Chapter 3: ….Yeah
After a midday meal, Brendan and the crew packed up and walked back to Oldale town to restock before going onward down route 102. The day was a bright sunny day and after the morning EV training the three pokemon under his care were marching with a swagger that showed true confidence in their abilities.
"Guys that training really has me feeling super powerful." boasted Masamune to the others. Mitsuhide and Nagamasa agreed as they entered the border of the town with their trainer. The town seemed a bit tenser than on their previous visit and the whole crew realized this from the first building they passed. People who were normally out and about with a chipper smile on their face now seemed tense and looking over their shoulders for Arceus knows what.
"Keep your guard up guys," Mitsuhide spoke to the others. "Something doesn't feel right." everyone kept their head on a swivel as they made their way to the pokemon center for a quick refresh.
"Do you think the word got out about the murder of the professor?" Nagamasa asked his companions.
"Could be." Masamune replied, "But I doubt that Brendan is in any serious trouble. After all, only that girl has words against our boy, and I do not think that there is evidence of him being the murderer. Besides, does she even know his name?" The poochyena's words calmed the bunch a bit, as they entered the pokecenter.
"High there!" said a lovely nurse joy from behind the counter. "Welcome to our pokemon center." Brendan said hello and asked for a servicing for his pokemon pals. The nurse consented and proceeded to run the refreshing machine. Brendan sat back and waited for the machine to ding and after a couple minutes all was well and his pokemon were returned to full fighting state. As the crew emerged from their balls and stretched, their legs a radio broadcast came on over the speaker system.
"We interrupt your regularly scheduled programing to bring you and urgent announcement." Brendan and the crew piped up their ears to try to listen as closely as possible. They feared that finally the world would be after them. "Professor Birch of Littleroot was found murdered and eaten outside his beloved town. His daughter May reported the murder to the authorities two days past and now the authorities are seeking a youth believed to be at the very least a key witness to the event." Brendan gulped in horror. "The boy is Brendan son of Petalburg Gym Leader Norman. His picture will be sent to every trainer's pokedex and every gym leader out there in Hoenn within the next hour. Be advised that he is only wanted for questioning; he is not to be harmed. However, if you do see if please try to apprehend him immediately. The bounty for bringing him back to Littleroot is set at $30,000 poke dollars." Brendan gasped as he heard this amount. With those words, he immediately grabbed his pokemon and yanked them out of the pokemon center.
"Well guys, we're officially Hoenn's most wanted man." Brendan sloshed down to the ground and put his face between his knees and began to cry. However, Mitsuhide was not about to let that kind of bologna stand. Brendan felt a strong tail whip on his face and looked up to see his three friends alongside him, still ready for the challenge ahead. "Thanks guys," the boy said as he wiped his tears on his sleeve. "You guys are the best. Let's move on to Petalburg City quickly and see if my Dad can help us out." The idea sounded logical as a next course of action, even if Brendan did not like his dad, he had no other idea as to how to help himself at the moment. Brendan knew that with the word out about himself he was going to need someone to help clear things up just so he would not be behind bars for the rest of his life.
The crew quickly set out westward down route 102. Before too long they saw a rustling in the tall grass and Brendan sent Nagamasa in for a close inspection. "Go Nagamasa; see if we can get a new friend here." Through the power of persuasion and a solid tackle. Nagamasa came out of the brush with a wurmple under his feet. Brendan looked up the pokemon in the pokedex and threw a pokeball at his new friend. After the seal had been made, he released the pokemon from its ball and looked over his little wurmple. "Well guys meet our new friend." The other two that had yet to 'meet' the worm came over and introduced themselves.
"No hard feelings...right?" Nagamasa said to his newest teammate as he extended a hand of fellowship. The Wurmple smiled and the zigzagoon's paw with its forward most leg. Nagamasa felt the hero after gaining a new ally for the party. Now of course Brendan sought to give the little one a name.
"Uhh!" Brendan scratched his head for a moment. He then shifted around as he tried to look about and around the wurmple. He then stood back up and tried rested his hand under his chin as he was puzzled in thought. "Hey Mitsuhide," he said to the treecko. "How do I tell what gender this wurmple is?" the awkwardness of the question floored everyone, and made the wurmple blush bright red. Mitsuhide got up, pulled out a pair of glasses, got a stick and proceeded to look around the little wurmple. After a good looking around the wurmple, Mitsuhide raised his right arm and...Just shrugged his shoulders. "Well...thanks for trying Mitsuhide." Brendan said to his friend as he shook his head. Then Nagamasa handed Brendan the pokedex. Brendan let the computer verify for him. "Huh, so you're a female?" the wurmple blushed. "Well then, I'll name you Okuni." The wurmple smiled as she enjoyed the name.
"Wait if you're a girl, where are your...you know...girl parts?" Masamune asked of Okuni. The awkwardness of the question floored Mitsuhide and Nagamasa.
"Why I never!" Okuni gave the poochyena a big slap with her front legs.
"Masamune!" exclaimed Nagamasa in bewilderment. "You cannot do that."
"Do what?" replied the dog as he rubbed the slap mark on his face.
"Ask a lady where her girl parts are. Its bad manners!" the zigzagoon continued. "Didn't you parents ever...Oh?" Nagamasa stopped right there as he realized that he made a mistake. The poochyena in a friendly anger jumped atop his comrade and the two began fighting along the route causing a commotion in the area.
"Knock it off guys!" Brendan said to the two as the other pokemon just watched the spectacle.
"Are they always like this?" Okuni asked of Mitsuhide. The treecko just shrugged his shoulders and shook his head as the pair continued rough housing and drawing attention to the party.
Suddenly, "Hey guys over there, that's the guy with the bounty on his head!" a voice shouted from the distance. With that one sentence, four trainers came running at the party.
"Guys saddle up us have a fight on our hands!" Brendan said to his pokemon. The crew got focused in an instant. "I trust your judgement guys, just be sure to survive." the enemy trainers released all their pokemon at once. There were five enemy combatants facing Brendan's gang. Charging at them were two zigzagoons, a tailow, a poochyena, and a wurmple. Mitsuhide being the senior member of the party called out instructions to the crew.
"Nagamasa take the zigzagoon on the left, Masamune take the zigzagoon on the right. I'll take on the tailow and poochyena together." the treecko then looked back at the newest member, Okuni the wurmple. "Okuni!" he said looking over his shoulder at his newest member of the squad. "Can you take on the enemy wurmple." the little wurmple grinned and nodded her head in agreement with the strategy.
"Guys, show them no mercy! Enemy pokemon are dead pokemon, it's the only way we can get these trainers to leave us alone." Masamune spouted to the crew braced for the enemy. All agreed and took up positions. "Charge!" Masamune blitzed in hard and fast tackling the enemy zigzagoon. Mitsuhide dodged an attack by the poochyena and then pounded the tailow into the ground for a quick victory. Nagamasa and his opposed kinsman shared a tackle with each other and became locked in a stalemate. All the while, the two wurmple exchanged minor, uneventful blows that barely hurt the other.
Mitsuhide grabbed the poochyena by the jaws as it leapt at him attempting another tackle attack. The beast pushed back the treecko as he tried to hold his ground. The pair exchanged several blows before Mitsuhide found a weak spot a pounded the opposing dog in a critical fashion. To his right Masamune was just finishing off the zigzagoon he was fighting with a bite to the neck of the enemy. The enemy pokemon whimpered as Masamune snapped back and finished his opponent with his superior attack power. Nagamasa finally broke through and hit his kinsman with a solid tackle that won him the battle against his opponent, as he knocked the beast out cold. The trio celebrated as they vanquished their foes. However nearby, Okuni was limping in agony as the opposing wurmple had her on the ropes.
"Oh shit! Okuni!" Nagamasa hollered as he blitzed to her aide. The opposing wurmple however, landed the fatal blow just as Nagamasa reached her side. He tackled the enemy wurmple and bashed it flat; squishing it like the bug, it was in life. Okuni cried in pain as her life faded away. As the enemy trainers cussed and yelled mean things as they picked up their dead pokemon and ran back toward Oldale, Brendan and the other three pokemon gathered round to take in Okuni's last moments of life. Mitsuhide looking down at the wurmple reached down and grabbed a stick a moved to poke Okuni.
"Don't poke her Mitsuhide!" Brendan said as he grabbed the stick from the treecko's hand. Brendan threw the stick away and simply starred at his pokemon that gave her life protecting him, even without knowing about his past.
"Sorry Okuni," Brendan said with tears in his eyes as he thought back over the memories he shared with the pokemon over the last 15 minutes. "You were sooo young!" Brendan closed the eyes of the wurmple as it faded completely. He then went and sat down a few feet away to give the pokemon some space. "Can you guys bury her?" he said to his pokemon as he crouched in tears face away from the corpse.
The pokemon agreed and dug a hole beside her dead body a few feet deep. And then lowered her body into the hole, then quickly covered the wurmple. Mitsuhide then stuck a few sticks and a rock atop one end of the grave to be used as a makeshift headstone. As they finished this, the trio stood next to the grave and simply starred in silence. Until Nagamasa gathered the courage to break the silence.
"So...shouldn't someone...you know...say a few words?" he said while eyeballing the grave. He had never buried a friend before and was not sure about the protocol.
"Well we didn't know that much about her." Mitsuhide replied. "I mean she was only with us for 15 minutes."
"True, but everyone deserves something to be said about them when they die." Nagamasa paused. "...Well Mitsuhide you spoke to her the most, why not you?" The treecko waved his arms in disagreement as he leaned away from Nagamasa.
"What? Me? I could do no such thing I did not really even talk to her." the answered trying to shirk the duty.
"Fine all do it!" Masamune piped up. The other two were relieved at Masamune stepping up to assume the mantle. "Ahem!" The dog cleared his throat. "Okuni was a wurmple." the two others slapped their hand against their forehead in disbelief as they listened. "She was red and had no lady parts, but assured us she was a lady wurmple." Nagamasa shook his head in shock at the words of the poochyena. "She died to another wurmple. We maybe should not have let her fight. Go with Arceus."
"Go with Arceus." the others, said to end the speech.
"Mitsuhide, if I die. Don't let Masamune do my eulogy." Nagamasa said to the treecko.
"Same here as well." Mitsuhide replied. Right about that moment Brendan walked up, seemingly okay from the stress of the situation.
"Come on guys we still have to reach Petalburg and see if my dad can help us." He said to his companions. Never did he expect loss to hit the party so soon. But when you are the most wanted man in Hoenn, trouble will strike, and strike hard.
As they left, the scene and the grave of his ally the crew took once last look back, turned their heads west, and marched onward toward Norman in hopes of a safe haven.