Wildness In The Willowcreep Woods
"Yes! We made it!"
"Pikachu!"
Our heroes have finally made it to Willowcreep City: the site of Ash's first Gym battle in the Zooks region. Just as the sun was starting to go down, Ash made his way to the Willowcreep Gym. There was only one problem.
"Closed?! Augh!"
Brian looked at the sign on the Gym's door. "Yep. Looks like we just missed the Gym Leader." He said. "They should be back tomorrow though."
"But I wanna have a Gym battle now!" Ash whined.
"Pika Pi." Pikachu said, patting Ash's cheek comfortingly..
"Don't worry, Ash." Luna said. "Tomorrow you'll beat that Gym Leader for sure!"
"I wouldn't count on that, lil' miss."
Luna, Ash, and Brian all looked around for the voice that said that. "Who said that?" Ash wondered aloud.
"Down here, kiddos." Ash, Luna, and Brian all looked down to see a very tiny man, only about three feet tall at most with a grey beard almost as long as his body and a red flannel shirt and overalls on standing behind them all.
"Whoa!" Ash exclaimed in awe. "You've gotta be the smallest man I've ever seen!"
"Ash!" Brian said. "That's not a very nice thing to point out."
But the small man only chuckled. "Don't worry 'bout it, fella." He said. "I take it as a compliment. Name's Hugo. What can I help you kids with?"
"Well, I was hoping to have my first Zooks region Gym battle today." Ash replied. "What did you mean that you wouldn't count on me having one tomorrow either."
"Well, it's just that the Gym will be closed tomorrow too."
"What?!" Ash exclaimed. "Oh, man! Why?!"
"Well, it's on account of the Big Festival, don'tcha know?" Hugo replied. "The whole town's been preparing for it all week long! Haven't you seen the decorations everywhere?" Ash, Luna, and Brian took a quick look around themselves, and sure enough there were decorations put up almost everywhere. Colorful lights were strung up across the streets, booths for various games had been erected down one road that appeared to be the midway, and there was even a half-constructed ferris wheel next to the Pokemon Center.
"Wow. This festival really is big." Ash said.
"Well, they don't call it the Big Festival for nothin', sport!" Hugo said. "See, this festival is to honor the three Legendary Giant Pokemon of the Zooks region."
"Legendary Giant Pokemon?" Ash asked.
"Yessiree!" Hugo said happily. "There's three Legendary Giants here in Zooks: Foresquatch, the Forest Giant Pokemon, Swampunk, the Water Giant Pokemon, and Evereti, the Mountain Giant Pokemon. 'Course, the Big Festival is meant to mainly honor the Giant that protects the woods around this city, and that's Froesquatch."
Ash still had a few questions about these three Giant Pokemon, but Brian seemed to know exactly what Hugo was talking about. "Oh, of course! I forgot that Foresquatch is rumored to live in the Willowcreep Woods." He said.
"Ain't no rumor, fella. Heck, I've actually met Foresquatch myself." Hugo bragged.
"You did?!" Brian said in awe.
Hugo nodded proudly. "Yessiree. He's the one who introduced me to my favorite Pokemon." Hugo drew a Pokeball from his belt and tossed it in the air. "Bigfeet, come on out!"
From the Pokeball, a large fuzzball, almost as big as Hugo himself, that also had a pair of gigantic feet appeared. "Bigfeet Big!" It said.
"Wow! That's so cool!" Ash said. He pulled out his Pokedex and scanned the Pokemon with it.
"Bigfeet," the Pokedex said, "the Feet Pokemon. A Normal type. Bigfeet is said to be a distant relative to the Legendary Giant Pokemon. While it's small in stature, its feet are quite large and are incredibly strong."
"Bigfeet." Bigfeet said, proud to hear its feet mentioned in the entry.
"Yep, this lil' fella's my pride and joy!" Hugo said proudly, wrapping his arm around Bigfeet. "He's actually getting pretty close to evolving too!"
"Wow. Really?" Ash said.
Hugo nodded. "Yep. Now, if you younguns will excuse me, I have to go finish helping with setting up for the festival tomorrow." He pointed to the half-constructed ferris wheel. "The builders who were gonna put together that ferris wheel had to bail at the last second. Lazy good-for-nothings. So, I gotta put it together all by myself before tomorrow. Gonna take me all night."
Ash, Brian, and Luna all eyed the ferris wheel and together came up with an idea. "Well, we can certainly help you out if you want, Hugo." Brian said. "I've actually read several books about mechanical engineering."
"Yeah, and my friend Clemont taught me a bunch of stuff about building things." Ash added.
"I don't really know that much about building a ferris wheel, but I'm sure Clefairy and I can help in some way." Luna said.
"Clefairy!" Clefairy agreed happily.
Hugo was beaming at the three kind youngsters. "You three have really touched this old man's heart." He said. "All right! You can help me! Now, let's get to work!"
As our heroes set out to work on the ferris wheel for the Big Festival, our villains were nearby doing something else. "Ugh! These stupid shoes!" Jessie groaned angrily as she, James, and Meowth all trekked through the nearby Willowcreep Woods, still being forced to wear the heavy shoe CAPEs that Prof. Bayberry had given them. "Can't we just take them off? They're slowing us down way too much!"
"I wish we could, but Prof. Bayberry put locks on them, remember?" James replied.
"Aw, come on! Are we professional thieves or not?" Meowth exclaimed. "Let's just pick the locks!" Jessie and James both looked at the ground, avoiding eye contact with Meowth. "Er… You two do know how to pick locks, don'tcha?"
"Well, as it happens, I sort of… Slept through the lockpicking class at the Team Rocket training facility." James said sheepishly.
"And I had a hair appointment during it." Jessie said. "I may be a thief, but I'm not an animal. Gotta keep my hair looking tip-top if I wanna get ahead."
Meowth groaned. "Fine. I'll do it myself." He said. He extended the claw on one of his fingers and stuck it into the lock on one of his shoes. "A little to the left, a little to the right, and there we- AAAAAAH!" Meowth pulled his now-broken claw out of the lock, having snapped it during the picking process. "Man, that smarts!" He said, tears welling up in his eyes.
"Ugh! Forget picking the locks! Let's just get back to work!" Jessie said. "What are we supposed to be doing, again?"
James pulled out the note that Prof. Bayberry had sent them with their job instructions on it. "According to the professor, we're supposed to search these woods until we find the Legendary Giant Pokemon that lives in them." He said. "All we have to do is collect a hair sample from it for the professor to analyze."
"Oh, that's all?" Jessie said sarcastically. "If this Pokemon really is legendary, how are we supposed to find it? Don't Legendary Pokemon tend to stay hidden?"
"She's got a point, James." Meowth concurred.
James thought for a moment, then sighed. "I suppose we just keep walking through these woods until we find it." The trio groaned and kept stomping through the woods in their heavy shoes.
Even in the distance, the stomping noises coming from Team Rocket's CAPE shoes could be heard. At one end of the Willowcreep Woods, there was a troop of fearsome-looking monkey Pokemon. They all had black fur and incredibly sharp fangs and claws. One of the monkeys got a wonderfully wicked idea regarding the stomping noises and went to the troop's leader, an even fiercer-looking giant ape with sharp bottom and top fangs that poked out from its mouth and muscles that bulged and rippled with incredible strength. "Monkee Monkevil!" The little monkey Pokemon told the troop's leader. "Monkevil! Monk Monk!"
The leader considered this idea. Attacking whatever was making those loud stomping noises would certainly be fun. It was settled. "SABAAAAAAAAAAAY!" The leader called out to the rest of the troop. The monkey Pokemon all started laughing and cheering as they began leaping through the trees towards the source of the stomping.
And, at the other end of the woods, another large Pokemon was making its way towards the source of the stomping. It sensed a great darkness descending upon the source of that stomping, and it would not rest until that darkness was snuffed out.
While all these Pokemon were making their way towards our villains, Team Rocket was still stomping through the Willowcreep Woods, trying to find Foresquatch. "We're never going to find this stupid Pokemon!" Jessie exclaimed angrily.
"Jessie, relax." James said. "We'll find it eventually." James' stomach growled. "Er… Though, perhaps a break could do us good." He said. The trio all sat down to eat a late dinner. James pulled out a snack he had been saving for quite a while.
"What is that?" Jessie asked, pointing at the square of candy-filled chocolate James was about to eat.
"It's something called Mystery Fudge." James explained. "A true delicacy of the Zooks region! It's supposed to taste incredible, so I've been saving it ever since we left Cosmodrop Town. Now, down the hatch!" James tried to take a bite of his block of fudge, only for it to be swiped from his hand by a swinging Pokemon. "My fudge! My precious fudge!" James exclaimed. "Who took it?"
"Kee! Kee! Kee! Kee!" Jessie, James, and Meowth looked around. In the trees surrounding them, there was a veritable army of the scary-looking monkey Pokemon that had set off after them before.
"W-w-what are dose things?" Meowth whimpered.
"Let me check." James pulled out his guidebook and flipped through the pages until he had found it. "It appears that these Pokemon are called Monkevil. A Dark type. They're very vicious and will often attack anyone who enters their territory, often resorting to ripping them to shreds. Hmm."
There was a small pause as those words sank in. Then, collectively, Team Rocket screamed. "RIPPING THEM TO SHREDS?!" They yelled in terror. The Monkevils then leapt down upon the trio, biting, scratching, and doing whatever they could to cause Team Rocket harm.
"Ow! Ow! Ouch! Wobbuffet, help us out!" Jessie said, calling out Wobbuffett.
"Wobbu Wobbu!" Wobbuffet said, only for it to be attacked by the Monkevils as well. "WOBBUUUUUUU!" It cried out.
"Meowth, old chum! Use your Fury Swipes to attack them!" James said, trying to pry one Monekevil off of his head.
"Kinda dealin' with my own thing over here, James!" Meowth said, struggling under the weight of a Monkevil dogpile on top of him.
James finally pried the Monkevil that was attacking him off of his head. "Forget battling them! RUN!" He and Jessie took off running. Jessie returned Wobbuffet to its ball and James yanked Meowth out from under the dogpile, and the three of them all high-tailed it out of there as fast as their weighted-down feet could take them, with the Monkevil pack close on their tails. "If we can make it to the edge of the forest, we should be able to-"
But James was interrupted by the large, ape-like leader of the Monkevils jumping down and landing in front of the trio. It beat its chest strongly and yelled "SABATANIIIIIC!"
"Uh, James?" Jessie whimpered. "What Pokemon is that?"
James flipped through his guidebook to find the entry. "It's a Sabatanic." He said. "The evolved form of Monkevil and a Dark and Fighting type. Apparently, this fierce Pokemon is known to…" James suddenly grew very pale and frightened. He gulped. "Is known to devour its victims whole, ensuring that they meet a very painful demise." He finished timidly.
Jessie, James, and Meowth all started slowly backing away from the Sabatanic, only to be faced with the Monkevil pack behind them. "So, this is it." Meowth whimpered. "The end of Team Rocket, torn to pieces at the hands of a bunch of monkeys."
"Group hug while we're being slaughtered?" James suggested. The trio all hugged each other tightly, sobbing in terror as the Monkevils and the Sabatanic leader leapt down upon them.
Suddenly, a loud roar ripped through the air and a large, green-glowing vine came, hitting all of the monkey Pokemon and knocking them down to the ground. "What was that?!" Jessie exclaimed. The trio looked up to see an extremely-large Pokemon with shaggy, green fur, muscular legs and arms, and two red eyes approaching them slowly. The green-glowing vine that had Power Whipped the monkeys retracted into its shoulder as it stood protectively over Team Rocket and roared again.
The Monkevils all scattered, evidently terrified of this gigantic beast, but their Sabatanic leader simply stood up and roared courageously at the new Pokemon. "Sabataaaaaan!" It yelled as it leapt up, trying to hit the big, green Pokemon with Brutal Swing. However, the green Pokemon caught its fist in midair. The Sabatanic immediately knew it had made a huge mistake.
The green Pokemon roared and threw the Sabatanic into a tree. It then opened its mouth, firing a barrage of exploding seeds at it. The Sabatanic cried out as it was bombarded by this Seed Bomb attack. "Sabaaaaay!" It yelled.
Finally, the green Pokemon was done attacking. The Sabatanic lay on the ground, barely conscious and panting hard from the barrage of attacks it had just endured. Suddenly, Jessie got an evil glint in her eye as an idea formed in her head. She stood up and drew a Pokeball from her belt. "Seems to me like this would be a wasted opportunity if someone didn't take advantage of it." She purred wickedly. "Pokeball, go!" Jessie threw her Pokeball at the severely-weakened Sabatanic. It sucked the ape Pokemon inside then wobbled once, twice, three times… Ding! "Yes!" Jessie ran forward to retrieve her newly-captured Pokemon.
"You caught the Sabatanic?" James said in shock.
"But it nearly tore us to shreds!" Meowth argued.
"Yes, and just imagine what it could do to the twerps' Pokemon next time we run into them." Jessie said, smiling wickedly. Two more evil smiles grew on James and Meowth's faces.
"Well done, then, Jessie!" James cheered.
"Yeah! Great job!" Meowth agreed.
Before they could run over to hug their teammate in congratulations, the big, green Pokemon that had protected them walked over to Jessie and bent down to look her in the eye. It seemed to be saying be careful with that new Pokemon. The large, green Pokemon then stood back up, plucked a single hair from its head for some reason, handed it to Jessie, and lumbered off back into the deep, dark, Willowcreep Woods. "What was that for?" Jessie wondered aloud.
"Let me see what kind of Pokemon that was." James said, checking his guidebook. Suddenly, he let out a shriek of surprise. "That Pokemon was Foresquatch!" He exclaimed.
"Wait, really?!" Jessie asked. "Why didn't I throw my Pokeball at it instead then?!"
"Seems we kinda got a wasted opportunity after all." Meowth grumbled.
"But how did it know we needed a hair sample from it for the professor?" Jessie asked, examining the single green hair in her hand.
"It says here that supposedly Foresquatch knows about everything that goes on in the forest it lives in." James said, reading from the guidebook. "I suppose it must have known about our mission in the same way it knew we were being attacked."
"Well, we'd better send dat hair sample to the professor." Meowth said. "And, Jessie, next time you huck a Pokeball at something, try and huck it at da Legendary first." That comment was met with a Pokeball hucked at Meowth's head.
Meanwhile, back in Willowcreep City, our heroes were putting the finishing touches on the ferris wheel. "Okay, let's see if it works." Brian said. He flipped the switch on the ferris wheel's control console. It turned on and began spinning around slowly just like any good ferris wheel should. "Yes! It works!"
"I couldn't'a finished this without you three's help." Hugo said. "I am very much in your debt." The very tiny man began walking away, but stopped and turned back to face the trio. "Oh, and Ash? Just because I say I'm in your debt, doesn't mean I'll go easy on you in our Gym battle."
Ash was surprised to say the least. "You mean… You're the Gym Leader?!" He exclaimed.
Hugo chuckled. "Yep. Sorry for not telling you before, youngster." He said. "And I'm also sorry I won't be able to battle you today or tomorrow. Gotta respect the Legendary Giants, after all.
Ash smiled. Finally, he had accepted the fact that he wouldn't be able to battle Hugo until later. "That's okay, Hugo." He said. "But, day after tomorrow, I'll be coming at you with everything I've got!"
Hugo smiled under his long, bushy beard. "Wouldn't have it any other way, kid. Ta-ta!" And, with that, the Willowcreep City Gym Leader left.
"You're sure you're okay with not being able to battle Hugo yet?" Luna asked Ash.
"Yep." Ash replied. "Besides, the Big Festival is tomorrow, and that's definitely going to be a lot of fun!"
"I'm sure it will." Brian said. "Why don't we grab some rooms at the Pokemon Center and take the rest of the night off?"
Ash shook his head no. "We can get rooms, but there's no way I'm taking tonight off yet!" He said confidently. "I've got some training to do! You ready, buddy?"
"Pika Pika!" Pikachu said excitedly. Ash ran into the Pokemon Center and Brian and Luna watched him go.
"He certainly is passionate." Brian said. "Do you think he can actually win his Gym battle?"
Luna nodded. "Of course." She replied. Luna had felt a fiery energy coming off of Ash's Pikachu all day. The anticipation of an upcoming Gym battle was making Ash's Pokemon excited, and Luna knew that that level of confidence would definitely help them win.
"Clefairy." Luna looked down as her Clefairy tugged on her skirt. "Clef Clefairy." It said.
Luna giggled. She could sense that her Pokemon was feeling very tired after a long day of hard work. "Of course. Let's go get some rest." Luna walked into the Pokemon Center and went to the front counter to request a room, but, through the sliding glass doors in the back of the Center, she could see Ash with all three of his Pokemon training out on the Pokemon Center's battlefield. She smiled as she felt wave after wave of that same fiery energy coming off of, not just Pikachu, but Ash's Harbotter and Curserpillar too.
"Clefairy." Luna looked down and saw Clefairy watching Ash train with awe in its eyes. It was strange, but, for a second there, Luna thought she could sense that same fiery energy coming off of Clefairy. But, just as quick as she had felt the feeling, it had disappeared. Luna smiled. Something interesting was going on, and she had a feeling that Ash's Gym battle might just have a very surprising outcome for Luna herself. What could that outcome be? We'll find out as the journey continues.