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Ran was a good pokemon trainer, a really good pokemon trainer. She’d become the Kanto champion at age 16, she’d beat all eight main gyms in record time, and she’d never lost an official battle in her life. She was also the daughter of a detective. She knew enough to know that she was being watched by something.
She’d noticed the feeling for the first time about a week ago- but she had a feeling that she’d been a bit slow on the uptake. She’d thought that her team was just antsy after… after Shinichi died- they’d loved him as much as she had after all; but now she thought that their odd behavior could be attributed to this odd presence that followed them.
She’d spent the past week trying to catch a glimpse of it- whatever it was. She was fairly sure it was a pokemon, but that still gave her a lot of options. It had to be fairly small, to hide like it obviously was, but a lot of pokemon were small enough for that. No, there were significantly less pokemon that could also hide from her team .
In a way, she was grateful for whatever it was. It gave her an excuse to be distracted, it was something unimportant that she could focus on to take her mind off of… everything else. It gave her something to change the subject to, something that would make people stop looking at her like that.
She knew she wasn’t okay, she knew that, but she wished everyone would stop treating her as if she was fragile.
Until that stopped, and she could safely return her focus to other things, this mysterious pokemon following her would be her personal project. It was her method of coping, and she would stick to it.
Unfortunately, there were still things that had to be done. Uncomfortable, painful things that she’d really rather avoid but… everyone else was avoiding them too, and as much as she’d love to shut down, she had to keep things running, just like she always did.
This was how she found herself in Shinichi’s library, with the prickling feeling of being watched as the most comforting thing she was feeling. It hadn’t been cleaned in over a month, and the dust amongst the misplaced books was becoming untenable. She knew Shinichi would never forgive her if she let anything happen to his precious books, and goodness knows his parents weren’t going to do anything about it. They were far more of a mess at this point than Ran was.
She hadn’t told anyone exactly where she was going. This chore needed to be done, but she didn’t want anyone to see her do it. She didn’t want anyone to see her cry anymore. Her only company here was Chives, her venusaur; and her mysterious stalker.
Chives was using his vines to help dust, and Ran was gathering scattered books, gingerly piling them onto the desk before she could figure out where they were all supposed to go. The hardest part of her job was keeping her tears off the pages. She swiped at her eyes, closing them and taking a deep breath. She could do this.
A noise shocked her out of her thoughts. It was a small sound- almost like a child keening in pain, but Ran recognized it. She glanced down as fast she could, and caught sight of a rather unusual shadow, already fading away.
“Phantump!” She cried, almost without thinking. The poor thing was startled into visibility again; it tried to fly away, only to bump into the side of the desk, hard , making a book fall on top of its head. Ran winced. She hadn’t meant to do that.
She’d met a trainer on her journey who had a phantump, and their cry had stuck in her head. It was unique, and a little haunting- though she supposed that was fitting. They weren’t very common in Kanto, so she’d only met the one, but now she was very glad she’d remembered. If she hadn’t, she probably wouldn’t have gotten to see her little observer.
It keened again, shaking its head a little trying to dislodge the book that had fallen open over its head- but it was lodged in between its little branches. Ran had to stifle a laugh- its misfortune may have been her fault, but it was a funny sight.
“Sorry about that, let me just- oh ,” Ran smiled, kneeling down to remove the book. As she took it off, she saw it blink up at her with big, blue eyes. Phantump were supposed to have red eyes, the one she’d met before certainly had, but that one had also had deep brown bark on its head, where this one had a lovely silver color. It also had red leaves, and the wispy dark parts of its body seemed to be a lighter shade.
Shiny!
Ran had never found a shiny before. She’d seen one or two under the care of other trainers, but they were beyond rare in the wild. She felt her smile stretch into a grin. If this little one really was the mysterious presence that had been following her, then it probably didn’t have a trainer. This was so cool!
It whined quietly, drifting away from her a little as it rubbed the space between its eyes. It looked like a small crack had appeared in its wood there- and Ran bit her lip in guilt. Whoops.
“Uh, sorry about that,” Ran said, running her fingers along the spine of the book she’d taken off of it. It was a Sherlock book- The Sign Of Four… Shinichi’s favorite. It looked at her nervously- before starting to fade away again. “Wait!”
It paused, and became visible again, though it hovered farther away. She couldn’t blame it, she had cracked its face. It blinked at her, and though she could be misreading its mannerisms, it almost seemed shy.
“You’re the one who’s been following me around for a while, right?” Ran asked, gently. The phantump’s tail curled in the air, and it nodded hesitantly, as if it was embarrassed. Honestly, it was adorable. Ran wasn’t a fan of many ghost types, due to their tendency to be, well, scary , but this one was just cute.
“I don’t mind!” She assured it, “I’ve enjoyed trying to find you, actually,” It warbled something, its child-like voice sounding bittersweet to Ran’s human ears.
Chives had mostly ignored the commotion up till that point, more concerned with his task of dusting, but when the phantump cried again, all sounds of Chives dusting ceased. The ground rumbled a bit as the full grown venusaur dashed across the room as fast as he could.
“Wha- Chives!” Ran said, setting the book on the floor next to her to intercept her starter. “No no no chives, we like this pokemon, so- oh, um…” She’d been expecting Chives to attack it, since he could get a little overprotective sometimes, but instead he just stopped dead, and stared at it.
The poor phantump looked spooked, it glanced wildly between Ran and Chives, and the edges of its form flickered in and out of visibility. Chives growled a little, though not in an unfriendly way. The phantump keened back, and Chives immediately relaxed, reaching out and pulling the Phantump closer with his vines. It still looked a little spooked, but didn’t resist, or disappear again.
“Chives, let him go,” Ran said, patting Chives’s vines. He rumbled unhappily, but complied. The phantump squeaked a little as it was freed. “I can understand if you want to go, but I’m hoping you’ve stuck around so long because you liked me, right?” Ran smiled at it, and Chives stepped back to allow her to talk to it better. “If you’d like, you could stick around for a while longer- the company would be nice,” She shrugged, and glanced around the library. “But this time, you don’t have to hide as much, okay?”
The phantump hesitated, meeting her eyes. It keened softly, before flying past her, and settling down on Chives’s back, just at the base of his flower. Ran blinked after him- she had been hoping that it’d stay, but she hadn’t expected it to be so comfortable with her venusaur. Was it because they were both grass types? Well, at least Chives looked thoroughly pleased with the development.
“Alright, well, I’m happy to have you,” Ran smiled at it, and her heart swelled as it offered her a tiny smile back. “Though, if you are going to stay, I’ll need something to call you…” Ran was the type of trainer to nickname all of her pokemon. She felt they deserved to feel distinct. She glanced around for any inspiration for a name for this little one, and her eyes fell on the book she’d taken off of it earlier.
The book was well loved- one from Shinichi’s personal collection. It was rarely at home on the shelves, and was almost always found somewhere else in the house- often in Shinichi’s own hands. She smiled sadly as she picked it up, tears pricking at her eyes again. Shinichi had only ever had one pokemon- but he’d named it Sherlock, after his favorite character. He’d said that if he ever got more, that he’d name them after the Sherlock Holmes novels as well. Now, he’d never get that chance. But Ran…
“How about Conan?” She asked, glancing up at the little phantump even as her finger traced the spine. It keened a little, looking at the book. “It’s the name of my friend Shinichi’s favorite author- I don’t think you got the chance to see him, though,” She bit back a sob. “He named his pokemon after the main character, and I don’t- well, I thought that the author would be…” The phantump cut her off with a cry, the loudest one it had given yet, and also the happiest.
“Okay okay!” Ran laughed, swiping her tears away. “Conan it is then!”
Conan smiled at her, a small thing, but it was something that made Ran happy. Chives lumbered over to where he’d abandoned his dusters, taking Conan with him.
Ran got to her feet, still clutching the book in her hands. She was about to place it back on the desk- but hesitated. She walked across the room, and slid into her bag instead. Shinichi wouldn’t have wanted it to rot on a bookshelf somewhere. He would want it to be read, and loved. She could do that for him.
While she was at her bag, she retrieved her phone, and opened the pokedex app. She pointed the camera over at Chives and Conan, and watched the information scroll across the screen. She smiled a little to herself as it noted that it was her first shiny entry, before moving on to reading the actual dex entry.
‘According to old tales, these Pokémon are stumps possessed by the spirits of children who died while lost in the forest. According to legend, medicine to cure any illness can be made by plucking the green leaves on its head, brewing them, and boiling down the liquid. ’
Nothing but old tales and legends- an unfortunate number of dex entries were like that. Still, this one was unusually sad. Ran knew that most ghost pokemon were not literal ghosts, but on the off chance that this one was… Well, she supposed that they had both lost a lot. Perhaps, they could find comfort in each other.
Somehow, the entire building felt less oppressive than it had that morning. She watched as Chives tried to teach Conan how to hold a duster with his tail, only for it to phase through, and laughed to herself.
She wasn’t okay, not quite yet, but every day was brighter. The future was full of pain yes- but also comfort, and new friends.
She was going to be alright.