Ace: This one took a lot of time.
Me: I know, I forgot to work on it on occasion while at the same time this chapter took a lot of time to write when I was working on it.
Servo: So this chapter's a long one?
Me: Yeah, around four thousand words according to the counter.
Otto: Well, I think it might be a good idea to clue our readers in on some of our recent chats.
Gantz: Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me. I happen to have a new oneshot in the works right now people, so keep your eyes peeled fellow readers.
Crow: The subject of the new story has some little known enemies making a reapperance after nearly twenty years of obscurity.
Mallow: Nw it's time to begin the show!
Chapter 35: Psychic Safari
A few days following HO-OH's assistance to the heroes, the group made their way to Lake Rage north of Mahogany Town (During this time, the team had captured a few new pokemon, and some of their current ones had evolved (For example, Ash's Wortortle was now finally a Blastoise, and Vivian's Chansey had evolved into a Blissy).
They arrived at the famous lake to enjoy the cool air near the lake as it was getting warmer as Summer continued on. While Brock was cooking lunch (with Luigi and Meowth's help), everyone was doing their own thing to pass the time.
Ash was practicing his battle skills against Misty to help keep both his pokemon and Misty's pokemon in shape. Goombario was acting as the judge for the battle.
Zane was gathering firewood to build the fire for Brock. His Riolu and Mankey were helping him gather surplus wood for future use, while Scyther was there with Zane, Riolu, and Mankey to deal with any unwanted visitors.
Clay was enjoying the lake as he decided to go swimming. Chicky was also swimming around near the shore, and B.K. was suprisingly enjoying the lake as well. Most of the other pokemon were in the lake along with May, Max, Kooper, Lucy, Yoshi, and Vivian. Even Crow and Servo were enjoying a swim, even though most robots would likely short circut (but Crow and Servo aren't like most robots, so they can swim).
Jessie and James were simply basking in the sun on their beach blankets.
Cambot was taking a nap, wanting to conserve his power cells.
Meriee was waiting patiently for lunch to be ready, as well as waiting for Zane to return.
Nobody noticed the small pokemon hiding in the trees out of everyone's sight as it watched the food items being prepared. Zane finally got back with the firewood, and everyone got ready for lunch. As everyone got to eating, Max said, "Wow Brock, the soup tastes better than it usually does!"
Zane then said, "That's because I let him barrow some of the mushrooms from my bag that I had collected shortly before coming to this world. These mushrooms work differently than the magical Super Mushrooms as they are used in food a lot in the Mushroom Kingdom. They also have healing properties identical to Oran and Sitrus berries."
The mystery pokemon's ears twitched when he heard that. The pokemon jumped from the trees as it rushed to the camp. When it appeared before the heroes, everyone saw it was a wild Aipom.
Crow then said to the purple monkey, "Well hey little guy, where'd you come from?" The Aipom smacked Crow in the face with it's tail, causing Crow's head to turn all the way around in the opposite direction. The Aipom then lunged for Zane's bag, and grabbed it with it's tail.
Zane then yelled, "Hey, that's mine!!!" The Aipom then blasted Zane with a Swift attack, then made a run for it as it took Zane's bag.
Zane recovered from the attack, than charged after the Aipom. Luigi quickly fixed Crow's head before he and the gold robot chased after Zane to try to keep him from making an idiot out of himself. Meriee decided to follow after them along with Clay, Ash, and Brock.
Zane finally caught up to the Aipom, who was searching through Zane's bag. Zane yelled, "Hold it right there, fleabag! That backpack has some very important things stashed inside of it, and I want it back!"
The Aipom then said to Zane, "You'll get it back when I'm done getting what I'm looking for!" Zane then said, "No you wont! Everything in that bag is mine, and I only share it with my friends!"
The Aipom was shocked to see Zane understood what he had said, but before the Aipom could ask what the deal was, Zane said, "If you wanna know how I know what you just said, it's a long story, and it's unimportant right now. But what's important is that you give me that bag!"
The Aipom jumped into a tree with Zane's bag, and said, "Look kid, I have a friend who's in serious trouble! Some wierdos tried to capture her, but she got away and she's hurt badly! To make matters worse, there aren't any Oran or Sitrus trees anywhere in this area that could help save her! I heard about these mushrooms you have, and I needed to take them!"
Zane then said, "I see..." Before he could say another word, he heard the voice of Brock say, "Well, if you needed help, you could have just asked us, as we would have helped you. But now's not the time to worry about that. We have to help your friend."
Aipom led the group to his friend, which was a young Ralts. Clay pulled out his pokedex, and it said, "Ralts: The Emotion Pokemon. Ralts use the horns on their heads to sense the emotions of other creatures. If one senses positive feelings, it is more likely to approach whoever is giving them off without feeling afraid. This is because Ralts are more likely to appear before those who give off positive emotions rather than negative. It becomes dispirited, and in some cases seriously ill around negative emotions. Some have even died from over exposure to negative emotions."
The moment she heard this, Meriee became very concerned and said, "Oh how horrible! I bet it was those horrible Rockets who did this!!!!" Aipom then said, "Do you mean the weirdos who attacked her? I do remember one of them mentioning something about rockets, and they used some peculiar looking pokemon to try to capture Ralts..."
Clay growled quietly, then said, "That certainly sounds like them." Vivian sent in her Blissy to help Meriee heal Ralts. Zane gave Meriee a couple of mushrooms from his bag to assist in some way.
Clay reached into his own bag, and found a blue mushroom simply known as a Super Shroom (not to be confused with the growth causing fungus). He then said to Meriee, "I'm sure you know this, but this will work even better than those red mushrooms. I've had this in my bag for a while, but it should still be good. These mushrooms tend to have a good shelf life."
With Brock's knowledge about medicine, he was able to mash up the mushrooms, as well as mix in some berry juice for added effect. Blissy then put in one of her eggs, and Meriee finally finished the special potion by adding a little bit of healing magic into the mixture. Before the magic was added, the soupy mixture was a sickly brown. But after Meriee used her magic, the mixture changed color to a vivid shade of green, and it changed from being a thick soup to a smooth liquid similar to water.
Meriee then said, "Ok Ralts, this should be able to help you..." The Ralts, having sensed that these people ment no harm and were genuinely concerned, took the medicine without hesitation. Ralts then weakly said, "Thank you..." She then fell asleep at the sound of Blissy's Sing attack.
Vivian then said to Blissy, "Good thinking. She needs her rest right now." Ash then said, "We'd better get her back to the lake. She'll be safer with us there." Aipom handed Zane his bag back, and said, "Listen, I'm sorry I stole your bag, but I had to help Ralts."
Zane then said, "Don't worry, I'm not mad anymore. Listen, you were pretty slick when you were running away from me. How about you join up with us? We happen to be on the road to stop Team Rocket once and for all, as well as get rid of some associates of theirs. We could use the skills of a slippery little primate like you."
Aipom then said, "After what they did to Ralts, I'll be more than glad to help!" Aipom then took a pokeball of Zane's belt, and pressed the button to let himself get captured.
Back at the lake, everyone was wondering why everyone seemed so upset. Brock then told everyone about the Ralts, and why Aipom took Zane's bag. Ralts was going to be ok since that makeshift potion worked better than any conventional medicine that was currently in use in the Pokemon world. Meriee took it upon herself to monitor Ralts's condition to make sure she stayed comfortable.
That night, Ralts finally awoke. She was strong enough to walk around, but she didn't have the energy needed to do anything like battle, so she was totally defensless. She was glad her friend Aipom had found her these kind, yet strange people to care for her.
Ralts observed the group in question. She saw some humans, but she also saw creatures that resembled pokemon. Her powers helped her determine they weren't pokemon however. One of these creatures resembled a brown Shroomish wearing a blue hat that also had teeth and bushy eybrows. There was one that looked like a Squirtle with a parrot-like face, blue shell, yellow skin, and wore red wristbands and a red bandana around his neck. There was one that looked like a large Charmander with green scales, and had a tounge longer than a Likitung's and an appetite that rivaled a Snorlax's. Finally, one looked kinda like a ghost with a purple body, gloved hands, pink hair, and wore a witches hat with dark pink and white stripes.
Some of the other odd creatures in the group had metal bodies, as if they were steel type pokemon. But a scan of their minds proved they weren't living beings, let alone pokemon. One had gold skin, and seemed to be built out of sporting equipment. The red one had a gumball machine head, and could float in the air. The final robot was sphereical like a Voltorb, but also floated like a Magnemite. It also had eyes that seemed identical to a device Ralts heard about from other pokemon called a camera.
The remaining odd creatures were the ones she knew as Zane and Meriee. Ralts imedeately felt very safe around these people, despite how odd they looked and acted. She then heard a voice say to her, "Ah, glad to see your awake!" Ralts turned and saw an unusually colored Persian standing over her. The Persian said, "Relax, I'm friends with these people. I happen to belong to the kid in the overalls over there." The Persian pointed to his trainer, Clay, with his tail.
The Persian then said, "My name's B.K. I'm travelling with these guys because some friends of mine from the forest I lived in were kidnapped by goons from an evil human orginization called Team Rocket. When I met these guys, I tried to raid their picnic to stock up on food to take the fight to those jerks on my own. But I'm glad now that I decided to join these guys as I would have gotten myself killed going solo. Team Rocket had joined up with some kind of crazy cult and became even more dangerous."
The Ralts was a little scared, but she asked B.K., "What kind of cult?" B.K. then said, "My trainer and the rest of the team can answer that better than I can. But despite this, we hardly know anything about our enemy." B.K. crouched low to the ground, and signaled Ralts to climb onto his back. B.K. then carried Ralts to the others.
When they got to the others, B.K. said out loud, "Guys, Ralts is awake!" Everyone gathered around Ralts, hoping she was going to be ok. Meriee used her powers to scan Ralts, and said, "She'll be fine, but she can't battle until tomarrow. And even then, she wont be able to unleash her full power if she's faced with an opponent too soon..."
Misty then said, "I wonder what Team Rocket wanted with Ralts? They don't normally try to capture unevolved pokemon." Meowth looked like he was about to say something, but Jessie's Seviper said, "Meowth, if you even THINK about going into one of those rants on how Giovanii could bennifet from having any pokemon, I swear I'll eat you where you stand!"
Before the two pokemon could get into an argument, Ralts used Hypnosis on the two to put them to sleep. Ralts then said, "I heard them talking about some kind of sound wave that forces a pokemon to evolve... I think they wanted to use it on me to make me become a Gardevoir quicker..."
Ash, Brock, and Misty looked pretty mad about this bit of info. Ash then explained that back when they were travelling through Johto to compete in the Johto League, Ash, Brock, and Misty along with Lance of the Elite Four had stopped an operation here at Lake Rage where Team Rocket used a radio signal to force pokemon to evolve. They were testing it mainly on the Magikarp that live in the lake to force them to evolve into Gyarados. Only one Magikarp actually evolved. The others were likely either killed or had fled to escape the sound. The one Gyarados that evolved retained it's red color, and Team Rocket wanted to experiment on it to perfect their radio signal. After defeating Team Rocket again, Lance decided to take care of the Gyarados from that point forward.
Brock then said, "It seems Team Rocket's back to using this plan again. It makes sense seeing as the professor who led the project in the first place escaped the police from what I heard on the news."
Max then said, "Yeah, but that kind of thing could ultimately kill Ralts, even if it were to evolve into a Kirlia, then into a Gardevoir. Remember what the Pokedex said? Some Ralts have died from sensing too many bad emotions. It seems Team Rocket's decision to try to use a Ralts for their experiments wasn't a very good one if you ask me."
Zane then said, "I've done a little research on Ralts, Kirlia, and Gardevoir on my Pokedex, and it says that Gardevoir are pretty strong with their incredible telekenetic abilities. Some have been known to generate small black holes. I bet the Dentes Rhohos were trying to get a hold of Ralts here so they could get a hold of that power with Team Rocket's help!"
Ralts then asked, "Dentes Rhohos? What are they?" The heroes then took the time to explain what the Dentes Rhohos were to Ralts and her friend Aipom. After the explaation, Goombario then said, "Now that I think about it, we never asked the former DR Pokemon we aquired how they were transformed in the first place."
Kooper then said, "Yeah, you're right." Kooper then asked the former DR Pokemon, "So, what did they do?" The pokemon in question, Charizard, Tyrannitar, Absol, Scyther, and Froslass weren't comfortable about mentioning any details about what they experianced. Tyrannitar then said, "You really don't wanna know..."
Luigi then said, "I doubt we'd want to know anyway." With that, everyone enjoyed dinner before deciding to share more stories of past adventures. Eventually, everyone decided to get some sleep to get ready to leave for Mahogany Town in the morning.
The following morning, everyone was leaving for Mahogany Town to have Nurse Joy check on Ralts's condition, and to give her proper medical treatment. Along the way, a mechanical claw shot out and snagged Ralts. As it turns out, it was Team Rocket.
There was a couple of Rocket Grunts, and Clay recognized them as the same ones who had him and Meriee prisoner on their jet in the beginning of this adventure. One of the rockets then said, "Well well well, it seems we found the punks who ratted us out!"
Clay gritted his teeth when he heard that. He then said, "You idiots brought it upon yourselves! Now give back Ralts, or I'll have to give you another beatdown like before!" One of the Rockets then said, "He does have a point... We were the ones who told him where our HQ was." The lead Rocket in the group said, "You mean it was YOU who told them you brain dead moron! Now, not another word!"
The Rocket who got yelled at then said, "Hey, watch it buddy! We happen to be the same rank, and I happen to have been with Team Rocket longer than you have, so show some respect to those who've been around longer than you have!" The other Rocket then said, "I was placed in charge of this hunting trip by our mission leader, Tyson, so I suggest you start realizing that!"
Another Rocket added to the fire by saying, "Hey, that's my little brother your dissin' man! Back off before I knock your lights out!!!" Eventually, all five Rockets began arguing amongst each other and didn't notice Clay calmly walk up and release Ralts from the Rocket's claw gun. After he did this, he and his friends were walking in the other direction towards Mahogany Town.
The lead Rocket saw them leaving, and yelled out, "Oh no you don't! Ok Manectric, destroy them!" At that moment, a lightning bolt struck the earth before the heroes. After the bolt vanished, a DR Manectric stood between them and their escape. The lead Rocket then said, "If we can't have that Ralts, then it's useless. Manectric, destroy this forest, and make sure these fools burn with it!"
Manectric nodded as it fired of bolts of electricity everywhere. The lightning bolts struck the trees, setting them ablaze. The lead Rocket then said, "So long fools." The Rocket squadron left the scene after that.
The Manectric then said to the heroes, "You have impeded us for the last time. I shall destroy you all with every inch of my power! The Dentes Rhohos will be victorious!!!"
Crow then said, "You wont get anywhere by just talking, sparky." Manectric then tried to rush Crow with a Quick Attack, but Ralts used Reflect to block the hit. Ralts then said, "I'm afraid defensive attacks are all I can do at the moment... I'm sorry." Meriee then said, "Don't worry about it."
Ash's Blastoise then said, "We gotta put out this fire! Come on, we got wok to do!" Blastoise began firing his Hydro Pump attack at the flames to put them out.
Misty's Staryu, Azuril, and Gyarados began helping out as well. Clay's newest pokemon, a Piplup,was also helping out by throwing mud at the flames with Mud Slap.
Everyone else was also helping put out the fire, but Brock took it upon himself to try and capture Manectric. Brock sent in Onix to deal with Manectic, as he figured that this DR Manectric would likely be able to beat his Geodude no problem despite the type disadvantage Manectric has. Plus, he learned from Ash that in the long run, a pokemon's type does not matter in battle, but rather the strategy you take to deal with a bad situation. Figuring this, he decided to not only go with a type advantage, but to also try to overpower his opponent by size and skill.
Brock then said to Onix, "Ok, use Sandstorm!" Onix complied as he kicked up a huge dust cloud that covered the field. Manectric had trouble seeing, but the sandstorm wasn't having that much effect due to the unatural healing powers of the Dentes Rhohos and the DR Pokemon. But that changed when Onix smacked Manectric with a Double Edge attack, followed up by an Iron Tail. The sandstorm cleared up, and Manectric was seen battlered on the ground. Onix approached carefully as he prepared for whatever trick the evil pokemon had up it's sleeve.
Manectric suddenly jumped up, then blasted Onix with a black-colored Thunderbolt which bypassed Onix's resistance to electricity. Brock quickly called back Onix to protect him from further harm. He then said to himself, "What am I gonna do? None of my other pokemon can stand up to that kind of power!"
Hearing Brock's words, Riolu and Chicky looked at each other, wondering what they could do to help. Chicky then remembered Zane's bag had some helpful trinkets inside, so they might be able to help Brock out.
The Manectric then said to Brock, "Surrender. You have lost!" This was answered by a fireball to Manectric's left flank. Manectric then yelled, "WHO DID THAT!?" Riolu pounced on Manectric from above, covering the DR Pokemon's eyes. Chicky then charged in with a Take Down attack, and toppled the pokemon over. Brock then noticed that Riolu and Chicky suddenly looked different. Their fur was a mix of orange and white, and Brock noticed a small fireball in Riolu's left paw.
Brock then put two and two together, and said, "You guys must have used some of those power ups Clay told us about, didn't you?" Riolu then said, "Sure did. I hope dad doesn't mind." Brock chuckled a bit, remembering how Riolu thought Zane was his father, then said, "I'm sure he wont. Now, go get that Manectric guys! Perhaps with the new power you gained, you can beat it!"
Manectric got up, and said, "Don't be too sure. All it takes is one good hit, and those powers will vanish!" Chicky snarled and bared his teeth when he said, "You'll be beaten then captured before that can happen!" Manectric then said, "We shall see!" Manectric tried to blast the two pokemn with a Thunderbolt, but Chicky used Double Team to dodge. Riolu jumped towards a nearby tree, and used Quick Attack to bound off of it, and delivered a high speed Fire Punch to Manectric's right flank.
Riolu then used Quick Attack again to dodge Manectric's Crunch attack before ramming into Manectric's left side. Chicky then launched a Shadow Ball, which was further strengthened by the power of his Fire Flower, thus adding flames to the ball of dark energy, giving it a reddish glow instead of a purple one. When it hit Manectric, he predictibly caught fire, and ran around trying to put out the blaze. Noticing the Manectric's distress, May's Squirtle blasted Manectric with a Water Gun to put out the fire, and to deliver more damage to the Manectric.
Manectric ignored the Squirtle, and focused it's attention soley on Chicky and Riolu. Riolu and Chicky then began throwing (or in Chicky's case, spitting) fireballs at Manectric. Chicky then charged in with a Take Down that resulted in a banket of flames to envelope the Poochyena. The flames vanished the moment before Chicky collided with Manectric, and when they did, Chicky was no longer a Poochyena anymore.
After seeing the formidable dog in Chicky's place, Clay checked his pokedex. "Mightyena, the Bite Pokemon: Mightyena are natural hunters, and posess incredible leadership skills. When angred, they give fair warning to enemies by flattening their bodies on the groun while growling very deeply. They are also quite proud in nature, and do not obey the commands of humans unless they have a great deal of respect towards them. A Mightyena's sharp, jagged teeth are feared by many."
Just as the pokedex stated, Chicky began growling deeply as it flattened his body on the ground. This was further emphasized by the Fire Flower's power as flames enveloped Chicky's body. Suprisingly, the flames didn't burn the ground underneath the enraged Mightyena. Even though Manectric was a DR Pokemon, it couldn't help but feel a little bit of fear by Chicky's display. Chicky then said in a now much deeper voice, "You are going to be coming with us, weither you like it or not. UNDERSTAND!?!"
Ash then said fearfully, "Wow, I never knew how scary an angry Mightyena could be until now..." Luigi was cowering behind him shaking uncontrollably as he said, "Y-y-y-y-you aren't k-k-k-kidding!!!!"
Manectric was frozen with fear. It didn't know what to do. Luckelly, this was all Brock needed to capture the rouge pokemon (this was then followed by the Fire Flower's power over Chicky and Riolu fading away on it's own). After the Manectric was captured, Brock said to Chicky and Riolu, "That was a great job guys."
Chicky's features softened, and said, "No problem. You just gotta let these losers know who's in charge of the show, and they wont give you any trouble. Anyway, Riolu; that was a good idea to use those Fire Flowers to fight that guy."
Riolu then said, "I'm glad to see that the idea worked. I wasn't sure if we could pull that off." Ralts then asked, "Excuse me, may join you guys? I wish to repay your kindness. I also feel I may be of great help to you."
Meriee then said, "Sure you can. Besides, we need to get you to a Pokemon Center anyway." Ralts then pressed the button on one of Merie's empty pokeballs to let herself into it as she willingly let herself get captured.
With two new pokemon added to the team's ranks, and after capturing another DR Pokemon, the team left for Mahogany Town.
To be continued...
Servo: Oooh, Chicky really looked like he was ready to kill that Manectric there.
Gantz: Of course, that's impossible since DR Pokemon are immortal like the rest of the Dentes Rhohos, but I see what you mean there. Excellent idea letting Riolu and Chicky use the powers of the Fire Flower to fight off the DR Manectric. Looks like another one of the loyal DR pokemon bites the dust. I figured the DR Gyarados would be the one to fight here since they were at the Lake of Rage.
Me: I was going to go that way, but I decided to save Gyarados for a future battle. After all, it was part of the now non-existant battle of Vermillion, so I figure saving Gyarados for later would be a good idea.
Gantz: I see.
Crow: Ralts is definately a good choice here. Once it evolves into Gardevoir, it'll be very tough to beat!
Me: Anyway, time to R&R!