Pokemon (Detective Pikachu)

A Legendary Search

13. Past Hauntings

For a moment, Tim had thought his heart was going to stop. Then he realized it was a Pokemon, and then became worried that it was going to stop Tim's heart for him in anger at the intrusion.

Instead, the Gengar laughed. "Geng! Geng, geng geng geng!"

"What?" said Pikachu, his voice an octave or two higher than normal.

"Geng geng!"

"Oh… ok… ugh, you really shouldn't scare people like that!" Pikachu snapped, his voice a little closer to its normal pitch as his fear turned into anger.

"Pikachu? What's it saying?" Tim couldn't keep his voice from shaking just a little.

Pikachu gave a big sigh, one that seemed like a relived release of tension. "Tim, it's ok. We know this Gengar. It's the one from the PCL."

"What? That Gengar?"

"Yeah."

Tim, too, lost his fear- he'd heard that after the case with Carlos had been closed, the Gengar had been released, and those at PCL had brought Gengar back to the facility, having realized that that was Gengar's home and willing to accept it back there.

"Oh, alright. But… what is it doing here?"

"That's a good question." Pikachu turned back to Gengar. "Hey Gengar, what are you doing here? And why are you so happy to see us? You were pretty angry last time we met."

"Ge, geng. Geng, gengar. Geng geng."

"Oh, ok… he's happy to see us because after we found him, we didn't just blame him for Trevenant's rampage, and instead kept looking into things. When we found out it was Carlos all along, Gengar's name was cleared. He lost one friend that turned out to not really be a friend, but got lots of new ones that welcomed him home. And he says this is his secret hideout. He's been coming here for a long time, whenever he wants a change of scenery."

"Oh, I see…" Tim said, and fell silent as Gengar began talking again, seeming to have a lot to say. He was very animated too, seeming sad at some parts of the lengthy story he was telling, and happy at others.

When he finished, Pikachu said, "Really? That's… great, Gengar. I'm glad."

"What did he say?" Tim asked, sitting back down. He wasn't sure if he'd learn anything about the researchers that brought the cells here, but it seemed to him that they might be visiting with Gengar for a little while, if he was indeed as happy to see them as Pikachu said.

Pikachu turned to him.

"Here's an interesting story. Seems like Gengar knew about this place even back when Dr. Waals was in charge of PCL. Gengar liked to play pranks, sometimes helping Aipom and sometimes competing with it, and he would come here if he did one that made everyone really, really angry, until they had time to calm down. They would all eventually forgive him; it seems like they were all really good friends and helped each other a lot, even if they didn't like his pranks. They were all pretty happy, until that day… there was one day Gengar was looking to pull a prank that he wishes never happened. He went into the underground lab to mix bottles around so they weren't in their proper place. While he was doing it, he accidentally knocked into a batch of a chemical that was sitting in the area they put things waiting to be tested. And then, the next thing he knew… the whole facility was destroyed. He came to in the middle of it, feeling exhausted, and all of his friends had managed to escape but were all terrified of him."

"Wait… he was the one who destroyed the facility under the influence of R?"

"It sounds that way. He said after that, he fled here to live for a while, because there were a lot of people searching that area for him with apparatus that would be able to contain him. They were looking to take him away, and he was frightened. Eventually, when they gave up and left, he returned so he could wait for his friends to all come back and he could tell them how sorry he was… only, no one ever did come back. He waited, and waited… but all that time, he was all alone. His friends all left him behind and never came back, out of fear. Even the human that Gengar really liked, that really seemed to like Gengar. Eventually, the place was rebuilt, but it was all new people. Gengar didn't want to show himself because he thought maybe they would start hating him, too. When he bumped into Carlos, and Carlos was friendly, Gengar thought he'd finally have a partner again… and then, he found out that Carlos used him to dose another Pokemon with the same thing that made Gengar destroy the facility without even knowing, and he felt betrayed. When he was released by the authorities, he didn't know what to do… then, some of the people from the facility came and said they would bring him home. They brought him back to PCL, where he's always lived, and they treat him like he belongs there. So he said he'd always wanted to see us again, so he could thank us. We might have caught him in the beginning, but then we proved his innocence, and he starting thinking that it was only because of us that he had friends again. He said that he's really happy now."

"Oh…" Tim looked at Gengar. He hadn't known what Pokemon had rampaged in the first facility until now; hearing the story, he felt sad, once again, at those whose lives had been disrupted by R. Not only had Gengar had his life turned upside down and only now been set back on a good path, but the Pokemon of Fine Park still lived in a run-down disaster zone, though Meiko and Emilia had told him some time ago that after the incident there was revealed to have been caused by R, the Charizard that had gone berserk under its influence had been released. Whenever he thought about it, he hoped that the Charizard had returned to those who were waiting for it there, so they at least could be together.

"That really is great, Gengar. I'm glad you're not lonely anymore."

"Geng… geng, ge geng."

"Ah… he says that sometimes he still misses the researcher he liked most, the old man that was in charge. Genger used to follow him everywhere, and whenever the man found out, he would laugh."

"Ah… yeah, I guess it would hard if you stopped seeing someone you liked that much." Tim was quiet for a moment before something occurred to him.

"Wait, the old man that was in charge? Pikachu… does he mean Dr. Waals?"

"Huh?" Pikachu looked at Tim in shock for a moment, then looked at Gengar. "Hey, could you describe this man you liked so much for me?"

"Geng geng, geng ge geng."

Pikachu looked back at Tim, his eyes wide. "Tim- no doubt about it! Gengar's favourite person there was Waals!"

"Ge ge geng."

Pikachu whirled back to Gengar. "What? You even followed him here once?"

"Gengar. Ge geng, Gengar."

"Can you describe what was going on?"

"Geng geng, gar geng. Geng."

Tim didn't think Pikachu's eyes could physically get any wider.

"Tim, he followed Waals here when Waals came to get the cells!"

"What?" Tim leaned forward, intent. "Really? Wait… if it did, that explains why Dr. Waals felt like someone was following him that day."

Pikachu immediately looked back at Gengar. "Gengar, please, can you tell us what you remember about that? When you were here, what was happening, what was being said… is there anything you can remember? Anything at all, no matter how small the detail is. We think the people who were here that day were doing something bad, and it's really important that we learn everything we can about it. Please."

Gengar cocked his head, seeming to be thinking hard. He began speaking, slowly, as he tried remembering what had happened. It was slow enough for Pikachu to translate.

"It was really busy here that day? Lots of people, a bunch of boxes being carried around? A few trucks as well, plain white ones. The people carrying boxes around wore uniforms. You don't really remember any conversations, because too many people were talking at once? You didn't understand much of what was going on, but it seemed interesting, so you stayed after Waals left and watched until all the people had gone? The people picking things up went back to Rhyme City, right after they got their things, and the people who were giving the boxes to people waited for a really long time after all of them left before going the same way? Is that all you can remember?"

"Ge ge…" for a moment, the Gengar seemed disappointed, as Tim felt a little disappointment himself. Then, suddenly, Gengar perked up again.

"Gengar! Ge geng!"

"Huh? You went and played a practical joke on them?" Pikachu asked. Gengar launched into another tirade of speech, and Pikachu's jaw dropped.

"Tim, Gengar took notes from them! He saw a book of research notes lying unattended in the truck and took it as a prank! He'd forgotten about it, but one of the reasons they took so long to leave is because they were all in an uproar looking for the book! When Gengar saw how angry they were all getting, he got scared that they would be furious with him, so instead of returning it like he had planned to do later, he kept it with him and hid it! Gengar, do you still have that book somewhere?"

"Ge geng!"

"Really? Could you give that book to us, Gengar? Please. It might just have what we need in it. We would really owe you one."

"Gengar!"

Gengar dove back into the shadows under the shelves. Pikachu turned back to Tim.

"Tim, Gengar says the book is ours! He's getting it for us. We might be able to find out what to do next!"

Tim was certain he had never felt so excited over a book in his life. He got to his feet. "So once he brings it, we can read it and find where to go next!"

"Yeah! We should take it back to the apartment, first, to make sure we can go through it somewhere we won't need to worry about damaging it, but if they were in an uproar over it going missing, I'll bet it has important information. We might just have the break we need here!"

In terms of time, Tim had waited longer for things that he had wanted. But at this time, seconds seemed to stretch like hours. Tim felt as though Gengar had traveled around the world before retrieving the book, leaving he and Pikachu waiting here. When Gengar came back after a few minutes that felt like days, Tim stepped forward and accepted the notebook he held out, looking Gengar straight in the eyes.

"Thank you. You've no idea how much this means to me." Tim told him.

"Don't get your hopes too far up, Tim, just in case." Pikachu warned him, but Tim could already feel a warm sensation bubbling up in his chest. This was the most hope he had felt in weeks.

"Gengar, ge geng."

Pikachu glanced back to Gengar. "Yeah, this does help us though. Thanks very much."

"Geng, Gengar."

"Sure, if we ever do need your help again, we'll look you up. It was good seeing you again. Tell everyone back at PCL that we said hi."

"Geng!"

Tim and Pikachu got back into the car, buckling their seat belts. Pikachu kept the book with him, holding onto it. Looking at his phone, which he'd left in the car, Tim saw his phone blinking- he had a missed call from someone. He wasn't sure what that was about, but Tim figured that could wait for a while; he wanted to get back to his apartment. Once he got there, he would check the message and see if it was about anything that he would need to put off reading the notebook for. After all, it wasn't too much time to get back to the apartment by car.

Tim started the car and began the drive back to Rhyme City. As they passed PCL and neared the area his father had had his accident, something occurred to Tim.

"Oh… we didn't bring anything for Skarmory."

Some time ago, when they had stopped at the accident site to stare out over the cliff where Harry Goodman had vanished, they had spotted a nesting Skarmory on a cliff ledge below the road. She had not seen the accident; she had built her nest there a month after the guardrail had been repaired from the damage resulting from it. She seemed, however, to be very nice despite guarding six eggs, so whenever Tim and Pikachu went by, they had taken to bringing her bread crumbs from the Tahnti Park café, which she was always grateful for. As Pikachu had put it, it was "one less meal to have to leave the nest to find."

"Oh, yeah… guess we don't have anything. We should stop and say hi, though. Maybe tell her we'll bring some tomorrow."

"Maybe."

Tim felt the urge to read the notebook pulling at him, wanted to get back to the apartment faster so he could read it. However, as it happened every time he went by the area his father had gone over the cliff, he felt the site pull at him, too, and when he reached it, he pulled over, like he always did, to stare at the place his father was last known to be as the sun set across the landscape in the distance.

Pikachu climbed out of his seat and struck up a conversation with Skarmory, first apologizing for not having anything, but Tim stayed put and tuned it out, looking out over the land that his father must have wandered off over, Arceus only knew how hurt from the crash. The fall was pretty steep with a couple of ledges jutting out (including Skarmory's) that could have broken the fall a little, but with how the car must have fell, even if it bounced off all of those ledges, it was hard to imagine that his father had survived it… but he must have. He had to have. Tim could feel it. And Mewtwo had confirmed it.

Still… Tim wouldn't really care less about what had happened then if only he could know where his father was now.

"Woah! Tim, Tim look at that! Look over there! Look!"

Tim looked up when he heard Pikachu calling his name, and saw his partner pointing at something.

"Look at that Pokemon! That's not one you normally see, especially not around here."

Tim looked. On another ledge of the cliff, well away from the accident site but on a curve that made the area clearly visible, a large white and black Pokemon with a single horn stood staring at them.

"Is that… an Absol?"

"Yeah, I think so. I've never seen one before. They don't appear before people."

His words triggered something in Tim's memory. He had heard something about Absol once…

"Absol… what was it?" he muttered. Pikachu looked at him.

"Huh?"

"Absol… they sense disasters with their horn, right? People used to blame them for causing disasters and chased them into the mountains, but the truth actually was that they can sense disasters with the horn on their head, and then appear to… appear to…" Tim's eyes widened. "They appear to people that they want to warn…"

"What? Warn… you're right! Is it here to warn us?" Pikachu cried. "Warn us of what? Avalanche, maybe? Or-" Pikachu was cut off as headlights from a different car lit up Tim's car. Pikachu leapt back onto the passenger's seat, having gotten onto the dashboard to speak with Skarmory, and Tim turned. Another car was coming down the road, and coming very fast- far too fast to be legal. The turn wasn't all that large; at the speed it was coming, it was likely to hit Tim before turning.

And when he looked at the driver of the car, Tim realized that the driver of it had no intention of even trying to avoid Tim. He did not know how Keith Norman had gotten out of prison, but he had escaped, and he was here, heading for Tim.

"Pikachu! It's Keith!" He cried, and Pikachu looked at him.

"What?"

Tim didn't have any more time than that. The car Keith was driving crashed into Tim's car, which in turn was smashed against the guardrail. The force jarred Pikachu off his seat, holding the book which he had grabbed when Tim had told him it was Keith.

It also caused Tim's body to surge forward; his head slammed hard against the steering wheel, causing Tim to cry out in pain and his vision to darken a little, before the airbag went off and forced him back in his seat, causing his chest to explode with pain and his vision went from a little dark to very dark. Tim could barely draw a breath. Somehow, with what little he could see, Tim could tell that the impact had broken the guardrail again and his car seemed to be teetering on the edge.

Noise from behind him told Tim that Keith was revving his car. Escaped and out for revenge, Keith was determined to make Tim disappear- and if this had worked for Harry, perhaps it would work for Tim, too. With only seconds, Tim's eyes landed on Pikachu, still holding the book and trying to struggle up from where he'd landed. Tim heard a Pokemon cry; perhaps Skarmory?

Tim grabbed Pikachu, not even sure how he was moving with the burning feeling in his body- it felt like this was the only movement that Tim could manage- and with Pikachu yelling words he couldn't hear for a painful ringing in his ears, Tim hauled Pikachu over and threw him, and the notebook he held, out of the car, rather blindly. Tim hoped he landed somewhere safe.

Another impact sent the teetering car over the cliff. Tim, though, had no idea it was falling. The shock from the second impact overwhelmed what remained of his awareness and left him unconscious.

A/N: one cliff- hanger ended well... and now we have another one even worse than the last one. Off a literal cliff, too. XD

Keith Norman out for revenge... and trying to make Tim disappear with the same method he used on his father. If it worked once, it will work twice, right? Guess you'll find out next week...

And by the way, Happy New Year, everyone! Hope it goes well for all of you!