The Runt Of The Litter
Chapter 4: Redemption
Description: Dick Grayson had always been the runt of his family, and they were supposed to be short enough as it was! But, he had his mothers heart and looks and his fathers strength. But as it turns out, the child has always and probably always will adopt the runts of Pokemon nests that he finds. As he grows up with heartbreak, pain, tragedy and regret, he must depend on his Pokemon and friends in order to survive his sorrow. Will Richard become a legendary hero like he's always dreamed of, will he live to his thirteenth birthday even? Can he admit his love for a close friend... we can't be sure, unless we read The Runt Of The Litter!
A/N: Whelp, here it is, chapter three!
June 3rd, 1992, 11:43 PM
Over the years of living with Batman, a bond had been formed between Robin and him, making them an unbeatable duo. Time seemed to whiz by, only stopping to locate a mourning period on the day of Dick's parents deaths. However, Dick's Pokemon never stopped changing and being added it felt like. By now, Pidgeotto had changed into a Pidgeot during a battle with a wild Skarmory. Charmander was a Charmeleon aiming to become a Charizard in due time, it had changed into a Charmeleon after Robin had been kidnapped on a mission and used the evolution to save his trainers life. Woobat had been a bit worse off, after all, Robin had been petrified of her for some time. But one day, he hadn't aimed right for a flip and had almost fallen to his death, but at the last second he had been grabbed by Ginger (The Woobat) and saved. The Woobat had evolved recently into Swoobat and was one of Robin's hero Pokemon, a common favorite in the papers. As time ticked evermore by, more and more Pokemon were caught by both Robin and Batman as they stuck together.
So far, Robin officially had a Pidgeotto, a Charmeleon, a Swoobat, an Eevee still, his mother and fathers Jolteon and Vaporeon, a Riolu and finally an odd egg. One morning, an early day of June, Dick hurried through the house with Bruce riding on his back, Mary running on her little legs behind them (She couldn't fly inside anymore since she was three times her size) and Addison yipping happily at Dick's side. Just as they rounded the corner, Robin halted at the sight of Alfred, after he had turned eight, Alfred had made a very strict no running in the mansion rule. So, Dick walked carefully to the third floor stairs, waving at Alfred's Minnchino before rushing to the stairs.
"Master Dick, how many times must I tell you, no running in the manor!" Alfred yelled as he caught sight of the boy rushing down the stairs.
Dick rolled his eyes and hurried to the grandfather clock, changing it to the appropriate time and speeding to meet Batman at the Bat-computer, the man was already dressed and ready to go on patrol that night. "Just give me a minute Bruce, I'll be ready soon." Dick assured his mentor before going to the changing rooms and changing into his costume.
As a bonus, Robin's Pokemon wore masks to cover there own eyes encase someone recognized Charmeleon from Top Pokemon magazines or Robin's Swoobat from Pokemon and Me on TV from only being on one special. As it would turn out, being a billionaire's adopted son seems to add you to the roster for being on TV specials, online or being attacked by the media for interviews and pictures for tabloids. In reality, it was very tiring for the ten year old, but he could live with it. Batman gave Robin a long look as he left the changing room, he had done that every time Robin wore the costume since he was only six. Shaking his head and muttering something Robin couldn't hear, he began typing away on his computer. Right, it was game time now, no more messing around or acting like a ten year old child, Robin needed to kick it into being an adult again, saying funny things at times but staying as a hero for everyone in Gotham. Bruce smiled as he roared happily, pulling on his own blood red mask that covered his eyes from view. Swoobat simply went without a mask, as far as anyone knew, Dick Grayson never used a Swoobat or even owned one for that matter, only Robin did.
"So who are we fighting tonight?" Robin asked, taking a seat in a spiny chair beside the computer that shined a bright light through the cave.
Batman bit back a growl. "Joker, the fool got loose again."
Robin nodded, shivering at hearing the mad clowns name. He had known several clowns in the circus, and Joker was NOT like them, not even like the occasional drunk clown who rode tiny unicycles and always fell over. With a confident nod, Robin was about to run for his R-Cycle (He hardly knew how to drive it, but could learn easily on the job), but was stopped by Batman as the tall man placed a gentle hand on the small boys shoulder. Robin turned to Batman, questioning blue eyes behind his mask as he stared up at his mentor who towered over him in height.
"Richard, not tonight. Joker's worse then ever tonight, I can't put you in danger." Batman said, staring at his son knowing secretly that that wouldn't be enough for the boy.
Robin raised an eyebrow at Bruce. "Bruce, I can handle myself in a fight, plus, I've got Bruce and Whiskers with me. Besides, I've fought Joker before, I'll be careful."
"My mind is made up, your staying here, Dick. You can call me later, I'll be home soon." Batman deadpanned, not giving the boy room to argue as he headed to the Bat-mobile.
"Batman, you know that I can fight fine, I'll be fine." Dick continued, not allowing Bruce to just walk away like he always did during an argument. "I'm too old to be treated like a glass cup, I can handle it."
Batman turned to Dick, a dark look in his masked eyes. "You will stay here and wait for me to get back or go to bed on your own, your still only ten Richard, your too young to take on Joker. I know that you've done it before, but I can't take that kind of a risk with you."
With that, he drove away, leaving Robin to glare a the smoke that receded from the back of the car as Batman left him behind, again. It seemed like he did that alot, Batman would leave Robin to stay at home almost every night. Richard glared at the ground, taking a seat in the chair before the bat-computer and growling under his breath. At once, Addison hoped into his lap and began purring, slowly calming the upset child. Bruce glared at his trainer, why would he stay behind when there were clearly people in danger? It seemed that Bruce could never understand Dick, staring up at said boy, he began making small roaring sounds as his way of speaking.
"No Bruce, Batman told us to stay here." Robin said, answering his Pokemon's wishes with an added sigh as he slumped further into the chair. "He's in charge, we have to follow his rules and do what he says at all times." He explained.
Charmeleon wouldn't take no for an answer. "Char char!" It argued.
Robin rolled his masked eyes. "You know him, he'll know if we leave, we have to stay put." He crossed his arms over his chest, sighing deeply. "Even if its stupid, we have to listen to him."
Charmeleon looked infuriated by this. "Char char Charmeleon!" It yelled, pointing at the caves secret entrance to the city. "Char char!"
"So... if we hurry and just... help out a bit, he'll never know we'd have left?" Robin asked his Charmeleon, smiling to himself as he stood up.
"Char." Bruce answered simply.
Robin smiled deviously at his Charmeleon, motioning for Whiskers to follow as he walked over to his R-cycle. "As usual Bruce, you never cease to amaze me." He commented, climbing on and sending both of his Pokemon into black and red painted Pokeball's before speeding off into the night.
Addison and Mary exchanged a worried look to one another before nodding, Addison hopped onto Mary's back as the two followed by flying through the crisp night air.
June 4rd, 1992, 1:47 AM
A roaring engine echoed through the air as a boy by the age of ten in a red, green and yellow colored outfit drove a motorcycle to a specified warehouse, said to be where the legendary and evil Joker was living during his most recent escape from Arkham Insanity Asylum. Robin stood off of the bike as he was joined by his Charmeleon and Swoobat, both Pokemon ready for combat. Robin shivered in the cold, he hated summer nights, they were always so dang cold! With an added yawn from lack of any recent sleep, Robin hurried into the warehouse, climbing rafters and sticking to staying high up in the air as he watch Joker and his girlfriend Harley Quinn from afar. There two Mightena, both brown from being shiny and completely crazy, were fighting over a larger then life steak as Harley watched, giggling at how rough her 'Babies' played with one another, it sickened the Pokemon loving hero to no end. Robin's Charmeleon wrapped its arms around Robin's neck and wrapped its legs around his waist, breathing heavily as they stared down at the villains. Swoobat hung upside down from a rafter, acting like a stray Pokemon who had just accidentally flown in.
"Pudding, are you alright?" Harley asked, rubbing the Joker's shoulders lovingly.
Joker sighed as he rubbed his forehead. "Bats isn't here yet, he was supposed to be here HOURS AGO! I wanted to play a game, I even left a present in Gotham Square for him." He said sadly.
Robin stiffened, usually a present from Joker meant anything from a pie in the face to streets full of dead and bleeding bodies, it was truly a terrifying thought as it sent shivers up the young heroes back as he tried to keep quiet. Suddenly, Joker smiled very evilly up at him, staring straight into his masked eyes as an evil glint entered Joker's eyes.
"Look Har, we have a visitor!" Joker exclaimed, smiling up at the ten year old with corruption in those green eyes of his.
Harley nodded, smiling as she too caught sight of the boy. "And look pudding, he brought his adorable pets too!" She exclaimed, seeing Bruce and Whiskers easily in the room.
"ATTACK!" Robin screamed, jumping down and flipping into a crotch as his Pokemon took there position beside him for battle. "Charmeleon, the Mightena! Swoobat, Harley! I've got Joker." He decided.
As the Pokemon ran off to fight the specified targets, Joker smiled down at Robin, pulling out a sniper rifle from his jacket. "Lets dance baby bat." He said, his yellow teeth glinting with decay and filth.
June 4rd, 1992, 2:34 AM
The great Batman struggled through the darkness as he searched for his adoptive son. Oh yes, he knew that Dick had snuck out, Alfred had called and told him. But so far, neither Gordon nor any crooks in Gotham had seen the brightly clothed bird, much to Batman's anger. How that child always disappeared without warning, he'd never know, all he wanted to do was find his son and stop him before he did anything stupid. At this thought, a loud flapping sound could be heard. Odd, Batman thought as he still didn't turn around, most kids don't fly to Gotham unless its daylight out. However, a loud noise erupted Batman's thoughts.
"CAW!" Came Mary's famous call as she landed neatly next to the Batman, Addison looked warn out and tired.
Batman stared at her, knowing she'd know where Robin was. "Where's Dickie?" He asked as he rubbed the birds neck gently.
The bird looked fearful, then motioned for Batman to get onto its back. "Not a chance." Batman said, sending out a Dragonite he had gotten from Superman a few years ago that he rarely used. "Lead the way." He ordered.
-Minutes Later-
Batman quickly hopped off of Dragonite as they arrived at the specified warehouse, returning it to its Pokeball, Batman hurried and motioned for Addison and Mary to wait outside while he saved Robin. Hiding in the rafters (There's irony in this somewhere) he stared down at the Joker and struggled to not outright scream at the insane clown. The man had Robin tied to a wooden chair in-between himself and Harley, the boy looked awful with a blackened eye, a bloody nose and a twisted arm by the looks of it. Charmeleon and Whiskers were in two grey carnival balls on the ceiling tied by weakening ropes above pools of acid, the Pokemon struggled to even dent the orbs as they tried to escape and aid there trainer, but to no avail. Reaching the ropes, Batman very carefully undid the openings to the pods to allow Charmeleon and Swoobat to crawl or fly out. Reaching Batman on the rafters, Charmeleon slapped the man angrily, growling.
"Its not my fault that he left without permission." Batman whispered as he quickly got into a better spot to properly see what was happening below to his son.
Joker smiled down at the shivering boy, who looked terrified out of his young mind. "Aw, are you scared birdie?" He asked sadly. "Don't worry, I'm sure Daddy will be here soon enough."
Robin lost his fear and buried it in the back of his mind as he sent a firm glare to Joker. "Screw off Joker, Batman will kick your sorry rear once he gets here!" He yelled, still glaring at the clown prince of Gotham.
"Oh, really, then why hasn't he come out yet?" Joker asked, smiling up at Batman now, then frowned sadly as he saw the empty traps. "Aw, Bats let the discoballs down." He complained childishly.
Batman jumped down, landing in a crotch as he glared at the Joker with such hatred in his eyes that it would stop any man dead in their tracks... except Joker. "Its over Joker, let the child go."
"Oh, really, why would I do that? We're having a blast Bats old boy, look, I even brought the fun gun!" Joker said, pulling out a sniper rifle from his jacket and pointing it at Robin's shoulder with a wide grin. "Now then, lets play a game, its called bluff or shoot to death."
Robin looked terrified as he shivered from having the cold gun touch his thin shirt. "Joker, lets talk this out, come on, lets settle it with a Pokemon battle or something." He suggested, still trying to ignore the gun at his shoulder.
Without thinking, Joker shot the gun into Robin's shoulder. Red flashed in Robin's vision as everything seemed to slow down, making him feel every second of that accursed bullet entering his shoulder as he let out a blood curdling scream that filled the warehouse in seconds. Very slowly in Robin's mind, he looked at the wound, blood seeped quickly from the open wound as red now started to cloud the child's vision again. He was going into shock. There were noises in the background, people fighting and screams of pain, but all Robin registered was that he was dying and dying fast at that notion.
Suddenly, Addison and Mary blurred into the boys vision, having snuck into the building during the fight that now raged on in the background. Addison curled into Robin's side from Robin having fallen to the floor with his bindings undone from a bat-a-rang, the Eevee purred in reassurance and faked joy as he rubbed his ears into Robin's chest. Mary covered Robin's bleeding form with her huge wings, guarding the boy from the harsh light of the ceiling lights so that he had some sort of peace. With the added comfort, Robin started to slip into the darkness, well, at least if he died, he died with his best friends in the world by his side.
Everything went red and black.
A/N: Its done, this chapter at the very least, hope you liked it! Plus, its a cliffhanger, I hope that it'll get me some reviews hopefully!
~Supercasey.
