Case Closed!

❝ Where did you learn to talk? ❞

Avoiding the question by spinning it back on them. A classic!

It's a good thing to ask, though. A normal pokemon might have to put in the effort to learn, attending pokeliteracy classes and reading easily-digestible storybooks like the Three Little Tepigs, but Pikachu had needed no such teaching.

Genius that he is, he'd just... learned! Decided one morning that he could talk and forced his brain to adjust accordingly.

...Or so he told people, anyway. The amnesia made it a little difficult to recall if he'd always had this talent.

He’s got himself perched on Cilan’s shoulder, tiny paws gripping on for dear life as he peers at the strange pokemon in front of them. It’s nothing he’s ever seen before - a Grass type, clearly, not that that does much good in narrowing it down - and he’s decided apropos of nothing that it has rancid vibes.

The worst of the worst, so bad that he can almost feel them physically weighing down on him.

Pikachu has no evidence for this assumption, has literally nothing to base it off of except a passing hunch. But he’s the World’s Greatest Detective, undefeated in his craft! If his jellies tell him to be suspicious, he’s damn well going to follow their advice.

                     ❝  The fuck’d you say that was called? Pansage?  ❞ Well, at least he has the decency to whisper.

                     ❝  You best get the fuck outta my trash before I climb in there and drag you out myself.  ❞

Pikachu’s no stranger to scrapping with the local pokemon over food. Cold pizza slices and half-eaten fries were apparently a fuckin’ delicacy round these parts, and he’d soon gotten into the habit of defending his designated trash can with everything he had.

So to come home from a long, very difficult day of detective work to hear noise coming from inside and a distinctly non-Pikachu scent all over the area? Of course he was going to be mad about it!

                     ❝  You’ve got five seconds to get your grubby little paws off my shit before I give you, quite literally, the shock of your life.  ❞

To find the answers.     You are the only one who can get to the bottom of this. You are angry because you're tired of being lied to. You're willing to do whatever it takes -- long road trips, watching your friends die a million times, working for the bad guy, any of it. All of it. You're just sick of people pushing you around. 

The government is hiding shit, but it goes deeper than the government, doesn't it? There are companies. There are hierarchies. Heaven is a capitalist hellscape. You've seen it -- cubicles, as far as the eye can see. You're starting to suspect hell is the same way. If heaven and hell are busted, what hope does anyone else have? 

What are those strange lines on your hands? Surely they're just your veins, right? 

See, this is why you have to keep searching. Gotta be you. 

See, this is a set-up, and you've been suspicious all along, you aren't like those other sheep, oh no, oh fuck no. You fight monsters to find the answers. The only way out is through. And you will never stop being angry about it. 

"If I'm still alive and kickin', that means Harry's somewhere out there too. Case closed.

Upon reread, I worried this rule could be a little confusing, so I decided to make a comprehensive list of what, exactly, your muse should know about Pikachu. This is sorted into three categories: 

1) Total strangers or those who only know of him through word-of-mouth 2) Those who’ve met him, are close to someone who’ve met him, or have a friend-of-a-friend connection with someone who once met him 3) Close personal friends, family, or frequent partners during his investigations

This list will be updated as the blog progresses and more canon-divergent qualities/plotpoints are added, and will be linked in my rules for future reflections and easy accessibility. If you’re ever in doubt, don’t be afraid to come speak to me privately for further clarifications!

This isn’t to say that your muse has to have any of this knowledge! I organised it based on what would logically be available with a little internet research, but you’re welcome to throw all of this out of window for your muse. It’s never compulsory, just here for those that wish to use it or would have an easier time when doing so.

UNIVERSAL KNOWLEDGE - everyone has the potential to know about these without needing an in-person meeting

That he’s an amnesiac talking Pikachu formerly associated with Inspector Harry Goodman, employed at Ryme City’s Baker Agency.

That Harry Goodman has been officially declared dead following an extended disappearance and the discovery of his car wreckage. No body was ever found.

All Harry’s former colleagues, including Chief Inspectors Hideo Yoshida and Mike Baker, and assistant Amanda Blackstone. All of these people believe Harry to be dead and are not pursuing his disappearance.

That Pikachu has an excellent track record with his cases and is willing to take on anything that catches his interest.

Related to the above: that Pikachu currently defines himself as freelance and refuses to be associated with any one region, town, or police department in particular. He takes on whatever clients approach him or receive no closure from their human-led police departments.

CASUAL KNOWLEDGE - most have the potential to know this, though an in-person meeting with the individual or someone close to them is usually required

That he’s tracking down the manufacturer of the mysterious R gas and on a journey to discover the extent of its effects. The most notable effect at this time is the ability it has to make pokemon go beserk, attacking everything in sight even if they’d been previously docile or even captured by a Trainer.

That he doesn’t believe Harry Goodman to be dead, and is on a longer, full-time investigation to uncover why someone would go to such lengths to stage a fatal accident.

That Pikachu’s morality lies firmly on the ‘chaotic’ end of things (chaotic good specifically), and believes the pursuit of truth is worth breaking a few, unimportant laws for. No formal charges have ever been brought against him.

PRIVATE KNOWLEDGE - things restricted to close friends or investigative partners

The exact details of his past crimes, namely trespassing, breaking and entering, deception, minor theft and property destruction (seen here, where he destroys a Ranger Styler to access the information inside).

The origin of R*, namely that it can only be created using Mewtwo’s DNA. He’s confiscated some of the DNA vials and returned them to the pokemon in question, but there are still many that he needs to find.

That he rents apartments under Harry Goodman’s name. His main base of operations remains in Ryme, but for the sake of staying clean and keeping his clues organised, it’s necessary to spread his homes throughout the regions and always keep a safe space accessible. For safety reasons, he doesn’t like his addresses getting too widely known.