Part 14: A Heist well Exeggcuted

        I sat staring warily at the video calling screen in Lavender Pokemon Centre. I had just woken up but I knew I had to call the Professor before I forgot to do so again. A pokegear message would not do either. It had been almost two months since I left Viridian and a proper catch up was well overdue. With a loud yawn I took a big slug of coffee and dialed the Professor.

        The phone rang out for a minute before the screen suddenly flashed on and a professor was facing me from the other side of the screen. However, it was not Prof. Oak, or at least not the Prof Oak that had given me Toto. I smiled at the familiar face.

        ‘Good morning, Gary!’, I beamed through the phone, instantly perking up. The grandson of the infamous Prof. Oak was looking back at me, his mouth and nose covered by his lab coat. Gary Oak was also training to become a Pokemon Researcher, like his grandfather.

‘Oh, hi Robin. Long time no see!’, he exclaimed although his words were a bit muffled under the lab coat, ‘How have you been keeping?’

‘I’m fine’, I reassured him, ‘I was just calling to see if the Professor was around... Your grandfather I mean!?’.

‘Well, I’m glad that you called but I’m afraid Gramps is out at the moment. He’ll be gone for the next couple of weeks so Tracey and I are holding the fort while he’s gone’.

‘Oh? Not to worry’, I sounded a little disappointed.

 ‘By the way, Robin, we haven’t received any pokemon from you yet. Is everything ok? All the other trainers who started their journey the same time as you have sent back over seventy pokemon between them!’

        ‘Over seventy?’, I said in shock. I bowed my head out of embarrassment.

        ‘Seems like you’ve got some catching up to do’, Gary chuckled.

        ‘I guess..’, I trailed off for a moment and then lifted my head, ‘So, what’s with the whole “covering your nose” idea?’, I asked curiously, ‘Do I smell that bad?’, I joked.

        ‘ Haha, no it’s not you. You see, your friend Kiwi sent us over a pokemon that has a peculiar fondness for this lab and prefers to stay in here rather than out in the open with all the other pokemon’.

        ‘Really, what’s so wrong with that?’

        ‘Well, the pokemon happens to be a-’

        -Muuuk!!-

        Without warning a giant purple blob flashed across the screen and tackled the young professor to the ground. For a moment I could see nothing on the screen except for the lab wall, lined with hundreds of pokeballs. There were a few grunts and snorts from a pokemon accompanied by some angry words of struggle. Then, Gary reappeared on the screen looking a little worse for wear. I smirked at the state of the young professor who was now cupping his mouth and nose with his hands from the smell.

        ‘ As you can see, Muk is very energetic this morning which is nice to see. But man, he stinks!’, Gary coughed and spluttered.

        Typical of Kiwi to catch the smelly pokemon, I thought to myself. I laughed quietly to myself before an idea came to mind.

        ‘Hey, I know! Is it ok if I send over one of my pokemon? I think she might help with the smell!’, I suggested.

        Gary seemed instantly interested in the idea. ‘I don’t know if anything can overcome this stench, but I guess it’s worth the try. That is, if it’s ok with you?’.

        ‘Sure thing!’, I exclaimed, happy that I could somehow help the professor. I unhinged a pokeball from my belt and placed it under a the pipe-like pokeball teleporter. Gary seemed to type something and pull some levers. Suddenly, sparks of electricity began to descend from the teleporter and onto the pokeball. I said goodbye to my friend as the pokeball became consumed with an electric current and completely disappeared.

        After a couple of moments Gary reached over and held a pokeball up to his nose. ‘Wow! It smells like fresh berries. I know what this pokemon is! It must be a really young with such a vibrant aroma!’, Gary said gleefully inhaling the beautiful smell emitting from the pokeball. He then opened the pokeball and summoned the baby Bulbasaur.

        ‘Hi Beri! This is Gary’, I introduced the confused Bulbasaur. Beri smiled at me through the screen. ‘Beri, can you do me a favor and help out Gary at the lab for a while. They need some nice scents and I know you’re the best pokemon for the job. Is it ok if you stay there for a while?’

        Beri nodded happily and shook the seed on her back, emitting what I can only imagine to be a heavenly smell.

        ‘Ah, that’s better!’, Gary exasperated, ‘Robin, don’t you worry about Beri. We’ll look after her!’, he reassured.

         I was just about to wave goodbye when Kiwi’s Muk swamped over the unexpecting Gary.

        ‘NOT AGAIN!’, he screamed as he was bundled to the floor.

        ‘Goodbye Gary! Goodbye Beri! Take care of yourself, d’ya hear!’, I said lovingly.

        Beri smiled at me through the screen. One of her vines appeared and seemed to wave at me. I smiled back and quickly hung up the phone, causing the screen to go black. I held back a tear and took another slug of my coffee. It wasn’t easy saying goodbye to a pokemon. But I knew it wasn’t really a goodbye. I could see Beri any time I wished, but still, I felt weird, almost empty knowing that she was not in a pokeball on my belt.

        Suddenly, I felt a cold shiver tingling down my spine. I spun around to meet Sir Duke’s gaping smile. I edged back for a second before calming myself. It wasn’t the first time Sir Duke had done that. It was annoying and scary at first but I was used to it now.

It had been three days since I had won the Breaker Badge from Anthony and today was the day we agreed to head back towards Saffron. None of us were too keen on going back there this soon, but I had made a promise with Sabrina. I was going to help Emmet come to terms with her death and hoped of earning the Marsh Badge in the process. I was determined and nothing was going to stop me.

‘Good morning, Sir Duke! Ready to go to Saffron and meet your brother?’, I asked with a weak smile.

The Haunter laughed heartily to himself and clapped his ghoulish claws. I guess that was a yes!

* * *

‘Hmm! What a great day!’, Aly exclaimed as she stretched her arms in the midday sun, ‘Dratini, come on out!’

Dratini swirled out of her pokeball and yawned as the sunlight glimmered off her glossy scales. Aly had been a bit more wary about keeping Dratini outside her pokeball, ever since our terrifying ordeal in Saffron Gym. However, the dragon was used to resting on Aly’s shoulders and today was too nice a day for her to be cooped up inside her pokeball.

We walked on at a leisurely pace. Sir Duke hovered along side us in the shade of the surrounding trees, occasionally surprising the unexpected wild pokemon.

All of a sudden, Salvadore came to a stop and looked down at the egg in his arms.

‘Is there something wrong’, I asked with concern.

‘It happened again’, Salvadore said with surprised smile, ‘The egg moved. It must be close to hatching!’

‘That’s great! I can’t wait to see pokemon I’ll be raising!’, I said excitedly.

Salvadore suddenly shot me a puzzled look, ‘Why will you be raising the pokemon?’

‘Because I’m the one who’s gonna become a pokemon master’, I said snubbly.

‘But I’ve been mothering this thing night and day!’, the breeder retorted.

I had to hold back my laughter at the mention of the word “mothering”.

‘Yes, and you’ve done a great job but the pokemon needs a trainer who will make it stronger in epic battles!’

‘No, it needs a breeder who will raise it to its full potential through love and care!’, Salvadore snapped back.

We eyed each other, trying to stare the other down. Our hands slowly reached for or belts, beckoning the other to settle this in a pokemon battle.

‘Guys! GUYS!!!’, Aly screamed at us, ‘Both of you stop it right now!’

We both turned our attention to Aly in her sudden outburst of anger.

‘Whatever pokemon is in that egg needs a sweet, considerate trainer’, she said softly, ‘Someone who can show it love and at the same time, become a strong battler’.

We eased are strenuous faces and looked at each other embarrassed. She was right. We were arguing pointlessly.

Aly giggled and then smiled contently, ‘So it is obvious that the pokemon should be mine!’

Salvadore and I gave the dragon tamer strange looks before hitting the floor with laughter.

‘Hahaha! Good one, Aly!’

‘Seriously, that is too funny!’

Aly narrowed her eyes and her face went a bright red. She gritted her teeth and clenched her fists. She was mere seconds away from losing the plot when something caught our attention. We all spun around simultaneously.

-Ex-Exeggcute!-

I checked my Dex:

Exeggcute, the Egg Pokemon. Exeggcute has six eggs that can communicate with one another by means of telepathy. Their shells are durable and able to resist cracking from most substances.

The cluster of eggs seemed to eye us curiously until they noticed the egg in Salvadore’s arms. We looked at each other confused as Exeggcute hopped up and down, out of rhythm with each other. They all came to a sudden stop and their eyes began to glow yellow.

Without warning, the pokemon egg was succumbed in a psychic aura and rose up from Salvadore’s arms. The breeder tried to hold onto the egg put the psychic energy was too strong.

‘Hey, what do you think you are doing! This egg is not yours!’, Salvadore shouted angrily.

-Exeggcute!!!-

Salvadore was sent flying backwards from the Exeggcute’s psychic attack. Aly and I gasped in shocked as the breeder struggled to his feet. The three of us then turned to the pokemon egg which floated in the air towards the Exeggcute and landed in the middle of the cluster of pink eggs.

-Haunter!-

Sir Duke jumped out of the shade of the trees to face the thieving Exeggcute. He started to form a shadow ball between his claws, snarling menacingly at the foe.

Suddenly, three pokemon appeared from the siding trees behind the Exeggcute. They bore some resemblances to the egg pokemon, but had a supporting body and legs as well as green shoots sprouting from their heads. I checked my Dex:

Exeggutor, the Coconut Pokemon and the evolved form of Exeggcute. Exeggutor’s heads think independently of one another but never appear to squabble.

        ‘Since they’re all psychic types you should be able to take ‘em!’, I encouraged Sir Duke. The Haunter looked back at me and winked before dribbling his shadow ball, waiting for the opportune moment to strike.

        Suddenly, the Exeggutors’ eyes glowed yellow in unison and all three emitted rays of confusion. The three of us and Haunter went tumbling backwards from the sheer force of psychic energy. Haunter cried out in pain, evidently feeling the super-effective attack more than us. We slowly sat up rubbing the back of our heads. We looked on as the Exeggutor, Exeggcute and my- our pokemon egg went hopping down the road, into the trees and out of sight.

        Salvadore angrily got to his feet and threw a pokeball high into the air. ‘Aerodactyl, I chose you!’

        The aerial menace screeched and soared under the hot sun before landing in front of its master.

        ‘Aerodactyl, I need you to help us find a group of Exeggutor and Exeggcute!’, Salvadore commanded. The Aerodactyl nodded its head before taking to the skies once again.

        ‘Hope, help out Aerodactyl!’, I ordered as I summoned my Butterfree. She fluttered her wings and spiraled up into the sky before taking off after the fossil pokemon.

        We ran behind them keeping up as best as we could. Sir Duke staggered along side us beneath the canopy of leaves. He was still in obvious pain from that last attack.

        We followed the path down the short incline before taking a right into the forest edge. The further we advanced through the trees the more dense the foliage became. The sheer abundance of trees and plants made it more difficult to move at a fast pace. Pidgeys and spearow fluttered angrily above us, annoyed that their tranquil habitats had been disturbed. Despite this we ventured on, following the unmistakable screeches of the Aerodactyl above .

        We soon came into a small clearing, over which Aerodactyl and Hope began to circle. Both pokemon descended and we returned them to their pokeballs, quietly thanking them for their help.

        We gazed across the thick where the Exeggcute and three Exeggutor were surrounding the pokemon egg. We tried to tiptoe closer to them, but as my luck would have it I stood on a small branch. The snap echoed around the clearing and the egg and coconut pokemon spun around instantly.

        The three Exeggutor jumped in front of the Exeggcute to protect it.

        Salvadore threw a pokeball, ‘Clefairy, I chose you! It’s time to team these thieves a lesson! Use double slap attack!’.

        The fairy came out of the pokeball with a determined stare.

        Aly turned to her baby dragon, ‘Dratini, help out clefairy!’. Dratini nodded and the two pokemon surged towards the Exeggutor. The three coconut pokemon tilted their heads forward in unison and unleashed a shower of egg bombs. Clefairy and Dratini danced and swirled around the attack, progressing towards the Exeggutor.

        ‘Toto, come on out!’, I yelled as I threw my pokeball. The Totodile danced excitedly on the spot. ‘Toto, get that pokemon egg!’

        Toto nodded back at me and then sprung in long strides towards the egg.

Meanwhile, Clefairy and Dratini were unleashing a rage of double slap and slam attacks against the Exeggutor, hit after hit.

Toto dashed passed the dazed pokemon and swiped the egg from behind the confused Exeggcute. We watched nervously as the Totodile hopped and leaped over a concoction of aimless attacks, narrowly missing the egg numerous times. Toto was only a few paces away from us when the three Exeggutor emitted another synchronised confusion attack that sent Clefairy and Dratini crashing into the Totodile. To everyone’s horror the pokemon egg shot out of Toto’s grasp and passed over our gawping heads.

‘The egg!’, Salvadore screamed in distraught.

‘I got it!’, yelled Aly as she quickly tracked backwards and dived through the rough. Salvadore and I stood and watched with our hearts in our mouths. The egg began its descend...

Falling...

Falling...

Seemingly forever...

Until it landed in the cushion of Aly’s arms.

We all sighed a huge relief. But then we looked again. A giant crack began to spread across the top of the egg. I knew it had been on a rough ride but I never thought it would have sustained such damage.

A sudden light flashed out from the crack .

Everyone, including the Exeggutor stood silent, closely examining the egg in Aly’s arms. Two more cracks began to develop across the side of the egg. Two small arms popped out from the egg, closely followed by two stubby little legs. The main crack across the top of the egg had now consumed the entire top half of the egg.

It rumbled...

And rumbled again...

And POP!

The newly hatched pokemon yawned out loud and then looked Aly directly in the eyes.

-Togi-Togi-Perrreeeeeeeeeeee!!!-

‘Oh my god’, whispered Aly, awestruck by the pokemon’s cuteness. ‘This pokemon is... ADORABLE!!!!’. She squealed in delight and kissed the baby pokemon on the forehead. The newly hatched pokemon screamed joyously and gave Aly a hug.

It was a beautiful moment. A moment quickly ruined by the the battle cries of three angry Exeggutor. All three of them glared angrily at Toto, infuriated that the Totodile stole the egg back, although it belonged to us in the first place. Green orbs began to glow on their head. They must have been planning a seed bomb attack!

Without thinking I ran and jumped in front of Toto, huddling over him.

‘Robin, what are you doing!? Get out of there!’, Salvadore warned. But I ignored him. I knelt there, hugging, protecting my pokemon. Toto had taken so many hits for me since we first met, but I could not allow him to take an attack like this. I just knelt there staring directly into his eyes. Time seemed to slow down.

A deja vu moment occurred. It was just like when we first looked at each other. It was just the both us, ignoring all the other minorities of life that surrounded and threatened us.

‘It’s gonna be alright buddy. They can’t hurt you. I won’t let them’, I said softly. Time seemed to stand still. A tear trickled down Toto’s jaw. In its reflection I could see my own, motionless face.

I knelt there waiting for the Exeggutor to attack. I was there, willing to endure so much pain; my only comfort knowing that my first ever pokemon, my friend was going to be safe.

I felt a sudden blow. Not from the Exeggutor, but from my own pokemon, Toto.

I was bundled backwards as a look of ferocity swept across Toto’s eyes.

-Toto!-DDDIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!-

Toto started to glow white as his cries echoed around the clearing. I couldn’t believe it and neither could the Exeggutor who had ceased their attacks in awe.

Toto was evolving!

The Totodile grew at least twice the size it once was. It’s jaws stretched to an even more threatening weapon and it’s claws expanded, ready to pierce even the strongest of metals. As the light faded, the evolved Toto bellowed a ferocious roar.

I checked my Dex:

Croconaw, the Big Jaw pokemon and the evolved form of Totodile. When Croconaw bites an opponent it will not let go until it has defeated the opponent or lost its fangs. Any fangs that are lost or damage heal themselves rapidly.

‘Toto, you evolved! That is so awesome!’, I said amazed.

The Croconaw snarled triumphantly and leaped over me to face the Exeggutor. Inhaling deeply, Toto unleashed a phenomenal stream of water directed at the Exeggutor, twice as powerful as the water attacks it had used as a Totodile, even with his Torrent ability activated. Two of the three Exeggutor went flying backwards from the sheer force of the water attack, back through the trees and out of the clearing.

The third coconut pokemon looked at Toto in amazement, but then it shook its head and its eyes glowed a vicious bright yellow.

Toto fell to his knees and growled in pain, overcome by a strong psychic attack. I tried to recall him into his pokeball but the psychic energy surrounding him was just too strong. I stood there helpless, unsure of what to do.

A sudden purple orb whistled past my head and struck the Exeggutor square in the chest. I looked behind me to see a chuckling Sir Duke spinning another shadow ball on his crooked fingers like a basket ball. He continued to laugh as he made his way over to Toto and lifted him to his feet. The Croconaw nodded gratefully to the Haunter who winked back at him in return. Both pokemon then faced the final Exeggutor who was struggling to its feet and they both snarled malicely. Sir Duke tossed his shadow ball as Toto exhaled another immense stream of water. The water attack seemed to propel the shadow ball. The helpless Exeggutor could only groan and look on as the duo attack advanced towards it.

There was an explosion. A big explosion! The wild Exeggutor was shot into the air on impact and sent flying over the sea of trees and out of sight.

Sir Duke and Toto turned to each other and bro fisted.

‘Wow, you two were amazing!’, I exclaimed, truly impressed how both pokemon could understand one another and work so well together as a team.

‘Toto, take a long rest. You deserve it!’, I said with a tearful smile and returned the Croconaw to his pokeball. I was so proud of him. How he had evolved. And that water attack he used was something else. It was far too powerful to have been a water gun attack. Could it have been a Hydro Pump, I dared to think to myself? But for the moment, I wasn’t too worried about it. The main thing was that everyone was safe.

-Exeggcute!-

We spun around to see six little eggs glaring up at us angrily. I could understand it’s reason for being angry. After all we did blast his friends out of the clearing, but that did not justify it stealing the pokemon egg in the first place. I saw Sir Duke eyeing up the egg pokemon with a wicked smile. I was just about to give him orders to send it packing like the rest of them when Salvadore stepped up beside us.

‘Wait, let me take care of this!’, he said determined, ‘This pokemon has gone astray. It needs a trainer to put it straight’.

I understood what the breeder was suggesting and nodded, slowly backing away from the battle.

‘Clefairy, lets give this another try!’, Salvadore encouraged the fairy pokemon who hopped in front of him at his command. ‘Give it your best double slap attack!’, Salvadore roared in confidence. It was a rare sight to see the breeder this fired up.

Without warning, both Clefairy and Exeggcute lunged at each other. Clefairy unleashed a blitz of powerful slaps while the wild Exeggcute fought back screaming and hopping itself against the fairy pokemon, almost as if it were causing an uproar.

The pokemon kept battling in a crazy brawl. A battle of stamina and strength. After a few minutes of relentless attacking they broke away from each other to catch their breath.

Salvadore, Haunter and I cheered Clefairy on, while Aly played peek a boo with the newly hatched pokemon.

‘C’mon Clefairy, just a little more! You can do it! I believe in you!’, yelled Salvadore.

Clefairy looked back at her master and then leaped up into the air. She spinned mid air, seemingly developing a metallic gloss around her body. In shock at the spectacle I refered to my Dex:

Meteor Mash: The target is hit with a fired iron like fist, just like a meteor. This move may also raise the user’s attack.

We looked on as the Clefairy surged down upon the mesmerised Exeggcute with a flaming iron fist. The egg pokemon cracked and screamed in pain from the intensity of the attack.

‘Pokeball go!’, Salvadore yelled seizing his chance and hurled a free pokeball.

The dazed Exeggcute  was sucked into the pokeball by the red beam. The pokeball twitched on the ground once... twice... three times... and...

Beep!

‘We did it!’, the breeder punched the air in victory and went over to claim his new capture. Clefairy danced happily with her own victory.

The three of us gathered together, trying to absorb the amazing events which had just unfolded before our eyes. We stood in silence for a few moments before I asked a question which had been eating at me this entire time.

‘So, who’s this cute little pokemon?’, I said in a goofy voice waving my finger playfully in front of her face.

‘I know this pokemon. A friend of my brother’s used to have one. It’s called a Togepi!’, Salvadore answered.

A togepi, eh? I checked my Dex:

Togepi, the spike ball pokemon. Togepi’s colourful shell is filled with kindness and it is able to transform the kindness of people into happiness. It then stores this happiness in its shell.

The Togepi wriggled joyfully in Aly’s arms.

I admired the pokemon’s cuteness before asking the definitive question. ‘So, who gets to raise Togepi?’

Salvadore and I instantly glared at each other. We knew that both of us deserved to raise her, but there was only one pokemon and two eager trainers.

My Dex suddenly began to flash. I opened it curiously:

Togepi considers its mother and carer to be the trainer that it first lays eyes on.

Salvadore and I stood expressionless, trying to figure out who Togepi first saw. It was a slow realisation as we both slumped our backs against each other for support and slid down to the ground. Our sentences trailed off each other as we spoke in disbelief.

‘But that means...’

‘That Togepi belongs to...

‘MMMMMMMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!’, Aly screamed definingly in excitement. She held out her new pokemon in her hands and began dancing around the clearing. Dratini swirled around joyously after her. ‘Oh my God, you are totally like the most adorable thing on this planet- No! In the UNIVERSE!!! We’re going to have so much fun together!’

Togepi screamed happily, sharing her happiness with her new trainer.

I bowed my head as Lanette’s words echoed through my head:

‘The trainer does not always chose the pokemon!’

I now understood what she meant. None of us ever had any say in who would train Togepi. Togepi had decided that herself, choosing Aly as her trainer when their eyes first met.

I then smiled to myself. Sure I was disappointed that Togepi had not chosen me. But today I had a newly evolved pokemon, I thought to myself as I stared at Croconaw’s pokeball.

Salvadore stared happily at his new catch too. He now had a mischievous Exeggcute to raise.

I rested against Salvadore’s back and reflected on what had happened today. Overall, I think everything worked out as it was meant to... for the better!

 * * *

‘What’s this? The fool returns to claim his gold? But nay! A thick fog blinds mine eyes. Do the stars and moon betray me? Fear not, for this tempest which I bestow within myself shall he feel and all my revenge come onto him due! Like mine unjust love, thy fate is sealed!’