I’m guessing this is supposed to be the place?

Elaine Highland stood before a pair of doors within a building. The directions given to her were pretty vague, so Elaine could surmise that she was just one of many hit by a carpet bomb of requests sent to a wide array of people. The request hadn’t been sent to her, specifically. Someone had decided that sending requests to any private investigators and detectives across Hoenn was a bright idea.

Needless to say, the client that had requested investigators who could be off the books was someone who held a decent amount of influence. Given what she had looked into, this woman was a CEO of a decently sized company.

Can’t really question what stroke of good fortune I had to get a client like this.

The young detective smiled a crooked smile before she walked through the door. Wiping her countenance of any semblances of her personal distortions and greed, she moved through.

Though this place does look a lot calmer than I expected for a location under cyber attack. Must’ve been a pretty solid cover-up job.

With a smile, she looked towards her client on the opposite end of the room.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Elaine Highland, one of the detectives you made a request out for.”

Crossing her arms and giving a business-like smile, she gracefully showed her empty right palm to the woman before her as a sign of openness. No need for a curtsy or any of those other formalities.

---

Katarina Dewi
Mission: Data Leak

What awaited her was when she crossed the threshold into the CEO’s office was a cavalcade of detectives. As she had surmised, whoever had sent out the request had carpet-bombed a phone book category to gather everyone who was here. She couldn’t say for certain who it was, but she could only assume that it came under orders.

Regardless, the rainbow of detectives that had shown up had seemingly all dwarfed her in terms of eccentricities. That was how Elaine felt when she gazed at all of them. There was a ringleader, a biker type, and even a few children. They all seemed to remain silent throughout the entirety of the proceedings, so while she may not have stood out in terms of glitz and glamour (though she would say she had plenty of flair and finesse on her own), it seemed enough to get the head honcho to point to her as the sole choice.

Was it the daring to break the silence she had demonstrated?

Was it the formality of her introduction?

Elaine could not pin it down, but it seemed that the CEO, Miss Katarina Dewi, had chosen—

Wait? Little Girl?

Taking a moment to realize what she had heard, she almost found herself blinking in confusion.

No, this is just someone who probably refers to those decently younger as ‘little’ or ‘kid’. This is not a hill worth dying on. Just don’t take it personally and move on with it.

The young woman in her mid-20s walked over to the chair across from the stern woman and her armored-looking bird as the others acquiesced to their fear of the bird making itself look as big as possible for intimidation, all the while not making any attempt to hide their displeasure at the situation.

But none of that mattered. While a team of detectives could amplify each other through cooperation, it was just as likely that they could wear each other down through unbearable friction, especially when a myriad of personalities like the ones before had gathered.

Choosing to bank on one based on an arbitrary quality was likely the best bet.

In which case, despite her abrasive personality, Katarina was definitely shrewd. In which case, Elaine needed to respond in kind and live up to her expectations of her, regardless of how many times she may get called a child.

The road back up was long and arduous after all.

“Porygon, huh.”

The girl crossed her legs at her ankles and held her right elbow with her left hand before bringing her right hand to her face, resting a finger on her chin.

Given what Katarina had said, there were likely multiple that were swarming the city’s network.

“In that case, we don’t need to move around too much. The fact that you know what is affecting everything means that you likely have some sort of method on a few of the culprit Pokemon, I imagine. Perhaps it’s even continuous. If that’s the case, we can use that information to our advantage.” She said, elegantly pointing towards the computer on Katarina’s desk after moving her finger away from her face.

They just needed to parse through the data and see where they were popping up and hitting. The first part of the investigation was to figure out whether their movements were random or targeted. The methodology and further logic came from that point forward.

---

Katarina Dewi
Mission: Data Leak

Despite Elaine giving quick solution to pressing out the offenders causing the issues, it seemed like Katarina was running her own solutions to the problem in parallel. Moreover, she was far more open about the limitations of what they were trying than Elaine had expected.

In the end, dealing with this remotely would have been the best methodology.

However, it was clear what Katarina had wanted when she had said that she was going to force the Porygon into reality.

“If you still don’t understand it, what I want from you is to be my puppet.”

While it may have seemed overkill to bring in a detective for what sounded like mercenary style work, it made more sense the more one thought about it. Forcing them out into reality still didn’t mean they would be easy to find. Ascertaining the locations they would pop out of, even within a small frame of space, was paramount. Otherwise, the targets would escape again.

Taking the headset she had been given, she fastened it and walked to the Corviknight who had been offered to her as an assist.

“So you’ll be my guide, huh? It’s a pleasure to meet you. Having you out at the front should help with the element of surprise.” She said to the armored bird with a smile.

Yes, there was no need to have her fly atop Ginga’s back if she had this one carry her to the next location. In the meanwhile, she rubbed her finger atop Titania’s Pokeball before reaching a hand out to the bird.

“Alright, then. Let’s get this started.” The cocky smile that made waves for her as a child broke free as it was time to crush another job.

---

Katarina Dewi
Mission: Data Leak

It didn’t take long for her to approach. The Corviknight she had taken to riding upon the back of had made its way to the first site rather quickly and effortlessly. It wasn’t too hard to find—the scattering sparks were a dead giveaway of something being wrong. But, before she made the mistake of carelessly approaching, she got her hand at the ready, clasping at a Pokeball.

“Okay, now!”

With that simple command, the armored bird moved straight towards the billboard. That was all it took for something to materialize around the billboard. A magenta and blue being that had seemingly been made of multiple parts moving independently, frantically and oh so tangentially connected to a central main body.

It was like watching a malfunctioning toy in some aspect.

But she had no time to dwell on that. If she didn’t take this opportunity, she would lose a chance to completely startle it.

“TITANIA! DISRUPT!”

The pokeball in her hand released the brutal deciever Pokemon who had taken the first opportunity to bare its open maw to the frantic Pokemon, only serving to make its movements more erratic as it started to store electricity.

But that would not be the end of it. Before the tiny thing could release any of it, Titania flipped over its side and landed its fist straight into where that thing’s neck would be. A direct Sucker Punch that caused the Porygon-Z to change its head’s position ever so slightly, turning the head ever so slightly, turning the apex of its head, the center of its charge towards…

“TO THE RIGHT, HURRY!”

Shouting a command to the Corviknight, she felt a thrust as the bird deftly moved itself in the direction she had indicated, barely avoiding the thick golden lines of plasma that streaked from its head into the sky.

With a quick flick of her hand, she returned the falling Titania to its ball, only to watch the Porygon-Z quickly floating towards a nearby onlooker’s phone, dissipating and flowing into it.

“Guess we should be glad it used Thunder and missed, huh...” Elaine wiped the sweat off her forehead as she let out a deep sigh and gazed upwards. “Well, it’s scared enough. If we hit the others, we can have them all lead us to the culprit. Shame this is more of a brawny job rather than a brainy one for me.”

---

Katarina Dewi
Mission: Data Leak