JFought
Sloooowly writing...
Summary: The largest city in Liber is no stranger to crime. From random hooligans to organized crime syndicates, Capital is a city of mystery, danger, and intrigue. But none of that is a match for the unparalleled intellect and masterful detective work of the city’s very own Detective Oscar!
I would rate this collection as PG. The general tone of these stories is pretty lighthearted, and if noticeably darker elements become present in one of them, I’ll give a warning for it in that story’s post. As a general warning, there might be some very minor swearing here and there, as well as references to alcohol in a couple stories, but that’s pretty much it.
Also, each story has it's own Table of Contents that outlines each scene and their length. Since these stories are long enough to be seperated into multiple posts, these ToCs will also contain links to the individual posts that make up that story. This is jut to make it easier to navigate and create stopping points for yourself, so feel free to take advantage of it!
All that said, I hope you enjoy! Feedback is very appreciated, as I’m trying to experiment a lot with these to see what works and what doesn’t.
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Detective Oscar and the Mystery of the Thrice Stolen Pearl
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Summary: It begins as a simple request to find a stolen pearl. But the situation soon multiplies into not one mystery, but three! Can Detective Oscar solve them all, and reach the truth at the heart of it?
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21st day, Month of Clygem, 1843.
“I see…”
The studious herdier examined the table in detail, looking at it from every angle and position. Its condition was pristine, and it smelled like old pine. Content, he took a step back to consider the room he was in once more. The table was situated against the wall at a perfect distance from the front door and nearest window both, which would place it right in the middle of the room.
A grumpig watched him anxiously. “Have you figured something out yet, Detective Oscar?”
The great Detective Oscar answered his question with a question. “May I ask, you said that the door was still locked when you woke up this morning?”
The grumpig, known as Ettore, fiddled nervously with his large ears. “Yeah, and I swear it was locked all night.”
“And there are no other entrances to the building?”
“No, just the windows.”
“A locked room mystery,” the detective thought, his mind whirling with possibilities. He got close to the table and sniffed the pillow Ettore claimed the pearl had been sitting on. But all he found was that same scent of old pine, with what he assumed to be Ettore’s scent faint and distant. “That’s odd.”
“What’s odd?” asked Ettore.
“I have seen a few spoink pearls in my time,” said Oscar. “And they would typically carry the scent of their owners. But there is not a single lingering trace of it to be found here.”
“Oh, that would be my fault,” Ettore explained, wringing his hands. “I should have mentioned it. I wash the pearl every now and then to keep it clean, that’s why you can’t smell it.”
“Does he wash it with pine or something?” The detective decided that it didn’t matter why it was missing a scent. “If I cannot smell anything, then I cannot track anything, so unfortunately we will have to proceed the old-fashioned way.” He shifted his gaze to the swoobat poking inquisitively at the wall underneath the stairway. “Benigno!”
Benigno was snapped out of his trance. “Huh?” He quickly hopped over and tilted his head. “What is it?”
“You seemed to be very invested in that wall there. Did you find anything?” Oscar asked.
Benigno shook his head. “Nope.”
The detective lifted a brow. Benigno was a ‘mon of odd habits, always being distracted by even the slightest of small sounds. While his acute hearing abilities were often helpful, they just as often led to dead ends, and the swoobat himself could never seem to tell the difference. In this case, however, he decided to trust his word. “Very well then.” He turned towards the grumpig. “Now, Ettore, was it? We will have to ask you a few questions. Is there anyone you know who would covet the pearl?”
“No one that I can think of,” he replied. “It must have been some kind of common thief.”
“A common thief that leaves no scent and can pass through a locked door.” Oscar shook his head, the small bag around his neck shifting as he did so. “It is far more likely we are dealing with someone more professional here. Though as to how they found out about the pearl, would you know?”
“Well you can see it from the window over there,” he said, pointing to it. “That’s probably how it caught their eye.”
Benigno tapped his partner on the shoulder with a wing claw. “Do you think it was a ghost?”
“I wouldn’t think so, but…” Oscar pondered the situation. “The way I see it there are two possibilities.”
“Two?” questioned Ettore.
The great detective nodded. “First, as Benigno suggested, it may have been a Ghost-type pokémon. I would think that a ghost does leave behind a scent, however I must admit that I am not the most educated on ghosts. So it is not out of the question that some are incorporeal enough to not leave behind a scent as they travel. The other possibility…” The herdier moved over to the window, whose curtains were drawn back. “Is revealed by these open curtains!”
The swoobat’s eyes widened. “Really?! What do they mean?!” asked Benigno, his excitement mounting.
“What they mean is the second possibility! Ettore, were these curtains closed last night?”
The grumpig rubbed his chin as he tried to remember. “Well, no. I don’t think so.”
“You would think a Psychic-type would understand the significance!” The detective shook his head in mock disappointment. “Haven’t you heard to always keep your curtains closed at night? Because if you don’t, you open yourself up as a victim of telekinetic crime!”
Benigno hopped slightly, wings spread in understanding. “Oh! That’s the thing where you make things move with your mind!”
“Exactly! The move in question: Telekinesis! It requires a line of sight between you and the object in question, and both the door and pearl can be seen from here. In theory, one could use it to unlock the door, take the pearl, and lock it once again, all without having to enter your home!”
Ettore’s hand stayed glued to his chin as he gave the detective a skeptical look. “But isn’t Telekinesis a rare move? There aren’t really a lot of pokémon who know how to use it.”
But Oscar was not deterred. “Which is perfect, as it narrows down our search considerably!”
“Maybe they left a smell at the window!” exclaimed Benigno.
“Good thinking, Beni!” Oscar put his front paws on the window sill. “Would you mind, Ettore? It would be much faster if you were to open it.”
Ettore, still skeptical but willing to humor him, did as he was instructed and undid the latch keeping the window closed. With a *click!* he pushed it open, allowing Oscar to jump out and investigate the small side path wedged between buildings. He licked his nose and immediately got to work combing through the area, trying his best to sort out the smells to find something that wouldn’t fit.
“Did you find anything?” asked Benigno from the window.
There was nothing. Everything in the alley seemed to be in order, not a single recent smell. “That can’t be right! Did I miss something?” But he couldn’t have missed something, he was thorough! “It seems…” He tried desperately to think of a response. “That there is nothing of note in this particular location…”
“So it wasn’t a Psychic-type then,” said Ettore. His tone was becoming less impressed by the second.
Benigno piped in. “Maybe it was a ghost using Telekinesis!”
“I was just about to say that!” The great detective jumped back into the building and placed a paw on Benigno’s shoulder. “This is why we are partners; we are of the same mind! Ghosts are known for using Telekinesis!”
Ettore placed a hand on his chin. “It’s a bit far-fetched, but it would make sense I guess.”
“Of course it does!” He motioned for Benigno to follow him to the door. “Unfortunately, however, there isn’t much else to be discovered here. We will have to take our search elsewhere.”
Ettore clasped his hands together. “But you’ll find it, won’t you, detective?”
The great Detective Oscar stood proudly and scoffed. “Of course we will! Who do you think I am?!”
“Yeah!” exclaimed his esteemed partner Benigno. “We’re the best detective duo in all of Capital! You’re in good paws!” He lifted his wings and spread them wide. “And wings!”
“Well said Beni!” And with that, Benigno opened the door and the two stepped out into the sunlight.
Oscar took a deep breath of the afternoon air. There was a slight chill that day, a rare winter breeze blowing through the streets of the ever quiet District Dragos, aptly known by its residents as Tranquilo. Out of every district in Capital, it was both the newest and most peaceful, the buildings and roads well-maintained and newly placed street lamps lending a modern flair. To most adventurers it was known as the least interesting locale one could possibly visit, and was generally considered inferior to other districts when it came to lucrative requests. To the great detective however, it was a treasure trove of mystery. While it was true that genuine mysteries such as his current one were rare in this corner of the city, when one did appear it was always certain that he would get to it first. And it was through this clever usage of opportunity that he had gained his reputation as a first-rate problem solver.
“So now what?” asked Benigno as they walked aimlessly down the street.
“That’s the hard part.” Oscar kept his head straight and proud as he glanced at his partner. “Sometimes, Benigno, it is important to understand the ever-changing nature of mysteries.”
Benigno nodded along, enraptured by his words. “Uh huh?”
“So! Consider that as of right now, it is impossible to track down the pearl with our current information,” Oscar explained. “In such a situation, the best thing one can do is wait. In time, as the stolen item moves through the city, new information is bound to reveal itself.”
“But what if nothing turns up?”
Oscar felt a prickle of nervousness eat away at his tail. Still, he was not one to be deterred by his curious partner’s questions. On the contrary, they kept him sharp. “The guild’s information network is vast and far reaching. If worst comes to worst, we can utilize it to its fullest extent, though I would hope we would not have to resort to such measures.” The worst-case scenario he had in mind was the possibility that it ended up on the black market, in which case the mystery would become substantially more complicated, but he had confidence (or at the very least hope) that whoever stole it would not immediately seek to sell it there. Spoink pearls were sought after for more than just their weight in silver, after all, and the most likely culprit, a Ghost or Psychic-type, would have the most to gain from its uses. “Regardless, let us regroup at the Traveler’s Office and inform the guide of our predicament.”
“Right, let’s go!” Benigno spread his wings and leapt into the air, riding the wind and soaring far ahead of his friend. Oscar sighed. “The least you could do is wait for me.”
Together, they rushed through the streets of Tranquilo until they reached a small plaza, a light brick building featuring the emblem of Capital’s Guild just on the corner. Benigno landed and ran in first, Oscar trailing behind him. District Dragos’ Traveler’s Office was as quaint as the district itself: fairly small and clean, with the reception desk to the right and the ever-important request board on the wall to the left. Oscar’s claws clacked on the wooden floor as he entered, alerting the riolu behind the desk.
“Back already? That was quick,” said the riolu, trying to ignore the swoobat jumping up and down in front of him. He regarded Oscar with the kind of ruthlessly complicated expression one would expect from an individual who loathed your presence.
“You should see it for yourself, it is quite the conundrum!” said Oscar, in jovial ignorance of the guide’s exasperation. “A locked room mystery, if you can believe it! Somehow, the thief made off with the item without even leaving a scent!”
“And what does that bring you back here for?” asked Lin, leaning his head into his paw. He looked sharply at Benigno. “And stop fidgeting! You’re giving me a headache.”
“Oh! Sorry.” Benigno calmed down and stood still. While Oscar had many advocates in Tranquilo, Lin, the guide of this Traveler’s Office, was not one of them. Since Oscar often operated here, the two were well acquainted, but the differences between the two were simply too stark to reconcile. Lin was too clever and too serious for his own good, seeing Oscar’s mystery solving efforts as a nuisance rather than a help. Though Oscar theorized that the real reason he did not like him was because of an incident where Benigno questioned how a child could be trusted as the guide for Tranquilo. The answer, of course, was nepotism. Lin did not appreciate this.
“As much as I would prefer to bring good news,” Oscar continued. “We as of yet have no leads on the pearl. So…”
Lin sighed. “I’ll send a message to the other district offices. If we find anything out we’ll let you know. Is that it?”
“Um.” Benigno put a claw to his snout in thought. “Do you know anyone who could’ve stole it?”
“No.”
Oscar added to Benigno’s thought: “If it helps, the culprit is most likely either a ghost or psychic type pokémon. Can likely use Telekinesis.”
“No. But I’ll put it in the message.”
“Rather disappointing, but I guess I’m already asking a lot out of him.” Oscar nodded. “We appreciate it.”
With everything said and done, the duo left the tired riolu behind and found themselves back in the plaza. “Now what?” asked Benigno.
“As I said, Beni, we wait.” He watched as the whimsy faded from his friends eyes, and panicked slightly. “N-no worries, Benigno! Patience is a virtue! By tomorrow we can be certain that a new lead will have appeared!” Oscar did not want to admit that the mystery was a complete dead end. “Not a complete dead end! Just… mostly.”
“But I don’t want to wait. I tried to wake up early today,” Benigno complained.
“How about we visit your favorite restaurant? To make up for our lost afternoon?”
The swoobat nodded, smiling a little. “That sounds good I guess.”
And so, they went about their day, in the hopes that by the same time tomorrow a new lead would appear in the case. “If not for my or Benigno’s sake, then for Ettore’s!”
22nd day, Month of Clygem, 1843.
It was a miracle.
Oscar felt waves of relief crash upon his back as he read the request out loud for his friend. “What did I say, Beni?! A lead has revealed itself!”
“How do you know if they even have anything to do with each other?” commented Lin from his desk on the other side of the room.
“Simple!” Oscar glanced at Benigno and saw that the attention of the only one who mattered was on him completely. His tail wagged in barely concealed excitement. “Consider what a crystal ball and a spoink pearl have in common. They are both objects of powerful psychic energy! And for two items that match that description to become missing in such a short period of time, they must be connected!”
Benigno waved his wings in excitement. “And gothitelle are supposed to be Psychic-type pokémon too, right?!”
“Astute observation, but let us not get ahead of ourselves!” The herdier stood up and hurried to the door, his partner carefully picking the request off the board with his wings and carrying it in his mouth to follow. “We’re off, Lin!” Oscar exclaimed by the door. “By the time we come back, we’ll have solved this case completely!”
“Wait-!”
There was no time to wait. Oscar already knew where he needed to go, as Nera Street wasn’t far from his home. He and Benigno rushed through well-traveled city streets, each turn made on instinct until they reached a wide open road paved with dark gray bricks. Oscar made an abrupt stop to look around, and found the fortune teller’s almost immediately. It was a striking building colored of pure black, with white stars of paint placed in careful patterns so as to replicate constellations. Most would have called it tacky, but Oscar thought it was memorable. A whimsicott was exiting the building, wearing a look of disappointment. “That’s our cue!”
Once the duo approached the door, Oscar lifted the door knocker with his mouth and let it go, the noise of its impact with the door resounding loudly in his ears. Benigno still had the request in his own mouth, battered by the wind but still readable. He trembled beside the herdier in anticipation; Oscar himself had to concentrate on his tail to keep it under control. Eventually, the gothitelle they were here to see at last opened the door. “I apologize, but we’re…” She trailed off as she saw the request paper.
“It seems you have already surmised why we are here.” Oscar nodded a greeting. “My name is Oscar, and this is my partner Benigno. We are here because you placed a request?”
“Ah, Oscar. I had a premonition that you would come here today.” She placed a mitten-hand on her chest. “My name is Cosima. Please, come in.”
The inside of the fortune teller’s shop was dark, the strong smell of an odd incense taking over the room. As his eyes adjusted, Oscar noticed that the constellation theming continued into the interior as well, the walls painted in dark blues and illuminated by pockets of light coming from a covered lamp in the center. The shop was stocked with various trinkets: twisted spoons, moon tarots, covered incense and star charts. As he looked around, he became steadily more aware of the incense’s stuffy aroma, the air weighing down on his lungs and slowly suffocating him. He took a measured breath. “For a closed shop you seem rather dedicated to your theme,” he commented with veiled sarcasm.
“The aesthetics are more for myself than my customers. They help with focus,” said Cosima. “Allow me to lead you to where I placed the orb.”
The gothitelle led the duo into a small room at the back, containing nothing but a small table with an empty cushion. “This is where I kept my crystal ball. And this…” She moved over to a door at the back, opening it to show that it led outside into a back alley. “This is the back entrance. I was entering the shop from here this morning when I was attacked.”
“Attacked…” Oscar mulled it over. “By any chance did you get a glimpse of your attacker?”
Cosima shook her head sadly. “Unfortunately no. I believe they used Hypnosis to put me to sleep, as I don’t quite recall what happened at that moment.”
“I see.”
Benigno tilted his head. “Hypnosis? Ghost-types can use that, right?”
“Most can, yes,” Oscar confirmed for him. “So can Psychic-types, for that matter.”
“Is that relevant?” asked Cosima.
“Possibly.” Oscar licked his nose and took a moment to investigate the cushion that the stolen orb must have once occupied, a detail confirmed by its depressed center. He sniffed at it, and regretted the action almost immediately as the bitter odor of the odd incense attacked his senses and forced him to sneeze. “Does she really need all this? It’s a bit much!” He couldn’t help but notice the cushion’s scent held the slight twinge of something else, but he wasn’t in the mood to sniff it again after that. He tried his best to shake off his shock. “By any chance do you recall what the orb smelled of?” he asked, fighting back the urge to sneeze again.
Cosima placed a hand on her cheek. “I don’t think I recall it smelling like much of anything. Though I was never one to pay attention to such things.”
Oscar sneezed again, this time in slight embarrassment. “Of course. I should’ve known better than to ask.” He looked to Benigno, who was poking around at the various corners of the room, occasionally putting his large ears up against the walls. “Have you found anything?” Oscar asked.
With a slight jolt, Benigno slipped out of his trance and with dejection looked back towards the detective. “No…” he said, shaking his head sadly as he twiddled his thumb claws.
“Then there isn’t much for it.” The herdier turned back to Cosima and nodded politely. “Could you show me the alley? Hypnosis doesn’t last for very long, so our perpetrator may have left behind a clue in their haste.”
“Yes of course.”
She opened the door for Oscar, allowing him and his partner through. He gave the alley a once-over; small and thin, it was a space sandwiched between two rows of buildings. It had little in it, though a few crates were rather conveniently placed near the door. Oscar sniffed at one carefully: it reeked of odd incense, though not quite as strongly as inside the shop. He could still make out the distinct salty scent of the ocean that reminded him of District Attilio. “A recent delivery, maybe? It would provide good cover.” “Do you order odd incense in bulk?”
Cosima nodded. “I do. They only make them in Hivech, so it can be quite a hassle to get ahold of.”
“Perhaps the culprit hid in here.” Oscar reared up to peer over the edge of the box. It was empty, and Oscar had half a mind to search it. But the smell was simply too much for him. “Whoever did this was very concerned with hiding their scent.” It was a long shot, but he decided to try sniffing the ground around the box to see if he could pick up something recent. It was when he circled to the other side that he whiffed something vaguely familiar…
“So what did the crystal ball look like?” asked Benigno.
“Oh, it was a spoink pearl, of course.” Oscar’s head shot up as he heard it. “Anyone who is serious about fortune telling and psychic augmentation knows to get their hands on one.”
Benigno did not react as Oscar did, only seeming curious. “Really? How’d you get it?”
The gothitelle adjusted one of the disks of hair jutting from her head. “Obviously, I bought it.”
He innocently placed a thumb claw up to his mouth. “Where’d you buy it from?” His questions seemed innocuous, but Oscar knew from experience that it was when he was at his most innocent that he was the most dangerous. “You’re brilliant, Benigno!”
“Oh it was some store a bit far from here. I don’t quite remember the name, but I had predicted I would find it there.”
“Do you remember what district?”
Cosima’s gaze hardened, her patience quickly worn thin. “I don’t see how this is relevant. Aren’t you supposed to be finding where the pearl is?”
“Oh.” Benigno looked down and sheepishly tapped his claws together. “I guess I don’t really know where it is, so…”
“No worries, Beni!” Oscar trotted over and placed a paw on his shoulder in reassurance. “Asking questions is the basis of investigation! Allow me to take over from here.”
“Did you find anything of note?” Cosima asked, her mood having softened.
“I wasn’t sure if I was willing to consider it at first, but Cosima is definitely suspicious. She may not have answered his question, but I do have an idea of where she may have gotten this pearl.” Oscar nodded. “As a matter of fact, I believe I have an idea of where to search next.”
She sighed. “That’s a relief to hear. Is that all you need from me?”
“We may return here later if the case calls for it. There are still a few unresolved peculiarities regarding this scene, after all.” What Oscar had in mind was the scent. He had not forgotten about it. “Where have I smelled that before?”
Oscar held his breath as Cosima led the duo back through the shop. “I wish you the best of luck in returning my pearl to me,” she said as a farewell. And so the duo were left at her front door, and Oscar gasped for breath.
“Are you okay?!” shouted a worried Benigno.
“I’m fine! It was just a little stuffy in there, is all!” Oscar coughed. “Anyway, it is time we pay a visit to District Attilio!”
Benigno tilted his head. “Huh? Where are we going?”
“To where Cosima bought the pearl, of course!” the detective explained. “If she truly bought it from a store, then there is only one place to look in all of Capital, barring the fancy, high-end stores in District Grande. We shall take the tram, and make for there at once!”
The two traversed the city until they reached the nearest tram station. District Dragos’ trams were not very busy, which was perfect for Benigno’s sake. The station itself was a simple platform in the street near a railway, with a schedule attached to a board and a map of the city. They waited here alone, until a tram car appeared rumbling slowly along its track. Oscar stuffed his head into his bag for a gold coin, clenching it in his jaws just in time for the tram to come to a stop at the platform and the machoke driver to open the door. Oscar exchanged his coin for a day pass, and the two found a place to sit, Benigno taking to the window to marvel at the city. “It’s hard to imagine this beats flying, but I guess he just thinks it’s interesting.”
The tram stopped at a station just on the edge of District Attilio. Even this far out from the harbor, Porto Eone was bustling and lively in a way that District Dragos simply wasn’t, pokémon of all shapes and sizes moving from place to place, making conversation, and stopping by the many shops this part of the city was known for. The detective duo departed here, Oscar taking the lead towards their destination. “There is a jeweler not far from here. If anyone were to know about where Cosima got that spoink pearl, it would be Otto.”
The two hurried through the busy streets. Benigno seemed uncomfortable as he flew ahead: Oscar knew it was because of all the noise. “It won’t be long! Just a little farther.” Soon they came upon the store, a brick building among many others differentiated by the large sign featuring a gleaming jewel labeled ‘OTTO’S GEMS AND CRAFTS.’ The swoobat almost flew past it. Oscar barked to get his attention, and when he came back they stood together in front of the door. “This is it?” asked Benigno.
“It is. I’ve done a request for Otto before, so we are already acquainted.”
Benigno tilted his head. “I don’t remember that.”
“It was before we met.” Oscar gestured to the door. “Would you mind?”
Benigno pushed open the door and was surprised as it caused a chime attached to the door to ring. Oscar nudged him from behind, and together they entered the shop. It was somewhat small, the browsing area centered around a glass display case that ran the length up to just before the counter on the other side. More display cases were along the walls and behind the counter, each filled with various gemstones and jewelry. Just behind the counter was the sableye owner, Otto. He put a ringed claw around one of his gemstone eyes and appeared to adjust it. “Customers? Who’s there?”
Oscar expected that he wouldn’t be recognized. “It is Detective Oscar! Do you remember?”
“Oscar…” He tapped his head as he tried to remember. “Oh! The one who helped me a few months ago? With that lost bag?”
“The one and the same!” he announced proudly.
“And who’s the other one, the uh…” Otto adjusted his eyes again. “The one with the wings.”
As if prompted to do so, the swoobat spread his wings to show them off. “I’m Benigno! I’m his partner!”
“So you got a partner, that’s nice,” said Otto, nodding thoughtfully. “You’re probably here for that request I put up, aren’t you?”
“Request? What request?” What could the jeweler need at such an inopportune time?
“You aren’t? That’s unfortunate. Before we talk about whatever you need, would you be willing to hear me out?”
“Of course we are!” replied Benigno. Oscar looked toward him with some annoyance. “Do we really have time for this? Not that I don’t want to help him, but we have a mission!”
“You see, it’s about a pearl I had in my possession. It was stolen.”
“WHAT?!”
Otto recoiled and leaned back from Oscar’s outburst. “Y-yes, just last night, I believe.”
“Was it a spoink pearl?!” Oscar asked, front paws now on the counter and tail wagging in anticipation.
“Yes it was, how did you know?”
This changed everything. “If these are all the same pearl, then…” It certainly raised multiple questions. But for now he needed to remain focused on what was in front of him. Oscar calmed down and got off the counter back into a sitting position. “How long have you had this pearl for?”
Otto was still taken aback. Carefully, he adjusted an eye again and returned to his natural stance. “It was sold to me just yesterday, a most precious gem. The pearl had a youthful energy, I found myself quite taken with it. In all I appraised it to be worth about 500 silver.”
Benigno quickly caught on to the significance of that. “Who did you buy it from?!” he asked excitedly.
“It was…” Otto tapped his head, his taps getting faster and more forceful with each one. “F-Forgive me, I don’t quite recall.”
“Huh? But how?! It was yesterday!”
“It’s a peculiar weakness of his species,” Oscar explained. “Sableye are more concerned with gems than pokémon.”
“Oh he’s bad with faces…” Benigno whispered to himself.
“Not just faces, I’m afraid,” said Otto. “You all are… difficult to put together. Much more difficult than my gemstones. But I do keep a ledger. Just a moment.” The sableye disappeared behind the counter and reappeared with a notebook. “Let’s see… Noehnameh, Missingno.”
“That’s a weird name,” Benigno commented. “And what’s a missingno?”
“It sounds to me like an alias. And I don’t believe there is such a thing as a missingno.” Oscar shook his head in disappointment. “I hate to tell you like this, but I believe you have been taken for a fool, Otto.”
“R-really?” The sableye clutched his head and dug in his claws. He gave a frustrated sigh. “I’m… so sorry, this is my fault. Is there some reason you need to know? There wasn’t anything bad about that pearl, was there?”
Oscar considered how much he should tell him. “Technically it is still only a theory.” “No particular reason,” he lied. “If it helps, did this pokémon stand on two legs or four?”
Otto tapped his head once. “...Two.”
Oscar nodded. “That would be all. Could you show me where the pearl was kept?”
“Right. I liked it so much I decided it would work best as a decoration. I had it on display just over there.” He pointed towards a round metal stand located on a shelf just behind him. “Here, you’re good with smells, let me just-” The sableye’s crystal eyes gleamed a bright magenta, and suddenly the stand lifted itself up into the air and towards the counter.
Benigno tapped Oscar’s shoulder. “Telekinesis!” he whispered into his ear.
“I see that,” he whispered back.
The stand completed its journey towards the counter, settling carefully on its polished granite surface. Alarm bells were ringing in Oscar’s head, but in counter to them was his own consciousness, not willing to believe that a previous client could have committed a crime and pointing out the flaws within that line of thought. Forcing himself to push it aside for now, he licked his nose, took a whiff of the metal stand, and found that it had no scent. Nothing out of the ordinary that would hint at a culprit, at least. “Once again, no leads.”
“Well?” Otto had a hopeful gleam in his eyes.
Oscar shook his head. “Unfortunately I cannot determine anything from this. I can try investigating the shop, but it would be faster if you could explain how someone could have gotten into the shop to steal the pearl in the first place.”
“Hm. I can’t think of any. I close up shop late in the night, so it would have had to have happened sometime then. And I’m certain I locked the doors.”
“Unfortunate.” Oscar turned to Benigno. “I believe it is time we investigate. Perhaps we can find some sign of who was in here.”
The two got to work. Benigno started poking at the various corners of the shop, while Oscar sniffed the ground in hopes that by some miracle he would recognize a scent. He was not exactly confident in his theories yet, but if he could find something he recognized it would confirm them. “I just need some definitive sign these mysteries are connected.” And as luck would have it, near the counter he once again recognized a vaguely familiar scent. “It is the same one from the alley behind the fortune teller’s shop. It couldn’t be older than yesterday.”
“There’s something wrong with the door!” Benigno shouted.
“What?!” Otto left the counter and ran over to pull the door open. “It seems fine to me.”
“Well, uh…” The swoobat seemed to be having trouble putting thoughts into words. At that moment, something occurred to Oscar, and he believed he knew what his partner noticed.
“Can you check to see if the lock works?” he asked.
“If it works?” said a skeptical Otto. “Of course it does.”
Oscar joined Benigno and put a paw on his shoulder in reassurance. “If my partner says something is wrong, then something must be wrong. Just humor us for a moment.”
After Otto grabbed his key, they all left the shop, allowing Otto to close the door behind them, and insert the key. Benigno seemed to perk up as the lock turned. “It didn’t lock.”
Otto looked at him skeptically. “What do you mean?” He began to push the door as if to demonstrate -- “Of course it’s-” -- and it opened. “Whuh?”
As the confused sableye held it open, Oscar walked inside to investigate the lock on the side of the door and noticed that the bolt responsible for keeping it closed was missing. “It seems someone broke your lock.”
Otto rushed to see what he was talking about and put his free claw on his head in despair. “But, when?! How?!”
The great detective lifted his head high in a knowing gesture. “Simple! To remove the bolt from the door, one would first have to open it.”
“But I watch this door all day! I would have noticed if they were tampering with it!”
“Would you?” asked Oscar. Otto shook his head as if in disbelief he would ask that, but Oscar was not deterred. “Consider this: in order to steal the pearl, you would have to know it is here in the first place. But the pearl has only been here for a day, sold to you yesterday by a mystery seller. So how could they have known?”
Benigno excitedly waved his wings. “If they saw it!”
“Exactly! And how could they have seen it?”
“By coming into the shop!”
The sableye let go of the door and started tapping his head again. “So you’re saying it was one of my customers?”
“Not just any customer. After all, whoever this customer was had the ability to steal the pearl without actually touching the stand upon which it was displayed. And the only way they could do that would be with Telekinesis. And when you consider that, the means through which they could have covertly removed the bolt from the door becomes obvious!” Oscar nodded with certainty. “They destroyed it on the way out, with the intention of coming back to steal the pearl at night!”
“Is that even possible…?” Otto carefully considered the validity of Oscar’s claims. “It's not impossible…”
“With that established,” Oscar interrupted. “I would like to ask, is there anyone you would suspect may have stolen the pearl? Any dodgy customers?”
Otto stopped tapping his head and started fiddling with his ring instead. “Well… there was one pokémon.”
Benigno leaned in. “Yeah?!”
“I-I don’t remember what they look like, but yesterday someone asked to buy the pearl from its display. But I told them it wasn’t for sale. We argued for a bit, they left, and I didn’t put much thought to it afterwards.”
Oscar’s tail started to wag, the pieces falling together in his head. “And how many legs did this pokémon stand on?!”
Otto turned his ring once and looked up at Oscar. “Two.”
Benigno put a claw to his mouth. “Does that mean anything?”
“Of course it does!” the detective said proudly. “Consider: the thief knew about the difficulty sableye have with recognizing other pokémon. Taking advantage of this, they devised a simple scheme: first, they sell the pearl to Otto, and use their Telekinesis to weaken the lock on the way out. Then, under the guise of someone trying to purchase the pearl, they came back to finish the deed! That way they could steal it back undeterred!”
“No, that’s not possible.”
“Huh?”
Otto stood up straight and adjusted his left eye. “I may not be good with faces, but I would recognize their voice. The pokémon who sold it to me and the pokémon who tried to buy it were definitely different pokémon,” he explained. “And while I’m at it, I’m pretty sure the buyer was taller than the seller.”
“W-Well it was just a theory,” said Oscar, brushing his nose with a paw as he hastily tried to save face. “It could have been done in one trip as well, assuming they are a sufficiently powerful psychic. What matters now is that we have a lead!”
“You do?”
Oscar nodded. “Of course! I already have multiple theories, I just need the time to discuss them with my partner. But do not fret! I guarantee you we will have this mystery solved by the end of today!”
“Yeah, today!” Benigno repeated.
Otto adjusted his eye one last time as he looked them over. “After the last time you helped me, I don’t have much reason to doubt you. I wish you both luck.”
“Thank you for your trust!” Oscar gestured for Benigno to open the door. “Come, Beni! We still need to formally accept Otto’s request!”
“Right!” He pulled the locked door open, and the two left the shop. “Bye Otto!” The door chimes rang as it closed behind them.
Oscar led his partner through the streets of District Attilio, heading deeper into the district until they reached a wide plaza. The smell of the sea was stronger here, the harbor being not that far. “Can we see the ocean today?” Benigno asked.
“If we finish this request in a timely manner, then perhaps,” the detective answered. “For now, we must go over what we’ve learned from our investigation.”
They decided to settle near a bench located in the middle of the plaza. There were many pokémon about, but it was still noticeably quieter here than on the busy shopping streets, allowing Benigno a chance to relax at least somewhat. He spoke before Oscar could. “I think the pearls are connected.”
“It is likely,” agreed Oscar. “It is simply too much of a coincidence that three spoink pearls were all stolen in succession with one another. And when you consider what we know, a timeline of events starts to reveal itself.”
“What kind of timeline?” asked Benigno.
“For starters, who stole the pearl from who?”
The swoobat’s eyes lit up. “Oh yeah! If they’re all the same pearl, then someone must’ve stolen it from someone!”
“Exactly. The question of who stole from Ettore is still a mystery. However, I believe there is good reason to believe that the one who stole from Otto is Cosima.”
Benigno tilted his head. “Really? I thought she stole from Ettore at first.”
“If we take her at her word, then she bought her pearl. But that must be a lie, because the one shop that would have sold it did not have it for sale,” Oscar explained. “Considering that, it makes sense to assume that she was the thief.”
“But can she use Telekinesis?”
“That…” They never saw her use the move, and Oscar wasn’t certain if her species was one that would learn it naturally. “Of course she can! It only makes sense!”
“Then did Otto steal it from Ettore?”
That was the first pressing question. Otto was a Ghost-type who knew Telekinesis, a profile the two had established yesterday as a possibility. “I wouldn’t think so. Sableye are Ghost-type pokémon, but they are not actual ghosts, if you understand what I mean. If he really did steal the pearl from Ettore, then I should have smelled him.”
“But…” Benigno tapped his claws together. “If we can’t say who stole it from Ettore, then how can we say they’re the same pearl?”
“And therein lies the second pressing question.” Everything they knew about the three cases so far was only enough to tie two of them together. Even the one detail Oscar had not yet mentioned, the familiar scent he found in the shop, was something only shared in common with Cosima’s case. “There is still the possibility that whoever stole it in the first place sold it to Otto,” Oscar mentioned. “Though it is only a theory.”
A troubled look crossed Benigno’s face. “Well, whoever stole it from Cosima is the one who has it. So where is the pearl now?”
“I have no idea.” “Simple!” Oscar declared. “Consider this: what if the one who sold the pearl to Otto and the one who stole it from Cosima were one and the same pokémon?!”
Benigno looked at Oscar as if that were the most incomprehensibly brilliant sentence he had ever heard. “How do you know that?!” he asked.
“In the back alley of the fortune teller’s I happened upon a peculiar scent. And as it happens, I found an older version of that same scent in Otto’s shop! Obviously, this means the same pokémon was in those two places at the exact right times to perform those actions!”
The swoobat’s eyes were sparkling. “Wow, you’re so amazing Oscar!”
Oscar basked in the praise. “It didn’t answer his question at all, but at least he was distracted by it. If only I could remember where I smelled that scent before…”
District Attilio’s Traveler’s Office was just nearby at the edge of the plaza. It was only to be a quick stop to pick up Otto’s request, then they would proceed with their mission. All of the Offices in Capital looked rather similar to each other, though this one stood out with a few upscale furnishings. A simple but refined metal chandelier hung from the ceiling just above the area in front of the counter, which lay in the center of the back wall opposite the entrance. The floor was carpeted in red, enough so that Oscar could walk up to the board, grab Otto’s request, and bring it back to the granbull guide without having to touch the wooden floor underneath. And of course, the guide himself was wearing a black tuxedo. Oscar always thought he looked uncomfortable in it. “No words today?” the guide remarked. “Just a request?”
Oscar placed it on the counter. “As it happens, we have already spoken to Otto and promised to assist him in his request. I am simply here to make it official.”
“Still searching for pearls, huh? I heard from Lin,” he remarked. “You might be interested to hear we found something.”
Oscar’s ears perked up. “You did?!”
The granbull leaned on the counter and nodded. “Yup. Got a call from Lin not that long ago. He said he found something out about the case and to tell you if you showed up.”
Oscar looked to Benigno. “Why didn’t he tell me this?!”
“Well he did say wait.”
“That’s his fault, then! He should have led with it!” Oscar took the request and stuffed it in his bag. “Thank you for the tip, Ciro,” he said hastily before running to the door. “Now come, Benigno! We have no time to waste!”
And so they hurried to catch the next tram.
~~~
(continued in next post)
This is a relatively recent idea that I’ve been playing with for the past several months. At its core, this is a collection of one-shots and short stories: there isn’t really going to be any kind of schedule for this, it’s just whenever I feel like writing one, I’ll finish it and post it to this thread to keep them all in one place. While these are all standalone stories, there is some continuity between them: I would describe the format as like an episodic TV show. The episodes don’t have much to do with each other, but the later ones do expect you to have a basic understanding of these characters that’s built upon over time, and our main duo here do have a goal they are trying to work towards. For the near future, I’m going to be focusing on writing stories for this, at least until Gen 9 is released in November, at which point I’m going to be shifting my focus away from this to work on the main project that this is a part of.
Also, each story has it's own Table of Contents that outlines each scene and their length. Since these stories are long enough to be seperated into multiple posts, these ToCs will also contain links to the individual posts that make up that story. This is jut to make it easier to navigate and create stopping points for yourself, so feel free to take advantage of it!
All that said, I hope you enjoy! Feedback is very appreciated, as I’m trying to experiment a lot with these to see what works and what doesn’t.
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Detective Oscar and the Mystery of the Thrice Stolen Pearl
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Summary: It begins as a simple request to find a stolen pearl. But the situation soon multiplies into not one mystery, but three! Can Detective Oscar solve them all, and reach the truth at the heart of it?
Start - 2.3k words
2:22 in the afternoon - 5k
3:31 in the afternoon - 0.8k
4:10 in the afternoon - 4.7k
2:22 in the afternoon - 5k
3:31 in the afternoon - 0.8k
4:10 in the afternoon - 4.7k
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---STOLEN HEIRLOOM!---
Type: Search
Client: Grumpig
Reward: 120 Poké
I woke up this morning to find our family’s most prized possession missing! It is my great-great-grandmother’s pearl, one that had been passed down for generations! Our house is near Tranquilo’s north exit. Please help me find it!
---
Type: Search
Client: Grumpig
Reward: 120 Poké
I woke up this morning to find our family’s most prized possession missing! It is my great-great-grandmother’s pearl, one that had been passed down for generations! Our house is near Tranquilo’s north exit. Please help me find it!
---
21st day, Month of Clygem, 1843.
“I see…”
The studious herdier examined the table in detail, looking at it from every angle and position. Its condition was pristine, and it smelled like old pine. Content, he took a step back to consider the room he was in once more. The table was situated against the wall at a perfect distance from the front door and nearest window both, which would place it right in the middle of the room.
A grumpig watched him anxiously. “Have you figured something out yet, Detective Oscar?”
The great Detective Oscar answered his question with a question. “May I ask, you said that the door was still locked when you woke up this morning?”
The grumpig, known as Ettore, fiddled nervously with his large ears. “Yeah, and I swear it was locked all night.”
“And there are no other entrances to the building?”
“No, just the windows.”
“A locked room mystery,” the detective thought, his mind whirling with possibilities. He got close to the table and sniffed the pillow Ettore claimed the pearl had been sitting on. But all he found was that same scent of old pine, with what he assumed to be Ettore’s scent faint and distant. “That’s odd.”
“What’s odd?” asked Ettore.
“I have seen a few spoink pearls in my time,” said Oscar. “And they would typically carry the scent of their owners. But there is not a single lingering trace of it to be found here.”
“Oh, that would be my fault,” Ettore explained, wringing his hands. “I should have mentioned it. I wash the pearl every now and then to keep it clean, that’s why you can’t smell it.”
“Does he wash it with pine or something?” The detective decided that it didn’t matter why it was missing a scent. “If I cannot smell anything, then I cannot track anything, so unfortunately we will have to proceed the old-fashioned way.” He shifted his gaze to the swoobat poking inquisitively at the wall underneath the stairway. “Benigno!”
Benigno was snapped out of his trance. “Huh?” He quickly hopped over and tilted his head. “What is it?”
“You seemed to be very invested in that wall there. Did you find anything?” Oscar asked.
Benigno shook his head. “Nope.”
The detective lifted a brow. Benigno was a ‘mon of odd habits, always being distracted by even the slightest of small sounds. While his acute hearing abilities were often helpful, they just as often led to dead ends, and the swoobat himself could never seem to tell the difference. In this case, however, he decided to trust his word. “Very well then.” He turned towards the grumpig. “Now, Ettore, was it? We will have to ask you a few questions. Is there anyone you know who would covet the pearl?”
“No one that I can think of,” he replied. “It must have been some kind of common thief.”
“A common thief that leaves no scent and can pass through a locked door.” Oscar shook his head, the small bag around his neck shifting as he did so. “It is far more likely we are dealing with someone more professional here. Though as to how they found out about the pearl, would you know?”
“Well you can see it from the window over there,” he said, pointing to it. “That’s probably how it caught their eye.”
Benigno tapped his partner on the shoulder with a wing claw. “Do you think it was a ghost?”
“I wouldn’t think so, but…” Oscar pondered the situation. “The way I see it there are two possibilities.”
“Two?” questioned Ettore.
The great detective nodded. “First, as Benigno suggested, it may have been a Ghost-type pokémon. I would think that a ghost does leave behind a scent, however I must admit that I am not the most educated on ghosts. So it is not out of the question that some are incorporeal enough to not leave behind a scent as they travel. The other possibility…” The herdier moved over to the window, whose curtains were drawn back. “Is revealed by these open curtains!”
The swoobat’s eyes widened. “Really?! What do they mean?!” asked Benigno, his excitement mounting.
“What they mean is the second possibility! Ettore, were these curtains closed last night?”
The grumpig rubbed his chin as he tried to remember. “Well, no. I don’t think so.”
“You would think a Psychic-type would understand the significance!” The detective shook his head in mock disappointment. “Haven’t you heard to always keep your curtains closed at night? Because if you don’t, you open yourself up as a victim of telekinetic crime!”
Benigno hopped slightly, wings spread in understanding. “Oh! That’s the thing where you make things move with your mind!”
“Exactly! The move in question: Telekinesis! It requires a line of sight between you and the object in question, and both the door and pearl can be seen from here. In theory, one could use it to unlock the door, take the pearl, and lock it once again, all without having to enter your home!”
Ettore’s hand stayed glued to his chin as he gave the detective a skeptical look. “But isn’t Telekinesis a rare move? There aren’t really a lot of pokémon who know how to use it.”
But Oscar was not deterred. “Which is perfect, as it narrows down our search considerably!”
“Maybe they left a smell at the window!” exclaimed Benigno.
“Good thinking, Beni!” Oscar put his front paws on the window sill. “Would you mind, Ettore? It would be much faster if you were to open it.”
Ettore, still skeptical but willing to humor him, did as he was instructed and undid the latch keeping the window closed. With a *click!* he pushed it open, allowing Oscar to jump out and investigate the small side path wedged between buildings. He licked his nose and immediately got to work combing through the area, trying his best to sort out the smells to find something that wouldn’t fit.
“Did you find anything?” asked Benigno from the window.
There was nothing. Everything in the alley seemed to be in order, not a single recent smell. “That can’t be right! Did I miss something?” But he couldn’t have missed something, he was thorough! “It seems…” He tried desperately to think of a response. “That there is nothing of note in this particular location…”
“So it wasn’t a Psychic-type then,” said Ettore. His tone was becoming less impressed by the second.
Benigno piped in. “Maybe it was a ghost using Telekinesis!”
“I was just about to say that!” The great detective jumped back into the building and placed a paw on Benigno’s shoulder. “This is why we are partners; we are of the same mind! Ghosts are known for using Telekinesis!”
Ettore placed a hand on his chin. “It’s a bit far-fetched, but it would make sense I guess.”
“Of course it does!” He motioned for Benigno to follow him to the door. “Unfortunately, however, there isn’t much else to be discovered here. We will have to take our search elsewhere.”
Ettore clasped his hands together. “But you’ll find it, won’t you, detective?”
The great Detective Oscar stood proudly and scoffed. “Of course we will! Who do you think I am?!”
“Yeah!” exclaimed his esteemed partner Benigno. “We’re the best detective duo in all of Capital! You’re in good paws!” He lifted his wings and spread them wide. “And wings!”
“Well said Beni!” And with that, Benigno opened the door and the two stepped out into the sunlight.
Oscar took a deep breath of the afternoon air. There was a slight chill that day, a rare winter breeze blowing through the streets of the ever quiet District Dragos, aptly known by its residents as Tranquilo. Out of every district in Capital, it was both the newest and most peaceful, the buildings and roads well-maintained and newly placed street lamps lending a modern flair. To most adventurers it was known as the least interesting locale one could possibly visit, and was generally considered inferior to other districts when it came to lucrative requests. To the great detective however, it was a treasure trove of mystery. While it was true that genuine mysteries such as his current one were rare in this corner of the city, when one did appear it was always certain that he would get to it first. And it was through this clever usage of opportunity that he had gained his reputation as a first-rate problem solver.
“So now what?” asked Benigno as they walked aimlessly down the street.
“That’s the hard part.” Oscar kept his head straight and proud as he glanced at his partner. “Sometimes, Benigno, it is important to understand the ever-changing nature of mysteries.”
Benigno nodded along, enraptured by his words. “Uh huh?”
“So! Consider that as of right now, it is impossible to track down the pearl with our current information,” Oscar explained. “In such a situation, the best thing one can do is wait. In time, as the stolen item moves through the city, new information is bound to reveal itself.”
“But what if nothing turns up?”
Oscar felt a prickle of nervousness eat away at his tail. Still, he was not one to be deterred by his curious partner’s questions. On the contrary, they kept him sharp. “The guild’s information network is vast and far reaching. If worst comes to worst, we can utilize it to its fullest extent, though I would hope we would not have to resort to such measures.” The worst-case scenario he had in mind was the possibility that it ended up on the black market, in which case the mystery would become substantially more complicated, but he had confidence (or at the very least hope) that whoever stole it would not immediately seek to sell it there. Spoink pearls were sought after for more than just their weight in silver, after all, and the most likely culprit, a Ghost or Psychic-type, would have the most to gain from its uses. “Regardless, let us regroup at the Traveler’s Office and inform the guide of our predicament.”
“Right, let’s go!” Benigno spread his wings and leapt into the air, riding the wind and soaring far ahead of his friend. Oscar sighed. “The least you could do is wait for me.”
Together, they rushed through the streets of Tranquilo until they reached a small plaza, a light brick building featuring the emblem of Capital’s Guild just on the corner. Benigno landed and ran in first, Oscar trailing behind him. District Dragos’ Traveler’s Office was as quaint as the district itself: fairly small and clean, with the reception desk to the right and the ever-important request board on the wall to the left. Oscar’s claws clacked on the wooden floor as he entered, alerting the riolu behind the desk.
“Back already? That was quick,” said the riolu, trying to ignore the swoobat jumping up and down in front of him. He regarded Oscar with the kind of ruthlessly complicated expression one would expect from an individual who loathed your presence.
“You should see it for yourself, it is quite the conundrum!” said Oscar, in jovial ignorance of the guide’s exasperation. “A locked room mystery, if you can believe it! Somehow, the thief made off with the item without even leaving a scent!”
“And what does that bring you back here for?” asked Lin, leaning his head into his paw. He looked sharply at Benigno. “And stop fidgeting! You’re giving me a headache.”
“Oh! Sorry.” Benigno calmed down and stood still. While Oscar had many advocates in Tranquilo, Lin, the guide of this Traveler’s Office, was not one of them. Since Oscar often operated here, the two were well acquainted, but the differences between the two were simply too stark to reconcile. Lin was too clever and too serious for his own good, seeing Oscar’s mystery solving efforts as a nuisance rather than a help. Though Oscar theorized that the real reason he did not like him was because of an incident where Benigno questioned how a child could be trusted as the guide for Tranquilo. The answer, of course, was nepotism. Lin did not appreciate this.
“As much as I would prefer to bring good news,” Oscar continued. “We as of yet have no leads on the pearl. So…”
Lin sighed. “I’ll send a message to the other district offices. If we find anything out we’ll let you know. Is that it?”
“Um.” Benigno put a claw to his snout in thought. “Do you know anyone who could’ve stole it?”
“No.”
Oscar added to Benigno’s thought: “If it helps, the culprit is most likely either a ghost or psychic type pokémon. Can likely use Telekinesis.”
“No. But I’ll put it in the message.”
“Rather disappointing, but I guess I’m already asking a lot out of him.” Oscar nodded. “We appreciate it.”
With everything said and done, the duo left the tired riolu behind and found themselves back in the plaza. “Now what?” asked Benigno.
“As I said, Beni, we wait.” He watched as the whimsy faded from his friends eyes, and panicked slightly. “N-no worries, Benigno! Patience is a virtue! By tomorrow we can be certain that a new lead will have appeared!” Oscar did not want to admit that the mystery was a complete dead end. “Not a complete dead end! Just… mostly.”
“But I don’t want to wait. I tried to wake up early today,” Benigno complained.
“How about we visit your favorite restaurant? To make up for our lost afternoon?”
The swoobat nodded, smiling a little. “That sounds good I guess.”
And so, they went about their day, in the hopes that by the same time tomorrow a new lead would appear in the case. “If not for my or Benigno’s sake, then for Ettore’s!”
---
---District Dragos Traveler's Office, 2:22 in the afternoon---
---District Dragos Traveler's Office, 2:22 in the afternoon---
22nd day, Month of Clygem, 1843.
It was a miracle.
---CRYSTAL BALL ROBBERY---
Type: Search
Client: Gothitelle
Reward: 300 Poké
As I opened up my shop for the day, I was assaulted by a mysterious assailant. And when I came to, the centerpiece of my fortune telling business, my prized crystal ball, was missing! Please find it and the thug who stole it from me! My store can be found just on the edge of Tranquilo on Nera Street.
---
Type: Search
Client: Gothitelle
Reward: 300 Poké
As I opened up my shop for the day, I was assaulted by a mysterious assailant. And when I came to, the centerpiece of my fortune telling business, my prized crystal ball, was missing! Please find it and the thug who stole it from me! My store can be found just on the edge of Tranquilo on Nera Street.
---
Oscar felt waves of relief crash upon his back as he read the request out loud for his friend. “What did I say, Beni?! A lead has revealed itself!”
“How do you know if they even have anything to do with each other?” commented Lin from his desk on the other side of the room.
“Simple!” Oscar glanced at Benigno and saw that the attention of the only one who mattered was on him completely. His tail wagged in barely concealed excitement. “Consider what a crystal ball and a spoink pearl have in common. They are both objects of powerful psychic energy! And for two items that match that description to become missing in such a short period of time, they must be connected!”
Benigno waved his wings in excitement. “And gothitelle are supposed to be Psychic-type pokémon too, right?!”
“Astute observation, but let us not get ahead of ourselves!” The herdier stood up and hurried to the door, his partner carefully picking the request off the board with his wings and carrying it in his mouth to follow. “We’re off, Lin!” Oscar exclaimed by the door. “By the time we come back, we’ll have solved this case completely!”
“Wait-!”
There was no time to wait. Oscar already knew where he needed to go, as Nera Street wasn’t far from his home. He and Benigno rushed through well-traveled city streets, each turn made on instinct until they reached a wide open road paved with dark gray bricks. Oscar made an abrupt stop to look around, and found the fortune teller’s almost immediately. It was a striking building colored of pure black, with white stars of paint placed in careful patterns so as to replicate constellations. Most would have called it tacky, but Oscar thought it was memorable. A whimsicott was exiting the building, wearing a look of disappointment. “That’s our cue!”
Once the duo approached the door, Oscar lifted the door knocker with his mouth and let it go, the noise of its impact with the door resounding loudly in his ears. Benigno still had the request in his own mouth, battered by the wind but still readable. He trembled beside the herdier in anticipation; Oscar himself had to concentrate on his tail to keep it under control. Eventually, the gothitelle they were here to see at last opened the door. “I apologize, but we’re…” She trailed off as she saw the request paper.
“It seems you have already surmised why we are here.” Oscar nodded a greeting. “My name is Oscar, and this is my partner Benigno. We are here because you placed a request?”
“Ah, Oscar. I had a premonition that you would come here today.” She placed a mitten-hand on her chest. “My name is Cosima. Please, come in.”
The inside of the fortune teller’s shop was dark, the strong smell of an odd incense taking over the room. As his eyes adjusted, Oscar noticed that the constellation theming continued into the interior as well, the walls painted in dark blues and illuminated by pockets of light coming from a covered lamp in the center. The shop was stocked with various trinkets: twisted spoons, moon tarots, covered incense and star charts. As he looked around, he became steadily more aware of the incense’s stuffy aroma, the air weighing down on his lungs and slowly suffocating him. He took a measured breath. “For a closed shop you seem rather dedicated to your theme,” he commented with veiled sarcasm.
“The aesthetics are more for myself than my customers. They help with focus,” said Cosima. “Allow me to lead you to where I placed the orb.”
The gothitelle led the duo into a small room at the back, containing nothing but a small table with an empty cushion. “This is where I kept my crystal ball. And this…” She moved over to a door at the back, opening it to show that it led outside into a back alley. “This is the back entrance. I was entering the shop from here this morning when I was attacked.”
“Attacked…” Oscar mulled it over. “By any chance did you get a glimpse of your attacker?”
Cosima shook her head sadly. “Unfortunately no. I believe they used Hypnosis to put me to sleep, as I don’t quite recall what happened at that moment.”
“I see.”
Benigno tilted his head. “Hypnosis? Ghost-types can use that, right?”
“Most can, yes,” Oscar confirmed for him. “So can Psychic-types, for that matter.”
“Is that relevant?” asked Cosima.
“Possibly.” Oscar licked his nose and took a moment to investigate the cushion that the stolen orb must have once occupied, a detail confirmed by its depressed center. He sniffed at it, and regretted the action almost immediately as the bitter odor of the odd incense attacked his senses and forced him to sneeze. “Does she really need all this? It’s a bit much!” He couldn’t help but notice the cushion’s scent held the slight twinge of something else, but he wasn’t in the mood to sniff it again after that. He tried his best to shake off his shock. “By any chance do you recall what the orb smelled of?” he asked, fighting back the urge to sneeze again.
Cosima placed a hand on her cheek. “I don’t think I recall it smelling like much of anything. Though I was never one to pay attention to such things.”
Oscar sneezed again, this time in slight embarrassment. “Of course. I should’ve known better than to ask.” He looked to Benigno, who was poking around at the various corners of the room, occasionally putting his large ears up against the walls. “Have you found anything?” Oscar asked.
With a slight jolt, Benigno slipped out of his trance and with dejection looked back towards the detective. “No…” he said, shaking his head sadly as he twiddled his thumb claws.
“Then there isn’t much for it.” The herdier turned back to Cosima and nodded politely. “Could you show me the alley? Hypnosis doesn’t last for very long, so our perpetrator may have left behind a clue in their haste.”
“Yes of course.”
She opened the door for Oscar, allowing him and his partner through. He gave the alley a once-over; small and thin, it was a space sandwiched between two rows of buildings. It had little in it, though a few crates were rather conveniently placed near the door. Oscar sniffed at one carefully: it reeked of odd incense, though not quite as strongly as inside the shop. He could still make out the distinct salty scent of the ocean that reminded him of District Attilio. “A recent delivery, maybe? It would provide good cover.” “Do you order odd incense in bulk?”
Cosima nodded. “I do. They only make them in Hivech, so it can be quite a hassle to get ahold of.”
“Perhaps the culprit hid in here.” Oscar reared up to peer over the edge of the box. It was empty, and Oscar had half a mind to search it. But the smell was simply too much for him. “Whoever did this was very concerned with hiding their scent.” It was a long shot, but he decided to try sniffing the ground around the box to see if he could pick up something recent. It was when he circled to the other side that he whiffed something vaguely familiar…
“So what did the crystal ball look like?” asked Benigno.
“Oh, it was a spoink pearl, of course.” Oscar’s head shot up as he heard it. “Anyone who is serious about fortune telling and psychic augmentation knows to get their hands on one.”
Benigno did not react as Oscar did, only seeming curious. “Really? How’d you get it?”
The gothitelle adjusted one of the disks of hair jutting from her head. “Obviously, I bought it.”
He innocently placed a thumb claw up to his mouth. “Where’d you buy it from?” His questions seemed innocuous, but Oscar knew from experience that it was when he was at his most innocent that he was the most dangerous. “You’re brilliant, Benigno!”
“Oh it was some store a bit far from here. I don’t quite remember the name, but I had predicted I would find it there.”
“Do you remember what district?”
Cosima’s gaze hardened, her patience quickly worn thin. “I don’t see how this is relevant. Aren’t you supposed to be finding where the pearl is?”
“Oh.” Benigno looked down and sheepishly tapped his claws together. “I guess I don’t really know where it is, so…”
“No worries, Beni!” Oscar trotted over and placed a paw on his shoulder in reassurance. “Asking questions is the basis of investigation! Allow me to take over from here.”
“Did you find anything of note?” Cosima asked, her mood having softened.
“I wasn’t sure if I was willing to consider it at first, but Cosima is definitely suspicious. She may not have answered his question, but I do have an idea of where she may have gotten this pearl.” Oscar nodded. “As a matter of fact, I believe I have an idea of where to search next.”
She sighed. “That’s a relief to hear. Is that all you need from me?”
“We may return here later if the case calls for it. There are still a few unresolved peculiarities regarding this scene, after all.” What Oscar had in mind was the scent. He had not forgotten about it. “Where have I smelled that before?”
Oscar held his breath as Cosima led the duo back through the shop. “I wish you the best of luck in returning my pearl to me,” she said as a farewell. And so the duo were left at her front door, and Oscar gasped for breath.
“Are you okay?!” shouted a worried Benigno.
“I’m fine! It was just a little stuffy in there, is all!” Oscar coughed. “Anyway, it is time we pay a visit to District Attilio!”
Benigno tilted his head. “Huh? Where are we going?”
“To where Cosima bought the pearl, of course!” the detective explained. “If she truly bought it from a store, then there is only one place to look in all of Capital, barring the fancy, high-end stores in District Grande. We shall take the tram, and make for there at once!”
The two traversed the city until they reached the nearest tram station. District Dragos’ trams were not very busy, which was perfect for Benigno’s sake. The station itself was a simple platform in the street near a railway, with a schedule attached to a board and a map of the city. They waited here alone, until a tram car appeared rumbling slowly along its track. Oscar stuffed his head into his bag for a gold coin, clenching it in his jaws just in time for the tram to come to a stop at the platform and the machoke driver to open the door. Oscar exchanged his coin for a day pass, and the two found a place to sit, Benigno taking to the window to marvel at the city. “It’s hard to imagine this beats flying, but I guess he just thinks it’s interesting.”
The tram stopped at a station just on the edge of District Attilio. Even this far out from the harbor, Porto Eone was bustling and lively in a way that District Dragos simply wasn’t, pokémon of all shapes and sizes moving from place to place, making conversation, and stopping by the many shops this part of the city was known for. The detective duo departed here, Oscar taking the lead towards their destination. “There is a jeweler not far from here. If anyone were to know about where Cosima got that spoink pearl, it would be Otto.”
The two hurried through the busy streets. Benigno seemed uncomfortable as he flew ahead: Oscar knew it was because of all the noise. “It won’t be long! Just a little farther.” Soon they came upon the store, a brick building among many others differentiated by the large sign featuring a gleaming jewel labeled ‘OTTO’S GEMS AND CRAFTS.’ The swoobat almost flew past it. Oscar barked to get his attention, and when he came back they stood together in front of the door. “This is it?” asked Benigno.
“It is. I’ve done a request for Otto before, so we are already acquainted.”
Benigno tilted his head. “I don’t remember that.”
“It was before we met.” Oscar gestured to the door. “Would you mind?”
Benigno pushed open the door and was surprised as it caused a chime attached to the door to ring. Oscar nudged him from behind, and together they entered the shop. It was somewhat small, the browsing area centered around a glass display case that ran the length up to just before the counter on the other side. More display cases were along the walls and behind the counter, each filled with various gemstones and jewelry. Just behind the counter was the sableye owner, Otto. He put a ringed claw around one of his gemstone eyes and appeared to adjust it. “Customers? Who’s there?”
Oscar expected that he wouldn’t be recognized. “It is Detective Oscar! Do you remember?”
“Oscar…” He tapped his head as he tried to remember. “Oh! The one who helped me a few months ago? With that lost bag?”
“The one and the same!” he announced proudly.
“And who’s the other one, the uh…” Otto adjusted his eyes again. “The one with the wings.”
As if prompted to do so, the swoobat spread his wings to show them off. “I’m Benigno! I’m his partner!”
“So you got a partner, that’s nice,” said Otto, nodding thoughtfully. “You’re probably here for that request I put up, aren’t you?”
“Request? What request?” What could the jeweler need at such an inopportune time?
“You aren’t? That’s unfortunate. Before we talk about whatever you need, would you be willing to hear me out?”
“Of course we are!” replied Benigno. Oscar looked toward him with some annoyance. “Do we really have time for this? Not that I don’t want to help him, but we have a mission!”
“You see, it’s about a pearl I had in my possession. It was stolen.”
“WHAT?!”
Otto recoiled and leaned back from Oscar’s outburst. “Y-yes, just last night, I believe.”
“Was it a spoink pearl?!” Oscar asked, front paws now on the counter and tail wagging in anticipation.
“Yes it was, how did you know?”
This changed everything. “If these are all the same pearl, then…” It certainly raised multiple questions. But for now he needed to remain focused on what was in front of him. Oscar calmed down and got off the counter back into a sitting position. “How long have you had this pearl for?”
Otto was still taken aback. Carefully, he adjusted an eye again and returned to his natural stance. “It was sold to me just yesterday, a most precious gem. The pearl had a youthful energy, I found myself quite taken with it. In all I appraised it to be worth about 500 silver.”
Benigno quickly caught on to the significance of that. “Who did you buy it from?!” he asked excitedly.
“It was…” Otto tapped his head, his taps getting faster and more forceful with each one. “F-Forgive me, I don’t quite recall.”
“Huh? But how?! It was yesterday!”
“It’s a peculiar weakness of his species,” Oscar explained. “Sableye are more concerned with gems than pokémon.”
“Oh he’s bad with faces…” Benigno whispered to himself.
“Not just faces, I’m afraid,” said Otto. “You all are… difficult to put together. Much more difficult than my gemstones. But I do keep a ledger. Just a moment.” The sableye disappeared behind the counter and reappeared with a notebook. “Let’s see… Noehnameh, Missingno.”
“That’s a weird name,” Benigno commented. “And what’s a missingno?”
“It sounds to me like an alias. And I don’t believe there is such a thing as a missingno.” Oscar shook his head in disappointment. “I hate to tell you like this, but I believe you have been taken for a fool, Otto.”
“R-really?” The sableye clutched his head and dug in his claws. He gave a frustrated sigh. “I’m… so sorry, this is my fault. Is there some reason you need to know? There wasn’t anything bad about that pearl, was there?”
Oscar considered how much he should tell him. “Technically it is still only a theory.” “No particular reason,” he lied. “If it helps, did this pokémon stand on two legs or four?”
Otto tapped his head once. “...Two.”
Oscar nodded. “That would be all. Could you show me where the pearl was kept?”
“Right. I liked it so much I decided it would work best as a decoration. I had it on display just over there.” He pointed towards a round metal stand located on a shelf just behind him. “Here, you’re good with smells, let me just-” The sableye’s crystal eyes gleamed a bright magenta, and suddenly the stand lifted itself up into the air and towards the counter.
Benigno tapped Oscar’s shoulder. “Telekinesis!” he whispered into his ear.
“I see that,” he whispered back.
The stand completed its journey towards the counter, settling carefully on its polished granite surface. Alarm bells were ringing in Oscar’s head, but in counter to them was his own consciousness, not willing to believe that a previous client could have committed a crime and pointing out the flaws within that line of thought. Forcing himself to push it aside for now, he licked his nose, took a whiff of the metal stand, and found that it had no scent. Nothing out of the ordinary that would hint at a culprit, at least. “Once again, no leads.”
“Well?” Otto had a hopeful gleam in his eyes.
Oscar shook his head. “Unfortunately I cannot determine anything from this. I can try investigating the shop, but it would be faster if you could explain how someone could have gotten into the shop to steal the pearl in the first place.”
“Hm. I can’t think of any. I close up shop late in the night, so it would have had to have happened sometime then. And I’m certain I locked the doors.”
“Unfortunate.” Oscar turned to Benigno. “I believe it is time we investigate. Perhaps we can find some sign of who was in here.”
The two got to work. Benigno started poking at the various corners of the shop, while Oscar sniffed the ground in hopes that by some miracle he would recognize a scent. He was not exactly confident in his theories yet, but if he could find something he recognized it would confirm them. “I just need some definitive sign these mysteries are connected.” And as luck would have it, near the counter he once again recognized a vaguely familiar scent. “It is the same one from the alley behind the fortune teller’s shop. It couldn’t be older than yesterday.”
“There’s something wrong with the door!” Benigno shouted.
“What?!” Otto left the counter and ran over to pull the door open. “It seems fine to me.”
“Well, uh…” The swoobat seemed to be having trouble putting thoughts into words. At that moment, something occurred to Oscar, and he believed he knew what his partner noticed.
“Can you check to see if the lock works?” he asked.
“If it works?” said a skeptical Otto. “Of course it does.”
Oscar joined Benigno and put a paw on his shoulder in reassurance. “If my partner says something is wrong, then something must be wrong. Just humor us for a moment.”
After Otto grabbed his key, they all left the shop, allowing Otto to close the door behind them, and insert the key. Benigno seemed to perk up as the lock turned. “It didn’t lock.”
Otto looked at him skeptically. “What do you mean?” He began to push the door as if to demonstrate -- “Of course it’s-” -- and it opened. “Whuh?”
As the confused sableye held it open, Oscar walked inside to investigate the lock on the side of the door and noticed that the bolt responsible for keeping it closed was missing. “It seems someone broke your lock.”
Otto rushed to see what he was talking about and put his free claw on his head in despair. “But, when?! How?!”
The great detective lifted his head high in a knowing gesture. “Simple! To remove the bolt from the door, one would first have to open it.”
“But I watch this door all day! I would have noticed if they were tampering with it!”
“Would you?” asked Oscar. Otto shook his head as if in disbelief he would ask that, but Oscar was not deterred. “Consider this: in order to steal the pearl, you would have to know it is here in the first place. But the pearl has only been here for a day, sold to you yesterday by a mystery seller. So how could they have known?”
Benigno excitedly waved his wings. “If they saw it!”
“Exactly! And how could they have seen it?”
“By coming into the shop!”
The sableye let go of the door and started tapping his head again. “So you’re saying it was one of my customers?”
“Not just any customer. After all, whoever this customer was had the ability to steal the pearl without actually touching the stand upon which it was displayed. And the only way they could do that would be with Telekinesis. And when you consider that, the means through which they could have covertly removed the bolt from the door becomes obvious!” Oscar nodded with certainty. “They destroyed it on the way out, with the intention of coming back to steal the pearl at night!”
“Is that even possible…?” Otto carefully considered the validity of Oscar’s claims. “It's not impossible…”
“With that established,” Oscar interrupted. “I would like to ask, is there anyone you would suspect may have stolen the pearl? Any dodgy customers?”
Otto stopped tapping his head and started fiddling with his ring instead. “Well… there was one pokémon.”
Benigno leaned in. “Yeah?!”
“I-I don’t remember what they look like, but yesterday someone asked to buy the pearl from its display. But I told them it wasn’t for sale. We argued for a bit, they left, and I didn’t put much thought to it afterwards.”
Oscar’s tail started to wag, the pieces falling together in his head. “And how many legs did this pokémon stand on?!”
Otto turned his ring once and looked up at Oscar. “Two.”
Benigno put a claw to his mouth. “Does that mean anything?”
“Of course it does!” the detective said proudly. “Consider: the thief knew about the difficulty sableye have with recognizing other pokémon. Taking advantage of this, they devised a simple scheme: first, they sell the pearl to Otto, and use their Telekinesis to weaken the lock on the way out. Then, under the guise of someone trying to purchase the pearl, they came back to finish the deed! That way they could steal it back undeterred!”
“No, that’s not possible.”
“Huh?”
Otto stood up straight and adjusted his left eye. “I may not be good with faces, but I would recognize their voice. The pokémon who sold it to me and the pokémon who tried to buy it were definitely different pokémon,” he explained. “And while I’m at it, I’m pretty sure the buyer was taller than the seller.”
“W-Well it was just a theory,” said Oscar, brushing his nose with a paw as he hastily tried to save face. “It could have been done in one trip as well, assuming they are a sufficiently powerful psychic. What matters now is that we have a lead!”
“You do?”
Oscar nodded. “Of course! I already have multiple theories, I just need the time to discuss them with my partner. But do not fret! I guarantee you we will have this mystery solved by the end of today!”
“Yeah, today!” Benigno repeated.
Otto adjusted his eye one last time as he looked them over. “After the last time you helped me, I don’t have much reason to doubt you. I wish you both luck.”
“Thank you for your trust!” Oscar gestured for Benigno to open the door. “Come, Beni! We still need to formally accept Otto’s request!”
“Right!” He pulled the locked door open, and the two left the shop. “Bye Otto!” The door chimes rang as it closed behind them.
Oscar led his partner through the streets of District Attilio, heading deeper into the district until they reached a wide plaza. The smell of the sea was stronger here, the harbor being not that far. “Can we see the ocean today?” Benigno asked.
“If we finish this request in a timely manner, then perhaps,” the detective answered. “For now, we must go over what we’ve learned from our investigation.”
They decided to settle near a bench located in the middle of the plaza. There were many pokémon about, but it was still noticeably quieter here than on the busy shopping streets, allowing Benigno a chance to relax at least somewhat. He spoke before Oscar could. “I think the pearls are connected.”
“It is likely,” agreed Oscar. “It is simply too much of a coincidence that three spoink pearls were all stolen in succession with one another. And when you consider what we know, a timeline of events starts to reveal itself.”
“What kind of timeline?” asked Benigno.
“For starters, who stole the pearl from who?”
The swoobat’s eyes lit up. “Oh yeah! If they’re all the same pearl, then someone must’ve stolen it from someone!”
“Exactly. The question of who stole from Ettore is still a mystery. However, I believe there is good reason to believe that the one who stole from Otto is Cosima.”
Benigno tilted his head. “Really? I thought she stole from Ettore at first.”
“If we take her at her word, then she bought her pearl. But that must be a lie, because the one shop that would have sold it did not have it for sale,” Oscar explained. “Considering that, it makes sense to assume that she was the thief.”
“But can she use Telekinesis?”
“That…” They never saw her use the move, and Oscar wasn’t certain if her species was one that would learn it naturally. “Of course she can! It only makes sense!”
“Then did Otto steal it from Ettore?”
That was the first pressing question. Otto was a Ghost-type who knew Telekinesis, a profile the two had established yesterday as a possibility. “I wouldn’t think so. Sableye are Ghost-type pokémon, but they are not actual ghosts, if you understand what I mean. If he really did steal the pearl from Ettore, then I should have smelled him.”
“But…” Benigno tapped his claws together. “If we can’t say who stole it from Ettore, then how can we say they’re the same pearl?”
“And therein lies the second pressing question.” Everything they knew about the three cases so far was only enough to tie two of them together. Even the one detail Oscar had not yet mentioned, the familiar scent he found in the shop, was something only shared in common with Cosima’s case. “There is still the possibility that whoever stole it in the first place sold it to Otto,” Oscar mentioned. “Though it is only a theory.”
A troubled look crossed Benigno’s face. “Well, whoever stole it from Cosima is the one who has it. So where is the pearl now?”
“I have no idea.” “Simple!” Oscar declared. “Consider this: what if the one who sold the pearl to Otto and the one who stole it from Cosima were one and the same pokémon?!”
Benigno looked at Oscar as if that were the most incomprehensibly brilliant sentence he had ever heard. “How do you know that?!” he asked.
“In the back alley of the fortune teller’s I happened upon a peculiar scent. And as it happens, I found an older version of that same scent in Otto’s shop! Obviously, this means the same pokémon was in those two places at the exact right times to perform those actions!”
The swoobat’s eyes were sparkling. “Wow, you’re so amazing Oscar!”
Oscar basked in the praise. “It didn’t answer his question at all, but at least he was distracted by it. If only I could remember where I smelled that scent before…”
District Attilio’s Traveler’s Office was just nearby at the edge of the plaza. It was only to be a quick stop to pick up Otto’s request, then they would proceed with their mission. All of the Offices in Capital looked rather similar to each other, though this one stood out with a few upscale furnishings. A simple but refined metal chandelier hung from the ceiling just above the area in front of the counter, which lay in the center of the back wall opposite the entrance. The floor was carpeted in red, enough so that Oscar could walk up to the board, grab Otto’s request, and bring it back to the granbull guide without having to touch the wooden floor underneath. And of course, the guide himself was wearing a black tuxedo. Oscar always thought he looked uncomfortable in it. “No words today?” the guide remarked. “Just a request?”
Oscar placed it on the counter. “As it happens, we have already spoken to Otto and promised to assist him in his request. I am simply here to make it official.”
“Still searching for pearls, huh? I heard from Lin,” he remarked. “You might be interested to hear we found something.”
Oscar’s ears perked up. “You did?!”
The granbull leaned on the counter and nodded. “Yup. Got a call from Lin not that long ago. He said he found something out about the case and to tell you if you showed up.”
Oscar looked to Benigno. “Why didn’t he tell me this?!”
“Well he did say wait.”
“That’s his fault, then! He should have led with it!” Oscar took the request and stuffed it in his bag. “Thank you for the tip, Ciro,” he said hastily before running to the door. “Now come, Benigno! We have no time to waste!”
And so they hurried to catch the next tram.
~~~
(continued in next post)
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