"Zangoose, why didn't you wake me up sooner?" Detective Amethyst rubbed her eyes as she sat on the side of her bed. She had tried to stay up until the sun had fully risen, but such a feat proved to be impossible. Now it was noon, and she was just barely waking up.
Zangoose yawned and hopped off the foot of the bed, showing no signs of guilt over allowing his trainer—and by extension himself—to sleep in.
"What if she's already gone? We need to hurry!" The woman hastily brushed her hair and got dressed before grabbing Zangoose's paw and dragging him out the door with her. A short elevator ride and walk later, they were entering the Pokemon Center.
One of the nurses looked up and greeted them with a smile. "How may I help you?"
Amy brought out her badge and quickly explained herself. "I'm Detective Amethyst, and I was wondering if there's a trainer by the name of Annette here. She's shorter than me, has blonde hair, and she has a Delcatty with her." The nurse didn't answer at first, but her eyes widened in recognition, giving the detective all the confirmation she needed. "I just want to ask her a few things for her own safety."
The nurse looked uncertain for a moment. Biting her lip, she turned towards a small group of Audino before turning back to Amy. "Yes, she's here..." She turned away again. "Mia, someone's here to see your trainer."
One of the pink and cream-colored Pokemon walked up to them. Surprisingly enough, this one was covered in scars and was even missing a good chunk of its left ear. Odd. Nurse Pokemon don't fight, so what happened to this one? It narrowed its eyes at the detective and her Zangoose for a moment before nodding and walking off towards the hallway.
"She wants you to follow her," the nurse explained.
"Ah, okay. Thank you, ma'am." Amy and Zangoose hurried after the scarred Audino, who eventually led them to a closed door at the end of a hallway. Now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever been to this part of a Pokemon Center building before.
"Oh, is this where Annette is? Erm, she's your trainer, right?" The Audino didn't answer, but Amy could hear a gasp and the sound of things falling over from within the room immediately after she had spoken. She lightly knocked on the door. "Hello?"
There was no answer for a very long time, and the Audino had taken a few steps away. Amy was about to knock again, but then the door slowly opened and a Delcatty stepped out, glaring up at the detective. Shortly afterward, the girl inside peeked out, hiding all but half her face behind the door. "...Yes?" She asked softly, almost in a whisper. Her voice shook a little.
From what she could see, this girl was definitely Annette. She certainly matched Smith's comment that she was overly skittish. "I'm a private investigator, and I was wondering if you could tell me about Team Pl—"
Annette's face paled as the detective spoke, and eventually she looked ready to throw up. "N-no. No!" She screamed and tried to close the door, but Zangoose had lunged forward to hold it open with his claws. The Audino nearby tensed, and the Delcatty let out an angry screech, seemingly ready to claw Zangoose's face off.
"Wait! Please, I can help you," Amy said, trying to sound reassuring. She lightly pulled the door open and met no resistance, since the trembling girl had brought her hands away from the door. The Delcatty, however, disapproved of this—it hissed and clawed at the detective's ankle, stopping only to dodge a slash from an equally overprotective Zangoose. Fearing the possibility of getting torn apart by the cat ferret Pokemon's claws, the Delcatty growled and joined its trainer's side.
Annette started to back away, holding her hands tightly against her chest. "No...I just want them to forget about me! I-if I get involved and they find me, they'll..." She shook her head, preferring not to finish the sentence. "Just...please leave..."
"I know you're scared, but please listen. If you tell me what I need to know, then Team Plasma and Team Rocket won't be able to do anything to you," Amy promised, carefully stepping inside the room. This sparked yet another a hissing contest between Zangoose and the Delcatty. "Zangoose, stop that. You're not helping."
The Pokemon growled and reluctantly sheathed his claws, causing the Delcatty to relax a little.
"You don't understand! They're going to...they..." Annette shook her head again and closed her eyes tightly.
Amy inwardly sighed, knowing this was going to be difficult. Even so, she was determined to do whatever it took to get the information she needed. Good thing Zangoose stopped the door, or this would all be over. Still, what on earth did she see that could leave her this spooked? "What? What are they going to do?"
The younger girl seemed like she was about to answer, but she quickly shook her head once more and looked to the ground.
"Well, you can't just spend your entire life on the run."
"..." The girl didn't even wonder how the detective knew so much already—apparently Amy wasn't the first to question her.
This was getting her nowhere fast. Grasping at straws, the detective tried another approach. One that she hadn't put much thought into and, if anything, it was more like a slip of the tongue mixed with a lapse in judgement. "If you help me, I'll take personal responsibility for your safety. I'll even be a bodyguard, if that's what it takes!"
Nonetheless, it seemed to have sparked something.
Annette slowly looked up. Was that...a glimmer of hope in her eyes? "I...really?"
"Of course! Making sure everyone's safe is my top priority," Amy announced proudly. Zangoose looked up at his trainer as though she had gone insane, wondering if she even realized what she was agreeing to. She was supposed to be a detective, not a babysitter! Finding Team Rocket and Plasma, not to mention foiling whatever plans they had and getting them all arrested, was going to take forever if they had this kid to worry about.
The girl looked down again and mumbled, "But...you don't know how dangerous they are. They'll go after you, too."
"I'll be just fine. I've been trained to deal with cri—what is it?" She looked down at her Zangoose, who was roughly nudging her shin. The Pokemon glared up at her and tapped his foot impatiently, expecting an explanation. He and his trainer knew full well that they were detectives, not bodyguards, so why was she suddenly signing up to be both?
Finally the weight of what she had just promised struck her. Toting around and watching a teenage girl wasn't the kind of thing Amy even knew how to handle, especially since tailing Team Plasma and Rocket would require her full attention. At the time, she had just been desperate to get the witness to say something. What was I thinking? However, just as she was about to take her offer back, Annette's expression caught her off guard. The girl looked like she was on the verge of tears, but not upset. In fact, she looked relieved more than anything. "Um, I..."
"Tha..." Annette's voice briefly faded, leaving room for some hiccups and sobs. "Thank you...thank you so much. All this time, I've been...trying to survive alone...and I thought I'd...never be able to...stay outside safely..."
"I..." Amy didn't have the heart to say no to the kid at this point. Taking back a promise that left this girl relieved to tears just would have been too cruel, especially for the justice-loving detective. Sorry, Zangoose. I think we'll be stuck with her for a while. Even the normally-practical Pokemon couldn't bring himself to protest. "Um...no problem." She stepped forward and cautiously placed a hand on the girl's head to comfort her, making sure not to agitate the Delcatty.
The girl simply rubbed her eyes and continued to sob wordlessly for a whole five minutes while the others stood awkwardly and waited, avoiding eye contact.
"So...this means we'll be traveling together. Want to come with me and explain everything?"
"Uh...-sniff- uh-huh..." Annette answered eventually. Her face was all red and puffy from crying, which the detective noticed when she stepped back.
"You might want to wash your face off first," she recommended hesitantly, watching the girl nod and walk away to what was most likely the nearest sink. "I'll meet you by the entrance, okay?" When the girl and her Delcatty left—the Audino had wandered off sometime during the conversation—Amy and Zangoose shared a glance. They were both certain that the detective-turned-babysitter had bitten off more than she could chew and could only hope for the best. "So...I guess we'll be getting a roomate."
The cat-ferret glared daggers at Amy and stalked off toward the exit, ignoring all attempts the detective made at justifying herself while following after him.
"So..." Outside the Pokemon Center, Amy looked down at the incredibly grumpy Delcatty sticking to Annette like glue. "Are you sure you don't want to put your Delcatty in a Pokeball?" The cat Pokemon and Zangoose seemed to be having a glaring contest, each daring the other to make an attack.
Annette had opened her mouth to protest, but she began to have second thoughts when she saw the two Pokemon on the brink of fighting. "Well...I don't feel safe without Loki, and he hates being inside a Pokeball. The others are okay with it, but..."
"Yeah, I get it." Amy sighed and pulled out Zangoose's Pokeball, causing a fit of grumbling from the cat-ferret. She didn't like calling him away and he absolutely detested the thought of not being there to fend off what he saw as a homicidal Delcatty, but the detective needed to make this girl feel as safe as possible if she wanted any help with finding Team Rocket and Plasma. Besides, what could the kid possibly do? "There we go, he's in the Pokeball. Happy now?" Amy asked the cat, frowning as he gave a satisfied nod and proudly raised his chin as though he had scared Zangoose off himself.
"I'm really sorry, it's just..."
"No, I understand. Whatever you went through, it scared you a lot, right? I've got no issues calling back my Pokemon for a little while if it'll help you calm down and talk about it." And prevent a catfight between our Pokemon, she nearly added.
"Thank you." The pair walked in silence for a little while until Annette suddenly stopped.
Confused, Amy glanced back. "What is it?"
"Um, well...can I ask you something?"
"Yeah."
"I know I should have asked this before following you, but...are you really a detective? And what's your name?"
It completely slipped my mind at the time, but...did she really just come all this way without even the slightest suspicion I might be lying? Amy thought in disbelief. So much for overly-cautious. With a sigh, she pulled out her ID and introduced herself. "Detective Amethyst, but you can call me Amy. Naturally that's just an alias, but I'm sure you understand why I can't reveal my actual name."
After a short moment of reading the ID, the girl tilted her head. "Oh...so detectives really do use aliases?"
Dreading the painfully accurate 'you're just using an alias because you think it sounds cool' accusation, the detective immediately began to justify herself. "O-of course! You see it in movies and books all the time, right?"
"Yeah, but I never thought that was how things actually worked."
"Yep, you learn something new every day!"
"I see..." The conversation seemed to be over as they continued walking, but then the blonde brought it up again. "Then why are there detectives that use their real names?"
Amy paused to make up a good excuse. "Well, you see..."
"I see?"
The detective looked the teen in the eyes, dead-serious. "...They're not passionate enough about their duties as upholders of justice! To be a detective is to be a defender of the innocent, like real-life superheroes. Those who freely toss around their own names are not only putting themselves at risk, but their families as well! Don't you know that the bad guys always go for the hero's family? By hiding my name, I am protecting my loved ones and my weaknesses so that I can more effectively ensure that justice prevails. The act of revealing one's name and hindering one's own ability to maintain justice is the same as hindering justice itself, which is inexcusable!"
"Oh...I see..." Slightly unnerved by the sudden, barely-comprehensible rant, Annette decided she wouldn't verbally question the detective's methods ever again.
I think she bought it, Amy inwardly thought as they walked the rest of the way, their lack of further conversation masked by the regular noise of Castelia City.
Author's Note: And finally the team is together! I haven't pre-written and revised the next few chapters yet, so expect slower updates. Maybe once a week...yeah, that sounds doable. As always, enjoy!
Edit: Ah, still short. Same as the first chapter, this was changed only subtly. But more importantly, I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry at my former self's expectations of the present me. Weekly updates indeed...