Episode 14: Fiery New Bonds.
This chapter will take part one day after Ash's defeat.
Ash sat down looking at his pokeballs thinking about the defeat at the hands of Scott, he watched as Salvia was doing her best to try and gain the trust of Vulpix while she was training with her team of pokemon, Dawn was training her Piplup and Quilava for the next contest but Ash was having a hard time focusing on training since his Pikachu evolved into a Raichu, he looked over to his partner pokemon who wasn't sure of his power since evolving by accident, Ash picked himself up and walked towards the electric pokemon, "hey buddy, how are things holding up for you?" Ash asked the mouse pokemon.
Noticing that Ash was still feeling a little down since his defeat Salvia walked up to Ash with concern etched over her face, "Ash, I know you will beat him next time," Salvia declared in support but Ash continued to look away.
Ash turned his gaze back to the princess and let out a quick smile, "defeat can be a good thing Salvia, I learnt my limitations in that battle, but now I have to train for the rematch to make my team stronger," Ash explained proudly.
Salvia walked back and then turned to Ash, "then let me help you!" Salvia yelled out with certainty, Ash stood up and stood opposite Salvia, "Dragonair, it's time to shine," Salvia called out her pokemon.
Ash pulled out his pokeball and got ready to battle the princess, "Serperior, I choose you," Ash called out his grass type pokemon, the two serpentine pokemon looked at each other and got ready to attack, "show me how good you are Salvia," Ash demanded with confidence. "Serperior attack with Vine Whip," Ash called for the first attack of the training battle.
"Dragonair, use Dragon Pulse," Salvia called for the counter attack, the powerful vines of Serperior flew towards Dragonair but were easily repelled by Dragon Pulse, "come on Ash, your pokemon has more experience than mine," Salvia told Ash as the powerful attack slammed into Serperior.
Ash jumped back as he started to hesitate in the choice of his next attack, "Attract," Ash called out, hearts were sent flying towards Dragonair until it was surrounded by the incoming attack, Salvia watched in horror as the attack started to take effect, "what no way, Dragonain is a female," Ash hissed in surprise.
Ash started to think more about his defeat, "Ash think about this battle," Salvia instructed Ash with confidence, 'this will get him thinking,' Salvia thought as she prepared to command her dragon type pokemon, "Dragonair, attack with Flamethrower," Salvia instructed her pokemon, I sudden burst of flames was directed at the grass pokemon, Ash looked up to see his pokemon take a critical hit, "Ash, get a hold of yourself, yes you lost, but as you said you learn from your defeats," Salvia recited Ash's words.
Ash looked up to see a determined princess ready to attack once again, "Serperior, use Leaf Storm," Ash called for the next attack of the battle.
"Much better," Salvia smiled at the trainer, the powerful flurry of leaves, the storm of leaves smashed into the dragon type pokemon pushing her back towards her trainer.
Ash watched as Leaf Storm came to an end, "I have an idea," Ash said with a renewed smile, a move that I will use in the appeals round," Ash said with a smile.
Salvia looked away in disappointment, "don't think about the upcoming contest, your main focus should be on defeating Scott," Salvia decreed with concern, but she watched as her opponents grass type disappear in front of her, 'what is Ash thinking?' Salvia thought as she looked towards Dragonair.
Ash smirked as he looked up to see his pokemon falling towards the dragon type pokemon, "Leaf Blade," Ash called out for the attack, Salvia looked up in horror while Ash's pokemon's tail started to glow green and spun around as leaves surrounded the grass type before slashing down on Salvia's pokemon, "nicely done Serperior," Ash told his pokemon with a proud look on his face.
Salvia looked on in surprise as she still tried to take in the combination move that was used against her, 'I guess he has some experience in contests,' Salvia thought calmly. Salvia pulled out her pokeball and recalled her dragon type pokemon, she pulled out another red and white device and looked at it for a moment, 'alright time to get my Vulpix to trust me,' Salvia thought as she walked away from the battle, "Ash thanks for the battle," Salvia said politely before calling out her fire type pokemon.
Vulpix looked at the coordinator and turned away before waltzing off to an unknown location, Salvia quickly started to run after the small fox like pokemon to prevent it from getting lost, Ash watched while laughing at the princess's misfortune, "Serperior, we will get some practice later," Ash recalled his grass type pokemon, Ash sat down and waited for the royal to return to the table.
Salvia walked back to the table with her head drooping in shame, "I give up, there is no way I can gain the trust of Vulpix in time for the next contest," Salvia said in shame as she sat down next to her traveling companion, "I have no idea what to do, last night I tried to give it some food," Salvia explained as she placed her head on the table gently.
Ash stood up and grabbed the young royal's arm, "come on princess, we need to get Vulpix to be your friend," Ash stated confidently as he picked her up, Ash started to walk ahead of the princess, "Salvia, where did Vulpix go to?" Ash asked as he ran in the opposite direction.
"Ash, you're going to wrong way," Salvia called out but it was no use Ash was gone leaving the princess with Ash's Raichu, "well Raichu it seems like we have to deal with Vulpix on our own," Salvia told the electric pokemon as the two started to walk off to find the fire type who had wondered off.
While the two were off in their separate directions Dawn was returning from her training for the next contest, "Ash, Salvia where are you two?" Dawn asked in amazement as her small blue pokemon jumped out of her hands and onto the ground, "I am gone for practice and they aren't here," Dawn said with slight frustration etched on her face, the anger was soon replaced by a cheeky smile, "maybe they are going out on a date," Dawn said with a slight chuckle.
While Raichu was following the princess around she heard a noise from behind, she turned around to find that nothing was there, Salvia turned around to hear the rustling in bushes in front of her, "Ash, is that you?" Salvia asked but there was no response, the noises got closer causing the young royal to panic, soon a small red fox jumped out of the bushes laughing at the royal, "not funny Vulpix," Salvia said in anger but the fire type didn't care much for what the princess was saying and ran off back to the camp, "Vulpix, return," Salvia tried to recalled the fox pokemon but it dodged the red beam with great dexterity, "come on Raichu we need to stop Vulpix from getting into trouble," Salvia explained as the two started to chase the coordinators pokemon.
Salvia ran back to the camp not noticing that Dawn was sitting on a seat eating her meal, "Salvia, where are you going?" Dawn asked her friend but she didn't get a response, she looked at the ground and noticed Salvia's fire type running in front of her, "seems like she is trying to gain the trust of Vulpix again," Dawn explained under her breath.
"Vulpix get back here," Salvia demanded but the small fox didn't take notice to care, it continued to run further and further away from a now tiring princess, Salvia collapsed on the ground from exhaustion as the fox ran away from her again, Salvia pulled out her pokeball and looked at it for a moment, she wound and prepared to throw the pokeball away, "enough I will never get it to listen to me," Salvia started crying her hand was caught in time before she did something she would regret for the rest of her life, the red and white device dropped in front of her, "what happened?" Salvia enquired as a bluenette picked up her pokeball.
"You shouldn't give up princess," she said as the princess looked up trying to dry up her tears, "you're going to have pokemon disobey you from time to time, but giving up will just be a big mistake," Dawn said with a smile as she handed the pokeball back to her friend, "I had Mamoswine disobey me for a while, even Ash had pokemon that wouldn't listen to him, but we both never gave up and gain the trust of the pokemon," Dawn explained with a proud look on her face.
While Dawn was helping the princess up Ash returned without the fox pokemon, "so did you find Vulpix?" Ash asked with a smile as a loud noise was heard from the distance, the three trainers looked over their shoulders to find out where the noise was coming from, "that sounds like Vulpix," Ash said with certainty.
Salvia jumped up and ran to where the call had come from, "Salvia, be careful," Dawn called out as the other two followed the princess with intent.
Salvia stopped running and looked around to find a sudden drop in front of her, another loud noise was heard but this time it was underneath the princess, the princess looked down to see the fox pokemon holding on for dear life, "Vulpix, I am coming for you," Salvia said as she pulled the bag off her back, "now I don't know how to tie a knot, but I have to save one of my pokemon," Salvia said as she tied the rope to the nearest tree, Salvia dropped the rope down to where Vulpix was hanging on, Salvia grabbed the rope and held on tightly as she descended down cliff face to save her pokemon.
Meanwhile Ash and Dawn had made it to where they last saw Salvia, Ash took a quick glance and saw a rope leading to the edge of the cliff, "Dawn, it seems like Salvia has found Vulpix," Ash explained with certainty.
Ash and Dawn walked up to the cliff face and spotted the Princess scaling down to rescue the small fire type, "Salvia, please be careful," Dawn called to her friend.
Salvia was holding onto the rope as she looked up to see Dawn and Ash supporting her, she slowly took one step at a time not looking down, 'one step at a time,' Salvia thought as she gulped, she began to shake but managed to contain her nerves.
'Come on princess you can do it,' Ash thought as a proud smile stretched across his face.
Salvia eventually placed her foot on a safe bit of ground, she opened her eyes and saw that the small bit of ground was enough to pick the small fox up, "come with me I will save you," the princess explained as she helped the fox out of the predicament, after being helped the small fox bit down on the royal's arm causing her to wince in pain, "you know, I see that you have potential, I am sure you want me to help you realize that potential," she explained as she picked up Vulpix and placed it on her back, "now hold on," Salvia instructed the fire type as she grabbed the rope and started her climb back up the cliff face.
Ash watched the princess with intent but looked back to see the rope loosening up from the tree, "Salvia you better hurry," Ash said in concern.
Salvia continued to scale up the rocky wall with a smile on her face, 'thank you Ash,' Salvia thought as she continued to hold onto the rope, her legs started to stiffen up and her hands started to get very sweaty, 'I don't know if I can make it back to Ash,' Salvia thought as her climb back up started to slow down.
Ash looked on in concern as the princess's hands started to slide, 'no I refuse to lose her,' Ash thought as he grabbed a hold of the rope, "don't let go, I will help you up," Ash called to the princess, Salvia looked up as her face started to heat up slightly and began to turn to a bright shade of red, "you made that effort to save one of your pokemon, don't make it for nothing!" Ash yelled out as she started to pull on the rope one hand at a time.
The fire type looked on as it turned its gaze back to Salvia, it started to smile and nodded in approval, Salvia noticed that the top of the cliff was getting closer but her hands started to slip, "I can't hold on much longer," Salvia said as her right hand let go of the rope, Salvia tried to place her hand back on the rope but she was a little exhausted.
Ash continued but this time with the help of Dawn, the two worked perfectly, Raichu looked at the rope and noticed that it was starting to become frayed, Raichu pointed that fact to Ash much to his horror, Ash pulled out his pokeball and called out a large green pokemon, "Serperior, use Vine Whip to save Salvia," Ash instructed the grass type.
Serperior quickly lowered the vines towards the princess and wrapped them around her, Salvia had her eyes closed as her left hand lost grip and but she quickly opened her eyes to see the large vines wrapped around her waist, she looked up and spotted Ash standing next to Serperior, 'Ash saved my life again,' Salvia thought as she was pulled up to safety, Vulpix jumped off Salvia's shoulder and waited for the coordinator to stand safely on the ground.
Salvia knelt on safe ground the small fox walked up to the princess and started to rub against her arm, Salvia turned her head and spotted the pokemon happily standing next to her, "wow Salvia, you gained the trust of Vulpix," Dawn said with a smile, Salvia placed her hand on the fire type pokemon and started to pet it on the head, "now you can practice your appeals for the next contest," Dawn pointed out with a proud smile on her face.
Salvia stood up and started to walked towards the camp with Vulpix following her, she looked over her shoulder, "thank you Ash and Dawn, you saved my life," Salvia gratefully declared as the trio started to walk back to the camp, Salvia looked around the tree lined path as a gentle breeze blew through the area, it was starting to get dark as clouds started to roll in from Lavender Town.
Ash looked up to see a spark of lightning streak across the sky, "seems like we need to get to some shelter and we are still at least three hours away from the underground path to Celadon," Ash explained while a peel of thunder shook the area, "guessing from that rumble of thunder I don't think we have much time before the storm hits," Ash said with laughter.
The trio finally made it back to the camp and grabbed their bags, Salvia looked over her shoulder and saw a sudden movement in the bushes behind them, "Raichu, that's not funny," Salvia said as she approached the bush thinking that Raichu was playing tricks with her, Salvia looked back towards Ash as another crack of thunder rattled the area.
Ash shrugged his shoulders as the wind started to pick up and small drops of water began to fall, Ash walked over to Salvia for a moment and started to direct her back to the camp, "Salvia, Raichu is with me."
Salvia looked down to see Ash's electric pokemon standing next to him, she turned her head back to the bushes while rumbles of thunder continued to increase in frequency while the lightning was lighting up the sky, "yeah, we better find some shelter," Salvia said while the trio finished packing up the camp.
The trio walked started to run as rain began to heavily fall, Ash looked around to find a large building, "there, we can take shelter in there," Ash told the girls.
Ash, Salvia and Dawn made it to the building while the rain continued to fall heavily, Ash looked at the door to find that it was looked, "Ash, is there something wrong?" Dawn asked the raven hair trainer, Ash turned his gaze to the strengthening storm, "Ash, this place is abandoned," Dawn pointed out calmly.
Ash pulled out one of his pokeballs, "Emboar, open this door for us," Ash called out and instructed his pokemon, the mega pig pokemon hit the door with great intensity opening the door. The trio walked in followed by Ash's two pokemon, Ash placed his hand on the wall and flicked the switch to turn the lights on.
The lights flickered before turning on fully, the lights flickered more due to the intensity of the storms, "we will stay here until the storm passes," Salvia said as she walked further into the building with Dawn, "it seems like this place was left for some reason," Salvia explained nervously.
Dawn looked over her shoulder to find a set of doors, Salvia and Dawn pushed the doors open to see a large arena, "this is a battlefield," Dawn said with a smirk, Dawn and Salvia explored some more while Ash walked into the arena the made it to the back to find the rest rooms of the place, "we can use this place to clean up," Dawn said quietly as she walked into the rest rooms, 'amazing, why would people leave this place?' Dawn questioned as she walked out of the rest room to meet up with Ash and Salvia.
Ash looked around for a moment while thinking about the possibility of the use of the arena, "we can use this place to train up," Ash said happily but the girls weren't interested they hand Ash their respective pokeballs and ran back into the rest room, "hey don't leave me alone," Ash called out to the girls.
Salvia's head appeared from the room and smiled at Ash, "you can wait your turn," Salvia said before disappearing again into the rest room.
Ash looked away for a moment and walked around the arena, "while they are getting cleaned up we better train as well, the best choices are Emboar and Serperior, if I can build on their stamina they will win the battle against Scott's ghost pokemon," Ash told himself calmly while calling out his pokemon ready to train. "Serperior, I will take command while you Emboar will battle as you need to," Ash declared.
Raichu stood there waiting for the battle to begin between the two powerful pokemon, Ash looked down to see his pokemon worry about the battle, "it's fine buddy, your chance to battle will be soon," Ash explained quietly as Emboar started the battle with Flame Charge, "Serperior, dodge the attack now," Ash commanded with certainty, "now attack with Leaf Blade," Ash called out for the next attack of the battle.
Emboar jumped back to dodge the fast approaching attack and charged at his team mate with a powerful Brick Break attack, "Emboar, try to avoid using Fighting type move, Ghost type pokemon aren't phased by those attacks," Ash told his pokemon calmly as the attacks landed pushing the powerful pokemon back towards their original positions, "Serperior attack with Leaf Storm," Ash called for his pokemon most powerful attack, a barrage of leaves spun in a tornado form at the fighting/fire type.
Emboar sent out a flurry of flames towards the tornado or leaves, "not bad," Ash said as the fire engulfed the leaves preventing Leaf Storm from getting closer, the two attacks dissipated causing the two attacks to fall to the ground harmlessly with the leaves glowing red and orange.
Ash recalled the two pokemon as the thunder got louder and the rain heavier, Ash sat down to wait for his turn to take the rest room thinking about the next challenge, Ash closed his eyes while waiting for the two girls to complete their showers, while his eyes were closed Ash heard a harmonious voice emanating from the showers, he quickly opened his eyes to listen to the singing from the rest room, "amazing, such a beautiful song," Ash told himself under his breath.
Ash looked at his electric pokemon and began to wonder who it was that had the amazing voice, "who do you think it is buddy," Ash asked as they both shrugged their shoulders.
After waiting for a while Ash stood up after hearing Salvia and Dawn exit the rest room, "Ash you can take the shower now," Dawn told Ash with a smile as they grabbed their pokeballs and took Ash's pokemon and walked over to the exit of the battlefield, they opened the door and looked even further into building, Salvia looked into another room to find a kitchen set, "Dawn, this place wasn't abandoned," Salvia explained quietly.
Dawn looked at her friend for a moment and nodded in agreement, "yeah I agree, this place is a resort, but it seems to be closed for a while," Dawn stated with a smile, "but the amazing thing about this place is that pokemon can thrive in as well," she explained as she pointed over to a few wild pokemon in the room, "there are quite a few of them as well," Dawn said a Raichu appeared in front of the girls, "Raichu, Ash wouldn't be happy if you keep walking in different directions," Dawn said as she walked up to the Raichu.
Salvia looked around the room and spotted another Raichu, "Dawn, I don't think that is Ash's Raichu, because he is standing here next to me," Salvia pointed over to Ash's electric pokemon, Salvia walked over to the other Raichu but it jumped back with sparks flying from its cheeks.
"Seems like you fell into our little trap," A woman with long red hair declared with laughter.
Salvia and Dawn looked up to see two people and a Meowth, "Team Rocket, what do you want?" Dawn asked with anger.
"Thanks for greeting us, but now you will hand over the princess immediately," James said with a smirk. "we knew that the storm was coming so we found this nice resort, we decided to use this place to take the princess from her protector," James explained with a smirk as he walked up to the ledge of the to get ready to complete the ambush, "but since your knight isn't here princess we will be taking you," James declared with conviction.
Salvia glared at the rockets with a frown, "what so you can hand me over to my uncle?" Salvia asked with anger as the rockets jumped off the next floor and landed gracefully in front of the two bluenettes, "well answer me! Are you going to force me to visit my uncle?!" Salvia asked in increasing anger.
Dawn looked over to the princess and placed her hand on her shoulder, "calm down, this is what they want," Dawn pointed out while Ash's Raichu stood between with sparks flying from his cheeks, "Raichu use Thunderbolt," Dawn commanded Ash's pokemon with certainty, Raichu powered up the attack and unleashed a mighty burst of electricity was directed towards the three rocket members but they jumped out of the way of the attack, "Salvia we need to get back to the arena," Dawn told the princess calmly.
The two girls ran back to the door only to be stopped by a coffin like pokemon and a large purple pokemon in the other direction, "you are trapped, now princess you will come with us," Jessie ordered quickly.
Salvia pulled out one of her pokeballs but before she could call out her chosen pokemon Vulpix appeared from one of the devices, "Vulpix, I was going to choose Dragonair," Salvia explained quietly, "but if you want to battle then so be it."
"Quilava spotlight," Dawn called out her fire type pokemon.
Dawn and Salvia stood back to back ready to battle Team Rocket's more powerful pokemon got ready to battle while Raichu stood next to Dawn, much to the surprise of Ash's Raichu the other Raichu stood at the ready to battle against Team Rocket, "seems like you two have four pokemon against our two, that's not fair, go Arbok," Jessie called out for her serpent like pokemon.
"When we started our last operations in Hoenn we managed to get a few old friends back," James pointed out with laughter, "Wheezing lets go," James called for his poison type pokemon, "used Sludge Bomb," James ordered his pokemon to attack the other Raichu, "Cofagrigus attack Vulpix with Shadow Ball," James commanded with great confidence, two spheres appeared in front of the two pokemon as they got ready to attack.
"No you don't Vulpix attack with Will-O-Wisp," ordered for the next attack as the Raichu teaming with her Vulpix unleashed a powerful burst of electricity before the two opposing pokemon could finish powering up their attack the team work of Vulpix and the wild Raichu overwhelmed James' pokemon quickly.
As the battle was starting to heat up Jessie, James and Meowth received a call from their mobile phones, "what? You want us to forget about the mission for now?" Jessie enquired with anger as she glared at the two girls, "but sir we have the princess right where we want her, we can kidnap her now," Jessie pointed out before recalling her pokemon calmly, "very well, we will pull back to Celadon City to help out with the next stage of our plans," Jessie said as the Rocket Trio threw down a smoke bomb to aid in the departure of the battlefield.
After the smoke cleared up Ash appeared in the hallway ready to leave, "what happened here?" Ash asked as he looked around the hall way, "it looked like there was a battle while I was getting cleaned up," Ash said quickly as he started to walk towards the exit, "you know I figured something out this place is closed for a few months because this area is a resort," Ash said with a proud smile as the girls giggled slightly, 'maybe when this place opens for a season I can bring Salvia here,' Ash thought with a nod. The girls watched as Ash hit himself for some unknown reason, "what in the world am I thinking about?" Ash asked himself while Raichu walked up to his trainer.
The wild Raichu walked up to the princess with a smile and smiled at her, "what you want me to capture you?" Salvia questioned the electric type, she pulled out her pokeball and tapped the electric type on the head with it. The ball wobbled slightly and quickly signaled that the capture was complete.
"Hey girls come have a look at this!" Ash called out to the but the only one to exit the building was Salvia, Dawn stayed back to watch what was going to happen next, "a rainbow," Ash said quietly not realizing that Salvia was standing next to him.
Dawn continued to watch for a moment, 'come on take her hand,' Dawn thought with a smile, but was quickly disappointed as they walked away from the building, 'great now I have to force them to realize just how close they are,' Dawn thought with a cheeky smile. "Hey wait for me, I am heading to Celadon too," Dawn called over to her friends as she ran up to them.
Alright the end of this episode and the third to last of Dawn's first cameo of the story, hope you enjoyed this one and please make a request on the next character to make a cameo appearance which I plan to make after Ash's next masters battle. Will not be May or Drew I plan for that to happen in Hoenn as permanent Travelling companions.
What is Team Rocket's plan in Celadon City? And how does it tie in with Christopher's plans? Will Salvia win her next ribbon?
Find out next time in Episode 15: The Contest Crisis.
Salvia's Team: Dragonair, Raichu (female), Eevee, Vulpix, Clefairy and Seel