vncnus Chapter 16 Azure from Pallet Town
Chapter 16 Azure from Pallet Town
Azure first met Hugo at a café near the Feather Residence while traveling in the Unova region. She was leisurely drinking coffee when the brightly lit floor-to-ceiling windows revealed the dilapidated state of the two-story building next door.
At that time, the Yuxi Residence looked like it was about to catch fire, with thick smoke billowing out of the windows. A young man in a white coat first took out three starter Pokémon that were blackened by smoke from the house, gently threw them into the courtyard, and then walked back into the house through the thick smoke. Soon after, the smoke gradually subsided, and the man came out with two empty cans of dry ice fire extinguishers and threw them into the garbage collection point outside the courtyard.
The fire crisis seemed to have been resolved smoothly... Azure breathed a sigh of relief and put down the fire alarm phone.
Chimchar, Piplup, Turtwig... The chestnut-haired girl identified each of the Pokémon that were being pulled out, revealing a complete set of beginner Pokémon from the Sinnoh region.
The three Pokémon looked pitiful, but seeing each other's comical gray-covered appearance, they couldn't help but burst into laughter, seemingly having a very good relationship. The young man in the white jacket, who was using a fire extinguisher to put out the thick smoke, watched their frolicking with a helpless expression.
Azure's eyes lit up; she had never encountered these three Pokémon even in Professor Oak's lab.
Speaking of Sinnoh, she couldn't help but recall the Unova news she had just seen. The front page featured a photo of the Sinnoh champion receiving the Unova Guardian Medal. Cynthia claimed that she had resolved a matter at hand while visiting a friend, but firmly denied any past acts of heroism in Unova. Many media outlets speculated that the champion was carrying out a secret mission in Unova, and that her statement was merely a cover for her whereabouts.
Being a champion is really tiring... Crimson is the same way. On the surface, he says he's settled down on Silver Mountain to cultivate, but he's actually busy running around the world as a firefighter. Every time I go to visit him, I can't find him.
The girl sighed and continued drinking her black coffee, which only contained sugar cubes. She had come here today to meet a friend who had a nice place for her to stay during her travels.
After a cup of coffee's time, the person she was waiting for arrived.
A tall, slender girl wearing a hat appeared at the cafe entrance like a celebrity. Her high ponytail was tied back from the baseball cap, and her white tank top, black jacket, and denim shorts gave her a vibrant and energetic look.
"Sister Xiaolan, I didn't expect you to come to Hezhong!"
Seeing her junior, who was half a head taller than her, squeeze into the seat next to her like a swallow throwing itself into her arms, Bilan smiled and said, "Long time no see, Douzi."
After some intimate interaction between the best friends, Douzi sat down opposite Bilan and ordered an iced fruit tea from the waiter.
"Speaking of which, what do you think of Yuxi Residence? Are you satisfied?" Douzi asked casually, setting aside the straw, raising his cup, and gulping down his fruit tea.
Azure looked surprised: "Feather Residence? Is that the apartment you're going to show me where I'll be staying? Is it nearby? This is the center of Feiyun City."
Douzi laughed heartily, pointing to the two-story building outside the window that had almost caught fire ten minutes earlier: "It's not an apartment, Yuxi Residence is a super nice villa in the city!"
It was that two-story building that almost caught fire! Xiao Lan was taken aback. She thought the building Douzi was introducing would be a cheap apartment or guesthouse, but it turned out to be a villa, right in the city center!
"But aren't people living there? There's even a firm's sign hanging on the second floor."
In the sunlight, the metal sign of "Hugo Detective Agency" resembled a giant, gleaming business card. However, the agency's owner seemed to have already returned inside with the elf, presumably to deal with the damage caused by the fire.
“That’s a tenant. The person living there complained to me about the rent last month. You can ask him to let you live on the second floor.” Douzi said casually. “The guy inside is called Hugo. He’s a very reliable detective, but whatever you do, don’t let him control Pokémon. That man is disastrously clumsy in that area.”
I've already witnessed it firsthand. Recalling the thick smoke billowing from the window, Azure couldn't help but ask again, in a confirming tone, "A very reliable detective?"
“There’s no better detective in the entire Unova.” Touko seemed to have a high opinion of the man.
The energetic girl, sipping her fruit tea, continued, "I remember the first time I met that detective, he was handling a kidnapping case. I had gone to a wealthy man's country villa, intending to buy the Feather Residence from him. And the detective happened to be there too. It turned out he had been commissioned by the wealthy man and was here to finally solve the case—meaning I had stepped right into the classic detective-pointing-the-culprit scene from a mystery movie!"
Her best friend seemed eager to tell her some interesting story, so Bilan ordered another coffee and listened with great interest.
The story takes place ten months ago. Back then, the detective didn't have an agency, and Touko was an innocent girl with a huge sum of money earned from the League Championship that she had nowhere to squander. The owner of the Feather Residence was a real estate tycoon who was known to everyone in Feiyun City.
One of the wealthy man's Pokémon was kidnapped. The kidnappers left a note at the Pokémon's usual spot, demanding a ransom of one million yuan. They placed the ransom box under a bench in a park, promising to return the Pokémon once they received the ransom.
Frankly, the demands the kidnappers made in the note were really unfair to the rich man. After all, no one could guarantee that the kidnappers wouldn't deny their debts after receiving a million dollars. They might break their promise and not release the elf, or they might even continue to extort ransom from the rich man.
But this real estate developer was extremely fond of his Pokémon, and a million dollars wasn't a huge sum for him, so the tycoon decided to follow the kidnappers' instructions.
Meanwhile, the wealthy man devised a plan to hire a private investigator. He invited Hugo, a rising star detective in Flying Cloud City, to lie in wait at the ransom location and monitor the kidnappers as they went to the park bench to collect the money, thus confirming their hiding place. If the kidnappers went back on their word, the wealthy man could use the address the detective had tracked down to directly dispatch bodyguards and guards to retrieve the elf.
The detective initially suggested placing a tracker in the ransom box to make it easier to locate the kidnappers' hideout. However, the wealthy man, fearing for the safety of his beloved Pokémon, resolutely refused to take this measure, which would easily be discovered by the kidnappers.
So the detective, following the tycoon's instructions, hid near the park bench and began monitoring the million-dollar ransom placed under it day and night...
"And then the reliable detective followed the kidnappers' trail to their hideout?" Azure asked. She found the story rather bland, and the detective in the story seemed like a paid lackey, neither reliable nor handsome.
"Quite the opposite," Douzi said mysteriously. "On the day of the transaction, the box containing the money under the bench disappeared in the blink of an eye in front of the detective, leaving only a shallow pit at the scene."