Diary of a Champion (Part A) by Exodus  

Whoever knew that Fuchsia City’s textbook student kid would become a champion 
Pokémon Trainer, but it’s never a bad thing to look back at yourself.  
My name is Tetsubo Capture, and here is a collection of clippings and 
summaries from my diaries during the Orange League, and then my trip through a 
place called Rainbow Island.  

Day 376 (Fuchsia Port, Orange Islands):  

I’d planned out my timetable and routes to cover the next few months of my 
time, for the first three I’d be in the Orange Islands, training my Pokémon 
and challenging four out of eight Gym Leaders to earn my right to challenge 
their leader for a shot at the Winner’s Trophy and a place in the Orange 
League Hall of Fame.  
Provided I at least got to the point of challenging the leader within three or 
four months preferably, I’d have plenty of time to prepare for the Johto 
League and do whatever I wanted until then.  
I managed to contact Beryl and enlist her services once again, and paid a 
large fee in full thanks to the money from the newspaper interviews I’d done, 
and this left me with just about enough cash to pay for other expenses for my 
next journeys.  
We’d only just departed when Beryl’s boat came to a sudden stop and she 
checked her supply pile to find a stowaway, who turned out to be Chad.  
One thing that sticks in my mind is my questioning Chad if this was what he 
meant when he said he’d ‘find a way’ to sort out the sailing aspect around the 
Orange Islands.  
Beryl was a little steamed, but eventually after letting Chad stew a little, I 
admitted I knew him and that it would be okay if he tagged along.  

Day 377 (Valencia Island, Orange Islands):  

We stopped at a place called Valencia Island for supplies and I saved a lady 
carrying too much to see anything ahead of her face from an accident on the 
road.  
She turned out to be a famous Pokémon Researcher by the name of Ivy, and I 
helped her get her supplies back to her home.  
Even though she lived with three young female assistants (Hope, Charity and 
Faith), the house was a tip, I was assured that it was clean not too long ago 
when a guy called Brock was living with her (still, I thought men were 
supposed to be stereotypically messy and women clean).  
I didn’t get the details but something had happened to break his heart which 
led him to suddenly decide to leave and get back to a life on the road with a 
trainer I kept hearing about called Ash.  
I also found out that Brock is the son of Flint and the former Gym Leader of 
Pewter City; it seemed a shame to have missed him as Ivy had a lot to say 
about him and his amazing skill as a Pokémon Breeder.  
Other than helping out in a project studying a Magikarp’s brain activities 
when it evolved into Gyarados, the day was fairly uneventful, but it’s always 
nice to meet and lend a hand to people.  

Day 385 (Banana Coast, Orange Islands):  

My planned route, though shorter to work our way through the islands, crossed 
paths with the apparent new additions to the Orange League Gym Leaders, which 
meant the challenges would likely be tougher than the original line-up and 
their tasks.  
I found out only today that the Orange Crew’s challenges weren’t simple 
Pokémon Battles, they challenged trainers and Pokémon in other aspects, or 
tested their battling skills under certain conditions, it didn’t bother me 
though, this was actually quite appealing.  
The first Gym Leader I met was Chris, a spiky blonde with sports clothing, 
whose challenge was about athletic ability, running a small marathon with 
hurdles, rings and thin tunnels for the Pokémon to navigate through while 
racing an opponent.  
Each gauntlet was lined up in a slope in alternating sizes, with a large 
button on the floor of each checkpoint in order to signify completion of each 
run but also to place the next Pokémon on so that advanced computers briefly 
scanned the Pokémon to light up the path best suited to them.  
Chris and I stood at the second checkpoints to place the second Pokémon on, 
and transport tubes were set up to send the final Pokéball to the last 
checkpoint, the reason why all racing Pokémon weren’t simply placed on each 
checkpoint from the start was so that neither trainer knew which Pokémon they 
were up against until the race was in motion.  
I started out with my Magmar, who during training for the League had shown 
potential in this department, while Chris used a Sandslash, it was about even, 
though my Magmar fell behind slightly when the Sandslash rolled into a ball to 
speed through its tunnels, by the time Lavos reached the first checkpoint, 
Chris had called out his Growlithe and started the next leg of the race, I 
knew I had to take risks, and used my Electabuzz, but had him take a shorter 
route, after all, Chris had only recommended a Pokémon took a route their 
size, he hadn’t ordered it.  
Shockwave got stuck a couple of times but squeezed through swiftly, blowing up 
one of the tunnels at the end, he managed to catch up seeing as smaller 
Pokémon had smaller routes to take and we’d managed to catch up by having the 
large Pokémon use a course one or two sizes less than him.  
I could have used my Vileplume for the last leg against Tauros, but it 
wouldn’t have worked out, running a race called for free will and 
determination, and asking Pollen to do such things in its state would take too 
much time (I admit he was occasionally showing some signs of independence 
recently but only on occasion).  
I took a huge risk which paid off and used my Dugtrio, Chris laughed at me 
claiming it wouldn’t be able to get through the rings and hurdles but we 
proved him wrong, every time a necessary jump came up, Digda rose with the 
ground itself, using Rock Slide solely to rise into the air as if surfing a 
wave, the end was in sight but the opponent was still ahead by an inch, on my 
orders, Digda shot underground from a jump as the final obstacle was a 
tunnel.  
Dugtrios were spectacularly faster underground and this got Digda ahead, it 
rose up above the surface after clearing the tunnel and drove forward, resting 
on the final button with a pile of dirt underneath it.  
Chris congratulated me on my success while assuring me that the Pokémon he’d 
used were beginners, but that to beat him required a certain level of skill, 
this and my cunning would surely help in the future.  
Chad tried immediately afterwards but it went badly for him (he attempted to 
copy my strategy but his Primeape got stuck in a ring three sizes down), I 
offered to stay a few more days if it meant Chad would train hard and try 
again but he declined, deciding it was too much effort and that the obstacle-
like gauntlets and challenges weren’t his style, but that he’d stick with me 
and push me to complete the trials myself to compete against the Orange 
Leader.  

Day 397 (Dish Island, Orange Islands):  

After a lot of travelling we stopped off at a small place called Dish Island, 
full of various competing restaurants, the entire island was focussed on food 
and so all the residents were fairly obese, and the same went for their 
Pokémon.  
Have you ever seen a fat Machoke before? It’s not a pretty sight.  
Anyway, one particular cook at a restaurant I and the group ate at was having 
problems with its mascot, a Lickitung (though a normal sized one so I guess it 
goes to show that Lickitungs are naturally chubby).  
Snack was something of a lazy Pokémon that only made an effort when it came to 
food, I offered to take it out for the day in order to help it find other 
things to do with its time, but wherever I took it (lakes, forests, beaches), 
all it cared for was the food in each area.  
Luckily it seemed, a couple of low level Rockets (the brothers with the 
strange dialogue I’d previously met outside the Indigo Plateau during the 
sixth round) were looking on stealing a huge supply of food from the 
restaurants.  
They attacked with several Pokémon but I was currently without mine (who were 
resting in the Pokémon Centre), usually it’d be no trouble to win against the 
not-so trained Pokémon but only if one of mine were battling.  
Luckily, I was able to encourage Snack to fight, and he did so terrifically, 
using his tongue for something other than eating and the same for his body 
weight.  
The brothers were defeated but more importantly, Snack had found something 
else in life that he enjoyed.  
As a result, Jean decided to hand the Lickitung to me; he’d surely be able to 
lead a more active lifestyle with me as its trainer, but as for feeding his 
enormous appetite, that’d be a problem for me throughout the journey ahead.  

Day 402 (Salad Island, Orange Islands):  

Today when stopping off at another island, myself, Chad and Beryl came across 
some kids playing a Pokémon Card Game.  
A young turquoise pig-tailed girl by the name of Tatiana invited me to a 
beginner’s club and taught me the rules of the game that was the biggest fad 
and taken very seriously around here.  
I caught onto the rules and entered a beginner’s tournament with a pre-made 
deck that Tatiana built for me, I got into the finals on the basic tactics and 
methods known to me but was looking to lose against an opponent called Gil 
when the game was interrupted by the same two Rockets as before, they briefly 
introduced themselves to me as Reuben and Raphael; the Pascal Brothers, and 
they’d somehow gotten the idea that the cards were worth a lot.  
During a brief real Pokémon Battle with their latest Pokémon additions, a 
Golbat and an Electrode, I explained that they were in the wrong, that any 
stolen cards would only fetch a price with card collectors, of which were all 
associated with this island, and that aside, this only went for the rarest 
cards and the ones here were mostly basic and uncommon cards.  
They were shamed and soon defeated but the decks used in my Card Battle had 
been toppled and mixed up on the floor, my opponent Gil offered to restart the 
match but I declined, telling him he’d have beaten me before standing down so 
he could claim the prize of fifty free packs of cards and so I could get on 
with my journey.  
The Pokémon Card game was okay, but I prefer the real thing.  

Day 410 (Lime Isle, Orange Islands):  

Today I faced my second Gym Leader, Quentin (a childish adult wearing Sci-Fi 
purple clothing and equipment), whose Gym rules operated like a simple quasar 
game, the Pokémon’s attacks were limited to projectile ones of one kind, and 
they all had to wear small black rings which shattered if the Pokémon was hit, 
therefore this was a one hit knockout tournament with my Starmie, Butterfree 
and Gengar against Quentin’s Beedrill, Golduck and Weepinbell, with my 
choosing from the list:  Water Gun, Psybeam and Night Shade as our attacks.  
My Starmie struck lucky first, but unlucky too, as in defeating the 
Weepinbell, its partner Beedrill hit it from behind as Quentin had planned, 
Flutter was next, striking against Twinkill’s assailant but missing it and 
exposing himself to the enemy, both it and the Golduck teamed up and defeated 
him, leaving Spectre all alone, but he was perfect for this, though he was 
restricted by rules not to turn intangible, he instead moved quicker than 
could be seen from time to time.  
After dashing around a corner by my command, the enemies split up to cut 
Spectre off, firing immediately after turning to face my Pokémon.  
All that was there was a cheap Gengar-like doll created from the sneaky 
Substitute technique, as the two opponents from either side looked up at each 
other, Spectre jumped from hiding in a shadowed dead end and landed in between 
the two.  
Reeling from their failed attack and surprised by Spectre’s sudden appearance, 
they fired their Ice Beam and Twineedle immediately, Spectre simply leapt up 
high and the two opponents were hit by their partner’s attack, causing both 
their rings to shatter and ending the match.  
Quentin congratulated me on the win and that this test honed trainers’ skill 
in stealth and awareness, after all, at some point in a later match, one of my 
Pokémon would end up in a ‘one hit and its over’ situation.  

Day 420 (Passion Coast, Orange Islands):  

Chad and I while exploring an island accidentally crashed into a set, which 
led to him barging into a live performance of a soap to ‘save’ a woman from 
a ‘ferocious’ Arcanine.  
Personally I can’t see why, as the scream was blatantly faked as was the 
Arcanine’s mean looks, both person and Pokémon weren’t very great actors I’m 
afraid.  
The soap’s name was “Dangerous Days and Lovely Nights in the Lives of the 
Legend Trainers and their Extraordinary Adventures”, a fairly long winded and 
unnecessarily long title, and it was one of those soaps with blatantly low 
levels of authenticity, acting and sensible storylines.  
This is the only reason that Chad could have been offered a part on the show 
after the speech he gave to the woman and Pokémon in addition to his poses.  
Within an hour, a part for him was written (which goes to show how little 
thought is put into the show) and a big role too, involving him being a 
pivotal hero in a ridiculous plot to save the world from some common Pokémon, 
and being a love interest to a female character that had gone through just 
about every soap plot cliché imaginable.  
I couldn’t take any of this seriously, it was supposed to be a normal soap, 
but it had unnecessary drama and plotlines in which supposedly normal people 
got into situations which threatened someone or another.  
Okay, I just realised what I said could be said for my life, but at least I 
was a Pokémon Trainer, we were known to have adventures, although mine tended 
to be life threatening on a regular basis due to my luck and constantly 
stumbling on bad guy schemes.  
Anyway, guess who ended up on the set? Those brothers again, and since it was 
a live show, Chad, Samantha-Kate and the others had to improvise a plotline 
involving the brothers being some kind of jewel thieves or something, I wasn’t 
really paying attention.  
Chad’s Pokémon were caught in a Team Rocket complex traps so I stepped in, and 
unfortunately had to make up a lame reason for doing so on the show, so I 
chose to be the long lost but adopted brother of Chad’s character who’d become 
kidnapped by who we made the brothers out to be and raised by them, but now 
tired of it and returning to a life of good.  
The staff were impressed but I also added the fact that Chad’s character had 
to go on a long journey to help stop the bad guys (after they’d be beaten and 
run off), and then had to drag him away from the set he enjoyed working on so 
much.  
Maybe Chad should return to the show someday and do it professionally, as he 
really fit in with the randomness of it.  

Day 425 (Punch Isle, Orange Islands):  

Another stop at an island, and immediately after walking into town, I came 
across a group of mean trainers that challenged us to a battle.  
The whole group fought their numerous Pokémon off, we had enough to do so, but 
I noticed an Eevee in the back being mistreated for its size, it eventually 
attacked but was easily deflected.  
The group gave up, called it a draw (even though we’d clearly beaten them), 
withdrew their Pokémon and left.  
While settling down for a well earned meal, I heard the same Eevee ‘trainer’ 
shouting to the little Pokémon, telling it that it wasn’t worth keeping around 
if he couldn’t find a stone to evolve it with.  
As soon as he left and deserted it I stepped in, well I ran actually, and 
transported the Eevee already nicknamed Slade to the Pokémon Centre, and 
stayed with it all night, comforting it, showing it its self worth and that it 
could win battles without the need to evolve.  
The next day Slade trusted me enough to test it, and I focussed on speed 
rather than power.  
The group returned for a rematch and one of them noticed I had his Eevee, it 
didn’t bother him though, he just laughed at me for even showing it 
attention.  
I told him how good his Eevee could be given some training instead of throwing 
it into battles like he did, and with Slade, fought a one-on-one battle with 
the group’s Machamp, using speed to outdo the enemy’s attacks, the little 
Eevee struck it several times to make up for its current lack of strength.  
The group left with no trouble after that, seeing me as a strong trainer for 
what I’d done with Slade, its former trainer feebly tried to win him back but 
Slade’s glare scared him off and showed him where his loyalties now lied; with 
me.  

Day 435 (Cherry Drop Island, Orange Islands):  

The latest Gym Leaders, Gemma and Rini (exact twins with shoulder length green 
hair and fringes), battled me with one Pokémon each versus two of mine, in 
order to test me as a trainer in the ways of concentration, quick wits and 
teamwork.  
Their Weezing and Arbok battled my latest Pokémon, Snack and Slade, the two 
Pokémon, although low level compared to the team, needed a battle like this to 
make them feel as important as my other Pokémon.  
I soon discovered the Arbok mostly bound or distracted one Pokémon with its 
tail or needles while the Weezing’s power did the rest.  
They targeted Snack first, possibly not seeing Slade as a threat, but it 
swiftly proved them wrong by deflecting the cannonball-like Weezing from 
hurting a restrained Snack, it then freed the Lickitung and drew in their 
attacks.  
He couldn’t keep it up for long though, and was eventually poisoned and 
physically smashed, but Snack quickly came to its rescue, leaping down for an 
Earthquake but giving Slade early warning to leap up high as the entire area 
was slammed and exploded to pieces and heavily damaged the enemies.  
Slade was hit by one of the rising rocks but Snack was there for it and the 
two teamed up, with Snack hurling Slade rolled up into a ball to deliver the 
final blows to the Poison-types.  
The two trainers were impressed at the teamwork of my Pokémon and my ability 
to look out for more than one Pokémon, but then again, I’ve had plenty of 
practice with the Rockets.  

Day 445/446 (Unknown Island, Orange Islands):  

A trainer dressed in green named Landon caught up with me on an empty island 
at the beach and challenged me to a battle with his Venusaur, I figured it’d 
be easy to convince my flaming Charizard Inferno to battle it and win, and was 
wrong once again due to this disobedient Pokémon.  
The opponent was at a high level, and its trainer claimed he’d started 
training it around the same time I trained Inferno, and had gone through 
similar problems but come to an understanding.  
Inferno refused to battle as always but rage got the better of him after being 
attacked, sadly the Venusaur beat him hands down, seeing as he attacked with 
no real strategy, just firepower.  
Also, he wouldn’t even allow me to recall him, and took so much damage that 
his life was put at stake, I was told by Landon that recalling it into a 
Pokéball might endanger it in its current state.  
That night I stayed up throughout, treating my Pokémon with healing items and 
trying to quell its rage to save its life.  
That night Inferno finally got the message, that by not fighting the opponents 
I asked it to throughout our journeys, it had fallen behind and not developed 
its abilities, it was up to me to decide which opponents Inferno fought and if 
they were below him I wouldn’t ask him to battle them, but all the opponents 
he’d refused to battle in the past were worthy opponents if he could just have 
gotten over his arrogance.  
Inferno had no choice but to listen, and was forced to remember everything I’d 
done for it as a Charmander and Charmeleon, the times in which he’d chosen to 
join me and battle side by side, and how much I cared despite the trouble he 
put me through.  
Before the night was over, we were attacked by those Pascal Brothers again, 
and Beryl and Chad had gone for more healing supplies, I became separated from 
my Pokémon and in danger, but my Charizard fought despite its injuries and did 
away with their latest machine before long.  
In the morning, I challenged Landon again, even though his Pokémon was more 
developed, but with my instructions and strategies, and using all of Inferno’s 
abilities including fire, flying, claws, strength, and a secret technique in 
the form of Earthquake attack, we pulled through, and Inferno surely gained 
some quick experience but more importantly saw eye to eye with me at last.  

Day 452 (Pineapple Island, Orange Islands):  

The last Orange Crew member in my path to the League was Warren (a colourful 
dresser with curtain-like black hair and a goatee beard), who had a very 
unique arena, a cylinder pit with flat ground at the bottom and carved into 
four quarters, each one had a different field aspect, which switched randomly 
by lowering slightly and rotating until it was replaced.  
I figured it’d be best to use Pokémon that didn’t have huge weaknesses like 
Fire Pokémon in water and started with my Exeggutor against Poliwrath.  
It battled hard but fell into a water area which was then frozen by the 
Poliwrath, Scramble’s upper body was still functional though the ice was 
sapping its energy, and the Poliwrath was psychically dunked into a new arena 
quarter with an electric floor.  
Scramble was an easy target for the next opponent, a Venomoth, and defeated, I 
called out my Lickitung who had some defence against various conditions but it 
was a double knockout as upon throwing the bug into a blazing fire area, it 
slipped as the arena under it changed and rolled into a brambly part of the 
field which trapped and affected him with poison.  
Lastly I used my Dragonite who floated above the field, as did Warren’s 
Alakazam with its psychic abilities.  
Because of this scenario, Warren had all four quarters set to maximum power, 
as the air was now the condition, and the destructive properties of all the 
previous arenas mixing and shooting up occasionally was the danger.  
Bahamut pushed through the first few psychic assaults to deal physical hits 
and was looking to be winning until an arc of electricity from below stunned 
it, and the Alakazam equalized the scores so that they were both on fairly low 
health.  
Bahamut dived down at the Alakazam who teleported at the last moment, forcing 
my Dragonite to change direction and fly upwards, but the enemy appeared right 
in front of it and blasted the dragon straight down with a powerful Psybeam, 
but Bahamut managed to grab its arm tightly and so the Alakazam was pulled 
down with it.  
Bahamut recovered at the last moment and dragged the Alakazam underneath it so 
that it hit the dangerous floor and took most of the damage, Bahamut was still 
affected by the various energies, including electricity and ice; its 
weaknesses.  
Both Pokémon were catapulted into the walls on either sides of the arena and 
the dangers were shut off and replaced by the four quarters of a plain metal 
floor that the battle had started out with.  
The Alakazam struggled to get up but suddenly teleported and reappeared in the 
same area but in a standing position triumphantly, before a Dragon Rage attack 
hit it and rose up in a fiery tornado before shrinking and burning the 
opponent immensely, as it fell, Bahamut stood up to claim the victory.  
Warren was pleased with my strategies and the endurance of my Pokémon, and 
informed me that as a trainer I’d battle on several different kinds of 
landscapes and this was effectively a crash course on the subject, I was then 
told the location for Pummelo Island, the home of the Orange League Leader.  

Day 458 (Pummelo Island/Orange Stadium, Orange Islands):  

Today we arrived at the location of the Orange League and I had my badges (The 
Crescent Moon, the Ocean Light, the Sand Diamond and the Shield Rock Badges, 
all shaped like shells) checked for authenticity before facing off against the 
current leader of the Orange Crew, Drake (a tall muscular man in a red jacket 
with spiky hair), in two different arenas.  
I’ve written as much as I can remember in one of my logs on the specifics and 
every detail of the battle but I’m summarising things greatly for the diary.  
My Starmie, Alakazam, Electabuzz, Pidgeot, Charizard and Vileplume 
participated (seeing as this was a high level tournament) against Drake’s 
Onix, Electabuzz, Lapras, Gengar and Ditto in the following order:  
Shockwave against Lapras in a flat field but with alternating lines of water 
and fire, and by lifting it out of the water and throwing it onto the flames, 
it was easy to finish off, but then Onix was used.  
I recalled Shockwave for Pollen who barely pulled through but won, but burned 
and battered it lost to a Gengar (but not before paralysing it with Stun 
Spore), this was then defeated by my Pidgeot and a field change occurred.  
The field now had scattered arenas of spiked hard ground and soft sand, I 
figured my Pidgeot could get another win not having to touch this but Drake’s 
Electabuzz brought it back down to earth and eventually defeated it.  
I decided to use a fresh Pokémon in the form of Psychot who kept the 
Electabuzz at bay and won with only a few shocks after using Psychic to hurl 
the enemy into the spiked area and then into the sand where it became trapped, 
but unfortunately, the next battler was a Ditto who became every bit as 
powerful as my Alakazam by transforming into one.  
Since I didn’t have any Pokémon on the team with a type advantage over the 
enemy the Ditto had no reason to transform into something else, and so it took 
the combined efforts of all my Pokémon constantly dealing damage and switching 
to another plus the sacrifice of Psychot (to launch a huge but recoiling 
Submission attack) to win.  
I knew now that Drake had saved his best until last, but that didn’t prepare 
me for his secret weapon; Dragonite.  
I was worried, although I now owned one, that’s exactly why; I knew what these 
were capable of, especially if Drake had gotten his years before mine.  
One by one my Pokémon went down in climactic battles, first my Electabuzz, 
then my Charizard, and once again the final match depended on Twinkill, who 
looked to be defeated when the now weary Dragonite slammed it down into the 
ground and buried it.  
But our secret technique Minimize effectively teleported it out of the sands 
and with the last of its power it unleashed a Blizzard attack and luckily 
froze the Dragonite to end things there and then.  

Day 459/460 (Pummelo Island/Orange Stadium, Orange Islands):  

To have my place secured in the Hall of Fame is almost impossible to describe 
how happy and great it makes me feel, forever the slab with mine and the 
team’s foot, hand and general prints (plus a photo of the ceremony with me and 
my Pokémon together) will be preserved in the years to come.  
I noticed several other photos, some of trainers I knew like Rick, and I 
finally got to see the apparently fabled Ash Ketchum’s face.  
But I still wasn’t satisfied, ever since starting my journey I’d become 
accustomed and used to living on the road and exploring the world making my 
Pokémon better, it was hard not to be doing that now.  
Soon enough I said my goodbyes to Chad who was returning home before going on 
a journey of his own to parts unknown, and to Beryl who returned home to 
continue her ferrying business, and headed out by other means of transport far 
north and straight into my toughest challenge yet...  

End of Part A  

Part B
Back to the Side Stories
Back to the Pokézone