Hello and welcome to another chapter of Pokémon Journey: Hoenn!
In the previous chapter, Will's quest to find a new team member ended with the capture of Gulpy the gulpin, a pokémon in equal parts strong and disgusting. The group now continue their journey east.
Upload Date: 12th November 2017
Chapter 37: An Electrike-y Challenge!
Route 110, Hoenn
11:47am, 10th May 2006
"Ah! I wish the weather could always be like this!" Nicola gazed up at the bright blue sky above them. The warmth of the sun perfectly balanced out the cool mountain air, while there were only a handful of clouds in the sky overhead.
"It's great weather for climbing a mountain, isn't it?" Richard grinned.
"We really got lucky," said Will.
"Yeah." James nodded.
The four of them were sat on a wooden bench outside a small rest stop, a large tarmacked car park to their left. On the other side of the road was a large reservoir, small waves rippling across its surface in the gentle breeze. This was the last major stopping point until they got to the far side of Mt. Unzen, the largest mountain at the eastern tip of the peninsula.
They'd already spent the morning climbing up to this point, but they still had several valleys and ridges that they needed to cross before they were through. Even just following the roads was tiring, but the guidebook suggested that it got even rougher the further they went. Hence their relief at the good weather.
The pokémon were all out enjoying themselves as well. It had seemed like a shame to keep them cooped up while they rested, after all. The car park was almost deserted, so the pokémon had all spread themselves out.
Arro and Naro were both sparring with each other, the aron's fierce tackles being easily blocked by his hulking opponent. Richard was glad that both of them took their training so seriously. Arro was still quite cold towards him, but he at least listened to orders now. And he didn't always attempt to ram Richard's legs whenever he was out of his poké ball. All in all, a big improvement.
Similarly, Charka was also busy training. At James's insistence, he'd taken Muro with him. The loudred's comparative lack of battle experience left him at a disadvantage and James was hoping that training together with a strong pokémon like Charka would help him get used to fighting in his new form.
The rest of the pokémon were all playing together, racing around the car park and occasionally scuffling with each other. The only exception was Zaggy, who was still clasped very firmly in Nicola's arms. There were far too many interesting things for the zigzagoon to get distracted by out here and none of them wanted their crossing of Mt. Unzen to be delayed trying to track him down.
"I guess we'd better get moving again," James said, pulling himself to his feet. "The sooner we're over the mountain, then better."
"You're right," Richard replied as he and the others reluctantly got to their feet. "Let's get to it!"
The pokémon spotted the movement and all hurried over to them. A foul smell filled the air as Gulpy came within range of them.
"Ugh!" Nicola groaned as all four of them covered their noses. "Will, hurry up!"
"Got it." Will hastily recalled Gulpy to her poké ball. The smell, however, lingered for some time as they returned their remaining pokémon to their balls.
"I suppose we'll get used to it eventually," James sighed.
"Do we have to?" Nicola whined. "Can't we do something about it?"
"I could try feeding her separately to the other pokémon," said Will. "We already worked out that cleaning her doesn't work…"
They started walking along the road alongside the reservoir. The wind had picked up a little bit, disrupting the perfect harmony of the temperature. Combined with the cold mountain air, it was starting to get a little uncomfortable.
"So, how much longer until we reach the next town?" Richard asked, looking at James.
"A while," James replied as he pulled out his guidebook. It'll take another four or five hours to get across the mountain and then another hour down into Anamarc Town."
"Including breaks?"
"Including breaks." James nodded.
The other three sighed in relief. That was often what held them up the most.
"So, we could get there even sooner if we don't stop?" Will asked.
"Yeah," James replied. "But we'll need to stop once or twice. We'll be too worn out otherwise."
"And once we get to Anamarc Town?" Richard asked. "What's the plan then?"
"There's a contest being hosted there tomorrow," James replied. "Nicola and I want to enter it."
"Ah, so I guess it's quite important that we do get to Anamarc Town this evening then," Richard said with a grin.
"Exactly!" Nicola nodded seriously.
"And where do we go after that?" Will asked, peering over James's shoulder to look at the map. "Anamarc Town is at the end of the peninsula."
"There's a ferry across to Mauville City," James replied. "So, we're quite close to our next gym battles as well."
"Glad to hear it!" Richard grinned.
"Same here…" Nicola trailed off as she noticed something on the road ahead. They were about to leave the relatively open ground around the reservoir and follow a shaded path lined by tall pine trees. Stood just at the point where the trees began, right in the middle of the road, was a small, green and yellow pokémon. It growled at them as they got close and started discharging electricity around it.
"A wild pokémon?" Richard pulled out his Pokédex.
"Electrike, the lightning pokémon. Electrike store static electricity in their fur for discharging. They give off spark in dry seasons or if a storm approaches. These pokémon also stimulate their leg muscles with electric charges from their fur. These jolts of power give their legs explosive acceleration performance."
"Wow!" Nicola gasped, looking at the electrike. "It sounds like a really impressive pokémon."
"Don't stop to admire it," said Will. "We need to keep moving, remember?" He took a step forwards.
With another warning growl, the electrike fired a couple of jolts of electricity in his direction, scorching the surface of the road.
"Whoa!" Will exclaimed, immediately jumping back.
"Are you alright?" James called.
"I'm fine!" Will called back. "He didn't hit me!"
"Well, we need to get past here," Richard said, frowning. He too took a step forwards. The electrike emitted another burst of sparks in his direction and he quickly retreated.
"What are we going to do?" Nicola sighed. "Are we going to have to battle him to get past?"
"I'd rather not," James replied. "If he's an electric type, then there's the risk that our pokémon could get paralysed. I'd rather not have to deal with that when we're in a hurry."
"Let's try going around it." Nicola moved cautiously over to the side of the road and started creeping forwards.
The electrike immediately noticed her and shot a burst of electricity at her.
"I'm sorry!" Nicola cried instinctively as she retreated hastily, the crackling electricity pursuing her.
"Why did you do that?" Will demanded. "Clearly we need to go off the road and walk through the trees instead!"
"He's got a point, you know," Richard added.
"Why don't you try it then?" Nicola replied, stepping back behind James. "I'll wait here until you've figured out which way to go."
"Let's give it a shot then," Richard said, turning to Will.
The two of them climbed over the crash barrier at the side of the road and disappeared from sight on the slope. They started walking carefully forwards, trying to stay as quiet as they could as they trod on tree roots and large rocks.
"Watch out, guys!"
They suddenly heard James's voice and looked to their right.
The electrike was stood with his front paws up on the barrier, looking straight at them.
"There's a good electrike!" Richard called nervously.
"We just wanted to look at the view, nothing more!" Will added.
With a growl, the electrike fired a burst of electricity towards them.
"Ugh." Richard and Will climbed awkwardly back over the barrier, their clothes slightly blackened and their hair standing on end.
"I guess we can't get around either," James sighed.
"You're telling me," Will said bitterly.
"So, what now?" Nicola asked. "Do we head back and try to find another way around?"
"I guess we'll have to," James sighed. "I'll have a look at the guidebook."
"What a pain," Richard groaned, putting his hand in his pocket to try and find his handkerchief. He felt his hand brush past something. "Huh?"
"…We could take this path here." James pointed to the map as he held the guidebook out in front of himself, Nicola and Will. "But that adds an extra twenty minutes by itself. If we include backtracking to get there as well…"
"I've got an idea."
Richard quickly joined them and had them huddle together.
"What is it?" Will asked.
Richard held out his hand. A small, purplish ball was resting on his palm.
A smoke ball!
"Of course!" James exclaimed. "These things are made for this kind of thing! Here's what we'll do…"
The electrike watched the four trainers carefully. Despite his warnings, they were still hanging around here. Now they seemed to be moving over towards the uphill side of the road. Were they going to try and get past that way instead?
At that moment, one of them threw down a purplish ball and a cloud of thick, greyish smoke erupted from it, obscuring the entire road.
The electrike heard the sound of their shoes crunching on the tarmac as they ran. Looking to his left, up the slope, he spotted a second eruption of smoke. They were trying to keep themselves out of his sight!
He immediately ran over to that side and fired a burst of electricity at the smoke cloud.
However, there was no response.
As the smoke cleared, the electrike realised that there was no one there at all. He dashed over to the other side of the road. There was no sign of them there either, but he could hear the sounds of them moving.
"Great work, Turkey!" He heard one of them shout as a swellow soared overhead and descended into the trees, gripping a spare smoke ball in one of his talons.
12:23pm, 10th May 2006
"Looks like those rewards came in handy after all!" Richard grinned as he and the others climbed back over the barrier much, much further along the road. There was no sign of the electrike. They must have finally shaken him off.
"Yeah, great thinking, Richard," James said, reaching back to help Will up onto the road.
"Where to now?" Nicola asked, looking around.
As well as further along, they'd also come higher up the mountain. The road seemed to lead on up to the crest of one of the smaller mountains.
"We just need to keep following this path," James replied. "It should eventually lead us down towards Anamarc Town."
They set off again, not wanting to wait for the electrike to catch up, and quickly climbed towards the top of the mountain.
"…" Nicola gritted her teeth as she resisted the strong urge to ask for a rest. It was tiring work walking uphill and, although James had assured then that he'd taken breaks into account when planning their travel time, she got the feeling that Richard and Will wouldn't be too happy with her if she asked for one now.
There was the fear that the electrike might try and pursue them to consider as well.
"I know that some pokémon can get quite territorial," James said, clearly thinking about the electrike as well. "But the way he was behaving was really odd."
"That seemed perfectly normal for a territorial pokémon to me," Will replied.
"No, I mean a territorial pokémon would have no problem attacking us outright, especially given how persistent we were," James explained. "It was more like he was trying to keep us away, but didn't want to hurt us…"
"Big deal!" Will declared. "I'm just glad that we managed to lose him!"
"Umm, guys."
James, Will and Nicola looked up at Richard, who was leading the way.
He pointed at the sky. "I don't like the look of this."
The beautiful blue sky they'd gazed up at while resting by the reservoir had mostly gone. Instead, pitch-black clouds were rapidly rolling in amid a cold wind. The first fat raindrops started to hit the ground.
"Wasn't the weather supposed to be good today?" Nicola cried.
"That's what it said in the pokémon centre!" James exclaimed.
They suddenly caught sight of a flash in the distance.
"Lightning?" Richard looked over at James. "This isn't a good place to be right now!"
"We need to find shelter!" James nodded. He looked around desperately, trying to see where they could hide.
There was a bark from behind them.
"Not now!" Will groaned, noticing the electrike from earlier was running along the road towards them.
There was a boom as the thunder reached them.
"I was hoping not to have to fight, but we don't have time anymore!" James reached for a poké ball.
Before he could throw it, the electrike had already shot past him. Jumping up, he latched onto the sleeve of Nicola's jacket and started tugging on it.
"Are you okay, Nicola?" Richard called.
"Stop pulling!" Nicola cried, trying to shake him off.
The electrike let her go and started running forwards. He reached the edge of the road and motioned for them to follow him.
"Is he..?" James looked confused.
"I think he's trying to help us," Nicola said. The electrike hadn't bitten her – she was completely unharmed.
"It's better than nothing! Let's go!" Richard called.
The rain was falling heavily now as another flash of lightning appeared in the distance. The thunder came much more quickly this time.
"There!" Will shouted, noticing that the electrike had disappeared into a gap in the rocks ahead of them. They quickly reached it and found themselves standing in the entrance to a cave.
The electrike barked at them, jerking his head to indicate that they should come inside.
"Th-Thanks," Nicola said as she and the others stepped out of the rain and walked to the back of the cave.
"He knew," Richard said as they sat down.
"Knew what?" Will asked.
"The electrike knew that the storm was coming," Richard replied. "That's why he was trying to stop us. He didn't want us to get caught up in this."
"Sorry for causing all this trouble," James said to the electrike.
Sat by the entrance and gazing out at the rain, the lightning pokémon simply gave a shrug. He was probably used to his warnings being treated this way.
"So, what now?" Nicola asked, pulling off her wet jacket and laying it out over a nearby rock.
"We'll have to wait it out, I guess," James sighed. "I hope it won't last too long."
There was a flash outside, followed immediately by a loud boom that made them flinch. The rain seemed to get heavier as the lightning continued drawing closer.
They were glad that the electrike had come to their aid after all.
12:59pm, 10th May 2006
"We've lost quite a bit of time, but as long as we don't stop for more than fifteen minutes, we should still make it to Anamarc Town before dark," James said.
The rain had died down, though it was still falling slightly. They'd said goodbye to the electrike and set off once more, trying to find their way back to the main path. Now that the thunderstorm itself had passed, they needed to get back on the move again.
"I was surprised by how quickly that storm came in," Nicola said with a sigh as they trudged along the path. "The sky was so clear earlier."
"The weather can be like that sometimes," James replied. "It's my fault. I should have double checked the forecast before we set off this morning."
"Don't worry about it," Richard said, grinning nonchalantly. "It's not like anything happened after all!"
"Still, it was a good thing that that electrike was around to help us find shelter," Will murmured thoughtfully. "The lighting was really close to us."
"Yeah," Nicola added. "I never thought that he could have been warning us about the storm when we first ran into him."
"There are lots of pokémon that really are territorial though," James warned her. "It's best not to let your guard down in the future."
"Yeah." Richard nodded solemnly. "Do you remember that time we disturbed all those unown, James?"
"You don't need to remind me," James sighed.
"What was this?" Nicola and Will asked, looking between the two of them.
"Well, when we were travelling through the Sevii Islands…"
"Save it for later, Richard," said James. He'd stopped walking at a fork in the path ahead. "We need to work out which way will lead us back to the main road."
"Doesn't it say on the map?" Richard asked.
"Small dirt paths like this don't appear on it," James explained. "I guess the writer assumed that we wouldn't need to find a cave off the main path to shelter from lightning."
"Which way do you think we should go?" Will asked. "Do you know which direction we need?"
"Hmm." James pondered for a couple of seconds.
"Since we're past the main summit, should we follow the path heading down?" Nicola asked, pointing to the one on their left.
"I can see a road further down in the valley," Richard added. "Looks pretty promising to me.
"It's heading east," James mumbled to himself. "That's the direction we need." He turned to the others and nodded. "Alright, let's get moving!"
As they took their first steps forwards, they suddenly heard a sound behind them.
"Huh?" Nicola exclaimed as she glanced around.
The electrike from earlier suddenly rushed into view. Once again, he seized Nicola's sleeve in his mouth and tugged at it.
"He's back?" Richard cried.
"He's trying to pull me this way!" Nicola called as the electrike pulled her towards the other path.
"Maybe he doesn't want us to leave!" Will laughed.
"No, wait!" James exclaimed, scrutinising the map in the guidebook. "I think that's the path we need after all!" He pointed to a line on the map that led east before curling north and around the mountain. "That road down there is this one!"
"Wow! That was a close one!" Richard grinned. "Bravo, map reader!"
"Hey, I'm still getting used to this," James replied angrily as he put the guidebook away again.
"Thanks for your help," Nicola said to the electrike as he released her sleeve and stepped back.
With a bark and a nod, he turned and ran back the way he'd come.
"Right! Let's get moving, then!" Richard said, leading the way up the path to their right.
1:34pm, 10th May 2006
"No more!" Nicola gasped.
The four of them had finally reached the top of a small mountain, having slogged up the winding road all the way up. They were still a long way from their destination, despite the progress they'd been making.
"I second that," Richard added.
"Don't worry," James replied. "We've still got time for a rest."
They walked out of the trees to find themselves stood on the mountain top. They braced themselves against the strong wind that rushed across the exposed summit. There were still black clouds in the sky, but the rain had stopped a short while before. All the rocks dotted around were completely wet, however, so it wasn't going to be a pleasant rest.
"Wow!" Nicola walked over to the side of the summit. "Look at that drop!"
"Yeah." Will nodded, joining her. It was a sheer cliff with a drop of maybe 20 feet. They definitely didn't want to be going over there.
"We're making good progress," James said reassuringly as he sat down on one of the rocks. "We might even be able to make up for some of our lost time."
"Good! We can have a longer break!" Richard exclaimed as he sat down as well.
"Ugh!" Nicola shuddered as she perched herself on a cold, wet rock. She shrugged off her backpack and put it down next to her. It still felt good to be off her feet though.
"It's been a tough day," Will sighed. "I don't like it when we walk all day – we need time for training as well!"
"You're more than welcome to spend some time training once we reach Anamarc Town if you want," James replied wearily. "Nicola and I will definitely have to do that."
"Can you remember what time the contest is tomorrow?" Nicola asked.
"Not off the top of my head," said James. "But I definitely remember the date – 11th May!"
"Yeah, it'd suck if you guys got there and found out that you'd missed it again," Richard sighed.
"Which is why we really want to get to Anamarc Town tonight."
"What kind of a place is it?" Will asked.
"I don't know," James replied irritably. "I've never been there."
"Yeah, but you've looked at the guidebook, haven't you?" Will pointed out.
"It didn't seem like anywhere particularly special," James replied. "The pictures seemed nice, but then what pictures don't look nice in this book?"
"I guess we'll find out later," said Nicola, smiling at the two of them.
There was another powerful gust of wind.
"It really is strong up here, isn't it?" Richard said loudly as the wind howled around them.
"It's cold too!" James shuddered.
"Ah!" Nicola suddenly exclaimed in alarm.
Before the others could ask her what was wrong, they spotted it too. The sudden gust had been strong enough to push Nicola's bag, which had been lying next to the rock she was sitting on.
"Grab it!" Will shouted as it moved further away.
"Don't stand up!" James called. The wind was too strong; they might get blown away by it as well.
Nicola moved off of the rock and tucked herself close to the ground before stretching out to try and reach the backpack.
At that moment, it suddenly tipped up and disappeared over the edge of the cliff.
"It's gone!" Nicola gasped in shock, arm still outstretched.
The wind finally died down and the four of them got to their feet.
"Don't go near the cliff edge!" Richard warned Nicola as she started walking towards it. "If another gust comes, you might fall!"
"What are we going to do?" Nicola asked desperately, turning back to look at him. "All of my stuff is in my backpack!"
"Today's lunch as well," James added sombrely.
"Just great!" Richard groaned, his stomach giving a sudden growl in reaction to the news.
"Don't worry!" Will assured them. "Turkey's strong enough to bring it back up here!" He pulled out the swellow's poké ball and opened it.
Turkey flew out and started hovering in the air. He scanned below before diving down. The others waited in silence for him to return.
"How is it?" Will asked as the swellow reappeared scarcely 90 seconds later.
Turkey shook his head. He flew over to one of the rocks and landed on it. He nodded his head at it.
Nicola went pale. "Y-You mean a rock has crushed it?"
"We don't know that," James said. "But if Turkey can't get to it, we'll have to get down there ourselves." He examined the guidebook. "I think that we can find a path that will lead us there
If we keep going along this road."
"Don't worry, Nicola!" Richard called reassuringly. "We'll definitely get it back!"
1:43pm, 10th May 2006
As they moved further down the mountain, the group of them quickly encountered another problem. The route was once again lined with trees and bushes and what looked like small paths seemed to lead off of the main road at almost every step. But most of these wouldn't take them to where they needed to go.
Nicola was getting increasingly anxious as they continued walking. Completely understandable, of course, but the other three were starting to find her constant questions about which path they should take a little bit grating.
"I'm not sure," James said. "We need to be careful that we don't end up getting lost out here, so I want to make sure we get the right path."
The map wasn't all that helpful either. Perhaps also understandably, the guidebook's author had thought that it wasn't worth taking note of all the tiny paths criss-crossing the mountain. After all, who'd have thought that someone would have to explore the base of the mountain for a backpack that had been blown off the summit in high winds?
"Ah!" Will suddenly called from further ahead. "I can see the cliff!" He pointed to the left. Sure enough, the cliff face was just visible above the trees on their left.
"We've come such a long way!" Richard sighed.
"So, we need to head this way, right?" Nicola was keen to set off immediately.
"Yeah." James nodded that's the way we need to go." He looked around. "We should probably try and find a way to mark our trail as we go. I'd hate to get lost on top of everything else that's happened."
"You're thinking string?" Will asked. "Or maybe stones?"
"Do we even have any string?" Richard wondered.
"We could use the guide ropes, couldn't we?" Will suggested.
"What if we damage them?"
"That's a good point."
"Rocks then?"
"How will we be able to tell the difference between our rocks and the ones already here?"
"Paint them?"
"With what?"
"Good question."
"Guys!" Nicola snapped. The other three stopped their discussion and looked over at her. "We need to focus on getting my backpack! It's not just supplies – all of my clothes are in there as well!"
"I know that you want to get going," James said, frowning. "And we all want the bag back as well, but I don't want anyone to get lost."
"If only I had Sting with me," Richard sighed, thinking wistfully of the beedrill he'd left at back home. "He could have laid out a string for us to follow."
"Could we just get all the pokémon out and have them form a sort-of chain from here to the cliff?" Will asked.
"I don't think that would stretch far enough," James replied.
"Okay, what if we spaced them out… say, one at every fork in the path?"
"Better," James said, furrowing his brow as he considered it. "But can you imagine Zaggy sitting still for that long?"
"It's better to keep him in his poké ball," Nicola replied, shifting impatiently. "We can't handle him running off as well as everything else."
"Oh! Wait!" James suddenly exclaimed. "I've got an idea!"
"What?" Richard asked.
"We could have a pokémon mark the trees along our route, you know, like how wild pokémon sometimes mark their territories!"
"That sounds good!" Will nodded. "Who could we use?"
"Charka would be good at that," Richard replied. "Naro as well."
"That's what we'll do then!" James grinned, reaching for Charka's poké ball. "Charka will leave claw marks on the trees while we head to the cliff."
"So, we can get going?" Nicola asked.
"Let's go!" Richard nodded.
Just as they took their first steps towards the path on their left, they caught sight of a flash in the distance. The trees shook as a bright green streak burst from the treeline and landed in the middle of the road.
The electrike from earlier looked over at them. Clutched in his mouth, dirty, slightly crushed and worse for wear, was Nicola's backpack.
"Huh?" The four of them stared in disbelief for about a second.
The electrike dropped Nicola's backpack and barked at them.
"Y-You brought it to me?" Nicola finally stepped forwards, gingerly approaching her bag. It was still zipped shut, but she wanted to check to make sure everything was there.
"That electrike again," James sighed. He was pleased to see that the backpack had returned, but he really felt as though the wind had been taken out of his sails. They'd just managed to hammer out a plan of action, after all.
"Thank you so much!" Nicola looked up at the electrike.
The electrike gave her a nod in response.
"Who'd have thought that this electrike would end up helping us this much," Richard said. He grinned. "And we thought he was just being territorial back then!"
"Now we can get moving again," James said. "Thanks," he added to the electrike.
"I'm probably going to have to replace this," Nicola sighed, examining the badly torn straps. They'd hold for now, but not for much longer. "At least everything's back though!" She instinctively reached out and patted the electrike on the head.
"Shall we get moving again then?" Will asked, moving past Nicola and turning back to look at the others.
"Sure!" Nicola replied.
Just as she was about to stand up, the electrike darted forwards and knocked one of her empty poké balls down from her waist. As it expanded and clattered to the ground, he stuck his head out and bumped it. There was a flash of red light as he was converted to energy and sucked into the ball.
"…Huh?" Nicola stared at the shaking ball in confusion.
There was click and a burst of sparks as it finished sealing.
"I guess he wants to come along with you," James said, looking at the poké ball as Nicola picked it up.
"Well, he'll be a big help and all." Nicola frowned. "But it would have been nice if he'd talked to me about it first."
"He probably thinks that you can't survive without him!" Richard grinned. "After all, he's spent most of today saving you some way or another!"
"Hey! He saved all of us!" Nicola snapped. "Not just me!" She sighed and looked at the ball. "Well, I don't mind you coming along. You can be called 'Tricky'. That seems fitting!"
"He's definitely an interesting one," Will said. He hid a smirk. "Wouldn't be funny if he turned out to be as uncontrollable as Zaggy?"
"I'll be able to handle both of them!" Nicola insisted.
James laughed. "Well, first let's focus on getting to Anamarc Town. There's still lots we need to get done today!"
"Right behind you!" Richard grinned.
As Nicola shouldered her backpack again and reattached her now-occupied poké ball to her waist, the four of them continued their journey along the mountain road towards Anamarc Town.
All's well that end's well. Even if she wasn't planning on it, it looks like Nicola now has a new team member as well, just in time for the Anamarc contest (assuming that they get there in time this time!).
I ended up enjoying writing this chapter a lot more than I thought I would. When I was putting together the group's first encounter with Tricky, a part of me wanted to base the entire chapter on them trying and failing to get past him. Oh well, an idea for the future, perhaps! :P
As ever, I appreciate any feedback you have on this chapter and remember to leave a like on the Facebook page.
Until next time!
Team Listings:
James Burton:
Active:
Charka (Charmeleon): male, naïve, often scatters things, likes sweet food, fire type, Blaze ability, knows Fire Spin, Smokescreen, Flamethrower and Metal Claw.
Kacha (Pikachu): male, modest, sturdy body, likes dry food, electric type, Static ability, knows Thunderbolt, Agility, Slam and Thunder Wave.
Nulin (Wingull): male, impish, highly persistent, likes sour food, water-flying type, Keen Eye ability, knows Mist, Water Gun, Supersonic and Wing Attack.
Muro (Loudred): male, careful, loves to eat, likes bitter food, normal type, Soundproof ability, knows Howl, Stomp, Supersonic and Uproar.
Richard Winter:
Active:
Naro (Nidoking): male, mild, sturdy body, likes dry food, poison-ground type, Poison Point ability, knows Thrash, Megahorn, Poison Sting and Double Kick.
Chena (Poochyena): male, docile, capable of taking hits, eats anything, dark type, Run Away ability, knows Tackle, Howl, Sand Attack and Bite.
Dish (Lotad): female, gentle, capable of taking hits, likes bitter food, water-grass type, Rain Dish ability, knows Astonish, Growl, Absorb and Nature Power.
Arro (Aron): male, naïve, loves to eat, likes sweet food, steel-rock type, Sturdy ability, knows Mud Slap, Metal Claw, Harden and Headbutt.
Nicola Hewitt:
Active:
Kipa (Mudkip): male, quiet, somewhat vain, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Bide, Mud Slap and Water Gun.
Mushy (Shroomish): female, calm, likes to relax, likes bitter food, grass type, Effect Spore ability, knows Mega Drain, Headbutt, Stun Spore and Leech Seed.
Zaggy (Zigzagoon): male, adamant, quick to flee, likes spicy food, normal type, Pick Up ability, knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Headbutt and Mud Sport.
Tricky (Electrike): male, quirky, somewhat of a clown, eats anything, electric type, Lightningrod ability, knows Leer, Spark, Quick Attack and Howl.
Will Burton:
Active:
Toya (Squirtle): male, modest, very finicky, likes dry food, water type, Torrent ability, knows Tackle, Bite, Water Gun and Withdraw.
Turkey (Swellow): male, mild, alert to sounds, likes dry food, normal-flying type, Guts ability, knows Peck, Steel Wing, Double Team and Quick Attack.
Gulpy (Gulpin): female, mild, nods off a lot, likes dry food, poison type, Sticky Hold ability, knows Pound, Yawn, Sludge and Poison Gas.