Purrloin padded slowly toward Robbin, who was tied to a broken pillar. It extended its sharp claws and used Slash to cut through the thick-soled desert boots on Robbin's feet in four clean strokes, peeling them away along with the socks underneath.
Then a sly, knowing smile spread across Purrloin's face. Its curved tail swept back and forth across the bare soles of Robbin's feet with the slow, deliberate patience of someone who knew exactly what they were doing.
The soft fur of Purrloin's tail felt like silk against the skin. Under any other circumstances, it might even have been pleasant. But the sensation it produced now was something else entirely. Every pass of that tail sent a deep, helpless itch racing through Robbin's feet and up through her whole body, the kind that made her want to laugh and scream at the same time and could not decide which.
"Hahahaha... You... you are going to regret this... Hahahaha..."
Pat turned to look at Nova. Nova looked back at Pat with an expression that was somewhere between apologetic and impressed.
"I have to say," Pat said, "I did not know this approach existed. The younger generation truly surprises me."
"Please do not take notes on this," Nova said quickly. "I did not teach it anything."
Purrloin glanced back at them both with an expression that made it very clear this sort of thing required no instruction whatsoever. Its ability was Prankster. Finding and exploiting exactly this kind of weakness was something it had been born knowing how to do.
Purrloin had spent the past while watching from inside its Poke Ball as Nova tried to get information out of Robbin. It understood, in the way that perceptive Pokemon do, that its temporary trainer needed something important from this girl and was running out of ways to get it.
Strictly speaking, this was no longer its responsibility. Its original task, helping Nova open a safe, had been completed some time ago. A borrowed Pokemon had no obligation to go beyond what it was asked.
But the past few days spent at Nova's side had given Purrloin something it was not used to having. There was a warmth there, a steadiness, that it had not felt in its life before. It did not let itself believe it would last. Things that felt like that rarely did. But even if it was fleeting, those moments were worth holding onto, and for their sake, Purrloin was willing to do a little more.
Besides, that girl had the look of someone extremely ticklish. Prankster had a way of pointing Purrloin toward exactly the right pressure point whenever it felt like causing mischief. It had known the moment it saw Robbin that this would work.
That same instinct was the reason Purrloin had acted so sweet and helpless the first time it met Nova and Sprigatito, back when it was still behind glass. It had known immediately that playing that role would get under Sprigatito's fur. Prankster worked in many directions.
Half a minute of Purrloin's tail was all it took. Robbin was barely breathing through her laughter, gasping between curses, tears running freely. Anyone watching could see she had reached her limit.
Nova dropped the act entirely.
A bounty worth a million Poke Dollars was waiting on the other side of this conversation, and the righteous young Trainer persona could wait. This girl might be Team Origin's field commander for the entire operation. Getting her to talk was worth more than keeping up appearances.
He would not be able to collect the bounty openly. He had no interest in appearing on Team Origin's records any more than he already did. But helping Jenny, Pat, and Sandra close this case was still going to be worth something significant. The money would be split, naturally, but Nova intended to make sure his share reflected the effort involved.
Three quarters seemed reasonable.
Nova moved in, had Sprigatito use Leafage to produce a single soft, flexible leaf, and went to work on Robbin's other foot.
Pat and Sprigatito both turned away.
"Are you going to talk?" Nova said, not looking up. "Are you going to talk? Are you going to talk?"
Both feet at once was a different experience from one. Robbin's resistance did not survive it.
"Fine! Fine! What do you want to know? Just ask! Ask already!"
Nova did not ease up. "What is your position in Team Origin?"
"Executive! Norlandia region! Now stop!"
Pat stepped forward immediately, voice sharp with focus. "Your codename."
"Robbin!"
"Real name."
"Brittney!"
Nova pulled back. Purrloin withdrew its tail and sat down with the composed dignity of a Pokemon that had done exactly what it set out to do and saw no reason to make a fuss about it.
If Robbin had simply answered the first question two hours ago, none of this would have been necessary.
Robbin, her mascara streaked across her face and her composure completely gone, curled forward against the pillar she was bound to, buried her face in her knees, and cried quietly.
Nova looked over at Pat. "That counts, right? We did not go too far?"
Pat's expression was mild. "Necessity does not always allow for comfort. She helped destroy an entire town. As long as no one died from what we did here, I would say we stayed on the right side of the line."
The interrogation was finished. Neither Nova nor Pat pressed Robbin any further after that. All they needed to do now was escort her back to any Police Department within the Norlandia Alliance, and the merit from this alone would be considerable.
There was also the matter of what Purrloin had uncovered. Now that they knew Robbin's weakness, there was a real possibility she could be encouraged to share more about Team Origin's operations in future questioning. A field executive who knew the inner workings of a cross-regional criminal organization was not a small catch.
Pat had no concerns about Robbin causing trouble in the meantime. Jenny had personally searched her before handing her over, and the tactical belt she used to carry her Poke Balls had already been confiscated. A Trainer without their Pokemon had very limited options.
Nova, however, had a question he had been sitting with.
"Officer Pat," he said. "Would you mind if I asked where you got your Kirlia?"
The events in Lune Town had made several gaps in Nova's team very clear to him.
The first was a scout. Corviknight was dependable but not suited for reconnaissance. It was too large, too slow, and too visible. Quiet observation from a distance was not what it was built for.
The second was a dedicated front-line defender. Corviknight currently handled protection, and it was good at it. Its command of Protect and its steel body made it an excellent shield. But a team could not ask the same Pokemon to guard the trainer from behind and take hits at the front at the same time. That was like asking a goalkeeper to play striker and then blaming them when the defense collapsed. Nova wanted Corviknight to do one job and do it properly, which meant someone else needed to hold the line.
The third was a translator. If Pat's Kirlia had not been there after Little Blue brought Robbin in, Nova and Jenny would have spent the rest of the night watching Corviknight jump around trying to explain itself through movement alone. Having a Pokemon with Telepathy on the team was not a luxury. It was a practical necessity.
The fourth was something Nova had not anticipated before today. The encounter with a self-destructing Pokemon had left a mark on him. Until he had a Pokemon with the Damp ability nearby to prevent that kind of move from working, he was not going to feel fully at ease in any situation where the enemy might have that option available.
Setting aside the first and fourth points for now, Nova was fairly sure he already knew of a type of Pokemon that could fill both the bodyguard and translator roles at once. The question was where to find one.