Pokemon (Detective Pikachu)
A Legendary Search
42. Rest
Absol did not take long to join him; Tim climbed on as quickly as he could.
"Where's Meowth? We can't leave her here!" He cried.
"She is not inside?"
"I saw her leave the room!"
"Then we go to the vent. Hold on!"
Muscles bunched under Tim, and then they were soaring upwards, landing easily on the roof of the single- story building.
Where they were not alone.
Metallic clicking and a hiss came from the Pokemon that had been standing up there, obviously the entire time.
"Trespassing… I don't like trespassers. Especially ones my master doesn't like."
The Scizor stepped towards them, raising its pincers and showing off the eyelike markings on them.
"I was watching you from up here." The Scizor told them, an unmistakable sneer in its voice. "My master wants you gone. He will be pleased when I get rid of you."
"What? Hey, no, let's talk about this." Tim said. His partner crouched.
"No. No talking. You die." Scizor hissed, and lunged.
"Tim!" His partner reared up a little as Scizor swung one of its pincers, raising Tim out of range and yelling out when the pincer slammed into his right shoulder, closing on his skin and tearing it open. Tim was knocked off his back, landing on his own back on the roof.
"Absol!"
Fire danced around Absol's mouth before he blew a Flamethrower. Scizor cried out in shock and pain and leapt back.
"Tim, move! Now! See if you can see Meowth while I hold him back!""
Tim sprinted towards the area that he knew the vent would be. Behind him, he heard Absol clash with the Scizor again.
Reaching the edge of the roof, he saw Meowth on the ground below the vent, looking around.
"Meowth, run! Go home!" Tim yelled.
She looked up.
"What?"
"Go home, now! Get out of here- go!"
Meowth, eyes widening in fear, nodded and bolted, racing away towards her home.
"Absol!" Tim turned back to the Disaster Pokemon.
Tim's partner spat more flames as the Scizor, and bounded over next to Tim. "Our turn to get out of here!"
Tim leapt onto Absol's back immediately and he took off.
"Absol, you're bleeding!"
"I've had worse. We need to get away, now! Now tell me what you found."
As Absol went for height, leaping up onto buildings and across rooftops, Tim filled him in.
"The mayor? That's very bad."
"Yeah, and he knows that I know, now, too. I'm sure of it. He's going to do everything he can, now, and we already found out tonight that he's okay with hurting innocent people to do it, now…" Tim fell silent, thinking hard. "Absol? I have to get out of Rhyme City. Take me to the edge of it."
"Very well."
The two soared across the rooftops, leaving City Hall far behind. Tim kept a watch, but it seemed like the Scizor did not follow; it had been weakened enough to stay behind. Tim thanked all his lucky stars that Absol knew a move like Flamethrower.
At the edge of the city, Absol touched down onto the ground. Tim got off.
"Okay, Absol, this is it. This is where we split up."
"Excuse me? I'm not leaving you alone. He's after you, here!"
"Yes, that's why I'm going to disappear. But Emilia and Meiko can't do that. And Plusle and Minun might be able to help Meiko, but only if they're warned that danger could be lurking. Emilia doesn't have anyone to keep her safe. That's why you have to go. Warn the Pokemon partners of everyone to be on guard, and keep Emilia safe. I'm counting on you to protect them."
Absol and Tim stood there for several long moments, looking at each other. Absol, taller than Tim, had his head bowed so they could look each other in the eye.
Absol broke eye contact first, sighing. "Very well. Just… take this." Absol spat out the large marble-like stone he carried around and put a paw on it, rolling it toward Tim. "Keep it safe for me. I'd feel better if it was with you."
Tim knelt and picked it up. "Are you sure?"
"Yes."
Tim examined it, the shine over the stone and the white-and-bluish center, remembering that he'd promised to help Absol find a way to carry it without having to keep it in his mouth and so far, hadn't kept that promise.
"Alright. I'll return it when I see you again."
"I am counting on that." Absol sighed. "Tim, please, just… stay safe. Please."
"Of course. Don't worry about me, Absol. I'll figure something out." Tim tried to reassure him, though he himself didn't know how successful he would be. Putting his arms around Absol's neck, he hugged his partner, and felt Absol bring a paw up to place on his back.
"Stay safe."
"Good luck."
The two broke apart, and Absol turned to dash away, once again using the rooftops. Tim watched him fade away into the darkness, and when he couldn't see his friend anymore, he turned away and started running himself, in the opposite direction.
Tim had no idea where he was going, he just ran. He slowed down at times when he needed to, but kept moving for what felt like hours, until he came upon a building that was very familiar to him.
"PCL? You've got to be kidding." Tim muttered. "Of all the chances. I need to get away from places where I could be recognized."
"Why's that?" asked a voice behind him, and Tim jumped, spinning.
Behind him, Gengar laughed. "Sorry, I couldn't resist! I like wandering around at night here, but I never thought I'd encounter you! I wanted to give you a surprise! But really, why do you need to get away from people?"
Tim sighed. "It's complicated. Someone with a lot of power wants to get rid of me, and I need to disappear for a bit. It's safer for me and my family and friends if I stay away while I try to figure out how to stop them."
The grin slid off Gengar's face. "Oh. That's terrible. Do you have somewhere to hide, then?"
Tim groaned. "No. I just had to get out of the city as soon as I could, I don't have anywhere to… go…"
Something tugged at Tim's memory. Had he heard something like that before? If he had nowhere to go…
"Oh. Do you want to stay here? Oh, no, wait, you just said that you can't be near someone who'd recognize you, and they all know you here. Hmm… is there some way I can help? I can move through shadows and I can take people with me, so I can move you without being seen at all. But I don't know where you could hide…"
Tim looked up. "You can do that?"
"Oh, yeah. And I'd love to help you with it. You helped me before, after all. But I don't know anywhere you could hide… maybe I could ask Solosis and Duosion for you? Psychic types are great at hiding things!"
"Psychic types…" Tim muttered. "Why does that ring a bell?" He rubbed his forehead. "What psychic types have I spoken to? Mewtwo and Lugia both are, but it's not them. Not the ones here… um…" he tried to think back through his investigations. The laboratory here, GNN, the ferry, the abandoned laboratory, Fine Park…
"Fine Park! And the abandoned lab!" Tim realized. "Alakazam! And he told me… when I have nowhere to go… come to Fine Park!"
We can hide you from the one who controls everything.
"You want to go to Fine Park?" Gengar asked. "I know it. I haven't spent a lot of time there, but I can take you. You want to go now? You're sure they won't find you?"
"That would be great! And no, they- oh, wait! Shoot!" Tim reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. "I didn't even think… most phones can be tracked." Tim yanked off the protector and went to yank the battery out when he stopped.
His father, he knew, would be looking into the investigation. So would Mr. Baker, and Inspector Holiday if he could. They would try to find the cause. It was a long shot, but maybe… maybe he could leave them a clue. Nothing too obvious, in case it was found by the wrong people… no, he needed to be very careful. He trusted the Pokemon here, certainly trusted Gengar at least, but this time he couldn't just throw caution to the wind. He would do just that to help other people, but right now that same approach could land others in danger. But he could leave them something to find.
Tim turned his phone on and erased everything on it, just in case. If it was found by the wrong people, he didn't want to leave them anything. Tim dug out the letter he'd gotten in the mail, printed out on plain paper from a computer, and took a picture of it, then took out his notebook, only to find that it was actually in very bad shape. First scorched by the explosion, then soaked by Absol's water pulse, it was still wet, and trying to peel the pages apart was likely to shred them.
Thinking rapidly, he grabbed the letter instead; he'd had it stuffed in a front pocket, and it had remained safe. Turning it over, he wrote one large letter "H" on the back before snapping a picture of that, too. Then he flipped the phone over, took out the battery, and looked at Gengar.
"Is there someone I can leave this with? A Pokemon who knows who comes and goes at the lab that I can give this to to give to specific people?"
"Phantump would do it. She knows everyone who comes and goes. Loves to keep an eye on things like that. Let me go ask her." Gengar told him.
Tim waited for them to return. When Gengar reappeared with Phantump in tow, Tim knelt down to look the little Pokemon in the eye.
"I want you to hold onto this for me, okay?" He held out the phone and its battery, separately. "Don't put the battery back in its compartment, or the people after me will be able to find it. I want you to give it only to certain people."
Phantump took the phone and battery, nodding seriously. "Who?"
"My partner- my new partner- is a very large Absol. You can give it to him. You can also give it to a man who travels with a Pikachu that wears a brown hat- you've seen that Pikachu with me before. Both of them are safe." Tim hesitated; would Emilia or Meiko ever come here? "You can also give it to a redheaded girl that you might recognize, and a dark-haired girl that often comes with her. They were here once, back when I spent a few days here. They were filming. You remember them?"
Phantump's eyes widened, and she nodded. "I do!"
"Perfect. They're friends of mine. You can give it to them, too."
"If I see them, I will." Phantump promised. "And I'll keep it safe until then! I won't give it to anyone else! You can count on me!"
"I know I can." Tim smiled. Then he looked at Gengar. "Alright, I'm ready. Take me to Fine Park."
"When I got to Fine Park, Alakazam was waiting for me." Tim told Emilia. "I've been here… during the day, Gengar takes a small Pokemon, and they go into the vent by the mayor's office with my recorder that I used for classes. I had a Pokemon bring it and other supplies to me a few days after I got here. I listen to it when they bring it back at the end of the day, and I write down anything that might be important… sometimes I don't understand what they're talking about. I think they've worked out a code. And they didn't leave anything around the mayor's office that have any connections to any of the incidents… I haven't left this place much, but I did have Gengar take me into his office late at night when nearly everyone was gone in the first week after the explosion, and he kept watch while I looked around. I found nothing related to any of the R incidents or the explosion, or Kieth's escape… nothing. I did find out the name of the company he hired to make the stage for the debate. That was the one other place I've been since coming here… when I turned up nothing in his office, I had Gengar take me to that company the next night, so I could look through their records. I thought if I could find proof that Mayor Helding ordered the stage to be built as it was, that would at least be something; I thought it would be hard for him to find a reason that he would order something so stupidly large if it wasn't for the purpose of hiding Lugia inside it. But when I found the records of his order at the company… the measurement requested was for a stage a meter high, which is pretty reasonable. On top of that, right behind it in the same folder was a loose piece of paper from a different order that did have measurements for over a story high, but I couldn't tell where it came from." Tim sighed.
"That seems convenient. You think that someone snuck in there before you did and replaced Mayor Helding's actual order with the records you found?"
"I suspect so. But I've got no way to prove that. And I couldn't think of any other leads, so all I could do was listen to what he was saying and try to work out what he really meant when the phrasing they were using sounded suspicious. I had nothing to go on. I know he was getting more and more desperate to find me… but I got almost nothing I could use, until last night."
Tim placed his recorder on the ground and handed Emilia an earbud. She tucked it into her ear, and he hit play. At first, there was just a little muffled noise, then Helding's voice came through.
"Have you got anywhere yet?"
Silence.
"So nothing again. Look, we need to draw him out. Take out his friends, already!" The voice grew angry; any subtlety was clearly dropped.
More silence.
"Well, do something that will work this time! Send a bunch of powerful Pokemon after them, that damn Absol won't be able to stop all of them. Just make it look like a bunch of strong Pokemon started fighting and they got in the middle, or something. I don't care. Just get rid of the redhead, at least. That will get him moving. I can't afford to wait anymore, we're on a deadline here. Seven days, Martin. Seven days! I want him gone, so I can make sure he can't mess this up. I don't care who else gets hurt, just make it happen!"
Tim hit stop. Emilia turned to look at him, eyes wide.
"After I heard that, I asked Alakazam for help. I didn't know what else to do; I've been stuck here completely helpless. Alakazam, Charizard, and Gengar all left to help Absol fight off whatever Pokemon were being sent. I didn't know they were going to bring you here, though."
"I'm glad they did." Emilia said softly, putting a hand on his knee. Tim sighed.
"I wish this didn't get you so involved."
"Tim, if you're involved, I want to be involved."
Tim sighed again.
"How have you been… staying here?" Emilia asked.
Tim understood what she was trying to ask. "I've… had some helpful visitors."
"Helpful visitors?"
"Yeah." Tim smiled. "A surprising number of them. They've been bringing me food… different Pokemon that I've met in the past appearing every three to four days. Bringing things like my recorder, a new notebook to use- the one that I had was still in bad shape- and batteries for my recorder, too. Litten and Charizard keep the fire going, and the Loudred sometimes help bring firewood too. I really owe everyone here a lot."
"We owe you a lot." Litten said. "We might never have gotten Charizard back without you."
"I'm happy to return the favour." Charizard put in.
Tim shot them a brief smile. "Still. I owe you."
"So what now?" Emilia asked.
"I don't know. I know the mayor is planning something in… six days, now, and I don't know what, but if he's worried about me stopping it, then it can't be good."
"Well, then… we need to get everyone involved."
"Huh?"
"We have to tell everyone. You've got the recordings, right?"
"Yeah, but the mayor could easily get someone in to say they're doctored. He's making sure everyone thinks the explosion was my fault. I've got no defense."
"Actually, we do. Your hand."
"What?"
Emilia smiled at him. "Inspector Holiday gave us all of the information in the case. He said that the bomb was one that was extremely unstable until completely set up, and your father pointed out that someone with nerve damage in their hand wouldn't be able to make it. The strain would cause their hand to start tremoring, and if that happened, the bomb would go off from the tremors. You couldn't have arranged it."
Tim felt something in his chest that he hadn't felt in a long time- hope.
"Alright, that… that clears my name!" he found himself smiling, and Emilia's smile grew in response. "What about catching him?"
Emilia stopped smiling. "We don't have anything for that… we didn't know it was him, but we did figure out it was someone in City Hall. At least, we knew that from what Absol was trying to tell us. But we need to get together with everyone. Update them all so we know what we're dealing with. I bet we can come up with a plan together."
"So… what do we do then?" Tim rubbed his eyes with one hand. They bothered him frequently, now… he hadn't been sleeping nearly enough. Cold, hunger, and anxious fear often kept him up. "We've been here all day… it's late now. How do we get in touch with everyone to gather together?"
"I'll call everyone tomorrow and ask them to meet us at GNN. Gengar will be able to get you there safely, it sounds like. For tonight, we can both go to my apartment."
Tim's head shot up. "What? I can't do that!"
"Of course you can. Gengar can take you in without anyone seeing; no one will know you're there. We'll both be safe there. You'll be able to get cleaned up, get somewhere warm… get some real dinner." She said softly.
Tim swallowed. All of that sounded amazing. "I can't do that to you…"
"Tim." Her voice was firmer now. "We've been over this. It's what I want. Please. Come to my apartment. I know I would sleep better if I knew you were there, and not here. And if you don't come, then I'm spending the night here, too. I'm staying with you."
Tim pulled away, protests on his tongue, but they died before he gave voice to them when he saw her face. She was very serious… and he wasn't going to change her mind. He caved. "Alright, then."
She smiled. "Good. Let's get back to Rhyme City."
Charizard flew Emilia back to Rhyme City after Gengar pulled Tim into Charizard's shadow. With Emilia guiding him, Charizard set her down outside her apartment building. Before leaving, Tim had spoken with the Fine Park Pokemon, and when Charizard took off, Emilia knew he was going to be staying on the roof of her apartment, just in case. Gengar, too, would be staying, and Emilia knew that once she'd gotten off Charizard, he'd shifted over to be in her shadow instead.
Emilia went inside quickly, taking the stairs to avoid as many people as possible. When she got into her apartment unseen and locked the door, she sighed with relief and shuttered all of the blinds before turning on the light, ensuring no one could see inside her apartment. Only then did she say, "You can come out now."
Gengar dragged Tim out of the shadows, allowing him to get up. In good light, she could see that Tim truly was filthy, covered in grime, and he was not only a lot thinner looking, but looked far more exhausted, as well. Dark circles under his eyes spoke volumes.
First things first.
"Gengar, think you could find Tim's apartment? Maybe Tim could give you directions… you could grab him a change of clothes? Then you could use the shower." She looked at Tim at the last sentence.
"Um… yeah, I can give directions." Tim turned to Gengar and directed the Pokemon of how to find his apartment, and what to grab from where. Emilia went into the kitchen while he did, hoping to spare him some embarrassment. Looking for something fast to make, she decided some ramen with fish would work, and set to it.
Once she set the noodles and fish heating, she looked up to see Tim in the entryway.
"I'd offer to help, but… I'm already getting dirt in your apartment." He looked sheepish.
She smiled. "It's alright. Ramen with fish okay?"
"Sounds good to me."
The food was finished before Gengar returned; when Tim finished what she served, she asked Tim if he'd like more, but he declined. Emilia had the feeling he was still hungry, but didn't push it. She would get some breakfast into him before they left tomorrow.
Once Gengar came back with what Tim needed- Emilia looked away while he double checked to make sure everything he needed was in fact there- he went into the bathroom.
"I'm afraid there's only the soap and shampoo that I use in there, but you're welcome to use all you need!" Emilia called after him, and he looked back.
"Thank you."
Then he paused. "Um, where should I put my other clothing?" He asked, almost shyly.
"If you'd like to put them on the floor outside the bathroom door, I'll take them to the laundry room in the building and get them washed for you."
Tim shifted sheepishly, but still managed a smile. "Thank you." He told her again.
Emilia waited until she heard the water start running, then checked the floor outside the door; sure enough, he'd put his dirty clothing there. Taking them to the laundry room while Gengar kept an eye on her, Emilia put his clothing in the washing machine- they were filthy enough that she figured she'd wash them by themselves- and returned.
Tim was in the shower for some time, but Emilia certainly couldn't fault him for that; he'd been filthy, after all. It might take some time to get clean… and the hot water should help finally get him warm, too.
Once Tim had finally finished and came out, Emilia had to smile. She wasn't sure if it was just from the long separation, but despite the lost weight and the dark circles under his eyes, he looked more handsome than she remembered.
"If you don't mind, I'm going to have a shower as well. If you need anything, go ahead… there's drinks and more food in the kitchen… anything you'd like." She told him.
"Thank you. I'm alright."
Sighing softly, Emilia grabbed what she needed and took her own shower. Coming out, she changed into clothes that were comfortable but not pajamas, since she had a feeling Tim might feel uncomfortable if she did, and came out of the bathroom to find him sitting on her couch, his notebook in front of him, as well as his locket camera, his recorder, and a piece of paper that looked to be the note he'd received in the mail.
She crossed her arms and shook her head. Tim was absorbed in his notes and his thoughts, and didn't even realize she'd come yet; quietly, she went back and changed his clothing into the dryer, since they'd finished while she was showering, then then joined him on the couch, surprising him.
"Oh! Hey, Emilia."
"Hey." She studied his face; the dark circles, the prominent cheekbones… the completely exhausted look in his eyes.
He was warm, clean, and he'd gotten a decent supper. Now, she needed to convince him to get some good sleep.
Emilia leaned against him, leaning her head on his shoulder. "What are you doing?"
"We need evidence to prove it was Mayor Helding behind the explosion… prove he was behind R the entire time. I don't have any. I need to figure something out." Tim used a hand to rub at his eyes again, thumb rubbing one while his ring finger did the other.
"That's what we're going to speak with everyone about tomorrow." She reminded him gently. "We can all sort it out together."
"But the sooner I get working on it, the sooner we'll figure something out." He muttered, looking back at his notebook. Emilia tugged on his arm.
"Tim." He looked back at her. "Forget it just for a moment, okay? Just for a moment." She leaned forward and wrapped one of her arms around him; the other would have been too awkward to do that with, given that it was against the couch, so she put it on his shoulder instead. "I missed you… and I'm so glad you're okay."
Slowly, Tim put his notebook down and put his own arms around her. "I missed you, too… I'm really glad to see they didn't hurt you."
"Absol protected me." She assured him, and felt him shift a little so he was leaning back against the corner of the couch, a little closer to lying down than he had been. Emilia laid her head on his chest, and after a moment, she felt him shift a little more, so they were both partly reclining. Glancing up, she saw worry still etched in his face. Anxiety refusing to leave. For a moment, she wondered if she would even be able to convince him to rest, when she remembered something that Tim's father had said, something she might have found out by accident months ago when Tim had stormed GNN injured to stop Keith from his insane rampage.
She slid her hand from around his neck into his still-damp hair, which had definitely grown a little in his four weeks in hiding. She began playing with the strands, gently running her hand through his hair. After a couple minutes, she felt him sigh under her head, and his body relax. Emilia smiled, and gave it a couple more minutes, stroking his hair and running her fingers along his skin there, before chancing a glance up and smiling at what she saw.
Tim's eyes were only half-open, hazy and unfocused. Emilia watched them flutter and fall shut, felt any remaining tension leave his body and his breathing become even. Sound asleep. She kept running her fingers through his hair a few more minutes anyway, enjoying how it felt clean and soft, before returning her head to his chest and moving her hand to his shoulder. She was happy right where she was, and with Tim finally safe and here with her, she was sure she'd have her most sound sleep in a month, too.
"Sweet dreams, Tim." She murmured to her sleeping boy, and closed her own eyes.
