POKÉ WORLD WAR
Tuesday
The following has been transcribed by the Pokémon Channel Radio Station crew in order to archive the World War Week Special.
VENETIA: Good morning, Johto! This is your host, DJ Venetia, welcoming you to another episode of our special show, Word War Week! Today we'll interview Gentleman Henry Tucker, and apparently his sidekick, a beautiful female unfezant! Hello, Mr. Tucker!
TUCKER: Hello, Venetia! Hello, listeners!
VENETIA: Can I pet her?
TUCKER: Sure!
UNFEZANT: (Cry)
VENETIA: That's a gorgeous bird you've got there!
TUCKER: Thank you! Her name is Angel. I've had her since I was a teenager.
VENETIA: So, Mr. Tucker, can you tell us a little bit about your life before the war?
TUCKER: Well, I was born and raised in Unova, in case you can't tell by my accent (laughs). In Driftveil City, to be more specific. I studied engineering in Castelia, worked there for a few years and... Well, that's it.
VENETIA: And how's your life today?
TUCKER: I live in Kanto with my beautiful wife Tereza and two children. One of them is about to give us a grandson! And I'm a full time pokémon trainer at the Vermilion City Gym.
VENETIA: Pretty big change in your life, right?
TUCKER: Yes! (Laughs)
VENETIA: How's life in a gym?
TUCKER: Well, pokémon battles all day, potions and TMs for free, all the help I need to raise my and my family's pokémon... It's not a bad life! (Laughs).
VENETIA: If you like pokémon, that's a dream come true. Shall we talk about the war?
TUCKER: Sure, that's why I'm here, right?
VENETIA: Right! Mr. Tucker, you fought at the battle of Vermilion, a historical massacre. How hard is it for you to talk about those days?
TUCKER: It's rough, Venetia, but don't worry. Some people avoid talking about all the suffering and atrocities they've been through during the war, but not me. I have no problem in describing it all, especially the battle of Vermilion, for several reasons. The first one being that I was under the command of Lieutenant Surge, and that man has always kept us confident and hopeful, so I'm not as traumatized as some of my fellow colleagues. Another reason, and I think this is the most important, is that I don't believe in hiding war facts. We completely destroyed Vermilion. We murdered civilians, including women and children. Am I proud of that? Of course not! I'm goddamn ashamed! But I think omitting any detail would be a crime against humanity. It would contribute to future wars happening, and I don't want that! I'm done having blood on my hands! It isn't easy, but I will tell you, and anyone listening to this, everything that happened in the Battle of Vermilion, in detail.
VENETIA: Can you give us some context? What was happening at this stage of the war?
TUCKER: Well, I will just continue from where you guys stopped yesterday, ok?
VENETIA: That's great! I'm glad you heard yesterday's interview!
TUCKER: So, Team Smoke went insane. They were spreading all around the world capturing pokémon and conquering cities. They weren't a local menace anymore, but a global one. People were hiding in their homes. Japan was receiving warnings from all around the world that it should find a solution for this problem or other countries would intervene inside it's territory. The relationship between this country and America was already tense because of Unova's dominance at the time. And them, when Team Smoke started to act inside American territory... Well, that made the war explode.
VENETIA: Ok. So, when did you enter the equation?
TUCKER: Midway through the war. When things started to look bad for the American government they started to call for reservists like myself.
VENETIA: How did you feel when they called you?
TUCKER: Bad. (Laughs). Worried. I was not young anymore, I already had all my life figured out. It's not easy. And I liked Japan. I'm from Unova, we have a strong bond with Japanese people. But we are American citizens, so there was nothing I could do besides fighting for my country. I spent months in the Air Force training and, at some point, I was summoned for an actual mission.
VENETIA: In the squadron commanded by Surge, right?
TUCKER: Yes. We were twelve people piloting twelve planes. I had Angel inside mine all the time, she was still a tranquill, and the Lieutenant had his personal pokémon too, a pikachu named Pikachu. And of course, there were magnemites and voltorbs in each plane's compartment.
VENETIA: Tranquills are such peaceful pokémon! I'm shocked to learn that they've been used in the war!
TUCKER: They are peaceful, but very, very loyal. If you need them, even in a war, they will not disappoint you, I promise you that.
VENETIA: I believe you. You use her in the gym as well?
TUCKER: No, it's an Electric-type only gym. I use a pikachu from the lineage Surge made for the army.
VENETIA: He made them for the army? What are they used for?
TUCKER: We don't have pikachus in nature in Unova. He brought them there and bred them. If you didn't have your own pokémon the army would give you one of those. Until people started to produce magnemites and voltorbs, at least.
VENETIA: Ok. So, back to the war! What was the mission?
TUCKER: An aerial attack on Vermilion City. We were there at noon. The city was completely dominated by Team Smoke and surrounded by Japanese troops. It was a strategic place because of its harbor, the most important in all Kanto, and the main connection between that region and Johnto, at the time. Surge ordered some planes to bomb the seaport and others the city. Vermilion is known for being bathed in orange by the setting sun, but by the time the sun was setting, the city was covered in grey smoke. My heart aches when I think about it.
VENETIA: I'm sorry for making you go through this.
TUCKER: It's ok, Venetia. These things should not be left to die inside a man, they should be exposed to the world, so everybody can know what war is all about. There's no glory in it.
VENETIA: How did you time the voltorbs to explode at the right time?
TUCKER: Pilots can talk to the plane's pokémon through the radio. I mean... Do you mind if I call them pokémon, even though they weren't into pokéballs yet? It just sounds weird calling them "monsters", "majus" or this kind of thing.
VENETIA: Of course I don't mind.
TUCKER: See? When a man at my age doesn't want to call them by other names anymore, that's how you know pokéballs had a great impact on us all. (Laughs)
VENETIA: (Laughs)
TUCKER: We used to tell them to self-destruct about five feet from the soil and then release them one by one. Of course some exploded too early. Others waited too long and hit the ground without having the chance to explode.
VENETIA: Poor things.
TUCKER: It was an eerie view from the planes. The city smothered by with explosions. Most of them destroying buildings and houses, before it all became smoke.
UNFEAZANT: (Cry)
TUCKER: Easy, girl, easy. Well, Venetia, when we were preparing to leave, a Japanese squadron appeared from behind the mount of Route 8. They were close, twice our number, and were already releasing their pokémon. I saw pidgeottos, fearows, golbats, beedrills... One of the planes even let out a charizard! To flee seemed like the only option. Lt. Surge ordered us to release our magnemites and retreat. I specifically ordered mine to attack the charizard flying alongside one of the aircrafts. Our magnet pokémon went straight to the enemy squadron to give us some time while our own aircrafts made a u-turn above Vermilion to head back to Unova. I saw through the rear-view mirror that the charizard was falling, but only after destroying several magnemites. His roar outcried our airplanes' motors. I'm not sure what hit me, but before I even left Vermilion air territory there was an explosion, a violent impact and all I could see was smoke. We were trained to find the eject button even in complete darkness, so I had no problem doing that.
VENETIA: Wow! What else? What about Angel?
TUCKER: I will get there. I opened my parachute and looked around me. Every other American plane had been hit but only some of my colleagues were able to eject. We were slowly falling through a sky filled with flying pokémon and airplane wreckage. I couldn't find Angel anywhere. Down there, Vermilion was getting closer every second. Deciding where to fall wasn't an easy task. The worst option was the sea. Tentacools would attack me in seconds, as well as the enemy. The city was covered in smoke, perfect for hiding, but it was a hard fall. I would probably get hurt trying to land blindly there. The forest was easier to land than the city, and I would be protected from the enemy, but the trees would wound me, no doubt. And my friends would have a hard time looking for me. Oh, and there were wild pokémon, of course. It wasn't an option. The destroyed harbor was an easy land, but it was as opened to enemy attacks as the ocean.
VENETIA: Wait, you thought of all of this while you were falling?
TUCKER: (Laughs) I think so. A lot goes through your mind during these moments.
VENETIA: And where did you choose to fall?
TUCKER: I spotted the commander officer in mid-air, with his pikachu gripping to his body. He was heading east, between the harbor and the forest, where Diglett's Cave was. The air there wasn't completely clear, for the smoke of the city was already spreading. I aimed there as well.
VENETIA: Can you explain what Diglett's Cave is? I don't think all of our listeners are familiar with Kanto's locations.
TUCKER: Well, in Kanto there's a big underground tunnel dug by wild diglett and dugtrio. It connects Route 2, south of Pewter City, to the western end of Route 11. That's still technically inside Vermilion.
VENETIA: Ok. Since I already interrupted you, let me ask you another thing. Didn't voltorbs evolve from the pokéball? If this was in the beginning of the war and pokéballs had just been invented, how did you have voltorbs?
TUCKER: Well, they were created almost at the same time. In America we used to manufacture magnemites, and that's where all this technology came from. The first artificial pokémon that could be programmed to recognize their owner. Then, in Japan, Silph Co. made the pokéball, using the same technology. They somehow figured out a way to make it apply to any pokémon. Of course, they couldn't send their product to market immediately, as all the tests had to be done and the government needed to approve it. Meanwhile, they made the voltorb, based on the pokéball. Since artificial pokémon weren't such a new thing, they were able to start selling them before the pokéball. Armies from all around the world bought them. A little before the pokéball got its final approval for sale, Team Smoke stole the prototype.
VENETIA: Were magnemites only manufactured in America?
TUCKER: Yes. You will find them in the wild here in Japan because of the war, because of all the battles. Some stayed here and reproduced. Maybe their owner died, maybe they got lost. Most of them were attracted by power plants and stuff like that after the war. That's where you'll find them.
VENETIA: Great. Back to the war!
TUCKER: Well, I fell near the entrance of the cave and the beginning of the forest. After a moment of silence trying to hear something or someone, Angel appeared.
VENETIA: Good girl!
UNFEAZANT: (Cry)
TUCKER: They always know where their owner is. I told her to go look for the other ones and lead them to me. Unless someone was incapacitated, then she should lead me there.
VENETIA: Wow! Does she understand this kind of order?
TUCKER: She sure does! I wasn't the only one receiving military training! (Laughs). The first one she brought was the Lieutenant, followed by his pikachu. "Can this thing fly one of us out of here?" was the first thing he said. Although Angel could fly long distances she didn't have the ability to carry someone. He wasn't happy to hear that.
VENETIA: Isn't that a basic move that a flying pokémon from the army should have?
TUCKER: Angel's training was much more focused on understanding sophisticated orders than heavy duty. Today the army possesses every HM ever made, and they let every soldier freely use them, but at that time the pokémon would go through complex training to learn these moves.
VENETIA: And no other pokémon in your squadron knew Fly?
TUCKER: Yes, of course. Every American squadron that flew across the open sea had at least one pokémon with Fly and one with Surf. We had a palpitoad and a rufflet, but they didn't survive the crash. You see, after a while Angel reunited all of the surviving pilots. There were five of us, but except for me and Surge, no other pilot could save his or her personal pokémon. Only Pikachu and Angel made it. We were in great danger, Venetia. Not only could some wild pokémon come out of the forest, and sometimes snorlaxes were seen in that area, but we were also surrounded by two different enemies: Japanese soldiers and Team Smoke members.
VENETIA: Two pokémon would't be enough to protect five people, right?
TUCKER: Certainly not. And soon we only had Pikachu. We figured our only hope was to send Angel flying back to the headquarters, in Unova, to return with backup. We couldn't find something to write on, or with, so we made her carry my tag and a piece of orange stone from the ground of the harbor. One of Vermilion's trademarks. We knew it was risky, but we were desperate! Someone suggested we should use the cave as a shelter while the tranquill didn't return.
VENETIA: Diglett's Cave?
TUCKER: Yes. Inside, Surge told us to stand still. If we moved too much we would attract digletts or dugtrios. We checked our belongings and all we had left was food for two days, four revives, one repel can and one super potion. Someone suggested one person should use the repel to try to cross the cave, but nobody was sure one can would be enough. We also didn't know if arriving in another part of Kanto would help us in any way. Besides, electric pokémon are useless against Ground-types. Surge told his pikachu "Buddy, go to the city, be quick, use your electricity to check for voltorbs that have somehow survived the fall, they will be attracted by it, if they are not fainted. Bring them here. If you happen to find a fainted one, bring it anyway. Don't be there for more than an hour".
VENETIA: Wow, he could understand very complex orders too.
TUCKER: He couldn't. But nobody would be mad enough to disobey Lt. Surge!
VENETIA: (Laughs)
TUCKER: Just kidding. Yes, he was one of the most well-trained pokémon in the army. Before Pikachu left, Lt. Surge said: "if we survive, buddy, I will make you a raichu as soon as we get home. I don't care if it's too early". The pokémon returned after an hour or so, rolling three voltorbs, all fainted.
VENETIA: All the voltorbs would be fainted, wouldn't they? Self-destruct makes them faint, just like the fall would.
TUCKER: Not at that time. We wouldn't throw at the enemy a pokémon that could be reanimated and used against us. Self-destruct used to kill the user.
VENETIA: Oh! What about these three survivors? Did the move fail on them? I thought that attack had 100% chance of success.
TUCKER: And you're right. The ones that waited too long and hit the ground before self-destructing were the fainted ones. We dropped more than one hundred voltorbs in Vermilion, three is not a big number.
VENETIA: Did you use revive on all of them?
TUCKER: Yes, we did. Then Surge used the repel on himself to check out the area and work on some traps. He buried the voltorbs after telling them that they should self-destruct if they felt anyone stepping above them. One to the east of the Cave, one to the west and one near the entrance. We stayed inside, in silence, waiting for Angel for two days, until there was no food left. In the morning of the third day, Surge ordered his pikachu to go to the forest and find us some food. He came back after a while with a fainted pidgey. We didn't have a fire so Lt. Surge ordered him to bring some sticks, and we made sparks using the pokémon's electricity. Outside of the Cave, of course.
VENETIA: Wow! That's an useful pokémon.
TUCKER: He served well. At some point, the lieutenant said we could not wait for help anymore, and suggested another way. He was sure his plane was hit by a Supersonic attack, so the mechanism could have stopped even without damaging the structure. His plane fell into the woods, so there was a chance the trees weakened the fall. Maybe we could fix the motor. He sent Pikachu to search for it. Meanwhile, I went out of the Cave to get some air, I needed some time alone, but what I saw still haunts me to this day. Under a tree there was Angel's body.
VENETIA: What? Oh my goodness!
TUCKER: I ran to it and checked her heart. She was still alive. Three days she remained there, without food or water, fainted and burned. Besides her was the orange stone and my tag. Next to her were the tracks of what looked like a big, hurt pokémon. A two-footed creature with one hurt leg. Probably broken. It was dragging a tail on the ground.
VENETIA: Oh my! That charizard from before? Was he alive?
TUCKER: Yes. Maybe all that smoke kept me from seeing him attacking Angel before she could even leave the area. When I brought her Inside, I didn't have to ask, they let me use the last revive on her.
VENETIA: I'm so glad you made it, Angel.
UNFEAZANT: (Cry)
VENETIA: (Laughs) She's so adorable! So, what happened next?
TUCKER: At that point we were discussing if burying the voltorbs had been a good idea or a waste of pokémon. We considered unburying them, but nobody was sure we could just stand next to them and say "we will unbury you, please don't explode", so we thought it was too risky. (Laughs).
VENETIA: (Laughs).
TUCKER: That's when a loud "boom" interrupted our discussion. Someone had stepped on one of our traps. One of us went to check it out. It was a small group of Japanese soldiers. The explosion took care of most of them, but there were five people standing on their feet. And two pokémon: a raticate and a sandshrew. They were coming our way, and would pass near the cave and see that a fire had been made recently. We decided we would wait inside, and if they entered the cave, we would battle.
VENETIA: Just to recap, Pikachu was out there looking for the plane, and Angel was hurt. Revive only restores, like, half of the HP, right?
TUCKER: Yes, but their pokémon were hurt as well, from the explosion.
VENETIA: Ok.
TUCKER: They entered. I immediately told Angel to quick attack the raticate. She made a critical hit! The sandshrew attacked her with Mud Shot, that obviously missed, while the raticate hyper fanged her, but didn't take her down. She finished the raticate with another Quick Attack. The sandshrew poison stung her, but he fainted after only one of Angel's Air Cutter.
VENETIA: Victory!
TUCKER: Yes! The enemy soldiers ran the moment sandshrew fainted.
VENETIA: Weren't they five, just like you?
TUCKER: Yes, but five people are no match for five people and a hurt pokémon.
VENETIA: (Laughs).
TUCKER: They ran and Angel stood there, laying on the ground. She was poisoned. The other guys didn't let me use the super potion. It was our last item and it wouldn't cure her poison. We would wait until we thought she was about to faint.
UNFEAZANT: (Cry)
TUCKER: We left the cave and looked around us. No sign of Pikachu. "He's probably lost", said Surge. "And we have to leave this place right now! They'll bring reinforcements. After we leave, Pikachu will have even less chance of finding us. Tucker, use Angel to find him and bring him back to us! She'll find us later, right? Doesn't matter where we are. Tranquills always find their owner."
VENETIA: Did you let them? Because after that potion thing...
TUCKER: I did. I looked Angel in the eyes and told her to search for both Pikachu and the plane. If she ever though she would pass out from the poisoning, she should come back immediately. This time she flew without being attacked by anything.
VENETIA: What about you? Where did you go?
TUCKER: We entered the forest, for the city would certainly be filled with even more danger. We walked until it was dark, and had to sleep in the woods, with no shelter.
VENETIA: Do you know "Between Berries and Smoke"? Leopold's book? We talked about it in the last episode.
TUCKER: Yes, I remember it.
VENETIA: There's a whole chapter about some days he spent alone in Vermilion woods. It's my favorite part. He didn't even have something to cover himself with at night. And according to him it was freezing. Is Vermilion that cold? I've never been there.
TUCKER: At night, in the woods? Yes, it's cold.
VENETIA: How many nights did you spend there?
TUCKER: Only one. In the morning we woke up in a very scary way. Surrounded by people we didn't know.
VENETIA: Who?
TUCKER: People from Vermilion. But they didn't attack us, or anything. In fact, they fed us. That group had run to the forest to escape from Team Smoke. They told us how the criminals came with hundreds of pokémon and outnumbered any authority that could have stopped them. Now people in the city were forced to work for them. Those we met were the lucky ones that found a way to escape. They all had relatives in the city, so they stood there, in the forest, watching the town from a distance, instead of leaving. After the bombing, some took a chance and explored the ruins, but most of them came back empty handed. Although they learned that Team Smoke's administration of the city was chaotic and fragile after the destruction.
VENETIA: I'm so sorry for those people. So the population was not dangerous after all, right?
TUCKER: No, they weren't. Not for us. We waited for Angel and Pikachu until noon, when we heard some noises.
VENETIA: What noises?
TUCKER: Steps in the grass. Before we could do anything, members of Team Smoke appeared. Four, I guess. All with pokéballs in their hands and belts. It was the first time I saw real pokéballs. One of them said some bad pun about the moment. The other said we would all die and threw a pokéball. At that exact moment, Angel appeared out of nowhere and fell on the grass, unable to fight. Surge's pikachu ran right to the middle of the group of criminals and gave them the most well-done thunder wave I have ever seen. Every single one of the criminals, the four of them, completely paralyzed. The pokéball one of them had throw before hit the ground and opened, releasing a primeape. The monkey stood there, waiting for it's owner's orders, that never came. We all went crazy and cheered for the first time in days.
VENETIA: That's great.
TUCKER: All of the criminals had backpacks with them. They were filled with pokéballs and food. We took one and left the others to the Vermilion citizens.
VENETIA: And the primeape just watched?
TUCKER: Yes, he was really confused. (Laughs). We searched the bag with more caution and confirmed it had nothing but food and pokéballs. Angel was almost fainting, so I put her inside one until we found a way of healing her.
VENETIA: She would not survive fainted and poisoned outside of a pokéball, right?
TUCKER: Certainly not.
VENETIA: Did Surge capture his pikachu, too?
TUCKER: Not yet. He asked the pokémon if they had found the airplane and Pikachu nodded! We let him guide us. The people from Vermilion also left the place, because those Team Smoke members would soon be able to move again.
VENETIA: Did they join you?
TUCKER: No. They decided to stay nearby the city, hoping someday they would be able to rescue their relatives. But they promised to tell everyone what we had done for them. I don't have to tell you how respected Lt. Surge is in Vermilion now, right?
VENETIA: No, you don't. So, did you find the plane?
TUCKER: Not yet. Halfway there the charizard appeared! Out of nowhere! He was hurt, had one eye closed and the fire from his tail was almost extinct. He roared and ran right after me with his mouth open. When he was almost on to me, something hit him. A pokéball. He was sucked to it. The pokéball rolled a little bit and stopped with a "click". Lt. Surge had just captured his very first pokémon. We released him and used the super potion. That charizard knew the move Fly, he could take us on his back. Thank you, random Japanese soldier that used to own him! The lizard flew Surge to the plane, with Pikachu guiding the way. He then took each of us there, one by one.
VENETIA: Sorry, Mr. Tucker, I'm loving your story, but we are really out of time here. Can you try to shorten this last part?
TUCKER: Sure. We got to the plane and fixed what we could. After a while we were sure it could fly. One of us stood inside, trying to start the motors while Pikachu powered the battery, until it finally worked. Even squeezing ourselves, there was no way more than two people would fit the plane, so a couple of our colleagues rode it to Unova. They took Angel's pokéball with them, to revive and cure her, so she could show the future reinforcements where we were. Lt. Surge ordered the charizard to fly alongside the plane, protecting it no matter what, and gave his pokéball to the pilot. The remaining ones, myself, Lt. Surge and another soldier, stood there with only Pikachu to protect us. He was now resting inside a pokéball. With him we were able to capture wild creatures, and eventually built a great team. We took the city back from Team Smoke before Angel came back with the American help and saved us all! The end, I guess!
VENETIA: Wow, what a story! I almost had, like, five heart attacks! Unfortunately we don't have any more time. You're invited to come back any day, after World War Week, to talk about how you took the city back from Team Smoke. That seems like a great tale, too!
TUCKER: That would be a pleasure, Venetia. It's a long story as well. We became very attached to the Japanese people. Even more than I already was. Well, we chose to live here after the war, right? (Laughs)
VENETIA: Does Lt. Surge still own that charizard?
TUCKER: The American army used him until the last years of the war. After America and Japan joined forces against Team Smoke, Surge gave him back to the Japanese Army.
VENETIA: That's very nice of him. Mr. Tucker, thank you for this wonderful tale!
TUCKER: Thank you, Venetia!
VENETIA: Good-bye!
TUCKER: Bye-bye!
VENETIA: Well, folks, that's it for the second episode of World War Week! Tomorrow we will interview Leopold Darrell again. This time he will tell us about his connection with two very special legendary pokémon I'm sure you all love. Have a nice Tuesday!