I watched the ball shake for what felt like forever. I didn't know how this process went. It was my first time.
Click.
"Yeah! I caught Wurmple! For real this time!" I was so excited. I just caught my first Pokemon.
I released Wurmple and looked at Flame. The two Pokemon seemed to respect each other. It was a good thing. That meant I didn't have to worry about Flame trying to scorch Wurmple.
"You two seem like you'll be pretty good friends," I told the two Pokemon. I then noticed how worn out and tired they were. Wurmple was burned and I think Flame was still suffering from poison.
"We need to get you two to the Pokemon Center. We can do introductions afterwards," I spoke with a serious tone.
I returned both the Pokemon and hurried to the Pokemon center in Oldale Town. I wasn't even sure Littleroot had a Pokemon Center.
I greeted Nurse Joy and she told me that she had to take them to the back room. She said that it would take a little longer since they were both suffering from status ailments.
"How you doing Youngster?" An old man asked. I was trying to figure out if I knew him or not.
"Umm… Good I guess. I just caught my first Pokemon on my first try!" I guess I was doing pretty good.
"You're new and you caught a Pokemon on your first try? That's pretty impressive," the man remarked. "Do you think you'd mind doing an old man a favor?"
"Sure! My grandparents say I should respect all adults. Especially the elderly. That's why I always refer to adults as sir and madam," I spoke clearly and professionally.
"That's some good advice. It'll help you to stay out of trouble." It was nice to hear somebody acknowledge my manners.
"So, I'm wanting a pack of Poochyena for a little project I'm doing. But you see, I'm too old to go catch them myself. I need somebody like you. Young, with a knack for catching Pokemon!" He seemed to hold me in high regard. Despite meeting me a few minutes ago.
"So, will you help me? I'll provide you with pokeballs and everything. In return, if you complete this, I'll give you a rare stone from when I was younger. I got it from the Kanto region." I couldn't resist that offer.
"Sure! Just tell me when I start!" I was ready to go catch some Poochyena!
"Great! I knew a young man like yourself would help!" The man pulled six pokeballs out of his bag.
"Take these. I hope that you use them well. Before you go, I should show you this too." The man threw out a Poochyena of his own.
"You should put this into your Pokedex. It will let you know where you can find Poochyena anywhere in Hoenn." That was useful feature of the Pokedex. I didn't know that it could do that.
I pulled out my Pokedex and listened to it read Poochyena's data.
Poochyena, the Bite Pokemon. It has a very tenacious nature. It's acute sense of smell let's it chase a chosen prey and never lose track of it.
The Pokedex's monotonous voice rang out. It was rather annoying.
"Alright, thank you sir! I'll have them to you before you can say Fletchinder!" With that, I was out the door.
I pulled out my pokedex. I needed to figure out the best place to catch a Poochyena. I could go back to route 101, but if they were in the next routes I wouldn't need to. I was about to send out Flame when I noticed something. I left Flame and Wurmple! I ran back into the Pokecenter immediately.
As I was entering, Nurse Joy came out of the back room.
"Here you go Triqu! Your Pokemon are all good and healthy now!" Her sweet voice announced.
"Thank you ma'am!" I ran out the door without giving her a chance to respond. I think I saw the old man smirk.
Exiting the Pokecenter, I went around to the side. I thought I saw a shadow of something or someone. I guess I was wrong.
I then pulled my Pokedex back out. Releasing Flame and Wurmple afterwards. My Pokedex then started registering Wurmple's data for the first time.
Wurmple, the Worm Pokemon. It lives among the tall grass and forests. It repels attacks by raising up the poisonous spikes on it's rear.
"We got to learn how you use the spikes the hard way," I remarked. "We need to give you a name Wurmple. To make you different from the other Wurmple. How about… how about… Trim?" Wurmple squealed at that name. "Then… Sliqu! It can be spelled funny like my name!" Wurmple gave a cry of approval. I quickly checked my Pokedex to make sure Wurmple was a male. It was.
"Alrighty then! Triqu! With his Pokemon, Flame and Sliqu!" Sliqu bumped my leg and Flame jumped onto my shoulder as I said this.
"So, the Pokedex says that all of the surrounding routes have Poochyena. We can go back to route 101. That's boring though. We can go to route 103 but it's pretty wet and marshy. That's not good for you two. That leaves route 102!" I exclaimed.
We set off for route 102. Hoping to catch six Poochyena and maybe a Pokemon for myself.
I ran around town searching for the exit to route 102. I figured that I could find it easily without the Pokedex but I was wrong. I had to return Sliqu to his pokeball because he couldn't keep up with Flame and I.
I eventually found route 102. It was filled with Pokemon. Lillipup, Poochyena, Wingull. It was amazing!
If I wanted to capture the Poochyena fast, I was going to need a good plan. Here's what I came up with.
Wing it.
I always act well under pressure. Something about it helps me. When I'm in the heat of the moment, my heart is racing. I just love it!
I ran into the route excited. Ready to take on anything. I noticed a shadow over by a tree. I walked over to it. When I got there, the shadow was gone.
I decided to focus. I gave my word to the old man. I was going to catch six Poochyena. It wasn't going to be easy.
I looked over and saw an angry group of about 5 Poochyena. They all looked angry. I was enjoying my day too much to think anything of it. That was, until I looked down.
A little Pokemon with a spike on it's head was cuddling up against my leg. It looked rather scared. I decided to check my Pokedex.
Ralts, the Feeling Pokemon. It uses the horns on its head to sense human emotions. It is said to appear in front of cheerful people.
Moves: Teleport, Double Team, Magical Leaf, Heal Pulse, Confusion, Lucky Chant
This Pokemon must of sensed that I was happy. Which I was. But, it still seemed scared and worked up. Something must have been bothering it. It then started whimpering and Flame started jumping up and down. The pack of Poochyena was approaching. They didn't look very friendly.
This time, I got a clearer look at them. There were seven. They all seemed to be mad about something. They all eyed Ralts. It was their prey. From what the Pokedex said, teleport couldn't even help Ralts. The Poochyena would sniff it down.
I sent out Sliqu to go with Flame.
"Get ready guys! You have a whole group of Pokemon to beat!" At my command, even Ralts was ready for a battle.
"Ralts is even helping! You two better win!" the Poochyena were done analyzing us. They attacked.
"Flame, use Flame charge! Take out as many as possible! Sliqu, use your string shot! Make sure not to hit Flame or Ralts! We need to slow these Pokemon down! Ralts, try using your Magical Leaf! It's a sure hit and we could use some of those!" Ralts stood tall. It remained at a fair distance but the Magical Leaf was doing some good damage.
The battle was going so fast that it was hard to keep up. I saw Sliqu had used string shot on a fair number of opponents. A Poochyena tried to help it's friend but just got it's teeth caught in the string. Flame was confusing everybody. He was just flying everywhere at an incredible speed. Ralts was on clean up duty. If a Poochyena was trying to get away or was trying to get up, Ralts would make sure they didn't.
After about 30 minutes of my Pokemon battling and me being amazed, it appeared we had won. Flame appeared to be worn out and Sliqu was pretty beat up. Most likely from taking bite and tackle attacks from the Poochyena. Ralts was gone though. I had no idea where it went.
"Ralts! Ralts!" I yelled with no reply. I was a little worried but I shrugged it off. I may have been giving off bad emotions due to being in the heat of the battle.
"Well, that's okay! We'll be okay without Ralts. Go pokeballs!" I threw six poke balls out and caught the six Poochyena with ease. They were too tired to fight against it.
"Yes! Now to get back to the Old Man!" I returned Sliqu and Flame. I then took off for the Pokemon Center.
It took a little longer than I expected to reach Oldale. I still made it there in under 20 minutes.
Entering the Pokemon Center, the old man gave me a big grin.
"Way to go! I received each and every one of them. I was surprised to obtain all of them at the same time," he said a bit quizzically.
"Yeah, we were attacked by a whole group. We still won though. Thanks to the help of Ralts," I said this with a lot of pride.
"You met a Ralts! They almost never appear in front of people. You should consider yourself lucky young man." I didn't know Ralts were that rare. "I still have to give you this." The man grabbed an odd looking stone out of his bag.
"This is a moon stone. Take good care of it. It is very valuable and makes some Pokemon evolve." He was repeating things my teachers taught me. Regardless, I kept my mouth shut.
"Cool, maybe I'll get to use it some day!" I tried to sound genuinely excited.
"Perhaps. I must be on my way now. Good luck on your journey young man." The man walked away.
"Thanks for everything!" The old man then put his arm up, signaling that he understood. It was a very eventful day.
I gave my Pokemon to Nurse Joy. She healed them and I stayed at the Poke Center for a night. Getting ready for another day. I still went to sleep, curious about what happened to Ralts.