Pokemon (Detective Pikachu)

A Legendary Search

17. Shocking Findings

Tim stared at the photo on the small plastic card. It was a driver's license, with the picture of a man Tim had not seen in months. A man who looked a lot like an older version of Tim.

Tim, not believing the picture he was seeing, looked at the name printed in tiny letters below it.

Harry Goodman.

His father's driver's license. Something that should have gone missing along with his father. Harry Goodman had never gone anywhere without his wallet firmly tucked into his pocket, and this ID card was always in his wallet.

So why was it here now? How could Tim have found it?

His father kept his driver's license in his wallet, at all times- unless showing it to someone, of course. That Tim knew.

He also knew his father kept his wallet in his pocket, unless using it. When he slept, the wallet was put on the nightstand next to him and the first thing he did when he woke was change and put the wallet in his pocket. Likewise when he showered- the moment he was out, the wallet was in his pocket. He'd told Tim once that since he didn't know where his work would take him, he kept it on him, always.

So if the driver's license had ended up on that cliff… then at some point, his father had been there as well. Before or after the area was investigated, Tim didn't know; it had been fairly well hidden under the plant. He'd only seen it himself because he was lying right in front of it. It seemed most likely to Tim that his father had landed there after the accident. After all, with Keith after him at the time, it wasn't likely that he'd stopped to buckle his seat belt, and without the seat belt on, if his father had been well enough after the impact that shoved the car over, he might have been able to jump out of the vehicle. And Keith hadn't checked to see if Tim had been in the car when it reached the bottom. If he didn't check for Tim, chances were he didn't check to see if Tim's father was still alive either. The ledge wasn't that far down the cliff, really; the chances of not surviving the fall to it were small. And up on that ledge, it would have been a good deal harder for most predatory Pokemon to get at him before the investigation started… which meant there was a pretty good chance that Harry Goodman had gotten off that ledge. By himself, or with Mewtwo's help, perhaps; Tim didn't know. What he did know, was that his father was alive.

Of course, he'd known that all along. But it was nice to have some tangible evidence that he could hold in his hands. He felt at last like he had taken a few steps forward towards finding his father… even if all he had now was a picture on a plastic card. He had gotten closer. Tim could feel it.

Looking at the driver's license, Tim whispered, "I'll see you soon, dad."

The next morning, both Emilia and Meiko came by with Pikachu and the book that had been hidden with Skarmory.

"Thank you."

"No problem."

"Sorry we can't really stay." Meiko spoke up. "We were given the day off yesterday as they tried to clean up the 23rd floor and everyone on it had to give statements to the police, but we have to get back to it today. Mr. Graham is having a field day with the incident happening right at our station. Half the other floors at GNN were all covering it."

"Yeah… I know you hate it, but… it's likely that we'll be back in a little while to do an interview." Emilia told him. "The moment we get back, I'm sure Mr. Graham will be asking us if you're doing well enough for one… sorry."

Tim sighed. "Here we go again…"

The two girls and Pikachu laughed.

"Well, we'll see if we can do the interview. That might make it more bearable." Meiko winked.

"Is there anything else we can bring you? If we don't get to do the interviewing, we'll visit after work." Emilia added.

"Oh… thank you for the offer, but I'm alright. Thanks for bringing this, I wanted to look at it as soon as possible." Tim held up the notebook he'd taken from Emilia.

"You're welcome… you know, it was so odd. When I took Pikachu to the right area, he went to the edge of the cliff and started, I don't know, talking or something. And then Skarmory came up and brought the book with it. And they seemed to talk to each other before Pikachu took the notebook and Skarmory flew back down."

"Yeah, told her I was sorry I didn't have any bread crumbs today and wouldn't for a couple days, but we definitely would bring her some as soon as we could."

"Oh, right, the bread…" Tim muttered.

"I'm sorry?" Emilia asked, looking confused. Tim tried to make a fast recovery.

"Uh, well, usually when I go by that area, I bring some of the bread crumbs from the café in Tahnti Park to give her. She doesn't like leaving her nest, I think. Maybe Pikachu was apologizing for not having any?"

"Oh, that's so nice of you…"

"That could be." Meiko spoke at the same time as Emilia. "He seems like a pretty smart partner, so maybe that's exactly what he was doing. Or maybe apologizing for making her leave the nest to bring the book."

Tim opened his mouth to say something else, but was interrupted before he could say anything.

"Pla?"

"My!"

Two small Pokemon raced into the room. One hopped onto the hospital bed; the other stopped next to Meiko and pulled on her pant leg.

"Hey, I told you guys to wait in the car. How'd you get in here?" Meiko scolded them.

"Hey… these are…" Tim looked first from Minun on the bed, to Plusle on the floor.

"Yeah, from the Hi-Hat Café and your helpers at GNN. They've been sticking to me like glue. I think we've all decided that we're happiest together."

"Pla, pla!"

"My my my!"

Pikachu hopped up onto the bed as well, having been standing next to it previously.

"Ah, you're going to stay with Mieko? That's great news, I think you're all a great match as far as partners go. You've got the energy to keep up with each other, for sure."

Beeping from someone's phone began to sound off just then.

"Oh… that's the alarm I set to make sure we wouldn't be late!" Emilia said. Meiko checked her watch.

"Oh, shoot! Yeah, we gotta run. Sorry, Tim. But we'll see you later."

"No problem. Thanks for coming by. I'll see you around."

Emilia and Meiko left rapidly, both of them a little concerned now about the time; Tim felt bad making them worry they would be late.

"Ok, what about that notebook now?" Pikachu said. "The fact that we can't go anywhere means it's a good time to do some reading. And we might want to get to it if they'll be coming to interview us."

"Yeah, but first… take a look at this, Pikachu. I found it on Skarmory's ledge yesterday, when… well, when we were down there." Tim reached over and grabbed his father's driver's license, showing it to Pikachu.

Pikachu's eyes widened. "What the…"

"If this was on that ledge, Pikachu, then so was my father, at some point. He always had this with him, in case he needed it. And if he fell onto that ledge…"

Pikachu thought hard.

"I don't remember the accident much. But I remember… Harry lying farther away from me… While I looked up at Mewtwo. It's possible… that he landed there after throwing me out of the car. Unfortunately, that doesn't really get us anywhere."

"I know. But, to have found it there… it just feels like we're on the right track, you know?"

"Yeah, it's like a good omen. So let's keep on this track and get looking at that notebook!"

"Yeah." Tim put the card back on the tray and pulled the book towards him, opening it to the first page.

A lot of it were notes on some sort of experiment. It was difficult to understand, as the notes took quite some time to become clear on the subject.

"Oh… it's an experiment to lure Pokemon that know the move Recover." Pikachu said.

"Yeah… looks like they were trying to make it attract Pokemon that were really strong. Which fits in with what they were supposed to be doing." Tim mused.

"Looks like they were able to find a… signal of some kind. They had to build a specific transmitter, since this wasn't a signal a radio or something could normally transmit, but they found it to affect the Pokemon that knew Recover that they had in the facility, so they were hoping they could amplify it in a way that would have a more profound effect the stronger the Pokemon was."

"Looks like most of their experiments on that latter part kept failing." Tim pointed out. Most of the notes were indeed logging various failures, ending in any result from no effect on the Pokemon to causing their own Pokemon to go berserk to causing something to explode from the intense frequency of the wave. Each experiment started on a different page and the failed experiments went on for several pages. They were nearly halfway through the book before Tim and Pikachu were able to find anything useful.

"The experiments have proven successful at last. We have been able to boost the signal in a way that has a greater effect upon more powerful Pokemon. Now, we must find a way to broadcast it far and wide and prepare for a wide range of responses. We expect hundreds if not thousands of Pokemon to come at the call of our signal that will be insignificant. We must find a way to separate these from the ones that we want, a way to contain them. We must broadcast this signal in such a way that it will penetrate inside mountains, reach far under the sea level, and travel through the atmosphere. We will need a very powerful transmitter for this, and a way to hide it. It must be far from any cities or towns and the witnesses that would be there. We must be prepared for the arrival of the ones that we want. If this signal works as well as testing indicates, it should be able to hold them on its own, but a backup plan is always required. David proposed that we train many Pokemon with the moves Hypnosis, Sleep Powder, or Stun Spore. The proposal was met with general consent and as it was his idea, he was put in charge of overseeing the catching and training. Rika was put in charge of finding the best place to build our high-powered transmitter. Jamie was placed in charge of determining how to separate the Pokemon that respond to the call to fit our needs."

Tim read the long entry out loud in a low voice, now grateful that they had been put in a private room.

"Alright, not too surprising since we know they managed to get the cells at some point, but looks like now we're finally getting somewhere."

"Yeah."

The next useful entry was only a few pages further in.

"Jamie proposed today that to keep the Pokemon called separate, we use a multitude of psychic Pokemon to create a barrier and only allow the ones that we want through. Upon hearing the suggestion, Michael proposed that we also use this method to help contain the Pokemon we want once caught. The idea was discussed, but it was decided that we would need to find out how much power we could generate from the Pokemon caught and trained, as the number of Pokemon needed will be difficult to manage. Jamie was put in charge of overseeing the catching and training of psychic type Pokemon for these purposes."

"Sounds like this place had an inordinate amount of Pokemon for the task- Pokemon they might still have now. If we end up needing to investigate this place, we'd best do it very cautiously."

"Right… I'm hoping we won't have to, but…"

"Unless that book has something incriminating that we can hand over to Holiday and let the police do the job, we may not have another option." Pikachu warned.

"Yeah…"

The next several pages after that seemed to be logs of how the Pokemon training was going- what Pokemon were being caught, how they were being trained- which in some cases seemed to be horrifying- and nothing that was of any use for what Tim wanted. Then he came across another entry that seemed to note progress being made.

"Rika has found the perfect place to keep our operations going. It is far enough from any community to avoid being noticed, while still being close enough to Rhyme City for H to monitor our progress."

"H? I've heard of R, but what's H?" Pikachu muttered, interrupting.

"Don't know, Pikachu. Headquarters, maybe?"

"Hmm…"

Tim continued. "We will continue to work on our transmitter there as well as the training. H was pleased at the progress made so far but asked that we increase the speed. Funds were allocated to hire another twenty-five workers. We may need to increase the signal broadcasting even further than first thought; H requested a certain Pokemon that must be captured, and for at least one other of the targets. Any others past that will be considered a bonus. It is our belief, however, that it should not be difficult to get at the required two Pokemon once we attract the one specifically required by H. The experts we have on the requested Pokemon believe that wherever that Pokemon goes, the other is sure to follow… it may be more difficult to hold the second one, but our back-up Pokemon team should be able to do the job that our signal will not be able to do. We will be careful to ensure they are ready."

"Now they're not telling us what Pokemon they're talking about. Darn scientists always have to be so cryptic." Pikachu muttered.

"I'll admit, I wish they'd just tell us what they were, too… but at the same time, I think I might know what they're talking about, here…"

"What?" Pikachu looked startled. "How do you know what Pokemon they mean, Tim?"

"Well…" Tim let out a deep breath, thinking. "Remember what Dr. Waals was telling us, too. He and the scientists he was with were told that they would be able to get cells from Mew, as well. And instead, they were given cells from Mewtwo. So they definitely had Mewtwo at some point… and like Dr. Waals said, as far as researchers can tell, Mew doesn't naturally learn the move Recover. They mentioned that the second Pokemon couldn't be held by their signal. Mewtwo learns Recover, though. Maybe, if they were able to trap Mewtwo, Mew could sense it was in trouble and came to help… Mewtwo was supposed to have been made with Mew's cells. So they might have some kind of connection. If this "H" wanted Mewtwo, they might have been expecting Mew to come once they had it."

"Oh… I see. You're right! Good thinking, Tim. 'Course, I would've gotten that in another moment."

"Right, Pikachu. I don't doubt it."

Pikachu glared at Tim. "That didn't sound very sincere. I'll have you know I've figured out lots of things before you and kept quiet so you'd have a chance to learn how it was done!"

"Right. Thanks for that, Pikachu. Can we get back to the book?" Tim sighed, resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

"Sure, avoid the conversation. But fine; let's see if we can find when that signal thing was finished."

That particular entry was several pages further in; 3 fifths of the way through all of the pages in the notebook.

"At last we have true progress to report to H. The signal transmitter has been completed. We are confident it will function precisely as desired. Now the issue is training enough Pokemon. It is extremely difficult to determine exactly how many we might need, as we are not certain how many of those we seek will be called to us in the time we dare to leave it on. We can not run it continuously, as eventually it would attract notice, especially as more and more Pokemon are called. If we do not attract the requested Pokemon, we will simply have to run it again at a later date. H agrees with this course of action but has reiterated that this should be done as quickly as possible. The scientists we promised cells for are already waiting, including the ones that H intends to have create a substance to drive a Pokemon wild with power. With the transmitter complete, I have asked all those who had been working on it to concentrate on the training as well. If we are not properly prepared, all our efforts may be lost."

"Now we're moving." Pikachu muttered.

A few pages later, another entry was recorded.

"H has ordered us to proceed with the process now. I tried telling H that we needed a little longer to ensure we had enough Pokemon that would be able to hold, and that the psychic Pokemon in particular need more training to produce an effective enough barrier, but H has told us to turn on the transmitter in two days. I have ordered the researchers to spend the next thirty hours training the Pokemon to their limit, then they will stop to eat, rest, then have one more meal before we turn on the transmitter in order to get them to the fullest possible strength before we begin."

"Ugh, people trying to rush before things are ready. That's how things go wrong." Pikachu muttered.

"Yeah… though I'm wondering in this case if something going wrong might be a good thing." Tim murmured. "After all, since these people intentionally gave Dr. Waals Mewtwo cells in the hope he would create… well, create R, they can't be working towards anything good…"

"Well, obviously not, but they were supplying the others with cells to help make medicine."

"Supposedly."

"Well, yes." Pikachu admitted. "And now that I've had the thought- if this "H" didn't set a date for the signal to be set off, who knows when these people would decide they're ready? You never really know what to expect with Legendary Pokemon."

"Mm-hmm." Tim turned his attention back to the book.

There were a few pages noting the progress of training- notes of Pokemon that turned rebellious after so many hours, notes of Pokemon that collapsed during the training, a note that they had had no choice but to stop twice during those thirty hours of training to give the Pokemon food. It seemed that a lot of them struggled with the intensity. They eventually got to the notes of allowing them proper food and rest, then to the note where at last they began broadcasting their signal.

"We readied all of the Pokemon and our equipment. We have everything set up so that Pokemon will be rotated as needed, if possible. H has ordered us to run the transmitter until the Pokemon we are looking for arrive, regardless of what else happens. H is telling us that there is no longer time to take things slowly and it must be done now; there will be no opportunity to run the transmitter again later. We do not know how much time it will take to lure the Pokemon we are after; it is possible that at strength and with abilities that we were not able to account for, they might fight the call of it, though it should affect them more strongly than any other. We do not know what to expect; we can only wait for the time we agreed upon here at the base and hope that we are prepared for it, despite not enough time to train the Pokemon. In just a few minutes now, we will turn on the machine, and see how well our project is going to go."

"Oh, finally." Pikachu muttered. Then both of them were interrupted.

A soft knock on the door caused them both to look towards the young man standing there. "Sorry… I hate to interrupt, but I need to check your condition." He told them. Next to him, an Audino peeked into the room.

"Oh, sure." Tim looked around, then took his father's drivers' license and used it as a bookmark, the only thing nearby that would work for it, and put the book on the tray next to him. Pikachu jumped onto the tray to sit on top of it.

"Better make sure that people, even ones with good intentions, don't tamper with our evidence." He muttered.

Tim glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, but said nothing, and let the nurse and the Audino check on his injuries.

After the man left, Tim reached for the notebook, Pikachu starting to get off of it again. Before he could pick it up, however, there was another knock at the door, this one louder than the last.

Looking up, he saw that Meiko had knocked. She grinned at him, and came in, with Emilia, Mr. Graham, and a couple others from GNN that Tim didn't recognize following.

"Ah, really? Things were just getting good, too." Pikachu grumbled. "I'm all for giving the details of our heroic deeds, but couldn't they have come later, after we were finished?"

Part of Tim wanted to smile at Pikachu's complaints; the other part wanted to groan at having Mr. Graham grill him again. He settled for sighing, instead, then looked at his visitors with a smile.

"I suppose I know why you're here?

A/N: Finally finding out some information. But first, Tim has to suffer through another round of interviews. Right when it was getting good, too. :/