Chapter 7: A Threat Appears
I woke up the next morning in an uncomfortable bed. I sat up and stretched, feeling a slight ache in my back. Wren's aunt Penny used to have many children living in her house, but they had all grown up and moved out. I didn't know which child's room I was in, but whoever it was must have liked a harder mattress. I climbed out of bed, changed into my traveling clothes, grabbed my backpack and cane and headed out.
Another thing I quickly learned about Penny's house was that it was huge. At least, it felt that way to me. When I had woken up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, I spent so long wandering around trying to find it that I finally had to wake up Wren to ask for help. Now, as I wandered through the hallways, I could hear voices coming from somewhere in the distance. I followed them to a staircase and climbed down. I could smell breakfast cooking as I walked into what I assumed was the kitchen. I could clearly hear that the voices belonged to Penny and Kate.
"Good morning," I said cheerfully.
"Ah, you're awake," Penny replied happily. "Breakfast is just about ready. I was just telling your friend here how excited I was about getting to cook for more people again. It doesn't happen very often, not like it used to. By the way, is my nephew up yet?"
"I don't think so. I haven't run into him at all this morning."
"I better go wake him up then," Penny said with a sigh. "I love the boy, but he can be a bit lazy sometimes. In the meantime, you two help yourselves." With that, she walked past me and headed up the stairs.
Kate and I filled our breakfast plates. I chose some pancakes and a side of Lechonk Bacon. There were also scrambled Torchic eggs, but I had never been a fan of those no matter how many times I tried them, so I didn't put any on my plate. To drink, I poured myself a glass of freshly squeezed Oran berry juice. Then I sat next to Kate at the kitchen table. We sat in silence for a few minutes, enjoying our food. Penny was a great cook.
"So," I said between bites, "where will you be heading next?"
Kate dropped her fork and laughed loudly. "Are you kidding? Hazeldale City, duh. I'm gonna challenge the gyms and compete in the League."
"Oh, right," I said, feeling slightly foolish that I hadn't thought of it, even though it was obvious. Kate had always been the extra competitive type. "Looks like we'll be heading the same way then."
"do you really think you'll have what it takes to compete in the gym challenge?" she asked. "You'll need a pretty good team and it'll take some training."
"I think I can handle it," I told her confidently. "Flora and Cinder are already doing pretty well. Plus with whatever this egg hatches into, I'll already have a pretty decent team."
Just then, someone walked down the stairs. Judging by the different footsteps, it was Wren. "Hey guys," he said.
"Morning," Kate and I replied in unison.
Wren made himself a plate and sat down with us. We continued eating and talking for a few more minutes when I realized something. "Hey Wren, where is your aunt? She told us she was going to wake you up, but she hasn't come back down since."
"She's probably in my uncle's old office. It's pretty close to the anniversary."
I quickly remembered what he was talking about. Penny's husband, a man named Peter, was an archaeologist who studied ancient Pokémon. His studies had become pretty well-known, but sadly, he passed away two years ago. A funeral service had been held, and many people who admired his work came.
Suddenly, we heard a crashing sound, like the sound of glass, breaking, along with a scream. "Aunt Penny!" Wren called out worriedly. The three of us jumped up and ran towards the source of the noise.
We followed the sounds up the staircase and into an office. Penny was sobbing and shouting. "Stop it! Those are my husband's notes! They were very important to him. I promised him on his deathbed that I would protect them."
"Sorry, lady," a gruff voice said. "we don't care about your little sob story. We are taking these notes."
"But why?" Penny gasped.
"Our boss needs them," a second voice growled. "we can't tell you why, but all we can say is that it's official Team Umbra business. Now, smoke screen."
I didn't even have time to figure out what Pokémon the men were using. Smoke began rapidly filling the room. I covered my face with one hand while using my cane with the other to get out of the room. Kate also found her way out, and Wren helped Penny get out safely.
"Those are the guys I was telling you about," Kate said. "They attacked me at the Observatory a couple days ago. They probably started that fire yesterday too."
"I think they got away," I said nervously.
"Kate, watch over my aunt for a few minutes," Wren said seriously. "Sky and I will go after them. I don't know if we'll get the notes back, but we'll at least give them some payback for what they did."
The two of us rushed out of the house and into the city. We began asking townspeople if they had seen any suspicious men around. At first, we didn't have any luck, but then someone told us they had seen two men running down an alleyway. They told us which direction it was and we headed there.
"Give us those notes back right now," Wren shouted, as we approached the men. I was surprised. He usually wasn't this brave.
"no can-do, kid," one of the men, said, while the other one laughed.
"my friend and I challenge you to a battle," he said, still filled with confidence. "Skipper, go!"
Wren sent out his Mudkip while I called out Cinder. The two men sent out a Marril and a Sandshrew. I decided to focus on the guy with the Marril while Wren dealt with the Sandshrew. I told him I would help him if he needed it since he didn't have very much battling experience.
"Marril, use water gun," the man commanded.
I called out my own command. "Fly out of the way and use peck."
Marril sent a stream of water toward Cinder, but he managed to get out of the way and pecked at the little mouse, Pokémon.
"Now that he's close, use bubble beam."
"Use quick attack to dodge, then peck again."
Cinder couldn't use quick attack in time, and he was struck by a barrage of bubbles. He did manage to give Marril another sharp peck though.
"We've got this, Marril. That bird is getting tired. Hit it with one more bubble beam."
"Hang in there. Try to fly out of the way and use peck one more time."
I realized that the man was right. Cindra was getting tired, and his movements were getting slower. He couldn't dodge the bubble beam in time and was hit again. He gave the Marril one final peck before both of them fell to the ground from exhaustion. The man and I both returned our fallen Pokémon, and I turned to Wren. "How are you handling things?" I asked.
"It's not going well," he replied, panic evident in his voice. "I was doing OK at first, but Skipper fainted, and the only other Pokémon I have can't hit ground types. I could use a little help."
"no problem," I said, and I sent out Flora. "Use leafage."
Flora sent a barrage of leaves toward the Sandshrew, hitting it perfectly. The small Pokémon fell to the ground, and the man returned it with a frustrated grown. "You might have beat us, but it was still no use. My partner has already left with those precious notes of yours. They'll be in the boss's hands now." With that, he laughed and ran away from us.
"What do we do now?" I asked Wren.
"The only thing we can do now is head back," he answered.
When we returned to the house, Penny and Kate were still there. "Were you able to get my husband's notes back from those thieves?" Penny asked.
"we're so sorry," I said sadly. "We were able to defeat them in a battle, but they still ran away with the notes."
"It's all right. I understand you children did the best you could."
"I think I'm gonna head out soon," Kate announced after a minute of silence. "What about you guys?"
"i'll be leaving soon too," I said. "Thanks for letting us stay the night, Penny."
"I think I'll stay here a while longer," Wren decided. "I'll spend some more time here with my aunt and maybe I'll learn more about Team Umbra and what they're up to."
I agreed that that seemed like the best idea for him. He could also use the time to train and get a little more battle experience in case we ever ran into a situation like today. With that, Kate and I said our goodbyes to Wren and Penny and parted ways, heading for Hazeldale City.
