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The Johto League

Chapter 2

A Promise

    I had been on the boat trip many times before, even back when I was a small child. Tohjo Falls was a beautiful island. Sometimes I’d boarded the boat just to take a breather from life, sit back and take everything in. There’s nothing better than sitting by yourself with nothing more than the splashing of waterfalls to keep you company.

    I spent the short journey watching some battles between trainers who had met on the boat. Pokémon battles always interested me, and watching some skilled trainers duel it out made me wish for a Pokémon of my own even more. I wanted to be able to show off what kind of trainer I could be… and without any obstacles yet to prove otherwise, I figured I could probably train pretty well.

    Gary was one of the trainers I saw having a battle. I didn’t like to admit it, but he was good. Really good. Possibly even the best trainer on that ship. He beat the opponent’s Pokémon time and time again with obvious ease, while only ever using one Pokémon. The one he selected for every battle came as a bit of a surprise – it was a sleek, well-trained Eevee. From watching how Gary liked to defeat his opponent completely thoroughly, while looking like it was the easiest thing in the world, I would have thought he’d chose a more impressive Pokémon to show off his taming ability. But no, a cuddly little Eevee was all he needed to quickly earn himself the most coveted reputation on the boat.

    Upon arriving at the island I headed for the places I knew were worth seeing: the sheer cliffs, dense forest and the waterfall caves. If I could just find a small, docile Pokémon, perhaps a baby, I might be able to coax it into following me home and accompanying me on my journey.

    When I reached the forest I started to look around earnestly for an abandoned, sick or injured Pokémon that might befriend me if I took care of it. It was a small chance, but there was always a possibility that a wild one might actually be looking for a nice trainer. At least, I wanted to believe that it could happen. Just around the next tree would be a baby Vulpix for me to rescue…

    But with every tree, there was no Vulpix, or any other Pokémon. The forest dwellers scampered away when I approached and the bird types took flight when they heard me. I was just kidding myself – there weren’t any Pokémon on the entire island that would allow me to get close to them.

    I was about to give up and go back when I saw something… something on the path ahead! Yes, a Pokémon at last!

    I ran over to have a closer look. On the ground was a sleeping bug type – a Caterpie. I was quite sure Caterpie sleep in tree branches, so this one must have fallen down. I gave it a poke.

    ‘Hey there, little Caterpie!’ I said with a bright smile as it opened its eyes. ‘I think you fell out of your bed. But now that you’re awake, how would you like to come with me on my journey to…’

    I trailed off. Was I really going to trust my entire future success in Pokémon training to a worm?

    Luckily I didn’t have any choice in the matter. The Caterpie, irate at being woken up, gave me a face-ful of string shot and squirmed away.

    Angry, defeated, and pulling bits of web out of my hair, I stormed back to the dock. Marty’s father, the owner of the boat, was there to meet me as I got back.

    ‘Hey Holly, you made it just in time. You haven’t seen a boy with brown hair around here, have you? About your age, I’d say.’

    Instead of getting on the boat, I paused. ‘You mean Gary?’

    ‘Yeah, that’s him: Gary Oak. Grandson of Professor Oak, you know! Imagine that, the grandson of a great Pokémon professor, on my own little boat…’

    I rolled my eyes. ‘Yeah, I know he was here. He managed to push me off the boat earlier.’ I went to board the ship before I heard anything else about the Oak family.

    ‘No wait, that’s not it,’ he stopped me. ‘Thing is, he’s the only one who hasn’t come back. And it’s time for us to leave.’

    ‘He… didn’t come back?’ I repeated, not sure what to think.

    ‘Nope, nobody’s seen him at all since we reached Tohjo. You know the rule – once it’s time for the boat to leave, we don’t hang about for stragglers.’

    I shook my head and tried to dismiss the problem. Who cares if we leave Gary Oak behind? It’s his own fault for being late. I was about to walk onto the boat when the island’s usually tranquil atmosphere was shattered by a sound.

    A scream.

    I turned around. And I ran.

    ‘Hey, wait!’ I heard a yell from behind me. ‘We can’t keep waiting – the boat has to leave!’ but I paid no attention and the voice faded away.

    I ran towards the forest, where the scream had come from. I dodged past trees and jumped over fallen logs as fast as I could. A particularly pointy twig scratched my skin as I tore past, but I didn’t care. The only thing I could focus on were the questions filling my head: Why are you doing this? Why are you running headlong into unknown danger like a total idiot? And more importantly, why are you doing it for someone you don’t even like?

    All of a sudden I crashed into a clearing and I stopped running.

    ‘Gary!’

    The poor kid was backed against a tree with nowhere to run. Looming over him stood a gigantic male Ursaring. That in itself is nothing short of terrifying, but to make it worse, this Ursaring was enraged to the point where it might even attack a human. It looked as though Gary was unaccustomed to being scared, since he didn’t seem to be handling it very well.

Just to make sure we were all sufficiently intimidated, the Ursaring let out a huge roar. It reared up, intending to strike Gary while he was helpless.

    I dashed over and stood between the immense predator and his prey, holding my arms out in a protective stance. The Ursaring stopped, looking confused.

    ‘You’re not going to hurt anybody!’ I said firmly.

    The Ursaring leaned forward, growling fiercely. He was arguing.

    I didn’t flinch. ‘Don’t hurt him,’ I replied. ‘We’re sorry to have disturbed you. Please, just go on your way and leave him alone.’ I kept my eyes visible at all times so the bear Pokémon could see my expression. Little by little, the Ursaring’s ferocity seemed to diminish, and he decided to walk away.

    I waited until the Pokémon was out of sight, then I turned around to face Gary. It looked like he had frozen in fear. I held out my hand to help him up.

    ‘You…’ Gary gasped, ‘You saved me…’

    ‘What were you doing over here?’ I demanded.

    ‘I don’t know, I was looking for new Pokémon to capture, and suddenly this crazy Ursaring started chasing me!’

    ‘That’s not what he said.’

    ‘He… wha-what?’

    ‘The Ursaring said you went and disturbed his sleep. He was hibernating.’ I explained.

    ‘How could you possibly know that?’

    ‘He told me, all right?’ I said angrily, tired of having to explain my little “special ability”. ‘I understood what he said, and he claimed that you went and woke him up to ask for a battle.’

    Gary seemed to be confused and suggestible after the attack, so he accepted that what I said must be true without any persuasion.

    ‘I suppose there’s no other way you would know what happened… the Ursaring told you…’

    ‘I don’t think it was very responsible Pokémon trainer behaviour to go waking up Ursaring while they’re hibernating. I really can’t blame him for attacking you.’ I immediately felt remorse for snapping at him. The boy had nearly been viciously attacked… I would rather have comforted him, but everything I said came out as blame.

    ‘I don’t think it’s any of your business!’ he retorted. ‘I can go around trying to capture Ursaring if I like. Why did you decide to get involved?’

    ‘I was at the boat, and they said…’ then I remembered. ‘The boat! We’ve got to get back!’

    I grabbed Gary’s hand and dragged him after me through the woods, trying to remember the way I had come. Very soon we emerged at the other side and headed straight for the small dock, but when we reached it, nothing was there to greet us.

    ‘Oh no! They left without us!’ I gasped.

    ‘Stop worrying,’ Gary said, having regained his composure. ‘I’ll get us a ride back.’

    He took a red and white pokéball from his trainer’s belt and threw it over the water. With a flash the Pokémon inside appeared, half-submerged but still easily recognisable. It was a large turtle Pokémon, Blastoise. While Blastoise floated in the water, Gary stepped onto its thick brown shell.

    ‘Are you getting on?’ Gary said impatiently. I hesitated, but stepped onto the water Pokémon’s shell as carefully as I could. Gary sat down and I followed suit, and Blastoise started swimming gently away from the island.

    ‘Wow, your Blastoise is well trained,’ I commented, noticing how fast we were travelling while not being in danger of falling off. Did your grandfather give it to you as your starting Pokémon?’

    ‘No, I started my journey with my Eevee,’ said Gary indignantly, ‘you probably saw him on the boat earlier. Blastoise was the first Pokémon I ever caught though, just after I left Pallet Town. It was a Squirtle then.’

    ‘You’ve got strong Pokémon, Gary,’ I said, trying not to sound accusing again. ‘Why didn’t you use them to defend yourself against that Ursaring?’

    ‘I don’t know! I just saw this cave, and I thought, I bet there’s some sort of rare Pokémon in there. So I went in to explore and the next thing I know, this Ursaring is chasing me all over the forest just because I woke it up. I could only concentrate on running. Then I tripped up and had nowhere to run… and suddenly, you appeared.’

    I noticed that Gary hadn’t escaped unscathed. His elbows and knees were bruised, probably from falling over.

    ‘Why did you do it, anyway?’ Gary asked sincerely. ‘Why did you jump in front of the Ursaring?’
    I thought for a moment. Why had I abandoned everything to run after that scream? I hadn’t even thought about how I was going to get back home, all to help some guy I had, at that point, thought was a stuck up, obnoxious jerk? Why did I stand between that jerk and a vicious, crazed bear? …I honestly didn’t know.

    ‘I could understand what the Ursaring was angry about,’ I said eventually. ‘When it roared I know it didn’t want to kill you, it was just upset and cranky because it had been woken up. So I just had to calm it down.’

    ‘So, you really can understand what Pokémon say?’

    ‘…Yes.’

    ‘Huh. I thought people could only understand Pokémon speech if they had formed a special bond over a long time.’ He wasn’t convinced. Gary seemed to be less agreeable now that he had recovered.

    ‘Well, I can try to prove it to you,’ I said defensively, trying to think of some piece of information only those very close to Gary would know. ‘Excuse me, Blastoise? What is Gary’s middle name?’

    Gary looked alarmed.

    ‘Blastoise, toise,’ replied Blastoise. I couldn’t help giggling.

    ‘Cornelius?! Your middle name is Cornelius?’

    Gary tried to deny it, but his scowl told the true story. He had to admit that I could understand Pokémon speech.

    ‘Okay, fine. I believe you. Just don’t go around telling everyone.’

    Nobody spoke for a while. The only sound was the gentle splash of the surrounding water. I could see the New Bark shore appearing in the distance.

    ‘I bet communication like that would let you become a great trainer,’ Gary said after a while.

    ‘I hope so,’ I replied sadly, ‘but I haven’t got my own Pokémon yet.’

    ‘Why not?’ Gary sounded intrigued. ‘You must be old enough.’

    ‘Yes, I’m qualified and everything… I’m just waiting for Professor Elm to hand out his starter Pokémon to the rookie trainers. But the problem is, I don’t want to be given a New Bark starter any more. You see, I’ve been around those three nearly my entire life…’ I explained the entire situation to Gary, about how I desperately wanted to go on a journey, but the starters available to me would be completely wrong as starters since I knew nearly everything about them, and that I felt I needed a challenge. Gary seemed genuinely interested. When I’d finished explaining the situation, he grinned.

    ‘Well, you can stop worrying. Gary Oak has got the answer!’

    ‘What do you mean?’

    ‘As soon as we get back to New Bark Town, I’ll help you get a Pokémon myself.’

    My heart leapt. A real Pokémon!

    ‘You will?’ I gasped, feeling more excited than I had done in days. ‘Wow, thank you so much!’
    ‘Don’t thank me, I feel like I owe you,’ he shrugged. ‘You did save my life, after all. This way, I can repay you. Besides, you remind me of myself, before I started my journey. After helping my grandpa out at his lab so much, he gave me my Eevee because I was so familiar with the Pallet Town starters. Being a new Pokémon trainer is about learning, right?’

    I just nodded and smiled.