"Minato, HURRY UP!"
"I'm— going— as fast as I can!" the blonde man pants.
"And they call you the Yellow Flash!" Kushina snorts, as they sprint towards the Sarutobi Research Lab, hoping to catch Haru before he leaves on his journey. "You better Flash your ass over there, or I'll kill you!"
Kushina and Minato had worked tirelessly while they were on their joint assignment to make sure they could return home before Haru left on his Pokémon journey. They had so many things to give him, to make sure it was the safest and greatest trip of his life! They were cutting it close, but they... could... they were there!
Nearly tripping over each other as they slowed down abruptly, the yellow and red pair gave the Professor quite a startle.
"Minato? Kushina? What are you doing here?" Hiruzen asked in surprise. Remembering their audience, he ushered the new graduating class indoors before closing the door and facing the panting, weak-kneed duo. Kushina managed to wave briefly to Shikamaru, Chouji and Kiba, who would come over to play with Haru sometimes.
"We..." Kushina wheezed, before holding up a finger and sinking down with her hands on her knees. Both she and Minato took a couple of minutes to catch their breath, before they started to talk.
"We came... to see Haru off." Minato sighed, shaking sweaty gold strands from his eyes.
An uncomfortable look suddenly crossed the old Professor's face. "Ah."
"Professor?" Kushina prompted uncertainly upon seeing his expression. "Is Haru in there?"
"You should go home... you'll find your answers there." Hiruzen suggested.
Kushina looks confused, because she absolutely cannot fathom the possibility that her baby could have already left. Minato can contemplate it, and looks very nervous as his gaze darts between Kushina and Hiruzen. They leave the lab and go home at a more sedate pace.
Kushina and Minato release their Pokémon to relax in their backyard while they walk into their house. There is no sound in the house, it's startlingly quiet. Kushina rushes to Haru's room and barges in, eyes roving around.
The pack is gone.
"Minato!" her voice raises unsteadily, agitatedly. "His pack is gone... he couldn't have... could he?"
Minato, who had retreated into the kitchen to find something to satiate his grumbling stomach, froze as he spied the letter on the island countertop. "Honey. There's... a letter here. Addressed to us."
Minato picks up the letter and unfolds it, smoothing out the creases. Kushina stomps into the kitchen with an air of deceptive calm, but her eyes are about seconds away from releasing sparks of electricity.
Rubbing a hand up and down her back, Minato reads the letter aloud.
"Dear Mom and Dad," Minato reads with growing exasperation at his adventurous son. "I know you're going to be mad, but I had to leave at this moment in time! The rain was fading, and the sun was coming out... this was the perfect moment. Don't worry about me, Shiyu and I will take the world by storm! Maybe I don't know what exactly I'll do yet, but I'm young enough that some research and hands-on experience will be really good for me right? I've got Pokéballs, some lunches, clothes to change into, and the lucky super rod you got me mom. I'll be fine, I promise. I'll try and check for you guys at the first Poké Center I get to. I love you guys, and wish me luck on my journey, whatever it is I plan to do. Dad, maybe I'll see you at the Pokémon League, who knows? Love, Haru..."
Minato puts the letter down and sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. "That boy... didn't he think we had things we wanted to give him? Imagine coming home and our son is already gone! Even Naru let us wish her off."
"To think, we went through all that trouble to get an Xtransceiver, and all those Great Balls... the Luxury and Friend Balls, even the Dusk Balls! There were so many other things!" Kushina huffs, turning away. Minato smiles in understanding and turns her back around to face him, her eyes suspiciously shiny.
"Hey... that's just how our boys are. They got that bit of adventure and the wanderlust from you after all." Minato reminds her. Kushina harrumphs and looks away.
"He has to get them; otherwise we can't contact each other unless we predetermine times to meet at Poké Centers!" Kushina turns a devious grin on him, bouncing back quickly from the light case of Empty Nest Syndrome. "And I know who's got a fast ride to get to him quickly!"
Minato sweat drops, chuckling nervously at her expectant, mischievous face.
It had been a week since Haru and Shiyu had started their journey, and so far they were closing in on the first town, Petalburg City. Haru had been training Shiyu by battling pokemon they encountered in the forest paths, and he was keeping a good eye out for potential new team members.
"Finding you some nice wild opponents will be good training for you, since you only battled with mom and dad's Pokémon before... this time you'll have to be quick on your feet!" Haru playfully warned his Pokémon.
"Vee!" Shiyu chirped, trotting along to keep up with Haru's slow, yet larger stride.
They walk through the forest for some time, Shiyu occasionally skipping over to look at things that interest him. Haru briefly contemplates taking out his camera, when a sound from ahead of them makes the two freeze. Trotting into view is Poochyena. It snuffles along the ground, not taking notice of them. As quietly as he can, Haru slips out his Pokédex and reads the entry on the Pokémon.
"A Dark type... it's a good start. Shiyu, this just might be manageable." Haru murmurs.
Shiyu, tired of waiting for his trainer to speak up, barks sharply to call the attention of the little dog Pokémon. The Poochyena jumps as he's startled, before quickly facing them and growling. Shiyu takes a step back a little, quite taken aback at the sound.
"Oh come on, you started it." Haru grinned. "You aren't gonna let a little squeak like that scare you, right?"
Shiyu hesitates, but seems to recover his courage and jumps in front of Haru determinedly. Haru doesn't give an order right away, instead preferring to see what the little Poochyena is made of.
It charges them, obviously readying for a tackle. "Dodge Shiyu!" Haru calls, and the Eevee jumps to the side accordingly. Poochyena scrabbles around and makes for a tackle again.
"Trip him up, Shiyu!"
With a small smirk, Shiyu jumps forward just a little so that the only thing the Poochyena would hit would be his tail, and just as the other Pokémon almost steps over his tail, he whips it and takes out the dark Pokémon's front feet. The little Pokémon yelps and tumbles for a few more seconds before getting back up, his expression mutinous. He lunges at Shiyu, his jaws open.
Haru's eyes widened. "Flatten Shiyu, he's going to use Bite!"
Doing just like Haru taught him to, Shiyu quickly flattened out to his belly, allowing the Poochyena to fly right over him. Undaunted, the Poochyena just got back up again, though this time he waits for the Eevee to make another move.
"Hmm... you learn from your mistakes huh?" Haru muses, briefly considering capturing the little Pokémon. Still, this was a training experience for Shiyu, so he'd resist.
"Shiyu, Quick Attack!"
Though the new plan of the little Poochyena was a good start, he just didn't have the speed needed to dodge the trained Eevee, and took a hard hit.
"Now, Tackle him! And do an about spin for another!" Haru ordered.
Shiyu tries to tackle the Poochyena, but the creature even in its injured state could dodge it. But it couldn't dodge the one from behind as Shiyu spun on a dime, and he couldn't avoid the one after that either. The Poochyena was on its last leg, and Haru capitalized on that.
"Another tackle Shiyu." With that last hit, the Poochyena was down for the count.
"Well done Shiyu! That was a stronger opponent too, I'm proud of you. Think you can go for another fight or so?" Haru asked.
Shiyu nodded happily, tail wagging eagerly to show his enthusiasm. "Okay, then let's keep going!" Haru crowed.
On they walked, always making sure to follow a path as straight as possible, so they wouldn't get lost in the thick forest. Haru mused to himself that perhaps packing a map would have been very beneficial. They encountered a few more Pokémon in the forests, low-level wurmples and such, and in one amusing occasion they had even stumbled upon a zigzagoon that Shiyu just Quick Attacked out of reflex—his past dealings with them had not been pleasant. After the first couple of fights, Haru decided to beef up his team, and caught a poochyena.
Haru decided to call it a day and found a nice clearing they could camp in for the night. Setting up his tent and sleeping bag inside, Haru stretched and perused the sky. It wasn't early, but it wasn't late enough to call a stop to training. First things first—lunch!
"Come on out, Poochyena!" With a beam of red light, the captured Pokémon reappeared and shook his head in a daze. He was still injured from the fight, but the little pup realized he had been defeated, and so sat quietly as Haru treated first him, then Shiyu.
"Now, I know that wasn't the best first introduction, but my name is Haru Namikaze. For now, I'm just travelling the land and getting a feel for what seems right. And I think you, my little friend, are going to be a great addition to my team. So what do you say... friends?" Haru leaves it totally up to the Poochyena, holding out his hand and smiling openly.
The black and grey Pokémon gives him the once-over and a few moments of silence passes. Then, he places his paw on Haru's and barks affirmatively.
"Great! Then, I'd like to name you Shirou." Haru cheers, scratching behind Shirou's ears when the little creature barks happily.
Getting back up, Haru goes about preparing dinner for both him and his Pokémon. Shirou and Shiyu sniff at each other curiously behind Haru's back, before shaking paws—as best as they could—and putting the past behind them.
"Lunch is served Shiyu—some yummy Pokémon food... and two Poké Blocks for being such an awesome sport! You too Shirou, the Poké blocks are a promise for a great friendship." Haru served the Pokémon with a smile, while he dug into his own lunchbox.
"Now that I've got you two... I should still look for some other Pokémon don't you think? Man, I wish they had deerling in Hoenn... but travelling over to Unova doesn't sound that bad. I mean, even if I did participate in the Hoenn Pokémon League this year, I've still got a long time." Haru muses.
Shiyu, cheeks puffed with food, just nodded as he chewed on his lunch. Haru chuckled and flicked some water from his bottle at the Eevee, who squeaked and hopped up and down challengingly. Haru snorted and returned to his lunch, never noticing the curious eyes that looked at him from behind the cover of the forest.
After lunch, Haru briefly toys with the idea of inviting Shirou to train, but figures he needs rest from his battle. So, with orders to the Poochyena to just watch and learn, Haru beckons Shiyu over.
"Okay Shiyu, I want to work on your reaction time. So... I'm going to throw these toy balls at you, and you have to hit them all back at me okay?" Haru instructs, showing Shiyu the soft, cotton-filled balls.
"Vee." Shiyu nods determinedly. Haru smiles and shuffles back to sit with Poochyena.
"Ok on your mark... get set... go!" With casual flicks of his wrist, Haru starts it off easy by throwing the balls quickly, but one at a time. Shiyu hits them all back by head butting them, and the toys soar in the air between the two for a time. After some time, Haru steps it up by throwing two at a time. Shiyu starts to struggle with this, and after nearly ten minutes he fails to hit back one.
"Ok, that was good Shiyu!" Haru encourages, smiling at the lightly panting Eevee. "Now let's try it again."
This goes on for a good forty-five minutes, Shiyu improving with each turn as Haru experiments with either throwing faster, or throwing wider. Eventually he calls a halt to the training as the sun prepares to set, and sets up dinner for his team and him. After dinner they watch the stars, Haru taking out his camera to snap pictures of the starry night sky, swearing that this sky was different from all the others he'd glimpsed from home.
Shirou took a strange urge to tugging on the camera strap, and often got in the way of shots because he was so curious about the item. Laughing it off, Haru obliged by taking pictures of the pooch and showing them to a startled Shirou. That night, Haru drifted to sleep, now both sides of his body warmed and nudged by to sleeping little Pokémon, and he couldn't wait to add to their dog-pile.