Chapter 117

"Abra, can you use your Psychic powers to help me communicate with this Machop?" asked Alex.

Abra looked at Alex, then at the training Machop and nodded.

It started glowing, and Alex consciously deactivated his Dark powers. A thread of Psychic energy connected the bewildered Machop and Alex.

Alex felt his surroundings fade, as he seemed to see from the perspective of a Machop.

The Machop was the leader of a small band of the same kind in the wild. It was the strongest and most talented Machop in the surrounding.

One day, a human boy came to the area where Machop resided. He seemed eager to catch a Machop. Machop knew that being with a trainer means no shortage of food and resources. Hence, it was eager to join.

It wasn't willing to take the initiative, however, and waited for the human to do so.

The boy came to Machop, and told him about the Viridian City Machamp festival, where the most elite members of its species gathered and fought for supremacy. Machop was enthralled at the prospect of fighting with so many of its kind, as it was invincible most of its life. Machop eagerly stepped forward and expressed its intention to participate.

The young man took a stage rectangular device from his pocket, and pointed it at Machop. The device let out a beeping noise, and the young man checked the result. He then looked at the device, shook his head, and walked away.

Machop was stunned, and started to chase after him. He ignored it at first, but then he angrily unleashed a Gyarados at Machop when it kept yelling behind him. The Gyarados badly injured Machop, and it fainted.

After an unknown amount of time, Machop groggily woke up. It remembered its excitement on hearing about the Machamp festival, and its eagerness to participate. Machop decided to find that human and try again to enter the festival.

It started searching all over the hills, and finally found the young man. It ran towards him, yelling. He looked at Machop in confusion, and then seemed to recall.

"You will be the perfect sharpening stone for it" he said, as he sent out his own Machop, which was wearing a Black Belt.

Machop knew that this one was probably the Machop this man had selected to compete in the Machamp Festival, and challenged it. The Black Belt Machop looked at the other Machop condescendingly and got into a fighting stance. They both exchanged several blows. The Balck Belt Machop could use electricity and fire in its punches. But this Machop fought with persistence, and barely tied with the Balck Belt Machop.

"Huh. Barely okay. Considering you are younger than this wild Machop, I will forgive you" said the man to Balck Belt Machop as he withdrew it. He then looked at the other Machop lying on the ground and said, "You are persistent huh? But unfortunately, persistence it's everything. Your potential is actually good, but compared to my Machop it's a lot worse. I will only accept the best Pokemon, and I fully intend to win the tournament. I can't do that with an untalented loser like you" He then let out an Electabuzz from its Pokeball, and had it paralyze Machop with Thunder Wave. He then cruelly left the paralysed Machop just lying there, and left.

Pokemon would naturally recover from their injuries even if left without care most of the time, but when paralyzed, it had almost no defensive means, and its recovery would be hampered too.

The man intended for Machop to suffer a slow and agonizing death. Machop was afraid and losing hope.

Suddenly, it heard a shuffling sound nearby. It barely earned its neck over to see an Exeggutor moving towards it.

The Exeggutor shuffled close to the Machop and fed it a Pecha Berry. Pecha Berry were the natural cure to even the most severe paralysis.

After Machop ate the berry, it regained its mobility and some of its strength. It ranked the Exeggutor, and asked it for help.

Exeggutor, being a Psychic type Pokemon had some intelligence and the ability to gather information. Machop learnt that the Machamp Festival would take in a few months, and in a city west to their current location. It then thanked the kind Exeggutor and started walking towards the city, determined to participate in the Machamp festival, and defeat Balck Belt Machop.

It walked towards Viridian City, and met a strong trainer with a powerful Machamp. It tried to ask him to be its trainer and have it participate in the Machamp Festival. The man did not agree, but took it to a place with lots of Machop, Machoke and even a few Machamp. Machop spent all its time practising for the tournament. A few trainers tried to catch it, but it did not trust them, due to its bad experiences with the previous human.

They tried to sweet talk it, and tempt it with something called TMs, and gave promised to make him stronger, but it could feel that they were not any good at training it.

Hence, it repeatedly rejected them. It knew that some Machop would be allowed to participate in the tournament, to make up the numbers for the qualifying rounds. It wanted to participate in the tournament this way, and get a chance to beat the trainer and Black Belt Machop.

But it knew in its heart that it was no match for it at its current state, hence it pushed its left during practice every day. It alienated all the Machop in the place, as it felt that they did not understand it.

Its one and only goal was to win the Machop tournament at the Machamp Festival.

"I must catch this strong willed Machop" thought Alex.