To Catch a Vaporeon
The little black, white and blue-grey creature stared up at me with eyes as golden as the sun.
"What is it, Professor?" I asked, having never seen such as it before.
"My grandson Gary brought it back from the great jungle," Professor Oak replied. "It calls itself Makimur, but apart from that I have only managed to find out a little about its behaviour. It is insatiably curious and easily distracted."
"And its really the only one you can spare?" I know I was whining, but I wanted a decent Pokemon like my cousin Ash's Pikachu. This creature was cute though. It was currently fiddling with some contraption of the Professor's.
"Yes," he replied, and then he noticed what the little critter was doing. "Makimur, stop that at once!"
"Maaki, maki-murr," it replied sulkily, although it did put the device down.
"Quite frankly," the Professor continued, "I would recommend that you wait – as much trouble as this fellow is, and as much as I would like to get it out of my office, I do not think it is a suitable first Pokemon. Even my grandson Gary could not train it, and he thinks himself the greatest Pokemon trainer ever."
"I have to go back home tomorrow," I replied.
"And they don't have trainers where you live?"
"Yeah. But they don't know as much about Pokemon as you."
The Professor smiled. Makimur was sitting by my foot, busily untying my shoe. It had wrapped its tail around my leg and looked up at me with adoring eyes.
"Maki," it said, tilting its head on one side.
I was instantly smitten. "I'll try it," I replied, scooping it up in my arms. It lay still for about five seconds then started playing with my hair.
"Don't say I didn't warn you," the Professor stated. "Also, I should tell you, it doesn't like Pokeballs."
"It doesn't?" I replied.
"I'll show you." He removed a Pokeball from a shelf labelled "empty" and threw it at Makimur.
The little creature caught the ball automatically and was immediately sucked in. I picked up the ball. "Looks fine to me," I said. There was a flash of light and Makimur leapt onto my shoulder from the ball.
"Maki-mur," it muttered darkly, and began examining my ear.
The Professor chuckled. "Good luck Kat, you're gonna need it."
Maki was small, smaller than most Pokemon I had seen. He was about a foot long from nose to tail tip, but half of that was tail. He had a black mask about his golden eyes and a yellow star on his forehead. Nobody knew what his abilities were or even what "type" of Pokemon he actually was. His behaviour was like that of a small child that had drunk too much coffee.
The walk home took a long time. Maki sat on my shoulder peacefully enough, happy just to watch the world go by. But occasionally something would attract his attention – a butterfly, a pretty flower, a hole that needed exploring. Then he would leap off my shoulder and investigate and I would have to call him back. The first night we camped in a small cabin owned by some friends of my parents. In the first hour or so, Maki had investigated the entire house, including the crawlspace, the attic and behind all the furniture and was setting about trying to work out how the television worked. He seemed to like pushing the buttons. My walking companion, whose name was Rowan, had an idea.
"How about we try and train it?" He suggested. "I could try it against my Vulpix."
"I don't know," I replied, "what if we hurt it? We don't even know if it will fight."
"Oh, come on, Flame won't hurt it much, besides, I've got some healing balm. Don't ya want to know if it can fight at all?"
I shrugged. "Let's see what Maki thinks."
Maki sprang down to see why we were talking about him. He had plainly been munching on some of the flowers that had been left in a vase on the tv. The pollen was through his fur.
"What do you think, Maki? Want to fight?"
"Maaki, maki maki," he replied.
"I think he more wants to play," I informed Rowan.
"Well, come on Flame, let's play!" He brought out the ball which held his Vulpix and released her.
"Vulpix," she said happily, rubbing her head up against Rowan's leg.
Maki was fascinated, he jumped towards her and pulled one of her six tails. Flame whirled on him, teeth slashing.
"Looks like they're gonna fight anyway," Rowan chuckled.
"Go on Maki, do something special," I coaxed.
Maki looked at me, sat down primly, and stared at the Vulpix.
Flame paused. She had not been expecting this! "Vulpix?" She enquired.
"Maki!" He replied, grooming his tail.
Flame looked about in embarrassment, and then moved to groom her own foot.
And Maki sprang at her, leaping on her back. "Maki!" He shrieked joyeously.
The fox did not look impressed. "Vulpiix," she growled angrily, shaking him off, then went to sulk in the corner.
Rowan was in stitches. "Did you see that?" He asked, unnecessarily. "Hah, he had her fooled."
I had to share his mirth. "Yeah, look all cute and innocent and then attack, Maki certainly does have the right idea."
"Maki," Maki agreed. Flame just sulked.
The next night we were approaching a lake. The map said it was called "Lake Eerie," although we did not know why. Rowan was hoping to see some water-type Pokemon, because so far our trip had been fairly uneventful. We both carried Pokeballs, in the hope of stumbling upon some exciting type of Pokemon we could capture. However, aside from the occasion Pidgey flock out foraging in the fields, all we had seen were Rattatas and a Nidoran, that had gotten away too fast for us to do anything about it.
"Ya won't be wanting to camp by the lake," one old-timer, who was sitting on his front porch smoking a pipe whilst a Meowth purred contentedly from his lap, informed us. "It ain't a safe place anymore. There ain't no fish left in there no more – the Lake Eerie monster ate 'em all."
You could almost see Rowan's eyes perk up. Maki's certainly did. "Lake Eerie monster?"
"Yep, couple a days ago a woman was guttin' fish out beside the Lake shore, and suddenly a strange creature reared out o' the water afore her. She jumped back an' it swept ashore as a wave, pulling her fish an' everything into the water. She was lucky to get away just dampened and scared."
"Swept ashore as a wave?" I asked. "What kind of Pokemon could that be?"
"I dunno," the old man replied. "Anyways, if yer gonna be campin' down by the waterside, just keep an' eye out, ok?"
"Oh, we certainly shall," Rowan interjected.
I dragged him aside. "It could be dangerous," I hissed at him, "you can't be thinking that we can camp by the lakeside and capture it."
His look told me everything. He thought we could.
I sighed. "Ok, but if we get soaked, it's you who'll have to pay the dry-cleaning bill."
Beneath the moonlight, Lake Eerie was the picture of serenity. The moon's rays shone on the water, making them sparkle prettily. The waters were so calm and still, it was hard to believe that beneath them lived some kind of beast that had all the locals scared. A Pokemon that could turn into water, I certainly had never heard of such. Maki scampered along the beach, playing with a pretty piece of driftwood here, a lost feather there. He at least seemed at ease. He paused staring upwards, at Rowan, who was sitting in a tree, doing something complicated with a scrap of mat and a piece of string.
"Maki," he stateed accusingly, pointing up at Rowan.
I rolled my eyes. "You're not, tell me you're not! Stringing a piece of meat up in a tree to encourage the monster ashore is hardly going to give us a good sleep!"
"I want to see it, ok?" He replied. "Is that too much to ask?"
"Maki, maki!" Makimur agreed. He wanted to see it too. His curiosity was almost too much trouble.
"We shall let all out Pokemon out tonight then," I stated, firmly. "At least then we can fight it off if need be."
"Ok," Rowan replied, "Flame, Goldblaze, I chose you!" His Vulpix and Pidgeotto appeared, the former sniffing at Maki, the latter flapping up to perch next to him on the branch. Goldblaze was strong, and should be a fair match for any smaller water Pokemon. Maki appeared to be showing Flame a pretty stone he had found somewhere along the beach. Flame looked suitably unimpressed. Maki sulked.
Nothing had happened in a few hours, and I was starting to feel quite weary. Maki had already fallen asleep on my chest, his tufted ears tickling my chin, and Flame was curled up by the door. On its roost above the tent, I could hear Goldblaze snoring, or at least wheezing loudly.
Suddenly there was a crashing sound. A splash.
Instantly I bolted awake, startling Maki who leapt to his feet. Rowan snored on, content and unaware of the possible danger. I shook him into awakedness.
"What, who, where am I?" He slurred.
"It's here!" I whispered as loudly as I dared.
That woke him up fully. "Well. What are we waiting for, let's catch it then!"
I stuck my head out of the tent to see, standing beneath the hanging piece of meat, a medium sized animal with a very long tail. It was a tealy blue colour, with a frill around its neck and a fish tail. It was not really what I would call a monster, although I had no idea what it was.
"Goldblaze, go get it!" Rowan shouted beside me.
There was a rustle of wings as the Pidgeotto lurched itself from the branch and descended on the water Pokemon. At Rowan's command, the creature had turned. A funnel of water spurted from its mouth, showering poor Goldblaze. Wings drenched, the Pidgeotto sank to the ground.
"Use your whirlwind attack!" Rowan yelled. But Goldflash's wings were too sodden to flap with any speed.
"It's no use," I shouted at him, "Goldflash is too wet to fight!"
"Go Pokeball," Rowan shouted with a little too much, unnecessary, enthusiasm. The ball bounced off the creature's scaly body, seemingly with no effect.
"Fool," I replied, "you've got to weaken it first!"
"Oh yeah, go Flame!"
Flame eagerly flamed at the Pokemon, a spray of fire erupting from her mouth and meeting the creature's return spray. Naturally, the water won. The fish-thing sprang forward, bringing its tail about and sending Flame tumbling into the lake. The Vulpix yelped.
"Flame, return!" Rowan shouted, before anymore damage could be done to the poor fire fox.
The fish-thing was plainly angry by now, and probably a little frightened. It hissed at us, "vaaa," and began to streak towards the water. Maki leapt in front of it to intercept it, without a single word of command from me. He sat there, tail tucked around his legs, golden eyes staring at the strange creature.
The strange Pokemon hesitated, its body, which had been turning to water, hardening again to correct animal form. It stared at Maki, obviously puzzled. Then it opened its mouth, sending out another funnel of water.
I almost could not bear to watch, but had to, for I had to call Maki back the moment he appeared to be ailing. Surely in this case, he would bear a Pokeball. The spray of water engulfed the place the Makimur had been standing, but he was there no more. I saw a flash as he leapt over the funnel, over the creature's long fish-tail, and landed on the shore front facing it.
"Maki," he snarled. The creature turned to face him.
And a golden light sprayed from the star on his forehead, a small star-shaped pointed which caught the other Pokemon in the face. It was bringing its tail about to swipe Maki, but the startlement of the light made it miss, Maki easily leaping aside. And then Maki leapt on its back, fastening his teeth into its ruff.
"Vaapoor," it snarled, whirling about, unable to do anything. I drew out my Pokeball and took aim. The ball bounced into the creature's flank, and it was immediately sucked in, leaving a very puzzled, but very proud looking Makimur sitting on the shorefront.
"Maki, maki!" He said happily, leaping into my arms as I went to collect the newly captured whatever-it-was.
Rowan shook his head in astonishment. "Who would have thought?" He said, "you brought down something like that with something as small as Maki."
"And untrained," I replied, grinning. It was the only time I had fought with him, and I hadn't even known what he could do. "Ya know," I added, "I'm sure Professor Oak will be interested in learning what this fellow can do, and he can identify this one for us. Do you think we should go back?"
"Yeah," Rowan replied, "we can always catch the bus home later."
"So what do we do with this anyway?" I asked, hefting the newly filled Pokeball in one hand.
"It's yours, I guess," Rowan replied, "You and Maki caught it, if you can train him, you can certainly train it!"
And that, my friend, was how I became the proud companion of the only semi-trained Makimur in the world, and also the companion of the powerful, beautiful Vaporeon. Together, the three of us travelled the world, having many adventures upon the way. Perhaps one day, I shall share more with you.