Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or its characters.
Author's Notes: This chapter is a littler shorter but I think is a good length for this one, a good balance before a huge "hit"
Earlier on the same day of the attack on TV Mauville -
From the large windows at the back wall side, tiny faint rays of lights sipped inside the dark and cool room. Those gentle shining beams brought with them the warming feeling of the rising sun, turning the dreary scene on the gym leader's chamber into imagery taken out of a painting, little sunrays surrounding a peaceful young man, entirely focused on his meditation.
Like most of his mornings, Wally woke up very early in the morning with the starry sky still bathing the town with its lights. The young trainer to this day takes to heart the training he got from his predecessor and honors the same routine the previous gym leader had. Therefore, he wakes up before the sun rises and go directly to Peltaburg's Pokébom gym, to train his mind as much as he trains his body.
Even if the gym leader is the earliest person awake in the town, he is rarely the exception. Most of the other trainers following under the Balance Badge Gym wakes up almost as early as him, something all of them learned after training under Norman for so long. Moreover, with so many of its inhabitants getting active at the first sunlight, Petalburg has turned in something like the town of dawn.
The busy sound of the city growing further with each passing second, more and more people starting their day-to-day life. Even immersed in his deep concentration, Wally could hear the other trainers entering the building, their loud voices being exceedingly louder than usual, something that not escaped his perception.
'Is today one of those days?' Wally mused with himself, a little chuckle coming from him.
And like he expected, the peaceful and quiet atmosphere of his room was disturbed with the rattling sound of doors opening. A woman with dark green hair and fierce looking face features stepped in and made a little noise with her throat to make sure she has his attention. "Hey Wally, good morning..." She said with a little apologetic smile.
"Good morning, Jan." He replied with his eyes still closed, barely moving from his calm posture. "You sound disturbed, is there anything you want to say?" He slowly opened his eyes, the pair of Ice-blue colored iris gazing patiently but still carrying a stern look on them.
"Hah, sometimes I don't know if you just like to imitate Norman that much or if that coolness comes with the job. You really sound like him, though." Jan giggled and waved one hand in front of her in dismissal.
He only continued to look at her, giving a short smile as a response for her harmless joke.
"Anyway, I came here to give you a notice." She looked behind her and shook her head with a bit of annoyance. "You got a challenger coming in."
"Now?!" He finally broke his composed posture and stood up, looking at the woman with curious eyes. "And how did someone managed to beat everyone else so quickly? You barely got inside, this is- Oh…" He finally realized what is happening.
"Yeah, the little rascal is here again." She said with a smirk.
"Let me guess, all of you are just letting him in. No battles, riddles or challenges?" Wally sighed a bit tired. "This is not helpful, you all know that, right?"
"I could stop him on his tracks and challenge him to a battle… But you know how that ends." Jan was the one letting out a sigh this time. "Besides, he really likes you. Just indulge him a bit; it's so early that I doubt any other trainers will show up at this hour. No harm, no problem."
Wally opened his mouth to counteract her point but stopped midway. Despite all the trouble and time spent when those random visits happen, he cannot bring himself to hate these little encounters. "Sure, let him in." The young gym leader said with a warm grin.
"Cool, I will get him." Jan nodded pleased, she turned to leave but stopped to give Wally one last look. "Just to let you know, I appreciate this… we all do." Her eyes locked with his and a faint blush crossed her cheeks as his serious gaze seemed to reach inside her soul. "I-I should go… I'll be right back."
He could not help himself but chuckle at her nervous acting at the end. At the begging of his days as a gym leader, Wally got nothing more than scoffs and judging eyes from the others but within a few months, all of them started to show respect and a sense of proud for having him as a leader. Now Jan even throws at him the same stares she gave Norman when he was the head of Petalburg's Pokémon gymnasium.
"Today is the day!" a shrilling voice sounded from the side of the door.
'Here he comes.' Wally thought to himself.
"Wally! I came here to challenge you." A brazen looking boy pushed the door open with a vibrant smirk on his face. "Today is the day that I, Toby, con… conque… That I beat you!" After failing on his delivery, even with all the practice, he put on it, he finished his sentence looking all red and embarrassed, but never losing the confident smirk.
Toby, the liveliest children in the city and a recurring face on this gym, is a little boy with blond hair, sharp brown eyes, and fuzzy eyebrows. He wears a yellow colored t-shirt with an image of a purple Poké-Ball in the middle, his pants are dark blue and his shoes are gray. Being only eight years old, he proudly announces himself as the youngest Pokémon trainer of Petalburg, although he has not started his journey as a trainer, saying that he will only start his quest when he beats the gym leader and gets a Balance Badge for himself.
"I can see that." Wally responded with a simple nod. His voice is serene and serious as if he was speaking to any other challenge that shows up. "Then I presume that you learned from your past mistakes."
Toby pointed his index finger forward and proudly announced. "Nuahahaha! This time is going to be different." Right behind him a female giggle soon followed, after his brave words. "Hey, I'm serious here."
"And I'm rooting for you." Jan said doing a soft fist bump on his back. "Good luck." She said with a warm smile that quickly turned Toby into a giant red tomato. Then she waved at him and closed the door as she walked away.
"Girls… She doesn't get it." The boy said still blushing. "I don't need luck."
"First foul." Wally said calmly, but his face showing a disapproving scowl. "Never be overconfident, haven't I said that a dozen of times to you?"
"Gah, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to… Wait a minute!" Toby stomped at the floor angrily. "I'm here today as a challenger and not as a student to be schooled."
"So be it." Wally nodded once; he closed his eyes and walked over to the backside of the large room. "Prepare yourself." He announced with no ceremony.
"Nuhaha! That's more like it." Toby clapped his left fist on the palm of his right hand. He then pulled a Poké-Ball from one of his pockets and threw it at the center of the room. "Makuhita, let's beat Wally and get our Badge!"
A little yellow fighter Pokémon appeared on the indoor's arena. Makuhita waved both arms in the air, letting a happy cry as he prepared for the fight.
Wally reached for one of his Poké-Balls and tossed it forward, matching his challenger with a Pokémon of his own. A grumpy looking Zangoose appeared in front of Makuhita, the white bunny Pokémon only stared at her opponent, not showing interest and neither evil intent towards the fighter-type.
"You still remember the rules, right?" Wally asked just to make sure, this would not be the first time Toby has forgotten something he has been taught.
"You bet! We battle until one trainer's team has been wiped out." Toby responded right back, grinning for showing Wally that he remembers. "Not that it matters anyway, I only got Makuhita. And we will not lose!"
'And what about the other ones?' Wally frowned but decided to let the boy be. Would be a nightmare if he confused Toby and had to explain everything again. "Good to see that you still remember it. Now officially starting our battle. I, as the gym leader of Petalburg, accept your challenge-"
"Makuhita, get him while he is distracted. Use Arm Thurst!" Toby shouted and his Pokémon partner responded with a rallied cry.
Makuhita jumped forward, loosing a flurry of open-palmed arm thrusts. In his surprise attack, the yellow fighter scored a total of three hits, pushing his opponent backward and the suddenness of the blind strike making the white bunny stumble to the floor.
"Yes, we got them!" Toby cheered victoriously. "Nuahahaha! We trained all week to prepare that one."
'Second foul… this kid.' Wally rolled his eyes with Toby's lacking sense of chivalry or even honor in battle.
Zangoose stood on her feet again, this time glaring at the Makuhita with vexed eyes.
"Whaaaat?! How can it stand up?" Toby's jaw fell with the shock. "That was our super-secret technique."
The little Makuhita glanced to his trainer as surprised as the boy is. He then looked to the Zangoose giving him sharp glares that made him whimper scared to his bones.
"Super-secret technique you say? To me, that looks like a cheap shot." Wally said in a reprimanding tone.
"A cheap shot still a shot, right?" Toby said back. "We should try anything to win."
'Third foul.' Wally frowned again. "Your call, challenger. Don't get distracted, our battle is not over yet."
"That's right. Makuhita, bring that Zangoose down just like we trained. Use Arm Thrust!"
Makuhita jumped toward his opponent and unleashed the same volley of palm-thrusts. However, this time his tiny hands landed on nothing but the air; Zangoose dodged from the attack with ease and stepped to the side closing the gap between them.
"Zangoose with half speed, use Crush Claw." Wally commanded and his Pokémon followed.
Zangoose clashed her claws on Makuhita's right side. The force of the impact was enough to make the little yellow fighter to screech painfully and weakly wobble out of balance.
"Increase the tempo, use Crush Claw." Wally ordered.
With an arch movement of her arm, Zangoose stroke the fighter with an uppercut attack, sending Makuhita flying to the other side of the arena.
"Makuhita!" Toby yelled in panic. The little boy attempted to move in and help his Pokémon.
"If you move to help your partner, you are forfeiting the battle." Wally's stern voice stopped Toby before he could enter the arena. The boy glared at him and then looked at his Makuhita with a worried look.
The chubby yellow Pokémon slowly pushed himself out of the ground; he barely kept his posture straight, but still held his arms at ready to continue to fight.
"Makuhita… Yeah, we will not lose." Toby sighed in relief.
"You have a good Pokémon partner, he is very brave." Wally said with a little grin. Being this the first time on this battle where he was not frowning or shaking his head in disapproval. "But are you a good partner for him?"
"Tsk, I will show you." Toby frowned and clenched his fists. "Makuhita, let's use our hidden special super-secret move!" The boy shouted very loudly, pointing with one hand up to the ceiling.
Makuhita looked at his trainer a bit confused, but strangely enough, getting a second wind from it and showing complete faith on Toby's words.
"Go in and let's win this!" Toby commanded.
With an affirmative nod, the chubby fighter ran in, getting closer and closer to his opponent.
Zangoose continued to watch the fighter, just waiting for the perfect timing for a counter.
As the two Pokémon got face-to-face with each other, Toby did an amazingly high jump on his spot and shouted from the top of his lungs. "Makuhita, use Flamethrower!"
'What?!' Taken aback from the order the boy gave, Wally gave one short step forward, carefully watching the scene unfold with apprehensiveness.
Makuhita inhaled as much air as he could, inflating his little chubby body to its maximum. Then the yellow fighter jerked his head forward and unleashed everything out without holding nothing back.
In its first reaction, Zangoose guarded herself by raising both arms. The white bunny waited for the attack to come, embracing herself for the impact. Nevertheless, nothing came. Standing in front of the Zangoose, Makuhita kept blowing air out of his mouth, even with a few drops of spit flying out, but no flames appeared.
"Hey! Something is wrong." Toby pointed out. "Why are no flames coming out? I yelled just like that lady did and her Ninetales spat fire."
Makuhita stopped blowing air at Zangoose and looked back to his trainer. The chubby fighter let out a confused cry and shrugged.
"Unbelievable…" Wally face-palmed himself so hard, that the sound of his hand slapping on his forehead echoed all the way to the other room. "Zangoose, use Close Combat!" He yelled angrily in frustration.
Zangoose's pink eyes got sharper and her arms dropped to the sides. With an absurd speed, Zangoose disappeared from her spot and turned into a blur of white and red. Sharp black claws slashed at Makuhita's back, then another slash came from the front, then another and another. After the seventh consecutive hit, a more powerful attack came swinging from bellow, tossing the chubby fighter on the air completely out of his senses.
"Noo!" Toby yelled with tears forming on his eyes. The boy dashed inside the arena, kneeling down next to his Pokémon.
"Your partner is out of combat. Seeing as you have no other member in your team, this battle is over." Wally announced coldly.
"I thought… I thought we could…" With big tears rolling down his cheeks, the boy embraced his Pokémon friend, burying his face on the Makuhita's chubby yellow body. "I thought we could win." He finally broke down and started to cry loudly.
With his battle over, Wally called his Zangoose back to her Poké-Ball. He looked over to the crying boy and sighed, truthfully a long and deep sigh escaped his lips. The young tea-green haired man calmly strolled over to the collapsed Makuhita and crouched next to Toby.
"Hey, you don't have to cry." Wally said patting the boy on his head. "You did better today."
"Really?!" Toby lifted his head, showing the mess of tears that his face has turned into. "I did great?"
"No, but did better." Wally responded with his usual stern voice. Toby frowned, looking displeased at the gym leader's comment. Nevertheless, he stopped crying. "Why don't we take your friend here to the Pokémon center and get him healed? And after that, we can eat a piece of sweet cake, what you say?"
"A cake?! Yay!" Toby jumped with joy. "I want a choco cake."
"Heh, then let's have a choco cake."
"Brendan! Are you here?" Zinnia jumped from Salamence's back, the blue dragon gasped in surprised when she did, as they are still fairly high on the air. She landed quite graciously in front of the simple house entrance door, her heart going crazy with the expectation. 'Please be here… I need to see you.' She slowly turned the handle and pushed the door open.
As she entered the living room, a pair of frantic light-blue eyes stared at her, a certain ting of disappointment showing on the gaze of those eyes. Steven, who is sitting on the bigger couch, just sighed and buried his face down on his hands again. "I thought you were him." He said with a low voice.
She looked at him with an unpleasant look, a bad taste still lingers in her mouth after their last and first encounter. "What are you doing here? No, I don't care. Where is Brendan?" She shoved the door close with a lot of force behind her arms, regretting the action right after as a large crack appeared on the wood next to the handle.
"He's gone… I watched him leave." Steven responded but the way he was saying sounded more like he was talking to himself.
"Gone? Where to?" She looked to all sides, looking for any visible clues but found nothing. Her eyes landed back on Steven and her head began to fume. "Can you at least look at the person you are talking to?"
"MUR!" Aster poked her head at Brendan's bedroom door, as he saw Zinnia standing at the other room, the little Whismur came running after the woman, jumping straight on her arms. "Mur, Mum…" Aster buried her face on Zinnia's chest, whimpering loudly and shaking like a green leaf on a stormy day.
"Aster?! What happened, girl?" Gently stroking the pink fur ball on the back of her head, the draconid woman never felt so terrible in her life as she is feeling now, seeing her little Whismur shaking in fear is too much for her. "OI! What the hell happened here?" She shouted so loud that was impossible for Steven to ignore her.
He raised his head and gave a saddened glance to Aster. "She probably got scared when she looked at Brendan. Or when he looked at her." He responded simply.
"Brendan scared her?" Zinnia glanced down to Aster, then looked back to Steven. "Don't be ridiculous, Aster is the bravest Pokémon on this planet and Brendan of all people would never scare her." She then moved forward and pointed at him, with a judgmental look on her eyes. "Or maybe you are just a stupid person and a shitty friend to boot, to get fooled by that framing bullcrap those criminals made this morning."
Steven suddenly jumped from his seat, standing face to face with Zinnia. "Listen, lady, if you think that little episode just early this morning was scary… you are in for a world of hurt ahead of yourself." He growled in frustration and hesitantly took a step backward. "Look, I'm sorry that you suffered from a difficult experience. I didn't mean to be insensitive."
"You think I'm pathetic enough to get scared after a few punches?" She spat back. "That freak passing as Brendan was not trying to scare me, he was using Brendan's face to create panic with everyone else."
"Hah, that much I know. And that is a big problem in itself… Using the face of Hoenn's champion to spread fear, that is unacceptable." Steven fell back on the couch, placing his right hand on his forehead. "But the biggest problem now is Brendan, the real Brendan."
"What are you-"
"If this impostor though he was being scary and intimidating… He is sorely mistaken." With a troubled sigh, Steven looked at her and his eyes showed something strange, a glow that she quickly recognized as one she had a long time ago. He is terrified too.
"Where is Brendan… please, tell me."
"He is going after this Rainbow Rocket… nah, more precisely, he is going after the man that did this to you." He pointed to the big red bruise on her cheek. "I couldn't stop him… I didn't want to. But someone has to bring him back before is too late. I don't know where he is, but get to him. Talk to Brendan, before he starts something that will have no point of return."
Something in his voice or the way he is speaking hit Zinnia directly on her chest. She felt a strange feeling bursting out inside of her, driving her crazy with each moment she is spending here instead of being out there looking for Brendan. "I will find him, doesn't matter where he is. I will find Brendan." She pulled the door open, this time breaking the entire part where she cracked before, with even the handle falling on the floor. With desperate haste, Zinnia dashed outside carrying Aster on her arms and vanished as quickly as she could, in a distraught and urgent quest to find her lover.
With a tingle of hope lingering in his heart, Steven only watched as the hasty woman ran away from the house. He buried his face on his hands again, struggling with himself about the decisions he took today.
"This is not right Brendan, listen to yourself." Steven pushed his friend back, standing in front of the door.
"Why you? You of all people, are defending them?" Brendan shouted in rage, his voice making Aster jump backward and cower behind her large ears.
"I'm not… defending anyone. If what they said is true, they are behind that attack and my father's current state." Steven clenched his fists and grit his teeth. "I want nothing more than to see retribution, they need to pay."
"And they will pay. Hoenn is my home, the people here are like a huge family to me, to us." Brendan grasped his friend's shoulder and looked at him directly in his eyes. "Steven, get out of my way." He said with a burning hatred.
That voice, the intensity and evil intent on that voice; this is not Brendan speaking, Steven can feel that he knows that. But he also knows deep inside himself that he wants to see those criminals get what they deserve, he should be not thinking like this, but every fiber of him is only thinking about revenge.
Steven noticed that the more he stares at Brendan's eyes, no, specifically at his left eye, the more he feels enraged himself. Something is messing with his head and he knows exactly what is. That red Ω symbol,burning brightly on his friend's iris. In his confusion and fear of that red glowing thing, Steven did what he shouldn't, he stepped aside and let Brendan walk out of the room, taking his Sceptile with him.
With sorrow and regret, he looked at the open door to the bedroom and sighed again. "What have I done?"
As promised, Wally took Toby to breakfast on a local pastry; in one that the young Gym leader usually attends to a lot, despite his mature and calm demeanor he has quite a sweet tooth. The boy had a field day with cakes and different flavored milkshakes; he literally made Wally pay dearly for his defeat on their battle.
After their break, Wally went by his house and grabbed a little something, right before dragging the hardheaded little trainer to the shore of Route 104. There he used this free time to drill some… a lot more lessons on Toby's head, a challenging task to say the least.
"Hum… so then we CAN use Flamethrower?" Toby asked curiously.
"No Toby, I pretty sure a Makuhita cannot learn how to breathe fire." Wally responded with a frustrated sigh.
"But you said that we just need to train a move before using." The boy said back complaining.
"I said that you need to train with your partner before using any moves, you can't just come up with things on the fly." The green-haired teacher responded. "Please try to stay focused on what I am saying."
"Pssh, that is easy. I'm always focused." Toby said with a bright and large grin.
"Yeah… I can see that." Wally brought his left hand to his back and pulled something that he was keeping on the back waist of his pants. A fairly wide green book with a picture of a little Mudkip on the cover; the book itself appears to be old and covered with sticky notes on the edge of the pages. "I think you are old for me to trust you with this." He said waving the book in front of him.
"Really?!" Toby said very excitedly. "What is that book for? Oh, oh, I know! Is a super-secret book about hyper strong moves!" He got on his feet and began to jump all over the place, his eyes shining with expectation.
"What's up with you and your super-secret things?" Wally shook his head, but small smile sneaks its way to his lips. "This is a book guide on how to raise and battle with your Pokémon partner. Sorry to burst your bubble but it has nothing secret to it."
"Awww, not even a little bit secret?" Toby whined with his shoulders deflating with disappointment.
"No, not a little bit." Wally reached with his arms and softly tapped the tip of the book on the little one's head. "But this was my guide when I was in your age and learning how to raise my team. See, still got all the sticky notes I put here."
Toby grabbed hold of the book and quickly began to browse through the pages, and with every little note he read, his eyes shone even brighter with happiness. "This is so cool; I never had a book guide… And you gave me yours… Thank you." The bright little spots on his eyes quickly turned into tears that rolled down his cheeks, he even sobbed a little bit. However, his smile was never this wide and sincere as it is now.
"Take good care of it, okay?" Wally said as he patted the boy's head.
"I will, I promise."
"Hey, guys. What are you two doing out here?" A blond man with bronzed skin and fuzzy eyebrows called them from behind. He came from the little port on the other side of the beach, and from the clothes he is using one can easily see that he is a sailor.
"DAD! Look, look. Wally gave me his guidebook, is full of notes and all. It's really cool." Toby dashed at full speed, spraying sand as he sprinted his way to his father.
The man kneeled down and grabbed his son in a tight embrace. "Is that so? That is really cool, have you properly thanked him for it?"
The boy responded with a lively nod.
"Sorry Wally, this little runt is giving you trouble again." The blond sailor said scratching the back of his head.
"Don't worry about it. To tell the truth, everyone on the Gym would feel sad if Toby doesn't appear every week to make the place cheerful." Wally got on his feet and brushed the sand away from his bottom. "Even with his antics, he is a fun guy to have around."
"Hey! I'm there as a proper and dig... digne… respected Pokémon trainer." Toby said, having troubles with a word again. "I'm not just the fun kid!"
"So you are saying that you are not fun?" His father asked seriously, but hiding a playful grin from his son.
"Whaaat? I'm the funniest kid around." Toby responded with a large pout. His little act making both adults lose themselves in a fit of laughers.
"Wal- Ah… Ha… Wally! I… Finally found you." An exhausted looking May came running from Petalburg, the young woman is pathing and gasping for air; she probably ran a long way to make it here.
"May? What is the matter? You look ready to pass out from exhaustion." Wally said with a little chuckle, but his friendly expression faded away after she gave him a worried and alarmed look.
"I… need to talk to you." She said back, giving Toby and his father a sorry short smile.
"Hey Toby, why don't we go back home and show your cool new book to your grandma?" The older man nodded to May, getting her hind of wanting to talk privately with Wally.
"Wait, I want to play with Wally a bit more." The boy planted his feet on the ground in protest. "This is not fair, I was here first."
"Don't be like that; you can play all you want with him later." The father grabbed him by his shoulder and began pushing him forward. "See you later Wally."
"See you later, Arthur. You too, Toby." The green-haired trainer said back, giving a simple nod to the man.
"NEXT TIME I WILL WIN!" Toby's voice echoed on the open beach as his father dragged away back to the town.
Wally changed his gaze back to May and felt a soft tingle on his chest after noticing the desperate look she was giving him. "May, what happened?"
"I need your help… I really. I don't know what to do." She clenched the clothing of her shirt, glancing down to the sands beneath her feet.
"Sure, whatever I can do to help-"
"Is Brendan… I don't know what to do." She said right back, cutting him before he could finish speaking.
'Of course it is…' Wally thought to himself, a frown founding its way to his features.
"I think he lost is mind." She said in an outburst.
"Come again?" He asked with a funny face, the way she phrased that sentence sounded a bit surreal for him. "Okay, May. I need you to calm down and explain everything, from the start."
"Okay… Okay. But I'm scared about this… I think Brendan is in real trouble this time."
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Guest chapter 12 . Apr 19 – That would be interesting wouldn't it? However, without giving major spoilers, you can expect a lot more Legendary Pokémon showing up and having a big impact on the story. Talking about Legendary Pokémon... I wonder if anyone guessed which one is stuck inside that tube on Rainbow Rocket's base.