Pokémon Detective Case Files.

The hoarse disguise suddenly disappeared, revealing a clear female voice.

"Even if you followed the police's actions in advance, it would be impossible for you to have known about the existence of this waterway beforehand—this is a major secret known even to a small number of people within Team Plasma. And not long ago, an outsider entered and exited Team Plasma's castle—it was the phantom thief 'Special Project,' who made a deal with Asura!"

Akromah quickly made a deduction—

"Besides, the 'Special Project' operates anywhere, which is similar to the habits of the information broker 'Intelligence House'. The secret laboratory you're extorting from me, besides coveting the data inside, is probably also intended to be used as a base or safe house during theft operations, right?"

"How I handle my prey is my own business. However, I advise you not to flaunt this information around."

“Why not?” Akroma raised an eyebrow, clutching the chip in his hand again. “Am I supposed to keep quiet about a highway robber?”

"As residents of the underworld, titles carry absolute weight. A fitting nickname might save someone's life, or conversely, lead to their demise. As an 'information broker,' criminals across the world have benefited from my favors, including my friends and partners, as well as desperate outlaws struggling to repay debts—guess how these people would react if they knew you were spreading rumors about me?"

"The information broker," or rather, "the special project," he said unhurriedly, tapping the tip of his shoe on the ice beneath his cloak.

"I don't need to remind you, our positions remain unchanged—you've reached a dead end. You either accept the deal or wait to be taken into custody by the police. If you insist on showing hostility towards me, although I don't have much of a relationship with the United States police, I wouldn't mind helping them arrest a dangerous mad scientist as a concerned citizen."

"No, please pretend I never said those things before."

The cold sweat had disappeared without her noticing. Akroma raised the paper in her hand, on which five lines of writing were clearly visible.

Accepting the other party's conditions in a completely passive situation is ultimately different from achieving a balance through negotiation—although such a balance is as fragile as a Poké Ball thrown at a wild Pokémon without weakening its stamina.

"I have indeed been to the Alola region, but I don't have a base there. I did collaborate with Carlos's Vladari Institute, and the research apartment they sponsored for me should still be there. As for the other regions, I do have a few rented warehouses that I use as storage rooms, but they're mostly filled with outdated research materials. As for the truly important things..."

The scholar tapped his forehead—

"They're all stored here."

"Well, at least he's been honest enough." 'Special Project' didn't react to the scholar's arrogant remarks. He simply glanced at the paper Akromma handed back, nodded, and quickly stuffed the notebook into his cloak.

“After you get out of the cave, remember to walk against the current in the northeast direction—that’s your only way out,” she said.

"That Wailord swam from Flying Cloud City downstream. The villages and bridges to the west have all been blocked by the Alliance Police. With such a large piece of ice, it's impossible for you to pass through undetected. The only place you might be able to get help from the Marines is the northeast coast."

"The Navy Fleet...are their ships hiding over there? Is this intelligence reliable?"

Akromar frowned thoughtfully. It was true that the Navy Fleet had crossed the ocean to come to Unova, so they must have their own means of transportation, but how could the "information agency" guarantee that those people's ships were still parked there?

“Of course I can guarantee that,” the woman’s voice inside the cloak replied confidently.

"Because just two days ago, Archie, the leader of Team Aqua, contacted me in that place and traded information about a detective from Unova—ah, this should have been a secret, but as hush money, I'll make an exception and give it to you this time. As an information broker, I've really bleed today."

So that's how it is; now everything connects...

Akromma finally pieced together the cause and effect of the incident—

The "information broker" learned of the detective's movements and the location of the Team Aqua ships because of Archie's request; and because he himself, as a thief in a "special project," had overheard information about the Giant's Cave from Team Plasma headquarters, he followed Interpol to this place, only to find himself in a desperate situation...

This woman wove a web of information like Ariadne, finally closing it at the perfect moment, exchanging this insignificant intelligence for the research base he had accumulated over the years... Whether as an intelligence dealer or a thief, her courage and methods were beyond the reach of ordinary people.

"You've actually been daydreaming. Is it because you're too grateful for the information I provided? Oh well, it's just a small favor that saved my life. There's no need to be so touched."

When Akroma opened her eyes, she felt as if the gray cloak was smiling at her.

"Although I'd love to continue this enjoyable journey, I have other important work to do. The ancient royal artifacts from the Galar region need to be sold in the United States, and there are also a few 'information broker' deals... It's not just evil organizations like yours who are busy committing crimes in the world. It seems it's time to say goodbye."

"I hope I will never meet you again in my life."

"That's hard to say, 'information brokers' are everywhere."

Looking at the rambling, irrelevant information revealed by the "special project," Akroma could roughly guess the other party's intention—it was a kind of intelligence marker.

By deliberately exposing insignificant weaknesses to attract attacks from adversaries—for example, if Akromma or Team Plasma still harbor resentment towards the thief after this incident, they would inevitably hinder the so-called fencing of stolen goods or intelligence trading—the thief could thus roughly determine the presence or absence of hostility simply by observing these harmless activities. It was a truly clever calculation.

Of course, we cannot completely rule out the possibility that the thief simply let it slip in his excitement...

The thief opposite him flicked his wrist, and a yellow and black level ball was suddenly thrown out.

Under the red glow of the Poké Ball, a valiant eagle, distinctly from the Unova region, spread its wings and emerged from the ball. Its powerful talons gripped the trainer's shoulder beneath his cape, and with a flourish of its wings, it was about to take flight.

Akromar was startled to realize that he had already left the dark underground waterways of the Giant's Cave and was now traveling along the wide riverbed outside the cave towards Highway 13.

It was already past midnight outside, and in the pitch black, it was impossible to tell whether the environment was open or closed.

He looked up and saw stars, like rubber shavings, scattered across the dark dome, twisted into an elongated normal distribution curve. A loud eagle's cry rang in his ears—the "Special Project" had already detached from the ice beneath its feet and was hovering in mid-air.

"Then until we meet again..."

"and many more."

As if suddenly feeling some unknown stirring in her heart, Akromma abruptly called out to the 'Special Project' that had just taken to the sky.

The female thief turned her head in confusion: "What is it?"

"You came here to find me for what purpose in the first place?" the scholar raised his voice, asking the soaring phantom thief, "What title will the underworld bestow upon me?"

"Even if I don't tell you, you'll find out soon enough."

The figure in the cloak shrugged, then waved her hand, the night wind carrying her reply to Akromma's ears—

"On the wasteland of truth, only the torch of 'personal interest' can illuminate the paths obscured by taboos... and behind the pioneers, there are already piles of burnt-out remains."

Akroma repeated the comments from the 'Special Project,' chuckled, shook his head, and watched as the Warrior Eagle's wings transformed into a dark shadow in the night sky.

In the unseen night sky, the thief removed his grey cloak.

If Akromar were to see the other person's face at this moment, he would be absolutely shocked, because it was a face he had seen before—this is the real reason why the 'Special Project' always concealed its identity in the transaction.

"There's still some time before the auction starts. While the detective is distracted by Team Plasma, what should we steal from Unova this time?"

The murmured words dissipated in the wind, and under the night sky, the greedy smile on the thief's lips shone as brightly as a new moon.

Interlude 5: May the producer finally wrap up filming.

N's fight with Touko took place before he challenged the Unova Four Heavenly Kings.

At this time, Touko had already taken over the role of champion's agent from Hugo, but everyone needs a break. So, taking advantage of Touko's weekend trip back to her film studio in Raven City, N went to visit her.

Strictly speaking, this timeframe falls under Douzi's "private time" and is not within the scope of her official duties as the champion's representative. Even if she loses, she may not be required to acknowledge that her opponent is qualified to challenge for the championship. However, it is precisely because of this that N was able to bypass the various surveillance measures at the league headquarters and engage in a serious one-on-one duel with this champion's representative.

Rather, it was after that battle with Touko in serious mode that N truly solidified his determination to challenge the league champion and the Four Heavenly Kings.

.

"Excuse me, is this the way to the Super Wish Studio?"

The staff member who was suddenly called to turn around in surprise and saw a green-haired young man wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap standing in front of him.

In Pokémon Hollywood, such attire is not uncommon—actors, directors, and even avid fans often appear on set dressed similarly.

But the tall, handsome young man in front of me felt strangely unfamiliar.

"Yes, Ms. Douzi and her team are inside." The staff member pointed to the photography studio behind him, the access card hanging on his chest swaying gently with the movement.

He couldn't help but ask, "May I ask who you are...?"

The green-haired youth lowered his head slightly, his tone gentle but vague: "It's just some private matter. Please tell me where Miss Douzi and the others are now."

Strangely enough, N, the king of Team Plasma who is dedicated to starting a Pokémon liberation revolution in the human world, is quite friendly when he is dealing with ordinary people.

While most humans unconsciously oppress Pokémon to varying degrees, like most Pokémon in their nature, most humans are also kind, simply blinded by "flawed social rules." This world has taken the practice of imprisoning Pokémon with throwing items for granted, and simply lecturing individuals to change this perception is meaningless; the only solution is to address the very foundations of how society operates.

A complex emotion flashed in N's eyes as his gaze swept over the Poké Balls dangling from the staff member's waist.

Now, he has gradually learned to remain silent about this phenomenon. After all, both his adoptive father, Ghidorah, and his best friend, Touko, are Pokémon trainers who use this item skillfully and consistently for different, even contradictory, reasons. Compared to them, he is an anomaly in this world.

In this world, the only person who could empathize with him was probably the detective who reluctantly adopted the elf.

"Miss Douzi is having a review meeting inside. Would you like me to go and inform her?"

The props team swiped their access cards to open the heavy warehouse door, glanced at the back of the studio, and then turned to ask the young man next to them.

However, when he turned around, the green-haired youth had vanished.

Just as he was wondering, the script review meeting in the studio ended. The people sitting around the table gradually got up and dispersed—besides Douzi, there were several screenwriters, directors of photography, and casting assistants.

Although Douzi has been busy serving as the champion's representative at the league headquarters recently, preventing him from personally handling many tasks at the studio, the challengers at the league haven't been visiting very often. Furthermore, his current short film projects are either already completed or still in the scriptwriting stage. Therefore, as producer and director, Douzi can remotely participate in film production discussions even from the champion's room, ensuring that studio affairs haven't fallen behind.

However, there are still some matters involving the production team that ultimately require the producer's personal presence to make decisions—which is precisely why we are holding this meeting today to review the draft.

"Uh, Miss Touko..." The props team member was about to report that there might be a stranger who had infiltrated the area when he saw the producer with the high ponytail raise her hand and give him a knowing look, gesturing for him to go.

It turned out that it really was someone the producer knew... After confirming that there was no one else around and that the gesture was just for his own benefit, the props team members were relieved and left the studio with the editors who had finished their meeting.

As the last staff member with equipment left, Douzi turned to the empty filming space behind him—

"Why have you become so secretive? This isn't like you."

Amidst the pile of movie props, N's figure appears in a distorted "phantom," while Zoroark seems somewhat wary of Touko and does not reveal himself.

“Recently, my father and the others seem to be plotting something and are very wary of my movements, so I try to avoid going to crowded places.”

The green-haired youth smiled helplessly, but his gaze was unconsciously drawn to the props piled up around him.

"What kind of movie are you planning to make this time? Judging from the props, it seems to be a futuristic film?"

"It's less of a movie and more of a short live-action film that's less than half an hour long."

Douzi walked to a UFO-shaped prop and pointed to the prop behind him with a rolled-up draft of the script.

"This year marks the 20th anniversary of the release of the first film, 'The Time Traveler,' and our studio has secured the opportunity to shoot a commemorative short film for the series. Speaking of which, this film might be a topic that interests you."

"The Time Traveler?"

N raised an eyebrow in confusion. His education from the Plasma Sages clearly hadn't included science fiction movies. Although, under Douzi's influence, he'd seen a few currently popular theatrical releases, he knew nothing about films from twenty years ago—

"What is it about... Ah, sorry, Touko, you must really hate spoilers, right?"

"That's generally true, but this movie is an exception."

Douzi pulled a piece of paper from the pile of discarded drafts. It was covered with a synopsis of the first part of "The Time Traveler".

"When the first 'Time Traveler' film was made, it was actually a very low-budget experimental project. Its science fiction theme, coupled with poor special effects, made it appear particularly clumsy even for that era. Furthermore, the creators' excessive focus on piling on science fiction elements resulted in an extremely slow plot progression—leading many to consider this first film a black mark on the entire series. Even when recommending the series to others, they mostly suggest starting with the well-made and smoothly plotted second film..."

Douzi is still the same as ever; once he starts talking about movies, he can't stop—

"Although I'm a big fan of the director and screenwriter of this film, can you imagine? A movie about time travel, yet it takes until the entire 90 minutes of the film to finally create the first time machine capable of transporting humans. And at that point, there's only one minute left before the end of the movie—if it weren't for the excellent performance of the sequel, this 'Time Traveler' would probably have been buried among countless other films... However, it is precisely this almost obsessive slow pace that gives the film a unique sense of realism. Every screw turning, every failed experiment, every tragic accident seems to be telling us that changing the world is never something that can be done overnight—of course, this subtle feeling is difficult for ordinary viewers to grasp."

"Isn't that a bit strange, according to you?"

N took the plot summary from Douzi. It roughly described the story of the protagonist and his research team overcoming numerous obstacles to build a time machine and their efforts to miniaturize it. The plot focused on the chaos caused by the gradually forming time machine in reality, culminating in the protagonist traveling to the future with the miniaturized time machine… Just a glance felt like being overwhelmed by the sheer number of technical terms—

"Generally speaking, only movies that sell well get sequels, right? Since this movie is as bad as you say, why is there any follow-up, and why are you even willing to make a commemorative short film for it?"

“Because of the last minute of this movie,” Touko said without hesitation, handing N another script with detailed storyboards.

"After the time machine is activated, the protagonist arrives in a world a thousand years in the future. When he opens his eyes, he sees Bug-type Pokémon that have replaced humans as the world's rulers."

The young girl, her eyes sparkling, recounted the final scene of this film from twenty years ago—

"In that future world, futuristic creatures resembling ladybugs live in cities with skyscrapers, while future humans are homeless in the wild, and may even be captured by the former and put into technological capsules to fight each other as weapons. The protagonist sees this scene and is deeply shocked while holding the time machine—the film ends abruptly at this point."

"So that's how it is. Is it a worldview completely opposite to the real world?"

N looked thoughtful as he watched the "Ladybugs" leading humanity through a futuristic city in the storyboard.

"That's it!" Douzi tapped the paper tube in his palm—

"Although the film performed poorly at the box office upon its initial release, its subversive ending attracted a segment of passionate fans who were curious about its worldview. Furthermore, many professional film critics admired the depth of thought presented at the end. With its continuously rising positive word-of-mouth, the film was handed over to a more capable new production team, resulting in five sequels that combine artistic merit and commercial appeal!"

She leaned back comfortably in the chair behind the conference table, spreading her hands out—

"So, what do you think of the idea for this movie?"

Forcing humans to think from Pokémon's perspective—this is undoubtedly the ultimate theme of the Time Traveler series.

Douzi was curious to know what N, as the spiritual leader of Team Plasma and the Pokémon Liberation Movement, would think of this story.

“It’s amazing…” N expressed her amazement without any attempt to hide it in front of her best friend. “This is a movie from twenty years ago. Did people back then also have the same confusion as us now?”

The green-haired youth shifted his gaze from the script in his hand to the sci-fi-style set in front of him—

"My ideas may not be anything new, but whether it is humans enslaving Pokémons or Pokémons ruling humans, such a relationship built on oppression is by no means the ideal I pursue."

N's fingers unconsciously traced the edge of the storyboard, pausing slightly at the scene where a human was being encased in a capsule.

"However, this movie did offer us a valuable perspective. Sometimes, only by putting ourselves in the other person's shoes can we truly understand each other's pain. What this world lacks might just be an opportunity to encourage humans and Pokémon to empathize with each other. It's just..."

“Douzi.” He suddenly stared at the director. “Have you ever thought about why people twenty years ago were already able to imagine such a future? Does this kind of thinking suggest that…deep down, people have always known what they are doing?”

“That’s undeniable,” Douzi nodded. “Considering the scriptwriting and filming time, the film’s creators must have come up with the idea much earlier, not to mention the issue of Pokémon rights. Such discussions have never disappeared since the Pokémon League was founded.”

“I know that too. Those articles were even part of my childhood studies…” The green-haired youth nodded in agreement. “However, seeing this type of literary work for the first time is quite different from reading academic papers and reports… or should I say, it’s more vivid?”

"Wow, that's the magic of movies."