Episode 30: Catch of the Day!
Episode 30 in my Fan Fiction series about the Pokémon journey of Ash and Angie. Involves some MorpheusShipping (Ash and Angie liking each other) so if you don't like that idea, stop reading here. The rest, I hope you enjoy this fan-fiction.
It felt rather strange to be traveling without Tracey. True, Ash and Angie had been on their own for quite a while when they first started their journey together, but after they met Tracey, he had been with them for some time now, helping them out on numerous occasions, and surprising them with his fine drawings. So once again they took Route 22, a bit uneasy without their third party member. The weather was really fine, there were just a few clouds, and the sun was shining bright. Ash was whistling an undefined tune and Angie was watching how Shinx and Pikachu were playing with each other while running alongside their trainers. After a little while they reached a lake. The water was clear, and it sparkled in the rays of the sun, almost like it was calling out to anyone that came walking by to take a refreshing dive. Before Ash could decide whether he could live with the extra delay in reaching the Indigo Plateau, a little swim would mean, Angie had changed into her bathing suit, and dived into the water.
"It's really nice, why don't you come in as well?" Angie said invitingly, "are are you afraid of water again?"
"Oh, you just wait!" Ash yelled back, as he stepped into the bushes to change also.
Ash quickly jumped into the water, but didn't resurface again. For a moment there were some bubbles where Ash had gone under, but then... nothing.
"Ash... are you okay?" Angie wondered, as she was getting more worried about where he could have gone.
"Booo!" Ash shouted, as he suddenly resurfaced right behind Angie.
"Why you!" Angie said, sounding quite mad, "You'll be sorry you did that!"
Ash's face changed from a big smirk to a more anxious expression. Angie swung her arm back, and... splashed a lot of water right into Ash's face. As his mouth had dropped open because of the way Angie reacted differently to his prank than he expected, he swallowed some of the water Angie splashed into his face, and started to cough. When Ash caught his breath again, Angie started to laugh, and Ash laughed along with her. They enjoyed their swim so much, no one noticed something was closing in on them, under water...
"I'll race you to that floating branch over there!" Angie shouted at Ash.
"If you like losing, be my guest!" Ash answered, a bit cocky.
"Right, you'll only win if I give you a head start, mister!" Angie boasted back.
"Oh, is that so!?" Ash grumbled, "eat my bubbles!" and he started swimming.
"Hey, not fair!" Angie protested, as she also sped up.
About a meter of fifteen away from the branch that was the finish, Angie overtook Ash, with swift and elegant strokes. And even though Ash tried hard to go faster, Angie was the first to reach the goal.
"So who is the fastest swimmer now?" Angie gloated, while winking at Ash.
"Ah, I got caught in a current..." Ash tried to defend his defeat, but deep inside he was proud of Angie.
Suddenly Ash detected some movement in the water behind Angie. There were some bubbles and then Ash saw a dark shadow moving towards his girlfriend! Angie didn't notice anything yet, since she was too busy cheering for her victory. Ash tried to signal her, by making gestures and waving his arms frantically, but Angie thought he was just uttering his frustration about losing to her.
"Look out, behind you!!" Ash yelled at the top of his lungs.
"Huh?" Angie wondered, as she still didn't understand why Ash was so excited about losing that simple race.
She stopped cheering, and then heard something behind her. "Was Ash trying to warn me?" she thought, as she slowly turned around. Then, with a loud splash, something jumped up from the watery depths, just next to Angie! She yelled in fear, as she tried to swim away from this unknown threat. Ash started swimming towards her, although he didn't know what they were up against, and whether he would be able to help Angie. He just wanted to be there for her. The thing that jumped up from the water, now seemed suspended in the air. Ash looked up briefly, and he thought he recognized the dark silhouette, that was visible. Angie was now at a few meters distance from her "attacker" and looked up also. "I know that shape..." she thought, "it looks like a..."
"It's a Dewgong!" Ash shouted, before Angie could finish her thoughts.
The large water Pokémon fell down in the water again, with a large splash, and disappeared. Angie was still shaking a bit, but suddenly she felt Ash's hand on her shoulder. Angie was startled by that at first, but soon she felt safe to have him so close again.
"Ash, I was so scared..." she confessed, as Ash held her tightly at her shoulders.
"So was I, when I saw that shadow getting closer to you, and I couldn't warn you," Ash said, with an anxious thrill in his voice, "but it's alright now..."
Angie looked into his eyes, and she felt her heartbeat calming down, although not fully. She felt Ash shaking a little as well, just like she did. "I am not afraid any more, but why do I feel like something is about to happen?" she wondered. Then, before she knew it, her lips touched Ash's and they started kissing. She wasn't shaking now anymore, although she felt a thrill through her whole body, on the inside. Ash was surprised in a similar by this sudden kiss, but he was so glad he was still able to kiss Angie, instead of having to rescue her from some unknown danger, that he didn't hesitate very long. For a moment time stood still for them, when suddenly a big thing splashed down in the water to the left of them, and they had to let go off each other.
"What was that?" Ash wondered, still a bit dazed by their sudden embrace.
"You mean the splash... or what just happened?" Angie asked, while blushing.
"The first..." Ash replied, as he also turned red, thinking of the second option.
"Look! It's that Dewgong again!" Angie shouted, as she saw the same Pokémon jumping up again, and landing once more with a big splash.
"I think it is toying with us," Ash suggested.
"Well, if it's action it wants, then two can play that game!" Angie yelled, as she started swimming towards the shore.
"What are you going to do?" Ash asked, as he followed her as fast as he could.
"I am going to catch that Pokémon!" Angie said, as she climbed out off the water, and grabbed her Poké Balls.
Ash had now also reached the shore, and climbed out. He looked at where the Dewgong had gone under, not to be seen again. "Was it gone?" he wondered. Then, right in front of Angie and Ash, it jumped up again, and caused a large wave of water to splash on the two youngsters.
"That's it!" Angie yelled, annoyed at how this Dewgong was toying with her, "cut that out and fight!"
The water Pokémon resurfaced a few meters from where Angie was standing, and remained there motionless, like it was saying: "Bring it on!" Suddenly Ash noticed another shadow moving under water, closing in on the Dewgong.
"Angie! Look!" Ash yelled, as he pulled on the girl's arm.
"What is that?" she thought out loud.
"Maybe another Dewgong?" Ash suggested, "although it is rather big for that."
Their question was answered as a large Magikarp came to the surface. It was Team Rocket's submarine!
"Great..." Angie sighed.
"Taadaa!" Meowth cheered, as his little head popped out off the hatch on top of the submarine.
"What do you want this time!?" Ash shouted, also annoyed at the appearance of the unwanted guests.
"That's easy..." James said, as he appeared next to Meowth, along with Jessie.
"We want that Dewgong!" Jessie finished James's sentence.
"Oh no you won't!" Ash yelled, "that's Angie's Pokémon!"
"We've been watching you for a while, and I believe she didn't catch that Pokémon yet," Jessie answered, "now am I right or not?"
"Besides, even if it was her Pokémon, that never stopped us before from trying to steal it," James added.
"Meowth! Action!" Jessie commanded.
"Alrighty! Fire One!" the catlike Pokémon shouted, as he pushed a button on a small remote control.
The mouth of the Magikarp sub opened, and a torpedo was launched from it, directed at Dewgong. When it was close to the Pokémon, the torpedo busted open, and a large net came out, completely covering the water Pokémon.
"Hey! Let that Pokémon go!" Angie yelled.
"And fire Two!" was Meowth's reaction.
Another torpedo was launched, this time aimed at our two friends. This projectile also contained a net, that came popping out, capturing Ash and Angie.
"So, that's what I call neatly wrapped up!" Meowth laughed.
"Time to reel in our catch!" Jessie said.
"Oh Dewgong!" Angie yelled, as she felt a little tear coming up in the corner of her eye.
"What are we going to do with this Pokémon, anyway?" James wondered.
"That's easy," Meowth started explaining, "just imaging the Boss going to the fridge for a cool drink on a hot day, only to find out he has no more ice cubes."
"Oh, I just hate it when that happens," James stated.
"And just when the Boss is about to faint because of the heat, Dewgong comes along, and makes an Ice Ball, so the Boss can use that to cool down his drink. And then he will say: "I am so grateful that Meowth and his friends gave me this nice Dewgong, that I have to give them a big reward."
"Sounds good!" Jessie said.
"But... those Ice Balls, aren't those too big to fit in a glass?" James remarked.
"Well, maybe... In that case we have to steal that Linoone of that girlfriend-twerp as well, so it can use Slash to cut the Ice Ball into little pieces," Meowth quickly stated a solution.
"You are not stealing any Pokémon!" Ash shouted, then directing himself towards the captured Pokémon, "Dewgong, if you use your Ice Ball to freeze that net, you can break free!"
Although earlier the Dewgong didn't listen to anything our friends said to it, it seemed to understand that it would be wise to listen this time, and it began charging up power.
"Dew...gong!" the water Pokémon uttered as it released a large Ice Ball.
Like Ash expected, the net froze instantly. The Dewgong pushed against the frozen and now very brittle net, and shattered it into a thousand pieces.
"Oh!?" was all the three Team Rocket members could say, as their catch was loose again.
"Go Dewgong! Save yourself!" Ash shouted.
But this time the Pokémon choose not to listen, and it released another Ice Ball, this time aimed at the net that held our friends captive.
"Get down!" Ash shouted, as he pushed Angie to the ground, to cover her from the impact.
As the attack hit the net, it froze right away. Ash got up, and pushed against the net with all his force, causing it to break as well.
"That's not good!" James remarked.
"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" Ash commanded.
"Shinx, do Spark!" Angie joined in on the attack.
The three villains shivered as they were hit by the combined fierce electric attacks. The Magikarp submarine was hit as well, and it exploded, with the remains sinking to the bottom of the lake. Jessie, James and Meowth, were thrown into the air, and landed on the shore, a few meters away from where our friends were standing. Ash was about to order Pikachu to finish it with Volt Tackle, when the Dewgong came ashore as well, positioning itself between Ash and Angie on one side, and Team Rocket on the other. It began charging power once more, then it released another Ice Ball, this time at Team Rocket, causing them to fly up high.
"Well, at least we are very cool now!" James remarked, shaking because of the cold.
"Mime, mime, mime!" Mime Jr. uttered, as it mimicked James's shivering.
"I think my whiskers are frozen!" Meowth complained.
"This cold is so bad for my skin!" Jessie added.
"Team Rocket is blasting off again!" the three villains shouted together, disappearing in the distance.
"Good riddance!" Ash said, "and thanks Dewgong, for helping us!"
"Yeah, thanks!" Angie added, "but I'm still going to catch you!"
The Dewgong looked at Angie, just like it did a while before when it was in the water, like it accepted her challenge.
"Okay, Shinx, do Spark!" Angie started the fight.
On land Dewgong was not nearly as fast as in the water, so it could not avoid this attack, and took a direct hit.
"Right on, Angie!" Ash cheered, "just make sure it can't get back into the water!"
"Shinx, get between Dewgong and the lake!" Angie quickly responded to Ash's suggestion.
The Dewgong saw that it's escape route was blocked, and began charging up for another Ice Ball.
"Shinx, do Iron Tail on that Ice Ball!" Angie commanded.
With a loud crash, the approaching Ice Ball was shattered, but the pieces that were flying everywhere also hit Shinx.
"Oh! Shinx! Are you okay!?" Angie asked, worried about her little friend.
"Shinx, shinx!" was the answer, indicating the electric Pokémon has sustained little damage from the attack.
"Do you know about the strength and weakness of Ice Ball?" Ash asked Angie.
"You mean that the attack gets stronger every time it is used in succession?" Angie replied, "but that it takes more time to prepare the attack after every new Ice Ball? Thanks for reminding me Ash! Shinx, quickly do Spark again!"
The Dewgong was still charging up for it's next Ice Ball attack, and it was defenseless against this new electric attack.
"Now! Poké Ball!" Angie yelled, as she threw an empty Poké Ball at Dewgong.
With a flash of light, the weakened Pokémon was sucked inside, and the ball started to wiggle.
"Do you think I weakened it enough?" Angie asked.
"I'm not sure, Dewgong took quite a lot of damage, but it seems like a tough Pokémon..." Ash replied.
Just as he finished talking, the Poké Ball popped open, and Dewgong appeared again, although it seemed really tired now, from trying to escape from the ball. Angie threw another Poké Ball, and the waiting began once more. This time the ball wiggled just a few times, before the exhausted Dewgong gave up it's fight, and the light on the ball went to the "safe" color. Angie rushed towards the Poké Ball, and picked it up, holding it up high.
"I've got a Dewgong!" she cheered.
"Nice one, Angie!" Ash complimented her, as he padded Angie on the shoulder.
"Now, shall we get into the water again?" Angie suggested.
"Sure! I still want a rematch for that swimming race," Ash answered.
"I you don't mind losing again..." Angie teased Ash.
"We'll see about that!" Ash replied, looking all confident he would do better this time.
So they raced towards the water, to enjoy this beautiful day even more. And with a new member added to their Pokémon team, the future looked even brighter for our two friends.
My 44th fan-fiction story. I apologize for any typing errors, or grammatically not 100% correct sentences. Remember, I am not a native English speaker or writer. I tried to make this story as close to the Pokémon series as possible, so that the characters will react roughly the same in this fictional story as they do in the series. Comments are always welcome, you can use the review function on this FanFiction site for that.
Disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own any trademarks of Pokémon. Any similarities to the works of others is purely accidental, and not meant as an infringement on anyone's achievements.