Bacl
22nd May 2003, 02:53 AM
The Champ From Celadon City
by
Brian Andrew Clark Lewis
CHAPTER ONE - The Sewers of Celadon.
I couldn't believe I was still in Celadon. I should be gone by now, and on a boat bound for Johto. But my ship was delayed because of bad weather at sea, and so I find myself still in Celadon City when I should be in New Bark Town. It?s my birthday today, and I'm supposed to be getting my first Pokemon.
I stopped pacing my room long enough to glance out my bedroom window. Celadon's skyline glanced back at me. Nothing but tall buildings and an orange haze. They call Celadon "The Big Orange" because of the smog that constantly fills our skies. Some people hate it, and say it causes poison Pokemon to gather in town. Other people, mostly the people who make the smog, love it. Me? I was born and raised here in Celadon, and so I guess I have a love/hate relationship with it. But right now I guess I hate it, if only because I'd rather be looking at my first Pokemon instead of the smog.
There is no Pokemon Lab in Celadon. Most people around here get their first Pokemon from the casino. Pokemon are offered as prizes, the idea is that they are an award for winning the casino's games. But most people have figured out that you can just buy enough tokens from the cashier to get a prize Pokemon without wasting hours at the slots. Most Pokemon labs offer a choice between fire, grass, and water type Pokemon. These beginning Pokemon are usually rare, and selected not only because of their element type but because they make great Pokemon for beginners and can also stay with that trainer for his or her career. Not so when you grab a prize Pokemon from the Game Corner.
Celadon City's casino offers only three Pokemon: Ekans, Koffing, and Porygon. The Porygon requires so many tokens that only the richest of the rich can afford to buy it directly. That leaves Ekans and Koffing for most people to pick, unless they want to go to another town for a better choice. I wanted a better choice. I wanted a Chikorita.
I grabbed my backpack and slung it over my left shoulder. I then angrily ran down the steps, told my mother I was going out for awhile, and let the slamming of the front door punch out a period at the end of my sentence.
It's only another week, I told myself, over and over. Next Tuesday and you'll be on your way to Johto.
The poison Pokemon that congregate both inside and outside the city limits have given a bad name to Celadon. To try and counter this bad reputation our gym leader, Erika, made the city gym a grass type gym. The idea was to promote trees, and flowers, and forests by using grass type Pokemon. The decision backfired; every challenger with a poison type on their team managed to pummel their way through the gym like a locomotive. Erika had to strengthen her team by using grass/poison types like Victrebell and Venasaur. She's a tough gym leader, and it's technically a grass type gym, but everyone in Celadon knows that the only reason our gym is on the map is because poison runs through the veins of Erika's pokemon.
I walked down the paved streets of our city, and thought about my future Pokemon. My parents had arranged for me to begin my Pokemon quest in New Bark Town, and receive my first Pokemon from the lab there. When I saw the Pokemon I could choose from I instantly fell in love with the adorable green Chikorita. Green is my favorite color after all.
I was so deeply dreaming of my future Pokemon that I almost walked right past the large crowd that was forming by the pond. I snapped out of my reverie and walked over to the edge of the crowd, which had formed along the shore of Celadon Pond. A large man with black hair that was slicked back along his scalp was shouting into a megaphone. The crowd of people seemed enthralled with what he was saying.
"Just look at this pond!" he shouted. "Filthy! Disgusting! This is where our children swim and fish? It smells. It's more sludge then water. I wouldn't put so much as my pinky in this water, let alone swim in it. I sure as heck wouldn't eat anything that came out of it."
The crowd mumbled in agreement. The pond was filthy, but had it always been? Had there been a time when it was clean and clear? As if he sensed my thoughts, the man continued.
"I'll show you why the pond is like this," he shouted into the megaphone. The man then proceeded to take a large fishing net and dunk it in the murky waters. After a few seconds he pulled in the net, and as the filthy water dripped away it became clear he had caught a Pokemon. It was a Grimer.
"Griiiiiimer..." the Pokemon spoke.
"This lake is filled with Grimer!" he told us. "It's become a serious problem. They came here for no reason I can think of, and they polluted our pond!"
The crowd was getting riled up. Several people shouted back words of agreement. Most made noises of disgust at the sight of the Grimer in the mans net. With an indifferent motion, the man dumped the Grimer back into the Pond and it instantly disappeared.
I spotted a familiar face in the crowd, Roy my next door neighbor.
"Who's that guy?" I asked him.
"The name's Fillamar," he told me. "Some hot shot from out of town. Don't know why he's so concerned with how we do things here in Celadon...but...he makes a good point."
"Do you know where the Pokemon for our casino come from?" Fillamar asked the crowd. "The owner hires Pokemon poachers to bring in Koffing and Ekans by the truckload. Then all the kids get themselves a poison Pokemon, play with it for a few weeks, and abandon it like all the others. Where do you think those Pokemon go? Do they just disappear? Or do they stay in town and bring pollution with them?"
I wanted to ask Fillamar if the pollution really came from a released Ekans, or those rows of industrial factories we have in town.
"I say it's time you hired a Pokemon poacher to bring poison types OUT of Celadon. I say it's time...you hired me."
There was something wrong with the way the crowd immediately agreed. There was something wrong with the mysterious stranger who proudly called himself a poacher. There was something wrong in Celadon City.
by
Brian Andrew Clark Lewis
CHAPTER ONE - The Sewers of Celadon.
I couldn't believe I was still in Celadon. I should be gone by now, and on a boat bound for Johto. But my ship was delayed because of bad weather at sea, and so I find myself still in Celadon City when I should be in New Bark Town. It?s my birthday today, and I'm supposed to be getting my first Pokemon.
I stopped pacing my room long enough to glance out my bedroom window. Celadon's skyline glanced back at me. Nothing but tall buildings and an orange haze. They call Celadon "The Big Orange" because of the smog that constantly fills our skies. Some people hate it, and say it causes poison Pokemon to gather in town. Other people, mostly the people who make the smog, love it. Me? I was born and raised here in Celadon, and so I guess I have a love/hate relationship with it. But right now I guess I hate it, if only because I'd rather be looking at my first Pokemon instead of the smog.
There is no Pokemon Lab in Celadon. Most people around here get their first Pokemon from the casino. Pokemon are offered as prizes, the idea is that they are an award for winning the casino's games. But most people have figured out that you can just buy enough tokens from the cashier to get a prize Pokemon without wasting hours at the slots. Most Pokemon labs offer a choice between fire, grass, and water type Pokemon. These beginning Pokemon are usually rare, and selected not only because of their element type but because they make great Pokemon for beginners and can also stay with that trainer for his or her career. Not so when you grab a prize Pokemon from the Game Corner.
Celadon City's casino offers only three Pokemon: Ekans, Koffing, and Porygon. The Porygon requires so many tokens that only the richest of the rich can afford to buy it directly. That leaves Ekans and Koffing for most people to pick, unless they want to go to another town for a better choice. I wanted a better choice. I wanted a Chikorita.
I grabbed my backpack and slung it over my left shoulder. I then angrily ran down the steps, told my mother I was going out for awhile, and let the slamming of the front door punch out a period at the end of my sentence.
It's only another week, I told myself, over and over. Next Tuesday and you'll be on your way to Johto.
The poison Pokemon that congregate both inside and outside the city limits have given a bad name to Celadon. To try and counter this bad reputation our gym leader, Erika, made the city gym a grass type gym. The idea was to promote trees, and flowers, and forests by using grass type Pokemon. The decision backfired; every challenger with a poison type on their team managed to pummel their way through the gym like a locomotive. Erika had to strengthen her team by using grass/poison types like Victrebell and Venasaur. She's a tough gym leader, and it's technically a grass type gym, but everyone in Celadon knows that the only reason our gym is on the map is because poison runs through the veins of Erika's pokemon.
I walked down the paved streets of our city, and thought about my future Pokemon. My parents had arranged for me to begin my Pokemon quest in New Bark Town, and receive my first Pokemon from the lab there. When I saw the Pokemon I could choose from I instantly fell in love with the adorable green Chikorita. Green is my favorite color after all.
I was so deeply dreaming of my future Pokemon that I almost walked right past the large crowd that was forming by the pond. I snapped out of my reverie and walked over to the edge of the crowd, which had formed along the shore of Celadon Pond. A large man with black hair that was slicked back along his scalp was shouting into a megaphone. The crowd of people seemed enthralled with what he was saying.
"Just look at this pond!" he shouted. "Filthy! Disgusting! This is where our children swim and fish? It smells. It's more sludge then water. I wouldn't put so much as my pinky in this water, let alone swim in it. I sure as heck wouldn't eat anything that came out of it."
The crowd mumbled in agreement. The pond was filthy, but had it always been? Had there been a time when it was clean and clear? As if he sensed my thoughts, the man continued.
"I'll show you why the pond is like this," he shouted into the megaphone. The man then proceeded to take a large fishing net and dunk it in the murky waters. After a few seconds he pulled in the net, and as the filthy water dripped away it became clear he had caught a Pokemon. It was a Grimer.
"Griiiiiimer..." the Pokemon spoke.
"This lake is filled with Grimer!" he told us. "It's become a serious problem. They came here for no reason I can think of, and they polluted our pond!"
The crowd was getting riled up. Several people shouted back words of agreement. Most made noises of disgust at the sight of the Grimer in the mans net. With an indifferent motion, the man dumped the Grimer back into the Pond and it instantly disappeared.
I spotted a familiar face in the crowd, Roy my next door neighbor.
"Who's that guy?" I asked him.
"The name's Fillamar," he told me. "Some hot shot from out of town. Don't know why he's so concerned with how we do things here in Celadon...but...he makes a good point."
"Do you know where the Pokemon for our casino come from?" Fillamar asked the crowd. "The owner hires Pokemon poachers to bring in Koffing and Ekans by the truckload. Then all the kids get themselves a poison Pokemon, play with it for a few weeks, and abandon it like all the others. Where do you think those Pokemon go? Do they just disappear? Or do they stay in town and bring pollution with them?"
I wanted to ask Fillamar if the pollution really came from a released Ekans, or those rows of industrial factories we have in town.
"I say it's time you hired a Pokemon poacher to bring poison types OUT of Celadon. I say it's time...you hired me."
There was something wrong with the way the crowd immediately agreed. There was something wrong with the mysterious stranger who proudly called himself a poacher. There was something wrong in Celadon City.