CHAPTER 1: Runaways
As I entered Route 102 a cold wind blew through me. My gut told me something was coming, so I reached for my Mudkips pokeball. My eyes widened as I spied a dark shadow speeding down towards me.
'KLONK!'
"Ow! Son of a-!" I yelled out, startled by the dropping acorn Pokémon. "So you're the one who tried taking me out!" I pointed at the grass type, who was staring at me in a state of confusion. I let Mudkips pokeball drop to the ground, releasing the Pokémon on impact. "I plan on capturing you!" I told the Seedot.
"Okay Mudkip, hit him with Tackle!" I ordered. Mudkip charged at the wild Pokémon and rammed into it with incredible force! Seedot fell backwards and began glowing red. "Careful Mudkip it's using Bide!" I warned. Mudkip looked back at me and nodded. "We're already in this one's attack Mudkip, so use Growl continuously to weaken the damage!" Mudkip began growling at the Seedot, who was storing energy for his attack. Mudkip used Growl on more time, intimidating the Seedot to the point where the unleashed energy barely even hurt Mudkip! I smiled and pulled out a pokeball from my bag.
"Mudkip I think he's had enough!" I said, throwing the pokeball afterward. Mudkip watched the ball fly through the air and suck up the Pokémon in a flash of light. The red and white sphere rolled on the ground. "The suspense is killing me, how about you Mudkip?" Mudkip smiled nervously as the ball continued to roll…
'Click!' "Gotcha Seedot!" I was so excited that I actually said that aloud. I recorded the information about the Pokémon in my pokedex out of habit, although I'm sure I won't be returning to my dad's lab for a while if ever. I picked up the pokeball from the ground and withdrew Mudkip. I smiled at the two putting them together and sticking my finger between them and laughing immaturely. I kept on down the road. It was still quite early so not many trainers were out, and the ones that were out were Ace Trainers who wouldn't challenge me because I lacked gym badges.
The hike to Petalburg was nearing an end and I saw a strange looking, green-colored figure in the middle of the road. As I neared the next city, it was revealed to be a Ralts, it was beaten pretty bad and needed immediate medical attention. "That fight you had must've been brutal." I picked up the Pokémon gently in my arms and ran the rest of the way to Petalburg. "Don't worry little buddy, I'm gonna get you some help!" I assured the weakened Pokémon. It groaned and shifted slowly in my arms. Running through the double doors of the Pokémon center, I accidently knocked over another kid who had green hair and pale skin.
"Hey! Watch it!" He growled, hitting the floor. "Sorry!" I replied still dashing for the P.C. counter. "Nurse, I need you to help this Pokémon!"
I could tell that the kind lady was holding in a gasp as she took the fainted Pokémon, barely breathing in my arms; but she kept her cool as best she could.
"Excuse me, sir; do you have a pokeball for Ralts?"
"It's wild…" I pulled out an empty ball anyway and captured the defenseless Pokémon. Nurse Joy took the ball and placed it in the healing machine beside her. She asked to see my other Pokémon as well and I handed them to her to be healed. She told me they will be ready in a few minutes and that she would call me up when they were fully restored. I smiled and went to sit down. The green haired boy I knocked down earlier was checking his email via computer in the corner next to the counter. I sighed and walked to him.
"Hey sorry about pushing you down earlier, I wasn't paying attention." I rubbed the back of my neck and avoided eye contact after I apologized. He smiled.
"It's alright, accidents happen. Just watch where you're going next time okay." He laughed. "You might accidently kill someone!" He held out his hand. "I'm Wally by the way."
I shook his hand. His grip was weak and his hands were clammy. "Brendan." I smiled. The Pokémon center doors opened and my worst nightmare walked inside.
Norman.
I hid underneath the table I was sitting at earlier. "What're you doin-waaah!" I pulled Wally under the table with me and covered his mouth. "Sshh! I can't let anyone find me, I ran away from home to go on my journey." I whispered to him. Norman looked under the table but thankfully he only saw Wally.
"Wally what're you doing under there?" Norman asked. Wally crawled out from under the table and stood so May's dad wouldn't be able to see me. "Oh I uh, I was just… I saw a coin under the table and I went to pick it up." He lied. Norman sighed and then began to speak. "I'll be free later today so you can stop by and I'll help you capture a Pokémon, alright?" Wally's eyes lit up. "Th-thank you, sir!" Norman waved as he walked out of the building. I crawled out of my hiding place. "Phew… close one… pretty dangerous."
"Brendan, can I ask you something?" Wally was fidgeting with his hands and looking towards the ground. "I know this is weird since I just met you and all but… I want to go with you. Will you please let me go with?" He asked. I could see the hope manifesting in his face. He looked up and faced me directly. "My parents are afraid I'll get hurt if I go on a Pokémon journey, I am a little afraid too…" He continued. "But if I were to go with a friend, than I wouldn't be afraid at all! So Brendan… Will you please take me with you?"
I was baffled, speechless; I didn't expect that to come out of nowhere like that. Although, I would enjoy the company and have some help if I ever needed it. We sat in silence for roughly a minute. I smiled at him.
"We're gonna be leaving as soon as my Pokémon are healed. So pack up buddy!" He jumped up and fist pumped as hard as he could!
"So you'll help me capture my first Pokémon!?" He asked. "Well I actually just captured a Pokémon that I'll let you have!" I answered. Wally beamed with happiness! "But I still have to teach you how to capture a Pokémon." I went to pick up my Pokémon. I took Ralts' pokeball and handed it to the green haired trainer. "Just promise me you will have my back if my neighbor ever tracks me down." Wally promised and we headed back to Route 102.
We walked in the tall grass near a small pond on the outskirts of Oldale Town, searching for a Pokémon to capture. Suddenly a Lotad jumped between us. "Wally, use Ralts to weaken the Pokémon and then throw the ball at it!" He sent out his partner Ralts and fought with the water-grass type. After several confusion attacks, Wally tossed a pokeball at Lotad. It rolled several times on the dew covered grass and finally clicked shut. Wally picked up the pokeball. In his excitement he went to hug me but when his arms were nearly halfway through wit hit he stopped and backed up.
"He he, uh… that was no homo, right pal?" He said nervously. "It better not have been homo! I'd have to send you home!" I joked. He laughed. "Alright buddy, let's go all the way to the Pokémon League!" I cheered. We ran straight through the city onto Route 104.
"You know for a sickly kid, you're not half bad at capturing Pokémon." I congratulated. "Thanks, Brendan. That means a lot." We walked through Petalburg Forest talking to each other about our life stories and sharing interesting things with one another. Nearly halfway through the forest, I could've said to somebody that I've known Wally my entire life.
We continued walking through the forest, fending off the bug Pokémon that attacked us and battling several bug catchers when we met up with a pair of bug catchers who said they were so far undefeated. HA like I'd ever back down from a challenge.
"Hey Wally, let's end these guys streak and start our own." I smirked. He smiled halfheartedly. "I've got your back." They two bug catchers threw out their Pokémon: Beautifly and Dustox.
"Go Aron!" "Go Ralts!" We both commanded. Our Pokémon joined us in the battle.
Mudkip popped out of his pokeball to watch the battle. Aron and Ralts stood in front of us staring down the foe's Dustox and Beautifly. The foe made their first move and sent Dustox to paralyze us with Stun Spore!
"Aron, use Mud Slap to blind it!" I commanded, I looked over at Wally, who was somewhat confused as to what to do. "Wally, you tell Ralts to use Confusion on Dustox." He nodded and Ralts raised his hands up to his head and formed a transparent sphere in front of him. The sphere homed in on Dustox and struck down the Poison-Bug type. Dustox flailed about in the air for a minute, struggling to maintain being airborne, but soon crashed out of exhaustion and was withdrawn by his trainer.
"Look out for Beautifly!" Wally warned, but it was too late and Aron wasn't fast enough to avoid the Stun Spore attack. The steel-rock type was coated in a powder that made it impossible to move. Beautifly then used Absorb, jabbing Aron with its long proboscis and leeching away his life! Ralts fired another Confusion attack at Beautifly and the butterfly Pokémon was sent hurling into a tree! Beautifly was alright and came back with a String Shot attack, leaving Ralts tied up to the paralyzed Aron. I looked around hoping to find a solution. I spotted a Cheri Berry tree nearby.
"Wally, have Ralts use his psychic powers to feed Aron that Cheri Berry!"
Ralts began to glow blue and so did the berry. It floated over to Aron and the Pokémon ate the small fruit, curing his paralysis. Aron stood up with ease, despite having Ralts tied to his back, and used Headbutt and defeated the Beautifly!
"Aw man. We lost." The bug catcher whined and withdrew his Beautifly. They paid us the prize money and left without another word, clearly distraught about losing their win streak. I split the money between me and Wally and we continued to hike through the dark woods. We walked for about an hour more before we finally exited Petalburg Woods. In front of us was a building called the Pretty Petal Flower Shop, and a woman ran up to us and asked us for help.
"You're trainers aren't you? Please help our shop, these men are eating all of our berries and not paying for them. You must help us!" She pleaded, pulling us to go with her. We followed and saw a huge garden full of berries and flowers. It was fairly large and like a maze.
"They're in there; please help us get rid of them." And she pushed us into the garden gates. Wally and I walked straight and found a fork in the path. To the left was a longer straight, but to the right was a man wearing a black and white striped shirt with blue pants and a blue bandana. We readied our Pokeballs and marched toward him.
"Hey, you can't eat these berries! They don't belong to you." Wally said, tossing out his Lotad to fight the man off. He jumped back with berry juice all over his face.
"Back off you lousy kid! I'm hungry and nobody stops Team Aqua from getting what they want!" The Team Aqua member threw out a Poochyena and ordered it to attack. The dark type Pokémon charged toward Lotad with a Tackle attack, but was blown back by Lotad's Water Gun.
'If an attack like Water Gun is strong enough to blow his Pokémon back, either that Lotad is really strong or Poochyena is pretty weak.' I thought to myself. I patted Wally's shoulder.
"I think you can handle this one yourself, I'll go and find the others." Wally nodded and I ran off down the other path. Not even a minute later, Wally caught up with me and said that he had already defeated the other guy and sent him running out of the garden. I laughed and saw the other two Team Aqua members sitting down eating a plate of berries.
"We're going to give you guys a choice, either you leave here and never come back, or we hurt you like we did your friend and you leave and never come back." I smirked, they stood up and their Pokeballs flashed. Poochyena and Zubat came out and I sent out Mudkip with Wally's Ralts.
"Zubat is part poison type, so focus Ralts' psychic attacks on him. I'll have Mudkip fend off Poochyena and keep him from getting to you."
The battle began without a moment's notice; the thugs ordered their attacks while Wally and I were planning. Poochyena ran toward Ralts with his fangs bared, ready to bite. Ralts tried to hurl it back with Confusion, but the attack didn't work against the dark type. Mudkip ran up and tackled the Poochyena aside so Ralts could focus his strikes on Zubat.
"Ralts, use Confusion on their Zubat!" Wally ordered, Ralts created the transparent sphere and used it to blast the bat Pokémon out of the air. Zubat crashed onto the ground and the Aqua grunt demanded it get up and fight more, but the poison-flying type Pokémon clearly was unable to battle any longer.
"Mudkip use Water Gun on Poochyena!" Mudkip opened his mouth and projected a strong stream of water that sent the dark hyena Pokémon flying back into his trainer. The Aqua Grunt fell backwards as his Pokémon collided with his chest. He withdrew his fainted Pokémon and crawled back, then ran off with his partner. We chased them all the way out of the garden and watched them flee across the bridge heading into Rustboro City.
"We'll let the police deal with them now." I said. The lady thanked us for helping her and gave us both vouchers for Devon Corps newest product: The PokeNav. We followed her inside and she gave use each Wailmer Pails to help spread the flowers all around the Hoenn region. We told her we would do just that and left the place just as the sun started to set. Wally and I made our way across the bridge into Rustboro City. The lights were just starting to turn on and the whole city was brighter than the red sky.
"Wow this place is huge!" Wally exclaimed. The three goons from earlier were harassing a man in a green suit. They spotted us walking toward them and ran off without a fight. The man motioned for us to come to him.
"Wow thank you guys for that! Those street vermin were trying to steal this package I'm supposed to deliver." He thanked. "It's no problem at all. We love helping people!" Wally replied. The man smiled. He mentioned he was an executive from Devon Corps and we showed him the Voucher's that the owner of the Pretty Petal Flower Shop gave to us. He took the vouchers and replaced them with two orange devices.
"It's a PokeNav!" Wally exclaimed.
"That is correct, kid!" He quickly explained how to use it to us and then left without another word.
"Well that was unexpected." I thought aloud. Wally chuckled.
"The lowest level gym is in this town." I stated. "Want to challenge it?" "Naaa, I should probably train a bit more before that. I want to be completely ready to take down that gym leader!" I replied. Wally nodded.
"I'll come with you; I think I could use a lot of training before I'm ready." He replied with a humble tone.
Route 116 was surprisingly empty. Not many trainers or wild Pokémon were outside even though there was still about an hour left of sunlight. The lights were on inside the cabin built right next to the entrance to the tunnel. We walked into Rusturf Tunnel; I figured it would be a great place to train my team before challenging Roxanne. The tunnel was dark. The only light inside was shining from outside, and with the sun setting, it was extremely dim. I turned on the flash light I brought with me and immediately spotted a pink Pokémon with big ears.
"Whoa, a Whismer," I watched Wally as he reached for an empty pokeball, I noticed he was gonna be lazy and just throw it without a battle. I didn't say anything about that, it'd probably be best to avoid making a commotion. It might disturb the wild Pokémon. Wally crept up behind the Whismer and sucked it inside the red and white sphere. It rolled on the ground for a few seconds…
'Click!' "YEAH I CAUGHT IT!" He shouted in excitement. I cringed looking around at the wild Pokémon opening their mouths and beginning to wail. Bad decision on his part… I should've covered Wally's mouth. The commotion he made had startled the wild Whismer and they began screaming. The noise was halted by a loud crash.
"Dammit! The cave can't be caving in on us!?" The crash occurred again, closer this time.
'Crash! Crash! CRASH! CRASH!' A wild Exploud had appeared, and it was pissed. It used Hyper Voice! Wally and I covered our ears, but it didn't have much effect, I could feel my ear drums vibrating furiously inside my head and I yelled, I saw Wally screaming in pain too, but all I could hear was the screeching Exploud. I sent out Mudkip, Seedot, and Aron to battle the foe. Wally looked over and did the same, sending out his Ralts, Lotad and Whismer to fight.
Exploud continued his barrage of sound based attacks, deafening us and making it impossible for our Pokémon to hear us! Wally's Ralts used his telepathy to transmit thoughts between us and our Pokémon, and our retaliation began.
Mudkip had led the charge to the left with Seedot and Aron following behind. The three Pokémon tackled Exploud, but the large normal type threw them away with one swipe of his arm. Seedot had started to use Bide as he connected and the incredible strike Exploud hit us with was doubled and shot back at him! Exploud was blown into the wall of the cave, causing a couple of boulders to crash down behind him blocking the other side of the tunnel. Wally's Pokémon attacked next, using their special attacks: Confusion, Water Gun, and Uproar. The Exploud unleashed another Hyper Voice, blowing Wally's Pokémon away! Wally withdrew his three fallen Pokémon.
"Get them to a Pokémon Center; I'll finish off the Exploud!" I told him. Wally ran out of the cave just as Mudkip and Seedot unleashed another Bide attack. Exploud was struck once more and the Pokémon dropped down. It looked up to the roof of the cave and let loose a tremendously loud scream! I withdrew my Pokémon to prevent them from getting hurt anymore and covered my ears. I couldn't handle the noise much longer and the wild Exploud dropped onto the ground unconscious. I collapsed, feeling a warm liquid coming out of my ears…
"Hey, Brendan, rise and shine sleeping beauty!" Wally greeted. I rose up from the bed. "Ugh… What happened?" I asked groggily. The last thing I remembered was that I was in Rusturf Tunnel with Wally and then he captured that Whismer… A silver haired man walked into the room. He had metal arm bands wrapped around his bicep and a black suit with purple markings in the center.
"You did my job, that's what happened." He smiled and put his hands in his pockets.
"Hey Brendan, this is Steven Stone. The current Hoenn League Champion!" Wally informed. "He offered us a ride to Dewford Town tomorrow morning, so you better hurry up and get your badge from Roxanne pronto!" Wally helped me up and the three of us walked out of the P.C.
"Champion Steven, what did you mean by 'I did your job'?" I asked. He chuckled. "Just call me Steven." He cleared his throat and continued speaking. "That Exploud was causing the Tunnel Project to be halted because it was attacking the workers and causing the cave to collapse. I had to defeat the Pokémon and allow the project to continue." We approached the gym and the three of us entered the double doors. Wally and Steven watched on the sidelines while I quickly dispatched the weak gym trainers. Finally I made it to Roxanne.
"Welcome, Brendan. I've been expecting you. Your friend, Wally, has told me you're quite the trainer. I'm looking forward to an exciting battle." She greeted. Roxanne sent out her Geodude and I tossed in Mudkip.
"Okay, buddy! Let's finish this with one attack, use Water Gun!" Mudkip opened his mouth and sprayed the rock-ground type with a light jet of water. I cheered out loud. Geodude instantly fainted. Not even standing a chance against Mudkip, who began glowing white and changing forms! Mudkip's white silhouette stood up on his hind legs and grew a foot taller. The white glow subsided and revealed that my Mudkip had evolved into Marshtomp!
Roxanne sent in her signature Pokémon next: Nosepass. Her Pokémon used Rock Tomb. I could only watch helplessly as Marshtomp was trapped beneath the large rocks that surrounded him. The last stone dropped onto the pile, sealing away my Pokémon's fate. Marshtomp fainted from the attack and I sent in my next Pokémon, Aron.
"Aron, use Metal Claw!" The Pokémon charged toward Nosepass and struck it with its sharp claws. Roxanne laughed.
"What's so funny?" I asked.
Roxanne replied with a smirk. "Nosepass' ability is Magnet Pull, and you just hit him with a Steel type move, and now My Rock Tomb Attack will definitely hit, since you have no chance of moving out of the way." I tried to call Aron back, but he was unable to return to his pokeball! Another barrage of rocks covered the helpless Aron and the Pokémon fainted. I returned him to his ball, his defeated state allowed him to be released from Magnet pull. I sent in Seedot, hoping that Nosepass was low enough for Seedot to finish her off. I tossed out my last Pokémon and the acorn hopped out onto the field. It looked at me and started to glow just like Mudkip did! I smirked knowing that the evolved form of Seedot knew Razor leaf, and that would be just what I needed to finish off Roxanne's team. The evolution finished and Nuzleaf stepped forward and faced the enemy.
"Nuzleaf hit it with your Razor Leaf attack!" Nuzleaf nodded at whipped blade-like leaves at high speed toward the rock type Pokémon. The green razors pierced Nosepass' stone body and knocked out the powerful opponent. Roxanne closed her eyes and sighed. "That was an amazing battle. You and your Pokémon fought hard and won a clean victory. I present you with this official Pokémon League Badge." I took the badge and fist pumped in excitement. Wally and Steven were clapping to congratulate me. I smiled back at them.
Wally and I returned to the P.C. Steven left our party to meet his father for dinner. Wally went to the room he booked and I handed over my Pokémon to the Nurse. I sat down on the bench near the easternmost table. Something was uncomfortably wedged there. I stood up and found nothing. I reached into my back pocket instead. I pulled out a golden coin on a necklace with a note attached to it.
Dear Brendan,
I had a hunch that you'd be leaving home before your tenth birthday. As long as you bring me home a really filled up pokedex, it's alright with me… and you uh keep this little deal a secret from your mother. I'm giving you this Lucky Amulet Coin. I'm hoping it will bring you good fortune like it did for me.
My eyes filled with tears reading this note from my dad. The moment was interrupted by Nurse Joy when she called me up to retrieve my team. I grabbed my Pokémon and clipped them to my belt. "Thanks, dad…" I smiled at the golden coin necklace I held in my hand. It was getting late, so I headed for the room Wally booked for us.