Ryuji's eyes blinked open as his alarm went off. He pushed down the button with his left paw, and groaned. "At least it's Friday." He yawned, then stepped out of his room. Twenty years had passed since the humans had left the Unova region, and nobody really knew why. Nimbasa had become completely Pokemon adapted, with technologies to ease their lives. Still, without humans to moderate things, crime had risen drastically. And Ryuji's job was to fight it, as a Vaporeon detective, with his partner Ammy. He went inside the shower, washed up, and put on his necklace with his keys on it. He got up, and snapped on his backpack with some difficulty, due to him walking on fours, then walked outside onto the crowded, snowy streets. Around the first corner, a Magmar was selling some cooked meat, while a Meganium was selling organic vegetables.
He slid a few coins to the Meganium, and bought 3 sitrus berries. She nodded, then brought out the berries, and he continued on his way. He brushed the snow off the stairs leading up to his office, and, putting the key between his teeth, unlocked the door. He went inside, took off his bag, and sat down. He pulled out two letters from his mailbox, one of which was his monthly pay from the government, and the other was a new case. He pulled both out of their envelopes, slid 40% to where Ammy would come to sit in 3 minutes, and read the new case.
Ryuji and Ammy,
Well, we've got another case, and I know this is your third case of the week, but everybody else is busy. Anyways, this case is trying to find out who murdered a Liepard. If you want to see the body, it's at the NPD. The rest of the information is in the envelope. Hopefully, you two can bring the killer down.
Chief
Ryuji quietly fanned through the facts. She had been a point of jealously from her brother, she had gotten into an argument with a Manectric who was her boyfriend, and the murder weapon had been a… fire-type Pokemon? Things just didn't add up… unless they had all worked together. Ryuji sat down quietly to think about everything. And her body had been in an abandoned hotel.
"Knock, knock"
Ryuji sat up, then unlocked the door. "Ah, Ammy. You're late, today."
She sighed. "A young Rattata tried to steal my necklace. I taught him a lesson. Still, sorry for being late." Ammy was an Espeon a year younger than his 19 years. The two of them had been assigned to work together only one and a half weeks ago, and they were still strangers to each other. They had yet to get in a fight, but things were still far from comfortable.
"Well, we got our first paycheck as partners. Your money's over there," motioning with his tail.
"Oh, how much'd you give me? 25%?" She looked pretty excited about getting money.
He grinned. "How about 40%?"
"Oh, but that's…" She paused for a moment to calculate. "That's like 4,000 Poke'! Just for one week of work! Wow…"
She seemed to revert back to her quiet, normal personality with about ten seconds. "Thanks, Ryuji."
"Naw, you've earned it this week. If you keep up the work, we can talk about splitting it 50-50. He walked over to his work desk, and handed Ammy the evidence. "Here, read over the case, and tell me what you think." Even though she was only a year younger than himself, he was still mentoring her.
She frowned as she silently read it over, then turned to face Ryuji. "Well… this one is pretty simple… either her brother or boyfriend was allied with a fire-type."
He nodded. "Those burns, just by the picture, are either from a Chandelure, which don't live this far south, or a Ninetales, or a Typhlosion. The other two are both pretty rare, and we haven't found crimes committed by either of those species recently."
She pondered over it, a little bit. "Well, say it happens to just be another Pokemon trying to frame one of those… this case could get a lot more complicated really quickly."
Ryuji quietly peered out the window. It was starting to snow again. When he turned around, Ammy was fumbling with some switches. "Do we have a heater here? It's cold!" Ryuji let out laugh.
"Well, up for some tea?"
The two of them headed along the snow sidewalk in the crisp winter air. Ryuji lent her his scarf, and they arrived at the Café pretty quickly.
"Ammy, what do you want? My treat, by the way."
"Oh, how about some pecha tea? Thanks, Ryuji."
"No problem. So yeah, one of those, and a Razz spice tea too." He handed over the coins, and the two of them sat down at a table near the center of the café.
After a few minutes, a young Houndour pushed a small cart forward with the tea, and gently slid both bowls in front of them. "Thanks, man," said Ryuji, and Luxio nodded before walking away.
Ammy too a few laps at her tea, then said, "How about you tell me about yourself? You've never really let me know about your backstory.
He decided to lie down, and Ammy did the same. "Well, our family is originally from Kanto, Cerulean city to be exact. My parent's trainer owned a large store there, and they were living the life of luxury. When the humans moved away, they were forced to adapt, and quickly became some of the best problem solvers in the region. When I was 10, my parents quickly taught me their skills in investigation. Then I started taking classes, for seven years, evolved at 11, and when I became 17, started working for Chief Luxray." He took a sip of tea, then continued. "One year ago, my father passed away. A month after that, my mother died. Whether from death or suicide, I'll never know." He took a deep breath, and blinked away a few tears. "Their bodies were buried before I could have a look at them, which always, hurts. But I have the comfort of knowing they approved of my profession. The one thing I haven't done that they wanted to see is kids. My parents always wanted to become grandparents, but…" He sniffled, and Ammy looked at him sympathetically. "Well, they won't be seeing that now." He took another deep breath, and then asked, "What about you?"
She went to his side and stroked his back soothingly with her tail, and started speaking. "Well, my family… I didn't really know them in reality. When I was young, I was sent away to the daycare. Some said my mother was crazy, to leave a baby Eevee alone. But really, I respected her decision. You know, maybe I was an accident, and my parents were poor. The daycare took good care of me, and I was loved, both by my fellow orphans and the caretakers there. But one day," she said wistfully, "I hope to meet my parents. I just got the feeling in my bones, that they were good Pokemon."
He smiled. "I believe that completely. That's very sweet of you to say, even though they abandoned you."
She shrugged. "I might not be here if they kept me. And you know what… accidents happen. Hang on, what if the murder was just an accident? You know, like the feather cases."
He shook his head. "Possible, but highly unlikely. I mean, who incinerates another Pokemon on accident? Anyways, let's go report to the chief. He'll want to hear about it."
Outside, the snow had stopped, and the sun was out for the first time in awhile. The two of them walked along the snow covered sidewalk, and heard the crunching of snow. "This is when I wished I became a Glaceon," she said jokingly. "I hate the cold with a passion."
"Well, at least the sun's up. Isn't that when you Espeons feel best?"
"Ehh, sometimes. But when it's this chilly, it hardly does anything… by the way, psychic types being able to mentally overcome anything is a complete myth."
He chuckled. "Whatever. Anyways, where are you staying? You never mentioned having a house or anything."
"Well," she said, looking a little embarrassed, "I really have just been rooming with an Arcanine, who I've known since the daycare."
"Oh, your boyfriend?" he said, amused with her awkwardness.
"Oh no!" she said, blushing. "I mean, we're just splitting the bill to make it cheaper. I don't have time for a boyfriend! With work and everything…"
"Whatever. We're here, now." They had gotten to the city police department. They walked in through the main entrance, and were sitting outside the Chief's office.
"Ah, Ryuji and Ammy! C'mon in!" He beckoned them with his tail. "Good work on the Pidgeot case earlier this week! It'll be on the 2nd page of the paper! But now, I presume you want to see the body. It's around the corner."
"Alright, thank you chief. Let's go…" began Ammy.
"Ryuji, can I talk to you for a minute in private?"
"Oh, what is it?"
He motioned for Ammy to go away. "How is your apprentice doing?"
"Well, quite frankly, she's one of the brightest I've ever met, and it's not flattery. She reminds me of myself a bit."
Chief chuckled. "Good to see you two are getting along well. You two are probably the best around the city right now. I'm counting on you two!"
Taken aback by the praise, Ryuji grinned sheepishly. "Oh, sure thing boss!"
He nodded, then motioned that his audience was over, and Ryuji went outside. He immediately saw Ammy waiting outside. "What'd he want?" she asked.
"Keep up the good work. That's about all…"
"Alright… here, let's go look at the body… ugh…"
Ryuji laughed. "Hey, you had experience at school, right?" The two of them walked in through the doors. The body was already out, inside the room. "Alright, Ammy, tell me what you think from the body right now."
She looked over it, obviously a little grossed out, and said, "I'll have to change my opinion a little bit. See these cuts?" She pointed with her forked tail, and he nodded. "These weren't in the photos, or at least we couldn't see them. No, she was cut instead, and then somebody tried burning the body afterwards. But if you look closer, these flames aren't from a Pokemon, merely a normal fire that has been tried to look like a Typhlosion or Ninetales did it."
"Exactly… couldn't have said it better myself. And this, as we feared, is a big problem. Ever heard of The Cutter?"
"No… tell me!"
He sighed. "Well, The cutter was a notorious murderer. He's been terrorizing Nimbasa for four years, but the NPD does their best to keep it covered up as well as possible. He cuts up his victims, killing them. But he only kills women, and supposedly drinks up their blood."
"Ugh… that's disgusting. But what makes it so complicated? It's obviously him!"
"No. Despite the police department doing their best to keep it covered up, some of the crooks have found the files, and, as you might expect, have been copying his method. Most of the time, we can tell if it was him, because, well, their body is lacking about 25% of their total blood. Now, you probably think it's a bat Pokemon, but those leave teethmarks, which have never existed on one of the bodies."
Ammy looked up thoughtfully. "Well, the burning of the body will make it impossible to check for blood loss, but…"
"I know… we cannot check for blood loss."
She sighed. "Well, maybe the dissectors could find something… but that's unlikely. These cuts are deep… ugh… I'm going outside. This is disgusting!"
Ryuji let out an exasperated sigh. "You know, I've been very impressed with everything you've done, but you're grossed out too much. But you're right, we can take a break for now."
Outside, an Arcanine was sitting, obviously waiting for somebody. When he saw Ammy, he winked at her, and she walked next to him.
"Oh, Drew. What're you doing here?"
He looked suspiciously at Ryuji, before asking, "Who's that?"
"This is my boss, Ryujin, but I just call him Ryuji for short. Plus it's easier to say. Ryuji, this is Drew, my friend from the daycare."
"What's up?" said Ryuji, and Drew nodded back to him in response.
Drew turned towards Ammy. "Hey, I was thinking we could go and watch a movie later today, if you're not busy." He looked at Ryuji questioningly, and Ryuji nodded.
"Go on, take the rest of the day off. You've worked hard this entire week."
She bowed her head in thanks, but not before he saw her roll her eyes as the Arcanine nudged her along with him.
Ryuji sighed, and headed back to the office. He opened the door, sat down, and looked over the files. Just twenty years ago, Pokemon didn't do what they would do nowadays. They wouldn't get paid. And when the humans left, the Pokemon had to work for themselves. He sighed. Ammy had always seemed to help him focus a little more, with her tail tapping breaking the silence in the office. He popped a mint into his mouth, and slid on his headset. Music always helped him relax. He closed his eyes, and thought about the case. When is an attempt to frame someone actually true? What if he's trying to make it look like he was framed? He quietly thought about what to try look into first. He looked up at the clock on the wall. 5:22! So much time had passed! With a groan, he pulled himself to his feet. "Riinng!" The phone inside his headset went off.
"Answer," he said, and asked, "Ryuji, who is this?"
"Ammy. Did you find anything on the case?"
"Well… no. But I was thinking… say, what if it was meant to look like someone had framed him, sort of a triple framing, like he was… well, framing the framer? Burning is something a framer would do, to add their own unique touch as psychopaths like to do. So what if he added that to confuse us?"
She was quiet for awhile. She was obviously distracted. "How was your date?" he asked, trying to talk about something more casual.
"Date? No, we're just friends! Honestly. And it was fine. Nothing special, nothing terrible."
"What, you don't like him? He seems nice…"
"Well, normally. But he does have a really short temper… he can be sort of scary sometimes. But today, he was fine."
"Is something wrong? You seem a little distracted… first, you called about the case. Now you're just talking about your 'date'. You can tell me, and I'll see if I can help you."
She coughed, then said, "Well, I've kinda got a headache right now, actually. Drew was going to meet some friends at the bar tonight, and I'm not too sure what to do… I don't want it to get worse."
Ryuji thought carefully. "Alright, you can stay at my place for the night… when did you start feeling sick?"
"Right after the movie, really… where do you live?"
"5428 North Corphish Street, room 37. I'll start leaving the office now. Oh, by the way, would it be alright with Drew? I mean, he kinda is…"
"No, he's not my boyfriend, are we clear? Don't mention that again or I'll Psychic you until you black out!"
Ryuji smiled. "Of course. See you soon." He said, "End call," and quickly ran to the nearest store to buy some food before heading home. He opened the door, turned on the lights with his tail, and opened the windows overlooking the city below. It had been awhile since anyone had visited here except him. He went up to the stove that had been built for quadruped Pokemon, and using his paws, turned up the heat. So slow… he thought, so he quickly used Scald to steam the food faster. "That's better," he said aloud.
He heard a knock on the door. When he opened it, Ammy was sitting outside, with a scarf around her neck. She walked inside his room slowly, took a sniff, then sneezed before sitting down.
"Bless you…"
"Thanks… what are you cooking?"
"Oh, just some soup… here, I'll get some for you." Using his teeth and paws, he gave her a bowl of the soup.
She quietly lapped at it, then said, "Wow, this is really good! I didn't know you could cook so well."
"Well, being alone all the time allows me to experiment. Most ended up okay. Here, I'll Aqua Ring you. It'll speed up your recovery. Anyways, I think I know someplace where we can go and try get some information…"
"Ryuji? Can we ignore work just for tonight? I'm tired, and, well, can't we just act as friends rather than employers? I mean, really, that's all you ever talk about!"
"Alright… then… what do you wanna do? It's only…" he looked at the clock, then said, "7:51. Yeah, too early to sleep…"
She looked outside. "I wonder if Drew even knows I'm gone tonight…" she murmured. "Ryuji, honestly, I'm a little scared of Drew. He's much bigger than me, and he could beat me badly if he wanted to. I… I think I should move out, but I wouldn't know where to go, or how to tell him. But I'll stay with him for now… he's been fine to me at least."
"That's good to hear… you know, things might work out between you two still yet. Longtime friends sometimes make the best mates."
She sighed. "I don't think so… I just don't feel like I'm truly in love with him."
Ryuji shrugged. "Time will tell whether two Poke'mon are compatible. Why, what is it that you want that he is not?"
She replied immediately. "Humility. He's much too cocky. And he's too loud… a little quieter guy would be fine with me."
"Oh, he'll come around. You watch, Ammy…"
She frowned. "Whatever. Have you ever had a girlfriend?"
"Urgh… no."
"Then you can't say anything."
"Hey, I'm still older than you, Ammy. I've got a lot of good advice for this kind of thing."
She sighed. "Well, how come you don't have a girlfriend if you're so good at this kind of thing?"
"Maybe I should get one... but you know, I just haven't found that one who I can relate to completely. At least, I don't think so." He put the blanket between his teeth, and draped it over her. "It's getting a little cold, don't you think?"
"No, that's… oh, alright…"
He lay down next to her. "Alright… what should we do?"
"I don't know. Whatever is fine with me."
He swallowed. Outside of work, there wasn't much he did. Well, there was his training, but that's about all. It certainly didn't help that she was looking up at him with those massive, hazel colored-eyes… He hadn't really thought about it before, but Ammy was extremely attractive for a young Pokemon. Her well-kept fur, her slim curvy body, and her dainty walk would never suggest her as a detective.
"Ryuji? You there?"
"Nwah? Oh, yeah…"
"You were just standing there for about 30 seconds. And you said I was acting funny…"
"Never mind," he said briskly. "If the aqua ring helping you feel better?"
"Yeah… but are you sure you're alright? I mean, you were just staring at me…"
"Well… you just… looked like you had something in your eyes. It's gone now."
She blinked once. "Oh, must've been nothing. I didn't feel anything other than you staring at me…"
"Well, you've got pretty eyes…" he mumbled.
"Wait, what?"
"Oh, I just said I was feeling a little shy. I normally don't have people over, even coworkers."
"Well… that's good to hear. I thought you said something else at first… you know, I'm going to go shower… where's your bathroom?"
"Oh, just turn to the right along that hallway. Let me know if you want it hotter."
"Sure… thanks." She walked down the hall, and Ryuji sat down on his bed, and he heard her close the door. A few minutes later, he heard the water go on, and he calmly closed his eyes. Almost instantly, he dozed off.
"Ryuji. Ryuji?"
"Wha… oh, Ammy! Ah! What time is it?"
"10:38. Don't worry, I just read a book while you were sleeping. I was just going to sleep on the couch, and I was just going to make sure that was okay with you…"
"Oh no, you'll get sick again if you do that! Here, you can sleep in the bed."
"But I'll feel bad for kicking you out… especially since you're my mentor. Tell you what, how about we both sleep on the bed, just opposite sides?"
"Isn't that a little weird…"
"Ryuji, we work together. AND you're my mentor. It's not that weird."
He sighed. "Alright." The two of them climbed underneath the blanket, and Ammy yawned.
"Ryuji, good night…"
"Goodnight, Ammy…" He fell asleep pretty quickly.
When he woke up, he heard a voice, Ammy's voice. "Hold me, Ryuji. I'm cold," he heard her murmur. He looked at the clock, and it read 5:11.
What the… it sounds like she's just dreaming. But what kind of dream is she… Without thinking, he wrapped his paws around her. Her fur was soft, and her breathing was gentle. He lay down there, thinking about the case… or trying. With Ammy right there, so cute and peaceful, all he could think about was staring at her.
"Ryuji… you're so warm and muscular… I never knew Vaporeons could be this gentle…"
She's just dreaming, she's just dreaming… He shifted his body. "Well, I do work out a little bit… of course, I'm still weak compared to most others, but, well, sometimes, species does matter."
Not that he expected a response. She was sleeping. Of course, she wasn't. She spun around to face him, their two bodies almost touching. "Oh, so you think you're strong now?"
He casually tried to push his body away from her. "I thought you were still sleeping…" he stammered.
She looked amused, and slowly wrapped her tail around his back. "Let's just sleep now, Ryuji. Don't worry, sweetie…"
"What… again… wait…" He woke up, again. He looked at his clock, and it read, 2:14. "Oh, so that was all a dream…"
Ammy was still sleeping at the opposite end of the bed. He felt a little bit of disappointment that the dream hadn't been real, and sighed. The feelings he felt, the nervousness, was uncharted water. He stepped out of his bed, and flipped on his radio to quiet volume. Sometimes the best clues to a crime came from the radio.
"Well, Gary, it comes down to the fact that videos of the victims doing censored actions to each other leads me to believe that these crooks work for the, ahem, 'undeground' Nimbasa."
"Well, isn't this sort of like that Liepard case, where she had been burnt? These newest victims were found in a bar, one only about three buildings down from that case. We know the NPD is trying to crack down on the pornographic nature of the city, and these kidnappings and recordings sure aren't helping!"
Hang on… pornographic underground? But he was pretty sure it was the cutter… unless the cutter was part of the underground…
He went to his phone, and said, "Call chief."
"Yeah, Ryuji? Whaddya want, man? I'm busy!"
"Well, I heard there had been some more killings on the radio, and it seems they are intertwined with our case?"
"Killings? Actually, you may be shocked to hear this. They are alive! And boy, do they have a story to tell!"