With Tiffany abducted, Guardian agents swarmed the town of Battle Pike.
It was rather interesting to see the uptick and know that they were here in response to one of our own being stolen away.
Despite the increased presence and Sabrina herself combing the likely abduction site, we were no closer to getting a lead.
The security cameras that overlooked the roads coming into and out of the area all happened to break down in the period leading up to Tiffany's disappearance.
"Murkrow," Agatha stated, holding a small feather in front of her face.
"Trainers did report an unusual degree of activity, even with them typically being nocturnal," reported a trainer to Agatha.
Lucy glared. "Damn it! I can't believe this happened in my town."
A long sigh exploded out of me. "Don't try to bear responsibility for crimes in your hometown. That way leads to madness," I offered. "You've got it good with it being a small town for the moment, but the Battle Pike is going to keep growing. Also, this really does seem like it was premeditated. They acted far too quickly. Tiffany had barely begun observing them when this occurred. They had to have had this in place already."
"Brock is correct, young Lucy. On both points, hold your head up. It might be that your presence was what made them need to go to such lengths," Agatha agreed.
I blinked and stared at Agatha. Sabrina shot me a look, and I nodded, wondering if we needed to check that Agatha wasn't an imposter.
Then the monster that resided in her shadow winked at me, and I shuddered. Alright, no, that was her.
She was just being weirdly… kind to Lucy.
"Any thoughts on this, Agatha?" I asked.
"Many, but mostly I am concerned about young Tiffany. She was by no means a slouch with her training." She waved her cane about the room, and now that I was looking for it I started to notice how clean it was.
Like nothing untoward had happened.
"They took her without a fight… which should be next to impossible with her ghost pokemon being out."
"Which means they were highly trained, and they likely also had a ghost specialist." Agatha raised her transceiver and inspected the faces we'd gotten from Tiffany before she went silent.
"The old man," she muttered, staring at the grey-haired man who could pass for Flint in a few decades time.
"And how can you know that he's got a ghost pokemon? Is it because he's old?" I asked. That logic didn't really apply to people like Tiffany after all.
Agatha shook her head. "No, it's just a feeling I have in my bones," she muttered.
"Beware old men in jobs where young men perish?" Sabrina quoted and Agatha nodded.
"Exactly so," she muttered.
I gave the room another look around. "So, we have pictures, a very drawn out theory involving these people, my father, and a man that visited my Gym once… and not much else," I said.
"No, we have an estimate on their skill levels. We have an idea that they knew where the cameras were well ahead of time, meaning they were likely around for the construction, if not observing the Battle Pike for a long time. They are able to sense Ghost pokemon and act with alicicity," Agatha said with a smile. "Hmmmm, but this does take me back."
Another sigh escaped me. "Well you're not wrong, but I prefer it when our opponents are ham fisted amateurs."
Agatha snorted. "Oh those barely get the blood pumping, don't be cowardly Brock, it doesn't suit you."
"Nah, more that I prefer things to be easy," I muttered. "Any ideas what we should do?" I asked, glancing around the room.
Lucy shook her head. "I could raise an APB with what Rangers we have in the area along with the other Battle Frontier leaders."
"...do that, let's keep this part of our investigation above board, but before that we need to have the people observing Noland and the other Fiore representatives read in."
It took a moment for me to understand what she was implying. "You think Fiore is behind this?" I asked.
"I'm not ruling it out," Agatha replied. "We need to see what their reactions are. Business as usual or something telling."
"What about us?" Sabrina asked. "Should we remain here?"
I shot Sabrina a look. "We are on patrol, and this crime is something that would be in our remit to investigate," I pointed out.
Sabrina bobbed her head. "Yes, but Tiffany, wasn't their real target, was she?"
"Hmmm, you're correct," Agatha mused, giving Sabrina and I long looks. "Do you both feel up to acting like bait?" she asked.
Part of me wanted to smirk and agree straight away, but another, more steady voice within me made me stop and look around. This wasn't a game. People were in danger and these people weren't rookies.
We were going to be in danger.
I tilted my head and considered the roof. The only difference was that we knew to expect it now. If we went to ground…
Something about the roof caught my attention.
It was small, only a tiny crack in the ceiling really, but it still made me narrow my eyes. "What are the floors rated for?" I asked, wondering if I could summon Ursaring to use him as a ladder.
Sabrina glanced up before anyone could answer, spotting what I'd seen.
She glowed, floating up and pushing on the roof.
It gave way and revealed a small attic where there shouldn't have been anything but ventilation.
"Well I think that group was here for a while. They knew about this after all," I mused.
Within moments we had a Rattata in the ceiling scurrying about with a camera attached to its head. We observed the attic, noting that it was just large enough for a grown man to crawl through. It led to a ladder that descended into the ground which had me once again narrowing my eyes.
I moved to the wall most likely to be near the ladder and knocked on it. In some parts the noise that I got changed and before long I had the location mapped out.
It was much larger than the ladder tunnel, which made me think… My hand slid up and down the wall only to brush against a panel that depressed when I applied pressure to it.
With the button pushed a section of the wall swung outward, revealing the ladder.
"A safehouse with multiple exits," Agatha muttered, eying the ceiling and wall.
Sabrina for her part tilted her head. "If there's one of these in Battle Pike, what are the odds there are more?"
"There are high odds," replied Agahta. "We'll also need to investigate the other towns for little hideyholes like this!" she declared.
"Any way to flag the various security feeds to trigger when people that don't have a registered ID enter town or appear on them?" I asked.
Agatha shook her head. "No, as the Fiorians aren't in our system and they would trigger it."
"Hmmmm which makes them a little more suspicious," I mused thoughtfully.
"It would, yes," Agatha murmured thoughtfully. "We will investigate all of this, be certain," she declared, stomping a cane into the floor. She shot Sabrina a smirk. "I can think of someone who will leap at inspecting buildings and if they are code compliant."
"Hmmm Janine would jump at that," I chuckled. "Isn't she dealing with Visquez and Erika right now though?"
Agatha smirked. "They can also help out, but they'll do so while disguised."
I decided not to point out that while Visquez was nowhere near as tall as her father, she was still a big girl, and stealth wasn't something I'd associate with her. But then again, there were other ways to go unseen.
If a news report emerged about clouds of gas that temporarily knocked people out I was just going to have to turn my head and not look too much into it.
"For now I believe both of you should resume your 'patrol'. Lay the bait and we will see who bites. Is this Fiore? Or another actor?" Agatha stated.
"Aren't we needed to track down whoever did this? Isn't there a risk that Tiffany could be…" I trailed off leadingly.
Agatha shook her head. "There has been no demands. They have most likely abducted her for intel that she might be able to provide. Thankfully as a ghost type specialist, she will be highly resistant to any psychic pressure they can bring upon her."
"Also, the instant she awakens I suspect we'll have a Haunter coming our way. If she had been… handled," she said with a slight grimace. "Well haunter and a Ghastly might have presented themselves to us."
I blinked at that rather dark conclusion.
Sabrina and I shared a look.
"This is all Lance's fault," I declared, earning a nod from Sabrina.
_________________________
Before Tiffany's abduction, we'd had multiple options on where to go next.
Now we really only had one, which was to walk into the metaphorical mouth of the beast by approaching the most northern part of the Battle Frontier which happened to be Noland's territory.
It struck me as odd that the man from a region most 'in-tune' with living with pokemon had chosen a factory as his style of arena.
If you knew nothing about Noland it would seem strange. Fiore was very much touted as a environmentalist haven for people and pokemon with them living as one together.
In the anime, Noland was something of a strategist, as well as an inventor. He supposedly liked creating things and flying planes. None of this was confirmed as Guardian Agents couldn't linger overly long, nor could they access the security system of the Battle Factory to passively monitor the area.
The Battle Factory was one of the most industrialised towns within the Battle Frontier which was a stark contrast to every other town that had been established.
So what was the truth? Was Noland rebelling against Fiore's environmentalist ways with his choice? It seemed odd.
But then again, Anabel had chosen a Tower apartment complex that almost rivaled Silph Tower as her base so perhaps it wasn't that strange.
What I did know was that with both Sabrina and me marching into the area closest to the Fiore border, we were going to come under a lot more scrutiny.
Joining us, however, was a small group of ninja who had taken to the shadows and were observing us from afar to lessen the risks of being spotted.
Very rarely, I spotted a shadow flickering outside the corner of my eye and Sabrina's lips twitched downwards.
"Kind of annoying, isn't it?" I muttered.
"It's also not as stealthy as they think. The flying types of the forest have gone quiet," she said.
I tilted my head to the side and hummed. "To be fair, they also did that the first day, but I think that had more to do with our team being out and about," I said, jerking a thumb over my shoulder at my assembled team.
Sadly, with the stakes being raised, I'd had to send the trio along with Ursaring home. In their place, I'd called back Bertha, Jormungandr, Shrek, and Link.
Link as ever, was the odd man out in my group with how he skipped along while the rest of my team stomped or rumbled along the road.
The few trainers that we'd passed had stared in awe at our passage and I couldn't fault them. It wasn't often you got to watch twenty of the strongest pokemon in the wild.
It became especially amusing whenever a challenger appeared.
It didn't matter if they were pokemon or trainers as the reactions were almost universally the same.
They appeared quickly, making a great deal of noise and making a threat display.
Then my pokemon along with Sabrina and I would glance at them.
They'd abruptly stop and reevaluate their life choices with the only difference being how dignified their retreat was.
It was hilarious watching a girthy Typhlosion that had ash and soot spewing out of its maw suddenly come to the realisation that it wanted none of our group. It turned and tried to run only for Selene to intercept them with a Teleport only for Hypnotoad to catch them from behind and begin pummeling it.
"I've never seen a pokemon express 'I shouldn't have left my cave' until today," Sabrina said.
"Was that the face it made? It looked like an oh shit face," I replied, watching my pokemon smack the Typhlosion around every time it tried to run while they argued over who got to fight it.
Selene ended up winning and smashed the errant pokemon with a Stone Edge.
It was harder to clean up after the fight than it was to handle the fight itself.
With my pokemon having gotten their fight it was now Sabrina's turn. I shot her a knowing smirk. "Alright, if there was a Typhlosion arriving to fight us what is coming next?" I asked.
Sabrina didn't meet my eyes. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Hmmm, so it's not just coincidence that when it's my pokemon's turn to fight whatever comes out of the woods it is either weak, or lacking in fighting spirit," I said, gesturing to the Typhlosion that had given up far too easily. I flicked a Ranger ball at it to send the pokemon away.
Once more Sabrina didn't meet my eyes, and I narrowed them as through my feet I started to feel a rumble.
"Sabrina!" I groaned in annoyance as a dust cloud started to appear on the road in front of us.
"This counts as our turn," she stated firmly.
"Like hell!" I argued back, pointing at the oncoming herd of Tauros.
"You can have the next one?" Sabrina offered up and I shot her a flat look. Why was she reverting to what she'd been like on our Journey?
I'd honestly forgotten about this. She obviously hadn't as she was back to her bratty ways.
Heh, it was kinda cute, I suppose.
Titan sniffed the air and rumbled his acceptance, overriding me. I shot him a look and he tapped his nose knowingly.
"Alright we accept," I said, trusting him.
Sabrina pouted at me. "I don't like that Titan can smell things on the wind like that," she said as she sent her pokemon forward to deal with the rambunctious Tauros herd.
"Hmmmm, shame," I replied, not at all bothered. "Does it seem like there's a lot more pokemon coming at us today?" I asked.
Sabrina shook her head. "Interestingly enough, the further we head north, the stronger the pokemon are, along with them being more aggressive. It's something of an oddity with strong pokemon being calmed down when they come into Fiore but when they leave they have a return to normal emotions with them acting up."
"Hmmm interesting," I replied as I watched Kirlia sprint ahead of her companions to begin smashing aside the Tauros. "But I was referring more to it in relation to everything else going on right now."
"No, there hasn't been anything too suspicious at this point," she said. "Ah, I see now what you detected." she gave Titan a pointed look.
I shot her and Titan a look and he flashed an image of a swarm of bug pokemon moving towards us. "I'm just a bit suspicious still," I muttered as my pokemon turned towards the oncoming swarm.
"Hmmm," Sabrina frowned as she turned her head towards the swarm of Scyther that appeared to be fighting a group of Beedrill. They all paused when they spotted my rock heavy team waiting for them.
Rather than run, they tried to roll over us, which was a big mistake as Rock Blasts, Stone Edges, and more.
When we were done I opened my bag and stared at the ball section. "I don't think I have enough Ranger balls to process these."
"Hmmm, interestingly enough, the swarm was clashing already only to be further drawn in by the sound of the Tauros herd. Both Scyther and Beedrill thought that they'd get the better of their opponent by flipping the fight on its head."
"Seriously?" I muttered. "That's kind of awesome, but also terrifying for any regular trainers that might have come along," I muttered.
"It's well beyond anything a trainer alone would be able to handle, but then again there's always running away," she commented.
I gave Sabrina a long thoughtful look. "I don't think we've ever had to 'run away'," I said thoughtfully.
"What do you call the incident in the Silver Ranges when Empress joined you?" she prodded.
"Urgh… fair point!" I conceded. I gestured at the herd and the swarm. "Can we take away just their leaders and make them slightly more docile?" I asked.
Sabrina inspected each group for a long minute before nodding. "It should work." She then pointed out several Scyther, Beedrill, and Tauros for me to send to the Rangers.
When I was done I hummed. "Think they're still going to be miffed at me sending through that many?" I asked. From what I could tell, these were some fairly strong wild pokemon.
"They'll manage," Sabrina replied dismissively. As she and her pokemon began levitating the various groups away from each other so they could recover while my team swept towards the untouched section of the forest.
Within a few minutes they returned with berries to leave each group to help them on their way.
Bertha kept a few for herself and offered some to Kirlia who accepted happily before jumping onto Bertha's shoulder causing me to chuckle.
Sabrina shot me an inquisitive look and for the rest of the walk I had to explain my past life's trope of 'shoulder-Loli' to her. Bertha who was listening in seemed tickled pink by the idea, advocating for Kirlia to remain in place for the rest of the walk, which was easy enough to manage with only one more person attempting to declare a challenge against us only for Sabrina to send out her Hypno to deal with them.
By the time the sun was starting to set we'd walked far enough to be in sight of the Battle Factory.
It reminded me more of Pewter's foundry district rather than a single building with how big it was. Smoke rose into the air and I whistled.
"He must be drawing in all the local Grimer and Koffing."
"I'd think so," Sabrina murmured, observing the town before inclining her head towards Jorm. "Shall we ride the last few kilometres? I'd like to get there today."
I glanced around. "Everyone will be able to keep up yeah?" I said, as if I was asking my pokemon. From a shadowy tree branch, a man leaned forward slightly and gave a thumbs up which I didn't acknowledge.
Instead, I signalled to Jorm and hopped on his back with Sabrina wrapping her arms around me.
We powered ahead, tripling our speed instantly and when we started to pull ahead of some of my pokemon I started returning the slower ones.
It was only as we closed in on the gates leading into town that we slowed and I released them once more.
I was glad I did as rather than being a simple gate guard monitoring traffic like some Routes had, there was instead a welcoming party made up of young men and women.
All of them wore a pristine white coat with colour adorning their sleeves, while around their necks, Arceus' face was worn with necklaces and chokers.
The group all straightened up and began to murmur as we approached. When we got close enough, I dismounted with Sabrina and the murmuring cut off.
"Is that them?" muttered someone.
"Yeah, it is!" chimed another
"What should we do?" whispered a third.
"We check them! Like everyone else of course!" snapped the second voice.
A pair of robe-wearing men stepped forward. "Sabrina and Brock! We are the Factory Standards Committee! Welcome to the Battle Factory! Your arrival has been much anticipated!"
I wanted to say something like, 'I bet it has', but I just nodded politely, waiting for the trap that my instincts were warning me about. "The Factory Standards Committee?" I asked.
The pair puffed their chests proudly. "Yes! We make sure those entering our fair town!"
"Your fair town?" I asked. "I thought Nola—"
"Noland is part of our organisation!" chimed the other man with a business-like smile.
My gaze flickered to Sabrina, who was ignoring the interaction in front of her. Instead her focus was on that of the other people standing around.
Alright, so I needed to draw this out. I adopted a dubious expression and crossed my arms. "What's this all about?"
The two men continued to smile at us, and I was getting a premonition that they were going to be annoying more than dangerous.
"We check the health and safety of each pokemon! We need to guarantee that the standards of our fair town are upheld! And the most important standard is that of pokemon well being!"
"With so many pokemon stuffed into pokeballs by you Indigoans and the propaganda you believe in it often passes unnoticed that your pokemon are suffering!"
Alright, now I was getting more of a homeowners association vibe from these people.
None of the people before me had a single pokeball on them I noticed then. They had what looked like collapsible batons, and pamphlets but… those seemed quite harmless compared to what I'd encountered in the past.
"You do this… with everyone?" I asked, making a show of looking around.
I searched everyone's faces, looking for anyone who might have been like the people who most likely abducted Tiffany, but no one looked even slightly similar to them.
Nor did they look to have a resemblance to Flint.
"Indeed! The standards need to be upheld!" chimed the leaders in an eerie synchronisation.
Sabrina hummed. "I don't think we'll have any issue with that," she stated.
The pair beamed at us. "Excellent! Please fill out the following paperwork then!" They thrust a handful of papers at us and I frowned as people stepped forward to interview our pokemon.
I watched them for a moment, catching some of the questions being asked.
"And how often on average would you say you get out and about to enjoy free time?"
"Does he make you eat from a bowl on the ground?"
"When was the last party he threw for you?"
It was a little surreal to listen to but at the same time, it made sense.
I turned my attention towards my own stack of papers before me. "How many pokemon do you own?" I murmured, reading the first question and sighing.
I got halfway through the first page when a shift occurred.
One of the Leaders of the group approached us, looking less than pleased. "Has someone told you about our survey questions? Your pokemon appear to have been coached on what to say," he said with a scowl.
"Excuse you?" I asked. "We had heard Fiorians were out and about, but we hadn't heard of you doing this."
"I find that highly unlikely," murmured the man. "Your pokemon's answers were too good!" he stated. "They say you let them eat at your table daily! That you allow them into your house? That they have their own transceivers even!" he threw up his hands. "Please! Don't try to trick us! For starters Indigo houses aren't—"
Deciding to nip this in the bud right away, I produced my transceiver and played a video of Link and Munchlax playing tag with my family from a few days ago.
When one of the kids ran into a wall, Munchlax was there in an instant, offering them a piece of hairy pizza to lift their spirits.
Flicking through the other pictures that I accrued. My home life was displayed, showing off the reserve, the Gym, and even Yolanda's room when she'd started rocking out with Terra.
"I had the house, Gym, and reserve specifically designed to allow my pokemon access to my family' house. It's important to include them as they are some of my closest friends if not part of the family," I said.
This got a round of hesitant nods from the committee.
They retreated a few metres and conferred. "What are we supposed to do? They're not supposed to get perfect scores! We're supposed to educate them on the error of their ways!" one man whined.
"We have to! It's the rules we made, we just didn't expect people like them! We'll just hold them up as models that others should live up to! It shows that we're right!"
This got a round of nods and the committee broke apart, adopting serene smiles.
Sabrina and I shared knowing looks. Yeah, this was a weird blend of home-owners society, PETA, and religion.
I guess they meant well?
"You are free to continue into our fair town! Please take these pamphlets and continue your exemplary methods of pokemon care! Remember! Pokeballs are jails!" they chimed as they broke apart to let us in.
We walked a few metres into town only for a tall man wearing a robe without the arms and a red cap on his head jogged towards us.
"Hello there!" called Noland. "These people are free too…" he trailed off when he got a good look at us.
He slowed to a stop and stared. He rubbed at his eyes with both hands, then took another look. "Wait… they're not making a scene?" whispered the man in shock. "How did you manage that?" he asked.
"Scored perfectly," I replied with a shrug.
Noland blinked. "What? Those tests were created to be biased I know! I protested them! I get regular complaints about them from your League!"
"Huh, that's nice," I replied.
Sabrina flicked her head. "Skill issue," she murmured, causing me to bite my lips. My pokemon, on the other hand, had no reservations about laughing.
Noland blinked. "Well look at that. Never thought I'd see the day," he offered a hand. "I'm Noland, or Factory Head Noland. Leader of the Battle Factory!"
"Brock," I replied, shaking his hand.
"Sabrina," said Sabrina.
It must have been the situation, as my pokemon stepped forward with cheeky smiles and offered their own hands or in Jorm's case, the tip of his tail to shake in greeting.
The watching committee murmured approvingly at this while I just chuckled.
Noland happily greeted each pokemon with a wide smile. When he returned to us, he had a wide grin on his face. "Well then, welcome! I wanted to extend an offer to dine at my home for you and your friends!" he declared.
I nodded, wondering when he'd lock eyes with either myself or Sabrina and demand a match against us, but he instead just amiably led us to a quaint little cottage with a huge patio which allowed all our pokemon to sit with us.
He marched over to a fridge and began pulling out cans of Lemonade, Soda Pop, Juice, Milk, or Tea.
Bertha perked up and rumbled a question.
"Sorry I didn't get that," he replied.
"She wants to know if you have any Moomoo Milk?" I stated.
Noland shot me another smile. "Did she just? Well I'm sorry to say I don't."
Bertha huffed and gestured for a can of Lemonade which he tossed her.
Noland handed Sabrina and I a can each and then sat down across from us. "I have to say, you're something of a surprise, both of you!"
"Huh, is that so? Feeling is mutual. I was honestly expecting you to ask for a fight against us," I stated.
Noland nodded. "Ah, yeah, that would be the normal thing to do, wouldn't it?" He cracked open his can and took a long sip. "Ah, you Indigoans, know how to make a good drink!" he declared.
He locked eyes with me for the first time properly, but instead of a fighting spirit clashing there was… an acceptance.
"I can admit that I personally want to. I'd like to see how my bond fares against either of you," he said, waving a hand at Sabrina and I.
"But, at the same time, I know that it wouldn't be such a good idea."
Sabrina smiled and nodded, causing me to feel a little in the lurch.
So, I tilted my head and asked, "How so?"
Noland nodded. "I had a long think about it while you were in Battle Pike yesterday. If we fought, win or lose for either of us, one of our nations gets bragging rights because of us facing off." he pointed at Sabrina and I.
"While Lance is held up as the strongest, I know there's a public perception that either of you two would be the true Champions if you cared for it." He tapped himself on the chest. "I'm held up somewhat similarly in Fiore."
He waved a hand. "With everything else going on, we don't need to spark up tensions or inflame things. We need to calm it down and show that we get along." He raised his can of lemonade. "That sounds alright to you?"
"That… sounds quite reasonable," I replied with a lift of my own can.
Sabrina's can rose on its own and clinked into ours, causing Noland to blink before he began chuckling. "That's a neat trick!"
"Hmmm, it is," Sabrina replied casually only to turn her head as a low trill rang out.
My pokemon all tensed up as an Articuno swept overhead, singing its song and causing the temperature to drop further.
"Ho! Articuno! Come to join us?" Noland called up to the Legendary pokemon.
Articuno twirled in the air once and hovered only to slowly lower itself down to a large railing which appeared to make the perfect roosting spot for it. It trilled its acceptance and Noland smiled. "Meet my other guests! Brock and Sabrina from Indigo! Brock is friends with that Regirock over there!" Noland said, pointing to where Regirock was standing like a statue.
It was only then that I noticed that there were some markings on Regirock's legs. Urgh, Tilly and Billy had been at it again.
"Regirock, do you want me to clean off your legs?" I asked.
Regirock's eyes blinked in and out quickly. It tilted its body so it could look at its legs only to straighten out and rotate its head back and forth in a clear 'no'.
"Alright then," I replied, settling back down.
Once again, Noland had a pleased look. "I think you guys would do well in Fiore," he murmured. "Now! How about I rustle up some of my famous Berry salad! I'll do a big batch so everyone can enjoy it!" he declared.
We accepted and he departed for his kitchen, leaving Sabrina and I along with our pokemon with Articuno.
Bertha approached Articuno and started up a conversation.
"Well this has been a pleasant surprise," I murmured.
"A good one," Sabrina concurred. "Don't mention work until dinners over Brock."
"Pleasure before business?" I asked, which earned me a nod from Sabrina as she sipped her drink through a straw.
I could accept that. I settled back into my chair, watching pokemon play about the yard.
The day had started rather early, and with things looking rather grim. We weren't any closer to solving the mystery surrounding those men, or where Tiffany was, but that could be addressed soon enough.
I held my hand out to Sabrina, and she laced her fingers through mine.
It wasn't how I thought I'd end the day.
It was nice.
________________
A.N. Thanks go to my Patreons for your continued support!
It also goes to Twmmy for proofreading this chapter!