Cherreads

Chapter 57 - Chapter 57. Bonding Time

Don ignored the kid for now and instead took a proper look around. A battle had taken place here recently, involving about 30 Pokémon. The devastation had ruined the back half of the parking lot, but not enough to cause any trouble for the other half next to the warehouse.

Either the kid was strong, or there were others hiding, waiting for the battle to start before attacking. Their team might have been ambushed without even noticing.

In any case, the kid was right in front of him, so Don took another careful look.

He was alone, with an Expert-ranked Alcremie perched on top of his head, feeding him cream. On his chest, he held a Raticate that was close to Elite rank but wasn't much of a threat.

There was also an Expert-ranked aura coming from the kid's shadow and front pocket.

'He has a Rotom? This is definitely a trap. Either way, I can still kill the kid before anyone can do anything,' Don thought.

Don didn't waste any time and summoned his Elite-ranked Pokémon in full. A Honchkrow, Krookodile, and Toxicroak materialized as he gave a simple order.

"Kill them."

All three sprang into action. Honchkrow used Taunt on Alcremie, Krookodile kicked up a Sandstorm to invalidate Raticate's F.E.A.R. strategy, and Toxicroak used Taunt on Raticate.

Alex, seeing the Sandstorm take effect, quickly put Safety Goggles on both his Pokémon and himself. It would invalidate Focus Sash anyway, so it was worth replacing.

Then all three of Don's Pokémon unleashed powerful attacks to finish them off. Honchkrow fired a Dark Pulse at Raticate, Krookodile triggered an Earthquake at their location, and Toxicroak unleashed a Sludge Wave.

Needless to say, the immediate area was destroyed by the vibrations of Earthquake and the spreading poison of Sludge Wave.

Raticate, meanwhile, used a simple Protect to block all damage. Unfortunately, as they were only Experts, they were still sent flying back, especially by Dark Pulse, which shot them out of the Sandstorm like a cannonball.

Alex struggled to keep his balance as he was slammed onto a car at the edge of the parking lot. It hurt, sure, but he was still alive and uninjured.

Don stood in stunned silence before realizing that Alcremie had nullified Taunt with Aroma Veil. The kid was practically immortal at this point since none of his Pokémon knew Feint.

He would look like an idiot if he asked one of his men to handle it when he had powerful Elite-ranked Pokémon, so he had no choice but to continuously send Alex flying in order to kill him.

"Keep attacking! Don't stop!" Don commanded behind the curtain of Sandstorm, and his Pokémon obeyed.

Honchkrow and Toxicroak used Sucker Punch to close the distance, while Krookodile broke into a run to use Breaking Swipe to strike all of them at once.

"Rotom," Alex called out.

Both Honchkrow and Toxicroak slammed into Rotom, but its expanded Protect negated all their damage, just as a regular Protect should. Rotom reached Expert due to its forced participation during Protect class which came in handy today.

Alex summoned Arcanine to his side while whispering to Raticate, who nodded.

Krookodile, having followed the charging Honchkrow and Toxicroak, swung from left to right, its claws glowing with Dragon-type energy. The slash left dark blue rips in space, but it injured no one—except for Raticate, who jumped out at the last minute.

Alex calculated that Raticate wouldn't die just from one hit unless it was a Fighting type move from a Fighting type Pokemon so targeting Krookodile was just right.

Raticate immediately glowed gray as the pain from its injuries mirrored onto Krookodile, who looked stunned.

"Extreme Speed," Alex commanded after firing a Beat Up bullet at Arcanine.

Arcanine reacted instantly, ramming into Krookodile in the blink of an eye and sending it flying back. The impact knocked it out, and it immediately returned to its Poké Ball, leaving Don stunned once again—this time with even more shock.

Meanwhile, Honchkrow and Toxicroak turned their attention to the lone Arcanine. Honchkrow used Foul Play, taking advantage of Arcanine's max attack stacks, while Toxicroak fired another point-blank Sludge Wave to keep everyone back.

"Protect!" Alex shouted, and both Arcanine and Alcremie activated Protect, shielding everyone from the attacks.

Raticate, meanwhile, used Endeavor again, this time on Toxicroak. The shared damage left Toxicroak groaning from the sudden loss of life force.

"Extreme Speed!" Alex commanded.

Arcanine lunged at Toxicroak, slamming into it with full force and sending it crashing into the debris behind Alex. The impact cleared more space as Toxicroak was swiftly recalled to its Poké Ball by Don's side behind the curtain of Sandstorm.

Honchkrow, undeterred, used Foul Play on Arcanine again, finally landing the attack and knocking it out in one blow. It then turned its attention to Alex—its main threat was now gone.

Alex knew he wouldn't be able to take down Honchkrow, not with the inevitable support coming its way. Don was finally starting to understand his situation, and once he did, all pride would fly out the window. He wouldn't hesitate to call in reinforcements if his Honchkrow was getting ganged up on by a bunch of Experts.

Still, Alex persevered—he had no choice. He summoned all his Pokémon except Arcanine to deal as much damage as possible.

"Bring it down," Alex commanded, but Honchkrow moved first, opening its mouth and breathing out hot air—Heat Wave.

Luckily, Frosmoth's instincts screamed, and it involuntarily cast Wide Guard, nullifying the damage. Even luckier was the fact that Heat Wave had no force, which kept everyone within Alex's reach.

Raticate used Thunder Wave, paralyzing Honchkrow.

Clawitzer used Water Pulse on instinct, dealing damage.

Rotom used Electroweb, dealing even more damage and slowing Honchkrow down.

Forretress used Ice Spinner, dealing enough damage to visibly tire it out.

Altaria and Alcremie both used Dazzling Gleam, which would have been enough to bring it down—had Don not arrived and retrieved his Honchkrow in time.

"No more games. Men, kill them all," Don said simply, mustering as much dignity as he could.

"Firing squad, now!" Alex commanded loudly as Don's men began summoning their Pokémon, who immediately charged in.

Alex's Pokémon lined up, using alternating Protect when suddenly, Arcanine emerged from behind Alex and used Roar.

The Roar was so powerful that everything in front of Arcanine—Pokémon and humans alike—ran and screamed in terror. They scattered like ash blown from a chimney by a leaf blower. It was a command to RUN!, and they obeyed.

But the Roar was too powerful. Elite-rank power. A Roar that couldn't have come from his Arcanine.

"Alex!" Jenny screamed as she ran in and gave him a hug.

She had been chasing Alex since the very beginning of the video. She arrived at the site of the mugging just a few minutes after he was taken, only for the tracker on Alex's phone to cut off. A few minutes later, it reappeared—all the way to the south, where criminal elements were at their strongest.

Then, she was horrified. Alex had committed murder. Even though it was in self-defense, it didn't change the fact that her baby must be feeling conflicted right now.

Even more horrifying were all the Pokémon he had been fighting. It was a travesty.

But she was here now.

'Mommy's here,' Jenny thought as she hugged Alex tighter while stroking his hair.

"Mom? Did you bring backup, or is it time for mother-son bonding?" Alex asked, his voice muffled against Jenny's bosom.

Only now did Jenny realize that they were still in the middle of combat—and she needed to protect her baby.

She looked up with fury at the scattering humans and Pokémon before calling out Espeon and Boltund.

"Set up," Jenny commanded.

Arcanine and Boltund used Agility but remained in place.

Espeon activated Psychic Terrain, covering the parking lot in a thin membrane of pink energy.

Jenny unholstered her guns and aimed them at Arcanine and Boltund.

Babang. Bang. Bang.

She shot Arcanine with Beat Up, maximizing his Attack stack with Justified, then fired Baby-Doll Eyes at Boltund three times—a move that weakened Attack—to fully stack his Special Attack with Competitive.

"Expanding Force. Take them all down!" Jenny ordered as she holstered her guns.

A massive psychic force exploded outward from Espeon, sending enemies flying to the edge of the parking lot. Several Pokémon fainted on impact.

'That is definitely an Advanced rank Psychic Terrain and Expanding Force,' Alex thought

Arcanine charged left. Boltund rushed right.

Arcanine rammed into opponents without stopping, knocking them out with sheer momentum. Boltund dove into the center of a gathered crowd and unleashed Discharge, sending electricity crackling through the air.

'Arcanine's Extreme Speed, Agility, and Roar are at least Advanced ranked and so is Boltund's Discharge and Agility,' Alex thought.

Jenny would usually slack off on training because she lacked the time, space, and resources to continue growing stronger. Now that she's a millionaire, she has no excuses, so she makes sure to train her Pokémon more. Arcanine is currently at early Elite rank, while the other two are close to Elite rank.

Meanwhile, Alex was using Revive on his Arcanine. The big guy wouldn't want to miss out on this.

A quick shot of Beat Up from Alex, followed by a Heal Pulse from Clawitzer, and Arcanine was back in action—immediately dashing off to contribute to the chaos.

Raticate followed closely behind as a silver streak of light burst into the chaos, zipping through the battlefield—each flash marking another Pokémon taken down.

Altaria and Frosmoth took to the skies to babysit from above, while Forretress remained behind, constructing a hazard field. Clawitzer perched on top of Forretress, sniping down panicking opponents with pinpoint accuracy.

Every once in a while an Expanding Force, Discharge, Roar, Heat Wave, Blizzard, or Dazzling Gleam would erupt to continue causing chaos in the battlefield.

Alex hugged Jenny from behind, resting his head on her shoulder as they watched their few Pokémon decimate hundreds. It was a beautiful moment of mother-son bonding time.

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