Pokémon Detective Case Files.

Then, facing Hugo for the first time, the administrator revealed information that even the police would not dare to divulge—

"No, he came from another agency. That trainer was as stubborn as a rock, preferring to leave the house vacant for six months while he was away on a trip rather than rent it out again. Now it seems that wasting money really does have its consequences."

"He went on a six-month trip?" Hugo asked, somewhat surprised.

"Yes." The administrator nodded listlessly, as if he was about to fall asleep at any moment. "It was in the first half of this year, just two months after he came back, when he encountered an accident."

"I see." Hugo stroked his chin thoughtfully.

The old man patted Hayok's restless head and urged him impatiently, "Now that you know what's going on, hurry up and leave, or my old partner is about to bite you."

“No,” Hugo refused decisively. “I want to know about the other residents.”

The elderly caretaker's brow furrowed almost like a walnut; after struggling internally for a long time, he finally said—

"Five thousand, give me five thousand and I'll let you investigate."

The detective's face showed obvious disdain, but the old man didn't care at all, as if it were a matter of course, and stretched out his withered palm with ten fingers toward the detective.

"Ugh."

Hugo sighed, reached for his wallet, and grumbled casually, "We were having a pleasant chat, thinking we wouldn't have to go to the tax office to investigate someone's tax situation..."

Hugo had already opened his wallet, but he pulled his hand back from in front of him.

"What's wrong? Do you want to back out?" the detective asked, feigning ignorance.

The old man, too lazy to talk, fumbled for a key on the table and tossed it to the detective.

Hugo didn't stand on ceremony. He stepped forward, used the key to open the drawer of the table, and skillfully pushed aside the clutter on the surface. Sure enough, at the very back of the drawer was a tattered ledger.

Opening the ledger, he saw dense cursive handwriting, which even Hugo found daunting. Although he could barely decipher the contents, the thought of reading through all those ugly symbols made the detective feel nauseous.

“Well then, how about I ask you directly, is the resident downstairs from Mr. Greta your client?” Hugo turned back to the building manager and asked earnestly.

"That family," the old man said with a wistful look, "was indeed my client, but the people living there now are not the same people as before."

"How to say?"

"It was probably in the last few months. That guy started acting as a middleman, subletting the house to a bunch of guys whose backgrounds I don't know. He made a profit by taking the difference in rent, earning a net profit of three hundred yuan every month."

The old keeper's face showed a sour grapes expression, while the old dog beside him looked on with a disdainful sneer.

"So you're the sub-landlord." The detective nodded, then continued to press, "How many new people are there? How are they behaving?"

"Nobody liked those six guys. They lived together, had no stable jobs, idled away their days, and made noise day and night."

The old man spoke ill of the tenants, his expression impatient, as if the six noisy fellows were right in front of him.

“The surrounding residents complained countless times and came to protest countless times, but it was to no avail. One day, they even almost started a Pokémon battle in the hallway. However, they had more people and more Pokémon, so the residents downstairs gave in. Later, they couldn’t stand it anymore and simply terminated their lease and left. That room is still empty.”

After hearing the information provided by the apartment manager, Hugo didn't bother to look at the ledgers anymore. He looked directly into the thin old man's eyes and asked seriously, "After the incident, did those six new residents go out?"

"No, right? They rarely go out, and they've been staying indoors for the past few days..."

Suddenly, Hayok, who was standing nearby, started barking wildly.

The detective looked up and saw through the glass six furtive figures trying to slip out of the door, avoiding the officer's gaze.

The detective glanced at the old man in front of him and said, "Mr. Apartment Manager, now is your chance to fulfill your duty."

Chapter 065 Martial Arts Detective in the Melee

As long as you're in the Pokémon world, you can't escape Pokémon battles—Hugo had long understood this old saying, whose origins are unknown.

Today, he is no longer annoyed by unexpected and sudden battles.

"I was so stupid, so incredibly stupid. I shouldn't have let my guard down just because I was investigating a case in the city center and had police protection..."

While reminiscing about the metal cane in the shoe cabinet by the entrance of the Feathered Residence, Hugo rummaged through the guard room, searching for a suitable weapon. He paid no heed to the astonished look of the old man beside him, who seemed to have seen a ghost.

Meanwhile, the detective also turned on his phone, dialed Officer Jenny's number, and put it on the table with the speakerphone on.

"Hugo, listen to me, your Pokémon did a great job this time! Corsola was about to jump out the window to escape, but your Chimchar and the others stepped forward and subdued the enemy first!"

Officer Jenny's somewhat excited voice reached the detective's ears, but Hugo found it noisy. He patiently waited until Officer Jenny's incessant praise subsided before speaking in a calm tone—

"Officer Jenny, listen to me. There are six young men suspected of being the perpetrators right in front of the main entrance on the first floor. Our forces can't hold them off for long. Have you and Azure gotten on the elevator yet?"

Silence fell on the other end of the phone, followed by a bright blue voice: "Hugo, all the elevators in the building are on the ground floor, and for some reason they're taking a very long time to come up..."

The detective glanced in the direction the group of six had come from and immediately understood what was going on: "This is a trick those prisoners are using to buy time. They've pressed every floor button in the elevator. Azure, don't take the elevator now, run down the emergency exit quickly, I'll see if I can stall them for a while."

"it is good."

The assistant's answer was concise and clear, and then she added, "We will try to contact Officer Jenny's superiors to send someone to assist us when we go downstairs."

"Hugo, are you crazy? You don't have a single Pokémon on you, and there are six people on the other side! Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Officer Jenny was far less composed than the detective duo, and her huge roar seemed to shatter eardrums.

However, the detective ignored it, reached out his arm, tapped the screen with his fingertip, and hung up the phone.

The apartment manager, who overheard the entire conversation, stared wide-eyed, his eyeballs almost popping out of their deep sockets. His old face was long and drawn, as if he had never been so surprised in his life.

The old man's voice was severely distorted, all traces of his previous cunning and composure gone. He shouted at Hugo, "You mean those people are... are murderers?! They killed Greta? Those six young men?"

"They didn't kill anyone themselves, but they are definitely dangerous individuals."

As Hugo was speaking absentmindedly, his eyes suddenly lit up. A blunt, entirely red weapon stood quietly in a corner of the duty room, emitting a faint, matte sheen.

"What a handy attack tool!"

Hugo immediately picked up the dry powder fire extinguisher from the corner and placed it on the table in front of the old man with a dull thud.

"The size and weight are just right, and the pressure gauge is showing normal readings. You're quite competent as the apartment manager; at least your fire safety awareness is excellent." The detective even nodded approvingly at the manager.

"Kid, are you really planning to go head-to-head with those guys outside? The person on your phone seems to have said you didn't bring any Pokémon, right?" the apartment manager asked the detective nervously.

Hugo fiddled with the heavy fire extinguisher, feeling the weight of the blunt weapon in his hand, while nodding to the gaunt old man—

“We have no choice but to do this. Once that group rushes out of the building, they will immediately split up and run away. It will be very difficult to catch them all then. Look, the young man who is in charge has already started arguing with the police officer who doesn't know what's going on. A fight is about to break out. Sir, could you go to the back door and call the other officer over there?”

Seeing that he had been assigned an easy task, the administrator nodded hurriedly, got up and ran towards the side door away from the center of the storm, waving to Hayok to follow him.

However, the old dog did not move. It stared intently at the six suspicious young men, its fur standing on end, its eyes fierce, and the wrinkles on its mouth all folded together, looking as if it might pounce and bite at any moment.

"Sigh, stay if you want!" Seeing that the Pokémon wouldn't listen to his commands, the old man stomped his withered old leg on the ground in exasperation. He then stopped trying to persuade his partner and ran off to call for help as ordered by the detective—not forgetting to press the button to completely lock the apartment building's door with the electronic lock on the duty room side.

Hugo glanced at Hayok beside him, and, with a "nothing to lose" attitude, explained the current situation to the old dog—

"That short policeman is trying to stall the criminals, but this won't last long. Police authority means nothing to desperate criminals. Those young men are desperate to escape right now, and once they realize their situation, they'll immediately become aggressive. At that point, you'd better jump out and cover the policeman, buying him time to release his Pokémon..."

Just as the detective was talking to a dog, the young man who was the leader of the group suddenly shoved the police officer who was trying to persuade the resident not to go out, knocking the unfortunate short policeman to the ground near the duty room.

Then, whether in response to the detective's plan or simply out of instinct, the elderly Hayok leaped out of the duty room at just the right moment, his piercing, fierce gaze fixed on the group of six. His "Stare" skill was activated, and the criminals seemed to become even more flustered.

"Ignore these guys, smash open the building doors, and then we'll split up and escape."

The leader spoke in a slightly sinister voice, directing the five people behind him, while simultaneously slamming the Poké Ball in his hand onto the ground.

"Meow." A cute little purple kitten appeared in everyone's sight.

"Ambush the vitals!" The leader commanded the pickpocket cat to attack Hayok. The old dog, who was left unattended, was unable to dodge in time and was scratched solidly by the other party. Fortunately, it was not hit in a vital spot.

Meanwhile, the leader's companions behind him sent out all sorts of random Pokémon: Rockruff, Dove, Sneasel, Tadpole, and Dwello Crab—all common Pokémon found along the roadsides in the Unova region.

These little creatures worked together to unleash their skills on the apartment building, but whether they were too weak or the door was too sturdy, they couldn't break through it for a while.

Taking advantage of the chaos, Hugo left the duty room. Besides the fire extinguisher, he also stole the old fan that the caretaker had used for many years…

"Pickpocket Cat, use 'Frenzied Scratching' now!"

Hiding behind a sofa outside, the detective in the white coat, lying prone on the floor, pressed his throat and mimicked the leader's tone to give commands to the pickpocket cat. The imitation was remarkably lifelike.

The young leader, enraged, shouted, "Pickpocket Cat, that order wasn't mine..."

Hugo: "Use 'sha' instead."

The detective deliberately interrupted the trainer while he was speaking, leaving the already confused pickpocket cat completely bewildered and unsure how to react.

The purple kitten had just withdrawn the preparatory action of "frantically scratching" that it had subconsciously performed, but its hind legs were unconsciously raised and lowered again, unsure whether it should use "sand swiping". The light symbolizing the activation of the skill appeared and disappeared, gradually becoming unstable.

As the detective predicted, the kitten eventually lost its balance in a bizarre posture and fell to the ground in a comical manner.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, the detective leaped onto the sofa and tossed the dusty iron fan into the air, accurately hitting the ragtag group of Pokémon lined up and unleashing their moves, disrupting their formation.

For a moment, the disoriented Pokémon lost their aim and their skills went awry, causing them to fall over and some even got injured by their companions' skills.

Having succeeded in his attack, the detective did not retreat but advanced, choosing the nearest lucky trainer and using his other hand to raise a fire extinguisher, decisively knocking out the young man who was trying to resist.

"Who the heck is that person in the white coat?!"

Faced with the suddenly out-of-control situation and the still chaotic pickpockets under his command, the leader was so angry that he almost ground his teeth to powder.

However, the detective wasn't the only one bringing bad news.

Just as Hugo was displaying his prowess, the short police officer finally got back on his feet under Hayok's cover and decisively sent out his Pokémon—a Grass-type Prairie that looked quite powerful.

Victory seemed to be tilting in the detective's favor, but this situation crumbled instantly with the leader's next command—

"Everyone, release all the Pokémon!"

In an instant, countless roadside monsters nearly flooded the first floor of the luxury apartment building.

Chapter 066 Frost Mage Hugo

In the recent Yew Research Institute incident, Hugo witnessed enough starter Pokémon to fill an entire hall; during the operation at the Shippo Museum, when the police surrounded Elite Four member, the museum's exhibits were also packed with Pokémon.

Logically speaking, Hugo shouldn't have felt much pressure facing this swarm of ragtag troops.

That's right, Picoxi!

In the research institute incident, the young Snivy, Tepig, and Otter showed no hostility whatsoever, and the detective didn't have to face any risks. In the later museum incident, Hugo even sided with the police, who outnumbered him, and even reached some kind of unspoken understanding with the opposing side...

Unlike the events mentioned above, the current situation was a dead end for Hugo.

Even the smallest fruit-eating insects, when gathered together, can kill a giant bronze elephant. In the enclosed space of an apartment building's ground floor, these ubiquitous roadside sprites have reached a terrifying number. Just watching them swarm in is enough to cause immense psychological stress.

Their objective was not to completely defeat any powerful opponent, but merely to destroy a dilapidated iron gate.

"The Pokémon League should really advise people to carry fewer Pokémon. I think four or fewer would be more appropriate." Hugo, who owned three Pokémon, shook his head and sighed.

Although a trainer had already been taken down with a fire extinguisher, reducing the opponent's combat power by one-sixth, the ground floor of the apartment building was still filled with more than thirty rival Pokémon and five trainers eyeing the building covetously.

Officer Jenny, Blue, and Sera are still trapped in the stairwell. At 20 seconds per floor, it would take them at least ten minutes to run down, so they're no longer a reliable option.

The detective's only resources were a dry powder fire extinguisher, an old dog, and a pair of police partners.

The apartment manager might return shortly with another tall police officer, but even if they arrived immediately, they wouldn't be able to stop the menacing suspects from breaking down the door.

Every line of reasoning clearly tells the detective that the current situation is beyond saving, and it's time to quickly plan the next step and then launch a city-wide manhunt for the fugitive.

.

Perhaps due to the circumstances, or perhaps out of some inexplicable state of mind, Hugo did not give up.

In the chaos, the detective in the white coat raised a fire extinguisher to shield himself. A purple water bomb exploded on the outside of the fire extinguisher, releasing wisps of hot steam. It was an "acid bomb" from a tattered bag in the distance.

At the same time, as if he had foreseen the future, Hugo raised a foot to dodge the "silk-spitting" of the bug-baby bag that came from nowhere, and then stomped down with his raised foot to suppress another Explorer Mouse that was "ramming".

The busy detective yelled at the shorter officer some distance away, "Come over here and guard the gate! Don't let these trainers escape! Officer, does your Apex know any group moves?"

The detective was met with a helpless voice from the short police officer: "Absolutely not. This place is full of elves; we can't get through!"

He was directing his yuuki to defeat the Pokémon in front of him one by one. Although he was not at a disadvantage in one-on-one battles, he was still controlled in place by the opponent's endless swarm tactics.

To make matters worse, the leader on the other side quickly noticed the slightly unfavorable situation on the police officer's side and personally sent out his Pokémon to constantly interfere with the Coconut Monkey's actions from a distance, instantly turning the situation in front of the police officer into a disadvantageous one.

The door lock was about to give way, and the steel door panel was also starting to shake noticeably.

The situation is not good.

Hugo gritted his teeth and decided to use his last trump card—

While dodging the attacks, he ran to the doorway with the fire extinguisher on his back. With a smooth motion, he pulled out the safety pin of the fire extinguisher, grabbed the nozzle with one hand, and pressed the lever above the handle with the other, spraying dry powder at the Pokémon that was still attacking the door.

"To all you nobodies about to become fugitives, take a look at this move!"

With a hissing roar, Hugo instantly transformed into an ice mage. The snow-white spray drew a two-meter-long arc, striking the Pokémon that were using their moves. The dry powder that landed kicked up clouds of dust, and the immense air pressure even knocked several small Pokémon to the ground.

Although it wasn't a Pokémon move, the fire extinguisher unexpectedly worked. Amidst the swirling mist, the Pokémon formation that had just gathered after the fan attack was completely scattered again, and even the "sparks" spewed out by a Flameblown Tumbler were extinguished on the spot.

However, this time, the Pokémon trainers had already experienced chaos once, and they didn't give Hugo another chance to close the distance and launch an attack. Instead, they had reserved reserve forces beforehand. Seeing the detective's actions, these people calmly directed the Pokémon around them that weren't engaged in battle, and once again organized a group of them to join the fight.

The fire extinguisher's effective spray time was less than half a minute. Sensing the spray weakening, the detective decisively threw the extinguisher, knocking out a small York that was rushing towards him at lightning speed using "Lightning Flash." Then, he turned around neatly, ready to escape.