The Uniqueness in Pokémon

For three days now, the heroes had been passing through small towns, battling trainers, and seeing new Pokémon. With a few simple detours on the way, they didn't mind seeing the sights and taking the time to train their Pokémon. Shade's brothers and sisters were surprised when they found out that he had evolved, but they recognized that it was him. As much as Shade had a bit of pride, he tried to remember not to boast around his family. Soon his brothers and sisters would evolve too.

Emily was already beginning to understand the strength of her Pokémon. She quickly learned from the Eevee siblings that they had been through a lot. In the beginning, they were wild Eevee until they were captured along with their parents and taken to an institute. The Eevee siblings escaped and have been fighting for survival ever since. They came to New Bark Town and were foraging for food. Nurse Joy found all of them on a cold, rainy night and brought them to the Pokémon Center to nurse them back to health. A few days later, Professor Elm asked to take the Eevee siblings back with him so he could do a little research and at the same time, try to find them a good home. The Eevee siblings were happy with Emily, but for all they knew, their parents were still at the institute they escaped from. But Emily promised her Pokémon that she would help find and rescue their parents.

For now, the heroes decided to take a short break near a pond. Kaiba and Yugi were having a small battle, Joey was making lunch, and Emily decided to do some special training with Shade and Sylphid to prepare for the Violet gym. Since Shade had evolved, he agreed to go a little easy on his older brother. As Joey was watching Shade train, he began to wander in his thoughts. He remembered that his love from his past once had an Umbreon for a companion. That caused him to speak up and ask Emily if he could take care of Shade for her for a while. Emily accepted his request. Joey walked up to Shade and petted him. He even set him down on his lap and began scratching his ears and massaging his paws.

Seeing Shade look so relaxed, Emily thought maybe he and Joey would make a good pair. But she also remembered how inseparable the Eevee siblings were. Giving one of them up would leave them all brokenhearted.

Yugi saw what was going on and asked Joey, "Where'd you learn to take care of Umbreon like that?"

"I remember back in the palace, Freya had an Umbreon of her own," he answered. "Our friends from the ancient past helped me learn to take care of her and taught me what she liked and didn't like. I learned that different Pokémon like different kinds of treatment."

"Wow, Joey," said Yugi. "You could make a great Pokémon caretaker."

Joey shrugged. "I don't know about that, Yuge. But I think it'd be great for me to have my own Eevee." The problem was, he had been arguing with himself on what he would like to evolve it into. His first choice was Jolteon because he liked electric Pokémon, but then he changed his mind and wanted Flareon, because he liked fire-type Pokémon just as much. But today, after spending time with Shade, he figured he would rather have an Umbreon because he figured he would develop a stronger bond. But there would come a time to figure it out when Joey would find his own Eevee. He and his friends had all the time in the world and would continue to meet many wonderful Pokémon.

After lunch, the heroes decided to get back on the road. Within reach was Cherrygrove City. It was a quaint city known for its fresh water sources. Undine got excited and wanted to go swimming, but Emily stopped her. She wanted to check and see if the water was safe. It turned out that the water was filled with Pokémon called Quagsire. They were like mudfish and were both ground-types and water-types. The city had preservation laws for the Quagsire and prohibited people from capturing or battling them because of a long-time tradition.

As they passed through the city, Yugi and his friends noticed that Quagsire were taking round objects like balls, bells, and toys. The townspeople explained that this was part of the ceremony. Quagsire would come all the way to town from Blue Moon Falls and take round objects back with them. The next morning, all the objects that were taken would come floating back to their owners. To the people of Cherrygrove City, not only would their possessions come back, but good luck as well as clean water would come along with them. It seemed like a weird tradition, but no tradition is weird if it involves Pokémon. If it does, every tradition is unique. So Yugi and his friends decided to stick around for the ceremony.

Kaiba didn't seem too thrilled. What fun would it be to just sit and wait? Joey got the same idea. He wanted to see where Quagsire came from and how they would perform the ritual. The only way to know was to follow the river upstream.

It was dark by the time Yugi and his friends left and made it upstream. They continued to follow the Quagsire all the way to a waterfall. It was Blue Moon Falls and to their wonder, there was a blue moon in the sky. The Quagsire began using Water Gun to launch the objects to the top of the falls. It was like watching fireworks as the water glimmered and shined. The heroes figured out the meaning of the ceremony. The Quagsire gathered round objects to perform a contest of a sort to get their object closest to the moon. When one object went higher than the rest, the Quagsire cheered and flapped their flippers in triumph.

Now that the ceremony was over, it was time to return to Cherrygrove City to take part in the final event. The next morning, as promised, all round objects returned to their rightful owners and brought back good luck and clean water.

"That was some unique ceremony," said Joey. "I liked it."

"It's really true," Emily was saying, "Good things do come to those who wait. I think that was the most important lesson this ceremony brought with it."

"And the people of Cherrygrove City have really proved it," said Yugi. "Because good fortune will come your way."

Kaiba grinned. "You know, Wheeler, I think Quagsire would have been a good addition to your team."

"Yeah? Why's that?"

"Because you two are alike in many different ways," the brunette answered. "You're both silly in appearance and personality and pretty ditzy too. Not to mention you're slick and happy-go-lucky."

To avoid starting an argument, Joey decides to say, "I'll take that last comment as a compliment." He did seem to like Quagsire. They were a little weird, but after watching the ceremony at Blue Moon Falls, he thought they were cool Pokémon.