Episode 32: Warren and Poliwag
The day after their battle with Colress and Team Plasma at Dragonspiral Tower, Niko and his friends continued their journey, this time towards Opelucid City in the east. There, Niko would finally challenge the gym leader for his seventh badge. He didn't yet know who the gym leader was, nor what their type specialty was. All he knew was that he needed to train. A lot.
During the first couple of days, he spent time with his full team of Pokémon out in the fields just north of Icirrus City, in a place called the Moor of Icirrus. These were flatlands littered with several ponds and lakes in varying sizes. However, since it was the middle of winter, the lakes were frozen over and incredibly slippery, which made navigating through them far more difficulty than Niko and his friends originally thought. At one point in particular, Niko nearly face-planted into the ground, but was caught by Warren at the last moment.
"Alright guys, that battle against Brycen wasn't an official gym battle, but it was helpful. We need to focus on not just raw attacking, but also on how we move in the battle. How we attack, defend, and evade. And also how we can use the environment around us. So until we get to Opelucid City, that's what we'll be working on." Niko explained to his six Pokémon. "Servine, it's pretty cold out today, and I'd rather you not get sick again, so I want you to sit this one out. Litwick, can you put a fire together please?"
The Candle Pokémon nodded, shooting a quick flame burst at a small mound of sticks that Charlotte had put together, quickly igniting it. Servine, unhappy at her trainer's command, slowly walked over to where Charlotte was and sat down in the snow next to her, huffing a little out of anger.
"Niko's just looking out for you, Servine." Charlotte said plainly. "I wouldn't worry too much about it. We don't want you to get sick again, right?" Servine nodded, not looking at either Charlotte nor Niko.
"Alright, let's continue." Niko said, outlining his plans for their training. He started off with the basics—notably, Fay's evasion exercise. Since most of his team consisted of floating—or flying—Pokémon, Niko had them quickly move back and forth in midair.
After that, he paired them up—Tynamo sat this one out and watched—and had them practice moves against one another, with their opponent attempting to dodge the move if possible. Litwick and Braviary had the most success in doing this, although the former wasn't able to defend from the aerial ace that slammed into her, sending her into a thick layer of snow off in the distance. Solosis and Boldore, by contrast, had difficulty initially. Solosis wasn't able to block Boldore's smack down with her psychic powers, and so nearly gave up out of frustration. It wasn't until Niko explained that she didn't have to always use psywave—or her natural abilities—to win a fight. She could use rollout, for example, to evade the move before spinning back around to hit Boldore that way. Or, he thought on the spot, Solosis could have used hidden power to block the smack down. Lastly, she could have just simply moved to the side.
"You'll get it, though! We just need to keep practicing, alright?" Niko said, patting the Cell Pokémon's gelatinous surface. Solosis nodded before getting back into her makeshift battle with Boldore. Niko then walked over to Tynamo. "You feeling alright?" He asked. The EleFish Pokémon nodded. "That's the problem with having an odd number of Pokémon. I didn't want Servine to accidentally overexert herself and get sick. Plus, you're oddly fast for a Pokémon like yourself, right?" Tynamo nodded, turning his head to view Niko. "You're going to kick ass one day, Tynamo. I just know it."
Meanwhile, Warren was chronicling their adventure at Dragonspiral Tower while Charlotte was reading up on the environment of the Moor of Icirrus while Servine—understandably frustrated—watched her teammates train and Smeargle air-painted. They continued this for another hour or so until Niko walked back over to their small campsite with his Pokémon.
"How'd it go?" Warren asked, looking up from his booklet.
"Good, I think. We're on the right path, right guys?" He asked his team. All five of them cheered. Noticing Servine looking away from Niko, Braviary and Boldore walked over to her and sat on each side, poking her lightly. "Guys…stop." He said.
"They're just having fun, Niko." Warren piped in. He was right—Servine was smirking a little at Braviary's attempt to cheer her up.
Later, they were sitting around their campfire, all of their Pokémon eating something that Niko and Warren put together. It had been a long day of walking and training for them, but they had made it towards the edge of the Moor of Icirrus, and it was still very cold. All three of the humans were bundled up in several layers of clothing, and Charlotte in particular still felt cold.
"How's Sydney doing?" Niko finally asked Warren. He hadn't seen Warren make many calls back to Castelia City.
"She's doing fine, from our last call." Warren said in a friendly tone. He looked up at Niko and smiled. "Just working for the most part. And she is very excited for you."
"Oh I'm sure you didn't hesitate to tell her about my gym badges." Niko said jokingly.
"No, no I didn't! She said she's planning a trip to come to the Unova League when you've gotten all eight badges. Which…will be soon, by the looks of it!"
"The Unova League is in Vertress City usually, which is far to the north east, at least from here." Charlotte interjected.
"I'll tell Sydney that when we get to Opelucid City, then." Warren replied. "I didn't know that."
"How long have you two been together?" Charlotte asked.
"Me and Sydney? Err…a couple years now. We met at Castelia University. Before I left on this journey, we had talked about moving in together, but it just never really happened, obviously. Why do you ask?"
"Curiosity." Charlotte said.
"What about you, then?" Warren said, leaning closer to the fire. "Are you in a relationship with anyone?"
"Nope." Charlotte replied curtly. "Never been in one, really. And never had an interest in one."
"Why not?" Niko asked.
"Well, I don't know. Guess I just lost interest. As a kid it was never a big part of my life—romance, that is. And when it finally was I just…the feelings I had for someone wasn't reciprocated."
"Oh. You'll find someone one day." Warren said. "I believe that there's someone for everyone."
"Indeed." Niko said, although he had difficulty believing that himself.
"What about you, Niko?" Warren asked, turning to his former roommate. "Ever been in a relationship?"
"Yeah, earlier this year, before I came to Castelia City." He said, briefly looking at Charlotte before turning to Warren.
"Oh? What was her name?"
"Lauren. We were together for less than a year, or so."
"How'd you meet?" Warren asked.
"Err…I was on a trip to another city in Kanto, and we just met there and hit it off pretty easily." Niko said. This was all an obvious lie, and only Charlotte knew it was. Niko quickly gazed into his periphery to see her silently eating.
"So…what happened to you two?"
"It just wasn't working out. It's a long story."
"Is that part of the reason you came to Castelia City?"
"Part of it, yeah. Small part, for sure. I just needed a new start, y'know?"
"I know." Warren said.
The following morning, Niko continued training with his Pokémon. This time, Warren's Pokémon joined in. Niko and Warren had a practice battle, one-on-one. Niko chose solosis, and Warren chose Leavanny.
"Come on, Leavanny, let's go." Warren said, turning to the tall Nurturing Pokémon sitting in between Pidove and Poliwag. Leavanny happily got up, leaving her teammates on the broken log they were sitting on. Just then, Warren briefly noticed Poliwag's frown, but didn't do much about it. "Leavanny, use slash!"
"Solosis, rollout!" Niko commanded. The Cell Pokémon charged forward, rolling through the air towards her opponent. Leavanny shifted to the side and landed her leaf-hand on Solosis' back, launching her into the snow. "Use hidden power!"
Solosis spun around to face Leavanny, summoning half a dozen orange orbs. She threw them, one after another, at the Nurturing Pokémon, who used razor leaf to shield herself, much in the same way that Servine used leaf tornado defensively. It managed to halt the attack, but when Solosis was through with hidden power, she used psywave to launched Leavanny backwards before breaking into a rollout.
"Leavanny, razor leaf!" Warren commanded.
"Keep going, Solosis!" Niko shouted, watching his Cell Pokémon make a mad dash towards her opponent. She finally collided with Leavanny, knocking the both of them into the snow. "Hidden power!"
Solosis, up close, conjured another round of orange orbs and threw them at Leavanny. Small bursts of fire erupted as they hit Leavanny, leaving the Nurturing Pokémon unable to battle.
"Great job, Solosis!" Niko shouted, running over to embrace the small Cell Pokémon.
"You did great, Leavanny." Warren said, walking over to help his own Pokémon back up. Just as he did, he noticed only Pidove was sitting on the log. "Hmm? Charlotte? Where's Poliwag?"
Charlotte, who had been reading for much of her friend's practice battle, looked up and turned to where Warren was pointing. "Oh…oh no." She said, suddenly looking worried. "Warren, I'm so sorry!"
"It's fine. Poliwag probably went back into his pokéball, or something." He said, walking over to pick up his pokéball on the ground. It was empty. "Okay…maybe he went to get some berries, or something. But he doesn't have a mouth or limbs…what the hell?"
"Is everything alright?" Niko asked, Solosis at his side.
"Poliwag's missing." Warren said, suddenly looking very worried. "Poliwag!" He shouted. Leavanny did the same, crying out for her teammate. "Poliwag!"
"Let's split up, then. Braviary, can you go in that direction?" Niko asked, pointing in a northwards direction. The Valiant Pokémon nodded, flying off with Solosis right behind him. Warren did the same with Pidove, only this time to the south.
"I'll go with you, Warren." Charlotte said as she gathered up her things. She and Warren then went to the east while Niko watched the camp for them.
"Poliwag!" Warren continued to shout. Charlotte and Deerling were by his side as he kept yelling out his Pokémon's name. They had been walking for several minutes without finding a single sing of the Tadpole Pokémon.
"Hey, Warren." Charlotte asked, looking up at her companion. When the worried Warren turned to her, she continued speaking. "How did you and Poliwag meet?"
"How'd we meet?" Charlotte nodded. "Well, I've always been a huge fan of Poliwag, ever since I was a kid. I don't know why—just was. They're fascinating creatures. And so one day, a few years ago, I was on a trip to Liberty Island with some friends, and on the shore of the island I found a small, injured Poliwag. We took him to the local Pokémon Center, got him fixed up—his tail was twisted at the tip—and as my friends and I were about to board a ship back to Castelia City, the Poliwag followed me. We thought that maybe he thought I was his father, or something, since it was clear he didn't have parents anywhere nearby. And so I brought it back to the dormitory I was staying in at the time, and took care of him for some time. It wasn't until I met Sydney that I actually thought about officially capturing it—Poliwag never seemed too interested in pokéballs anyway. And, well, that's really it."
"Do you know where Poliwag came from originally?"
"Nope. We think that maybe he got hurt at sea and somehow ended up on the shore of Liberty Island. Or maybe there used to be a colony of them there. We don't really know, but I think it was the latter, since Poliwags aren't ocean creatures, I don't think."
"Sydney sounds like a lovely person, too." Charlotte said, this time with a grin.
"Yeah, she really is. I'd be a completely different person without her." He turned to Charlotte. "And I hope you find someone that thinks of you the same way, too. Same with Niko."
Charlotte didn't respond to this other than with a curt nod. They continued walking for some time before seeing something small and blue slam into a tree nearby. Immediately recognizing it, Warren dashed off towards the tree, with Charlotte and Deerling following behind.
There, at the base of the tree, lay a defeated, half-conscious Poliwag. Off to their right were two unfamiliar Pokémon. On the left was an amphibious Pokémon, similar to Poliwag, but with an ovoid body, limbs, and a long tongue. It also had four wide, black and grey bumps along its head. Charlotte's pokédex recognized it as a Palpitoad—the Vibration Pokémon that was water and ground type.
Next to the Palpitoad was an even more bizarre Pokémon. It was a flat fish-like Pokémon with a broad, mud-brown body and a yellow tail on its back end. Their pokédex identified it as a Stunfisk—the Trap Pokémon was that ground and electric type.
"Poliwag, are you alright?" Warren asked. The Tadpole Pokémon slowly opened his eyes to see Warren kneeling at his side, looking down at him. Poliwag nodded before trying to get back up. "No no, you're hurt. Let's take you back."
Just as Warren said this, the Palpitoad opened its mouth wide and launched a ball of mud directly at him. Poliwag, seeing this, leapt forward to take the hit, ultimately slamming back into Warren and knocking both of them into the snow.
"Deerling, double kick!" Charlotte commanded. The Season Pokémon dashed forward, spinning around and kicking Palpitoad with his back feet.
"Poliwag, what happened?" Warren asked. "Did I do something wrong? Did I upset you? And why are these Pokémon attacking you?"
Warren never really got the last question answered, but after more thought he realized how much he was neglecting Poliwag recently. "I—you're mad at me because I used Leavanny to train with, right?"
Poliwag nodded.
"Are you jealous that Leavanny and Pidove get more attention than you?"
Once more, Poliwag nodded.
"Well, don't. You're my first Pokémon, Poliwag. Did you know that, ever since I was a kid, I loved Poliwags?" The Tadpole Pokémon shook his head. "Well, I have. It's the truth—you can ask Charlotte! And when we met, I was thrilled to finally meet one, and then to own one for myself. You're my first Pokémon, and you will always be my favorite. Never forget that." Warren then picked Poliwag up and hugged him, just as he felt another mud shot from Palpitoad hit him in the back. "Alright, you want to take care of these bullies with me? Unless, of course, you're too injured to fight." He said sympathetically.
Instead, Poliwag nodded. Seeing his Pokémon's determination, Warren nodded as well, putting Poliwag back on the ground, just as the Stunfisk was charging up some sort of electrical attack.
"Poliwag, hypnosis on Palpitoad!" He shouted, just as Charlotte commanded Deerling to use leech seed on the Vibration Pokémon. Both attacks hit successfully, but Poliwag was struck by a thundershock from Stunfisk. "Poliwag, don't give up buddy. We can win this!" Warren shouted. As he did, the Tadpole Pokémon began to glow. "Oh…oh my."
"Poliwag's evolving!" Charlotte said excitedly. She was right—Poliwag began to grow taller and wider. He also grew arms, longer legs, and white gloves hands. His eyes now protruded from his body and rested on top of his head. A black and white swirl covered his belly.
"Poliwhirl, the Tadpole Pokémon. Water type. The spiral pattern on its belly subtly undulates. Staring at it gradually causes drowsiness."
"Alright!" Warren shouted, throwing a fist into the air. "You and me, Poliwhirl! Let's go! Use water gun on Stunfisk!"
"Deerling, double kick on Palpitoad!" Charlotte commanded. Both Pokémon attacked, knocking out the still unconscious Palpitoad and forcing the Stunfisk to flee the scene.
Warren breathed a deep sigh of relief as he looked back down at Poliwhirl. "You kicked ass, buddy. I'm really proud of you." He turned to Charlotte, who gave him and Poliwhirl a quick side-hug. "And thanks for helping us out, too."
"No problem, Warren. Happy to help!"
"Guys!" Niko shouted, just as Braviary, Solosis, and Pidove returned. "You're…back…?" His statement quickly turned into a question as he noticed Poliwhirl walking beside Warren. "I take it your found Poliwag?"
"Nope! Poliwhirl." Warren said, winking. "Yeah, we found him. He somehow got into a tussle with a Stunfisk and Palpitoad, and so Charlotte, Deerling, and I helped him put them in their place. In the middle of it, Poliwag evolved!"
"That's exciting, man." Niko said. "Now, let's get going. We might be able to make it out of the Moor of Icirrus by the afternoon!"
"You've got that right. Ready, Poliwhirl?" Warren asked.
"Poli!" Poliwhirl shouted happily, rejoicing with Leavanny and Pidove over his new evolution and strength.
Within minutes Niko, Warren, and Charlotte were packed up and ready to continue their journey towards Opelucid City. The problems, however, would not yet abate. There were still issues they had yet to face before their next destination.