It had been a good week since my Pokemon video went live. The subscriber count kept climbing—I was up to almost 300 subscribers now, which felt incredible forjust two different types of videos. More importantly, I was genuinely enjoying the process. The editing, the commentary, the strategy discussions in the comments section—it was all clicking in a way that chess videos never quite had.
I'd already started filming the next episode where Perry would take on Watson's gym. Fungi had finally evolved into Breloom, which gave us some solid Fighting-type coverage, and Shadow was now a much more intimidating Mightyena. Larry had also evolved into Linoone, though he was still our lovable disaster of an HM user. At least his Pickup ability had been coming in handy—he'd found a few rare berries and even a Nugget during our training sessions.
But today wasn't about Pokemon. Today, the Spice Club had its second official case.
Her name was Emma Rodriguez, a quiet girl from Mrs. Peterson's third-grade class. She found me during lunch, clutching a crumpled piece of paper and looking like she might cry at any moment.
"Are you Ryan from the Spice Club?" she asked hesitantly.
"That's me. What's the problem?"
Emma glanced around nervously, then leaned in closer. "Someone stole my wallet. It had my lunch money for the whole week, and... and something really important."
I gestured to an empty spot at my lunch table. "Sit down and tell me everything. When did you notice it was missing?"
"This morning, during first period. I always keep it in my backpack's front pocket, but when I went to check if I had enough for pizza day tomorrow, it was gone."
"What exactly was in it?"
"Fifteen dollars in lunch money, and..." she paused, looking embarrassed. "A picture of my dad. He's deployed overseas, and it's the only copy I have with me. My mom would kill me if she knew I lost it."
Now I understood why this was more than just a simple theft case. The money was replaceable, but that photo was irreplaceable. This had become personal.
"Okay Emma, I'm going to help you find it. But I need you to walk me through your entire morning. Every class, every person you talked to, everywhere you went."
Emma's story was straightforward: she'd arrived at school around 7:45, gone straight to her locker, then to first period math class. She'd checked for her wallet during the break between first and second period—that's when she noticed it was missing.
"Did anyone else have access to your backpack?"
"Well, during PE yesterday we left our bags in the gymnasium while we were outside. And this morning during math class, we did group work, so people were moving around a lot."
I made mental notes. Two potential windows of opportunity: PE class yesterday afternoon, and math class this morning. The timing suggested this morning was more likely—if someone had taken it yesterday, Emma probably would have noticed when she went to buy lunch.
"Who sits near you in math class?"
"Marcus, Jenny, and David. We were all working on the same problem set."
I knew all three names. Marcus was generally well-behaved but came from a family that struggled financially. Jenny was popular and well-off—theft didn't fit her profile. David was... interesting. Smart kid, but he had a reputation for bending rules and testing boundaries.
"I'm going to talk to some people," I told Emma. "Don't worry about this getting back to you. I'll be discreet."
My first stop was Marcus. I found him in the library during study hall, working on homework with the kind of intense focus that suggested he was trying to avoid thinking about something else.
"Hey Marcus, how's the math homework going?"
He looked up, startled. "Oh, hey Ryan. It's okay, I guess. Mrs. Peterson's word problems are really hard."
"Yeah, I heard you guys did group work this morning. That usually makes it easier."
"Sort of. Emma seemed pretty stressed about something though. She kept checking her backpack."
Interesting. That aligned with Emma's story—she would have been checking for her wallet. But Marcus mentioning it without prompting suggested he'd been paying attention to her behavior. That could be innocent curiosity or guilty conscience.
"Did you notice anyone else acting weird?"
Marcus shifted uncomfortably. "Not really. David was being David—you know how he gets."
"What do you mean?"
"He kept making jokes about being broke and wishing he had more lunch money. But he always says stuff like that."
I thanked Marcus and moved on, but his body language had been telling. He was nervous about something, but it felt more like general anxiety than specific guilt. Patrick Jane's template was starting to activate—I was noticing microexpressions, vocal patterns, the way people held themselves when they were hiding something.
Next was Jenny. I caught her at her locker between classes, surrounded by her usual group of friends.
"Jenny, quick question about math class this morning. Did you notice Emma acting upset about anything?"
Jenny barely looked up from organizing her perfectly color-coded folders. "Emma's always quiet. I didn't really pay attention."
"What about David or Marcus? Notice anything unusual?"
"David was being annoying, as usual. Making some dumb joke about needing lunch money. Marcus was just sitting there being awkward like he always is."
Her dismissive tone told me everything I needed to know. Jenny genuinely hadn't been paying attention to anyone else—she was too focused on her own work and social circle. Not our thief.
That left David. I found him in the computer lab, playing games when he should have been working on a typing assignment.
"David, can I talk to you for a minute?"
He glanced up, and I caught something in his expression—a flicker of wariness that confirmed my suspicions.
"Sure, what's up?"
"Emma Rodriguez lost something important this morning. You guys sit together in math class, right?"
"Yeah, so?"
"So I'm trying to figure out when it went missing. Marcus mentioned you were talking about needing lunch money."
David's jaw tightened slightly. "It was just a joke. I always complain about being broke."
"Right, but here's the thing—Emma's wallet had fifteen dollars in it. That's exactly three days of lunch money. Interesting coincidence."
I watched his face carefully. There—a brief downturn of the mouth, a slight tensing around the eyes. He was feeling guilty about something.
"Look David, I'm not here to get you in trouble. But Emma really needs that wallet back. There's something in it that means a lot to her family."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
But his voice had gone up slightly in pitch—a classic stress indicator. Time for a different approach.
"You know what? You're right. I'm probably way off base here. It was probably taken during PE yesterday anyway. Lots of people in and out of the gym, bags left unattended..."
I started to walk away, then turned back as if I'd just remembered something.
"Although, now that I think about it, whoever took it probably didn't realize there was a photo inside. It's the only picture Emma has of her dad while he's deployed. Her mom's going to be devastated if they can't find it."
David's shoulders sagged. "Deployed?"
"Yeah, military. Emma carries that picture everywhere because she misses him."
I could see the internal struggle playing out on his face. Whatever David's reasons for taking the wallet, he wasn't a bad kid at heart.
"If someone had it and wanted to return it... hypothetically... how would they do that without getting in trouble?"
"Well," I said carefully, "I suppose they could leave it somewhere Emma would find it. Maybe with a note saying they found it and wanted to return it. No questions asked."
David nodded slowly. "That... that would work."
The next morning, Emma found her wallet in her locker with a note: "Found this in the hallway. All your stuff is still inside. -A friend"
She came running up to me before first period, clutching the wallet and practically glowing with relief.
"Ryan, it's back! Everything's here—the money, the picture, everything!"
"That's great, Emma. Any idea who returned it?"
"No, but look at this note. They even drew a little smiley face. Whoever found it must be really nice."
I smiled. "Yeah, they must be."
Later that day, I spotted David in the hallway. He caught my eye and gave me a small nod—acknowledgment and thanks rolled into one gesture.
The case was closed, and everyone had learned something valuable. David had learned that actions have consequences beyond what you initially consider. Emma had learned that sometimes people surprise you with their kindness. And I had learned that the Patrick Jane approach—understanding people's motivations rather than just catching them in lies—often led to better outcomes for everyone involved.
Patrick Jane – Beginner (275 / 15,000) +25
That afternoon, I finished editing my Watson gym video. The battle had gone even better than I'd hoped.
"Alright everyone, welcome back to Perry the Mudkip! Today we're taking on Watson, the Mauville City gym leader who uses Electric-types. This is actually one of the trickier gyms in the game, but Perry's got a huge advantage."
The gym trainers had been the real challenge. Watson uses some tricky Pokemon with moves that can surprise unprepared players. But Breloom's Fighting-type moves made quick work of most of them, and Perry's Ground typing meant Electric attacks couldn't even touch him.
"Look at that—Shock Wave does absolutely nothing to Perry! Ground-types are immune to Electric moves, which makes this whole gym a lot easier than it would be otherwise."
The battle against Watson himself was almost anticlimactic. His Voltorb tried to use Rollout but couldn't build up momentum against Perry's bulk. His Electrike and Magneton fell to Earthquake and Mud Shot respectively.
The real star of the battle was Breloom, who had evolved just in time to learn Mach Punch.
"Fungi—I mean Breloom—just demolished that Magneton with the priority Mach Punch! Priority moves are quite good and that evolution timing was perfect."
Even Larry got a moment to shine when his Pickup ability found a Sitrus Berry right before the gym battle.
"Larry might not be the strongest fighter, but that Pickup ability has saved us so many times. Free items are always useful!"
By the end of the battle, Watson was defeated, and we had our third gym badge.
"And that's Watson down! Three badges, five more to go. Next time, we'll be heading toward Lavaridge Town to take on Flannery and her Fire-types. Perry should handle that pretty well too, but we might run into some surprises."
The video ended with a quick team update:
Perry the Marshtomp : Level 24, now knowing Mud Bomb, water gun , Rock tomb , and CurseFungi the Breloom: Level 24, with Mach Punch, Bullet Seed, and absorb and stun spore.Shadow the Mightyena: Level 23, providing Dark-type coverageLarry the Linoone: Level 21, our HM user and item finderRadar the Golbat : Level 22, fast and reliable
Kazuma Satou – Intermediate (75 / 10,000) +30
The response was even better than my first video. Within two days, I had over 3,000 views and the comments were flowing in:
"This kid explains type matchups better than most adult YouTubers"
"Larry finding that Sitrus Berry was clutch!"
"Can't wait to see how you handle Flannery"
"Breloom is so underrated, glad to see it getting some love"
That evening, we had dinner at Jay's house—a weekly tradition that had become even more important since the divorce proceedings started. Jay seemed to be handling things better lately, though he was definitely making an effort to get back into social situations.
"So how's the YouTube thing going, kid?" Jay asked while Claire served dessert.
"Pretty well. Almost 400 subscribers now, and the gaming videos are doing better than the chess ones."
"Four hundred people want to watch you play video games?" Haley asked, sounding genuinely confused.
"It's about the commentary and strategy," Phil chimed in. "Ryan explains things in a way that makes sense. It's like having a really smart friend show you how to play."
He then high-fived me
Mitchell looked proud but also slightly concerned. "Just remember to keep your priorities straight. School first, YouTube second."
"Always," I agreed.
As we were cleaning up, Jay pulled me aside.
"Hey, random question. You know anything about... I don't know, dating advice? For someone my age?"
I raised an eyebrow. "Are you asking a nine-year-old for relationship advice?"
"Well, you seem to be good at reading people and figuring out what makes them tick. There's this... person I might want to ask to dinner."
I could see he was nervous about it—hands fidgeting, avoiding eye contact, the works. But there was also excitement there, which was good to see.
"Just be yourself, Jay. You're a good guy, even if you pretend to be all grumpy and cynical. Anyone who gets to know you will see that."
He nodded thoughtfully. "Thanks, kid. That's... surprisingly helpful."
As we drove home, I couldn't help but wonder who this mystery person was. Jay wasn't the type to jump into anything quickly, especially not right after his divorce. Whoever had caught his attention must be pretty special.
Little did I know that this conversation was the first hint of changes that would reshape our family in ways I couldn't imagine.
For now, though, I was content with solving elementary school mysteries, building my YouTube channel, and helping Perry become the champion of Hoenn. Some days, being nine years old in a second life was pretty great.
[Status Screen: Updated]
Mikhail Tal – Beginner (1000 / 10,000)
Kazuma Satou – Intermediate (75 / 10,000)
+30 EXP
Patrick Jane – Beginner (275 / 15,000)
+25 EXP