Beyond the Adventure - A Pokémon Story

Chapter 9: Truths Revealed pt1

                The clouds in the sky begin to part and the sunlight breaks through, shining down upon Route 6.  The road does not appear to be very long according to the map, so we should be able to make it to Vermillion before dinner.  The grass is quite tall along this route and Jaws is having a blast jumping in and chasing out various wild Pokémon.  A breeze blows through and I detect a faint scent of the ocean.  I feel nostalgic and a bit homesick.  I decide I will call Mother and Liz when we get to Vermillion.

                I hear a tussle in the grass.  I look over and Jaws comes tumbling out with a white and brown Pokémon with a gold coin attached to its head.  The two scratch and claw at each other while rolling through the grass.  Jaws kicks the Pokémon off and jumps to his feet.  The two square off, with the other’s claws drawn.

                “Whoa, buddy!” I say.  “What did you get into?”

                “Hey, actually, this might be a good thing,” Darius says.  “That’s a Meowth.  You should catch it!  They’re great at finding extra money that people drop.  They’re good luck!”

                “I don’t know about the good luck part,” I say, “but I could always use some extra cash.”

                I pat my pockets, then look over at Darius.  Darius just shakes his head and tosses me a Great Ball.  “You really need to get your own,” he says.

                I just shrug.  I turn to Jaws, who has the Meowth in his massive jaw.  The Meowth flails its arms and legs around, trying to get free.  I give him a look, to which he responds with a sullen look and then spits the Meowth out.  Meowth flops onto the ground.  As soon as it hits the ground, I throw the Great Ball.  Meowth gets pulled in, it wobbles a few times, then clicks.  I smile.  Jaws picks up the ball and hands it to me.  “That was easy,” I say.  “You must have really worn it out.”  Jaws just shrugs.

                “Sweet!” Darius says.

                Suddenly, the tall grass where Jaws and Meowth rolled out of starts rustling again.  The three of us back up, prepared for anything.  Finally, a head peeks out of the grass.  It is a young boy on his hands and knees, crawling through the grass.  I guess I was not prepared for everything.

                “Excuse me,” the boy says.  “Have you seen a Meowth around here?”

                I look down at the boy.  He stands up and dusts himself off.  The boy looks no older than seven, with shaggy lime-green hair and dark red eyes.  His clothes are dirty from crawling around and he has grass in his hair.  I glance down at the Great Ball in my hand.  “Yeah, I just caught one,” I say.

                The boy looks down.  “Oh,” he says.  “I was trying to get that one, but you got it instead.”  He looks quite sad.

                I look down at the ball.  It is no loss for me, really, so I make my decision.  “Well, then, here,” I say, extending my hand.  “You can have it.”

                The boy looks up.  “Really?” he says, hopeful.

                I nod.  “I have no attachment to it yet,” I say, “and you look like you really want it.  So here.  Take good care of it.”

                The boy’s eyes go wide with joy.  “Thank you so much!” he says happily.  “My name is Joshua.”

                “Nice to meet you, Joshua,” I greet.  “My name is Crono.”

                Joshua grins.  “Come with me,” he says.  “I want to introduce you to my daddy!”

                I look at Darius, who just shrugs.  I look back at Joshua and nod.  “All right,” I agree.  Where is the harm?