Following the address on the business card Nurse Joy Jing had given him, Lorze arrived at a two-story detached house with a sign reading “Rhodes Psychological Clinic” above the door.
The moment they reached the entrance, certain memories were triggered within Zorua.
It became restless inside his shadow.
Through their soul contract, Lorze instantly sensed this and gently coaxed it:
“Zorua, calm down.
This guy has no idea you exist right now.
He’s out in the open, and we’re in the dark.
We control the absolute pace of this, so there’s no need to rush.
However, if it’s too much for you to handle right now, you don’t have to follow me in.
We’re just here to dig up some dirt anyway, so you can just wait for me out here!”
Hearing this, Zorua actually became anxious.
“That won’t do!
I am Lorze’s only Pokémon right now.
I have to protect you at all times.
I can easily overcome this level of discomfort!
Guurr~”
Lorze smiled in genuine amusement and strode right into the psychological clinic.
He found the interior to be rather cozy, with warm tones on the walls and lighting.
Hanging on the wall was a photo of a balding, middle-aged man flashing a warm, benevolent smile.
But through his real-time telepathic link with Zorua, Lorze knew this very man was the sick bastard who had tortured it.
It truly was a case of never judging a book by its cover.
The registration fee for the psychological consultation was a bit steep.
Fortunately, Lorze’s pockets were lined with cash right now, so he didn’t care about this pocket change, smoothly entering the consultation phase.
The moment he walked through the door, the bald man from the photo squeezed out a harmless, friendly smile and stood up to welcome him.
But having been thoroughly baptized by a bunch of treacherous Necromancers in the magical world, Lorze saw through this two-faced snake at a single glance.
Hidden within the wavy wrinkles at the corners of his eyes was a deeply concealed, ruthless edge.
If anyone was actually fooled by this kind of guy’s exterior, they’d end up getting their throats bitten out when they least expected it.
“Hello, Mr.
Lorze.
How can I help you today?”
After sitting down, Lorze cracked his neck, took a deep breath, and spoke in a dead-serious tone:
“Whatever I’m about to tell you, absolutely do not freak out!”
“Rest assured, I am a professional psychiatrist.
I don’t get scared!”
“I just got kidnapped by the undead!”
“…Which specific undead would that be?”
“Not a specific one!
An undead that’s half-human, half-ghost!”
Rhodes fell completely silent.
After thinking for a moment, he whipped out his phone and pulled up a picture of a Spiritomb!
“It wasn’t that abstract!
It looked more human!”
The guy across the desk swapped it to a picture of a Gengar!
“Not that fucking fat!”
Rhodes swiped his finger, and the image changed to a Mismagius!
“Where are the legs?!
And it wasn’t wearing a hat!
It looked like a dude!”
The guy held up a hand, signaling him to calm down, messed with his phone, and changed the picture to a Golurk!
“The undead!
Haven’t you ever watched a goddamn horror movie?!”
“Please, continue…”
“It was just so unique, radiating this creepy, sinister aura.
And it insisted I catch it!
It said I was a once-in-a-generation talent with the makings of a Champion—which, honestly, who the fuck couldn’t see that?
So I obviously rejected it, and then it straight-up kidnapped me, right around the Mt.
Pyre area…”
“Pfft~”
“The fuck are you laughing at?”
“I just thought of something funny!”
“What the hell is so funny?”
“My female Machamp is giving birth today!”
“Why the hell would you laugh at a female Machamp giving birth?
What, is the kid yours?”
“…”
Just like that, Lorze dragged Rhodes into half an hour of absolute bullshit.
Once the consultation time was fully drained, the psychiatrist, forcibly suppressing his blinding rage, showed him the door.
The official diagnosis: severe trauma caused by being spooked by Ghost-type Pokémon, requiring several days of strict bed rest.
The moment the door clicked shut, the fake smile plastered on Rhodes’ face was instantly replaced by vicious malice, and he started cursing out loud:
“Motherfucker, making money is hard, and eating shit is worse!
If I hadn’t just gambled away all my cash in that shithole, I would’ve kicked that psycho out ages ago.
Can’t believe I endured that for so long.
Then again, even though the kid is mentally deranged, he seems pretty loaded.
He paid the fee without blinking an eye.
Maybe I should tail him and just…
Tch~ Forget it.
Boss Scar’s operation is right around the corner.
Better not complicate things.
It’ll be a bitch to explain if I stir up unnecessary trouble.”
…
Lorze had no idea that someone else’s internal monologue had just saved him a huge hassle.
He walked until he entered a small patch of woods before Zorua finally popped out of his shadow.
“Zorua, you did fucking great!”
Confused by the sudden praise, Zorua tilted its head!
“Guurr~ But I didn’t even do anything!”
“You clearly hate that bastard’s guts, but while you were hiding in the shadow just now, you didn’t leak a single drop of abnormal emotional fluctuation.
Doesn’t that prove you’ve matured a ton?”
“I’m not that amazing, it’s just because Master guided me so well earlier!”
Lorze realized that Zorua was suffering from a lack of self-confidence due to its past trauma, so he made a point to find every opportunity to praise it.
And having been showered with compliments, the little fox looked bashful, its tiny tail wagging non-stop.
“Kekeke~~”
At that moment, three dark shadows shot out from different directions, finally coming to a halt in front of Lorze.
It was Haunter and the other two ghosts.
“Brother Haunter, judging by that look on your face, you guys must’ve scored a huge haul.”
Haunter shoved its massive disembodied hand into its own spectral chest and actually pulled out a smartphone.
This phone was naturally the one Lorze had just bought at the Lilycove Department Store.
The moment he walked into the clinic, he had stealthily let Haunter out, ordering it to use its stealth abilities to photograph any hidden files or notebooks Rhodes had stashed away.
But when Lorze grabbed the phone and checked the gallery, he found that the vast majority of the photos were actually hardcore pornographic images, or highly explicit, R-rated erotica that would instantly get a 404 ban on any mainstream website.
“What the fuck did you photograph?!
I wanted hard evidence of Rhodes’ crimes, not the degenerate erotica you’re personally jacking off to.”
Haunter looked as if it had suffered a grave fucking injustice, throwing its massive hands in the air.
“Bro, whether you’re a man or a ghost, you gotta have a conscience!
I can’t read for shit!
How the fuck am I supposed to tell the difference between criminal evidence and hardcore smut?
How can you just blindly falsely accuse an illiterate ghost?!”
“Alright, alright, alright!
Even if you can’t read, don’t tell me you don’t know what these dirty pictures are!”
“…”
Seeing Haunter utterly speechless, Lorze guessed this guy was just a pathetically sexually frustrated ghost.
Not bothering to argue with it any further, he kept scrolling through the gallery.
To his surprise, a photo of a handwritten letter immediately snapped his attention back.
“Jackpot!”
Lorze skimmed through it rapidly, discovering it was a notification for a secret operation.
The mastermind orchestrating it was someone code-named “Boss Scar.”
As it turned out, this psychiatrist Rhodes actually belonged to an underground mafia in Lilycove City known as the “Venom Blade Syndicate,” and his rank in the organization wasn’t low either.
And the operation they were about to execute was utterly insane—they were plotting to hijack the starter Pokémon the Lilycove City officials were preparing to distribute to rookie Trainers.
Doing the math, it would be exactly a week from now when the Lilycove City Pokémon Center distributed the starter Pokémon to the batch of commoner Trainers who had passed the screening.
For these bastards to have the fucking balls to rob the Pokémon the League was allocating to new Trainers…
Lorze instantly formulated a plan in his head!