After paying, Natsui put the Magikarp in its Poké Ball, which meant he had obtained his seventh Pokémon.
He went down the hallway, and the tourists began to thin out. Upon reaching the cruise ship's cabin area, crew members were barely in sight.
It seemed most people were gathered in the main hall and on the deck. After all, they had just boarded, and few people would think of resting, heading deep inside the cruise ship.
He looked around, but there was no sign of Team Rocket anywhere. Besides, since there were security cameras, Natsui didn't dare to keep wandering. He pretended to go to the bathroom and, just as he was about to return to the main hall, he saw a suspicious figure sneaking around the corner of the hallway ahead.
Could it be Team Rocket?
After a glance at Kirlia, Natsui decided to follow them silently.
When he reached the corner, he carefully peeked his head out and saw the figure crouching in front of a cabin door, trying to pick the lock.
It was a middle-aged man in a brown trench coat over a suit and tie. He had an average build, neither fat nor thin, and although his face was serious, it couldn't hide his exhaustion, a clear sign that he often stayed up late.
Natsui looked up at the surveillance monitor and noticed it had been temporarily disabled with a jamming device. No wonder this man dared to act so brazenly.
The man was focused, skillfully turning the lock pick in his hands. With a soft 'click,' the lock opened. However, before he could savor his success, he saw a shadow slowly appear on the door in front of him, cast by the light.
This sent a cold sweat down his spine.
Placing a hand on his hip, he spun around quickly, only to find that, at some unknown point, a Looker young man of about 20 was standing behind him, watching with interest.
"W-who are you?"
Due to the extreme tension, his accent changed, taking on a foreign tinge.
"Sir, you're with the International Police, aren't you?"
"Huh?" The man's face paled, his heart in his throat, and he hastily denied it. "What nonsense are you talking about? I'm not with any International Police."
"Oh no? Are you sure?" Natsui said, pulling a wallet from behind his back and waving it in front of the man. "It's just that I found your wallet, and your ID is inside."
The middle-aged man quickly patted his back pocket and, sure enough, his wallet was gone.
"Ha, ha, so that was it…" he said, snatching the wallet back with a smile that was as awkward as it was polite. "To tell you the truth, I am indeed an agent of the International Police. I'm currently investigating a large criminal organization, so I'm asking you to please keep it a secret!"
"Criminal organization?" Natsui asked. "You mean Team Rocket?"
This time, the man couldn't keep his composure. He grabbed Natsui by the arm and pulled him into a nearby stairwell.
He whispered, "How do you know about Team Rocket?!"
"It's no big deal," Natsui said casually. "They're famous for their misdeeds around here; they've been on 'Wanted' posters more than once. It'd be strange for a Trainer not to know about them."
"You're right," the man smiled. He looked at Kirlia and asked, "Are you a Trainer?"
Natsui took out his Pokédex and showed him his ID: "I'm not just a Trainer, I'm also a Special Researcher from a lab."
"I see," the man said, solemnly adjusting his shirt collar. "Then, forgive me. I haven't introduced myself. My name is Looker, and I am currently investigating Team Rocket in the Kanto region to stop their evil plans."
"Your name is Looker?!" this time it was Natsui's turn to be surprised, looking him up and down skeptically. "Are you that narcissistic? With your looks, the name Looker doesn't suit you at all."
Perhaps choking on his own saliva, Looker's face turned red. After coughing a couple of times, he said, "We can't just use our real names! Looker is just my codename, my codename!"
"Even so…" Natsui continued to stare at him, "using Looker as a codename is still pretty narcissistic, don't you think?"
Looker looked mentally exhausted. He didn't explain further, but just waved his hand and said, "Forget it, I have work to do. It's best we part ways here."
"Work? You mean breaking into that room from before?"
Looker didn't want to involve outsiders, but remembering Natsui had already seen everything, he hesitated for a moment and finally said, "That's right. I was tailing a high-ranking member of Team Rocket and found out he had boarded this S.S. Anne. I figured they might have some plan for this ship, so I followed him here. I wanted to take advantage of his absence to get into his cabin and see if I could find any information."
"What a coincidence," Natsui said, deciding to give him a small hint, but without being too direct. "Before boarding the ship, I saw a group of disguised people sneak on. If there really are Team Rocket members here, it must be them!"
"What?! A large group?!"
Seeing Natsui nod, Looker frowned. "This isn't good. Something big must be about to happen, otherwise so many of them wouldn't act at once. It seems I must request backup from headquarters immediately."
However, he had barely finished speaking when the ship's loud siren sounded, the hull suddenly shuddered, and then it swayed briefly.
He ran to the window and looked out. He saw that the ship had already set sail and left the port.
"This is terrible! If I don't contact headquarters now, it'll be too late!"
With that said, Looker took out his phone, but just as he was about to dial, he found the signal was also jammed.
"Darn it!" he exclaimed. As if in disbelief, he walked a few steps and tried from another angle, but there was still no signal.
Natsui also took out his own phone and confirmed that, indeed, the signal in that area was completely blocked.
With a sigh, Looker looked at Natsui with a complex expression and said, "You'd better get out of here as soon as possible. I need to go to the captain's cabin now. What comes next is no longer a matter for ordinary citizens like you."
…
When Natsui returned to the main hall, he saw Misty and Brock sitting at a table, eating voraciously, while Ash, next to them, was strangely quiet, like a young maiden, with a melancholy expression.
"What's wrong, Ash? Did you lose the battle from before?"
Looking at Natsui, Ash said in a dull voice, "No, I won."
"Oh, you did?" Natsui said, puzzled. "Then why the long face? Did something happen?"