A Lesson from Pokémon

by MW Cook

I arrived in Viridian Forest with high hopes. High hopes and a ragamuffin army. It was led by my Squirtle, recently having learned Bubble and looking handsome at level 9. Next was a sly Ratata at level 7. He was followed by a Mankey, my newest recruit at level 5. I was looking for trouble.

It found me.

A bugcatcher challenged me to a fight. I wasn’t worried. I’d heard of these bug catchers before. Their reliance on inferior insect pokémon was a weakness I was ready to exploit. Bugs were vulnerable to fire and flying pokémon. This knowledge, knowledge of the inner workings of the pokémon game, would help me.

Unfortunately, I have no flying or fire pokémon.

It was a hard battle. My ratata was poisoned and my mankey fainted. My squirtle sustained heavy injuries. I was a little humiliating. I limped back to the nearest Poké Center.

The whole way back I was arguing with myself. A bugcatcher almost defeated me. A bugcatcher! The lowest form of pokémon trainer out there! The butt of almost every poké-joke! How can I hope to take on gym leaders, not to mention the Elite Four, if a measly little bugcatcher give me trouble? Why should I bother continuing? I’m obviously not cut out for this sort of thing. Maybe I should devote myself to needlepoint instead.

I want to let you in on a little secret: I’m a bad writer. Seriously, I am. Check out my back posts and you’ll see. Most days I can hardly stand to read my stuff. I’m like the bugcatcher of writers. And for those of you who don’t know Pokémon, that’s baaaaad.

But, on good days, I realize that I am not destined to be a bugcatcher forever. I’ll not wander the tall grasses of Viridian Forest all my life, excited by metapods and kakunas who cannot even defend themselves. No, I’m going PAST Viridian. Viridian Forest will serve a purpose. But it is not where I live. I’m headed to the Indigo Plateau. I’m destined to take on the Elite Four. I plan to be the Pokémon League Champion. Today I train my ratata. Tomorrow my blastoise.

I won’t be a crappy writer forever. And you won’t be a crappy [insert whatever you are/want to be] forever. On we go.