Chapter Fifty: Let Me Handle This

Soon, the rain cleared and the sky began to brighten. Several mounted police officers, riding armored rhinos, arrived in front of the villa and joined Yumi, who had gotten there earlier.

“Relax! Although the criminal was extremely cunning, even making use of a wild Ditto, in the end, I, Junsha, saw through his scheme! Hahaha…” Yumi boasted to her fellow Junsha officers about her accomplishment.

Amu rolled her eyes behind them.

At this moment, Sonoko sat atop Yumi’s Arcanine, and the others were preparing to leave the villa—a place that held no pleasant memories.

Watching Ryoichi being escorted away, Ran still looked puzzled and said, “But… why didn’t he just have Ditto hold Chikako hostage while he stayed in the villa? Then his alibi would have been flawless, right?”

“I suppose it’s because he didn’t want Ditto to really shed innocent blood,” Misty guessed softly.

Indeed, when you think about it, whether it was the attack on Sonoko or Chikako, Ryoichi was the one responsible; Ditto merely played a supporting role.

If Ditto had thrown Chikako into the mountain ravine…

The police would be out searching the mountain for Ditto right now!

After all, a wild Pokémon who maliciously targets humans needs to be either driven away or imprisoned.

But since Ditto was only a participant and had merely frightened Sonoko and the others by transforming into a Cofagrigus without actually attacking—Amu noticed when she commanded her three Pokémon to engage it, Ditto’s level seemed quite high.

If Ditto hadn’t retreated on its own, Amu, who didn’t have her mischievous Jolteon with her, would have been at a disadvantage even in a “three versus one.”

“And besides, it’s just a wild Pokémon. If… Ryoichi had ordered it to attack humans, it might not have obeyed,” Ash added sarcastically.

Now that Ash knew Ryoichi was the culprit, he wasn’t as scared anymore; instead, he felt angry for having been embarrassed by him.

Just then, a loud crash rang out—a Shadow Ball smashed down in front of the armored rhinos, sending up clouds of dust and blocking their path.

Then, a “Cofagrigus” floated out from the nearby woods.

But upon closer inspection, it lacked the characteristic oversized copper bells and glowing red eyes of a real Cofagrigus; instead, it had beady little eyes—the sky was bright now, and outside the woods, this detail was much easier to spot.

Ryoichi, already handcuffed, shouted, “Ditto! Enough… you don’t need to continue.”

“Stop, Ditto. You’re only deepening his guilt by doing this!” Yumi stepped forward, beginning to use Junsha power to calm Ditto.

She stretched out both arms, her right palm facing Ditto, her left hand supporting her right wrist, letting invisible Junsha energy flow out to commune with Ditto.

Though other Junsha officers had arrived as reinforcements, only she was a true member of the Junsha clan; the others were ordinary police.

“Transform… transform!” The Cofagrigus—no, Ditto—looked agitated, its tone steady like the Pokédex entry for Cofagrigus, but the cry was Ditto’s own.

“He only used you to create an alibi…” Yumi continued, showing far more patience than she did with humans.

Ryoichi, handcuffed, gritted his teeth and shouted, “That’s right! I only used you! I’m not a Ghost-type trainer… stay away from me!”

Ditto’s true type was Normal, but generally, Ditto’s transformations are limited in number and tend toward certain types; if it can already become a Cofagrigus, then recording other Ghost-type forms would be even easier.

Under these circumstances, it’s not Ghost-type, but it might as well be.

“Transform… transform…”

Ditto clearly wasn’t so easily dismissed.

“Director Yumi, is this the criminal’s Pokémon?” The surrounding Junsha officers braced themselves.

“Director” referred to “Inspector Director,” a police rank in the Pokémon world; it sounded impressive, but was actually the third from the bottom—a starting rank for true Junsha clan members.

Yumi shot them a sharp look and emphasized, “No, didn’t you hear? It’s just a wild Pokémon that was used!”

Amu noticed this detail…

The prevailing attitude in this world is very tolerant toward Pokémon. The widely accepted saying is “Pokémon aren’t malicious; if they do bad things, it’s because their trainer made them”—just like in the anime.

After Shinichi’s “accident,” Amu learned that this view had some truth to it…

Of course, wild Pokémon’s aggressive behavior for territory or other reasons isn’t considered “bad,” nor are pranks.

On top of this general tolerance, the Junsha clan is even more compassionate; their love for Pokémon might be the foundation of “Junsha power.” Amu felt that Junsha power’s full name should be “You’re only being used by bad trainers, please stop now” power.

It was this force that let humanity move beyond the era of ancient wars, stopped Pokémon from being weapons in armies, and ushered in the age of a military-free league.

In contrast are Team Rocket and most regional underworld organizations, who believe Pokémon should be tools for humans, and that humans should make more use of them—their core philosophies vary, but all are based on this idea.

Amu thought both extremes were misguided, especially the latter, which was more destructive.

There were many in the League who shared this view, which is why there’s “balance” now.

Just like now—

If Ditto had directly hurt a victim, then even if Yumi didn’t want to, Ditto would be treated as the criminal’s Pokémon, taken into custody, evaluated, and then either sent to a special reserve or released into the wild.

But since Ditto hadn’t actually harmed anyone, Yumi was determined to report that this wild Ditto was only used to scare people… and she didn’t even want to capture it.

Now, however, Ditto was blocking the road and seemed about to snatch someone—this was…

“I have Ghost-type affinity! Don’t fight me for it!” Amu suddenly stepped forward.

“Huh?” Yumi was momentarily stunned, then realized Amu wanted to treat this as a “wild Pokémon capture battle.”

Exactly—Amu felt both the Junsha clan and the underworld organizations were too extreme…

As a beast trainer, Amu believed “Pokémon aren’t malicious, just be wary of bad trainers,” and “Pokémon are tools for humans,” weren’t really in conflict.

“Tool” isn’t a derogatory term; the foundation of beast training is “to take responsibility for the beasts you train!”

“Wait… this is an attack…” one of the Junsha officers started to protest, but Yumi cut him off: “Oh, you’re going to capture the Pokémon? Fine! Get on with it then, don’t delay our return to Recommendation City.”

“Go! Boom!”