Pokémon Detective Case Files.

“We can only be certain that this matter has nothing to do with N, or the founding dragon he controls.” Helena’s voice was calm, yet carried an undeniable certainty. “If N were in the castle, he would never allow this to happen. And he is still on his way here. The only way to avert this crisis is to get the Alliance to back down.”

Hugo understood.

The Plasma Group has acquired a certain weapon. In order to persuade the Plasma Group to give up its use, the Alliance must make concessions—this is the negotiation proposal brought by these two "goddesses".

He frowned, his mind racing as he reviewed the cards the Plasma Cluster held.

"The Victini captured by Team Plasma has escaped. Although Akroma obtained the sealed legendary spirit, it's impossible for it to revive and regain control in such a short time. The Land Cloud in Yoggs' possession is related to legend, but it doesn't possess the power to destroy the world... So where exactly does the danger you're talking about come from?"

He looked at the two of them.

"Since you don't know any of the details, how do you know that 'horrible thing' exists?"

“Because we heard it,” Holina whispered.

“This morning,” Barbena continued, her voice very soft, as if afraid of disturbing something, “we overheard what Father said to Jero before he left the castle.”

Holina raised her head and looked directly into Hugo's eyes.

He said—

Barbena, standing to the side, spoke slowly and deliberately.

"After midnight tomorrow, activate the castle's defenses to the maximum and prepare for the worst-case scenario where half of the United States will be razed to the ground."

The air seemed to freeze for half a second.

Tomorrow at midnight.

There are less than 30 hours left.

"Could it be some kind of rhetoric?" Hugo asked cautiously.

Although he was ruthless and insane, Ghetsis was ultimately an ambitious man in the conventional sense—he wanted a unified kingdom that submitted to him, not a scorched earth. Wasn't that guy still planning to put N on the throne? How did he suddenly become like Crimson Sun, wanting to destroy the world?

“The castle has already begun to deploy its defenses.” Helena shook her head, her tone grave. “Originally, after controlling the three Heavenly Kings who entered the castle, the Order should have launched a more proactive offensive against the outside world. But now, they are completely in a state of retreat.”

This is certainly enough to illustrate the seriousness of the situation.

Hugo silently calculated in his mind.

The Plasma Team was unusually silent that day—not just at headquarters, but also throughout the Plasma Team churches scattered throughout Unova. Logically, after Ghetsis hijacked the communications signal and delivered that inflammatory speech, those hidden forces should have been active, and the Alliance's recent "luring the snakes out of their holes" operation should not have achieved such a suppressive effect.

Even Hugo himself, who used himself as bait to loiter around the edge of headquarters, was doing so because of the Plasma Group's strangely conservative state.

“I think… this matter should also be outside of Quixote’s plans.”

After a long silence, the detective spoke.

He looked at Holina.

"When Quixote was discussing this with Geralt, he used the term 'worst-case scenario'—which means he himself didn't want that to happen. And in your Order, there aren't many people who are actually capable of defying that person's will."

According to the two sisters, N had nothing to do with the matter.

As for Acrom, although he possessed the "bomb" of sealed Pokémon he brought from the Giant's Cave, even the most mad scientist needs time and equipment to make a scene. Having just fled in the underground river, it was impossible for him to revive and regain control in such a short time, let alone create a disaster that would destroy half of Unova.

The only remaining candidates were the Seven Sages, who were as famous as the "Foolish Fools' Carnival".

Vio and Asura, the two sages who have already been captured, need not be considered. Of the remaining sages, Gerald guards the castle, Rhodes manages the finances, and Smura specializes in propaganda—none of them seem like the type to excel at destruction.

Adding Quixote himself to the list, after eliminating all these options, only one name remains—

Yorkes.

"Exiled pottery shards".

A sage who holds the power over the land and clouds.

That old man who, among the seven sages of the Plasma Group, chose to call himself a "historian".

He is one of the few neutral factions among the Seven Sages, and once attempted to use Victini and Land Cloud to kill the former champion's ace partner in order to make their King N the champion.

And now, what does he want to do?

When Quixote left the castle at this moment, was he trying to stop that insane act, or was he adding fuel to the fire?

Hugo hoped it was the former, but if Quixote really planned it that way, he wouldn't have warned the "City Defense Division" to deploy their defenses in advance.

Land clouds do not have the power to destroy the world—that's true.

But... what if its power is amplified, distorted, or even alienated by people in some way?

Chapter 480 Things That Are Clearly Black and White

"Ahhh—so that's what happened!"

In the same dead of night, Azure stood in front of the storeroom of the Feather Residence and screamed. Behind her stood Officer Jenny from Flying Cloud City, looking utterly helpless, and her partner, Miss Sera.

Two days and two nights had passed since Azure returned to Flying Cloud City until this midnight. During this time, she and the two police officers had been searching for the so-called "Flying Cloud City Nightmare" for Cresselia.

The terrible upheaval at the Alliance headquarters suddenly increased the pressure on their shoulders—this investigation, which was neither too big nor too small, but could not be shelved, had to be resolved in the shortest possible time.

Therefore, the three of them began to cooperate with Dr. Makomo's Dream Research Institute. During this period, they went through streets and alleys, and searched almost every corner in Feiyun City where there might be suspicious dream energy fluctuations.

Dr. Makomo hastily produced a batch of portable dream energy sensing devices using parts salvaged from the dream connection device.

The device looked rather unreliable—the wiring was exposed, the casing was a makeshift old storage box found in the research institute, and the indicator light flickered as if it might stop working at any moment. However, it was functional, albeit barely. Since there were already several connected devices in the research institute, Azure and the two officers could each have one.

The problem is that the sensor seems to be a little too sensitive.

Its detection range is too wide, and there are too many sources of interference. The underground cables in Feiyun City, the signal towers overhead, and even the start of a refrigerator compressor in a certain household can cause the pair of "L"-shaped pointers on it to jump wildly. In addition, Cresselia, as the goddess of dreams, will constantly disturb the operation of the sensing device—its very existence is the biggest source of interference.

Therefore, Cresselia could not follow Azure's actions and could only stay in the research institute, where she was treated as a precious experimental subject by Truffle and Dr. Makomo, who recorded her data with various cameras and detection devices while drooling over her.

This is a living "Goddess of Dreams"! Last time, Makomo heard that Sinnoh had discovered a crescent feather from a hundred years ago, and she was so envious. But now, she has a whole one in front of her!

As for Azure and the two police officers who were temporarily brought in as helpers, they were not so lucky.

Without divine guidance, they had no choice but to painstakingly search every corner of Feiyun City with their rudimentary tools.

From the public cemetery in Flynn City where Candlelight and Crying Masks float, to the church outpost where Team Plasma just left; from the underground bar rumored to be frequented by mysterious singing Pokémon, to the underground sewers inhabited by Grimer and Bumblebee; from the Flynn City Gym, which recently closed for renovations, to a rooftop garden hidden among skyscrapers...

Finally, even the kindergarten where Bilan had once found Mengmengshi became a suspect, to the point that she had to illegally break in again when the school closed at night.

However, the result was not ideal.

Just like the previous locations, we found absolutely nothing.

"It feels like these unusual locations in the dreams are constantly circling around Feiyun City..."

Upon hearing Miss Sera's casual remark on the other end of the phone, Azure suddenly remembered something.

A Psychic-type Gym Leader who recently visited the Unova region expressed almost the exact same sentiment.

Back then, the other person, much like myself now with the dream energy sensing device, was wandering aimlessly around the outskirts of Feiyun City with their pendant, circling around for an entire afternoon. And that person's final destination was...

"That's right!"

The second detective of Hugo Detective Agency was working at lightning speed, unfolding a map of Flying Cloud City in his mind, marking all the events of the day.

If you draw horizontal lines around the places a person usually frequents, the area that is ultimately enclosed is very likely that person's hideout—this is common knowledge in the detective industry and is particularly useful when searching for missing persons.

By analogy to the analysis of dream anomalies, since all the locations where anomalies occurred were at a certain distance from the center of Feiyun City, the real source of the anomalies might be—just like Miss Naz's case last time—right in the very center of Feiyun City.

However, for some reason that cannot yet be explained, the most fundamental abnormal fluctuation did not manifest in a form that could be recorded by the device.

Having received this crucial hint, Azure immediately abandoned the former traveling circus site she was investigating.

The so-called "dream energy" here was confirmed to be just an ordinary supernatural power riot after careful investigation—we should have thought of that incident when we saw the circus posters that hadn't been torn down on the nearby billboards.

Sigh, another wasted trip.

She sighed with a hint of regret, then dialed a number to notify Officer Jenny and Sierra, who were working separately, to meet up. After hanging up, she immediately took a taxi back to the city center.

The taxi drove through the neon lights of Feiyun City at night and stopped in front of the Yuxi Residence. This was the first time she had passed by the agency's headquarters since returning to Feiyun City—she had been so busy before that she hadn't even had time to go inside.

She glanced subconsciously at the sensor in her hand that looked like a simple treasure hunt device.

The pointer remained stationary.

This indicates that no anomalies related to dream energy have occurred near Yuxi Residence.

Azure was already quite familiar with the device's characteristics. Every time she approached the source of the anomaly, the probes on it would begin to sway; the greater the sway, the more pronounced the dream anomaly. However, this wasn't always the case. She speculated that the anomaly's remote sensing was being interfered with in some way, but as long as she got closer, she could see the clues.

At this moment, the probe's silence at least indicates one thing—this "clue" is not in her usual sleeping place.

Slightly relieved, she walked through the front gate of the Feathered Residence, about to put the simple device containing two "L"-shaped probes back into her pocket, and continued towards the nearby city center garden—

Suddenly, she stopped. Her steps faltered in mid-air.

Azure stared at the motionless probe on the sensor, her brows furrowing deeper and deeper.

Not to mention that a few months ago, Ms. Rena had her almost-doll achieve its first super evolution here—based on the investigation experience of the previous locations, that power related to "dreams" is most likely within the sensing range of dream energy.

After that, Miss Sabrina also visited the Feather Residence. Although it's unclear whether she threw a tantrum like the attackers at the circus, at least Azure herself witnessed Sabrina using her superpowers to play with Detective Hugo's business card in the reception room.

Controlling the cards might not require too many superpowers. But according to Dr. Makomo, dream energy is something mysterious and inexplicable—sometimes, just a little bit of energy accumulation can attract more dream factors from the surrounding area under the influence of the aura.

After all, no matter where you are, there are always creatures that need to sleep.

As for whether the Feathered Residence Detective Agency could become a place where dreams converge... Azure thinks it probably will. At least, it would be surprising if it didn't.

Perhaps the fact that "nothing has happened in the city center" cannot be solved simply by getting closer to the sensor.

Just then, two female police officers appeared under a streetlight at the other end of the street.

"...There might be a problem with Yuxi Residence? Of course, we should investigate it thoroughly."

After listening to the detective's explanation, Officer Jenny, using the light from the entrance of the Feather Residence, looked at the sensor in her hand—the same model as Azure's, with the same motionless pointer—and immediately showed an eager expression.

Although I've visited Yuxi Residence many times for work, and even sometimes come to play racing games with Little Flame Monkey during my vacations, this is the first time I've been able to openly search the address of that detective in the white coat.

It has a thrilling feeling, like visiting a classmate's room during your school days.

"The pointer not moving at all is indeed a bit suspicious."

Miss Sera, who was traveling with Officer Jenny, adjusted her glasses and spoke in a calm tone—

"Among the anomalous locations we investigated before, there was even a completely empty beach—and the pointer still reacted. This device basically deflects with the slightest fluctuation of supernatural energy. It's much rarer for the pointer to remain completely still in such a special setting, where people live and sleep."

"A simple search is fine."

Azure racked her brains to recall—by detective standards, her firm's ledgers were quite clean, and Hugo didn't have the habit of collecting trophies from cases. The only things in the Feathered Residence that were truly related to dangerous items were probably the few walking sticks he kept that concealed daggers and rapiers.

What really troubled her was something else entirely.

“The problem is, how do we find it?” Azure held up the completely motionless sensor in front of her, her brows furrowed. “In the end, since the pointer can’t point to a location, how can we be sure what the real source of the anomaly is? And don’t forget, the premise that the source is in the Feather Residence is just our speculation. It might all just be a coincidence.”

"There's no such thing as a coincidence in the world!"

Officer Jenny, who recently earned the rather amusing nickname "Pedestrian Crossing," played the part of a professional detective and arbitrarily dismissed the amateur detective's reasoning.

She complained somewhat indignantly, "On my side, I got a really lame nickname just because my partner is a black and white striped Zephyr and I once intercepted a fleeing Team Aqua on the streets of Castelia City! Fate is such an unreasonable thing. Doesn't Hugo have the ability to make the Pokémon around him unlucky? Maybe that's the reason."

Azure fell silent for a moment.

That cannot be refuted.

I always feel that... my detective boss's unscrupulous abilities always pop up unexpectedly just when you're about to completely forget about them.

"As for where the source is..." Officer Jenny pondered for a few seconds, then said decisively, "Since the sensing devices are useless, let's skip this part. Sera, if we've found the source of the dream anomalies, what should we do next?"

"Hmm... it should be contacting Dr. Makomo and that Cresselia, right?" The deputy detective scratched his long black hair and gave a reasonable answer.

"Yes!" Officer Jenny, standing in front of the office, snapped her fingers excitedly. "That's it! Call it now!"

……

And so, about fifteen minutes later, the scene described at the beginning appeared in Yuxi Residence.

Chapter 481 Commodity Exchange is a Perilous Leap

Even in situations where humility is required, Azure can confidently assure herself that she is by no means a rash or careless person.

Whether it was when she was young and competing with her peers in Pallet Town, or when she chose to become a trainer and travel around, or even after becoming a detective in the Unova region, she has always stood out among the people she knows when it comes to her thorough approach to things, her ability to see the big picture, and her considerate attitude towards all parties.

In fact, the reason she was able to confidently choose to become a detective's assistant was precisely because of her confidence in her abilities in this area.

Of course, she inevitably made her share of mistakes during her detective work. But the agency had a good director—Hugo was never the type to silently watch others embarrass themselves or hesitate to offer advice. Therefore, Azure believed that she hadn't made any particularly serious errors in her life so far.

However, this record seems to be coming to an end today.

Azure looked at the four motionless purple steel plates in front of her in despair.