Case 2: Fang's List

Chapter 6

I sighed and nuzzled Soul. Well, so much for springing right into action! First thing Syoran had done was call HQ for orders. They told us we were to 'continue with our initial orders and let the more high-profile agents handle the public investigation of the mayor's murder'. And so, Syoran and April had retreated upstairs to pour over the latest news reports that didn't have to do with the current crisis. So far, the only thing of note they'd found was that a famous pop-star was holding a concert in a week.

He had a weird name too. 'Eros'. His picture didn't help either. Apparently, he liked to dress up like a meowstic.

"Hmm, no major corporations setting up a presence here recently, no sudden influx of money, no major surge in crime…" April frowned. "Well, this is a dead end."

Syoran leaned back and rubbed his temples. "Petty crime is even at an all-time low. If it weren't for HQ's information, I'd say that this city was clean."

April huffed. "Syoran, the mayor has just been murdered on his own front porch. In broad daylight. And yet, no one saw anything. I think that is evidence enough that something is going on here."

Rio leaned close to Syoran. "Maybe the mayor was doing something these people didn't like?"

"Hmm." Syoran frowned. "That is…something I should have thought of…"

"What is?" April asked.

Syoran started and grinned nervously. "Um…Rio is a lucario, see…and some can communicate with their trainers…and so he spoke to me."

April blinked. "That's cool. What did he say?"

"Wha…? Seriously?" Syoran stared at her. "I just said I understood a Pokémon and that's all you have to say?"

She shrugged. "Lots of trainers have close bonds with their Pokémon, to the point they even think they hear what they have to say. It's like how when you're watching an old black and white movie and your mind starts filling in the colors for you."

"Ah…right…sure." Syoran rubbed the back of his head. "Anyway, he said we should check and see if the mayor was an obstacle to someone powerful."

"Ooh, he's right then. We should have thought of that." April smiled and patted Rio on the head. "Good thinking."

"Well, I…thanks?" Rio offered hesitantly.

Soul craned his head backwards to look up at me. "Dad? What's a mayor?"

"A mayor is just some human who thinks he's more important than he really is," I said, "They put him in charge of a city for a few years and all the power goes to his head."

"Oh." Soul thought about that for a few moments. "So…what's 'murdered'?"

I shifted nervously. "Nothing you need to worry about right now. Why don't you go play with Psi for a bit?"

"Aw…but he only likes to play tag," Soul complained, "An' whenever I get close, he teleports away!"

"Yeah, well abras tend to do that…"

"Really? I guess that's why there are so many memes about them…"

My eyes narrowed. "Okay…what the heck is a meme?"

He looked up at me and giggled. "Don't be silly, Daddy! It's a joke-picture. Uncle Z showed us a lot of them, though he had to stop when it was bed time."

"Speaking of which…" I rose and nudged Syoran's hand with my nose. "Going to step out. See if I can find where Z is and say hi." He nodded and turned right back to his work. I turned and made for the door.

"Can I come with you?" Soul asked.

"I don't have any reason to say no…"

"Yay!" He trotted up beside me and grinned. "Let's go!"

We went out back to the Syke's large yard. A few trees stood upright and tall, girded by a well-trimmed lawn. No ekans sneaking up on the kits here! Z and Nine sat under a tree, talking softly. They looked up as I approached and she smiled. "Hello," I said, "I hope I'm not interrupting."

"You aren't," Z replied, "Just enjoying the sunshine and wind."

"Good." I sat down beside them and Soul curled up by my feet. "Sorry about leaving you behind. We'll try to get you in on the action next time."

"Don't."

I looked sharply at him. "Excuse me?"

Z chuckled and rose slowly. "I'm getting old, Spirit. Some of us don't live a hundred years of more. I was past my prime when Syoran caught me. Now, years later, I'm beginning to feel it weighing on me."

A flush of…was it fear? A strange emotion rushed through me. It was a kind of fear, I guess. Fear of the future and what it held. "You give yourself too little credit," I said, "Besides, you're not ready to become a house-pet, are you?"

He shrugged. "Nice family of rattata live out back. No ekan or arbok will bother them while I'm around. Plus, I can defend Mr. and Mrs. Syke. If someone tries to get at Syoran by attacking them, they'd have to go through me."

I stared at him solemnly. "You're sure about this?"

He nodded. "If you need me, I will be here. But on the front line I'd be less helpful and more of a hindrance. I've taken so many knocks to the head over my life that one more just might do something permanent. And if that happens in the middle of a critical fight…"

He let the thought hang there, black and foreboding.

I cleared my throat. "Mrs. Syke is a good cook."

He smiled. "That she is. Right Soul?"

My son grinned up at him. "Right, Uncle Z! She makes yummy food! Unlike the stuff in the cans…"

"It's better than nothing," I muttered, "Especially when lost in the woods…"

Nine shuddered. "I remember that…never again will I take a group of caterpie so lightly…"

Z frowned. "Must have missed that one."

"Training exercise," I said, "Syoran could only take two Pokémon. You remember the time where we came back missing five pounds each? That's the one."

"Ah." Z blinked. "Wilderness Survival Training?"

"That's the one," Nine muttered.

"Must have been brutal. Fighting all those nearly defenseless caterpillars," Z said without a hint of sarcasm. I glared at him suspiciously and the slightest smirk appeared on his face.

"Why you little…" I muttered.

"Hey! Guys! Guys!" Rio came running out the back door. "We found something! Come on!"

Nine and I exchanged glances. "That's a relief…" I said, "Here I was worried we were up a creek without a paddle."

"There is always some angle to investigate," Nine replied.

I shrugged and grinned. "I just slice things and intimidate prisoners. And look pretty darn good doing it, might I add. Figuring out where and when to hit is someone else's job."

"Time to get to work then," Nine said. She nuzzled Soul's head. "We'll be back shortly."

"Okay," he said, "I'm going to dig a hole! And fill it with leaves!"

I chuckled. "Sounds fun. See you later."

When we entered the house, Syoran and April were eating lunch. Sandwiches, to be precise, and peanut butter by the smell. Didn't much care for it myself. Tended to stick to the roof of my mouth too much for my liking.

April's Pokémon were also in the kitchen, eating a variety of Poke-blocks. I ignored that option and nosed around for meat. I nudged Mrs. Syke's hand, not to be cute, understand, but to draw her attention. Humans have very sensitive hands, after all. "Hello," I said in a businesslike manner, "I notice lunch is being passed around. Might I have some?"

She looked down at me and chuckled. "I may not be quite so good at understanding him as you, Syoran, but I think Spirit is hungry."

"Darn right I am!" I growled, "So where's the meat?"

She placed a bowl of Poke-blocks on the ground in front of me. "There you go! Eat up!" I glared at her. "Well, I thought you were hungry!"

"I am!"

"If you won't eat it, I will!" Rio offered. I shoved the bowl over to him with my forepaw. "Yay!" He picked it up and set it on the counter before digging in.

"Rio, don't put that up there!" Mrs. Syke exclaimed, "It's been on the floor and that's where I'm going to make the steaks!" My mouth instantly became a sea of saliva. Steak! Yes! Mrs. Syke shook her head. "Honestly, it's like dealing with five-year-olds sometimes."

Psi appeared on her head. "I'm six!" he said proudly. She delicately plucked him off her head and set him on a stool.

"Run along now," she said, "I've got to get dinner started."

Syoran rose and nodded to me and Nine. "Mom, April and I will step out for a bit. We'll be back in an hour."

She smiled. "Alright, dear. Stay out of trouble."

"Will do, Mom." Syoran led the way out front. The instant we were out, he turned serious. "You think this concert is a cover, April?"

"Yes," she said, "A lot of trucks have been moving in and out of the city dropping off supplies for it. Too many, compared to other events of equal magnitude."

"Good thing vehicle travel is restricted here," Syoran said with a wry smile, "Annoying as it is sometimes, without it we wouldn't have caught this little lead."

"Which concert is this?" I asked Rio.

"A pop artist named Eros," he replied, "He's been at the top of the charts for a while now. Um…he dresses up as a Meowstic and all the teenagers love him. As for me, I don't think he has a bad voice, it just has an unusual quality to it that I don't like."

"So where are we going now?" Nine asked.

"To investigate!" April's luxio declared, "We'll sniff 'em out and string 'em up!"

"Indeed," her empoleon, Prince, agreed.

"Wasn't asking you," I said. "Hey Syoran! Where are we going now?"

"Well," Syoran said, answering me but also phrasing it so April wouldn't catch on, "I guess we're headed to the concert hall then."

Of course he'd have booked the nicest one in town. What self-respecting pop-star could resist? It was a ten-story, who knows how many seats, breakfast-and-a-shoeshine included amphitheater right on the outskirts of downtown. The lobby floor was made of marble, which felt very cool and hard on my paws. I stuck to the carpet where I could so as to avoid it.

Syoran walked up the receptionist and smiled. "Hello. We need to speak to Eros. Which room is he in?"

The receptionist looked up. She was a plump, middle-aged woman with a no-nonsense glare permanently fixed to her face. At Syoran's question, she sighed and slowly removed the glasses from her face. "Look…I know you kids are just fans and all, but I've been left explicit instructions not to let anyone up to see Eros. So if you will just be on your way…"

"This is important," Syoran said smoothly. I tried to look friendly and excited. It couldn't hurt.

"I'm sure it is." Her lips pressed into a determined smile. "But the fact stands. No visitors."

April grabbed Syoran's arm. "Ma'am," she said with a winning smile, "We aren't fans. We've got a delivery for him."

She raised an eyebrow. "Really? I find that hard to believe. Who from?"

"It's from a group of his fans, actually. The Viridian Middle School girls' volleyball team," April replied, "We just need to drop it off. They wanted a recording of us handing it to him, otherwise we'd just leave it at the front desk."

After that, I sort of stopped paying attention to the conversation. Humans ignore domestic Pokémon during a conversation, for the most part, which helps when we're investigating, but often means that the conversations rarely have anything important to do with us. I leaned over to Nine and Rio. "So what do we really know about this deal anyway?"

"Well," Rio said, "There are a lot of trucks coming in and out of the city for this concert. Not all of the ones leaving the city were empty either. All the paperwork for them was in order. It was written off as 'Wrong delivery. Returning goods to sender' but sometimes the weights didn't match up. Plus, it seems awfully suspicious that they would mess up that many times."

"True," Nine muttered, "Wouldn't be good for business if a shipping company performed that poorly."

"The artist doesn't make much to begin with," Rio said, "Thanks to all the travel and other out-of-pocket expenses. There's no way that Eros could afford to lose this much money on trucking bills!"

I glared at them. "Okay, now you two are just showing off."

They exchanged puzzled glances. "What do you mean, Spirit?" Nine asked.

"Your superior knowledge of human society, of course! I know the words you are saying, I just have no idea what they mean when you put them together like that!" I glanced back over to see how Syoran and April were doing.

The receptionist pursed her lips together. "Well. All I can say is he's normally in his dressing room before rehearsals. If you wanted to drop it off there, I'm sure someone would take it." She glared at April and Syoran. "Just remember, don't. Bother. Him. Alright?"

"We won't," Syoran said, "Thank you."

"Thank me?" the receptionist said, "Yes, well. Be on your way." She returned to whatever she had been doing.

And so we did just that. The place was just what you'd expect from a building like this: well-lit hallways, cushy carpet, and walls adorned with prints of paintings and other tasteful accoutrements. At least, that's how Rio described it. The smell was more what struck me. Chemicals tainted the air. I believe it was something called 'perfume' which is supposed to make humans smell better to each other. I suppose they must have the weakest noses in the world, because the scent was almost overpowering.

"Excuse me, Syoran?" April said, "In the future, it might be better to let me handle the talking."

I frowned at her. Syoran blinked. "Why's that?"

"Well, with the receptionist, your approach was a little too blunt. In my opinion." She smiled at him. "This is a delicate matter. We do not know who is responsible here. It would be better if they did not know we were investigating them."

Was she implying that Syoran was incompetent?

"Alright…" Syoran replied, "Sure…you can do the talking then…"

"Good," she said, "First thing we're going to do is withdraw our Pokémon…" Heck no. "No sense in showing our hand. Then, we are going to find whoever is in charge and talk to him." Not with me withdrawn you aren't.

"Sure. That sounds reasonable…" Syoran muttered, "Sorry, everyone. Time to come in." He pulled our balls off his belt and withdrew us one by one. Me first. I almost got my protest out, but the beam caught me just before it. I sighed. Never really got over the artificial environment in these things…

So I was relegated to watching the events as they unfolded before me. April went from door to door, knocking until someone answered. A well-groomed woman with black hair pulled back into a pony-tail stepped out of the room, a glare on her face and arms folded across her chest. "Vat do you vant?" she said.

"Good afternoon, ma'am!" April said with a bright smile, "Are you in charge of the concert?"

"Yes. I am. But! Ve are out of special tickets. You vill just have to buy zem like everyone else. Good day," she began to close the door.

"Wait! Actually, that's not why we're here." April stuck her foot in the door. "Just…we need to know where we're supposed to go."

"Vell you don't need me for that. Get one of ze admins to tell you," the woman replied haughtily.

"Could you at least point us toward the loading docks?" April asked.

The woman sighed. "Two floor down, take a right, down ze hall, und zere it vill be. Now please, leave."

"Who is that, Mrs. Heinz?" a voice called from inside.

"Just some employees who got lost," the woman at the door replied. Well, we weren't and April never said we were, but she'd left enough verbal cues to lead this woman to think that.

The door opened all the way and a boy pushed the woman aside. Okay, before I continue, let's clarify a few things. I'll be honest, I don't understand the human practice of wearing clothes. Of course, their naked skin isn't fun to look at, but there are plenty of Pokémon who I'd consider worse. Take a muk, for example. After I was dumb enough to ask Syoran and he turned beet red, I'd come to accept the practice without too much concern. Just a quirk of the species. However, when a human dressed up as a Pokémon? That was just too weird.

Anyway, here's this Eros guy. He steps out the door wearing barely anything, but somehow he decided it was important for him to have fake tails and ears attached to him. Meowstic-like ones too. I just don't get that!

Syoran and April each took surprised steps back. A look of embarrassment flashed across April's face. Eros smirked. He yawned and stretched and her face turned beat red. "So, you're part of the stage crew or something?"

"Er, I, um…" April turned around. "I think we should go now…at least until you're wearing more than…"

"Oh don't go!" Eros stepped beside her and traced the outline of her shoulder with his hand. A slight purr escaped his lips. "I can make your day~"

Syoran cleared his throat and stepped in between them. "Thank you," he said sharply, "But we really ought to be going. Mr., what was his name again? The guy who hired us will want us there on time."

Eros huffed and met Syoran's eyes unflinchingly. "And just what job do you do here?"

"I have a lucario," Syoran replied evenly, "We're good at moving heavy stuff."

"Oh, a musclehead then." Eros dismissed Syoran with a wave of his hand and tried to step around him to where April was. "I'm certain I can arrange some other position for you, if you'd like. Leave lifting heavy things to people like him."

She smiled nervously. "Erm, I think I'm going to pass…" Her arm snaked around Syoran's. "We should be going…" Without waiting for a respone, Syoran and April began to walk away.

"So soon?" Eros pouted, "Well, come back if you get bored!"

"I will," April called. "…not," she finished. "Come on, let's get out of here."

"Right behind you," Syoran whispered, "We'll investigate the loading dock next?"

"That's the plan." She shivers. "Besides, I don't want to stay around here…"