I really am an Orphan!

David was still pacing back and forth like a stressed-out Meowth, occasionally glancing nervously toward the stairs. "C'mon, Nakamura... Don't pull a muscle or something," he muttered under his breath. Pikachu, perched on his shoulder, gave him an encouraging nuzzle, while Ralts, still snug in his arms, reached up and gently patted his forehead with its tiny hand.

David blinked in surprise, looking down. "You tryin' to comfort me, huh?" he asked with a grin. Ralts nodded, its big eyes full of sincerity. Pikachu joined in, rubbing his cheek against David's, sparks flickering harmlessly as if saying, Hey, chill out, we've got this.

David chuckled, a smile creeping onto his face. "Alright, alright, I get it. Thanks, you two," he said, patting both of them affectionately. His nerves seemed to ease up a bit, and he leaned back against the wall, waiting.

It didn't take long. Within minutes, the sound of boots stomping down the stairs echoed through the hallway. A swarm of investigators emerged, dragging the shopkeeper and his young lady employees in tow. The shopkeeper was shouting obscenities that were about as creative as a Magikarp splash attack, while the girls just looked thoroughly annoyed, like they'd been pulled out of the middle of their favorite reality TV show.

Nakamura followed behind them, walking with the authority of a guy who'd just cleared out an entire den of troublemakers before his morning coffee. He stopped in front of David and, much to David's surprise, gave him a little salute. "Thank you, kid. If it weren't for you, we wouldn't have found out about the illegal activities going on here," Nakamura said, his tone genuinely appreciative.

David blinked. Did... did an investigator just salute him? He straightened up immediately, beaming with pride. "Hey, you're welcome, you're welcome!" he said, puffing his chest out dramatically. "As a proud partner of justice and the blossoming flower of the Alliance, it's my duty to uphold truth and honor!"

Nakamura raised an eyebrow, clearly amused. Before he could say anything, David immediately followed up with a wide grin and rubbed his fingers together in the universal sign for money. "So, how about you just slip me, I dunno, fifty thousand... maybe a hundred thousand Alliance Coins as a reward? You know, just for my heroic contribution."

Nakamura's face went blank. He stared at David for a solid five seconds, completely silent. "…Do you think the Alliance is made of money? A hundred thousand?!"

David tilted his head. "What? Isn't that what justice is worth these days? I saved a Ralts, exposed a shady salon, and probably made your day way more interesting! That's gotta be worth something."

Nakamura pinched the bridge of his nose, visibly trying to keep his composure. "You just got done saying you're the flower of the Alliance—a partner of justice—and now you want to shake down the League for a cash bonus?"

David didn't even flinch. "Hey, flowers need water. And in this economy? Water's not cheap."

Nakamura looked like he was about to have an aneurysm. "Twenty thousand. Maybe thirty thousand. That's the standard reporting reward for a case like this," he said with a huff. "You're lucky it involved illegal Pokémon detention. If it hadn't, you'd be looking at a few thousand tops."

David frowned, clearly displeased with the numbers. "Twenty thousand? Man, that's barely enough for, like, two TMs and a decent hotel stay. What happened to paying heroes what they're worth?"

Nakamura crossed his arms, his gaze deadpan. "You'll get what you get, and you'll like it."

[+100 Negative Emotion Points from Nakamura...]

[+100 Negative Emotion Points from Nakamura...]

[+100 Negative Emotion Points from Nakamura...]

David stared at Nakamura, blinking in disbelief. "Wait, what? Only 20,000 to 30,000 Alliance coins for this big mess? Come on, that's like a grocery store discount for saving the world!"

He fished his phone out of his pocket, practically shoving it in Nakamura's face. "Investigator Uncle! You sure you're not pulling my leg? Look right here!" He zoomed in on the screen and pointed dramatically at the Alliance report reward section, practically yelling, "It says right here that illegal Pokémon poaching cases have a bonus of up to 100,000 Alliance coins! What, are you just going to pocket the difference, huh?"

Nakamura blinked, then slowly turned his gaze from the phone to David, his face turning a little more deadpan. Breathe, Nakamura. Breathe, he thought. A small vein popped up on his forehead, but he kept his cool. David, on the other hand, looked like a kid who'd just found out the ice cream truck ran out of sprinkles.

David shot him a suspicious glance. "You're not gonna try and snatch my reward, are you? I know how it is with you guys in the Alliance... always looking to take a little extra."

At that, Nakamura's patience finally snapped. He raised a fist and gave David a light whack on the head, making a sound that could've been mistaken for a weak punch to a rubber ball. "What do you think we are? A bunch of crooks?!"

David rubbed his head with a dramatic wince. "Ow, my beautiful face..." he muttered. But he quickly pulled himself together, flashing a grin. "Just saying, I'm the Alliance's pure flower. Shouldn't I be treated better?"

Nakamura didn't even flinch. He pointed at the report again, clearly done with David's antics. "This isn't the big case you think it is. We're talking about some shady Pokémon dealings, not the next Pokémon Master saga. Just go back, fill out a statement, and stop thinking you're gonna get a bonus for every little thing you do."

David huffed dramatically, clutching his forehead in mock pain. "This is an injustice! A total travesty! How will I live with only 20,000 to 30,000 coins after my heroic one-man rescue operation?"

Nakamura just stared at him for a long moment. "You really are something else, you know that?"

David tried to muster a pout, but it didn't work. Nakamura was already walking toward the police car, and David had no choice but to follow, still muttering under his breath. "I saved the day, and this is how they treat me..."

As they both got into the car, David couldn't help but smile a little. At least I'm still the hero of this little drama. Meanwhile, Nakamura seemed oddly pleased with himself, humming a random tune and trying to ignore David's constant complaining.

The ride to the Pacific City Search Bureau was filled with an oddly peaceful silence, only broken by David's occasional grumbling.

[+10 Negative Emotion Points from David...][+10 Negative Emotion Points from David...][+10 Negative Emotion Points from David...]

David glanced at the notification in his head, then shot Nakamura another look. "You know, you're really racking up the points for me today."

Nakamura raised an eyebrow but didn't respond, the corners of his mouth twitching just a bit as if he was enjoying the chaos from afar.

In the interrogation room, David slouched in the chair, looking like he'd rather be anywhere else—maybe even in detention. Nakamura, standing across from him with a clipboard, cleared his throat.

"Name?"

"David." David said it smoothly, like he'd been asked this a hundred times before.

"Age?"

David paused, thinking for a second. "Thirteen... and sixty months."

Nakamura blinked, squinting. "What? Did you just say sixty months? You're not that bad at math, right?"

David gave him a look. "Look, I'm just saying, I age in months. Why do you care?"

Nakamura was already rubbing his temples. "You're not making this easy, kid."

"Gender?" Nakamura asked next, clearly just trying to get through the list.

David gave him a deadpan stare. "Can't you see it?"

Nakamura froze, staring at him. "Seriously?"

David casually shrugged.

Nakamura's hand shot up faster than a Golem running downhill and knocked David on the forehead.

"Ow!" David yelped, clutching his head. "That hurt!"

From David's perspective, the system was practically singing as the negative emotion points kept piling up. He could feel his internal scoreboard going wild. 100 points in just a few seconds. "Great. Just what I needed."

"Okay, kid," Nakamura grumbled, "What's your father's name?"

David looked at him like he'd just asked what color the sky was. "Don't have one."

"Mother?"

David's gaze didn't waver. "Don't have one either."

Nakamura was about two seconds away from losing it. His grip on his pen tightened until it snapped clean in half, the broken pieces clattering on the table.

David's eyes widened.

"Le Gasp!" he gasped, clutching his heart like a drama queen. "Did you see that? Your anger literally broke the pen!"

Nakamura was about two seconds from either screaming or laughing, but he chose to channel his frustration into what could only be described as a storming approach.

As he marched over, David quickly covered his forehead. The next thing he knew, Nakamura's hand made contact with his head with a loud thud.

"Dang!" David winced, his hand still on his forehead. "What kind of torture is this? I'm just an unfortunate orphan! (Cue dramatic sobs.)"

Nakamura stopped in his tracks, eyes narrowing. "Wait, are you... really an orphan?"

David nodded solemnly, still clutching his poor abused forehead. "Yup, orphan life. Now getting beaten for it. It's... great."

Nakamura raised an eyebrow, clearly skeptical. "You're seriously telling me you don't have a family?"

David dropped his hand dramatically. "Nope, no family. Not even a pet goldfish." He sighed, making the most out of his tragic situation.

Nakamura blinked, clearly struggling to process this. "Wait... are you really an orphan, or are you just making this up to get sympathy?"

David shot him a pitiful look. "No, no, I'm a true orphan. Like a legendary level orphan."

Nakamura, looking half confused, half exasperated, let out a groan. "Alright, I need a minute." He turned on his heel and stomped out of the interrogation room, muttering to himself. "I'm gonna check if this kid's telling the truth or if he's just messing with me."

David leaned back in the chair, casually glancing at the door. "Honestly, I think he's just mad I'm not giving him a hard time. Classic Police officer, though. Always trying to act tough."

Less than ten minutes later, Nakamura strutted into the interrogation room, holding a folder like he was carrying a stack of top-secret government documents. He looked down at the papers, raised an eyebrow, and addressed David with the most serious expression he could muster.

"David, huh? So, you're an orphan. You've been living at the Pacific City Welfare Institute since... forever, and now you're at Pacific City High School, right?"

David just clutched his forehead, still nursing the sore spot from earlier, and nodded absently. He was too tired to even care anymore. Why was he getting beaten up for telling the truth? It was like the universe just didn't understand him!

Nakamura stared at David for a second, his frown deepening as he saw the poor kid nursing his head like it was about to explode. It almost made him feel bad. Almost.

He sighed, trying to soften his tone. "Alright, alright, I'm sorry. I got a little carried away. I thought you were just pulling another one of your 'artistic flair' stunts with all that... nonsense."

David, still holding his head, looked like he was a moment away from bursting into tears. "I just told the truth," he muttered, clearly aggrieved. "Why do I always get the beating for that?"

Nakamura, now realizing David was a little more fragile than he thought, gave him a sympathetic look, though he couldn't stop a small chuckle from escaping. "You know, I'm starting to think you've been practicing your lies for years, David. That's some serious 'artistic flair' you're pulling off."

David, now realizing his opportunity for some revenge, shot back with a grin. "Hey, Prosecutor Uncle... you ever trained in Shaolin Temple? I mean, I'm pretty sure you know Bruce Lee's moves, right?"

Nakamura blinked in surprise, then frowned, rubbing the back of his neck. "What...?" He was confused, but mostly because David had just called him out in the weirdest way possible. "Are you... calling me old now? Is that what you're doing?"

David just shrugged, his forehead still aching. "Hey, I'm just saying. You've got that kung fu vibe."

Nakamura smirked, not bothering to answer, as he turned to the actual business at hand. "Alright, enough joking around. The owner of the Gardevoir Shampoo Salon has already confessed to unlawfully keeping a Shiny Ralts. You know about that, right?"

David nodded, trying to act nonchalant as he looked at the Ralts tucked in his arms. "Yeah, I know." He turned to the little Pokémon, who seemed to be trembling nervously in his arms. "Ralts, you wanna show yourself?"

The tiny creature popped its head out from the crook of David's arm, its pale blue hair shimmering under the fluorescent lights. Its little pink headband glowed faintly as the psychic energy flickered through its tiny red horns. It looked up nervously at Nakamura, as though expecting him to be some kind of giant, terrifying... well, giant terrifying investigator.

David smiled at Ralts, trying to calm it down, but Nakamura wasn't really paying attention to that. He was more focused on the fact that Ralts had this faint psychic glow around its horns.

"Yeah, yeah, I know it's a Shiny," Nakamura said, his voice suddenly a little sharper, as if he were emphasizing it on purpose. "Don't try to pull any tricks on me. We've got this under control."

David just shrugged, still keeping his gaze on the little Pokémon. "No tricks here, Nakamura. Just a cute, psychic little critter trying not to get caught in a mess."

Ralts tilted its head and blinked at Nakamura, who, after a moment's hesitation, took a deep breath and let out a sigh. "Fine. I get it. You're not planning to pull a Houdini act."

He glanced at David, then back at Ralts, who was already plotting an escape route in its little psychic mind. "Let's just make sure this doesn't turn into more than it needs to be."

David raised an eyebrow. "You know, Inspector uncle, it feels like you're always one step away from turning this whole thing into a dramatic crime movie."

"Yeah, well, you're one step away from being a sidekick in that movie," Nakamura muttered under his breath, flipping through his papers as if it might be the answer to all his problems.

David, meanwhile, just smiled. He was starting to enjoy the bizarre back-and-forth.