Beyond the Adventure - A Pokémon Story

Chapter 5: Across the Sea pt3

                The onlookers murmur as I pull Brawny back into his ball.  According to Jasmine, nobody has ever beaten her Steelix so quickly.  Even Lance, the Champion of all of Kanto and Johto, struggled to defeat her.  This does not comfort me, as I still worry about the condition of her Steelix, and if Brawny really is that strong, I contemplate if I should be using him in battle at all.  As we walk to the Pokémon Center, we discuss various aspects of Steel-types and their strategic uses.  I also explain to her about Jaw, how he was a Steel-type from the Hoenn region, how he fell into my lap one day, and that I was taking him home.  I offer for me and Brawny to help rebuild her gym, but she tells me not to worry about it.

                “We get a lot of bored sailors in this town,” Jasmine says.  “A little smile goes a long way with them.”  I chuckle.

                We arrive at the Pokémon Center and hand our Pokémon over to the nurse.  While I wait for mine to finish, Jasmine collects hers and bids us farewell.  Darius looks at a device on his wrist.  “Dude, we need to hurry,” he says.  “It’s getting late.  I don’t think we’ll make it to Goldenrod before sundown now, but we can make it before midnight if we go now.”

                “That’s okay,” I say.  “It’s better to sail at night anyway.  You can follow the stars that way.”  I point to his wrist device.  “What is that?”

                Darius holds it up.  “This?  It’s called a Pokétch.  Sinnoh technology with numerous functions.  It’s pretty neat.  It can tell time, has a calculator, memo pad, and various other applications.  Really cool!”

                I frown at the mention of Sinnoh, but ignore it.  Suddenly, my Pokégear begins ringing.  I look down and see Liz’s number.  A smile spreads across my face as I answer it.  While we talk, Darius pulls out a pink Pokéball with light pink trim and releases a small Pokémon with a shiny silver coat.  I recognize it as an Eevee, but I have never seen one with a silver coat before.  He then starts tossing its ball to Eevee.  Eevee bounces it back with its tail, Darius catches it and tosses it back, Eevee bounces it back with its head, and so on and so forth.  They continue this little game while we wait for my Pokémon.

                Several minutes later, the nurse brings out my Pokémon.  I say good-bye to Liz, collect my Pokémon, then turn to Darius.  “I’m ready,” I say.  “That is an unusual Eevee you have.  I’ve never seen a silver one before.”

                Darius continues the little game with Eevee as we talk.  “Neither have I,” he says, “but one day, I was walking around outside Castelia City in Unova and she just came out of the bush toward me.  She rubbed up against my leg, I fed her some berries, and she stuck with me.  I’m certain I wouldn’t have had to capture her for her to stay with me, but it’s a lot more convenient to have them in a ball.  I had this special Heal Ball the shop was giving out as a promotion and figured it was perfect for her.”

                He holds out the Heal Ball.  “Time to go, Eevee!”  She gets pulled in and he pockets the ball.  I whistle to Jaws, who is napping in a corner.  He pops up, yawns, and shuffles over to me.  I pat him on the head and we all head outside.

                The sun slowly begins to sink toward the mountains far to the west.  As we approach the edge of the dock, Darius pulls out Lapras’ ball and summons her in the water.  He looks at me and nods.  I return the nod, knowing that it was finally time to put Jaws in his Luxury Ball.  I kneel down and pull out the ball.  I look Jaws in the eyes and smile.  “Hey bud, it’s time to go in,” I say.  Jaws looks at the ball and nods, seemingly understanding.  I rub his head gently and say “We have one shot at this, okay?  Please refrain from struggling at all.  Let it happen and I promise, you can come out once we get home, all right?”