Once the Security Bureau had established where Wingull came from and found that he understood the rules, they let him go.
Afterward, this Wingull often appeared near Saffron Plaza, flapping up onto streetlights, rooftops, and other high places to look out over the area.
Ordinarily, Sabrina would have heard about it and left it at that.
But things were different now. Shen Qi had disrupted Team Rocket's operations and was trying to investigate the Tulip Squad. Was there a chance they happened to be looking for Shen Qi?
There certainly was.
The Fighting Dojo was only two bus stops away from Saffron Plaza, so it would make perfect sense for the Tulip Squad to use trained Pokémon to monitor the area.
If the Tulip Squad was more capable and had already noticed that Saffron Gym was investigating them, counter-surveillance would make sense too.
Although Sabrina felt her people were unlikely to have been exposed, it was not impossible.
After hearing Sabrina's deductions, Shen Qi found them thought-provoking.
That Wingull was almost certainly one of Native Shen Qi's former Pokémon.
"The Journey Home" script had triggered near Saffron Plaza, and his phone had exploded on a bus there too. That meant the player and the target Pokémon had had an opportunity to come close to each other.
Wingull definitely had not been on the bus. Because the bus had passed in a hurry and something else had delayed him, he had failed to catch up with Shen Qi then, which was why he had returned to Saffron City to keep watch at Saffron Plaza.
That guess ought to be accurate.
"Sabrina, did the Saffron Plaza festival invite students from Twin School to compete a little over a month ago?"
"I don't know. I wasn't in Saffron City then. Don't hang up