Pokémon: The Price of Caution.

breath on his cheek and his hair tries to stand up from the electric charge around her.

Lick

The man can't help but sputter when, rather than mauling him, Manectric licks him several times right over his scars, making them tingle like low voltage was run through them. The huge pokemon pulls away and regards the tense Vulpix for a moment, then the barely conscious Azumarill and shocked Jenny, but does not deign to look at the young intern. Then in one smooth motion, she turns and leans down, taking her egg with all the care one would thin glass in her maw, before leaping through the glass window against the back of the room. In just a few lightning-fast bounds, she's gone and out of sight, vanishing to the night.

'Huh... The sun set while we were in here.'

"W-What just happened?" Officer Jenny asks, looking between Lee and the broken window, her expression lost. The intern just slumps back into the wall, staring at nothing.

Lee falls backward, laying spread on the floor, uncaring of the broken tiles jabbing his back and waving away Vulpix's concern when she steps into his vision. "Hey, Jenny? What's the legality of sending a pokemon to pick up smokes with some money? I really just want to pass out here."

"It's no problem at all!"

The mayor of Oldale could easily be mistaken for a professional Santa. The older, rotund man, mayor of Oldale for 24 years now, has roughly the same looks as Santa, but with a bombastic personality that almost makes his quaint office in the town hall feel too small. Both his belly and white beard shake with his exclamation. "It would shame all of us in Oldale if we let our heroes go without reward. We are a small town you know, but we are not without luxuries! In fact, I called our finest hotel and the owner insisted you boys stay a few nights free of charge in their best room!"

Brendan doesn't even try to hide his grin, and Lee smiles at the jolly man on the outside, but inwardly...

'Jesus man, I understand you're grateful and all, but c'mon. Where is the recognition of the firefighters, EMTs and all that?' Then a more cynical thought hits him. 'Is all this because we're lab trainers? Or because Brendan is Nigel's son? Would they catch a bad rap if they didn'ttreat us well?' Lee thinks to himself, not wanting to wake the snoozing Vupix across his shoulders. 'Too much to think about and not enough energy.' He suppresses a yawn. Then without warning, Lee's phone begins to buzz and ring in his pocket, stopping the mayor from starting up another long-winded thanks and waking up an instantly cranky Vulpix. Pulling the phone out, the front screen reads "Prf Birch."

"Sorry, sir," Lee apologizes to the mayor. "It's from Professor Birch. I think I have to take this," he says, giving the phone a little wave.

"No harm done my boy!" The mayor says with a laugh. "Go on, your taxi to your hotel is outside whenever you're ready. Have a wonderful night you two!"

"Thanks again!" Brendan says, following after Lee who is already out the door. Lee flips the phone open-'Thats still novel'-as he and Brendan walk to the lobby and answers. "Evening, Professor," he says, seating himself with Brendan following suit. "I think I already know why you're calling."

"Not even out for a week and you two made the news,"Birch replies, his tone almost a laugh. "Is Brendan there? Can you put me on speaker?"

Vulpix lets out a low whine and resigns herself to be awake through more human chatter.

The scarred man pulls the phone away from his head and hits the speaker button. "You're on, Professor," he says, reaching up with his free hand to pat the grumpy vixen. "Hey, dad!" Brendan leans over the cellphone with a wide smile.

"Hey, sport." Birch greets back. "You about gave me and your mom a heart attack, you know that? Being firefighter relief on only day three? I had to wait a full three months before I got to see any action, and that was just a ranger asking for help finding a lost Furret." The boy laughs nervously. "Hehe. Oops?"

Lee snorts. "Where do I put in my two weeks professor? I think I've had enough excitement already," he ribs.

"You act like I'd accept your resignation," Birch shoots back with a chuckle. "So what happened in there? Reports say a pokemon started the fire, but it's wild how the fire got so out of control so quickly."

Lee hums and thinks the long day over. "It wasn't a fire pokemon like everything initially thought, but a gargantuan, wild Manectric, maybe one with the Giants's Gene. She got into the Pokemon Center looking for her stolen egg and overloaded the wiring in the building so much that outlets all over exploded, starting fires. The sprinklers were electronically controlled if I recall, so that's why the fire got out of hand. Luckily no one was killed and the injured will all make recoveries, but a decent part of the center is toast."

Birch is silent for a moment. "And you battled this Manectric? Did you catch her?" Lee shakes his head, then feels a little foolish when he realizes Birch can't see him. 'I need some sleep.'"Confronted her, yes, battled her, no. She had Officer Jenny and a center intern with the egg cornered. This really seemed like one of those 'pick your battle' moments so I de-escalated and returned the egg to her. She left without incident after that."

"Deescalated?" Birch asks, his confusion easily apparent. Brenden turns to look at Lee curiously as well. "Lee, you were between an angry mother and her egg, a mother with the Giant's Gene if you saw correctly. Most wild pokemon refuse to listen to reason for much less than egg theft and are willing to fight much tougher odds. How...How did you escape?

"I..." Lee falters, suddenly unsure. He glances at the still curious Brendan. "I used skills from my old occupation is all."

"Ahh..." Birch replies. "Of course. Make a log of all of that and send it to me when you can, will you please? Written or audio is good," all traces of his disbelief are gone from his voice. "And Brendan? I already know what you're going to ask. Don't pester Lee about his past. He'll tell you if he wants."

The younger trainer's jaw shuts with a click of his teeth, his question replaced with a long-suffering sigh. "I won't keep you guys all night, but Brendan, your mom does want to yell-erm, talk to you. Lee, can you hand the phone to Brendan for a bit?"

Lee smirks and hits the speaker button again before handing the flip-phone to a now pale Brendan. "Walk and talk, champ I need a shower and some sleep," the older trainer says, standing and making for the exit of Oldale's city hall.

Vulpix lets out a sigh and snuggles closer to her human's neck before she rests her head back down on his shoulder... Only to scrunch her muzzle when the yelling over the cellphone and Brendan's mumbled defense is still audible even with the boy dragging his feet several yards back. She lets out a sigh of relief when a thumb and middle finger close around her head and tenderly rub her aching temples.

Lee smiles when he feels contentment flow through his and Vulpix's tether. Tether. He quite likes the descriptor of their connection. 'Don't get too comfy, love. We'll have a big, soft bed we can cuddle in here in just a bit.' Lee sends as they walk up to the taxi idling under a lit streetlamp. 'Maybe call room service for a snack and we'll definitely sleep in.'

Vulpix musters the will to raise her head just long enough to lick his cheek.

⚡️This novel is available in pdf format with more than 400 chapters if you want you can visit our store...⚡️

 ⚡️https://magicpages.tiendup.com/⚡️