Chapter 4

Apparently, a lot could go wrong.

When one officer accidentally bumped into Cynthia, he knocked a pokeball to the ground in the process. With an explosion of light and a boastful roar, an Aggron appeared, and true to Shadow's words, starting firing hyper beams carelessly when he couldn't find hide nor hair of his trainer. It took multiple flamethrowers, fireblasts, and a super effective earthquake from Garchomp to finally bring down the rampaging Aggron. Though many realized they could've just returned it to its ball after the fiasco was already over.

Cynthia sighed and rubbed her temple as she surveyed the damage the powerful iron armor pokemon had caused. The hope that maybe Tyranitar and Luxray were Shadow's only strong pokemon shot out the window, leaving broken fragments of glass and destrution and tiredness and- wait, no those were just the results of Aggron's hyper beams, never mind.

She eyed the remaining three pokeballs, idly wondering what other powerhouses Shadow could possibly have, when Officer Jenny walked briskly towards her. "Shadow is settled in one of the guest quarters with officers and their pokemon on guard at all times," she stated, saluting crisply.

"All right, make sure he doesn't escape," Cynthia replied smoothly, "I need to check what other pokemon this young mystery has without them blowing something up," she said with a pointed look at the destruction the Aggron had caused, "I'll contact Professor Rowan, he'll surely have something."

With that, Cynthia slipped the pokeballs into her coat pocket and swept out of the police station, humming softly under her breath.

Luckily, or unluckily, the station was fairly close to Sandgem town, so she didn't have much time to think about Shadow or his situation. She headed toward the lab before something caught her eye. An ice cream stand. Cynthia stood there staring, conflicted, before deciding the situation at hand was slightly, just slightly, more important than the delicious creamy goodness with chewy sprinkles and sugary chocolate syrup on top and the fudge swirl in the mid- she was getting off topic.

With a mournful sigh and a silent promise to get the frozen treat after this whole ordeal, Cynthia turned and headed to the Professor's lab, expertly ignoring the awed eyes that followed her everywhere she went. She stopped at the door, knocking politely and waiting patiently for the sound of footsteps.

The door opened and a gruff voice called out, "yes?" She was soon face to face with Professor Rowan, who eyed her in barely hidden surprise. "Ah, Cynthia. What can I do for you today?"

"We recently caught a... wayward youth, with powerful pokemon," she hesitantly replied, before taking out the three pokeballs. "We had the pleasure of battling two of them, and seeing a third display his incredible might on the local police station."

The professor, sharp as always, got where she was headed and cut her off, "You want to know what other pokemon he has without them causing any... major damage."

"Yes, that would be preferable, major damage is not good," Cynthia responded dryly.

It looked like Rowan barely refrained from rolling his eyes as he harrumphed, "Someone didn't get their morning ice cream," he muttered, swiping the pokeballs out of her hand and hurriedly striding toward the pokemon identifier. Despite his dismissive manner, it was obvious the professor was just as eager to find out the identity of the powerhouse pokemon.

The champion watched as he carefully slid in a pokeball before pressing a button. "Typhlosion, the volcano pokemon, the evolved form of Quilava," the machine spoke in a monotone voice, "It attacks using blasts of fire and creates heat shimmers with intense fire to hide itself."

"A Johto pokemon, and a starter no less," Professor Rowan said, sounding surprised, "This trainer of yours must've traveled around to get one of these."

Cynthia was surprised as well, narrowing her eyes in thought. A trainer this young catching a Cyndaquil? He wasn't old enough to get a starter, how did he get all these pokemon? This case was just getting more interesting. The further this went, the more questions she had, and it felt like the answers were right there, just out of reach, mocking her. She clenched her jaw slightly in frustration before beckoning the professor to continue.

Rowan took the signal and retracted the pokeball, placing the next one in and pressing a button, "Houndoom, the dark pokemon, the evolved form of Houndour. Houndoom's eerie howl is said to cause those who hear it to shudder in fear."

Cynthia frowned, Houndoom were fairly simple to get. Houndour was easy to catch and it didn't take too much effort to level it up and evolve it. It didn't seem to fit in with all the extraordinary pokemon Shadow caught. Her brow furrowed, and she closed her eyes, deep in thought.

She snapped her eyes open, her train of thought cut off at the loud beeping coming from the machine. She glanced over to see the professor had already switched in the last pokeball and the screen was blinking red. "Alert, alert, alert. Extinct pokemon detected. Aerodactyl, the fossil pokemon. An extinct flying type assumed as a carnivore because of its sharp fangs and claws."

Cynthia's eyes widened.

What?