In issue 68 of the monthly Pokémon World magazine we ran a competition to become a Pokémon Ambassador! It involved writing a story about a favourite Pokémon, and doing drawings to go with it. Well, this is the winning entry from Jenna Crosbie!

TAKING A DIP
Mudkip groaned. He had dropped his Pokéagent Spy Glasses into the pond. Not again! He needed them for the spy meeting this afternoon! “Oh well. I shall have to go and get them,” he grumbled, and dived into the pond.

He switched to breathing water and swam slowly down, deeper and deeper into the murky depths of the pond. Soon he caught a glint of light in the corner of his eye, just like the sun reflecting off his glasses. Cautiously, he swam towards it.
Sure enough, there were his glasses. Mudkip sighed with relief. “Phew!” he cried, as he blew off some of the sand that had coated the glasses. Then he noticed something else. A bottle with a crumpled piece of paper inside was wedged firmly between two jagged rocks.
“Wow – the Spy Agency would be impressed with that,” grinned Mudkip, his eyes shining, “It could be important!”
So Mudkip set to work pulling out the bottle. It was a lot harder than it looked. No matter how much he tugged at it, it wouldn’t budge. Finally he was so fed up that he felt like leaving! But instead he slipped on his Spy Glasses for extra confidence and gave an almighty HEAVE! The bottle moved a tiny amount.
“Well, if that’s how you want it…” Mudkip growled. His fury gave him a sudden burst of strength. In fact, his anger made him twice as strong and in one gigantic pull he managed to get the bottle free. Excitedly, he dashed to the surface and hauled the cork out of the bottle. Mudkip gasped – it was a treasure map. A real treasure map!

LATE AGAIN
Captain Umbreon sighed. Everyone had come to the meeting except Mudkip. “Where is he?” he murmured, tapping impatiently on his desk. Just then, a rather soggy-looking Mudkip burst into the room holding a roll of crumpled paper.
“Sorry I’m late, sir,” he panted, “but I have a good excuse this time – look!” He unrolled the map for all to see.
“My goodness, a treasure map!” exclaimed Captain Umbreon. “I never thought I’d say this, but well done Mudkip!” he grinned, taking the map from Mudkip who was still dripping with pond water.
Mudkip spluttered, “We must find the treasure sir, or someone could find it before us and…” he trailed off.
“And what?” replied the Captain, raising an eyebrow.
“And… erm… I don’t know, but please sir, please can I go and search for it?” Mudkip begged. He desperately wanted to go on a proper spy mission and become a proper member of the Pokémon Spy Agency. Captain Umbreon smiled.
“Prepare a team. Mudkip will be taking two friends on a little mission tomorrow morning,” he announced. Mudkip glowed with happiness.
“Yippee!” he cried, jumping for joy. “I choose, erm… oh, I know… Flareon – and Aipom will be coming too.”
“Very well. Go and pack your bags, and wipe the sand off your Spy Glasses. Honestly, how did that get there?” replied Captain Umbreon kindly, but Mudkip was already out of the door and zooming off to pack his things.

A ROCKET ENCOUNTER
Soon they were off. Mudkip, Aipom and Flareon. Some of the newest member of the Pokémon Spy Agency (or PSA for short), and some of the youngest, too. Young, though they were, they were off on a big adventure that would, although they didn’t know it yet, be the highlight of their lives.
Suddenly Mudkip stopped. He could hear voices! Slowly the three Pokéagents crouched down and peered through some bushes. Mudkip could barely believe his eyes. It was the three troublemakers who had tried to steal from the Spy Agency!
“Team Rocket,” he whispered, narrowing his eyes angrily. He could just about hear their voices.
“Oooh! All we need now is the Diamond and Pearl Bracelet to control the world – I can’t wait!” Mudkip presumed the voice was Jessie because of the high-pitched tone. “With it we can control Dialga and Palkia!” the second voice was deeper, so Mudkip thought it must be James.
“Meowth! That’s right!” came the third voice. You can guess who this was! Then there was a bit of sniggering and footsteps as Team Rocket walked off.
The three friends were left speechless. “We’ve got to stop them!” cried Aipom, jumping to his feet.
“Looks like we’ll have to abandon this mission,” said Mudkip sadly.
“Or maybe not,” announced Flareon, who had begun typing something on her laptop, “Look at this, you two.” The Pokéagents gathered round. On the screen was a large amount of writing, some formulae and numbers.
“Erm – a translation from science language please, Flareon,” said a rather confused Aipom.
“Well, basically, the Diamond and Pearl Bracelet that Team Rocket want could be something to do with this map,” Mudkip smiled, “I’ve got an idea,” he grinned cleverly.

OFF THE SCENT
A few hours later the team were in a busy town square. “Hey Aipom!” Mudkip shouted, “I think I’ve found a treasure map!” he smiled to himself. If shouting this didn’t catch Team Rocket’s attention then the next thing he had planned would, “It says something about a Diamond and Pearl Bracelet!”
Just as Mudkip had expected, the three ice cream sellers nearby dropped their disguises and revealed Team Rocket uniforms and the team slowly approached Mudkip.
“What was that?” asked Meowth innocently.
“Oh, just this ’ere treasure map. You can have it for ten Pokédollars if you like. It was in this bottle on the street. I expect it’s nothing.” shrugged Mudkip, holding up the map.
“Okay, here’s your ten Pokédollars kid, now give us the map or else,” Meowth snarled. Mudkip pretended to look scared. He took the money, it was fake, of course.
“H, h, here y, y, you g, g, go mister.” he said powerlessly. Meowth smirked and walked off. Mudkip smiled and walked off in the opposite direction.
“Hey guys!” Mudkip called to the others.
“It worked?” Aipom asked.
“Yup,” replied Mudkip, holding up the real map, “they took the fake. They’ll end up walking straight to a police station!” Everyone laughed.
“We’d better get searching, who knows how long it could take to reach the treasure,” Flareon advised. The agents nodded and soon they were on their way again.

CAVE EXPLORING
On the journey following the map Mudkip got more and more excited about what they might find. Was there more than the bracelet? What if they found something even better? He couldn’t stop wondering, nor could Aipom or Flareon. They were all hoping to find something very different. Mudkip wanted a game for his Nintendo DS, Aipom wanted a huge Diamond and Flareon wanted a sparkling pearl. But as the days went on and there was no sign of any of the landmarks on the map, the agents began to wonder if they were lost. Suddenly Aipom, who was up a tree looking around, spotted something.
“Look, a cave! I can see a cave!” he shouted.
Mudkip checked the map, “It says that the treasure is in a cave, let’s go and check it out.” he said glumly. It was about the tenth cave they had come across that week. He yawned, but walked towards it anyway. Aipom seemed disappointed.
“You don’t think it is, do you?” he asked Mudkip.
“Is what?” Mudkip asked, clearly very puzzled.
“The treasure cave. The cave on the map.”
At Aipom’s upset voice, Mudkip put on his biggest fake grin, “Of course I do!” he beamed, “It’s just that I’m tired out,” he yawned hugely and falsely.
Aipom scampered down the tree. “Really?” he asked.
“Really.” Mudkip lied back.
“Aww, Mudkip you’re the best.” smiled Aipom. “Look, we’re there.” Sure enough, they were standing in the entrance of a huge, deep, black cave.
“Wow!” exclaimed Flareon.
The three agents tiptoed into the vast cave. Water trickled from the walls and shadows sneaked behind the three terrified spies as they crept further and further into the darkness. The only light came from the lantern that Flareon had lit with her tail. Mudkip shivered, and not from the cold.
Soon they entered a colossal cavern. To Mudkip’s surprise there was electric lighting on the walls and ceiling. On the ground were rows of small, flat stone slabs, each with a letter on it. “I don’t get it. This makes no sense. Looks, there’s a ‘H’ on that one, and there’s an ‘I’, but they are the only letters I recognise,” frowned Mudkip.
Flareon was already looking it up on her laptop, “This isn’t English writing, it’s old Pokémon cave script.”
Aipom suddenly pointed to a boulder, “Look! More writing!”
Flareon walked over, “According to this…” she pointed at the laptop, “…the writing on the boulder says…

One word true,
Another rejected.
Only the answer,
Shall be selected.
To solve the riddle,
Step on the stones.
Get it wrong?
Crunch go your bones.
To get it right,
Look with your eyes.
Roll me away,
To receive your prize.

WORKING IT ALL OUT
The three friends were silent for a moment. Aipom, who loved puzzles, realised what to do. “Okay, basically we’ve got to roll away this boulder, read a riddle and step on the letters
of the answer in the right order to get to the other side of the cavern and get the Bracelet.
Flareon nodded, but Mudkip didn’t understand. “So,” he asked, “If the answer was, uh, chicken, then we have to step on letter ‘C’, then ‘H’, then ‘I’…”
“Yep, you got it!” interrupted Aipom, who was already trying to push the boulder away, “C’mon you guys, a little help would be nice!”
With everyone pushing the boulder rolled away quite quickly and soon it had rolled on to a large round rock on the floor. This triggered another boulder to roll across the entrance to the cavern!
“On great, now we’re trapped!” moaned Aipom, but Mudkip was looking where the boulder has been. “I think this is the riddle!” he called.
Flareon translated was it said, “The one thing you cannot escape…”
Unexpectedly, the lights went out.
Mudkip began to see things before himself, “What… guys? I, I…” he said down, then lay down, then blacked out!
As things began to get brighter Mudkip could make out two Pokémon. “I am Dialga,” said one.
“I am Palkia,” said the other, “Free us – it is your destiny, you cannot escape it!” The Pokémon faded and Mudkip woke up. The first thing he saw was two faces – Aipom and Flareon. “I know the answer,” Mudkip said quietly.
“What?” asked Aipom softly.
Mudkip got up and trod on the nearby stone with ‘D’ on it. He found to his astonishment that he could read the old Pokémon script. Next came an ‘E’, then ‘S’, ‘T’, ‘I’, ‘N’ and ‘Y’. Mudkip had stepped to the other side of the cavern. The lights flickered back on and the boulder rolled aside. The Pokémon friends were no longer trapped. There in the entrance stood Team Rocket. They were drenched to the skin, covered in bruises and Meowth had a black eye.
“Talk about extreme weather – what a downpour!” cried James.
“Yes, and my hair’s ruined. I am soaked, it’s bucketing it down!” added Jessie.
“Yow!” cried Meowth, “My eye
really hurts!”
Aipom folded his arms, “You three definitely smell much better after a shower!” he spat.
“Yeah! You stink at everything!” Flareon shouted.
“Except being losers,” mumbled Aipom to himself.
Mudkip took the bracelet from the stand. Everyone stared at him. Two huge statues of Dialga and Palkia rose from under the ground. Mudkip took a deep breath and pulled the bracelet in half. The statues went from grey to coloured. From rock to skin. From dead to alive. From trapped to free. The two legendary Pokémon flew around in delight. A twist, a turn, a forward roll, a backflip – all in the air.
Dialga flew down to Mudkip.
“How ever can we repay you?” the Pokémon asked.
“Well, there is one thing…” grinned Mudkip. Then he told them his plan.

“Yee-hah!” cried Mudkip, Aipom and Flareon as they rode on Dialga’s back, “We can fly!”
Down below Team Rocket scowled, “We wanna fly too!” they shouted.
“Okay!” bellowed Palkia, aiming a powerful beam at Team Rocket. They flew into the air.
“Aaarrrgghh!” cried James, Jessie and Meowth together! Mudkip laughed.
“Where next?” asked Palkia.
“Home, sweet, home!” grinned Mudkip happily. In the distance Team Rocket screamed, “We’re blasting off again!”

PRIZE GIVING
“And the next medal goes to… Aipom!” announced Captain Umbreon, “…for bravery. And here I have a medal for… Flareon.” The Captain was proudly passing around prizes. “And now to… Dialga and Palkia!” there was much cheering and clapping as the four Pokémon received their medals, but Mudkip looked on quite sad – had he been overlooked at the Pokémon Spy Agency again?
“Hush, please,” shouted Umbreon, “now for some sad news. I, Captain Umbreon, leader of the Pokémon Spy Agency, am retiring.” The hall fell so silent you could have heard a feather floating to the ground. “So I need to find a new captain. Someone who does what is right, who is loyal and well behaved,” announced the old Captain. “I choose you, Mudkip!” A huge cheer arose as Mudkip stood before the PSA as their new leader.

It was the best day of Mudkip’s life!

THE END

Hi Pokémon World readers!
My name is Jenna Crosbie, I am 11 years old and I live on the Isle of Wight. My favourite Pokémon are Mudkip, Flareon and Aipom. I got the idea of a Pokémon Spy Agency when I was in class one day and I thought it would be good to put in a book. I hope you enjoy the story!
Jenna Crosbie, Pokémon Ambassador