The boy began to cry. "Daddy!"
"What? What happened?" The man ran over to the water's edge. "Did you hurt yourself?"
"No. I wanted to catch you one."
"What? Did you see another Caterpie? I think you've given me enough, thank you."
"No. It was the blue little fish."
"Ah, you saw a Poliwag, did you? Those are tricky to catch." The man squatted in the muddy bank and rolled up his sleeves. "Here, watch how I do it." He placed his hand slowly into the water, with his palm facing up. "Poliwags are fast. And they will swim away if you scare them. Put your hand like mine. Not too sudden."
The little boy mimicked his father, except his fingers were spread out instead of cupped. He watched as one of the shadows swam over his father's hand. His father put his other finger to his lips and then pointed at his hand. He slowly lifted his hand up, scooping some water with the Poliwag inside of it. As the water drained from his fingers, he placed his other hand over it.
"You have to be gentle. They are very slippery. See?" He cracked open his hands a bit to show off the Poliwag. The boy peered inside and was met with a squirt of bubbles to the face. He shrieked and laughed.
"Careful," his father laughed, "they can squirt you." He released the Poilwag back into the pond and it swam away. "Try it again. Make sure to close your fingers."
The boy put his hand back in the water, and soon another Poliwag had appeared. It slid up against his and, tickling his fingers. He quickly closed his fist tightly and raised it to show his father. This caused the blue tadpole to slip out from his fingers and leap back into the water. The boy began to cry again.
"Don't hold on tightly," his father said, putting his hand on his son's shoulder. "Or else, it will leave you, Ash."
* * *
"Ash! ASH! Wake up!"
"W...what? I was paying attention!"
"You were not! You dropped your rod into the lake!"
And indeed he had. Ash watched as the fishing pole that Misty had lent him drifted into the center of the lake on Route 22. She cast her own line out to hook onto the wayward pole and reel it in. Pikachu playfully batted at the water as it rippled around the pole.
"Sorry. It's just that I thought when you said we'd be catching Pokémon today, we would, you know, actually see some Pokémon. Fishing is boring!"
Misty forcefully handed his rod back to him. "It is NOT boring. You just have to be patient! You think too impulsively and while you've gotten lucky before, you need to learn the art of waiting!"
Ash grumpily threw out another line and moped. Misty had been his unofficial mentor for three days now and Ash hadn't taken kindly to her approach. On the first day, she didn't even let him battle anything, as they had to spend the day "observing the natural movements of wild Pokémon." On the next day, she let him work with Pikachu, exercising his powers and practicing his call and response. But his only targets were rocks and twigs. And now, they were focusing on building his team, which she stated, needed a good Water Pokémon.
"I don't see why you're wasting all of this time. If you wanted me to repay you so quickly, I could be in Pewter City by now, battling trainers and earning money," Ash said.
"You aren't going to earn any money if you can't win any official battles! Besides, your Pokémon barely listen to you as it is! How are you supposed to win with them?"
She was right. While Pikachu had come around during their training exercises, it still refused to go into its Poké Ball. And Ash hadn't even dared to deal with the raging Fearow yet. So Ash remained quiet and resumed his fishing.
It what seemed like hours (but was actually just minutes) a familiar voice called out from over a ledge. "Hey Ashy-boy! What are doing on Route 22? Did you get lost?" It was Gary!
"Gary!" Ash was surprised, but then he remembered the last time he had seen him, running away from the Spearow. "You jerk! You left me to die on Route 1!" Ash dropped his pole and ran over to push Gary. Pikachu ran after him and sent out a bolt of electricity. Gary dodged out of the way and leaped of the ledge.
"Whoa, whoa, calm down, Ash! I knew you and Leaf were going to handle yourselves just fine. I mean, you had a Pikachu and you were up against a bunch of Spearow. I saw that I was unprepared and used my best judgement as a trainer to accurately react in this situation."
"Mmmhmm, yeah, and why did you steal my map?!"
"That was my map. Daisy had no right to give it to you. Although it looks like you could have used it, since you ended up this far west of Viridian. Unless you're planning on going to the Pokémon League now! Haha, you don't even have any badges yet!"
Misty interrupted. "Will you boys stop shouting? You're scaring away the fish!"
"Huh," Gay said. "Got a new girlfriend, I see? Can't say I'm surprised. Leaf was too good to hang around with you anyway."
"I am not his girlfriend!" Misty shouted.
"Leaf isn't good enough to hang out with me! I mean, she is! Wait...what I meant was..." Ash stuttered.
"Obviously not. She dropped you as soon as she got the chance."
"She got lost, just like the rest of us. In fact, what are you doing way out here? If you have the map, why aren't you in Pewter City?" Ash asked.
Gary smiled. "Oh, just some private business up at the Indigo Plateau. All I needed to do was mention that I'm an Oak, and I got a grand tour of the facilities. I like to know what I'll be up against next summer."
"What are you talking about, Gary?"
Misty turned to Ash. "This road leads to the Indigo Plateau, where the Elite Four train. But you'll need eight Gym Badges to pass through the gates."
"Oh, why?"
"Because the badges prove that you can handle the Elite Four. And your Pokémon will obey you better depending on the number of badges you have. They'll respect you as a trainer."
"Wait, so your saying that my Pokémon won't obey me until I have the proper badges? And I can't win badges until they obey me? How am I supposed to win any battles now?"
Gary couldn't help but comment on this. "Your Pokémon don't obey you already? You can't even get weaklings to obey you?"
At this, Pikachu started to build up electricity in its cheeks. "Pikachu, don't!" Ash shouted. But Pikachu did.
"Ow! Your crummy rat just shocked me! That's against League rules!"
"Sorry, it's just a phase. He'll grow out of it, I swear!"
"Not if I can help it. Ash, I must take your unsolicited attack as a challenge. To which I accept. It will be the Standard Battle Rules."
"What does that mean?"
Gary clicked his tongue. "It means 3 vs. 3, stupid."
"But I only have two Pokémon!"
"Really? You've been traveling for weeks and you only have two Pokémon?" Gary sighed. "Fine, 2 vs. 2, then. And I'll choose Pidgey. Go Pidgey!"
Gary sent out the Pidgey he had caught on Route 1, and it had clearly grown alot since Ash last saw it. It was nearly twice the size of an average Pidgey.
"Haha, well then I choose Pikachu! This will be an easy battle. Go Pikachu!"
Misty tugged on Ash's shirt. "Don't get too cocky, Ash. You haven't been in a real battle yet." Ash ignored her and commanded Pikachu to use Tail Whip. Pikachu cutely wagged its tail at Pidgey. Pidgey, unsure of how to react, looked back at Gary.
"Really, Tail Whip? This is a battle, Ash," Gary said.
"Yeah, but now that you have your guard down, Pidgey's defense has been lowered! Pikachu, ThunderShock!" Pikachu readied his cheeks.
"Ash, no!" Misty cried out. "This is an official battle. You have to take turns attacking!"
"Wha?"
"Heh." Gary smirked. "Pidgey, Sand Attack!" Pidgey kicked up some nearby sand, directly into Pikachu's eyes. Pikachu then tried to use ThunderShock, but it missed Pidgey completely and struck a nearby tree.
"Uh oh," Ash realized.
"Pidgey, Gust!" Pidgey created a small whirlwind with dirt and rocks that struck the blinded Pikachu.
"Pikachu, ThunderShock it! It's right behind you!" Well it was right behind Pikachu until it flew away, causing the attack to hit Ash himself. Gary ordered another Gust and Pikachu was battered yet again.
Ash had to think for a moment, then he realized, "Pikachu, use ThunderWave!" Pikachu's static electricity created a wave in all directions, ultimately hitting and paralyzing the Pidgey.
"Good job, Ash! Now it can't attack!" Misty cheered.
Ash commanded for Pikachu to used ThunderShock one last time, and, unable to dodge it, the shock met its target and Pidgey fainted.
"Not bad, Ash," Gary said, as he recalled Pidgey. "But you're Pikachu is looking pretty weak. Eevee, go!"
Eevee burst forth from its Poké Ball. "Eevee, Tackle!" Eevee charged into Pikachu, who couldn't see where it had come from. The force was so great that Pikachu could no longer stand and Ash was forced to call him back. Even so, Pikachu would not return to its ball.
"Misty, could you hold Pikachu while I send out my next Pokémon?"
"Ash, you're not going to win this. We haven't even started training your Fearow. Just forfeit."
"No, I gotta do this. Trust me." He turned back to Gary. "Fearow, go!" This was the first time Fearow had been freed from its ball since its capture. And it immediately glared at Ash.
"Whoa! You have a Fearow already?!" Gary shouted. "Maybe you aren't as dumb as I thought."
The Fearow then began to peck Ash's head. "Nevermind," said Gary.
"No! Stop Fearow! Attack Eevee! Attack Eevee!"
Fearow looked at Eevee. It flew over to it and sat down. It then closed its eyes and nestled its beak under its wing. "Ahh! Don't sleep! Attack!"
"This is ridiculous. Eevee, Tackle." Eevee rammed into Fearow, who just batted it away with its wing.
"Aha!" Ash exclaimed. "My Fearow is too strong for you!" Then the Fearow lifted its head and flew up into a tree. "Um...and it looks like he's planning a big attack!" Fearow once again fell asleep.
"No, the battle's not over!" Ash cried.
"Face it, Ash. It's over," Misty said.
Ash handed over Gary's winnings and Gary packed up his things. "Well, it's been fun to stop and chat, but I really must be going. Those badges aren't going to win themselves. Smell you later, Ash!" And with that, he was gone.
Ash was devastated. He slowly trudged back over to where they had set up their fishing equipment. Misty tried to remind him that they should probably head back to Viridian and heal Pikachu at the Pokémon Center. Ash remained oblivious and just kept walking. When he reached the water's edge, he stared into his reflection. In the shallow water, a failure stared up back at him. He stretched out his arms and fell face first into the pool.
"Ash!" Misty shout was muffled by the water filling his ears. He could feel his clothes soaking up all of the lake water and his hands felt tingly and numb. Misty grabbed the back of his collar and pulled him out.
"What are you doing? Are you crazy?!"
Ash looked up at his companion, smiled, and held up his arm. In his hand was a small blue Poliwag.
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