Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.
Brock placed his own plate on the portable table he'd set up at the edge of a large field near Floaroma Town and took his seat. At his feet all of their Pokémon, including Dawn's new Pachirisu, were enjoying the meal he'd prepared for them. (Except for Pikachu, who was much more interested in a certain ketchup bottle Ash had given it.)
Brock was next to Dawn, who had the same amount of food as him; a normal sized portion. At the opposite end of the table, however, Hugo and Ash were both busy stuffing their faces with five times as much food. They were both eating very quickly and Brock wondered how they could fit so much in their relatively small stomachs.
At the same time, the pair of them finished their meals and grabbed their drinks, gulping down their water just as quickly as they'd done with their food. They finished at the exact same time, looking disappointed that their meals were over. Brock and Dawn, meanwhile, were barely halfway through their own meals. He put down his fork for a moment to grab a drink.
"If you don't want the rest I'll have it." Ash and Hugo both offered at the same time.
"You two have had quite enough, this is mine." Brock chuckled to himself.
"Huh? What's so funny?" The two young men asked, speaking at the exact same time once again.
"What's funny is how alike you two are. Like two peas in a pod."
"Except one of the peas is much larger than the other." Dawn added quietly so Ash couldn't hear. Hugo must've heard though as he looked embarassed. Brock wasn't sure whether she was referring to the height difference between the two, or the presence of muscle on Hugo's body and the lack of it on Ash's.
"Anyway, thanks for the meal Brock." Ash leaped up. His electric partner ran over and jumped on his shoulder. "Pika pika!" It looked very satisfied, having sucked every last drop out of its ketchup bottle.
"Wanna go burn off that food with some special training?" Ash asked enthusiastically, to which Pikachu nodded and ran over to an open space on the field. His Aipom was the first of his Pokémon to be done eating, so it ran over to join them and moments later the two Pokémon were engaged in one of Ash's 'special training' battles. The young man had been even livelier than usual since he won his first gym badge the other day.
Brock finished his meal and stood up to begin gathering the dishes. "Hey Dawn, after you won that ribbon I bet you're eager to get some more practise in to keep your winning streak going."
"You betcha!" She responded. Brock felt proud of Dawn, as though he was her father. He enjoyed nothing more than watching his companions succeed and move closer to their dreams. She'd recently beaten her childhood friend, Kenny, in the final of the Floaroma contest to claim her first ribbon.
"You go off and do your boredinator training and we'll handle the dishes." Hugo smiled as he made the offer. His smile was quickly replaced with a confused expression though when he saw the angry expression on the girl's face.
"You listen here Mister! How many times do I have to tell you it's coordinator?! The word's not that hard to remember! ARGH!" She began lecturing him about how much of an 'idiot' he was while Hugo stood there smiling uncomfortably, taking all the abuse with no response. Brock remembered that Hugo owed his life to Dawn. He obviously respected her too much to ever argue with her.
Brock chuckled at his friend's expense. "At least he never had to meet Misty..." He muttered to himself.
Meanwhile, a familiar trio were concealed in a nearby bush, holding binoculars directed straight at Pikachu. "Perfect." James began. "We simply wait for the twerp's Pokémon to tire each other out, then swoop in and grab Pikachu."
"I think you're forgetting about the rest of the twerp's Pokémon." Meowth argued. "Dey've got da upper hand when it comes to numbers."
"Hey, what're you up to Ash?" Dawn strolled over, having finally finished lecturing Hugo.
"I'm having some trouble getting Aipom to listen. It just doesn't seem interested." Ash grinned sheepishly, scratching his head.
"D-did he say… trouble?" Jessie began to twitch.
"Maybe Aipom would be more interested if it could team up with Pikachu against my Piplup and Pachirisu in a double battle? I've been meaning to give Pachirisu some practise!"
"D-did she say… double?" James began to twitch.
Brock overheard the two talking. They got along so well. They'd only been travelling together for a few weeks but already the two were like best friends.
In fact, come to think of it, all four of them were the same way. They were all like best friends, despite how the only ones who'd known each other before their journey were Ash and Brock. Thinking about their friendship made Brock smile. He felt like a father to the other three, yet they were there to help him out too whenever he needed it.
"I've been thinking about a new contest combination we could use. I want to combine Piplup's bubblebeam with Pachirisu's discharge. Not only could it look good but the attack could cause some real devastation." Dawn put her hands together and jumped around happily. She sure was a very bubbly young lady.
"T-trouble… d-devastation..." Jessie was twitching uncontrollably by this point.
"No guys! Don't do it! You'll blow our cover!" Meowth cried, although he knew what was coming.
"I can't take it any more!" Jessie jumped out of the bush, revealing herself to Ash and the gang.
"Me neither!" James leaped out after her.
Brock rolled his eyes. "Not these guys again..."
"Prepare for trouble, we'll use the old motto today."
"And make it double, you used our trigger words, okay?"
"To protect the world from devastation!"
"To unite all peoples within our nation!"
"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"
"To extend our reach to the stars above!"
"Jessie!"
"And James!"
"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"
"Surrender now or prepare for one irresistible fight!"
"Meowth! that's right! I guess..."
"Huh, never heard that one before…" Dawn scratched her head.
"I actually preferred it over the usual one..." Hugo admitted.
"Thanks for the compliment, twerp, but kind words won't stop us from taking Pikachu." James pulled out a remote controller with a big red button in the middle. When he pressed it, a big robotic arm shot out, grabbing Pikachu.
"Hahahahaha!" The trio laughed as they ran back into the trees. Seconds later, they returned in a giant Meowth-shaped robot which was holding Pikachu in its left hand.
Brock ran over to his two Pokémon. He knew Ash could handle Team Rocket on his own, but he thought he'd try to play the hero role just this once.
"Ugh! Still after that same boring Pikachu?!" A female voice called out.
Brock frantically looked around. After a moment, he spotted two more individuals dressed in the same clothing as Jessie and James: Team Rocket uniforms. On the left was the source of the voice; a blond haired woman with a menacing glare. On the right, a green haired man who looked really angry for some reason.
"Hey! I remember those guys! It's Cassidy… and Biff right?" Brock yelled across the field.
The green haired man scowled. "It's Butch! And we're far better than these losers!"
"Come on Botch, let's show them a real robot!" Cassidy and Butch ran off behind some trees, and a moment later reappeared within a giant Raticate-shaped robot.
"Not you again! The only thing you're better at is going out of fashion!" Jessie scowled at them from within their giant Meowth robot.
"Oh yeah? We'll show you a real robot!" Cassidy scowled back. Their Raticate robot began to move towards the Meowth bot.
"Bring it on!" Meowth was sat at the controls. He pushed a few buttons and the robot dropped Pikachu from its hand before running towards robo-Raticate. None of the trio seemed to even notice.
"I've gotcha!" Ash caught his partner safely in his hands. Behind him, Brock, Hugo, Dawn and all their Pokémon sweat-dropped. Team Rocket really were clueless.
"Have a taste of my robo-fury swipes!" Meowth cried out. The robot extended its claws, slashing at Raticate.
"Yeah! Take that!" James raised a fist triumphantly from within the robot.
"This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen..." Dawn remarked to her three friends.
"You get used to it." Ash smiled sheepishly while scratching the back of his head again.
"Trust me, when you travel with Ash there's never a dull moment." stated Brock. He knew this better than anyone with them now travelling through their fourth region together.
Just then, Brock noticed something. A Purple Pokémon was floating above their heads, drifting in the wind. It was round like a balloon. It had a yellow x-shape on its face, a small white cloud on its head and two of what appeared to be strings below. Were they its arms?
"Woah, who's that Pokémon?" Dawn pulled out her Pokédex.
"Drifloon, the Balloon Pokémon. Drifloon is filled with air and can either expand or shrink to express its feelings. It also likes damp weather."
"Awesome!" She and Ash exclaimed together.
Thinking about it, they were near the Valley Windworks. Brock had heard about how Drifloon could often be found drifting on the wind around here. However, something about this particular Drifloon concerned him.
"It's heading into the middle of those two robots!" Brock was correct. Robo-Raticate was busy chomping on robo-Meowth's arm, but the two were frequently moving apart then slamming against each other. Drifloon may be a ghost type, so many objects simply go through its body, but it could still be crushed between two objects and crushing it was exactly what the robots were going to do if at this rate.
"Staravia! Come over and help Drifloon out!" Ash was first to react. His flying type Pokémon quickly caught up to the ghost. It tried everything, from screaming "Ravia!" At it to trying to pull it. The problem was, Brock figured, that Staravia was part normal type so most of its moves had no effect on Drifloon. The only move it knew that would have an effect was wing attack. But that wouldn't help, it would just cause damage to Drifloon. The ghost type just didn't seem to know/care that it was heading towards danger.
"It's way too high up! We can't reach it in time..." Ash was out of ideas on how to stop Drifloon.
"Robo-fury swipes!" Meowth cried as the robot charged towards Raticate once more. The two robots now appeared heavily damaged.
Drifloon was right in the middle of them now. It was moments away from being crushed between the two giant robots…
"Well, here goes nothing." Brock turned and was surprised to see Hugo with a pokéball in his hand. He used all of his strength to launch the pokéball high into the air. Somehow, it found its target and hit the back of Drifloon's head. Pokéballs were one of few objects that wouldn't just go straight through its body. At the last second before it was crushed, Drifloon transformed into red energy that entered the pokéball. Having bounced off Drifloon, the pokéball was now falling back towards Hugo. Brock sighed a sigh of relief as the pokéball landed safely on the grassy field, just inches away from robo-Meowth's feet. The ball wriggled for a few seconds, then to everyone's surprise there was a loud 'ping'. Had Drifloon really been caught so easily?
"Nice thinking! But why didn't it try to break free?" Dawn questioned. Ash was looking a little jealous. He was probably kicking himself for not thinking of that. He'd have finally caught his first ghost type.
At that moment, the two robots collided. Neither could take any more. Both of them simultaneously fell apart, leaving nothing but piles of scrap with Jessie, James and Meowth lying among one pile of scrap. Butch and Cassidy were among the other pile.
"This is all your fault Brian! If you'd just let me control the robot we'd have won!" Cassidy fumed.
"For the last time it's BUTCH! B-U-T..."
"This is your fault Meowth!" Jessie interrupted Butch. "If you'd let me handle the controls we'd have smashed that worthless robot to pieces!"
"Yeah, well maybe if you'd stopped yapping in my ear I could've focused better!" Meowth snapped back.
"We all know who the true genius here is when it comes to machines!" James remarked while smiling, closing his eyes and pointing his index finger at himself.
"Come on Bill, let's show those losers who's better and take that Pikachu for ourselves!"
"It's… oh never mind I give up." Sighed Butch.
"Raticate go!" Cassidy launched her pokéball containing the rat Pokémon.
At that moment, Cassidy realised she was fighting a lost cause.
Brock smirked confidently as he glanced over to Ash and Dawn who were doing the same. Hugo was walking over to his pokéball to pick it up.
"Sudowoodo hammer arm! Croagunk poison jab!" He commanded.
"Piplup bubblebeam! Pachirisu discharge!" Dawn ordered.
"Pikachu thunderbolt! Staravia wing attack!"Ash demanded. They still had all their Pokémon out of their pokéballs.
The six Pokémon which had received commands all launched their attacks. Sudowoodo, Pachirisu and Staravia launched theirs at Butch, Cassidy and Raticate while Pikachu, Piplup and Croagunk hit Jessie, James and Meowth.
"Waaaaah!" The five of them screamed as the incoming attack collided with them.
They were all launched into the air at once. "I can't believe those guys put up with this in almost every chapter." Butch remarked as he was hurtling towards the clouds. At the same time, all five of them cried out. "We're blasting off again!" They disappeared into the distance.
Back on the ground, Brock jogged over to Hugo with Ash and Dawn following him.
"Well well, looks like you've got yourself a new addition to the team?"
"I only did that on impulse. Wasn't expecting to actually catch it." He threw his pokéball into the air, summoning his new companion.
"Hi Drifloon, I'm Hugo your new trainer...I guess…" The ghost and flying type had no reaction whatsoever.
"Um...hello?" Dawn asked. Still no response.
"Maybe you should shake its hand?" Ash suggested. Hugo did just that, but it still stared blankly at him.
"Great. Of all the Pokémon to accidentally catch, I catch the dopiest of the bunch!"
At last, Drifloon finally heard him. "Looooon!" It responded, nodding its head in agreement at being called dopey while expanding its head to express joy. Brock, Ash and Dawn all sweat-dropped.
"Don't worry buddy, dopey or not you're part of the team now." "Shinx shinx!" His little partner added as it walked over to greet its new teammate, along with Hugo's Kabutops. They'd been so quiet all day that Brock had almost forgotten about them. Hugo's Pokémon were definitely the most well behaved out of everyone's.
Suddenly, a familiar growling sound could be heard. Everyone glanced over at Ash. It was, of course, his stomach.
"Now that that's over, anyone wanna go get something to eat?" He grinned.
"I like that idea! Isn't there a poffin shop nearby?" Hugo smiled.
"Seriously you guys?! You just ate like ten minutes ago!" Dawn spoke in a frustrated tone as she put her hands on her hips.
"Hey, catching Pokémon takes a lot of energy." Hugo shrugged with a huge grin.
"But you didn't even battle it! All you did was throw a ball at it!" Dawn stomped her feet in frustration. The guys all began to laugh at how easy the blunette was to wind up.
"You guys are the worst!" She fumed, gritting her teeth. Brock knew she didn't mean it though. That was just Dawn being Dawn. He decided, for once, that he'd be the one to have a bit of fun.
"Hey guys, race you to the poffin store!" Brock yelled, returning both his Pokémon and dashing off towards the end of the field.
"No fair! That's my line!" Ash called out as he and Hugo returned all their Pokémon besides Pikachu and began to run off after him.
"Ugh…boys!" Dawn muttered to herself, before she too returned her Pokémon and began to dash across the field with her three travelling companions.
And with that, the dopey Drifloon becomes member #3 of Hugo's squad. Will there be more additions to the squad in future chapters? Will he be able to uncover more secrets about his past? Will they ever get Meowth to translate for Shinx and Kabutops? You'll find out all this and more if you stay tuned for future chapters!
I noticed from researching a few episodes of the anime how easily Dawn got mad at small things, kind of like Misty but in a more playful way. That gets portrayed a lot in this chapter as you can tell. As for Hugo's personality, think of him as a less dense, less battle-obsessed version of Ash without as much of an ego.
Current teams:
Ash – Staravia, Turtwig, Aipom, Pikachu
Brock – Sudowoodo, Croagunk
Dawn – Buneary, Pachirisu, Piplup
Hugo – Kabutops, Drifloon, Shinx
