The Lost Journal

*Recording*

Reporter: "Recently the famous Cottonwood Orphanage was destroyed by what seemed to be a rampant Pokémon attack. Investigations haven't concluded but there are reports that the destruction seemed to be caused by some type of fighting, or psychic type Pokémon as well as one with large claws. Could this be a new type of Pokemon, or the work of multiple is still up for investigation, regardless, safety should be everyone's number one priority. Anyone in the area that has any knowledge of the incident, or any lost Pokémon are instructed to inform appropriate authorities immediately and not approach them. They could be dangerous."

A figure emerges from a sector of the crumbling building left in stable relatively unharmed conditions, the only part left in such a manner. Wearing a long white lab coat and blue jeans with a white under shirt and a tired expression, the reporter immediately jumps at the opportunity to talk to him.

Reporter: " Dr. Cottonwood, People are horrified about the damage to such an important facility. Of the Orphanage, Pokémon school and Daycare Center, once supported at this location, none of them are in a state where they can continue normal operations. Do you have anything to say to this regions people, pertaining to the matter?"

Cottonwood: "This here was a most tragic event that no one could have seen coming. It is truly a travesty, however reconstruction is projected to start immediately, the world waits for no one and these children still need to have a safe place to live. Now I'm busy so if you would excuse me."

The reporter refused to relent.

Reporter: " Is this place truly safe? For an institution that is supposed to be able to maintain the Pokémon of this regions gym circuit trainers, you and your team failed to keep the Pokémon in line, not only that you endangered the lives of the children in doing so. Are you not concerned about the possible ethical and liability concerns this event will bring?"

Cottonwood: " What occurred last night was a complete accident. It was probably some child that refused to listen to the rules about keeping the Pokémon in their respective habitats. We don't allow the children near Pokémon that are too rowdy or violent, but if one of them didn't listen and went into the restricted areas it is possible that they may have brought them into the building allowing for the destruction that ensued. Hopefully this will be a lesson to the children about the importance of adhering to guidelines and rules. Thankfully no children were harmed."

The professor continued to walk away, but right before the professor left a voice called, stopping him in his tracks.

Police 1: "Professor Cottonwood, we are going to have to ask you to come with us for questioning."

Cottonwood: " ... and under what assumption are you detaining me?"

Police 1: " Your previous statement, insinuates that a child was responsible for the events that occurred, however all of the children are accounted for, the only possible casualties being the few of your own college scientists that have mysteriously gone missing, not including the ones we've already confirmed dead. The attack also seemed to originate from the labs section of the facility, a place that the children shouldn't have been able to access. There are too many other inconsistencies among the evidence. Unfortunately, we are going to have to detain you for now."

Cottonwood: " I still don't see you reasoning behind detaining me," He looked over at the camera to see if it was still rolling" We are on live television I doubt people would react so kindly if they saw the police acting out of line. If that is all good day."

Police 1: "We may not have evidence that you are responsible for this event specifically, however our investigation has brought up questions about your institutes morality, seeing as signs of child and Pokémon inhumanities, were found, in addition to other unlicensed practices ongoing in the facility. Please just come and make this easy for us. If your not really guilty than this should be nothing more than a minor inconvenience. If your that concerned and eager about the copious amounts of paperwork you have to do in light of this mess, I'm sure we can arrange for it to be brought to your holding cell. Besides, there we can provide you with a desk that hasn't been ... violently deconstructed." The Professor had a face full of concealed wrath, but complied.

* Recording Cut*

Thinking back to the book she found the officer frowned. There was plenty she didn't fully understand yet, but the unease festering in her heart, made her both scared and anxious. She hopes this wouldn't be a common thing it was her first days on the job after all.

~ 6 hours Earlier ~

A report of a rampant Pokémon attack at the Pallidine Orphanage, caused the police department to launch an immediate investigation. A team of four police officers were immediately dispatched to quell the creature, and assess the damages caused. The black of night blanketed the group as they had arrived and moved to investigate the rubble.

Officer 2: "~Whistle~ This place is completely trashed. Whatever did this, definitely didn't like it here." He was a thin man with fiery orange hair, dark onyx eyes, and a relaxed expression showing slight signs of surprise.

Officer 3: "Stop gawking at the wreckage, Alvin, and come on, we don't know if anyone was hurt." A shorter woman with green hair and purple eyes pulled the man along.

Alvin: "Alright." The man followed seeming amused at the lady's worry

Officer 4: " This is a crime scene, not a playground you two. Be vigilant. That Pokémon may still be here and by the looks of things it is very violent. Reema do you have anything?"

Reema: "Noibat doesn't seem to detect anything, it looks that much of the building is destroyed and the parts still standing will probably collapse soon. How should we proceed captain?"

Alvin: "That's my que. Monferno, lairon, your assistance please." Two Pokémon were released out of two black, yellow and white Pokéballs. One a monkey like creature whos tail acts like a torch, warm and bright contrasting their dark surroundings. The other a stout black quadruped clad in a thick silver armor casing. " You know what to do. Help us clear a path so we can better access the facility."

Rose: " Torterra, Gothita, we need your help." A new set of two pokemon, one a massive tortoise with a tree growing from its back, the other a small black and white creature resembling a child. " Torterra, use frenzy plant to reinforce the walls. Gothita keep them safe from any falling debris."

Reema: "Captian?"

Officer 4: Its fine, I was going to have us do something like this anyways. Conkeldurr, Mamoswine help them move the debris and reinforce the walls and ceiling." Two massive creatures, a muscular humanoid who for some reason is carrying two cylindrical cinderblocks, and a massive boar like mammoth assisted the others.

The Pokémon worked in beautiful synchronization as the pile of rubble soon became a forest of vines and ice. Impeding obstacles were quickly destroyed, eaten or relocate as the team swiftly yet cautiously made their way into the broken building.

There was an eerie stillness to the scene, the only sound was the screech of metal and crumble of rock and rebar. The team assumed they must have entered the labs section of the facility, the various machines that were smashed and/or torn apart suggested such. The ceiling and walls were held up and patched by vines and ice, the rubble being moved out of the room until the unstable pile of concrete and rebar had cleared and turned into a, for the most part, functioning room again. The team moved throughout the facility in a similar manner, in each room they would clear it of debris, ensure nothing dangerous was present, scan for people or things of importance and move on.

Things continued until they reached a small room. Up until this point they had found nothing. No Pokémon, no people, nothing of noteworthy importance, and nothing in working order. Upon entering the room they noticed it was still intact for the most part. The door to the room had been reduced to splinters and the wall was destroyed but for the most part this was the only intact room they had found.

Reema: " Looks to be a child's room."

Alvin: " Yep, Thank you for stating the obvious. That was truly enlightening."

Rose: "Don't be mean to Remie." Rose smacks Alvin in the back of the head.

Captain: " I swear I work with a bunch of idiots." He got an alarmed look from Reema in response. "Not you of course but ..."

Alvin: "You hear that Rose, Captain called you an idiot."

Alvin: "Rose?"

Rose: "What did you find there, Claire?"

The Gothita excitedly shows Rose a small metal box with no openings that was hidden inside a cut in the bottom of the mattress of the small bed in the room. The bed had been tipped on its side revealing a gap in the bottom.

Captain: "I think I've seen one of those before, I think it's supposed to be a puzzle for psychic types to learn how to control their powers. If I recall correctly the box has a mechanism that you can only open from the inside."

Rose: "Think you can open it?" Rose asked her Gothita

" ita!" The Gothita seemed exited, and the box started to float suspended by a thin layer of pink around the outside.

~Click~

The box opened to reveal a Journal titled ' Avril's Super Secret Spy Journal.'

Reema: "That's cute."

Rose: "We can look into it later. Try to find Avril and return the book to her."

Alvin: "So it's back to work then? Alright lets get this over with! I really want a nap so full steam ahead."

The team continued to go through and clear rooms. The rooms that followed were the same as the rooms before until they had reached a clearing of sorts. This room had a caved in ceiling, and the floor was covered in blood. A body hung limply, crudely decorating a pile of scrap metal, painting a grotesque scene of hanging organs and impaled limbs. Another was crushed under the ceiling, an arm outstretched as if attempting to grab hold of freedom from it's unfortunate coffin of fallen rocks. The destruction seemed to have stemmed from a peculiar pile of rocks expressly covering a hole in the ground that had a trail of blood leading out from it to the crushed corpse.

Alvin: " That's definitely not a good sign. So should we call for reinforcements?"

Reema: " No, Whatever happened, it happened a while before we got here. Besides the destruction is focused outwards. The work it took to get to this point proves that whatever it was that caused this probably didn't have the intention of coming back."

Captain: " We'll trust Reema's judgement. But just to be safe, Puff come on out." A large dopey looking bipedal green dragon emerges. It is green with a yellow stomach and has two tiny green wings, with a purple color on the underside, that can somehow carry his bulky body. " Puff you're on protection duty. Should anything try and attack use thunder wave. If that doesn't work, Ice beam."

Alvin: " and it begins."

Rose: " You just wanted to show off your shiny dragonite, huh?"

Captain: " ~Cough~Cough~ come on lets continue."

The team moved the rocks and the hole was fully reveled. Steeling themselves they descended into the gaping maw of darkness, the scent of blood weighing heavy on the group. They knew they would be safe, however the sight of the mangled corpses and blood isn't the most reassuring of images. When entering the hole the team noticed their flashlights dim, however that could have just been an effect of their imagination. When the bodies they just saw are taken into account, not the most helpful of times for the dark to present itself.

They continued their investigation, however the unease in their hearts grew with the size of the claw marks that had torn into the thick steel walls. Every object they had encountered from the entrance of the hole had been crushed or sliced into pieces by what seemed to be razor sharp claws. The destruction followed a path though not deviating it twisted and turned flowing along with the hall even occasionally falling back on itself, but even still, it carried forward..

Rose: " Do you guys think this path ever ends? We've been walking for ... Ahhhh!"

Rose dropped her flash light and fell back letting out a scream. The others moved their flashlight towards her and a headless corpse laid limp across the ground, a long claw mark along the wall above the body, its head located right next to Rose's foot looking straight up at where she was standing with dark hollowed eyes filled with terror.

Alvin: " Calm down Rose, this is nothing to lose your head over." Alvin spoke sarcastically but, there was a brief nervousness in his voice. Rose gave him a glare.

Reema: " Lets keep going I think the end is just up ahead."

Rose: "Do dead people just not bother you? Even a little?"

Reema: "They're dead. They can't bother me, they can't do much of anything."

Rose: " That's not the point!"

Captain: "We can question Reema's ethics later, lets just worry about finishing up here and getting out. Alvin take some pictures, Rose thanks for the heads up, though if you could just use words to tell us you found another dead body, my ears would appreciate it."

Rose: " Why am I the only one who seems fazed by this?"

Alvin: " This is far from the first dead body we've all seen. Now I wouldn't say I'm used to it. The feeling will always be there, but I can restrain myself. It's alright child I'll protect you."

Rose: "Really? Your not as big an a- ... Wait? DID YOU JUST CALL ME A CHILD!?"

Alvin: " Yeah, shorty, I did. Whatchu gonna do about it?"

Rose: "*******"

Captain: "Those two are extremely unprofessional."

Reema: " How did they even get accepted into the police force?"

Captain: " I have no clue."

Reema: " Why don't you request them be transferred to another team?"

Captain: " Because they're my problem, also your new so you wouldn't know or really believe this but they are actually some of the best officers we have."

Reema: " Really? Them?" She points to the two grown adults currently on the ground kicking screaming and pulling each other's hair.

Captain: "Like I said, You wouldn't believe it until you saw it. " The captain grabbed Reema's arm and pulled her along raising his voice. "We'll just leave them to the terrifying man eating monster while we go on ahead. Come on Puff."

Alvin: "Wait! Captain!"

Rose: "Don't leave us behiiiiind"

The quarrel between the two was immediately resolved as they both ran after their coworkers that had essentially abandoned them. They reached the end of the hall and were presented with a new room. The room had a thick steel door that had been torn to shreds and blown out from the inside, an operating table was blown to one side and crumpled like a tin can, while broken glass littered the floor, along with other medical type machines that looked pretty beat up. However, those details were overlooked immediately as the main focus was the four bodies that lied within the room. One was crudely split across the middle the cut starting from the man stomach reaching to his spine. Another had their head crushed against the wall, where pieces of brain and bone fragments still lingered above the headless body. The other two faced similar fates, they all were very crude and very messy.

"~Blurg~" Rose couldn't hold her dinner in as the smell and sight assaulted her senses simultaneously. Alvin was looking pretty pale too.

Reema: "That is rather unfortunate." Rose looked like she wanted to say something about Reema's statement but, the only thing that would end up coming out is bile and what's left of lunch so she decided to keep her mouth shut.

The Captain took a deep breath and turned away, collecting himself. and even Puff the dragonite seemed disturbed by the scene in the room.

Captain: "Reema, since you don't seem overly bothered by this , I would like you to finish collecting evidence down here. Dragonite will stay with you while I take the other two back outside, come meet back up with us when your done, and we'll call a team to start an actual investigation.

Reema: "Understood."

After they had reconvened outside they contacted headquarters to report their findings and confirmed that the area was safe.

~~~~~

Reema: "Captain I've completed everything."

Captain: "Thank you. You've done very well today."

Reema: " Thank you."

Rose: "Thanks Remie, I really couldn't stand it down there anymore. I've never been good with the scary stuff. Alvin isn't either even if he refuses to admit it."

Reema: " How did the two of you even find your way into the police force?"

Rose: "..."

Alvin: " That's a topic we would rather not get into if you don't mind."

Reema: "Alright. You don't have to tell me."

Rose's Gothita cried out to Rose to get her attention, holding the book they had found earlier.

Rose: "Claire is right, we should try to find the little girl and give her, her book back."

Captain: "I think that is a wonderful idea. A smiling child is just the thing we need to make us feel better."

Alvin: " Agreed, I think that will help a lot."

Captain: "Alright, lets make this quick. We still have to complete our job but this little detour shouldn't hurt anyone."

The team traveled the short distance to the refuge where the children had been evacuated too. The issue was, when they got there there wasn't a child named Avril present. The Childs name didn't even come up in the records. According to the orphanage staff no one was missing, and the child Avril never existed. Confused, yet pressed for time they left with the book in hand, as they needed to return to the scene to give a report to the forensic team they called.

Rose: "That was weird, why would the book be named that, if Avril really didn't exist?"

Alvin: " Maybe it's the diary of a fictional character or imaginary friend? You had one of those when you were younger didn't you?"

Rose: " No. I had a diary and an imaginary friend, not a diary about the imaginary friend."

Reema: " You're incorrect to assume she didn't exist the book says specifically she was Avril, and kept, away from the other children."

Rose: " Says the book? Wait! Why are you reading that!?"

Reema: "We know nothing about this Avril, what better way then reading their diary?"

Rose: "True. But, do you have no sense of decency, these types of things are private."

Reema: " Think about it like this. This girl, whose body we didn't find, so we can presume she's alive for now, was writing a book about her life that was intentionally removed from all of the orphanage records. Now what better way to find and possibly save this child than to understand her on a personal level and try to understand what she was going through, and where she might go."

Alvin: "That would insinuate that you could understand her based on the contents of the book."

Reema: " I see, you have a point. Rose you read it." Reema tosses the book to Rose.

Rose: "What? No. That's an invasion of privacy."

Alvin: " That's not exactly what I meant, but if anyone was to understand a child it would be Rose. Go on, her privacy has already been invaded the least we could do is try and find her."

Rose: "You both suck. Why don't we have captain read it?"

Reema: " He's in a meeting."

Rose: "After the meeting."

Reema: " Dunno, he probably could."

Alvin: "Why don't we all just read it together. So long as the police have that as evidence they're going to have to investigate it anyways might as well do it ourselves now."

Reema: "You have a point."

Rose: "I thought you wanted a nap?"

Alvin: " This is far more interesting than a nap."