Pokémon Detective Case Files.

White exhibition lights shone through the gaps in the paintings, bathing the artist, detective, and police under the brilliant starlight. Despite the dazzling white light, they could not look away for a long time.

“Like a miracle,” Sera murmured.

"This is a work I've been conceiving for half my life. If there really is a god who governs art, I would really like to have it come here and give its evaluation."

Mr. Yati was not modest either; his gaze seemed to pierce through the zenith, looking towards the distant universe.

I wonder if I'll be able to create something even more amazing in the rest of my life?

Finally, it was Detective Hugo's words that brought everyone back to reality—

"The idea for this Zenith Pavilion is great, but aren't you worried that the aftershocks of gym battles might damage the exhibit?"

"It's alright," Yati shrugged, looking unconcerned.

"There is a gap between the battleground and the exhibition area, so they generally won't affect each other. Also, I'll leave a weaker team to guard the gym, so the battle should be almost over before the challengers get serious and start breaking down the walls."

Hugo looked at the dojo leader, who was not doing his job properly, with pity: "Then you'll have to prepare a few dozen more of the dojo's specialty beetle badges in the future."

It is foreseeable that from now on, the claim that "Bug type is the weakest Pokémon type" will become even more true.

“I also have an artistic suggestion.” The detective pointed to the orange-yellow walls around them. “It would be best to change the form of the maze. It just doesn’t feel quite right with the color scheme of the exhibition hall above.”

"Wow!" Gym Leader Arti's eyes lit up. "As expected of a detective who saw through the truth of the matter, you certainly have an eye for talent! I was just planning to renovate the Flying Cloud Gym and build an elevator-shaped teleportation maze based on the cocoon-like structure of the workshop in the battle arena. The complexity of this maze is astounding..."

"Wait a moment!"

Officer Sera jumped between the two men who were enjoying a conversation over drinks, interrupting their impending art discussion.

"Hugo, tell me in detail what you've discovered about the incident! What exactly is Mr. Artie's purpose in sabotaging his own debut work?"

The detective and the artist exchanged a glance; the latter shook his head. Hugo, therefore, had to step aside and explain the artist's "criminal motive" on his behalf.

“Unlike yarn or synthetic fibers, the threads spit out by Bug-type Pokémon are so fine that they are almost invisible to the naked eye. At this scale, transparency and color are almost indistinguishable. Especially when Mr. Artie was drawing me, the audience’s attention was almost entirely focused on the gradually taking shape of the picture, and even those with keen observation would not notice the colored threads that were being drawn into the sky.”

—That's how the detective began his story.

“I know that the curator of the Yati Pavilion used insect silk to create the mechanism, but even if the transparent insect silk has now turned into colored silk, it doesn’t change the fundamental nature of the case.” The policewoman spread her hands in confusion.

“No, the nature of the case has fundamentally changed,” Hugo said, shaking his head. “Those colored threads are what Artie truly wanted to achieve. The curator’s real crime wasn’t vandalism, but theft!”

Steal? Steal a painting that rightfully belongs to you?

Sera scanned the detective and the artist back and forth, noticing not a hint of joking, and then confirmed that she hadn't been tricked.

“Remember the ‘regeneration’ I mentioned before? Mr. Yatti is planning to rebuild the dojo, integrating his past artworks into a huge ceiling painting. And how could this work be complete without his debut piece, the one that holds such great significance for Mr. Yatti?”

“Recycling…colored thread…the significance…could it be?” The policewoman adjusted her glasses, as if she had guessed the truth.

"Could it be that some of those threads actually came from old threads in the painting 'The Four Virtues'?"

“Exactly.” The detective snapped his fingers at just the right moment—

"The truth of the case is that Mr. Artie was responsible for diverting the audience's attention, while the nanny worm, who acted as his attendant and provided the silk threads, was the most important executor of the operation. One end of the silk thread was connected to the end of the 'Four Virtues,' and the other end was pulled by the nanny worm. If the plan went smoothly, by the time Mr. Artie finished his sketching and returned home, the four exquisite paintings would have been unknowingly placed into the nanny worm's leaf where the silk threads were stored."

“Yes.” Mr. Yati, the party involved in the case, nodded in agreement.

"The initial plan was this: to let the artwork return to the silk threads, and then transform it into a better piece with the same theme. That's the performance art I'm preparing. Just like how insect Pokémon evolves from a cocoon into a butterfly, the original organs completely disappear and dissolve in the cocoon, and then become a newer, more beautiful, and more imaginative work—that's my regenerative art!"

"But if that's the case, then there are even more things that don't make sense."

Even though the parties involved had agreed, Sera still didn't blindly follow the detective's reasoning; she continued to focus on the logical contradictions in the case.

"Since the nanny worm is manipulating the threads, what was Mr. Artie doing gesturing with his brush while painting? Also, why did 'The Four Virtues' end up like that? If the theft were carried out according to this plan, the scene should have been empty."

“Alas.” Mr. Atti let out a long sigh, pressing his index finger to his temple in regret.

“We had rehearsed countless times, but this time an accident still happened. It was probably because the threads from ten years ago had aged, and the threads controlled by the babysitter broke in mid-air. I tried to wave my paintbrush to catch the threads in mid-air, but I missed completely... That's why we only managed to dismantle the painting, but we couldn't retrieve it, which resulted in that terrible situation…”

Sera was dumbfounded. She had guessed that there might be countless conspiracies and tricks behind this sabotage, but she never thought that the reason would be such a ridiculous accident!

The mess in the art museum was not the result of a supervillain's malicious desecration, but rather an artist's failed attempt.

"No. Even so, why didn't Mr. Atti simply retrieve the painting from the museum, instead of resorting to this method?"

The policewoman remembered another important point of doubt and asked Hugo and Ady.

"Didn't I already tell you the reason?" This time, the detective lazily revealed the answer, "It's because this gym is going to be renovated."

"What do you mean? What does this have to do with Feiyun Dojo?"

Hugo raised an arm, his index finger pointing directly at the magnificent art ceiling, and asked Sera, "Miss Sera, do you think that after such an unparalleled art museum appears in Flying Cloud City, anyone will still go out of their way to visit that art museum that has lost its crown jewel?"

Perhaps some people will still go, but running the business will definitely become more difficult.

Having witnessed the vastness of the ocean, why would viewers linger over the trickling stream?

Sera thought about it, but still didn't understand Aya's actions: "Does stealing the paintings really get tourists to visit the art museum?"

"Whether it's a museum or a work of art, part of the value of these tangible objects lies in the stories behind them. Imagine if the plan succeeds, what headlines you'll see tomorrow—Mr. Art's masterpiece has vanished silently from the museum, while countless observers watched from inside and outside the doors, and even the artist himself was sketching on the opposite street, yet no one witnessed the master thief's presence—what exciting story could compare to such sensational news?"

The only things left that are unlikely to happen in the short term are the Unova Champion stepping down, the Pokémon League collapsing, and evil organizations ruling the world.

Hugo said with a relaxed expression, "In this way, the museum that lost the work and the dojo that was reborn can be connected through this case—after Mr. Artie's new dojo opens, when people see the magnificent ceiling inside, they will definitely be more curious about Artie's missing debut work, and then they will have the idea of ​​visiting the Feiyun City Museum of Art. Some of the Feiyun Dojo's popularity can be shared with the museum."

"This is Mr. Yati's way of repaying the museum for exhibiting his work day after day for ten years—it's quite humane, isn't it, Mr. Yati, the greatest insect artist?" The detective looked at Yati with a teasing expression.

The latter sighed regretfully, "It's a pity that we didn't succeed in the end, and it even brought a bad influence to the art museum. Sigh, we succeeded when we tested with the babysitter bug using older and more worn-out silk threads, but I don't know why we failed today."

Detective Hugo secretly turned his face away, avoiding direct eye contact with the artist, and pretended not to have heard anything.

Chapter 114 The End and Rebirth of the Feiyun City Art Museum

Good things do happen occasionally in this world; not all cases have a tragic ending.

In fact, just two hours after Hugo revealed the whole truth of the case, the crisis caused by the destruction of the famous painting was resolved.

The specific situation is as follows—

With the joint advice of the detective and the policewoman, Mr. Attire finally decided to deal with the mess in the simplest way: to openly admit his mistake and try his best to make amends.

So, after leaving the Feiyun Dojo, the group headed straight for the art museum. Yati took the initiative to approach the director of the Feiyun City Art Museum, sincerely apologized to the middle-aged man, and confessed his actions over the past two days, as well as the grim fact that the Feiyun Dojo was about to be converted into an art gallery, attracting away the museum's audience.

"I am deeply sorry for the loss caused to the museum. I will bear all the expenses incurred as a result of this incident. If your museum still agrees to exhibit my paintings after this incident, I am willing to create four, no, ten new paintings for the museum! Although this cannot change the fact that the museum's limelight has been stolen by the renovated dojo, I think this should make up for some of it."

Following Officer Sera's prior instructions, the great artist memorized his lines perfectly and fluently, even increasing the amount of compensation he received, and bowed deeply at a ninety-degree angle, apologizing with utmost respect and sincerity.

That set of movements is so perfect...

Recalling how Sera taught Adi, Hugo couldn't help but glance at the expressionless policewoman beside him. What had she gone through to come up with such profound life experience?

"Police officers aren't just thugs who only know how to battle Pokémon. Police academy has a course that teaches us how to handle civil disputes. Please don't underestimate our professional abilities."

The policewoman noticed the detective's gaze, adjusted her glasses, and said, "Usually, if this procedure is followed, both parties can settle the case privately and close it off—at least it won't escalate the conflict."

Things unfolded exactly as Sera had predicted.

“Uh… Mr. Ati, although I still don’t understand your intention, since the destroyed painting was originally yours, there’s no question of loss… and there’s no need to mention compensation anymore. Art museums are not institutions that exist on the charity of artists.”

Surprisingly, the unremarkable middle-aged curator was easy to talk to and accepted Aya's apology without a word. However, his voice carried obvious confusion, suggesting he was still unclear about the full picture of the case.

Just when Sera and the detective thought the case was about to end, the curator continued speaking—

“Mr. Artie, to be honest, even if your dojo hadn’t been renovated, this art museum would have been on the verge of closing down.”

"What?" This was unexpected information. The artist gasped dramatically, genuinely shocked. "What's going on?"

The middle-aged man sighed and poured out his grievances to the artist—

“Take this morning for example. The museum only had one visitor all morning. The ticket revenue is not enough to cover the operating costs. The art subsidy from the Pokémon League hasn’t been increased in a long time, even though prices have been rising... How can a museum like this keep going? Your ‘Four Virtues’ is indeed a masterpiece, but it’s a work from ten years ago. The number of visitors attracted by just these four works is limited. In fact, I’ve had the idea of ​​renovating the Feiyun City Art Museum for a long time.”

"Remodel? You want to make the roof movable too?" Hugo raised one eyebrow, unable to resist making a joke, and looked at the museum director with interest.

"No, no, no, I plan to change the way I run the business and transform the Feiyun City Art Museum into an art gallery."

"Is there a difference?" Officer Sera asked curiously. "Art museums and galleries sound pretty much the same, aren't they? They're both places that exhibit artworks?"

“It’s different.” The detective wagged his finger, delighted to have a chance to show off his knowledge.

However, this joy was quickly interrupted when the museum director, who was more familiar with the difference between the two, offered an explanation—

"The art museum is a non-profit organization open to the public. It combines social functions such as collection, research, exhibition, education, and promotion. It can obtain some funding from the Elf League for the purchase and acquisition of artworks, but the main operating expenses come from the ticket sales of visitors."

"Galleries, on the other hand, target the art market. Galleries can acquire artworks directly from artists, discover emerging artists through representation and collaborations, and then introduce them directly to collectors and buyers through exhibitions, thereby generating sales. Of course, galleries also regularly exhibit some artworks to the public to increase the visibility of the works, artists, and galleries themselves."

"After transforming the Feiyun City Art Museum into a gallery, although the alliance will no longer provide subsidies, this will allow us to participate in the intermediary transactions of artworks. The profits from art transactions are far greater than those from ticket sales and subsidies, so we will no longer have to worry about operating costs."

The explanation was complete… The detective watched regretfully as the middle-aged man rattled off a string of artistic terms, then retaliated by raising an objection—

"Director, if the renovation proceeds according to your plan, how will the ownership of the artworks in the museum be determined? Which ones are on loan from artists, which ones were acquired with subsidies from the alliance, and which ones were collected by the museum based on theoretical knowledge? It's not easy to distinguish these. You're not planning to make them all the property of the museum, are you?"

"How could that be? All of our collections have a clear provenance, and it's impossible for the ownership of any artworks to be unclear."

The curator, with a serious expression, waved his arms to indicate that he would absolutely abide by the law.

“For the past month, I’ve been studying these things every day in the office. Now it’s almost done. The ownership of 30% of the works is held by the museum, which is enough for a large gallery to operate.”

Officer Serra, recalling the scene of the "perspective room," suddenly realized: "So that's why you were in the closed office when the incident happened."

“Perhaps this is even better,” Mr. Yates suddenly said. “By changing the business model, galleries without the pressure of ticket sales can exhibit more works by emerging artists, which is great news for the entire city’s art scene. This is truly exciting!”

“The artists’ good news doesn’t stop there,” Hugo said to Aydi, turning around with a serious expression. “After the events this morning, I started paying special attention to fine threads like insect silk. Guess what I noticed when the curator waved his arm just now?”

Yati and Sera stared intently and noticed a faint, almost imperceptible thread of silk fluttering along the middle-aged man's sleeve.

"Could it be... a fragment of 'The Four Virtues'?" The artist's eyes almost lit up. He then remembered that the museum wouldn't just throw away the remnants of a painting as waste; it would still attempt some restoration.

The dojo leader strode up to the dojo master, startling the latter.

"Are those threads still there?"

“After all, these are works stored in the museum. Even though they’ve become like that, we can’t just throw them away.” The curator scratched his head. “The threads are currently in the office. Before you arrived, the experts I invited were trying to restore them to their original state. Unfortunately, although they were able to distinguish the threads in the four works, they couldn’t turn the threads back into works of art like Mr. Artie did.”

"No need for repairs, the silk thread is enough!" Yati was overjoyed, her curly hair swaying confidently back and forth—

"These will become the raw materials for my latest work! I want to give new meaning to things that have lost their shape, just like how a caterpillar melts all its organs in its pupa before it can transform into a butterfly and fly. Meaningful materials and beautiful forms will surely create new value when they collide. This is the true meaning of regeneration! I believe that both my new work and the future Feiyun Gallery will be reborn!"

"You should be grateful to tears. After the museum is converted into a gallery, no one will put in such a lot of effort to restore the paintings."

The detective rolled his eyes and offered a very realistic reminder—

"Be careful, it's hard to say which of the Fei Yun Gallery, which exhibits emerging artists, or the Fei Yun Dojo, which exhibits a collection of Ya Ti's old works, will be more popular in the future."

"I couldn't ask for more," the artist said.

Chapter 115 Azure and Archaeopteryx

After bidding farewell to Sera and Artie, Hugo returned to the Feathered Residence. But as soon as he opened the door, he was greeted by a surprising sight—

The second tenant of Yuxi Mansion, Hugo's capable assistant, and ace trainer, Miss Azure, is currently strolling around the first-floor living room with a yellow raptor chick on her head.

Eevee and Ditto followed carefully on either side, afraid that the thing on the girl's head might fall down.

"Hugo!" Seeing the detective open the door and walk in, the oddly-looking Azure waved happily: "Archaeopteryx is finally willing to come out of its room! I'm showing it around the agency!"

"..."

Hugo stared at the Archaeopteryx, motionless atop the girl's chestnut hair, its lifeless, dull eyes staring into the void. He hesitated, unsure whether to voice his doubts—had Azure really not forcibly placed the Archaeopteryx on his head?

"No, it flew up by itself!"

The girl immediately guessed Hugo's thoughts and said smugly, raising her chin slightly.

That chin-raising gesture is quite something.

Because of the tilt, the Archaeopteryx, lying on its soft mane, gradually slid outwards without any resistance, and was about to fall off.

Azure quickly adjusted the angle, like playing with a balance ball, and let Archaeopteryx slide back onto the top of her head, barely managing to keep the Pokémon on her head.

Isn't this still completely unconvincing...? The detective felt his gaze gradually becoming like that of the Archaeopteryx, increasingly resembling a dead fish's eye.

"It's true! After these days of persuasion and guidance, Archaeopteryx has accepted me as its trainer, and now it can execute any commands I give it smoothly."

Seeing Hugo's skeptical look, Azure pointed to Hugo's nose and loudly commanded, "Archaeopteryx, use 'Lean'!"

The detective in the white coat was taken aback. He saw the thing on the girl's head slowly adjust its orientation and stare at him with its calm, dead-fish eyes.

The living room seemed to fall silent for a few seconds, then Archaeopteryx silently turned its head back.

"How's it going? Do you feel like you're being watched by a predator? Do you feel like your defenses are getting weaker?"

Azure, with a yellow bird perched on its head, approached the detective and asked questions with great interest.

"Yes... a little," the detective lied guiltily.