dmims Chapter 43 Every place leaves a trace
Chapter 43 Every place leaves a trace
The detective pointed at the tall student, but his face showed a refreshed expression, as if his work was about to end.
"I don't understand what you're talking about," Yamashita said, frowning unhappily after being called out by the detective.
"Ha, that's a common excuse used by criminals to start their arguments." Hugo waved his hands dramatically, like a theatrical actor, relentlessly mocking him. "Next, are you going to ask me if I have any concrete evidence to prove that you are the mastermind behind this case?"
“You’d better have it,” Yamashita said calmly, his demeanor perfectly behaving like that of someone falsely accused. His calm poker face was as innocent as a baby’s, while his clenched fists at his sides revealed a hint of aggrieved anger.
From the perspective of Azure, who was watching from the side, if one had to say, it was actually the detective with his teeth bared that looked more like a criminal who had successfully committed a crime.
"Evidence can be obtained by simply catching the criminal and torturing him severely—although I've always wanted to say that, you've been carrying out a bizarre operation that lasted for six months. You don't actually think you left no trace, do you?"
"trace?"
Just as everyone was waiting for the detective to continue explaining how he solved the case, Hugo suddenly shouted, "This is the evidence!"
With a loud bang!
As if receiving a detective's order, the research institute's door was kicked open, and the figure of a girl with a high ponytail wearing a baseball cap appeared in the backlight of the day.
Then, a huge horde of Pokémon flooded into the research lab’s hall, instantly filling the once spacious hall as if it had been swept away by a flood.
"Hugo! I've brought all the Pokémon from the backyard breeding area here!"
Douzi, standing at the doorway, jumped and hopped, asserting her presence. Beside her were Emboar, Samurai, and Serperior, all in their third-stage evolutions. It seems these parental evolved Pokémon played a significant role in herding these Pokémon into the lab.
"What...what's going on!" Dr. Yew was somewhat frightened and glared fiercely at the smug detective beside him.
“Let’s continue with the topic I mentioned earlier—seemingly small, accidental aggregations can sometimes form a certain inevitable trend. This is precisely the false miracle, the statistical magic called ‘central tendency’.”
Otter, Tepig, Snivy, Otter, Tepig, Snivy, Otter, Tepig, Snivy... The starter Pokémon candidates who used to live quietly in the backyard breeding area are now gathered together in the research institute. They are either standing still, arguing, or playing together affectionately.
Even the starter Pokémon originally prepared for Azur Lane jumped off the stage excitedly to join their fellow Pokémon in the revelry.
In terms of sheer numbers, there are only about twenty of them. But when they are all crammed into a confined space, the constantly moving and noisy Pokémon seem endless.
Hugo gently lifted the spiky snake, which had inexplicably fallen at his feet, with his toes, then shooed it away, explaining to the professor as he went—
“What we know now is that young Pokémon generally prefer to be in groups. Based on this, we also know that the culprit who manipulated the starter Pokémon selection ritual often took Snivy and Tepig out for walks; he must have some kind of special relationship with the starter Pokémon. Therefore, in unfamiliar environments, these backyard Pokémon would definitely react differently to the person who often took them for walks compared to other strangers, right? Just create such a situation…”
—It will be obvious who the real culprit is.
The unspoken words of the detective resonated in the minds of everyone present.
Wherever something passes, there is a trace; whatever is covered up, there is a reason; whatever is revealed, there is a purpose.
As if he had been smeared with sweet honey, Yamashita, with his grumpy face, was entangled by a large number of Tepigs and Snivy.
The Woolpigs affectionately rubbed their cheeks against the ankles of the person below the mountain, while the Snivy used their vine whips to climb up the person's shoulders.
It was clearly a heartwarming and healing scene, but Yamashita's face was filled with despair.
“Wait a minute, Yamashita is the one who trains Pokémon the most around here. Maybe the Pokémon are close to him just because…” Uncle Eric was about to speak up to defend his companion, but then he couldn’t help but shut his mouth.
He saw that there were still many otters scattered around the hall. Some of them were posing with their noses up, while others were playing by themselves with a gentle temperament. But no matter what kind of otters they were, none of them went up the mountain.
This contrasts sharply with the other two starter Pokémon.
“That was a brilliant move.” Azure looked at her firm boss with genuine respect.
The student-looking Furuya nodded in agreement: "A real controlled experiment!"
"It's probably because Yamashita used the opportunity of research projects to frequently enter the backyard of the research institute and take the opportunity to use all means to win over Snivy and Tepig. In addition, only Otter has been sent away normally in the past six months, and there are always the same group of Tepig and Snivy in the research institute. Naturally, they are particularly attached to Yamashita, who plays with them."
Hugo explained, then walked over to the researcher who was kneeling on the ground like a defeated dog.
"After hearing about your research from the professor, I started to find it strange. The limitation on the use of sound-based moves seems like an excellent subject, but in reality, it's impossible to conduct experiments with just your Rolling Bat."
"Restrictions on the use of sound-based skills? Does that mean features like 'soundproofing' can block these skills?" asked Azure, who had extensive combat experience.
Hugo nodded, "That's exactly right. Sound-based moves like 'Ultrasound' and 'Insect Chirp' could normally hit an opponent even when their Stand is blocking them, but in some situations, sound-based moves are ineffective. The 'Soundproof' ability is a well-known example."
"In addition, there's the move 'Hell Thrust,' which prevents opponents from using sound-based moves for a period of time. Furthermore, sound-based moves can become unusable for various reasons—for example, a Pokémon with 'Prankster' will have no effect on Dark-type Pokémon using 'Taunt'; 'Round,' a Normal-type attack, won't damage Ghost-type Pokémon; 'Roar' won't work when the opponent has only one Pokémon left; and 'Snoring' won't work on a Pokémon that isn't asleep..."
The detective's extensive knowledge of combat surprised not only his assistant but also left Yamashita, who was trapped by Tepig and Snivy, speechless.
"In short, from all perspectives, this is an excellent research topic. There are many reasons why sound skills fail, but the reasons for failure vary greatly. If we conduct thorough field investigations and carefully craft our papers, we are sure to achieve great success. However, I investigated the entire research institute this morning, and there was no trace of the Pokémon with the moves and skills mentioned earlier. There are very few Pokémon with sound skills in the entire backyard, which does not meet the basic requirements of the above research at all."
Listening to the detective's words, Dr. Yew cast a stern gaze down the mountain, where the latter shivered and cowered in silence.
"This makes one wonder if Yamashita's real research topic is actually the limitations of using voice skills?" Detective Hugo smiled knowingly.