Pokémon Obsidian | An Orre Fanfiction

Chapter 15: Eternal Night

There was a frantic knock on Aiko's office door. She was absorbed in car rental records from June 14th, seven years ago, but upon glancing at her camera's view of the hallway, she saw that the Grunt outside was Elijah.

'Come in.'

The door flew open. Elijah knew Aiko well enough, now, for his Team Magma pose to be natural rather than awkward.

'Miss Aiko!'

'...Yes?'

'We've found a Shadow Pokémon!'

'Yes... it's the one you won.'

Before they left the resort, Elijah entered a knockout challenge at its Rose Colosseum. His prize was an 'insanely powerful Pokémon.' Their scientists were attempting to work out why it didn't show up on theirs or the Pokémon HQ Lab's Aura Detectors.

'No, no, it's another one! It's a whole bunch of them, at a motel in Phenac City!'

Aiko was reluctant to leave her laptop. It was just over four hours until flight EO261 from Lilycove City would touch down in Phenac. Driving to the airport would take at least two hours. She wanted to find out who rented the car GoD drove to Gatas before she left.

'The Pokémon HQ Lab will also know... unless... it's some kind of trap to lure us there...'

She sighed. Jovi would probably call to ask if Team Magma had seen it, too. She followed Elijah out to the disaster response centre. There was indeed a cluster of Shadow Pokémon on the outskirts of Phenac City. When the operator zoomed in, it was clear they were in Poké Balls in a room at the Road Trip Motel.

'Interesting...'

Jovi indeed called. Aiko took the operator's headset.

'Yes... we can see them... but one of my Grunts won a Shadow Beartic at the Rose Colosseum...'

'A Beartic? They're taking my Ice-types already?! Jeez... sorry. What were you going to say?'

'Your Detector can't see Beartic, either... right?'

'No. Only the ones in Phenac.'

'So... are they really Shadow Pokémon? Or is this a trap? One moment...'

Aiko turned to Elijah. 'How is analysis of Beartic going...?'

'Admin Kazuki took something into the computer lab. He's all suited up. That's all I know.'

'Jovi... can I call you back?'

'Sure.'

Aiko swiped her key card to open the door to the computer lab. Kazuki locked himself in one of the glass cases housing forensics workstations. He didn't glance up even when Aiko knocked. Whatever he was studying could only be handled with latex gloves. A thick mask prevented him breathing on it. Aiko squinted. It looked like a chip.

The chips they recovered from Laila's shop didn't tell them anything. Aiko hoped they were connected to a network to submit their recordings, but they were not. Cipher apparently expected to retrieve and replace them.

There was no distracting Kazuki now. Aiko sat amongst Grunts, furiously typing away, as they listened to audio from the chips slipped under Primula's, Oleana's and Leroy's doors. One looked deeply unsettled. Aiko laid a hand on her shoulder.

'Is it hard going...?'

She pulled off her headphones. 'It's not... exactly that...'

'If anything is bothering you... anything at all... you can tell me... I won't judge.'