Everything had been witnessed by Nemo.
Perhaps infected by Dragonite's strength and Luo Mu's composure, Nemo's eyes widened, and she couldn't help letting out a short, breathless sigh.
So this...
Was this what a Trainer was?
The helplessness she'd felt when the kidnappers had taken her flashed through Nemo's mind. Suddenly, she made up her mind.
Luo Mu didn't notice the change in Nemo's state of mind. He pulled out his phone and confirmed that his message had reached the Pingdie Town police station. Then he looked toward the building that seemed to be a warehouse and murmured, "We've got things under control here. Luxray and the others should be about done too."
Luo Mu jumped down from Dragonite, then lifted Nemo off Dragonite's back.
Nemo's ear tips flushed faintly as she rested her chin on Luo Mu's shoulder. He seemed so dependable.
Suddenly, Nemo, who was enjoying the sense of security Luo Mu gave her, noticed a pair of sharp, terrifying violet claws emerging from his shadow in the sunlight and slowly reaching toward his legs.
Nemo's pupils contracted, and alarm showed on her face.
Neither Luo Mu, whose attention was on the warehouse, nor Dragonite, up in the air, noticed any of it.
Back to a little earlier.
The five Pokémon led by Luxray had clearly divided up their roles. As soon as they sprang out of their Poké Balls, they headed straight for the warehouse.
As Luxray charged forward, its yellow eyes began to glow, growing brighter until they were almost golden.
Luxray's golden eyes shone like torches. Its species' special innate ability, Frisk, took effect, allowing it to see through the obstacles of metal sheets and brick walls.
Everything inside the dilapidated warehouse came into view.
Several Pokémon were stationed beside the windows on the east and west sides.
At the center of the warehouse were five people: three children lying on the ground, looking weak, and two adult kidnappers.
Luxray narrowed its eyes and began considering how to position everyone so they could rescue the children without anything going wrong.
They couldn't just charge in. Their size would give them away instantly.
Using their overwhelming presence to intimidate the enemies, as Dragonite had, was undoubtedly the easiest option. But one wrong move could put the children, already fragile from fear, in danger.
The only solution was to distinguish between the targets of the intimidation.
But neither Luxray, Swampert, nor Ceruledge could control it with that degree of precision.
That left only one option: ask Serperior if it could manage.
Luxray lowered its voice and growled a few times, conveying its plan.
Serperior, already at the edge of the warehouse, quickly replied, "Ser!" (No problem!)
Luxray gave a slight nod. It had Ceruledge and Swampert handle the Pokémon by the west window, while it took care of the Pokémon by the east window alone.
The moment their break-in drew the kidnappers' attention, Serperior would intimidate them, then use Vine Whip
to rescue the three children.
As soon as the plan was ready, the four Pokémon sprang into action.
Luxray, clad in a suit of lightning, smashed through the wall and window with a fierce charge, electrocuting the three Golbat guards unconscious.
Swampert raised its muscular right arm high. Ceruledge leapt onto it, and Swampert hurled Ceruledge toward the west window!
At the same time, the Flame Blades on Ceruledge's arms blazed with Vengeful Fire. Its Bitter Blade smashed through the three Rattata and the wall alongside them, knocking them out of the fight and leaving them unconscious.
The three Pokémon showed restraint and didn't use lethal force.
Just as the bearded man and the tall, thin man froze in shock, Serperior's intimidating presence surged toward them like a tide, instantly stiffening their bodies.
Serperior had controlled it perfectly, without affecting the three children at all.
At the same time, Verdant Vine cut through the air, swept up the three terrified children who'd been dragged along by ropes held by the two men, and pulled them toward Serperior.
Everything was proceeding in an orderly fashion.
Only Mimikyu, standing dazed in front of the door, looked around in confusion and realized that it seemed to have been overlooked again.
This happened all the time. Luxray and the others didn't ignore Mimikyu on purpose; Mimikyu's faint presence simply caused them to overlook it without thinking.
Even so, Mimikyu poked a pair of Shadow Claws capable of tearing through steel out from beneath its disguise. It sulked claw-to-claw for a while, then decided to go find Luo Mu—the one person who never overlooked it—and act cute.
Luxray and the others had already taken care of everything, anyway.
Mimikyu slipped into the shadows beneath the weeds and traveled along the connections between shadows, heading for Luo Mu's shadow as he jumped down from Dragonite.
A few breaths later, Mimikyu emerged from Luo Mu's shadow, reaching out with its Shadow Claws to tug at his cropped pants and get his attention.
Then Mimikyu saw the alarmed expression on the girl's face where she sat on Luo Mu's shoulder. It tilted its head and called out hesitantly.
"Miku?"
"Huh? Mimikyu, what are you doing here?"
Luo Mu reacted quickly. The moment he heard Mimikyu's puzzled cry, he knew it had slipped into his shadow again.
Nemo's alarmed expression froze, then quickly shifted to confusion and blankness.
Was this Pokémon the big brother's partner?
So she'd been worried for nothing.
Good thing big brother hadn't noticed how her expression had changed. Otherwise, she would've embarrassed herself in front of someone she admired.
That was right. In such a short time, Luo Mu had already become someone Nemo admired as much as her parents and older sister.
Mimikyu carefully sheathed the sharpness of its Shadow Claws and climbed onto Luo Mu's left shoulder. Its whole body seemed to melt, almost slumping into a happy heap as it greedily absorbed Luo Mu's "Trainer Energy," making up for its slightly wounded heart.
Suddenly, Mimikyu noticed Nemo. She had climbed down from Luo Mu's arms and was hugging his right arm, quietly watching it.
For some reason, a subtle feeling it couldn't understand surfaced in Mimikyu's heart.
There was no time to figure out what the feeling meant. Mimikyu had noticed something odd.
Even Dragonite had only noticed it because of Luo Mu's voice.
But this girl seemed to have seen it from the very beginning.?
Not long after Luo Mu had subdued the bearded man and the other two social trash who only dared to kidnap children in secret, the long-awaited wail of sirens rang out in the distance.
At the same time, a very expensive-looking luxury car followed the police car toward them.
Luo Mu glanced at Nemo, who was comforting the other three frightened children. A smile curved his lips as he turned to look at the three kidnappers, bound head to toe by Serperior's Frenzy Plant as if they'd committed some unforgivable crime.
Serperior had even thoughtfully sealed their mouths, so no filthy language could offend Luo Mu or the children.
Luo Mu smiled. "Congratulations, bosses! You've each won a pair of Silver Bracelets!"
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