Chapter 5: A New Bond Gotten Stronger
"Speech"
'Thoughts'
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"Haruto. Go, now!"
"Don't worry about us, leave!"
The voices of a young female and male could be heard from within the raging flames that seemed to completely cover Haruto's vision, the figures that spoke were unclear as only their silhouettes could be seen from within the flames before quickly seen running away from where Haruto was standing.
"Come back!" Haruto had shouted, but to no avail, as the figures continued running. He felt tears running down his face as he then noticed two lights shining, to which he looked down at his hands to see Red-Eyes and Blue-Eyes both shining brightly within their cards as his tears were falling onto them.
"Gahh~!"
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"Gahh~!"
Haruto had suddenly shot up from the bed he was on as sweat could be seen running down his face profusely, his eyes widened completely as he was both breathing heavily and also gripping his face with his right hand while his left hand was supporting him as he was sat down on the bed.
He continued to breathe as he was slowly starting to slow down as his eyes blinked a few times, he slumped his shoulders as he had his eyes clothes for a bit before opening them up once again. He looked around at the new environment he was in with confusion as it wasn't a place he knew of, how in the world did he get here?
"Gah! That hurts..." Haruto gritted his teeth as he felt pain strike his nerves. He looked down at the source and found his chest covered in bandages as his arms didn't seem to have any bandages with the exception being his right shoulder. He noticed a bit of blood soaked into the bandage as he could feel a bit of restriction on his back, probably due to more bandages.
He clenched his teeth as he forced himself to sit on the edge of the bed with his legs now freed from the blanket that he had been under, his entire body now on display as he was shirtless but still had his pants and shoes on. He wiped the sweat away from his face as he continued looking towards the ground.
He gritted his teeth as he thought back to the duel before, he was way too injured to get any information out of Horror, and who knows where that crazy insane dude was at this moment. He didn't know the place he was at right now, but was sure the person that helped him was nice otherwise they wouldn't have healed him.
"Now that I think about it, where are Tapu Koko and Marshadow?" Haruto suddenly wondered as he looked up. Now that he thought about it, how long was he unconscious for? If he was out for a long time, he wouldn't blame them if they ended up leaving to do their own business. "Oh, thank goodness..."
He sighed in relief when he looked to his left at the desk that was placed next to the bed, having all of his cards as well as his duel disk safe and sound. He took hold of them and checked if any of the cards were damaged at all, and was very much relieved to see that they hadn't been damaged or destroyed at all.
"Ah~, glad to see that you are awake!"
"H-Huh?" Haruto blinked his eyes when he suddenly heard the old mature voice. He turned his head to the right towards where the door to the room he was in was located, and there he saw a man with constantly closed eyes walking over towards him before stopping in front of the bed. "Are you the one that helped me?"
"Indeed. Though, you should mainly thank both Tapu Koko and your other mysterious friend for bringing you to me, you were in horrible condition." The man said with seriousness as Haruto nodded his head. "If I'm honest, It was a miracle that you actually survived. If we hadn't managed to get you healed as soon as we could, you very well could have perished."
"I see, thanks a lot... I owe you." Haruto smiled. He was very much prepared to die if it meant protecting people, but it would be very bad for him to leave this world so soon before he can even defeat these Dark Estrada guys. "Oh, my name is Haruto. Nice to meet you, sir. Once again, thanks for helping me."
"It was no problem at all, and I already knew of your name. Haruto Mozaki." Haruto blinked in surprise as he was majorly confused as to why this dude even knew his full name, how did he know? The man chuckled at Haruto's expression. "Allow me to introduce myself, I am the kahuna of Melemele Island. Kahuna Hala! I believe Steven told you about me?"
"Oh yeah! On my way here to Alola..." Haruto remembered. No wonder this dude knew his name! He remembered that Steven had told him about the kahuna, he was also told that Steven had informed Hala of his arrival and also about the situation they were in. "Hala, you need to understand. You can't tell..."
"No worries, young Haruto. Steven already told me about the dire situation, and we are indeed facing grave times. You can believe that this information won't be public." Hala said with certainly as Haruto nodded his head in relief. "Now, back to your injuries. I had informed Steven about them, and they should heal in a couple of days at least."
"I see, thanks a lot for everything, Hala." Haruto said as he forced himself to stand up. He grunted as he did so, he winced in pain as he felt the stinging coming back to his body. Hala quickly went to him and helped him stand as Hala then said. "Are you sure you want to be walking around? You are still healing."
"I-It's fine, I can stand." Hala hesitantly let Haruto go as the boy sighed as he was definitely tense as he stood, though he forced the pain away as he smiled. Haruto then watched as Hala took out what appeared to be a different pair of clothes as he handed them to Haruto, who blinked in confusion at them.
"I managed to understand that Tapu Koko was telling me that you had made contact with Ash and the others." Hala stated. Haruto blinked as he thought back to when he met the group he saved, Hala must be referring to them. "I had prepared an extra pair of clothes, Steven told me that you wanted to keep your identity a secret after all. I had cleaned up your old outfit for you whenever you need it."
"I understand, I appreciate it, Hala." Haruto smiled. He understood that it would be ideal for him to wear a different pair of clothes while he wasn't on a mission, he would be worried that people would recognise his original clothes if he went out in public with them. Plus, it was kind of hot wearing those clothes in this tropical heat.
"I'll let you get changed, I'll prepare you some food while you do so." Hala said as he left the room. Haruto sighed as he started to take off the rest of his clothes before looking at the new pair of clothes that Hala had given him, they were certainly fitting for the weather and also a style that he didn't mind. Simple yet comfortable.
Once he was done changing his clothes, he looked at himself in the nearby full-body mirror as he nodded his head with satisfaction. He was now wearing a simple slightly loose white t-shirt along with a pair of slightly loose black shorts, and also putting on a pair of black running shoes, his old ones being white.
He was glad that the shirt was covering up all the bandages that littered his body as well as all the places that visible injuries could be seen, and was also glad that his legs hadn't sustained and serious injuries as the shorts wouldn't have been able to cover them. While he was definitely hurting, at least the injuries couldn't be seen.
"Haruto!"
"Huh?" Haruto turned around, only to see a very familiar pokemon standing at the door, though the pokemon soon quickly ran over towards him and jumped into his arms. Haruto winced a bit from pain, but smiled warmly as he rubbed the pokemon's head. "N-Nice to see you, Marshadow. Are you doing alright?"
"That's what I should be asking you!" Marshadow shouted in response. Marshadow was no longer wearing that outfit made of leaves as his true appearance was now revealed. Haruto rubbed the back of his head as he sweatdropped at Marshadow's shout. "You were so hurt after that duel against that scary guy! I thought... I thought... I thought..."
"Calm down, Marshadow. Look at me." Haruto said as he placed his hand on Marshadow's head to stop his sentence. Marshadow turned his head up to look at Haruto as small tears were seen at the corner of his eyes, Haruto sighed as he continued. "I'm doing just fine, see? You don't need to cry. How about we just go and eat what Hala's making, okay?"
"O-Okay..." Marshadow nodded as he wiped his eyes.
"Good, let's get going." Haruto smiled. Marshadow finished wiping his eyes before smiling and nodding strongly as he jumped down from Haruto's arms, Haruto nodded before they both walked towards the doors. "Oh, by the way. Do you know where Tapu Koko ended up going? I assume that he was probably busy."
"Yeah! He told me that he wanted to go inform all the other island guardians about the situation we're in, all about those Dark Estrada guys." Marshadow replied as Haruto nodded his head in understanding. Haruto understood why Tapu Koko would do so, it was to protect this region. So, informing the other three would be wise so they know what to look out for.
"Good to see you both. It should be done soon." Hala voiced as the both of them walked into the main area of Hala's house. They saw him in the kitchen area cooking whatever he was cooking as Haruto and Marshadow went to the living room area where Marshadow had quickly hopped onto the couch and sat down while resting against the back of the couch.
"I'm still worried. I wonder where that Horror guy is..." Marshadow muttered as a chill ran down the pokemon's body. Marshadow thought back to Horror and could only be afraid of the person's appearance, he was far more intimidating than any pokemon out there. Haruto frowned as he gave a sighed. "I wish I knew, but there isn't much."
"Also, are you sure you should be standing up? You aren't exactly in perfect health..." Marshadow asked with concern as he stared at Haruto's stance. The boy had his arms crossed as he could tell that the boy was tense, though he was hiding it well behind his smile and body stance. "I still think you need to rest in bed."
"Don't worry, I'll be fine. I can walk on m-..."
"Haru~to~!"
"Huh?" Haruto and Marshadow suddenly stopped what they were talking about as they heard the loud and familiar voice, to Haruto at least. They both turned to looked towards Haruto's right to see a blur suddenly crash into the boy, sending him flying along with the running figure as Marshadow dropped his jaw at what he saw.
"Gah~!" Haruto had released a great cry of comical pain as he crashed onto the wooden floor as whatever had tackled him was on his chest, pressing down on his injuries! Haruto face twisted into immense pain as his right eye was twitching repeatedly. "Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow! Who the heck did that?! Wait, Lisia?!"
"Haruto, I'm so glad that you're okay!"
"Okay? Do I look okay?!" Haruto shouted comically as he lightly pushed Lisia off of him, causing her to fall down next to him as he panted as his face slowly began to relieve itself of pain. Lisia blinked at him before noticing some of his bandages underneath his shirt from the sleeve since she could see since she was laying next to him.
"Oh~... That's why you were hurting! I thought it was because of me running into you."
"Uh, yeah! Both actually! They both really hurt!" Haruto deadpanned as he shouted this. Haruto sighed as he closed his eyes while still on the ground, he then opened them, only to widen them considerably and comically as Lisia suddenly lunged at him after getting up from the ground. "But, I missed you so much!"
"Ahhh~!" Haruto screamed before quickly acting as he rolled away, ignoring the pain he was feeling as he had no doubt that Lisia would have made him even more in pain if she actually ended up grabbing onto him. Haruto stopped his roll and got into a crouch position as he panted with purples lines going down the side of his face. "That was too close... Lisia, why are you even here?"
"Uncle Wallace told me that Steven told him what had happened to you, so I came right over here!" Lisia said as she sat on the ground, having both her clenched fists held in front of her chest. She had small tears forming in the corner of her eyes as she continued. "I-I was really worried about you and wanted to come over here!"
"I understand your concern. But, please refrain..."
"I-I know... but, I-I-I just-kya!" Lisia stuttered as she was close to crying, not because of what Haruto was saying, but because of what happened to him. Though, she stopped her sentence with a small squeal when she felt a pair of arms wrapped around her. She looked to see Haruto embracing her as he walked over in front of her and kneeling down. "H-Haruto?"
"Lisia, listen to me. I know that you were worried, but you can see that I'm fine, right?" Haruto asked with a smile as Lisia stared into his eyes. The girl relaxed her body into his embrace as she nodded her head with a visible blush donning her face, she could feel the warmth of his body covering her, and she didn't mind it. "Are you alright now?"
"Y-Yeah!" Lisia replied with a stutter in her voice as the blush was very much still present on her features as Haruto stopped his embrace. Lisia didn't know why, but she felt pretty disappointed when he did so. He helped her stand up as Marshadow just watched with a smile on his face. "Good, then we should all eat what Hala will be making for us, okay?"
"R-Right!
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"Pokemon League?"
"That's correct. Professor Kukui told me about how he was hoping to form one here in Alola for a good while now." Hala had responded to Haruto's question as the group could be seen currently eating the food that Hala had prepared for them. Lisia and Marshadow staying silent as they listened to the conversation between the two human males.
From what Haruto had been told by both Steven and Hala, the former telling him about how the Pokemon League was a competition of sorts to find the strongest trainer through a variety of battles, kind of like those duelling tournaments back home. Hala telling him about Professor Kukui, and as the name suggests, is a professor here in Alola.
And from what he had heard, the professor was also teaching his own class in the nearby Pokemon School, and the class being none other than the group that he had helped out who knows how long ago, he didn't know how long he had been unconscious for. He rose an eyebrow at Hala after hearing his words.
"Why don't you enter? It could be a nice way to take your mind off of things." Hala suggested as Haruto crossed his arms. Did he really have the time for such a thing? He was already really busy with dealing with all of these Dark Estrada. Lisia decided to chime in as she added. "Yeah, I agree! It sounds like fun too! While I may enjoy contests more, I wouldn't mind watching!"
"I guess... but, you do realise I'm not a Pokemon Trainer, right? I'm a duellist." Haruto frowned as he took a sip from his glass of water. Like seriously, how did they expect him to compete? He literally had no experience whatsoever with training Pokemon! "To add to that, I don't even have a Pokemon! I have duel monsters, but that doesn't count."
Marshadow, Lisia, and Hala all had a chill run down their spines as they imagined what it would be like if Haruto took part in the competition and summoning forth the likes of Blue and Red-Eyes. They had no doubt that it would be a complete massacre, the duel monsters were clearly far superior to Pokemon.
"While that may be true, that doesn't mean you can't catch pokemon, right? I'm sure you can learn pretty fast, especially if you play such a complicated card game." Hala grinned as Haruto sweatdropped. Was the game really that complicated to them? For the people back in his world, they all learnt the game pretty damn easily. "So, why not give it a try?"
"I mean, I wouldn't mind. But, how?"
"Well, you do have those Pokeballs that Steven supplied you with, right?" Hala asked. Haruto nodded his head as he reached into the bag that he was given prior to coming here to Alola, which was currently placed next to him next to his seat. He then took out an unprimed Pokeball. "Good. Why don't you go and catch a pokemon?"
"Don't I need to battle it first? I don't have a Pokemon, so how do I do that?" Hala thought about it as he held his chin. Not too long after, Haruto felt a tug on his pants, causing them to all turn their heads towards none other than Marshadow. Haruto gave him a confused look. "Is something wrong, Marshadow?"
"What about me?!"
"Huh?"
"I think Marshadow means that he wants to be your Pokemon, right?" Lisia asked as she looked at the Pokemon. Marshadow smiled and nodded his head as Haruto blinked a few times in surprise, to which he glanced back down at the Pokemon. Hala seemed to agree as he added. "It certainly seems that way. How about it?"
"But, you do know that we'd be probably battling in front of a lot of people, right? Are you sure you want to do this, Marshadow?"
"I'll just think of it as a way of overcoming my shyness, please?!" Marshadow pretty much pleaded as he held onto Haruto's shirt. Haruto seemed to scratch his left cheek with his left index finger as he thought over it, he then felt Lisia place her hand on his shoulder and add. "Come on, why don't you? Marshadow seems to really want to!"
"I do have to agree." Hala voiced. Haruto looked towards the kahuna as the old man continued his sentence while looking at Haruto. "Despite the short amount of time that you have known one another, you have already grown a great bond. It was as if you have known each other for a very long time. I don't see why not."
"I... very well."
"Yes! We can do this, Haruto!" Marshadow had cheered as the two other humans smiled at its excitement. Haruto smiled after giving a sigh as he primed the Pokeball, to which he pressed it against Marshadow. To which he watched as the Pokemon was sucked in, he then watched it shake a few times before stopping.
"Did it work?"
"Indeed, you and Marshadow are now partners."
"Congratulations, Haruto! I can tell both of you are going to be amazing together!" Lisia cheered as she looked at the Pokeball in Haruto's hand. Lisia then leaned back in her chair as she then smiled as she added. "Though, I'm still pretty surprised that you are able to talk to Pokemon like you do. I've never seen anything like it!"
"Well, only a certain few Pokemon I can talk to."
"Still, it's really impressive!"
"So, what are your plans going to be, Haruto? I assume that you are going to be catching Pokemon to compete?" Hala asked. Haruto nodded his head in response to this as he then added. "Yeah, that, and also that I want to go out and get some fresh air in a bit. Wanted to explore around for a little while, while also looking out just in case."
"Oh, can I come with you? It sounds like fun!" Lisia hoped as she stared up at Haruto's eyes. The boy in question blinked his eyes a few times at the sudden request, to which he then gave a smile and a nod of his head. "Sure, I wouldn't mind having some company. Have you been to Alola prior to now, or not?"
"This is actually my first time. Uncle Wallace told me that he had come here once before with Steven, but that was it." Lisia answered as Haruto nodded in understanding. They then heard Hala cough to get their attention as they turned their heads to look towards him as he stated. "Be careful while you're out there, and have fun too."
"Don't worry, Hala. We will."
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"Come on, Haruto! Let's go over there!"
"Calm down, Lisia. I'm coming."
Both Haruto and Lisia were now walking through the city as Lisia was running a bit ahead as she looked around the place with curiosity and excitement, and Marshadow was currently in his Pokeball as he didn't want to be seen by everyone yet. Haruto also found out that Marshadow was an extremely rare and unknown Pokemon, so he decided to keep Marshadow hidden for now.
Lisia's outfit had also changed as she changed her usual wear to something else to in with the weather, and was less extravagant compared to her previous outfit. She was now wearing a simple white shirt with white frills on the bottom and on the sleeves, also having on a short black skirt and white sandals. Her hair was still tied the same and had the same accessory.
"Oh, boy..." Haruto sighed as he began walking over to where Lisia was. She had rushed over towards what appeared to be an ice-cream stand where she was looking at the many flavours. As he was walking towards her, his eyes caught wind of another pair of eyes from a blonde male that appeared to be his age.
The boy wore mainly black clothes and gave you that bad boy feel, having strangely designed blonde hair and also a pair of green eyes. Beside him was a black pokemon on all fours with pointy ears, and the most prominent parts beings the golden rings on its body as well as the pair of red piercing eyes that it had.
Both of them stared at each other for a bit as Haruto then heard Lisia calling his name, Haruto stopped his stare as he began walking over towards the girl. The blonde watched as Haruto went before turning around himself and began walking in the opposite direction to them, both males wondering who one another were.
'That guy... he had the eyes of someone who's seen too much...' The blonde male thought as he walked away with his Pokemon beside him. The eyes he saw that Haruto had shown major amounts of maturity, far more than a normal child his age should have. 'I wonder who he even was, he certainly isn't normal though...'
"Let's get some ice-cream, Haruto!"
"Sure, sure. What do they have?" Haruto wondered as he walked on beside Lisia as they stared at all the flavours that were on display. There were many flavours that he recognised here, but there were a few that seemed to strike him as odd. They were probably flavours that were unique here, or just really damn rare back home. "What are you getting?"
"Chocolate and vanilla!"
"Huh, simple yet nice. Okay, then I'll go with mint chocolate chip then." Haruto decided as he saw the flavour in one of the upper layers in the display. They then saw as the person running the stand, which appeared to be a woman, walk to the front as she noticed the two of them waiting there to order.
"Alola! What can I get for such a lovely young couple today?" The woman smiled as she greeted the duo with the usual Alola greeting. Haruto blinked in confusion when he heard this as Lisia had a red hue form on her face as she stuttered with a response. "W-We're not a couple! We're just exploring the city for a bit!"
"Oh, my honest mistake. Hehe~..." The woman giggled as Lisia pouted with the blush still donning her face. The woman then asked once again. "Anyway, what can I help the both of you with today?"
"Um, we'd like to get two ice-cream cones, please. One mint chocolate chip and one with both chocolate and vanilla." Haruto ordered as the woman nodded. It didn't take long before she took the scoops before handing them to the both of them, Lisia's having one scoop of chocolate and vanilla as Haruto had one scoop of his own flavour. "How much will that be?"
"No, please take it on the house!"
"Eh? Are you sure?"
"Of course! Especially for such a nice couple." The woman giggled. Lisia pouted even more as her face gained a darker shade of red, Haruto just blinking as they both watched the woman walk back into the back of the store as Haruto turned to look at Lisia. "Are you alright there? What's wrong?"
"E-Eh? Oh, it's nothing!" Lisia shouted as she began walking down the street while enjoying her ice-cream. Haruto rose an eyebrow in confusion before shrugging as he followed on after her, he doubted there was much reason to why she was acting like this. She was just fine beforehand, so he doubted he needed to worry.
"Whatever you say..."
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