FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

“No, you cannot have my strap!” James growled, his crimson eyes hard as he glared at the men in blue standing across the table from him.

Three days.

Seventy-two hours.

Four thousand, three hundred, and twenty minutes.

It was a minuscule amount of time considering how long life in general could be, generally passing in the blink of an eye for most people.

However for Frank the past three days felt like an eternity.

Of course, Frank died within the first few minutes of those seventy two hours began, his life coming to a swift end in favor of an old spirit rising from inside of him. The bedraggled vagabond becoming James Adlai, detective of the main police headquarters within the Torren Region.

“Come on James, you know how this works,” a red haired policeman said, his white gloved hand outstretched in calm indifference. “You have to hand him over so that we can examine your partner for the usual diseases and physical defects.”

That wasn’t to say that Frank gave up the ghost with any ease.

Being taken to an empty interrogation room and then grilled by several of his fellow officers for hours on end was something James had expected. His responses were very calm as he retold the tale of the last several months he had been undercover. Everything was fine. His statement was jotted down by a lady officer. And then he was left alone with his thoughts. Of course, things quickly turned to shit when the two other officers came in after the female police officer left, the two talking at length about nothing before asking the other to hand over his pokeball strap.

To say that James didn’t like that would have been an understatement.

“No!” James snapped, the fingers of the hand he had hidden underneath the metal table he was seated at curling into a fist without his approval.

“James!” A black haired officer shouted. “Don’t make us take it from you.”

The words circled inside of his head like a curse, visions of a future without Christopher haunting the man’s mind, driving him to the point of near insanity.

When the red haired officer picked himself up from his seat to step over to him, the brown haired man lashed out before he could stop himself.

A swift kick to the solar plexus dropped the redhead, his partner shouted. Shoving the table in front of him hard enough to unbalance the man, James leapt over and then clocked the other policeman right between the eyes.

Like a sack of rice, the black haired man hit the floor, unconscious.

When the door to the interrogation room suddenly slammed open James quickly scurried into a the darkest corner of the room, his back arched like that of a fearful Meowth. Eyes narrowed and teeth barred, the wild man barely recognized the chief-of-police when he strode in, two female officers flanking him.

“I see you still making impressions on people, James.” the gray haired man said without a touch of mirth as his gaze fell over his two unconscious men. “Though I’d appreciate it you quit wowing everyone with your fists and go back to charming people with that awesome wit of yours.”

If it wasn’t for the fact that the brown eyed man wasn’t smiling, one would have thought that he was making a joke.

“S-sorry sir,” James replied, slowly picking himself up.

“Understood.” Turning on his heel, the black suit wearing police chief continued with, “After you get cleaned up and give your report to Jenny, you’re suspended for the next two months without pay.”

“Yes sir.” James bowed his head, shame blossoming on his cheeks as he watched the two female officers drag out the dazed men groaning on the floor.

When the door to the interrogation room closed, the brown haired man suddenly breathing hard and unsteadily. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the velcro strap that the other officers had wanted, taking off one of the pokeballs before dropping the others by his side. Holding the marble sized sphere in between his hand, he clicked the button on the center of the orb. When the pokeball was the size of a ripe orange, James sat back onto the ground, his body huddling around the item.

The man never noticed when he began to slowly rock himself back and forth.

It was two hours later when someone came into the room to check on him.

“Hey man, it’s nice to see you back, but I think you should go and catch a shower. You stink.” joked a dark skinned officer.

James looked up, blinked, and then returned to looking at his pokeball.

“Are you going to try and take Chris away from me?” The words were lifeless but held a hint of danger to them that made the older officer’s lips turn down.

“Now why would I do that?” Brown eyes looked the still undercover policeman over, worry edging around the corners of his face.

“The others did,” James’s lips wrinkled into a dark snarl at the thought.

“Well, unlike the other SOBs here, I know better than to separate a man from his pokemon.”

Gently easing himself over to James, the dark skinned officer watched the sitting man’s posture for any sign of aggression. It was a small twitch from slim shoulders made him freeze.

“You won’t try to take him?” crimson eyes looked up, mistrust etched deep within.

“Nope. I won’t. Promise.” seeing the truth that shone down from the ruggedly handsome looking face, James nodded and then said,

“Thanks Matt.” clicking the pokeball to return it to its miniature form, the dirt caked man slowly stood up, “Think you could walk me down to me locker room? I don’t trust myself to be alone right now.”

A tiny smile crossed Matt’s lips,

“Sure, dude.”

Several hours later James was washed, dried, and in a clean uniform. His badge nestled directly over his right breast pocket, the numbers 6-7-1 shining brightly on the detective's lean frame.

“How does it feel to be clean again?” Matt inquired as he sat beside his longtime partner, the two of them working in time together to kill the paperwork James would need to complete before he could go on his extended vacation.

James didn’t know how to respond to that as he reached up to rub a hand over his bright blue hair, the Smeargle dye he had used to keep his hair brown having rubbed right out with cold hair color remover. It would take a longer while for his curls to straighten, the tension he had put on the follicles for the last few months punishing him by remaining unnaturally bouncy.

“Fine.” the blue haired man replied, the pencil in his right hand furiously scrubbing across one of the three page essays he needed to write up detailing his daily routine down in the Black Market.

“Just fine?” James didn’t take the obvious bait. “You’ve been gone for nearly eight months now working on this Team Fusion case, probably eating and sleeping Arceus only knows, and your answer to having hot water rub across your ass is ‘fine’?”

“What do you want me to say?!” crimson eyes lifted from the paper underneath the shadow of his hand, an annoyed tick straining his face.

“I just want you to tell me all the dirty, unpleasant stuff you're holding in before the chief makes you go see the department shrink, which you and I both know he’s going to do.” it was a truth James knew he had to face soon enough, but prayed he could keep away a little while bit longer.

“Will you let Catherine out?” the words caught Matt off balance.

“Ok, but can I know what for?” the brown eyed man asked as he reached underneath his belt to pull a single pokeball from the hidden strap.

A quiet click followed by a resounding pop later and soon a female Arcanine materialized next to the officer. The gargantuan tiger dog blinked, black eyes slowly coming into focus, until her vision soon found the familiar face of her master and her master’s longtime friend looking back at her.

“Because Chris has missed her,” James replied, his hand already reaching for his Lucario’s container.

With practiced ease, the blue haired man clicked and then popped the sphere, releasing his partner.

Materializing and looking around in confusion, Chris wasn’t sure what was going on, that was, until an oversized muzzle was stuffed into his neck.

It didn’t take more than two seconds before the two pokemon were speaking in their native tongue, the pair happily chatting about whatever it was that pokemon conversed over as they moved off to the side away from earshot.

“Its funny,” James began, “in all the time I was in the Black Market I found myself missing this sight more than anything else.”

“More than your girlfriend’s face?” Matt teased.

“More than hot water and cooked food combined.” James admitted honestly.

“Whoa. Remind me to never go undercover.” wide brown eyes stared at the detective with honest nervousness.

“I saw some of the worse of the worst down there in the underworld.” the words tumbled from James’s mouth even as he turned his head back to continue chipping away at his paperwork. “I saw pokemon kill each other for no other reason than someone told them to. I watched kids get killed by men who had nothing better to do with themselves. I drank the worst kinds of liquor you could imagine in order to immerse myself in that world, and I ate from garbage cans when I couldn’t find any loose poke to swipe for bread.” tears tracked down the sides of James’s face as he continued speaking.

“Holy Mother of Lapras, why the hell did you let it go that far, man?” Matt moved around to hug his friend, noting somewhat analytically that James was shivering despite trying to hold everything in. “You know you could have bowed out at anytime and no one would have thought any less of you. Hell, the chief constantly had you on his lips when you broke contact with us the first week of going under.”

“I couldn’t do that,” James began, “not after seeing what I saw.” the memories of the people who had been hospitalized from misusing fusion stones scarring the man’s heart deeper than any physical wound could.

That was why he worked so hard to bring Team Fusion down.

“You always did take that justice thing a bit too far, James.” Matt pulled back to stare hard at his longtime partner. “There’s times when you just have to shrug and let things go,” this sad truth was something Matt had learned years ago after working for the Pokemon Vice Squad. Bustin’ punks who had killed and then dissected Bayleafs in order drain the leaf pokemons’ herbal extract so that they could made black market narcotics had made the dark skinned man apathetic to most of the world’s woes. “you can’t change the world.”

“You know, for a while I actually believed that, especially after having done the things that I did, but there was one thing that kept me from succumbing to that truth,” James hiccuped as he spoke those words.

Reaching up to rub at his face, the detective wasn’t surprised when he found a silk handkerchief being shoved into his face.

“Go on,” Matt said, his curiosity more than a little piqued.

After James blew his nose he nodded over to the Lucario and Arcanine now play wrestling with each other,

“Really?” The dark skinned cop wasn’t sure what to think about that.

“Seeing him everyday, holding him close when the wind blew too cold, made me not break.” James smiled after folding and then stuffing the cloth into his back pocket. “I think I might have actually tried one of the dreamer drugs I found sold around the markets if Chris ever gave me the look you're giving me right now.” James chuckled darkly.

Made from a powdered Butterfree’s wing, dreamer drugs were the stuff that put you into a hypnotic daze, your brain slowly rotting as your senses shut themselves down one by one.

“Don’t even joke about that shit,” Matt roared as he stood up from his seat. “you know what dreamer drugs to people! The last thing I need is to have you walking around here in a daze not even knowing you own goddamn named!”

Both Lucario and Arcanine stopped what they were doing to look over at their respective owners.

“Of course not, but the temptation was there.” James sighed as he flipped over the ninth page of the report he had been working on. Leaning back into his seat, the blue haired man continued, “Matt, you have no idea what it was like, but I’m really thankful that the chief suspended me. I don’t think I could have taken going from undercover straight back to work right now.”

“So does that mean you actually meant to K.O. Manny and Jerry during your little panic attack?”

“...not really,” James didn’t have to ask since he knew that Matt had been watching him from the security room upstairs. “I just...snapped when I thought about them taking Christopher.”

Silence filled the space of the police headquarters, both men taking a moment to collect their thoughts before Matt opened his mouth,

“Did you fuck him?” the words made James fall out of his chair.

Immediately his Lucario was at his side.

Helping him up without an utterance of contempt for his silly slip up, it took the blue haired man a second to collect himself.

“I’m going to ignore that,” James said after getting back into his seat, thanking his partner with a polite bob of his head.

Christopher accepted the show of gratitude and then went back over to the Arcanine, but not before glaring at Matt in warning.

Waving the annoyed masked jackal off, the dark skinned man smiled as he looked at the wide eyed cop next to him, “Oh really?”

“Unlike some of us, I don’t let myself go that far with my partner,”

“Hmm, but you saw people who did, right?”

“More than I care to remember.”

“Wow. I guess the statistics about pokephilia being on the rise lately is really true.”

Not wanting to comment on that, James quickly changed the subject.

The two men conversed until both had finished working on the reports. Once through, the blue haired cop gathered the thirty pages of legal bullshit into a folder, stuck a sticky note onto it, signed it with his rank and badge number, and then went to put it in the captain’s office.

“Where’s Jenny?” James asked after stepping out of the female commander’s work room.

“James, dude, it’s four in the fuck morning. Look around,” Blinking, crimson eyes found themselves rolling through the area, only to find the room nearly void of life.

“Shit. I need to go back to my apartment and sleep the last eight months off,” he said more to himself than to Matt.

“Go ahead, just know that you’re going to see the shrink just as soon as you wake up.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Hey, Chris.” the Lucario looked up, his permanently perked ears tilting forward slightly. “Do you want to come home with me or stay here with…” the fighting-steel type was by his side before he could finish the sentence, the female Arcanine stunned at the sudden lost of her playmate.

“Hahaha, I think you know what that means.” Matt chuckled as he pulled himself up from his seat, muscles popping as he stretched. “I’m gonna take you home.”James opened his mouth to argue but a single raised finger shushed him, “I don’t want to think about you walking or driving back uptown in your state.”

“What the worse that you think could happen to me here of all places?”

“Knowing you, you’d be the only cop in the world who get his home burglarized right as you stepped through the door,” Matt teased.

James looked to argue but a raised eye made him think again.

“You’re still laughing about the time I ran into that burning pokemon gym to save those trainers, only to get blasted by that Blastoise’s water cannon after coming out, aren’t you?”

It was a very humbling couple of days after that, the news having made a spectacle of him with an article featuring him below the headline of, ‘Hero Cop All Washed Up!’ Matt still had the news clipping taped onto the front his desk.

“I am.” Matt chortled.

“Fuck you.” James smiled.

Ten minutes later the two men parted ways as the detective opened the door to his apartment.

“Make sure you take care of him, Christopher. You know he’ll overdo it if you let him,” the Aura pokemon merely nodded at that, crimson eyes tight with concern.

“Heh, thanks a lot, dad.” James said before he rolled his eyes.

With single finger salute the dark skinned man walked down the stairs towards the front of the building.

Closing his door, James didn’t let himself think about how neat and fresh his living room looked and smelled.

‘Matt must have come over to make sure the place stayed clean,’ his human partner having the only other key to the door.

Without turning on the lights, James walked with his pokemon towards his bedroom, his fingers unconsciously stripping himself out of his clothing as he went. By the time the blue haired got to his bed he was naked and half asleep.

“Sleep next to me?” James asked as he turned to look at his best friend.

Chris nodded.

Smiling, the human uncovered his queen sized bed of the top cover and then waved his partner to hop in.

Seconds later both pokemon and human lay together, the Lucario on his side so as not to poke James in the chest with his chest spike.

“Thank you for being with me, Christopher.” James murmured, a sleepy yawn overtaking his voice.

The fighting-steel type said nothing, its face a mask of unending indifference, however, beneath the covers the blue and black jackal’s long tail curled around his human’s waist. The protection offered from the simple gesture enough to bring a relieved smile crest against the corners of James’s lips.

****

A week after the first of what would be numerous trips to the department shrink James was back at work...

"What the fuck do you mean there was nothing?!"

...and voicing his strong opinions over the happenings of the department, something which had often times seen him get into very hot water time and again with his captain.

James growled like a feral pokemon as he stood in front of Officer Jenny, his hands planted firmly on the oak desk in between them. It didn’t help any that the glare he sent the blue haired woman’s way was met by a look of total indifference, the likes of which could put the Lucario posted against the door behind him to shame.

Dressed in a pair of black jeans and a smart white polo shirt, he looked nothing like the homeless bum he had been days before, nor like the detective that he was supposed to be. However, that didn’t stop him from all but shaking with rage as he looked to the city’s local Officer Jessica Jenny with a look so filled with such contempt that it would have made a lesser person wilt on the spot.

The captain of the Torren Police Force was not a normal person, though; the woman coming from a long line of police captains who knew exactly how to deal with the unruly populace.

Giving her best officer a rather nasty frown, the woman calmly breathed as she tried to force her will over her subordinate. Her rank and authority were enough to make James’ snarl lessen, but only just a tad. Had he have been in a better frame of mind the off duty officer might have thought better about challenging his captain in such as a way since, but he was just too angry as he looked over the immaculate woman in front of him.

Dressed as she was in her smart two piece blouse and skirt, her cerulean hair impeccably done and tied back into a ponytail, Jessica looked all the for like the perfect vision of decorum as she reached down to stroke her fingers across her Growlithe’s back. The puppy pokemon snarled hatefully at James, black eyes narrowed in open resentment at the man who always made his master upset. It was well known that the diminutive, tiger striped canine had a slight temper problem, and by the look in his eyes, it seemed as though the other was more than ready to hop up and tear off blue haired man’s face if he said the wrong word to the police chief.

Of course, that was assuming that the Lucario at the door let him get that close.

Chris looked ready to spill blood, however, the masked jackal kept himself in control.

“James, first off, you not even supposed to be out here,” Jessica said carefully. “you are on two month leave by order of the chief, in case you forgot.” the icy tone of voice that she used could have cut through diamond. “I’m not going to even remind you that of the trouble you should be in for going undercover the way you did: breaking protocol by silencing contact with your partner, not to mention the department.” Having gone for so long, many within the force had begun to think that the blue haired man had succumbed to the madness within the Black Market, becoming just another lost soul amongst a throng of hundreds. “Though I will add that you’re very lucky that the chief respects your abilities so much that he denied my recommendation that you be suspended indefinitely for what you did.” crimson eyes widened at hearing this. “Now, let remind you that currently you are a civilian, as such, you don’t have right to be up here on this floor like this. But we’ll let that slide for the moment.” Jessica said with a wave of her white gloved hand.

James’s left eye twitched as he noted how easily the woman seemed to treat him like an overgrown Caterpie whenever she had no interest in him.

“But instead, we’ll put that aside in favor of talking about your report and your authorizing of a raid for the Black Market,” pulling out a stack of papers, the captain barely noticed how the blue haired man’s face went slightly slack as he stared at what had to be almost fifty pages of documentation.

“Do you know what the officers you requested found when they went down there, James?” Jessica asked with a honey sweet smile that made the man’s stomach sink, “Nothing.”

He could have been knocked over with a feather when that word graced his ears.

“Excuse me, what did you just say?”

Jenny continued as though he hadn’t spoken, “The place was bare, only carpet on the floor and a few torn boxes of doughnuts in the kitchen.” James blinked. “There was no furniture, no humans, no FUSED, and none of those stones you described,” she rattled off, looking completely unimpressed as a thumb flipped along the edge of the documents she had had to sign off on in order to explain the need for such a large team being sent to such a dangerous place so suddenly.

Not a happy night for her as she and the mayor sat together conversing about the department’s already stressed budget.

“And before you ask, yes, we had the forensics team come in to do a sweep of the place. Mimi personally cleared the place out, going so far as to use her favorite pair of tweezers to try and find the smallest hint of evidence which could support your claims.” the lead forensic expert was a long time poker friend and someone James was especially careful not to cross; the purple haired, glass wearing woman was VERY vocal about her precious time being wasted on bullshit the dogs of the city brought before her. “She wasn’t pleased about not finding anything more than some old houndoom fur on the ground. And yes, she’s already analyzed it and found that it had been there for weeks, not hours, like what you claimed in your report,” Jessica chuckled humorlessly.

“That’s not possible,” James whispered, his head bowing as flashes of memory overcame him - the smell and sounds of the building so thick in his soul that he could almost swear that he was still within the dilapidated apartment complex - “I sent that request on our coded channel, which is only used for emergencies, and that was only an hour and a half after I left the place.” Teeth gnashing together, he refused to believe that all his work had been for nothing, so he continued to rationalize his claim with, “The team's record for arriving on scenes is two hours within the first five to ten minutes after a call is made. Ninety minutes at best. How could you find nothing within four hours of me being gone?!” Several heads outside the door knocked together after hearing the off duty detective’s roar. “There was no way ANYONE could have cleared out such a large place in that short amount of time, especially considering what was going on down there!” he barked.

"You're right,” Jessica said. Her green eyes narrowed at the blue haired man’s rising tone, though she didn’t comment on it in favor of stroking her Growlithe who was now growling louder.

Unseen by all, Chris’s fur was bristling from the annoyance of the other canine’s constant growling, the ruby eyed jackal’s hairbands rising slowly behind him.

“We did arrive within at least the two hour mark,” her voice steady as she countered her subordinate’s thinly veiled accusations. “Matt and his team went to secure the premises, as they always do, after the Gardevoir they brought with them scanned the area.” that sickening smile rose onto Jessica’s face again and James felt his stomach twist slightly, “Should I bother to say that it didn't sense anyone in the building?” the captain continued, cutting James off. “Of course not, though I will admit that the team got a good chuckle at having cut through the boards of the unknown room you spoke of in your report only to find nothing but unmade beds in there.”

“What about the rave?”

“Matt didn’t find anything, except for a few smoke machines that looked like they hadn’t been used in years.”

“There is no way that could be possible,” James said more to himself than his the woman in front of him as he pulled back to stare blankly at the floor. “Not unless they knew you were coming,” he said quietly. The look that the Umbreon Fused had given him, the feeling of the pressure along his neck before he walked into the club, they stuck deeply inside of James’s memory.

Then a thought occurred to him,

"What about the crystal I brought in with me?" having sent the aqua green sphere off to forensics specialist, James was sure that Mimi would be able to figure out how it worked, or if not, at least figure out what it was. “I saw what it did in there." he admitted pointedly, drawing dangerously close to the younger woman’s desk until the two of them were nearly eye level.

"You mean this thing?" she asked smoothly as she reached into her desk and then gently removed a familiar egg shaped crystal. "Mimi couldn’t make heads or tails of...whatever this is, not even after she ‘pointed it at her Alakazam’, as you said in your reports.” dropping the shining item onto her desk with a solid thump, both humans looked to the artifact. “‘It's nothing special’, those were Mimi’s exact words after she handed this over to me.” Jessica said as stared up boredly at the off duty officer.

“It's. Not. A. Fake.” James said very, very tightly as he swiped the crystal from the desk.

The captain ignored her subordinate’s rising ire and his taking of an item from off her desk without permission.

It wasn’t like the rock was good for anything, after all.

“Obviously someone put on a very convincing show to wow you into believing what you’ve so obviously been obsessing over,” ever since James had had heard about Team Fusion the blue haired man had been nothing short of consumed with these people. “Perhaps it was someone in the Black Market who has a sick fascination with mentally torturing people, or, maybe it was the real Team Fusion, and they had caught wind of you being too close to them.” the blue haired woman turned away from James to look out the sky view window of her office, “I hadn’t planned to tell you this, but since you went so far into things, I thought you should now.” A full minutes pause was followed by, “There had been some...leaks found in the department the day after you went under.” James gaped before taking a shaky step backwards. “They’ve been plugged, though.”

“You’re just now telling me this?!”

“If you had maintained contact with the department you’d have known,”

“What the hell?!” quivers of rage and disbelief overtook the red eyed man’s form as he spoke up, “I only broke off contact a week after going underground, not six years after,” James had all but grilled everyone who had been working to find out what was being done about Team Fusion but the looks he had received spoke of something...wrong; however, he’d never thought that what was going on was anything this monumental. “Do you realize that you may have jeopardized this entire case by not telling me this!”

Quickly swiveling back around, the younger woman rose out of her seat like a shot as she pointed directly into James’ chest, “You don’t get to lecture me about how I handle situations, detective!” the two were pressed so close together that their noses touched, “Just be thankful that I haven’t had you kicked off the force for everything you’ve put this department through with this obsession of yours!”

“You can’t kick out the only human in this room who doesn’t have their have their head shoved up their ass!”

At that, Jessica’s eyes widened before lowering to narrow slits.

“Team Fusion is not a priority case," Jessica spoke so quiet that it was a strain for James to hear her. "We have very little evidence to support your outlandish claims, and, the department is already worn paper thin looking into other happenings around this region.”

“That is exactly what you and your family said about Team Rocket," the blue haired woman’s mouth dropped open slightly. James knew he shouldn’t poke at this particular wound but at the moment his emotions were running away with his mouth, "And they’re STILL looting pokemon from trainers as we speak.” Just thinking about such a thing had the man’s red eyes shimmering with unshed tears, “It was said that Team Magma wasn't a threat, and they created earthquakes. Team Aqua, not a problem, until AFTER they started to created tidal waves.” The Growlithe next to the woman bared it’s fangs, sharp incisors gleaming dangerously within the light of the midday sun. “Team Galactic, there was just a harmless little group of people with grandiose dreams, it was said. What harm could they cause? Look at the mess they created.” Chris’s hair bands were now fully raised as he watched the Growlithe stalk up to his master. “Oh, and let's not forget that little twerp N and his organisation that was ‘liberating’ pokemon left, right, and center, because he thought he was doing the pokemon of the world a favor. That didn’t turn out bad at alllll!” in the primal depths of James’s mind he couldn’t help but enjoy the fury that was brewing inside of Jessica’s green orbs, the thunder so strong that it seemed to snap slightly, “Team Fusion has been supplying trainers with a new stone that makes them and their pokemon fuse together, that is a FACT!” he said pointedly. “How many hospitalized trainers have we had to look misused one of those crystals and ended looking like a child's rag doll? How many pokemon had to be quarantined because they lost control over their bodies, some of them melting into Ditto like paste because their cells rebelled against them?” The memory of those unfortunate souls had been what started him down the path of wanting to crush the people who supplied CHILDREN with such dangerous tools, and came hell or Arceus himself, the man was determined to bring them down. HARD! “Team Fusion is responsible for all of this because their products fucks anyone who buys them, period. If you can’t see that, then you’re an idiot.” he snorted.

Jenny said nothing for several seconds, her mind in a whirl as she tried to collect herself.

Once she was ready to speak, the younger woman said,

“I think you need to leave now, Mr. Adali.” James’s eyes widened at hearing her call his last name out like that. “I’ll take your claims and file them away, but until you have something more substantial for me, let the ‘police’ had this investigation while you go ‘back’ home and take a long rest.” the police captain let her voice lower until it became a quiet hiss as she finished with, “You’re obviously stressed and not thinking clearly, and we don’t want you to do anything...stupid.”

“Jenny, I am not making this up,” he said firmly.

James was ready to argue but a bark from the Growlithe silenced him, “Don’t make me have you thrown out,”

Narrowed red eyes clenched shut as James turned away so that his tears of frustration wouldn’t be seen.

Making his way towards the door, his body moving without his command as his mind felt itself tear into two, James felt a nail get shoved into his heart by what came through the air next,

“And you can forget about dinner this Friday night. I have plans, and they do not involve you,”

The last shred of James’s control snapped audibly at that.

"Oh, you're too busy again?” the man said, his voice almost dead. “Gee, you're really serious about getting back together aren't you?” Moving over to where Chris was, the off duty detective rolled his head to the side, watching impassively as his partner slid out of his way. “But then again, all things considered, I think I find Chris a better partner than you.” reaching out and turning the door handle of the office James felt a sudden blast of energy fill out through the room just in time to hear a sudden yelp as something heavy hit the far wall.

“MAX!!” Jessica shouted.

Turning his crimson gaze around to see what had happened, James watched as the Growlithe slid to the ground with a fat thumping noise, his eyes spinning from the impact. Looking at his partner for an explanation, he received a barking snarl from his Lucario.

“I see Max still has that teething problem of his,” Jessica’s glare met James’s back as the man headed out the door, his partner in front of him. “You might want to get a muzzle for him.”

He didn't hear the police captain’s loud and angry retort as he marched through the throng of cops who seemed to have been waiting for him. Many of those present gave James and his Lucario nods of respect, though there were some who sneered openly at him.

He ignored them all.

“Hey man,” a hand reached out and grabbed him along his arm, holding him in place just as he was about to call the department elevator to the current floor.

“What is is, Matt?”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before about...everything.” two sets of crimson eyes turned to regard the dark skinned man, betrayal written clearly into one of them. “I could say that I was under orders not to, but that would mean that our friendship didn’t mean shit, so I won’t.” the sour look that had crept on the blue haired man’s face lowered very slightly at that. “But I will say that I believe your story about Team Fusion, and so does Mimi and a lot of other guys who work here.” James sighed.

“What happened with these ‘leaks’?” the off duty detective couldn’t help but think that maybe the reason he had even been sent to the Black Market in the first place was because Team Fusion wanted him, the only person who was really looking for them, dancing down there on the end of their proverbial string.

“Just some rookies who were looking to make some quick cash by funneling information through some underground channels.” Matt’s face was hard as he said this. “We busted those asses nice and deep once we figured out what was happening, so no worries on that.”

“Why didn’t you come and get me once you found out?”

The dark skinned man flipped his head around, noting that they were getting some curious glances from officers who weren’t currently mulling over inbred paperwork. Swinging the thinner man around, Matt led James and his Lucario down the hallway towards to the emergency door. Going to the second floor, the trio continued on until they made their way to the main forensic office.

Mimi looked up from her desk when a knock beat at her door. Getting up to see who it was, a Persian smile crept upon her almost doll like features,

“Ahhh, so we’re finally going to have the ‘talk’, I take it?” the purple haired woman chuckled as she watched Matt quietly shut the door behind them after slinking inside.

“Yeah, so can you pop him out now?” James turned between his two closets police friends, wondering what the hell.

A click, pop, and hiss later, a towering Alakazam stood next to the forensic expert.

“Alan, if you’d please,” the psychic pokemon pressed its ever present spoons together and a large field of radiant pink energy surrounded the room.

If he didn’t indefinitely trust the two others with him, James would have thought that he were being set up, however,

“Uh...what did I miss?” the blue haired man asked curiously.

“I think you’re closer to Team Fusion then you know.” Matt answered, his face nervous yet excited at the same time.

“What? But Jessica said…”

“Jessica doesn’t know anything more than what she reads in reports put in front of her desk,” Mimi finished, a finger reaching up to shift the thin frames on the bridge of her nose up further her face.

“So then about the crystal and what I wrote, what did you find?” a childish sense of giddiness rose within the man before he could catch himself.

“You have it in your pocket, right?” Matt asked, his brown eyes noting the dark green glow that shone within his partner’s pockets.

It took James a minute to realize what was being asked of him before he reached in and then snatched something cool to the touch, “I must have taken it without realizing it,” he didn’t want to admit that it was a forced habit born from living so long in the Black Market. His shrink had told him that he’d have to start a hobby with his fingers to make sure he broke said habit, but drawing just wasn’t James’s forte.

“That little stone possess some very interesting properties.” Mimi said as she began to type something up on her computer.

“I thought you told Jessica that it was nothing special,”

“I did, but at the time she wasn’t talking about your little trinket there,” a mischievous chuckle left the lab coat wearing woman’s throat.

Both Matt and Jess shivered as they listened to the other chortle; Mimi always did know how to sound like she was made of pure evil.

“However, being the genius forensic officer that I am, I knew EXACTLY what to look for. Come check this out,” the three males moved over to have a look at the purple haired woman’s computer, the Lucario kneeling down underneath his master so as to give the taller man some extra room.

“What...are we looking at?” Matt asked. The numerous charts and warbling graphs in front of him spat out information the dark skinned officer couldn’t make heads or tails of.

“This, my darling, Matthew, shows the properties of the fusion stone James is currently holding,” pointing to a line on a graph and charting the arc it made, Mimi continued with, “it would seem that this stone was made from a combination of a moonstone and sunstone and...something else. I’ve been trying to get information on what this unknown element is here, but my friends down at PokeTech are still working on isolating the properties of this unknown substance.” Leaning back in her rolling chair, the woman lifted her glasses and then said, “I have a theory that it might be something specific to a certain psychic type pokemon, especially since the waving line here reminds me of something I saw once while in high school, but I won’t say for sure until I run some extra tests.”

“Ok, that’s something,” James couldn’t stop smiling at the moment, “but what’s going on with all these other graphs and charts? Do they have something to do with the stone’s fusion ability?”

“Indeed, but don’t ask me what, I’m still checking into that,”

“Huh?”

Mimi pulled back from her desk, shooing the three males surrounding her away like they were annoying Pidgey, “You know that when a pokemon evolves, it releases a large wave of energy that can be categorized, right?” three heads nodded at her. “Well, this graph here,” the forensic expert pulled up a black chart which currently had bobbing bars dancing on it, “shows that...somehow, this stone can mimic the creation of a similar energy. However, when I tried to use it on Alan over there...nothing happened.” Matt and James turned to look at the cross legged psychic type currently floating in the air.

“Maybe because you both didn’t...uh mate with one another?” James offered gently.

“No, he blasted my brains out while I was holding it, but still nothing nothing happened, other than me drenching his cock with my pussy juice.”

The blush that formed on James’s face was so bright that he looked like a cherry as he turned to look away from the snickering female. Matt just shook his head.

“Are you sure you’re not really a dude, because damn, girl!”

“What? I can’t be crass just because I’m a lady?”

“Lady my ass, you’re tougher than me with the way you act.”

“Or maybe you’re really the pussy? Drop the pants and let me get a sample of what’s under the hood?” a hand reached out to grab the dark skinned man’s crotch before Matt could dodge out of the way.

“Focus, children.” James laughed. “We’ve got evidence to sort through, there’ll be time for fooling around afterwards.”

Both Matt and Mimi rolled their eyes at the blue haired man.

Nearly two hours of conversing later found the three coming to a dead end; their speculations having gone from scientific to mythological.

“If Arceus made them then wouldn’t there be more around?” Mimi asked while pinching the bridge of her nose. The purple haired woman was not a fan of myths, given how obscure they could be.

“True, but then again, with how many new discoveries are being found everyday in our world, who knows what was forgotten and just now being rediscovered.” Matt loved the stories of the ancient past, his grandfather having nurtured this fondness by telling him tales ranging from the incredible to the incredulous whenever his parents had left him in the older man’s care.

“Since I’ve got some time off, I’ll make it a point to look into this,” James stated, his mind already three steps ahead of him as he recalled the addressed of several history professors and archaeologists who he had taken classes from in college. “That way I can at least be doing some productive while I sit at home, bored.”

“You should take some time to go out and enjoy yourself, James,” Matt’s eyes were sympathetic as he said these words.

“I will, but until Team Fusion is brought to justice, I won’t be able to really relax.” these people had to be made responsible for what they had done to the world.

“I know, I know, but at least, for me, go out and get a drink, or three.”

James grumbled when the older man placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it gently, but pointedly.

“You know I don’t really do the drinking thing, Matt. That’s all you.” just one tequila could send the blue haired man onto the ground in a laughing stupor.

“Why not go to the Protein Shot sometime?” Mimi suggested cooly. Matt blinked at her. “It’s a good place for guys like you,”

“How so?” James cocked his head to the side in curiosity.

“Just go one night and you’ll see.” the purple haired woman chuckled when Matt gave her an incredulous look.

James didn’t bother to argue, knowing that if he did, Mimi would just ignore him and then talk him into going anyway. The woman would have made a killer lawyer in another time and place.

“Alright,” a yawn broke from James’s mouth before he could catch it, “but first, I’m going home to take a nap.”

“That’s fine. We’ll keep working on the information we’ve collected so far.” Matt said offhandedly as he continued to give Mimi a perplexed stare.

“I’m guessing we’re not telling anyone in the department about any of this?” that got James a look from everyone in the room, including the pokemon. Waving his hands in surrender, he finished with, “Hey, I just wanted to make sure since I’m currently the obsessed asshole who's currently going off the wall with this case.”

“Don’t let Jessica’s words get to you,” Mimi began, her lips pulled down into a impressive frown, “she just wants to punish you for being gone so long, and for being right, it’s just that she can’t openly say that, otherwise it’ll make her entire family look like assholes.” it was a well known fact that what one ‘Jenny’ thought, the rest usually mimicked.

“What about the chief?” if there was anyone that should be trusted, it was the old man.

“He’s the one who we first told this information to,” Matt said. “he wants to see this new ‘team’ get taken down just as hard as you, but after the leaks were found he’s been noting some other ‘oddities’ happening within the public office.” before James could explode with questions a single finger stopped him, “Don’t worry, he’s digging into it, but right now we need to find enough evidence so we can go in and cut the head of this Arbok off in one swift swoop.” Matt cut his hand through the air as he said this.

“Hmm, the chief sure has it hard,” that James deeply respected the senior police officer was something known to everyone, and was a sentiment shared by several of the more earnest cops on the force.

“He’ll be fine, but anyway, go home, rest, eat, and then do you.” Mimi stated somewhat authoritatively. “We’re going to need you at your best for when the Muk hits the fan on this one, James.”

With a nod, the blue haired man picked himself up, tipped his head at his Lucario, and then left out of the room once the Alakazam lowered the force-field he held over the room. When he was gone Matt looked down at Mimi who smiled innocently up at him,

“The Protein Shot? Really?”

“All the guys I know go there,”

“That says something about you, I want you to know that.”

An elbow to the dark skinned man’s groin had him inhaling sharply.

“Shut up.”