Chp 13

	"Look at this. Alakazam had it mixed up, it was thirty disappearances in twenty years." 

	Phantom joined her next to the documents she was reading. "Wait... look." He pointed at the main list of names and case numbers. "There's a spike five years ago." Sure enough, five years ago, the number of missing persons went up to nearly ten in one year. This continued for another year, until it sharply dropped, even lower than before, to where there was a two year gap of nothing. But after that, they started cropping up again, slightly more than before, at two to three a year. 

	"Hmm, how about you look at the general store owner? Hunter said he was in on it. I'll look over these." 

	He nodded and returned to the other desk in the room. He opened one of the filing cabinets and began to look for anything. "Ah, got a murder here." He said. He took it out, set it down and began to read. "Three years ago, the original owner of the general store was found dead, along with his entire family. So that means that the guy Hunter got was new." 

	"And he moved in just before the disappearances started again. Makes sense." She added. 

	They both remained silent for a while, only the sound of flipping papers in the room. 

	"Hey, I found some town documents. I'm gonna look over them." 

	"What's stuff like that doing in the police area?"

	"I have no idea. But I'm still gonna check them out." 

	He flipped through the files, looking at the headings. "Buildings, residents, business, Blade, Deaths, Births," 

	"Wait, holy shit!" Phantom exclaimed. "There's a section on Blade! Jackpot!" He pulled it out and slammed it down on the desk, nearly tearing the folder in his fervor to open it. "It looks like details on the organization, mostly how they were stopped. What was your dad's name?"

	"Day, why?"

	"He was part of the pokemon that fought them." Phantom flipped through the remaining pages, but found little else besides a history lesson. His curiosity was peaked now, and he went back to the town file cabinet. This time he went to the resident section. He flipped through until he found a specific entry. "Day family." He took it out and returned to his station to look it over. Hopefully he had the right family, as pokemon often did not have last names. 

	He opened the document to see a list of the family. "Day, Princess, Ashley, Amber." He flipped over, finding details on Day. Why would someone file all this information? It was awfully strange. He flipped to the next page, finding a picture of a ninetales with a bow in her hair pinned to the page. Next was Ashley, then Amber. On Amber's page was a reference to a case number, likely her missing entry. That got him thinking, so he returned to Princess' page. It was certainly Mystic's mom, but one thing upset him. A case number. 

	He got back up and went over to Mystic's side and followed the numbers until he found it. He took out the folder and returned to his spot.

	"What are you looking at?" She asked. 

	"Nothing, just checking something out. I'll let you know if I find anything." He looked back down and his heart sank. The first thing he saw upon opening it was the same picture. He went back to the original and made sure he had the right number. He did. He moved the picture aside and gasped. 

	"What?" She asked immediately.

	"Nothing, it was just a yawn. Nothing but dull history. He couldn't tell her what he had found. Her mom, Princess, had killed herself. 

	"What!?" She shouted next to his ear. He recoiled in sheer terror, falling onto his side and scrambling away. She had snuck up next to him while he was reading. "I..." She raised her paw and bit down on it lightly. "Those... Fucking bastards!" She suddenly yelled. "I'll, I'll, damn!" 

	"I think you're feeling the wrong emotions." Phantom said quietly. "You should be sad..."

	"No, fuck that! I'm pissed!" She swung her paw across the table, scattering papers everywhere. "I wasn't the one who did it, they did! The fuckers who kidnapped me! We're going to catch them, tonight. For my family, and everyone else!" She turned and walked away, stomping back to her table. She began to look over all the documents with a fire burning in her eyes. 

	As he got back to his feet, there was a knock at the door. He went over and opened it. 

	"Are you both okay?" Alakazam asked. "I heard yelling."

	"Yea, we're fine."

	"Well, it's almost midnight and I need to go home. Are you going to stay?"

	"Yea, I think so."

	"Alright. You can still get out, but the main doors are locked from the outside, so you won't be able to get back in if you leave. If you need some snacks, you can use the vending machine."

	"We don't have any money, unless it works with badges..."

	"Ah, I thought as much. Tell you what, we have a stash of poke behind the front desk. If you get hungry, go ahead and use some. Just don't go overboard." He stepped back, allowing the door to swing closed. A while later, there was a loud clicking sound. Phantom poked his head out to find the library lights off and the room pitch black. 

	"I'm gonna go grab something to eat. Want anything?"

	"I don't care. Get something if you want." She said, not even flicking an ear in his direction. 

	He turned and left the room. Once the door closed behind him, he was plunged into darkness. He took a few steps forward carefully, and stopped when he felt wood in front of him. He continued this slow navigation, moving towards the dim lights coming in from the main door. His eyes began to adjust and he was able to go faster. He stopped short of the door to duck behind the desk there. He stuck his head under and felt around carefully. "C'mon, where is it?" He complained. "OW!" He yelped when he accidently pressed down on a tack. 

	He brought his tail down next to his head. He built up electricity and allowed it to spark over the star tip of his tail. The small amount of energy running over it created a very dim light, just enough for him to spot a small pouch. He took hold of it, opened it, and found a pile of pokecoins. He took the satchel and exited the library. 

	Once in the hall, a shiver ran through his body. It was not from the cold however. The hall was lit only by auxiliary lighting, leaving it much darker than usual and splaying strange shadows everywhere. He hesitantly walked down the hall, back towards the main entrance. Now that he was all alone, the sound of the snow storm outside was all the more apparent. The wailing sound perfectly fit with the lighting to really creep him out. Once he made it to the main hall, he found two vending machines. 

	He let out a puffing sigh as he scanned over the contents. He put in a few coins and pressed the numbers, repeating the process twice more. He looked over to the drunk machine, but the library would have water fountains, so he opted out. When he scanned over the snack bags, he realized he had a problem. He had three bags and was planning to put them in the box, but he left it with Mystic. They were too thick to carry more than one with his teeth. His head suddenly whipped around as the door shook, making a loud noise. There was nothing outside the glass doors besides swirling snow however. 

	A few moments later, he was moving down the hall on three paws, a bag in his teeth, and the other two clutched to his chest with the last paw. He was forced to adopt an awkward gait, but there was no way he was making two trips. He walked by bringing his rear paws forward, planting them, and stepping forward with his one forepaw. It felt weird and every step he took, his held paw twitched reflexively. He made it, very slowly, back to the room and entered. 

	"What took you?" Mystic asked. She had migrated from the desk and onto the floor, countless bundles of paper scattered everywhere. 

	"Here, I got some chips and a bag of cookies." He said, allowing the bags to drop to the floor. He sat down and let out a tired sigh.

	"Is getting snacks really that tiring?" 

	"Yes. I almost died, twice." He said jokingly. "Find anything?" 

	"Not much. I got all the missing person cases and am trying to find something else." 

	"Well we proved what they're doing. What else do you think there is?"

	"Motive. Why would they do these things?"

	"Cuz they're evil. I don't think there's much else to it." He said. 

	"That's too convenient. There's gotta be some deeper reason. And we have to figure it out." 

	"I think you're over thinking it. You honestly sound like some crazy person with a conspiracy theory. Evil, money, greed, that's the long and short of it." 

	"You don't have to help if you don't want to. But it's not like we can really go anywhere now, the storm's too bad." 

	"You should at least take a break. We've been going at it for hours now." 

	"Alright." She said, maneuvering carefully through the maze of papers. Once to him, she took the other bag of chips and opened it, beginning to eat. She ate a couple chips before folding the bag over itself and setting it down.

	"Is that it?"

	"I've got work to do." She said, looking back down at the papers. 

	After about an hour, and two bags of chips later, Phantom was fading fast. He let out a big yawn. "How about we call it a night?" He asked.

	"You can go to sleep if you want." She said, not even looking his way. 

	"Do you wanna take a break, go explore the building or something? Could be fun..." 

	"You do whatever you want. I can't stop yet." She shook her head. "Even if it takes all night."

	He sighed. "Alright. I'm gonna try to get some sleep. I can't stay awake anymore." He went over to a corner of the room and curled up. "Don't overdo it." He said, before lowering his head and shutting his eyes. 

	Mystic went over to desk and flipped on a lamp there, then turned the main light in the room off. She didn't want him to suffer but she had to figure this out. She had every missing person case out, and she had been in the process of finding anything related and organizing them based on the person.

	(Five years ago)
	Green the Snover (M): Missing, found dead one week later.
	Frosty the Snowrunt (M): Homecide, no suspects.
	Duke the Nidoking (M): missing, found dead two months later, home robbed
	Duchess the Nidoqueen (F): Found dead shortly after Duke, assumed suicide,
	...
	(Recent 2-0 years)
	Carver the Absol (M): missing
	Wumpy the Quagsire (F): missing, belongings remain
	Inferna the Growlithe (F): missing, family still searching
	...

	"Is that... Phantom wake up!" She shouted. He grunted and rolled over. "I figured something out! They're different. They aren't robbing people, at least not from here. The Blade killed and stole things, but these people are kidnapping primarily. The prison room we found, they're moving pokemon underground! And they must have kidnapped me, and then I escaped, but I got hurt and lost my memories! And the berries must be used to pacify the captives for transport!" 

	Phantom let out another noise. "But why? Slave labor? If that, then for what?" She asked aloud. She looked back down and continued to look over the documents.