The Long and Winding Road
By: BetterButterBuddha
Chapter 4: A Rising Star

June 19th, 2000 Valencia Island

On my fifteenth birthday, my mom gave me a fishing rod. Not anything special really, just a good rod. But it was very special to me. Around that time, Blue first accepted me into his class. So I decided to wait until my lessons were done to fish for pokemon.

But today was a very different situation. My classes were done. It was time to get my first pokemon, and because I was in the Orange Archipelago, it would be a good idea to have at least one water pokemon. So when I awoke this morning, I took my fishing rod, and took off to the seaside.

I sat there, at the end of a public dock. The sun was shining brightly, and I was subsequently sweating like a pig. It was the middle of summer, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. If you looked around, you could actually see the waves of heat rising up from nearby pavement.

“Any time now. You know, most water pokemon are naturally curious about shiny lures, but not the ones in these waters,” I said, to myself.

Half an hour later, I felt like these waters were totally deserted. Really, I hadn’t seen any pokemon at all. Not even a trace. The waters were so still, you could see right through them. Unfortunately, the only thing that I could see was the dirt on the bottom of the sea. Stupid water pokemon.

I sighed out loud. “Maybe I should just try to catch a normal, land pokemon,” I said to myself. This was going nowhere. I was just about to pack up when I heard a girlish giggle from behind me.

“Having trouble with your pokemon catching? You seem pretty frustrated. Most people don’t know how to catch water pokemon. Want a few pointers? I’m an expert on water pokemon,” said a girl who had up until now been minding her own business and eating her lunch on the bench.

“Yeah, I’d love a few tips,” I said. “But who are you?” The girl was both pretty and plain at the same time. Her eyes shone blue in the reflection from the sun on the water. She smiled at me, and as she did so, her long brown hair was blown in front of those beautiful eyes.

“My name’s Harriet Gale. I’m a pokemon trainer,” she answered as the wind blew her dress against her legs. “I’m probably not the best in the world,” she continued, “but if I know anything, it’s how to catch water pokemon. Who are you?”

“Oh, my name’s Vincent Castaneda. You’re right, I am trying to catch a pokemon, but to no avail. I’ve been sitting here for quite some time, but I haven’t even seen a trace of a water pokemon. I’m trying to become a pokemon trainer. This would be my first catch, except I can’t seem to actually catch anything at all,” I replied.

“Hmmm. Well, your first mistake is the location. In order to catch pokemon, you’ve got to think like a pokemon. Here’s a tip. If you were a pokemon, would you honestly like to be hiding under a dock near a crowded city in three feet deep water while it’s one hundred and two degrees out?” When she put it that way, I felt kind of stupid for not looking at it from that perspective. She had a very good point.

“Heh, I guess not,” I said. “Where would they be hiding on a day like this? If water pokemon aren’t in the oceans, where are they?”

“Well, you could try looking in a pond. Water types typically hide underneath the shade of a tree. If you want, I could take you to a good place. It’s just a little bit past the port of New Hope, and since I’ve got nothing better to do, I’ll be glad to take you,” she offered. Her face was very inviting, and from what I’d seen so far, she seemed to be a good person.

“OK, Harriet, you’ve got yourself a deal,” I said, “Where to?”

“There’s a good spot about a mile away from the town. It’s a natural pond called Harper’s Lake, and there are quite a few old trees giving shade to the water. Pokemon would love it there. I’ve only been there once, but I remember seeing a lot of water pokemon. Let’s go!” she exclaimed.

So without further ado, we took off. Slowly the buildings and roads became less industrial, and more rural. The only buildings in sight were a few moderately sized houses, probably homes of wealthy suburbanites who hated urban life. We meandered aimlessly for about twenty more minutes before we reached are destination.

“Here we are!” she proclaimed. It really did seem like the ideal place to catch water pokemon. There were about a dozen very old willow and elm trees growing at the water’s edge. The water was transparent only to about four feet down, suggesting that it was a deep, moderately clean lake.

I set up my fishing rod at the edge of the water, and we both sat down. The lure disappeared in the haze of the lake, but I could feel that it was still free, probably hanging just above a layer of seaweed. I would catch a pokemon in no time.

“So, Vincent, where are you from?” she inquired? “I myself am a Jhoto native. On my seventeenth birthday six months ago, my family moved here from Blackthorn City. I’ve been here every since.”

“I’m from Kanto, in Viridian City. I came here all by myself to…never mind.” It probably wasn’t wise to disclose information to just anybody. She seemed nice, but the fate of a biosphere rested on my shoulders, and the last thing I needed was a media explosion. “ Anyway,” I continued, “I’ve been training with the local gym leader, Blue, for the past six months. I recently graduated, and I’m here to get my first pokemon.

On cue, the line started to tense up. “Whoa!!” I shouted. I gripped the handle firmly, and tugged as hard as I could, but the thing holding my line did not want to come up. This fight continued for about five minutes, when finally, the creature stopped fighting. I tugged with all my strength and my line flew out of the water so fast that I could not even see what was on the end of it at first.

My line rested on the ground with my catch at the end. It was busy at the moment, trying to spit out my lure. It had a small white tail, a blue body, red lips, and a distinctive spiral shape on its stomach. A poliwag.

“Perfect!” I shouted. Harriet watched as I drew my masterball from my pocket. I smiled. I could not ask for a more perfect catch. Poliwag looked at me with a certain curiosity; it had probably never seen a human before. It was just standing there, probably deciding whether to risk greeting me or to go back into the water. I pressed the button on the front of my masterball. It enlarged. With my heart beating out of my chest, I threw the masterball.

It opened up as it hit the poliwag right in the center of its spiral chest. The pokemon turned red, started to blur. The ball sucked the energy in, until not a trace of the red laser could be seen. It snapped shut, and fell to the ground.

“Yes!!! I just caught my first pokemon!” I yelled. This was so great. All my months of preparing, all that studying had not gone to waste. I ran up to claim my prize.

“Congratulations, Vincent,” said Harriet. “You did a wonderful job of catching it. But for now, I’ve got to take off. Here’s my phone number. If you’re ever in town, feel free to call me sometime.” She handed me a slip of paper. “Adieu, Vincent!” she called out as she walked away.

I held the masterball in my hand. Inside, there was a living creature, momentarily transmuted to energy. It occurred to me that I should try to get to know poliwag. It was likely that we would be together for a long time. But it might not trust me yet, so it might run away if I let it out here. With that, I headed to the pokemon center.

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It was a fairly quiet center; Nurse Joy sat at the desk, reading a romance novel. No trainers were here. I spotted a bench in the corner, and sat down. I thought it was a good idea, so I got out a little food I had been saving.

A pokemon center was as good a place as any, so I got out my masterball. I pressed the button on the front twice, and out came poliwag.

“Poli? Poli, poli!” it exclaimed. It looked around in awe. The pokemon center probably frightened him.

“Hi, poliwag,” I said in a friendly voice. According to most researchers, pokemon could understand human speech fairly well. “I’m Vincent. I’m your new trainer.”

It looked at with that same curious glance that it gave me when I first saw it. It then smiled, or gave the closest thing that a poliwag could come to a smile, and hopped up on the bench. I thought it would try to tell me its life story in pokemon language, or hop onto my shoulder, but it did neither of these. It looked at me again, and began to eat the small portion of rice that I had prepared for just this occasion. I rolled my eyes.

“Do you understand what a trainer does, poliwag? Trainers catch pokemon like you, and help them become stronger. With a lot of work, you can become stronger. I can help you do that, poliwag. Have you ever dreamt about having arms? Or being able to defeat other pokemon in a battle? With a lot of work, I can help you. I can give you arms, make you stronger,” I said.

It looked up from the bowl of rice. I could tell from the look in his eyes that he had indeed dreamt about having arms. It approached me slowly, and then sat down on my left leg.

“You understand, don’t you?” I said. “I will help you do this, poliwag, but you’ve got to help me. Trainers periodically make pokemon battle each other. If an instance like this comes along, I’ll need your help. If you do this for me, I’ll help you become strong, and I’ll give you food and shelter. So what do you think?” Pokemon were always curious about humans, and it was very rare that a new pokemon would refuse to be trained by a trainer as long as they were well treated.

“Poli!” he said. His eyes lit up and he hopped up and down. His tail wagged back and forth, reminiscent of a growlithe. I think this was a yes.

“Great! Then lets get you healed,” I said. I withdrew poliwag into his pokeball again, and then closed it. I ran up to the counter.

“Nurse Joy?” I said. “This is my first pokemon, a poliwag. I just caught it in the wild, so it needs to be registered, vaccinated, and healed, too. Could you do this?”

The nurse sweetly smiled. “Sure,” she said. “Give me about half an hour, and then we’ll have him fighting fit!”

As poliwag was being healed, I stared out the window. The sun was about an hour from setting. A brilliant light reflected from the waters surface. A great feeling welled up inside me. I just caught my first pokemon!

“Vincent!” the nurse said, “Your pokemon is ready.” I went to the desk and picked up poliwag’s pokeball. “Thank you, and come again.”

I walked outside, and released poliwag. “Let’s start to train. The early bird gets the worm,” I said. Poliwag smiled, and we walked into the woods, ready to begin a long night…