Pokémon Detective Case Files.

Morikawa's dagger aimed at the detective ultimately failed to reach its target, because a hidden knot of grass had silently emerged from under the hospital bed five meters away, precisely and firmly restraining the driver's wrist the instant he drew his weapon.

"You've finally given yourself away, Mr. Morikawa."

Hugo cautiously retreated, avoiding the golden dagger that the assassin had grabbed.

Realizing what was happening, Garchomp let out a deafening roar, its massive body instantly blocking the Detective's path, its scales slightly raised in fury.

“This dagger…” Hugo’s gray eyes narrowed slightly.

"Did 'White Night' hide it inside while bandaging me? Trying to kill me with it, Quixote certainly knows his dark humor. But a failed scheme is like a faded tattoo; if it ultimately fails, such mockery will only make him look more pathetic."

Morikawa Shigeki's body was frozen in a forward-leaning position. He struggled to free his arms from the "grass knot" of the grass turtle, but after realizing it was futile, he finally gave up with a wry smile and shook his head: "I should have made my move sooner."

"It's no use coming earlier, since I've been on guard against you for a long time."

Hugo, from a distance, pointed with the tip of his shoe at Morikawa's injured knee—

“Unlike the bandage on your left hand, the fracture in your leg is real. If I hadn’t been caught completely off guard, I wouldn’t have been unable to defeat someone who was just blown five meters away by a bomb this morning.”

"I'm only letting the grass turtles do it to save you face. I don't want to mistreat patients in the hospital unless it's absolutely necessary."

"No wonder you kept controlling my elbow when you were helping me up earlier."

Morikawa sighed, glanced at the Garchomp behind the detective who had suppressed its rage, and then dejectedly released his grip.

With a crisp metallic clang, the golden dagger fell to the ground, its ironic reflection gleaming in the dimly lit hospital room.

"I still don't understand, where exactly did I slip up?"

"You misunderstood. You didn't expose any flaws, and I didn't become wary of you because you exposed any flaws."

Hugo unceremoniously kicked Quixote's ornate dagger into the corner of the room, watching as the Grass Turtle used more grass knots to completely bind Morikawa.

"In the airport bombing case, there has been no conclusive evidence to date that can rule you out as the perpetrator—that is enough reason to be wary of you."

"You've been a suspect to us from the very beginning," Hugo said coldly.

“While the victim’s identity and family background can certainly reduce suspicion on you, solving a case is never a simple matter of addition and subtraction. To find a murderer who is familiar with the alliance’s schedule, understands the structure of the private car, knows the driver’s family situation, and can precisely trigger the mechanism—” Hugo looked directly into Morikawa’s eyes, “Mr. Morikawa, aren’t you the most suitable candidate for all these conditions?”

"Are you going to presume the culprit based on this? By using the process of elimination to raise suspicion?" Morikawa asked unwillingly, struggling to free the knot of grass from his mouth.

"The so-called investigation must begin with doubt and end with finding evidence to dispel that doubt," the skeptical detective said. "This is my personal way of doing things, and I'm not doing this to send anyone to court, but simply to protect myself. If I weren't so careful, I'm afraid I would have lost my life soon after becoming a detective."

"By the way, speaking of which, what Pokémon did you use to detonate the engine while you were lying in ambush underground at the airport? At this point, you shouldn't have any reason to keep quiet, right?" Hugo asked. "You don't seem like a professional assassin like 'White Night.' Was the detonation device a trick Team Plasma taught you?"

“It’s a pufferfish,” Morikawa confessed unexpectedly, shrugging his shoulders which were bound by vines.

"Since you tried to protect me until the very end, I'll tell you everything... Ever since I accepted the mission, someone put the Poké Ball containing that Pokémon along with the operation plan in my mailbox. I was just doing what was told. After the explosion, that eel disappeared without a trace."

This makes sense. Eels, which evolved from small fish, are born with the ability to transmit radio waves remotely via "charging beams," and their "floating" characteristic makes it easier for them to silently leave the scene after an explosion.

"And what about your own Pokémon?" Hugo's gaze swept across every corner of the ward—the criminal he had caught was so obedient that he hadn't even sent out any of his Pokémon to try and fight back; such a phenomenon was extremely rare in his past experience of handling cases.

“Since I joined Team Plasma, I’ve released them all back into the wild—of course, I didn’t tell the Alliance about it, and I just told my colleagues that keeping pets was too tiring, so I sent them to the breeding center.” Morikawa lowered his eyes.

Hugo wasn't surprised by the answer, but he deliberately raised his voice and said, "However... while you both joined Team Plasma, your wife seems to be raising two Pokémon."

"You already knew?" Morikawa Shige's expression froze.

"That's natural. The kidnapping incident on the Road to Champions is different from the bombing case that used a mechanism. In this case, the perpetrator's deliberate actions were more obvious, which also exposed more suspicious points about the killer."

Seeing that Morikawa had fallen silent, the champion continued—

"Is it really possible for a mother to be easily distracted by a kidnapper right at her own doorstep while she's with her daughter? And since 'White Night' was merely remotely controlling her Pokémon to transport the hostages from the hospital, who recorded and made the kidnapping call? And when? And how did that Pokémon manage to transport Ms. Rinko and Ms. Sayuri through the rugged and narrow cave?"

Hugo emphasized, "This flawed plan is completely different from the swift and decisive bombing earlier, to the point that it doesn't seem like a trick played by the Sage of Quixote."

“Sigh, because this part of the plan was devised by the three of us.” Morikawa sighed again and said, “We didn’t intend to keep it from you for too long using this method, but at least they got rid of that Lianwu Tianwang who was by your side.”

"I see."

After the general outline of the incident was determined, all the clues finally connected at this moment.

"That mother and daughter weren't kidnapped hostages, were they?"

Hugo said with certainty—

"On the contrary, it was they who subdued Sid Clement, who drove them to the entrance of the Champion Road, and then they themselves led the 'White Night' Pokémon deeper into the Champion Road. The one that attacked Sid was probably the Electric-type Wool Sheep, and since the cave was dark, they needed the Rolling Bat to lead the way."

“That’s about it.” Morikawa nodded. “I told Sid that my daughter wanted to catch a rare Pokémon from Victory Road as her starter Pokémon, and that battling fanatic colleague of mine excitedly agreed to take them there, and even prepared his own car. I’ve invited Sid to a few Order presentations before, but he seems to be more interested in Pokémon battles.”

Hugo added thoughtfully, "Your wife released those two Pokémon at the end because she thought splitting them into four groups would create more chaos in the cave, right?"

"That's about it." The Alliance driver who had defected to Team Plasma shook his head with a wry smile. "Looks like nothing can be hidden from you, Detective."

"It really is a complicated plan," Hugo remarked, shaking his head.

"Using the kidnapping to distract Lian Wu, hiring assassins to deal with the other League guards, and having the Dark Trio restrain Garchomp—all of this was for you to assassinate me, the League Champion… Is this the mission Team Plasma gave you?"

"To be honest, I don't know anything about those three black-clad ninjas... But this is an assassination operation after all, so the more assassins the better. If I didn't have to do anything, and the assassins could easily and efficiently achieve their goal ahead of time, I would naturally be happy to have an easy time. But it seems that you, Mr. Champion, are still a step ahead."

Morikawa looked up at the ceiling, a strange melancholy in his eyes.

Amid the assassin's sigh, a cold hand suddenly rested on the detective's shoulder.

"!!"

Having just survived three assassination attempts, and with their eyes wide open in fear, Hugo and Garchomp simultaneously turned around in alarm, only to see the nurse's cheerful smile—

"Hey, looks like a lot has happened here too."

The intelligence agent, known as "Silent Footsteps," was dragging the unconscious "White Night" by one leg, his face covered in blood, as he greeted the detective.

"I haven't even asked you how you saw through my disguise yet!"

The nurse's hands, which should have been used to care for patients and save lives, were now dripping with enemy blood.

Chapter 395 The Disparity Between Searches and Investigations

In the hospital corridor, the Dark Trio and their Pokémon had vanished without a trace. The smoke detector, long frozen by the geometric snowflakes, finally reactivated, and the scattered sprinklers barely extinguished the small fire caused by the Weather Ball. Magneton and Scizor lay pitifully unconscious in the middle of the rain waterfall.

“I thought my disguise was flawless.” The nurse released 'White Night's' limp legs and turned to the detective, asking, “How did you figure out my identity?”

The nurse's understanding of "perfect" was clearly wishful thinking... Hugo couldn't help but shake his head inwardly.

"Your nurse's uniform is too new and too clean, and there's no name tag on it. The pockets that should contain cotton swabs, a notebook, a nurse's chart, and pens are all empty. Even more suspicious is—"

He pointed to Miss Skirt, who was standing quietly to the side—

"The inpatient ward won't allow medical staff to bring Pokémon that might trigger pollen allergies. And most importantly, my champion status hasn't been officially announced yet. How could an ordinary nurse recognize me, the League Champion, at a glance, let alone approach me and strike up a conversation? That's highly suspicious."

Under the bewildered gaze of the assassin, Morikawa, bound in straw, Hugo shrugged.

"However, it is precisely because you address me by my identity without any hesitation that I am not worried that you are an adversary who is targeting me for infiltrating the hospital. After all, if you were like 'White Night' or Mr. Morikawa, and wanted to hide your identity in the hospital to target the champion, you should have been more discreet and avoided making contact with me even if you saw me."

"As expected of a trainer who defeated the champion while working as a private investigator. I've learned another lesson."

The nurse didn't seem ashamed at all; on the contrary, she said with a proud expression—

"But in the end, the so-called disguise can't possibly be exactly the same as a real nurse, right? As long as you can sneak into the hospital, that's fine. Anyway, there aren't many people as observant as Mr. Champion." She shrugged nonchalantly. "If you spend too much energy on unimportant details and timidly hide your partner in a Poké Ball, it will be bad if you end up being hesitant and unable to act when it comes to the final move."

Hugo gestured for a pause, his gaze sweeping over the unconscious assassin behind the nurse: "Before discussing this topic, could you explain the current state of the assassin behind you?"

"Oh? Him?" The fake nurse's expression clearly betrayed that she was making up a story. "Well... he has a pollen allergy. After coming into contact with Miss Skirt's 'Paralyzing Powder,' he had a nosebleed and passed out. He didn't even have a chance to use the other Pokémon he was carrying—I didn't expect the battle to end so smoothly."

Hugo's gaze shifted from the undried bloodstains at the corner of the "assistant doctor's" mouth to the unnatural indentation on his chest, then to the congealed bloodstains on the nurse's knuckles. His lips twitched. "You didn't actually perform CPR on him, did you?"

"You're incredibly insightful, Detective. It seems we'll have a very pleasant time together."

The nurse suddenly broke into a bright smile, and stretched out her blood-stained right hand—

"Luna Silvia, intelligence agent. This must be our first formal meeting. Nice to meet you."

Hugo took a half step back, not responding to the other's gesture, but awkwardly cupping his hands in a fist and bowing gesture: "As you know, I am Hugo, currently serving as the league champion. As for the handshake, let's save it for next time; I'm just too nervous today."

.

Deputy Director Jun Sha's expression was very gloomy.

This wasn't just because a fire had broken out right under her nose in the corridor of the medical center she used as her base, and she was completely unaware of it; nor was it just because the "kidnapper" Sid she had been chasing was actually a pitiful victim who had been abducted; nor was it just because the league champion she was responsible for protecting had almost been assassinated in the short half hour she was out of sight—although these things alone were enough to give her a splitting headache.

She glared at Agent Luna in front of her, her voice laced with suppressed anger—

"So, in other words, the Intelligence Department's Infiltration Investigation Division clearly knew that a titled mercenary had infiltrated the medical center, but still chose to keep quiet and let him remain lurking in the hospital's inpatient ward?"

"Even if you get angry at me, it won't do any good. The decision was made by the head of the intelligence department. I'm just running errands for them."

The "Silent Footsteps" sitting on the bench behind the table had already taken off her disguised nurse's uniform and put on a standard police uniform that was obviously borrowed from the data analysis center. After taking off her nurse's cap, she combed her flaxen hair into a neat ponytail, looking refreshing and energetic.

The female detective tilted her head, gave an innocent smile, crossed her legs, and spread her hands towards Officer Jenny—

"Besides, didn't the intelligence department send me here? With me here, that mere 'White Night' can't cause any major trouble. In fact, haven't I already captured him successfully?"

"Heh, 'can't cause too much trouble'..." Officer Jenny laughed expressionlessly. "I'm not going to worry about the fire you caused in the hospital corridor, just answer me one question honestly—"

The deputy director slammed his knuckles heavily on the table in front of the detective—

"Before Champion Hugo revealed 'White Night's' identity, you had no idea about the infiltrator's hidden identity, right?"

"........."

Luna's fingertips unconsciously tightened around the ends of her ponytail.

This is true. Although the intelligence department knew about 'White Night's' recent suspicious movements through underground informants, they did not have specific physical characteristics of the other party.

Even considering the worst-case scenario, this was indeed a consequence of the secretive approach taken by the infiltrating investigation department... The detective could only remain silent, feeling guilty.

"The investigation department didn't even know the intruder's identity, yet they dared to arbitrarily conceal crucial clues..."

Officer Jenny shook her head angrily, her tone turning cold—

“Although I know that the infiltration investigation section of the intelligence department has always acted on its own since it was separated from the reorganized security department, what you did in this incident… really went too far.”

“But even if the section chief and the others had told you in advance, you wouldn’t have been able to find the real killer from the hospital then, would you?” Luna tried to argue. “Given the way the police and the investigation bureau operate, they would only alert the criminals and let them escape. It would be better to leave it to us and catch the assassin red-handed just as the other side is about to make their move.”

"So, may I ask our 'elite agent,' the renowned 'Silent Footsteps' lady, did you catch the assassin red-handed?" Deputy Chief Officer Officer Jenny crossed her arms and looked down at her condescendingly. "Did you capture the infamous Dark Trio of Team Plasma? Or did you stop the criminal when Morikawa attempted to assassinate the Champion?"

"What's the point of saying all this now?" Luna's eyes flashed with annoyance as she was constantly suppressed by Officer Jenny's words.

"And what about your investigation bureau? Didn't you also fail to see through the 'victim's' disguise?" She deliberately dragged out her words. "Not to mention that the police were completely outmaneuvered by the Morikawa mother and daughter on the road to the championship—the police resources wasted were enough for us to infiltrate ten commercial companies controlled by illegal organizations!"

"You guys are always monitoring the criminal world, but I haven't seen you do anything when Group Plasma was rampant..."

"If I remember correctly, the frontline fighters against the Plasma Group should be your Alliance Investigation Bureau, right? Your bureau really got nothing. And you still have the nerve to bring this up with me?"

Just as their verbal exchange was escalating, a sudden, urgent knocking on the door broke the tense atmosphere...

"Gentlemen, please pause your argument for a moment."

A deep, resonant male voice came from the doorway.

Suddenly, the imposing figure of Lian Wutian appeared in the secret room. He had just returned from the Champion's Road, and his martial arts uniform was still damp from the river water and night dew.

“Hugo asked me to inform you that there has been a breakthrough in the interrogation of the Morikawa family,” he said in a deep voice, his rugged face unusually grave. “We have discovered some…unexpected information.”

Chapter 396 The Dark Side of Utopia

Sayuri Morikawa first heard the term "plasma cluster" when she was six years old.

That day, she squatted by the sandpit in the park, holding a flattened sandwich in her little hands, and intently broke it into crumbs and scattered them on the ground.

The girl hummed a nursery rhyme she had learned in kindergarten, waiting for the timid bean pigeons to come and peck at her food.

Suddenly, a shrill laugh came from behind the bushes.

Little Lily looked up and saw several boys, a little older than her, gathered in a circle, holding pebbles in their hands, throwing them at a trembling, grayish-blue shadow.

The little shadow made a faint "squeak" sound, like a rubber toy being stepped on. She squinted and finally saw clearly—it was a bat, its wings covered in wounds, its pink nose covered in mud, desperately trying to shrink back into the tree roots.

"Stop!" She ran over and spread her arms to block the swarming bats. A pebble grazed her knee, stinging painfully.

"Mind your own business, this guy stole something!" the lead boy grinned. "He even left dirty marks on our walls!"

Little Lily didn't move.

She remembered her mother saying that bats rely on their sense of smell and sound to find their way, and if their noses with heart-shaped markings are injured, they may be lost forever.

She crouched down and carefully cradled the shivering little creature in her hands. Its downy fur was wet and trembled like a shuttlecock soaked by rain.

The boys swarmed around her, grumbling and cursing; one of them pulled her braid. The girl closed her eyes tightly, shielding the rolling bats to her chest—

That's the end of it.

A shadow loomed over them.