Part 4: A Clefairy Tale Ending!

        . . .

‘METAPOD!’, I yelled in desperation, watching as my newest pokemon disintegrated, a crumbling cocoon of lost hope-

        A sudden bright light shone from the crack on Metapods shell, almost blinding the unexpecting Sudowoodo.

My emotions turned from that of despair to amazement. What was happening to Metapod?

‘This can’t be!?’, gasped Salvadore, ‘I’ve never seen an evolution under such circumstances!’

Metapod was evolving!?

A silhouette of a curvy winged creature rose from the shining cocoon. The old shell started to fade and disintegrate into dusts. As the light faded it revealed a butterfly pokemon. I checked my Dex:

Butterfree, the butterfly pokemon and the evolved form of Metapod. The water repellent powder on its wings allows it to collect honey during the rain.

I was quickly overcome with a mixture of joy and disbelief.

‘Wow, what a cuttie!’, screamed Aly in awe.

‘Wow, Butterfree’, I chuffed, fighting back a tear, ‘You look amazing! Sorry for putting you through this. I completely understand if you don’t want to battle. We can always try-’

-Freee-ee-ee-ee!!!-

Butterfree shook her head and fluttered her wings.

‘You still want to battle? After everything you’ve been through?’, I asked in amazement.

She nodded.

I could not believe it. ‘Alright! Lets see what you can do!’ I checked my Dex for an analysis on Butterfree.

Butterfree attain multiple moves upon evolution, including poisonpowder, stun spore, sleep powder and the unusual psychic move, confusion.

‘So, you still want to battle?’, said Salvadore, regaining his composure, ‘Very well then. Sudowoodo, keep your guard up. We still have the advantage but we must be vigilant. Now, lets get this battle restarted! Take this thing down once and for all with rock throw!’

The weary Sudowoodo shook its head and readied itself for battle. Butterfree was now faced with her first challenge as her new evolution.

Suddenly, a wave of rocks went flying towards Butterfree. Sudowoodo was throwing rocks of all sizes at a ferocious pace but my new pokemon was elegantly weaving through the sediments.

With a burst of confidence from Butterfree’s evasion skills I decided to take some control, ‘Butterfree, use stun spore!’

The butterfly pokemon zipped pasts the hurling rocks and flapped it’s silky wings, omitting a hazy yellow powder in the direction of Sudowoodo.

‘Sudowoodo! Get out of there!’ But Salvadore’s orders were fruitless. The imitating pokemon was brought to its knees with the paralysing powder, flinching from the toxin’s effects.

Fate had just turned in our favor. It was time to end this battle. ‘Butterfree, finish this! Use Confu-’

‘Wait! Stop!’, Salvadore called out abruptly, gritting his teeth, ‘I forfeit’, he sighed.

‘Butterfree, don’t attack!’, I commanded urgently, stunned by the gym leader’s decision.

Butterfree hovered silently over the paralysed Sudowoodo. It was squinting and panting heavily, in obvious pain.

Salvadore calmly walked across the rugged battlefield and laid his hand gently on Sudowoodo’s shoulder. ‘Thank you for putting up such a great performance. You did great. Now here, take a long deserved rest.’ Salvadore took out a pokeball and withdrew his injured pokemon.

Salvadore proceeded across the rest of the gym and gave me a smile. Butterfree fluttered over to me and rested on my shoulder.

‘What you just did there was quite remarkable. Both you and your pokemon deserve this.’ The gym leader reached into his inner jacket and took out a small grey badge in the shape of a rock. ‘In recognition of your victory I present you with the Boulder Badge!’ He held out the badge and I hesitantly took it, resting it softly in the cuff of my palm.

‘Thank you so much!’, I said grateful yet confused, ‘But why did you stop the battle?’

Salvadore looked at me through his narrow eyes, ‘Sudowoodo had had enough. It was in pain and I didn’t want to let it get badly injured. Besides, you proved your worth as a trainer and although you still have a long way to go I believe you’ll eventually reach your dream in becoming a pokemon master. I have a dream as well but my duty here as a gym leader comes first. Congrats again!’

I listened carefully to his explanation, understanding his actions of wisdom and experience. Maybe I should have stopped Metapod from battling... but then it wouldn’t have evolved into Butterfree!

Grinning at my achievement I clipped the Boulder Badge onto the inner lining of my shirt, ‘Thanks again Salvadore. I did learn a lot!’, I said shaking the gym leader’s hand. I then turned my head to the Butterfree perched on my shoulder. ‘Butterfree, I owe you so much. I could not have won this badge without you.’ Butterfree happily fluttered her wings. ‘I like to give nicknames to my pokemon. Since you gave me belief when I needed it most, I thought Hope would be a perfect name for you. Is that cool with you?’

Butterfree sprung off my shoulder and started dancing and twirling in mid air. I guess she liked the name.

‘Good job you two!’, Aly came running over, ‘And Hope is a beautiful name for a beautiful pokemon.’

Butterfree spun in the air once more, overjoyed with compliments.

‘Thanks Aly, couldn’t have done it without you and Dratinis’ support too.’ I was grateful for everyone’s support. I then remembered Toto and decided it would be best to take him to the pokemon centre sooner rather than later.

‘We better get going’, I said hastily, ‘I think Toto could do with some treatment from the pokemon centre.’ Aly nodded in agreement. I thanked Salvadore once more and left for the pokemon centre with Aly, eager to continue my quest to become a pokemon master!

*  *  *

After collecting a healthy Toto we walked outside the pokemon centre and checked the Pokegear. Using the GPS App on my hi tech watch we searched for the next closest gym.

‘According to the pokegear the closet gym is to the east of here, in Cerulean City’, I said eyeing up my next destination.

‘But look’, Aly said, pointing at the digital map, ‘To get there we have to go through Mt. Moon.’

I looked at her a smiled greedily, ‘Even better! I bet there will be awesome pokemon that I can catch there!’

Aly laughed at my naive determination. Dratini smiled and slowly nudged Aly’s cheek.

Suddenly, two police cars lead by Officer Jenny on her motorbike zoomed past us, all sirens flashing.

‘Don’t see that very often. Wonder what’s going on?’, I questioned the unusual incident.

Again, another car came speeding down the road, but this was more like an opened aired jeep. I was shocked to see that the driver was Salvadore. We waved our arms in the air frantically and the large green jeep came to a screeching sudden stop beside us.

‘Hey Salvadore, what’s going on!?’, I asked.

‘I just got a phone call from my father’, he quickly replied, ‘He said that there are a gang of crooks causing problems in Mt. Moon and asked me to come down right away!’

‘We have to go through Mt. Moon anyways so maybe we could help?’, I suggested.

‘Well, it could be dangerous... but if you really do wanna help out... Sure, hop in!’

We did not delay in jumping into the front of the Jeep beside Salvadore.

‘Hold on!’, he said putting his foot on the gas. The vehicle took off at a fast pace.

We raced through the towering metropolis of the city centre, startling the local pedestrians. We soon made our way through the city suburbs and eventually onto Route 3. The road had many potholes causing the jeep to bump and bobble along the road. Dratini coiled tighter around Aly for safety as we went up the inclining path. The further we traveled, the more rocky the terrain became leaving only rough patches of grass on either side of the road.

I was wondering how long it would take us to get there when we noticed the police cars and a giant truck facing them up ahead. They were parked up outside a cave entrance, roofed by a grassy mound that went back for miles, as far as the eye could see.

As we approached the scene it became evident that a pokemon battle was ensuing between the facing vehicles. Officer Jenny and an older man were teaming up with their weakened Growlithe and Onix respectively. They were facing two opponents in matching black outfits with an ‘R’ at their chrest, both of whom were unfortunately familiar with a Raticate and a Primeape at their command.

‘Look!’, I shouted over the roar of the engine, ‘Its Cassidy and Ben(?) from Team Rocket!’

‘You know those crooks?’, asked Salvadore astonished.

‘Unfortunately so’, replied Aly.

We pulled up in a skid beside the police cars. Four police officers were waiting by their vehicles to detain the villains when the battle ended... if it ended in victory... A young man with wavy hazel coloured hair and dressed in a lab coat stood behind them, spectating the battle.

Aly, Salvadore and I hopped out of the Jeep and ran to the aid Officer Jenny and the mysterious bearded man. Team Rocket grunted at our presence.

‘Look Butch, its those twerps again!’, snarled Cassidy.

‘Ugh, those annoying kids!’, mumbled Bart(?), ‘They won’t interfere with us this time!’

‘Those stones you stole belong to the clefairy and those fossils should be in a museum for everyone to see. Now give them back!’, yelled the old man huskily.

‘Sorry, grandpa’, taunted Cassidy, ‘But with those pathetic pokemon there is nothing you can do to stop us.’

Sadly she was right. Both Growlithe and Onix looked in bad shape, evidently weakened by the menacing Raticate and Primeape who were still full of energy.

Salvadore stepped up, bracing a pokeball in his hand. ‘It’s ok Dad. Aly, Robin and I can handle this lot. Right guys?’, he said looking back at us.

It took me a few seconds to respond as I realised that the aged man was Salvadore’s father. I snapped myself into concentration and stepped up along side Salvadore. Aly joined us as Dratini unwrapped herself from her usual resting place and prepared for battle. Officer Jenny and Salvadore’s father withdrew their pokemon.

‘Three ganging up on two? What a despicable thing to do!’, moaned Borris(?).

‘That’s rich comin’ from you, Barry!’, Aly spat back in disgust.

‘THE NAME’S BUTCH!!!!’

‘It doesn’t matter!’, smirked Cassidy, ‘If they want to fight dirty then so will we!’

The evil madam took out another pokeball and threw it with vigor. ‘Drowzee, stop these fools from meddling in our plans!’

I checked my Dex:

Drowzee, the hypnosis pokemon. It can sense people's’ dreams through its long nose. It likes to feed off fun dreams with its psychic powers.

This pokemon seemed tough but not that fast. Speed was our best option.

‘Go, Peeks!’, I yelled as I through my pokeball and the small electric mouse pokemon jumped out, ready for battle. Dratini hovered over beside Pikachu and let out a small battle cry.

‘How dare you interfere with the Clefairys’ habitat, their home and taking what is not yours!’, roared Salvadore readying his pokeball, ‘For this you will pay! Go, Aerodactyl!’, the gym leader flung his pokeball into the air and from it swooped a gigantic winged beast with frightening talons and rocky pointed tail. Stunned by the audacity of the pokemon I checked my Dex:

Aerodactyl, the fossil pokemon. Aerodactyl is a prehistoric pokemon that is said to have ruled the skies with its high pitched cries.

The ancient pokemon glided alongside Dratini and Peeks, shadowing them in its presence. Even Team Rocket seemed nervous of Aerodactyl’s menacing presence. I was kind of relieved that Salvadore had not used that pokemon in our gym battle.

‘Primeape, deal with Dratini. Fury Swipes!’, ordered Bob(?).

‘Drowzee, take down that over grown bird with psybeam!’, screamed Cassidy, ‘And Raticate, use quick attack on that pikachu!’

‘Dratini, dodge it!’, retorted Aly. Dratini frantically floated side to side to avoid a blitz of fury swipes but was caught by one of Primeape’s quick right-hand jabs.

‘Match it with your own quick attack, Peeks!’, I yelled and Peeks took off at lightning pace. Both went full throttle crashing into each other, sending the other tumbling backwards on impact.

‘Aerodactyl, dodge and aerial ace!’, Salvadore commanded cooly yet focused. The flying fossil pokemon spiraled sideways in the air to dodge the Drowzee’s psychic waves. It then spread its wings and slashed through the air, striking the hypnotic pokemon with its incredible strength and speed. An infuriated Cassidy screamed at Drowzee to get up and fight back but the dream eater was flat on its back, unconscious. Aerodactyl, soared up into the warm afternoon sky and screeched in victory

Dratini was still brawling with the relentless Primeape. It swerved and coiled around an onslaught of fury swipes but could not get an attack in.

Peeks and Raticate glared at one another maliciously, as if they were threatening the other to make the first move. They both looked determined but then Raticate flinched in pain as a crackle of static sparked across its fur. Could it have been somehow paralysed?

I was just about to order an attack when a Clefairy appeared from the top of Team Rocket’s get-away truck.

-Clefairy! Clefairy!-

It pointed and shouted at Cassidy and Bert(?), its face upset and flustered. All the pokemon and trainers suddenly withheld their attacks and commands, focusing our attention on the squabbling Clefairy. Amidst the silence I checked my Dex:

Clefairy, the fairy pokemon and the evolved form of Cleffa. Clefairy uses its back wings to collect moonlight and are difficult to find.

Woah! Sounds like a rare pokemon.

Suddenly, more clefairy started to emerge from either side of the Team Rocket Truck. There were at least ten, probably more, marching in time with one another as if the following the first clefairy’s commands. They surrounded Team Rocket and their pokemon, much to the relief of Dratini. They waved their arms from side to side in sync, almost like they were in a trance.

-Clefairy!-

They all chanted at once in time to the hypnotic movement of their tiny arms.

‘Hey, what’s the big idea?’, complained Cassidy.

‘Yeah, scram you little squirts!’, barked Brendan(?).

‘Aahh!’, Salvadore’s father spun around and spread his arms, ushering us backwards.

‘What’s going on, Flint?’, asked the worried Officer Jenny.

‘The Clefairy are using metronome against Team Rocket!’, yelled Flint. I didn’t know what metronome was but the old man’s face told me I didn’t want to get too close when it happened.

‘Wh-what’s metronome?’, I mumbled in confusion.

‘Metronome is a bizarre move where a pokemon can stimulate their brain, allowing them to performing almost any attack at random, even those that would not normally be associated with their type’, answered Salvadore in exquisite detail.

They could use any move? I instantly understood why Flint was so worried. With that many clefairy performing metronome who knows what could generate? Something as dangerous as an earthquake, or maybe something even worse...

Cassidy and Bono(?) slowly edged closer together with their pokemon, uncertain what was about to happen. There was a sense of unease among everyone.

-Cluuh-FAIRY!!!-

All of a sudden, the dancing clefairy came to a halt and raised their arms in the air. I had a feeling that whatever attack they were about to use, we were surely going to find out now.

A dead silence swept across the rugged mountain side. All eyes focused on the clefairy.

Without warning the group of clefairy started flapping their pink arms and they tip toed on the spot. There was no order or synchronisation in their movements. It was like they were...

‘Talk about an unlucky metronome’, sighed Salvadore, ‘Of all the moves they could have generated it had to be Splash?’

Team Rocket went from horror to hysterics. They held their sides in laughter.

‘Oh, I’m so scared’, mocked Cassidy sarcastically, ‘Don’t hurt us.. with Splash!’

She sputtered out her last words and erupted in laughter again.

There were looks of relief yet anger amongst us. Then, I noticed that the clefairy on top of the truck was still swaying it’s hands side to side, preparing its own metronome attack. It surely couldn’t produce an attack worse than splash?

        -CLEFAIRY!!!-

The supposed leader of the Clefairy squealed and happily came to a stop. The clefairy opened it’s mouth and a strange aura of white light started to grow, bigger and brighter by the second. Even Team Rocket took a break from their hysterics to view the spectacle. The fairy pokemon kept its mouth open until the expanding ball of light was nearly the same size as clefairy’s entire body. With a sudden jerk of the head the clefairy lunged itself forward, turning the white energy into a ferocious beam of light.

        The beam bolted through the air towards a shrieking Team Rocket.

        ‘Clefairy used Hyper Beam!’, exclaimed Aly in shock as the gigantic beam of energy bore down on the villains, suppressing their screams.

        The loud explosion sent out shock waves of energy. Salvadore and I recalled Peeks and Aerodactyl while Aly hugged on to Dratini for protection. With one final blast Team Rocket were sent shooting into the sky with their pokemon, screaming as they faded into the sunlit sky.

        As the dust from the explosion cleared the other clefairy wobbled around aimlessly, still dazed from the aftermath. The leading clefairy hopped off the top of the truck and took a bow in the middle of the confusion.

        Officer Jenny gave orders to her fellow peers to attend to the truck and its contents.

        ‘Wow, that was amazing!’, Salvadore cheered for the heroic fairy pokemon.

        ‘Well that was quite a display you guys put on.’ I spun around to the voice of the wavy-haired spectator. ‘Oh sorry, I do believe an introduction is due’, he continued in a grand voice, ‘My name is Bill and I am a Pokemon Researcher.’

        ‘Hi Bill, my name is Robin and I dream of becoming a pokemon master’, I said shaking his hand firmly.

        ‘Hi, my name is Aly and this is my partner, Dratini. Please to meet you.’ She smiled and curtseyed.

        ‘And no need for introductions with you, Salvadore.’

        The rock gym leader scratched the back of his dark, spiky hair, ‘Hehe, hey Bill!’, he said, almost embarrassed.

        ‘Please to meet all of you’, he said with a smile. He then pondered for a moment before asking, ‘You trainers wouldn’t happen to be going to Cerulean City by any chance?’

        ‘Yeah, I’m challenging the gym there’, I responded with confidence.

        ‘Well, in that case, could I ask you a favor?’

        ‘Sure, what is it?’

        ‘Well, Flint and I have been doing some research on the clefairy and their attachment to Mt. Moon’, he continued, ‘During our research I happened to stumble across this.’ He put his hand into his white overcoat and took out a fist sized rock.

        ‘What is it?’, Aly asked with a puzzle look.

        ‘This is a Moon Stone’, replied Bill, ‘It causes clefairy to evolve into clefable.’

        ‘That’s so cool!’, I said, surprised at the power of such a small rock. ‘So, what do you want us to do?’

        ‘Ah yes, well, we still have a lot of research to continue here but I’d like to get this analysed properly back at the lab. Now, to the north east of Cerulean is my cottage and lab. Since it is quite clear to me that you lot know how to take care of yourselves I was wondering if you could deliver this stone to my wife, Lanette? That’s if its not too much trouble.’

        ‘No trouble at all’, I said without a second thought, ‘We’d be happy to help.’ I gingerly took the stone from Bill.

        ‘Excellent, how kind of you!’, he exclaimed, ‘Just tell Lanette that I sent you. Feel free to take a look around my laboratory too. I have a host of pokemon that you might find interesting and help to fill up your Dex.’

        ‘Wow, thanks!’

        ‘That sounds awesome!’

        ‘Salvadore!’, Flint called his son as he walked over to us, ‘Good job out there. We wouldn’t have been able to hold those thieves up without you and your friends’ help’, his father said with a proud sniff, ‘ I never realised your Aerodactyl was that strong. You are really proving yourself, not just as a great gym leader, but as a great trainer. You even remind me a lot of Brock when he was your age.’

Salvadore looked up in awe at his father, obviously touched by his words.

‘Now, you better get back to the gym and rest up those pokemon. I’ll talk to you later tonight when I’m finished up here.’

‘Bye now’, said Bill, ‘And don’t forget to deliver that stone as soon as you can. It’s really important!’ The researcher walked off to catch up with Flint, who was already helping the officers out with the truck contents.

Aly and I turned to Salvadore.

‘Thanks again, Salvadore’, I said shaking his hands, ‘Whatever your dream is, I know you’ll fulfill it some day.’

He laughed, ‘Haha, maybe someday, you and I both! Take care, both of you.’

‘Eh.. ahem.. yeah, you too’, blubbered Aly as if something was caught in her throat. She seemed a bit disappointed to be saying goodbye. Dratini nodded with a yawn around Aly’s neck.

Salvadore smiled, ‘Good luck guys, you’ll do great!’ He flicked his hand in salute and turned, walking towards Team Rocket’s truck.

‘Well’, I sighed, ‘I guess we better get this stone to Lanette. Bill is counting on us!’

Aly perked up, ‘You’re right!’

‘I always am!’, I said jokingly. She shook her head and laughed at my egocentric humor. With our heads held high we slowly entered Mt. Moon, unaware of the people and pokemon we were about to meet.