In Tune

Man hunt

Juniper finished sketching up a copy of the mural for Méchant and shut her sketchbook tightly. She stood up next to Charlie and plastered a smile onto her face. Charlie just gave her a curious glance and turned back to the mural. She appeared to notice something at the bottom of it and gestured for Kafu to look at it with her.

"What's this?" she pointed to a single line of text at the bottom of the mural. Kafu squatted down and peered at it,
"It's the Alolan language. I'm partially fluent in it, I'll try to translate," he said and began to slowly read the message out under his breath. Juniper squinted at it, she knew Kafu nor Charlie would share what the message meant with her. She hadn't gained their trust completely, and all she had to bring back to Joshua Méchant was a mural with no context.

An idea flickered through her mind and her gaze switched to Kafu's notebook. If she could get her hands on it, copy it out and slip it back to Kafu without him noticing, she could send what she found to Joshua and finally be able to give Vivi the life she promised!

But how?

~

When they got back to their hotel on Akala Island, Juniper excused herself with a smile and locked herself in her room to think of her plan to get that notebook off of Kafu. Vivi looked quite weak from carrying Juniper,

"Oh, Vivi! I'm extremely sorry, here, have our lunch," she pointed to the lunch delivered by Room Service. Vivi lit up and, with a happy chirp, began scoffing down their lunch. Juniper smiled and sat down on her bed to start thinking- however was interrupted by the telephone ringing from the corner of the room. Juniper scowled in confusion and walked up to it, turned the dial to receive the call and rested it by her ear.

"Juniper Perdu?" the poor-quality telephone spat out. Juniper nodded,
"Speaking," she started. The voice at the other end's voice lit up.

"Make sure you're alone, this is Josh. Josh Méchant. Just wanted to let you know I've sent over some- ahem- 'damage control'," he told her, cautiously. Juniper raised an eyebrow and glanced around to see Vivi asleep on her pillow.

"What do you mean 'damage control'? Who are you sending me?" she hissed into the phone. A chuckle was sent back.
"You're so up-tight! Just wait for her to arrive. She'll explain her role in my company. Anyway, got any updates? Anything to send me?" Josh reassured her. Juniper's face lit up,

"Yeah, Kafu found this mural that has images of the Ultra Pokémon you told me about. He and his work partner were pointing them out calling them 'beasts', and I've got a copy of that mural, but that's about it. I plan to steal Kafu's notepad and send you that soon, though," she smirked. Josh gave her a little applause.

"Perfect, my company will benefit greatly. I hope that when you get that notepad, you'd be willing to stay with my industry and do some more work for us, you've become a very valuable member, Juniper. Expect another call from me soon. On se voit dans le coin, Juniper!"

The telephone gave a long, deafening beep signalling Juniper to place the phone back onto its rack. Juniper raised an eyebrow,
Damage control? The nerve of that man! she thought in her mind and sat down on her bed waiting for this 'damage control' to arrive. Sure, it could be a while, but Juniper had nothing better to do. Charlie and Kafu would be being secretive and keeping to themselves trying to figure things out.

Luckily, she didn't have to wait long before a strong knock sounded on the door. Juniper plastered a smile onto her face and answered the door.

A woman her age was at the door. She was pale, dressed head to toe in black. Black hoodie, black fingerless gloves, black shorts, black boots, black scarf wrapped over her mouth and short black hair that looked as though it had been sliced with a knife.

"Can I help you?" Juniper asked, her smile falling slightly. The woman pulled the scarf from over her mouth downward and grinned,
"Damage control! Sent from the Méchant Foundation! You're that lass Juniper, ain't ya? I'm just here to clean up any mess you might make!" she explained and barged past Juniper, dropping her black back pack onto the floor, "I can sleep in the bathroom, you won't know I'm here, yeah?"

Juniper blinked in shock, and closed the door behind the stranger.
"What? Who are you? And what do you mean 'mess'? I don't need a cleaner," she snapped and confronted the intimidating woman. The stranger looked at her with grey, crystal eyes,

"My apologies, babe. Name's Abbie. Abbie Meurtrier. Sorry if I don't sound as 'Kalos' as you, just spent a month on the job in Unova. Boss man called saying to make sure you didn't get into any trouble, and if you did," she reached into the inner of her hoodie and pulled out a jet-black handgun, Juniper started to quiver, "I'd just clean it up."

Juniper almost fainted. She was never told that this 'company' of Joshua's had murderers on their side!
"No, no, no, no!" she screamed, "if this is a big part of the Méchant Foundation, I want nothing to do with it, I'll call Joshua right now and quit-"

Abbie grabbed Juniper by the arm with reflexes as quick as lightning. She raised her gun to be level with Junipers head, her fingers resting on the trigger, with her finger ready to flip the safety off and shoot.
"This ain't negotiable. You took boss's money, so you follow through. And if you even think about quittin', I've been given real clear instructions to clean you up so that you don't go blabbin' to the boys in blue. Got it?" she snapped. Juniper was shaking heavily now.

She bit her lip and nodded.
"Okay, okay, fine!"

Abbie smiled and dropped her gun back into her inner-hoodie pocket.

"You ain't dumb. That's always a good trait," she smiled and dropped onto Juniper's bed, patting the space next to her, "remember, I don't exist. Now bring me up to speed to what ya have done so far."