Chapter 13: Redemption

As the gang realized they were alone after the Magma grunts and the Captain had run off to do whatever they wanted to do, they pondered as to what to do in this moment. Masamune was still tugging toward the beauty hall for some unknown reason. Nagamasa and Motonari were arguing about how many tasks they should do in the pursuit of helping random people around the region. Mitsuhide however, noticed that most of the problem people in the party with trying to catch fish pokemon were occupied so he snuck over to the city shores and quickly reeled in by himself a Magikarp. The fish looked the normal magikarp, slow and dumb but the Grovyle was excited to see if they could add the monster to their tribe. He threw a great ball quickly and caught the fish before the others even noticed.

"YES!" he called out as the others look over and saw the Grovyle release the newly caught fish from the ball. "Motonari you cannot eat him." The wingull had terror in his eyes as he felt that desire to eat the Magikarp well up in his soul.

"Welcome to the team Magikarp." Nagamasa said.

"Thx, I guess." The fish said as if that was the extent of its thought process. The team then all looked to their leader seeking to learn what name they would dub the Magikarp with.

"Hisahide." The Grovyle spoke. The team then all cheered the Magikarp and welcomed Hisahide to the gang. Even Moto welcomed the fish after a while….and then started licking the fish. Which made Hisahide giggle so the others let it continue under supervision.

"Hey guys there isn't a gym in this city." Nagamasa noticed. All were shocked and surprised by the revelation.

"What do you mean there isn't a gym here this is a big city." Kicho exclaimed. Kenshin and Hisahide just sat around and had the lowest IQ conversation on their own during this argument.

"Well there is a route up ahead lets just keep pushing that way and who knows what will happen." Mitsu rallied the gang and they moved northward to route 110. The gang saw a giant bike bridge but knew that with how they preferred to travel such a route would be quite trouble for the gang. They quickly noticed a patch of grass and the able bodied members of the group sought to see if they could bolster their roster with again another member after the boon of the surprise magikarp catch.

"FOUND ONE!" Masamune grabbed in his mouth a Gulpin. She was very angry and poisoned Kenshin as they tried to convince her to join. After a light struggle the team was able to get her into a ball. They then released the ball and made introductions. She gave all of them the middle finger.

"I like your vibe." Said Masamune as he embraced the middle finger and smiled back at the Gulpin.

"Whatever. To hell with you punks. Why am I here?" She replied in a foul mouth. "Where is your trainer so I can stab him with poison?" That comment angered the original five. They all turned seven feet tall and quickly intimidated the Gulpin letting her know that type of behavior was not to be tolerated in this tribe.

"We'll explain later, but we lost our trainer to poison." Nagamasa said with a growl still in his voice. "So do not joke about that." The gulpin apologized both out of fear and shame at her comments and combative nature to the others. As things calmed down the others once again looked to the Grovyle for a name. Mitsuhide thought long and hard and then settled on the name "Gozen."

"I do apologize again guys for the attitude it has been a bad day up until you guys found me. My old family got mad about my eating habits and I didn't take that well."

"Look whatever your old family members were going on about with you, that isn't us." Nagamasa explained.

"We don't keep our friends in pokeballs in isolation from each other and we have a pull cart to make it to where we don't have people falling behind the party." Katsuie explained. The others made pleasantries except for Kenshin and Hisahide as they were off in their own world of communication unknown to the others as to what they were talking about.

The team took this moment to take stock of the surroundings and think about what to do next as they still were clueless as to what exactly they were expected to do onward. They wanted to help people and gain more positive news for Brenden, they wanted more gym badges, and they wanted to kill Magma members. But how to proceed. Nagamasa and Mitsuhide scoured the map and thought about the next action before deciding to continue down route 110 until they were unable to go further.

As they progressed down the route they ran into an older women with ambition in her eyes, she recognized the team leader, or at least the supposed trainer and sent out her plusle and minum against crew. Hisahide accidently got in the way at first but then Masamune and Mitsuhide jumped to action, and with a combo of bullet seed and bite attacks, they were able to decimate the enemy and send them running for the hills with their master.

"Hey guys the glowing thingy is happening to me now!" Masamune noticed as the crew were all celebrating the easy victory.

"Dude you're evolving!" Nagamasa got excited for his friend

"Holy Cow I am evolving!" The Poochyena was covered in white light that then broke and shattered revealing a bigger dog, an aggressive wolf, Mightyena.

"Dude you look so intimidating." Nagamasa told his now much taller friend. The change in appearance didn't stop Motonari from instantly positioning himself atop the dog's back.

"This will make you a much better mount." All the others laughed including the evolved dog.

"I'm excited buddy, congrats." Mitsuhide shook his friend's hand and told him that he was expecting more leadership out of him in the coming days. This made Masamune happy. He seemed still himself but it was as if the evolution enlightened him to the need for him to be a strong force for the safety of the gang.

The team stopped for minute to toast their friend's new strength and form before they continued onward down the route. They found a fork in the road and chose to move back toward the river that blocked entry back to the west side of route 103. The team knew nothing special would be over there but sought perhaps to beat down a few rogue trainers standing guard around the land.

"Hey look an area blocked by a tree." Nagamasa noticed. "HM BITCH!"

"HM BITCH!" Kicho and Motonari called as well. Finally the Slakoth came from the back of the group with a frustrated look on his face.

"Why do I still have to be the HM Bitch, we literally caught other friends, why me?"

"Because. You're the HM Bitch." Nagamasa simply replied giving no further explanation.

"Dude this is not cool." Katsuie crossed his hands in frustration.

"Katsu just get it over with." Mitsuhide said encouraging the slakoth to stop stalling. He performed the cuts and the team grabbed the berries and items behind the trees before continuing to the river's edge. Katsuide huffed and gave a couple of his friends a dirty glare before Kicho came over and gave him a hug and said thank you, while explaining that the berries they grabbed because of his actions could save someone's life one day. This made Katsuie feel better about his dual role, both being contrary to his nature as a pokemon.

The gang made short work of the rest of the trainers hugging route, some challenging for fun and some challenging for the bounty. The result was flawless as Nagamasa, Mitsuhide, and Masamune showing off his new strength, made quick work of all their opponents. With each victory Kicho made sure to rob the defenseless trainers as she enjoyed that role for herself. The party then saw the river's edge and made camp for the night along the way.

As the team ate food, shared stories and helped the two newest friends feel like they were truly part of the gang, Mitsu and Masamune broke off from the group and looked across the river. On the other side was the grass field where Mitsu and Masa first met. "It seems an age ago." Masamune explained as the two sat on the shoreline.

"Well it was in a way, we were both different pokemon back then."

"I hope that didn't change who we are, or at least in the way we are." Masamune replied to his friend. Growth and evolution had notably changed them both and with the battles intensifying they also remembered the incident back in the woods where their friend Okuni had fallen. They both resolved to use their strength to ensure no one in their gang would meet the same fate under their watch.

"If it ever becomes needed…." Mitsu spoke

"One of us must be the first to take the hit." Masamune agreed with the path of thinking shown by his leader. Though, in heart he knew it would be him first to take that deadly blow, as he saw as did the others that while Nagamasa was the strategist and Katsuie was posing as the trainer, it was Mitsu who was the real leader of the team.

Mitsuhide however, believed that while he was the leader, he saw Masamune as the heart and soul of the team, and believed his wolf friend was too important to lose. Neither explained this thought to the other, as they observed the hum of the river as the night sky danced onward.

….

"HONEY STOP RIDING SO FAST!" The husband yelled as his roaring hollers awoke the gang from their much needed rest. All except Kicho who was in a deep deep dream, and Motonari who while dreaming was licking Hisahide. The fish giggled.

"That tickles Moto." He said causing the bird to awake, wipe his beak clean and then move to atop his friend Masamune's back.

"Yes well… Onward men." The gang shared a laugh as they had a quick breakfast before moving back due East. The group still had no direct mission in mind but figured with exploration would come opportunity.

As they moved to the east, the party saw a house that reminded them of the vibes found in most gyms.

"Trick room house." Nagamasa read aloud. "Well let's see if we can get some valuable experience here."

"Or at least rob them blind." Kicho said as she pulled the black shades out and put them on in a shift motion.

"Hell Yeah." Masamune and Motonari agreed as they instantly threw there shades on.

"Hey, where do you get those glasses from?" Hisahide asked. The others fell over in shock at the comment.

"Just…..Just go with the vibe….okay." Motonari replied as they all recovered and proceeded to go in for the challenges.

An older creepy trainer met them inside and challenged Katsuie to run their gauntlet for the pride of being a trick room master.

"This is a weird looking pokemon gym." Nagamasa mentioned. The others agreed but it did feel like one so they moved with purpose. They entered the back door that the old man told them to go through to fight the challenges ahead.

"Oh this is bullshit!" Katsuie said as he and the others looked around and noticed all the trees that the slakoth would have to cut. "This is too freaking many." He said in anger. All the party just looked at him as they proceeded to beat down the trainers and grab random items laying around as they proceeded.

"Can you cut any slower Katsu?" Masamune hollered as he was getting tired of the endless annoyance of the room's trees blocking the paths.

"You want to take over and do this yourself?" Masamune giggled and told his friend he didn't. "Then shut the hell up!" The team had never seen Katsuie so angry. He was hacking and slashing as fast he could but could barely keep up with the pokemon who were destroying trainers left and right around the room. The enemy trainers were actually angry that Katsuie who they saw as the trainer was ignoring them and moving to cut trees during battle. This didn't help their pokemon who fell without real challenge to the might of the party. The team felt without equal as they reached the back of the room and then found the man inside and realized that he in fact was just a weirdo running a battle house in the middle of a route randomly. This enraged the group who in unison after looking around and seeing that there were no other people in the room or around the area, they all donned their black aviators and proceeded to stomp the man into a cloud of dust in the room as they realized there would be no reward for their efforts.

"What a waste!" Katsuie was the most enraged of the group at having to cut seemingly 30 trees. The others noticed the passion in the punches and kicks displayed by the slakoth and thus nodded to each other that the beat down was his right. They all backed off leaving the remaining rage to the slakoth who then proceeded to drop about ten more haymakers on the defenseless man who had by now passed out cold.

"That's enough we don't want to kill him." Masamune tugged at his friend's shoulders.

"Actually." Nagamasa pipped up. "We just beat him into the dirt."

"Yeah."

"Well if we let him live and he says that Brenden beat him down…." All the pokemon understood and then proceeded to finish the job with extreme violence.

"SNAP!"

"Well there goes his neck." Kicho said as she removed her shades.

"Yeah I doubt he'll get up from that one." Masamune replied.

"By the way, did we check for security cameras?" Gozen asked the others as they all looked around the room and then laughed rolling around, both at their lack of awareness and that they actually in trying to make Brenden look better to the region, killed another trainer.

"Just another Tuesday." Mitsuhide called out as they exited the maze back to the route.

"Its Friday." Kenshin said. Mitsuhide smacked him on the top of the head as they all left the Trick Room house victorious.