Pokémon Detective Case Files

Chapter 60 Suspect List in the Pokédex

"Ladies, please don't get bogged down in these trivial details so early on."

Seeing his companions around him looking frustrated as they faced the seemingly unsolvable double-room mystery, Hugo decided to release some of his current investigation progress in hopes of boosting morale.

"Any kind of locked room in the world can be solved. People leave a sound when they pass by, and swallows leave a trace when they pass by. As long as a locked room is created, there must be a way to solve it."

Hugo continued his speech in the locked room, even beginning to question the very existence of the locked room itself—

"The locked-room crime is a paradox in itself. In reality, someone who wants to commit murder doesn't need to go to great lengths to create a closed space. Unless the criminal wants to make the victim look like they committed suicide in a locked room, the existence of a locked room is useless to the murderer. And it's obvious that Mr. Greta, who was stabbed in the abdomen with a stone, did not die by suicide."

Finally, Hugo pointed to the room where the crime scene was located and said concluding remarks: "At this point, I can boldly assert that, including this locked-room mystery, the creation of any locked-room mystery is a product of the perpetrator's compromise with certain limiting conditions."

Seemingly used to it, Miss Officer Jenny extracted the key words from the detective's rambling speech: "You mean the murderer had to keep the locked room sealed for some reason?"

“That’s natural.” Hugo nodded. “Even the police didn’t know there were security cameras downstairs at first, so let’s leave aside the outermost secret room for now. The key is this secret room in front of us—”

The detective stepped to the side, fully exposing the apartment door to everyone: "Whether the murderer is human or Pokémon, he could easily have left the door wide open after killing the victim, making everyone in the building a suspect. But the murderer couldn't do that."

"Could it be that the murderer wanted to frame the victim's six handheld spirits?" Following the detective's train of thought, Azure asked her own question.

"That doesn't justify building the secret room," Hugo shook his head. "Even if the door were left open, those six Pokémon that have learned Rock-type moves could still become the prime suspects."

Officer Jenny scratched her dark green hair and then offered a conjecture: "Perhaps because the victim was still able to move when he was stabbed by the stone, the murderer deliberately locked the door in order to keep Mr. Greta in the room."

"Senior, the crime scene is locked from the inside, so the criminal who ran out couldn't lock the door from the outside..." Sera cautiously reminded her.

"I'm sorry, it was my oversight." The policewoman realized this and frankly admitted her mistake.

At this moment, the detective lowered his voice, as if avoiding eavesdropping from behind the walls, and slowly said to everyone, "Actually, I have a guess."

Then, Hugo gently led everyone to a corner of the stairwell away from the entrance to the crime scene, and then whispered to everyone, "I believe that the murderer is still hiding inside the crime scene, but his hiding methods are so sophisticated that the police have not yet found him."

Officer Jenny, Azure, and Sera all changed color at the same time, and cold sweat quietly broke out on their backs.

"This is why I lingered at the entrance of the crime scene. I searched my mind for all sorts of tricks related to locked-room crimes, but I still couldn't rule out this most terrifying possibility."

"Senior and I went to the crime scene this morning. Was the murderer right next to us...?" Sera asked the detective softly, but her respected senior Officer Jenny was startled by her question.

"I'm sorry, I can't rule out that possibility."

"Then where is the perpetrator?" Officer Jenny asked, frowning, having calmed down a bit. "The police have thoroughly investigated the crime scene; there's no place where someone could hide."

"What about Pokémon? Is it possible that small Pokémon or those skilled in mimicry could still be hiding inside the room?"

The question was posed by the assistant, Azure, whose reasoning completely opened her mind: "If it's a Ditto from the Kanto region, it could even disguise itself as a vase and hide in a room."

"But Ditto can't use its moves without a target, so where did it get the rock spikes it used to commit the crime?" Officer Jenny replied, "At the time, all of Greta's Pokémon were in Poké Balls. If there was no target to imitate, Ditto couldn't use its moves."

Azure was speechless, because Officer Jenny was absolutely right. This often eccentric policewoman's rise to become a "super detective" in the criminal investigation department wasn't entirely due to Hugo's help.

Hugo suddenly interjected: "Similarly, Pokémon like Porygon and Rotom, which can escape the scene using electronic devices, are unlikely to be the murderers because they cannot use Rock-type moves."

"Does a Pokémon exist that can use Rock-type moves and is small enough to hide?" The assistant pondered to herself, when suddenly she had a good idea.

Azure switched its Pokédex to silent mode, then opened it and entered its filter criteria: "Can use Rock-type moves," "Height at..."

She suddenly looked at Officer Jenny and asked, "How small would a Pokémon have to be to hide at a crime scene undetected?"

"Well..." The policewoman gestured with her hand to indicate the shape of a steamed bun, "If a Pokémon that big were hidden in an overturned teacup, the forensic department might indeed overlook it. But if it were a size bigger, it would be very conspicuous."

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"20 centimeters? Then let's set the filter to under 30 centimeters." Azure continued looking at the Pokédex, entered the information, and then clicked the filter button.

The four held their breath, waiting for the search results, while even the detective watched the spectacle with great interest.

"The eligible Pokémon are—Diglett, Alolan Diglett, Togepi, Shellder, Gastrodon, Diglett, Crab, Antminer, Diamondback, small and regular-sized Squidward, Meteorite, and Coke." Azure read softly.

"Is that all?"

"Are there that many?"

After reading it, Miss Officer Jenny and Miss Serra asked completely opposite questions.

"Why aren't Geodude and Magnemite on the list?" Officer Jenny asked, puzzled.

Azure patiently replied, "The smallest Geodude is 40 centimeters long, and Magnemite can't learn Rock-type moves."

"What kind of rock-type skills does the Pumpkin Spirit possess?" asked Sera, the deputy, her eyes fixed curiously on the azure sky.

Azure glanced at the Pokédex and replied, "It's 'Rock Slide,' which they can learn through TMs."

"Furthermore, Togepi and Gastrodon on the list both use 'Original Power' as their Rock-type move, which doesn't match the case details, so they can be largely ruled out," the assistant continued meticulously. "And the Pokédex classifies 'Secret Rock' as a Terrain-type move, not a Rock-type move. Should we search again?"

"No need," said Detective Hugo. "The on-site investigation indicates the absence of any special mechanisms. Under these conditions, the 'Secret Rock' couldn't have caused such significant damage."

The detective then returned to the door of the locked room, bowed, and apologized to everyone.

"I'm very sorry that my hesitation wasted everyone's time. It seems that this kind of discussion without evidence is not as good as going directly into the secret room to examine the remains at the scene. So, please remember the list of Pokémon that we just retrieved from the Pokédex. These are the types of Pokémon we are most suspicious of. If any traces of these Pokémon are found at the scene, please prepare for battle immediately."

Then, without waiting for everyone's response, the detective took the lead and opened the door to the secret room.