Chapter Three: Pika… Pikachu!

"What is that?" Ed demanded when he saw his son come down the stairs, candy bucket in hand.

"Pi…pika," Clark replied in an almost sullen tone of voice. Reaching up, he straightened one of the yellow ears on the hood he was wearing. For a moment, the round and pointed fabric perked up, but as soon as he let go, it flopped down again. Brightening, he added, "Pikachu!" in an enthusiastic falsetto.

Light blue narrowed. "Clark…" Ed began in a warning tone.

"Pika!" Clark insisted.

"English or you're staying here," his father threatened.

His son's lower lip jutted out, but, after a few seconds of pouting, Clark said, "It's a Pokémon, Dad."

One brow arched and Ed took a second look at the bright yellow costume his son was wearing. The floppy ears on his hood were yellow and black, black at the tips and slashing to yellow partway down. The hood itself was embroidered with black eyes, bright red circles that Ed guessed were on the Pokémon's cheeks, and its mouth was open in what was probably supposed to be its 'cute' pose, right beneath a triangle nose.

The rest of the costume was all yellow fabric, at least until Clark turned and Ed saw a pair of horizontal dark tan stripes on his back, plus a tail that was shaped like a lightning bolt. The base of the tail was brown, shifting to yellow in a jagged pattern partway up. The top of the tail had been stitched to the costume, keeping it upright, unlike the ears on the hood.

"Lemme guess," Ed drawled. "It's a Pikachu."

Clark blinked, then flushed and nodded. Tugging at the costume, his expression turned a bit mulish. "Mom and I spent days tryin' to find a Machoke costume, but we couldn't find anything."

"And what's a Machoke?"

His son gawped up at him, eyes wide. "You don't know what a Machoke is?"

"Nope."

Clark's eyes went even wider. "Machoke's the coolest Pokémon there is!" he blurted. "He's a Fighting-Type Pokémon and he's blue, with huge muscles! Here, I'll show you!"

"Clark, wait, we gotta go," Ed called, catching his son partway up the steps. "You can show me when we come back, okay, buddy?"

Clark looked disappointed, but nodded and came back down the stairs, following his father to the sedan Ed used to go to work. Ed felt a little bad for dampening his son's enthusiasm, but they really did need to get to the station. He hadn't spent the past two days racking up a thirty ticket quota and buying pizza from a second-rate pizzeria to lose that neighborhood patrol at the last minute.


Once they reached the neighborhood, Ed found a place to park and swung out of the patrol car. Clark hopped out of the passenger seat, already brandishing his candy bucket with an excited, "Pika, pika!"

"No Pokémon with me, sport," Ed informed his son gruffly. Seeing Clark wilt, he added, "Do it to the houses."

Clark grinned, an impish gleam as he replied, "Pika!"

The officer rolled his eyes, but didn't reprimand his son again. Guiding Clark around the front of his patrol car, Ed scanned the neighborhood for a likely clump of Halloweeners. Although he could see a few kids out and about with their parents, it didn't look like any larger groups had formed yet. Shame – a larger group prolly would've been more open to a kid from outside the neighborhood.

Pausing long enough to check all four locks on the patrol car, Ed nodded to a house right across from where he'd parked. Clark perked up and bounced across the road, the yellow and black ears on his hood flopping all over as he moved. His father followed, swallowing a chuckle as his son raced up the front path to the house's porch.

A woman appeared at the door, pushing it open as Clark approached, holding out his candy bucket. "Pi-pika!"

She laughed, leaning out. "Is that Pokémon for 'trick or treat'?"

"Pika, pika, pika!"

With another laugh, the woman dropped a small candy bar in Clark's bucket, earning another beam as the woman traded a glance with Ed over the little boy's head. Ed made sure to smile, knowing he looked a bit too much like a real police officer to pass for a father in costume. No need to alarm the woman, after all.

As Clark bounced down the steps again, holding up his candy bucket, Ed chuckled and raised a hand in thanks to the woman. The slight caution in her eyes faded as father and son turned away, heading for the next house; behind them, she giggled and closed the door.


From house to house they went, Ed hanging back as his son went up to the doors, plying his 'Pokémon' trade in his quest for candy. A few mothers playfully demanded a 'trick' from the young Pikachu, earning even more enthusiastic bouncing as Clark pretended to cast Pikachu's trademark Thunderbolt attack. The mothers always applauded, awarding Clark extra candy for his performance.

At the houses with animatronics, Ed cast them wary glares, but Clark was utterly unconcerned by the cackling witches or ghouls or ghosts – though he gave a wide berth to any animatronics that looked like mummies. At one house, their rubber witch let out an eerie laugh right as Clark was announcing himself with a loud, "Pika, pika!" Whirling on the witch, Clark declared, "Pikachu!"

Behind him, the man at the door laughed. "Givin' her what-for?" he called.

Turning back to the door, Clark nodded eagerly. "Pi! Pika, pika."

Adopting an announcer voice, the man declared, "Pikachu casts Thunderbolt." Clark beamed. "It's super-effective!" He paused long enough to reach over to something behind the door. "Pikachu wins a Rare Candy," he added, dropping a candy bar in the bucket Clark held out.

Looking on, Ed arched a brow, but waited for Clark to bounce back down the walkway before asking, "Super-effective?"

"Uh-huh," Clark replied. "Electricity's super-effective against Water or Flying types." He frowned. "She must have a broom to be a Flying type."

Ed snickered at the mental image of a witch on a broom getting struck by a bolt of lightning from a small, yellow, mouse Pokémon with a lightning bolt for a tail. Some of those animatronics probably deserved it.


After three blocks, Ed was starting to flag, but Clark was still going strong. The patrol cop lagged behind his son, but made sure he kept the yellow hood and bouncing lightning bolt tail in sight at all times. If Clark got much further ahead, he'd have to reel his son back in, but the boy seemed to sense that he could only get so far ahead of his father.

In fact, his son was waiting for him now, vibrating with impatience and a sugar-high from the candy he'd already sampled from his bucket. Measuring the distance from Clark's position to the next house, Ed nodded for Clark to go ahead. The boy perked up and bounced for his next candy bounty.

Partway there, a teenager loomed up out of the deepening evening, blocking Clark's path. "Having fun?" he asked, a hint of mockery in his voice.

Clark gazed up at the teenager. "Pika, pika?"

Smirking, the teenager leaned forward. "Looks like you got a lotta candy there, kid."

Ed picked up his pace as Clark started edging away from the older boy. "Pi…ka?"

Reaching right in Clark's candy bucket, the teenager's hand came out with several candy bars. "Thanks, kid!"

"Hey! Give those back!" Clark objected, snatching for the candy.

"Make me, brat," the teenager mocked.

"Give it back," Ed ordered; the teenager stared up at the cop looming over Clark's shoulder, mouth wide.

He turned to run, but Ed was already on top of him; the candy fell to the ground as one wrist was hauled behind the teenager's back, cuff snicking into place. The angry officer took his time with cuffing the teenager's other wrist, though he dragged his catch a meter away so Clark could reclaim the stolen candy bars.

"Stealing from a kid trick or treating, that's pretty low," Ed growled. "What, too lazy to put on your own costume, kid?"

"I didn't do nothin'!"

The patrolman snorted. "Give you a hint, kid – that's my son you were stealin' candy from."

The teenager eeped and went silent, eyes wide as he looked from Ed to Clark and back again.

Smirking at the teenager, Ed checked his pockets until he found a wallet. Flipping it open, he found the driver's license and wasn't surprised to find an address only a block away. Prolly a local troublemaker who'd seen a kid from outside the neighborhood and thought he'd found an easy target.

Glancing over, he saw Clark finish picking up the fallen candy bars. "Got 'em all?"

Looking up, Clark nodded, the black and yellow ears flopping back and forth. "Thanks, Dad."

Ed nodded, checking the driver's license again before nodding. "Okay, Andrew, let's go see what your parents have to say." Ignoring the teenager's immediate protest, he met Clark's eyes. "Keep going down this block," he instructed. "Don't get ahead of me anymore."

"Okay, Dad."

Scanning the ground and his candy bucket for any last missing candy bars, Clark set off again. Although the encounter had considerably dampened the preteen's enthusiasm, he managed to regain a bounce to his step as he headed for the next house. His father followed close behind, keeping Andrew ahead of him and in his line of view.

When they reached the walkway up to the front porch, Ed carefully positioned himself in the porch light, turning Andrew so that the light glinted off the cuffs around the teenager's wrists. He kept one hand on the teen's shoulder, tight enough to keep Andrew under control, but not enough to bruise.

One corner of his jaw quirked as he watched his son bounce on his heels, declaring, "Pi, pika, pikachu!"

Andrew snorted and Ed swatted his hair, smirking as the teen lurched away with a loud, "Hey!"

"Next time, kid, don't mess with a kid going trick or treating. You want the candy? Go get it yourself."

As Clark came bouncing back down the walkway, Ed's smirk grew wider. "Okay, kid, next house."

Andrew blanched as he realized the cop intended to sentence him to social death by humiliation.


By the time they reached the address on Andrew's driver's license, Ed was satisfied that half the neighborhood had seen the troublemaker in handcuffs. Once he'd added the parental humiliation on top, he'd cut the teen loose. Better a lesson the kid would never forget than a juvie record that would get expunged as soon as the kid hit eighteen.

For the first time that night, Ed accompanied Clark up to the front door of the modest, two-story home. Unlike most of the other houses on the street, it didn't have a front porch, just a wide front step bracketed by evergreen bushes. The home had a steel screen door backed by a solid wood door that had been pulled inward so the homeowners could lower the upper screen and hand out candy through the opening.

A dark-haired woman stood right inside the screen door, a wide smile on her face as she watched Clark's bouncing progress up the walkway. Then she spotted Ed, the hard expression on his face, and the sullen teenager he was hauling towards her.

"Andrew!"

Ed squeezed the teenager's shoulder – wonder of wonders, he obeyed the silent order. "Ma'am, are you Andrew's mother?"

With a pale face, she nodded, staring at her son's hands cuffed behind his back in horror.

"Well, ma'am, I caught your son stealing candy from my own son, Clark." Ed tilted his head towards Clark, who glared at Andrew with renewed indignation.

The woman blinked, then adopted a conciliatory expression. "I'm sure there must be some mistake, officer. My Andrew would never steal or bully anyone."

Light blue eyes narrowed, fresh anger bubbling up inside. "Ma'am, I witnessed his behavior myself."

Before his mother could say anything more, Andrew blurted, "I'm sorry!"

"Andrew!"

Dismissing the oblivious mother, Ed focused on the teenager, arching a pointed brow.

"I'm sorry I stole your kid's candy!"

"And?"

"And I won't do it again!"

"Pika, pika!" Clark interjected, holding out his candy bucket towards Andrew's mother.

Ed considered, then backed Clark's demand with a glare. The brunette nodded and reached for a bowl sitting on a table next to the screen door. Several candy bars dropped into Clark's bucket, but the officer lifted a hand to keep Andrew's mother from going back for a second handful.

With a nod of his own, he turned Andrew away from him and pulled out his handcuff keys. Brisk movements freed the teenager and he tugged Clark away from the screen door, gifting both mother and son with one final warning glower.

Although a slight pout appeared on Clark's face, the young boy wasn't about to complain. Not with his candy bucket full of loot and an up close view of a real arrest – that was a story that would bolster his reputation for weeks.

Even better, his father swung him up on his shoulders to carry him back to his patrol car. Turning his head, Clark waved at Andrew and his mother, grinning as widely and smugly as possible at the matching sour lemon expressions.


Back at the station, Clark's candy bucket went from full to overflowing courtesy of the dispatchers. Ed shook his head at the women, but his wry grin took away any sting of disapproval. Especially when he factored in his son's ear-to-ear smile and the way his eyes shone as he looked up at his father.

His reputation as a stoic was taking a hit, but Ed didn't care as he held out a hand and his son latched on. "Have a good time?"

"Can I go with you next year?" Clark asked.

"We'll see," Ed replied in his best non-committal tone.

The curly-haired brunet deflated a trifle, then flushed as his stomach rumbled. "Dad?"

"Fried chicken," Ed murmured, steering his son through the door towards the employee parking lot.

"Mom's gonna kill you."

"That's only if she finds out, sport." At the sparkle in Clark's eyes, he added, "Petty theft's not enough to bring someone in on an arrest, kiddo."

Clark pouted. "Mom doesn't know that."

"Just like she doesn't know you scammed me outta an extra twenty bucks for the cafeteria," Ed countered. A smirk appeared at his son's stunned expression. "What, you thought I wouldn't figure that out?"

"Um…"

"Which you can keep if you don't spill the beans to your mother."

After a moment of pondering, Clark nodded. "Deal."

Lifting his head, Ed pulled out his car keys and tossed them in the air, catching them on the way down. He'd made it through Halloween intact.

Now if only he could figure out how to dump half of Clark's candy bucket…

~ Fin


Author Note: Happy Halloween from 2022, everyone! I hope everyone comes home with plenty of candy to last the whole year 'round.

See You on the Battlefield!