For disclaimer purposes, this chapter is based off DP145: A Rivalry to Gible On! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or any of its characters, including Lyra and Khoury, and all OCs belong to their rightful owners.
Chapter 33
Unlike the day before, they made excellent timing trekking up Route 205. This time, when they took a break for lunch, Lyra made sure to put Marill in its Poké Ball before they continued. As they continued, they reached the Eterna Forest, which was like a thick maze of trees, and the sunlight could barely be seen coming through the thick branches above. Ash, Dawn and Brock had been through the area before and knew their way around the forest, but they still managed to get lost. Luckily, Khoury had his PokéGear and found a way to get them out using the map function on the device.
At one time, a Buneary popped out of the bushes and Lyra, who wanted to catch it, got excited and rushed up to it. The Rabbit Pokémon ended up using Bounce, jumping up and bouncing off Lyra's head to get away from the group. Ash and Dawn had offered to go after it, but Lyra shook her head, saying that she had caused them enough time already with her Marill.
As they were nearing the end of the forest, they stopped and set up camp for the night, since the sun was just setting down. Like before, Khoury was nervous about sleeping outside, but because they were in a dense forest this time. However, once Brock set a fire and a conversation got going, his fears disappeared.
Bright and early the next morning, the group headed out, finally getting out of the dense forest on the other side of Route 205. And a couple hours later, they had finally arrived in Eterna City. The city itself wasn't as hectic as Jubilife City, but definitely not as quiet as Floaroma Town, but it had the same feel to it as the town before did. It was relaxing, and the air was so light that Lyra's lungs felt like that could fly. Using his PokéGear again, Khoury led them to the Pokémon Center, and they stood in front of the L-shaped building. The main building was large, and it was tan, but the roof was blue. Above the huge automatic glass doors was a huge red P where the second floor was. There was also an area on the side that had a battlefield. In disbelief that they had finally made it to the center, they stopped and stared at the center for a bit with a smile on each of their faces before finally walking forward and through the automatic doors.
"Anybody here?" Ash asked as the doors opened. The Nurse Joy of the center, who was standing at her desk, was putting together some paperwork, and looked up when she saw them. On her nurse's cap was a pink cross. She smiled at them warmly when she saw them.
"Oh, hi everyone!" she greeted kindly.
"Nurse Joy! Wowie!" Brock exclaimed, suddenly changing personalities in a split second. He clasped his hands together at the side of his face and rushed up to her, leaning against the desk and looking straight into her eyes. "Such pretty eyes... You're Celestic Town's Nurse Joy's cousin and Snowpoint City's Joy's sister, am I right?" The Nurse Joy laughed nervously, clearly uncomfortable with Brock's flirting.
"Uh, why yes," she replied. "How did you know?"
"It's a gift. I happen to know everything about each Nurse Joy at any given moment, all around the world!" Brock answered. Beside Lyra, Khoury took out a notepad and started scribbling down a few notes.
"Brock is amazing! What a memory," Khoury commented as he scrolled down a few things.
"Yeah, but I think that memory would be put to better use as a Pokémon Breeder," Dawn muttered. Brock took Nurse Joy's hand gently in his and looked at her through the top of his squinted eyes.
"Nurse Joy, I suggest continuing this over dinner for two. Nice table, soft music, candlelight..." Suddenly, a burst of light poured out from his belt and formed behind him, and a blue frog-like Pokémon with white bands around its stomach and large orange cheeks appeared at his feet. It then raised one of its long arms, and the tip of its black and orange fingers started to glow purple with poison, and it jabbed its hand into Brock's backside. Brock suddenly cried out and flailed around in pain. "Maybe... I'll... just... stand!" He then collapsed to the ground and the Pokémon, Croagunk, grabbed its Trainer's foot and dragged him away while Ash and Dawn chuckled nervously amongst themselves.
"Well, Brock won't be forgetting that very soon," Lyra stated, adding onto Khoury's comment from before as she watched his Pokémon drag him away. Just then, the automatic doors behind them opened, and they stepped out of the way for the people coming in.
"Nurse Joy!" a male voice called, and three children walked in, a boy and two girls, each of them holding a unconscious Pokémon in their hands.
"Nurse Joy, please help us!" a girl with short brown hair and glasses cried. In her arms was a fainted Eevee. Nurse Joy stepped out from behind her desk and walked up to the children.
"You three didn't go to Wayward Cave, did you?" she asked them like she was scolding them, but she looked very worried.
"Yeah..." the boy, who held a Mankey in his arms, admitted, lowering his head in shame. "See, we were only trying to catch it." The two other girls lowered their heads as well, both looking at their Pokémon. The girl who was silent held a Farfetch'd in her hands. Everyone walked forward as they overheard this.
"Do they mean catch a Pokémon?" Ash asked Nurse Joy.
"That's right," Nurse Joy answered him. "There's a rogue Gible there. Dangerous, so stay away." She then looked at the children. "Let's take care of your Pokémon."
"Right!" they all agreed, and they all rushed to the back room as Nurse Joy trailed behind them.
"Nurse Joy!" Brock shouted, and appeared out from behind the corner that Croagunk had dragged him. "I'd like to help, too!"
"Thanks Brock! That's very sweet," she said to him, smiling and running after the kids. Brock followed her and they both disappeared behind two doors.
"That rogue Gible sounds really scary," Dawn muttered loud enough for the group to hear. Everyone was quiet, but Ash hummed to himself, then clenched a fist and smiled.
"Well if it's a rogue Pokémon, I bet it's a strong Pokémon!"
"Pikachu!" the Pokémon on his shoulder added on. Lyra reached forward and placed a hand on Khoury's shoulder. When he looked at her, she winked at him.
"Hey, how about we have a look?" the brunette asked him, and he quickly shook his shoulder away from her grip.
"Wait... i-isn't that dangerous?" he stuttered, and Lyra groaned and placed her hands on her hips.
"Khoury, do you have to be afraid of everything?" she sighed. Ignoring their conversation, Ash grinned widely and looked at the door determinedly.
"'Kay, it's time to catch a rogue Pokémon!" he exclaimed, then rushed up of the center without waiting for anyone to realize what he was doing. The group quickly turned around and ran after him.
"Ash, slow down!" Dawn yelled to him, but he didn't hear her over his excitement, and he jumped into the air, clapping his feet together in midair.
"Yahoo!" he cheered, and continued running.
"Yahoo!" Lyra repeated, as she was equally excited to see the Pokémon.
"H-hey! Wait for me!" Khoury shouted behind them, clumsily running to catch up to the three.
o 0 o
They exited Eterna City to the south, and Route 206 split into two paths. On one side, there was a long, winding path that went downhill, and on the other path was Sinnoh's Cycling Road, which could only be entered if they had bikes on them. They didn't, but they weren't going that way anyways, and headed down the left path to where Wayward Cave waited below.
As they walked, Lyra slowed down some, taking Dawn with her and forcing her to slow down so she could walk alongside her. As Khoury walked alongside Ash up ahead, Lyra grinned to herself and looked at Dawn. "Dane, tell me. What do you think of Khoury?"
"What do you mean?" the blue-haired Coordinator asked in response. Lyra closed her eyes and pointed in the air matter-of-factually.
"I mean, what do you think of him as a boyfriend?" she elaborated, and Dawn suddenly cried out in surprise.
"As a boyfriend?" she exclaimed, and the two boys in front turned around when they heard her yell out.
"Something wrong?" Khoury called to them.
"Oh! No no no no no, not a thing!" Dawn yelped, jumping in front of Lyra and waving her arms like a maniac. When they turned back around and continued walking, the Pokémon Coordinator let out a big sigh as Piplup looked down at her from its perch on her head.
"Now Khoury may not seem like much, but I know as a couple you two'd be great," Lyra said to her, waving her pointed finger back and forth. Dawn let out another sigh as she said this, and the brunette raised her fist in the air. "That's right! Look out Dane and Khoury, because for this matchmaker, it's cupid-playing time!"
"No! You don't have to do that! Really, you don't!" Dawn exclaimed behind her, flailing her arms around and blushing a deep red with embarrassment. Lyra, however, ignored her, humming along to a song and skipped ahead to catch up to Ash and Khoury while Dawn continued to flail her arms and run after her. "Lyra, come back!" The brunette finally caught up to the two and jumped in a spot next to Ash.
"Hi Ash," she said, then looked at Khoury and grinned. "Hiiiii, Khoury." The two boys looked at her strangely, and Khoury raised one of his eyebrows.
"Uh, hi?" he muttered, but he looked at her with a confused look on his face. Lyra turned her head and looked behind her, and saw Dawn following behind.
"Oops, sorry Dane, no more room. But there's some over there next to Khoury," she told her with a sneaky grin on her face. Dawn glanced at Khoury, and the open area next to him, and, taking a quick glance of hate at Lyra, jumped in a spot in between Ash and Khoury. The four of them began to walk normally again, when suddenly, Ash stopped and looked up in the air. Doing so caused everyone else to stop and look up, and they screamed as they saw a giant boulder hurtling towards them, Lyra and Ash jumping into the bushes on one side of the road and Dawn and Khoury on the other side. The boulder crashed in the ground where they stood just seconds before, and Ash gasped in surprise.
"What was that?" he exclaimed, and they heard a high-pitched laugh in the distance. Turning towards the source of the laughing, they saw a gray and red creature laughing as hard as it could with his stubby hands on its hips. "What's that?" Taking a closer look, they saw that it was a short Pokémon with a large fin coming out from the top of its head. Khoury stood up off the ground and took out his Pokédex, scanning the creature with the device. "Gible, the Land Shark Pokémon. Gible once lived in the tropics, and to avoid cold it lives in caves warmed by geothermal heat." As the entry finished, Gible's body became surrounded in a white aura, and it reached down, picking up a large rock next to it and lifting it up with one hand.
"Woah, Gible's using Strength!" Ash told them, but everyone screamed and ran out of the way as Gible tossed the rock forward at them. It crashed inches away where Ash had been if he hadn't moved. Suddenly, Gible propelled itself forward, jumping off the cliff and extended one of its arms forward. The little fist started to glow white, and it dove straight into the boulder it just threw, smashing it to pieces as it made contact with the rock. "Gible used Rock Smash! Now that's power." As he said this, Ash pulled a Poké Ball from his belt and held it in his hand. "I like it! I'm catching Gible for sure!" On the other side of the road, Dawn pulled out a Poké Ball of her own and held it up.
"Khoury, this is dangerous! Better stand back," she warned him, but, to everyone's surprise, he grinned and clenched both of his fists by his chest.
"I wanna raise it!" he stated, and Dawn and Lyra gasped in surprise. His eyes became wide with excitement as he looked at the Land Shark Pokémon in front of him. "Just look at that Gible! I just know I could raise it into an awesome Gabite!" Lyra placed her hands on her hips and smiled as Khoury said this.
"It looks like that Gible's bringing out the Breeder in Khoury!" she commented. Ash, who had been overlooking the scene in awe, raised his hand again and smirked.
"But I'm gonna catch it!" he added, and tossed his Poké Ball forward. "Buizel, I choose you!" The Poké Ball opened within seconds and an orange and tan weasel-like Pokémon with a round yellow sac around its neck appeared in front of him, its arms crossed across its chest in determination.
"Bui bui!" the Pokémon cried as it looked out at the Gible in front of it. Khoury didn't waste any time in taking out a Poké Ball of his own and tossing it forward.
"Two can play at that game! Totodile, give me a hand!" he called, and in a flash of light, Totodile appeared on the other side of Gible, waving its arms like a bodybuilder. As the two Pokémon stood side-by-side and faced Gible, the Land Shark Pokémon waved its arms a couple times before waving one. As it did, a small wave of sand blew through the wind in front of it, and it waved the other much more harder, and a huge sandstorm blew out from around it. The attack surprised Khoury and it sent him blowing backwards, but Dawn grabbed him from behind and held his backpack so he wouldn't be blown back anymore. Ash and Lyra covered their face with their arms and watched as the Sandstorm attack blew away both Buizel and Totodile. Finally, it ended, and Gible laughed with its hands on its hips a bit more before back flipping into the air and swan diving into the ground and digging away.
"Awesome! I've just gotta catch Gible!" Ash cried excitedly, and Lyra smiled, placing her hands on his shoulders.
"I'll help you, too," Lyra told him, and Khoury and Dawn looked at her in confusion. She turned and looked at the two next to her. "Dane, you keep an eye on Khoury, 'kay?" As she said this, she winked at Dawn. The blue-haired girl continued to look at her in confusion, but nodded her head.
"Okay..." she muttered. Suddenly, Khoury pumped his fists in the air excitedly and smirked with determination.
"Wow, that Gible's gonna be mine!" he cheered.
"You're on!" Ash accepted, and ran ahead down the path.
"Right Ash," Khoury replied, and the others jogged after him down the rest of the path where Gible escaped to.
o 0 o
The path led out into a huge field of knee-high tall grass, and the group decided to split into two to try and find Gible. While Khoury, Dawn, Totodile and Piplup went one way, Lyra, Ash, Pikachu and Buizel went the other. Now the two were standing in the middle of the field, looking around and scanning their eyes for any movement in the grass. Pikachu stood on Ash's head to get a better view. Suddenly, Lyra gasped as a gray fin went zooming by, and pointed to it to get Ash's attention. "There! And Gible's moving fast!" she exclaimed, and Ash quickly turned around and saw Gible's fin sticking out of the grass like a shark's out of water. The spiky-haired Trainer reacted quickly.
"Buizel! Use Aqua Jet!" he commanded, and right away, Buizel's body became surrounded in water, and it shot into the air like a rocket straight at the fin sticking out of the grass. Just as Buizel was about to hit it, however, Gible ducked its fin underneath the grass, Buizel skimming right over it. "What a dodge!" The fin came back up behind them and Lyra's head whipped around as the grass made a noise.
"That way!" she shouted, and pointed again.
"Quick Buizel, Water Gun!" The Sea Weasel Pokémon landed on the grass, breaking free of its Aqua Jet attack, and let out a powerful stream of water from its mouth. Like before, as soon as the Water Gun was about to hit its target, Gible dived further under the grass, dodging the attack. In the blink of an eye, Gible screamed loudly and jumped up behind them. The two Pokémon Trainers whipped around and gasped as they saw the Pokémon.
"Gible's over there!" Lyra yelled as Gible fell down and jumped back into the air.
"Buizel, use SonicBoom!" Ash ordered as he turned around.
"Bui bui!" his Pokémon cried, its entire tail started to glow white as it jumped high into the air. Whipping around quickly, a crescent-shaped energy was released from its tail and shot at Gible. The Pokémon effortlessly flipped over the attack and dove back into the grass. It stuck its fin out of the grass and started moving at a fast speed yet again.
"Gible's moving fast!" Lyra exclaimed.
"Intercept it with Aqua Jet!" the Pokémon Trainer responded, and Buizel's body became surrounded in water again, launching itself at Gible. The Land Shark Pokémon swerved to the right to dodge the Aqua Jet and continued moving in the direction it was going for. Lyra gasped when she saw that Gible was heading straight for them, and both Pokémon Trainers turned around and screamed, running away from the speedy Dragon-type.
"Gible's catching up!" Lyra cried worriedly as they ran, hearing the grass parting as Gible rushed through it behind her getting closer and closer.
"Quick, Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" Ash told the Mouse Pokémon who was on his shoulder. The yellow Electric-type jumped up into the air and released a cry, then released a beam of electricity from its body at Gible's fin. Gible dived down deeper into the grass to avoid the attack, and then leaped high into the air.
"Gible! Gib gib!" it called.
"Up there!" Lyra shouted, and both Trainers turned around when they heard the Pokémon. Suddenly, it started waving its arms at them one after the other. With each wave, a powerful mixture of sand and wind blew out of them, and it started to wave them faster, eventually blowing them off their feet. They cried out as they were thrown back and skidded against the ground. When the Sandstorm attack stopped, they looked up and saw that Gible was gone.
"It's gone," Ash stated, and they both sat up into a sitting position. "Man, catching Gible's gonna be tougher than I thought."
"You can say that again," Lyra muttered.
"Pika..." Pikachu added, crossing its arms. Letting out a big sigh, Lyra looked behind them and tried to see what Khoury and Dawn were having any luck with Gible. Both of them had gotten out fishing rods from Khoury's backpack and were standing on a rock that arched out over the grass. Both were waiting patiently with lures cast in the grass.
"It looks like Khoury and Dane are trying to catch Gible using fishing rods," Lyra reported. Suddenly, Khoury's fishing rod started to shake, and he gasped.
"A bite!" she heard him yell, and start to reel in the lure. She gasped as he pulled the rod up to bring the caught Pokémon up, and the two gasped when they saw that it wasn't Gible hooked on the end, but Piplup by its tail. Lyra laughed to herself as Khoury looked at Piplup with an annoyed look on his face and reeled it in.
"They can do what they want! We're chasing Gible out!" Ash said determinedly, standing up on his feet.
"What do you mean chase?" Lyra asked him, and the spiky-haired Trainer looked around at his feet, then reached down and picked up two sticks that he must have fell on and broke. The brunette raised an eyebrow as he handed her the two sticks, then picked up two of his own. As Ash held up the two sticks, one in each hand, his plan started to come together in her head. "Now I get it!" The spiky-haired boy turned to his Water-type Pokémon a distance away from them.
"Buizel! When we chase it your way, you battle! Okay?" The Sea Weasel Pokémon, who had climbed up on one of the rocks arching out of the grass, saluted its Trainer to show that it understood. Lyra rushed over to stand on the other side of the rock a distance away from Ash. "You ready over there, Lyra?"
"Okie-dokie!" she replied, clapping her two sticks together in front of her lightly to test them out. Both of them ran at the same time, running in opposite directions in a circle, with the rock that Ash's Buizel was standing on the middle of the circle. As they ran, they waved their arms up and down and clapped the sticks together.
"Come out, come out where ever you are!" Ash shouted.
"Face the music and dance!" Lyra called. They both shouted these once more before suddenly, Gible jumped out of the grass, flailing its arms angrily and looking quite annoyed. Lyra caught sight of it and stopped running. "There it is!" The Land Shark Pokémon also saw her and dove into the grass, sticking its fin out and then started moving at her at full speed. "No! Get away from me!"
"Lyra! Jump on the rock!" Ash yelled. Wasting no time, Lyra spun around and ran as fast as she could to get to the closest rock jutting out of the grass. When she reached it, she climbed up on it and turned around to see where Gible was. She gasped when the Land Shark Pokémon was approaching the rock as fast as it could, and not showing signs of slowing down as well. Without any warning or hesitation, the Pokémon plowed right through the rock, sending Lyra flying through the air as the rock exploded under her. She screamed as she flew, holding her arms out in front of her to cushion the impact, and she landed face-down on the grass below.
"That hurt..." she muttered as she landed.
"Lyra!" Ash cried with concern in his voice, but the brunette waved at him.
"Don't worry; I'm fine!" she replied. "You go and catch Gible!"
"You bet!" he agreed, then turned to his Pokémon standing on the rock. "Buizel! C'mon!" The Sea Weasel Pokémon jumped off the rock and both of them took off in the direction that Gible had gone when it smashed the rock. As Lyra slowly stood up, pain radiating through the whole front of her body from her landing, she watched as Gible's fin shot right towards the rock where Khoury and Dawn where standing with their lines cast, and they hadn't seemed to have noticed. "Dawn and Khoury, heads up! Gible's coming your way!" Both of them turned when they heard their names.
"It is?" they both exclaimed, and their eyes locked on the fin jutting out of the ground and heading right towards them.
"Buizel! Aqua Jet, quick!" Ash commanded, and Buizel shot at Gible like a rocket, its body surrounded in water.
"Totodile, Aqua Tail, let's go!" Khoury ordered to the Pokémon at his feet, and the Big Jaw Pokémon leaped into the air and turned its backside towards Gible. Its tail then became surrounded by a spiraling stream of water that spun around like a whirlpool, and both Pokémon shot at Gible. The Land Shark Pokémon was smarter than to fall for these attacks, however, and at the last moment, jumped up, giggling, and dashed to the left. Both Water-types gasped out and the two attacks hit each other, knocking them both to the ground. After wincing in pain, the two Pokémon jumped up, glared at each other and started to shout at each other in anger. The two glared at each other for a bit longer before jumping at each other and clobbering each other.
"Buizel! Knock it off!" Ash demanded, running up to the two Pokémon fighting.
"Totodile, stop that!" Khoury yelled, running up to the brawl as well. Meanwhile, Lyra managed to stand up off the ground and dust herself off, and looked up just in time to see Dawn's fishing pole bend slightly.
"It's a bite!" she shouted, and pulled her fishing rod up with a quick tug. The line rose into the air from the tug, and at the end of it was Piplup, the lure tied around its leg this time. Her excited face faded into an embarrassed one and she reeled in her own Pokémon, letting it hang next to her. "Piplup, this is getting a little bit old..." Lyra laughed at the pair and approached Khoury and Ash as they tried to settle down their Pokémon. However, they sighed as they were forced to recall their Pokémon into their Poké Balls in order to stop them from fighting.
"Now what?" Ash asked Lyra, and the girl shrugged and looked at Khoury.
"Well, we could try Khoury's idea," she replied, taking off her backpack and opening up the knapsack, pulling out a pair of disassembled fishing rods that she had gotten from the Festival. Ash sighed heavily, seeing no other option, and grumbled to himself.
"Fine..." he mumbled. The three climbed onto the rock, each of them standing on a side of the rock. Lyra put together the fishing rods and handed on to Ash. Using some of Khoury's Pokémon food as bait, they cast the line and waited. "I guess this really wasn't such a bad idea, after all."
"I'd say there's a much better chance of this working," Lyra agreed. Khoury turned around and pointed his finger up.
"That's right!" he replied. "And maybe if I add the flavors that Ground-types and Dragon-types like in their Pokémon food-"
"But I thought you said Totodile didn't like the Pokemon food you made, Khoury," Lyra interrupted, taunting him with a smirk on her face.
"Give me a break, Lyra," he responded, smiling nervously. "After all, I've learned a lot about cooking from Brock." Taking a package of Pokémon food out of his backpack, he crushed up a red and blue berry called a Haban Berry into a fine purple powder and mixed it in with the bag of Pokémon food by dumping the powder inside and shaking it. He then took out a bowl and dumped the food in the bowl, and held it in between everyone. "Okay, it's ready! You guys are welcome to it, too!"
"Wow!" Dawn muttered in awe.
"Thanks, Khoury!" Ash thanked, and everyone reached out and grabbed a piece of the brown kibble covered with purple powder and hooked it onto their line.
"So now it's fair and square," Lyra commented as they did this.
"Which means we'll win for sure!" Ash declared, and they all cast their lines out into the grass. A long while passed by of the group in fishing in silence, each of them waiting on edge for their fishing line to tug. Not even ten minutes had passed before Dawn's fishing rod began to pull, the line tugging into the grass. The girl gasped as the fishing line started to tug.
"Here we go! Got it!" she announced, trying to pull it toward her. Lyra, however, leaned back and sneered at Dawn.
"Betcha it's Piplup again," she teased, but looked down at the girl's feet and saw the Penguin Pokémon munching on one of the pink Poffins Dawn had given it.
"Pip, Piplup?" the Pokémon asked, looking up after hearing its name. Everyone looked down at Piplup, then at the line.
"So maybe that means..." Lyra muttered, then saw a familiar gray fin pop out from the grass, running around in circles with the line connected to it.
"It's Gible!" Ash exclaimed. Dawn tried to pull it in more without snapping her line, but she was struggling greatly, her arms quivering from Gible's strength.
"Man, it is strong!" she groaned. Suddenly, the line tugged towards the grass, and she screamed as her grip was about to let go, but Khoury dropped his own fishing rod and jumped to help her.
"Dawn!" he screamed, and stood next to her, wrapping his hands around her fishing rod as well and helping her to pull up the Land Shark Pokémon.
"Come on, don't let go!" Ash cheered on as the two, standing side-by-side, grunted and pulled as hard as they could to try and pull it up.
"I can't! Gible's just too strong!" Dawn shouted as she dug her heels into the ground to pull it back.
"Uh, oh! The line's gonna break! Ease off of it!" Khoury told her urgently.
"It's too heavy!" she complained.
"Okay, try and reel it in!" he replied back. Meanwhile, Lyra overlooked this scene with her arms crossed and a sneaky grin planted on her face.
Dane and Khoury make a darling couple, don't they? she thought to herself as she saw her plan slowly coming together in front of her. Finally, Gible had enough and jumped out of the grass, crying out with the line in its mouth.
"There it is! Reel it in!" Ash cried excitedly, but Gible reached its hand up and put it on the line sticking out of its mouth. With a quick tug, it pulled Khoury and Dawn right off their feet, off the rock and onto the ground. The Pokémon then jumped into the air and raised one of its fists. As it pulled it back, it started to glow white, and it dove at the rock Lyra and Ash were standing on. With a scream, everyone leaped off the rock as the Land Shark Pokémon used Rock Smash, destroying the rock and breaking it into pieces before running off, laughing maniacally to itself at its trick. "Okay, that's it! I've gotcha now!" The spiky-haired Trainer then ran past Lyra, who had fallen off the rock and fell onto her backside, and chased after Gible with Pikachu following closely behind. Lyra quickly jumped up and her and Dawn ran after him.
"Hold on Ash! Wait for me!" she called after him.
"H-hey! I'm coming too!" Khoury shouted behind them.
o 0 o
They followed Gible as much as they could, but Ash stopped when he had saw that he had lost it. He let out a sigh and looked around with his hands on his hips, trying to find where the Land Shark Pokémon had gone. They had run out of the grassy area, finally, and could actually see their own feet in the grass. To the left of them was a small lake where a group of three people could be seen fishing on the dock. "Great, it's gone," he muttered.
"Do you think it might have used Dig to escape?" Lyra asked, looking around as well. Without saying another word, Khoury reached into one of the side pockets of his square, blue backpack and pulled out a stethoscope. Putting the earpieces in his ears, he put the flat part of it against the ground and started checking different areas with it.
"It's faint, but I can hear it," the Breeder reported.
"I know!" Lyra piped up, pulling a Poké Ball out of her pocket. "Marill, come on out and give us a hand!"
"Marill!" the Pokémon cried as it formed from the light and latched itself in its usual spot on Lyra's arm. It then closed its eyes and its large round ears started to twitch as it listened for any sounds around the area. "Mair!" The Pokémon opened its eyes and pointed forward as it locked onto Gible.
"Marill says Gible is over there," Lyra reported, looking straight ahead where Marill was pointing.
"'Kay, let's go!" Ash replied, and followed the direction that Marill pointed them through, walking along the tip of the beach's shore. A few minutes of walking later, following Marill's directions, they ended up in front of a large rock ledge. They had walked away from the lake, but it could still be seen in the distance. Lyra and Ash looked around the area, expecting to see Gible's fin or Gible itself to pop out of anywhere. Meanwhile, Khoury and Dawn were away from them, and the Pokémon Breeder was kneeled on the ground, with the bell of the stethoscope against the ground and listening for Gible. They stopped and looked towards an opening in the ledge, most likely a cave, and started walking towards it, muttering amongst themselves.
"Look! Dane and Khoury!" Lyra showed Ash.
"Hey, I wonder if they're onto something," he said, stepping forward. Without any warning, he dashed off to get ahead of them.
"Wait Ash!" Lyra called, but he had already passed Khoury and Dawn.
"See 'ya there!" he told them as he rushed by.
"Ash! Better be careful or else!" Khoury warned, reaching out and holding his hand out to stop him, but the boy laughed to himself, too occupied about getting to the cave first. Suddenly, a hole opened up in the ground where he stepped, and with a yell, he slid down, throwing Pikachu off his head and knocking it back. Lyra gasped and everyone rushed up to him as the hole opened up wider. Sand was pouring in and being sucked into the middle of the hole, and a Pokémon with a large orange head and a mouth as wide as its head with sharp teeth stuck its head out, its jaws opening and closing as it waited for Ash to get to the middle.
"Aw man! It's a Trapinch sand trap!" he mumbled, and Khoury jumped into action, kneeling down onto the ground while trying to stay away from the edge of the Sand Tomb attack, and reached his hand out to Ash.
"Grab on!" Khoury ordered, and Ash nodded, grasping the boy's hand. With all of his strength, he managed to pull the boy out of the Sand Tomb attack. As Ash collapsed on the ground, his heart beating a mile a minute, the Trapinch looked up at them, saw he escaped, and grunted to itself as it disappeared back under the ground.
"Thanks, Khoury..." Ash thanked, sitting up and breathing heavily at his close call. However, Dawn didn't look too pleased with Ash, and she glared down at him with her hands on her hips.
"Look, Ash, sometimes you act so reckless you make me want to scream out loud!" she scolded. The boy turned his head away from her and looked at her through the corner of his eyes.
"Knock it off. I don't need any advice from you," he replied. This caused Dawn's eyebrow to twitch and she leaned forward.
"When I want to give advice, I'll give it!" she snapped.
"Give it a rest!" he shouted back.
"No, you!"
"Now now, this is no time to fight," Khoury told them, waving his arms to try and calm them down.
"It's a perfect time!" Dawn screamed, not even taking her eyes off Ash.
"I told you I don't need your help!" Ash yelled, and Lyra turned away from them and giggled to herself as the two Pokémon Trainers continued to fight.
"There's nothing like two people who really care," she said to herself, then stopped and looked up in the sky. "Hold on..." She turned around and looked at the two bicker, but then looked beyond them and stared at Khoury, who was trying to calm them down. "Do Khoury and I act like that?" However, the brunette shook her head clear of the thoughts and looked down at the Pokémon hanging from her arm. "Marill, Water Gun!" Understanding its Trainer, it nodded and fired a blast of water at the two Trainers, who were still arguing. They immediately stopped when the water soaked them, and they both glared at the brunette.
"What was that for?" they yelled at the same time, and Lyra giggled.
"You two hot-heads need to cool down," she replied. "Besides, the longer you two argue, the more time Gible has to escape." Realizing the truth in her words, Ash immediately jumped up.
"You're right!" he gasped, and turned around, being sure to stay close to the cave's wall so he wouldn't get sucked up in any more Sand Tomb attacks.
"O-oh! Wait for me!" Khoury cried, running after Ash. Lyra smiled at Dawn and the two girls followed them into the mouth of the cave. The cave was much bigger inside than it did looked outside, and even the path they were following was huge, and the ceiling couldn't even be touched if they had climbed on someone else's shoulder.
"Wow, this is a big cave," Ash commented from the front of the line, his voice echoing off the walls.
"So do you really think Gible's in here, Khoury?" Lyra asked him.
"I can almost guarantee it," he replied. "My Pokédex says that Gible really like to live in caves." Finally, they seemed to reach the end of the path they were walking, and it led to a large clearing. The whole area was huge, and in front of them were tons of tunnels and entrances all around, even some on the ceilings, and everyone looked around in awe.
"In a place like this, Gible could be anywhere!" Dawn exclaimed as she looked at the holes. Khoury looked and pointed at one of the tunnels on the ground floor.
"Let's start there," he suggested, and him and Dawn walked off.
"Lyra, why don't we go, too?" Ash said to her, and the brunette nodded, then looked at the Aqua Mouse Pokémon on her arm.
"I'll need your help again, Marill," she stated.
"Marill!" the Pokémon replied excitedly, and as they started walking in the opposite direction of where Khoury and Dawn went, Marill closed its eyes and its ears started to twitch as it listened for Gible. Marill then smiled and pointed forward to a tunnel closest to them. "Marill, Mair!"
"It's down there, huh?" Ash asked it, and then took out a Poké Ball from his belt. "Come on out, Monferno, and use Dig!" As he tossed the red and white orb, it opened up and released a light. The light condensed into an orange and tan monkey-like Pokémon with a red-yellow fire blazing at the end of its tail. It had a white fur collar around its neck as well.
"Monferno!" the Pokémon cried, jumping into the air and diving into the ground. It then jumped around the whole area, digging holes in the ground a couple of feet before jumping out of them and digging another. Suddenly, Monferno jumped out of one of its holes and looked inside it with a surprised look on its face.
"Find it?" Ash questioned excitedly, but a small, brown Pokémon with a large pink nose popped out of the hole, a Diglett, and glared at Monferno.
"Diglett!" it shouted. All of a sudden, more of the Pokémon started popping out of the holes, and a larger Pokémon that looked like three of the smaller ones together popped out as well.
"Look at the Diglett!" Lyra stated, looking around at them in the holes that were all around them.
"And the Dugtrio, too!" Ash finished. They looked at all of them and saw that they all looked angrily at the two Pokémon Trainers, then cried out and disappeared underneath the holes. Suddenly, all of the Diglett and Dugtrio popped up underneath Lyra, Ash and Monferno, and they screamed in surprise as they fell back, landing on the Pokémon's heads. The Diglett and Dugtrio then raced forward, going deeper into the tunnel they were going down.
"Ash! Lyra!" they heard Dawn exclaim behind them, but the Diglett and Dugtrio were moving so fast that within seconds, Khoury and Dawn were swallowed up by the darkness.
"Oh no! What are we going to do!" Lyra yelled, holding onto Marill beside her as the Diglett and Dugtrio carried them down the cave's tunnels. "We have to get off them before they carry us deeper in the cave and we get lost in here!"
"We'll have to jump off them! We don't have any other choice!" Ash shouted, and Lyra nodded. "Ready? One... two... THREE!" With a lurch, both of them tucked in their knees and rolled to the side like they were jumping out of the side of a moving vehicle. Lyra felt herself hit the cave's ground and rolled, holding Marill in her arms tightly, and she finally stopped. Looking up, Lyra saw it was just in time, too, as they had reached a fork in the road, and the Diglett and Dugtrio split up, and if they had still been on there, they would have crashed right into the wall. Lyra let out a deep breath of relief and Marill latched onto her arm while Ash pulled out a Poké Ball and recalled his Monferno. "Man that was tough. I'm beat." However, before they could do anything else, a high-pitched scream ringed through the cave walls, and both Lyra and Ash looked up. "That's Dawn's voice!" Just then, another scream, this time a lower-pitched one, shrieked.
"That's Khoury's voice! What happened?" Lyra asked. She soon got her answer, however, as a sound of wings fluttering drowned out the screams, and chattering suddenly swooped down upon them as a huge flock of Zubats flew at them, some of them flying into them. Both Pokémon Trainers raised their arms instinctively over their faces and screamed themselves at the surprise of the Bat Pokémon.
Both of them stood up at the same time and ran down the tunnel to get away from the blue and purple Pokémon, but they both ran down different tunnels, Lyra running down the left tunnel and Ash running down the right one. The brunette ran as fast as she could to try and get away from the Pokémon. Finally, the Pokémon seemed to flutter up, and she stopped, taking a deep breath after hearing the last of them fly up. She opened her eyes again and saw that she was in another clearing with five tunnels around her. "Ash! Come on, where are you?" she cried, cupping her hands around her mouth. Her voice echoed through the caves, but she heard no response. Sighing heavily, she sat down and wrapped her arms around her knees. Marill jumped off her arm and looked at its Trainer worriedly. "Oh no... no matter how I add it all up, I'm totally alone."
"Marill, Mair..." the Pokémon uttered, and Lyra took in a deep breath and looked up.
"I hate this! Someone come and save me, please!" she yelled as loud as she could. Just then, her PokéGear in her pocket began to ring, and she reached down and opened it. Right away, Khoury's face appeared on the screen.
"Lyra?"
"Khoury? What are you doing? Will you hurry up and rescue me?" she asked him.
"Sure, but stay put 'till I get there," he answered, and she paused for a moment.
"Does that mean you know where I am?"
"No, not really. But I promise, I'll find you."
"How will you do that?"
"Tap on the cave wall," he instructed, and she reached out and picked up a small stone within reach of her and held it in her hand.
"Okay, hold on," she replied. She looked at the stone, then started tapping it slowly against the hard ground below her, at the same pace as a heartbeat. On the screen, the brunette saw Khoury put in his stethoscope in his ears and seemed to be feeling around.
"Alright, coming in loud and clear..." he muttered to himself. "Okay Lyra, keep it up!" She nodded and continued doing so.
"Do you know where I am yet?"
"Just tap a little more," Khoury replied, and she glared down at the PokéGear's screen before looking into the air and crying out.
"Don't you get it? I'm cold and hungry! Hurry up and find me!" she cried, and Marill held its sensitive ears from her whining.
"Lyra!" a voice called, and she gasped when she saw that the screen on her PokéGear had gone black, but it was Khoury's voice she heard. Looking ahead, the Pokémon Breeder was running towards her, waving his hand to get her attention. "Hey! You okay?"
"Khoury! You found me!" the brunette exclaimed, standing up when she saw him. She laughed slightly as she ran towards him, and when the two met up, her smile turned into a frown and she clenched her fists in anger, throwing them down in annoyance as Marill leaped up and jumped onto her arm. "Khoury, you're late!" she yelled, and turned around and crossed her arms across her chest.
"Uh, sorry 'bout that," he apologized, scratching his head nervously.
"Guys!" another voice called, and both of them turned to the tunnel where the source of the voice came from.
"That's gotta be Ash," Khoury said, and Ash and Dawn appeared out of the darkness, running up to them. Ash was waving at them to get their attention. "Ash! Dawn!" The two groups of two rushed up to each other and smiled as they met.
"What a relief!" Lyra stated.
"So you two are all right?" Dawn asked them.
"Yeah, we're just fine," Khoury answered for them.
"Great! Now we can get back to finding that Gible, right?" Ash inquired, looking at Khoury with a smirk on his face.
"Huh? Really? Still?" the brunette gasped, raising her eyebrows at Ash's determination.
"That's why we're here. Of course; what do you mean?" he replied nonchalantly, and Khoury nodded.
"First we should find the exit," he added. "We can deal with catching Gible afterwards."
"So how do we find it?" Lyra asked her friend.
"Well..." Khoury muttered, then stuck his pointer finger in his mouth and held it up in the air.
"Khoury, what are you doing?" Ash questioned.
"If I can detect even the slightest breeze, it will show me where the exit is," the midnight-green haired boy explained. He paused and felt for a breeze, then pointed towards a tunnel next to the one that Ash and Dawn came out of. "There, that way!"
"Yes!" Ash exclaimed, and started to walk down the tunnel.
"We don't know what's outside of the cave, Ash, so be careful," Khoury warned, and everyone started walking down the tunnel, but Lyra stayed behind, smiling to herself at her friend.
"Wow... Khoury's sure different from when we were at the Windworks," she said to herself, then giggled and ran ahead to catch up to the group. Using Khoury's finger as a guide, the four Pokémon Trainers were able to get out of the cave through the way they came in, and when saw the mouth of the cave and the daylight pouring through it, they all ran ahead and jumped into the outside, cheering loudly.
"We're out!" Ash cheered as they all took in a deep breath of the fresh air.
"It's great to be free!" Dawn added, stretching her arms out in the sunlight.
"And we all have Khoury to thank," Lyra reminded, turning towards her friend next to her. The boy blushed slightly and chuckled nervously, putting a hand behind his head bashfully. Suddenly, Dawn and Piplup exclaimed, and everyone whipped their hands around to look at her.
"What's up?" Ash asked her, and the Pokémon Coordinator pointed forward.
"Over there!" she answered, and everyone turned and looked into the field ahead. In the middle of it was Gible, windmilling one of its arms and staring right at the group.
"Gib, giiibble," it taunted, smirking at them.
"Gible sure looks ready for a fight!" Lyra commented, and beside her, Ash took out a Poké Ball from his belt and pressed the button in the center, enlarging it.
"Yeah, I'm ready, too!" he added. However, Khoury jumped in front of them, a Poké Ball already in his hand.
"I'm sorry Ash, but I'd like you to leave this to me," he said, then rushed forward and approached Gible.
"No way! Khoury!" Ash began, but Dawn jumped next to him and put her hands on her hips.
"C'mon, let Khoury have a shot, y'know?" she suggested. Lyra also skidded up next to him, grinning widely.
"You can see he's really into it," the brunette added. The spiky-haired Trainer looked at the two girls on either side of him, his eyebrows drooped down in disappointment. He opened his mouth to protest, but saw that he was outnumbered and put his Poké Ball away.
"Totodile, I need your help now!" Khoury exclaimed, tossing his Poké Ball forward. In a flash of light, the Big Jaw Pokémon appeared in between him and Gible, stretching its arms like a bodybuilder.
"Dile!" it cried as it finished stretching.
"Aqua Tail, let's go!" Khoury ordered, and the Big Jaw Pokémon leapt forward and whipped around, turning so its back was facing towards Gible. Its tail then became surrounded in a spiraling stream of water which grew bigger as it moved at the Land Shark Pokémon. However, Gible saw it coming and counterattacked, waving one of its arms, then the other with much more force, releasing a powerful Sandstorm towards Totodile. The Sandstorm and the Aqua Tail attack collided and fought with one another for a bit before the two attacks canceled each other out.
When Totodile jumped back, Gible's body became surrounded in a white aura, and it bent down, picking up a small rock that was about half the size of its body and tossed it at Totodile. "Now Gible's using Strength! Totodile, use Crunch!" The small Water-type immediately opened its mouth at Khoury's command and the lines of teeth in its mouth started to glow white. Totodile then caught the rock thrown from Gible in its mouth and crushed it in its powerful jaws, shattering it to pieces. "If this is a battle of brawn, then Totodile, use Superpower!" Like Gible, Totodile's body became surrounded in an aura, but a light blue one, and reached one of its hands down, picking up a rock slightly larger than the one that Gible had thrown and holding it up. It then tossed the rock forward, but Gible's entire arm started to glow white as it clenched its fists together, and it smashed the rock coming towards it with ease. After the shattered rock collapsed, the two Pokémon stared at each other for a bit and Khoury didn't order Totodile to do anything.
"Khoury, what's wrong?" Ash asked him.
"Khoury, go for it!" Dawn cheered, raising one of her arms and fist pumping.
"Don't give up!" Lyra added. Finally, Gible had enough and reached down as a white aura appeared around its body again, and picked up a rock nearby it. Instead of throwing it, however, it picked it up and smashed it over its head. It then put its hands on its hips and started laughing confidently. Like Gible, Totodile's body became surrounded in a light blue aura again and it picked up another rock, this one bigger than the one Gible smashed over its head, and smashed it over its own head. Also like Gible, it put its hands on its hips and laughed to show that it was unharmed. Suddenly, Gible glared at the Water Pokémon in front of it, determined to win the unofficial contest of brawn and stamina. Its body becoming surrounded by a white aura again, it lifted up a rock bigger than Totodile's and smashed it on its head. Totodile also glared at Gible, and did the same. The two went back and forth, each time picking up an even bigger rock than the other and smashing it over their heads.
"Don't give up, Totodile!" Khoury rooted as Gible picked up two large rocks in each hand, tears of pain forming in the corner of its eyes. It then smashed the two rocks over its head. Totodile, using Superpower, did the same, but with a pair of even bigger rocks, tears of pain forming in the corner of its eyes as well. Finally, Gible stumbled back, looking exhausted. It didn't give up, however, and reached out to a large rock sticking out of the ground. Its body started to glow with a white aura, and it lifted up the rock, and everyone gasped at its size. The rock itself wouldn't even be able to fit in the entrance to Wayward Cave behind them.
"No way!" Dawn exclaimed.
"It can't be!" Lyra gasped, putting a hand up to her mouth in surprise.
"That rock's too big!" Ash shouted.
"It'll crush Gible!" Khoury cried out in shock. Not able to hold the massive boulder anymore, Gible put its arm down, and the rock crashed down on its head. It stayed there for a second before a crack slithered its way up the middle of the rock, breaking it in half when it reached the top. The two halves collapsed on both sides of Gible, shaking the ground as they did, while the Land Shark Pokémon just stood there with wide eyes. It slowly laughed, but then couldn't take it anymore and collapsed on its back.
"Is it okay?" Ash asked, and everyone was quiet as they waited for Gible to move. However, the Pokémon started to flail its legs and arms and dig into the ground below.
"Gible used Dig to escape!" Khoury muttered.
"Woah... and we were so close!" Dawn replied.
"Khoury, get Gible out of there, quick!" Ash told the boy in front of him, but he was already one step ahead of him.
"Totodile, use Water Gun straight into the hole," Khoury instructed.
"Toto!" the Pokémon replied, and jumped forward, landing in front of the hole Gible made to escape and stuck its long jaw into it. It then released a stream of water from its mouth, instantly flooding the hole. A couple yards away, Gible shot out of the ground, lifted into the air by the Water Gun attack. It was too tired to escape, however, and it just laid on the Water Gun.
"Now, use Aqua Tail!" Stopping its Water Gun attack, Totodile leaped at Gible and turned around, a spiral of water spinning around Totodile's tail and it turned around as the water around it grew more. Totodile managed to slam the spiraling water into Gible as it was falling through the air, and the Land Shark Pokémon released a cry as it fell back, landing on the ground unable to move.
Seeing his opportunity, Khoury reached into his pocket and pulled out a Poké Ball. "Alright, now go Poké Ball!" The red and white orb circled through the air until it hit Gible, and it rose into the air, opening up. Gible's body then turned into red energy and the Poké Ball opened up, sucking the Land Shark Pokémon inside it. Once the ball closed, it landed on the ground and shook back and forth, the silver button in the middle flashing red as Gible tried to escape from the ball. The Pokémon was too tired, however, and with a 'ping', a rain of rainbow-colored sparkles jumped off the Poké Ball, showing that Gible was successfully caught. Khoury gasped in disbelief and rushed up to the Poké Ball, picking it up and holding it high above his head. "I did it! I've caught Gible!" Lyra, Marill and Totodile cheered while Dawn and Ash smiled at him.
"Yeah, nice going, Khoury!" the spiky-haired Trainer congratulated.
"I was wrong: you're lots tougher than I thought!" Lyra said to her friend.
"Wow, Khoury and Totodile! You two are a great team!" Dawn added.
"Well, I've got all of you guys to thank," the Pokémon Breeder replied bashfully, putting his hand behind his head, but a huge smile was plastered on his face as he held his new Pokémon's Poké Ball in his hand.
"Though we should probably get Gible back to the Pokémon Center," Lyra suggested. "That boulder slamming on its head probably hurt a lot." Everyone laughed and nodded, and turned around to go back to Eterna City.
o 0 o
When they got back to the Pokémon Center, the sun was setting, leaving the sky a bright orange color. In the back, Brock and Nurse Joy were already preparing a barbeque for them, and Nurse Joy was quite surprised when Khoury told her that he had captured Gible. After overlooking it, she said that, aside from a slight headache, Gible would be just fine.
So, everyone moved out to the battlefield next to the center where Nurse Joy and Brock had set out a table and was cooking steak tips and kabobs on the grill. As Lyra made a plate for herself picking from the giant salad bowl, Marill sat on a stool, hungrily gazing at the food that was being cooked by the Pokémon Breeder. Below then, Pikachu and Gible were enjoying a big helping of Pokémon food, Khoury using the same ingredient he used before to lure Gible to the bait on his rod.
"Here you go, Khoury," Lyra said sweetly, handing her friend the plate she had prepared after Nurse Joy had given some of the food that had finished cooking. The boy turned around with a drink in his hand and smiled at her.
"Ah, thanks Lyra," he replied.
"Okay, folks! Next stop, Oreburgh City!" Brock announced as he waited for the food to cook.
"Your contest is coming up really soon!" Ash told Dawn, and the blue-haired girl nodded.
"Yeah! And now that Khoury finally caught Gible, I think it's the perfect time for me to earn my next ribbon!" she replied.
"Best of luck, Dane," Lyra cheered, looking at her with a smile on her face, but with a mouthful of food.
"We'll be there rooting for you," Khoury added.
"Awesome!" Dawn exclaimed, raising her fork in her hand in the air. Piplup also raised one of its wings in the air, mimicking her. "Now I'm really ready!"
Well, here you go, guys! Extra long chapter for you! Think of it as a... reward for waiting for so long for me to update. I still feel badly about making you guys wait three months for an update. -_- Just make sure you have some time on your hands before reading this chapter. XD But anyways, Khoury caught a new Pokémon! Say hello to our new friend Gible! Both him and Totodile are confident in their strength, and are like bodybuilders, so you can bet there's gonna be some Pokémon rivalry between the two. Anybody noticing a pattern with Khoury's Pokémon? They all seem to be confident in their strength while Khoury... is the exact opposite. X) Speaking of which, if you have any suggestions for Pokémon you think he should get, let me know in a review or something, because I'm having some trouble deciding, haha.
I'd really like to thank my readers and reviewers as well. You're all amazing for reading this story. :) Thank you so much!
So, next chapter is the big Pokémon Contest! And I'm so excited! I've never written a Pokémon Contest before! This could go either really good, or really bad. Hopefully it goes good. ^-^ Will Dawn win her final ribbon to be able to get into the Grand Festival, or will she lose and have to try again? Find out next chapter! Thank you again so much for reading and reviewing, and I will see you next update!