From: Tharag (tharag@aol.com) Subject: [PW!] A Learning Experiance (Jake) Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon Date: 2000/07/14 TITLE: A Learning Experiance AUTHOR: my friend, contact at my e-mail (Tharag@aol.com) It was morning and I woke up but not to the sound of birds singing but rather instead to a huge rumbling. At first I thought it might be an earthquake, but there before my eyes walking was a huge Pokémon one that I had not seen before. Granted there were probably quite a few Pokémon I didn't know about but in all my wildest dreams I'd never imagined one quite like this. Never before had I seen a Pokémon so big, so strong, and so BIG. He looked like he had to weigh at least a ton and he probably could take on a whole team of the biggest and the badest and turn them all into pancakes. He was just so BIG I continued to think as I stared at this giant and I knew one thing and one thing only this guy would be mine. I then tossed my Pokéball with all my strength and it sailed along through the air and hit its mark only to sink shortly into its flesh and bounce right back and land at my feet. I stood in shock and disappointment as the giant disappeared into the distance. I swore right then and there and spoke only two words "next time." I then ate breakfast with Torch and Slash packed up my camp and continued on my journey. I didn't get too far though before I ran into a young Pokémon trainer. "Boy its about time I've been waiting here for a while to battle somebody" said this kid stepping out from behind a tree and by the look of him I was at least 2 years older so I figured this would be easy. After all I was 13 years old and I had sparred Torch and Slash against at least 25 different kinds of Pokémon in the last 2 years I figured I knew a lot, a whole lot more than a kid of 10 or 11 who looked like he had just started his journey "All right little buddy I just hope you don't mind losing I said." Slash went first against the kids Pidgey. "Go Slash, Karate Chop attack now." "Pidgey Gust attack," said the kid. "All right Slash finish it with Seismic Toss," Slash then lifted Pidgey up and threw him pretty high up and what goes up must come down as Pidgey had an awfully rough landing, and the kid recalled it. The kid responded well, "Poliwag go! Hypnosis attack" Slash tried to shake it off but he was not going to be waking up anytime soon. "All right Torch its up to you try using your Agility to avoid to avoid any water type attacks that Poliwag might have." Torch leaped high into the air to avoid a Water Gum Gun attack. "Okay Torch Bite attack." I thought Poliwag was done after Torch almost literally took a bite right out him but he was not. "Poliwag come on Bubble attack there's no way that Growlithe can avoid this." Poliwag connected and Torch fell over on his side shaking in pain, but then in a demonstration of true courage he got to his feet and I called for his most devesting physical attack as Torch KO'd Poliwag with a fantastic Take Down attack for the win. "Way to go buddy you really came through as I gave him a nice pat on the head." The kid congratulated me on my win. "That was pretty good," he said, "your Growlithe doesn't know the meaning of the word quit, he must be well trained, I have never seen a battle where a Pokémon of type disadvantage had managed to pull of a win and not only did you do it once but you did it twice that cannot be easy." I realized after this battle even though I had won I had a whole lot to learn. I traveled along for a while finally stopping at a small pond for lunch I let Torch and the still sleeping Slash out of their Pokéballs Torch then woke Slash up with a little singe on his bottom. Slash promptly jumped in the pond to put the fire out while me and Torch had a nice laugh. Slash looked a little annoyed from the water but got over it quickly and promptly got his revenge splashing Torch, just with a few drops of water. "All right guys enough play time for today," I said, "both of you need some rest before we reach my uncles house in Vermilion." Yes, it was a very tough battle and I had just been real lucky. Just six months before my uncle had wished me luck on my journey and had told me trainer battles are tough and the road just gets tougher with the 8 Gyms and the championship league. He had told me that I should think extra hard and long each time I went into battle. He had said from each battle win or lose you should always try to learn something and you can and must make good use of it. I decided I would learn from my first battle. Rule number one I thought from now on think before you battle don't let yourself get caught again with this type disadvantage stuff. I didn't know all of Torch's and Slash's strengths or weaknesses, but I knew I would have to learn them all and any new Pokémon I received or caught. Just after lunch I heard a noise coming from the bushes over by the trees. Out walked a Sandshrew I decided to capture it. I asked Torch and if he thought he was okay to battle. Torch leaped into fighting position ready to attacked. Torch went with a Bite attack, Sandshrew responded with a Slash attack. Torch then delivered a Take Down and I caught my third Pokémon. That night I stopped at the Route 11/12 Checkpoint Station between Lavender Town and Vermilion City. I decided to buy a magazine at the counter. It had various information on a wide verity of Pokémon species. It also had some charts and things such as one on strengths and weaknesses of different Pokémon. I already knew about stuff like Fire is weak against Water, but a few things surprised me such as my new Sandshrew which was a Ground type was also strong against a Fire type like Torch but weak against Water the same. I knew Fighting like Slash was weak against Flying type but according to what I read also Psychic, Bug and Poison type Pokémon. I continued flipping through the magazine when I found my very big Pokémon friend. The article read, 'Snorlax the sleeping Pokémon,' and indicated that he was a rare Pokémon. As I reading about the sleepy giant I dozed off and a I slept I dreamed of myself sitting on my very own Snorlax's shoulder and with all the Pokémon in the world squashed flat as pancakes and me and Snorlax with our arms raised in victory.