Mount Moon. It was said that the elusive Pokémon Clefairy could be found in this area. I was just a rookie, sent out to find one for the retrieval team to capture. There are few trainers that have ever seen one, although I've heard stories about the old Gym Leaders Brock and Whitney seeing Clefairy in the past. I had set up camp at the base of the mountains, arriving there early in the morning. The Pokémon I was scouting out was apparently from the moon, with its offspring being star-shaped. My decision was to look for Clefairy late at night, so I looked for different crevices within the mountain that I could search. There was a small cavern right in the centre of the mountain, which seemed the most logical area to investigate first.
I checked my watch, it was 8 o'clock. With the sun setting, I made my way to the cavern. By the time I reached it, the moon had risen, in a shallow crescent. It went deep. Deeper than I thought it should be. By 10:00 PM I felt as though I was deeper than the foot of the mountain. The winding of the tunnels mad it hard to be certain. The only Pokémon that I saw were many Zubat flying out at the entrance and a family of Paras huddled together and sleeping. Still no Clefairy to be seen. I stopped to take a quick bite, to regain energy. It was likely that I wouldn't find the Pokémon that I was looking for that night. It started to get cold. A chill ran down my spine and remained in my bones. I felt a wind come from ahead. Moving cautiously, I sneaked down the tunnel. An opening appeared, with a dull light becoming a beacon that led me to directly it.
The opening expanded into an underground cavern, the light coming from somewhere a little off-centre. In front of the light was a small round creature. In the light, the silhouette looked like the Clefairy that I was searching for, although there were subtle differences. I still needed to contact the retrieval team now. I reached down to my belt to pick up the radio. As I lifted it to my ear, I heard the buzz of static. There was no contact from outside. I had to try and capture it myself, without any Pokémon to aid me either. I looked at the shape in the middle. The light grew brighter, with sparks playing around the source of the light. I realised that it was a Pokémon; the sparks were coming from its feet. The Pokémon in the centre cried out in terror. The sparks grew larger. I knew what I must do. All agents without Pokémon were given a powerful capture ball, which could be used to catch a Pokémon only if it is urgent. There would be problems from the bosses above me, with the possibility of suspension, if I was lucky.
None of that crossed my mind. I simply activated the capture mode and threw it at the silhouette in the middle. The ball opened as it flew through the air, sending a beam of translucent energy out. The Pokémon responded in kind. It transformed into white energy, and was absorbed into the Master Ball. At this very instance, a bolt of thunder came down from the ceiling. The ball had already returned to my hand. Turning around, I fled back up the tunnel. I didn't stop until I reached the exit, not thinking that any Pokémon should be able to easily outrun a human. Adrenaline pumped around in my blood, with my vision fading my knees fell to the ground. In my last thoughts I realised that I had captured the Clefairy that I had set out to find. I pressed the locater on the phone. A retrieval team would arrive in ten minutes. I slipped into unconsciousness, not worrying about how much trouble the use of the Master Ball would put me in.
I came to my senses when one of the guys from the retrieval team kicked me awake. My eyes felt as though they were glued together. With great effort, I got to my feet. Blearily, I saw two halves of a ball-like object on the floor. It was company policy to not keep the Pokémon that other people have hired us to locate. I assumed that the Clefairy that I had captured had been taken back to the Pewter City branch of the Pokémon Locator Company, who I worked for. The cavern I had investigated had been cordoned off. To the person who kicked me, I asked: 'Hey, what's with the red tape over there?' He didn't answer me. I tapped him on the arm to get hi attention. I was met with a scowl, which told me that somewhere I had screwed up big time. I tried a different tact. 'Has the Clefairy been taken back to the Pewter HQ yet?' The guy sniggered, and said:
'That weren't a Clefairy you found boy, it was a damned Jigglypuff.' I said nothing. My mind was racing now. I would be out of a job for sure. No one saw what happened down there in the dark. The assumption would be that the Master Ball was wasted by a rookie. They weren't cheap, as the scowling man was quick to remind me. 'You're gonna get it now boy, who'd be stupid enough to waste such a precious ball on such a worthless Pokémon?'
I raised my hand. My fist connected with his jaw quicker then could stop myself. He had been knocked out, and his jaw had been broken. I realised then that my anger had got the best of me. I have never thought of any Pokémon as being worthless, though the people I worked for did. I had no chance to save myself now. The company would fry me. I looked to the cave, and I saw the Jigglypuff that I had captured. It had a smile on its face, and I felt that it was beckoning me over. I grabbed a red Pokéball, slipped it into my belt, and ran to the cavern. The Jigglypuff jumped up as soon as I arrived, touching the mechanism on the Pokéball. The energy of the Jigglypuff combined with that of the Pokéball. I sensed the Jigglypuff and myself as a singular organism as this occurred. It was common for trainers to give their Pokémon nicknames. I released the Jigglypuff from the ball. 'How does 'Puff-star' sound to you?' His green eyes looked up at me, a smile spread across his body.
'Jiggly!' he nodded in agreement. It was settled, my first Pokémon was Puff-star. I could see right away that we would have a long and meaningful relationship. With the sun rising behind us, we marched off down into the mountain. We had to know what danger was down deep in the mountain.