Okay, here's chapter five! It is a bit longer than the other chapters so far, so I hope your happy with it! It's mostly Noah with a little bit of Brooke at the end.


Shadow felt as if his ears would start bleeding any second as he was forced to listen to Crusty sing 'Walking on Sunshine'. He tried to control his urge to strangle the lobster by wondering how Noah could just ignore it like he was doing then.

They reached the two story house with chipping white paint that they called 'home'. Shadow almost calapsed with relief when Crusty finally shut up. Noah opened the door and they walked inside.

The boy was a bit surprised to see his mother standing there waiting for him. It was dim in the living room, but the light from his father's beloved TV illuminated the woman's features. Her coal black hair blended into the gloom, but her pale skin stood out. Her lips formed a straight line and her almond-shaped obsidion eyes were narrowed.

'Damn. I wonder what I did this time,' Noah thought to himself as he waited for her to say something.

"I saw the battle," she said in a low voice. "It was on the news."

Noah cursed under his breath and his heart began to beat a little faster. He knew what she would say next.

"Give me the damn winning money," she commanded, holding out her hand and glaring at him, a warning that she was not to be defied.

Noah felt his own sapphire eyes narrow as well. "Why? So you can spend it on your damn beer?! I don't think so. Shadow and Crusty earned that money and I'm not going to give it to you!"

Her eyes narrowed even more. "Don't you talk to me like that! Now do what I said and give me the fuckin' money you son of a bitch!" she snarled.

"I agree! I am a son of a bitch!"

She screamed with rage and her hand flew forward, slamming into his face with enough force to knock him to the ground.

Shadow felt something in him snap. He lept forward and seized the enraged woman's arm in his mouth, biting down until he could taste her blood dripping from his fangs onto his toung.

She gave a cry of anger and agony before slamming her good fist into his nose as hard as she could, causing him to cry out from the throbbing pain in his snout and release his hold on her arm.

"Shadow, Crusty run! Now!" Noah shouted as he climbed to his feet and ran for the stairs, his pokemon and mother in hot pursuit. He ran into his room and slammed the door shut the second his pokemon were safely in as well. His hand flew to the lock and twisted it seconds before a pounding was heard.

"Open the door ya piece of shit!"

"Yeah, lite THAT'S gonna happen," Crusty said sarcastically.

The pounding finally stopped. "Fine, have it your way. But tomarrow I'm takin' that mutt to have it put down!" she said before going to the bathroom to bandage her arm.

Noah sighed and let himself slide to the floor.

"What is that bitch's problem?!" Crusty exclaimed.

Noah sighed again. "It's not her fault really. It used to be different, but then she got depressed and started drinking. Now she's a bit addicted to it. It's the alcohol talking, not her."

"I can't believe you're defending her Noah! She obviously isn't right in the head and your dad's no better! He is so uncaring that he doesn't even do anything but watch TV! " Shadow scolded. "I seriously think we should run away. We can take care of ourselves! Besides, we have to leave anyway or she's going to have me killed!"

The black-haired boy bit his lip. "You're right. We do have to leave," he said as he got stood back up and walked over to his small closet. He pulled out his red back pack, still holding some of the things he'd packed when he was ten. He could still remember his father's exact words...

"Noah, we all know that you're too much of a wimp to expect to win battles and make enough money to make the damn journey worth it. You'd be a lot more useful at home. I won't have you lazing around on some fuckin' pokemon journey when you could be doing something useful."

Noah growled in anger before checking the bag. Yes, it still contained the tarp, space blanket, water purification tablets, book on edible plants and his pokedex along with a few other things. He added a couple of new items and a couple pieces of clothing before zipping it back up and placing it on his shoulders.

Then he walked over to his dresser and pulled out several pairs of pants. He tied the legs together before grabbing the sheets off of his bed. He knotted the corners together and tied the last pant lef around the knot. He checked all of the knots to make sure they were nice and tight before straightening.

"Crusty, climb into the sheet," he instructed.

The lobster pokemon was confused at first, but he caught on quickly and climbed in. Noah carefully opened his window and set Crusty on the ledge. To proceeded to slowly lower him to the grass below. After he climbed out, Noah hauled it back up.

"Your turn, Shadow," he said.

"How will you get down?" the fox inquired.

"Don't woryy about it. Just get in," he replied urgently, finally convincing the dark type to get into the makeshift basket. He carefully lifted it and did the same as he did with Crusty. But this time, he left it down.

He secured the other end of the rope of pants to his bed post, checking it several times to make sure that the knot was tight enough to support his weight. Then, he swung his legs outside the window, tightly gripped the rope and began to climb down.

About halfway down, he lost his hold on the rope and fell to the ground, the impact knocking the air from his lungs as well as cracking his back.

"Noah! You alright dude? How many fingers am I holding up?" Crusty said as he and Shadow ran forward to check on their friend.

Noah groaned and sat up as he took deep breaths to replenish his lost oxygen supply. He rubbed his head and gave the orange crustacian an amused look. "You don't even have fingers."

Crusty sighed in relief before grinning at Shadow. "Yep! Our little fugitive's brain is still functional!"

Shadow smirked. "Yeah, too bad yours isn't."

"Oh, real mature, Shadow," Crusty huffed as he put his claws on his sides. "Joke around when we should be getting the hell away from the scene of the crime. I'm ashamed of you!"

Noah smirked as he climbed to his feet and adjusted the bag on his shoulders. "You're only saying that because you couldn't come up with a decent comeback."

Crusty rolled his eyes. "You know, that saying about pokemon and their trainers starting to look and act alike might actually be true. You two are practically clones! I just hope that don't happen to me. I wouldn't be able to live with myself!" he said as they made their way to Route 5.

Shadow and Noah exchanged a look. They both looked at Crusty with a serious expression. "What are you talking about? We're completely different," they said in unison as smirks formed on their mouths.

"You have GOT to tell me how you do that," the amazed lobster muttered as they walked through the dimly lit opaqueness of the night.

"It's a secret. Very hush hush," Shadow said, still smirking.

Noah nodded. "Yeah. We could tell you, but then we'd have to kill you."

Crusty rolled his eyes again. Just then, one of his legs tripped over a small rock. He didn't fall down, but he was still annoyed. "I can barely see my own claw in front of my face! Did either of you idiots bring a flashlight?"

"Who needs a flashlight?" Noah replied with a shrug as Shadow lit up his rings. "And you call us idiots," he added when Crusty slapped himself in the forehead for forgetting about the Umbreon's ability.

"We can see in the dark perfectly fine, but my rings sure come in handy for you poor, half-blind suckers who need a light other than the moon," Shadow said to add fuel to the fire that was Crusty's annoyance.

"Well, at least I never have to worry about drowning! You poor fools are all lung, no gill. I feel sorry for you," the Corphish shot back, shaking his head back and forth in an act of pity.

"Yeah? Well..."

"Will you two just be quiet?! Jeez, you guys fight like an old married couple. We're trying to sneak away, remember?" Noah said in exhasperation.

"I don't play for that team," Shadow replied with a raissed eyebrow.

"Yeah! And even if we did, I'm too good for him," Crusty added, running a claw through his horns.

"In your dreams maybe."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"This is going to be one long, torturous night," Noah grumbled quietly to himself as he tried to tune out the sounds of the pokemons' bickering.

-ooo-

Brooke pulled her head from her now moist pillow when she heard a knock on her bedroom door. She wiped the tears from her face with the back of her arm and shouted "Go away!"

"Brooke, it's Daddy. Can I please come in?" she heard her father's voice say.

She sighed and looked at Sophie, silently asking if she should say yes.

The violet feline nodded.

"Yeah, come on in."

The blond haired man entered. He sat down beside her on the bed and gave her a compassionate look from behing his glasses. "What's wrong?"

"Mom," she replied bitterly. "She told me that I couldn't be friends with Noah anymore. It's bad enough that she keeps trying to control me, but now she's trying to control the say I feel about people! Why does she hate him so much anyway?"

Her father sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "She thinks he's a bad influence because he dresses in dark clothes, doesn't talk much, has a dark type pokemon and tends to be a bit too quiet. Plus his mother is known to drink too much and his dad is just plain lazy, which is probably why they dont' have too much money. Your mother wants you to be a success like us. She probably thinks that him and his family will corrupt you."

Brooke's emerald eyes narrowed. "That is so prejudiced! He isn't anything like them. Just because his parents are screwed up doesn't mean that he is too! If Mom would actually get to know him..."

"That's the problem. He's too quiet. He only really talkes to you, his pokemon and those buddies of his who left on pokemon journeys," he interrupted. Then he smiled. "Besides, you didn't really start talking to him until he was your only option left. How can you expect your mother to?"

Brooke crosser her arms. She knew he had her beat, but she wasn't giving up just yet. "Speaking of which, why did she make me stay home when I could have been travelling?"

"You know why. She was afraid that you'd get hurt. Besides, there's a lot of weirdos out there. She's just trying to keep you safe," he said softly, putting an arm around her shoulders.

She looked him in the eye and said "Now, answer me this Dad. What do you think about Noah and me going on my journey?"

He closed his big, brown eyes in thought. He pondered over it for a moment or two before opening them again. "I think that the decisions are yours to make. We can't protect you forever and I trust your judgement. Only you can decide your destiny. It's your life, so you control it," he said, kissing her forehead and getting up to leave. "Good night, Brooke. I love you," he added as he left.

Sophie turned her head and smiled at her. "Your father's a very wise man. Clever too. I don't know many other people who could get the final word in with you."

Brooke grinned and threw one of her pillows at the Espeon. They both laughed before climbing into bed.

Sophie fell asleep quickly, but insomnia kept Brooke up. She gazed out the window at the gibbous moon, the same thought playing in her head again and again.

"Only I can decide my destiny," she said aloud softly before being claimed by the relm of sleep.


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