Submission - Poetry
Pokemon Trainer Red by Matisse Mozer
Gather around, laddes,
And I’ll tell ye a tale.
A tale not
o’ winnin’ or losin’,
But simply o’ beginnin’s.
Gather around, laddes,
For the tale o’ Red,
The greatest warrior of all.
The tale begins
As most do
With naught but a girl.
Hair floating on wind
Eyes glistening in the waves of tears,
Grins to bring about the plague;
She was Evangeline
Evey Angel Evangeline
And she was divine.
As would be expected,
The lads of the village
Pallet Town, as it were
Wanted—
Needed—
Craved her attention
With iron fists.
Angel Evangeline would not answer.
She was not called this for lack of better phrase.
Each day, she’d go to the temple.
Pray to the gods.
God of Fire, the brave Charmander—
God of Water, the stout Squirtle—
God of Nature, the wise Bulbasaur.
For protection, grace, wisdom
She was needed.
A day occurred to spark conflict.
His name was Blue.
Blue for the eyes of determination
Blue for the air of strength to his heart,
Blue to the sorrow in mind.
He came to her
One fateful night
Flowers in hand
Heart on shoulder.
Evangeline,
He said with sincerity,
I cannot wait for you longer.
I have put life on hold
Wasted my future
Wasted my family
For want of your embrace.
Will you,
He cried,
Finally accept me for me?
Evangeline turned from the altar
With no words.
The flowers remain on the floor.
Enter Red,
Hopeful, young, bright burning Red
Neighbor to Blue for all these years.
He sees Blue,
Idol, friend, and mentor
Enter his home and cry.
Red goes to Evangeline.
For he asks
With his naïve boy mind,
Why would she scorn a friend so?
She wasn’t in the altar.
Red followed her
Across the winter moonlight
To the edge of town
Where the waves to Cinnabar do wash.
She turns to Red
After awkward silence.
Red’s mouth is charred.
She is beautiful.
He asks.
Why, Evangeline?
Blue has loved you since our minds can remember
And waited for not but an embrace.
She smiles sadly.
This is the night,
She says.
My calling.
Tonight,
I die for the fourth God.
Tell Blue that I apologize.
That I, as much as a Woman of Divinity can,
That I love him.
Bright yellow appears!
A wild energy appears!
Red can barely cover his eyes
Much less his ears
To block the shriek
As Evangeline dies to a new God.
She lies there
For a long time.
In her hand, a stone pendant
Carved from fine diamond
Cold as the heavens made it.
Red reaches for the pendant-
Blue appears.
No words
As he runs to the altar
To cradle the corpse
Of a goddess incarnate.
Damn you,
He screams to the Gods,
For your power over us.
Curse you
For claiming what I have wanted
For so long
Have dreamt of caressing
For far too long.
That Hades could give me power
To end you, Gods of my disdain.
With that
Blue is gone.
Rumors fly.
He left of broken dreams.
Left broken of faith?
Left to find apology to the Gods?
Left for a salvage of future time?
During which
Red questions what he has seen.
A fourth God?
He quarries to the head of town
The great Philosopher Oak.
This is impossible,
Oak says.
The three Gods
Are defenders of Pallet.
A fourth?
Inconceivable.
Red clutched the stone
Around his neck
And said nothing.
Explosions!
Darkness!
Screams of infants!
Starving, hysterical, naked!
They look to the outside
And spy an eternal darkness.
Blue is no longer blue.
Black clouds fly from him
Shadows crawl from under him
Pain flows from each crevice
Of his scornful demeanor.
He stands at the Altar
And issues the challenge.
Gods of Pallet!
You dare to take her
And so I have dared
To end you.
This reign of so-called peace
Is at an end.
From the skies
Come the eternal power.
The green dinosaur, commanding nature’s very whim—Bulbasaur.
The red salamander, igniting hope into the peasants—Charmander.
The blue tortoise, comforting mothers of dead and dying—Squirtle.
Blue held forth his own necklace
No different from that of Red
And darkness appeared.
Destroyer of dreams
Apocalyptic madness
Invocation of Armageddon Heartbreak—
Umbreon, black as night
Spawn blacker than hope can ever be.
Red clutches his own necklace—
Evangeline’s fourth God—
And suddenly understands.
Oak grabs Red by the collar—
You can’t go outside!
This is a match of the Gods!
Red tears away
And runs to their aid.
The Gods have fallen!
Bulbasaur, whimpering under Night!
Squirtle, crying as black suffocates him!
Charmander, walking on broken limbs!
I have won!
Blue exclaims.
Now
I shall avenge my Angel.
Enter Red
On his shoulders
Dreams of Pallet.
What are you doing, Red?!
Blue growls.
Red grasps his stone pendant
And understands.
Holds it to the sky
And says what is true—
She loved you, Blue.
That it comes to this
Is a horror none but I shall endure.
Lightning from the skies
An Eden Echo from above
Decorate the skies
Umbreon flinches—
What madness is this?!
Enter the fight;
Enter the Electric Protector of All:
Enter
Pikachu.
Red faces Blue,
Blue to Red,
And then
The skies
Trembled.
Umbreon stared down the mighty Pikachu
And drew itself back for combat
No!
The darkness vanished.
Leaving naught but Divine Electricity
Red
And Blue
Amidst the remnants of innocent Pallet Town.
Blue turned.
He said nothing,
Nor was he seen again.
Days turned to weeks
Weeks to months
Ashes to dust.
He sat alone.
There is more to know,
Red claimed
Staring over the green routes
To all and naught.
More to see.
I must understand.
What came of Blue?
Will he come to us again?
I must know this world.
Beside him
The Angelic spoke
With emerald empathetic woes.
Four Elites block your road,
She sang,
You must study under
Eight leaders
And conquer many others.
Red stood.
A wind blew his hair,
A warmth flooded his heart.
Can you do this?
She asked innocently
Appearing as no spirit
But a girl
As she had been before
And had sacrificed to become.
He began walking
Wind behind him
Faith within him
Something above
Guiding him.
When will you stop?
He turned
With no sorrow
But a longing smile.
When I’ve seen
What Blue saw—
When I’ve understood them all.
Thus began the tale—
Pokemon Trainer Red began.
