Pokémon Adventures:
The Johto Journey
Chapter Three
Fishing for Trouble
Three friends strode together in unison up a sandy path. Today the sun was shining and the wind was calm. It was a glorious day. Kaelin had finally decided to call his mom from the Pokégear. He selected her name and pressed the "call" button.
Ring… ring.
Ring…
"Hello?"
Kaelin's mouth stretched to a smile.
"Hey Mom! It's Kaelin."
He heard her voice change as she said excitedly "Hi honey! I missed you!"
"Mom, it's only been two days."
"Oh I know that sweetie, but I guess it feels strange with you not being here" her voice faltered slightly at the end of the sentence.
Kaelin quickly went on "I'm on Route 30, Mom. I just wanted you to know that I was safe. I'm with Ben and I'm travelling with a new friend called Fina".
"Fina? Is she a girl?"
"Err, yes".
"AWW MY KAELIN HAS A GIRLFRIEND!" his mother positively cried through the speaker.
"No, Mom, it's not like that" he said, his cheeks burning. He was sure that Fina or Ben would have heard. "Listen, I've got to go, I'll call you again soon".
"Bye Kaelin!"
"Bye, Mom".
Thankfully Ben and Fina had been a little further ahead up the track and had hopefully not heard the conversation.
"So Ben, what kind of journey do you want to go on?" Fina asked Bently.
"Umm… what do you mean?"
"Well, you can do gym battles or you can do contest battles" she said. "I once knew a girl from Little Route Town and she set off to be a Pokémon coordinator, that's what you call a person who partakes in Pokémon contests" she said wisely.
Ben looked at Kaelin before asking "But, what is a contest?"
Kaelin shook his head. He didn't know.
"Well" Fina said, sounding slightly exasperated, "it's basically the same as an ordinary battle but you gain points on how good your Pokémon look while do it. Before the battle, there's also an appeal round where you show off your Pokémon and their moves. It's how well you perform in that that gets you into the next round."
Both boys were nodding along in interest. "And what happens in that round?" asked Kaelin.
"There's sort of a small league between the remaining contestants, you battle your way through, and if you win all the matches you go into the final match. If you win that match you gain a ribbon."
"Erm, what's a ribbon?" asked Ben, sheepishly.
Fina pretended to roll her eyes. "It's the contest version of a gym badge. If you get enough ribbons throughout the region, you can compete in the Grand Festival." She drove on before Bently could ask what the Grand Festival was. "The Grand Festival is the final contest. In order to qualify, Coordinators must win five ribbons from Pokémon Contests throughout a specific region. The winner receives the Ribbon Cup, as well as the title of Top Coordinator".
They both looked at her.
"I WANNA BE A POKÉMON COORDINATOR!" Shouted Ben, waving his arms around excitedly. Fina laughed.
"Well, you'll need a decent team of Pokémon" she advised.
"Have you ever entered a contest before, Fina?" asked Kaelin.
"Nah, it's not really my thing. I've never exactly been graceful. And besides, I prefer gym battles. But I don't know, maybe I will partake in one in the future".
The sun was still rising, and their shadows rippled behind them on the grass. They soon came to a small pond. "Oh, please let's rest our feet for a while" begged Fina, "we've been walking for ages!" So they made their way to the water. Fina pulled off her boots and the boys kicked off their trainers. "Ooh, it's nice and cool" informed Fina as she stood in the shallow water. Kaelin stood next to her. The cool water lapped around his hot feet. Bently came bounding in after them, spraying them with water while he ran. "Ben! I'm soaking!" shouted Fina.
"It's only a little water!" Ben was now waist deep in the water. "Come o-" His sentence was cut off as a small black arm shot out of the water and pulled him down with surprising strength.
Fina and Kaelin looked at each other for a split plunged forwards, fumbling in his pokéball belt. He turned around to see something he wished he hadn't. In one fluid moment, Fina ripped off her purple dress and discarded the white tshirt to reveal a one piece swimming costume.
"What… why were you wearing that?" Kaelin asked, getting over the shock.
Fina shrugged. "Well, you never know" and she dived into the water after Bently. Kaelin finally released Totodile from his pokéball and they swam together. Once submerged, Kaelin grabbed Fina's arm and Totodile helped them swim towards Bently. He was flailing his arms madly and bubbles of air were escaping from his mouth, clouding his huge eyes from view.
Without thinking, Kaelin issused the command "Totodile, use Bite!". This command had resulted in wasting some of Kaelin's oxygen, but nevertheless Totodile had understood the jet of bubbles issuing from his mouth. Totodile swam forwards and with a huge snapping of his teeth, clenched his jaws around the Pokémon's arm, releasing Bently, who kicked towards the surface at once. Fina and Kaelin joined him.
Once at the surface, Kaelin felt very foolish for diving in fully clothed, without even removing his scarf when he saw Fina pull herself out of the water gracefully in her swimming costume. Totodile splashed out of the water a second later, covering Kaelin in another wave of water, making him feel even stupider. Totodile had brought the Pokémon with it. It resembled a purple tadpole. It had a black and white swirl on it's stomach. It stood up on it's legs and toppled over almost instantly.
"Aww! How cute!" squealed Fina is delight. Bently looked away, trying to hide his burning face. "Ha! That cute little Pokémon managed to pull you down to the bottom of that pond!". Ben turned his face further away.
"I want to capture it." Kaelin said suddenly. His eyes were set on the much smaller eyes of the Pokémon. It looked very dazed and it didn't seem to want to run away. Kaelin took out one of the five empty pokéballs from his bag and threw it. It missed the Pokémon.
Fina snorted while she pulled out a plastic and metallic looking device from her pocket, flipped it open and pointed it at the Pokémon. A computerised voice read out "Polywag. Because it is inept at walking on its newly grown legs, it always swims around in water. The direction of its belly spiral differs by area. The equator is thought to have an effect on this."
"A polywag, eh?" Kaelin said, with more confidence now. He walked over to it and patted it's head. It smiled cutely and it's lips became smaller and rounder. Kaelin noticed that it's eyes had become glossed over with tears. "Aww, I don't want to hurt it anymore, look, it's crying". There was a tone of sadness in his voice. There was a metallic plunk behind him and he turned to see Fina pulling a tin can from out of her bag. The pulled off the top and poured the contents into a small plastic bowl and set it at the polywag's feet. "There you go", she said softly.
The polywag looked delighted "Poly poly poly!" and threw it's head into the contents of the bowl.
"Is that Pokémon food?" Kaelin asked. Fina nodded.
"That type is specifically for water Pokémon. I thought we should get some for Totodile. I'm glad I got it, it looks like that polywag was starving."
Bently came over and patted the polywag's head slowly, his arm was rather straight and rigid as he did it, as if he was ready to pull back at any moment. "I suppose he's alright" he agreed. All three smiled at each other.
Later, when they had set up their tents and Fina had released Cyndaquil to start a bonfire, they sat together, discussing the fate of the Polywag. "I can't believe I only wanted to capture it" came Kaelin. "A good Pokémon trainer is a friend to Pokémon and isn't just set on collecting them". The polywag was now sitting close to Kaelin, with Totodile. They seemed to be talking. Bently was in his sleeping bag, snoring in the tent. Fina was sitting on a log, Cyndquil on her lap, her eyes shut. Kaelin looked into the flames, debating what to do, and before he knew it, he was asleep.
The following morning Kaelin woke to a wet sensation on the back of his hand. He opened an eye slowly. It was the polywag, licking his hand. He was overcome with emotion. This polywag still liked him. He scooped it up in his arms and squeezed it gently. It made a soft cooing noise. Kaelin's eyes widened with cuteness. He skipped into the tent and showed Bently and Fina the polywag. "Guys! I think he likes me!". They both looked at it and smiled at the expression on Kaelin's face.
"Maybe you won't have to injure it after all, it might want to come with you" suggested Bently, his blonde bags askew.
"Yeah" yawned Fina "Why don't you see if it will go in a pokéball?" She stretched and held one out to Kaelin.
He held the polywag in one hand and touched the pokéball lightly to it's head. At once the pokéball opened and the polyway transformed into red energy and zapped inside the capsule.
"YES! I JUST CAUGHT… A POLYWAG!" exclaimed Kaelin, holding the pokéball up high.
Yesterday's events could not have been better. With a new Pokémon, Kaelin felt much more confident as a trainer, and as he, Ben and Fina continued onto Route 31 and felt he had a new friend.
