"Yeah, I guess that could be why."  Almond said in response to Haruki's point regarding other trainers not being around.  "But people in the anime always rushed towards danger to see what they could do."  He laughed, and scratched his nose.  "Of course, I'm probably just romanticizing things.  Its a bad habit, but one that's hard to break."

"Oh yeah!  There it is.  I guess you were right about there not being one before it."  The city wasn't anything like Almond imagined.  He always figured it for a quaint little down, surrounded by a bit of rough patches, but instead there were massive mines, and excavations going on everywhere he looked.  There were more trainers too.  They didn't have the friendly looks everyone on the show had, most kept their eyes down while they walked, but occasionally one would look back and give him a nervous smile.  

"So where do you think we should start?  Usually, the gym, in the games, is the best place to go for information but...."  He paused and stepped in front of a random passer by.  "Uh.  Excuse me sir, but do you know what's going on?  Why does everyone look so terrified."

The man blinked at Almond before looking away.  "Its the murders.  There's been so many of them.  There were another four bodies found just now towards the northern edge of town."