I'm the Owner of the Pokémon Day Care In the World of Pokémon

Chapter 1142: Rodent Infestation

"Manene!"

Of course, we should go down and see what's inside!

Hearing the hesitation in Dawn's voice, Mime Jr. immediately raised its hand and volunteered. It was full of curiosity about the scene Spoink had just foretold during the fortune-telling.

"Do all of you want to go too?" Dawn asked for the opinions of the other Pokémon.

"Boing, boing!"

"Pii, pii!"

Except for Chatot, who didn't give any opinion, Spoink and Cleffa were in complete agreement with Mime Jr.

"Alright then, let's go and take a look!"

Dawn decided to follow the majority and venture down with Mime Jr. and the others.

With the combined efforts of the Pokémon, they managed to lift the manhole cover. Dawn and the four Pokémon then climbed down the ladder.

"Cover the hole back up! We don't want someone tripping over it!" Halfway down, Dawn looked up and reminded Spoink.

"Boing, boing!"

Spoink responded with a nod and used its psychic power to clang the manhole cover back into place.

"It's so dark in here!" After her feet touched the ground, Dawn glanced around at her surroundings and complained.

The manhole led to Verdanturf Town's underground waterways. It wasn't pitch black inside, but the light was indeed very dim. The silence was eerie, and Dawn's voice echoed in the tunnel, mixing with the faint sound of water flowing, which only added to the unsettling atmosphere.

"Manene..."

"Pii, pii..."

Mime Jr. and Cleffa were scared too. They clung to Dawn's legs on either side, trembling with fear.

"Which way should we go?" Chatot looked at the two directions of the waterway and asked Dawn.

"I don't know either." Dawn bent down, picking up Cleffa and Mime Jr., one in each arm, and then couldn't help but scold them, "If you're this scared, why did you even come down?"

Suddenly, a rustling sound came from Dawn's right. Pointing in that direction, she said, "How about we head this way?"

Since no one knew which way to choose, they all agreed to follow Dawn's suggestion.

Flap, flap, flap!

After walking a short distance, the sound of wings flapping suddenly echoed through the tunnel.

"Aaaahh..."

Seeing the dark shapes rushing toward them, Dawn screamed in fear.

"What are you afraid of? It's just a few Zubat." Chatot, unfazed, let out a low grumble and then used Hyper Voice, causing the Zubat to fly off in confusion.

"Alright, it's all clear! In a place like this, it's normal to see Zubat."

Watching the Zubat scatter away in a panic, Chatot, for once, acted responsibly and reassured Dawn in a soft voice.

"So it was just a few Zubat, huh!" Now that Dawn saw what the dark shapes were, she wasn't as scared anymore.

Winding their way through the underground waterway, Dawn and her four Pokémon turned left and right several times. Eventually, she realized that she had gotten completely lost.

"What exactly are we looking for?"

"Yeah, what are we looking for?" Chatot couldn't help but ask as well.

Everyone's gaze naturally turned toward Spoink, who backed up a bit. "I don't know either!"

Just as they were debating whether or not to keep moving forward, Dawn once again heard the rustling sounds from earlier. Suddenly, a shadow the size of a small cat appeared in front of them.

"Oh, it's just a Rattata." Dawn squinted and then relaxed. It was just a Rattata, nothing too dangerous.

However, Spoink wasn't as calm. The moment it saw the Rattata, a cold shiver ran down its spine, as if it had a bad premonition.

Sure enough, the next second, the Rattata lunged at Dawn, its sharp front teeth gleaming menacingly in the dim light.

Mime Jr., who was in Dawn's arms, was the first to react. It tried to use Psychic to push the Rattata away but was shocked to find its powers melt away as if they had no effect.

It turned out this wasn't an ordinary Rattata—it was a Dark-type Alolan Rattata! Due to the dim environment, Dawn and her Pokémon hadn't noticed its pitch-black fur.

Luckily, Chatot was quick on its feet. With a swift flap of its wings, it sent out a Hyper Voice that knocked the Rattata away.

"Squeak, squeak..."

As soon as the Rattata hit the ground, it let out a sharp cry. Spoink instinctively wanted to warn everyone to run, but it was too late. In response to the Rattata's call, waves of Rattata started flooding in from the shadows, surrounding Dawn and her Pokémon in an instant.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak..."

"Squeak, squeak, squeak..."

"Squeak, squeak, squeak..."

The entire waterway echoed with the high-pitched squeaks of the Rattata.

"So many Rattata!" Dawn said in fear, trying to stay calm despite the overwhelming situation.

At that moment, Spoink finally realized that the dark shadows it had glimpsed in its pearl earlier were these Rattata.

The swarm of Rattata surged toward Dawn, Chatot, Cleffa, Mime Jr., and Spoink.

"This doesn't make sense! Why are there so many Rattata in Verdanturf Town's underground?" Chatot exclaimed while using Heat Wave to blow away the incoming Rattata.

Cleffa and Mime Jr. no longer stayed huddled in Dawn's arms. Although they were scared, they chose to jump down and stand in front of Dawn, ready to protect her.

Mime Jr.'s Psychic-type abilities were ineffective against the Rattata, and being young and low-level, it hadn't learned many other moves. It could only resort to repeatedly slapping the Rattata with its Doubleslap.

Cleffa was in a slightly better situation. Not only was it higher in level than Mime Jr., but its Sweet Kiss effectively controlled the attacking Rattata. Any Rattata hit by the hearts fell into a confused state, causing them to attack each other indiscriminately.

However, the sheer number of Rattata was overwhelming, and gradually, even Cleffa started to struggle.

Spoink, though also a Psychic-type, had much stronger telekinetic powers than Mime Jr., making it less affected by the Dark-type Rattata's immunity to Psychic-type moves. Nevertheless, despite this, its Psychic abilities were still at a disadvantage, and Spoink couldn't unleash even half of its potential strength.

Spoink's mental power came with limitations. While its Psychic-type moves were powerful, it wasn't adept with moves of other types. So even though its Psychic moves weren't effective against the Rattata, Spoink had no other options.

The main force protecting the group fell to Chatot, the strongest among them. At this moment, Chatot deeply regretted not stopping the others from coming down in the first place. It truly was a case of curiosity killing the bird.

Chatot continuously sent out waves of Heat Wave, each one blasting a large group of Rattata away. Over time, the temperature in the waterway began to rise due to the constant heat.

But no matter how strong Chatot was, it was still only one Pokémon, and there were bound to be gaps in its defense. Suddenly, a Raticate that was much larger than the Rattata, emerged from nowhere. It found an opening in Cleffa and Chatot's defenses and lunged at Dawn.

Luckily, Mime Jr. was close to Dawn and struck the Raticate with Doubleslap. However, the difference in their strength was too great, and Mime Jr. was quickly sent flying by the Raticate.

"Piii!"

Cleffa cried out in alarm as it saw its friend get hurt. In a fit of rage, it immediately rushed forward to avenge Mime Jr.

In its anger, Cleffa began to emit the glow of evolution. To the surprise of all the surrounding Rattata, Cleffa evolved into Clefairy. Any Rattata that tried to take advantage of the evolution process to attack were quickly thrown aside by Spoink's psychic powers.

The condition for Cleffa's evolution was reaching a high level of friendship, and it seemed that in this moment, its bond with Mime Jr. had hit the critical point.

After evolving, Clefairy immediately learned the move Metronome.

With a rhythmic wave of its finger, a cold aura suddenly enveloped the area around Clefairy. In an instant, all the surrounding Rattata, including the Raticate that had attacked Mime Jr., were frozen solid.

It turned out that the move Clefairy had called forth with Metronome was none other than Sheer Cold.

As more and more Raticate appeared among the Rattata horde, Chatot and the others found themselves increasingly overwhelmed.

Just when it seemed like they could no longer hold on, four pulses of Dark Pulse shot out from behind them, wiping out a large number of Rattata and Raticate.

Chatot turned around to see who it was and it's turns out the Zoroark's family had arrived.

The two Liepard swiftly rushed to Dawn's side. The Liepard sister grabbed Dawn by the collar and threw her onto the back of her father, while she herself picked up Clefairy, Mime Jr., and Spoink, and dashed away like lightning.

Seeing Dawn and the others being carried away, the Rattata and Raticate tried to give chase, but Zoroark's younger sister and mother blocked their path. Another round of Dark Pulse swept across the waterway, clearing out a huge number of Rattata and Raticate.

The speed of Liepard and its father was astonishing. In just a few swift movements, they disappeared with Dawn and her Pokémon. Zoroark's younger sister and mother followed close behind them.

Thankfully, Yuga had previously instructed Xatu to keep a close watch on Dawn and the others; otherwise, the Zoroark's family wouldn't have made it in time to rescue them.

Once Dawn and the others left the daycare area, Xatu found it inconvenient to continue following them directly, so it had secretly sent Zoroark's family to tail them instead.

However, with the maze-like layout of the waterway, Zoroark's family lost track of them shortly after entering. If it hadn't been for the sounds of the battle, they might not have found Dawn and her friends in time.

Seeing that Dawn and her group had been rescued, Chatot had no intention of staying to battle the swarm of Rattata and Raticate any longer. Flapping its wings, it immediately made its escape.

The two Liepard carried Dawn and her friends back the way they came, with the two Zoroark and Chatot following closely behind. Once they climbed out of the manhole, Zoroark's mother hurried to replace the cover.

Finally out of danger, Dawn and her Pokémon heaved a long sigh of relief, a feeling of narrowly escaping death washing over them.

"We need to hurry home and tell Yuga about this!"

Barely catching its breath, Chatot couldn't wait to speak up.

This wasn't something to take lightly. With so many Rattata and Raticate in the underground waterways of Verdanturf Town, if they started to cause damage or even escaped to the surface, it would be a disaster for the town.

Also, where did all these Rattata and Raticate come from? How long had they been lurking in the town's underground system? These questions needed answers.

With these thoughts in mind, Chatot hurriedly led Dawn and the others back to the daycare.

When Chatot found Yuga, he was just about to ship out a batch of Pokémon eggs for a customer. After hearing the anxious recount of what had happened from Chatot and Dawn, Yuga frowned deeply. "Are you saying this is all true?"

From their description, there had to be at least a thousand Rattata and Raticate! The thought of that many Pokémon gathering in the underground system of Verdanturf Town was unthinkable.

"Of course it's true! We experienced it ourselves!" Chatot was indignant at Yuga's doubt.

"Yeah, yeah! Brother Yuga, everything Chatot and we said is true," Dawn quickly backed Chatot up.

"Why were you all in the underground waterways in the first place?" Yuga asked in confusion.

Chatot and May quickly explained Spoink's fortune-telling.

What? Yuga was left stunned after hearing the explanation, his expression mirroring Chatot's initial shock when it first realized that Spoink's fortune-telling was real.

Up until now, Yuga had thought Spoink's fortune-telling was just something it did for fun, influenced by TV shows. But it turned out Spoink could really predict the future?

This made Yuga think of Olympia, the Gym Leader of Anistar City in Kalos, who could use psychic powers to foresee future events.

However, fortune-telling wasn't the most important thing at the moment. What mattered now was investigating the situation with the Rattata and Raticate in the underground waterways.

"Chatot, you'll lead the way. I need to investigate the area you mentioned."

"Huh? Me?" Chatot hesitated, clearly unwilling. The thought of those swarms of Rattata and Raticate made it uncomfortable.

"If not you, then who?" Yuga replied.

Hearing this, Chatot glanced at Dawn, then at Mime Jr., Clefairy, and Spoink. Well, apart from itself, the others were just kids.

And so, with Chatot leading the way, Yuga headed to the underground waterways.

Taking into account the situation Chatot had described, Yuga preemptively released Lapras.

They hadn't even reached the spot where Chatot and the others had encountered the Rattata and Raticate when they began to hear the sound of squeaking in the distance.

"Uh oh, they're coming!" Chatot exclaimed, startled.

Lapras, swimming in the water, immediately raised its head, assuming a vigilant stance.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak..."

Sure enough, within a minute, a large swarm of Rattata and Raticate rushed toward Yuga and his group. It was clear that Dawn and the others had fully alarmed these Pokémon earlier.

Seeing the tide of Rattata and Raticate surging toward them, Yuga realized that Chatot hadn't exaggerated at all. In fact, there were even more Pokémon than they had described.

The moment the Rattata and Raticate spotted Yuga, they attacked without hesitation, charging at him with such ferocity that it seemed like they intended to tear him apart, flesh and bone.

"Lapras, now!"

With a powerful lunge, Lapras burst out of the water, energy gathering at the tips of its fins.

Boom!

Two beams of light shot from the energy spots, and Lapras controlled the beams with a wide sweep. In an instant, the charging Rattata and Raticate were completely wiped out.

This was Lapras' Origin Pulse, a move it had been practicing for a long time!