Ch 48. Bonding with Growlithe and Beldum

(Unedited)

With the charizard safely caught, the poacher and his pokemon captured and the Growlithe safe, Ares waited for the police officers Officer Jenny had mentioned.

They should be close by.

Unfortunately, the officers were still going to the place Ares had previously been, missing his current location by a few miles.

They were no spreading out their search, but till they found Ares, they had a lot of work to do.

*

*

"What was going on in your mind that could possibly make you think of going after the poacher! You are a trainer, not a police officer! Imagine the danger you could have gotten yourself into."

Ares was currently sitting on the side, getting a lecture from Officer Jenny who wasn't happy to see the state of things.

"How come all the new trainers are so reckless."

Officer Jenny lamented, sighing at the absurdity of the situation.

Luckily the poacher had been captured and the Growlithe was safe. There had been no casualties at all. What remained of this whole situation, was for them to find the vehicle the poacher used, as well as his base of operation.

Ares stared at all the officers moving about, wondering what was going to happen now. So far he had only gotten some harsh words, no fine or anything at all. The officers were all doing their job, leaving him to think. If anything, it would be nice if the police could give him a ride to Saffron city. He needed to visit the pokemon center to check in Charizard, Beldum and Growlithe.

While the two fire types were a rather beaten up, nothing too serious to be honest, Beldum was still recovering and needed some occasional check up to see if he was recovering properly.

When he voiced his thoughts towards officer Jenny, she didn't mind giving him a lift, as he still needed to give his statement on the case.

So now, after a lot of work, waiting and talking later, Ares and Lucario were sitting in the car with some other officers. On the seat next to him were Growlithe and Beldum, who had gotten relatively used to each other. Growlithe was barking and playing around with Beldum, who seemed to do his best to avoid Growlithe with all his heart.

It almost seemed like Beldum disliked Growlithe.

But there is no way, right?

Well, it was just like that, Beldum was really trying to get away from Growlithe, as it disliked the clinginess. Besides, he really abhorred fire-type pokemon the most. It didn't really matter if they were nice or not, he could feel their heat radiate from them. It was really too much for him to get close to Growlithe.

Yet Growlithe didn't seem to care about his feelings at all, as it continued to stick to him like bubblegum. Growlithe didn't leave him alone for a second. If he had to name one person or pokemon Growlithe liked more than him, it would be his new trainer. Getting that poacher guy locked away seemed to make Growlithe look up to him a lot. Now Growlithe continued to stick to him and Ares without a second of rest.

Beldum hovered a bit unhappily between Ares and Growlithe, deciding to sacrifice himself rather than his trainer, as his trainer was just a human. If Growlithe got to excited, who knowss how much damage it could do to his new trainer?

So the journey towards Saffron city was peaceful, with the occasional burst of ernergy from the bonding pokemon.

*

*

At the police station, Ares gave his statement on the whole occurence. He didn't have a lot to say on the matter, as all he did was knock out the poacher and capture the Charizard. Both had fought against the other, leaving themselves exhausted and making them an easy target for Ares to take down.

Officer Jenny took his statement word for word, putting it on recording and paper. Now that all the paperwork was finished, for now at least, it was time to get to another side of the story.

"We thank you for rescuing Growlithe. My niece would be happy as well, would she still be with us."

Officer Jenny bowed deeply, wiping away some silent tears. The loss was still recent, leaving a fresh wound in all of the Jenny's hearts. Now they had to continue without a dear family member.

"Come now, Growlithe. It's time to go back."

Officer Jenny beckoned Growlithe, who was reluctant but still followed. It looked a bit sad at the distancing figures of Ares and his pokemon but ultimately left with Officer Jenny. Growlithe still had to guard its trainers family after all. With his trainer gone, it needed to become stronger to protect the cubs.

With renewed vigor, Growlithe followed after Officer Jenny.

"Good to see its all cheered up. What do you say we go look around Saffron city after visiting the Pokemon Center? We haven't really seen much here yet."

Ares said as he returned Beldum to its pokeball, leaving only Lucario and Umbreon to move about with him. It had been awhile since Umbreon went along, so Umbreon was quite excited, his tail swishing back and forth with every step they took.

*

*

Saffron city, the largest and busiest city in the Kanto region. Besides housing one of the strongest gyms in the Kanto region, it was also home the the Sylph Co. headquartes, the magnetic train as well as a well known dojo that specialized in fighting-type pokemon.

The city itself was a massive metropolis, which showed its vigor during the day and night.

As Ares was walking through this very city, having just visited the pokemon center to drop of Charizard and Beldum, he decided to visit the more popular places, such as Sylph Co. It wasn't for any specific reason, as he was just a bit curious as to what Sylph Co looked like from the inside. Their headquarters were huge, sporting multiple floors, each designed for different items.

As they were the main supplier for trainer items and gear, it was the must go to place if one visited Saffron City. They were the mainstream for all the trainers in Johto and Kanto.

Going in, Ares was greeted with the sight of hundereds of trainers walking about. As there were only a few floors available for trainers and the public to enter, it was rather popular to go visit the places they could enter, such as the display area, where newly developed items were put on display to attract the possible future buyer. The items displayed would then be released a month later in the shopping district.

The items that were currently on display were the newly developed dive balls. They were special pokeballs developped for catching pokemon that thrived underwater.

Already looking forward to the future developments in which the pokeballs might go, Ares made a quick stop at the shopping mall of Silph Co, buying a few dozen of the already released Luxury, Dusk and Quick balls.

Ares spent the rest of the day shopping, ending it with a stop at the Pokemon Center. As he had already given Charizard and Beldum to nurse Joy before, they should be done about now.

After arriving at the pokemon center, he received his pokeballs from nurse Joy, handing over the remaining pokeballs for a simple health check.

With only Beldum and Charizard on hand, Ares waited patiently for his pokemon to pass through Nurse Joy's hands, getting them back not long after.

Walking to one of the training facilities of the pokemon center, a rather simple backyard to relax the trainers and their pokemon, Ares called out Charizard. He needed to see how Charizard was doing, as well as its personality and its strengths.

While the traits of his current pokemon were easy to work with, he had a hunch that his newly captured companion was anything but easy to get along with. Especially considering how they met and his method of capturing Charizard.

Letting Charizard out, he came face to face with the angry Flame pokemon. Its piercing blue eyes stared down in fury at Ares, their eyes meeting. Neither broke eye contact, Charizard's body was tensed, flames licking the side of its jaw as it was ready to blast a wave of roaring flames.

Ares just waited, his hands becoming slightly clam, as sweat was forming on his back and hands. It wasn't the first time he faced the anger of a strong pokemon, but it was a first being so close to said pokemon. He had no intention of backing down, knowing that if he did, Charizard would surely scorch him in blackened charcoal. He needed to stand his ground, showing the powerful beast in front of him he was to be trifled with.

If Charizard did attack him, he would have to force it into submission, something the Charizard species were used to doing amongst each other. The Charizard specie only listened to someone stronger than them or someone who had earned their trust and respect.

As he didn't have time at the moment to do the second option, he would have to fall back to the first. Earning Charizard's trust would happen slowly with time.

While both of them were gauging the others strength and intentions, Lucario stood to the side, ready to step in if necessary. Only because Ares had asked Lucario to not interfere did Lucario stand aside.

Charizard eventually made the first move, releasing a hot breath of fire towards Ares. It had two intentions. Seeing what Ares was made of, while the other was killing Ares if he was too weak to handle it.

Imagine Charizards surprise when Ares easily blocked the attack, the fire splitting at the touch of a pulsing blue forcefield. It was formed like a bubble, protecting Ares from all around.

That momentary lapse of surprise gave Ares the time to counter, sending an blast of aura towards Charizards legs, downing it easily.

With Charizard down, Ares quickly pinned it down, his hands situated above Charizards slender neck, aura pulsing between them.

"Submit."

Ares muttered, waiting for Charizard to reply.

Charizard remained still, its eyes once more gauging Ares's intent. Seeing no hesitation, Charizard slumped back to the ground.

It had submitted.

While the skirmish had been short, it had created a sense of hierarchy between them, even if it was only for now. With this out of the way, Charizard would listen to Ares's orders, avoiding a budding problem.