Heroes and Shadows

Shortly after departing from her home in Pewter City she wandered around the city as she had never seen its full beauty. Then suddenly she bumped into a tall, muscular figure who pushed her over calling her a wimp and a crybaby. The boys friends joined in with the insults and the abuse. Henrietta was paralysed with fear and was uncontrollably crying. Why did her first day on her own have to start so badly?

While Henrietta was being bullied by those arrogant punks, Hamata Roshi happened to have been walking by. The old man's scarred face proceeded to scowl when he noticed that the punks happened to have Pokeballs on their belts. The old man had, yet again, found a bunch of hotshot punk trainers that had just proven to him that children shouldn't be trusted with such a respectable position. Walking up to them, the 90 year old war veteran walked up to the worthless punks and proceeded to lat into them.

"Well well well, it seems I can't take five steps without seeing a bunch of arrogant, bullying, worthless excuses for trainers nowadays. It's like everywhere I go, I see worthless cretins like you bringing shame to a position I once held in the military. How about you ignorant fools stop picking on a young girl and go about killing your last few brain cells off by huffing the same paint you idiots have been doing for most of your young lives?" the bitter old man snapped at and insulted these trainers.

The trio of boys spun around and when they saw who was lecturing them they simply burst into laughter. The tallest of the group sneered saying " You talk a lot of smack for someone who's about to get pummeled". He then pulled out a pokeball shouting " Luxio I choose you!" as a small lvl 16 Luxio came out of the pokeball. "Are you ready to be sent back to the infirmary old man?" the boy said with an arrogant grin on his face.

Instead of looking intimidated, Hamata Roshi pulled down the brim of his hat a bit, and snorted in amusement at the small little Luxio. Did this impudent little snothead honestly think that he was intimidated, or that he was really gonna win? That was so laughable that if he had dared to burst out laughing as violently as he felt on the inside, it might literally deage him by 10 years.

Hamata Roshi gave the teenagers a shark-like grin, and unstrapped the obsolete, broken-down-with-exposed-wiring Pokeball, enlarged it, and then threw it at the ground. What emerged in that burst of red light, was the largest Snorlax ever seen. It was also the most intimidating, because of the many burns and scars that perforated the glutton's body. Seeing the tiny Luxio in front of it, the battle-scarred and battle-hardened war veteran Snorlax let out a menacing roar that shook the ground beneath it like an Earthquake and pounded on it's chest like an ape would.

The boy looked up at the Snorlax in amazement then he laughed again. He said to Roshi " You honestly think that fat blob can even hit my Luxio? You've got to be kidding me". He then shouted " Alright Luxio use Spark ". Luxio covered its body in lightning then charged at the colossal Snorlax.

The Snorlax looked down at the Luxio as it charged at him with a Spark. Roshi raised an eyebrow in amusement, and decided to meet the Pokemon head on. "Snorlax, meet it head on and crush that worthless runt Pokemon with a Body Slam" the old veteran said, causing the Snorlax to let out a roar-like battle cry and rush at the much smaller Pokemon, perfectly willing to meet it in a head-on collision.

The boy was not prepared for a counterattack and so the Luxio was sent flying into the air eventually landing on solid ground. Luxio had been defeated and the trainers friends ran off after that amazing display of power. The trainer ran off after he shook off the bewildered look on his face. Henrietta was too scared to even open her eyes as she was afraid that more abuse was coming her way.

"HA! One more victory for the old school, my old friend" Hamata Roshi said with a victorious grin on his scarred face as he and his Snorlax bumped fists with each other, before he called the Snorlax back into his Pokeball. When that was dealt with, he walked over to the young girl, his walking cane making loud clacking sounds on the ground with each step forward the old sage took. He looked down at the nine year old girl with a frown, and poked her with his walking cane. "Get up girl, you're safe. Those whipper-snappers were quickly dealt with" the old war veteran said to Henrietta.

Henrietta looked up at the old man and was at first slightly afraid but then she realised what he had said. She got up slowly and said " Thank you" to Roshi . When she saw Roshi start to walk away she ran up to him and asked him if he could help her with her journey as she was terrified to adventure alone.

The girl finally managed to look at him, and he saw that she was OK, aside from some slight bruises. After looking over to see that she was, indeed, just fine, he nodded his head silently in response to her thanking him, and proceeded on his way, until the girl ran up to him and asked him to help her with her adventure, as she was afraid of traveling alone. Hamata Roshi raised an eyebrow in curiosity, finding it most curious that she would want a cranky old man like him to follow her.

"What help could I possibly be to you? I'm just a cranky old war veteran bitter about the changes having come about our world" he said to her in a rather grouchy manner as he looked down at her and slammed his walking stick into the pavement with a loud cracking sound.

" Well you have a lot of experience. That would help me, right?" Henrietta said with a hopeful expression on her face. Her true reason for asking for help was her fear of being alone however some tips and advice would also benefit her as her goal was to overcome her shyness by beating the Kanto League.