Chapter Text
Charles can hear his heart beating in his chest as his feet beat against the ground. He could feel the branches and leaves brush against his arms. He can hear more feet pounding against the ground in a run to his right.
Just a little…more…
Finally Charles breaks through the trees, entering an open field outside of town. He skids to a stop and quickly turns around as a large orange blur breaks through the tree line. His left hand shoots behind him, wrapping around a pokeball on his belt. The Hisuian Arcanine locks eyes with Charles before turning to growl at the forest.
A dark blue blur burst through the tree line, tackling the Arcanine to the ground. Arcanine throws the Lucario off, nearly biting the other Pokemon in the process. Lucario skids back, crouching lower as he glares back at Arcanine.
“Shit!” Charles says, pulling the Pokeball off his belt. Before he can throw it, another hand grabs onto his wrist and pulls him back. The Pokeball falls to the ground, unopened. Charles looks over his shoulder to see the face of a very angry trainer. “Oi, mate. Mind letting go?”
The trainer almost growls at Charles as he tightens his grip, tugging once more on Charles’ wrist. Charles stumbles for a moment, but finds his footing easy enough.
“Right, course not,” Charles responds with a strained smile. He quickly kicks out to knock the other man off balance, tugging his wrist free. He looks over to where the Arcanine and Lucario are fighting, lots of biting and tackling but nothing more than that. Before he can call out to the Arcanine, the other trainer tackles him to the ground.
“Oh come on,” Charles grunts. He struggles against the trainer as he shouts, “Arc! Any idea where they are?” Arc lets out a bark, shaking his head as he tackles the Lucario to the ground, trying to pin him down. “Ugh perfect.”
The trainer above Charles lets out another growl, scrambling to try and get his hands around Charles’ neck. Charles pushes at his hands, wiggling about to try and knock the trainer off while also looking for his partner. He hears a lower rumbling growl from his left and suddenly the trainer above him is knocked off with a growling blue Lycanroc pinning him down.
“Kai! Remember not to hurt him,” Edwin shouts, from the tree line. Charles looks over, seeing Edwin standing with his jacket missing and hair sticking up in all sorts of directions. Edwin rushes to Charles’ side, offering a hand to help him up.
“Bout time you two showed,” Charles huffs as he stands up. Edwin gives him an unimpressed look before looking toward where Arc was wrestling the Lucario. Then he looks down at where Kai has the struggling trainer pinned.
“Did you find the stone?” Edwin says, eyes roaming the trainer.
“Was a bit busy,” Charles leans down and picks up the dropped Pokeball from before. He runs a thumb over the pink skull sticker on top of it. Edwin hums, still looking over the trainer. A small glimmer around the trainer's neck catches Charles’ eyes. “His neck!”
“Good eye Charles,” Edwin nods, smiling at his partner. Charles beams back before jogging over to the trainer.
“Sorry ‘bout this mate, but it’s needed,” Charles says as he rips the necklace off of the trainer. As soon as he does, the trainer lets out a shout before slumping over. Charles and Kai share a wide eyed stare before both looking over at Edwin. “Mate?”
“Seems they’ve exhausted themselves out,” Edwin murmurs, looking over to where Arcturus is standing over the passed out Lucario. He holds out his hand to Charles, who quietly puts the necklace in it.
“What the hell was all of that,” Charles whispers, looking over Edwin’s shoulder as he examines the necklace. It looks like a silver pendant with a dark red gem that emits a faint light. Sitting on the chain next to the pendant is a tag with a name engraved in it.
“It seems that they were completely overtaken by the emotion from the embedded stone,” Edwin answers back, rubbing a gloved finger over the gem curiously. “It appears the metal around the stone is enhancing its original power.”
“Is that why there wasn’t a form shift?” Charles asks, running a hand over Kai’s head as the Lycanroc sidles up to his side. “Usually when an Endless Stone is used, doesn’t the Pokemon gain a physical change along with a power shift?”
“Correct, which begs the question why the only shift in Lucario was its glowing eyes?” Edwin hums.
“The trainer’s eyes were also glowing, same color,” Charles mentions, lookng over at the trainer on the ground. “That usually doesn’t happen either.”
“No, it does not,” Edwin nods. He continues to look over the necklace, looking for something to answer any of his questions. After a moment he sighs. “Unfortunately I don’t think we’ll get too many answers right now. At the very least we stopped the rampaging trainer.”
“So, job officially jobbed?” Charles asks, tilting his head. Edwin nods with a small smile.
“Job officially jobbed, for now.” Charles lets out a whoop alongside Kai’s excited howl. “But, we should get the trainer and his Lucario to the Poke Center. They can keep an eye on him until he wakes up. And we can reach out to the Champion.”
“On it,” Charles nods, moving toward the knocked out trainer and Pokemon. “Can Arc carry the trainer or do we need extra muscle?”
“Arcturus should be able to handle him, as long as you and Kai can handle his Lucario,” Edwin states.
“Brills, let’s go.” And with that the two boys and their Pokemon work together to lift the trainer and his lucario. They make their way back into town, carrying the knocked out pair to the Poke Center where they leave them in the capable hands of Nurse Joy. Nurse Joy promised to contact the two when the trainer is awake and coherent.
And then the two begin to make their way home. Both Kai and Arcturus are now back in their Pokeballs, so it’s just Edwin and Charles. Both are exhausted from all the running around, so it takes them a moment to react when someone runs into the two, shouldering past them quickly.
“Oi! Where’s the fire?” Charles yells, looking at the man running away.
“Charles!” Edwin calls frantically. Charles looks back and sees where his partner is looking. A girl about their age is collapsed on the ground as if she was knocked out.
“Shit!” Charles flips around again, looking for the guy. He spots him further down the street and quickly getting further away. “Stay with her, I’m gonna try to catch the perp.” ANd with that Charles dashes off. He tries his best to catch up with the perp. A blur of brown and green flashes by him as Bowie zooms ahead and up into the air.
Eventually Charles stops, panting heavily and looking frantically for any sign of the perp. All he can see are empty streets and a few late night walkers, but no sign of the man from before. Bowie hovers for a moment before flying down, stopping next to Charles with a low coo.
“Any luck?” Bowie shakes his head, a sad coo. Charles sighs, but pats the Decidueye on his head. “Alright, alright. Let’s head back to Edwin, we’ll just have to keep an eye out for him.” Bow nods, choosing to walk alongside Charles as they make their way back to Edwin. Every now and then Bowie will swivel his head around, keeping an eye out.
Back at the alley, Charles finds Edwin kneeling next to the girl, notebook out and murmuring to Tink. Tink nods along to whatever Edwin is saying. The girl on the ground doesn’t seem to have woken up, but he does notice that Edwin’s coat is now under her head. As Charles steps into the alley, Edwin turns to look at him.
“She okay?” Charles asks, nodding toward the girl. Tink gives him a nod and salute, earning a smile from Charles while Edwin nods along with the Tinkaton.
“She appears well,” Edwin says, looking back down at the girl. Her dark hair is splayed out behind her, a purple velvet trench coat covering most of her body. There is a premier ball clutched in her hand. “From what I can see, there are no external injuries. Though it’s possible she may have a concussion.”
“Gotcha, keep an eye out for symptoms,” Charles nods.
“What about the perpetrator?” Edwin asks, tilting his head. Charles sighes, slumping down next to where Edwin is still crouching.
“I lost him,” Charles says with a shake of his head. “Sorry.” Tink pats Charles’ arm gently
“He did have a bit of a headstart, it’s nothing for you to apologize for Charles,” Edwin admonishes. “Hopefully once she wakes up, we can get some more information from her. Mayhaps even a description.”
Just as he says that, the girl lets out a low groan as her eyelashes flutter. She slowly lifts her head, looking around the area passing by the boys at first before focusing in on them.
“Wah…what happened?” she asks, her voice raspy and slow. She pushes herself into a sitting position. “Who are you?”
“Easy,” Charles says gently, holding his hands out to try and catch her should she fall. “You were knocked out for a little bit there, so best to take it nice and slow yeah. I’m Charles, this is Edwin, we’re the Dead Boy Detectives.”
“As for what happened, we were hoping maybe you could tell us,” Edwin says, looking at the girl curiously. “We found you laying on the ground after a man ran into us. He evaded capture so we were unable to question him.”
“I…I’m not sure,” the girl says. She grips the premier ball in her hand tightly, looking down at it with furrowed brows. “I…my names Crystal Palace and…and…I feel like there’s more but I can't.” She groans in frustration.
“Hey, it’s okay,” Charles offers with a soft smile. “Maybe something will come back to you after you get some proper rest. You can spend the night at our place if you want.”
“Charles,” Edwin hisses, glaring at his partner, but Charles keeps his eyes on Crystal, his smile never wavering. Crystal furrows her eyebrows, looking down at the ball in her hand for another moment. She slowly nods, looking back up at the two boys.
“Yeah that…that would be nice,” Crystal says slowly.
“Brills, let’s go,” Charles stands up offering a hand to help the girls and up. Crystal takes his hand and nearly topples over again before being caught by Tink on one side. Crystal stares down at the pink Pokemon for a moment before looking up at the two boys.
“Very well, our place is closer than the Poke Center and it’s rather late,” Edwin murmurs. He looks Crystal up and down for a moment. “Do you require assistance in walking there?” Crystal huffs, gently pushing away from Tink and letting go of Charles’ hand.
“I should be alright,” she says defiantly. Edwin raises an eyebrow, staring at her for a moment, before turning on his heels and walking out of the alley. Charles shots Crystal another smile as he gently guides her out of the alley.
~
Once back home, Charles shows Crystal to a spare room where he leaves her with a glass of water, some medicine and an offer to help her if she needs anything. Insead of heading to his own room, Charles heads up the stairs to the office.
Inside he finds Edwin sitting at the desk, already writing down casenotes. Fia was floating behind him, acting as his personal light source. Charles smiles at the Chandelure as he walks to the desk. He moves to sit on the corner to talk with Edwin, but pauses as he sees a Dreepy sleeping there. Charles carefully picks up the dragon ghost, placing it on his shoulder so he can take his spot.
The two detectives sit in silence for a long moment, the only sounds being the sound of Edwin’s pen on paper and the random Pokemon that live with them. Eventually Edwin lowers his pen, letting out a deep sigh.
“You want to talk about it?” Charles offers, tilting his head.
“About what, exactly?” Edwin retorts, leaning back to look curiously at Charles.
“You’re upset, that’s your upset face,” Charles wiggles his finger to motion at Edwin’s face. Edwin merely stares back at him, holding his face as neutral as he can. A Yamask floats to hover Edwin’s head, staring back at Charles.
“Charles, this is merely my face.”
“Nah mate, you get this little furrow between your brows when you’re upset” Charles pokes at Edwin’s brow to make a point. Edwin bats his hand away, scowling as Charles giggles.
“Yes well…perhaps it is due to stress from a random stranger in our home,” Edwin snips, crossing his arms over his chest as he narrows his eyes at Charles. Charles slumps his shoulders, letting out a sigh as he looks down.
“Look,” he says as he looks at his feet as they swing. “I know you’re not a fan of new people, but we couldn’t just leave her on the streets. She’s missing parts of her memory, and we’re not sure how much, and our place was closer than the Poke Center.”
“Yes, I know,” Edwin sighs. “It’s just…” Edwin trails off, scrunching his eyebrows again. “Perhaps I’m merely tired and overthinking things.”
“You? Overthinking?” Charles snorts, sending his friend a soft smile. “How about this. We both go to bed, get some sleep, and we can tackle the case of Crystal Palace tomorrow, yeah?”
“Very well,” Edwin nods slowly. “Let’s get some sleep and revisit this topic tomorrow.”
“Brills.” Charles smiles, popping up from his spot and offering a hand to Edwin. The two head to their rooms, splitting with a soft “goodnight” to each other. While Charles falls asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow, Edwin stays awake a bit longer. His mind whirling loudly until finally he drifts into a dreamful sleep.
~
Crystal wakes with a jolt, her body frozen in its prone position as her breathing speeds up. Slowly her body unwinds, each limb loosening up to where she can move them. Once she feels like she’s not on the verge of panicking, Crystal slowly sits up. She takes in her surroundings, noting a generic guest room in soft purple colors.
“Right, right,” she murmurs. “David’s gone. I met two weird guys. They let me crash here. I’ve got nothing but my bag and…” she trails off, looking over to the premier ball on the night stand. “Right…”
Crystal reaches for the ball, bringing it to her chest and curling around it. She sits there for a while, just existing. When she finally felt like she could get up, she shakily stood up, wiping at her wet cheeks quickly. She decided to take a shower in the attached bathroom and change into new clothes.
Once she was refreshed and feeling a bit more like herself, or at least a living human being, she slowly crept her way out of the room. She walks down the hall, taking in the sparse decor that looks like a mixture of ancient historical art and modern grafitti art.
Eventually, Crystal was able to find a dining space which also led to a small kichen. The two boys were already in the kitchen, Edwin moving around the space as he made food while Charles sat on top of the counter chatting with him. Crystal just stands in the dorway, watching the two boys for a moment, taking in the almost domestic scene.
“Ah, you’re finally awake,” Edwin says, cutting off Charles midsentence as he spots Crystal standing in the doorway.
“Uh, yeah,” Crystal mutters, clearing her throat awakardly. “Uh, thanks for letting me spend the night. The bed was more comfortable than the alleyway.”
“No problem! Glad the bed was comfortable. It doesn’t get much action since we don’t get many visitors,” Charles says with a smile. “But we try to keep it kept up for the rare occasions.” Crystal nods slowly, not sure what to say.
“Also, uh…thanks for helping me after David…bolted I guess,” Crystal says nervously, fiddling with the edge of her shirt.
“David? That the guy who ran?” Charles asks, tilting his head. Crystal nods.
“You know your assailant then?” Edwin asks this time, watching Crystal. His gaze is heavy, like he’s picking her apart to try and find any secrets she’s hiding.
“Yeah, he’s my…he was my boyfriend. Ex now,” Crystal says quickly. “I broke it off with him and he didn’t take it well. He did…something…I don’t…I think he’s the reason I can't remember anything but I’m not sure. All I remember was getting in a fight with him and then him bolting with the rest of my pokeballs.”
“He stole your Pokemon?” Charles straightens up, looking over at Edwin. They two share a look for a moment before looking back at Crystal.
“Uh…”
“Perhaps this is best discussed after we’ve eaten. If you would like something to eat, we do have some breakfast left over that you may have,” Edwin says, nodding to a few plates that are covered.
“Edwin’s a good cook, not nearly as good as me, but today is his day to cook,” Charles shrugs as if to say “what can you do”. “But like he said, take your pick and grab what you want. I’m sure you’re probably famished now.”
“I--” Crystal begins but is quickly cut off by the sound of her stomach rumbling. Charles chuckles, motioning once more to the various plates of food while Crystal’s face flushes. Crystal quickly makes a small plate of food and quickly sits down to eat.
She can feel multiple eyes watching her. And at first, Crystal thought it was just the boys watching her eat, but she could feel the stares from all around the room. But when she took quick peaks around, there was nobody there.
“Does your buddy need food too?” Charles asks, startling her out of her spiraling thoughts.
“What?”
“Your Pokemon, the one inside your premier ball?” Charles says, nodding toward the white and red ball on the table she had set down.
“Um, yeah probably,” Crystal answers, staring at the ball.
“Well, are you going to let them out? Or does it require a different space?” Edwin asks, staring down his nose at her. Crystal bristles a little before flinching.
“I…I don’t know what kind of Pokemon is inside,” she admits. “I’m not even sure what all Pokemon I had before…everything.”
“So nothing new on the memory front then?” Charles says queitly, looking at her with a soft look. Crystal shakes her head, sighing. “Well, lucky for you we’re aces at figuring things out. Solving mysteries is kind of our specialty, right Edwin?”
“Indeed.”
“Right, right,” Crystal says, looking at the two boys. “You guys said you were detectives?” She takes them in, trying not to be overly judgmental. The two of them looked to be around her age, around 16 at least. Neither of them really looked the part of a detective, but she supposes their clothes from last night fit the bill a little. But she wasn’t super convinced at how good of detectives they were.
“We are,” Edwin nods. “We’ve been detectives for going on three years now. And have quite a long repetoire of cases under our belt.” Crystal mouths the word “repetoire” as Charles picks up talking for Edwin.
“We’re aces. And we can aboslutely help you with your memory issue,” Charles says, smiling brightly at Crystal. “First things first, let’s figure out who you’ve got in the ball and what other Pokemon you may have. A quick jaunt to a PC box will tell us about your Pokemon and a quick scan of your Pokedex will fill in trainer stats!
“Charles!” Edwin hisses. “Have you forgotten that we have other duties to attend to? We can not spend the day running around for someone who is not even a client.”
“I can hear you, you know,” Crystal says glaring at Edwin. Edwin merely rolls his eyes with a huff. Charles puts up his hands in a placating manner.
“Look, I know we have some things we need to handle, but Crystal’s just as much a client as any one else yeah?”
“She has not hired us, nor has anyone on her behalf,” Edwin points out. “So no, she is not a client. We don’t even know if she can pay.”
“Pro bono work then! Nothing wrong with helping a young trainer out when we can,” Charles shoots a wink and disarming smile toward Crystal. Edwin groans, shaking his head. “Look, how about I take Crystal out and about, picking up a few things and checking in on any leads to what happened with Crystal, while you finish what you need to yeah?”
“You want to split up?” Edwin asks, raising an eyebrow.
“Divide and conquer yeah? Plus I know you’re itching to finish those notes from last night. This is the perfect time.”
“I…suppose…”
“Great! Crystal, whenever you’re ready we can head out,” Charles says, turning fully to the girl now. Crystal startles, staring wide eyed at the two before nodding.
“Let’s…let’s do that now. I mean I’m ready now,” she says, stumbling over her words.
“Aces! Let’s head out. We’ll be back in a tick, mate!” Charles claps Edwin on the shoulder, before bounding over to Crystal and guiding her out the room. Edwin remains standing in the kitchen, staring at the door and listening as the two leave the building.
Another long moment passes before Edwin huffs. He takes a deep breath, holding it for a moment, before letting it out. Then he grabs the food in the kitchen and begins putting it away while cleaning up, something that was Charles' job today. All the while trying not to let the stabbing pain of emotion in his chest affect him too greatly.
~
“Alright, now that we got you a new Pokedex,” Charles says, holding the door open for Crystal to walk out. “We can take a look at your trainer information properly.”
“And what will that help?” Crystal asks, fiddling with the small purple device in her hands.
“Well, every trainer has to register their ID, meaning personal information like names, age, and even addresses and phone numbers,” Charles lists off, counting on his fingers. “And each Pokedex is registered to one trainer using your trainer id.”
“Meaning I should be able to find my personal information now that I have a new Pokedex,” Crystal finishes. Charles clicks his tongue with a nod and some finger guns. “Okay that helps with the personal memory issue. But what about the rest?”
“Well, your Pokedex also helps tell us if you’ve got any badges to your name or any more Pokemon registered to you,” Charles answers. “Beside your Psyduck anyway.” The two had stopped by the healing station in the League building while they waited for Crystal’s new Pokedex. This led to them finding out that the Pokemon in the premier ball was a Psyduck.
“Why does it matter if I have badges or not?”
“Badges help us know if you’re part of the league challenge or not, and helps Edwin and I figure out which gym leaders to contact in case they’ve met you,” Charles explains. Crystal lets out a groan, rubbing her head. “Hey, I know it’s a lot but I promise Edwin and I can help.”
“Right, cause Edwin seemed all gung ho to help me,” Crystal spat out.
“He’s just being cautious, got burnt before you know?” Charles offers with a soft smile. “Plus we found you right after having to pause a different case. He just doesn't want anything to fall through the cracks.”
“Riiight, and it has nothing to do with you ditching him to come with me,” Crystal adds with a raised eyebrow. Charles snorts, shaking his head.
“‘Course not! Edwin knows the value in a good split up every now and then,” Charles says. “We don’t do it often, but it's a necessary evil every now and then.” Crystal stares at Charles for a long moment, trying to figure out if he truly didn’t notice was jealous or if he was just brushing it off for her sake.
“Right…if you say so,” Crystal finally says, deciding she didn’t want to insert herself into a potential martial spat. “So what now?”
“Well, now,” Charles says, turning around to walk backwards as he looks at Crystal. “We head back to the office to figure out what we do know, and work from there.” Crystal sighs, her shoulders slumping. “Hey now, I know it seems overwhelming but you won’t be doing this alone.”
“I just…”Crystal starts before letting out a low growl and kicking at a rock on the street. “This is so frustrating! I hate feeling so…ugh helpless! I know I’m missing shit but I don’t know what I’m missing.” She growls again, kicking another rock.
This one fires off, ricocheting against a building and startling some nearby Starlys. Crystal stomps her foot spinning around in frustration. Charles stops next to her, his hands up in the air and a sympathetic smile on his face.
“Hey, hey,” he says soothingly. “Look I get it. This is a lot, and it's hard knowing how to navigate ‘cause everything is an unknown right now.” Charles lowers his head to catch Crsytal’s eyes. “But I promise you, we will help you. You’re not alone.” He shoots her a bright smile, which Crystal rolls her eyes at but relaxes.
“Has anyone told you’re absurdly positive?” Crystal jabs out.
“Yep!” he says, popping the “p”. He leans back, bright smile still on his face. “But I find it’s better to be positive than let the worries drown ya.” Charles turns to start walking down the street again, slow enough for Crystal to catch up with him. “Besides, Edwin covers the pessimism for both of us.”
“Right, course,” Crystal rolls her eyes again. Crystal takes in a deep breath, letting the rest of the world go by her. She clutches her Pokedex again for a moment, before relaxing slightly. She nods, flipping her hair over her shoulder. “So…back to the office?”
“Yep!” Charles jumps up, smiling as the two start walking again. “Unless there’s some other place you wanna stop by?”
Crystal narrows her eyes, looking to the side in thought. After a moment, she looks back at Charles, an eyebrow raising as she says, “I don’t suppose there’s a coffee shop nearby.”
“Oh, you bet there is,” Charles smirks down at her. He nods his head as he takes a sudden turn down a random alleyway and toward what Crystal can only hope is a decent coffee shop. She’s going to need the caffeine.
~
Over an hour later, Charles walks himself and Crystal into his and Edwin’s office. Crystal has a cup of coffee in one hand, and she’s finishing a strudel in the other. Charles also has two cups in one hand and a large paper bag in the other. As Charles walks toward the desk, Crystal starts looking over the office, taking in all the knick knacks and details. And the Pokemon.
“We come bearing gifts,” Charles calls cheerily, raising the hand with the two cups. “Stopped by Cherami’s shop on the way back from the league.” He places the cups and bag on the desk, smiling brightly at Edwin as he moves one of the cups closer to Edwin. “I got your favorite.”
“Charles says it’s one of your go to places,” Crystal offers, smiling shyly at the boy behind the desk. “Even got a ton of pastries for the Pokemon.” At this Arcturus and Kai lift their heads from where they’re sleeping next to the desk.
“Course! Gotta spoil the crew every now and then,” Charles points out as he leans against the front of the desk throwing a wink at the two dog Pokemon. He shoots another smile at Edwin, who has yet to touch the coffee cup and was busy opening mail. “Aw man, did we miss the Poke Postman?”
“Poke Postman?” Crystal asks, looking over her shoulder from where she had been looking at their bookshelves. A klefki peaks its head out from behind one of the books by Crystal’s head, it makes a jingling sound as it looks at the girl. Crystal snaps her head back, but Klefki quickly hides again. Charles chuckles, shaking his head at the mini game of peak-a-boo
“Yeah,” Charles says, gaining Crystal’s attention again. “It’s this super cute Abra, even has a uniform. Always brings any kind of mail addressed to ya.” Charles picks up one of the envelopes that Edwin hasn’t opened, waving it at Crystal. “Although his timings not the best.”
“Huh…” Crystal nods slowly, watching as Edwin continues to open mail. When he looks up for a moment, the two lock eyes for a second before Crystal quickly looks around. She starts examining the office again, taking another sip of her coffee. “Where does he get the mail from?”
“Honestly?” Charles starts, tilting his head to the side in thought. He fiddles with the dangling earring. “I’m not sure. Edwin?” Charles looks over his shoulder at Edwin, who has finished opening the mail and has started writing down something.
“Perhaps you could have inquired while he was here,” Edwin states. He pauses for a moment, looking sharply at Charles as he finishes with, “But wait…you were gone.” Edwin shrugs in faux nonchalance, before he returns to writing in his notebook.
Charles stares down at Edwin, surprise on his face. He looks over at Arc and Kai, tilting his head toward Edwin in a question. Arc just stares at him, his head on his paws. He doesn’t glare or growl but just stares as if to say Charles should already know what’s going on. Kai gives a soft murmur before snuggling further into the Arcanine’s side.
“Gee thanks, traitor,” Charles murmurs, but smiles at the blue Lycanroc. Crystal bites her lips from behind Charles, watching the exchange with wide eyes.
“Look,” Charles starts, hands up in the air as he looks down at Edwin. Edwin doesn’t stop writing, but does tilt his head to show he’s listening to Charles. “I’m sorry I missed mail call. But hey, we’re back now.” Charles throws his hands out as he stands up from the desk. “How about we sort through the mail and then go see if that angry trainer is awake?”
“Angry trainer?” Crystal asks, taking a step toward Charles curiously.
“Our case before you,” Charles explains, smiling over his shoulder at her. Edwin finally looks up, clasping his hand in front of him as he sits up straight.
“That has already been handled,” Edwin says, looking up at Charles with an almost bored expression. Charles looks back at him, eyebrows raised in shock.
“Already handled?” Charles repeats. “What did you already talk to him or something?” Edwin nods once. “Alone?” Charles’ voice squeaks a little, as he stands up straighter. Edwin nods once again, his expression never waivering. Charles’ jaw drops.
“He arrived while you were gone,” Edwin says dismissively with a shrug. “What was I supposed to do, send him away?” Charles makes a motion with his head and hands, as if to save “obviously.” “Was this not why you wanted to split up? To cover more ground?”
“Awkward…” Crystal whispers, turning around to continue to sip on her coffee. She feels weird, like she accidently got dragged into a fight between partners, and she wants nothing to do with that. As she turns to look back at the shelf of trinkets she comes face to face with a skull. Crystal lets out a small shriek, stumbling back.
“Ah, you’ve met Yorick,” Edwin says calmly, looking at the Duskull floating where Crystal had been standing.
“Sorry about him,” Charles offers with a wide smile. “He’s a curious one, always has to greet guests when he can.” Crystal looks over at the two calm boys, her hand shaking from the scare. “He’s harmless, I promise. Wouldn’t hurt a Butterfree.”
“Right…yeah…uh,” Crystal says, looking back at the Duskull. “Hi?” The Duskull lets out a small mumble, before floating backwards and out of the room via a wall. Crystal watches the wall for a moment, before looking over her shoulders the boys with a raised eyebrow.
“Yeah that’s normal too,” Charles chuckles. He takes a moment, before sighing and looking back at Edwin. “Alright, so…what did the trainer say?” Edwin raises an eyebrow, looking over at Crystal pointedly.
“Uh…I could…go?” she offers, noticing Edwin’s stare.
“Nah, we need to talk about your case too,” Charles says with a gentle smile. “Edwin and I can just catch up on the other case later.” He says the last part while looking at Edwin. He lifts his eyebrows questioningly. Edwin stared for a moment before sighing.
“Very well,” he says, leaning back. “What have you two discovered then?” Charles looks over at Crystal, nodding to her.
“Uhh,” Crystal steps forward nervously. “I got a new Pokedex so we can look up my trainer information.” Edwin nods slowly. “And the premier ball I’ve been carrying around has a Psyduck in it. I…haven’t opened it but we used the healing machine at the league building so it’s healed up.”
“So you haven’t looked at your trainer information yet?” Edwin asks with a raised eyebrow.
“Charles thought it was better if we waited until you were with us,” Crystal says, giving Edwin a pointed look. “Since you’re partners.” Edwin merely raises an eyebrow at her but doesn’t comment or show any emotion.
“And anything about your previous paramour?” Edwin asks instead.
“Uh, no,” Crystal answers with a shake of her head. “No new information.”
“But, Crystal does remember what he actually looks like,” Charles cuts in, smiling at Crystal encouragingly before looking back at Edwin. “So I figured we could reach out to the gym leaders and see if they’ve seen or heard about a guy fitting his description.”
“If nothing else, it would be good to give them a heads up,” Edwin says with a nod, tapping at his notebook. “With him stealing the remainder of your Pokemon, he’s officially a Pokemon thief ontop of an assailant. Most Gym Leaders would like to know if there is someone like that potentially in their town.”
“Right,” Charles says, hopping up from the desk and walking toward his backpack. “Want to do this the old fashion way or…”
“I don’t see why we couldn’t do both,” Edwin offers with a shrug, pulling out a stack of papers. Charles nods, pulling out a notebook from his bag and plopping himself down on the couch along one side of the room. Crystal looks back and forth at the two boys curisouly.
“Uh…so what exactly are you doing?” she asks after a long moment of quiet.
“We are prepping information to send out to the Gym Leaders of the region,” Edwin says slowly, looking at Crystal as if offended she asked. “I’m preparing letters to each while Charles will prepare a sketch of David for them.”
“Wait letters? Why not just send them an email or text message?” Crystal asks. “Won’t mailing out letters take, like, forever?” Edwin sighs, while Charles sniggers from the couch.
“That is why we will also be sending a missive via coms,” Edwin answers. “Some leaders are more technologically savvy than others. The ones who don’t do technology would ignore it or miss the digital missive completely. So by sending both a letter and a digital missive…”
“Two Pidgey, one stone,” Charles pips in. “Plus never know when one of them goes on holiday and turns off all contact. Can’t get a call through but a letter? The Poke Postman doesn’t care about holidays!”
“Okay…so while you prep your messages,” Crystal starts, looking back and forth at the boys. “What do I do?”
“Charles will need you to verify David’s physical details,” Edwin says, nodding toward the boy on the couch. “However, if you’d like to keep busy as you do that you are welcome to sort the mail.” Edwin motions to the pile of letters on the edge of the desk.
Crystal blinks, looking at the pile and then back at the cold boy. Edwin stares back with a raised eyebrow, a challenge if she ever knew one. Slowly Crystal reaches for a group of letters on top of the pile, never breaking eye contact with Edwin.
“Case requests go in the red box, league information goes in the blue, junk goes in the green and bills go in the black,” Edwin says smugly, before looking back down at the stationary in front of him. Crystal rolls his eyes, but begins sorting through the mail to keep busy.
~