PokéBall Z the Series: Vol. I: Green

Chapter XXV: Arctic Freeze

Tatsu held up the Thunder Badge and examined it as he lay on the dock in the early hours of the morning. Hanako and Alexander stood beside several bags of luggage as Riviére sat at the edge of the dock with fishing pole in hand and a sour look on her face. Tatsu sighed softly.

"Something wrong?" asked Hanako as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

"No, not really," said Tatsu as he put the Thunder Badge back into his Badge Case along with his Boulder and Cascade Badges. "I just don't feel like I earned this badge, that's all."

"Don't worry about it," said Riviére grumpily, "you would have won anyway. I'd be the one that would have struggled, so I lucked out getting my badge without a battle." she admitted. Suddenly, she felt a large tug on her line. "I got one!" shouted Riviére as she was nearly pulled into the ocean. Tatsu, Hanako, and Alexander grabbed her by the waist and to pull her back as she reeled in. After nearly a minute of trying to reel in her catch, a rather large Kingler raised to the surface.

"A Kingler!" shouted Riviére excitedly. "That'd be a great catch for my team!"

The Kingler however had other plans. With his giant claw, the Kingler snipped the fishing line with ease and went back into the sea. Riviére's face was frozen in delight as it took a few seconds to sink in. Then, in a fit of rage, she screamed out in anger. "Son of a bitch!" she cried out. "Fuck this rod!" she yelled out as she snapped her fishing rod in half and threw it into the ocean with great intensity.

"Riviére has always like Water-Type Pokémon," said Alexander as Hanako sighed while Tatsu laughed, "but she's always been a poor fisherman. Never had the patience for it."

As Riviére raged, a Trawlers boat approached the dock. A tall man with mousy brown hair waved as the slowed down beside the dock. "Hey!" yelled Bill as two woman jumped out of the boat and tied the ship down to the dock as a fourth young man with a camera jumped down beside him.

"Hello Bill," said Hanako as Bill turned off the boat and also jumped onto the dock. She eyed the three unknown people cautiously and looked back at him. "Who are these people?"

"Ah, yes. I should introduce them," he said as he cleaned his throat and pointed to the young man with curly brown hair. He was close to their age and was shorter than Bill. "This is Todd. He's a professional photographer that will be taking pictures of Articuno. I've also hired two explorers, Annie and Oakley, to help explore and to guide us. Annie is the one on the right, and Oakley is on the left."

The two women stood by Todd after securing the boat. The girl on the right was tall, slim, and had blonde hair with odd, swirled pigtails. The other girl was short, slim, and had light blue short hair with wing-like extensions on the sides. The three walked forward and greeted themselves.

"Great!" said Bill as he clapped his hands after introductions were over with. "We have a long boat ride ahead of us. I hope you don't get sea sick easy!" he said as they got onto the boat, with Annie and Oakley helping Alexander put the luggage on board before untying the boat. Bill started the boat and drove off onward to the Seafoam Islands.

Riviére sat down in the back with the others and looked out into the vast ocean. "If I didn't break my rod, I could probably do some deep sea fishing..." said Riviére with a sigh.

"So I assume you're the Water-Type Trainer?" asked Annie as she wiped some sea spray off her arm.

Riviére nodded. "Yeah, I am."

"What Pokémon do you have?"

"I have a Wartortle and a Gyarados," Riviére said proudly. She reached into her purse and withdrew her blue Poké Balls. She tossed the Poké Ball with the "I" engraved in the blue and tossed it. The Poké Ball snapped open and a Wartortle materialized. The Turtle Pokémon came out of his shell and waddled to Riviére. He climbed on top and peered out into the ocean.

"Tortle!" exclaimed the Wartortle.

As Wartortle looked out into the ocean, Riviére stood up and tossed her second blue Poké Ball with a "II" into the air. The Poké Ball snapped open and a giant Gyarados materialized in the ocean. The forty-five foot long Atrocious Pokémon roared and dived into the ocean to swim behind them. The fins broke the surface, giving an onlooker an eerie scene. Todd excitedly got out his camera and took pictures as the Gyarados swam behind them.

"Wow, that's impressive!" said Oakley as she watched the giant Gyarados follow them. "It has to be twice as large as a normal Gyarados."

"How did you get it so big?" asked Todd.