Chapter 6

While Greta enjoyed her moment of victory by staring at the two PokéBalls of hers that carried Nidoran and Caterpie inside of them, Redwald was on his way in Pallet Jungle to catch a Pokémon for himself. After wandering around more than an hour, he could not find a proper Pokémon to catch. At least he thought so. Greta kept praising the other Pokémon but Redwald did not feel confident about neither of them.

“I don’t understand what you’re looking for, Red!” Greta said eventually. “I am exhausted of walking. I must have lost 3 kilos at least!” She was complaining.

“I am looking for something different.” Redwald said. “I don’t want to just randomly encounter a Pokémon and decide ‘Oh yeah, this one works fine’. There is more to a Pokémon, believe me.”

“Even you have no idea what you’re saying, Red. But fine. But don’t forget, we have only a couple of more hours for this hunt. You better choose one wisely soon.”

“Don’t you worry.” Redwald said. He stood on a rock and checked around. Once again no Pokémon caught his attention particularly. He felt the sweat on his forehead. He wiped his arm on his forehead. “I think we should take a break for lunch.” He said. That one Greta could agree on with.

Redwald put out the snacks he brought from the laboratory. There were chocolate waffles, biscuits and juices. Both Redwald and Greta had their mouth water. Feeling hungry was aside, seeing all those foods in person made them even more hungry.

“Darn it!” Redwald said. He was holding a small bag. “I thought I said my mother to prepare two sandwiches but there is only one.”

“We can split it, Red.” Greta said. She did not consider it as an issue even a bit. But Redwald did not agree. “A sandwich deserves respect, Greta.” He said. “We can’t just split it into two pieces and share it. Instead, we should toss a coin to determine who gets to eat it.”

Greta took a coin out of her bag. “So tell me.” She said. “Head, or tail?”

Redwald took a moment. Despite it was all luck by 50% chance, he had to make the right decision. “I say head.” He finally came up with his decision.

Although Greta thought that Redwald was making it too big of a deal, she calmly said “Fine”, and then throw the coin in the air and put it on his hand. Then she covered it with her other hand.

“Are you ready?” She asked. Redwald was too excited to see it. Instead he turned his head to west and nodded. “Please.” He said. Greta took her hand off and saw the coin on her other hand.

“You got it, Red.” She said. “It’s head.”

Redwald slowly turned her head to see his beloved sandwich on the grass. “You are totally mine...” He thought. Sandwich was his favourite food after all and even the idea of giving up on that would make Redwald brassed off.

He took the sandwich on the grass and looked it carefully. The lettuce, tomatoes, cheese and ketchup were almost glowing under a hole light. Redwald opened his mouth as he approximated the sandwich there. But suddenly, before even Redwald understood what happened, something flew right before his eyes and took his sandwich away.

“What?” Redwald responded. He was trying to figure out what had happened. He was just about to put a piece of sandwich in his mouth, and now it was totally gone. “What happened?” He said a bit louder. He needed an explanation.

“Look, over there.” Greta said calmly while pointing out a tree while she enjoyed her waffle. A Pokémon took Redwald’s sandwich off his hands and put it on the branch of a tree and he was enjoying the meal instead. Despite Redwald was familiar with the species, he scanned it on his Pokédex.

“It doesn’t look any docile to me!” Redwald responded. He was so disappointed of his sandwich that he only wanted to respond it as it required.

“Eevee, are you ready now?” Redwald asked. That was the sign of beginning of a battle. Eevee stood in front of Redwald and nodded his head. He is more than ready.

“Use Tackle, now!” Redwald ordered. Eevee ran to the tree and climbed up until Pidgey’s branch. Then he used Tackle on the Pokémon. As Pidgey lost his balance, he dropped the sandwich on the ground and stumbled on the branch. But he pulled himself together and responded with Tackle as well. Eevee hit the tree but kept himself on the branch.

Pidgey floated his wings and landed on the ground. Redwald nodded his head. “Follow him, Eevee!” Redwald said.

While Eevee climbed down the tree, Greta swallowed the waffle and said, “Be careful Red. Don’t forget what Pokédex just said.”

“Don’t worry about me, Greta.” Redwald responded. “Now, use Growl!” Redwald ordered. Eevee growled as loud as he could. Pidgey covered his head with his wings but it was no help. Eventually, Pidgey was distracted.

“Now go with Bite!” Redwald ordered. Eevee ran to Pidgey who was still trying to pull himself together and used Bite on his wing. Pidgey cried out in a pain and stood back. He was not prepared for this apparently. As a response, Pidgey flapped his wings near the ground and hurled the sand on the ground. That was Sand Attack. Eevee’s face was covered with so much sand that he could not open his eyes for a while.

“Eevee, are you all right?!” Redwald asked. He ran to Eevee and tried to clean up his face, but the sand was too sticky to get off.

As a last resort, Pidgey flew in the air and flapped his wings as hard as he could. In seconds, he created a gust that everything around them was dispersed.

Redwald slowly opened his eyes when the effect of Gust had passed. He realised that he had been holding Eevee on his chest the whole time. Eevee in the other hand was nonreactive due to his blindness. Greta reached out to her bag and pulled out a handkerchief. She walked to Redwald and gave it to him.

“This should do it.” She said. Redwald cleaned up Eevee’s face and the sand on it. Finally, Eevee once again was able to open his eyes. He put a naive smile on his face while staring at Redwald.

“I am glad you are fine now, Eevee.” Redwald said.

Redwald and Greta kept walking in the woods. Eevee was in his PokéBall because Redwald did not want to tire him out. Redwald checked his watch. He still had time but he still had no idea which Pokémon to catch. All he could think of was that he did not want to catch a Pokémon out of nowhere. He needed a reason.

“I hope you decide to let it go, Red.” Greta said. “Pidgey stealing your sandwich is not that big deal. Just let hungry Pokémon feed themselves.”

“I would be more than glad to share my food, Greta. But apparently you don’t understand what a sandwich means to me.” Redwald responded. He was unpleasant but he agreed with Greta for something. “But you are right, I let it go.”

Before they crossed the bushes, they heard two other students of Professor Oak talking to each other. Greta, as a deliberate person, stopped Redwald walking. She intended to listen to what they say.

“That Pokémon was just iconic.” The boy said. “I wish I had my chance to catch it.”

“You still can.” The girl responded. “He must be somewhere in the jungle still. I have the map of the jungle. We wouldn’t get lost if you want to chase that Pokémon.”

“Not worth risking my safety.” The boy said. “I think we better get going already. We are running out of time and we haven’t even battled a single Pokémon.”

Redwald talked to Greta by whispering. “I need to find and catch that Pokémon.” He said. “Apparently he is worth catching.”

“How are you planning to find? You know literally nothing about that Pokémon!” Greta responded. She was whispering as well.

“He won’t catch it. He would tell me.” Redwald said. Then in an unexpected sudden move, he came out of the bushes and appeared right before the other students.

“I heard you guys talking about an iconic Pokémon.” Redwald came straight to the point. “Tell me, what is it so iconic about that Pokémon?”

Boy took the word. “It is fast, determined, clever and agile. I would die to have such a Pokémon on my team. But I don’t think I can chase it. Besides my Pokémon probably is not able to take on with that Pokémon.”

“What Pokémon is that?” Redwald asked. He was quite interested.

“It’s a Pidgey.” The girl said. “But not like any other. It is special one, clearly.”

Redwald was hyped and annoyed at the same time. Could it be the Pidgey who stole his sandwich, he thought. But the jungle was full of countless Pidgey. It could be any Pidgey.

“How did you come to conclusion that it is special?” Redwald asked. “How can you compare his speed, determination, intelligence or agility to any other of its species?”

“You won’t believe it but he came out of nowhere and took all of our food.” The boy said. “We didn’t even understand what happened. We looked for it all around and finally there it was, eating out food on the tree.”

“Oh, believe me.” Redwald said. “I’d believe.”

Redwald did not have any intention to catch that Pidgey. But since he knew that he fooled everyone in the jungle in the same way, he had to battle him to prove Pidgey and himself that he was not one of those fools.

Redwald took the map of jungle from Greta already and looked for the germane locations. “I will find him no matter what, Greta.” Redwald said but he did not even know that he was talking out loud.

“By the way...” Redwald stopped walking and took a moment to think. “...Where did you get that map?” He asked. “Did you just think of taking a map of Pallet Jungle before you left your house?”

“Oh...” Greta seemed nervous. Her face expression felt like she was busted on a crime scene. “About that...”

Redwald did not speak but his eyes told everything. Greta had to spell it. How did you get that map?

“I heard Professor and Mrs. Fennel talking yesterday. I knew we were actually going to explore in the jungle. So I sneaked in the map room and took it.” She said. She did not feel proud about it, but she felt confidential ironically.

“Greta, you know all the places in the laboratory. The library, map room. How do you know all about that place?” Redwald asked. He was asking the ever unasked questions. Greta almost surrendered. She knew there was no way out with more lies. She surrendered in her mind and was going to be all honest, until a sound distracted them.

That was the sound of a cry. The cry that came from a Pokémon. Both Redwald and Greta knew at that moment that this Pokémon was fighting for something. Its freedom maybe. Or even to survive. Redwald and Greta turned their heads to the direction that the sound came from.

The cry came from a purple Pokémon with no arms or legs. Greta scanned the Pokémon quickly. The Pokédex loaded for a couple of seconds, and then identified her.

“Remind me to keep that in mind, Red.” Greta said. “I would never want to see an Ekans wrapping me when I’m unarmed.”

“But what is the deal with her?” Redwald thought. “Why did she cry out like that?”

Suddenly another Pokémon came out of the bushes and attacked Ekans with Tackle. Redwald and Greta were shocked that that was the Pidgey who stole the food from others.

The power of Tackle was so strong that Ekans felt the pain on her body and it suddenly caused a scar. In a pain, Ekans tried to respond with Bite, but it failed due to the pain.

Pidgey flapped his wings in the air and came closer to the ground to use Sand Attack. Ekans tried to cover her face with her tail but Pidgey was faster on that. Before Ekans reached her tail to her face, Pidgey used another Tackle and caused Ekans to faint.

“Did Pidgey just defeat a Pokémon that he is naturally a prey to?” Greta responded. Even Greta was impressed by the Pidgey. Redwald’s thoughts in the other hand, had changed from challenging to catching him.

He quickly came out of the bushes. Pidgey was there, almost ready to fly away. But Redwald’s sudden move caught his attention.

“Pidgey, hear me out!” Redwald said. Pidgey was staring at him. Redwald kept his words. “I’ve been looking for you in the jungle for a while now. I was so mad at you and the way you fled that I wanted to challenge you to a Pokémon Battle. But now I see your true potency, let me have a Battle with you and give me a chance to catch you.”

Greta knew Redwald was using the wrong attitude. A Pokémon with that kind of self confident would never agree on joining someone’s team as naive as Redwald. But Pidgey nodded his head, thought Redwald and his Pokémon could never be a match for him.

“You will see the true me, Pidgey.” Redwald said. Then he reached out to his PokéBall and threw it. “Eevee, come out!” He said. Eevee appeared before Pidgey and both stared at each other before the Battle actually began.



“Eevee, use Tackle!” Redwald ordered. Eevee ran to Pidgey to use Tackle on him quickly. But Pidgey flapped his wings and let himself in the airbone in a sudden. Eevee missed the move. Then Pidgey got in action and used Tackle on Eevee. Eevee stumbled but he stood still.

“This is not a giving up!” Redwald said. “Use Growl now!” He said. Eevee used Growl on Pidgey like before. Pidgey covered his head with his wings but he was distracted already.

“Now use Bite!” Redwald said. Eevee’s teeth glowed bright as he ran to Pidgey. Before Pidgey pulled himself together, Eevee used Bite on his fur. Pidgey cried out in a pain and tried to pull himself together, but the pain was too deep to be overlooked.

“Tackle now!” Redwald said. He was proud that he did not give a chance to Pidgey to use Sand Attack. Otherwise he would not be that lucky. Eevee used Tackle on Pidgey which made Pidgey hit the tree. Eventually Pidgey was distracted, weakened, unprotected and almost fainted. Redwald reached out to his empty PokéBall and threw it to the Pokémon.

The PokéBall has absorbed the Pidgey inside of it and landed on the ground. Now it was all up to Pidgey to either fight or surrender. The PokéBall had shaked once... and twice...

Pidgey let it go and surrendered. He was finally caught.

Neither Redwald, nor Greta could believe it for a second. That real trouble Pokémon in the jungle was finally caught and Redwald was the owner of him. Greta knew that Pidgey did not expect that to happen at all when he agreed on a Battle with Rewdald.

Redwald ran to the PokéBall and lifted it in the air. “I caught you, Pidgey!” He said. In the meantime, Eevee and Redwald enjoyed their moment of victory together. Redwald could not wait to meet his Pokémon once again. But Greta suggested him to let Pidgey rest for a while in his PokéBall. She had a point.

Redwald and Greta walked the entrance of the Pallet Jungle for a while. Both of them were silent, thinking about their Pokémon. Greta was happy that she finally caught a Pokémon that she had been dreaming about for years. She was not naive to not know that Caterpie was not big deal of anything, but that species had an important role in her heart. In the other hand, Redwald was proud that he caught the Pokémon that would require a big respect from him.

“That should be enough.” Redwald said after he stopped. He took the PokéBall of Pidgey and stared at it for a second. “Now, face me.” He said as he prepared himself to throw the PokéBall. But before he did that, a sound distracted him and Greta from what they were doing. Because someone was coming through them by running.

Humans

 * Redwald Walker
 * Greta Parker
 * Professor Oak (mentioned)
 * Fennel Walker (mentioned)
 * Two Students

Pokémon

 * (mentioned)
 * (mentioned)
 * Wild Ekans
 * (mentioned)
 * Wild Ekans