"Remember that time when you got stuck on a tree?" I sat on the windowsill and softly smiled back at ChuChu, "I had to climb all the way up to get you."

"Then Wilton had to climb all the way up to get us both."

I nodded my head sadly, absentmindedly stroking her head as I looked out at the disappearing stars. The night was fading away but I couldn't bear to acknowledge it had been another unsuccessful day.

"I love him, ChuChu." My voice turned hoarse as I routinely checked my phone, "I don't know what to do now that he's been transferred to Celadon."

"We could go and visit again."

"We could," I sighed whilst jumping back to the floor, "But something is holding me here, and the doctors don't appreciate my presence. Seeing him behind glass is worse than not seeing him at all."

ChuChu nodded her head as she followed me attentively. I met her eyes, glazed with worry and fatigue, then smiled.

"You know, I really appreciate you staying up with me all this time. But I can't deprive you of sleep."

"You're not depriving me, Amarillo, you know that. I'm here for you."

"And I'm here for you." I picked the stubborn mouse up, then placed her onto my pillow. "Sleep. I'm going to go see how Blue is doing."

ChuChu couldn't hide the drowsiness that accompanied her face and as I left the room, she curled up silently.

I've got to stop being so pessimistic, it's draining the both of us out.

"Yellow, come here." As I closed my room door, I noticed Blue's was ajar. Sitting at a desk, she whispered for me to join her whilst the other two slept.

"Find anything?" I asked, closing her door and raising my eyebrows at a loud snore from the adjacent room.

"It's more of a theory, but I think it's solid." Blue picked up her laptop and I followed her as she dropped to her bed. "Look across the screens, tell me what you see from the pictures."

"An Ivysaur." I murmured, staring at the blurry image that was taken from footage dated to the twenty-sixth of February. The Pokémon was brandishing its vines threateningly at the three Pidgeot that had cornered it.

"Now look at the remnants of the bank." Blue switched the photo and I analysed the new picture in confusion.

"What am I looking for?" The Viridian bank was collapsed from one side, just as I remembered it.

"See where the initial attack came from?" I was still clueless until she zoomed into the photo and began circling around distinct marking surrounding the remnants of the structure.

"They look..." I squinted and leaned closer to stare at the rough scuff marks, "Like lashes?"

"I'm thinking more on the side of vine whips. I battled Red's Venusaur a while ago and it left similar patterns on the bark of the trees surrounding us."

I remained silent, trying to understand where Blue was leading with this. "Do you think the trainer is the same, only now she has a fully evolved Pokémon?"

"Exactly," she snapped her fingers, "I think her Venusaur is the reason for the collapse and I'll bet the witness statements report the same thing."

Venusaur must be important to Vespiquen.

"Arceus! That's it!" I suddenly gasped and grabbed Blue's arm. "That's why the numbers one, two and three are excluded from the murders. Bulbasaur was her starter Pokémon, so the perpetrator skipped their species in the sequence."

"You're right," Blue nodded her head , "Now it's time to retrace our records, we have to pull out any suspicious female trainers who chose Bulbasaur for their journey."

"That's going to take some time, let's see those witness statements just to confirm the Venusaur attack."

"Alright," the brunette yawned, then closed the lid of her laptop, "let's get those Snorlax up, they were looking over them with dinner."

As Blue went to wake up Green, I cautiously entered Red's room.

A warm light struck my face as the emerging sun leaked light through the room window; she was arriving with the early morning. Forgetting our newest revelation, I walked to his window and looked out at the view. Summer was peaking. The rays of sunshine were painting the windows of this building and, whilst I peered downwards at the city, my face began to warm with the coming heat of the day.

"Arceus!"

"Red!" I gasped, turning away from the window and meeting the sight of the disgruntled figure, tangled in his blanket.

"Why are you surprised? I'm the one who just woke up to find you beside my window, looking like you were set on fire." Red sat up and rubbed his hands through his dark hair groggily.

I couldn't deny it. He was really attractive.

I smiled to myself and looked back out of the window, "We need the witness statements from Viridian, Blue's picked up on some specific evidence."

"Green has them." I peered down at a small figure in the street as Red made a grunting sound, presumably stretching. "What are you looking at?"

"There's a challenger for Sabrina's gym." I whispered, then gulped as I felt his presence behind me.

Red follow my eyes as we watched a young girl enter the gym, a Butterfree on her shoulder. "She's smart for going in the day - Sabrina can be a creep when it gets dark."

"I've heard about her telekinetic powers." I murmured as the vibrations from his voice bounced off the back of my neck.

"Yeah, we had quite a sinister battle. Have you challenged any gyms?"

I turned around and shyly met Red's crimson eyes, "No, I only battle if it's absolutely necessary."

"Pokémon are too precious, you don't want to hurt them, right?"

"That's exactly it, I think they're such amazing creatures." I grinned as I thought of my sleeping Pikachu who had stayed up all night with me.

"You're thinking of ChuChu right?" Red looked back at me with a teasing smile.

As I nodded, he met my eyes with a wide smile that reassured me of his mutual love for Pokémon. I felt my legs begin to vaguely weaken at the close proximity of his presence, but the spreading warmness in my chest steadied me. The sun's glare was warming against the back of my head as I locked eyes with Red, and I couldn't tell if it was the heat or emotions that made me blush.

~

I could feel the frustration begin to boil between us.

"I cannot believe you think this is worth it." Green glared at me for about the hundredth time as he looked up from his laptop.

"Green, we literally have no other option." Even Yellow was irritated with him in her tone.

"I'm just saying, cross referencing trainers' starter Pokémon with criminal records in the spread of five years isn't the best way to go."

"He has a point." Red looked up from his screen, and received a glare from me.

"I love you guys, but unless you shut the hell up, I will smash your laptops over those thick heads." I met eyes with my boyfriend and scowled at him, receiving a middle finger in return.

"What else do you suggest, Green?" Yellow sighed then carried on eating a MooMoo yoghurt.

"I say we go over all our evidence, run more tests for biometrics from the Pokè balls and then chase up the missing Polazo sister."

"We can easily get the sub-unit to do all of that."

I watched in amusement as Red bashfully peered over Yellow's shoulder to check the flavour of her snack. She jumped in shock, then faded red and turned her head away from him as he asked, "Was that the last Mago one?"

"Red, Yellow wouldn't do that to you." I rolled my eyes, "and Green, I think it's important to focus on Vespiquen; she's the root of the crimes. Without their queen, her subjects are powerless."

"Easier said than done, do you realise how many trainers there are each year?"

"Yes!" I snapped and then groaned, "I'm looking through the same fucking information."

"Calm down." Red muttered.

I snapped my head to him, shouting "No!" and then throwing my headphones in the direction.

I had the slimmest chance of finding a lead, but if that disappeared then I'd be as hopeless as I was a day ago. On top of that, Yellow and I hadn't slept for a day and the effects were starting to hammer in.

"This is ridiculous Blue, why are you calling the shots?" Green frowned at me.

"We know more than we did yesterday, we're looking for a strong female trainer with a Venusaur." I ignored his question and continued to browse through the profile of a blonde boy.

"On the bright side, at least we didn't wake up to another crime." Red offered some cheap hope and Yellow and I simultaneously sighed.

"What? It's true."

"True for you, because you actually got some sleep."

"Well I'm sure you could've fitted some sleep into that small discovery, Blue."

"Green, we're on a break." I announced, releasing the seal of our bumpy relationship.

The squabbling that came after that was a given. The four of us, Yellow now agitated too, continued to argue in the heat of being confined to one case for so long. Our yells were combined into a loud sound that covered all other things.

"K-Z!"

I snapped my head to the door, expecting Lance to angrily scold us again. I was wrong

In my years working at the DAPP, I had never seen the man with such a mellow expression.

"Yellow, have you checked your phone?"

We all turned to watch the girl, who innocently shook her head. Her hazel eyes creased in worry, "No, why?"

Lance jerked his head to the hallway, and she quickly followed him in the direction. The door shut.

If tensions had burnt before, agony was searing through us now.

We all had a vague idea of the unwanted news the girl could be hearing, but none of us wanted to admit it. Silence entwined around as we sat still, avoiding eye contact simply because of ignorance.

My doubts were consolidated when I heard a room door slam shut, with Lance simultaneously returning to us.

"He passed away an hour ago."

The bitter taste of blood sank under my teeth as I stopped chewing my lip

"You have two jobs now. Solve the case as detectives, and support her as friends."

A/N:

Whew it's been a while, I'm sorry about that, I had to take some time off but hopefully there will be weekly updates from now.

Clues are starting to mould into the case, but now there are more problems arising in K-Z!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, as always feel free to voice your opinions in the comments :)

Baii for now x