it easier to blend in.

There were a few close calls with some dozing voltorbs that almost decided to make their displeasure known, and plenty of magnemite that had to be chased out of fuse cupboards. There were even a pack of manectrics and electrikes that enthusiastically greeted the trio of humans — and especially Shadow, though Lux wasn’t too enthused at being sniffed that closely — at the far end of one abandoned warehouse on the top floor, though these were sadly left behind as the humans sought their unknown, elusive goals deeper inside the complex.

Counter to expectations, there were quite a lot of humans in the upper sections of what appeared to be the real New Mauville. There were a few trainers on the lookout for various otherwise-pest pokemon that they could snag on the easy, but it was clear that the public weren’t exactly welcome or wanted in what was apparently the more sensitive parts of the complex. Ed, Becca and Sly however, as apparent janitors, continued to be almost universally ignored. A few times, Sly even deliberately went to interrupt people so he could open hatches and flick switches in front of them, or between groups of them, marking things down on a clipboard and chattering noisily at them. They’d move out of the way without a second thought, looking elsewhere — anywhere but at the red-head — as they frantically tried to escape his presence. His antics calmed Ed and Becca until they got into the swing of things. Nervous energy turned to quiet caution, which turned eventually to boredom.

“You know,” Ed asked idly as he scrubbed a particularly stubborn stain with his mop before dunking it and drying it twice with the squeegee action, “I don’t think anyone’s ever done a proper cleaning in this place for years! It’s filthy.”

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“Tell me about it,” grumbled Becca as she made another note in her logbook, popped the cover on a blinking fluorescent tube and replaced it. The new tube didn’t light up. “Bugger, striker’s gone too. Uuurggh, when are we going to find anything? Are we seriously going to go floor to floor for… what?”

Sly pulled his head out of a maintenance port, flourished a dirty rag and tapped a few pressure valves. “There, water pressure’s back. No leaks. I think a muk’s been through, strangely enough,” he muttered to himself. He closed the hatch, locked it and then wiped his hands off on his overalls as he turned to Ed and Becca. “You’re right, you must be onto something. We’re poking about where there’s nothing interesting, despite the increasing numbers of guards and scientists as we go down. We need to get right in the thick of it. If there’s anything that anybody cares about down here, it’s got to be better guarded, or better placed.”

“So you mean we need to search for this whatever it is where there are lots of other people. Right down the bottom. Great. More chances of getting found out,” Becca grumbled.

“But more chances of finding what we’re after, too,” agreed Ed. “Whoever built this place after closing it down, that’s where they’re going to put… it.”

“Further down and further in it is, then. That’s where all the important stuff’ll be,” suggested Sly. “If we’ve got a hope of catching a clue, we need to stop messing about.”

“Yep, further in and further down. Let’s go.”

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The freight elevator was a big, slow one, with a huge metal sliding guard instead of a proper door which made the most horrendous noise as it was pulled open. It protested equally loudly as they pushed the double mechanism guards closed again. Rather than trying to hide it, the three let it make as much noise as it wanted, chatting noisily about their worksheet as they did so.

Sly made sure everyone was ready, then punched the button for Basement B6. With a brief squeal of engaging gears, the massive elevator began its descent past the rest of the floors. Lux leapt onto Ed’s shoulder for comfort as they went down, causing the boy to stumble and curse. Shadow lolled his tongue out, laughing in his own way, as he leaned against Becca. She idly reached down and sunk her hand into his mane. He whined happily, eyes closing.

Eventually, the elevator came to rest. Immediately upon stopping, it became clear that there was far more going on in the bowels of the complex than in any of the upper layers put together. There were far more people, though most of them seemed disinclined to interfere with the three intruders, making way as Ed pushed the cart out of the elevator, squeaking past worker after worker.

Now, rather than the waste of effort it had seemed at first, the hours spent up above honing their skills showed itself as time well spent developing their personas as humble janitors. Indeed, the brusque attitude they each exuded cowed most of the white-collared denizens of the sub-basement. Eventually though, the trio noticed the odd small group of people here and there having quiet conversations that gave them the stink eye when approached, who immediately clammed up until the ‘janitors’ left.

“Paydirt,” commented Sly, as the trio huddled in yet another closet.

“Yeah, you saw the pins, the rings, the cufflinks?” Ed whispered.

“Two sorts,” Becca agreed. “Red and blue. And they’re working together, or at least communicating. I can’t say I expected that. I think we all have ideas about exactly what it means, but let’s leave that speculation until later because we’ve got one big question: now what? Follow them?”

Sly pursed his lips, deep in thought. “I have an idea, but I’m not sure if it’s a good one. It might, however, be our best bet.”

“Well, let’s hear it then,” said Ed.

“You and me, we can spot what we’re looking for on the people we can see… but what we need is to know where those people’ve been, right?”

“Right?” Ed and Becca agreed.

“Who do we know who can, literally, sniff out what we’re after?” Sly grinned as the trio’s gaze turned down to Lux and Shadow. “What do you think, boy? Girl? Can you help us?”

“Tric-ectric?”

“Vee eev-vee?”

The two pokemon clambered out of the trolley and shared a look together, before peering back up towards the humans. They nodded, slowly. Lux tilted her head, her way of showing she was paying attention.

Sly squatted down in front of the two pokemon, his knees popping. “Alright. We’re going to have you sniff out some of those workers with the pins and stuff, right? As many as you think you can remember, and then you’re going to lead us through this place until we’ve been to all the places they’ve been. With a bit of luck, we might find where they’ve been doing things they shouldn’t. But first, I think we’re going to need a distraction for later.”

As Ed and Becca shared confused expressions, Sly rummaged through the room and carefully picked up several bottles of chemicals from amongst the many options available. Apparently satisfied, he measured out small amounts into another, empty bottle, then swiftly put the top on as a few wisps of greenish fumes started spewing from the top. The other two humans, and their pokemon, gave the bottle an alarmed look.

“So, Ed, Becca? Let me take the lead here, alright? I’m doing something slightly dangerous but mostly just stinky. It’s part of the cover story. Don’t ever try to do this, by the way. This can be actually poisonous. I’m making just enough to keep people out of our way if we hit the jackpot.”

“What the heck is that?” Becca demanded. She’d got a whiff of the stuff and had gagged.

“Chemistry,” replied Sly blithely. “Just believe me, if you read the label on various household cleaning supplies and they say not to mix with other types of cleaning supplies? Believe it. But that’s our cover story; muks just love this stuff, and they also are quite happy to travel through pipes after it. A while ago a cleaning company was cutting some corners and, well, now you know how come I’ve done this before.”

“I thought you were a photographer,” Becca said accusingly.

“Yeah,” Ed agreed. “Who are you? I know you said you’ve done this sort of thing before, but this is going too far.”

“I… it’s complicated. I am a photographer, but I’m also a bit of an investigative reporter. I poke my nose where it’s not wanted in cases like this.” Sly stood up again. “Listen, if you don’t want to trust me, I’ll help you guys get out, but I’m not leaving here until I’ve got what—”

“It’s not whether we trust you or not,” said Becca reproachfully.

“Not at least entirely,” said Ed, punching the older boy on the arm. “After all, Giovanni snookered us good. He recognized you, but he wanted us. We’re stuck with this gig, and I think the both of us will agree, we need your help.”

Becca nodded emphatically. “But don’t think we’re not going to talk about this later.”

“Point taken. Thanks for the vote of confidence. So, go time?”

“Go time,” Ed agreed.

“Go time,” echoed Becca. “Fist bump?”

The three friends put their fists together, before Becca turned to the two pokemon. “Get in here, you two.”

“Eevee!”

“Manectric!”

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The little eevee and the larger manectric both barged straight into the room, circling it a few times, before returning to the doorway.

“‘Scuse me, folks. We’ve tracked down the problem, no cause for alarm.”

Jack Peterson stamped his foot in agitation as he turned and rounded on the intruder. “What do you think you’re…” he paused as his brain caught up with his annoyance. “No cause for alarm, you say?”

“Oh absolutely none at all, it’s just a small chance of… ah, I mean, no, no, you’re perfectly safe.”

Jack’s annoyance turned to growing fear as he peered at the grubby janitor and his two co-workers as they shuffled into the room brandishing a variety of tools. The two other janitors covered their faces as they came into the room. Jack became painfully aware that he was breathing the same air that now the first janitor had covered his mouth from.

“You can stay where you are, I’m sure it’s a false alarm. No need to evacuate, none at all!”

“Evacuate?” squeaked Jack, eyes bugging out.

“No, no, no. Certainly not. Haha, who said anything about evacuating. By the way, ah, delicate question here; you haven’t noticed anything… odd going on in this room? Like, nothing missing that you can’t remember moving?”

“Missing? Uh… yes? How did you— I, I, I mean no, of course not!”

The janitor sucked in air through his teeth, turning to the other two. “Missing objects. Doesn’t remember.” He shook his head sadly. The other two leaned closer to each other, whispering something before they both took a step back.

“Uh… what would that, theoretically of course, mean?”

“Theoretically? Well. Course. Can’t say as I should be saying this, ‘cos after all, there’s nothing wrong here at all, at all, you’re perfectly safe, but… ah, if there had been certain… chemicals found in the air then, I’m sure it’s not permanent, but—”

“Permanent!?” Jack exclaimed in a hoarse strained whisper, a vein bulging in his forehead.

“Look, me and the boys, we can take care of it. Tell us what you’re, uh, missing and we’ll keep an eye out for it as we sweep this room for any dangerous — I mean, uh, troublesome little problems, alright? You haven’t smelled anything… bad, have you?”

Instinctively, Jack sniffed. His face wrinkled. Rotten eggs, stinging fumes. He mopped his brow. “Uh, uh, n-no?”

“Because if you have, you should tell us. I mean, I think we can all agree that this room smells fine but if, say, you think you smell something bad, it probably means you should, you know, take a break.”

“A b-break?” Jack could feel his heart thudding in his chest as a cold sweat broke out across his back.

“Yeah, outside, just for like… fifteen minutes? Twenty? Me and the boys, we can search for whatever it is you’re missing, unless you want to help us look for it.”

Rotten eggs assaulted his nose again. The smell was stronger now. Jack felt the cold sweat beading on his forehead, his arms breaking out in gooserene bumps. The rest of the workers in the room had already fled.

“It’s n-nothing, just some plans for a… a generator! Hardly a problem at all, it’s not even possible to build! Y-you’d have to be fireproof, you’d need Mount Chimney to power it, totally unfeasible! Somebody was j-just researching it, I’m sure, and you know how it is, just didn’t put them back. It’s not like we need them.”

“Plans for a generator, eh? Oh, yeah, no problem. I’m sure you’re not suffering from any memory loss at all. We’ll clear out your little problem, and then when you’re back in say a half hour, we’ll be gone! Off you go now.”

“Uh… we can just… leave?”

“Well, we’re not going to be doing anything too troublesome, just having a bit of a poke around. I mean, I can’t smell anything, so the leak’s probably already gone, but I’m told if you get exposed to it, you’ll start smelling rotten eggs and if you’re not… ah, I wasn’t supposed to say that. Come on guys, let’s get a move on, if the leak’s here we don’t want to sit here all day, haha.”

Jack gulped weakly, backing out of the room. “Haha, yes, no, nobody should be sitting inside in this one room all day.”

“Right? Glad I get to walk around really, fresh air and exercise, does you good. Masks on, guys, we don’t want to get sick.”

Jack fled.

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