Pokémon Detective Case Files.

"There is only one Pokémon, the 'Almost Doll'."

Chapter 087 The Light of Super Evolution

"In short, if this stone really is a Mega Evolution Stone, its price should be outrageously expensive." Hugo paused for a moment, doing some mental calculations, "Based on Rena's current hourly wage, it's roughly equivalent to four and a half years' worth of salary if you work without eating, drinking, or sleeping."

"So expensive!" The gardener looked flustered and quickly held the Super Stone in both hands, her mouth agape as if she could fit a pomelo inside.

The little doll, concerned, touched its trainer with the antennae on its ear, only breathing a sigh of relief after confirming the heart rate was still within a safe range. Come to think of it, the last time it saw its owner so excited was when it encountered Champion Cynthia in front of the Feathered Residence.

"Miss Rena, you said earlier that the doll would glow when it touches a stone. Is that true?" Azure, who was standing to the side, took on the role of guiding the question and asked carefully.

Rena scratched her short hair, looking troubled: "When the doll first touched the stone, it did glow, but after we tried it a few more times, it didn't react like it did at the beginning."

"This is troublesome," the detective sighed, crossing his arms. "If we can't confirm whether this is a Super Stone, we don't know what to do with it. It seems we'll have to ask an expert to identify it. I wonder if the owner of the Aloe Vera Pavilion in Qibao City has any expertise in this area..."

"Wait, I have a great idea!" Azure suddenly exclaimed excitedly.

Hugo looked at his assistant, puzzled: "Can you identify Mega Stones?"

“No need to identify it!” the assistant said, rummaging through her backpack. “Miss Rena, this almost-doll is your proud partner, right? You two must be very close, right?”

Rena was equally confused, but nodded nonetheless: "Almost was the first Pokémon I adopted. Although it often overreacts, it's very reliable. As for friendship, if even Almost doesn't like me, there probably isn't any Pokémon in the world that would be willing to be close to me."

Although the doll protested against the "overreaction," it clearly agreed with its owner and clung even closer to Rena.

The assistant was relieved.

"That makes things easier. As long as we can get this almost-perfect doll to successfully undergo a Mega Evolution, we can prove the authenticity of this item. Even if the bond isn't strong enough to evolve smoothly, it doesn't matter. As long as the unique evolution light of Mega Evolution appears during the process, it can still prove the authenticity of this Evolution Stone."

"Azure, you wouldn't happen to have one too..."

"Hmph!" The girl proudly took out a beautiful pendant from her bag, the gemstones inlaid in the pendant radiating a seven-colored light.

At the very center of the gemstone, there is also a spiral-shaped mark resembling a gene.

"What is this?" Rena, who was unfamiliar with the battle, was completely confused about the situation.

"This is the essential item for Mega Evolution—the Key Stone! The Key Stone resonates with the Mega Stone held by the Pokémon, causing the Pokémon to Mega Evolve!"

Azure, radiant and spirited, struck a cool pose, legs spread apart, holding the pendant horizontally in front of her with her thumb.

"Blastoise, Mega Evolve! — Just shout this loudly, and your partner Pokémon will flash with light and then dramatically transform into its new form!"

Rena and the doll looked at the cool-looking assistant girl, then stared at each other, wide-eyed as if trying to ask each other if they understood, like two unlucky students who hadn't done their homework but wanted to copy the answers from each other.

"Ahem." The detective coughed twice, trying to restore the strange atmosphere to normal.

"Although Azure's method is a bit hard to understand, Mega Evolution is essentially something inexplicable, so there's no simpler way to teach it... Anyway, we can try Azure's identification method first; it won't take much effort."

The assistant lent Rena her beloved keychain, and then eagerly awaited her and her partner, the doll, to perform their evolution.

"I didn't expect you to be so familiar with super evolution." The girl sat back down on the sofa and gestured towards the detective with her chin.

"Same to you," the detective chuckled. Who doesn't have a few stories from the past?

The gardener hung the keychain around her neck, mustering her energy to prepare to command her partner to evolve as Azure had instructed. However, at this moment, how to carry the Mega Stone onto Almostyto became another problem.

After discussing for a while, they finally adopted a simple and crude detective's solution: they used two wide strips of transparent tape to stick the Super Stone onto the doll's beige belly.

"Three, two, one! Begin evolution!" Azure commanded excitedly, seemingly having a lot of fun.

Hugo, standing beside her, was lost in thought, feeling that the events unfolding before him were too coincidental; the detective's radar for deception was already picking up.

If this Mega Stone is real, why was it abandoned by the roadside? To date, no Mega Stone ore has ever been discovered in the Unova region. Where did this stone, which suddenly appeared by the roadside, come from?

"Almost there, doll!" Rena, her face flushed, raised the keystone pendant high into the air and shouted in a desperate manner, "Super-evolution!"

"Indeed, for normal people, this kind of behavior is still too shameful," the detective commented, nodding.

The assistant glared at the detective and said, "Who isn't a normal person?!"

However, the two who had been exchanging glances were suddenly stunned, because an unusually dazzling white light began to emanate from the room.

"It...it actually started Mega Evolution! Hugo, that Mega Stone is real!"

Seven-colored rays of light rose from the Evolution Key Stone in Rena's hand and connected to Almost Doll.

With a burst of dazzling light, the doll's shape underwent visible changes.

First, its body grew larger, then its pink fur began to turn snow-white, and its body hair began to grow more, covering almost the entire doll like a nurse's uniform. Its blue eyes turned pomegranate red, and a clump of white, foamy, creamy down grew on its chest.

"Ta-bu!"

As the orb of light dissipated, the new form of the almost-doll gradually stabilized and greeted everyone with great energy.

"It actually succeeded on the first try..." Seeing the experiment succeed, Azure looked quite dejected. "Blister Turtle and I tried several times before we succeeded..."

The person most surprised at the scene was Rena herself, who was not good at Pokémon battles and had never heard of Mega Evolution before.

Faced with this scene, she couldn't help but run up to the Super Almost Doll, touching and hugging it repeatedly, asking, "Are you really Almost Doll? Do you remember me?"

The Super-Small Doll heard its owner's rapidly rising heart rate due to excitement, broke free from its trainer's embrace, and condensed a ball of pink "healing energy" in its hands, which it then launched at its owner.

The fluctuations transformed into points of light and merged into the trainer's body, allowing Rena to calm down slightly. However, she still couldn't help stroking her partner's now snow-white and smooth fur, muttering, "So cute and beautiful! The fur feels even softer now, I want to hold it forever..."

"Miss Rena, Mega Evolution has a time limit. If you don't want your Pokémon to consume too much energy, it's best to let the Pokémon return to its normal state first," Azure reminded her, recovering from her frustration.

"It's not a permanent change? Oh dear, I was just thinking of ordering a new set of furniture for the 'Almost Perfect' doll. By the way, how do I change it back?"

"Hmm... relax, and then shout 'Release' or something?" Azure gave vague instructions.

"Release! Release!! Release!!!" The gardener shouted three times with all her might, but her partner remained standing blankly in the reception room of Yuxi Residence, her posture unchanged.

"Isn't this completely useless?!" Rena shouted helplessly at Azure.

"There's no need for that."

Hugo walked over to the Almost Doll and ripped off the transparent tape stuck to its belly with a ripping sound. The Mega Stone that was originally held in place by the tape fell into the detective's hands.

The connection between the Mega Stone and the Pokémon was forcibly severed, and the Pokémon reverted to its original state.

"Pokémon that are skilled at using Mega Stones can firmly attach them to themselves through energy link, and can even resist attacks from the 'Knock Off' move. However, this Almost-Doll isn't a battle-focused Pokémon, and this is its first time undoing its Mega Evolution, so it hasn't mastered this technique yet."

Hugo casually explained as he tossed the Mega Stone in his hand, but this only drew a retort from Azure—

"Are you sure it wasn't some inexplicable unlucky constitution that forced the super evolution back?"

The detective was speechless for a moment.

Chapter 088 Turbulent Currents Under the Sidewalk

After the detective confirmed the information repeatedly, the berry breeder Rena made the final decision to return the genuine Mega Stone to its original owner.

"Doesn't she feel it's a pity?" On the way to a field mission, Bilan, dressed in autumn clothes for warmth, asked the detective with a puzzled look.

Still wearing his white coat, Hugo seemed to have picked up the mannerisms of the crowd. He spread his hands and shrugged exaggeratedly: "My old friend, it's much more reassuring to receive a reward directly from the owner when returning lost property than to ill-gotten gains from selling stolen goods."

"That's not what I meant." Azure, walking alongside the detective, shook her head in denial. "Didn't her almost-doll really like that super stone? She'd probably be very disappointed to return it like this, wouldn't she?"

"If the Pokémon were very capricious, this situation could indeed occur. However, that Pokémon is a reliable one. It is said that it used to work at a Pokémon hospital, where its medical skills and reputation are top-notch. So it certainly won't be troubled by this kind of thing."

"Pokémon Hospital? How did it become Rena's partner?"

"Huh? You didn't even notice?" Hugo looked at his assistant in surprise.

What should I be able to see?

"Those tentacles, almost as long as stethoscopes on the doll's ears. The fact that its tentacles are that long means that this doll is over fifty years old. This indicates that it became Reina's spirit after retiring from the hospital."

"But I remember Rena saying that Bebop was her starter Pokémon?" Azure was still puzzled.

"Perhaps our client is just too unreliable, to the point that the doll practically tamed her and ended up taking care of her?" Hugo casually guessed, "Judging from the relationship between those two partners, it's hard to say who tamed whom."

"In a way, their relationship is indeed a bit like that of a parent and a ward."

Azure nodded while secretly thinking: Hmm, this does confirm Hugo's definition of bonds from last night...

The two chatted aimlessly, and before they knew it, they had arrived at their destination.

"From this end of this street to that uphill, is that where Rena found the Super Stone that almost became a doll?" Azure glanced at the entire street and asked Hugo for confirmation.

The detective stood on a manhole cover and nodded firmly: "This is the place. Look, from this angle you can see the signpost for the large supermarket in the distance. Rena mentioned this feature in her story."

As Hugo spoke, he held up the evidence bag in his hand. Under the morning sunlight, the almost doll-like super stone emitted a beautiful pink hue.

In order to find the exact location where the Super Stone dropped more quickly, Azure and Hugo re-examined the information provided by Rena—

It was early Monday morning when Rena and her partner were walking down this familiar street, heading to tend to the fruit trees in the yard of the client who had hired her, when they discovered the Super Stone.

In Feiyun City, Rena has quite a few clients. Besides Hugo, she also has a client in the vicinity.

This family kept a picky eater, a pecan monkey. To enrich their beloved creature's diet, the family adopted a method similar to Hugo's, planting a pecan tree on their rooftop.

On that day, Rena chose to walk a long way past the building so as to take a look at how the fig tree was growing.

"I saw the arugula tree that Rena mentioned, it's on the rooftop of this building. Speaking of which, that family's arugula has some really strong tastes, I remember arugula is spicy." Bilan couldn't help but complain.

“Some Pokémon just like that,” the detective replied succinctly, without even looking up. It seemed he wasn't interested in Rena's clientele.

It makes perfect sense, really. Rena is an ordinary person who knows nothing about Super Stones. Finding a Super Stone was purely accidental, and the possibility of her client being involved in the case is almost zero.

Unlike the aimless wandering around and browsing the shops on the street, Hugo kept bending down to examine the things on the ground, as if he was trying to find another super stone.

Seeing Hugo's inexplicable behavior, Azure secretly felt a competitive urge and wanted to find the owner of the Mega Evolution Stone before the detective could.

The girl began to explain her reasoning to the Eevee perched on her shoulder—

"Unova doesn't produce Mega Stones, so the only ways to obtain them are by purchasing or receiving them as gifts. Anyone who can afford a Cointog Mega Stone must be incredibly wealthy. And anyone who receives a Mega Stone as a gift must be a highly talented Pokémon Trainer. Considering Cointog's weakness in battles, that Trainer is likely a medical professional..."

Although Eevee kept yawning as she listened, the detective's assistant's analysis was logical and methodical. She narrowed down the characters who lost the Mega Stone to two types of people: the wealthy and the promising medical personnel.

And the goal is to find people who have recently passed through this area...

Azure's gaze locked onto a 24-hour convenience store across the street. Coincidentally, the store had a security camera installed in front of it, which could see all the pedestrians passing through the area!

.

Ten minutes later, the detective and his assistant met again.

"Hugo, look what I got!" Azure proudly held up a portable hard drive shaped like a pack of chewing gum, showing it to the detective.

"Uh, I guess it's illegal evidence..."

Hugo watched speechlessly as a soda can rolled to Azure's feet, then turned into a puddle of purple clay and was sucked into the Poké Ball by its red light. Ditto is certainly incredibly convenient when it comes to espionage.

"It's the CCTV footage from the convenience store! We can see pedestrians who have passed by this area for the past week, and there must be someone among them who lost the Mega Evolution Stone!" Azure grinned smugly, her face practically screaming, "Praise me!"

Hugo scratched his cheek awkwardly: "Um... Azure, actually I just realized... the real location where the Mega Stone is lost might not be in this area."

"What? Why!"

Azumar, who had just felt that she had a cool and chivalrous style, was a little devastated. Had she worked for nothing?

"Logically speaking, such a sparkling jewel shouldn't be left on the street for long without being picked up. Although this area isn't a bustling part of Feiyun City, there are still quite a few pedestrians around. The fact that Rena was able to find this super stone on an almost deserted street in the early morning means that the super stone had just appeared there when Rena found it."

Hugo paused, then continued, "And between three and six in the morning, it's clearly not the time when humans normally go out for a walk, let alone someone would wander here during that time and then casually leave the Mega Evolution Stone by the roadside."

Azure looked at him incredulously: "But if it's like you say, how did this Mega Evolution Stone appear? Did it grow legs and start walking by itself?"

“Of course something is pushing it.” Hugo picked up his phone and pulled out a table. “This is the tide record table of the coast of Feiyun City. Please take a look at the most recent high tide.”

The girl looked closely and was shocked to find that the time was five o'clock this morning!

"You mean the tides pushed the Mega Stone here? That's even more impossible. First of all, this is the inland center of Feiyun City. Unless there's a flood, seawater could never enter the city. And look at the ground in this area, it's completely dry without a trace of water!"

“Azure, a large portion of the sewers in Feiyun City are seawater.” Hugo gestured with his chin, pointing his toes to the manhole covers on the ground. He then took a few more steps to the edge of the wide road, leading his assistant to bend down and peer inside.

"Besides manhole covers, there are countless hidden drainage channels along the roadside, concealed in the road surface faults. On the edge of the city, muddy and sandy torrents flow past pedestrians' feet. Sometimes, in autumn, fallen leaves accumulate, and driven by the tide, things that should have sunk into the abyss roll out from these intersections."

Facing the bleak autumn wind, the detective looked up again at the distant uphill slope—

"Especially in places with such a large difference in elevation."

Chapter 089 Sewers and Desserts

The sewer blueprints for Feiyun City are considered confidential documents, unlike tide tables which can be easily found online. Fortunately, Hugo had a copy saved on the office computer.

After a brief discussion, the detective and his assistant decided to split up. Azure was responsible for returning to the agency to retrieve the blueprints, while Hugo said he was going to find a mysterious expert and ask him to help find the owner of the Super Stone.

"Hugo's temper is truly unpredictable. He's deliberately keeping me in suspense about the helper he's hired, even mysteriously saying it's someone I've met before... Could it be that Touko's back from her trip? No, it seems she's been traveling around Liyong City in western Unova lately, she probably won't be back anytime soon. Besides, that person seems to be better at losing things than finding them..."

Azure, still full of complaints about Hugo, returned to the Feather Residence, crossed the courtyard, and opened the main gate of the residence.