Ash waited nervously outside of the operating room,his feet shaking uncontrollably at the multiple possibilities of how this could partner Pikachu felt the same way as the yellow rodent stand beside him and tried to reassure his trainer.
"I tried to save her,but I failed."He said as tears slowly begin to flow out of his eyes.
Earlier that day,
Ash and his friends were on their way to Laverre City for Ash's six gym battle.
"We are now in the Laverre Nature Trail."Serena said while looking at her guidebook.
"It is said that this nature trail was formed because of constant rains a long time ago."Clemont said as light reflected from his glasses,despite it being cloudy.
"Is that so?" Ash said as he noticed that the path that they were walking was starting to get muddy.
"Ewwww!" Bonnie,Clemont's sister said as she looked at her muddy shoes."Is there really no other way to the city without getting our feet dirty big brother?"
"As far as I can tell,no."Clemont said.
"Man this sure makes the Pastoria Marsh look like a tropical paradise."Ash said as he looked on at the swamp that was in their path.
"Hehehe,the future is now thanks to science!"Clemont said as he reached his hand into his extremely bulky bag and took out what seemed like two small poles.
"Clemontic Gear on! I thought we would encounter a situation precisely like this one,I call it the No Need To Get Dirty Walk On Mud Walking Stick!"
"As always,you get no points for good name."Bonnie said while Serena's reaction was almost in disbelief,unable to process what's she looking at,Ash however was intrigued,as always at the blonde inventors brilliance.
"Science is so amazing!" Ash said with sparkles in his eyes.
"Allow me to explain."Clemont said while strapping the poles to his shoes."These poles contain springs that retract or extend the pole to about 5 meters up in the air,creating the ultimate tool for mud trekking!"Power on!"He pulled a lever on the pole and the pole extended up into the however,was never the best balancer in the as soon as the pole stopped extending,he immediately lost his balance and fell into the mud below.
"I guess you never thought that through huh big brother."Bonnie said while looking at his brother whose head was stuck in the mud.
"I guess I forgotten to take balance into account."Clemont said as he felt disappointed for another failed add insult to injury,the invention suddenly exploded in his face.
"Sometimes I wonder what causes these things to explode."Ash said while scratching his head as he looked at Clemont,still in the mud and charred,further ashamed of his failure.
"I guess it's back to the drawing board."Serena said as she and Bonnie went and pulled him out of the mud.
"Looks like we have to trek it ourselves."Ash said as he slowly tried walking into the mud to see how deep it was.
"It's not that deep."he said and waving back at them."Clemont,you would need to carry Bonnie because it's too deep for her."
"Got it."Clemont said as he kneeled down so that Bonnie could climb onto his back."
Ash,I'm not so sure about this."Serena said while nervously walking into the swamp.
"Don't worry Serena,if you need to,you can hold onto my shoulder for balance."Ash said with a wink.
"Than...thanks Ash,I really apprecia...,wait what was that noise?"
The group suddenly heard a buzzing noise somewhere in the swamps,it wasn't long till found out what they were:Beedrills,by the hundreds were approaching them like a pack of angry Houndooms.
"Be...Be...BEEDRILL SWARM!."they all said in unison as they group ran in two different directions,not knowing where they were going.
