Electabuzz> Fay arrives from Generator Room - Gringy Power Plant.
Electabuzz> Fay has arrived.

Electabuzz> Traveling along the old, metal walkways, Fay makes her way through the jungle gym sometimes used by wild pokemon that dwell within Gringy's abandoned power plant. Riding on her shoulder is Annette her young Meowth, and pacing beside her is a grumpy looking Cubone. The blue haired trainer clutches a smaller version of the same species, holding him close to her chest, and giving him a kiss on the top of his head. Or rather, kissing him on the skull that covers his head. Every once in a while the older Cubone snorts irritably, tapping the bone she holds against her thigh in a show of reptilian impatience. <When are we going to visit Vertebra?> she whines for the millionth time sine they left the breeding center back in Vermilion City. "Soon! I promise, really soon!" she assures her grumpy ground type, offering her the brightest smile she can muster.

Electabuzz> The ceiling drips from the weather outside. The catwalks do not become significantly slippery or wet, but the sound of water clang-clang-clanging as it trickles onto metal is enough to drive anybody crazy after a while. Whether it's because Fay is too loud or because the pokemon of the Power Plant are seeking shelter under a less leaky roof, it's quiet today. Almost too quiet. Thankfully, it's easy enough to see, so that's not a problem... though climbing up matters or walking across catwalks and holding the rail might pose one. Along one of the walkways thirty yards away or so, an Electabuzz, wearing a fedora hat, rests against the railing, staring down at the metal under his feet.

Electabuzz> Fay's promise doesn't seem to convince the Cubone, and the skull wearing pokemon rolls her eyes from underneath her helmet. She crosses her arms in front of her chest grumpily, narrowing her beady orbs in frustration. <Oh, you lie! You always tell me that!> she argues, pushing the subject further, even though she's sure that her poor trainer is sick of hearing about it. "No, really, in a week or two, we'll go see him. I wanted Vertebra Jr. to get used to outside a little before we take him down there. He's still small you know." she informs her Cubone, which turns out to be a rather dangerous mistake. <What? You think I don't know how to take care of my son? He's a prince! He deserves only the best of care! I'm sure Vertebra, the Prince of the Mighty Cubone Empire has servants and nannies all lined up to pamper my baby boy! Think you can do better?> Before Fay can reply, she spots the Electabuzz. Wow. Surprise. Wow. Weird hat.

What's that smell? Candylion? Better save be-Ooo, pretty colors! (Delet-er, saving!)

Electabuzz> As Fay approaches, the Electabuzz does not look up. His mouth is covered by his hat, so it might come to the traveling party as a surprise when he begins to talk. <The dame approached,> he mumbles to himself, keeping up his cool, relaxed position against the rail. His head finally lifts up. A cigar, unlit and wet, no doubt many days or even weeks old, is stuck in his mouth. <I had to take notice. Dames like that are either carry a load of cash or a loaded gun. But she wouldn't come to me if she had a gun. She'd come if she had a case. Taking cases is what I do best, especially if it's filled with cash. After all, that's what a private eye does.> He's talking entirely to himself, as there are no other pokemon in sight.

Electabuzz> Fay stops in her tracks, almost slipping because her arms are too full and she has no hands to grip the railings with. She leans forward, clutching onto the baby Cubone tightly, pressing backwards on her toes, struggling to keep her balance. Teetering one way, and stumbling another, the young trainer nearly takes a header. Luckily, she manages to keep herself from falling, and she sighs in relief. Relaxing, Fay listens as the striped electric pokemon talks to himself. She's unfamiliar with its language, and its monologue of sorts gets a confused reaction from Fay. <What's that baffon babbling on about?> Kumi grunts, letting a primitive, guttural sound escape her throat. At the mention of dame, Kumi's brown eyes light up. <He must be talking about me!> the Cubone announces, bouncing up and down gaily. "Maybe!" Fay agrees, although she's unsure what the Electabuzz is talking about. "Um, excuse me. Mr. Electabuzz?" Fay asks, stepping closer to the hat wearing electric type.

Electabuzz> The Electabuzz continues muttering to himself as Fay's group gets closer. His arms cross tighter over his chest, and he casually eyes the girl. <The dame brought her friends,> he remarks to himself. <Dames always bring friends. Sometimes she brings them along for support, sometimes to throw multiple cases on me, sometimes to seek revenge for imprisoning her husband. The little one looked about as thick as the skull over his head. The dame he was with didn't look like she had deep pockets. She hardly looked like she had pockets at all. This was no Kangaskhan I was dealing with, of course. But if she was coming to me, she had a case. I don't do discount rates. I'm not a hotel. I'm a private eye.> He nods, satisfied, and gives Fay a chance to speak.

Electabuzz> This time, Fay turns to Kumi, kneeling down onto the metal rafters so she can look her moody Cubone in the eyes. "Kumi, what did he just say?" she asks, gesturing to the Electabuzz with the tip of her thumb. Obligingly, the skull wearing pokemon repeats the striped pokemon's words in a language Fay can understand. After a lengthy translation, Fay is dumbfounded. This pokemon talks like a detective out of some old movie. How strange. Scratching her delicate chin with her chubby fingertips, the blue haired trainer peers at the chubby pokemon. She fishes around in her brain for some methods on how to handle a pokemon behaving in such a fashion. Eventually, she can only come up with one solution. Strolling up to the Electabuzz, she sets the little Cubone down at her feet. Twirling her hair in her fingertips, and puckering her lips into a pout, Fay takes on her roll of the damsel in distress. "Oh, I'm so glad I found you!" she cries, strolling up so that she's just a few feet away from the pokemon. Hopefully, he doesn't think detectives shock their clients. "I need your help!" she announces, her eyes widening as she continues on her act. Luckily, she's got her energy, and tendency to act overly dramatic on her side. "A prince has been kidnapped!" she cries, clasping her hands together, squeezing her eyes shut submissively. "This prince is fatherless, and will not inherit his kingdom if his father is not found! Can you assist us?"

Electabuzz> The Electabuzz regards the girl with a sort of light amusement, like a distressed little girl asking a police officer to get her cat out of a tree. The Electabuzz is definitely condescending, and stares along enough to possibly make Fay uncomfortable. Finally, he speaks. <The dame was frantic. Perhaps a little too frantic. A prince was missing. Royalty always pays heavily, and that's why royalty doesn't come to me. I've never been one to turn down a case, but this smelled like a set up.> He removes the cigar from his mouth and blows out. Of course, there is no smoke. He pops it back into his mouth. <If you got the cash up front,> he says to the girl. <Then I got the case.>

Electabuzz> Asking Kumi to translate again, the Cubone's response is much shorter than her first had been. <He won't help us unless we have money.> she informs her trainer coldly, impatiently waiting for Fay to hurry up and get all this chit chatting over with. Fay lifts up her eyebrows, and bites her lip thoughtfully. Does this pokemon know what money looks like? Relying on the fact that he's probably lived up here his whole life, unless he's seen money, he probably doesn't know what it is. That in mind, Fay stoops down and opens her backpack. Taking a pad of paper, she pulls out a bunch of blank sheets she has folded and stuffed inside of it. She leaves through the sheets like she would dollar bills, and pretends to count them, moving her lips up and down as she mouths numbers. "Let's see..." she begins, taking delight in this little game of charades she's playing. "I'm sure one with your skill, comes at a high price. That," she pauses, handing him the sheets of paper, "I'm willing to pay." Will he buy it?

Electabuzz> Perhaps for the first time, the Electabuzz's cool stance falters. His eyes widen a bit, and he shifts over a step or two, glancing to the side. He slowly accepts the sheets of paper, eyes them, looks at Fay, eyes them again, and seems at a loss for words. He is silent for a few moments... before taking the sheets and throwing them over the side of the railing, watching them float gently to the ground! <The dame tried to pass something I've never seen before. It was interesting, but she had a prince in distress. And royalty means money.> Obviously he has no idea what he's talking about. He doesn't even know what money is. <Sorry, sweethaht,> he replies to Fay, taking a "puff" of his cigar. <You're going to have to offer far more than that.> His wit, his play on words, his film noire attitude seems disrupted by Fay's "cash", and he's no longer so cool and collective.

Electabuzz> Fay watches as the paper is thrown over the side. She shuts her eyes, waiting to get shocked for having lied to the electric type. When a minute passes, and she's sure that the Electabuzz isn't going to electrocute her in his fury, she slowly opens one of her eyes a crack. Sighing in relief, she quickly puts on her dramatic air, as if she herself were a messenger of the royal family. In some twisted off the wall way, maybe she is connected to the royal Cubone family. When Kumi translates yet again, Fay nods obligingly, smirking in a confident manner. Her air is just as superior and condescending as the detective's and she tosses a lock of blue hair away from her eyes. "Well, you drive a hard bargain." she begins, reaching into her backpack again. Suddenly, she pulls out a leather bag, and pulls the string that keeps it closed. Dumping a handful of marbles into her hand, she holds them up in front of the pokemon's (nose)? "These," she starts, smiling so that the tips of her canines are visible, "Are some of the Royal Jewels! One of these is worth a fortune, an entire millionaire's inheritance!" she continues, elaborating on the worth of the stained bits of glass. "Now, will you help us?" she asks again, batting her eyelashes at the Electabuzz and awaiting his response.

Electabuzz> The Electabuzz turns away so that Fay cannot see his face. He's not frowning, or nervous, or scared. He's beaming wildly from ear to ear. <If there's one thing I've learned from this job, it's that you can never learn too much. This doesn't apply here. Another thing I've learned, however, is that the desperate always get more desperate as you wait it out. This dame looked desperate in more ways than one, but she had the Royal Jewels, and so she had a case.> Turning back to the girl, the cigar back in his mouth, his eyes cool and uncaring once more, he holds out both hands to accept the jewels. <Sweethaht, you got yerself a case.>

Electabuzz> Kumi translates the Electabuzz's words a third time, and Fay smiles. While the Electabuzz thinks Fay is desperate, Fay thinks that it's her supreme acting ability that's winning the electric type's favor. Perhaps, it's a mixture of the two. Either way, the pixie like trainer leaps to her feet, and faces the Electabuzz. "Wonderful!" she exclaims, clapping her hands together delightedly. "The clues are far away from here though!" she starts, pointing to the exit of the power plant, that leads downwards and out into the filthy streets. "He was kidnapped on a route next to another city. Will you come with me and make a preliminary inspection? We don't have a trace of him! Those -things-," she utters, drawing out that last word as if it terrified her, "Took him and vanished into thin air." Going silent she thrusts her hand towards him, "We got a deal?"

Electabuzz> Fay throws a pokeball...
Electabuzz> ...and it fails.

Electabuzz> The Electabuzz peers down at the Royal Jewels now, inspecting them while the girl talks. When she finally finishes speaking, he clamps his right hand over his left, depositing the marbles onto it. A couple fall off and clang on the metal catwalk. Using his free right hand, he lifts his fedora slightly, regarding Fay with a somewhat apprehensive look. <Things were getting suspicious,> he speaks in his all his cold collectiveness. <Kidnapped? Undoubtedly, the Royal Jewels would have paid the ransom off, supposing they weren't using the prince as a conversational piece. Dames always use kidnapping when they want to lure me out of my office. Still, the jewels were tempting, and I couldn't simply discard them. I've always said money is more important than my life. Jewels are a different matter.> Focus back on Fay. <Kidnapped, ,you say? Vanished into thin air?>

What's that smell? Candylion? Better save be-Ooo, pretty colors! (Delet-er, saving!)

Electabuzz> Ooh. Foiled! Fay takes a hesitant step away from the Electabuzz, but within moments falls right back into stride. "Yes, that's it! You see..." her voice fades off as she lets the suspense and collect in the air like an unseen poltergeist, "It's a battle for land and power." she eventually reveals to him, nodding her head solemnly. "These two kingdoms have been feuding for years, and finally, someone had to make a move." she tells the suspicious Electabuzz, tapping her foot on the floor, making little clanking sounds against the metal with the tip of her shoe. "When they took the prince, it was like they just disappeared! We haven't heard or see them since!" she relays to him, looking to the floor as if the news is painful to tell. Putting on that stubborn expression again, she strolls up to the Electabuzz, "So, are you going to take the case or not? We can't wait around all day! A kingdom is at stake! If you're afraid...."

Electabuzz> Fay throws a pokeball...
Electabuzz> ...and it works.

Electabuzz> The Electabuzz eyes Fay even further. <She called me scared. Bargoers get fists in the nose or maybe bullets in the chest for calling her scared. I can't hit a dame, but she can hit my weak spot. She got me riled up, and so I accepted the case.> The Electabuzz nods. <I accept your case. Take me to the scene of the crime!> Finally moving from his spot, the electric type zips past Fay, marching in the direction she came from no matter what she says.

Electabuzz> Fay watches as the hat wearing pokemon bolts past her, and the small Cubone watches him with wide eyed disbelief. Kumi on the other hand, glares at her trainer furiously. <Those better have been lies! No one better have kidnapped my cutie wootie! My honey bunny is safe isn't he?> Kumi asks, opening her eyes wide, looking at Fay like a beaten puppy. "Oh, he's fine." she whispers, watching as the Electabuzz disappears into the distance. "Come on, we better catch up with him!" Fay calls, scooping up Vertebra, Jr. and jogging after the detective. Time to find the kidnapped prince! Case open!