Author's Note: I decided to go ahead and do this chapter partly to make up for not updating last week. We kinda have a short chapter here. As implied towards the end of the last chapter, Ash is going to get another Pokemon.
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.
Chapter 20: Blast From the Past
Morning came to the quiet little town of Fort Stone. The sun had risen and the townspeople were getting ready to start the day. Ash and his friends too were getting started on their day too. It was still a fairly long way to Nimbasa City and the sooner they set out, the better. Though they did have one stop to make before leaving. That morning, Ash and his Pokemon companions came down to find Misty and Chili already there, waiting for them.
"Ready to go see Ms. Walters?" Misty asked.
"Just one second." Ash replied as he took out a Pokeball. "Go Golett!"
The ancient Pokemon emerged from its thrown ball. Lucario went over to greet it.
"Why'd you send Golett out?" Chili asked.
"I figured it might like to spend a little time out of its ball for a bit." Ash explained. "After what happened to its tower it might be a good idea for it to spend time with friends."
"Excuse me, Ash?" Nurse Joy called over from the counter. "Are you going to go see Ms. Walters?"
"That's right." Ash confirmed as he came up.
"She just left a message for me." Nurse Joy informed him. "She said before you come over you should put one of your Pokemon in storage."
"Why's that?" Ash wondered.
"Oh dear, that part's slipped my mind." Nurse Joy answered with an embarrassed expression. "I can be a little absent-minded sometimes. It's a miracle I remembered to give you this message in the first place. But I can tell you that she's waiting at the Fort Stone Museum down the street."
"Well okay. Thanks." Ash replied. With that, Nurse Joy went to the backroom of the Pokemon Center.
"Why would Ms. Walters ask you to store one of your Pokemon?" Misty wondered.
"No clue. But I guess I should go ahead and do it." Ash said as he rubbed the back of his head out of puzzlement.
"Which Pokemon are you going to store though?" Chili inquired.
"Well, it obviously won't be Pikachu, Lucario, or Ho-Oh." Ash answered. "I just got Golett and I don't want to bench Snivy right now. I guess I'll store Larvesta for the time being."
"Yes!" Misty said enthusiastically. Ash and Chili gave her an odd look. "I mean, that could work I guess."
A few minutes after Ash sent Larvesta over to Professor Juniper, the group was on its way to the museum. It was a short walk, but it was time enough for Lucario, Pikachu, and Golett to chat. When they entered the museum they found that it was small. Not quite as impressive as the one in Nacrene City. But it did have a fairly interesting collection of fossils and old relics. Clay pots, old stones with carvings on them, and hung on the walls were old worn tapestries. Carol came out of the backroom almost as soon as the group arrived.
"Glad you could drop by Ash." Carol greeted.
"No problem." Ash replied. "So what did you find out about that rock?"
"Didn't Nurse Joy tell you?" Carol asked looked a bit surprised.
"Well she said you wanted me to store one of my Pokemon before coming here. But she forgot why." Ash explained.
"Yes, that's our town's Nurse Joy alright." Carol sighed. "I once had a package delivered to the Pokemon Center and she forgot to tell me it had come for two weeks. Well, wait here and I'll bring you your explanation." She then retreated to the backroom.
"This certainly is turning into a mystery." Chili commented.
"Excuse me." A voice spoke from behind. "Is Ms. Walters or Dr. Fleming in?"
The group turned around to see a girl who looked to be about twelve or thirteen. She had light-brown hair tied back in a braided ponytail and pale-green eyes. Her outfit was made up of a tan tank top with a brown vest and shorts, along with a pair of black hiking shoes. On her back was a large green backpack stocked with equipment used for camping or digging. The girl's face suddenly lit up when she saw Ash's three Pokemon.
"Oh wow! A Golett." The girl observed enthusiastically as she went over. She began to look Golett over with a magnifying glass. "I've never seen a real one before. This is quite a find."
"Um, who are you?" Ash inquired.
"Oh, sorry. I'm Sandy Parks." The girl greeted after remembering Ash and the others were there. "So is this your Golett?"
"Yep, I caught it yesterday." Ash confirmed. "I'm Ash, by the way. With me are my friends Misty and Chili"
"A pleasure to meet you." Sandy replied as she shook their hands. "Anyway, my apologies for ignoring you earlier. I was just so thrilled to see an actual Golett. You see I'm an enthusiast of ancient Pokemon. I actually have quite a collection already."
"So why are you here to see Ms. Walters and this doctor you mentioned." Misty asked.
"Yesterday I left a fossil I found a week ago to be revived." Sandy explained.
"Revived?" Chili asked with a raised eyebrow.
"That's right. The museum here in Fort Stone is one of the only places in Unova that revives Pokemon fossils." Sandy revealed. "The other is the Nacrene City Museum, but I came here because it was closer."
At that moment, Carol reentered the room. Walking next to her was a slightly overweight man with dark-brown hair wearing thick glasses and a white lab coat.
"Oh, you're here too Ms. Parks." Carol observed.
"Yep. So is my fossil revived?" Sandy asked.
"It sure is." The man that Ash and the others deduced to be Dr. Fleming confirmed. "Here ya go." He handed Sandy a Pokeball.
"Thank you." Sandy said with an expression of excitement as she took the ball. "Let's see what I got."
Sandy threw the ball, and emerging from the ball was a small bird-like creature with a mainly yellow body and a blue head. The ends of its wings were blue, as was the end of its red lizard-like tail. Its legs were also red, as was its fanged beak.
"Oh wow! An Archen!" Sandy exclaimed.
"Let's see." Ash said as he got out his Pokedex.
"Archen, the First Bird Pokemon." The Pokedex identified. "Unable to fly, this Pokemon moved about by hoping from tree branch to tree branch. Archen is thought to be the ancestor of all bird Pokemon."
"So this is a prehistoric Pokemon?" Misty inquired.
"That's correct." Dr. Fleming confirmed. "And Mr. Ketchum, I just finished reviving your fossil as well."
"My fossil?" Ash asked as he took the Pokeball that the good doctor handed to him.
"I thought there was something familiar about the rock you found at the tower, so I had Dr. Fleming examine it." Carol explained. "It turned out to be a fossil just like I thought it'd be. So I had Clark revive it for you."
"Oh, well thanks then." Ash replied. "Well, let's see what I got."
After Ash threw the ball, the creature that emerged was a slightly large blue sea turtle. It had a very dark-blue shell with six circular indentations in the top, and the top of its snout was also dark-blue.
"Wow! A Tirtouga!" Sandy said enthusiastically. "You sure are lucky Ash."
Ash got out his Pokedex again to learn more about his newest Pokemon.
"Tirtouga, the Prototurtle Pokemon." The Pokedex identified. "This Pokemon lived in oceans about one-hundred million years ago. Tirtouga is able to dive down into the water more than half a mile."
"You are lucky Ash." Misty commented. "I want a Pokemon like that."
"You would." Ash said with a small chuckle. "Well, thanks for the Pokemon Ms. Walters, Dr. Fleming. I think we'll be heading out now though."
"Heading out?" Sandy asked.
"Yeah. My friends and I are headed to Nimbasa City." Ash explained.
"I see." Sandy replied. "In that case, could you do me a favor before you leave?"
"What is it?" Ash asked.
"Well, I was hoping we could battle using our new Pokemon." Sandy explained.
"Sure, I could use a battle." Ash agreed.
Moments later they had all gone outside to a field behind the museum. Ash and Sandy had already taken their positions, their Pokemon ready for battle. Chili meanwhile had taken his position off to the side to judge the battle.
"This will be a one-on-one battle." Chili declared. "Begin!"
"Okay Tirtouga, use Aqua Jet!" Ash commanded.
"Archen, block with Quick Guard!" Sandy ordered.
Tirtouga's head and limbs retracted into its shell and it became shrouded in water. The ancient turtle took off at Archen like a missile. At the last instant though, Archen hopped into the air and began to glow with a red aura. The proto bird brought its wings forward and clapped them together. A shield of red energy formed and Tirtouga ricocheted off.
"What the…?" a confused Ash exclaimed.
"Quick Guard blocks attacks that strike first like Quick Attack and Aqua Jet." Sandy explained. "Okay Archen, use Ancient Power!"
Archen opened its beak and fired a ball of white light at Tirtouga. When the smoke from the resulting explosion cleared, the turtle Pokemon had withstood the attack.
"You use Ancient Power too Tirtouga!" Ash commanded.
Tirtouga opened its mouth and fired its own ball of light at Archen. The proto bird was hit and knocked back by the resulting explosion.
"Okay, use Aqua Jet!" Ash ordered.
"Nice try. Use Quick Guard!" Sandy commanded.
Archen hopped into the air again as Tirtouga became shrouded in water and took off. The clapped its wings together and formed another shield, causing Tirtouga to bounce off.
"Use Aqua Jet one more time!" Ash ordered.
"You need to learn another trick, because that one's getting old fast." Sandy said confidently. "Use Quick Guard again!"
Still shrouded in water, Tirtouga curved around and came at Archen again. The proto bird clapped its wings again to form another shield. This time though, Tirtouga broke through the shield as if it was glass and collided with Archen.
"What?" a surprised Sandy exclaimed.
"Looks like you're the one who needs to learn a new trick." Ash gloated. "I had a feeling Quick Guard wouldn't work when used over and over again. Okay Tirtouga, finish it with Crunch!"
Before Archen could recover from the last attack, Tirtouga bit down hard on its right wing. When the turtle let go, Archen fell to the ground on its side, out cold.
"Archen is unable to battle!" Chili declared. "The winners are Ash and Tirtouga!"
"Darn!" Sandy said with a defeated look as she called Archen back to its ball. "Oh well, raising Pokemon revived from fossils isn't easy."
"You did pretty well in that battle." Ash told her encouragingly.
"Yeah, but it looks like I have a lot of training to do with Archen." Sandy pointed out. "It was fun battling you though."
"Same here." Ash replied.
A few minutes later, Ash and his companions went back to the Pokemon Center with Sandy to treat Archen and Tirtouga. When Nurse Joy had finished, they all went outside to say their goodbyes.
"Well, it was nice meeting all of you." Sandy told them.
"Where are you headed next?" Misty inquired.
"There are some recently discovered ruins I want to check out." Sandy answered. "I hope we'll run into each other again though."
"I'm sure we will." Ash assured her. "Take care."
"You too." Sandy replied, and with that they parted ways.
Author's Note: The main reason why I decided to have Ash get a Tirtouga was simply because his current team didn't have any Water Pokemon (Oshawott and Palpitoad ended up with Misty). Sandy will appear later chapters by the way. Anyway, the other reason why I went ahead and got this chapter done now is because in the next chapter we enter a four-part story arc. Some old enemies are coming to get back at Ash and Misty.
Please review and let me know what you think.