Chapter Text
Staring down at his pink paws once he wakes up to noisy city life from outside his bedroom window isn't as surprising as waking up in the city.
Ryme City—with his dad.
Tim blinks, attempting to ward off the drowsiness. His pink paws come more clearly into focus.
Most mornings, he wakes up as Mew; it doesn't really seem to be something that he can control, at least for now. But thankfully, he's able to change back into himself with just a simple thought. It's a little annoying, but easy to fix.
This morning, however, he doesn't even bother changing back into his human self. Instead, he imagines a short, fluffy and yellow Pokémon that his father had been turned into not that long ago. Turning around, he grins at the Pikachu ears still on his bed. Since moving in with Harry, they had both agreed to change his room up a bit so it no longer looks like it's for a child, but Tim just couldn't bring himself to get rid of the Pikachu ears. No matter how childish they are, the ears aren't going anywhere.
Ever since he'd made the decision to stay, Harry always leaves his bedroom door slightly open in case of times like these; if he ever needs him for some reason. It's a new, unspoken habit that Tim finds he doesn't mind at all.
Crawling on all fours along the floor, Tim makes sure that he's quiet enough so he won't wake up Harry by accident too soon. Hopping up onto his father's bed, he inches closer to his still and relaxed body.
"Dad," Tim whispers.
No response except a small and quiet "hmmm."
"Dad," Tim whispers again, using his paws to give his father a light shake.
"I need more coffee," Harry groans blearily, reaching out an arm. "Just one more cup."
Tim shakes his head in exasperation. Harry already had way too many cups of coffee last night. How does he even sleep?! Tim pushes up against his dad's shoulders, but not even the gentle static coming from his fur is enough to stir Harry awake. "Come on, we have to go."
He concentrates, not even thinking twice before electricity zaps out of both his cheeks.
"Ahh!" Harry cries as he jolts awake, eyes wide. It takes him a few seconds to come into focus, but then he stares down at Tim to see his son as a Pikachu.
"Did you really have to shock me?" he demands with a frown, holding his 'injured' hand tightly. It isn't fair that his son can turn into basically any Pokémon he wants and use any powers he wants! It's downright awesome, sure, but it just...isn't fair sometimes.
Tim just grins in affirmation, nodding rapidly and jumping off the bed, moving quickly towards the bedroom door. His ears perking up, he waits eagerly for Harry to follow, but his dad remains sitting in bed.
"All I'm doing today is paperwork," Harry says, sighing. Work isn't going to be exciting today. "You know, the boring side of detective work."
"I still want to come," Tim says from the doorway, and Harry smiles.
He doesn't want to risk saying it out loud, but he's more than happy that Tim actually wants to come to work with him. He can't imagine going back to when his son didn't come to work with him. Tim makes the less exciting days easier to bear.
"Ever since you changed me back to normal, Hide thinks I'm fragile enough to break like a twig at any moment," he quips instead.
"You absolutely could," Tim quips right back.
Harry lets out an annoyed groan. "Not you, too. I'm fine."
"Whatever the lieutenant says goes."
True. He can't argue with that.
"I'm going to have to come up with another excuse eventually," Harry points out. "Hide is going to think your grams just decided to give you to me and you're my partner, now. Then you'll have to come with me as Pikachu every day."
Tim only shrugs his fluffy shoulders. In nothing but a quick flash, he transforms back into his human self. "We have plenty of time before Yoshida starts asking more questions..."
It's still taking Harry some time getting used to the fact that his son is still a Pokémon. Tim is still a Mew, and he's never going to completely change back to normal—back to before he was transformed by crazy Ditto. Harry takes a large part of responsibility for that, for not being there when Tim needed him most. There hadn't been anything he could have done since he'd lost his memory and turned into a real Pikachu at that point, but still...he should have done something even if he couldn't remember anything or who he was at the time.
The first thing Harry goes for once he's ready for the day is coffee of course, just as he had been muttering to himself before waking up. Tim sits next to the coffee table, bringing out his phone to send Lucy a text about meeting her this weekend. Harry grins at him from the kitchen, but Tim ignores him. His phone chimes back at him almost instantly, and he can't help but smile at her response. He and Lucy have been simply 'hanging out' together for the last month since...everything happened. He's happy, she's happy, and she's one of the only things keeping him sane while he tries to figure out his...issues. His complications.
Nothing is official yet, but Tim hopes that maybe it will be soon.
He just has a lot to figure out with his Mew half, first. He can't make any commitments. He knows Lucy well enough by now to know that it probably won't make any difference to her if she finds out the truth and that she won't go reporting to the world about him being a Mew, but something keeps holding him back. He just doesn't like the idea of anyone else apart from his dad knowing the truth. Not yet. Not even Yoshida knows, and Tim would prefer to keep it that way even if the lieutenant had been really helpful when he did know for that short time, making sure all the trainers stayed back and didn't try to catch him. He hadn't been awake at the time, but Harry told him everything that happened in between him almost dying and their trip to the Pokémon Center.
"Whoa," Harry suddenly says, holding a hand to his head as he reaches up high into a cupboard for a coffee mug.
Harry tries to quickly pull himself together, but his legs wobble. The glass tilts dangerously, tumbling right over the edge.
Tim gasps, instantly reaching out a hand. The mug takes on a psychic glow, moving safely onto the counter before it can shatter on the floor.
"Nice catch, kid," Harry compliments, staring in awe at the mug as Tim maneuvers it back up to the counter.
Tim doesn't respond, too caught up in setting the coffee mug back on the counter without any doubts about what he's doing at all. It's like lifting a mug with just a single command in his mind is the most normal thing in the world, but Harry's keen detective eyes catch his son's hand shaking a bit.
"Hey...you alright?" he asks, concern lining his features.
For a split second, Harry fears that Tim using his powers is going to affect his memory again, but they don't have to worry about that anymore as Mewtwo had told them. Tim isn't going to lose his memory again if he uses his powers too much...not anymore now that he's permanently a psychic Pokémon.
This shouldn't be happening. I shouldn't have any powers, Tim's mind races a mile a minute. It's not natural...
While it is pretty awesome, all he wants is for things to go back to normal. He just wants to change back to normal, but that's never going to happen. Harry was transformed into Pikachu by Mewtwo so he was able to change back, but he was transformed with the Non-Neural Link method, which is permanent. Irreversible. If he somehow changes back into a full human, the world will be sent into chaos just as Mewtwo had explained. There's absolutely nothing they can do. Tim is just grateful that he can change into himself whenever he wants.
"It feels like it's harder to use my powers when I'm just myself. I don't know why," he says, hopefully not too quickly. It's true anyway, after all. Much to his relief, Harry takes the bait.
It sort of makes sense. Maybe it's just easier for him to use them whenever he's Mew.
"I'm sure it will get easier with time. Practice makes perfect," Harry reassures him. He wishes he could do more for his son, but he doesn't have the slightest clue on where to start.
He's still getting used to being a human again, even if he was only stuck as a Pikachu for about a week.
"Sometimes it's really hard for me, too. Like right now, I still feel like I have a tail. I get really dizzy because I'm still not used to being taller again, yet."
No wonder he lost his balance and dropped the mug...Harry wouldn't like him actually agreeing with the lieutenant, but maybe Yoshida is right about how fragile he is right now while he's still getting used to being human again.
He's glad that in a way, Harry understands what he's going through. His father might not be stuck as a Pokémon permanently, but he was stuck as a Pikachu once. Tim takes comfort in the fact that he wasn't the only one to be turned into a Pokémon, not to mention the family that had been turned into a Pangoro and a group of Pancham cubs.
Harry grabs two pieces of bread, lifting them up to his face and stopping for a second to look at Tim sheepishly. "Sometimes I also think I still have electricity stored in my cheeks."
Tim really can't help but laugh at that one, shaking his head.
Sighing, Harry turns to the toaster for help. If only he could still make toast like he'd been able to as Pikachu...
"Aren't you going to eat something?" he asks Tim once he notices that his son hasn't gotten up from the couch to get anything to eat yet.
"Already did," Tim answers, nodding at the cereal box on the counter. Harry checks the sink to see his already cleaned bowl inside that Tim had left there on purpose just to chastise him about sleeping in too late.
Harry finishes up his toast fast as he can. He really needs a new alarm clock other than his own son.
"Oh! Almost forgot..."
He pulls out the smaller detective hat that he'd gotten for him. Tim inwardly groans to himself; the hat had been Harry's idea.
"Can't forget the hat," he mutters. Oh, well. It's just an inside joke between them (mostly Harry) that no one else will understand unless they tell everyone about their insane adventure where Harry had been turned into a Pikachu.
'Detective' Pikachu, Harry calls him while he wears it. Tim can't even be mad. It's kind of catchy, actually. Not that he'd ever admit it out loud.
In another flash, Tim transforms into Pikachu again, jumping off of the couch.
His dad places the detective hat in between his ears, and Tim bounds quickly up his arm to sit comfortably on Harry's shoulders.
xxxx
Tim remains in his sitting position on Harry's shoulders as they enter the precinct. He has to act like a real Pokémon partner, even if their excuse is that he's really his grandma's and she needs Harry to look after him for a while since she's out of town.
"She'll be gone for about a week or two," Harry had told Yoshida. The lieutenant had been more amused than suspicious that his grandma's 'partner' is a Pikachu, just like Harry was turned into.
It's already been one week, and Tim is noticing the way Harry's coworkers look at them, thinking that they really are partners now and maybe, his grandma will let Harry keep the Pikachu. Tim supposes that in a way, they are. Partners, that is. His dad has never had a Pokémon partner of his own until his own son had been turned into one. But if people knew that Harry's partner is really a Mew now, shit will really hit the fan!
His father's office is actually pretty cozy and surprisingly not as messy as the apartment. The perfect place to spend the day. He'd suggested trying out detective work to his father and Harry had been absolutely ecstatic, agreeing instantly to the idea, but then he'd become...hesitant, which Harry understood. He needs to be careful now that he's half Pokémon, especially while he's still getting a handle on his powers. Staying in an office safely cooped up with his father is one thing, but being around people all day when something unexpected could happen is an entirely different matter that Tim would rather not contemplate.
Along with the small detective hat, Harry had also gotten a Pokémon bed to put under his desk not so much as a joke, but so he'd actually have somewhere to rest when he wanted—when he isn't busy watching the behind the scenes of the precinct. He even has his own water bowl. As for food, he can just change back into a human when he goes out to lunch with his dad. He's thankful that he hasn't started craving pokepuffs (yet.)
Harry was right about today being an utter bore, however. His father really is doing paperwork and other boring stuff all day that Tim wouldn't have thought detectives do, but he's not complaining. He does enjoy coming to work with his dad. Anything to make up for all of the time lost after his mother passed.
A little later in the day, Harry gets a call from someone a bit unexpected. Tim jumps up onto his father's work desk, careful not to scatter any important papers. Harry sighs.
"Roger still wants me to do that interview about being turned into a Pikachu," he murmurs quietly. His office door is open, anyone can see him talking to the other 'Pikachu.'
Tim's ears perk forward. In moments like these, he's glad that Harry still has the ability to talk to and understand him even while he's a Pokémon. It really must be a father and son thing as Harry had suggested, as no one else can understand him once he transforms into Mew or other Pokémon. But while he's human, they can understand him just fine. It's just too weird.
"I thought he was kidding. You're not actually going to do it, are you?"
He hadn't exactly been awake or in the greatest condition when Roger had made the suggestion, but Harry told him.
What if the fact that he'd been transformed into a Mew pops up? Even if everyone else thinks he's back to normal, people out there are bound to be curious. They might want to try and get more answers. They might want to do more experiments, and then they really will know he's Mew.
Harry shrugs. "I don't know. Maybe."
He might do it just to humor Howard's son and keep his own son safe; his number one priority. "If we keep quiet and refuse to talk about it, they might think we're trying to hide something."
As if on cue, one of Harry's coworkers walks by the open door. Hearing Harry's voice, she stops to look at him, her face growing just a little bit concerned that Harry appears to be talking to himself. Harry just gives her a somewhat reassuring smile and she continues her walk down the hallway.
"...Good point," Tim mutters, ignoring the lady altogether.
As much as he doesn't want to admit it, his dad does bring up really good points sometimes.
The real Roger had just narrowly avoided getting put in prison himself along with the Ditto clone that's still stuck in his body, unable to transform back into a Pokémon. The same couldn't be said for Howard, however. Roger's father is exactly where he belongs—behind bars.
"How about after I deal with this, we go to the Hi-Hat?"
Tim just barely resists the urge to roll his eyes. Of course the only thing his dad has on his mind right now is coffee.
"Sounds good to me," he agrees anyway, hopping off of the desk to go about his daily routine nosing around the precinct.
His nosy presence is welcomed based on the way some of the officers and other detectives can't help but pet him. Tim tolerates it, but Harry was indeed right when he was Pikachu himself and said that people just couldn't stop petting him.
But before he can step out of the office, he nearly slams headfirst into an unexpected visitor. A familiar visitor, but unexpected nonetheless since this particular Pokémon usually spends all his time with Yoshida.
"Uh, hey," Tim tries. He's still not really keen on the idea that he can still understand Pokémon. It's sure to be useful when an investigation comes up, but being able to hear Pokémon along with humans is a bit disconcerting.
Snubbull glares at him.
He hadn't been able to hide who he really was from Snubbull for long. So apart from Harry, that's one more 'person' who knows his secret. It's a good thing that Snubbull can't talk to other humans about it, not that Tim doesn't trust Yoshida's partner.
"You're not supposed to be here. You're supposed to train first," Snubbull decides to scold him. He was having such a good day, too.
What did he do to get on Snubbull's bad side? Maybe it's because the Pokémon is still mad with him from back when he'd unexpectedly transported Snubbull to the outside of the precinct with the police on their tail, or maybe because of that moment when he'd fallen as Pidgeot, causing Snubbull to tumble onto the grass? Whatever the case, Snubbull definitely isn't happy about him being here.
Maybe one day, he'll get to start his real training. Just not now. Not while he has something else more important to worry about.
"...This is part of my training. I get to see what my dad does all day and how things work around here."
Snubbull is all too quick to disagree. "It doesn't count. You need a partner, too."
...Now that would just be weird. Maybe once or twice during his investigation with Harry, he'd considered having one. But he's half Pokémon now, he doesn't need a Pokémon partner. He never has and he never will.
"No, I don't," Tim argues, the faintest sparks starting to come out of his cheeks in frustration. "My dad is my partner. He didn't have a partner anyway when he started working here."
"That doesn't count, either. My partner made an exception. You're not really a Pokémon—"
"Yes, I am," Tim cuts off Snubbull unexpectedly. Wait, what is he thinking? He is not a Pokémon. Not a full one, at least. He's not completely human either, though. Tim doesn't even know what to think anymore.
Snubbull huffs, leaving Tim in the office with his sudden yet all too familiar existential crisis.
Harry is still talking on the phone to Roger. Tim crawls underneath his dad's desk and into his circular shaped bed, too wrapped up in said existential crisis to try falling asleep.
xxxx
Somehow they're both equally exhausted once the day is finally over, even if Tim didn't do nearly as much work as his father. He didn't do anything, his plan to wander around the precinct like he usually does ruined by Snubbull.
Harry doesn't say anything, but he notices how quiet Tim is during their visit to the café, staring down into his cup of hot chocolate (no, it is not better than coffee.)
His son probably just has a lot on his mind, that's all. He is permanently stuck as a Mew, even if he can change back and forth.
"Movie?" he offers when they make it back home to his apartment—their apartment. It's Friday, movie night. One of his old black and white movies, of course. But he can already see the hesitation on his son's face.
"I think I'm just gonna hit the hay if it's alright..." Tim says quietly, glancing towards the hallway leading to his room. He doesn't want to break their daily weekend routine, he really doesn't, but there's just too much going on.
"Of course. Like I said before, a good detective needs his rest," his father agrees.
Tim smiles at the familiar advice from when Harry had been a Pikachu.
"I actually still have a little bit of work to do, but I'll be here if you need me," Harry makes sure he knows.
Tim nods, grateful for Harry's support. His father hadn't been the best at being there for him all those years ago, but now he's trying. He's really trying, and that's more than Tim can ask for. He knows he can trust that Harry isn't going to leave him again for anything, not even if his son is now a Mew for the rest of his life.
Tim moves down the hallway and steps into his room. On more than one occasion, he's glad that he made the decision to keep the Pikachu ears. They make him smile in his worst moments, wrapping him up in a warm blanket of comforting nostalgia. Sadness too sometimes as he remembers his lost dream to become a Pokémon trainer, but the ears are more comforting than sad. He wonders how long it's going to take Harry to notice that they're still here and he's not planning on getting rid of them anytime soon. Some of the battle posters are even still in place. So in some ways, his room is the one thing that Tim hopes never changes.
He doesn't need a partner like Snubbull said. He has his dad and that's good enough for him.
Tim lays himself down onto his bed. It's still too early to try falling asleep, but he just wants to rest his eyes...
All too quickly, he finds that he's been led into a room. It seems like any room that would belong at the doctor's, except for the single metal table resting in the middle of it. Tim continues struggling to the best of his ability, refusing to be put onto said table, but one of the scientists—a man behind a mask—pushes him down less than a little gently.
There's nothing he can do except struggle uselessly as the scientists continue holding him as one lifts his jacket past his shoulder so the needle can be easily injected.
"Proceeding with the Non-Neural Link method," he's just barely able to make out the head scientist say.
Hasn't this happened already? This can't be right, he can just use his Mew powers to teleport away! But no matter how hard he tries, his powers just aren't working.
The needle pushes into his skin—
He doesn't even shoot up into a sitting position, remaining relaxed in bed. As relaxed as one can be after a nightmare, anyway. His heart is racing and he looks frantically around his room, but there's no Ditto to be seen.
He doesn't even remember falling asleep...
Ditto-Roger is currently in jail where it belongs along with Howard. It can't hurt anyone again. It can't hurt him again...he's safe.
It's okay...you're home.
...Home. Not just Harry's home but his home, too.
Ryme City is his home, now.
It's a weird thought, but a welcome one. He knows he made the right decision to stay with his father and not just because if he leaves the city, trainers will be able to catch him.
He actually wants to stay, just as he had reassured Harry at the train station.
Tim breathes slowly and calmly as he can in and out. At least he has tomorrow with Lucy to look forward to.
He stares down at his hands—no, paws—as he had done just that morning.
As usual, he's Mew again but surprisingly, he doesn't feel the need to change back into his human self. He stares out of his bedroom window. It's closed, but that won't be a problem. No need to get up and walk over to open it—he can just teleport.
Today had been a downward spiral, not one of his best...but it isn't anything a midnight flight can't fix.