Pokémon Detective Case Files.

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Four hours later...

Douzi, who stayed behind at Yuxi Residence, saw Bilan and Hugo, who had gone out that morning.

Hugo, as always, wore a wrinkled, shabby white suit and had a nonchalant expression. However, Little Blue looked rather strange; her face was deathly pale, and her steps were unsteady.

Before Touko could ask, the detective seemed to have read Touko's mind and took the initiative to explain, "I happened to run into Bilan at the hospital today. She said she wanted to work as a detective assistant at this agency, so I introduced her to some common knowledge about the detective industry."

Looking at Sister Xiaolan, Douzi couldn't help but ask, "What kind of common sense?"

"Various causes of death and their symptoms, how to determine the time of death based on changes in the body after death, and so on," Hugo answered without hesitation.

Azure, still standing at the door, seemed to have been reminded of some unseen memory, and her face turned even paler.

"Oh...I see. That's definitely knowledge a detective needs." Touko's smile was a little stiff. "Let's discuss what to have for lunch."

"In short, avoid eating meat that is bloody or preparing thick soups. It's best to eat some light, everyday foods."

"How are the noodles?" Douzi asked the detective in a low voice.

“No, that would be reminiscent of the intestines,” Hugo said cautiously, lowering his voice and shaking his head.

"rice?"

"No, if I see any white, sticky bits, I'll definitely throw up today's Azure."

"A sandwich?" Douzi, racking his brains, gestured a triangle with his hand.

The detective snapped his fingers excitedly and exclaimed, "That's it! We've decided on sandwiches for lunch!"

Perhaps provoked by Hugo's loud shouting, Azure, who was swaying at the door, covered her mouth again and began to gag uncomfortably.

Upon seeing this, Hugo hurriedly went inside, rummaged through a drawer and pulled out an opaque paper bag, then ran back to the door like the wind and shoved it into the hands of the new detective's assistant.

The girl finally couldn't hold it in any longer and turned her back to vomit into the paper bag.

Dr. Zhang's Commission

"Speaking of which, Douzi, what was that commission you mentioned before?"

Hugo helplessly watched the landlady of the Feathered Residence lying on the ground. The girl with the high ponytail was leaning against Hugo's desk, playing around with her Pokémon. She was holding Hugo's specially made Pokémon food and enthusiastically teasing Hugo's starter Pokémon.

Seeing Piplup, Tortoise, and Chimchar huddled together with their big and small heads, Douzi grinned happily.

The trio at Yuqi Residence had already finished their lunch with sandwiches from the convenience store. Little Blue, having just endured a brutal introductory lesson in detective work, was visibly listless and had gone back to her room to rest. Hopefully, she wouldn't have any nightmares.

So, naturally, the detective began to take notice of his next assignment.

"A commission?"

For a moment, Douzi was in a daze, squatting on the ground and staring at the grass turtle in front of him with his head tilted. After a while, he remembered: "Is it the commission I mentioned when Azure first came? You suddenly said a lot of business scope and professional terms back then, which startled me."

The detective nodded: "That's a great opportunity to show off your detective skills in front of your roommate. There aren't many detectives in the world who can rattle off so many tricks and schemes in one go."

Ignoring Douzi's skeptical expression, Hugo continued to plead with the landlady on the floor: "Please tell me the details of the request. Work and cases are always urgent, especially now that I need to pay an assistant's salary."

Douzi casually fiddled with her black hair in her high ponytail: "Actually, it's not really a case. It's just a fun and a bit strange everyday event. It's not urgent."

"That's perfect, I don't have anything urgent to do right now, so please tell me about this strange event."

The young landlady grinned slyly for a long time without answering, showing no intention of honestly explaining her request. Instead, she continued to play with Hugo's three main characters.

The three little guys were oblivious to their owner's anxiety and continued to chase after Douzi's hand holding the feed, running from left to right and from right to left, over and over again, having a great time.

Hugo finally couldn't take it anymore. After several failed attempts at negotiation, he directly commanded his Pokémon, "Turtle, stop playing around! Use your prized skull to 'ram' this woman's stomach!"

As expected of a Pokémon personally selected by the champion, it is intelligent and obedient, with an extremely high degree of execution of commands. The Turtwig attacked Fighting without hesitation, showing no regard for the target's identity, and mercilessly used the "Tackle" move.

The grass turtle took four short strides and accelerated straight towards Douzi's belly. Judging by the force, if the attack hit, Douzi might follow in Azure's footsteps and fall into a state of lethargy.

However, the head of the grass turtle did not reach the finish line. It was not because the tortoise dodged it, but for some reason, the grass turtle tripped and fell on the flat wooden floor, and the momentum brought by the running acceleration naturally dissipated.

With such a low center of gravity and four legs, why does it still trip over?! The detective covered his eyes like a pickpocket washing its face, unable to bear watching the scene.

"Ha, Hugo's bad luck has kicked in again!" Douzi was startled, but when he saw that the grass turtle hadn't bumped into him, he was overjoyed and became even more arrogant.

"You wouldn't have realized how bad Hugo's luck had gotten before you had any Pokémon. He can't even use a move like 'Tackle'... Waaaaaah!"

Douzi suddenly clutched his neck and screamed.

It turned out that Bogarman behind her couldn't stand it anymore and, without waiting for Hugo's order, launched a small "water gun" at the back of the girl's neck that was exposed outside her collar.

It seems that Pokémon can use their moves normally even without Hugo's command; "Water Gun" startled Douzi with its precise force.

"Well done, Pogaman!" Hugo praised his subordinate for his proactive approach.

The three little guys had now surrounded Douzi in a pincer movement. Chimchar was rubbing his hands together, Turtwig had gotten back up, and Piplup was puffing out his cheeks, ready to unleash his "water gun".

Seeing the three starter Pokémon fully engaged in battle, Touko was both amused and exasperated, and had no choice but to surrender.

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"The client who filed the case is Professor Yew from Deer Town. Don't let her strange name fool you, she's a renowned Pokémon professor in the Unova region," Touko said, sitting back down in her chair.

"I know she's an expert on the origins of Pokémon, and her father is an archaeologist. Although I'm not interested in that field, I've heard a lot about her."

“However, the mystery she’s encountering now has nothing to do with the topics you mentioned, but it is related to them.” Douzi pointed to Hugo’s elf who was standing to the side.

The detective raised an eyebrow curiously: "Is it related to the starter Pokémon?"

"That's right. In addition to conducting their own research, Professor Juniper is also responsible for distributing the initial partners to novice trainers. In the Unova region, our initial Pokémon are Snivy, Oshawott, and Tepig. Generally speaking, before embarking on an adventure, novice trainers will go to the Pokémon Lab in Deer Town and receive one of these Pokémon from Professor Juniper."

“It’s the same everywhere,” Hugo nodded in agreement. “Sometimes, several trainers arrive at the lab at the same time, and the professor lets them discuss which Pokémon they want. I’ve heard that in such cases, people call this group of beginners ‘fellow trainees’ or ‘rivals.’ And if, after all the starter Pokémon have been taken, some unlucky trainer is late, the professor will just grab a Pokémon from his backyard, pretend it’s a very rare Pokémon, and use that to get rid of the guy.”

“No, no, no.” Douzi shook his head repeatedly. “It’s not like that in our Unova region.”

The detective then learned that the Unova League's rules were different from those of other regions. In order to ensure that novice trainers could embark on their journeys fairly, Professor Pokemon would prepare several sets of starter Pokémon in the research institute to deal with situations where multiple trainers would come at the same time.

Each new player will be given an equal opportunity to choose their favorite starter Pokémon from three different starter Pokémon of different types.

In addition, the Unova League has built many breeding bases specifically for raising starter Pokémon to ensure that no one is unable to choose a particular starter Pokémon due to being late or a shortage of that starter Pokémon.

“Generally speaking, even if all the Pokémon in the research institute have been claimed, new trainers only need to wait one more day to receive a Pokémon transported from the training base—it’s a fair choice of three. That’s the rule in the Unova region.”

“A very comprehensive set of rules—though I think it’s a bit of an overreaction,” Hugo commented honestly. “So, what is the problem that Dr. Yew is facing now?”

"Listen carefully," the girl said, her eyes sparkling, as if the matter had something to do with her.

"In the first few months of this year, more than sixty novice trainers came to the Pokémon Research Institute in Deer Town. They each chose their favorite Pokémon to embark on their journey. But strangely, these more than sixty trainers, who came from all over the world, were strangers to each other, and had only a superficial understanding of Pokémon, all of them chose Oshawott, one of their starter Pokémon, as their partner on their journey."

"More than sixty people, all of them chose water otters!" Douzi emphasized again.

Chapter 030 Reasons for Choosing One of Three

Otter, a sea otter Pokémon. Its head and paws are white, its body is blue, it has two dark blue pointed structures on its head that resemble ears, black spots resembling freckles under its eyes, and a brown oval nose.

The shell-like object on its abdomen is called a scallop shell. It can be picked off and used as a weapon to slash enemies, or it can be used as a knife to cut open hard tree fruits.

Most water otters are gentle and friendly. They value their shells highly, and perhaps because of this, compared to the aloof Snivy and the cuddly Tepig, water otters have a subtle confidence and love to show off, sometimes becoming quite smug. Many people consider this part of their charm.

Otters are indeed cute, but as the saying goes, you can't please everyone. The reason why more than sixty novice trainers unanimously chose it as their first partner could not possibly be just because "otters are cute".

"A probability of one in three to the power of sixty? Then we can basically rule out the possibility of coincidence."

After hearing the riddle, Hugo immediately entered a state of deep thought, and then posed his question—

"When did the doctor discover this phenomenon?"

"She said she noticed the problem in February of this year, when more than ten trainers had already chosen the water otter as their initial partner."

She was probably startled... Imagining the academic authority's surprised expression, Hugo continued, "Did the doctor later inquire about the reasons why these people chose water otters? Like, a follow-up study such as a questionnaire survey. I think the doctor should have their contact information."

Douzi scratched his head and thought for a moment, then said, "The professor said she had tracked it down, but more than half of the trainers said they had forgotten why they chose Otter, while the rest said they chose Otter because of abstract reasons such as intuition or fate."

"So what do these sixty-odd novice trainers have in common?"

"If we're talking about unique characteristics, the only one is that they're all complete newbies. Apart from that, their hometowns are scattered across various cities in Unova, and their family backgrounds are all different."

“Different cities…” Hugo pondered for a long time before continuing to ask, “Are there differences in the starter Pokémon in the research institute? I mean in terms of personality, condition, abilities, size, health, and so on.”

"Whether it's personality, condition, ability, size, or health, they're all about the same. They have no hidden abilities or inherited moves," Douzi replied, shaking his head. "Although on average, these starter Pokémon are a tier below your three, they're still above average. With some training, they could definitely shine in battle tournaments."

Douzi suddenly glared at the detective: "Seriously, do you really have no idea how terrifying the potential of these three kids is? Who entrusted these little ones to you?"

"Um... a friend from Sinnoh gave it to me."

"I wish I had a friend like that! Hugo always seems to have bad luck when he encounters elves, yet he still insists on giving you three genius-level elves. Where can you find a friend like that?"

The girl started acting silly, forgetting everything that had happened at the research institute, kicking her arms and legs wildly to express her envy and jealousy.

"I need your friend's contact information! Now! Immediately! Right now! I want him to magically deliver an incredibly powerful Pokémon to me!"

"The key to raising Pokémon is quality, not quantity. Dear landlady, your main team is far from the age where you need to consider retirement, right? Is it appropriate to be distracted by training new members from scratch under these circumstances?"

"But I'm really envious," Douzi said frankly.

"Please don't digress. We're trying to solve the strange events at Professor Taxonomy's lab. I remember you personally trained these three starter Pokémon, right? In your personal opinion, what are the differences in their battle performances?"

Douzi pondered for a long time and said with a troubled expression, "The differences... the three Pokémon have different attributes and roles, so it's difficult to rank them based on simple superiority or inferiority."

Then, as if remembering something, she quickly added, "However, it is said that in some discussions among battle trainers, people believe that Alexstrasza's abilities are the most mediocre among the starter Pokémon, lacking any outstanding skills and having a relatively even distribution of offensive and defensive capabilities. For many trainers who rely on tactics to win battles, it is considered a rather awkward Pokémon."

Hugo nodded in agreement: "Serpent is adept at launching special attacks at high speeds, and its Hidden Ability 'Contrarian' can be combined with 'Leaf Storm' to achieve a boost while dealing massive damage; Emboar is a heavy tank-type physical attacker, and its strong bulk allows it to support a 'sacrifice' style of trading its life for its opponent's, and it also performs well in the speed-reversing environment of 'Trick Room'... Compared to them, Samurai is indeed somewhat mediocre."

"But!" the combat expert Douzi suddenly pointed out loudly, "These are just theoretical deductions on paper. In real combat, strength and weakness are not calculated in this way."

Hugo took out his notebook and pen, adopting an attentive listening posture.

"Serperiod does have the classic strategy of using a contrarian, high-damage attack. However, almost all trainers participating in the competition know about this strategy for Serperiod. Before the competition starts, they will focus on preparing countermeasures against Serperiod—such as using Ferrothorn to block, or using a faster Fire-type Pokémon to launch a quick attack and KO... This means that most Serperiods in the battle are not given the opportunity to boost their damage output."

When the conversation turned to professional topics, Douzi began to talk at length about the current environment of Pokémon battles in the Unova League.

Hugo suddenly noticed that, without them noticing, his Sinnoh starter Pokémon, which had been playing around, had stopped frolicking and were now listening intently to Hugo's speech.

"...Embalant's weakness lies in its insufficient speed. Most Rock/Steel type opponents it can counter are able to strike first in Trick Room, preventing it from becoming a primary attacker in Trick Room tactics. In normal, non-Trick Room environments, Embalant's speed is far slower than most mainstream Pokémon, forcing it to use counter-attack moves while enduring enemy attacks. Even when low on health and triggering its Blaze ability, it's essentially a sitting duck, unable to launch an attack."

"So it seems that the Greatsword Oni, with its balanced abilities, actually has an advantage?" The detective stopped writing something with his pen and asked with great interest.

"To me, Samurai is like a universal plug-in. Whether it's finishing off opponents, disrupting the opponent, or tanking damage, it can do it all, and sometimes it can achieve surprising results. But the disadvantages mentioned earlier do exist. There are too many Water-type Pokémon, and it's true that Samurai's abilities aren't outstanding. However, only experienced battlers like us can feel these subtle differences in strengths and weaknesses. I don't think novice trainers would consider so much when choosing their initial partner."

"So, are there any star trainers in Unova who are good at using one of these three methods recently? The star effect may also cause the adoption rate of a certain Pokémon to soar."

"Like Leon in Galar? Sorry, the best battle trainer using Greatsword in this year's Unova League's High Ball rank and above competitions is sitting right in front of you."

Douzi patted her chest smugly; if she had a tail like the Greatsword Demon, she would be strutting around in the air by now.

“That seems impossible.” The detective ruled out the possibility without hesitation.

"Back to square one?" the Outstanding Greatsword Ghost Trainer of the Year asked provocatively.

The detective stretched: "On the contrary, I already know the direction of the investigation. I need to contact Dr. Yew and then go to her research institute in person."

Chapter 031 The Cane and the Black Card

Taking a long nap can actually make you feel less energetic.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, Azure, looking like she hadn't woken up yet, slowly moved to the detective agency on the first floor, and looked up to see Hugo dressed in a white suit going out.

The new detective's assistant was somewhat surprised and couldn't help but ask, "Hugo, where are you planning to go?"

The detective pulled a heavy-looking metal cane from the shelf by the door and swung it around in the air as he answered, "Deer Town, Dr. Yew's research institute, there's a case there."

The previously listless Azure suddenly perked up: "Has a case occurred?"

Hugo shook his head, it was unclear whether he was referring to the question or the cane.

He switched to a yellow wooden staff, the round head of which was carved in the shape of a Poké Ball. This one seemed a bit lighter than the previous one.

The detective seemed very satisfied, and after playing with it for only a couple of moments, he gracefully and skillfully planted the cane on the ground.

"It's just an interesting little incident. Although it seems a bit strange, I think once I take a look at the research institute, I can easily resolve it in no time."

Azure stared at Hugo's cane, her head full of question marks: "You walk quite easily, don't you? Why are you choosing a cane like you're preparing to go into a fight?"

The detective glanced at the girl and asked, "When you trainers pass by the bushes, do some wild Pokémon often jump out and challenge you to a fight?"

"That's right, it's only natural."

"That's why I always carry a cane with me, so I can get rid of guys like that at any time."

"But why not use Pokémon to drive them away... Oh, right, you have that kind of constitution..."