Pokemon (Detective Pikachu)
A Legendary Search
15. Battered
As he rapidly explained his plan to the gathered Pokemon near him, he could still clearly hear the conversation in the studio.
"What… what do you mean?" Emilia asked, voice quavering.
"Oh, come on, you're not smart enough to figure it out? I went after that detective first, of course. Got rid of him just like his father- he's dead."
"No… no way…" Meiko's voice was quieter, stunned.
"Don't believe me? I'd show you the car burning at the bottom of the cliff if I could, but I'm afraid I'll just have to settle for sending you all to meet him. And you, Emilia… you first. You were there to help him catch me… and I promised him just before the car blew that I'd be getting rid of his girlfriend next." Keith's voice was cold and mocking. "Go on, get out of that crowd. Stand over there. Cooperate, and I might let some of the people here go. Refuse, and I'll make sure no one in this room makes it out alive."
"Emilia, no!" Meiko's voice held none of the confidence Tim was used to; instead, it sounded full of fear.
Tim looked at the Pokemon he had assembled. "Got it?" he asked urgently.
"We understand, Tim." Pikachu answered, nodding.
"Then go!"
Tim whirled around to the curtain; the Pokemon bolted to get ready.
"Tim…" He heard Emilia say. Her voice was thick with emotion.
Keith scoffed. "Face it, girl. I'm not making it up. Your detective is gone… Tim's not coming back!"
Tim saw Keith turn to Skorupi, gesturing towards Emilia who had taken a few steps away from the rest of the people to be an easier target, though still trapped within the ring of poison. Keith's back was to the curtain Tim was behind; the people he had trapped were facing it.
It was now or never, the Pokemon knew their parts of the plan and Tim now had to do his… stall.
And Keith had given Tim the perfect opening.
Tim yanked the heavy curtain aside, his knuckles white from the tight grip he had on it.
"Don't be so sure about that, Keith!"
He got a reaction from everyone. They all stared, many gave startled cries. Meiko looked relieved for a moment before looking worried; Emilia looked at him with an expression of mixed shock and relief and fear and worry.
Keith was the one he quickly focused his attention on, though, as the man turned, eyes as wide as dinner plates, going rigid with shock.
"What… how…?" he sputtered. Tim scowled at him.
"A word of advice, Keith… if you're going to push someone off a cliff, you might want to check the car wreckage to make sure there's actually a body in there." He snarled.
Keith stared at Tim, dumbfounded, for a long moment before recovering. He smirked.
"Thank you, detective, for your advice. I will make sure to take it to heart as your last words of wisdom. But even if pushing your car off that cliff didn't kill you, it looks like it came pretty damn close. What, exactly, do you think you're going to be able to do to stop me? All you've done is made it easy for me to kill your friends right in front of you before I finish you off. In fact, I think I rather like this outcome. It's made things much more fun."
Tim had to admit one thing, though he only admitted it to himself- he must look terrible. If he were by himself, he probably wouldn't be able to do anything. But he wasn't, and Keith was.
"I can do a lot more than you think, Keith. You underestimate far too much." Tim spat back at him. His injured leg was starting to tremble; despite the belt, it had started bleeding again once inside GNN, albeit more sluggishly. His grip on the curtain was helping hold him up.
"Oh?" Keith looked amused. Tim glared at him, and used the pretense of dramatically rolling his eyes to look up at the rafters; to his relief, Pikachu was up there, slowly making his way to his post. Behind him, he heard the Yanma's wings buzz, and heard the soft sound behind him of something large making a quick jump. Now, they had to wait on Pikachu.
Tim fixed his gaze back on Keith. Come on, he thought, get moving Pikachu!
"There's one, big, difference between you and me," Tim stressed, "that's the reason why you lost last time, and will be the reason you lose today."
"Very well, I'll humor you- enlighten me as to what that is." Keith still looked amused.
Tim kept half an eye on Skorupi, which still faced the other people, ensuring they wouldn't rush Keith or try to run for it while Keith was looking at Tim.
"You have only ever thought about yourself, Keith. That's all. And I'll tell you now- money doesn't mean anything if you don't have people who'll stand by you when you're in trouble. And me? I do care about other people. If someone's in trouble, I'll help them. And along the way, I've met people who will do the same for me. And that's what's important, Keith. You're right- the way I am, I can't do much. You got me pretty good." Tim admitted. Where was Pikachu?
"But I don't need to, because I've got people who will stand by me when I need them."
At last, a rope dropped down from the rafters, perfectly aimed so that a loop landed around Skorupi's tail; loose, for the moment, unnoticed by either Skorupi or Keith.
"And that's why I'm still going to win today. Pikachu, NOW!" Tim shouted.
Giving a yell, Pikachu jumped down from the rafter, holding on to an end of rope, the other end which rapidly tightened around Skorupi's tail, then pulled.
Keith, for a split second, went from about to laugh to surprised and made to look around, before the whole room was reacting to Skorupi's screech as it was hoisted towards the ceiling by its tail, Pikachu's weight on the other end of the rope lifting it up and effectively rendering it harmless.
Before Keith could move to rescue his only partner, Tim yelled, "Absol, Yanma, go!"
The massive white shape dropped from the rafters. Tim ducked, and the Yanma soared over him, carrying more rope. Two of them flew opposite directions around Keith, wrapping the rope around him as the third watched to make sure they didn't crash into each other. Finishing two circles, both Yanma pulled as hard as they could on either side of the rope, keeping it tight and keeping Keith right where he was. Absol fixed his attention on Skorupi.
"Plusle, Minun, your turn!" Tim called. Both Cheering Pokemon leapt off Absol and raced for Keith. Skidding to a halt near him, both gave a shout and discharged electricity.
Keith's eyes widened in panic as he saw what Tim was doing at last, but much too late. Stiffening as all his muscles contracted, Keith stood rigid while the charge went on. Tim let the charge continue while Absol swatted Skorupi out of the air, knocking it out. As Pikachu landed on the ground and began to take charge of wrapping Skorupi up in rope, Absol strode back over to Keith, and Tim called, "That's enough! Stop!"
The two Cheering Pokemon complied, stopping their shock, and Keith collapsed to his knees. The Yanma let go of the ends of the rope, Absol finished the job with another swipe, and Keith fell, unconscious. Absol immediately placed a large paw squarely on the middle of his back. If Keith woke up before the police arrived, he would not be going anywhere.
Tim sighed and sagged a little, putting even more of his weight on the curtain, which thankfully did not collapse on him. Now that the ordeal was over, the relief that washed over him was accompanied by weariness. He closed his eyes, dimly realizing that he felt cold. That wasn't a good sign.
Silence rang for a moment as people got over their own, less literal shock, and the first voice to fill the air was Emilia. "TIM!"
He opened his eyes to see that she had taken the only clear path through the poison, dodging around Skorupi and Pikachu, and was heading for him at a run. Behind her, Meiko was also racing around the pair to follow her.
He watched Emilia come closer, but couldn't go meet her halfway- he could barely stand as it was. He still wasn't feeling much pain due to the adrenaline, which hadn't worn off quite yet, but he was certain that his leg wouldn't hold his weight. Skarmory's feather had dealt him serious damage, and he'd strained it too far already.
When Emilia reached him, the only thing he could see in her face was worry. She looked almost near tears.
"Oh my gosh, Tim… Tim!"
She reached out, one hand going to rest on the side of his arm just below his shoulder, the other reaching up to his face and touching an area just above his right eye. When a spark of pain broke through the adrenaline, Tim couldn't stop the wince.
"Oh, man…" Meiko had finally caught up. "Hold on… we'll get some help."
Meiko cast her eyes around the studio as Emilia kept looking him over.
"Oh, gosh, your leg… that looks really deep!" Emilia moved next to him, wrapping her arm around his waist in an attempt to help support him. He appreciated it, but didn't want her to be so worried… he didn't want her to worry about anything.
"It's ok…" He managed.
"OK?" Meiko turned back to him. "Tim! You are not okay. Your clothes are torn and filthy, you're covered in blood, and you're still bleeding from both your leg and your head. You are not okay!"
After her tirade, the voice of Mr. Graham was the one Tim heard next, or at least the next one that made any sense to him.
"Hiro, start making phone calls now. I want you to call the emergency number, tell them that we need both police and an ambulance here. Once they're on their way, you call that Inspector Holiday and Mr. Baker back and let them know that both Keith and Tim are here."
"Yes Sir!" Hiro's voice said, and as Tim turned his head, he saw Hiro rushing away to do that while Mr. Graham came towards them.
"Call Inspector Holiday and Mr. Baker back? Why are you calling them?" Tim asked, looking back at Emilia.
"They called us here, seeing if we knew where you were. They were really frantic, trying to get in touch with you. They didn't tell us why, but I'm guessing it had something to do with Keith." It was Meiko who answered.
"Yes, they seemed very panicked when they couldn't get you. Perhaps they knew something like this would happen…" Mr. Graham mused as he got close. He, too, looked Tim over with a worried glance.
"Meiko, go get some water and some cloths and we'll see if we can clean some of the blood, it will help the paramedics later. Emilia, you and I will help Mr. Goodman here to somewhere he can sit down."
Meiko ran off. Tim, starting to feel a little odd, wondered for a moment if it would take her as long to return this time as it had taken to find the video last time he was here. Mr. Graham eased himself next to Tim, gently separating the hold he had on the curtain, wrapping his arm under Tim's shoulders to hold him up. Thankfully, the man had a good amount of strength, for once Tim was no longer holding the curtain, his injured leg buckled. Both Emilia and Graham tightened their hold on him, supporting him.
"Hold on, Tim." Emilia murmured. Slowly, they moved away from the curtain separating the studio from the area backstage, Tim not really able to put weight on his left leg. Tim focused on walking, not really seeing where they were going until they stopped in front of a bench just large enough to hold four or five people.
When they lowered him down onto it, Tim sighed in relief. He couldn't help it- standing had become exhausting. Emilia sat next to him and reached up, using her fingertips to very gently push disheveled hair out of his face.
"What happened to you? You and Keith were talking about pushing your car over the cliff, but… what exactly happened?"
He looked at her, not really wanting to give her the entire story and make her worry any more, but when his eyes met hers, the intense look of caring she had in them had him opening his mouth.
"Pikachu and I were investigating… warehouse past PCL." He muttered. "We were leaving… saw messages on my phone, but was going to listen to them after getting back… then was passing my Dad's crash site. Can never really seem to go pass that area without stopping there… while I was parked there, Keith rammed into me from behind. Knocked me off the cliff… Absol over there, he got me out of the car before it hit the bottom." Tim gestured in the general direction of Absol, still standing guard over Keith. An absurd thought flickered through his head that he wished Absol was standing with him instead; with all that fur, maybe being next to him would make Tim feel a little warmer.
Was he trembling? He was. He hoped no one else noticed.
"Oh, my gosh…" Emilia murmured. She gently touched the spot on his forehead that caused him to wince before, with the same result this time. "You've got a terrible gash on your head here…"
"Oh… head hit the steering wheel… 'fore the bag went off."
"How did you get here from there?" She sat so close to him it seemed to encourage Tim to lean on her.
"Rode on Absol. He's a good Pokemon…"
"Looks like he is. Was your leg cut in the crash?" Her soft voice was soothing to listen to and Tim found himself relaxing despite the cold and the fact that his pain was increasing as the adrenaline starting wearing off.
"Not… exactly. Landed… on Skar… Skarmory nest… when Absol… pulled me out. Feather… cut my leg. Got stuck in, actually." Now that he was feeling the pain more, it was getting hard to breathe. His chest burned in agony with every small movement; his head throbbed.
Tim could hear movement around him, but couldn't get himself to pay any attention to it. He was starting to feel lightheaded and dizzy, as well as a little nauseous.
"Does anything other than your head and leg hurt?" Emilia's voice was easy to focus on.
"Chest… burns." He ground out.
"Alright… take it easy. Shallow breaths, then." Her arm came up carefully across his chest to hold his opposite shoulder; Tim realized then that he had been slumping forward. "Do you feel faint?"
"Not… exactly. But… dizzy." Tim gasped out.
"Ok. Hold on. Take it easy." Emilia soothed. "Lean on me."
Her arms gently pulled on him; Tim complied. He'd prefer not to be a burden this way, not to mention not get her dirty, but he didn't have much choice at this point. It was lean or fall, and he didn't want to fall in front of her.
"I'm back." He heard Meiko say. "Use a couple of these to see if you can stop the bleeding from his leg; I'll get a bucket of water to see if we can clean some of the injuries."
Tim grunted when someone started putting pressure on his leg, ratcheting up the pain that had come back full force. His entire body felt like it had been cut to shreds, though the worst points were definitely his head, his chest, and his leg.
"Easy, Tim. We need to stop the bleeding. Try not to focus on the pain, ok? Focus on me. And try not to pass out, alright? Stay awake."
Easier said than done. Tim felt very tired…
"I know it hurts, but keep talking to me. The Skarmory feather got stuck in your leg? That must have been very painful."
Tim didn't want to answer, but he didn't want to disappoint Emilia, either.
"Didn't… really notice… 'till I was here." Tim mumbled. "Pulled out… the feather… left it… in front… of GNN."
"Ah… well, you're really amazing, Tim. To have managed all that… to get here and help us…"
"Here." Meiko's voice sounded again, along with a sound that Tim would later realize had been her putting the bucket on the ground.
Now that Tim leaned more fully against Emilia, the arm she had across his chest vanished. Water sloshed; Emilia brought her hand up to Tim's forehead again, only this time she held a wet cloth.
She pressed it against the injury on his forehead, and he sucked in a deeper breath through his teeth, which in turn made him groan in pain.
"Sorry, Tim. But it will be better if we can clean this. Hold on."
Tim felt someone sit on his other side. A glance told him it was Meiko, though his vision was getting a little blurry.
"Paramedics should be here soon, Tim. Just stay with us until then." Meiko told him.
"Keep talking to us, Tim. What were you and Pikachu doing at the warehouse?"
"Looking …for evi… evidence…" Tim mumbled. "We wanted… to see if… we could… find any…thing left… from those… who last used."
"I see. Did you find anything?"
"Book. We left… it with… Skarmory. Will have to… go back… get it."
"I can get it for you sometime, if you'd like. You, though, aren't leaving this spot until the paramedics come." The cloth left his head; a splashing noise told Tim it was being put back in the water.
Further away, Tim could hear Hiro return. "Everyone's on their way, Mr. Graham."
"Good, thank you Hiro."
"Here." Meiko reached across Tim's field of vision to intercept Emilia's hand. Taking the cloth from her, Meiko took a turn at dabbing at the blood on Tim's face, and the gash there.
Relieved of the cloth, Emilia's hands shifted their position. The one she had used to help clean his injury with before wrapped around him to hold him up more securely; her other hand, which had previously done this task, shifted and slid up Tim's back until her fingers gently tangled in his hair and ran lightly through it.
Tim sighed. It felt good. It also made him feel sleepier.
"Hold on, Tim. Stay with me." Emilia told him.
He didn't really want to, but since she had asked, Tim fought his heavy eyelids.
"I think the bleeding is stopping." Mr. Graham mused, shifting and inspecting the cloth he held against the slash on Tim's calf. "Though it will probably bleed again once the belt is removed."
"Inspector Holiday, Detective Baker, a miss Amanda, and the police are all here!" Hiro's voice called. "They arrived together. They'll need someone to bring them to the right place."
"And I'll need to speak with the police on what happened. Emilia, will you be alright here with Tim if I have Meiko bring them up while I get ready to speak to them?"
"Oh… yes, of course. We'll be fine." Emilia told him. Meiko dropped the cloth in the bucket.
"I'll be back in a flash!" she said, and off she went running.
Graham stood up. "Take it easy, Tim. You did everything for us today. It's time for us to help you. Everything from this point on, we'll handle." He left as well, leaving Tim and Emilia somewhat by themselves, alone in a corner of a crowded room.
"He's right, you know." Emilia whispered. Her fingers still ran softly through his hair, sending a pleasant tingling across Tim's head. "You were incredible today. Incredibly reckless, yes, but still incredible." She gave a soft giggle.
"If you… want me… awake… you gotta… stop doing that." Tim mumbled. He felt rather than saw her look at him.
"Hmm? Doing what?"
"With my hair…"
"Oh." Her hand slid out of Tim's hair, making him sigh at the loss. Still, the longer she had done it, the sleepier he felt. "It seemed… like you were enjoying it…"
"Was…" Tim said. Later, he would wish he'd kept himself from saying that.
"Oh..." A soft, amused huff of breath was her reaction.
"Well… I'm sure the ambulance will be here soon." She said softly, shifting her grip on Tim again so that she held him the way she had earlier, before Meiko had taken the cloth from her. She picked it up again and began dabbing at the injury on Tim's forehead. "Just hold on."
Tim sighed. He was so tired…
He heard other voices speaking up, voices that were familiar but he couldn't think to place them.
Emilia began speaking again, but to someone else rather than him. He couldn't focus enough to make out the words anymore, or at least not many of them, but he listened to her voice nonetheless.
Tim didn't know how long it was after that, or who tried to speak to him. The only thing he could still concentrate on was the soft murmur of Emilia's voice, and how comfortable he felt with her warm presence next to him…
He managed to make out when she was calling his name, but was too exhausted to answer anymore. His eyes slid closed; he felt her hand on his face, trying to rouse him, and he felt bad being unable to do as she had asked, but he just couldn't stay awake any longer.
A/N: Keith is down and safely contained... unfortunately, Tim is down, too. Ambulance better hurry.