Pokemon (Detective Pikachu)

A Legendary Search

A/N: Well... it's been a long time since I've posted anything. So, to start, the chance is pretty slim that anyone is still waiting for me to update my other fictions, and even slimmer that they came here, but just in case- I'd like to start with an apology. And I know, that doesn't really cut it after how long that fic has been waiting. But I want to say that I have not abandoned it. I have been working on a lot of things over the last several years- I have a full- time job, and a side hustle of sorts making knitted creatures that I sell at local events, and those two things plus writing whichever story has currently taken hold in my mind keeps me very busy. However, the last few years, I have been evaluating what I'm currently doing, and I really want to get back into posting my fanfiction. I really want to get back into getting my writing out there. And there are multiple things that I'm trying to set in motion for that, which I'm not going to go into here because it would be unnecessarily long and boring (but I will mention that if you noticed that I have gotten a slight name change since then, it is part of what I'm trying to sort out and is something that will eventually be explained to everyone who is interested to know). But for anyone who has come here and has read my previous work years ago and is waiting patiently for me to finish it, then first of all, thank you. thank you so much for staying with me. And second of all, your patience will be rewarded, I promise. On my list of priorities, I have a local event that I will be selling knitted Pokemon at on the first Saturday in November, but right after that on the list, once I'm fully ready for it, those x- men evolution fictions are item number two. I will edit the existing chapters- something they desperately need (I shake my head at you, high school me) and then write what's left of the stories that I had in mind. I do not plan to leave them unfinished. Barring any unforseen circumstances, I will be, at the very least, working on them by the end of the year if not having them finished (at minimum, I want to have the existing stuff edited by then, and ideally at least Blood Magics finished if not the final one that I planned on doing as well).

Now that I have gotten that said, as I know that I owe finishing that story to anyone who might still be here after reading it so long ago, let's talk about this story. This story is one that I wrote a few years ago, after getting mad that the Detective Pikachu game sequel was taking so long. I was so frustrated, I figured I'd just give the story an end myself, because at the time I wasn't sure if they really were going to make the sequel. I never posted it at the time because I had some editing to do for it. Now that the sequel really has come out, I thought I might celebrate by finally fixing up and posting the one that I wrote ages ago. As I mentioned above, I have been really wanting to get back into getting my work out. This just felt like the right time to start. So now people can get two different endings, if they'd like- the official one, and mine, which is probably going to be absolutely nothing like the game. And speaking of the game, I'm not going to get it until Christmas at the earliest, and maybe not even then, so NO SPOILERS! XD

As one last note, I plan for updates to be on Sundays. That is the one day that I always have off from my full time job, so that's when I intend to post a new chapter. This particular weekend being the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend has thrown me off a little, thus why I'm posting this chapter on Monday and not Sunday, as things were a little busy around my place, but this time I intend to hold myself to a stricter schedule for updating. People who read and enjoy the work deserve that.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.

The Month After (Prologue)

"Your father- Harry- is still alive. You will find him eventually… provided you do not give up."

It had been a month since Mewtwo had spoken those words to him. Little had changed, really, but somehow it sometimes seemed like everything had.

They had found out nothing more about his father, although Inspector Holiday, Mr. Baker, and Tim himself- with Pikachu, of course- were still looking into it. As it had turned out, Roger had known nothing about Harry Goodman's disappearance. He had told Keith to eliminate the threat; Keith had complied by having the breaks on Harry's car tampered with through Carlos, then used a car of his own to drive into the car Tim's father was in to push it off the cliff. According to Keith, as the car went over, Harry had thrown Pikachu out of the car and onto safer ground, the impact possibly having knocked the yellow Pokemon out- Kieth wasn't sure. He didn't really have anything against the Pikachu, so he'd ignored it. The one he'd been after was Harry.

After that, no evidence of Tim's father was to be found at all. Not alive or dead. It seemed as though he had simply just vanished, leaving behind the car at the bottom of the cliff. That, of course, had been found quickly- well before Tim had come to Rhyme City. The man that they had wanted to find had disappeared into thin air.

And still, no one could find anything.

Still, Tim refused to give up, and Pikachu made it clear that he'd better not do so at any point. Mewtwo had told them that Tim's father was out there somewhere, and Tim was going to find him. No matter how long it took.

The day after had been a roller-coaster. After Pikachu's joke, which Tim had found in no way funny and in fact was rather annoyed by it, they had headed for the Hi-Hat Café at Pikachu's insistence. As they had walked there, his annoyance had drained, and instead had been replaced by awareness of just how hungry he was. After all, he'd been so busy the day before that he hadn't realized it much, but he'd had nothing except iced tea since he'd infiltrated the warehouse, having simply collapsed exhausted in bed after getting away from the square. Made aware of it, Tim had realized he'd better eat something, and soon. The Hi-Hat Café would be the best place to start that day.

As he'd gotten near it, however, he'd found himself walking into an ambush, of sorts. Emilia, Meiko, Mr. Graham, and a few other reporters from GNN were all gathered in front of the Hi-Hat Café, speaking with Mr. Baker, who had apparently come down from his office. Pablo was in the doorway of his café, watching them curiously, drawn out from behind his counter by the presence of people who had recording equipment out in plain sight. When Tim got close, Meiko spotted him.

"Hey! There he is! Tim, over here!"

He had almost winced. If it had been just her and Emilia, he wouldn't have minded at all. In fact, seeing them would have been nice. What worried him was the camera equipment, and the people who carried it- they were strangers to him. Meiko had left her own camara somewhere out of sight, which was another oddity.

It turned out, he'd had reason to be worried. The moment Meiko called the other's attention to him, Mr. Graham had pounced on him, reminding Tim that he'd agreed to do an interview and promptly trying to push him into one right away, Pablo cheerfully offering for them to do the interview in his Café.

Tim had been somewhat relieved when Mr. Baker had interrupted and told him that he had something important he needed to speak to Tim about first. Tim had followed him into his office, discovering Inspector Holiday waiting for both of them there, after reluctantly agreeing to give the interview he had promised earlier after he got back.

In the office, Tim had received a shock.

"Tim, I need to speak to you about the search for your father and about your apartment- Harry's apartment. You see, about the search…"

Mr. Baker had trailed off and looked at Holiday, who nodded and continued.

"We had people assigned to your father's case from the missing person's department whose job it was to dedicate police resources to finding him. Now, with the evidence showing that Harry's accident was no accident, and we now know just what happened to him… it's different. Now, Tim, I want you to know that I am still going to be looking into your father's case, myself." Inspector Holiday had rapidly assured him. "However, as far as the department is concerned… Harry was murdered, forced off the cliff the way he was, and his body likely scavenged by wild Pokemon before it could be found.

"I personally don't think it's true- I want you to know that, Tim. If anyone could survive the cliff and go into hiding this well to avoid being found again by those who wanted him dead, it would be Harry, and that's why I'm going to keep looking for him myself, in any time I can spare for it. But as far as the department is concerned… the case is closed. Harry has been presumed dead."

The blow had hurt Tim. He'd trembled slightly, breathing carefully, trying not to cry. After everything… it just felt like too much.

"Well, then, looks like it's up to us." Pikachu had commented. "Boy, won't that department be embarrassed when we find him!"

Tim had shot him a grateful glance; it had been enough to make him feel better. Pikachu had faith; he needed to have it, too. It was more important than ever to keep searching if everyone else was giving up.

"And now, Tim, the apartment you're staying in- Harry's apartment. Harry liked to pay for several months in advance when he could, which is why it hasn't been touched by the apartment manager. Harry had arranged for notices of when the rent was catching up and coming due to come to the detective agency- he preferred handling that type of paperwork in the office, when he had to handle it at all. A notice came in this morning that the advance rent he paid has run out, which means we don't have much time before the owner of the unit cleans it out and rents it to someone else." Mr. Baker had told Tim gently, after giving him a few minutes to absorb the previous information.

Tim had blinked. His father's apartment was going to be taken? Where would his father's things go? How could they just rent out his father's apartment as if he was never there?

"Hey… wait, what does that mean for me and Tim?" Pikachu had demanded. "We're living in there! Where do we go?"

Tim's eyes had widened. That hadn't even crossed his mind yet! In another month, he'd be starting at Rhyme University and would be able to get a room on campus, although that hadn't been in his original plans, but until then… he would be stuck!

"However, I have been talking to Amanda about it, and the two of us agreed that it doesn't sit well with us for you to lose where you're currently living, or to lose your father's apartment so he can't go back to it if-once- we find him. That's what I wanted to talk to you about, Tim." Mr. Baker had told him then.

"Now, most of our work is a lot less exciting then the whole R case, thankfully. But it does sometimes still get dangerous when you least expect it, and that's why we'd normally never offer a detective job to a nineteen- year- old such as yourself. However, we don't want you to lose where you've been living, and you've already proved yourself to be a pretty darn good detective, not to mention you've been able to keep yourself safe in dangerous situations so far. I hope you understand that we can't send you on anything very serious, but we can offer you a part-time job as a detective here. You can handle a couple of cases from time to time, we can see about making sure you earn enough to keep the apartment, and then we should be able to arrange things so that it won't interfere with your school when it starts."

Tim had been shocked. He had discussed several things with them afterward, eventually very gratefully agreeing to work for them part-time, but his mind had been reeling. The news that the police force in general was no longer going to be actively searching for his father, and was going to be reporting him as dead, was heartbreaking, but as Pikachu commented, "Huh! It's a pretty pathetic detective that goes and gives up when things get tough! I'm sure you're not so pathetic… right, Tim?"

Tim had also been fairly certain that the main reason Mr. Baker had consented to the whole thing was because he did want to make sure that Tim didn't find himself with nowhere to go when his father's apartment was sold. He had been pretty sure he would never have given him a job with them as a detective, even part time, otherwise; as he'd said, even jobs that you wouldn't expect to be dangerous took bad turns sometimes.

Just after he had accepted Mr. Baker's offer, Meiko and Emilia had come into the office.

"Hey, I'd hate to bother you, but do you think you'll be finished soon?" Meiko had asked. "Mr. Graham is, uh… somewhat impatient today. See, after it got out that Roger was the one who was behind all the R incidents, it's been putting GNN in the spotlight in a way that's, well… not very good. He's eager to get into things that'll give us good PR, if you know what I mean. Damage control and such. So, he's… well, he doesn't want to wait much longer."

Tim had quietly sighed. He'd almost forgotten what was waiting for him outside the office. Pikachu wandered out of the office and into the reception.

"We just finished- I think. Was there anything else?" Tim had asked Mr. Baker. Part of him had hoped there was, part of him had hoped they were finished. After all, he had still been hungry.

He had then glanced quickly to see where Pikachu had gotten to, and seen his partner sitting on the table near the cookies. Tim had winced slightly.

"No, that was all. I just wanted to discuss that with you."

"And I will keep looking, Tim. Whatever spare time I can devote to it. I promise." Holiday had assured him.

Listening with half an ear, Tim had hissed, "Pikachu! Knock it off!" before quickly looking at Holiday. "Thank you. I appreciate it." He'd told Holiday, sincerity in his voice. It had still hurt that the department itself had decided Harry was no longer worth searching for, but there was nothing he or Holiday could do about that. Except find him themselves.

Tim had walked further into the reception area. Meiko and Emilia had smiled at his approach, and he had returned the gestures as Amanda looked at him.

"Well, congratulations, Tim!" Amanda had said brightly. "I hope everything goes well for you!"

Tim hadn't quite been listening to her, and had instead been looking back at Pikachu, who was still stuffing his face.

"Come on, Pikachu!" He'd hissed, a little louder than earlier. Meiko and Emilia, both closer to him than Amanda, had looked at him, able to hear his fierce whisper. "Get out of there before you're-"

"Pikachu!" Amanda cried. "You're in the sweets again?"

She had stood abruptly and marched over to him.

"Seen." Tim had muttered with a sigh as Amanda had lifted Pikachu by an ear.

"How many times do I have to tell you, those cookies are for the clients! You have got to stop getting into them, Mister!"

"Ow, ow ow ow! Oh, come on! They're so tasty and I'm going to need that energy for the interview! Seriously! Ah, my ear! We haven't eaten in ages! Tim, tell her that! Do something!"

Tim had sighed and hurried over. "Please, Amanda, don't go too hard on him- this time, at least." He'd added quickly. "He's hungry. Neither of us have eaten much since before we went to the warehouse at Rhyme Wharf."

Amanda had looked at him, surprised. "But… you went there two days ago, Tim. You're really saying you haven't eaten since then?"

"We'd been kind of busy..." Tim had muttered. When he had first found out how long had passed when he's been hiding in the container, he hadn't been surprised. Once he had gotten to the wharf, it had taken until almost the afternoon to figure out the right area for the warehouse; after that, he'd still had to find the right building in that area. It had been evening by the time he had gotten inside the building. After searching the area and finding Simon, it had been well into nighttime. Then, he'd spent the rest of the night and the following morning hidden in that crate before finally getting out of it on board the SS Prime Treasure in the early afternoon. And after that, he had been really busy. The iced tea had been refreshing, but not filling. Not even close.

"Oh my gosh, Tim, then you must be starving!" Emilia had cried, eyes wide with concern.

"Yeah, no kidding. That's a long time to go without any food. We'd better conduct the interviews over breakfast." Meiko had commented, concern in her features as well.

Amanda had dropped Pikachu. "All right, then. I won't get angry this time. But we've got to keep him out of these cookies, somehow!"

"He won't just listen to Tim when he's told to stay out? Strange, for a Pokemon partner." Meiko had spared a speculative glance at Pikachu.

"Uh, well, ah…" Tim had stammered, trying to figure out how to explain that his partner was more a stubborn old geezer than a Pokemon.

He had been saved from having to come up with something, however, by Mr. Baker.

"Well, that Pikachu isn't exactly quite Tim's. That Pikachu belonged to his father. It's a very reliable Pokemon, and it stays with Tim because of the familiarity- they'd met before, of course, and I would imagine Tim's smell would be similar to his father's. I think that's why it's helped Tim out of some situations, and why it looks like he listens to him sometimes. But Tim's not really his partner; Harry is."

"Oh, so you're kind of looking after him? That's so sweet." Emilia had said. Pikachu had scoffed.

"Huh. If anyone's looking after someone, I'm watching over Tim!"

They had left the office shortly after that, Tim a little surprised when Meiko informed him that instead of doing the interviewing, she and Emilia were going to be interviewed with him- after all, Emilia had been at the clock tower, as well, and Meiko had been nearby for it and several other incidents. Mr. Graham would be watching the interviews to make sure all of the questions he wanted covered were asked.

And it turned out, Mr. Graham had wanted everything covered. Tim had ended up going over every incident, and even talking about his father as well. Tim had wanted breakfast at the Café, not to spend the entire day there, but in the end, that was just what he had done. When Graham was finally satisfied, the sun was beginning to set.

Tim had sighed, relieved it was finally over. Whenever attention had fallen on Tim's partner, Pikachu had soaked it up, but Tim had hated the entire experience. Whenever it had looked as though the questions were being directed into trying to make Tim look like some sort of hero, he was quick to remind them he had had a lot of help. Pikachu had frequently rolled his eyes and told Tim to enjoy it, but he couldn't. Tim hadn't liked the idea of people thinking of him as someone special one bit at all. He hadn't wanted to disappoint Mr. Graham in the interview, but he didn't like the idea of having everyone's attention centered on him, and the idea of being on the news, as Mr. Graham had assured him he would be, had made him uncomfortable. Not to mention that Tim had had to think fast at times when giving them the real answer would have meant trying to tell them that Tim had a way to speak to Pokemon. Pikachu had, at least, been helpful in those situations, offering up a couple of quick answers.

The only good thing about it was that they had taken plenty of breaks from the interview to eat.

When it was over at last, Emilia had apologized to him for the intense interview. They had, of course, questioned her every time she came up in the story, as well as Meiko, but it had been Tim to receive most of what felt almost like an interrogation.

He hadn't been upset with her in any way, of course, so he'd assured her it was fine.

Watching the news later- at Pikachu's insistence- Tim had had to sigh. They had indeed done their best to cast him as some sort of hero. That had made Tim feel very uncomfortable. He wasn't trying to be a hero. He had just wanted to help. Not to mention wanted to find his father.

Since then, it had been a lot quieter. He had done a couple of small jobs for the agency; finding Pokemon that had wandered off, and things like that. Nothing big, but Tim didn't mind. He'd had all the excitement he needed for at least a little while. Especially since after the interview aired, he ended up with several people around town recognizing him and seeming to buy into GNN's portrayal of him as being some sort of incredible, selfless super detective. Pablo had been rather pleased- some of the fans Tim ended up getting started frequenting the Hi-Hat Café after finding out Tim liked to go there, making the shop more popular, but it was not attention Tim had needed or wanted.

Thankfully, it died down a little over time.

So the month passed. Meiko and Emilia sometimes stopped by the Hi-Hat Café in the mornings to talk to him there; Pikachu would not let a day go by that they didn't start their morning with coffee there. He saw them here and there in the city, as well; he made sure to greet them when he did if they weren't busy. Once or twice, he would even see Mr. Graham.

He somehow ended up getting in the habit of driving by the place of his father's accident from time to time- a couple of times a week, at least. He would park at the spot his father went over and stare out over the land below the cliff, wondering what possibly could have happened. Where he could have gone and why he had not come out of hiding by now- maybe he didn't know the R case had been closed? Tim knew he had to be out there somewhere, though. Not only had Mewtwo said it, but Tim could feel it. So could Pikachu. Harry Goodman was out there, somewhere.

Tim just wished he could find something. Anything.

Even just one clue…

Tim wasn't giving up until he had something.