Pokémon Hunters Are Having a Rough Time These Days

"Your other half was captured?"

Xingye had just brought over some warmed Moomoo Milk when he saw Little Gengar waving its hands and crying out nonstop, telling him about Mousy's situation.

For some reason, in such a short time, these guys had already hit it off. They had even accepted a commission for him and arranged the job.

"Mm... eat first. I'll ask about the rest."

Xingye had prepared a portion for Mousy too. Little Gengar was at the age where it was still growing—questionable—so he always made extra. Pokémon food and Pokéblocks alone were far too lacking in nutrition.

He sat on the sofa and looked at Mousy sitting across from him before introducing himself. "I'm the owner of this Odd Jobs. Can you tell me the details of the commission? Who captured your companion?"

"..."

Mousy did not answer immediately. It glanced at Gengar before waving its little paws and crying out. Xingye carefully watched and interpreted what it meant.

"A group of very, very bad people... brought you to this place, and then..."

After a moment, Xingye more or less understood what Mousy meant. Someone had brought Tandemaus here from elsewhere, most likely from the Paldea Region. Sightings of Tandemaus in other places were simply too rare.

After being brought to the Alola Region, they had been locked inside a cage somewhere unknown for around two or three days.

Then, an explosion suddenly destroyed the place. Tandemaus had been swept up in the blast and separated. Mousy had fallen into the sewers and been carried away by the current. After finally escaping the sewers, it had run into the Meowth.

"That was probably it..."

As he interpreted, Xingye used his phone to take notes. He then checked the translated words with Mousy twice before reaching that conclusion.

Although he had bombed his school exams, he still had things he could be proud of. Talent had given him an opportunity, so naturally, he had to work hard and make good use of it.

But he could not get any more information. Mousy had been locked in a cage from the moment it was captured and knew nothing about the outside world. Still, if there had been an explosion, he could look it up online.

"Judging by the timing, it should have happened around when school let out. Let's see where there was news of an explosion..."

Xingye could not even bother eating now. If what Mousy said was true, what did people usually associate with Pokémon being locked in cages? Pokémon hunters!

These people were rare. Some might only ever see them in the news their entire lives, but that did not mean they did not exist. There would always be people who sold their souls to the devil for profit and took desperate risks.

"Let's see... damn, it's right there on Hau'oli Evening News."

He had only just opened the homepage when he saw the report about a warehouse explosion in the Port Area two hours ago.

The report gave only a brief account. The outcome was that no casualties had been found so far, while the exact cause was still under further investigation. It was the standard perfunctory response; they would probably forget about it in a couple of days.

"The Port Area? That's pretty far."

Xingye pondered for a moment, then stood up and told Cyclizar and the others to eat properly. He was heading out and would be back soon...

When he reached the izakaya downstairs, he went straight to Slowking to ask about something.

Business was not very good today. The only ones visible in the izakaya were Delphox and Ceruledge chatting. Seeing him enter, Slowking slowly asked, "Here to mooch another meal? Didn't Cyclizar carry the Moomoo Milk upstairs already?"

"Not here to eat. I just want to ask about something."

As he spoke, Xingye sat at the bar and showed him the news article on his phone.

"An explosion in the Port Area. So what?"

"It's like this..."

He told Slowking about finding Mousy. But after hearing him out, Slowking shook his head, popped another lollipop into his mouth, and slowly said, "There aren't Pokémon hunters in Alola. The advantage of small islands is that while the ecology here is good and there are lots of rare Pokémon, it's a complete trap. Catch one, and you can't get away."

"Is that so?"

This was the first Xingye had heard of it, but it made sense. Alola was made up of islands and surrounded by the sea, so escape really would be difficult. Was his guess wrong? But there had to be some connection!

"Tandemaus were captured in the Paldea Region, then locked in a warehouse in the Port Area. Could there have been Pokémon hunters..."

Before he could finish, Slowking suddenly said, "Can you think about something sensible? What era do you think this is? Pokémon hunter stopped being a popular profession ages ago. It's exhausting, risky, and there's no business."

"A few years ago, there was some international criminal organization in that line of work, called Team Rocket, right? Ever since they were taken down by that Red... whatever his name was, a whole bunch of Pokémon hunters figured their future was bleak. They switched careers to construction, or started flipping cards, toys, models, and figures."

Xingye listened with a face full of question marks, feeling as if he had missed a lot of useful information. Yet after hearing that, he tilted his head and instinctively remarked, "Scalpers sound even more deserving of death..."

"No, no!"

He shook his head, finally realizing the topic had gone off track. After clearing his throat twice, he continued, "What I'm asking is, Boss Slowking, what do you think?"

"What do I think? I think lying down! Stop bothering me with your own work, all right? If you don't have the skills, don't accept the commission. Even if there really are Pokémon hunters, so what? It's not me who got captured."

"Uh..."

"But if you really want to know something, there was also an explosion on that artificial island four months ago. The exact cause was never determined then either. As for whether the two incidents are related, I have no idea."

"..."

Hearing Slowking suddenly bring that up, Xingye narrowed his eyes. The artificial island should have been the Aether Research Center. How could that possibly be connected?

He could not figure it out, but since Slowking had said so, it would be better to pay some attention to it. Overall, though, he had not gotten much useful information.

When he returned upstairs, everyone had already finished dinner. They had even saved him a portion, but he did not eat right away. Instead, he said to Mousy, "Let's go. We'll check out the Port Area. I don't have high hopes, but it's worth taking a look."

Less than three hours had passed since the incident. Even if the police had already intervened, they might still find some clues left behind.

At his words, Mousy immediately nodded excitedly. It sprang off the sofa and jumped onto him, ready to go along. Gengar and Cyclizar also got moving at once...

The Port Area was a long way from Kabukicho. Even riding Cyclizar and taking shortcuts under the speed limit, the trip took nearly twenty minutes.

This was Hau'oli City's port for traveling to other islands and regions. People and ships usually came and went in an endless stream. Even though it was already night, the place remained lively.

However, due to the afternoon explosion, part of the warehouse district was still sealed off for investigation. It probably would not reopen for normal operations until tomorrow morning, though sneaking inside would not be difficult.

Using the photos in the news report, Xingye quickly confirmed the location of the exploded warehouse. He then used his phone map to mark the closest route that avoided every surveillance device before heading over.

For the time being, he had Cyclizar stay inside its Poké Ball to avoid being spotted. Before long, he stopped beside a wall and looked into the distance.

There stood a warehouse roughly the size of two basketball courts, now reduced to ruins. Police tape had been set up around it, while Jenny and Gumshoos were investigating the scene.

"There are too many people. This is going to be difficult."

Xingye had rushed over in the first place because he wanted to take advantage of dinnertime, when fewer people would be around, to sneak in and search for clues.

Gengar floated beside him. It knew there was no use worrying, so it could only wait a little longer. But then it suddenly noticed that Mousy, sitting on someone's shoulder, looked rather strange.

"Gengar?"

"Eeek!"

"Hm?"

Seeing that Mousy seemed to have noticed something, Xingye instinctively looked in the direction it was pointing.

In a corner on the other side, a man whose face could not be seen was hiding and watching the scene as well. At his waist was a skull shaped like an "S"!

"Team Skull?!"