"Name."
"Armin."
"Age."
"Twenty."
"Occupation?"
"Kanto League investigator."
Officer Jenny lifted her head with a faintly amused expression.
"A League investigator… digging up someone's grave?"
Armin: …
She set the transcript aside and leaned back.
"So. What did you find?"
Armin replied smoothly, "Classified. We're not authorized to disclose sensitive information."
"Fair enough." She stood up. "In that case, I'll have someone from the League talk to you."
Armin's internal alarm bells went off instantly.
Jenny didn't give him time to object. She stepped out of the interrogation room.
A door opened outside.
A young man's voice greeted her.
Then the interrogation room door opened again.
Armin looked up—
And saw a red-haired man draped in a black cape, radiating righteous charisma as he took the seat across from him.
Red hair. Cape. Heroic aura.
There was no mistaking him.
One of the Kanto Elite Four.
The Dragon Master—
Lance.
Lance regarded him with faint amusement.
"How's the undercover mission going? Found any solid evidence yet?"
Armin blinked.
"You know me?"
Lance nodded.
"I met your group of investigators before you entered the Team Rocket training facility."
Armin's mind raced.
Lance didn't know him.
He knew the identity assigned by the instance.
Lance leaned back casually.
"Well?"
If Armin's Main Quest hadn't changed, this would've been the perfect moment.
Report everything.
Complete the mission.
Leave the world.
But that was no longer his faction.
He now stood with Team Rocket.
And Lance had no idea he'd defected.
Armin exhaled.
"Nothing yet. Team Rocket is extremely cautious. When we enter or leave the base, our eyes are covered. They don't allow us to memorize routes."
Lance frowned.
"So the undercover operation may already be exposed…"
Lance was a man of justice.
He despised Team Rocket.
But he wasn't the type to sacrifice his subordinates recklessly.
After a moment, he said firmly,
"Your mission is over. You will not return to Team Rocket."
Armin: …
That wouldn't do.
He met Lance's gaze and gathered his emotions, letting a heroic glow seem to radiate from him.
"No! How can I abandon the others still undercover just to ensure my own safety?!"
"If I leave now, those already under suspicion will be exposed immediately! I refuse to watch them be humiliated by Team Rocket!"
Lance was visibly moved.
He gripped Armin's shoulder.
"A fine investigator! With people like you, the League's future is bright!"
Armin: …
Okay, okay. That's enough acting.
Even Lance was going overboard.
"So… can I have my Pokémon back?" Armin asked.
"Of course."
Lance called Officer Jenny back in.
She unlocked Armin's handcuffs and returned Mimikyu's Poké Ball.
In a flash of white light—
Mimikyu leapt out and instantly shielded Armin, glaring at Jenny and Lance.
Lance raised both hands.
"Relax, little one. I haven't harmed your Trainer."
Jenny smiled faintly.
"You two seem close."
Armin rubbed his nose, hugging Mimikyu.
"It's fine. They're not bad people."
Jenny crossed her arms against the doorway.
"So now will you explain why you were grave-robbing, Mr. Gravedigger?"
Gravedigger?!
Armin's expression perfectly captured handsome-man-withdrawn-from-life energy.
Jenny burst out laughing.
"Relax. If you don't want to say, I won't push. What now? Going back to the Team Rocket base?"
Lance watched him quietly.
Armin shook his head.
"They already know I was arrested."
Team Rocket's surveillance never left him. Ariana likely knew the moment he was put in a patrol car.
He looked up at Lance.
"You didn't reveal your location today, right?"
Lance shook his head confidently.
"When I don't want to be found, no one finds me."
"Good."
Armin exhaled.
"I'll stay. Team Rocket will send someone to retrieve me."
Jenny and Lance exchanged a glance.
Lance nodded slightly and left.
…
Armin spent the next several hours in the interrogation room.
Good food.
Good treatment.
It was almost comfortable.
At ten that night—
Someone came for him.
To be precise—
They broke him out.
When Ariana descended from above, Armin thought he was hallucinating.
What the hell?!
Team Rocket was this aggressive now?!
Ariana didn't waste time.
She dropped from a hole blasted in the ceiling and flung a rope around his waist, yanking him upward.
The rope bit painfully into his sides.
A helicopter roared overhead.
Police commands echoed faintly below.
Then—
Silence.
Ariana hauled him into the helicopter.
The city lights shrank beneath them.
Armin clutched his aching waist.
"I honestly thought you were going to throw me out midair and call it evidence disposal."
Ariana: …
Of all possibilities, that was not what she expected him to say.
She clenched her jaw, resisting the urge to smack him.
"Explain," she said coldly. "Why dig up Amber's grave?"
Armin met her gaze calmly.
"You saw it too."
"The coffin was empty."
The helicopter blades sliced through the night sky.
And somewhere below—
The truth remained buried.