"You really…"
"Rowlet."
"…Fine."
Lumiere shook his head helplessly. He hadn't expected Rowlet to suddenly step in to protect him and knock Pikachu out cold.
He'd originally wanted to keep it around to see if he could get some clues about Glameow, but now that chance was gone.
The problem was, what now? He was holding a heavily injured, unconscious Pikachu, and a whole bunch of its underlings were lying around nearby.
Should he just leave them here and ignore it? After all, they looked like wild Pokémon that probably lived here normally—there was no real obligation to get involved.
Besides, those guys had been vicious. He was still nursing burns from being electrocuted, not to mention getting slapped twice for free…
Still, Pikachu's final look lingered in his mind. It was as if it had been desperately trying to protect something, which was why it fought him so fiercely.
And the wound on its tail really was frightening. If left untreated, it might even become life-threatening…
After thinking it over for a long time, Lumiere finally sighed and made a decision.
"Forget it. I'll let my bleeding-heart tendencies win this once. If they recover, maybe I can still find some clues about Glameow."
He forced a justification on himself, then had Rowlet switch into the Blissey outfit and use Life Dew to ease their injuries a bit.
Rowlet, of course, obediently healed all the electric mice once. Then Lumiere found a small cart at the abandoned construction site, loaded all the Pokémon onto it, and even picked up a piece of old cloth to cover them.
Next was pushing the cart four kilometers to the Pokémon Center. Today's ordeal definitely counted as exercise…
Using his phone for navigation, he chose the shortest route with the fewest people. Even so, plenty of passersby still noticed him along the way, though they mostly just found it strange and didn't pay much attention.
Two hours later, half-dead with exhaustion, he finally pushed the cart into the Pokémon Center.
When Chansey came over after hearing the noise, it was startled by his appearance. Luckily, there weren't many people in the Pokémon Center at this time.
"Nurse Joy, I've got a bunch of injured Pokémon here. Please help…"
Hearing Lumiere's voice, Nurse Joy hurried over from the counter and asked, "What happened?"
"These Pikachu and an Emolga are all unconscious. Some of them are injured as well."
"Let me take a look."
Nurse Joy had Chansey assist her and examined the Pikachu one by one, her brows gradually knitting together.
She then turned back to him, her expression tinged with anger. "Are you their Trainer? Or are you one of those heartless bosses who raise Pikachu just to exploit them for power generation?"
Realizing he'd been misunderstood, Lumiere quickly recounted what had happened two hours earlier. After quite a bit of explaining, he finally convinced her.
"The other Pikachu and the Emolga aren't too bad. Their injuries should heal in a few days—once they wake up, they'll be fine."
"But this female Pikachu is in much worse shape. It looks like it was attacked by a Poison-type Pokémon. Even though a Pecha Berry removed the poisoning, the wounds are too deep. Combined with the infection, surgery is required immediately!"
As expected of a professional—Nurse Joy had grasped the situation after just a brief examination.
At the Pokémon Center, restoring stamina was free, but things like surgery required payment. After all, they needed some form of income too.
Lumiere fell silent for a moment, then walked aside to make a phone call. When he returned, he said, "Please treat it."
Watching Pikachu being wheeled into the operating room, he waited outside with Rowlet in his arms, a little worried.
"Rowlet?"
"It's fine. I'm just wondering whether I'll get a chance to slap it back twice when it wakes up. That can't just be let go."
He rubbed Rowlet's round head, then sat down on a chair, his expression turning thoughtful.
What Nurse Joy had mentioned earlier about those heartless bosses kept bothering him.
So he pulled out his phone and searched to see what that was about…
"Two months ago, a factory in Jubilife City was discovered and reported for secretly capturing, raising, and abusing Pikachu and other Electric-type Pokémon, forcing them to generate power for free to save on electricity costs."
"With the assistance of Officer Jenny, Team Galactic member Commander Saturn, who acted at her request, and Gold-Rank Villain Mutual Aid member Volo, the factory owner and accomplices were all arrested."
"The abused Pokémon were rescued and either released back into the wild or taken in by the police. However, due to the chaos at the time, some Pokémon escaped and their whereabouts remain unknown…"
Reading this, Lumiere felt like he finally understood something. No matter the world, there were always people who deserved to be strung up—before, they exploited humans; now, they exploited Pokémon.
Those Pikachu and Emolga were probably among the ones who escaped the factory two months ago. That would explain their hostility toward humans, and why his favorability with them was so low.
But they seemed even more hostile toward Rowlet cosplaying as Glameow. Could it be that Glameow had done something to them?
The answer was unclear for now. Still, he hadn't expected Volo to be involved in the case—maybe he'd have a chance to ask him about it later.
But what was this "Team Galactic member Saturn"? Was that the blue cat-faced guy he was thinking of?
Just as he was about to search further on his phone, the green light above the operating room suddenly turned on!
He immediately put everything else out of his mind and walked over. The surgery had finished already—it hadn't even been fifteen minutes.
Chansey came out of the operating room and waved him inside.
Lumiere nodded and followed it in, seeing Pikachu lying on the bed in the adjacent room, surgery complete, resting on its side.
It wore a faint smile, as if dreaming of something pleasant, looking extremely cute. The wound on its heart-shaped tail had been properly treated and bandaged.
Nurse Joy stepped out of the room and said, "It's fine now. Just don't let it battle until the wound has fully healed. If it tears open again, the next surgery will be very troublesome."
"Thank you."
After thanking her, Lumiere went inside to take a closer look.
Once inside, he noticed many fluffy blankets laid out in the corner. The Emolga and the other Pikachu were all curled up on them, resting peacefully.
It really was Nurse Joy—she'd taken care of everything in such a short time.
Rowlet changed back into the Pikachu outfit and flew onto the bed, deliberately brushing its tail against Pikachu's face, clearly aiming for something…
"Don't mess around. If you want to fight, wait until it's recovered."
Lumiere put Rowlet back on his shoulder, then reached out and gently touched the Pikachu. Sure enough, it was much cuter when quiet. Thinking back to how it had attacked him earlier, the contrast was oddly endearing.
Seeing him pet it, Rowlet flew down as well and started patting it with its wing. One human and one bird happily fussed over the electric mouse together…
But just then, Pikachu seemed to sense something and suddenly woke up!
It looked at the two culprits committing these "atrocities" against it, and a flash of embarrassment and anger appeared in its eyes.
Just as it was about to unleash Thunderbolt, it noticed that its tail had been bandaged, and that its underlings were resting comfortably nearby, apparently unharmed.
Seeing that it had woken up, Lumiere felt inexplicably happy and said, "You're awake. The surgery was a success."