The Thief, The Friend, The Victim, and The Savior
Chapter 3
Author's Notes: Oh… my… god. I can't believe that I'm coming crawling back to this little gem after about two years. By now everyone who ever planned on following the story had their dreams quashed as my computer with lengthy Chapters 3 & 4 crashed, leaving me with no desire to rewrite them. By now I've forgotten a few intricacies, but I still have the basic idea for the story in my head, and I hope that I can salvage it for the good of the community, and for the good of VulpixTrainer, my only reviewer.
"Wisp and Marx! You had better not be responsible for this!"
The agitated voice of a very old Alakazam rang out through the dojo. The "Bending Spoons Dojo" made for a very strange sight in Goldenrod City, for any passerby would see the usual skyscrapers, office buildings, and vendors' carts selling produce and meat and jewelry. Then they would spy, as if it had been dropped there accidentally, a feudal style dojo complete with sliding paper doors.
The owner of the Bending Spoons Dojo was a 240 year-old Alakazam named Fujita, who was nearing the end of his days. He had managed this small psychic boarding school for 68 years, next month. He hoped to pass his powerful knowledge of the psychic arts unto any and all who wanted it. However, two of his students where forced upon him by unloving and irate parents, hoping to get their children away. Fujita was very sympathetic for the young Ghastly and Psyduck, and tried to treat them in a fatherly manner.
They both, however, turned out to be quite a handful, as they quickly gained a reputation as pranksters, though they had both developed a close bond of friendship. Although the Psychic Master did not have much of a fatherly influence as he intended, he still cared for the boys through his teachings in their early years. He even watched them mature into the adolescent Haunter and Golduck they were now.
Wisp and Marx both did not know the soft spot Master Fujita harbored for both of them, and constantly thought him overbearing, which he was, in his own way.
The other students admired the two for their amazing ability, however. They both had the potential to become the next Grandmaster, though Master Fujita did not believe they would consider the position. Training was more like a chore to them, as the dojo was their home.
It was on this morning however; that we find an already very irate Mr. Fujita (due to his bad back being particularly painful that morning) being further annoyed by a prank no doubt played by the Golduck, Marx. It seems that he had changed the psychic energy lock on the door out of Fujita's quarters to a signature that he didn't recognize. When he tried to open the door he would get blasted back and he would suddenly shout, for no particular reason, "I'm a stupid old toad".
If this weren't such an annoying prank, Fujita would've been impressed, as it took quite a bit of mental energy and ability to perform such as feat. However, it required a large hole to be blasted in the side the Grandmaster's wall if he planned on leaving his quarters before 6:30, the time of his first class. And so he hobbled down the hall as fast as he could, yelling at them. This was the last straw. Wisp and Marx were getting increasingly belligerent, and he intended to make sure they learned their lesson.
"Who are you kidding!?" He shouted, trying to make himself heard to them. "Of course I know you did it! You boys had better show yourselves right now, or I'll have to come looking for you, and you know that I will find you!"
This seemed to either make them angry or scared, which of the two Fujita couldn't tell. But in any event, the two ambled from around a corner where the sleeping quarters led to the exit doors.
Marx began to speak. "Well gramps—
"—Or, in your own words, 'stupid old toad'" Wisp interjected.
"Yes, I guess that would be a better description. We've decided we've learned enough to make it in the big, scary real world," Marx said this like someone lecturing a child on the laws of traffic safety. "And we're leaving."
"For good." Wisp finalized.
The two turned and ran out the door. At first, Fujita made up his mind to let the boys go. Maybe they just were lost causes, and not good matches for the environment that The Bending Spoons Dojo offered. In a regular home, they would leave their family at about his time. Now that they had evolved (mentally and literally), it was probably the best course of action.
After a bit of thought, Mr. Fujita then realized that it would be ungentlemanly not to at least give them a farewell wish. He ran out after the boys to give them a last goodbye.
"You think we let him off a bit hard?" Wisp mused as he and his partner-in-crime left the dojo.
"Well, it had to be done." Responded Marx. "If we hadn't been so sudden and insistent, well, even you know that he would've figured out a way to make us stay just a little longer. And then where do things go from there, right?"
"I guess…" Wisp said.
The two walked (and hovered) out onto the long-stretching sidewalk. Sirens sounded in the distance, as they often did in the large city of Goldenrod. Looking down either length of the street for something interesting other than the usual desolate northwestern section of the city, Wisp and Marx decided their first stop would be the restaurant across the street – neither had had any breakfast that morning.
The two chatted for a moment and agreed on the decision. As they began to cross the street, the sirens from earlier became louder, as if they were getting closer. They wrote it off as nothing, and made their way across the pitifully deserted street.
Regalia was truly on the run now. With six police vehicles barreling after her, she was quite ill equipped to handle evading traffic and evading police cars. Traffic screeched to a halt as her police cruiser with the mangled windshield shot past them. She chanced a glance at the skyscrapers boxing her in from all sides. By chance she spied a calm, unmoving Shiftry sniper hanging out of a fourth story window, and he was about to take a shot!
Using her thievery-honed reflexes, Regalia jerked her cruiser at an angle so she was closely shadowing a nearby PNEM (Pokemon National Express Mail) truck. The Shiftry had no time to react to this sudden move, and fired. The large brown truck in front Roselia began to swerve left and right, and then suddenly took off with a burst of speed before flipping onto its side and spilling its cargo, stacks of flyers, out into the surprised Sneasel's face. As she swerved wildly to avoid the overturned truck and other traffic, she furiously ripped flyers off of her face.
The words heading a flyer caught Roselia's eye. The flyer read, "Come celebrate Oriental Pokemon Day! Enjoy our massive annual parade, taking place only in the northwestern sec of Goldenrod City!" The Northwestern area of Goldenrod City was never full of cars! From there, Roselia could gain ground, and lose the cops on the freeway near one of her "safe houses".
She made a quick right turn and lead the chase down another street. She noticed in her rearview mirror that a Machop policeman had decided to take the lead and was moving up ahead of the pack to ram her. He got right up beside her, with barely enough road to maneuver on. He rolled down his windshield in order to better call out to her.
"Stop this crazy, dangerous chase! There are already many people that have already been injured! Roselia, please give yourself up without a fight!" Instead of rolling her window down to respond to the Machop policeman, Roselia simply punched her window out.
"No way! That would take out all the fun of it!" She replied smugly. She shot a sharp look directly at the Machop. Her eyes glowed with darkness, and an invisible pulse connected the two Pokemon momentarily. Then the Machop's eye's glossed over and he slumped over his steering wheel. The police car he was driving skidded onto the sidewalk and hit a fruit cart. A shower of pears exploded from the sidewalk, many of which smashed against Roselia's already mutilated car.
She gave a smile of satisfaction. The police wouldn't try that again.
Suddenly she noticed two indeterminate Pokemon begin to walk across the road – right in front of her car! They somehow didn't even notice her! Well, it wouldn't be her first hit and run, so she pressed her clawed foot on the gas pedal even harder, and forged ahead, hoping the two Pokemon had enough brains to leap out of the way.
"Hey, Marx? What do you think that we should do now that we've—?
Wisp was cut off mid-question as he glanced down the street casually, in the general direction of Marx. What he saw gave him a sickened jolt of surprise. There was a pack of police cruisers, the leading car heavily mangled, speeding right at them, and it sure didn't look like they were planning on stopping!
"Hey Wisp, is something wrong?" Marx had not seen the police cars, and was oblivious. There were only mere seconds.
"Marx get out of the way!!!" Wisp shouted in response. Marx merely turned to face the police cars. He froze when he saw that he was staring directly into the eyes of a Sneasel driving a wrecked police car. The Sneasel had a look of disturbing determination on her face. As a reflex, Wisp went transparent, and the cars whipped through him harmlessly. He closed his eyes tightly. There was a thud, a surprised cry, and a sickening crack.
When Wisp opened his eyes, the police procession was long gone down the street. About ten feet behind the shakily hovering Wisp, was the battered, broken body of his only friend, blood pooling under his limp form.
"Oh my God!" The voice of Master Fujitsu came from the entrance of the Bending Spoons Dojo. He psychically enhanced his speed and rushed in a blur over to his pupil of many years. Wisp rushed to join him.
"Master Fujitsu… Can you use your Recover technique and heal him?"
"No… I'm sorry. That only would heal his bruises and flesh wounds. He," Mr. Fujitsu stopped for a moment and placed his glowing blue hands on Marx's chest. He slid them over his body in a circular motion. "He," Mr. Fujita continued. "Has massive internal bleeding. He…" The old master's voice cracked slightly. "He won't survive." The old Alakazam and the young ghost knelt beside their tragically taken friend of many years and wept in the middle of the deserted street.
Author's Notes: Sorry we weren't able to see anything of Hombre here, but I needed to introduce the last character and his tie-in with our current characters. Just to let any readers know; that means that all the characters mentioned in the title have been introduced. Can you guess who is who?