Could you tell us more about the association Ponkan works for? Or is that a spoiler?
Thank you again for the ask! Always love talking about DOL.
Special Agent Ponkan, the little nugget below, works for the PMDverse equivalent of Interpol (currently unnammed lol), dedicated to bringing the biggest and baddest crimes to justice. Local police forces can ask for their help or they can carry out independent missions as their intelligence department sees fit.
Ponkan specializes in criminal arrests, so she's the force the 'coppers' send to apprehend already identified criminals. She's pretty smart on her own, but her speciality is her sheer strength and stamina (if you've played with Ogerpon competitively, you know this little ogre packs a punch).
Currently, in the DOL story, this Interpol is investigating the string of crimes caused by a famous gang led by the wicked Babyface, who is the baddest loan shark of the Sand Continent. His lackeys had been selling poisoned mochis to small towns to brainwash its residents, leaving the town looted and in shambles by the end. Why they're doing this isn't exactly known, but Interpol suspects it may have something to do with bringing back Dark Matter by spreading negativity once more. Other crimes are also being investigated with a similar hypothesis.
For now, Babyface's three enforcers, Pretty Boy, Wise Guy, and Big Fella have been caught and sent to the maximum security penitentiary where only the most heinous criminals end up: The Alabaster Citadel, located at the very tip of the Mist Continent. They'll undergo interrogation and maybe we'll be a little closer to figure out what's going on.
A bonus for you: the Alabaster Citadel is run by its Master Warden, Rimes. He'll show up in the story eventually.
Thanks again for asking, have a great weekend~