1x1 International Police Operations (Pikachoo x 122)

(Picture Atelier as a silver-haired version of Fire Emblem's Robin)

"Hello there, Connor! Nice to meet you. Mars told me you'd be coming," Atelier replied, smiling. Like Mars, and unlike the chilly nature of the IP, Atelier's demeanor was quite pleasant. "Glad to finally have another agent to test out my new technologies. Now that Mars works part-time, she hasn't had the pleasure of trying all my new creations." Atelier went to fetch some items from his workshop table; likely the gadgets that Mars mentioned. "You'll need these to go out to the field. I'm told by the higher-ups, and Mars, that you're dealing with small investigations for now, so some equipment doesn't hurt."

He held out something like a beacon with a screen. "This is a heartbeat detector. It's not in its best shape yet until I've fully developed it. For now, it works to detect a maximum of any three beings from your position, not counting Pokémon. I might try to install radar onto it when there's a chance. It also can help pick your targets more easily." Then Atelier pulled out a baton. "Just in case you need to knock out someone quickly, for your defence, use this stun baton. Its powered by a particularly unstable electric force, but do be careful, because it might backfire on you. I'm trying what I can to mitigate them."

"As an IP agent, you mostly work with non-lethal weapons, but I'll let you pick when Mars gets..." Atelier's voice faded. "Ah, enjoying the cars, aren't you? They're all police cars, though we've had a small pleasure in issuing supercars for some of our agents for rapid response. Each car has a fire extinguisher and life support kit in there too, so they're like mobile first aid stations. Mars... Her car is that red-and-black Tokiwa GT-R45 over there... And it has police lights. Any car catch your eye?"

(I made up the car name. But Tokiwa is Viridian City, basically Yokohama where Nissan is based)

 

(Good assumption to make, and nice name! I also like what you did too with Nagoya. Also, fun fact, 'Toyota' is also its own city, but right at Nagoya's boundary. Car is based on the Toyota FT-1)

"When I manage to develop these gadgets further, I'll let you know! There will be newer versions for sure." Atelier said, laughing along with Connor. "I never had agents who are optimistic to get hurt by my tech, but glad it works out. Have fun with these!" He handed the equipment to Connor, happy that someone could test the gadgets. For Atelier, it was a pleasure to find another, besides Mars, who was as motivated to try the new stuff.

"That car... Ah, that's a supercar that Kikyo hasn't exactly put into production yet. Thankfully it isn't too expensive to produce either. It's called the FT-2," Atelier explained. "I've helped the engineers make some modifications to it, to improve its use in police work. It's surprisingly easy to control. Are you thinking of using the car?"

But before Connor could reply, Mars walked into the room, with a small smile on her face. "Having fun, Atelier?" she said.

"You bet, Mars," Atelier replied. "I was just giving Connor here a run-through of the cars, but he has what he needs. That reminds me, you need your things too." He handed Mars three black boxes. "These are barricades, designed to protect you. Just place these sideways, smash it to the ground, and a virtual wall will be set up for you. It has a lot of endurance and I'm still improving it. I'll let you know when there are upgrades, as I'm still finding ways to improve transporting the armour. Here are three medical packs, by the way. You never know when you'll need them."

Mars took the gadgets gratefully, and then Atelier moved on to show more equipment. "Here are some non-lethal weapons that you can use to subdue enemies, but hopefully you'll never need to use them."

There was a ballistic shield, an electric staff, and a fire fan.

 

Mars chuckled, waving back at Connor and Atelier. "There is no telling what sorts of things Atelier can make, or what sorts of mayhem are in his head. He sure improved the IP equipment lineup, so I'm told, back when the IP was using less-than-impressive gadgets back then," she said, then she took a good look at Connor's eyes. "Still looking at those cars? That can wait when we have our weapons."

Mars proceeded to pick the ballistic shield as her choice of weapon. It was rectangular for providing some kind of body protection, yet small enough to be used as an easy-to-use weapon. But she also picked up the small ice rifle just in case. The rifle fired bursts of ice like an Aurora Beam.

As Mars was picking her weapon, Atelier turned to Connor again. "Anyways! I love to see what kind of gadgets I can add onto these cars too. It's quite fun, actually, and no one would suspect them to be police cars of all things." After Mars had picked her weapon, Atelier added, glancing at the Kikyo "the IP has a test facility in Oreburgh City where you can try out the cars and see which one you like. And I sure don't mind you trying the FT-2 over there. It actually hasn't been tested yet!"

Mars rolled her eyes. Boys really loved cars, didn't they? "We're going to Eterna City next, so I suppose we can stop at Oreburgh on the way there."

Atelier then handed over a second ballistic shield to Connor before showing him the weapons he could choose from.

Ballistic shield (deals steel damage; +10% Def while equipped)

Electric staff (deals electric damage; 10% chance to paralyze)
Fire fan (deals fire damage; 10% chance to burn)
Ice rifle (deals ice damage; 10% chance to freeze)

 

"You should probably get some combat practice. I agree," Mars said. Looking at the size of the rifle, she also wondered if there as anything smaller she could get her hands on. Atelier, noticing that, swapped out the ice rifle Mars had taken and replaced it with an ice pistol instead. That was much easier to use, Atelier and Mars agreed. As for the electric staff, it was about a metre in length and was surprisingly easy to control. It was also light, which helped.

Atelier then said, "I'll have the cars transported to our Oreburgh City facility. You can test the cars there as well as get some combat practice. They have the resources to get you some combat training."

"Might as well. We need to get to Eterna City anyway, so this should do for now. And Connor left his bike outside too..." Mars said, who also straightened her tie. She noticed Connor sigh. "Eh? Are you having second thoughts?"

 

"Eterna City will be our first place of investigation, yes," Mars replied. "But you know, we ought to have some practice at the Oreburgh test facility first. You can't do policing without training first, you know." She looked at how Connor handled the staff and then she put her ice pistol away, storing it on the holster on her belt beside her Poké Ball. "That staff looks pretty neat on you. I'd like to see what you can do with it. But we should get going."

"Good luck, you two!" Atelier waved. "Maybe I'll see you around later. And don't worry about the cars. I'll have them delivered before you know it."

Before Mars and Connor could leave, Atelier handed a phone to each of them so they could stay in contact with the IP. They also functioned as distress signals too, just in case if they needed extraction and extraction only. Eventually, Mars and Connor (known as Eclipse and Wolf among IP ranks now) were up and out of the IP office and back to the Vista Lighthouse. There, Connor's bike was still in its same place.

"We should get going to Oreburgh City," Mars said. She took out a folding bike from her bag. "But the cars could wait. Let Atelier fix them up before he sends them."

 

"With our luck, we might make it to Oreburgh before dark and get some combat training done," Mars said. She had made sure that, like Connor, she had also secured all her equipment before getting on her bike. Even though twilight was arriving, there would hopefully be enough time to try out the weapons and the cars. Soon enough, Mars and Connor were well on the path towards Lake Valor, Route 213, and the resort area that overlooked the lake. The day was surprisingly quiet and pleasant too.

Mars smiled a little and felt a whiff of nostalgia. This area was the place where her new life began. In fact, shortly after her leave from Team Galactic and a failed attempt to enter the Distortion World, she ended up here where her friend-to-be found her. How long had it been since she had been here, anyway? Not too long, since she had to collect some Gym Badges on the way here. Mars never had a chance yet to compete in the League though, owing to the IP frequently calling her in for duty.

By the time they had approached Hearthome City, it was dark. That was far from expecting to arrive at Oreburgh City by dark, as Mars had hoped.

 

"We probably should do that. I'm tired already..." Mars rubbed her head. She hadn't been to Hearthome City for a while. The most memorable time she had done that in recent times was when she had challenged Fantina for a Gym Badge and won quite easily, owing to her experience. She and Connor biked past the cathedral, the Gym, and eventually stopped at the Hearthome Contest Hall, so that Mars could call the Oreburgh facility and notify they would be late. After Mars had finished with the call, she turned to Connor and noticed his expression. "You lived here for a time, didn't you? I'm sure you might know a few places where we can rest, aside from the Pokémon Center..."

But before Mars could say any more, the sound of a loud commotion was erupting from the Contest Hall. It wasn't cheering and sounded more like panic instead and people started rushing out of the doors. "Oh dear," Mars remarked. "Looks like something is going on." They walked to the Contest Hall to find the people, fresh from watching a contest, coughing and breathing through their sleeves or with cloths. Something was wrong. There wasn't any fire as far as Mars was concerned, given there was no smoke. But as she walked closer to the doors, she also started to cough and quickly backed away.

"There's pepper spray in the air..." she muttered, and then spoke with their codenames. "Okay, Wolf. Let's talk with the officials." And then they went forward to find the administrators of the Contest Hall. After a brief conversation, Mars then turned to the crowd and flashed her IPI ID to them. "Police!" she said in a commanding voice. "I need everyone to remain here for brief questioning, if you will." Then she turned to Connor. "Wolf: go in and gather what evidence you can in and outside the hall. When you've gotten enough, return to me and let's see what we can do about this. Let's say this is your first try at solving a case."

She handed Connor an earpiece. "I'll be staying here to interview everyone for clues. If you need clues, contact me with this and I'll do what I can to help you."

Situation
Pepper spray filling the Hearthome Contest Hall forced its closure

Objectives
Determine if the pepper spray originated inside or outside
Find where the pepper spray originated
Gather evidence
Determine the cause(s) of the pepper spray

(First crack at making a puzzle here)

 

Outside, Mars was questioning people for clues but had positioned everyone further away from the Contest Hall to ensure their safety. With her notebook and pen, Mars began recording clues and parts of witness testimony in the hopes that something good might come out of it. So far, she was getting a general consensus that everyone felt the effects of the spray while they were watching a contest. She also interviewed others who claimed the pepper spray was felt outside the main hall as well.

(Solve the puzzle by using the constraints and asking Mars for clues until you've narrowed it down to something reasonable. I don't know how well this will work out)

 

(Feel free to add clues! They're like adding more constraints to help you narrow and deduce the solution, as long as they actually do narrowing, like math)

Mars had completed a round of interviews and was about to continue with another round when Connor called in. Putting her interviews on hold, she motioned the civilians to hold still while she went to the call. She asked Connor for whatever information he had gotten so far, and then wrote them in her notebook. Somehow, there had to be a way to solve this puzzle.

Constraints (Clues)
- 1. Civ: pepper spray occurred during contest, contest had not finished
- 2. Civ: many people panicked, staff directed everyone to leave through one exit
- 3. Staff: air vents exist in contest hall, for venting out air
- 4. Staff: no valuables exist in contest hall
- 5. Staff: event was an entry-level contest
- 6. Staff: pepper was less intense outside the main hall
- 7. Wolf: no suspicious acts of vandalism
- 8. Wolf: left side of hall has fainter(?) smell of pepper

"That's all I have on my notebook, Wolf. Based on this trend, I would guess that this was an act of mischief," Mars said. "There is nothing of value, except cash perhaps, that is worth taking from this building. Also, there is no vandalism as you've reported. If anything, someone was trying to take pleasure in disrupting an entry-level contest."

Mars added, "If the left side of the hall has a fainter smell, then it may be that the pepper spray originated on the right side of the hall, and either indoors or outdoors. What evidence could you find?"