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