Chapter 4: Demoted in Seniority
Arthur spent the night at the police station.
Since his identity couldn't be verified, and he couldn't provide a place of residence, the police didn't dare release him casually.
The next morning, while he was still racking his brain trying to figure out how to get an identity, a sudden commotion came from afar.
He curiously went to take a look, and that one glance caused him to be targeted by a large group of people at the police station entrance.
"It's him!! He's the kid from yesterday's video!"
Someone shouted, and instantly everyone's eyes turned to him.
Holy crap?! What's happening?! Arthur almost jumped out of his skin.
Then, disregarding the duty officer's attempts to stop them, they swarmed into the police station and crowded around him.
One of them shoved a thick, black, rod-like object into Arthur's face, so forcefully that he almost thought they were trying to shove it down his throat.
Don't misunderstand, it was just a microphone.
"Are you the so-called Suicune's child? How did you come here from Moonwhisper Mountain?"
"Do you have a purpose for coming down the mountain? Are you looking for family, or are you on a mission from Suicune?"
"Has Suicune shown you her transformation skills? Does she have a beautiful human form as rumored?"
A barrage of questions left Arthur completely bewildered.
Wait, what... what are they talking about?
Fortunately, the day shift police officers quickly stepped in and pulled the crowd away.
"Hey, what are you doing?! Back off!! Back off!! This is a law enforcement agency! You reporters are obstructing official duties!"
After finally getting rid of the tabloid reporters, the team leader who had questioned Arthur yesterday quickly took him back to the police station's back room, rubbing his temples in frustration.
"How did it get like this?"
Not only Arthur, but he himself was also wondering.
A young female officer in a clerical position, who seemed more tuned in to online trends, smiled and explained to the team leader, "Team Zhang, you probably don't know, but this kid's a viral sensation overnight."
"Huh?"
Team Zhang glanced at Arthur.
Arthur stared back, equally confused.
Their expressions were perfectly synchronized: "What are you talking about?"
The young officer continued, "It started with the girl who brought him here yesterday.
You probably don't know, but she secretly filmed a short video of the questioning and posted it online. It included the part where the kid said he was from Moonwhisper Mountain."
Team Zhang was still puzzled.
"But it wasn't confirmed, was it? And those people outside weren't saying that, were they?"
The young officer waved her hand, "Hey, let me finish. The video didn't go viral at first, the views were just so-so. I guess many people didn't believe it initially, but then, probably because it involved the real habitat of a mythical beast, the video got taken down.
And that was it, the heat surged once the video was deleted. Most of the people in the groups I'm in didn't believe the kid, but once the video was gone, bam, eighty percent believed it! And the stories got wilder and wilder, and the wilder they got, the more people believed!"
She pulled out her phone and showed Team Zhang a trending news pop-up.
Team Zhang looked at the headline, which screamed—
"Shocking! Human Abandoned Child Raised by Suicune in Moonwhisper Mountain for Over a Decade!"
Subtitle—"Is this the distortion of human nature or the decline of morality?"
Arthur also leaned over for a look.
His only reaction was, "I don't understand, but I'm deeply shocked..."
The three of them fell silent in the police station hallway.
Team Zhang took the opportunity to observe Arthur's expression.
He thought that if the kid was lying, he would be smirking now that his lie was believed and gaining attention.
To his surprise, Arthur showed no signs of smugness. Instead, he looked rather strange.
Almost... depressed?
Yes, Arthur was indeed a bit depressed.
Anyone else might be happy to be mistaken for Suicune's child, but not him. He used to beat Suicune like a father beats his daughter, and now, two hundred years later, his seniority had plummeted...
Wasn't this outrageous?!
...
In this weird atmosphere, Arthur was taken back and placed in the holding room.
He still couldn't leave for the rest of the day.
Team Zhang and the other officer who had questioned him yesterday didn't come to see him again.
Arthur was still troubled, wondering what to do next and if there were any other ways to gain trust and get an identity.
Then, after another day, he realized for the first time that being famous might not be a bad thing.
Due to the rising online heat about his case, the police station, under public pressure, didn't dare to just lock him up in a room anymore.
The public security system's efficiency increased dramatically, and orders came down from above to re-investigate his identity.
Arthur was taken for fingerprinting and facial recognition again, and several different people came to question him, even using Psychic-type Pokémon for lie detection.
He wouldn't have gotten this treatment if he hadn't gone viral.
Usually, when the police encounter runaway kids who refuse to tell the truth, they're thrown into a holding cell for a few days until they come clean about where they live and why they ran away.
Arthur would have received the same treatment under normal circumstances.
It was Suicune's popularity that saved him...
After all the procedures were completed, they still couldn't prove his claims, but they couldn't disprove them either.
They couldn't find his birth certificate or any records anywhere, and even the Psychic-type Pokémon's lie detection couldn't "expose" his story.
As a former Heavenly King, Arthur knew far more about Psychic-type abilities than the average person and knew how to use limited truths to deceive the lie detector.
Finally, two days later, the public security system still couldn't provide any evidence to refute his story.
Under the scrutiny of many online media outlets, the police station couldn't hold him any longer.
They had to issue him a new ID card.
Based on the blood test, they confirmed him to be fifteen years old, and he was allowed to choose his own birthday.
This news caused an internet frenzy!
Many clickbait media outlets wrote articles—
"Suicune's Child, Confirmed!!"
Meanwhile, hundreds of kilometers away on a mountain peak, Suicune, just waking up, suddenly sneezed...