"The moment I came to, the compartment I'd been stuffed into became cramped. My neck was killing me, but I had to get my bearings, and fast.

Dark. I was in a trunk. We were on the move, but in a peculiar way. A backpack?

I swore. There was nothing more embarrassing than to be caught, off-guard."

"I’d seen the girl around Lavender before, and truth be told, nothing would have made me happier than to believe her, but I knew better than to trust a Marowak in this town."

"Pidgeotto fell to the floor, and the boy to her side.

‘Now cut the shit, Falkner.’

I spit my cigarette at his feet, a solitary ember burning my mark into the kid’s sandal.

'I own you. Don’t act like you forgot that.’"

"Sudowoodo had stonewalled the police during their interrogation, no help at all. But I knew where he spent his nights these days. At dusk, it came time for me to see if I could shake loose a few berries."

"There's only so far a 'mon can run, but tearing around the second corner I knew it wouldn't matter: The boy was gone, and all that remained at the end of the alley was a perversely-sated Swalot."

"They say that you're four times more likely to be killed in a car accident than you were to be hurt on one of the Cycling Roads. At least, that was what they used to say. Before the Rockets took over."

"Maybe I really was a famous movie star, somewhere; My name up in lights, drinking for pleasure instead of sleep.

But as it was now, I was seeing a different set of stars, spitting out the first tooth of my night as someone’s hired Hitmonchan wound up for the second left hook of his."

"I knew Red from back in the day. We’d worked together to crack Team Rocket over the head, just before he retired. But the blood and ether the cops found at the scene didn’t seem like his idea of a happy ending."

"A beautiful woman once told me I seem haunted. Maybe that’s why I feel right at home every time I walk into Lavender."

"The cops wouldn’t release the name attached to the body, but the dozen unanswered calls confirmed my hunch. Oshawott wouldn’t be paying me after all."

"Jynx spread out on a set of sheets that cost more than my car. I touched the fabric: silk.

‘Caterpie or Weedle?’"

"The last time I’d been in Mauville, Wattson had made me a compelling offer to stay. I had a sinking feeling that our meeting all those years ago was part of the reason he was in a cabinet down at the morgue."

"An elderly couple runs the daycare.  Or, rather, ran it, until some poison type walked in around two this morning.

I sucked my teeth. Humans. Never stood a chance."

"It took two Machokes to move the truck on the docks. Underneath, it was just like the note had told us. Rigor had set in hours before: Mew was dead."

"Scenic as it was, I didn’t find myself at Tohjo Falls very often. But when one of the cops tasked with manning Saffron’s guard posts had to be fished out of the drink, I decided it might be worth it to make the trip."

"Probopass had a family now, and I'd figured since that business back in Cerulean he'd want to stay out of the slam, but the fence's tip made me wonder if he was having trouble keeping that nose clean."

"The Chansey tried their hardest, but there was nothing they could do.

Haunter was dead."

"Inspector Pidgeot had worked hard to keep me away from this one, but Meowth was paying me a lot of money to ruffle some feathers."

"It'd been a while since a client walked through the door, but at least I don't have to worry about keeping the lights on."