As soon as Frank and Tommy left the village, Bill had the guards close the gate once more. Just as the gate closed and Bill turned to walk away, he heard someone say, "Guess I missed the big send-off, huh?" He turned to see Frank's brother Ryan approaching him. Ryan wasn’t Frank’s real brother, but to Frank, he was family enough. Frank had found Ryan a year earlier, living in a wet hole in the ground on the verge of death. Frank had questioned why he wasn’t at home, and Ryan said he had his reasons for leaving Firestone, his home village. Frank then offered to take him back to Beacon. Ryan was reluctant to leave his new home, but Frank recited the second tenant of the Creed, “Help those in need”, adding that it was especially important since Ryan was a fellow Brawler. Ryan has been living with Frank ever since. "Yeah, you did" Bill replied, then continued with "I thought you weren't going to be back until later tonight". Ryan sighed, "Turns out the alleged Rocket base location was a bust. Nothing but trees and grass." Bill groaned, "Not again. That's the third time Team Rocket eluded us." Ryan grinned, "Well, actually, it wasn't a total loss. We ambushed a Team Rocket Hunter squad that happened to be in the area and well, here". He reached into his satchel and pulled out a very weighty bag of gold coins. Bill's jaw nearly hit his feet when he saw it. "Good lord!" he exclaimed. "Who did you catch?" Ryan the beamed with pride, “Oh, no one special. Just Drako and his goon squad. Or, you might know them better as Shadow Company." Bill was amazed, "They're second most wanted criminal enterprise in the entire region!" "Yep, all in a day's work" was Ryan’s casual response. Ryan then pulled up his robe sleeve and showed Bill three entry wounds on his left arm, and from their cylindrical appearance, they appeared to be bullet holes. “Had a pistol on his thigh. Managed to pull off some shots before I buried his face in the dirt. Not to worry, he’s still alive, but he has a pretty serious concussion and I think I shattered the entire right half of his skull. Looks to me he’ll be spending quite some time in the hospital.” Bill laughed, “You always pick the one with the weapon, you know that? First that Team Aqua chick nails you with a throwing knife, now this guy shoots you in the arm.” Ryan smiled, “Yeah, but that’s only because they know they don’t stand a chance in a fistfight.” Then his smile turned to a look of anger, “I almost lost it again. Those creeps were beating on a Piplup when we found them, just for their own twisted amusement. I could feel the anger and rage building up. The other two guys in my team had to pin me to the ground in order to not have our cover blown.” Bill frowned, “I know it’s not easy seeing that kind of thing, but you have to be careful. The Savage state is our ace-in-the-hole, not your run-of-the-mill attack. You of all people should know the consequences of overusing it.” Ryan bowed his head in despair, “That’s low, Bill. That’s really low”. Ryan recalled the time, when he was still a young kid, of seeing his own father being put to death after having become too mentally unstable from overusing the Savage state, which was why Ryan decided to leave his home village Firestone. Bill sighed, “I’m sorry, Ryan. I just don’t want to see anyone else die like that. I’ve seen too many of my comrades suffer that same fate, it really sucks.” Frank lifted his head, “I know. It’s just that......” Ryan stopped because he heard movement, about one hundred meters beyond the gate. And then it happened...
Fri Aug 27, 2010 8:54 pm
