Chapter 17 - The Reluctant Jolteon
After a few days of rest, we proceeded into the wild areas outside of Ecruteak, on our way to Olivine City. It would be a long journey to Olivine City, so I was once again grateful that Tauros let me ride on his back. Of course, Flamefox rode with me, while Fearow and Scyther flew above us, while Firestorm and Vaporeon walked beside us. I really enjoyed these times, throughout our entire journey. Anyway, we were walking along, when all of a sudden, this Skarmory came out of nowhere, flew down, and knocked me and Flamefox off Tauros' back. I looked up at it as it flew around, and shouted, "I'll show you! Flamefox, use your flamethrower!" He launched his flamethrower attack at the airborne Skarmory as it flew down towards us, and he hit it! It came down at my Vulpix, hitting him with steel wing. Flamefox went crashing to the ground, but immediately stood back up. "Hit it again, Flamefox!" I shouted. He did one more flamethrower attack on the wild Skarmory, and caused it to crash down, defeated! "Awesome, Flamefox! Pokeball, go!" I yelled, tossing an empty pokeball at the Skarmory. It was engulfed by the white light of the pokeball, and then immediately transported to Professor Oak's lab. As I stood up, I heard a voice yell, "That was so cool!" It was another Pokemon trainer, a boy, not much older than me. He ran over to me and said, "I can't believe you caught a Skarmory! I've been trying to find one for days! I would love to trade you for it!" I was a little intrigued, and asked, "Well, what do you have?" He took out a pokeball. "This one's really rare, but I'll trade him to you for Skarmory", and he released the Pokemon from the pokeball. It was a Jolteon! I replied, "A Jolteon. Well, I AM short on any electric types. But are you sure you want to part with him? I mean, Eevees are hard to come by." He said, "As long as I've been a trainer here in Johto, I've wanted a Skarmory. They've only recently been discovered, and aren't even in the Pokedex outside of Johto. It would mean a lot to me!" I replied, "Okay, sure I'll trade you. But we have to go to a Pokemon center. I already have 6 Pokemon with me, so Skarmory was sent to Professor Oak's lab. I could just change out Pokemon using the transporter on my Pokedex, but in order for a trade to be official, it must be done on the machine at the center." He said, "You really know your stuff! I guess we'll have to go back to Ecruteak. It's the closest town." I answered, "I know. We just came from there. But I guess a little backtracking won't hurt. By the way, my name's Joe." He said, "I'm Chris. Come on, let's get going!"
We walked back to Ecruteak City. I had recalled all of my Pokemon except Flamefox and Firestorm before we entered the Pokemon center. I called Professor Oak on the video phone, with Flamefox in my lap, while Firestorm stood next to me, and Chris was behind me, looking over my shoulder at the moniter. Professor Oak's voice came over the speaker, and he said, "Why hello, Joe. It's good to hear from you again. To what do I owe the pleasure of this call?" I answered, "Professor Oak, I need the Skarmory I just sent you. Chris, behind me here, has offered to trade me his Jolteon for it!" He said, "A Jolteon, eh? Well, you haven't caught any electric types yet, so it will be a valuable asset to your team. But you'll have to send me one of your Pokemon." I asked, "Which one should I send?" He replied, "Well, if you don't mind, I'd like it if you could send me your Fearow for a while. I'm doing a study of flying Pokemon right now, and your Fearow is quite a strong Pokemon in battle." I said, "Okay, Professor. Here he comes." I put Fearow's pokeball down on the little transport pad and watched as it dematerialized. Professor Oak said, "I've got it. Here comes your Skarmory." In a few seconds, the pokeball materialized on the pad. "Received on this end! Thanks, Professor!" I said. He replied, "You're welcome. If you need anything else, feel free to call me" and with that, we hung up. Chris got all excited. "That's it in the pokeball! I can't believe I'm finally gonna have a Skarmory!" he exclaimed. Why he'd rather have a Skarmory than a Jolteon was beyond me, but I guess everyone has their favorites! We walked over to the trading machine, and I said, "Are you ready?" I placed Skarmory's pokeball on my transport pad. "All set!" he answered, placing Jolteon's pokeball on his pad. The machine activated, and the balls dematerialized. We watched the video moniter as it showed the transfer of ownership between our Pokemon. Then the balls rematerialized, and we each picked ours up. "Thanks!" he said to me, "And take good care of my Jolteon!" I replied, "You're welcome! Don't worry, I'll take good care of him. You take good care of my Skarmory!" With that, we parted ways.
After leaving the Pokemon center again, my Pokemon and I headed for a wild area nearby, and I decided to let Jolteon out to meet everyone. The spiky-haired yellow electric Eevee materialized from the light of the pokeball, and he just stood there. "Welcome to the team, Jolteon!" I exclaimed. He seemed a little distant. I walked up to him to pet him, and he shocked me! "Ow, what was that for?" I yelled. "Jolt, jolt" he said, then closed his eyes and stuck his nose in the air. "Aw, come on, Jolteon! I know you'll miss your old trainer, but I'm sure we'll get along just as good!" Vaporeon then walked up to him. I thought maybe she, being a fellow Eevee form, could get through to him. However, he thundershocked her! "Jolteon, no!" I shouted, and ran over to Vaporeon to hold her. This wasn't going to be easy. I then walked over to Jolteon, and attempted to pet him again, and he thundershocked me, knocking me to the ground. Flamefox, Firestorm, and my other 3 Pokemon ran over to me, and Firestorm, ever protective of me, did an ember attack on Jolteon. "No, Firestorm, don't!" I said to him. Jolteon fell down from the impact of the attack, then stood back up and ran off. I then stood back up, and yelled, "Jolteon, wait! Come on, guys, we have to catch up with him!" He was fast - after all, Jolteon is the fastest of the Eevee-lutions. As fast as my Vulpix and Ninetales were, even they could not keep up with him. So, I had everyone spread out and search. Scyther looked around from above, while I rode on Tauros' back to see further ahead, and my other Pokemon all sniffed around. We searched for hours. Finally, early in the evening, we took a break. I sat under a tree with Flamefox and Firestorm, while Tauros grazed, Vaporeon swam in a pond, and Scyther rested in the tree above us. Firestorm held his head down, and seemed upset that he attacked Jolteon. I told him, "It's okay, Firestorm. I know you were just protecting me, and I appreciate it. You couldn't know he would run off like that. We'll find him. I know we will." After our rest, I got back on Tauros and we continued the search. All of a sudden, I heard Scyther yelling, "Scyther" and he pointed up ahead with his scythes. "You see him, Scyther? Full speed ahead, Tauros!" I told my faithful Buffalo-like Pokemon, and he ran ahead. Soon, I could see Jolteon, but he wasn't alone. "Stop, Tauros" I said, and I got off his back. "Stay back here" I said, as I approached to see what was going on. Jolteon was battling a Marowak. I watched as he thundershocked it, but electric attacks just bounced off it. Then Jolteon tried to run away, but Marowak threw it's bone club, and hit him, crashing him to the ground. "Jolteon!" I shouted. He just lay there, and Marowak prepared to throw his bone club again. I ran over to Jolteon, and leapt in front of him as Marowak threw the bone club, and I took the attack full force - I could here it crack one of my ribs and I fell down in front of Jolteon, in pain. I crouched down by him and asked, "Are you okay, Jolteon?" He looked into my eyes, and I could see that he was in disbelief that I took the attack for him. Marowak threw another bone club, which hit me in the side, breaking another rib, as I yelled out in pain! Jolteon suddenly thrust himself up, and before my other Pokemon could act, he sprinted at the Marowak, and did a take down! The Marowak was hit full force, and crashed to the ground. I was stunned. Then Jolteon ran back over to me, smiled, and said, "Jolt, jolt!" I said, "Good work, Jolteon!" and painfully threw an empty pokeball at the downed Marowak, which engulfed it, and the ball was transported to Professor Oak's. I held my side, in pain, while my other Pokemon came running over to where we were to make sure I was okay, and they all greeted Jolteon. I said, "Well, Jolteon, I'm glad you came around. I think you'll be a great addition to the team!" Vaporeon then walked up to Jolteon, and they were face to face. He licked her face, "apologizing" for his behavior earlier. I was glad they made up. I continued to hold my side, and Firestorm helped me to get up on Tauros' back, and he rode me to the Pokemon center. I was off my journey for another 2 weeks to heal up. But it was worth it to gain Jolteon's friendship.
While we stayed in town, I got interested in some of the local legends. Northwest of town, there was an ancient structure called the Burned Tower that was said to be built where the legendary Pokemon Suicune once roamed. Northwest of town was another ancient structure called the Tin Tower, which was said to have once been the roost of the legendary bird, Ho-oh. There was some sort of legend that one day, Suicune would return, bringing about the eternal rain that would flood the Earth. Then Ho-oh would appear and fly around the world, creating rainbows, and the rain would subside. What an interesting legend! I wondered how true it was. Anyway, as soon as I had healed up, we continued where we left off, en route to Olivine City!