A New Life Through The Eyes Of Kanto: An Autobiography

Just A Little Solace

Most of my days were spent traveling outside, but the air in Native Village seemed more clear, reinvigorating, even delicious, than anywhere else I'd traveled. This was the same belief that I'd held since I was a lot younger visiting here with my parents and sister. The smell of cooking from one of the wooden houses nearby grabbed the attention of my nose, and my eyes closed as the bakery style aroma teased my senses as I walked. Celadon City is next, I thought. Then Fuchsia City. My eyes opened and I removed my bag from my back, kneeling down to one knee, and I opened it to pull out my Town Map.

The map revealed that the name of the Gym Leader in Fuchsia City was Ozne, a raiser of Poison type Pokemon.

Poison types... I thought, sliding the map back in my bag and standing up. Dugtrio would be great against that. Beedrill is a Poison type, so it can even up the match at least. I zipped closed my bag and slung it over my shoulder, my eyes to the sky.

"Hey! Excuse me, sir!" a voice called out from a distance, breaking into my thoughts.

A young girl who appeared to be about my age was running through the grass towards me, seemingly from a house whose door was wide open. She was out of breath as she reached me.

"Huh?" I said meekly

She offered me a bright smile. "Hi. My name is Drock," she introduced herself. She had a clear accent, as if she were from London or something. She extended her hand out to me eagerly.

I hesitantly grabbed it and gently shook it. "I'm Gary."
"It's really nice to meet you," she said. "How are you?"
"Um... I'm doing okay. Thanks..." I said slowly, cautiously. I was going to ask how she was doing, but this just didn't make any sense. I didn't even know the girl. "Well, I'm going to be going now unless you need something."
Her smile faded a bit and she stared down. "Well... actually..." She continued looking at the ground and didn't say anything.

After a moment of silence, my patience was getting short and I let out an impatient breath.

She looked up with a hint of fear, or worry, in her eyes. "I... I know I don't know you or anything and we just met, but... I kind of need your help," she spoke softly.

"With what?" I asked.

"Well, I have a Pokemon that I want to evolve, but nothing I'm doing seems to be working," she explained.

That accent is cute, I remarked to myself, trying not to smirk at how funny she sounded. "What Pokemon?" I asked.

"My mummy caught me a Pokemon when I was little. A Horsea. It was the first Pokemon I had ever owned. I became a fan of the Pokemon of Kanto and decided to become a Pokemon Trainer and begin my journey out here. My mummy and daddy agreed to let me train out here for a couple of years before returning back home. They flew me out here to meet Prof. Oak, who I was excited to meet and was a huge fan of. He taught me a lot about Pokemon and gave great advice to me. Afterwards, it was just me and my Horsea and we began to travel. I raised her well and eventually she evolved into Seadra. Not too long after that, I found out that when Seadra holds a Dragon Scale, they can evolve even further into Kingdra! On my eighth birthday, my mummy flew down to visit me and gave me a present! It was a Dragon Scale! Since then, I have been making Kingdra hold the Dragon Scale and training her, but she won't evolve."
"Oh, I see," I said. "Some Pokemon, like Seadra, evolve when holding certain items, but there are some times when it won't work, so you can force it into happening through the electrical stimulation found in trading machines."
"Yes, yes, I know! Exactly! I wasn't far from this cute little village and it happens they have a trading machine, so I thought maybe I could find somebody who would trade with me here."

"So, I guess..."
"So I saw you and thought maybe you're a passing Pokemon Trainer. I'm quite shy and very nervous right now if you can't tell, but I sucked in my breath, gathered up all the courage I could, and ran out here to see if you wanted to trade with me. It will just be a quick trade, then we trade back. I have to do this now though because my flight is leaving today! This evening to be exact. Will you help me? Please? Pretty please?"
I sighed and smiled. "Yeah, sure thing," I agreed.