Chapter 2
“Hello, viewers, I’m Natu from
Natu News, and I’m here interviewing the police force surrounding the Pokemon Contest Spectacular hall!” a cheerful, lime-shaped bird flaps her feathers around in excitement. Her interviewee, a rather sad-looking toad.
“So, Mr. Seismitoad, what is going on in the contest hall, exactly?” the bird asks, shoving a microphone in the man’s face.
“We cannot disclose any details as of yet.”
“Well I’ll disclose what
I know. Fan favorite Gothorita, a contest star from the Unova region, is dead. We expect it to be a homicide, and I believe there are nineteen suspects within the building. My question to you, Seismitoad, is: why aren’t
you in there interrogating these witnesses?”
The frog feels of his throat and wipes his forehead. “We have a guard working to find the suspects within the building. Vaporeon is one of the strongest Pokemon positioned within that building. If anyone can figure it out, she can. We’re staying out of the building because taking in nineteen suspects is rather, uh, crowded?”
Natu steals the microphone from Seismitoad’s voice range and looks into the camera, which is being held by an unimportant Pokemon.
“Hoenn, I advise you all to lock your doors, seal your windows, because there is a murderer in that building and the police are too cowardly to do something about it. This has been
Natu News. After our commercial break, we are going to learn the good ethics of gardening by a Bafu Town local.”
She looks into the camera a minute more, smiling, and then moves back to Seismitoad. “If that murderer escapes and goes on a spree, I hope you’re the first one he spits on,” she sneers, tells the cameraman to come on, and flaps her wings as she flies somewhere else.
Seismitoad sits there for a second and smacks his face. “Idiot…”
“Now,” Vaporeon shouts on the stage, “we need to figure out who did it. Who’s with me?”
Everyone but Umbreon slightly nods in agreement. Pidgeot glances at Gallade and Lopunny and leads them to the backstage area, and then to one of the private dressing rooms from before.
Vaporeon goes over to Rhydon. “I’ll ask again: why did that light fall?”
“You can’t be blaming me--those lights were low-quality. It wasn’t my fault. I just make sure they work, so it’s not my job to make sure they’re secure. I made them work, and that’s my job! Not to check if they’re made of paper!” Rhydon spits.
“So you’re saying you knew those lights were faulty but didn’t bother checking them? Were you
trying to kill someone?” Vaporeon asserts back.
“My job is to make you guys have light. It’s none of my business if you guys have off-brand light fixtures!”
“But you didn’t report it?”
“No, I didn’t. Maybe I should’ve, maybe I shouldn’t’ve. What if we actually looked at the spotlight and see how it fell, not interrogate me because it just magically dropped from the sky,” Rhydon rebuttals, this time causing Vaporeon to lose her words.
Meanwhile, a stray Umbreon inspects the light. It appears that the light’s base was cut clean off. That would mean that someone was strong enough to slice the fixture from its position at the catwalk above the stage...which leads back to Rhydon, right? Umbreon twitches an ear as he observes every little detail. The one thing he needs to ask that Pokemon is if he talked to anyone during the contest and if it was possible someone ran up.
Umbreon walks to the crowd smiling. Maybe Vaporeon would appreciate his detective work. “Hey, Rhydon, can I ask you something?”
The Pokemon looks Umbreon up and down and raises an eyebrow. “Mr. Competitor thinks he’s a detective now, huh?”
“Umbreon, what are you doing? Go back and ask if the contest is going to continue anyway. I’m in charge right now, okay?” Vaporeon explains.
“Rhydon,” Umbreon says anyway, “was there a moment where you stepped down from the catwalk and went somewhere on the ground floor?”
“Yes, actually,” Rhydon says with wide eyes. “I was with--” he looks over at Electrike.
Electrike shakes his head slightly and gulps. Is he going to tell on his best friend?
“...I was with some, uh, fans of mine. Yeah, some stage lighting fans! They admired my work and asked if I could teach them,” Rhydon lies.
“Whatever, that’s not the point. I want to know if it’s possible someone slipped up and could have damaged the device while you were busy talking?”
“Impossible. I was back up within just a few seconds of talking. The Pokemon would have to be invisible if he were to do something like this,” Rhydon says, but then he realizes he just made his hands redder than a Kricketune and changes his mind. “Unless, of course, the Pokemon was fast.”
Vaporeon looks over at Umbreon and smiles. “That was good detective work, Umbreon.”
“Thanks,” Umbreon smiles, but he goes back to look at the crime scene. Gothorita’s body is stiff and cold.
“Did you see anyone near the lighting?” Vaporeon asks the suspect.
“Lopunny was close, and I heard her talking negatively about Gothorita,” he whispers.
“Thank you. I will keep that in mind.”
Pidgeot closes the door once Lopunny and Gallade enter the room. She grabs her mega stone, as do they, and the stones begin to shine bright. Each one get surrounded by a pink, spherical capsule that explodes into their Mega Evolution forms.
“Well,” remarks Pidgeot to the two. “Show we let the M.E.S. commence?”
“Yes we shall,” agrees Gallade.
“I’m ready,” Lopunny nods.
“Alright then. With Gothorita gone, I still plan to have the contest. Her death is very, very convenient for us. Gallade, you had 29 points in your last performance, and Lopunny had 28. Those are solid scores, so you’ll be moving on. Chandelure would most likely be out. Sylveon and Noivern had the next lowest scores, and Gothorita is dead, so it would be you two, Umbreon, and Minun. The semifinals should be easy,” Pidgeot cheers.
“And when one of us wins the whole shebang,” Gallade processes, “we can advocate the power of Mega Evolutions…”
“...and then we can promote more megas in the contests, resulting in their surge in popularity to go up, resulting in their celebrity status and income to increase, and then we can take over the upper class and rule the social hierarchy,” Lopunny concludes. “You know what might be even more convenient?
More deaths. Why stop at Gothorita when the murderer has several other lives to take?” she giggles, but then thinks of Gothorita’s face and holds back a small tear.
“I think we all know who the murderer is, anyway,” Gallade nods.
They all smirk as a bang comes from the door. Lopunny wipes away a tear that escaped.
“Who is it?” Lopunny asks, devolving to her regular form and opening the door.
“I was wondering if I could come in,” Flygon asks shyly.
“No!” shouts Gallade, still accidentally in his mega form, as he shows himself to Flygon. She sees Mega Pidgeot in the room as well.
“Are you guys hosting some sort of meeting? With megas?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“Can I come in?”
“No!” Lopunny shouts.
“Why not?” Flygon asks, a frown sprouting down her mouth.
“You don’t have a Mega Evolution.”
“Everyone wanted me to!”
“Not everyone gets what they want, it seems. After all, Gothorita’s squished under a light.”
“Y-you aren’t getting away with this. I don’t know if you’re the murderer or a cheater, but I’m not going to let you win this competition, let alone live...in secrecy with your friends,” Flygon rants, then quickly adds a small phrase to keep herself from looking guilty.
“Were you threatening me?”
Flygon flies away from the room and goes back with the others. Lopunny looks at the doorknob and notices a keyhole.
“That little eavesdropper was staring at us through the keyhole. She needs to be stopped,” the rabbit screeches.
“In due time,” Pidgeot agrees.
“Well did you talk to her before it happened?” asks a distorted reflection.
“No, of course not! Gothorita is super beautiful and has such a huge fanbase. If I went beside her, she’d walk away so she doesn’t lose popularity,” Minun sighs, feeling of one of her ears.
“So you didn’t remember anything of what happened last night?”
“No, and I’m not sure why,” Minun frowns. “I don’t even remember performing my appeals round. It was really weird. The first thing I remember after it happened is coming back in here to talk to you,” she smiles afterward.
“I know what happened; I saw it,” Plusle chirps.
“What?! How?”
“Flygon is the one that gave you an eight--the others gave you tens. Flygon said you ‘didn’t seem quite yourself.’”
“Plusle...how do you know this and I don’t?”
“I guess I just heard it from someone,” Plusle says, shrugging her shoulders. “We need to do something about Flygon.”
Minun shuts her eyes tight, shakes the top half of her body, and walks out of the bathroom. She looks at the mirror before walking out to join the others.
A picture of a Minun stares back at her. She smiles.
“Look, you two,” Sylveon says. “It’s pretty clear that Gallade and Umbreon are going to make it to the next round. That eliminates one of us right now. Lopunny is very good at what she does, so that could eliminate two of us. Even Minun is surprisingly effective. That means that we could all go on the chopping block if this continues. They’re all expecting us to crack under pressure. What are we going to do?”
“Nothing. Absolutely nothing,” Noivern sighs. “If I can’t just win, then there is no point to try and squeeze one out.”
“Now why would you say that?” Chandelure asks. “With Gothorita gone, there’s no telling what could happen. I’m inclined to believe that teaming up is a necessary evil.”
“That’s the spirit! Anything is possible. We need to work together if we want anyone else to make it to the finals! Lopunny is too snobby,” Sylveon says. “If we can get her out of the way…”
“Or one of the judges. I forget which one, but she never gives perfect scores--except for the deceased, that is,” Chandelure sighs.
“Perhaps I could try if the battle round goes my way,” Noivern says optimistically.
“That’s the spirit!”
Flygon glides down the halls and stops at an open room. Inside it, a Leavanny works at sewing some sort of outfit. Flygon swoops in and starts a conversation.
“Hey, Leavanny, how’s the costuming coming?”
“Very slow, but I made you something!” he smiles, showing Flygon a rather interesting sandy-colored cloak.
“It’s modeled after your original environment,” he continues, expecting a compliment.
“It’s very… earthy,” Flygon smiles in a not-so-impressed fashion.
“What does that mean?”
“It means I don’t have time to try on clothes. I thought maybe you had info on the killer?”
“Oh yes, I do. The killer destroyed the one chance I had at making Gothorita like my clothing.”
“Well I’m sorry,” Flygon says, putting a palm on Leavanny’s shoulder.
“I’m going to go, nice seeing you,” she says, swooping out.
“Yeah, sure,” Leavanny says as he puts away his project. “Earthy?” he asks with a disgusted face. Leavanny looks back at the doorway with anger and then decides to join everyone back on the stage.
“Vivillon, Carracosta, I need to tell you something,” Flygon whispers to them.
“What’s wrong?” the sea turtle asks loudly.
“Shh! I think I’m going to be the target of some hate crime,” Flygon frowns.
“Who’s mad at you?”
“Lopunny and Pidgeot and Gallade and...I don’t even know. They caught me spying on them.”
“Well we decided to continue the contest despite the unexpected tragedy, and Umbreon moved Gothorita’s corpse into a more appropriate area,” Vivillon smiles.
“Hey, whaddabout my business?” an angry Aipom shouts.
“You weren’t making money in the first place, and we all know what you do with it, anyway,” Flygon mumbles.
“Are you making assumptions again? You really don’t wanna make an Aipom angry. We both know it’s not my fault for what I do. Get off my bag, you biased dragonfly.”
And with that, Aipom went over to Stunfisk and Feebas to advertise his popcorn. Meanwhile, a shady Honchkrow watches them all from somewhere up in the stands.
“Hmm, that Flygon sure is the unpopular character. However, she is not of my concern. Her payment isn’t due until later. I need to check Gothorita’s bags so I can get my fee,” it mutters. “If something were to happen to Flygon, however, it would benefit me twice as much. Perhaps I can get down there and mingle a little.”
“Flygon, you’re really starting to stress the both of us out. Nothing is going to happen to you,” Vivillon, annoyed, tells her.
“Honestly, I’m not sure what all the fuss is about. So you spied on Pidgeot, what is she going to do?” Carracosta encourages.
“I’m not sure,” Flygon sighs. “Whatever happens, make sure Umbreon gets the safe card. Do what you can to make Gallade and Lopunny lose.”
“We aren’t rigging this competition. Stop cheating.”
Electrike manages to get Rhydon off by himself. The two exchange glances and Electrike tearfully puts his head down.
“Thank you for lying for me,” he says.
“Yeah, well, if I get caught, they’ll throw me in the slammer. I hope you got to finish the business you wanted.”
“I think we both did,” Electrike smiles.
“When it all goes downhill, don’t you dare blame me. This was all your idea.”
“I know exactly who to blame. Lopunny is easily the most popular suspect in this case.”
“Hello, and welcome back to the Pokemon Contest Spectacular! I regret to inform you all that Gothorita has been...eliminated from the tournament and will compete no longer. In a short five minutes, we will reveal the one Pokemon safe from the battle round and the three pairs that will fight it out to increase their scores! Stay tuned!” Pidgeot uproars.
Flygon washes her face in the bathroom. She hears the outside door open and she contracts her body into a small blob. She peeks out to see Minun coming in to wash up for the contest.
“Hey, Minun, what’s up?”
Minun keeps washing.
“Minun?”
“Oh, uh, yeah, I know!”
“...”
Minun looks up from the sink and reveals a rather frightening face. “You think you can give
me an imperfect score just because you didn’t like the way I acted?”
“You just didn’t seem like the usual Minun I know, I’m sorry. I thought it was a really good performance.”
“I’m sure you did.”
Flygon begins to head out of the bathroom when Minun suddenly shoves a wad of paper towels in her mouth, and then creates an Electro Ball that encloses over Flygon and keeps her trapped inside. Minun pushes the trapped Flygon into one of the stalls and skips out of the bathroom.
“Looks like we’ll only need two judges,” she sings.
A distressed Minun begins to bang from inside the mirror.
Several Minutes Later
“With no sign of Flygon, it appears that she has been scared out of judging the rest of this competition,” Pidgeot smiles. “Therefore, our two other judges will take over to oversee this competition. Now we are going to see which contestant, between Gallade and Umbreon, as the highest scorers still with us, is going to be exempted from this round of the competition. Judges?”
Rhydon moves the spotlight over to Vivillon and Carracosta. Vivillon flies up slightly above her seat. “We have decided that Umbreon’s unique performance of turning the moon into poison represents the true creativity this contest is looking for. As such, we wish him look in the semifinals hosted later tonight.”
Backstage, Chandelure, Sylveon, and Minun cheer for Umbreon’s success.
“Good luck in the semis,” Sylveon smiles, captivated.
“Thanks, I guess,” Umbreon mutters. He walks away from the competition and goes back to inspect the wreckage from the murder. Surely there has to be some sort of clues…
He steps offstage and exits into the aisles below the stage. He goes over to the moved crime scene, which was nicely done thanks to his carefulness and Gallade’s Psychic, and looks. He hears footsteps and quickly turns around to see Vaporeon. His stomach lightens up and he swallows down nervousness.
“Hi,” Vaporeon smiles. “Good job with the advancement.”
“Yeah, thanks,” Umbreon shrugs. “Find any clues?”
“No, not a single one. All we know is that the killer had to have been able to go up those stairs and do something...but how?”
“I’m not sure,” he shakes his head.
“Excuse me,” a weird voice asks from behind them. “Did Gothorita have any enemies? I heard she was a very bad person…” a feeble fish questions.
“Not that we know of--that is, to the extent of murder, Feebas. We’re working on it.”
“Okay, because I think I know who the killer is,” she whispers.
“We’re already looking into Pidgeot for the evidence, but there isn’t even a feather.”
“That’s because it
wasn’t Pidgeot. It was my friend Stunfisk.”
“What?”
The three of them look at Stunfisk harmlessly flap along on the ground, clapping at nothing.
“No offense, but Stunfisk doesn’t seem capable of, well, anything.”
“That’s what he wants you to think,” Feebas blinks, and she tells them they can talk more later.
“What just happened?” Umbreon asks.
“I’m not quite sure.”
Honchkrow smiles as Aipom counts the stack of dollar bills.
“Yessir, I can do that for you sir, all for this money. The act will be done by tonight, sir!” Aipom squeals.
“Whatever you buy, I won’t say a word,” Honchkrow reassures him.
“Thanks!” Aipom cheers as he jumps down the steps of the stands and goes to the small concessions stand he had. It’s still empty.
“Through random generation,” Pidgeot says on stage, “we have determined the three pairings. Chandelure will be going up against Minun, Noivern will be fighting Lopunny, and Sylveon will face Gallade in our concluding battle of the night. If the first two competitors will come on stage, the battle may commence.”
Vivillon glides into the women’s bathroom before the competition. She goes over to one of the stalls and opens its doors--disgusting. She moves to the middle stall--with an out of order sign on it. She opens the final stall door and screams--she finds Flygon’s corpse shoved in the toilet seat with scratches on her face, neck, and chest. The toilet water is red and her wings are tattered and torn. Flygon is dead.
“Oh, no...she was right. Pidgeot
is the killer…”
Dead: Flygon
Accused: Pidgeot (PMJ)
Chapters will probably stay pretty long since I'm giving depth to every character (with some still more than others)
