Pokémon HGSS#25: Enter The Dragon’s Den
Jonathan and Beatrice made their way down Route 45 and Route 46 towards New Bark Town. The terrain was rocky and full of steep cliffs which they had to climb down, being very careful not to fall. Jonathan trained against Hikers he ran into on his way down the mountain as well as the Rock-Type Pokémon who inhabited this area. However, these battles were nothing compared to the battle he had against Clair, the Dragon-Type Gym Leader. With Blackthorn to their back and eight Gym Badges in his pocket, Jonathan felt better about the Gym Battle he had, but there was still a bit of worry in his mind. The words of the Dragon Master talking about unfinished business hung over him.
He had taken on the eight Gym Leaders of the Johto region, but Jonathan was unsure he had what it took to take down the Elite Four and the Champion of The Pokémon Legue. He also thought about Silver and his possible connection to former Team Rocket leader, Giovanni. As far as Jonathan knew, Team Rocket was completely taken down after the events of The Lake of Rage and The Goldenrod Radio Tower, but these two people were still out there somewhere. Was Silver a friend or a foe? Should Jonathan actively track him down to turn him over to the international police or was Silver just caught up in all of the mess by circumstance.
“Hey, you alright?” Beatrice asked looking over at Jonathan.
They were camped out on Route 46 less than a day away from New Bark Town enjoying the last night they had together below the stars.
“You’ve been really quiet since we’ve left Blackthorn City,” Beatrice said.
“Yeah I guess I’m just nervous about the Pokémon League. I’m just not sure if I’m ready to take them on,” Jonathan said.
“Just take it a minute at a time. First we’re going to New Bark Town to tell everyone about how you have obtained all eight Johto Gym Badges. Let us celebrate that before you go jumping off into a new adventure, alright?”
“Of course,” Jonathan said. “I just know it’s coming.”
“Well we’ll handle it like you handled every other challenging battle. You trained hard and trusted your Pokémon when the time came. The Elite Four might be tough trainers, but so are you,” Beatrice said.
“Thanks, Bea,” Jonathan reached over and grabbed Beatrice’s hand. “I don’t know what I would do without you.”
“I don’t know what I would do without you,” Beatrice said grabbing Jonathan’s hand with hers.
As they leaned close together, they were surprised by a snapping of wood nearby. They both turned towards the noise.
“Wild Pokémon?” Beatrice lowered her voice.
“I’m not sure,” Jonathan said. “Hello anyone out there?”
There was a brief moment of silence but they continued to hear rustling and snapping of twigs and branches. Jonathan and Beatrice both got to their feet and reached for their Pokéballs.
The bushes continue to rustle before a Pokémon burst out and hovered in front of Jonathan and Beatrice. It was a green, fairy-like Pokémon with bright blue eyes and blue coloring on the edges of its antenna.
“Woah, what’s that?” Beatrice asked.
“I have no idea. I’ve never seen a Pokémon like that,” Jonathan said.
It hovered there for a second, studying them both, before it turned back towards the woods. There was still a rustling sound and now it was accompanied by heavy footsteps.
“Bi! Bi!” The floating Pokémon rushed forth and flew into Beatrice’s arms.
Beatrice was knocked back, but managed to stay on her feet. She held the Pokémon as it trembled in her arms.
The footsteps grew louder and louder as a nearby tree fell over and a new Pokémon burst from the brush. This Pokémon was much larger and was covered in green, armor-like skin from head to toe as well as sharp spikes. It was large and frightening.
“Tyranitar!” It roared.
“I think this Pokémon was running from that Pokémon,” Beatrice said.
“Then I guess, I need to take down the second Pokémon,” Jonathan said.
Jonathan held out his Pokéball towards Tyranitar.
“Let’s go, Typhlosion!” Jonathan yelled.
There was a flash of red light and Jonathan’s Pokémon emerged from the Pokéball.
“Typhlosion!” It roared as the mane of fire around its neck ignited.
“Tyranitar!” The opposing Pokémon roared back as it planted its feet.
Both Pokémon squared off.
“Typhlosion, use Flame Wheel!”
Typhlosion got down on all four legs and began sprinting at Tyranitar. As it ran the flames on its body began to swirl around it until it was completely encapsulated by fire. Typhlosion slammed its flaming body into the Pokémon. The Pokémon was knocked back a few inches, but looked relatively unharmed.
The Pokémon instead lowered its head and clamped its jaws down on Typhlosion. It flung Typhlosion across the clearing and it slammed into a large boulder on the other side of the camp.
“Typhlosion!” Jonathan ran towards Typhlosion.
It was hurt, but Typhlosion, got to its feet.
“Typhlosion!” It roared, unwilling to stand down.
“Celibi!” The Pokémon in Beatrice’s hands said as it floated into the air once again.
It flew over to Jonathan and Typhlosion and hovered in the air for a second. Its body began to glow with a bright, green light as the soft sounds of bells chiming in the distance filled the air. When the glowing and the chimes stopped, Typhlosion was back to full health.
“Uh…thank you, Celibi?” Jonathan said.
“Celibi! Celibi!” It said as it nodded its head.
“Tyranitar!” The Dinosaur-like Pokémon roared and everyone turned to look at it.
“All right, Typhlosion! Let’s do this! We can’t let this Tyranitar get Celibi!” Jonathan said. “Use Flamethrower!”
Typhlosion leaped forward into the center of the camp. The flames around its neck grew larger and shown brighter as it unleashed a stream of fire. The flames struck Tyranitar and again, it moved a few inches. Tyranitar began walking forward, pushing against the red-hot fire.
“Give it all you got, Typhlosion!” Jonathan cheered.
Typhlosion continued to blast Tyranitar with flames. The flames grew bigger and bigger, almost encasing Tyranitar with a ball of fire.
The Tyranitar stopped and began to turn as the heat grew too much for it.
“Stop Typhlosion!”
Typhlosion extinguished the flames and Jonathan could see smoke pour off of Tyranitar’s body as it was covered in dark burns on its body. The Tyranitar continued to turn around and stomped back into the woods, unable to get to its target and frustarted people interfered.
“Alright, Typhlsion! You did it! You saved Celebi!” Jonathan said.
“Celebi! Celebi!” The Pokémon swirled around all three of them in celebration.
“Wait, Jonathan. We’ve heard about this Pokémon before,” Beatrice said.
“We have?” Jonathan asked.
“Yes! I rember Kurt, the Pokéball maker, said something about a Pokémon called Celebi when we were staying with him in Azalea Town. He said that there was a guardian Pokémon which protected the Ilex Forest. It’s name was Celebi,” Beatrice explained.
“Then what is it doing around here?” Jonathan asked.
They both looked around, but Celebi was nowhere to be found.
Both Jonathan and Beatrice heard the soft chimes of bells, but Celebi was gone.
“Well it was here,” Jonathan said.
“I guess Celebi left and is heading back towards its home in The Ilex Forest. Speaking of home, we need to get some sleep if we are going to make it back to New Bark Town tomorrow.”
“Yeah I guess so,” Jonathan said. “You need to go to bed too, Typhlosion.”
Jonathan reached out the Pokéball and Typhlosion disappeared inside.
“Goodnight Jonathan,” Beatrice said as she laid down in her sleeping bag.
“Goodnight, Bea,” Jonathan said as he did the same.
The next morning, neither Tyranitar or Celebi was in sight. Jonathan and Beatrice packed up camp and made the rest of their journey to New Bark Town. They arrived mid-day and quickly made it to their respective families. Beatrice told her mother and father about the rest of the journey and Jonathan told his mom and dad about the final two gym badges and their journey back home. Everyone was excited to see Jonathan and Beatrice and were proud of Jonathan’s accomplishment. Jonathan’s mother was able to throw together a town-wide celebration of Jonathan on a short notice and they threw a party for him. Everyone congratulated Jonathan for receiving all eight Johto Gym Badges and wondered whether or not he was going to take on the Pokémon League.
Jonathan did not have a good answer for this question, but he told people he wanted to spend a little bit more time in the Johto Region training before leaving for the Pokémon League.
People were also approaching Beatrice asking about her journey through the Johto Region and whether or not she was going to join her parents as assistants to Professor Elm.
Beatrice struggled with the question and told people she was unsure what her future was.
Eventually both met up with each other in the middle of all the party.
“So how’s it going?” Jonathan asked Beatrice.
“Good. Maybe. This party is turning into a bunch of people asking you about your future. So what’s not to love about it?” Beatrice said.
“Yeah I’m getting that same thing too. Everyone is asking me about the Pokémon League,” Jonathan said.
“Everyone is asking me about becoming an assistant to Professor Elm.”
“Are you going to do that?” Jonathan asked.
Beatrice gave him a flat expression.
“Right. Sorry. Other people are asking you that. Not me. Sorry.”
“I just don’t know what to do,” Beatrice said.
“Yeah me neither,” Jonathan said. “But the good news is that we don’t have to decide right now.”
“Beatrice! Jonathan! There you are.”
A man walked up to both of them holding a cup of punch.
“Oh hello, Professor Elm. What can we do for you?” Jonathan asked.
“Well first I wanted to congratulate you for receiving all eight Johto Gym Badges. That is quite impressive. Not a lot of people can say they have accomplished that,” Professor Elm said. “I guess the next step is the Pokémon League.”
“Uh. Yeah. Eventually,” Jonathan said.
“Well if you wanted to get away from all of this noise and commotion for a second, I have something I want to give both of you.”
“Alright, sure,” Jonathan said.
“Let’s go,” Beatrice nodded.
All three of them dipped out from the party and made it to Professor Elm’s lab. Jonathan noticed that the Gym was properly organized and clean with no marks of a break in that happened a few months back. Silver had broken in and stole a Pokémon, but now the Gym was back in order and Silver was nowhere to be found.
Professor Elm went behind his desk and began searching through stacks of books and loose papers.
“Now this is something I received from The President of Silph Co. It is still a very rare item, but they are beginning to put out more prototypes,” Professor Elm explained.
He produced a Pokéball, except it was purple with a large “M” on top.
“This is what he called a Masterball. It’s a special Pokéball that is supposed to work without fail. I don’t believe it has been tested, but if you do use it and it works, make sure to tell me so I can pass that information on to the Silph Co. They’d love to know that their prototype is a success. I’d recommend using that only when a very special or rare Pokémon is present. Don’t want to waste it on something like a Fearow.”
“Thank you, Professor Elm,” Jonathan said pocketing the Master Ball. “I won’t waste it. Promise.”
“Very good.”
Professor Elm turned to Beatrice.
“Now Beatrice. I know that your parents have been pushing you towards working here in the Pokémon Lab. Personally, I would love to have you work here and I know you would be a great Pokémon researcher. However, I feel like something else might be calling your name,” Professor Elm said as he pulled out another Pokéball.
“I was worried about you when you left here and started chasing after that red-haired Pokémon thief. But I was quickly proven that my worry was misplaced. You went on an adventure with Jonathan, rescued Pokémon, and helped take down Team Rocket. All of that was very brave.”
“Thanks Professor,” Beatrice said.
“I want you to have this, Beatrice. It’s a starter Pokémon just like Jonathan recieved and Silver stole. It’s name is Chikorita and I think it would be a great addition to your team.”
Beatrice took the Pokéball and it opened to reveal a green Pokémon with a large leaf on top of its head and small buds around its neck.
“Chikorita!” It said as it nuzzled up against Beatrice’s leg.
“It’s so cute! I love it!” Beatrice said as she knelt down to pet it.
“Well it is now your Pokémon so take care of it and keep it safe. Together I know you can both take on any challenge. Maybe you will follow a similar path to Jonathan and take on the challenge of collecting badges,” Professor Elm said.
“I don’t know about that,” Beatrice said. “But thank you for the Pokémon, Professor. I promise I will take care of it.”
“Wonderful,” Professor Elm said with a smile.
Just then Jonathan could feel a buzzing in his pocket. He reached into it and pulled out his Pokégear.
“I’m getting a call from Zuki,” Jonathan said before answering the phone.
“Hello?”
“Jonathan. It’s me Zuki. Something strange is going on. All of the Pokémon here in Ecruteak City are acting strange. I think it has something to do with The Bell Tower,” Zuki said. “How fast can you get here?”
“We’ll hurry,” Jonathan said.
“Come quickly!” Zuki said.
Jonathan hung up the Pokégear and looked over at Beatrice.
“What’s going on?” Beatrice asked.
“We’re heading to Ecruteak City. Zuki said something strange is going on. I think it might be Ho-Oh!”
Header Photo Credit to Dual Shockers
https://www.dualshockers.com/pokemon-gold-and-silver-virtual-console-september-22/
All photos of Pokemon and related content used were taken from Bulbapedia
https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Main_Page
Allen The Writer 