The next day was spent rummaging around in the sand, asking the Ask app about where the pearls were. I managed to collect five big pearls, twelve smaller pearls, and one Shell Bell, that one was found by a big pearl deep in the sand. The beach looked like an excavation site once I was through with it, littered with holes. I, of course, filled the holes back up, even if the waves did wash away the hole I didn’t want to leave the picturesque beach looking like that.
The rest of that day was spent looking for a jeweler who would be interested in buying the pearls, though not the Shell Bell as I plan to keep that on me. I plan to experiment with it, see how much I can change with “Edit” before it becomes too much, and see if I can figure out why it heals people. All that good stuff. I quickly found a jewelry store, the front has a big sign that reads “Carbink Jewelers” in a bold font and is made to look like a faceted diamond.
When I enter the store I am met with a very pristine inside with a marble floor, and various closed displays filled with various rings, necklaces, and bracelets. Some with no gem inside of them, a small double helix shaped a bit like an S engraved on the side of them. ‘Mega Stones, guess they’re pretty widespread knowledge.’ At the biggest counter, is an older gentleman.
His eyes are currently affixed to a small marble, “Um, excuse me?” I say as I begin to move forward, the man flinches slightly, and very quickly yet casually puts the marble into his pant pockets. “Hello, what may I help you with today?” He asks in a practiced and calm manner. I straighten my back, his hair has gone white with age and he has a thick beard like a lumberjack’s. His body, while not in its prime, is muscular, and not from bodybuilding. Rather his callused hands and the faint scars on his hands shows a tale of hard labor. He wears a blue pinstripe suit, with a light blue dress shirt underneath and a black tie clipped to his shirt. The tie clip has a very similar marble on it, though this one is a light blue as opposed to the one he had before which was a rosy pink.
The similar pattern in the center confirms my suspicions, that is a mega stone. ‘Interesting, he’s clearly not afraid to show off that he has mega stones. So why did he seem worried about that pink one?’ I push that to the side along with my other various thoughts, I look at the man and begin to speak, “Yes, I have some pearls and I wanted to know if you were interested in buying them?” I try my hardest to act professionally, though my hands refused to stop fidgeting when I started to speak. The man hums and then speaks once more “Sure if they’re of quality I’d be more than happy to buy them.”
I try to stone my face, but a faint smile broke out anyways. I rummage into my backpack, I glance down at my belt to make sure my team’s pokeballs were still there. I didn’t take them out because I wasn’t too sure about pokemon policies in stores like these, where everything seems so far out of my price range. I take out the pearls and present them to the man, whose name I have forgotten to ask for. A quick glance at his suit’s notched lapel reveals a name tag with “Almas” in a similar font to the sign outside.
The man takes out a small magnifying glass, the kind that I’ve seen in movies but never in real life. He carefully examines each and every one, looking for any faults or defects ‘I think, I’m not really an expert on this stuff.’ He soon finishes looking over each one meticulously.
“For the big ones, I can give you 4,000 each, and 1,000 for the smaller ones. That’ll be 32,000 in total, is this alright with you?” He says as he pulls out a Trainer ID, which acts as a credit card. I hold back an astonished expression, ‘32,000 adding that onto the 850 I have left that’s a real big budget increase. Hell, I won’t even need to win against the gym to afford any TMs!’
I quickly whip out my phone and make a half-assed excuse about a phone call, I move away from the counter and open the Ask app.
“What’s the standard price for a pearl and a big pearl?”
[1,000 for a pearl and 4,000 for a big one]
‘Okay, it’s market standard so I’m not being ripped off. I guess this guy gets a lot of trainers asking to trade in some gems.’ I put my phone back in my pocket and walked back to Almas. “Sorry about that, yeah that price sounds good to me.” He eyes me up a bit but then just nods, it looks like he wants to ask something, but then decides that he doesn’t care. He takes out his trainer card and I take out mine, we tap them against each other, the card acting as a money transferer. I look at the new number next to balance ‘A bit weird that it shows up on here, maybe it’s to make sure people know you're good for the money?’ The card itself seems to be pretty technically advanced, I can’t even tell that there’s a screen or any machinery in it.
He gives me a nod, and I say my goodbyes. Leaving now ten times richer than when I entered. ‘Now that I have all this money, it’s time to decide where to spend it. TMs are the obvious choice, but I shouldn’t limit my options to just those. I could get a power-boosting item or maybe a new team member, I know breeders sell great Pokémon for a price.’ As I mull over what to use my new fortune on, I end up walking past the Gym. My first thought upon seeing the gym is ‘Huh, the line’s gone.’ I check the time on my phone and decide to head in and schedule my gym fight.
The process is fairly painless, just a simple ID flash and setting up a date. Tomorrow is when I will take part in my first Gym Battle, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous. All Gym matches are recorded, usually by security cameras monitoring the gym. They then upload it to YourTube as a way to build hype around the new challengers, I actually figured this out during some random searching, I was shocked at the very least when I found out.
‘Okay, for the rest of the day the team will rest while I check out some things with my phone.’ I head back to the hotel and prepare to test out some ideas I’ve had. First things first, seeing how detailed I can make the Ask app go, constant uses will deplete my Aura a lot. I’m still a bit scared to mess around with Aura, the warning of death if overused made me a bit hesitant to lean on it. I think about what question to ask, then the obvious hit me.
“What would be a good diet and exercise plan for my whole team?”
A few seconds pass, ‘I still wonder if this is an AI, I guess that should be my next question.’ Harsh static soon enters my ears, causing me to jump in surprise and my pokemon do the same.
[Question blocked by administrative code 1, admin response reads: “Figure this out on your own, the Ask app is designed to help you with things of common sense and items, not in your possession. Simply put, I will no longer allow the app to give you unearned advice. It may talk of item locations but that requires you to adventure to seek them, and for tasks such as the one you’ve asked. Do your own research.”]
“What the, why is this only in play now?” I muse to myself at the new restriction given to me by this Admin. ‘Well, the admin’s gotta be Arceus, right? From the message, it seems like it’ll no longer give me info like another’s favorite food…or maybe it will? Ugh, I can’t believe Arceus nerfed me after he gave me this ability. Well, if pokegod is still fine-tuning this app, then I must be the first person to have it right?’ I rub my chin as the old answer soon fades into the blue background of the app. Time to ask the next question.
“What is the favorite food of the nurse Joy in Shaleshallows?”
Ding
[Cotton Candy.]
‘Well that still works, then what does code 1 apply to? Ah, next question found.’ I type a bit and hit enter.
Ding
[Adminstrative Code 1 applies to queries such as: Training methods, powerful pokemon locations, location of enemies, locations of allies, and questions revolving around hidden Arc-Phone features.]
I rub my chin some more ‘This code 1 seems like a major nerf, basically stomping any ideas I was working on. But this question also confirms that the Arc-Phone has hidden features and that there may be more blocked questions since it says “such as” is Arceus just making this stuff up on the fly? That would mean Arceus is keeping an eye on me then…a bit creepy, but then again it’s god so…’ I sigh and decide to focus on a new question.
“How much Aura do I have?”
Ding
[In numerical terms your Aura right now is 60/100 as 10 is subtracted with each question asked.]
‘That much for a question, huh, and it doesn’t seem like the length or simpleness of a question reduces the cost either…’ I file away the idea to make something to keep track of Aura using “Edit” and turn my attention to that app now. ‘60/100, that’s my current Aura. How much can I do with that…would it be better to wait until it’s been refilled? How low until I start to go dizzy?’ Those thoughts are pushed away like so many of them, as I decide to be a little courageous.
I view the room through the lensless camera, and the room soon begins to be outlined. I take the Shell Bell out of my pocket and highlight it.
“Shell Bell”
Description: A bell made from the shell of a strange clam. The item has the effect of allowing the holder to restore damage when an enemy is hurt.
I begin to type in my changes, backtracking when I get a warning of a week-long coma. After some trial and error, I managed to use just enough Aura to not pass out.
“Shell Bell V2”
Description: A bell made from the shell of a strange clam. Allows the user to heal a small amount of damage each time they get hit.
It’s a simple change, but a fairly useful one. I know that trying to edit something to do a thing completely unrelated will just eat up my Aura, and that seems to apply to items like this. While fairly unnatural in its own right, it still has a set use that it was made for. I look at the bell in my hand, the white shell rings each time I move it. ‘I’ll hold onto it for now, and maybe give it to Budew before the match…cause this ringing is a bit annoying.’
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
I take a look at the time, it’s now late into the evening. Now exhausted from the edit, and question asking I prepare to waste some time. ‘Oh right, what’s my Aura at?’ I enter that into the Ask app and am soon met with static.
[Aura is too low, no answer can be provided.]
‘So less than ten points, huh? So the death warning or coma comes from going below zero into the negatives.’ I put my phone down and turn to the TV, I’m equal parts nervous and thrilled for tomorrow's gym battle. ‘Should I just leave after the fight? I’m getting a bit antsy to get back on the road.’ I switch the TV to a random show, something about Marrowak solving crimes with a human that speaks pokemon, a bit similar to detective Pikachu, actually. I soon tune out the TV in favor of my thoughts, as I zone out into my mind.
=====
The precinct is much the same, Jenny is currently looking at records of Distorted Pokemon sightings. Nothing important shows up, but Jenny believes that it’s vital that they review the file. After all, there may be a pattern or a common thread, maybe something that’s been overlooked. With a flick of her mouse, she goes to the most recent sighting, the one she worked on personally. As she looks at the files she silently compares their knowledge to her own, the key factor being the fact that they didn’t add Kieran’s sights to the official file. That was hidden by a passcode, most likely since this involves Kieran. As much as she dislikes the man, she would be lying if she said he wasn’t a big help in this case.
And speaking of the devil, Kieran taps on Jenny’s shoulder causing her to jump and throw an elbow in his direction. He dodges it with a tilt backward and a small whistle “Wow Penny Jenny, already looking to knock me out?” He says as cocky as usual. Jenny lets out a small sigh, and rubs her temples, the man’s silent approach shocked her…or maybe she was just too engrossed in the files.
Kieran takes a look over her shoulder, looking at her computer screen that shows a bunch of tabs opened at once. His face obviously shows a want to make a snarky comment, but he shakes his head instead and mumbles “Later.” under his breath, his constant smirk fading away for a quick second. “Welp, I’m here with some new info. If you’re interested of course.” He waits for a response and Jenny just gives him a small nod which he returns. “I found a common thread between all those sightings.” He points towards a few of the tabs, “You see I did some deep past searching, which took me some time. Especially since that meeting interrupted me.”
He takes out a small notebook from his inside coat pocket, and Jenny spots six pokeballs of various types on his belt. She takes note of this, he usually only has three on him at any moment, after all, six would just be overkill for someone of his skill. Kieran flips through the black notebook, “When I deep dive into the past emotions it can be disorienting, so I made the habit of writing down what I see as I dive. Hard t do with my eyes closed, but I manage.” He flips through the pages until he finds the one he’s looking for. “The one common thread is this…empty feeling.” His voice bears none of his telltale smugness but is rather…scared, even if only the slightest. “A feeling I can only describe as null and void always appears at the scene. It’s a person, but I hesitate to even call it that, it’s like an empty space…” He coughs into his hand and plasters his smirk back onto his face.
“I believe this is the culprit behind these incidents, I have a vague time of when this thing popped up so, we should take a look at some security footage in the more crowded spots these incidents happened.” He pockets his notebook and looks back to Jenny's computer, “Does this ancient thing do that?” He says his cockiness back in full swing, Jenny hesitates for a moment, “Yeah, it does.” She meant to put some venom into that comment but didn’t due to being a bit rattled from his smirk fading for even a moment.
She searches around the files until she finds one that took place in a fairly large city, after some quick searching she found one that took place in Crimgate, the castle town. While not a huge city, it’s a historical landmark and its Gym leader took a lot of steps to make sure nothing would cause harm to anything there. The fact that there was a case there at all is surprising, the town boasts practically no crime except for the random outsider shoplifting or causing mischief. “The sighting took place inside the castle, which should have plenty of cameras in it, yeah?” Kieran says popping over her shoulder, he continues “The null feeling popped up at around two to two thirty in the morning, so let’s start there.”
The search went surprisingly well finding something on the second camera, a quick glimpse of fabric going away from the castle throne room. The fabric turns down a hallway in the terracotta-colored castle, and a quick switch through some cameras reveals a cloaked figure. “Okay, we have something…This took place about a week before the incident, keep searching.” Kieran says while scratching his chin, the two keep searching through the cameras only getting slight glimpses of the cloaked figure.
Finally, the figure stops moving, at the site where a rift was found. The figure sneaks to the front of a statue, the statue is of unknown significance. It’s made of bronze and takes up a majority of this side room, Jenny recalls seeing it on a tour she took of Grimgate’s castle back when she was a child. If her memories are to be believed the statue was that of a wandering nomad or so is thought as the statue wears a torn and worn long coat. It’s unknown what significance this held in the past of Grimgate, but it doesn’t matter at this moment. The figure reaches both hands into its pockets, pulling something out in both, in the right is a small marble-like gem, which anyone could recognize as a Mega Stone. The left holds a small dagger, curved and even in the grainy resolution of the cameras, very ornamental the type that would be used for a cult ritual.
“Hey, does this thing get sound?” Kieran asks as he pauses the video from behind Jenny, she actually doesn’t know so she checks to see if it does. Luckily it appears Crimgate’s gym leader truly spent a lot of money on these cameras, as a very quick noise spews out from the speakers. Jenny plugs earbuds into the computer and offers the right one to Kieran as she puts the left one into her own ear. Kieran does the same and the video starts back up, the sound is grainy, but not too much so. The figure tosses the mega stone into the air, and smoothly slices it in half with practiced ease, “Holy…What is that dagger made of.” Jenny mumbles, Mega Stones are one of if not the toughest gemstones in the world. To simply cut one in half is ludicrous, but not as much as the next part of the video. As the knife cuts the stone, a faint white energy starts to emanate from the dagger, then the figure kneels down to the ground. Even though all they can see is its back, they can still get the gist of what it does.
The figure stabs into the floor and lacerates it, now revealing a faint tear into a familiar sight, the figure looks around the room once more and soon spots the camera. While nothing of note is shown, it is clear that this person is human and not a pokemon. The figure leaves much the same as he entered, but not before grabbing a rug and hiding the rift under it. Which is equal parts stupid and kind of ingenious as the tear was located in a side room that sees less interest than everything else. One rug wouldn’t be noticed so quickly, and after a week passed the rift opened spewing out a distorted Jumpluff.
Kieran taps his chin, his smirk still there but only as a faint curl of his mouth. “Well, this is certainly a break, huh.” He comments while stretching, he didn’t have a chair and was leaning down to look at the computer so his back made a popping sound as he did so. “We should start looking through other cameras in different locations to see if we can get even a glimpse at the culprit’s face.” Jenny finally says, already getting to work on searching for other sightings in areas with cameras. Kieran nods and turns away from Jenny, “You do that, I’m gonna see what I can sniff out at the sites.” He waves the back of his hand toward her as he leaves.
=====
A sign lies atop a square building, its font made to look like diamonds as it spells out “Carbink Jewelers.” A hooded figure stands next to a man that looks about as stereotypical as a thug can get. “So, we robbing this place, huh. I guess jewelers are the way to go, maybe we’ll luck out and find a mega stone.” The thug grabs two pokeballs from his belt, his companion says nothing their face obscured by shadow. Why the thug decided to work with this guy, he doesn’t know why. In fact, it’s the strangest thing, why is he robbing a place with this guy, he wasn’t opposed to it, but he doesn’t recall ever agreeing to do it…as a matter of fact, when did this thug even meet this man. Those though are silenced by a flash of three lights shining on a strange pokemon’s hand.
“Alright boss, I’ll get the thing for ya.” He says now unaware of any doubts as to who this man is. The thug busts into the store, where an old man stood behind the counter. “What the, who the hell are you to be barging into here.” The gentleman speaks with clear irritation at his door being broken down, though he’s not scared as he readies a scratched-up pokeball. “Heh, it doesn’t matter who I am.” The thug throws out his two pokeballs, a Houndour and Staravia form from a red light.
The old man tosses his pokeball soon a hulking Venasaur enters the store, knocking over a few display cases which get a slight wince from the old man. “Venasuar dispose of them.” He says simply, the thug’s pokemon is knocked out by a flash of a Solar Beam, the beam shoots instantly not needing to charge at all. The thug steps back, his head pounding him to run but a new voice in his head tells him to wait. A cloaked hand grabs the thug’s shoulder, and a dagger is stabbed through his throat, he seizures on the ground gasping for air, but never to receive any.
The old man looks in shock at the hooded man but regains composure quickly, he reaches under his counter clearly looking for an emergency button. But his hand is soon flung backward by unknown psychic energy, the Venasaur looks to his trainer whose hand quickly reels out of the energy. In that single second the cloaked man is now at the counter, and behind him lurches a tall Noctowl, who hovers over the thug’s downed pokemon. With a nauseating crunch, the flying type steps onto their heads, making them have the same fate as their owner. The old man quickly moves his hand to his tie’s clip, as aura begins to glow like tendrils, his bonds with Venasuar begin to shine from the energy caused by mega evolving. Soon the grass-type pokemon is overgrown with plants and leaves, “You better get onto your knees, now.” As the old man himself lets out another pokemon, a Carbink takes form and readies a Moonblast aimed at the cloaked figure’s head.
The now mega-evolved Venasuar eyes up the cloaked man’s Noctowl, who tried to hypnotize the grass type, but fails as the grass type looks away from its gaze. The cloaked figure readies his dagger, the curved blade dripping in blood. The owner of the dagger begins to speak, “Where is it.” his voice is monotone and echos through the store. Almas immediately knows what he means, and his face turns sterner, as he signals Carbink to attack. The blast of fairy energy flies toward the figure but is blocked by an unseen psychic force, Almas clicks his tongue and scans the room looking for any signs of other pokemon, the Noctowl is busy fighting against Venasaur. A Solar Beam thrown off course by a gust of wind, Almas clicks his tongue once more.
The cloaked figure repeats his question, “Where is it.” Almas signals Carbink to attack once more, but soon feels something grab his neck. The old man gets pinned to the wall, a pink energy wrapping around his neck, Carbink looks in shock as his trainer is pinned to the wall. Venasaur does much of the same, the cloaked figure motions for something to come into the store. A Beheeyem floats into the store, its hand glowing in the same pink psychic energy. The cloaked figure begins to look around, going into a back room behind the counter. Almas struggles but can’t seem to escape the psychic type’s grasp, the cloaked figure soon comes back out. “Diancie’s mega stone, where is it.” The figure says once more, but Almas gives no reply. The man searches Almas’s pockets, which causes Almas to struggle more and punches the man. He doesn’t react to the hit almost like he doesn’t feel it. The man soon finds what he’s looking for despite Alamas’s best efforts the hooded man now holds a pink mega stone, Almas swore to protect that gem with his life when he was young and he meant it. Almas croaks out a command “Attack!” Venasaur lets out a Solar Beam and Carbink fires a Moonblast at the man. As smoke bellows down the hooded man’s fine, and Almas is now on the ground in front of the hooded man, dead. The mega evolution on Venasaur ends as tears well into his eyes.
The man orders Noctowl to use Air Slash, and a thump hits the ground as Venasaur’s head falls to the ground. Beheeyem crushes the shell-shocked Carbink with Psychic, and the hooded man begins to pile the bodies on top of each other. With a hiss of a pokeball, Volcarona soon forms and shoots out a Fire Blast that burns the bodies and everything inside the store. While the outside may be fine any inside evidence will be completely destroyed. The man leaves, showing no hint of remorse or any signs of feeling anything at this act.
=====
I stretch and do my usual morning routines, I turn on the news for some background noise as I prepare my team some breakfast. “Last night, a jewelry store called Carbink Jewelers was found severely burned. The owner of the store Almas Lanton’s body was found on the scene along with the body of a well-known thug, Lester Middles. It’s believed that the two had an altercation in the store and the man’s fire-type pokemon, Houndour, lit the place on fire by accident. This is still being investigated and we will provide more information when more is known. Back to you Tom in the studio.” I drop the bowl of food on the ground, startling Min as it almost lands on him. ‘Holy shit, I was there yesterday…I met that man. Shit, so stuff like this happens even in this world, I guess greed is a multi-universal thing.’ While a bit shocked, I soon brushed it off. Ultimately I barely knew Almas and while, yes it is a tragedy, I’m not personally involved. I only sold the man a few pearls, it makes me feel a bit heartless to think that, but I have my own thing to do.
If possible I would like to send my condolences to his family, but it would probably only be a short letter and wouldn’t feel genuine. I shake my head, ‘It’s a tragedy, yes, but just focus on the gym battle for now…’ Despite my own thoughts telling me to focus, I can’t help but still feel a bit guilty. What if I went there later at night, could I have saved him? Ultimately I knew there was nothing I could do, so I just try to push those thoughts away from my head. It doesn’t involve me, I was just a customer. ‘Let’s just focus on the gym battle.’