Pokémon Ultra: Spark yellow

Another day of exploring the Sevii Islands! First thing this morning me and Ethan dropped off the sapphire with Celio, so now we can continue adventuring! Today we decided to head over to six island, which looked like it had some fun areas to visit… I hope we find something cool there! My team was a little bit different today, too… Last night Professor Oak called me and told me that Golbat was feeling lonely and missed me, so I chose to bring Charizard back to the lab for a bit, and brought Golbat onto my team! Maybe I’ll get the opportunity to battle with Golbat today too… Well, no matter what happens, I know it’s gonna be a fun day!

Once we arrived on the island, we went down to this area called Water Path, which went off in two different directions. We first decided to go down the path that led to this place called Ruin Valley, which sounded like it’d have some cool treasures in it. When we were walking around in the valley, I could see some of the wild Pokémon in the area, who all almost seemed… Nervous? They all looked pretty freaked out, mainly hiding in the grass and such. Maybe it was our presence that scared them? I hope not… I’d feel bad if it was… But hey, we won’t be here forever.

Anyways, the Ruin Valley had a small area called the Dotted Hole right in the middle of it. It was a small area, which had some tablets and pedestals on them with some sort of braille writing on them, which neither me nor Ethan could really understand that much. The Dotted Hole also had some more puzzles in it that we were trying to figure out, but when we started figuring out the puzzle, and almost got to the end of the ruins… Out of nowhere, a wild Machamp appeared, and it was acting pretty aggressive too, trying to attack us as we quickly dodged it.

“Whoa! Alright then… Come on out, Golbat! Use Air Slash!!” Golbat attacked, doing a good amount of damage as the Machamp was knocked back a bit. The Machamp then tried to do a Karate Chop attack…

“Dodge it, quick! Then use Air Slash again!!” Golbat did so, knocking the Machamp back again. “Now use Confuse Ray!” Golbat landed the attack, confusing the Machamp as it slowly stumbled out of the room.

“Nice work! Hopefully that’ll keep it distracted for a while…” Ethan says.

“Yeah, thanks! He’s right, you really did awesome there, Golbat…”

Golbat nodding, excitedly flapping its wings… As his body started to glow with the light of evolution…

…And he evolved! I wasn’t familiar with what kind of Pokémon this was, though…

“Whoa, that’s awesome! Your Golbat evolved into a Crobat…” Ethan says.

“A Crobat?! Oh my gosh, this is so awesome! Thank you, Crobat.” I gave Crobat a quick hug, Crobat smiling happily at me. “Sorry we haven’t been training together as much… But I promise we’ll find some more people to battle!” I say, Crobat nodding as he flapped around excitedly.

“Whoa, hey… Look over here!” Ethan pointed over to some small objects on the ground. We looked over to inspect the objects, which looked like these small stones, each with different colors and a swirly pattern in the middle. Two of the stones had the same blue colors, one of them was gray with a red and yellow swirly pattern, and another was gray with a blue and brown swirly pattern.

“Ooh, I wonder what these are for…” I say, as we both hold up the stones. 

“I’m not sure, but they look pretty cool…” Ethan says. “Maybe we should take them. If sure we can find out somewhere what they’re used for.”

“Yeah… Maybe I can ask Professor Oak about these next time I talk to him.” Me and Ethan both grabbed one of each of the blue stones, and Ethan grabbed the red and yellow stone, while I grabbed the blue and brown one. 

Sometime later…

After grabbing the stones, we continued looking around the Dotted Hole, but didn’t really find much else. We left afterwards, and continued looking around the rest of the island, having a few battles with other trainers and such, but still didn’t really find much else. After a bit we decided to head over to Seven Island next, aka the last island, the boat slowly getting closer to the island as I looked down at the map for the island.

“Ooh, this island has a place called trainer tower…” I say, looking down at the map. “I bet me and Crobat could have some fun there! And the others too… Ethan, can we go there first?”

“Huh? Oh, um, yeah, sure…” Ethan mumbled. “Sounds like… Fun…”

Suddenly then I could feel a soft shaking in my backpack, seeing that Ethan’s backpack was starting to shake too. We both opened up our bags to see that the eggs were shaking, cracks starting to form in them…

“Oh my gosh, yes! They’re hatching!!” The eggs fully hatched, revealing the two baby Pokémon…

“Oh my gosh… They’re Togepi’s!” Ethan says.

“Togepi? Oh wow… THEY’RE SO ADORABLE!!”

“Toge toge! Pi piiii!” Both the Togepi’s chirped happily, energetically running around the boat. “Woah! Stop, you two! You don’t wanna hurt yourselves!” Ethan says, as we both started chasing our Togepi’s around the boat. The boat then stopped, arriving at the island. The two Togepi’s ran off the boat, as we chased them around the small town. Pikachu quickly caught up to them and ran out in front of the Togepi’s, stopping them as we managed to grab the two baby Pokémon.

“Whoa! You two need help with those little ones?” A man asked, walking up to us.

“Nah, we’re good… These two just hatched a few minutes ago…” I say, chuckling and smiling. “Say, uh… We were actually looking for the Trainer Tower… You know where it is?”

“Oh yeah! Just follow the sign over there, it’ll take you right to it…” The man says.

“Awesome! Thanks!” We followed the direction of the sign, eventually finding the trainer tower. We went inside of the tower, being greeted with the first room, which was a big lobby, with a bunch of trainers hanging out, with a counter at the end of the room. We walked up to one of the employees at the counter. “Hey! So uh, how does this place work exactly?” I asked. “Is this where you can like, battle as many trainers as possible?”

“Pretty much!” The employee says. “This building has over 50 floors, each with one trainer on it. If you beat a certain number of trainers under a specific timeframe, then you may win some cool prizes!“

“Ooh, that sounds fun! Can I sign up?” I ask, the employee nodding as she handed me a clipboard. “Hey Ethan, do you wanna-“ I paused, noticing that Ethan was now wearing these gigantic sunglasses that covered up half his face. “Um… Why are you wearing those?”

“Huh? These? Because, I…Uh… It, uh… Makes me… Look cool?” Ethan awkwardly stuttered in response.

“Ohh, alright then… Hey, do you wanna sign up too?” I asked.

“Me? Uh nah, I think I’m good for today… I’ll just watch for now.” Ethan says.

“Oh, ok… Hey, you think you could watch my Togepi then?” I asked, looking down at the little baby Pokémon still squirming around in my grasp.

“Yeah, sure.”

“Hey, wait a minute!” I heard the voice of a nearby trainer, as I turned around to see a bunch of trainers staring and pointing at me with shocked expressions. “Are you Sam Wells? The champion of the Kanto region?!”

“Yup! That’s me!” I stated, the trainers all cheering with excitement. “Oh my gosh this is so cool! I wanna fight him first!” One of the trainers says.

“No, I’m fighting him first!” “NO! I AM!!” All the trainers started shouting at the same time, sounding like they were all about to get into a big argument.

“Whoa whoa hey, relax everyone!” I say, everyone going quiet. “Once I enter the tower, you can all battle me!”

“…YEAH!!”

Sometime later…

I was honestly pretty surprised to see how many trainers at the tower wanted to battle me! Ethan told me that all the trainers here were all professionals who are always up to date on the newest and latest most powerful trainers, so he wasn’t surprised that everyone here knew who I was. They even knew all about me taking out Team Rocket too! I didn’t even realize how much of an impact I’d had on people until now… 

Anyways, I’ve spent a lot of time now battling a bunch of trainers, and right now I was about to battle my last trainer, and the timer was gonna run out soon…

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Sam: “Let’s go, Crobat!”

Trainer: “You’ve got this, Sceptile!”

Sam: “Crobat, use Air Slash!”

Trainer: “Dodge it, Sceptile! And use Leaf Blade!”

Man, this Pokémon was super strong. I had to be careful here, especially since I haven’t trained with Crobat as much…

Sam: “Hang in there, Crobat! Use Poison Fang!”

Trainer: “Use Iron Tail, Sceptile!”

Sam: “Dodge it, Crobat! Then use Confuse Ray!”

Crobat landed the Confuse Ray, confusing Sceptile who was also now poisoned.

Trainer: “Stay focused, Sceptile! Use Iron Tail!”

Sam: “Again, use Poison Fang!”

And with that… Crobat knocked out Sceptile.

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“Aaaaand looks like your time is up!” The announcer says, a dinging noise being heard.

“Hey, that was a fun battle!” The trainer says, smiling.

“Yeah, it was! Your Sceptile is a pretty cool Pokémon…” I say, both of us returning our Pokémon back to their Poke balls. We both left the room, going down to the elevators and back into the lobby, as I walked back over to Ethan, who was hanging out with a bunch of other trainers next to a TV on the wall.

“Hey Sam! We were all watching you battle on the TV.” Ethan says. “You were awesome!”

“Aw, thanks…” I looked down at Ethan, who was struggling to hold onto the two little baby Togepi’s. “Here, I’ll take Togepi back…”

“Yeah, thanks…” Ethan tried handing over Togepi to me, who started excitedly flailing around, accidentally whacking Ethan’s sunglasses off as they landed on the floor with a loud klank.

“Hey, I know who you are!“ One of the trainers says, pointing to Ethan who quickly turned away!” You’re Ethan Ellis!”

“What?! No, I’m not! I just look….Um… Similar… To him?” Ethan awkwardly responded.

“Oh, I remember him!” Another trainer says. “Isn’t he from that one video where Lance kicked his butt in that battle?!”

“Haha yeah, I totally remember that!” All of the trainers burst out into laughter, Ethan looking horrified and close to tears. Ethan suddenly stood up, handing Togepi to me as he ran out. “Ethan, wait! Come back!” I looked back at the group of trainers laughing, glaring at them. “What is wrong with you guys?! It’s not funny to make fun of him like that!” I quickly snapped at them, running out of the building. I looked around the side of the building, quickly seeing Ethan sitting down in the grass, staring at the ground.

“Hey, Ethan… Are you alright?” I asked, sitting on the grass next to him as he looked up at me. “I know those trainers were being pretty mean to you… What were they talking about, anyways?”

Ethan was silent for a moment, a nervous expression on his face as he took a deep breath. “It’s pretty stupid… I feel like you’re gonna judge me for it.” He says.

“Come on, we’re friends… I won’t judge you for anything, I promise.” I say, patting him on the shoulder.

“Thanks. I, uh… You know how they were talking about a video of a battle in there?” Ethan says. “Well, a few years ago, I went out on my own adventure through the Johto region. I collected all of the badges, and challenged the Pokémon league. I was so cocky back then, and bragged to others about how I would take down the Pokémon league and become the new champion, with no problem… I even told the Pokémon league to record my battle with Lance, because I was so sure that I would win. And, well… That didn’t go well at all. That video everyone was talking about was the battle, and I ended up losing horribly. I couldn’t even defeat a single one of his Pokémon. Well, everyone around the region started making fun of me for the battle, and I felt so ashamed and embarrassed about it that I left the Johto region and never returned home.” 

Ethan paused, taking a deep breath as he looked like he was holding back tears. “It’s been years since I’ve even returned home… Since I’ve seen or talked to my family. I… I actually have a little… Brother. He turns eleven this year, and sometime after his birthday, he was gonna be given a starter Pokémon by the Professor in our town, and go off on his own journey as well. I really wanna see him go off on his journey, see what kind of Pokémon he chooses, but… I’m still not sure if I’m ready to go back home yet. Honestly, one of the reasons I wanted to travel around the Sevii Islands was to look for something cool to bring back home, so maybe my friends and family back home would forgive me, but… I’m not sure if they’re ever gonna forgive me. I just feel way too ashamed to show my face in front of them after all that happened.”

“Oh, well… I’m sorry you went through all that, Ethan.” I say. “But hey, what happened isn’t something to be embarrassed about. We all lose and fail all the time, I know I’ve failed before during my journey as well. You just got a bit, um… Unlucky, since your loss was recorded.”

“Yeah, I guess so…” Ethan says. “I still don’t know if I’m ready to return back home yet… I’m so scared about how everyone back home is gonna react.”

“Yeah, I understand that, but think of it this way…” I say. “Even if it’s been a while, I’m sure your family would still wanna see you again. It’s better to come back late than to not come back home at all. And besides, even if they are mad at you, I’m sure they’ll understand if you explain what happened to them.”

“Yeah, I really hope you’re right.” Ethan says.

“I’m sure I am. Hey, listen, if you don’t wanna hang around the Trainer Tower anymore, then I understand…”

“Nah, it’s fine. We can stay a bit longer… I need to learn to start facing my fears.” Ethan says, smiling at me. “Thanks for talking to me about this, Sam. I haven’t really had any friends to talk to in years since all that happened, so I’m glad we’re friends now.” 

“Yeah, of course. I’m here for you.”

We looked over in front of us, seeing that our two Togepi’s were running around, Pikachu running up to the two, looking like he was scolding the two.

“Ok, we really need to put these two in some Poke balls…” I say, as we both grab some empty poke balls. “Come here, you two!” The two Togepi’s ran up to us, as we put them inside the Poke balls, the balls promptly shaking and clicking.

“Heh, we um… Probably should have done that sooner.”

Sometime later…

We went back inside of the Trainer Tower for a while longer, while I continued to do a few more battles. I had to threaten all the other trainers there to stop making fun of Ethan while I was battling, threatening to have Pikachu electrocute them if they did any more. I mean, I wasn’t actually gonna hurt anyone, I was just pretending I would so they’d stop harassing Ethan…

Anyways, after having a few more battles, and the timer ran out, I went back to the lobby. It was getting late and me and Ethan were about to head out soon, but there was a call waiting for me… And it was from Professor Oak.

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Professor Oak: “Hey, Sam! It’s nice to talk to you again… So, how is your trip in the Sevii Islands going?”

Sam: “It’s going great! I’ve made a new friend I’ve been traveling around with, and I’ve also caught a bunch of new Pokémon and found some treasures too!”

Professor Oak: “That’s awesome! I’m glad you’re having fun… I was just talking to Blue earlier today, and he’s been catching a lot of new Pokémon too!”

Hey, I haven’t seen Blue in a while either… Maybe I’ll run into him soon too? I hope so…

Leaf: “Hey, Sam! It’s nice to see you again!“

Sam: “Leaf?! Hi! What are you doing at Oak’s lab?”

Leaf: “I was just hanging out with all your Pokémon here! Your Charizard says hi, heehee… Anyways, do you know when you’re coming back to the Kanto region yet? I’ve been training a lot and I really wanna have a battle with you!”

Sam: “Ooh, that sounds awesome! I’d love to battle with you when I get back… I’ve explored all the islands already, but it’ll probably be a few more days until I get back! I wanna make the most of this trip before I go…”

Leaf: “Alright, that makes sense… But once you get back, we’re gonna have the best battle ever! How’s that sound?”

Sam: “Sounds awesome… I’ll be looking forward to it!”