radicalducati Chapter 89 Sewers and Desserts
Chapter 89 Sewers and Desserts
The sewer blueprints for Feiyun City are considered confidential documents, unlike tide tables which can be easily found online. Fortunately, Hugo had a copy saved on the office computer.
After a brief discussion, the detective and his assistant decided to split up. Azure was responsible for returning to the agency to retrieve the blueprints, while Hugo said he was going to find a mysterious expert and ask him to help find the owner of the Super Stone.
"Hugo's temper is truly unpredictable. He's deliberately keeping me in suspense about the helper he's hired, even mysteriously saying it's someone I've met before... Could it be that Touko's back from her trip? No, it seems she's been traveling around Liyong City in western Unova lately, she probably won't be back anytime soon. Besides, that person seems to be better at losing things than finding them..."
Azure, still full of complaints about Hugo, returned to the Feather Residence, crossed the courtyard, and opened the main gate of the residence.
What came into the girl's view was the detective's grass turtle with a leisurely expression, pouring itself a teacup with a vine whip in the office's living room.
"Grass Turtle, are you staying behind again today?" Azure greeted him as she changed her shoes.
Don't let the pitiful sight of the grass-fed turtle all alone in the office fool you; it actually carries a tremendous mission on its shoulders—
In the past, when detectives left the agency to investigate cases, they would hang a "Case Under Investigation" sign in front of the gate outside the courtyard, causing Yuxi Mansion to temporarily close down.
However, it seems that the little fire monkeys passed some kind of test by Detective Hugo some time ago. From then on, they can take turns staying at home while Hugo is handling cases, and are responsible for receiving clients who come to visit during this time.
Among the detective's Pokémon, Chimchar and Piplup like to follow Hugo around, while Turtwig, which has little presence, prefers to stay at the office. Therefore, it often volunteers to switch shifts with the other two Pokémon and stays quietly at the office while the detectives go out on fieldwork.
"Grass Turtle, do you know where the underground sewer map of Feiyun City is kept?"
Azure only knew that these kinds of documents were probably placed near the detective's desk, but she didn't know their exact location. Before starting the search, she tried asking the Grass Turtle.
Unexpectedly, the green turtle nodded its enormous head without hesitation, moved to a drawer next to the desk, and opened the second-to-last drawer with a rattan whip.
"Ah, it really is here!"
Upon seeing the blue drawings in the drawer, the girl exclaimed with delight.
Since the design blueprints for the sewer system were quite substantial, consisting of a thick stack, Bilan packed the necessary blueprints into her tote bag.
While they were busy, the portable hard drive that was originally in their pocket fell to the ground. The grass turtle thoughtfully picked it up and handed it back to the detective assistant. Azure shook her head, though: "It contains a useless surveillance video. Just put the hard drive on the table."
The grass-fed turtle tilted its head in confusion, and Azure casually told the little turtle about her and the detective's search for the Super Stone.
After packing up the blueprints, Azure said goodbye to the little turtle who was left behind, and then left Feather Residence like a gust of wind with Eevee. She was eager to know who the expert the detective had invited was.
The grass turtle maintained its calm expression as it gazed at the external hard drive left behind by Azure, and began to form its own thoughts—
Since we're just killing time anyway, why not take a look at the surveillance footage that Miss Azure went through so much trouble to get?
.
Azure arrived at the agreed-upon location with the detective, only to find the slope where Rena had discovered the Mega Stone completely empty.
Hmm, it seems the detective's plan to hire someone didn't go very smoothly, and I completed the task first.
The girl wasn't bored, so she found a dessert shop nearby that didn't have many customers and started looking through the design blueprints for the sewer system while sitting by the window.
Of course, to avoid drawing too much attention to her actions, Azur Lane also took some covert measures—
She sent Ditto to sit opposite her in Touko's form. Ditto had seen Touko before when it was traveling in the Johto region, so it could transform into the image of that energetic girl with the high ponytail.
Sure enough, compared to someone poring over a thick blueprint alone, the image of two girls huddled together head to head in a dessert shop seemed much more harmonious.
Azure looked up gratefully at Ditto, who had transformed into a fighting shape. This child was simply a social grace ace; when she was traveling alone in Kanto, she had relied on Ditto's ability to avoid many awkward situations.
"...The super stone was found here. The slope is in this direction, and the sea is to the south, so the water level surges this way during high tide..."
As Azure studied the map of the underground waterways, her expression gradually turned to surprise.
"I originally thought the source of the super stone would be the city center where rich people live or the wealthy western district, but why does the direction of the underground water flow point to the south of Feiyun City... Isn't that the wasteland by the sea?"
Just as the girl was deep in thought and reasoning, "Miss Touko" across from her encountered unexpected trouble.
A waitress saw the girl with the high ponytail and immediately walked over familiarly: "Miss Douzi, long time no see! Are you planning to order your usual dessert set meal? Or would you like to try our autumn new products? I remember you said you were really looking forward to them."
Faced with the sudden and unexpected attack, Ditto panicked for a moment, and even its eyes turned back into Ditto's signature beady eyes.
Oh no, I forgot this used to be Douzi's foraging territory. I didn't expect the waiter to know Douzi so well...
Just as Ditto was about to give itself away, Azure slammed the blueprint down, drawing the waiter's attention back, and then shouted at "Douzi"—
"Of course I want both the set meal and the new items, Miss Douzi. I'll pay for this meal."
Ditto nodded frantically, almost shaking its head out of shape, and took the opportunity to change its eyes back to human form.
"Okay!" The waitress happily checked the dessert on the electronic order form. "Mango sparkling water with a three-tiered deluxe cream and fruit tart, plus a limited-edition autumn candied chestnut cake. The total is..."
After paying the bill, the waiter left the table with a satisfied smile.
Azure's heart was bleeding along with her wallet—Douzi's dessert set meal was too expensive, it was equivalent to several days' wages at Azure's agency... Even for a star trainer with a high income, spending money like this was too extravagant.
Then, Azure saw the waitress return to the table with a "mountain" made of a huge amount of cream and various fruits: "Sorry to keep you waiting. This is your set meal and new product. I hope you enjoy your meal."
Only then did Azure notice that at the foot of the Cream Mountain, there was a tiny glass of orange-yellow sparkling water and a triangular brown-black cake.
"Ugh..." Azure almost groaned out loud. The portion of this dessert was far too much, even including Ditto and Eevee.
The phone vibrated in my pocket; Hugo's call came almost at the same time the dessert was served.
The assistant answered the phone, and sure enough, a report came through that the detective and his accomplice had arrived at the rendezvous point.
Azure cautiously sought the detective's opinion: "It's lunchtime now. How about we have some dessert together first?"
Hugo paused for a moment, then asked with a strange tone, "You didn't turn Ditto into Touko's appearance and force him to order a whole bunch of the food that glutton usually eats, did you?"
"My God, Hugo, how did you know? You don't have superpowers, do you?"
“I have a pair of eyes, bright blue. Vision isn’t a superpower. I’m right outside the dessert shop’s glass right now, and I can clearly see you and your Ditto staring blankly at that cream and fruit tart, looking utterly ridiculous.” The detective’s voice carried a hint of exasperation.
The assistant suddenly turned her head to look out the window separated by glass—
Just a wall away, Hugo was standing in front of the glass partition with a somewhat familiar, gaunt old man, staring at her and "Douzi" at each other.