Chapter 10 : You Said a Mouthful

Ash and May arrive at an unofficial Gym, where, according to a billboard they seen, houses the world's most powerful Pokemon. Unable to pass up a challenge, Ash decided to challenge this Pokemon.

As they arrive at the gym, a Trainer is rushing his way out of there; stating with frustration that the Pokemon wasn't normal at all, making Ash's desire to beat it more desirable. As he makes his challenge, a Trainer named Anthony arrives to accept his challenge, along with his Pelipper.

The rules of the battle were simple: Anthony would only use Pelipper, while Ash may use as many of his Pokemon as he wished.

Ash decides to start with his Treecko against Anthony's Pelipper. The battle unfolds normally, with Pelipper using Wing Attack, to which Treecko dodges effortlessly, but then Anthony suddenly tells Pelipper to use Vine Whip, which, Ash thought they can't learn it cause it only contends to be Water and Flying-type attacks, but sure enough, a pair of vines manage to come out of Pelipper's mouth and trip up Treecko and Ash had a little suspicion on Anthony's battling skills, while Ash is forced to withdraw Treecko for Taillow.

Taillow seems to handle the battle pretty well and tries to attack with Peck, though, Anthony makes another suspicious move and orders Pelipper to use Flamethrower, which hits Taillow and knocks it out, much to the amazement to Ash who couldn't believe it used a Fire-type attack.

Ash was down to using Pikachu, who he warned to expect the unexpected. Sure enough though, when Pikachu uses Thunder, Pelipper countered it with its own Thunder, once again making Ash even more suspicious. However, Pikachu manages to draw even against Pelipper.

Meanwhile, Team Rocket was plotting to steal the Pelipper, and, as they put their plan in motion, they managed to make a Bellsprout fall from Pelipper's mouth as Anthony tries to defend Pelipper with Water Gun, Flamethrower, and Thunderbolt at the same time. Team Rocket learns of Anthony's "ways of winning": Pelipper could perform attacks because its mouth housed a Bellsprout, a Magby, and a Magnemite; and they blackmailed Anthony and Pelipper to cooperate on their latest Pokemon-stealing scheme.

At the Pokemon Center, as Ash and May waited for Ash's team to heal, Ash was thinking that Anthony was cheating somehow because he knows Pelipper can't use those attacks.

May felt bad for Ash and his team so she decided to give him a hug to make him feel better, Ash returned the hug and thanked her for it. When Trainers began to pour in saying their Pokemon was taken by the world's most powerful Pokemon, Ash cannot believe that Anthony would go so as to steal their challenger's Pokemon.

He didn't think that Anthony was forced. Sure enough, when they arrived at the Gym, two people were promoting (Jessie and James) are promoting a challenge where they steal their Pokemon if they win. Ash challenged them again to get to the bottom of the situation, starting with his best friend Pikachu, Jessie and James became worried, as Pikachu has beaten them countless amounts of times before. As a precaution, Jessie and James load more Poke Balls inside Pelipper, and then put Meowth inside to be the "tactical controller".

As the rematch begins, Pelipper starts with Bellsprout's Vine Whip, which Pikachu managed to dodge. Meowth, who is inside Pelipper, then switches to Magby for a Smokescreen, which soon finds its way into Pelipper's mouth, affecting both Meowth and Magby in addition to Pikachu. As Meowth brings back Bellsprout to use a Razor Leaf attack, May wandered off and managed to find Anthony, who confessed to having to cheat by hiding Poke Balls inside Pelipper's mouth.

Meanwhile, Meowth comes up with a dastardly plan to take down Pikachu: after dowsing it with Water Gun, it can switch to Magnemite and fire off Thunder to deal more damage to a wet Pikachu. Since Meowth couldn't find a Pokemon to use Water Gun, he instead used Pelipper's Water Gun, but as he does this, Pelipper shoots water everywhere – at not only Pikachu, but Ash, Anthony, Jessie, and James as well, exposing Team Rocket and the Poke Balls (and Meowth) inside Pelipper's mouth.

As Team Rocket tries to make their getaway with stolen Poke Balls, though, they are countered by Pelipper's Wing Attack to free their Poke Ball bag. When Team Rocket tries to take Pikachu as a last resort, Pelipper uses Water Gun to soak the balloon, allowing Pikachu to use Thunderbolt through Team Rocket's electricity-proof suits, sending them flying.

Anthony closes the Gym, and decided to go straight with Pelipper, as Pelipper was powerful even without the Poke Balls in its mouth.

Ash and May continued to go to Rustboro City as they said goodbye to Anthony and good luck to making his Pelipper more powerful.

Ash questions May why she hugged him, but as he asks her she didn't respond at all, yet she instead blushes and thought of something in her mind (I shouldn't tell him the truth about what I feel for him so, I'll tell him something else.) May responded to tell him "It is because I felt bad for you when you lost towards Anthony the first time". Ash hugged her after that and they continue their journey to Rustboro City.

The End

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~HiddenPokemonTrainer~