Day 2: Jubilife City, Sinnoh

Prompt: Jubilife City is the heart of entertainment in the Sinnoh region, and they always release a televised Christmas special in a regional broadcast. The reason for this is to raise awareness and gather donations for the homeless. However, this year, the crew responsible for this were locked in their meeting room and reported that the scripts were stolen. Detective Looker just happened to be near the area, so when he heard the trouble, he decided to launch himself into one more adventure before the year ended. As he investigates the odious deed, the name Cyrus appears multiple times. What is his connection to this, and will Looker be able to find the script before Christmas Day?
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"Tell me what you remember sir," Looker asked politely, yet firmly.

The man- a skinny man in his early twenties nodded once, immediately launching into his second retelling of the events.

"I finished editing the script for tomorrow's Christmas special and had gone home for the night when I got a call that someone had broken into the theater and stolen it. I was told the police would handle it but when I was finally allowed to go back this morning, my coworkers and I got locked in our meeting room while discussing possible options."

Looker held the phone closer to his ear, humming quietly while taking notes on the witness' account. "And you're sure you locked the theater down good and tight?"

"Of course,"

After thanking the man again for his time, Looker briefly glanced at the clock before scooping up his briefcase and heading outside. Although he wanted to check the location the script had last been seen, he knew he could be attacked by the perpetrator and locked with the others in the theater. Plus he knew the police had already done a through search last night. The knowledge of these two things led him to knocking on the door of the only person left he had to possibly shed some light on this new mystery.

"Ye- oh, it's you." Silver sighed irritably. "What do you want?"

"Good morning to you too Silver." Looker said with as much pleasantness as he could muster this early. "I'm sure you've heard about recent events." He continued, brushing past the redhead to enter the small house.

"I assume you're referring to the stolen documents? Of course I have,"

It had been ten years since the arrest of his father Giovanni in the Kanto region, but Silver had retired to a quieter life in as far a region from his home as one could.

"Then you'll know why I'm here." Looker placed his briefcase on the coffee table, swiftly popping open the latches, revealing a layer of papers messily strewn about it. "As my only Pokémon remains to be Mimi, who is currently back in Kalos with my intern, I'll need not only your assistance, but that of your Pokémon as well."

"Forget it, I'm done with putting my nose where it don't belong."

"Now Silver, I'm not asking as your former parole officer, but as a friend. Don't forget I've been there for you since your dad was locked up."

Silver and Looker locked eyes, silently challenging the other. After a moment Silver looked away, sighing and nodding to himself. "Fine, but after this you leave me alone. I'm a private detective not some hero."

"Fair enough," Looker agreed, quickly launching into the witness's account and what the police had told him.

"Alright, here's what we need to do," Silver's voice had a ring of authority to it now, one Looker couldn't help noticing as he listened intently to their plan of action.

🎄🎄🎄

"Are you sure we'll be able to get any information off that thing?" Looker asked for the uptenth time, causing Silver to sigh.

"Look, Looker I know you're nervous but the police gave us permission to look at these videos, and no disrespect to them, but I can find things on here that they can't."

The detective nodded in agreement, nervous for some unknown reason as a sense of foreboding took hold. "You always have been excellent with computers where my skills are quite lacking."

Learning to live on your own does teach you skills you can't learn elsewhere. Silver thought, fingers halting mid-flight across the keyboard as a silhouette appeared on-screen.

That can't be...

Silver zoomed in at different angles before speeding up the tape to the time the editor entered the next day. Every which way he sized it, nothing added up. Why would he put of all the possible people to steal the documents do it?

Looker took his companion's silence to mean he couldn't find out anything new, already heading for the door as an officer knocked on it.

"Sir, I was told to give you these when they came through. They're the analyst's forensic findings."

"Thank you officer, we'll take it from here."

Silver's head came up as the door closed, hand out. "Let me see those," he murmured, snatching the paper from Looker's hand. He skipped the introduction, skimming the paper until he hit the list of results. Releasing a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, Silver handed the paper back to Looker.

"Let's get going, we don't have much time before the script is due or they cancel the show."

The annual Christmas program for the homeless raised the most money, more than any other time of the year and although he himself had never received help until his father's arrest, Silver could understand how much it helped people in need. Arecus, if it hadn't been for his pride he would've let others help him when he was homeless. He'd been so naïve as a child. It had taken year but he'd finally come to realize some people were genuinely nice and actually wanted to help others.

"Where are we going?"

"To retrieve the stolen script of course." Silver replied, yanking the door open.

🎄🎄🎄

"I thought we were going to retrieve the manuscripts?" Looker asked in confusion, glancing around the small office off the main stage.

"With the workers locked up we have no choice but to examine the place ourselves." Silver's reply stunned Looker with the sheer simplicity and brilliance of it. In most cases that's exactly what Looker would've done first. The only reason he hadn't this time was because he thought the police would find anything worthy of noting.

"Feral," Feraligator came out of his PokeBall with a bored expression on his face, turning to Silver questioningly.

"I need you to see if you smell anything out of the ordinary. Anything that stands out."

"Wouldn't the police have used their Pokémon in the same manner?"

Silver shook his head. "The police here don't have a lot of Pokémon and tend not use them most of the time."

Looker wanted to ask how he knew so much about the police here but just then the Water type pointed to something on the ground near the desk's edge.

"It's blood," Silver confirmed, bending down to examine it. "Not a ton of it, but enough that whoever it belongs to must be injured on one arm."

"How can you tell?" Looker knew how he was taught to analyze wound injuries but he had no idea Silver knew how.

The redhead looked irked for a second before smoothing his facial expression. "Look at the small drops, there's a small amount of them but they landed in an almost perfect line. That tells me they most likely hit the floor at the same time or in rapid succession. Meaning the wound isn't deep due to the small amount of blood left, and it's most likely a long scrap on the perpetrator's forearm."

"Where'd you learn all that?"

"Feraligator return," Silver commanded, tucking his first partner's PokeBall safely into his jack pocket. "Let's go, I'll explain on the way."

Surprised by the younger man's sureness, Looker fell quiet as they exited the theater.

It wasn't until the duo arrived in a secluded area just northwest of Jubilife that Silver spoke. "You learn quickly what kind of evidence certain wounds leave behind when you have to be untraceable. I cleaned up any evidence that could be traced back to me. The only reason I was caught was because of an eyewitness."

"So where are we?"

"Keep your voice down," Silver whispered. "We're at the only place I can think that the perpetrator might go. It's the most secluded spot for miles."

"You sure know your way around here."

"I used to come here all the time, remember how you couldn't trace me for hours at a time?"

Looker's expression changed from apprehension to amazement. "Brilliant," he whispered, following Silver through the trees to a small strip of sand on the edge of a cliff, not quite large enough to be labeled as a beach.

"Wait," holding out a hand to halt him, Silver carefully edged over to an almost invisible hole in the cliff wall.

Looker watched quietly as Silver released his Sneasel, who entered the cave. A sound like metal rubbing against each other could be heard as a young man exited the cave, with one hand over his ear.

"Gold," Silver's voice spooked the boy but he quickly regained his composure.

"What do you want?" The sneer in his voice was not one Looker was used to hearing from the man who had become Champion in Johto.

"We're here to arrest you," Looker replied coldly, quickly piecing it together. "And to take back those manuscripts you stole."

Gold looked around, searching for an escape route but Sneasel and Feraligator cut off the two exits Silver and Looker weren't blocking.

"Fine, you can have 'em." Gold said, throwing the thick script at Looker and running for it. His Typlohsion appearing seconds later, successfully distracting Feraligator. The two Pokémon fought ferociously.

"Don't let him get away." Silver growled at Sneasel, who immediately took off after the young man. The wound on Gold's arm limited his mobility down to one arm and his legs, which Sneasel quickly pinned down either his claws. Silver was on him a second later, holding Gold's arms behind his back.

"Cuffs,"

"Oh right," Looker juggled the papers in one hand while handing the handcuffs over with the other.

"Why'd you do it Gold?" He asked on the car ride back to town. Everything but motive added up.

"The needy lie and cheat hardworking people to meet their needs." He replied simply before falling into silence once more.

Unsure what to say to that Looker kept quiet, Silver coping him in the passenger's side.

To say the scriptwriters were overjoyed is an understatement, all of them sobbing and hugging each other as the board room was unlocked and the manuscript returned.

"So how'd you know it was him?"

Silver merely glanced at him before answering. "Would you forget the face of the guy who got you locked up?"

"Point taken." The pair stood in silence before Looker smiled, a thought crossing his mind.

"You know," Looker said, gently nudging him in the side, gesturing to the group of hugging people. "You may not see yourself as a hero, but to them you are."

That night the town raised three times the amount it had the previous year, enough to help every needy person in the region.
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A/N: Helllo!

I'll keep this short, but let me know what you think of this short story, it was fun getting to write about Silver (who was my favorite back in HeartGold/SoulSilver). I'm one of the few who doesn't like Gold, found him to be a more irritating version of Ash tbh. But Silver, now there's an interesting character lol. The sheer amount of complexities he has makes writing about him all the more enjoyable. This prompt gave me that opportunity to explore what could he have done after beating the Champion and the events of the games? It's anyone's guess really but I hope you enjoyed this. Did you guess who it was? I sure didn't expect it to be Gold, maybe he's not as perfect as he seems? *gasp* Anyway. I plan on posting two prompts tomorrow with the others following. Bye for now guys! Merry Christmas!

Edit: thanks for the cool new cover goes to @Wizard-mon . Thanks friend ^_^

-CoordinatorIza out! ^_^