There was a beautiful sunrise over the trees on Route 204. Many trainers were out in the morning exercising with their Pokémon and battling as well. They looked like they were having fun with their Pokémon. Today, I thought, I'll catch a Pokémon just like Roark recommended. I figured I would benefit from it, so I walked around for a bit. I was finding wild Pokémon left and right, but I didn't catch any because one, I didn't have any Pokéballs, two, if I did, I wouldn't want to catch any because all the Pokémon in the area were common Pokémon that I'd seen before, and three, I was sort of warming up.
I started walking back to the Jubilife Pokémart to buy some Pokéballs with my prize money.
With my new Pokéballs, I started off toward Route 204 again. However, at the exit, I saw a group of weird guys with blue-green hair and skin-tight sci-fi uniforms surrounding a trainer. The trainer was Barry! Those weirdoes with the stupid bowl cuts were pestering him and I thought about giving those guys a piece of my mind, so I started walking over to them. Two of them noticed me started whispering to each other. The other guy kept bullying Barry. Barry was trying his best to stand up to the bowl cut.
"Hey, check out this guy," muttered one of the weird guys.
"Yeah, look at his face. He's walking over to us thinking he's so tough," said his partner.
As I walked over to the weird guys, I remembered something. The guys who killed dad were a team of bad guys, and these weird guys looked like a team of bad guys too, as they were pestering Barry. Maybe these guys had to do with the murderers, I figured. I suddenly grew angry. I was ready to beat some answers out of them if I had to.
"Hey! Leave my friend alone, sleazebags."
"Or what, dip wad?" retorted one of them. Of course they would say that. Bullies always say that to prove that you have nothing on them.
"Or I'll burn you to a crisp," I replied.
"With what? Your wimpy level 5 Pokémon? If you don't know how to train it, give it to us."
"Oh I'm sorry, I don't have a Pokémon, white trash."
"Then what are you doing as a trainer? Go back home to your mommy where you belong, or we'll send you back ourselves!" cried the space dude sending out his Pokémon, a Zubat.
"I'll show you how a real trainer battles! Zubat, Leech Life!"
Zubat flew forward at incredible speed and stuck out his teeth. I dodged the attack swiftly.
"Barry, you need to get out of here! Rock Smash!" I shouted, while Rock Smashing Zubat to the face. (Why do fighters announce their attacks, you might be wondering. I don't know. It just feels cooler.)
"HOW DID YOU JUST DO THAT?!" gasped the bowl cut dude withdrawing his Zubat. "Oh no. You're not going anywhere!" said the other guy chasing Barry around.
"How did I do what? Use Rock Smash?" I responded coolly. "I just used an HM, that's all. And you know what? You're also going to be questioning, how do I do this?" I ignited a Flame Ball in my hand. The guy looked as if he were about to faint. "Oh, also, I don't know if you knew this, but you kind of got something on your head…" the guy reached up and felt his head. "Oh wait, is that your hair? I'm sorry, I thought you had a green blob on your head. Also," the guy looked as if he were about to explode. I was enjoying this. "Did your mom cut your hair, or did you and your buddies go to a barber drunk last night?"
"THAT'S IT! I'VE HAD ENOUGH! GO WURMPLE!"
A Wurmple appeared out of a bright flash of light and charged forwards into my leg.
…awkward moment…
Wurple used Tackle over and over on my leg inflicting close to no damage at all. How big was Wurmple? Oh, about the size of my foot, or literally a foot long.
"Uhhhhhhh…" I just stood there staring down at Wurmple, who had gotten tired of all the tackling. Barry was fighting the other space dude in the distance, shouting at the guy all the while.
I kicked Wurple away, knocking him back a few feet. Immediately, Wurmple charged towards me again, and this time jumped in front of my face.
"Wurmple, String Shot! Shut him up!"
"Oh, but I didn't even say anything you pile of sh-mmf!" Wurmple covered my mouth with a spray of web, causing me to struggle with the string.
"Wurmple, use Tackle!" Wurmple jumped up again and smacked me in the face with its head, which caused my nose to bleed.
"MMMMF! MMMM-AH!" I ripped off the string and I used a new attack on Wurmple.
"Flame Uppercut!" I ignited my whole fist and punched Wurmple into the morning sky.
"Oh my god… the power… its-GACK!" I grabbed the space dude by the throat and pressed him against the wall, raising my other fist into the air behind me and igniting it.
"All right, I want some answers from you," I growled.
"What do you mean? I'm sorry! It was a mistake on my part! What did I do? What do you want from me-OOFT!" I punched the dude in the face, breaking some teeth.
"Shut up. This is what you get for messing with me. I could just go crazy on you right now, but I need information. And you're gonna answer me, unless you want your face smashed in."
"O-okay. What do you need to know?"
"Who are you? And who are you working for?"
"My name is Al Thomson and I work for Team Galactic, specifically my boss, Cyrus. People refer to us as Team Galactic Grunts."
"Do you know any Team whose name started with an S?"
"Well, there's Rocket, Aqua, Magma, Galactic, heh, that's us, um, Plasma, Flare, um, yeah, that's it."
"What? No S? Don't lie to me or you'll pay."
"That's all I know! I swear! I swear on Cyrus! I swear it on God!"
I paused for a moment and then I threw him to the ground. He looked as if he'd seen a demon.
"I want you and your friend over there to deliver a message to the rest of your team. I want you to tell them that I'm coming for them and they better not doubt me. I don't care if I'm a kid. I'm tougher than any average trainer. I'll beat some answers out of all of them if I have to, just the same with you." I raised a fist and he flinched. "If you don't deliver the message to every single one of your team members, then I will personally hunt you down and ensure that your last moments on Earth are LIVING HELL! NOW SCRAM!" I didn't know if it was possible for anyone to look anymore scared, but he looked as if God had come down from heaven and was about to send him to the deepest pits of Hell, his eyes as wide as satellites, running away faster than a speeding car.
In less than a few minutes, both of his teammates took off running, with him in the lead.
It was still morning, but the sun was full in the sky now, so I continued onto Route 204, challenging the trainers and fighting wild Pokémon. I soon found my way into a cave called the Ravaged Path. I found some cracked boulders lying on the ground, blocking the path, so I used Rock Smash on the Rocks and continued to the cave's exit.
I pressed on, challenging more trainers and winning more prize money. Then I remembered what I said I was going to do before those Team Galactic Grunts stopped me. I said that I was going to catch a Pokémon, so I started walking around in the tall grass, looking for a rare Pokémon.
After a long time of walking, the sun was high in the sky and I was losing hope. Then all of a sudden, a bird flying through the sky dropped down to look for some food.
"Spearow!" The little bird noticed my presence and flew at my face, ready to attack. Spearow pecked at my face, screeching and flapping all the while I tried to get it off my face.
"Flame Ball!" I created a flame ball in my hand and slapped it towards my face. Spearow went flying to the ground, squaking and flapping its wings.
"Spea…ROW!" cried Spearow as he used Gust, creating a vortex of wind. I planted my feet in the ground, trying not to topple over.
I put my hands in the ready "Hadouken" position and charged an attack.
"Flare…Burst!" I extended my arms and a large beam of fire surged out of my hands and towards Spearow, knocking him down. But was it enough?
I chucked a Pokéball at Spearow, but I missed horribly. Well, I was a beginner, after all. Spearow flew at me at high speed with his beak out, ready to use Peck.
"Oh no you don't." I dodged the attack by rolling to the side and I picked up the Pokéball that I threw. I aimed at Spearow, ready to throw again. But he was too fast! Every time I tried, he either dodged it, or my aim was terrible. I was becoming aggravated, but I pressed on. And then…
"Argh! This better… work!" I yelled as I threw the ball. The ball hit Spearow on the head, and Spearow became a ray of white energy and was encapsulated inside the little ball.
"Yes!" I punched the air in victory. But it wasn't over. It seemed that Spearow was trying to escape from the ball.
The ball wiggled once…
The ball wiggled twice…
The ball wiggled a third time and…
Click!
Spearow was caught! I had caught my first Pokémon!
"YEAH! I actually did it, even though I kinda suck at it… but who cares? I did it! I CAUGHT MY FIRST POKÉMON!" I yelled so loud that the other trainers around me heard my yelling and gave me a weird look. Some of them actually cheered quietly and clapped for me. It felt great. I caught my first Pokémon and I was excited. I was close to the entrance to the next town, so I headed into town to heal up.
The sign overhead said "Welcome to Floaroma Town" What a strange name, I thought at first, but when I saw the flowers galore in the town and people sitting in the patches, just smelling the flowers, my thoughts instantly changed. The town smelled so nice, like I could just melt away into nature, float away like a petal falling gracefully off a tall tree, billowing away into the winds and endless sky…
I entered the Pokémon Center did the usual thing, and left to explore for a bit.
So after wandering around for a bit, I noticed some people looked frightened. Why would anyone look frightened in Floaroma Town? I soon found out why.
Remember those weird space dudes from Jubilife City? Well, it appeared that the Team Galactic was getting into more trouble, this time at Floaroma Town. Oh no. Not on my Pokétch. The two idiots were talking to each other for a bit and then went back on guard. When they started muttering again, I sneaked around behind a tree, ninja-like, so I was close enough to listen to when they were saying.
"Hey, aren't we team Galactic?" muttered one Grunt.
"What do you think? Obviously we're Team Galactic!" replied the other.
"Why are we assigned here, standing among a field of damn flowers? That doesn't seem cool."
"Look man, we don't have to look cool to be a part of Team Galactic. We just gotta do our thing, and then we get paid for it. And anyway, stop complaining. I think this is a pretty decent assignment."
"But Bug and Grass type Pokémon creep me out…"
"Yeah… I guess I can agree with that too. So yeah, I don't like being here either."
Weirdoes, I thought. The Grunts went back to standing guard. Seeing nothing else in Floaroma Town to do, on account of it being a small town, I headed out for Route 205.
There was a beautiful, clear blue sky over Route 205. The breeze was blowing gently across the fields of green grass and colorful flowers. Along the path, I saw a little girl on her knees, face in her hands, lamenting as if someone had just died.
"Hey little girl. Do you need some help?" I asked kindly.
"Get away from me you filthy, rotten… oh, you're not a part of Team Galactic?" the girl realized.
"No, I hate those guys. They were bullying my friend Barry."
"Oh thank goodness, can you please help me?" said the girl with her eyes brimming with salty tears.
"Sure. Do you need me to confront those Galactic dudes?"
"Well, they took my papa, and forced him to work day and night, and no matter how much I ask them, even if I say 'please' they won't listen. They have no manners."
"Oh, so now they're messing with grownups? And I thought they only messed with trainers. Now they're gonna pay. Don't worry, I'll get your papa back."
"Oh, thank you so much, trainer!"
"Um, where did they take your papa to?"
"The Valley Windworks. It's that way." She pointed west.
Tall windmills surrounded the small building, creating a calm, cool breeze. Standing in front of the Windworks building was yet another Grunt. I quickly defeated him, but he ran in the door behind him, and before I could chase after him, I heard the door lock with a loud KA-CHAK.
"If you're so desperate to get in here, then you can find the other key in the Floaroma Meadow," said the Grunt snootily.
"I swear to God, when I do, I'm gonna come in there and break your neck and burn you into nothing more than a pile of ashes. That, my friend, is not a threat, that's a PROMISE." I growled, storming away.
I made my way to the meadow where I saw the two guard Grunts from before harassing a grown man.
"Come on! Quit arguing and hand over that sweet honey!"
"Do as we say! Team Galactic will need that honey! We must use it to attract Pokémon in great numbers and capture them!"
Wow, I thought. These guys are really stupid. They're announcing their plan in front of a person. So they think that they're gonna steal the honey huh? Oh no. Not today.
"Hey, idiots."
They spun around and the guy on the right smiled a horrible smile.
"Looky here. If it isn't the pyro from Jubilife City. I didn't get to thank you for ruining our plans. So now," the Grunt took out a Pokéball, "Now I will have the pleasure of defeating you."
Long story short, it turned out that I took the pleasure of defeating them. They both fled the scene, and the man and I were alone.
"Thank you, boy. Thank you so much for saving me. Here, I want you to have this." He handed me a jar of honey.
"No thank you sir. You keep it. I know you want to repay me, but you tried so hard to protect that honey that I don't want to have it. It feels wrong, in a way."
"Thank you for saving me, though. I can't thank you enough."
"Listen, I just did my thing, and those guys stopped bothering you. Simple as that."
"Oh, also, I found this on the ground. One of them obviously left it here."
It was the key to the Windworks.
"Thanks. Bye."
"Goodbye," called the man as I exited out onto Route 205, ready to kick Team Galactic's ass at the Windworks.
