"That's a magby, moron." Kakuzu sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
Hidan glared for a brief minute then sat on a nearby bench, searching his bag. After a few minutes he pulled out an old and ratty book. Itachi and Kakuzu exchanged a glance and waited for an explanation. Hidan dusted off the cover and began flipping through pages. His traveling companions continued waiting.
"This is the only thing I have that tells me about pokemon." He grumbled, showing them a crudely drawn picture of a magmar. "I found it in the daycare couple's stuff."
"Let me see..." Kakuzu snatched the book and started to flip through the horribly illustrated pages.
"While you're doing that, I'm going to send a flame mail to Kisame." Itachi sighed, pulling out another pokeball.
"This is awful and extremely outdated." The gentleman scoffed.
"No shit. I got it from the old daycare couple." Hidan drawled, rolling his eyes.
Hidan glanced over to Itachi, eyes widening slightly as he saw a murkrow. He looked down at his dusk ball then back to Itachi. He gave the bird a red letter and raised his arm. It took off into the sky and Hidan got to his feet.
"Did you give that murkrow a nickname?" He asked curiously.
"Yeah. His name is Yamikarasu." He answered.
"Yamikratsu?" Hidan frowned, trying to repeat the name.
"Ya-mi-ka-ra-su." He enunciated.
"Hidan, if this is the only resource you got, how do you know about the newer generation? Like murkrow and houndour?" Kakuzu demanded, handing the burglar his book.
"They were major pests back in Saffron. Everyone complained about them. That and I know some pokemon and their names... just not pokemon like Tina, Jack, and Booby."
"It's Bubyi!" Itachi snapped, picking up his magby.
"Jeez, sorry. I was joking." The burglar sighed, reaching over to pet the live coal pokemon, quickly yanking it back. "Ow! It's burning up!"
"He feels fine to me... I'd be more worried if he wasn't hot." The officer blinked, resting his chin on his pokemon's head.
"What level is he?" Kakuzu inquired, looking intently at the baby pokemon.
"He's 28. I'm still hesitant to let him evolve..." Itachi trailed off.
"I take it he evolves into this red and orange blob?" Hidan pointed to his book's illustration of a magmar.
"Yes. Very good, Hidan." Kakuzu mocked, patting his head.
Hidan snapped at the hand and after a short bicker they decided to continue their journey. They still had a long way to travel. At the end of Route 35 was the National Park. Hidan had gone once or twice with the daycare couple so the more experienced trainers did not need to explain it. However when they entered the building, they saw the Bug-Catching Contest was that day. Kakuzu had no interest in the contest but Hidan was very eager to participate.
Even Itachi expressed some interest in the contest. They went to the event director and decided to enter the contest without Kakuzu's consent on the matter. He was going to have to wait for them. Before Hidan and Itachi went out, Kakuzu had decided to participate as well. He pulled out his love ball, letting out his meowth.
"Gem is going to be my chosen pokemon for this competition." He informed the event director.
"Very good, you three may enter. I will hold onto the rest of your parties. Remember that you can keep the last pokemon you catch. Here are your sports balls."
The trio accepted the pokeballs and then entered the park area. Kakuzu led the way to the tall grass, keeping his meowth in front. Behind him Hidan and Raven were looking around for bug pokemon. Itachi had already branched off with a vulpix, searching away from other competitors. Meanwhile, inside the park entrance building, Jack was enjoying a peaceful nap. Bones, on the other hand, could not stop pacing, glancing at the espeon and his shimmering coat. Itachi's magby watched with mild curiosity as the pacing stopped and one of Jack's eyes opened.
"Is there something bothering you, hound?" Jack inquired.
"Why does he always use that stupid ass bird to fight instead of me?" Bones snapped moodily, sitting down in from of the espeon's corner.
"I'm sure he has a good reason. Master is very smart and knows which of us is best for every job he has for us." Jack smiled.
"Jeez, you sure like that fancy human a lot." Bones huffed hotly.
"He hatched me from an egg and I can sense he loves me." He replied, sitting up. "Of course I expect him to want something from me in turn."
"Like what?" The dark fire pokemon tilted his head curiously.
"For breeding purposes and winning his battles." Jack paused for a moment, "You know I didn't appreciate you attacking and robbing him like you did those four years ago."
"That's history... wait... how do you know about that?" Hidan's pokemon blinked and started to sniff Jack.
"I was that 'little puff ball that kicked your ass'." The psychic trilled. "Of course, I forgave you for that after you saved me from getting crushed..." Jack trailed, looking away to hide a slight blush, "I should have been paying more attention to my surroundings..."
"That's an understatement." Bones' response came after a long and somewhat awkward pause.
Back in the park, Kakuzu had found a fairly large bug pokemon with a horn on its head. Hidan snuck up behind it with the gentleman and then watched Kakuzu send Gem out to fight. The meowth growled slightly, fur bristling as the pokemon came to stand at its full height. He was twice the size of her and easily weighed far more than her. However she did not back down, waiting for an order.
"Scratch." Kakuzu instructed, fairly calm as he went to stand behind her.
Gem rushed at the pokemon, clawing it once across the face. It stumbled back a bit then glared, rushing forward to tackle her. She easily dodged the heavier pokemon, light on her paws as she jumped on its back to rake her claws down it. When she ended up in front of Kakuzu again, he ordered her to use another move. She mewed then slammed into the bug as hard as she could, knocking it over. Kakuzu then pulled out a sport ball, throwing it at the pokemon.
"That was a heracross, Hidan." Kakuzu said as a warning ring went through the park. "You should try and find a bug before the competition ends... If you need me, I'll be relaxing on those benches."
He did just that, leaving Hidan alone to catch his own bug pokemon. He looked up at Raven and gave a slight nod, letting her lead him to a pokemon. It was rather small so he decided not to catch it. Instead he used it as a training dummy for Raven. Once the wild pokemon had fled, badly wounded, they ran around the park. Finally Hidan came across an interesting bug pokemon. It was like a caterpie or a weedle but it was spiky and red. He had never seen anything like it before and called to raven. She fluttered over, landing on his red hat.
"Raven, check out that pokemon." He said, taking a step towards it.
She clicked her beak and then flew over to the bug pokemon, scaring it quite badly. It used a poorly aimed string shot. Raven's eyes gleamed in annoyance and she stepped towards the bug. Hidan was surprised to find it was around the same height as her. She cawed then began pecking at it. The burglar trainer told her to stop and then pulled out one of the sport balls. He threw it at the spiky bug pokemon and watched the ball rock back and forth. His heart was pounding in his chest. He groaned and cursed as the pokemon burst out of its ball and then rapidly inched away as the final ring sounded.
He went to join Itachi and Kakuzu with his head hung in disappointment. They both let out the pokemon they caught and waited for the judging. Itachi's bug pokemon was far less impressive than Kakuzu's heracross. It was some kind of cocoon with spikes. Despite it's dull appearance though, he seemed proud of his catch. The judge had surprisingly gave him second place after the heracross. The trio returned to the park entrance once the prizes had been awarded and greeted their eager pokemon. Hidan sighed, sitting down to pet Bones, feeling quite disappointed with the competition's results.
Kakuzu and Itachi both headed for the computer in the building that was similar to the one in the daycare and put their catch in the slots. Hidan watched sadly, no longer petting the worried houndour. Bones looked up to find that Raven also looked upset. He whined, nudging Hidan's hand and then began licking it. Jack watched quietly then tugged on Kakuzu's coat tails, pulling him over to the brooding young man. Kakuzu sighed, scratching the back of his head.
"It isn't the end of the world kid, you'll catch another pokemon eventually." He said, "I'm surprised that you found a wurmple though. They're not common here."
"None of the pokemon in there are very common, Kakuzu." Itachi drawled, ruining the moment.
"Tch. I don't like your guys' pity. I'm just peachy." The burglar snapped moodily, getting up. "Are you done with that computer thing?"
"Yeah." Kakuzu replied.
"Have you ever used the computer, Hidan?" Itachi inquired.
"No. I don't know what I would need it for." He shrugged.
"Well, you're only allowed by law to carry six pokemon on you at a time." The officer said, "That's why when you have more than six pokemon, you need to store them somewhere."
"Bill is the one that made the pokemon storage system... I could set up an account for you." Kakuzu offered.
"Nah. I'm clearly not getting more than six pokemon anytime soon."
–
The trio made it through Route 36 without any problems and set up a camp just before Route 37. Hidan seemed reluctant to sleep near anyone but eventually grew too tired to resist. He sat down on the grass and watched Kakuzu and Itachi pull out sleeping bags. Gem had remained out of her pokeball after the contest and lay down with Jack, curling up against his side. Bones watched, feeling rather envious. While Jack groomed Gem, Kakuzu pulled some snacks out of his bag, throwing them to Hidan. Bones' ears quickly perked and his stubby tail thumped on the ground.
"You aren't going to feed him those, are you?"
"So what if I do? He needs to eat too." Hidan replied hotly.
"You should give him pokefood." Kakuzu sighed, digging around in his bag once more.
"Pokemon have their own food?" The burglar frowned, looking at Bones.
"Here." He placed a bowl of hard brown kibble-like food in front of the houndour.
He sniffed it suspiciously then growled, turning away from it. A moment later, a burst of light came from Kakuzu's bag and a pokemon appeared, hopping over to the bowl. The pokemon was fairly large and resembled a gray vertical cocoon. Spikes protruded from the top near its face. Kakuzu quickly grabbed the pokemon, pulling it away from the food.
"No Rocki." He scolded, grabbing a dusk ball. "Return."
"Was that a pupitar?" Itachi spoke up before Hidan could ask.
"Yeah. Caught him when I was on Mt. Silver. He evolved shortly after that..." He explained, holding the dusk ball up.
"Whoa, you made it to Mt. Silver?" Itachi gaped. "Do you have any badges?"
"Of course I do." Kakuzu scoffed, putting away the dusk ball. "I may have started my adventure later than most trainers, but Jack was a splendid partner."
"What other pokemon do you have with you?" Hidan asked curiously, giving Bones the rest of the chips while Jack and Gem helped themselves to the pokefood.
"You want to meet them?"
The gentleman got to his feet and pulled out four small pokeballs which rested between each of his fingers. He quickly and expertly pressed the buttons and tossed them, watching each one burst open to let out his party. First to appear was Sara, his venusaur and Tina the dragonite. Itachi gaped in awe at the sight of the large grass pokemon. The next to appear was the pupitar, Rocki and a newer pokemon that looked much like a blue and cream weasel. Itachi let out a slight squeal and rushed to the weasel-like pokemon, hugging it tight.
"Oh my Arceus! You have a quilava!" He nuzzled the poor pokemon enthusiastically, indifferent when flames shot out of its lower back and head.
"That's Quincy. Professor Elm gave him to me when I arrived in the Johto region." Kakuzu told the excited officer.
"What pokemon do you have, Itachi?" Hidan asked the Goldenrod officer.
"Nothing too impressive compared to these but I haven't been able to train since I became an officer... That and I'm only twenty." Itachi put Quincy down then pulled out his pokeballs, tossing them near Bubyi. "This is Rokon." He pointed to his vulpix. "Then there's my Gadi." The growlithe barked. "And this is my ponyta, Ponita." He motioned to the somewhat small fiery horse.
"Wow..." Hidan looked at his companions' nine pokemon then at his own two pokemon. "Damn... I'm kinda jealous."
"You'll catch your own sooner or later, Hidan." Itachi said with a small smile.
"But I can't... it just doesn't feel right to confine pokemon to those pokeballs..." Hidan frowned, looking at Raven and then Bones.
"Whatever." Kakuzu grumbled, returning his pokemon, save Jack, to their pokeballs. "Just get some rest. We still have a ways to go after all."
"Yeah, you're right." Itachi nodded and returned his pokemon as well, leaving out Bubyi.
After about an hour, Kakuzu and Itachi had fallen asleep. However Hidan remained awake, leaning against a tree with Bones sleeping on his lap and Raven perched on him, also awake. Hidan watched his new companions sleep peacefully, uncertain about why he felt different than usual. He could say he felt happy but he refused to admit it. Raven let out a soft caw, hopping up onto Hidan's shoulder to nuzzle his cheek. He sighed and scratched under her beak.
"Ah Raven... how do you feel about these people, my dear?"
"I like the one with the shiny chain and pretty hat." She tweeted.
"Really? I do too." He smiled, closing his eyes. "Good night, Raven. See you in the morning."
–
The next morning, the trio arrived at the first city on their trip to Olivine. Ecruteak City was much different than the busy city of Goldenrod and appeared far more traditional. Kakuzu led the way through the city, stopping at the charred remnants of an old tower. He entered the building once Hidan caught up but Itachi remained behind, impatient to continue the journey. He began to pace outside with his egg, waiting for the two.
"What is this place?" Hidan asked quietly, the eerie vibe was getting to him.
"It was home to some legendary pokemon." He answered, letting Jack take the lead with Bones so he could walk besides Hidan.
"Legendary pokemon?" He inquired.
"Yes... Here..." Kakuzu stopped to pull out Navex, switching it on. "Like this one here, a lugia."
He showed Hidan the image of the giant bird and Hidan froze in place, gazing at the illustration. Kakuzu frowned and flicked Hidan's forehead, snapping him out of his stupor. The burglar shook his head then glared at Kakuzu.
"What did ya do that for?"
"You were freaking me out." He replied simply. "What's wrong?"
"I feel like I've seen that pokemon before... but it didn't look a thing like that. It was much darker..." Hidan trailed then sighed, "Can we go now? This is boring."
"Fine... I can always come back later."
Kakuzu twitched at being bossed around by the kid but kept quiet, calling to Jack. The group left the tower and saw Itachi had stopped pacing, holding the egg up to his ear. Kakuzu headed over, also listening. The two both wore grins on their faces.
"It's going to hatch soon, Itachi." Kakuzu said.
"I can't wait." He smiled, holding the egg closer.
"So what's in the egg..?" Hidan blinked.
"It's going to be an eevee, right Kakuzu?"
"Yeah. Kisame said you wanted a flareon to go with his vaporeon." Kakuzu replied.
"Those are eeveelutions like Jack and jolteon, aren't they?" Hidan murmured, staring at the egg.
"That's right. That egg came from Jack and Jolt so it will have some good moves for sure." Kakuzu boasted, "Just like all the eggs I sell."
"You sell your pokemon's babies?" Hidan frowned, looking at Jack whom stood with his head held high.
"They don't mind." Kakuzu replied with a shrug. "Now let's get going..."
FILLER! CHAPTER IS FILLER! ... In my opinion, at least... XD
Yeah... I decided last minute to allow Hidan to speak with pokemon...
What are your thoughts on that? Do Kakuzu's pokemon really not care about their eggs? Will the egg hatch and reveal an eevee? Will Kisame and Itachi make out when they reunite? Find out in the next chapter of Akatsumon!
(Lawl. I couldn't upload this last night 'cause I lost internet so I had to upload it a day late, after school. My apologies... But if it helps: This is the longest chapter so far in Akatsumon.)
