Chapter 7: Grandpa Shelmet

A week has passed, and Philip has never felt better in all his life, thanks to the support of his two best friends. They have always checked up on him that past week, giving him medicine and offering their company. He was glad his friends were good people.

It was Monday, and he called John and Amelia over to finally start with his plan. Even though he was severely hurt, he never gave up on his idea. Philip anxiously waited for them to arrive at his home, still in deep thought of his plan. A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts as he rushed over to answer it. He found both John and Amelia on the other side of the door. "Hey, guys," Philip greeted them. "I'm glad you could make it. Come on in!" He ushered them inside to the never-ending scent of pancakes and syrup. He motioned them to sit down.

"Okay," he said. "Remember when I said that maybe my grandpa can help me out?"

John and Amelia nodded.

"Well it turns out he can. I called him earlier today and said he can give me a hand."

"Can I ask why your grandpa?" John said. "No offense, but how is he going to help you?"

"Oh, he's a karate teacher," Philip answered proudly. "Even at his age, he doesn't plan to quit anytime soon."

"Impressive," Amelia said. "Where does he teach?"

"He teaches on top of those mountains," Philip said as he pointed out the window towards two tall pale blue mountains. "It's going to take a while to get there, which is why I asked you guys to come over today." He sat down again, facing his friends. "I was wondering if you guys would like to go with me over there."

John and Amelia were surprised; they have never hiked up mountains before. They weren't really sure what to answer; they had their own things to attend to.

"Lemme see what Delilah has to say about this," John said as he went over to the house phone to call his Petilil wife.

Ring! Ring!

"Hello?"

"Hey, Delilah. It's John."

"Hi sweetie! What's up?"

"I need to ask your opinion on something."

"Okay, I'm listening…"

"Well, Philip would like for me and another friend to go with him to visit his grandpa over the mountains…"

"All the way over there?"

"Yep."

"Ohh, John… I had plans for you tonight…"

"Really?"

"Yeah… But if you want to cancel tonight…"

"No! I mean… Please don't…"

"Okay. Sorry you can't go with him this time."

"It's alright; he'll understand."

"Okay. I'll see you tonight, honey. Kisses!"

*click*

"Yeah, I can't go," John said as he returned to the living room. "Delilah wants to spend time with me, so yeah…"

"It's okay," Philip assured him. "I'm not forcing you to go or anything like that. I'm fine going by myself; I just wanted to see if you guys would like to come along." They nodded.

"I don't think I can go either," Amelia added. "My parents don't want me to go out that far." Philip nodded, realizing that he was alone in this one. "Okay. My grandpa said I can see him today, which means I gotta go pack up." He offered them some pancakes as he went to get his stuff packed up. He didn't plan to stay that long, so he didn't pack a lot of stuff. He emptied a backpack he used to take to school back in third grade, still filled with papers marked with his sloppy innocent writing. He put the papers in his closet and began to fill up his backpack.

This felt like a big first step for him. He was finally going to proceed in his plan to strike back. He felt nervous, but at the same time it felt like the right thing to do.

…

"Good luck!" John called after Philip.

"Take care of yourself!" Amelia called.

"I will! Thank you!" Philip replied. He had just finished saying good-bye to them, packed up and all. It felt weird for him leaving his home for who knows how long. He proceeded toward the town park.

When he was younger, his father had told him of a secret entrance to his grandfather's house.

"Remember, Phil," he told him, "When no one is around, look for a brick wall hidden behind an old tree and knock on the blue brick three times fast."

"Whoa!" Philip said in awe. "Can I try it now?"

"When you're older," his dad said. "Now we gotta go; you're late for your baseball game!"

Philip arrived at the town park. There were a handful of children playing baseball on the grass. He remembered his Little League days, and his grandfather was somewhat disappointed he took up baseball instead of karate. Hopefully his grandfather can still teach him his ways after all these years.

He walked up to the spot where he remembered his father telling him about the secret passageway. He has never tried it out, and he hoped it still worked; otherwise he would have to hike all the way up the mountain. He went around the still-standing old tree and found a small blue brick on the wall. He remembered it being bigger when he was little, but he didn't pay mind to that. He knocked quickly on the blue brick, just like his father had told him to. He waited and waited; nothing happened. Philip felt disappointed at this, and realized he has to take the hiking challenge. Until he turned around, he heard the sound of something splitting up. Philip turned around and saw some bricks of the wall near the ground split up, forming a small entrance big enough to crawl through. Philip felt happier at this sudden surprise as he got on his knees and began making his way inside the wall.

The narrow tunnel was cold, wet, and covered with spider webs. It was also very dark in there, except for a small light on the other end. Philip struggled as he crawled in what seemed like an upward direction. His hands occasionally slipped when he came across small slippery puddles. He crawled on for a good ten minutes, until the light ahead of him got bigger and bigger as he approached it. Finally, he crawled out and dusted himself off from all the spider webs he encountered. He was now on top of the grassy mountain. He turned around and found himself standing in front of a dojo. He smiled, knowing he had finally reached his destination.

Philip went up to the entrance and knocked on the sliding door. There was no answer. He knocked again, a bit louder this time, but there was still no answer. He decided to let himself in; he didn't really need to knock, since they are family and all. He slid the door and walked into an empty training room with training equipment scattered about. "Grandpa?" he called. "Are you there?" The buzzing silence replied, not satisfying Philip, until he heard a slight hum not too far away. Philip followed the humming noise all the way to a room. He opened it carefully and peeked in. There he found his grandfather meditating, surrounded by numerous candles. The old Shelmet wore a tiny black belt and looked worn out and crusty, but at the same time full of life. Philip didn't know what to do; he knew interrupting his meditation was not polite, but he didn't want to wait around. He decided to lightly knock on the sliding door to make him aware of his presence.

The barely audible knock startled the old Shelmet as he snapped out of his concentration. "W-who's there?" he said shakily, completely startled. He turned around and saw his grandson standing on the doorway. "Philip? Is that you?" he asked as he squinted his beady eyes at him.

"Hi, grandpa," Philip waved as he went over to give him a greeting hug. "My, you have grown big over the years!" Grandpa Shelmet said as he embraced him. "What brings you here?"

"Remember? I called you to see if it was okay for me to drop by."

"You did?"

"Yeah…"

"Ooh. I don't remember… Boy, that old age of mine is finally catching on to my head. *chuckle*"

"It's okay, grandpa."

"Come with me to the kitchen."

Grandpa Shelmet led the way to the kitchen to offer some him some tea. "I haven't seen any of your cousins for a while, either," he mentioned. "I tell ya; as soon as they turned into adults, they just got up and left, roaming around, wondering what to do with themselves. But you, Philip, you are different. I have felt it ever since you were born." They kneeled themselves around the small kitchen table as they continued to catch up.

"Yes," Grandpa Shelmet continued, "You were a spawn of goodness, unlike your cousins. You decided to stay here and have not allowed anything foolish go to your head."

"Actually, I stayed because of fate," Philip corrected, referring to the tragic accident that led to his parents' demise.

"Things happen for a reason, Philip," Grandpa Shelmet said in his wisdom tone. "And speaking of reasons, what is your reason being here?"

Philip sat his teacup down, feeling a bit anxious to start as he took a deep breath. "…I would like for you to train me."

Grandpa Shelmet looked at him in surprise. He had been waiting for so long for one of his grandchildren to learn the ways of karate. "Wonderful!" Grandpa Shelmet said. "After all these years, it was worth the wait! Your cousins did not ever listen to my persuasion when I tried teaching them karate. I am right; you are different." Philip smiled; that was easier than he thought.

"I'm sorry for doing that, too," Philip added. "I took up baseball instead when I was younger."

"Ah, that was the past," Grandpa Shelmet said. "It is never too late to learn something new. Besides, your mother had forbid me to even teach you. She thought that it will make you senseless and bring harm to others, especially because you are of a hardy nature." Grandpa Shelmet suddenly took out a bamboo stick from behind him and pointed it at Philip, taking him by surprise. "Let us begin."

"N-now!?" Philip asked, a bit overwhelmed at the size of the weapon.

"Now is always the time to take action," Grandpa Shelmet replied. Then he jumped up in the air with such unexpected energy and lunged at Philip. Philip dodged just in time, noticing how the bamboo stick made a hole on the hardwood floor. Is he trying to kill me!? Philip started running towards the padded training room while he somehow managed to steer clear of Grandpa Shelmet's blows. He hid behind a punching bag, but Grandpa Shelmet managed to knock it away from him. The bag was sent crashing against the other side of the room, ripping as it made contact. Philip's eyes widened at the sight and had second thoughts about coming here.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted as a whip of Grandpa Shelmet's bamboo stick knocked out all of Philip's air and crashed against the floor. Philip coughed and rubbed his back in pain. Holy shi-

WHACK! Another blow got him upside the head, making his face crash on the floor. "You need to step it up, Philip!" Grandpa Shelmet called as he prepared another attack. Philip rolled over, avoiding another painful injury. He struggled to get up and backed away from the bamboo stick as best as he could.

"Do not fear the stick!" Grandpa Shelmet said as he lunged after him. Philip decided to give it a try, still scared out of his mind. How was he not going to fear the stick? He can see why his cousins refused karate lessons. But like his grandfather had said: he is different. As these words of encouragement were embedded in his mind, he stood up and measured his attempt to block the blow. As Grandpa Shelmet approached, he stood on his place firmly as he planted his tiny feet down, and right where the stick was supposed to strike him…

WHACK! He blocked it! Then he felt his tiny hands tremble from the impact as a wave of murderous pain throbbed in them. "YEOW!" Philip cried as he dropped to his knees. His eyes filled with tears as he yelled his pain out, Grandpa Shelmet watching him without saying a word. That strike was so powerful, he was sure his arms were about to get cut off, but instead they absorbed the impact in such an indescribably painful way. A few minutes later, Philip calmed himself down, still whimpering a bit from pain.

"Well done," Grandpa Shelmet said in a calm tone. "Not bad for your first attempt."

"What!?" Philip said angrily. "I got beaten up by a stick! How is that 'well done'!?"

"One learns from experience, Philip," he said, understanding him completely. "At all costs, no matter what."

Philip was still upset at his pathetic attempt at dodging his grandfather's blows. This was not what he had in mind. Not at all.

Grandpa Shelmet bandaged up Philip's hand and rubbed some cream on the bruised parts of his body. "So how long are you planning to stay?" Grandpa Shelmet asked casually.

"I'm not sure," Philip said. "But not for too long, though."

"Tell me, Philip. Why this sudden interest to learn karate, anyway?"

"… because of Gold Rush."

"What?"

"I want to set things right; justice must be made!"

"Violence is not the answer, Philip."

"I know, but… there's no other way. I know where he is now, and if you teach me… Will you help me out?"

"So, you say there is no other way?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure about this?"

"Yes, yes, I am."

"…"

"Please…"

Grandpa Shelmet sighed. "Very well; I will teach you. But you must promise you will not get carried away with this practice. It is a very honorable one that is only used wisely. Understood?"

"Yes! Thanks a lot, grandpa!" Philip gave his grandfather a hug of appreciation, forgetting that he was the one that intentionally beat him up earlier. Either way, he was glad he was given an opportunity to finally set things right.

"By the way," grandpa Shelmet said, "you are a very fast runner; however we need to focus on your upper body strength to equalize the amount of energy you have within." Philip was surprised; that bamboo stick warm-up was done for something after all.

"Let us have some lunch, and then we can start with your training. Are you truly prepared for the vigorous challenges you will face?"

"Yes," Philip said. "I'll do whatever it takes to set things right."

"Very well." They bowed at each other, showing respect. Then they went to the kitchen to make some sandwiches.

…

"Hey, look who's here!"

The Dragonite and the Scrafty looked up and saw a Krookodile coming out of the bathroom.

"Yo, Gold Rush!" Dragonite said, "When'd you get here?"

"Not too long ago," he answered briskly.

"Hey, Greg took your place again the other day!" Tyranitar announced. Scrafty glared at him, cursing him with his eyes. Gold Rush turned around. "He did what?" he asked in a low voice. He went up to the Scrafty and picked him up by the neck. "How many times have I told ya that I'm the only leader, even when I'm gone!?"

"I had… to…" Greg said between chokes. "We took care of… a trespasser…"

"A Karrablast," Dragonite said. "But we got 'em good!"

Gold Rush dropped the Scrafty and faced Dragonite. "A Karrablast? What was he doin' here?"

"Beats me," Tyranitar said. "Tough lil' guy, though. He wore a bow-tie, too. Must be a businessman or somethin'."

Gold Rush only knew of one particular bowtie-wearing Karrablast. The one that owns the jewelry store – the one he almost completely robbed. His biggest robbery yet. And that guy was here? Was he up to something?

"You don't need to worry anymore, though," Greg said as he rubbed his neck. "He'll probably never come back 'cause he's too scared to take another beatin'!"

"Aw, shut your yap," Gold Rush said as he played with his gold chain. "I actually know who that guy is."

This caught everyone's attention. "You do?" Tyranitar asked.

"Yeah; he owns that jewelry store downtown."

"Ohhh, that guy."

"If he was here, it was for one reason: me. He wanted to get revenge or somethin' —''

"But he wasn't prepared," Dragonite said with a smirk.

"Think about it," Gold Rush said. "He might wanna try again. And he'll get help. He will be prepared next time…"

"What should we do about it?" Tyranitar asked.

"I say nothin'!" Greg said. "No one can beat Gold Rush!"

Gold Rush stood quiet for a bit. He's right; why was he worrying so much about a puny little Karrablast, who obviously had no chance against him?

"That's right," Gold Rush said. "An' it better stay that way. No Karrablast is gonna beat me! That's stupid!" Gold Rush then walked to the refridgerator, finding nothing pleasant to eat. "Whose turn is it to get grub?"

Tyranitar sighed heavily. "I'll order pizza."

Gold Rush just couldn't leave the subject alone. Why was it bothering him so much? He was Gold Rush, the invincible Krookodile, feared by everyone and anyone. There was no way that store clerk could change that.

…Right?