Ch 47. Dangerous situation

(Unedited)

With the Growlithe now in the care of Ares and his pokemon party, the situation had become a bit complicated. The Pokemon poacher who had been using Growlithe for something was still in the area.

Now that Growlithe had escaped from where it was previously held, the poacher must surely been tracking the trail Growlithe had left behind to get here. As Growlithe wasn't keeping track of not leaving any trails, the path should be rather clear.

"Lucario, help me."

Placing his hands, palms facing downwards, on the ground, Lucario soon joined his side, doing the exact same thing.

Sending out ripples of aura, his surroundings became clear, up to a dozen miles with him in the center. From his current position he could see the place Growlithe had been held captive, the chains still laying there with the surroundings partially destroyed.

Traces of multiple presences were found as well, imprints of footsteps leading a bit further away from him. At the edge of his sensing range, he spotted the poacher, at his side were a Nidoking, a Golem and a Crobat. The last pokemon was a bit surprising, as Officer Jenny had only spoken about the first two pokemon.

Seeing the poacher come towards his current location, the Crobat flying from above as it looked around, Ares let Lucario continue the scouting while he began to set up a plan for his and his pokemon to counter the attack of the poacher.

Seeing that he knew which direction the poacher came from, he could put up an ambush. Pidgeot would keep a look out from the sky, possibly even take out the Crobat if he had the opportunity. Lucario would take on the Golem, while Umbreon would stall the Nidoking as she waited for reinforcements. While she could take a lot of hits, her attack power was a bit lacking. Clefairy would support Umbreon, putting up defensive attacks and using status moves.

Meanwhile Ares would confront the poacher with his remaining pokemon. Growlithe would remain in his company, along with Beldum as both of them weren't strong enough to take on the poacher and his pokemon.

"Let's move."

Pidgeot took of as soon as he said it, flying above the trees as it began to search for the Crobat.

"Which way Lucario?"

He wanted to get towards the place the poacher had been keeping the Growlithe to find some clues. If he knew what the poacher was aiming for, he might find a way to deal with the situation more easily.

Lucario knew what Ares had in mind and led the way, moving deftly through the thick forest.

"We need to move faster, Lucario. Find the shortest route."

Ares muttered, running closely behind Lucario. His other pokemon were currently in their pokeballs, ready to come out at the slightest hint of danger.

Lucario nodded, increasing his speed up a notch, using the trees around him to push himself forward.

They ran for around an hour, finally arriving at the place Growlithe had been held. Ares wiped the sweat from his face, looking around the area for clues. The remains of the chain were still there, just as he had seen through his aura. Scorch marks were present here and there, showing that the Growlithe had tried to free itself as well.

Aside from the signs of Growlithe's struggle, another thing caught his attention, most likely one of the reasons Growlithe had been left behind in this place. Scorchmarks that were hot enough to melt even the rocks around them, yellowish golden scales scattered around, as well as a pungent smell that hinted at this area being the habitat of a territorial pokemon.

Ares finally had a clue as to what kind of pokemon the poacher had been trying to get his hands on. It would be bad if he stayed her for any longer. Territorial pokemon were very aggresive towards trespassers. The chances he would get out unscathed would be slim if he encountered it.

Distancing himself from the deep pit, Ares was just in time, as the poacher had returned as well. At his side were the Golem and Nidoking, the Crobat being absent.

"Golem, use Stealth Rock. NIdoking, use Toxic Spikes."

The poacher directed his pokemon, letting them lay traps inside the lair of the Pokemon he was hunting.

"Unfortunate we didn't get the bait, but this will do. Now where is my damn Crobat?"

The poacher looked around in agitation, grumbling as he searched the sky for any traces of his pokemon.

What he saw was not his pokemon however.

"Sh*t! It's already here. Hide."

The poacher quickly hid in the shrubs, just a little bit of distance away from where Ares and his Lucario were.

Wind swept down hard over the trees, bending the forest forward as a massive silhouette came down from the sky. Its orange frame dove down towards its lair, the blue membrane of its wings stretched taut with every beat of its wings. The burning tail swished back and forth, flickering a bit as it swayed in the wind. On its cream colored chest, a long nasty-looking scar ran down from its shoulder down to its hip, an old battle wound it had gotten from a previous battle.

In front of Ares and the poacher was a rather big and intimidating Charizard.

The Charizard looked around, sensing something was off. It looked around at its lair, spotting more than a few things that were there that weren't before. The metal chains, smaller scorch marks, as well as floating rocks and purple spikes.

Irritated, Charizard blasted its lair with a breath of scorching heat, the flames turning everything into liquid magma. With all foreign traces gone, Charizard landed in his lair, its feet sinking slightly in the molten rockery.

The poacher muttered curses underneath his breath, giving up any semblance of hiding and ordered his Golem and Nidoking to attack.

Golem rolled forward, rushing straight towards the Charizard, while the Nidoking shot poison stings towards the Charizard. Charizard just scoffed, his tail lighting up in a green color, scales pointing outwards a bit.

Charizard slammed the Poison Sting away with a Dragon Tail, grabbing the rolling Golem not even a second later, bringing the big stone giant to a halt.

"Don't wait for it to attack, use Poison Tail Nidoking!"

Before the Charizard could get a hit in with the Golem, Nidoking was rushing forward, slamming down with a Poison Tail towards the Charizards head.

Charizard moved its body aside, evading the attack, but also losing the opportunity to attack the Golem.

"Stone Edge, quickly!"

The poacher became frantic, ordering his pokemon in a desperate attempt. The thoughts on where its third pokemon possibly could have gone already long forgotten.

From above, Ares could see his Pidgeot looking down, the battle below becoming fiercer as the Stone Edge hit the Charizard.

Not one to let someone who annoyed him get the better hand, Ares waited for the most opportune moment, the time where both the poacher and the Charizard were too battered up to resist.

As the battle continued, the Charizard took out the Nidoking, only having to deal with the Golem. Meanwhile the Charizard had taken a few hits as well. It had injured its wing, making it impossible for it to fly at the moment.

Yet this didn't deter the Charizard from facing the Golem, who wasn't that well off either. It had various cracks on its body, evidence of how hard Charizard fought back.

Now both of them were in a stale mate.

At the side, the poacher stood ready, a heavy steel net already prepared. He only needed to wait for the Charizard to collapse from its injuries. What followed was the last ditch effort from the Golem, as it used Rock Tomb to trap Charizard inside, with a Rockslide was executed from above.

Charizard tried to escape, using Dragon Claw and Dragon Tail to dig out of the Roch Tomb.

While the poacher was laughing in glee, glad his efforts weren't for naught, Ares revealed himself to the unaware poacher.

Without the Poacher having any time to react, Pikachu gave him a highly charged zap with a Thunderbolt, while Lucario bombarded the Golem with Aura Spheres. With both now taken out, the steel net the poacher had prepared for the Charizard came in handy.

With the poacher and his pokemon taken care of, it was time to see how the Charizard was faring.

It was still buried underneath multiple rocks, unable to get out.

Ares could hear it growl and roar in frustration, though it sounded rather weak compared to its energetic battle from before.

Calling out his pokemon, who didn't get their chance to shine at all, they all began to unearth the Charizard. It was rather comical to see Pikachu and Clefairy moving small rocks aside, but all small effort counted.

With the charizard now released from beneath the rubble, it was sprawled down on the ground, covered in wounds. It let out a tired huff, glancing at Ares what his intentions were now.

With the threat out of the way, Ares didn't see any problem with catching the Charizard in front of him. While it was already fully evolved and wild, it was young and strong. He had time to bond with it later if need be, but it was better than letting it stay here and being targeted by other poachers. Don't even mention the fact it was a danger to the ecosystem and pokemon living here.

Taking out an Ultra ball, Ares showed it to Charizard, who just huffed in annoyance.

"Well, nice to meet you too I guess."

Ares chuckled as he tapped the Ultra Ball softly against Charizard claw.

The ball rolled a few times before it indicated the capture sound.

"With that done, the only question remains what to do with you now."

Ares muttered, as he glanced at the Growlithe at his side, who didn't budge an inch after the whole debacle was over.