The three boys looked at the resources that were available to them.
-A Pokeball each.
-50 Pokedollars (Which was like 50 cents)
-Brendan's old rod
-An old book Lucas owned.
-And an Everstone Hilbert found.
"Wait, when did that happen?"
Uh… in your clean up session.
"You forgot to add it in, didn't you?"
No I didn't!
"You see, I feel like you're trying to say something, but all I hear is BS."
Shut up, Hilbert.
"Fine."
"Who are you talking to?" Brendan asked.
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh… no one…?" Hilbert replied. "Its nothing, let's just pay attention."
The three boys looked at their options.
"Didn't you have like, a bag of Pokeballs before?" Hilbert asked Lucas.
"Yeah, what about them?"
"Wouldn't that make this a whole lot easier?"
"Yeah, if I didn't already use the rest of them."
"What!? When?"
"During our clean up session."
…
Hey, don't look at me like that!
"Anyway, basically if we can catch at least one Pokemon,-" Lucas was cut off by Brendan.
"And didn't you have, like a gazillion Pokemon in your PC?" He asked.
"I had 524 of them, yes." Lucas said, annoyed, "But the Pelego takes Pokemon from your PC, so they're all gone now!"
"Oh, sorry." Brendan apologized.
Lucas continued. "Like I was saying, if we can catch at least one Pokemon, we can train it, then use it to win battles for money so that we can catch more."
"Sounds good." Brendan and Hilbert agreed in unison.
"So, we'll all go for one Pokemon for the three of us. That way, we can use all the Pokeballs to have more of a chance to catch it."
"Nope." Brendan and HIlbert disagreed in unison.
"Great, so- wait, WHY NOT!?" Lucas asked in absolute confusion.
"If we only catch one Pokemon, you're gonna hog it and train it yourself!" Hilbert said. "Then while you're going off another journey, we'll be stuck with the chores!"
"Yeah!" Brendan agreed, "We should each get one Pokeball! That way we all get one chance!"
"Instead… of… three?" Lucas asked.
"Yeah! Great right?"
Lucas face palmed.
"How about we sell this old book for a Pokeball or two?" Hilbert suggested as he picked up Lucas's old book, which Lucas quickly snatched back.
"NO! This book is off limits!"
"And why's that?" Hilbert asked.
"First off, this book is worth way more than two Pokeballs! Secondly it's priceless!" Lucas explained, caressing the old, tattered book.
"But that doesn't make sense." Hilbert argued.
"Huh?"
"If something is priceless, then how is it worth anything?"
"That's not what priceless means, you idiot!"
"I've got an idea!" Brendan said.
The other two stopped arguing momentarily to listen to Brendan's suggestion.
"So we need money for more Pokeballs right?"
The two nodded.
"So howabout we sell one these Pokeballs?"
The other two trainers stared at him for a couple of seconds.
"So…" Hilbert started, "you're suggesting that we sell a Pokeball…"
"Yeah!"
"For
...a
…Pokeball?"
"Yeah!"
…
Lucas face palmed again.
"Brendan," he said "the sheer amount of pure idiot that exudes from that completely rotted thing you call a brain on a moment to moment basis is honestly unbelievable."
"Thank you!"
"That wasn't a compliment you freakin moron!"
"Hey, would you two lovebirds quiet down, I'm tryin to focus." Hilbert said, doing everything in his power to not be focused.
"RRNNNNNNNNGHHHFFFF-" Lucas grunted in anger.
"Huh, fine." He submitted defeat. "We'll each take one Pokeball. But if we don't catch anything, I'm blaming you two idiots.
"Alright!"
CHAPTER 5: BRAVERY
They each grabbed one of the Pokeballs and stepped out of the center to start going on their hunt, but were stopped by a familiar burly figure and his Haryama.
"Hey, its Old Man Hala!" Brendan exclaimed, relieved to see the Kahuna doing well. "You alright Old Man? You were coughing up blood the last time we saw you."
He was thanked for his caring gesture with a knock to the head by the fighting Kahuna.
"Owww." Brendan exclaimed in pain "I'm glad that you're feeling better, but what was that for?"
"IDIOT CHILD!" Hala yelled. He was about to yell again but saw that there were people around, so he leaned in to Brendan and whispered.
"You told Luna and your companions here of Tapu Koko's… condition?"
"Yeah," Brendan whispered back. "But I trust them, and I didn't tell anyone else."
"Hmm," Hala looked over at Lucas and Hilbert.
"Fine." He said.
Lucas and Hilbert walked over to them.
"Sup, Hala! How be those internal organs hangin?" Hilbert asked, cheerfully.
"Quite well now, actually. Thanks to that young girl Luna." Hala replied.
"Well that's good." Lucas said. "We were just on our way to catch some new Pokemon-"
Hala knocked all three of them over the head, causing them to fall to the floor.
"What now?" Hilbert exclaimed.
"YOU FOOLS!" he screamed. "I understand that you had your Pokemon taken away, but you still have a responsibility to the island!" He crossed his arms and looked down upon them. "You may search once you've cleaned Melemele."
"WHAT?" The three said in unison.
Hala just scoffed and walked away.
The boys sighed and walked down to the beach.
"Great, now how are we supposed to find our Pokemon?" Hilbert asked.
The three of them stood around for a few minutes, trying to come up with ideas.
Then one popped into Lucas's head.
"I've got it!" Lucas exclaimed suddenly.
The other two boys looked at him with open ears.
"We're experienced trainers, right? We don't all have to be there to catch the Pokemon, only one of us can go. And while that person is looking for the Pokemon, the other two can cover for him!"
Hilbert and Brendan looked at each other, then at Lucas, impressed.
"That sounds great!" Brendan said, "Who'll be first?"
…
Hala walked back to the area the boys were cleaning. Hilbert was working along the street, while Brendan was next to the Pokemon Center. Hala grinned at their honesty and hard working.
"Good work so far, boys! You'll be finished in no time!" He cheered.
Hilbert sighed, tiredly. "'Sigh', you say that like its only gonna take a few more days." He said.
"Come, on. It's not that bad! Look at Brendan! That boy's got enough energy... for… the three of… you?" Hala said as he looked over in Brendan's direction. He was wheezing while using his broom to support his weight.
"Is… there something bothering Brendan?" Hala asked.
As Hilbert realized that the Kahuna noticed, he quickly moved to assure him. "Oh, it's just, the news yesterday got him pretty hard and he didn't get much sleep last night!" Hilbert said, slightly nervously.
"Hmm, " Hala pondered.
Oh no, did he figure us out already!? Hilbert thought.
"That makes sense."
He thought wrong.
"But where is that Lucas boy?" Hala then asked, "He isn't slacking off, is he?"
"Ah… no!" Hilbert assured, "He's just cleaning behind the Center!"
Hilbert gave his friend the signal.
"Brendan" saw the signal and walked behind the Pokemon Center. After a moment, Lucas appeared from behind the center.
"See? There he is!" Hilbert tried to convince the Kahuna.
Hala looked over at Lucas. While he was still sick, he could see that Lucas was also tired.
"Hmm," Hala considered the three boys. But before he could decipher anything, he felt a sharp pain in his stomach.
"Hrrg!" Hala said in pain.
"Woah! You alright?" Hilbert asked the ill Kahuna.
"I'm fine," he said, limping away to his house. "I'll just be on my way then. Stay strong boys!" He looked over at Lucas.
"And Brendan!" Hala called out.
Lucas quickly went behind the Pokemon Center as Brendan came out from behind it.
"Be a strong leader, alright?" He called out.
"Brendan" looked on for a moment. "Brendan" waved back to show his understanding. Hala then walked off.
Hilbert walked over to his companion.
"So 'Brendan', how's the cleaning going?" He asked, jokingly.
"Ha ha, very funny." Lucas said, taking off the white hat. "Remind me again why I had to wear the disguise?"
"Because it's funny and I can do this;" Hilbert took a snapshot with Lucas's phone.
"Wait," Lucas realized his predicament, "Hey! Give that back!"
"Not until I make this your wallpaper!" Hilbert said as he tapped away, trying to enter the correct passcode.
"No!" Lucas and Hilbert struggled as they both tried to get the phone, "Stop! You're gonna lock it you idiot!"
Hilbert laughed as he kept the phone out of Lucas's reach. The two struggled humorously until they remembered why Lucas was disguised in the first place.
"Wonder how Brendan's doing."
...
Brendan trudged through the forest, grunting and mumbling. He was stripped down to his undershirt and boxers for Lucas to use his overcoat and pants as a disguise. Even his hat was taken. All he had was one of the Pokeballs and his old rod.
As he walked through the densely wooded area, he looked for any Pokemon that seemed weak enough to catch, yet strong enough to become a worthy member of his team. While he hated the idea of judging a Pokemon's strength from appearances alone, he didn't have much other choice unless he wanted to fight them himself, which he could do, he just wasn't one to fight people without a good purpose.
While he was mulling those facts over, a Rockruff jumped from the bush on his right and ran ahead.
"Oh, no ya don't!" Brendan followed it through the forest.
After a while of chasing, the two ended up on a stone riverbank. There was a calm swamp next to it.
"Woah." Brendan exclaimed as he forgot about the Rockruff and observed this new local.
He walked over to the swamp and looked closely at the surface of the water. He then slowly dipped his finger in.
"What are you doing?" A calm, gentle voice asked.
"Huh? Who said that?" Brendan looked around for the owner of the voice.
"I did, I'm right here." the small girl said. She was literally two feet away from him.
"Oh, sorry." Brendan chuckled, "You're so quiet I barely noticed you!"
He took a quick look at the girl. She had a fishing rod dipped in the swamp and a matching fishing hat. Her hair was visible under the hat, showing that it was ocean blue in colour. She was small, to Brendan she looked barely 8 years old. She wore a white shirt and some ocean-patterned pants that got wider as they got to her sandaled feet.
Brendan then noticed something move behind her.
A Popplio was playing with a bubble and bouncing around.
"Aww, hey there little guy!" Brendan beckoned the Popplio over with his hand. The Popplio obeyed the trainer as it flopped over to him. He crouched down and petted the Sea Lion Pokemon, which it seemed to enjoy as it barked happily.
"What's your name?" Brendan asked, looking back up at the fishing girl.
"Lana," She answered in her gentle voice, "and this is Popplio." The Popplio flopped over to its trainer.
She petted it while she asked again, "What were you doing just now? You know, with the water?"
"Oh, that!" Brendan replied. He went over to the girl and explained to her.
"I was testing the temperature of the swamp. You see, depending on the temperature of the water, the amount of Pokemon that are in it and the type of Pokemon can change." He dipped his finger in the water again, "Like, if the water's cold, that means that there aren't many of them and they're all strong. And if its warm, that means there are lots of Pokemon and they're more friendly!" He took his hand out again. "That's pretty warm, so there's lots of slightly weaker, friendlier Pokemon in there."
Lana looked impressed with the boy's knowledge of water Pokemon, which seemed even more strange to her considering it looked like he only had an old rod and a single Pokeball.
"My father uses that same trick when he's fishing." She said.
"Oh," Brendan replied, "So he's an experienced fisherman, right?"
"Yeah he is!" Lana said, smiling.
"Wow! Cool!" Brendan exclaimed, "Hope I get to meet him someday!"
He then got up. "Well, its was nice meeting you, Fisher Girl-"
"Lana."
"Yeah that. It was nice to meet you, but now I'm off to find a strong Pokemon to catch!" Brendan said as he started walking along the riverbank.
He wasn't watching where he was going, though, and slipped on something, causing him to fall flat on his face.
"Are you alright?" Lana asked, running over to his aid.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I'm pretty sturdy." Brendan said, holding the side of his head.
"What did I slip on, anyway?" He asked.
"I think it might have been that." Lana pointed at the culprit. A small Dewpider was walking around. It kept leaning and almost falling over due to the weight of its water bubble, which kept spilling out.
Brendan and Lana watched as it slowly kept drunkenly stumbling around, eventually losing all of the water in its water bubble and collapsed on the ground.
…
"AAHHH!"
Brendan and Lana rushed over to the collapsed Pokemon.
"It can't survive without that water bubble, hurry!" Lana explained as Brendan picked the Pokemon up.
"Throw it in the river!" Lana said.
"Arf Arf!" Popplio said.
"Got it!" Brendan replied as he tossed the skeletal body of the Dewpider into the swamp.
The Pokemon sank a little.
Brendan and Lana watched it in anticipation.
To their relief, the Pokemon started filling up its water bubble using the water from the swamp, as if it was drinking.
Brendan, Lana, and Popplio all breathed a deep sigh of relief. The Dewpider was safe.
For now…
As Brendan and Lana were fixated on the Dewpider, they failed to realize that the swamp's water level was getting lower until it was half the volume as before.
They both gasped.
"HOW MUCH DID THAT THING DRINK?!" Brendan said, still failing to realize that the lake was being drained by the giant mechanical vacuum on the other side of the swamp.
"What's going on?" Lana asked.
It was Team Rocket!
Prepare for troub-
They did whole motto thing, yadayadayada, you get the gist.
…
Brendan was confused.
"So these guys are actors, or…?"
"No! They're Pokemon Thieves!" Lana explained.
"THEY'RE WHAT?!" Brendan exclaimed in rage.
"They're people who steal Pokemo-" Lana's explanation was cut off by Brendan.
"I know what thieves are. I'm oblivious, not stupid!"
"Well, looky what we have here." Jessie said, pointing out Brendan.
"It's a gallant knight to protect this land!" James said sarcastically.
"Well it's time to dethrone this little knight in shining armour!" Meowth said.
"WOAH! Is that Meowth talking!?" Brendan exclaimed.
"Yes I am!" The Meowth said with a smirk. "I'm the top dog among the cats!"
"Cool!" Brendan replied.
"This is no time to be gawking!" Lana scolded Brendan, "They're stealing the Pokemon!"
The vacuum was continually sucking in more water, along with Pokemon, into a massive container that looked sealed.
"This contraption will suck in all the water type Pokemon in this swamp!" James explained, "And this container will keep the Pokemon inside nice and sealed up!"
Brendan clenched his fists. "RRGGHH! Jerk!" He started to run towards the contraption, but was stopped by a purple sludge flying straight in front of him. The sludge sunk into the ground like acid.
"Good work, Mareanie!" James said as the Poison Type Pokemon he had obtained in the Alola region landed beside him. The Pokemon enjoyed the praise so much that it started to chomp on James's head.
"You should really change the hair gel you use. You've been attracting Pokemon like this for 18 years now." Jessie suggested.
Brendan tried to run at the machine again, but was this time stopped by the female Team Rocket member's voice.
"Ah-ah, you bigger twerp!" Jessie mocked, "There's no getting past us, especially without Pokemon! AhaHA! Attacking that little water-twerp here was brilliant! No other Pokemon or twerps to interfere!"
"MRR FRR! (Of course!)" James said, pulling off his Mareanie, "And now we can catch her Popplio!"
Brendan looked around for any options. While he didn't find any, he did see the Dewpider he'd helped getting sucked in by the vacuum.
Brendan then dove into the swamp.
"No!" Lana yelled out.
Brendan swam as fast as he could to the struggling Dewpider. He managed to grab it, but he was now in the vacuum's vortex.
"MMRRRFFFBBBLLBLBLBLBLBLBLGGGGGGGGGGGTGTGTGTGTGGGYGYYYYGGYYG (Oh no!)"
He was about to get his leg stuck when he felt his shirt tugging at his neck. Then, without any warning, Brendan was flung into the air along with the Dewpider. They both landed back on the river bank safely.
"Are you alright?" Lana asked, breathing heavily.
Brendan looked over at the young girl and realized.
She had pulled him out of the water with her fishing rod!
Brendan looked back at where Team Rocket was. Apparently he'd missed a bit of battling.
Lana's Popplio was facing off against the Mareanie and both looked slightly worse for wear.
"Well wasn't that anti-climatic?" The Meowth said, mockingly.
Brendan looked back at Lana. She was still tired from pulling him up, and she also looked injured.
"Ah!" She exclaimed as she felt a sharp twinge of pain.
Her Popplio looked back in worry.
"Now's our chance! Mareanie, use Sludge Bomb!" The Mareanie obeyed and launched another ball of purple acid at Popplio while it was off gaurd.
"Popiii!" Popplio said as it was knocked to the side, rolling.
"No, Popplio!" Lana cried out to her partner.
Popplio fainted.
"Now time for the catch!" Meowth yelled as he took out a net shooter.
The Pokemon pressed the button, causing the net to to launch and expand. It was heading straight for the Popplio.
"NOOO!" Lana screamed.
But before the net could wrap around the Pokemon, Brendan jumped in front of it!
The net wrapped itself around the trainer, but it did not have enough strength to pull Brendan's weight. Brendan had saved the Pokemon with his strength and quick wit!
"Heh, that's a pretty wimpy machine you got there." He said, valiantly, "Now you can't hurt Popplio!"
"Yes, but… now you're trapped." James pointed out.
Brendan struggled a little before realizing.
"Oh."
"Now, we can finally get out of this mucky place!" Jessie exclaimed with both delight and disgust.
"NO!" Brendan yelled. He was starting to break the netting, but he wasn't sure if he could make it on time.
Team Rocket was about to leave with dozens of innocent water Pokemon!
Brendan struggled with the net so much that his hands were starting to bleed.
As Team Rocket started to leave on their balloon, Lana was cradling her injured Popplio.
"Rrrgh! Come on!" Brendan exclaimed in frustration. He couldn't get out of the net. He started think about the last time he felt this helpless.
Why is it that everytime I need to protect someone, I'm just… just so useless!
…
He had to give up.
…
He just had to.
…
His hands were already covered in blisters.
…
By the time he got out of the net, he would be too late to save anyone.
…
He couldn't do anything.
…
…
"Dew!"
The sound of a tiny grunt and a small thunk came from Team Rocket's machine.
"What is that?" James asked.
"I'll go check." Meowth said.
The talking cat Pokemon walked around their giant container full of Pokemon to find a Dewpider.
The Dewpider Brendan had saved.
Slowly and wobbly trying to break the container to save its friends.
"Hey!" Meowth exclaimed.
Once the Dewpider saw that it was noticed, it started moving away, wobbly.
After about thirty seconds of Team Rocket gawking at the tenacity of the extremely weak and unstable Pokémon, they remembered that they were the villains and launched an attack at it.
"Oh, uh, Mareanie, use Sludge Bomb." James said.
Mareanie obeyed and shot one of its purple balls of acid at the helpless Dewpider.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
…
…
…
Brendan had jumped in front of the Pokémon.
The toxic sludge hit him square in the face.
…
Lana was in shock.
…
Team Rocket was in shock.
"Why did you let yourself get hit by that you idiot?!" Jessie exclaimed, using frustration in the place of understanding.
Dewpider was on the ground, looking up at its saviour.
Brendan slowly turned to Dewpider.
…
"That was real brave of you." He said through pained burns and blisters.
…
"Braver than I was."
He then collapsed on the ground.
NEXT TIME: PERFECT