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The Johto League

Chapter 6

Oak Verses Acorn

    I let Sentret out of its pokéball immediately. It looked about quizzically and I knelt down to its level.

    ‘Hiya, Sentret,’ I beamed, ‘my name’s Holly and I’m your trainer now. I want to be the best pokémon trainer in the world, so I’ll train you so you’re really strong and experienced and maybe you’ll evolve and I’ll keep you fit and healthy and we can be a team together!’

    Sentret looked blank and blinked at me.

    ‘Err… never mind,’ I realised that it was all going over the poor thing’s head, so I just patted her affectionately. Sentret squealed delightedly and I figured that simplicity was probably the best policy with young pokémon.

    ‘Are you going to insist on making friends with every pokémon along the way?’ Gary interrupted us, sounding impatient.

    ‘Of course! I want all my pokémon to be my trusted allies.’

Gary snorted. ‘If I took the time to make nice with all the pokémon I caught, I’d probably still be back in Kanto!’

    ‘…So… you don’t get to know your pokémon at all?’

    ‘I don’t have a relationship with my pokémon. That’s all, no big deal.’

    I shot him a determined look. ‘You may not have a relationship with your pokémon, but… I’m sure your pokémon have a relationship with you.’

    For a couple of seconds, Gary didn’t respond, then he just brushed the issue aside dismissively. ‘Pah, you sound just like Ash! Now look, let me teach you something. Whenever you capture a new pokémon, analyse it with your pokédex. It’ll give you a lot of essential information.’

    I allowed him to change the subject and brought out the pokédex Professor Oak had given me.

    ‘Sentret, the scout pokémon,’ it droned, ‘Sentret uses its strong tail to lift itself up and survey the surrounding area for danger. Level: 3, known techniques: scratch.’

    ‘Hmm. A “scout” pokémon?’ I mused, ‘That sounds like it would make a good name. Shall I call you Scout?’ Scout chirped gleefully. I couldn’t see Gary but I knew he must have been rolling his eyes.

    ‘Come on, we’re never going to even reach Cherrygrove unless we get a move on!’ Gary grumbled, stalking off on the path that went back into the forest. I recalled Sentret, and Meowth and I ran after him.

    ‘Okay, okay, I’ll try not to hold you up any more…’ I said as we caught up. Gary didn’t reply, so I tried to break the silence. ‘Who’s this Ash person you mentioned?’

    ‘Hm? Ash, well… I guess you could say we were friends once. We both grew up in pallet Town and started our journeys on the same day – he’s like, my rival. He’s the most sentimental kid in the whole world – absolutely dotes on his pokémon.’

    ‘I’ll say,’ Meowth chipped in, ‘he made it hard enough trying to steal them from him.’

Gary scowled. ‘What, you… you stole from him?’

    ‘Not exactly. We tried. Our boss assigned us to steal his Pikachu on account of it being abnormally strong. We followed the twoip’s team for over a year and never got a t’ing.’

    ‘Abnormally strong, eh? I didn’t have any problem defeating it,’ Gary noted modestly.

    Just then our walking was interrupted by a green, spider-like pokémon descending from the branches above into our path, hanging at face level by its silken thread.

    ‘It’s just a Spinarak. Let’s leave it alone,’ Gary said, preparing to walk past it.

    ‘No, wait. I want to battle it.’

    ‘You don’t seriously want to add a Spinarak to your team?’

    ‘No way. I just have someone who needs the battle experience,’ I said, removing the pokéball containing my recent capture from my belt. ‘Let’s get them, Scout!’

    Scout materialised and bounced onto the dirt path. I asked for a scratch attack, and she obeyed, clawing at the bug type pokémon fiercely. Spinarak tried to fight back by shooting silk thread from its mouth, but Scout hopped out of the way and continued to attack in-between bursts. Quite soon our insect opponent gave up and pulled itself by its string back into the canopy.

    ‘Great going!’ I cheered for my little fighter, ‘let’s look for some more!’

    All the way along the path, Sentret and I tried to battle every pokémon that caught our notice. It was important for us to battle the small, weak, wild pokémon as neither of us had built up much experience. So the little Sentret did well, up against foes of her own level, with my commands to give her the edge.

    After a few miles, at the point where I felt we must now be quite close to Cherrygrove, Scout was looking worse for wear. But she seemed all the tougher for it. Pitted against a Pidgey this time, she was starting to become too exhausted to successfully dodge. The Pidgey came flying forward in a tackle attack.

    ‘Scout, try to move out of the way!’

    But instead of moving, the Sentret curled up her body tightly into a ball. When the Pidgey’s attack hit it didn’t seem to have much effect, then Scout uncoiled, looking determined. She retaliated as the Pidgey was preoccupied with the failure of its own attack, batting the small bird deftly to the ground.

    ‘Sentret-tret!’ she chirped.

    ‘Looks like your pokémon figured out how to use a new attack,’ Gary explained. ‘It defended itself using defense curl because it was too tired to make a jump for it. Pokémon will learn new moves every few levels, and it looks like yours has levelled quite a bit already.’

    I petted Scout gently and praised her for the effort, then decided to carry her for a while. Luckily my two pokémon were light and it didn’t cost much energy to support them both. Soon we passed by a small tree that seemed different from normal forest trees – it was the only one of its kind in the area and it grew round, blue berries.

    Gary ran to it immediately. ‘These berries are important. Berries like this have various healing properties, so it’s a good idea to stock up when you come across them,’ he picked a few choice berries from the tree and stored them in his bag, ‘but only take the ripe ones that are perfectly round and are dark blue, because the unripe berries are always slightly harmful.’

    I took his advice and picked off a handful of what looked like ripe berries, then picked out a pocket of my backpack to keep them in. Scout held out a paw and asked to try some, so I shared a few with her and Meowth. Meowth looked pleased for the food, but Scout looked positively invigorated by the treat and seemed more healthy. Then I tried one myself out of curiosity – it was incredibly tough to bite and was full of so many different flavours that I couldn’t keep track of them all.

    ‘Okay, let’s carry on,’ Gary continued, ‘I should think we’re nearly there by now.’

    ‘Hang on,’ I started, ‘before we get there… I want to have a battle with you.’

    Gary snorted humourlessly in confusion. ‘You what? But you’ve been training for… a day!’

    ‘Yeah, but I want to see how well I can do against another person. Scout’s getting good and she’s just been healed, so… please?’

    Gary sighed, feeling that the best way to resolve this would be to give in. ‘You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into…’ Without having to think he pulled a pokéball from his belt and called out its occupant. The adorable, unmatchable Eevee jumped to the ground and sat looking completely innocent.

    I frowned in thought. Eevee wouldn’t be Gary’s strongest pokémon, as it was unevolved, but as his starter it was the pokémon he was most in synch with. Shrugging it off, I decided to just give it my best shot.

    ‘C’mon Scout, we can take them! Right?’ Scout bounded forward, facing Eevee. She looked confident and good as new.

    ‘Okay Eevee, let’s start with quick attack.’

    Eevee immediately disappeared from its current position, leaping around in an attempt to confuse its foe before unexpectedly attacking.

    ‘You can’t outrun it, so use defense curl!’ I commanded. Scout curled up tightly, and straight away Eevee tackled into the brown ball like a shot. The ball bounced away from the forceful impact and hit a nearby tree, at which point Scout unfurled herself, looking a bit shaken and bruised. I called for her to use the standard scratch attack, and she obeyed as best she could, but Eevee twisted cleanly out of the way and bit back. His teeth snagged Scout’s tail, and the sharp attack shocked her.

    ‘Eevee, let’s use take down.’

    I tried to get Scout to use defense curl in preparation for such a damaging attack but she was still flinching, and Eevee streaked towards her and hit her in a full-body collision. Eevee wasn’t at all phased, Scout collapsed, and I knew it was all over. I rushed towards her to pick her up, while Eevee was returned to his pokéball.

    Looking at the unconscious, beaten pokémon I was holding, the strongest thing I felt was overpowering guilt. This was my fault. I don’t know how well I had expected to do in that fight, but all at once I knew why it had been a bad idea. My pokémon had been badly injured, and it was my fault. I knew that I would never take battling so lightly in the future. Battling as a contest of skill was a sport, but running into a fight I fully expected to lose was just cruel.

    ‘Scout… I’m sorry, I…’

    Gary remained silent, almost as if he recognised this realisation. Eventually he said:

    ‘Cherrygrove can’t be far. Let’s hurry to the Pokémon Centre.’

    I looked back, nodded, and then we both walked quickly on. It was well into the evening now. Finally the trees thinned out and I saw the familiar signs of civilisation. It was a tiny, quaint little town, with warm, welcoming light at every window. After giving Nurse Joy the pokémon to look after and having our dinner, we headed for bed.