Morgan stumbled his way across the very early morning street, hands leaning on the wall for support. His head was feeling like a balloon full of helium. Floaty and ready to burst. Ah, poor choice of words there.

Morgan stopped for another phase of headache. His stomach churned uncomfortably. Raticate waited impatiently in the distance. He said to it, "You go ahead, I'll catch up later."

It really did scamper off. Damn, Morgan was expecting it to be a little more reluctant. Oh well, maybe he could just lay on this nice cobblestone road for a bit. It looked awfully cold, and he was feeling too warm at this moment. It will certainly introduce a much needed contrast to his skin. He slid down and tried to find the most comfortable position.

A pair of boots appeared in front of his eyes, blocking his view of the uneven crack between the stones. A voice from above called out, "Hey kid, are you alright? The Raticate there got me here."

"I'm fine–" Morgan moved to sit to answer, but the jarring shift disturbed his stomach a little too much, and he threw up all over the man's feet.

"Oh," the man said. "That's not very nice of you."

Morgan blacked out, and had to be rushed to the nearest Pokemon Center. Presumably. He wasn't aware at the time.

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Opening his eyes felt like too much effort right now, but he managed to do one of them in the end. The first thing he saw was the white ceiling. He was lying in a bed, a curtain cut off his vision to the rest of the room, and an IV drip connected to his wrist. He could see chairs parked by the wall for any visitor. Morgan made some noise to clear his parched throat.

Someone offered him a glass of water, it was Ace Trainer Nice. Morgan almost didn't notice the sound of him entering through the door. He got here really fast, it's as if he was just waiting for him to wake up. "Here," he said. "Take it easy, you and your Pokemon received quite a beating last night."

Morgan accepted it and slid back a little to find a more comfortable position to talk and drink the water. He asked then, "Where am I? And where's Moon?"

"I've taken you both to the Pokemon Center after I found you. And as for your Pokemon, here it is."

Officer Nice handed Morgan his only PokeBall. He grabbed it tightly and said in gratitude, "Thanks."

"Think nothing of it."

"Do you know if he is alright?"

"Not any worse than you, at least. Nurse Joy assured me that you both just needed to rest now. But the headaches might not be gone for a few more days."

"Oh," Morgan said weakly.

Nice then drag a chair closer and place it right beside the bed to sit down. "Now, I know this might not be the appropriate time right now, but I have to know. Can you tell me anything about what happened to you last night?"

Morgan pushed through the haze to answer, "I was kidnapped."

"By who?"

"By a cult, I think. They were sacrificing people to a weird psychic Pokemon. A Psyduck."

Nice grumbled, "I knew it, why is it always a cult?"

"You know about this?" Morgan asked.

"No, but I have encountered a cult before in my mission. They have a similar kidnapping and murder pattern. But curiously, this time they also dropped their victims in specific locations. As if drawing a circle in a cardinal direction."

"Is that considered strange in the cult business?"

"Yes, Morgan," said Nice. "You could say that it is very strange, indeed. Do they also reveal their aim in a long monologue?"

"Yes, actually."

"What is it?"

"Their leader said it's for knowledge or something like that."

Nice hummed, "This one is not very original, then."

"I guess," muttered Morgan.

"One last question, and this is a long shot, but do you remember any of the members you meet there or the place where they keep you? Their hideout, I mean."

There was a snag in a part of his brain, like a stuck pipe. He just couldn't pull any memory from it, no matter how hard he tried. His breath quickened.

"I can't remember. Why can't I remember?"

"It must be a psychic blocker. I'm familiar with the method. Very routine for criminals and secret government projects. But please don't let anyone know that you get this from me," said Nice. "Somewhat sloppy, though, to let you retain everything else you went through. I don't think they expect you to escape."

"What did they do to me?"

"It is of course more complicated than I know how to explain myself, but the basics of it is that they put an amount of psychic-type energy into your mind to limit your ability to recall specific information."

"Like their hideout."

"Precisely."

Morgan softly swore. He then asked, "Can it be fixed? I really don't want to carry this thing around in my head."

"Luckily, it is. You need to either gain the answer to access it back from the one responsible, or–"

"Or what, man?"

"I can get my expert colleague to come here in order to help you. Which is vastly easier, for both of us."

"Oh," said Morgan. Something then occurred to him. "Wait, what about the Raticate? It was there too with me. It must have seen something."

"The same thing that happened with you, unfortunately. He can't remember the place either."

"Well, that sucks. But still, if you see it– him again, please tell him that I'm grateful for his help. I'll probably still be trapped there without him."

"I will."

There was a moment of silence, where neither knew what else to say.

"Now, what?" Morgan asked.

"Now I'll use the landline to call my colleague. Meanwhile, I need you to stay in the city until he gets here. Preferably without involving yourself further with this mess."

Morgan glared, "What, no way! I want to help defeat the cult."

"Absolutely not."

"They-they have done things to me!"

"I know," said Nice calmly. "And the relevant party will be caught and subjected to the government's punishment, I assure you."

Morgan scrambled for another excuse. "But whether you like it or not, I'm already involved anyway. Those people are going to come looking for me."

"You'll be safe here. I'll assign someone to guard you, and if you don't mind, to ask for further details regarding your kidnapping."

That's not good, thought Morgan, if he couldn't freely move around without someone watching. He couldn't confront the cult if that happened.

"And you're right," said Nice. "I don't like it. I personally think that treating teenagers as adults who benefit from being thrust into dangerous situations is the root cause of many of our society's problems. But, what do I know? I'm just a civil servant."

"Right," muttered Morgan. "So apparently, besides being a Senior Ace Trainer, a civil servant, you're a social activist too. You must have a pretty tight schedule."

Nice sighed, "Yes, that's why now I'm going to have that call, then go out and try to solve the case. As for you, make sure to stay here and rest. You deserve it, both of you. And that's the final decision. Remember that."

But as had been established, Morgan was not the best at remembering stuff right now.

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Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Several hours later, night had fallen. Ace Trainer Lewis Nice was once again on his way to patrol the street. He'd basically ordered the local police to increase their workload when he first came to Sable City, so it's only fair that he took the same burden. But this time, he had a certain area that he wanted to survey. The northeastern part of the city hadn't been visited by the headless yet, and he had a hunch about this.

His Umbreon was slinking along, her furs blending in nicely with the shade thrown by moonlight. The twitching ears signaled her alertness to any noises coming toward them.

"This is truly unnecessary," he said. "I can do this alone. You don't have to come with me."

"I know. But I want to contribute more to bring these criminals to justice. After all, this is my city. I have a certain obligation to my citizens, and I take it very seriously," said the mayor, who together with his Raticate, brought the group up to four.

"Does that obligation assert you to doggedly follow in my footsteps?"

"Yes," said Mayor Daniel. "Now tell me, where are we headed?"

"Wait just a moment, I believe that where I'm headed is an obvious altercation. Are you prepared for that eventuality?"

"I'm not a stranger to it, son. This body of mine didn't come from nothing."

"Fine, then. First off, I should probably mention that the kid wanted me to convey his thanks."

"Think nothing of it."

"I don't mean you," said Nice. "Do you hear that, Rat?"

Raticate hissed at the Umbreon's trainer. He disliked the tone. And the feline smell.

"Still," Nice continued. "I can't help but wonder, was that your plan all along? Though, I am unsure about what you gain from him being kidnapped."

Mayor Daniel's face frowned in annoyance. "I don't have the slightest idea what you're talking about."

Umbreon froze with her hackles raised, ears perked straight and nose scrunched in focused silence.

"Bette," asked Nice. "Do you notice something?"

Umbreon took off running. The rest of them valiantly tried to keep up with her. After following her shadow through seemingly random roads, the three of them lose track of her and come sliding to a halt upon the entrance to an alley. Because of course, it was. They had arrived at the scene.

They stared at what was inside. The indistinct silhouette in the middle of it steadily revealed itself to be a man hoisting another at the waist.

"Drop the body," Nice ordered, breathing harshly. "And turn around slowly with your hands up."

The headless corpse hit the ground with a soft thud. The man did as he was bidden, and then the moonlight reached his face at just the right amount that the mayor recognized him.

"Blake, is that you?" He asked almost fervently. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, hi Daniel," said Blake, he was wearing a surprised expression. "I was actually just on my way home right now, when I got sidetracked with something that I found on the road. Another victim, can you believe it? Good thing that I met you here, so I don't need to drag it all the way down to the police station."

"All this time," whispered the mayor. "It's been you?"

"Arceus, I did lay it on too thick, didn't I? I see that you don't believe me, your own employee."

"What did you do to my wife, you bastard?!"

"I'm not sure, but if only your bed could talk, it probably can answer that question for you."

The mayor frowned, "What?"

"I fuck your wife, Daniel."

His face went as white as a sheet, before erupting in red-hot anger. But he managed to say calmly through clenched teeth, "Chew him up, Rat."

Blake immediately drew his own PokeBall and called forth a floating, green and spherical creature with a large flower on its head. Its small red eyes blinked rapidly. "Morse, don't let him get through. Tackle to Stun."

A bright yellow powder started to gather around the Skiploom, and it rushed closer to the incoming Raticate.

"Quick, dodge it."

Rat smoothly went past the Skiploom and then turned around to face his opponent. Daniel said, "I didn't know that you have a Skiploom."

"A man gotta have his secret. For example–"

Daniel interrupted him with a new order, "Bite it with Hyper Fang."

Rat's massive fang glowed brightly, and he charged toward Morse with another quick attack.

"Fly up, Morse."

Morse ascended to deny the land bound Pokemon from ever reaching him. But the mayor had something to deal with that.

"Follow it," he said.

Rat jumped to the wall and then rebounded to another, and another. It didn't look graceful, but it did help close the gap every time he jumped.

"Shot him down," said Blake.

Morse opened his mouth to spray a barrage of bullet seed. Being airborne, Rat couldn't dodge it. The impact uprooted his coarse brown furs, and scattered it to the wind. His body hit the ground roughly, and cracked the pavement. But Daniel didn't look to be worried. And indeed, he was right to do so. He knew that his Pokemon could take it. Rat got back up to his own two feet. Daniel then said simply, "Swords Dance."

"That will not do," said Blake. "Not do at all. Lull him to sleep, with something extra."

Another cloud of powder conjured by Morse, now in light blue color. It was stirred and moved along by a visible wind current. The attack came too fast for Rat to dodge it this time, immediately putting a stop to his dance. Daniel silently observed, fingering another PokeBall in anticipation.

A flash of red from where Blake used to stand, and he was brought down to his knees. A PokeBall rolled from his suddenly weak grip. Leaping nimbly from behind his shadow, an Umbreon swiftly hit the white button. With a cry of anger, Skiploom disappeared in a white blaze.

"Good job, Bette," said Nice from the background.

"I don't need the help," the mayor grumbled.

"Well, you will have it regardless."

"So now what are we going to do?"

"We just get ourselves a key, metaphorically speaking. Hopefully, it will lead us to the door."

Daniel cracked his knuckles, "I know just the method to get that for you."