Chapter 77 – Redfur's Past
After May's big victory at the Princess Festival, we continued heading for Viridian City, riding on the backs of our large quadruped Pokemon. The fire Pokemon continued to run with us. We reached a small town, and stopped to eat at a restaurant. A girl walked up to May and asked, "Are you going to participate in our mini-battle?" May asked, "What's that?" The girl answered, "It's a tradition in our town after the Princess Festival. We have mini-battles just for female trainers, and the prize is a set of 2 Pokemon dolls of your choice." May said, "Well, I'm kinda battled out after the festival, but it does sound like fun." The girl continued, "It's a lot of fun! And there are lots of winners, not just one, like in the festival. We randomly select 2 trainers and they each battle for a set of dolls. However, the loser may not reenter the contest this year – they'll have to wait until next year." May said, "Okay. I'm in!"
May and I, and our Pokemon, headed for a battlefield in the middle of town. It was hardly a stadium, just a field surrounded by bleachers. But then, this was a small town. When we reached the registration table, we found out something else – the battle was a two on two battle. Each trainer would battle a team of two Pokemon at a time! "That's different" May said. I asked, "So, which two will you use?" She said, "You know, since this is just for fun, I'm going to let Redfur and Fiona battle together." I said, "But they're both fire types." She replied, "And your point is?" I just said, "Well, I thought you might want to use a different type, in case your opponent has water or rock types." She replied, "If there was more at stake, I would, but this is just for fun. Besides, you of all people should know that Pokemon battling is not always about type advantage." I said, "That's true."
All the possible contenders had to sit in a reserved section. I sat with Flamefox, Firestorm, Amber, and Inferno and we watched. Soon, May's name was announced, as well as that of her challenger. The announcer went on, "In our 5th mini-battle, May Redfield of Violet City has chosen an all Growlithe team of Redfur and Fiona! Her challenger, Sandy Omato of Celadon City, is using Staryu and Exeggutor. Let the battle begin!" Fiona took on the Exeggutor and Redfur took on the Staryu. Fiona shot a flamethrower at Exeggutor, and Redfur shot one at Staryu! Exeggutor took a hit, but then used hypnosis on Fiona and put her into a trance. Meanwhile, the flamethrower did little damage to Staryu and it shot a water gun at Redfur. Undaunted, Redfur got back up, and hit Staryu with a take down, and knocked it back! He ran over to Fiona to lick her face, and awaken her from her trance. The Exeggutor shot some stun spore her way, but Redfur burned it up for her! The Staryu, meanwhile, had gotten back up and shot another water gun at Redfur, but he launched another flamethrower and met the water gun. There was tremendous steam in the center, but Redfur managed to gradually overtake the water gun, and pushed it back towards Staryu until it was overtaken in flames. Meanwhile, Fiona was back to normal and hit Exeggutor with a fire blast, knocking it out! Redfur also fire blasted Staryu, finally knocking it out! The announcer exclaimed, "And the winner is May, and her Pokemon, Redfur and Fiona!" May shouted, "We did it!" and hugged her Growlithe pair! Sandy recalled her Pokemon and congratulated May. May chose a Vulpix and a Growlithe doll. Afterwards, she took Redfur and Fiona for a checkup at the Pokemon Center, and once they were treated, we were ready to move on. However, we were approached by a strange, scruffy looking man outside the Pokemon Center. He said, "Excuse me. May, is it?" She answered, "Yes?" Redfur began to growl fiercely and I had a sudden psychic sensation of distrust. He said, "Your Growlithe. His name is Redfur, right?" She answered, "That's right." He continued, "I lost a male Growlithe in Johto 2 years ago, named Redfur. He had a gold name tag, like yours does." May said, "We found him in Johto 2 years ago. He looked like he'd been abandoned." He said, "I know that's him. Thank you for taking care of him all this time, but I would really like him back now." May and I were both stunned. And Redfur clearly did not trust him. May said, "No. How do I know you're telling the truth?" He said, "I have his certificate of ownership." He took out a paper that looked like the certificate you received if you got your Pokemon from a professional breeder. May said, "No, there must be some mistake." He said, rather insincerely, "I'm sorry, but he is mine." Then he said, "Come on, Redfur. Time to go home" and reached down to pick him up, but he bit his hand! "Ouch! You little…" he began to shout, but then stopped himself. Redfur began to run, and the 3 of us ran after him. Officer Jenny grabbed him and picked him up. "What's going on here?" she asked. The man said, "That's my Growlithe, Officer Jenny! These kids found him, but he belongs to me!" May said, "This can't be your Growlithe!" He showed Officer Jenny the certificate and said, "Here's my proof." She replied, "You should also have a pokeball that the breeder gave you. If he's really yours, then when you recall him, the pokeball should accept him." He took out a pokeball and said, "Very well. Redfur, return!" and Redfur was taken into the pokeball. "No, this can't be happening!" May said. Officer Jenny said, "I'm sorry, kids, but he has the certificate of ownership and the pokeball. It's his Pokemon." He said, "That's right! Thanks again for returning him" and walked off to an old, beat up car nearby. Fiona looked as heartbroken as May. I said, "I have a really bad feeling about that guy! Officer Jenny, if his Growlithe was missing, wouldn't he have reported it to you? Something isn't right!" She said, "I'm sorry, there's not a lot I can do. Pokeballs are programmed to recall the Pokemon whose DNA they are programmed with, unless the Pokemon is being caught for the first time. But he did say 'return' and the ball acted accordingly. However, I'll go back to the station and see what I can come up with. I'm really sorry, kids!" With that, she walked back to the police station. Just then, the car passed us, and Fiona ran after it! "Fiona, wait!" May shouted. She ran fast! I released Tauros and jumped on, shouting, "Come on, May! Get on Fierymane and follow me!" She released Fierymane and we chased after Fiona and the car. We caught up with Fiona, but the car was too fast. Fiona was all out of breath, and May picked her up. She tearfully said, "I'm sorry, Fiona" and hugged her. She also hugged Amber. Clefairy, too, opened her own Pokeball and hugged May. I said, "May, we can't let that guy have Redfur. I got a strong psychic impression from him, and he can't be trusted." May asked, "But what can we do?" I answered, "We've got to keep following him!" So, we got back onto our quadruped Pokemon, and told them, "Faster!" I could still see the car in the distance. He had slowed down now that he was pretty far away from us. We rode through the cover of nearby woods, but soon found where he lived, an old run-down shack! We hid behind shrubbery near the shack. Outside, we could see Redfur chained to a tree, and muzzled! "That's terrible!" May said. The guy then came outside, with a nasty looking Ponyta, and said, "So, you found yourself a new trainer after I dumped you! You were nothing when I had you! But for her, suddenly you're strong? Well, you're gonna start being strong for me!" Ponyta stomped it's hooves into the ground just inches away from his head, and the guy said, "If you don't cooperate, we'll just have to let Ponyta here kick some sense into you, just like we used to!" May said, "That explains why he was so scared of Fierymane at first!" Then he took a rolled newspaper and whacked him, hard! Redfur whimpered and sank to the ground, tail between his legs. "When I come back out again, we're gonna have us a little training session. And you better show me some strong attacks or else!" he shouted. Then he returned inside the shack, with Ponyta. May fought back her tears, but Fiona was fuming! I said, "Certificate or not, no one treats a Pokemon that way!" May asked, "What's the plan?" I said, "First, I'm calling Officer Jenny to report this! Then…" Before I could act, Fiona ran over to Redfur! "Fiona, no!" May whispered. Fiona began to lick Redfur's face, tore off his muzzle, then started to use flamethrower on his chain, attempting to melt through. Just then, I heard the man shout, "Hey!" and Ponyta ran up behind Fiona and kicked her across the yard! "No!" May shouted. Fiona just lay there, in the grass. The man shouted, "You two again? I told you this Growlithe is mine!" May shouted back, "You rotten slimeball! You don't care about your Pokemon! You don't deserve to own any!" He said, "Well, there's nothing you can do about that!" Redfur pulled on his chain as hard as he could, as it was almost melted through, trying to get to Fiona. He then started trying to burn through it, himself, when the man shouted, "Ponyta!" She was ready to stomp him, when I released Vaporeon, and she used water gun to stop it! The man said, "So, you want to play hardball?" He then released a Pinsir! I shouted, "Vaporeon, watch out!" as it grabbed her with vice grip! Redfur managed to break his chain and ran to Fiona. He began licking her face. Ponyta ran towards of them, when I shouted, "Tauros, take down!" He tackled Ponyta in the side, knocking her over! Pinsir, meanwhile, threw Vaporeon and she crashed to the ground. Redfur was very angry and used fire spin on the Pinsir! It was knocked out in seconds! Vaporeon got back up and finished off Ponyta with a whirlpool! Fiona came to and she and Redfur cornered the man against the wall. He took out his rolled up newspaper and slapped it in his hand, shouting, "You'll get it!" The 2 of them used Ember and started his paper on fire! He shouted out in pain and threw the paper as it burned. Tauros ran up to him and pinned his shirt to the wall with his horns. "Let me go! You'll never get away with this!" he shouted. May angrily walked right up to him and said, "You deliberately abandoned your own Pokemon, not to mention mistreated him, and probably your others, too!" He said, "What's it to you? It's my training method and it's always worked! My Pokemon have always been strong. But Redfur was worthless! I couldn't get him to be stronger no matter what I did to him. So, yeah, I finally ditched him! But you made him strong! So now, I want him back!" May said, "He's strong because I love him and a trained him properly and nicely! I would never hurt him!" He said, "No pain, no gain!" Officer Jenny suddenly walked up and said, "If I were you, I'd keep my big mouth shut! You're in enough trouble, mister!" He asked, "What are you talking about?" She replied, "Well, for one thing, I just heard every word you said! So I can charge you for cruelty to Pokemon! Secondly, I double checked your certificate of ownership. It seems you got your Growlithe from an unregistered source – actually, an illegal source! You got him from a Pokemon poacher, not a breeder. Your certificate is counterfeit!" He shouted, "That's a lie!" Officer Jenny handcuffed him and said, "Tell it to the judge! I'm placing you under arrest and confiscating your Pokemon!"
We accompanied her back to town, where we took Fiona to the Pokemon Center. Officer Jenny said, "Thank you kids for your help. We have enough evidence to put this guy away now!" May asked, "What will happen to his Pokemon?" She answered, "Well, the Ponyta and Pinsir have undergone a lot of negative treatment from him, so they'll have to be retrained and rehabilitated. As for Redfur…" She looked as May held him, asleep in her arms, and said, "You've been his trainer for 2 years now, and you really do care for him. Since the certificate of ownership wasn't valid in the first place, you can keep him!" May exclaimed, "Thank you, Officer Jenny!" and hugged Redfur again, which woke him up. Fiona was going to be just fine – she took a hard hit, and needed to rest for a few days to heal. Redfur stayed at her side every minute. Once she had fully healed, we rode out of town on Tauros and Fierymane, continuing towards Viridian City.