Chapter Fifty-Five: The Ruthless Adams!

Heath watched the scene before him in silence. As long as he could capture evidence of the Adams family's crimes, then even if Adams was the tycoon of Evergreen City, he would not be able to walk away unscathed.

To prevent Zorua from becoming too agitated or enraged and ruining the plan, Heath had specially reminded her to stay quiet and calm, so as not to risk being discovered.

Adams' son walked in. Heath couldn't recall his name—after all, the Adams family seemed shrouded in mystery. Most of the time, only Adams himself appeared in public; his son was rarely seen.

But what made Heath frown was that Adams was holding a whip—a genuine punitive whip. Just seeing the fine grooves on its surface, Heath could imagine what torment Charmander would soon endure.

"How cruel! To treat Charmander like this!" Zorua lay atop Heath's head, speaking through gritted teeth. Heath reached up to soothe her.

If he didn't, Heath suspected Zorua would rip out a fair share of his hair, and then perhaps he'd become powerful enough to punch Arceus in the face.

"Charmander, you really know how to hide, don't you? To evade me for so long!" Young Adams sneered, cracking his whip forcefully against the ground with a sharp snap.

Charmander kept its head bowed, ignoring Adams before it, showing no response.

Heath sighed. For the sake of recording evidence, he had to watch as Charmander suffered, deciding to intervene and rescue it once things went far enough.

"Charmander!" Young Adams suddenly raised the whip high, and Heath couldn't bear to keep his eyes open.

"Please, torment me~~" At that moment, just as Heath expected to hear Charmander's cries, he opened his eyes in confusion.

Young Adams, eager, placed the whip before Charmander and, excitedly, turned his back, lifting his shirt to reveal his spine.

Heath slowly tapped out a question mark in his mind. It wasn't that he wondered about himself—rather, he wondered about everyone else.

Charmander stared numbly at its trainer. It had imagined its trainer would be a powerful figure; even if a bit incompetent, Charmander could still protect him.

But...

But faced with this trainer who kept demanding pain from it, Charmander shut its eyes in anguish. What kind of trainer was this?

"Charmander~ Whip me, please~ You can use your claws if you want~" Watching Young Adams beg for punishment, Heath could hardly contain his own emotions.

"Damn..." He let slip, quickly covering his mouth, but Young Adams still heard.

"Who's there?" Adams instantly turned stern, scanning the surroundings in alert, but everything was perfectly still—nothing amiss.

After searching, Young Adams dismissed it, thinking he'd misheard, and returned to Charmander.

Seeing Charmander's grief, Heath shook his head. No wonder Charmander had run away—it had been tormented by this perverse trainer.

"I take back what I said earlier; please hit harder!" Zorua said excitedly, wishing she could rush over herself and whip the guy a few times.

Heath gave his Pokémon a strange look. He realized he might need to keep Zorua away from whips and similar things in the future—who knew what she might do otherwise.

Seeing that things weren't quite as he'd expected, Heath sighed and put away his phone; he had lost the motivation to keep recording.

He'd thought he was capturing criminal evidence, but nearly ended up documenting the Adams family's scandalous affairs.

Rescuing Pokémon from abuse was Heath's duty, but correcting someone else's peculiar preferences was beyond his responsibility.

Heath could only silently wish Charmander happiness with its trainer, then left Adams’ house with Zorua.

"Traveling with you is so much fun, Trainer. Look, today we even met such a unique person," Zorua chirped excitedly atop Heath's head.

"No matter what, as long as they're not tormenting Charmander... As for Young Adams' preferences, that's for his father to worry about." Heath shook his head. If Old Adams ever learned about his son's peculiar tastes, who knew what he'd do.

Given that, Heath figured Steven was probably much less trouble for his father. After all, Steven's only hobby was digging for rocks all over the world.

Heath strolled leisurely toward the gym. He still needed Zorua to cancel her illusion, then return to his dorm for rest.

Just thinking about Sister Maple's wrath gave him a headache. He didn't know how to explain to her that Young Adams wasn't actually tormenting Charmander.

But Heath knew he couldn't tell Maple he had been spying at Young Adams' house—otherwise, she'd probably denounce him for the greater good.

"Forget it, if Maple wants to know, she'll find out eventually," Heath muttered, leaving the villa district.

...

When Heath returned to the dorm, everything was normal. Officer Maple was still holed up in her room, not coming out, for reasons unknown.

Heath didn't pay it much mind. After all, he'd learned the truth behind Charmander's predicament—a trainer with unique tastes, and a Pokémon who wanted nothing to do with them.

Maple's current worries would soon turn to shock and disbelief once she learned the full story.

"Right, tomorrow I need to go to the furniture store and buy some tables and chairs..." Heath scratched his head. He had the mobile cart now, but without places for customers to sit, it was still inconvenient.

He couldn't very well have people standing to eat all the time—that wouldn't be good for them, and it would hurt his business too.

"I want to take a bath, Trainer~" Just as Heath was considering whether to flip through some flyers, he heard a soft, childish voice.