RotR Mystery Story Contest

[Metal Gear Minun]

IC:

 

A mass message was sent out over Liberty’s servers.

 

 

 

To any worthy trainers,

 

Recent events regarding the mission to One Island make it apparent that the power of Pokemon will return in the near future. They will be our partners and greatest strengths against Missing Zero in the days that follow.

 

In light of this, I have been tasked with the distribution of a number of Pokemon. Many of these Pokemon are quite strong and well trained. Any one of them would be a boon to any trainer who receives them.

 

In order to decide who will receive these Pokemon, I have created a mystery contest. To enter, you must write a story about a mystery contest and submit to me in any form.

 

The scale and subject matter of the mystery is unimportant. It can be about anything from serial murders to who stole a cookie from its jar. The important part is how the mystery is presented, which will be the main criteria on how the entries are judged.

 

I will be judging these entries myself and will provide feedback. The first place prize will be the right to partner with Genesect.

 

This contest is not limited to Team Liberty. If there are worthy trainers outside of our ranks, I will permit our agents to submit entries on their behalf.

 

Sincerely,

 

Executive James Arthur

 

 

 

 

OOC:

Rules:

 

-The story does not need to reflect what is turned into James IC. At some point, some character must turn something into James (in person or electronically). That character does not need to be the final recipient.

-The story must revolve around some mystery.

-The story either has to be RotR-related, or written with the narrative voice of one of your characters, or both! Both is good.

-The story will not be judged on grammar, unless it is unreadable because of it.

-Obey BZP, no plagiarizing, the usual.

-No character bashing, unless you’re writing what one of your characters would write about their so called friends and you decide that’s what they would write. In which case, please be sure to make it clear that it is their opinion, not your own, and don’t go overboard.

-The presentation of the mystery is the key deciding factor in the contest. If there is a tie, I’ll break it based on how well they integrate the theme of a contest with in a contest.

-If you plan on writing a mystery from the viewpoint of someone who is bad at writing mysteries, that is acceptable… but you have to still have some clear and easy to follow logic to the mystery. It can be the logic of an insane troll, but I should be able to follow it.

 

First Prize: Genesect

Second Prize: First pick of Roddy’s Pokemon

Third Prize: Second pick of Roddy’s Pokemon

Fourth Prize: Third pick of Roddy’s Pokemon

 

Deadline: TBD. Will probably ask y'all for some progress reports to gauge how long it should be.

Edited April 22, 2018 by Metal Gear Minun

[MELON LORD]

Isabella Fontaine and the Missing Children

 

My name is Isabella Fontaine, and I swear that what I’m about to tell you is the truth. Octavyn Nowarei was there, and will vouch for me, even if Cameron Morrill won’t. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

 

We were just kids, eleven or twelve years old, travelling through Kalos, as is the tradition. After getting the Plant Badge from Ramos, Octy and I decided to head home for a little break. Our friend Cameron came along because he didn’t want to travel alone -- that, and he was sweet on Octavyn, even if he’ll never admit that.

 

Home was Laverre City, just a day or two north of Lumiose. The swamp wasn’t super great to wade through, but you can’t be a good trainer if you won’t get a little dirty. We debated on spending a night in the Scary House on the route, but decided against it -- even if it wasn’t all that scary, ghost types did sometimes hang about and we were most of the way to Laverre regardless.

 

I like to think I have a sixth sense about people and places I’m close to. Upon entering the town, I could just tell that something was wrong. There was a tension in the air, and the normally quiet but vibrant town was silent and gloomy.

 

We went back to my house -- Octy stopped to say hi to her parents briefly, but they were used to her spending the night at mine -- and I saw my mother sitting at the table, reading the newspaper. A cup of coffee steamed next to her and I could tell she wasn’t herself. She only drinks coffee if she’s already having trouble sleeping.

 

As we closed the door, she looked up, and I could see her eyes widen; I hadn’t told her I was coming home. She hugged Octy and me, and we introduced her to Cameron. Then she hugged me again and said, “You need to leave.”

 

“What? What are you talking about?” I asked. “I just got back. We were planning to stay at least a couple of days.”

 

“You three can’t stay in town tonight, do you understand? Children . . .” She swallowed, casting her eyes to the paper she’d left abandoned on the table. “Children have been going missing.”

 

“What? But-- This is Laverre. Children don’t disappear, nothing bad ever happens here!”

 

“I’m sorry, sweetheart, but it’s not safe here anymore.” My mother was tearing up now. I put a hand on her arm and squeezed softly.

 

“No way, we’re not leaving.” I turned to my friends. “Right? We’ll get to the bottom of this.”

 

Octavyn nodded, her silent support more than enough for me. Cameron shrugged. “Yeah, of course,” he said.

 

My mother wiped at her eyes. “You can’t, Isa . . . I can’t have you vanish.”

 

“If anyone tries to take me, they’ll have to answer to Lafayette and Andre.” My Furfrou and my Chespin were more than a match for anyone I would meet in Laverre, I was sure.

 

My mother just sighed and started setting up the living room for Cameron to sleep in.

 

“How many kids?” I asked.

 

“Ten in the past month.” My jaw dropped a bit. Laverre is a fairly small town, and that many disappearances should have had feds scouring the area.

 

“What are the police doing about it?”

 

“They’re doing their best, but . . . They don’t want to involve the DCPJ.” Mother sighed again, shaking her head. “Foolish pride, that’s what it is.”

 

I sighed and went to sit. “Alright. We’ll begin investigating tomorrow, then. Do you know which kids have vanished?”

 

“The Delmas boy whose mother works in Valerie’s gym was the first to disappear. Then the Belpoise twins a few days later.” Her voice was thick. The kids were young -- Delmas was only 8, and the twins 7.

 

“Who else?” I asked, not entirely sure I wanted to hear it.

 

“They’re in the paper, honey, I can’t . . .”
 

I nodded. Mother had always been sensitive to things like this; Father’s death had left an impact on her. I took the paper she offered. Front and center was the missing persons report, with a picture of the kidnapped victims.

 

Delmas, Belpoise . . . my heart sank as I saw the oldest victim, a girl a year younger than me named Emily; she had wanted to be a rival of mine in the fashion scene, and we’d gotten along well.

 

“We’ll find them,” I said. “We’ll sleep tonight, but tomorrow we start to scour the town.”

 

Scour the town we did. Laverre was a tight-knit community, and everyone was affected by the missing children. Octy, Cam, and I walked along quietly, just observing everyone. I would stop once in a while to say hello to neighbors I hadn’t seen in a while, and that would give the others a chance to take note of the people nearby.

 

Everyone was nervous. People passed each other with their heads down, rather than the waves and smiles they usually gave. I noticed a lack of children outside -- from what I’d read in the newspaper, the disappearances only happened at night, when everyone was asleep. Still, nobody wanted their child seen. Nobody wanted their child to be next.

 

 

 

As the sun began to set, we stopped for dinner in the café to the northeast of town. So far, observation had been a bust. As for talking to the parents of the missing kids, they had all turned up nothing. Jeremie Delmas had been his usual self during the day. The only thing that was unusual about that day was that he’d been sent to bed without any dessert. His mother had awoken to find him gone, his shoes still by the unmade bed.

 

Every story was like that. The kids were their usual selves, and they would just vanish in the middle of the night. Not all of them had been punished that day, either. Emily’s mother had said that Emily came home late from her costuming class, eaten dinner, and gone straight to bed without incident, and she still wound up gone the next day, with all of her possessions in place; even her pet Fletchling was still inside its Poké Ball on her dresser.

 

I was tearing my croissant into pieces as I thought. The case didn’t add up at all. Kids, perfectly normal kids, would have no reason to just run away from home. Jeremie Delmas and the Belpoise twins were too young to make it far on their own, and Emily would never just abandon her class, her mother, or her Fletchling.

 

I was so absorbed in my thoughts that Cameron had to physically shake me and point out the window at the man skulking down the street. I checked my watch. We’d been sitting in the café for a while; it was almost ten at night. The man was dressed in dark clothing, with a baseball cap pulled down low over his face.

 

The three of us slid out of the booth and hurried out the door. As we tailed our suspect, we stuck to shadows and kept ourselves hidden by trees and houses. Eventually, we watched as he climbed over a fence.

 

I wasted no time in releasing Lafayette, and my Furfrou and I jumped over the fence after the man. Lafayette ran forward, jaws clamping down tightly on the man’s pant leg. As he cried out, Octy and Cameron made their way over the fence, and we surrounded the skulker.

 

“Call it off, call it off!” he cried out. I snapped, and Lafayette came back to my side.

 

“Alright, buddy, what’re you doing sneaking around?” I questioned, hands on my hips. I was only a kid, but I could be intimidating when I wanted to be. The man raised his hands in surrender.

 

“You caught me, alright? I’ve been doing this for a while now.”

 

“And what’s ‘this?’” Cameron asked, crossing his arms. In response, the man pointed at a tree in the center of the yard.

 

“I’ve been sneaking over here at night and taking apples off this tree. I didn’t want him to catch me . . .”
 

I pinched the bridge of my nose, sighing. “Okay, look, we really don’t care about that. Kids are disappearing in the middle of the night, so maybe you shouldn’t be sneaking around?”

 

“Yeah, yeah, you’re right. I’ll just go, then.”

 

We let him leave, then we left in the opposite direction, heading back for my house. The day had been a bust, with very little in the way of leads.

 

“Tomorrow,” I said, “we’ll start talking to neighbors of the victims. We’ll turn this town upside down if we have to.”

 

 

 

Two of the victims lived two doors from each other, separated by the home of Madam Josephine La Croix, also known as the meanest old Golbat in town. The next morning, we found ourselves outside her house. I was fidgeting as I tried to work up the nerve to go knock. As children, Octy and I had been terrified of La Croix, and for good reason. She did not like children, and would scream obscenities and threats at any kid who even passed her home while she was sitting outside.

 

Not only did she live next to two of the families, but one of those was the Delmas family, the first to have their son disappear. She was suspect number one.

 

Now if only I could go knock. Octy stood behind me, listening to her comfort music at full blast. Josephine had been extra nasty to Octy, and my best friend was even more scared of her than I was.

 

Luckily, Cameron hadn’t grown up in Laverre. I elbowed him. “Go knock, tell her why we’re here.”

 

Cameron didn’t argue. He made his way up the path to her porch and knocked, hard enough for us to hear it out by the street.

 

La Croix opened the door. Her gray hair was in its usual beehive, and she wore a shapeless blue dress with pink roses. She leaned heavily on her cane as she glared at the unfortunate boy I’d sent up.

 

She barked something at him -- I couldn’t make out her words from the street, but her voice was harsh and ragged, sending shivers down my spine.

 

Cameron, to his credit, didn’t flinch. He said something, gesturing to us as he spoke. Then, something amazing happened. Madame La Croix spoke to him without yelling. Their conversation was short and quick, then she stepped aside.

 

Cameron turned back to us and beckoned at us to join him. Octy and I made our way up, and we were led inside by the old woman. We were quickly seated in her sitting room, and she poured tea for us each.

 

“It’s a shame about those poor children,” was the line she chose to start the conversation with. I choked on my tea as I tried not to laugh at the absurdity of that statement.

 

“It is,” Cameron agreed, stirring his tea quietly. “You can understand why we’re looking

into it.”

 

“Of course. I wish I could say I’d seen anything out of the ordinary, but . . .” The elderly woman sighed, taking a sip of her own tea.

 

“Actually, Madame,” I said, “We, um . . . You have a . . . history of threatening kids and teenagers--”

 

“Oh, I see.” Her voice was icy as she locked eyes with me. “You think that mean old Madame La Croix did something to those poor souls, just because she yells at children who step on her lawn. Young lady, I happen to need a cane to get around, and even then I don’t move quickly or quietly. Do you really think I’ve broken into, what, nine homes and snuck the children out in the middle of the night?”

 

My face burned. I hadn’t thought that, but I had assumed she was involved somehow. Still, I tried to cover my tracks. “No, no, nothing like that. I, uh, I just wanted to let you know that despite your reputation, we--”

 

“Don’t bother lying to me, Isabella Fontaine, I know how your little mind works.” She shook her head. “The nerve. Why don’t you go bother somebody else, like that Monsieur Masson who moved to town just before the first disappearance, hm?”

 

“I’m sorry, what?” I hadn’t heard of the town’s new resident. If he’d moved in just before the first kidnapping, then that made him worth investigating. “Do you know where he lives?”

 

 

 

A while later, we were outside the home of Monsieur Mathys Masson. I rang the bell, and waited several moments for the door to be opened by a woman in a set of medical scrubs. She gave us an appraising look and asked, “What do you kids need?”

 

“Is Monsieur Masson in?” I asked. “We need to speak with him about something rather urgent.” Even as I was saying it, I felt my heart sinking. This woman was obviously some sort of nurse, which meant Masson was a man who had reason to have a nurse in his home.

 

“He is. I’ll see if he feels like having visitors, please wait here.” The woman disappeared for a moment, and I traded worried looks with Cameron and Octy. As I was about to suggest leaving, the woman came back. “Monsieur Masson will see you. Try not to keep him too long.”
 

She led us into the brightly-lit living room, where a man in a wheelchair sat facing a window. I glanced around the room quickly, seeing what I could find out about our host. The first thing I noticed was a picture of him in his younger years, wearing a red suit and with his hair in a very distinctive style. I tried to keep my face calm as I turned to look at the Team Flare member in the room.

 

Mathys Masson had clearly lived a hard life after the fall of Flare. His face had formed many wrinkles, and his thin hair had turned white. Most notable was the empty right leg of his pants. He turned the chair to face us and raised an eyebrow.

 

“What can I do for you kids? I don’t mind the company, but it’s certainly unusual.”

 

“Ah, we’re investigating the missing children . . .” I began. “Someone in town told us to investigate you, but I can see now that she was just playing a mean prank on us. Forgive us for the intrusion.”

 

To his credit, Mathys laughed and waved a hand dismissively. “Do not worry about it. Thank her for me, at least I had something breaking up the tedium of the day. Would you like something to eat or drink before you go? I am sure it is hungry work, investigating.”

 

“Sir,” his nurse said, “with due respect, it’s almost time for your hypnosis therapy.”

 

“Ah, of course, how could I have forgotten? Thank you, Lamara.” Mathys smiled apologetically to us. “Perhaps another time, then. You all be safe out there.”

 

“We will, thank you, sir,” I said as I led my friends out of the house.

 

We found ourselves back home early that night. After two discouraging encounters, I didn’t trust my luck to continue interrogating people. We ate dinner quietly and turned in early that night.

 

My dreams that night were filled with the faces of the missing kids, and I woke up at least once an hour to shift positions, and I could feel Octavyn doing the same next to me.

 

 

The two of us woke up the next day and dressed before making our way downstairs. As we walked into the living room, I froze. The couch was empty, Cameron’s blanket and pillow discarded on the floor. His shoes sat next to the pillow, and his belt with his team was on the coffee table.

 

I turned to Octavyn, who was staring in mute horror. Cameron Morrill had been taken.

 

“How did this happen?” I asked, my voice shaking. “Nobody could have broken in, we would have heard them!”

 

I rushed to the front door and found it unlocked. “No sign of forced entry. It’s like he just got up and walked away.”

 

Octy joined me with Cameron’s belt in her hands. Her orange eyes were troubled. “We have to find him.”

 

“We will, Octavyn, I promise.” I put my hand lightly on her shoulder. “We just need to keep our heads, alright? If we panic, we can’t help him.”

 

She nodded, and I led her to sit on the couch. “Alright, so let’s think. What leads do we have?”

 

“He wasn’t taken by force,” she said. “Cameron would have fought, and we would have heard it.”

 

I nodded. “Right. He also took the clothes he was sleeping in -- he didn’t change, or put on his shoes. Why the rush?”

 

“What if . . .” Octy hesitated,and I gently took her hand to reassure her. She nodded. “Sleepwalkers aren't rational. They don’t put on their shoes or get dressed before leaving the house.  That could be the case here.”

 

“Ten kids, all sleepwalking out of their homes?” It was implausible, especially since none of them had a history of sleepwalking that we’d heard of.

 

“It could be a trance.”

 

“You mean like hypnosis?” I raised an eyebrow. There was a thought.

 

“Yes. Certain Pokémon can send out hypnotic signals to lure in victims.”

 

“You’re absolutely right.” I stood. “Octy, I know who did it!”

 

Octy’s eyebrows shot up. “You do? Who?”

 

I stood and started for the door. “Mathys Masson. He can’t take the children himself, but if he could get a Pokémon to do it for him, then it’d be simple! Remember why we left his house yesterday? He was about to undergo hypnotic therapy.”

 

“But why?” I paused in my tracks. Motive, of course, was an important part of pinning down any sort of mystery. What did Mathys gain from kidnapping children?

 

“I . . . don’t know, honestly. Maybe he’s holding them hostage, planning to ransom them out at a later time.”

 

“That . . . makes sense.” Despite her words, Oct’s voice was uncertain. I shook my head.

 

“Look, it doesn’t matter why he’s doing it! We know that he is, and we know how!

Come on, we have to go rescue Cameron!”

 

“Isa, wait.” Octy stood. “I want to be sure of this.”

 

“What do you mean? Of course I’m sure--”

 

“Where is Mathys keeping them?”

 

“I . . . I don’t know. You’re right. We’ll find the kids first, then we’ll put a stop to Masson’s scheme.”

 

Octavyn nodded, and picked up Cameron’s shoes. “This is how we’ll find them.”

 

Lafayette followed Cameron’s trail out of town. From what I’d heard, the police had already had their own Pokémon try tracking through scent, but it hadn’t turned up any results.

 

Lazy good for nothing cops, I thought. Cameron’s trail was clear as day to even my Furfrou’s unspecialized nose. Lafayette pressed his nose to the ground as he sniffed, picking up the skin, hair, and sweat particles that Cam had left behind while walking. Even in the fine drizzle of the early morning, the Poodle Pokémon had no trouble following it.

 

Until we came to the edge of a creek. Laverre’s location to the north of a swamp meant that one had to cross several bodies of water to enter or leave the town. While it helped with keeping the town’s privacy,it did make it difficult to navigate sometimes.

 

As Lafayette turned to me, I pulled Cameron’s sneakers out of my bag and held them out. My trusty Pokémon took a deep whiff, and we crossed the creek to try and pick up the trail. After a few moments, Lafayette took off, with us on his heels.

 

“This makes no sense,” I said to Octy as we jogged. “Why would Mathys lead the children out of town? How would he even get out here himself?”

 

In response, my best friend just shook her head. She wasn’t sure, either.

 

After several more stops and refreshers, we were finally on the main part of Route 14 that made up the Laverre Nature Trail. This was where the famous swamp was located. I looked around, frowning. Lafayette had lost the scent again, this time seemingly for good.

 

“I don’t get it,” I said, scratching my head. “Unless he made them walk all the way to Lumiose, then there’s nowhere out here for them to go.” I felt like I was missing something as I said it, and I could see that Octy was thinking the same.

 

“Okay, Octy, exercise time. Close your eyes.” She did so, and I continued. “Describe Route 14 to me, and don’t leave out a single detail.”

 

“Route 14 is a swampy route that connects Lumiose City to Laverre City. It’s home to several Pokémon species, mainly poison, grass, and bug types . . .” She furrowed her brow in thought. “Water types like Quagsire and Stunfisk live in the swamp itself, and Goomy can be found nearby. . .”

 

“What are we missing, Octy?”

 

“I . . . don’t know.”

 

“Think. I feel like we talked about it recently.”

 

“Nn. . . Ghost types! Ghost types like Haunter can be found on this route!”

 

“Where?” As I asked it, the answer came into my head and then seemed to slip away.

 

“The scary house!” she shouted, eyes still clenched shut.

 

I blinked, and slowly turned to my right. There, amidst the trees and scraggly weeds, was a small house on the edge of the water.

 

“Okay, hon, you can relax now.” Octy slowly opened her own eyes, blinking as she, too, looked upon the house. I nodded. “Pretty sneaky of Mathys. We were going to stay here the first night, but we decided to walk another hour instead. The police didn’t turn up anything here, either, because Mathys used his hypnotic signal to keep people away.”

 

I stepped towards the house, and my vision swam. I lurched forward, and landed on my knees, facing away from the house.

 

“Alright, then,” I said, my voice like steel. “If that’s how he wants to play it.” I stood, closing my eyes. If I couldn’t see the house, I couldn’t get dizzy from looking at it. As I began blindly walking forward, dread settled in the pit of my stomach.

 

If Mathys could lay down such a powerful hypnotic field that just looking at the house made you dizzy, then he would certainly be a force to be reckoned with. Still, it had to be done. Who knew what he was doing with those children?

 

Finally, my hands bumped against the wood siding of the house, and I cracked an eye open. Good. Whatever effect he had, it wasn’t directly beside the building. I dug in my backpack and grabbed the coil of rope there, glad that I had kept it around for the past year. Tying a knot in the end, I tossed it out to Octy. “Close your eyes and follow the rope!”

 

She obeyed, and before long she and Lafayette were standing with me next to the house. I took a deep breath and turned the door knob.

 

Inside were the missing children.

 

They were all there, sitting on the floor, seeming to sleep. Cameron was nearest the door, snoring, with his knees pulled to his chest and his head resting on them. Emily was near him, in the same position. In fact, all the kids were sleeping like that.

 

“We have to wake them up,” I said, and Octy and I went to shake Cameron. He remained asleep however hard we tried, however. The rest gave similar results.

 

“Okay. We know where the kids are. Let’s head back to town. Octavyn, you go get the police and lead them here. I’ll go speak with Monsieur Masson.” I recalled Lafayette, clipping his ball to my belt.

 

We made our way back into town, and Octavyn and I split up. My heart hammered in my chest as I neared Masson’s residence. My mind was working, trying to figure out the inconsistencies we’d stumbled over.

 

I knocked on the door, and was greeted by the nurse, whose name I couldn’t remember at the moment. She seemed surprised to see me.

 

“Hello again, young lady. Is there something I can do for you?”

 

I nodded. “I need to speak with Monsieur Masson. It’s urgent.” The woman pursed her lips, but stepped aside for me.“He’s in the living room, though he may be napping,” she warned. I made my way down the hall.

 

As I saw the picture above his mantle, a piece of the puzzle slid into place. Monsieur Masson had been a Team Flare agent, still was one. Stealing children and hypnotizing them? He was looking to build up the organization again using the youth of Laverre. I turned to face him, and scowled. As the nurse had said, he was sleeping.

 

I walked over and clapped once, loudly. He didn’t stir. I growled softly. How could I confront him if he didn’t wake up?

 

I heard the door close behind me, and turned to see the nurse standing there, with a Poké Ball in her hand. “Forgive him,” she said. “He always has a deep sleep after undergoing hypnosis.” As she expanded the ball, my eyes widened. The Pokémon inside was a Hypno.

 

“Monsieur Masson didn’t do it,” i said. “You did.”

 

“How astute, though you’re a bit late.” She chuckled as she sent out the psychic type. “No, Mathys can, for once, claim innocence. After the fall of Flare, he and I went into hiding. In order to keep people from asking questions about me, I claimed to be his nurse -- and made him believe it, as well.”

 

I reached for my belt, but didn’t get the chance to send out Lafayette and Andre before the Hypno hit me with a Psybeam. I fell back, flailing for balance as I did. My hand caught on the handle of Monsieur Masson’s wheelchair, but it didn’t stop my fall. My momentum and weight tipped the chair back, and I couldn’t stop it from falling anymore than I could stop myself.

 

The man in the chair fell out and his eyes snapped open. He looked around in confusion and struggled to sit up. “What’s going on?”

 

“Monsieur!” I said. “Your nurse is the kidnapper! She’s been using her Hypno--”

 

“Don’t listen to this girl, Monsieur,” the ‘nurse’ interrupted. “She came in here to accuse you again, and when I tried to escort her out, she turned on me.”

 

Mathys looked at me, perplexion on his face. “Let’s all just calm down and settle this like rational people. Lamara, help me into my chair.”

 

The woman made her way over and righted the chair, then carefully helped Mathys to sit. I made my way to my feet, shaking a bit. The woman didn’t seem inclined to blow her cover here, but I had no doubt that, as soon as I made my case, she would go on the offensive again.

 

“I’m going to send out my Furfrou, unless she returns her Hypno,” I said. Mathys looked to the nurse, and she shook her head. He nodded to me, and I released Lafayette from the ball again.

 

“Now,” Mathys said, “explain to me why you think Lamara is the kidnapper?”

 

“My friend Cameron disappeared last night. We managed to track him to the Scary House south of town, and we realized that all the kids who have disappeared were hypnotized. They were all there.” I pointed to Lamara. “She mentioned hypnosis yesterday while we were here.”

 

“This is ridiculous--” Lamara started, but Mathys raised a hand to silence her.

 

“This is a very serious accusation. Do you have any proof of this?”

 

“My friend Octavyn went to get the police and retrieve the victims from the Scary House.

I’m sure that someone will be able to confirm they’ve been hypnotized.”

 

“Even then, anyone could be responsible.”

 

“The first victim vanished just a few days after you moved here, sir.” I didn’t want to mention that Lamara had spelled it out to me; that would seem to unrealistic to him. Villains didn’t actually reveal their plans to the heroes very often in real life.

 

“Why would Lamara do something like that?” Mathys asked, frowning.

 

“Because . . .” My mind worked. I hadn’t figured that one out quite yet myself, honestly, but I could take a guess. “She’s a Team Flare agent, like you were. She wants to brainwash these kids into reviving Flare at some point in the future.”

 

I heard a thud, and turned to see that Lamara had dropped her Hypno’s Poké Ball. She was staring at me, her eyes wide with shock. I scowled back.

 

“She told me--”

 

“Enough,” Lamara interrupted. “Hypno, Psybeam!”

 

“Lafayette, Protect!” A wall of light appeared, blocking the psychic attack. “Monsieur Masson, go call the police!”

 

The wheelchair-bound man spun and began rolling out of the room.

 

“No, you don’t, Monsieur. The blood of Flare runs scarlet.” Masson froze, and he slumped in his chair. I turned back to my opponent and clenched my fist. This would be tricky. I had to buy time for Octavyn to come looking for me, hopefully with the police in tow.

 

“So I was right, then? You’re wanting to brainwash innocent children into criminals?”

 

“That’s right. Children are the future, after all. Just think, a whole generation growing up

on the teachings and tenets of Lysandre’s greatest creation. We would revolutionize the world!”

 

“You’re crazy,” I spat. “Lafayette, Bite!” As my Pokémon launched forward, the Hypno jumped aside.

 

“Hypnosis,” Lamara said. The psychic type swung its pendulum, and Lafayette was quickly put to sleep. I grabbed Andre’s ball and sent the Chespin out. “Andre, go for that pendulum!” Andre jumped forward. The Hypno tried to side-step, but wasn’t expecting my Chespin to lash out with a Vine Whip. The Vines wrapped around the chain of the hypnotic pendant and pulled.

 

As the pendulum flew, everyone could only watch. The pendant hit the bricks around the fireplace and shattered. The Hypno cried out, falling to its knees as its implement of hypnosis was destroyed. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Monsieur Masson stir in his chair, putting a hand to his head.

 

There was a loud knock on the door, and a deep voice shouted “This is the police, let us in!”

 

“It’s over, Lamara,” I said. “You just lost.”

 

 

 

Lamara was taken into custody, and the missing children were returned home safely after a brief hospital stay. As far as we could tell, there were no lingering effects. Octavyn, Cameron, and I took off the day after. The mystery in Laverre City had left us all eager to go back out into the world to continue our training.

Edited July 29, 2018 by MELON LORD