When Ash was returning to their campsite he heard Brock say "Weedle, use string shot on the ground to dodge."
Ash thought to himself *huh, Brock is calling out attacks for Weedle.* Then he heard Misty call out "Surskit, use water pulse." Ash, reached the clearing as he saw Surskit generate a ball of water about a foot in diameter and launch it at Weedle. Needless to say, Weedle fainted.
Brock seeing Weedles rapid demise said to Misty "you know, you're getting good in using Surskit in battle, but all you've been doing with Weedle is using it for target practice."
"I know, I just can't really get over it."
Brock sighed and said "well you're jus..." when he got interrupted by Ash saying "well, just hurry up and evolve it then."
"But then it'd just be a bigger bug" Misty stated.
Brock said "actually, Ash's right. You said that you're scared of bugs because they crawl around on the ground, right?"
"Well, yeah, I might've said something like that."
"Then it's the perfect solution."
"Misty sighed and said "I guess you're right." Weedle at this point, for whatever reason (possibly hearing, to its mind, Misty's declaration of faith in him) started to glow white. When the light died down what emerged was no longer a Weedle, but a Kakuna.
Misty, dumbfounded, asked no one in particular "uh, is that what I think it is."
"It sure is, your Weedle evolved into Kakuna."
"Why?"
"It must have heard us talking."
"Well, how do I get it to evolve again?"
"Let me just look up my pokedex and we'll see."
Ash then looked up Kakuna in the pokedex and it came back with "Kakuna remains virtually immobile as it clings to a tree. However, on the inside, it is extremely busy as it prepares for its coming evolution. This is evident from how hot the shell becomes to the touch." Ash then looked up how it evolves and the pokedex came back with "traditionally, Kakuna attach themselves to, and draw nutrients from trees prior to evolution. Do you wish any information on Beedrill?"
"No, that's enough."
"So, what I have to do is to place it on a tree, right?"
"According to the pokedex, yes."
"Alright then" Misty said and she then went to the nearest tree and held her Kakuna up to it for 30 seconds or so, when she let go it stayed where it was. Misty then said "there we go, in a few days I'll have my very own Beedrill."
"With any luck" Ash added.
"What d'you mean 'with any luck'?
"I only mean that the pokedex didn't actually say how long it would take, at any rate, shouldn't you be training Surskit while you wait?"
"Oh yeah, right" Misty said.
"D'you mind if I'm your opponent?"
"Not at all, why?" Misty asked.
"I want to get a feel for battling with Houndour."
"You mean you actually caught one?"
"Well, more like it had no choice."
"What do you mean by that?" Misty asked dangerously.
"If it hadn't come with me willingly Lucario was going to 'punish' it with a bone rush to the back."
"Uh, that's alright then."
"Good to know" Ash said sarcastically.
Brock then asked Ash "don't you think that Houndour might be a little too much for Surskit?"
"No, it'll be fine."
"Well, alright then."
"Ok, Houndour, come on out" Ash said, throwing Houndours pokeball in the air. Ash, standing opposite Misty and her Surskit said calmly, almost arrogantly, "alright Misty, I'll let you go first."
"My pleasure Ash, I'll be sure to make it a good one. Surskit, use water gun." Misty's Surskit then let out a powerful stream of water from its mouth. Ash however said in a calm voice "Houndour, use flamethrower." The attacks cancelled each other out and the area got covered in a cloud of steam caused by the two attacks. Now to Ash's horror the steam seemed to act like rain and activated Surskits ability, 'Swift Swim,' which increases Surskits speed in the rain. Ash then heard Misty call out "water pulse."
Ash, remembering the stunt that he pulled to save Chimchar in the tag-team tournament in the Sinnoh region called out "Houndour, use iron tail to break that move in two." Unfortunately Ash's Houndour didn't know how to use iron tail, so, even though it's dark type abilities did dilute the some of the damage, it did still take massive amounts of damage due to it's being a fire type.
Ash then said "alright, that's enough for now. Houndour," Houndour went over to Ash, who then said "you did great buddy." Ash then saw that Houndour was looking at him with a look of derision on his face and said "don't give me that look. I'm serious, we were up against a water type & Misty is a great trainer that specialises in water types. That said though, we'll get them next time." Houndour then looked at Ash with what appeared, to Misty and Brock, like happiness, Ash knew however that it was a look of determination. Ash then said "right, now the first thing that I'm going to do is to teach you a move that is good against..." whilst walking off, away from Brock and Misty.
When Ash was far enough away (out of earshot) Misty said to Brock "what moves does Ash know how to teach to a Pokémon?"
Brock answered her question by rhetorically asking Misty "you don't really think that Ash could have travelled through all those regions and not have picked up a few trick here and there, do you?"
"I suppose not" Misty answered.
While Misty was questioning Brock about Ash's technique training abilities Ash had made it to a clearing that he had seen from Pidgeot's back. He then said "alright Houndour, I want you to watch Pikachu's tail as he uses iron tail, alright?" Houndour barked in acknowledgement and Ash continued "alright Pikachu, use iron tail on one of those branches" whilst pointing to an oak tree. Pikachu acknowledged Ash's command and then its tail started glowing. Ash looked down at Houndour and said "you see how Pikachu's tail is glowing?" Houndour signified that it did and Ash continued "well, that's a move called iron tail and that's what you're going to be learning. It's a good move that is not only good against rock types, which fire types aren't very strong against, it can also split water attacks in half." Houndour then communicated its readiness to learn iron tail. Ash then turned to Pikachu, who by this time had cut off the branch that Ash had been pointing at and said "alright Pikachu, now I need you to cut off a smaller section of it so that we can strengthen Houndours tail." Pikachu did as commanded and then Ash tied the block of wood to Houndours tail with some string that he bought whilst he was waiting for Growlithe to be healed. Ash turned to Houndour and said "now, you need to pull that block up and down until your tail starts glowing like Pikachu's was, Pikachu, I'll leave Houndours training to you." Houndour and Pikachu both looked to Ash as if questioning what he was going to be doing and Ash answered "I'll be working on something with Infernape, alright?" Pikachu and Houndour accepted Ash's reasoning and proceeded to work on perfecting iron tail. Ash went a little way away from them and then, taking Infernapes pokeball out from his belt, he pointed it away from himself and said "come on out Infernape." When Infernape came out of its pokeball Ash said "alright, we're going to be working on getting you to learn how to use..."
