Pokemon (Detective Pikachu)
A Legendary Search
11. Answers
It took some time to find the right house as described by Purrloin, but once they did figure out the correct place, Tim and Pikachu were in luck; there was a young woman about fifteen or sixteen out in front of it. Tim approached her.
"Excuse me? Can I ask you something?"
The girl looked up. "Me? Sure, what about?"
"I heard that you had taught Thelma's Purrloin a trick for fetching objects?" Tim asked her. She smiled.
"Oh, that. Yes, I did. I love working with Pokemon and teaching them tricks. Thelma asked if I could teach her Purrloin to bring her an object of her choice, but she needed to be far away from it. She offered to pay me for it, even. It was a little tricky to come up with the method I needed, but once I had it worked out, it works like a charm. The Purrloin's a fast learner, and a sweetheart. Her owner, maybe not so much, but I liked working with Purrloin, at least."
"Could you tell me how that works? Getting Purrloin to bring a specific object?"
"Sure." The girl said. "I usually work with clicker training a lot, but that's not good for distance. It was my father who eventually came up with the idea. He like playing with whistles as a child, so he suggested using a Pokemon whistle- one at a pitch that people couldn't hear. We ended up getting a signal whistle- it was more expensive, but if you use a generic Pokemon whistle, then all the wild Pokemon nearby will head for it. A signal whistle has a bit of a different pitch, and they usually react to it with little more than surprise unless they've been trained. So we got a couple of those, and then the problem was making sure that Purrloin took the object that we wanted. My mom kind of had the idea for that one, and a neat idea, too. She kind of likes collecting perfumes, and she suggested that we could mark something with a scent. So I got a bunch of stickers, mixed a small amount of a couple of my mom's perfumes together- don't tell her I did that, please- and used that on the stickers. Sprayed them a couple of times a day for a couple days until I was pretty sure the scent would stick."
"Sorry- you said stickers? You mean like this one?" Tim interrupted and pulled the green dot sticker out of his pocket.
"Uh… yes, that looks like one of them." The girl told him after looking at it. "Not all of them were green, but they were all shaped just like that, so that might be one."
"And the funny smell is from the combined scent of those perfumes." Pikachu said.
"I did write down what perfumes I used, so after I trained Purrloin to bring an object that it saw being marked by that sticker to the person who blew the whistle, I told the lady that if the stickers stopped working, I could re-do them." The girl said.
"Tim, you thinking what I'm thinking?"
Tim gave Pikachu a small nod. Looking back at the girl, he said, "You said you got a couple of those signal whistles?"
"Yeah." The girl nodded. "I gave one to Thelma, of course, when the training was over, but I wanted to keep a couple in case I needed to use them for something else in the future."
"Can I borrow one?" Tim asked her. "I promise I'll get it right back to you. I just need to use it for something."
He looked at Pikachu, who nodded. "Time to gather everyone, Tim."
Looking back at the girl, Tim added, "And could I get you to come with me and help? You see, this is what I need…"
After giving the girl a brief explanation, she agreed to help, and Tim was able to round up the Timbur Transport chief to give his testimony as well. Upon reaching Thelma's house, Tim realized he was not the only one who had just arrived; so had the police that the woman had called. Heading the officers there was Brad and his Manectric.
"Oh, man, not this again." Groaned Pikachu. "Why always this guy?"
"Get over it, Pikachu." Tim sighed softly. Then, he ran forward to stop Brad from doing anything rash.
Before Tim said anything, Milo saw him coming. "Hey, Tim!"
Brad and the woman turned to see him run up.
"You again? How do you keep getting involved in all these incidents?" Brad asked, clearly annoyed and perhaps a little incredulous.
"You know, I've asked myself that, several times." Tim told him with perfect truth. "But right now it doesn't really matter, because I'm here, and I've investigated the incident and found out the truth about what happened."
"You did? I knew I could count on you, Tim!" Milo cried.
Tim kept his eyes on Brad, who sighed. "Very well, Tim. What have you found?"
Tim was shocked. Pikachu was even more stunned.
Brad noticed the widening of Tim's eyes. "Oh, don't look so surprised. I do remember how every other case you've solved turned out, you know. I'm savvy enough to admit I've gotten you wrong in the past. And I also know that you won't stop until you've been heard. So go ahead, tell us what you found."
Tim was frozen in his surprise for one more moment, then smiled. "Thank you, Brad."
Tim had thought hard on the way here about how to reveal the culprit while making sure he didn't slip up and say a Pokemon had told him something, and was pretty sure he had the best way to do it. Stepping forward, he said, "I have found out what happened to the necklace. Milo had nothing to do with its disappearance… but then, you already knew that, didn't you, Thelma?" He glared at her.
"What are you trying to say? That I know who stole my diamond necklace? If I knew, I wouldn't have been here yelling at the boy about it!"
"You're sure about that? Because I'm pretty sure that was what you wanted all along. You see, it kind of made me wonder when you said you went down to the port to talk to the chief of Timber Transport and didn't see him. Because, when I got to this island, he was standing there, in plain sight, and I spoke to him for a few moments. Then, I went right to Dr. Waals house to speak with him about something. He invited me in, and we'd only just started talking when we heard you shouting and came out. And you said that you returned straight to your house after going to the port. That would have meant that we pretty much passed each other going by. Yet, you didn't see the chief of Timbur Transport, whom I had been speaking to moments before… so I went and checked with him, and he said he was there the entire time. Right, sir?" Tim added, glancing at the man he was talking about.
The chief of Timbur Transport nodded. "That's right. I was standing there in my post, supervising the Timburr between half an hour before Tim came off the ferry until maybe a little over an hour later when I left for the bathroom. I took no breaks in between that, and since it sounds like she most definitely came in that time frame according to her, I've no idea why she didn't see me."
"I can tell you why she didn't see you, though." Tim said the moment he was sure the man had finished. "It's because she never headed towards the port. She went somewhere else, so she could finish her plans… her plans to make a necklace appear to be stolen."
"Wait… appear to be stolen? You mean it was never stolen at all?" Milo cried. At nearly the same time, Brad said,
"Appear to be stolen? Why would she need to make something appear to be stolen?"
The woman, on the other hand, scoffed. "You're saying I would steal my own necklace? Why would you ever even dream of that? I'm the victim, here!"
Tim looked at Milo first. "No, it never was stolen. And yes, I'm saying you stole your own necklace." Tim looked at Thelma. "I believe your motive for it was this."
Tim held out the letter. "Don't worry; I didn't open it or anything. I was going to give it to you for the Timbur Transport chief when I noticed that it's from a debt collection company. You're not as rich as you're leading everyone to believe, are you? I'm guessing you're pretty deep in debt, trying to maintain the illusion that you have a lot of money to spend. And you were trying to figure out how to pay those debts when you started looking at your necklace.
"There is one thing you told me that I believe is not a lie- that your late grandmother gave it to you. So, you didn't want to get rid of it. But, you did have it insured, so if it were to go missing, you'd get that money, right? And if you could make it go missing while still keeping it… that's what you planned on, isn't it? So you made it look like someone stole it while actually hiding it somewhere."
"Oh, you have some imagination, boy!" Thelma snapped. "You know, accusing someone of a crime without proof is a crime itself! I'd even say this is harassment! Yes, I have some debt after a few bigger purchases- this house, for one!- but that is not proof that I did any of that. Exactly how would I even have pulled off something like this? You're just full of it, boy."
"Actually, I'm glad you asked how you pulled it off. I'll admit, you were very clever. But not clever enough." Tim said calmly. "And of course I have proof. If I didn't, I wouldn't be here, because I would be looking for it."
Pikachu was far more irritated than Tim. "Harassment? We're full of it? How dare she say those kinds of things after what she has done for her plot! You take her down, Tim!"
"I have no doubt that the purchase of your house here added to your debt." Tim continued. "And once you moved here was probably when you started to really worry about it. You came up with your plan for the necklace, but then you needed a way to quickly make it look like someone had taken it and it was lost for good. You needed someone to blame, someone that you could prove had been near your house when it went missing. Then, you spoke to Milo. You learned he was training himself to be a Pokemon Ranger. So, you knew that he would, without fail, stop to help an injured Pokemon.
"You also knew that he was patrolling the island as practice for when he does become a Ranger. So, this was when you started working with your partner, Purrloin. You went down the trail known as the secret path, where no one would see you, and trained your Purrloin to attack other Pokemon on command. You would, of course, leave before Milo's patrolling took him down that path."
"Oh! And that's why I was finding all those injured Pokemon on the trail!" Milo cried. Tim nodded at him.
"This is outrageous! Have you got any proof to back up that claim?" Thelma seemed to be even more furious than before.
"Proof that you're the one hurting those Pokemon, no. I don't have proof of that." Tim said, honest. "But I do have proof of my theory of how you took it, and I will get to that. So, once you knew this about Milo, you trained your Purrloin for the attacking, and then you waited outside your house each morning. Once Milo came by on his patrol, you went back in, because putting your plan in place after he was gone was no good. So, you had to wait for your opportunity. This morning, you finally got it when a Pokemon- a Poliwag- came by the front of your house before Milo did. You had Purrloin attack it. Once it was unconscious, you waited for Milo. When he came, he stopped to help the Poliwag, like you knew he would. He's trying to become a Ranger, after all. Once he was tending to the Poliwag, you put the second part of your plan into action.
"Training Purrloin to attack other Pokemon would have been easy for you. Pokemon battles occur naturally in the wild, and quite commonly among certain types of Trainers. The only part you really had to train was to get your Purrloin to do it while the other Pokemon wasn't expecting it. But the other part of your plan involved training that you couldn't do. So, you hired someone else to do it for you. This young woman here was known for both enjoying and being good at training Pokemon. You knew she could do it for you. So, you got her to train your Purrloin to fetch specific objects, from far away. She did this by using scented stickers and a specific Pokemon whistle- right?" Tim looked at the girl.
She nodded. "Right. Once trained, it's easy for anyone to get Purrloin to fetch. You just first make sure that Purrloin sees you putting the scented sticker on the object to mark it, then you can leave. After that, any time that you need the object, you can blow on a signal whistle- only Pokemon can hear it, and most just get a little surprised by the noise unless they've been trained to react to it. I trained Purrloin to bring the last object it knew was marked to the person who blew the whistle."
Tim looked back at Thelma. "And so, you left your house. Instead of going down to the dock, like you said you were, you went somewhere else. The secret path, or the lake… somewhere you wouldn't be seen. And you blew the whistle to call Purrloin. So, Purrloin grabbed the necklace that you marked ahead of time, before you left your house, and brought it to where you were waiting. You hid the necklace, and came back. Then, you went inside and pretended the necklace had been stolen, planning to retrieve it from its hiding place later after you had collected the insurance money to pay for your debt."
"Not even caring that she hurt innocent Pokemon? Not caring that someone else might be arrested!" Milo cried, his hands balling into fists. He started forward.
Waals grabbed him. "Easy now, Milo. Two wrongs won't make a right, here. She'll regret what she did one day."
"Regret what I did? Why are you so certain that I did in fact do this?" Thelma shrieked. "I haven't seen even a shred of real proof! This boy is making up stories just because he doesn't want to admit his friend is a thief! If I did all this, show me some evidence!"
"She… is right that you haven't shown us any proof, Tim." Brad said hesitantly. Even he seemed put off by Thelma's screaming.
"And I keep telling you, I do have proof."
The woman, red-faced, glared at him. "Then where is it?"
Tim smiled. "It's sitting on that porch over there, grooming itself."
Reflexively, everyone looked at Thelma's porch, where Purrloin was back to cleaning her side.
"Purrloin?" Milo asked.
"Thelma. I'm guessing that you haven't had time for there to be anything else that you wanted Purrloin to bring you? Which means you haven't marked anything else?" Tim said, phrasing it like a question although he already knew the answer. Thelma, Brad, and the others all looked back at him.
"Ohhh, this is gonna be good. Now we get to the fun part." Pikachu grinned.
"Which will mean, of course, that your precious diamond necklace will still have been the last thing you marked for Purrloin." Tim continued.
Thelma's furious expression abruptly turned horrified.
"So…" Tim took the whistle he'd borrowed from the girl out of his pocket and brought it up so everyone could see it.
"Why don't we see if I'm telling the truth or not?"
Tim blew on the whistle, turning (like everyone else) to watch Purrloin's reaction. He didn't hear anything, but it was clear that the Pokemon around did. Pikachu muttered something and he heard a couple cries of maybe surprise or interest from other Pokemon, but Purrloin froze. Just for a moment. Then her head shot up and she looked around. Seeing Tim blowing the whistle, Purrloin got up and took off, running.
They had to wait a few minutes. Tim didn't blow the whistle constantly, but gave a short whistle every thirty seconds or so to remind Purrloin of where to bring it, as the girl had told him to do after he'd explained what he needed it for.
At last, Purrloin darted around the house and headed towards him, something shiny in her mouth. Tim knelt down as she got close, and when Purrloin reached him, she happily dropped a very expensive- looking necklace into his hand.
"Now then… I think that this is what you were looking for?" Tim stood and held out the necklace so that it dangled off his hand, gems glittering in the sunlight for all to see.
"I… I… well, what else was I supposed to do? I needed to pay my debt off somehow." Thelma snapped.
"Somehow, maybe, but the moment your plan to do it involved lying and hurting innocent people and Pokemon was the moment you should have stopped it. Money is not worth putting others through suffering." Pikachu glared coldly at her.
Tim simply said, "You could have tried something more honest."
Brad stepped up to the woman. "I'm going to need to you come with me." He took her arm. Looking at one of his officers, he added, "And one of you take the Purrloin, and the necklace, as well."
The officers complied, one of them picking up the Purrloin (who voiced a complaint but otherwise didn't struggle) and another taking the necklace from Tim and putting it into a bag, which they sealed. Once the necklace was off his hands, Tim returned the signal whistle to the girl.
"Thank you. I can't believe she used me like that…"
"It's not your fault at all. I think what you did was actually pretty cool. There are lots of good things you can have your Pokemon do, and she could just as easily have used that trick to help people by marking a first aid kit or something. It was her choice to do something like this. Don't let it make you stop enjoying working with Pokemon." Tim told her.
His words made her smile. "Thank you."
"Tim!" Milo ran up to him. "Oh, man, do I ever owe you one! That was amazing, what you managed to figure out! I could never thank you enough."
"That was very good work." Waals added. "To think she used a Pokemon like that for the purpose of putting blame on innocent people like Milo…"
Milo's face contorted in anger again. "That was a horrible thing to do- and to hurt all those Pokemon like she did! That's even worse! She better have learned her lesson now. But really," he said, his expression softening, "Thank you so much. If you ever need any help, anything at all. Whatever you need…"
"Thank you, Milo. I really appreciate that. Today, though, it's actually Dr. Waals that I needed to speak to." Tim smiled.
"Yes, we did get interrupted by that noisy woman, didn't we? Why don't we get back into my house and I'll finish answering your questions." Dr. Waals said.
"Thank you." Tim told him, then looked back at Milo. "And I really do appreciate it. I think, what you can do for me, is keep caring for Pokemon the way you do, and keep doing your best to be a Pokemon Ranger."
"Well, you can count on that! And if you ever need this Ranger's help, just call!" Milo nodded, a smile on his face that said he had no doubt that one day, he would have the title of Pokemon Ranger… and Tim had no doubt that if he ever did need Milo's help, he would answer.
After all, Tim mused as he and Pikachu followed Dr. Waals back to his house, that was what a Pokemon Ranger did.
Back inside Waal's house, door closed, Dr. Waals turned to face Tim. "Now then… I believe you were asking how we managed to get Mewtwo's cells for our research?"
"Yes, please."
"Of course. You see, at the time, there was a sort of competition going on between different scientists."
"A competition?"
"Yes. I wasn't interested in taking part, really, I just wanted to research the subject. But scientists from Rhyme City and the nearby Stanza City wanted to make things a competition. Some people just want to turn everything into a challenge instead of work together." Waals sighed.
"You see, Rhyme City and Stanza City are rivals, of sorts. Like two cities whose teams always play against each other, and in general seem to just try to outdo each other. Rhyme City has a better University, but Stanza City has a better hospital… it's one of the things they like to compete with. And it was several scientists from both cities that decided they wanted to make the next cure-all medicine, so they engaged in a race for it. I had no interest in the race, and neither did my assistant Simon, but we wanted to help make a medicine, a miracle cure. The scientist of Rhyme City were all discussing the best way to go about looking into this drug. Most of the teams working on it decided they wanted to start studying Pokemon that could use the move Recover. Many of them were interested in how the Pokemon that used it just suddenly healed themselves, and were sure that this would be a key to it.
"I, however, wasn't so sure that was possible. Pokemon moves have long been studied and scientists still fail to understand how some of them manage to wield things from nowhere. Many Pokemon can learn moves that do not even make logical sense, such as a Wooper, with no hands or arms, able to use Ice Punch. I did not think that scientists studying moves would make very swift progress. Perhaps someday, it will be understood, but I wanted to work with something that we do know how to study- genetics. That is why I wanted to study cells from the Pokemon Mew, said to contain the genetics of all Pokemon.
"It was then that we were approached by researchers from another field. And by we, I mean all of the scientists involved in the discussion. These new researchers had long been researching methods of finding and catching Pokemon, they said. They had been doing it with regular Pokemon for a very long time, researching ways to cause the ones they wanted to gather, and ways to catch them with minimal difficulty. They now, however, had a new donor for their research, and they were going to take it to the next level. Studying regular Pokemon that could use the move Recover was all well and good, they said, but the stronger the Pokemon, the stronger the move, and the better the result from the research.
"That was true enough. They were correct on that count. But when they told us they could get us Legendary Pokemon for the research, we were all stunned. They told us then that they had had several breakthroughs on the different ways to lure different Pokemon, and they were close to a breakthrough that would cause ones that knew the Recover move to gather. They refused to share how, exactly, but they were certain that once they had that, then a little adjusting was all they would need to call Legendary Pokemon that knew that move.
"I spoke up then, and warned them that they would have to be careful. Legendary Pokemon are not to be trifled with. They then asked me what I wanted, and I admitted to them that despite my words of caution, I believed the study of the Pokemon Mew was the way to take the research.
"They told me that they intended only to call them and keep them in place long enough to get a small sample of cells from each. They would not even realize what was happening. They would then be released. They told me that they believed they would also be able to get a sample from Mew for my research.
"I asked them how they thought they could get those cells, as as far as we know, Mew cannot learn the move Recover, at least on its own. I asked them, as well, how getting cells and releasing the Pokemon would help those who wanted to study the move.
"It was then that my other colleagues spoke up. They could study regular Pokemon using the move, and use the cells from Legendaries who could use it to strengthen it, they said. They believed I was right in looking into genetics, just in the wrong Pokemon; they were sure that once they understood the move Recover, they could use their samples of cells to strengthen the effects. And the researchers who had come to us told me that they believed Mew would come as well, despite not knowing Recover. Mewtwo, they said, could learn the move, and where Mewtwo goes, Mew tends to follow. After all, Mewtwo was created by humans- an experiment, in my opinion, that never should have happened- and when it was created, they failed to treat it right, which resulted in Mewtwo having no compassion. It is believed that Mew follows Mewtwo around for this reason; to control it if it loses itself. Thus, they believed that they would be able to contain Mew just long enough to get its cells for our research before releasing it."
Dr. Waals sighed. "In the end, we all agreed. We agreed, as well, that we would pay for the cells once they had them, at the exchange point. We waited about two months… in that time, Simon and I did all the research we could into Mew without having its cells, and agreed to spend some of our spare time getting research materials for our fellow scientists looking into Recover, as well. Once we got the call, we all went down to the exchange point, paid for our research material, and received it. We were allowed in one at a time. Once we had our cells, we separated from the others for our research, and… you know what became of it after that."
"I see. And the other scientists? Did they get the cells they were promised?" Tim asked.
"I don't know." Waals told Tim. "After we separated, I stopped keeping up with their discussions… and after the accident at the old PCL, I felt it best that I stop entirely. If we all got Mewtwo cells, though, that would have worked for them."
"I see. And what can you tell me about the exchange point?"
"Oh, it was an old warehouse outside of town… a few miles past PCL, actually. I can mark it down on a map, if you'd like, but I'm afraid that the last time it was used was for our exchange. It's been a long time since then. It'll be run down by now, if it's still there."
"If you could tell me exactly where it is, that would be perfect." Tim told him. "I don't have a map with me, but I'll write down the directions."
Tim flipped to a separate page in his notebook, which he'd been writing the important parts of the conversation in.
"After that, Tim, ask him about the exchange itself- how it went, if he noticed anything. We'll need to know as much as possible before going if we have any hope of finding out something that happened years ago."
Tim gave Pikachu a tiny nod as Waals began to speak again.
"Oh, sure. How about I tell you them starting from the PCL?"
"That works- I know how to get there."
Tim scribbled down the directions exactly as Dr. Waals told them to him, then turned back to the page he'd been on previously for his notes, making a mental note to get a new notebook soon. He was running out of space in this one.
"Alright, one more thing. Could you tell me everything you remember about the exchange? Every detail you can."
"Oh, let's see. I'll do my best, but it was a long time ago."
Waals closed his eyes, thinking hard.
"When I got to the exchange site, I wasn't the first one there. A few of the other scientists I knew, acquaintances of mine, had gotten there and were waiting while the men doing the delivery were sorting a few boxes. The man in charge was the man we had been speaking to, though, and he recognized me as the one who had wanted Mew's cells. He called me over and said that I was in luck. They had had success in getting Mew's cells for me, and had even already unloaded them off the truck. He remembered since I was the only one getting them. So, he brought me in first. I handed my cheque directly to him, and he sent another two men into the warehouse with me where they had stored it. They were able to locate it, clearly labeled as cells from Mew, and they handed me the box."
"Did you look around the warehouse at all?"
Waals gave a huff of air, not annoyed but thinking hard. "Not really… but I saw some of the other boxes… if I'm not mistaken, they were labeled as having Lugia's cells."
"Lugia? They managed to get cells from Lugia?" Tim cried, looking up in shock. Pikachu's mouth dropped open.
"Well, that's what they were labeled as, I think. Of course, I don't know if that was really what was in there. They may have lied to the others like they lied to us, though Mewtwo's cells would have worked just as well for my colleagues as Lugia's cells would. Both of them are Legendary Pokemon who can learn Recover.
"I'm afraid I can't really remember much else about that warehouse, Tim. Except…" Dr. Waal's eyes narrowed in thought and he hesitated.
"Except what?"
"Well… leaving PCL that day, the entire time I felt like I was being watched and followed. I really wasn't sure what that was about. Nothing at all ever happened. Never saw anyone, either. I'm afraid that's all I can tell you."
"Alright." Tim finished writing in all his notes and glanced at Pikachu, who shook his head- he couldn't think of any more questions.
"Thank you very much, Dr. Waals. You've given us more help than you know."
"No, I need to thank you, Tim. You proved first my innocence, a month ago, and then today, Milo's. I had begun thinking long ago that people were just self-centered and selfish, not caring who they hurt on their way up. Not caring about who gets left behind or what their acts of cruelty do to a world that is starting to crumble from them all. You, Tim, restored my faith again. You taught me there are still good people out there healing what damage has been done by others. That's worth more than any information I could give. But I do hope that you find your father, Tim. After doing so many good things for other people, I hope good things will come your way, as well."
Between Milo and Dr. Waals, Tim felt overwhelmed and embarrassed by the gratitude he'd gotten all in one day.
"Th-thank you, Dr. Waals. I don't need a lot good things, really. I just hope that I do find my father."
"So do I. Good luck, Tim."
By the time the ferry brought Tim back to Rhyme city, it was too late for him and Pikachu to head out to the warehouse that Dr. Waals had been given Mewtwo's cells in. Resolving to head there tomorrow, Tim and Pikachu went back to the apartment, had dinner, watched the GNN news interview Brad about what had happened on Cappucci Island (which Tim was happy and Pikachu rather irate to find that Brad did not mention them and seemed to be trying to take the credit), and called it a night.
A lot had happened that day, but none of it physically exhausting like the struggle with Feraligatr had been, so Tim once again had difficulty falling asleep. He just couldn't stop wondering where, after all this time, was his father? What had happened to him? If he was still alive, where could he have gone?
