A Little Ghost in a Bowtie (@livmadart's Phantump Conan AU)
(Chapter four of four!) (Prev) (Ao3 link)
Ah. So that is why the pidgey thought they’d be able to get more information from Conan. Conan wasn’t just a bystander, an invisible pokemon that happened to witness the crime, he was the victim. Phantump was ghost type, and while ghost types often weren’t actually ghosts… in this case, the old legends proved to be true.
Heiji had run into a few ghost types born of human souls before, but usually those were old ghosts, with decades or longer experience as pokemon under their belts. The one in front of him, just a meter away, in pokemon terms he couldn’t be more than two months old.
Wow. Wow. Heiji could barely imagine.
It didn’t seem like Ran-chan knew- how could she? It’s not something people really think about anymore, and she wouldn’t have introduced him so cheerfully if she’d known… Heiji imagined for a second what it would be like, to die, and come back- only to watch everyone he loved mourn him… he imagined what it would be like to lose Kazuha, only for her to be right next to him and never know…
Well. Since it was him, he’d know, but if he didn’t have his ability…
Darn. He did not envy Kudo- or, Conan? He’d seemed happy with the name when Lucie had called him that- Heiji would have to ask his preference later.
“My memory after that is a little foggy, b’cause, y’know, head trauma, but I remember them mentioning that poison made by their organization, and then they left me there. And now I’m here,” Conan was still talking, and Heiji managed to just barely comprehend his words through his own imaginings.
“...Ah, I… see.” Lucie managed, apparently dealing with her own feelings on the matter. Conan looked at her for a moment, before sighing.
“Pidgey didn’t tell you who I was, did she?”
“No. No she didn't,” Lucie said, short and terse. Heiji wondered if he would have to stop her from finding that Pidgey, and beating her up for not giving them all the vital information.
“Whoops, I guess,” Conan shrugged, unconcerned. Heiji supposed that apathy was a coping mechanism.
“Hattori-kun? Are you alright?” Ran-chan asked, cocking her head in concern.
Heiji looked up- he’d become so focused on the pokemon’s conversation that he’d completely forgotten he’d been talking to someone too- frick. It happened every once in a while, and was always a little embarrassing to explain. Not only that, he supposed his face may have shown a little of the many emotions he was currently feeling.
“Oh, yeah, I’m fine, totally fine,” He forced a smile on his face, mentally shaking himself off, and grounding himself to the moment.
“So, did you get what you needed?” She asked, offering him a wry smile.
“Oh yeah- I mean, yes. Yes I did,” He did his best not to look at the ghost of her best friend sitting in her lap.
“Well that’s good- I want to be of as much help as I can but… Well, Hattori-kun, I’m not going to tell you to stop investigating, because I know Shinichi wouldn’t have listened to me either, but, maybe be careful about all this? Don’t… Don’t bite off more than you can chew. For everyone else’s sake as much as your own.” Ran-chan squeezed her eyes shut, and held Conan closer to her. He was shaking- and he put his head down, curling his tail over his eyes.
Heiji gulped, taking in the weight of her words. Don’t end up like Shinichi. It was the opposite of what everyone had told him for so long, but they hit him right in the heart like no other message like it had. He could see exactly where being a reckless idiot had landed Kudo and for once… Yeah. He didn’t want that.
“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure he won’t get into anything too bad,” Lucie growled, placing a paw on Heiji’s head.
“Well, it looks like your Lucario is on it!” Ran-chan laughed, standing up. “You’ll have to let me battle her sometime!
“Yes please, Heiji, can we do that?” Lucie barked happily, lightly cuffing him over the head as he stood up too.
“Maybe next time we’re in Saffron,” He said, in response to both of them.
“Hey, Conan,” Lucie called to Conan, who was still held firmly in Ran-chan’s grasp. “You’re a wild ‘mon, right? Meet us outside, there’s still some stuff we’d like to discuss with you,”
“Uh, okay?” Conan warbled, confused.
“Well, Hattori-kun, it was nice to meet you- though when we see each other again I’d like it to be under happier circumstances,” Ran-chan said, a light smile on her face.
“Yeah, it was nice to meet you too,” he said, and he really did mean it. She seemed very nice- the sort of person Kazuha would be fast friends with.
He exited the agency with Lucie in tow, letting the afternoon sunlight fall on his face. He took a deep breath, and let it out. That had been… a lot.
“You said there’s more you wanted to talk about?”
Both Heiji and Lucie jumped this time. They leaned against each other to let the adrenaline pass as Conan faded into visibility in front of them.
“Does terrifying people just come naturally to ghost types??” Lucie hissed, taking a few steps back.
“Uh, I guess?” Conan blinked, as though seriously considering her query.
“Nevermind that- do you mind if we walk while we talk? I don’t want Ran-chan to think we’re just loitering outside,” Heiji said, sighing at Lucie’s words.
“I don’t mind- it’s not really like I have anything better to do,” He said, voice dry. “Though I’m mostly going to be talking to Lucie, anyway,” He sighed.
“Not exactly,” Heiji shrugged, starting off down the sidewalk. Conan paused, hesitating before following.
“...What?”
“It’s part of the reason we wanted to leave to talk to you more,” Lucie growled, a toothy grin splitting her muzzle. “Heiji can-”
“I can understand pokemon, yeah,” Heiji cut her off. She took a light hearted swipe at him, but it was worth it.
“You can-” Conan cut himself off, his blue eyes blowing wide. “Oh.”
“Yeah. I don’t really know why, it’s just something I’ve always been able to do,” Heiji shrugged nonchalantly as Conan put a nub of a hand up to his chin, thinking hard.
“It makes sense- since Lucie said that you came to the agency off of a tip that I was there, and that I would be able to tell you more about my case- but you couldn't have known to do that unless you also heard and understood that tip,” Conan mumbled to himself. It sounded… really eerie, with his whole echoing little kid voice thing he had going on. Heiji could say one thing though, he was definitely a detective.
“That’s right,” Lucie cut in. “Usually while Heiji is questioning people, I question local pokemon, and then we share notes!” She grinned. “It’s a system the police wish they could have,”
“The police don’t have my ability- most people don’t have my ability, so technically the things I learn from it I can only use as a framework since they’re not permissible in court,” Heiji sighed, rolling his eyes.
“Skill issue,” Lucie shrugged.
“Not entirely true, pokemon testimonies have been used in court cases before- especially in cases of ghost types like me, testifying at their own cases,” Conan started, “There’s just a lot of hoops you need to jump through in order to make it work, including finding multiple different avenues of determining testimony, and seeing if they all match up to determine what the pokemon is actually saying, so I mean, you could,” He said, flicking his tail absentmindedly.
“Been doing research?” Heiji raised an eyebrow.
“...Yes,” Conan sighed. “Listen, if death can’t stop me, bureaucracy won’t either,”
Heiji found himself laughing, despite the dark nature of the joke. Lucie was also snickering a bit, and Conan was smiling, so he didn’t feel bad about it.
“Speaking of that,” Lucie said, expertly steering conversation both exactly where they needed it to go, and to the most uncomfortable topic. “The men who killed you- you said you saw them again?” Lucie continued onwards, completely ignoring the concept of tact- though, that might be best for everyone for now.
“Oh, right,” Conan nodded. “I saw them on a train- Ran’s dad's friend was getting married, so they were taking a bullet train to Ecruteak. Those two guys just happened to be there- so I listened in on their conversations,” He said, floating a little ahead of Heiji and Lucie so he could face them while they walked.
Man, invisibility must be nice. Not that Heiji was willing to die to get it, just… it would be nice.
“That’s when I heard them mention their codenames,”
“Gin and Vodka, you said?” Lucie confirmed.
“Right- and I also heard them talking about how there was a bomb on the train, which is why I didn't follow them off at their stop,” He said, his eyes going a bit darker there at the end.
“Wow, yeah that’s a good reason,” Heiji nodded.
“Yikes,” Lucie agreed.
“Luckily I was able to cause enough of a ruckus to get the bomb out of the train in time, but it was close there for a second,” He breathed a latent sigh of relief.
“That’s… yeah,” Heiji just nodded. He wasn’t sure how else to respond to that.
Heiji was a good highschool detective, sure, but he was starting to see why Shinichi Kudo was hailed as the best of them. Heiji had dealt with homicide after homicide, theft after theft after assault- but he’d never dealt with terrorists; never dealt with bomb threats, never dealt with syndicates, and never dealt with his own death. Kudo had seen and dealt with all of that, and just got up, and kept going.
He had died, and had still gotten up, and kept at it.
Heiji was a little mad at how much he respected the heck out of him for it. This was supposed to be someone he hated. But, well… It was always the name he’d hated- hated how it loomed over him, it was that reputation and the legend surrounding him that Heiji hated. But the person?
Heiji hated the name Shinichi Kudo, but he didn’t hate the name Conan; and he didn’t think Conan hated it either.
“Hey… Conan?” Heiji asked.
“Yeah?” The little ghost looked up at him, blue eyes shining in the sun.
“Do you… do you want me to tell her?”
Conan froze, staring at him. Slowly, he lowered his eyes down to the pavement. His nubs came to rest on that bowtie of his around his neck- and Heiji didn’t have to wonder who gave it to him.
“...No, I don’t want you to tell her,” He sighed.
“Why not?” Lucie asked, and Heiji elbowed her, just barely missing impaling his arm on her chest spike.
“She’s been through enough- she doesn’t need to go through… this too,” He said, his voice coming out in an echoey, pained keen.
Yeah. He’d been broken down, but he just… kept getting back up. Heiji really did find himself respecting this little, barely two month old pokemon.
“Well then… I guess I won’t,” Heiji sighed, putting his arms behind his head. “She told us to be careful, and we will, but I’m seeing this through to the end. And hey, maybe you will get to testify in court one day,” Conan snorted, but he raised his head, so Heiji counted it as a win.
“If you ever need anything else, you know where to find me. I’m a bit personally invested in this one, if you can imagine,” Conan smirked at him, and Heiji wondered if he’d made this many dark jokes before he’d died, or if this was a recent thing.
“Aaand we’re typically hanging around in Goldenrod if you ever need anything,” Lucie said, patting Conan on the head with a paw. “Just ask any pokemon, and they’ll tell you where to find us!”
“Thanks… I think I’ll take you up on that,” He laughed, and started drifting off back toward the agency.
“See you later, I guess,” Heiji said, sliding his hands into his pockets.
“Yeah, don’t die before I see you next!” Conan laughed, before fading away.
“Yeah, I’ll… Do my best,” Heiji responded, not sure if Conan was still there or not.
“So… feel like heading home and getting a lecture about running off to another city without permission?” Lucie asked.
“... Y’know what? I kinda am, actually,”
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