Bidoof Bibarel Lettuce and the Sandile Witch
Ash, Dawn, and Brock were traipsing through the Ziggurat Forest in the Unova Region.
"I think we're a little lost," Brock said, turning his map upside-down to see if it made more sense that way.
"Well, that's just great. I want to get to Nimbasa City to enter the Pokemon Musical there already!" Dawn exclaimed.
"Nimbasa City has so many attractions…once we get there, we won't be leaving for days," Brock said knowledgeably.
"Yeah, but we gotta get there first. And I'm hungry," Ash complained.
"You're always hungry, Ash Ketchum," Dawn said, tickling him and causing Ash to laugh.
But Ash's laughter was cut short by the fact that the trio fell down a freshly dug hole that was twelve feet deep.
Pikachu was crushed under everyone and released a thunderbolt because it was afraid of being in such a cramped space.
"Ahhhhhhhhhh!" they all yelled, feeling the electric shock. Then they waited to catch their breath.
"How many times have we fallen for this particular trap of Team Rocket's again?" Brock asked, as he got off of Pikachu's tail.
"Sixteen squared times a dozen, times a score, times a million zillion billion?" Dawn suggested.
"Yeah, 'bout that many," said Ash.
Then they looked up and jumped aside as some more people fell down the hole.
"Team Rocket!" the trio shouted, seeing that the three who had fallen in were none other than Jessie and James in their white uniforms, and Meowth.
"Hey, whose idea was it to dig a hole right here and not tell me?" Meowth demanded to know.
"It's not like you're the only one who fell down it," Jessie said, rubbing her back.
"You know what's funny? We didn't even see a covering here…like grass that hides it when we usually dig a hole," James said. "Nothing fell down with us except dirt from the sides."
"How can that be?" Jessie asked, getting up. All three members of Team Rocket looked up at the top of the hole.
"You know what else is funny? We thought you guys dug this hole!" Ash said, chortling.
"Twerps!" Jessie said, as the members of Team Rocket turned to face the trio. "We didn't even notice you there."
"Well of course we didn't dig this hole. Do you think we're so lame that we'd fall down a hole we built ourselves?" Meowth said.
"Yes," Dawn said, snickering.
"I'll show you lame!" Meowth exclaimed, jumping at her with his claws extended.
"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"
The Electric Mouse Pokemon obeyed its trainer…and Meowth fell into a blackened heap after the jolt of yellow struck him.
"If you guys didn't dig this hole, who did?" Brock asked.
"That is an interesting question," James said, peering at the edges of the hole more closely. "This hole is very finally dug. I can't help but admire the craftsmanship."
"Ah, yes. I wish we could dig holes this fine," Jessie said.
Seeing that the two human members were engrossed in their admiration of the hole's structure, Ash, Dawn, and Brock huddled together to come up with ideas for escaping from their current predicament.
"We could have Pidove fly us out," Ash suggested.
"I'm sorry, Ash, but Pidove isn't strong enough to carry one human, let alone three."
"But it was in the movie Harry Meters and the Lumberjack of Ulterior Devices. Harry, Stan, and their teacher Mr. Digbog were stuck in this chamber fall below an out-of-order girls' bathroom, and an Unfezant carried them all out of the chamber effortlessly."
"Ash, first of all, your Pidove isn't an Unfezant, and secondly, movies can bend the laws of physics," Dawn said.
"Maybe I could get Pidove to evolve by battling it a lot. Dawn, just use your Darumaka and I'll send out Pidove," Ash said, getting the right Pokeball off his belt and preparing to toss it.
"Ash, this is crazy!" Dawn said. "There is no way to evolve Pidove from a few battles in a cramped space, and we don't even know if Unfezant is strong enough to carry one human out of a hole, let alone three."
"Maybe it could carry us one at a time," Ash said.
"Still…you can't force Pidove to evolve."
"She's right, Ash. Maybe I should get my Boldore to try to dig us out," Brock said.
"That won't work. You'll just dig us further down. And will you two stop treating this hole as art and help us figure out a way to get out of here?" Dawn asked.
Jessie and James jumped.
"You twerps don't know how to appreciate the work of a criminal mind!" Jessie exclaimed.
"You better believe we don't," said Dawn. "But we need to get out of here, so if you two will please toss some suggestions, it would be helpful."
"We could try climbing out," James said. He put his hands on the edges of the hole and pulled himself up a bit. "See? Easy as p—" but he slipped before he could get any higher.
"Great. Any more bright ideas?" Dawn asked the room at large.
Suddenly, another yell was heard, as a boy plonked face-down into the dirt at the bottom of the hole. He soon uprighted himself. "To think I fell down one of these again," he said, not noticing the others at first, as he brushed dirt off his shirt.
"Excuse me," Brock said, causing the boy to jump. "Oh, I didn't mean to frighten you. I was just wondering if you could tell us anything you might know about this hole."
"No, sorry, I can't," the boy said, not looking anyone in the eyes.
"That's funny. Your comment when you came down here leads me to believe that you can," said Meowth, who had recovered from being hit by Pikachu's attack.
"Did it? No, I've never seen one of these before. Do any of you know how to get out of here?" His eyes were still fixated on the ground.
Dawn rushed at him, slammed him against the edge of the hole. "Listen here, you little snotrag, I am tired of this hole, I want to get to Nimbasa City and enter the Musical there, and I have no patience for liars. Tell us what you know about this hole. NOW!"
The boy seemed to have not heard a word Dawn had said. But his eyes grew big with wonder as he took in her beauty.
"Are you even listening to me?"
"Huh, what?" he asked.
Seeing that he obviously liked what he saw and that he was now listening to her, Dawn tried a different approach. Taking her hands off him, she said, "Will you please tell us everything you know about this hole? If you do, I might even give you a kiss." She winked at him.
"Dawwwwwwwwn…" Ash moaned.
"Cut it, Ash. He'll tell us what we need to know."
That's not what Ash was worried about. But he decided it was best not to voice what was actually bothering him.
"Okay, I'll tell you. But there are a band of kids who will do nasty things to me, like hang me on a flagpole by my underwear, if I tell anybody."
"Are these kids you speak of the ones who made this hole?" Brock asked.
"No, they aren't. But they work for the one who is responsible."
"Don't worry," Dawn said. "We will protect you from them."
Encouraged by her smile, the boy went on. "This hole was made by the Sandile Witch."
"Sandile Witch? What the heck is that?" James asked.
"I think I've heard of her," Meowth said.
"You've heard of her?" Jessie asked.
"Yeah. Remember when we were in Accumula Town and I fell in love with a Purrloin? She told me that there is a Sandile who acts weird around other Pokemon, and smells human, not merely as if it were touched by humans, but as though it had human blood in it as well as Pokemon blood."
"That's because the Sandile Witch is part-Sandile and part-human," said the boy. "Legend has it that a girl studying to be a nurse wanted Sandile to be her partner instead of Audino, and the nursing community said that was forbidden, because Sandile aren't safe to have around sick Pokemon, and besides, Sandile have no healing moves.
"The girl kept Sandile in a closet in the emergency ward she was practicing in, and things were going well, until the Sandile got loose one day and a Stoutland bit it. Turns out the Stoutland had rabies, and Sandile got them too. The nurse-in-training knew that she would have to kill her beloved Pokemon once the rabies got too terrible.
"But she went into the forest and met an old witch there, to whom she told her problem. The witch said that there was a way to save Sandile, which would require the girl to fuse her body with the Pokemon. Her healthy body will conquer the virus in the infected body of her friend.
"The girl thought this a disturbing idea at first, but after the Sandile got really sick – biting a couple of wild Mincinno, the girl decided she had no choice. She allowed the witch to perform the spell that fused her with Sandile. So she saved the Pokemon, and she is able to transform at will."
"What does that have to do with this hole?" Dawn asked.
"I was coming to that," said the boy. "The price for doing what she did was that she had to become the witch's apprentice. She learned how to cast spells, broil potions, etc. And then the old witch died, and the former nurse-in-training took over."
"And?" Dawn asked, tapping her foot.
"And the Sandile Witch created this hole to capture unsuspecting travelers."
"But you aren't an unsuspecting traveler, and you fell down here," observed Brock.
"I was careless. Forgot where this hole was."
"Hey, could you please tell us how come we didn't notice any leaves covering this hole when we fell down here?" James asked.
"Oh, yeah…there is nothing up there that is physically concealing this hole."
"Then how come we didn't see its opening?" inquired Jessie.
"Because magic makes it look like all the grass around it. But there's no way to know it's there unless you've encountered this particular hole before," the boy said.
"Great. Then will you tell us how to get out of it?" Dawn said.
"Sure. The only way out is to kill a bug Pokemon."
"We have to kill a Pokemon?" Ash said, starting to hyperventilate.
"Just a Bug=type. They're everywhere…breeding like Bunneary…why shouldn't we kill one?" the boy asked.
"A Pokemon is a Pokemon is a Pokemon," said Ash.
"Wow, I never knew that," the boy said, sarcastically.
"I am not killing my Swadloon!"
"Relax, Ash," said Dawn. "I'm sure this kid won't make you do anything to Swadloon."
"Yeah, I hope you have a bug Pokemon with you to make the sacrifice," Brock said to the boy.
"Actually, I can't make the sacrifice. I forgot to tell you that the oldest person in the room must kill the bug Pokemon."
All eyes turned to Jessie and James.
"Which one of you is older?" Brock asked.
"We'd rather not disclose that," Jessie said.
"We must know. One of you has to kill a bug Pokemon," said Brock.
"Well, in that case, I am the oldest," said James. "I guess I could part with my Scolipede."
"Wait, you have a Scolipede? Why didn't you say so?" the boy exclaimed.
"What does Scolipede have to do with anything?" Dawn asked.
"Scolipede is the one Pokemon the Sandile Witch fears. If there is a live Scolipede in this hole, and the Witch knows, she will teleport us out of the hole without us needing to kill anything. I'm guessing she's in her human form right now…the Sandile part of her would know there was a Scolipede in one of your Pokeballs, if she were in that form."
James pulled a Pokeball off his belt. "All right, Scolipede,, I choose you!"
As if they weren't cramped already, when an eight-foot tall pink scorpion Pokemon appeared, everyone was pressed against the wall. Dawn felt as if she could barely breathe. She was glad she had left Piplup at the Daycare Center near Striaton City, because Piplup would have been frightened from this experience.
At that moment, they felt themselves being lifted by a Psychic force ten…twelve…fifteen feet above where they had been. Hovering for a few seconds, they were dropped roughly to the ground.
"Ugh," Brock said, his back in pain. "I hope I don't have to deal with the Sandile Witch any more after this."
"Me neither," said Dawn, who pulled herself out from under Scolipede, who had landed on her legs.
"Well, twerps, we'd best being getting off now," said Jessie, as she, James and Meowth quickly got up.
James called his Scolipede back, then said. "Yeah, ciao."
They dashed off.
"I hope they're not up to no good," Ash said.
"They're always up to no good," Dawn said. Both she and Ash laughed at this.
"Hey, kid, thanks for the help," said Brock, as they all got to their feet. "What's your name?"
"Raymond," said the boy, his eyes on Dawn.
"Well, I'm Brock."
"And I'm Ash."
"And I'm—"
"I know who you are," Raymond said. "You're Dawn, daughter of Johanna, and an astounding Pokemon coordinator."
"Wow," Dawn said, blushing. "Are you like a stalker or something?"
"No, just a fan."
"Well, we'd best be getting off to Nimbasa Town," Brock said.
"Yeah," said Dawn. "See ya, Raymond."
They started to walk away, but they heard Raymond shout, "Wait, what about your promise?"
"Promise?" Dawn said, as the trio turned around.
"You said you'd kiss me if I helped you out. And I did, didn't I?"
"Yeah, I guess you did." Dawn went up to him and gave him a quick peck on the cheek, which caused Ash's face to purple. "Will that suffice?"
"Indeed, madam," said Raymond. "That is as much as I could have hoped for."
"I hope you don't get hurt from helping us by those hooligans you told us about," said Dawn.
"Even if I do, it will have been worth it, just for that kiss."
Dawn, still blushing, went over to where Brock and Ash were, and they all went on their way, while the boy stared after them, wishing that Dawn were his girlfriend.