The Long and Winding Road

The Long and Winding Road
By: BetterButterBuddha
Chapter 5: A Turn For the Worse


June 25th, 2000 Valencia Island


In the past six days, poliwag and I trained nonstop. I adopted a pattern: we would train against wild pokemon from five in the morning until noon, then we’d take a lunch break, and be at it again until at least six.

Pokemon training is so much harder than people think. Like anything, the pros manage to make it look easy, but from my experiences in the past six days, it’s anything but. I do all my own cooking, and I’ve got to provide for poliwag as well as myself. I hope I never catch a snorlax. Breakfast is about the only time we get to relax. Then for the rest of the day, I’m up on my feet, shouting orders, being attacked by aggressive pokemon, attacking non-aggressive ones, and helping poliwag when he’s hurt. I don’t even get to sit down. Needless to say, I’m totally exhausted by six.

Poliwag has been incredible. He’s got such a lust for strength. For most of the day, he fights in pokemon battles. We’ve lost one or two battles against particularly vicious pokemon, but we must have KO’d at least two hundred wild pokemon. He frequently takes on opponents at least twice as large as himself, yet he’s able to win.

Today I awoke as I had for the past six mornings. I got up from the cheap but soft bunk beds that they keep in the pokemon centers, and went outside the door.

As I headed for the forest, it occurred to me that I had no way of getting off this island. This was the last day that I intended to train with poliwag on Valencia Island, and tomorrow I wanted to head for Calset Island. But there was no way of getting there. Poliwag was obviously not strong enough to tow me that far. He’s so attached to me that he would probably try it if I asked him to, but he would just hurt himself. So, lacking further ideas, I sat down on a bench and got out my pokegear.

I dialed the Viridian City Gym. Even though it wasn’t even six yet, Blue would be there. He always woke up early to train. Sure enough, I was talking to Blue within two minutes.

“Hello Vincent,” he greeted. “How is your search going? I see you’re up very early. That’s a good sign. Have you figured out anything about Lugia yet?”

“I went to see Professor Ivy about that the day I arrived. She told me a lot about the history of Lugia, as well as what it’s capable of doing. If what she said is true, then Lugia is an incredibly powerful pokemon. She said that we’ve got about until next May before the weather shuts down.” On the last sentence, my voice wavered. It’s difficult to talk about the end of life as you know it.

“I see,” he said, “It’s just as I feared. I need you to find out several things. Did Dr. Ivy give you any more information?”

“Yes, she said to go to Calset Island. Apparently, an expert on the legendary pokemon lives there. But I’ve got a small problem. There’s no way to get to any other islands. I’d need at least another month of intense training to find a fully evolved water pokemon strong enough to carry me to another island. Do you have any suggestions?” I asked.

“I’m sorry, Vincent,” he said. “I must have forgotten to tell you. While you were on your trip to the archipelago, I rented a catamaran. It should be waiting in the Port of New Hope, at the docks. It’s signed out to your name. You can go whenever you want, but it would be best if you went soon.”

“Great! I’ve got my own boat,” I exclaimed. “By the way, Blue. I just wanted to tell you that I used that masterball you gave me. I caught a poliwag with it. We’ve been doing some training over the past few days.”

His face lit up when I told him of my capture. “How strong is it?” he asked. You could always get Blue’s attention if you mentioned your pokemon. I let poliwag out of his pokeball.

“Poliwag, could you hold still for just a minute, please?” I said. I got out my pokedex and pressed several buttons.

In a robotic voice it stated, “Pokemon analysis pending. Species: Poliwag. Level: 21. Status: Normal. Moves: Bubble, Hypnosis, Water Gun, and Double Slap. Deter Values: 15, 15, 15, 15, 15. Pokedex entry:……” I closed the door on the pokedex. I could feel the blood blanch from my face when I heard the DV analysis. Blue’s face was just as white.

Blue and I had done a lesson on Deter Values once. They were a measurement of a pokemon’s ability to battle based on its genetics. Most pokemon could hold their own in battle with a Deter Value of seven, but to have a pokemon this strong was unheard of. This was quite possibly the strongest poliwag in the world.

I looked at poliwag. Of all the poliwag in the world, this one could beat them all. It had the potential to become incredibly strong. If I could get this poliwag to evolve into a poliwrath, it would be a force to be reckoned with. Even Moltres would have trouble with poliwag.

“You lucky son of a bitch,” Blue said. I beamed an arrogant smile at the camera on the pokegear. “Well, I’m stunned,” he said, “In all my years of pokemon training, I’ve never seen that happen. It’s an incredible phenomenon that is predicted to occur about once in a generation. A perfect poliwag. Damn you.”

“Thanks. Anyway, I’ve got to go. The clock’s ticking. Later, Blue,” I said. I turned off the pokegear.

Poliwag had apparently become bored during my conversation with Blue and he had taken a small break to go swimming in a small pond. He was currently taking delight in double slapping the water in order to splash a goldeen. For such a small pokemon, he had quite a sense of humor.

“Poliwag, it’s time to go. We’re gonna take it easy today, but that doesn’t mean that I expect any less from you. Come on, we need to begin,” I told it. I was answered by a water gun to the face.

I laughed despite my wet clothes. “Thanks a lot, poliwag,” I said. Poliwag has quite a mind of its own.

“You’re right, though,” I said, “We do need to take a break. I’ll tell you what. We’ve got today off, so enjoy yourself.”

Poliwag continued to swim in the pool. I sat down on the bench and studied the pokedex. I focused mainly on poliwag and his special DVs. We spent the next hour doing nothing, and enjoying it.

But poliwag soon became bored. He swam up to the edge and got out. Then he sat down next to me, and proceeded to see how far he could shoot his water gun. I was reminded of the spitting contests I used to hold with my childhood friends.

“Poliwag, do you want to go to another part of the island?” I asked him. After a second of consideration, poliwag nodded.

So we got up and started to walk. We didn’t know quite where we were headed, but we wanted to go somewhere. We continued to walk for about an hour. We soon found ourselves in a dark forest.

Suddenly, I heard a rustle in the bushes. I went over to investigate, and was met by a loud roar. My adrenaline surged, and I ran to the side.

As it turned out, that was a really good idea. A massive rhyhorn charged out from the bushes. It was obviously enraged by something, and it decided to take out its anger on me. It charged again, and again I dashed to the side.

“Poliwag, help me out! Use water gun!” I screamed. Poliwag rushed in front of me and held its ground. A stream of very high pressure water rushed out from its red lips. The water hit the rhyhorn dead center. Its double weakness to water was taking effect, and it soon began to get dizzy. It was getting weaker, but that didn’t stop it from rushing poliwag with a horn attack.

Poliwag was thrown up against a tree by the sheer bulk of rhyhorn’s mass. “Poli!!!!!” he screamed. It was being pushed against the tree by the charging rhyhorn. Blood began to run from poliwag’s torso. Tears ran from his face.

“POLIWAG!!!!!” I screamed. If this continued, it would die. This wasn’t a pokemon battle; this was murder. I had to stop this right now!

I had only one option. I grabbed an empty pokeball from my pocket, and hurled it at the charging rhyhorn. I could only pray that poliwag’s water gun was enough to weaken it sufficiently. The pokeball opened, and rhyhorn glowed red.

It was sucked into the vacuum of the pokeball. The ball closed once all of rhyhorn’s mass was taken into it, and then it began to thrash violently. The pokeball flailed all over the place. The rhyhorn did not want to be captured at all. It smashed into a tree, and then rested on the ground. The thrashing that it had once done was reduced to a soft wiggle, and then the ball stopped moving altogether. The red light on the front went off. Rhyhorn was mine.

I dashed up and grabbed the pokeball. I put it into my pocket, and then looked at poliwag. He was in pretty bad shape. He was unconscious, which was a good sign. It would help to conserve precious blood. The wound on his front wasn’t too deep, but it was deep enough to need emergency medical attention. I picked poliwag up, and held it close to my torso. My legs sprinted to the pokemon center faster then they had ever run before. Nurse Joy could heal poliwag, but she could only do so much. I could only hope that I wasn’t too late…