The 'Wrath' of the Water (A work in progress)

By Njb013.

The ‘Wrath’ of the Water

Pokémon: Poliwrath
Difficulty: Demanding (40-55k)
Story Length: TBD (Currently 23,010) ​

We left our hero, Nick, in his back yard, celebrating his first capture, a Poliwag. However, a full year has passed since then, and our hero is noticeably different. While his hair is still in-between blonde and brown, he has grown it out a significant amount, threatening to completely cover his ears. He is also four inches taller, thanks to a relatively late growth spurt. He has also taken to wearing a red cap, frontwards, thank you very much. His voice has gotten deeper, and, well, his Pokémon…..you’ll just have to see

Nick yawned loudly. Shaking the sleep from his eyes, he sat up, immediately bonking his head on an unusually low-growing branch. OW! He thought. Darn it! That really hurt! Blinking quickly to clear the stars from his eyes, he looked around for his loyal companion.

As he gazed around the clearing of the normally dense forest, he noticed that there were a couple of Bibarel looking at him, seemingly concealing grins. The tall grass almost hid the Pokémon from view, and the chatter of many Pidgeotto covered the noise that they made as they shuffled along. In the distance, he could see a large mountain, which wasn’t actually unusual. It was rumored that that particular mountain could even be seen from Snowpoint City itself, way up north.

“MROOOOOOW!” A loud meow sounded right next to his ear.

“AAAAGH!” He couldn’t help screaming in surprise and fright, whirling around to face his would-be attacker, instinctively taking up a defensive stance.

Laughing as only a Pokémon could, his ever-faithful (and mischievous) Luxray danced around him, eyes sparkling with glee.

“Luxray! I thought I told you to stop doing that!” Annoyed, Nick pretended to slap and Luxray, and felt a twinge of frustration as the Pokémon easily avoided it.

He and his Pokémon had been traveling in this dense forest for almost a week now, heading for one of the three lakes said to be homes to the legendary Lake Trio, Mesprit, Uxie, and Azelf. Unfortunately, even with the use of the handy, interactive map on his Pokétch, he had quickly gotten lost.

Sighing, he picked himself up off of the dusty ground and brushed his clothes off. Giving one last glare to Luxray, he clicked the Pokétch button to navigate to the map, only to hear something startling. “We’re sorry. The location you are currently in has not been explored; therefore, there is no map of your position or the area around you.” Fuming, Nick’s face turned deep red, and then he yelled, “YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!” As he thought furiously about what to do next, he figured he had three options:

1. Continue walking around, hoping to either find the lake, some other travelers, or, by pure luck, come across Sunyshore City.
2. Send his newly evolved Togetic, which he had received as an Egg from Cynthia, the mysterious trainer, to fly above the trees and look for other trainers or a landmark to help him find his way.
3. Try to catch a decent water Pokémon and surf down the river that he had seen winding through some rocks. Hopefully, it would feed into the lake. Otherwise, he couldn’t follow the river; the terrain wasn’t traversable.

Considering the options in his head, he ruled out number two pretty quickly. He had seen WAY too many narrow-eyed Pidgeotto to be comfortable sending Togetic out of sight. Looking around, he sighed and squinted, trying to make out anything noticeable. Even after having his Luxray light everything up with a Flash, he wasn’t able to make out much. Well, there goes number one AND number two.

Luckily enough, he knew for a fact that there was plenty of strong water-type Pokémon around; he had seen several vicious looking Floatzel at the river. Shuddering at the thought of being at the mercy at a group of them, he figured it would be a good idea to let out the rest of his Pokémon, if only for protection purposes.

Calling out their names loudly, he threw two more Poké Balls into the air. Exploding in a near-blinding flash of light, his Umbreon and Togetic appeared. Remembering too late about the Seals he had recently put on Togetic’s Poké Ball, he received a face full of flower petals for his trouble. Sighing, he bottled his frustration and turned to the direction the river was, revealed by the loud rushing sound of water.

“Ahhhhhh. This is more like it!” Nick sighed contentedly. He had packed his swimming trunks, and the cool river water felt wonderful. Umbreon and Togetic swam next to him, splashing each other joyfully. Only Luxray was on up on land, quite content to take a nap. After a while, Nick and his Pokémon started getting cold, so he got out, toweled off, and changed into his regular clothes. Waking up Luxray with a pet on the back, they set off in search of a water-type Pokémon.

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Nick hung his head, depressed. Even though they had searched all day, they had yet to find a Pokémon that caught his interest. Sure, they had been attacked by countless Floatzel, but he had never been fond of them. What he REALLY wanted was a Poliwrath. Smiling, he remembered the Poliwrath he had seen at the beach by Jubilife City.

The Poliwrath was actually the lifeguard at the beach that day, and looked a little scary to Nick and his Poliwag. Laughing, Nick and his Pokémon built big sand castles together. With Poliwag’s help, they built a giant fortress which came up to Nick’s waist. Suddenly, they heard the cry of a Pokémon. Whirling around, Nick saw a Kricketot being swept out into the water by a riptide. Before Nick could even tell Poliwag to go rescue the little bug Pokémon, the Poliwrath had jumped into the water from his chair, covering the considerable distance between himself and the Kricketot in seconds. Picking up the Kricketot and holding it up in the air, he swam the way back to land with only one arm. Gently, he put the Pokémon back on the sand. Smiling under a rain of thanks from both trainer and Pokémon, the Poliwrath nodded and walked back to his chair.

Nick still remembered the look on Poliwag’s face. It was so full of awe that he was in a trance until Nick called him. Nick laughed, and thought to himself, this little guy is going to be one of them some day.

After a couple months of traveling, Poliwhirl, who had just evolved from Poliwag, got homesick. After a couple days, Nick knew that he had to let him go back to his family. After all, Nick missed his mom sometimes too. So, entrusting him to the care of one of Professor Elm’s assistants in Hearthome City, Nick continued on his journey. Strangely enough, just as he left Hearthome, he found an abandoned Umbreon sleeping next to a rock. The Umbreon, who awoke when he sensed Nick’s presence, seemed friendly, so Nick was happy to take him along.

After the departure of Poliwhirl, he had missed the convenience of having a water-type Pokémon. Thinking of Poliwhirl made Nick a little sad.

Startled out of his daydream by the cry of a wild Gastrodon in the distance, Nick turned his attention to dinner. Taking out the box of Pokémon food from his bag, Nick filled three bowls, one each for Luxray, Umbreon, and Togetic. Taking out some fruit for himself, Nick called them to eat.

After dinner, Nick pitched the tent and put his Pokémon away for the night. Yawning as he got in bed, he quickly fell asleep.

BOOOOOOOM!!! CRASH! Scared, Nick scrambled out of his tent, just as a tree fell on top of it. Immediately releasing his Pokémon, he turned, only to see a huge dark shape rushing at him. Instantaneously, Luxray slammed into his trainer, knocking him out of the way, and the air crackled as he exploded with electrical energy. Angrily, he let out a roar, and even the ever stoic Umbreon cringed as the sound waves from the roar drove him backwards a couple steps. Still flaring with electrical energy, Luxray charged towards the quickly moving mass, and just before contact, unleashed the full force of his power.

Too late, Nick saw the shining fist shooting through the air towards his Pokémon. Helpless, he flinched at the force of the explosion resulting from a Charged Spark meeting the full force of Dynamicpunch.

Shocked, he saw Luxray go flying through the air, seemingly unconscious. The mass, shaken by the force of the Spark, stumbled forward into the dim light of the campfire. Nick gasped.

Standing before him was the largest, meanest looking Poliwrath he could ever imagine. This thing was HUGE. It easily dwarfed the one they had seen at the beach, and looked positively furious. Shaking it’s head, it roared and shot what looked a Hydro Pump at Luxray to finish him off.

Thinking quickly, Togetic wiggled it’s finger. Uh oh. Nick thought. Metronome! Without warning, Togetic shot a stream of fire at the incoming water. As the elements fought each other, it formed such a heavy fog that it became almost impossible to see.

Fighting through the thick fog, Nick yelled, “Luxray! If you can hear me, use Flash!” In response, a light shot out like a beacon from over to his left, effectively lifting the fog. Luxray, though shaken and dazed, wasn’t out yet.

Umbreon, sensing the move of the Poliwrath with its keen sense of hearing, shot out a purple-black ray, striking the Poliwrath. Immediately, it stumbled and fell into a pile of rocks. Standing up again, it shook off the effects of the Confuse Ray as if it were a light rain, and looked at the rocks, and smiled. Grabbing one of the larger rocks, it hurled it towards Togetic. Umbreon, seeing its teammate in danger, leapt in front of it and flung up a Protect.

The huge rock, though blocked effectively by the Protect, smashed into many smaller fragments. Since Protect vanished the instant it smashed the rock, everyone, even Nick, was pelted by stone fragments.

Nick sprang into action, seizing control of his Pokémon. Yelling at out orders, his Pokémon quickly executed his plan. Togetic charged straight at the Poliwrath, hoping to distract it from the true threat, Luxray, who sped around his left to vanish into forest. Umbreon quickly put a Reflect around Togetic, and then set up Snatch.

Seeing all the defensive moves, Poliwrath quickly changed tactics. Quickly, he shot a Hypnosis at Luxray, and jumped up in the air to deliver a powerful Wake-Up Slap to Togetic.

Luxray, who had foreseen the Hypnosis, abruptly changed direction and jumped at the Poliwrath to intercept him with a nasty Thunder Fang.

Togetic, with its ability to fly, easily evaded the Poliwrath’s attack, and managed to get off an Ancientpower. In the distance, Umbreon flared up, as if receiving a huge power boost. Nick smiled.

Poliwrath looked around wildly, confused by the sudden rush of attacks. As the rocks pelted it, it saw Luxray rushing towards it. Smirking, it readied itself for another Dynamicpunch.

Nick cried out to Luxray, but it was too late. As Poliwrath’s fist connected with Luxray, Nick knew that it was down and out. Wincing, he resisted the urge to run to Luxray, even as Luxray’s body slammed into a tree. He didn’t move.

Umbreon smiled. As he saw Luxray get dispatched, he began to doubt their chances of winning. But as another surge of power ran through him, he knew they had a chance. Quickly, he hit the Poliwrath with a Screech, sending it flying back into the nearest tree. Then, he followed up with a Growl.

Nick was worried. Luxray had gone down, and that was a bad sign. But, according to his calculations, Umbreon had +1 in all stats, and +2 in Attack. How? Due to extreme training on the way to Sunyshore City, Umbreon had developed the ability to manipulate its Snatch. With this additional training, Umbreon was able to Snatch the side effect of both Ancientpower as well as Snatching the Howl that Luxray had performed when going to attack Poliwrath. This meant they had a chance.

Umbreon knew what to do. Getting Togetic to back away, he walked up to meet the enraged Poliwrath’s challenge. The two stared each other down, waiting for the other to make a move.

“Umbreon, don’t move. Let him come to you!” Nick advised. Umbreon growled a quick agreement, and gave the Poliwrath a mocking look.

Angrily, the Poliwrath concentrated, and then gave a triumphant look as his fist glowed for a third Dynamicpunch.

Sneering, Umbreons symbols on his body flashed, and then darkened. His eyes, normally yellow, turned black, and a strange energy began flowing from the corners. Then, charging towards the Poliwrath, unleashed a powerful Assurance on his stomach.

Startled, the Poliwrath stumbled backwards. Why was that Umbreon so fast? And that Assurance actually hurt. He thought. Cautious now, he decided to go with a Bubblebeam.

“Umbreon, Double Team!” Nick commanded. Umbreon obeyed, creating many images of himself, scattered in the forest. Then, he let out a Dark Pulse.

Feeling the Dark Pulse slam into him, Poliwrath decided that he had had enough. Giving Nick and Umbreon one last glare, he turned away and stormed away into the forest, downing trees as he went.

“Huh?” Nick said, surprised. “Hey, wait! Where are you going?” He yelled desperately. He wasn’t about to let the chance of a lifetime go to waste; after all, who ever saw a wild Poliwrath in Sinnoh?

Nick, who was more worried about having a tree fall on him than what the Poliwrath was doing, almost ran into the Poliwrath, who had stopped in its tracks. Getting a closer look at the Poliwrath, Nick paused, confused. It was like the Poliwrath didn’t know he was there. “Hellooooo!” Nick called, waving his hand in front of the bulky Pokémon’s face. No response. Suspiciously, Nick looked at its eyes more carefully. “Ah hah!” He said. “Look at this!” He lifted up the Poliwrath’s eyelid, and gaped, mystified. Attached to the underside of the eyelid was a small mechanical device that emitted a strange beeping noise.

Back at the scene of the fight, Luxray and Togetic were attempting to move the tree to rescue their tent and supplies. Straining, Togetic finally gave up, collapsing on the ground. Angrily, it wiggled its finger at the log, inadvertently using Metronome. Luxray had no time but to widen its eyes in shock before the entire area was engulfed in a Sacred Fire. Well, that figures.

Safely watching from a distance, Umbreon sighed at the Togetic’s blunder. Slowly, he padded over in the direction Nick had gone.

As Nick examined the device, he was quickly able to figure out how to safely remove it. Pinching the two release buttons carefully, it only resisted for a second before coming out.

As if a lever had been thrown in the Poliwrath’s head, its eyes refocused and swiveled, as if taking in its surroundings for the first time. Eyes focusing on Nick, it snorted in surprise and shock. Then, noticing the device lying in Nick’s hand, relaxed. Grunting, it indicated that it wanted Nick to follow it.

Shaking his head in confusion, Nick hesitated, and seeing Umbreon following him through the dense undergrowth of the bushes and ferns, motioned for it to stay a ways back. Taking a deep breath, he started after the Poliwrath.

Poliwrath stomped through the forest with ease, crushing even the thickest branches beneath its feet. After about 10 minutes, the forest grew less and less dense, until they came face to face with a rocky hill. Tiredly, the Poliwrath grunted, telling him that it wasn’t too much farther.

Struggling up the hill, Nick found himself juggling mixed emotions. He was annoyed, especially since the Poliwrath appeared to have been under someone’s control. He was also impressed by the Pokémon’s durability and stamina; it fought a long battle and was still able to make this short journey with him, no problem. And tired? That’s an understatement. He looked at his watch. 5:30. Not PM, mind you. AM. Accounting for the half hour or so they had fought and the walk so far, this started at 4:45.

Staggering over the top of the hill, he squinted, covering his eyes against the incoming light of the sunrise. Finally. He thought. Once his eyes adjusted to the light, he blinked a couple times, then looked out towards the valley that Poliwrath had led him to. And promptly did a classic jaw drop.

No, it wasn’t some beautiful spring with tons of rare water Pokémon frolicking and playing. It wasn’t a magical forest with Celebi flying overhead. It wasn’t even a Candy Mountain with two annoying red and blue unicorns pestering a white unicorn named Charlie. It was…..a factory. A HUGE factory. Churning out wave after wave of disgusting smog from its smokestacks, it was a horrific sight to behold. Unfortunately, Nick recognized the symbol on the front. It was none other than the terrible Team Galactic.

“Commander Mars! We lost contact with our Pokédrone!” The Galactic Goon frantically reported to his fearsome boss.

“What?! How? What happened?” He questioned angrily.

“Well, sir, it’s…..complicated. I was controlling the drone, patrolling the area over by Lake Valor, when I spied a Trainer.”

“And what did you do with this Trainer?” Mars growled menacingly.

“Well, sir, that’s when things started getting weird. I used the Download TM feature to give the drone Dynamicpunch. But when I used it to knock a tree down on top of the Trainer’s tent, he somehow escaped!”

“GET TO THE POINT! WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH LOSING CONTACT WITH IT?!” Mars roared, his patience used up.

Cowering, the Goon stammered, “Well, after he escaped, he sent out his Pokémon. I managed to take out one, but the other two injured the Pokédrone badly, so I ordered it to escape back to HQ! But along the way, there was a sudden surge in power in the area, causing the Drone Device to short circuit!”

Mars sighed. “You did well, I suppose. Do you have any idea what caused the short circuit?”

Relieved, the Goon said, “No, sir. Although, one of the patrols close by did report a large amount of smoke. The strangest thing was, though, that just before the smoke started billowing up, the clouds above the area broke apart, and a shining light shown through!”

Mars stared, stunned. “Are you sure?”

The Goon looked at him, confused. “Yes sir. 100%.”

“But, that’s not possible! The event you just described sounds like that of a Sacred Fire, used only by the legendary Pokémon Ho-oh!”

The Goon paled noticeably. “Ho-oh? But, but, but.” He sputtered. “Ho-oh lives in the Kanto region!”

“Exactly. I’m surprised you know that much.” Mars commented drily. “At any rate, we need to get to the bottom of this. Send out a squad of Scouter Drones immediately.”

“Yes sir!” Spurred into action by the command, the Goon sprang to work, calling into microphones, pulling levers, flipping switches, and typing furiously at the keyboard.

Nick took in the compound with wide eyes. It was probably longer than three football fields, and it gave off a dark, menacing feel. Apprehensively, Nick began the somewhat steep descent into what he was sure led to more than he could handle.

Groaning, he put his hand on his belt, realizing he didn’t have Luxray or Togetic with him. Remembering Umbreon, he turned around to see the faithful creature walking quickly towards him, as if spooked by what he saw.

Petting Umbreon to comfort him, he worried what might be lying in wait for them. He had heard bad things about Team Galactic before, and he was worried that the device on the Poliwrath might have been their doing.

As the band of heroes approached what Nick guessed was a secret Galactic HQ, an alarm began to sound. Quickly, they ran and hid behind some trees, watching as part of the roof opened. As one, a formation of various bird Pokémon, mostly Fearow and Pidgeot, rose into the sky and flew in the direction that Nick had come from. There was no doubt in his mind that these Pokémon had been turned into mind slaves as well. Shuddering, he wondered how Luxray and Togetic were doing. He wished they were with him.

“Problem #1. How are we going to get in this place?” Nick stood at the huge double doors, pondering. Looking up, he noticed that there were a series of ledges that ran across the building, separating the individual floors from one another.

“Hey Poliwrath!” Nick called. “Do you think you could climb up those?”

Grunting, Poliwrath sized up the distance and the width of each ledge, and after a while, shook its head no.

Disappointed, Nick pondered their situation. Then it hit him. “Poliwrath.” Nick asked calmly. “Smash the door open, please.”

Grinning, the Poliwrath obliged, smashing the door open with a single explosive punch.

The door flew off its hinges, flying down the hall and knocking a Goon unconscious.

“Well, that was convenient. Let’s see what we have here.” Nick walked in, pointedly stepping open the Goon. He found himself in a room much like a typical lobby that you would find in a fancy hotel. A couple elevators in the corner, some very nice fountains, one on each side of the room, and some fancy furniture gave it a very professional feel. Which he supposed was appropriate. Paintings hung from the wall, all with golden frames. All were of Pokémon. Nick blinked. He had to admit, this wasn’t what he’d expected to see.

Walking over to the elevator on the left side of the room, he was surprised to find that the elevator didn’t require a key or thumbprint. So much for security. Shrugging, Nick stepped into the elevator, and was startled when it took off without him pressing a button. Looking to the right of the door, he was surprised to see they weren’t any buttons to press. The elevator only serves two floors? He thought. That’s weird.

The doors opened ominously. Stepping out, the elevator closed quickly behind him. Sighing to himself, Nick continued forward, into the sole hallway.

Dimly light, the entire place was making him high-strung. As he walked, Nick had the strangest feeling they were being watched. Unnerved, he picked up his pace, hurrying his Pokémon along in front of him.

All of a sudden, a Goon dressed in the classic Galactic uniform dropped from the ceiling rafters. Great, not only are they Team Galactic, but they’re NINJAS too. At this sarcastic thought, his Pokémon sprang into action. Instantly, Umbreon fired off a Dark Pulse, knocking the Goon to the ground before he had a chance to release his Pokémon. Looming over the goon, Poliwrath picked him up with one finger, which was hooked on his shirt. Struggling, the Goon turned white as the Poliwrath grinned savagely. “Poliwrath. Don’t do anything reckless.” Nick warned. Glaring at Nick furiously, Poliwrath contented himself by slamming the Goon with a Hypnosis and throwing him into the nearest wall.

Nick nodded, a single, simple movement. Wordlessly, Poliwrath continued forward. Sighing, Nick realized that he had no right to tell Poliwrath what to do. After all, he wasn’t its trainer, and it had led him here, not the other way around.

Running now, Nick found it odd that they had only seen the two Goons; the one in the lobby and the one back in the hallway. Where were they? As if on queue, he walked into a small room containing nothing but an orange warp panel. Hey, they have warp panels! Maybe that’s why the elevator only serves two floors!

NOTE: Italics for thoughts/stressed words will be added once story is complete. They don't transfer over from Word.