So here we are, the second last 'stop' I would say, for Ash in the Hoenn region: Mossdeep City. The chapter will include a detail on May, partial Mossdeep City Gym battle, and the character of the day: Morrison. If you guys don't remember him, he was Ash's chubby rival in the Hoenn region. I am not giving Ash's roster this time as I would like this to be a surprise.
Location: Mossdeep City.
Please enjoy!
May spared no corner of Lilycove City in her pursuit of Ash. To scout out an individual with extremely low information was like to look for a needle in the haystack. Tired, she entered her hotel room and sprawled on her bed. In the past week, she had seen more Officer Jenny than actual Pokémon. The Pokedex details acquired from Nurse Joy in Rubello Town did identify the person she was looking for was Ash Ketchum. No email address or contact information was available. Just the name and a few mighty impressive resume. The last call from Max informed her Ash was in Lilycove City, but now there was no sign of him. From the pattern it was clear Ash wasn't spending more than a day anywhere. Once his job was done, he would vamoose out of that place.
Delia too had no information of his location, as he would unstoppably move from places to places. Delia was overwhelmed when May had contacted her, and the matriarch couldnt wait to express this to her son, only if the fool would pick up his cell. Taking a break from the investigation, May exasperated and trudged over to the window, looking tiredly at wide ocean in front of her.
"Where are you, Ash?"
"Crawdaunt, protect Glalie!" Ash urged against the incoming Psyshock.
"daunt!" The crustacean obeyed, jumping in front of the grinning FacePokémonn, using his immunity against Psychic types moves as a shield.
Tate and Liza observed with their deep eyes but did not say anything – out loud, at least.
Ash pressed forward. "Now Glalie, Crunch and Crawdaunt, XScissor!"
"Gla!" Glalie roared, launching off, ready to sink his teeth into Lunatone. Next to him, Crawdaunt too rode along, pincers crossed.
As the Pokemon zoomed forwards the twins turned their heads to one another, exchanging silent words, simultaneously throwing their hands forward.
"Hypnosis!"
"Sunny Day!"
Ash bit his upper lips, as Crawdaunt became the victim of Hypnosis, collapsing on the ground in a deep slumber. However, Glalie scored as he bit down hard, spinning to send Solrock crashing into Lunatone. Far above them, the artificial sun began to show through, heating up the room's temperature.
Sunny Day…seemed the twins were concocting a whole different plan. But their blank expressions suppressed all secrets.
"Glalie, use Crunch on Lunatone. Lower its defenses," Ash jerked his body forward.
Lifting himself from nudging his comrade to wake up, Glalie hovered above and soared forward. With a lurch, he snapped down upon his opponent. Lunatone subsequently cried in pain.
"Lunatone, Hypnosis again!"
Lunatone bared through the pain, lighting its eyes with a pulsating radiation.
"Glalie! Move out of the there!" Ash threw a hand out.
Releasing Lunatone from the hold of his fangs, Glalie barely had any time to escape before flinging himself away from the moon representative.
"Solrock, Solar Beam!"
In seconds a blinding burst of light exploded in front of the dormant crawfish, sending him toppling off in front of Ash. Despite taking the very worst of the sun-powered blast, the snot bubble from Crawdaunt did not burst.
The twinsggazes focussed on Ash again, glinting, almost like they were taunting him telepathically. Lunatone and Solrock both hovered in front of their masters, faces emotionless aside from their shiny, red and black eyes that, mirroring their trainers.
Ash's smirk bore a smug. "You guys think you're unbeatable. I agree to disagree." Ash punched forward. "Glalie, Water Pulse... On Crawdaunt!"
"On Crawdaunt!? What's he doing?" the twins gawked simultaneously.
Glalie laughed, knowing what Ash was plotting in mind. He chucked a compact sphere of water above Crawdaunt. The ball burst a waterfall on the Rogue Pokémon, and the annoyance returned to the water type's eyes. Pincers snapping and back to all feet, Crawdaunt glared at the astronomical duo.
Liza called out another attack with enthusiasm. "Solrock, Solar Beam again!"
"Glalie, Blizzard!"
"Gllaaaaa... Lieeeeeee!"
The harsh snowstorm cancelled the brutal flash beam, saving Crawdaunt once again. Although, the Blizzard couldn't not stand strong against The Sunny Day and melted into water quickly.
"Crawdaunt, use Bubblebeam!"
A sneer crawled onto Ash's face as both Solrock and Lunatone recoiled, with their trainers beyond them snapping out of their sync to gawk at the water and tug off their wet clothes.
Lunatone," Tate finally spoke up, his voice sounding strained, "Light Screen!"
"Solrock, Fire Spin!"
Liza called, and before Ash could comprehend the tactic hot, red fire blew out from in front of the Pokemon, searing the ground around Crawdaunt , flaring up the rugged form in the mess of steam and heat this created, light began to gather around the Pokemon's body. Meanwhile a reflective wall flittered to light around the two Rock-types, protecting them against the barrage of bubbles.
"Crawdaunt! Crabhammer and Glalie, Crunch! Go all out!" Ash spread his arms wide.
The Pokemon whirred into action, vanishing in blurs to race for their targets. Glalie made it there first, latching onto the tip of Lunatone with his empowered teeth.
"Save Lunatone! Fire Spin!"
Solrock heard it's trainer's voice, taking an aim at Lunatone. Before the flames could even dwell in its mouth, a hard smack of the Crabhammer, tossed it roughly towards Lunatone. Glalie shared the same idea, swinging Lunatone towards the screeching Solrock. The Rock formations crashed into one another, recoiling.
"End this, Sheer Cold!"
A bright flash overwhelmed the Gym arena. The twins guarded their visions with their arms, but how would they fight against the chills of the Gym. The temperatures dropped down to zero and the entire field was frozen in thick solid ice. Liza and Tate flet their arms and legs moving again as the wind storms subsided.
A whistling breeze cleared the field and Solrock and Lunatone, laid next to each other, unconscious.
"Whaaat?!" Liza cried out, breaking her stoic persona at last and running up to the fallen Pokemon.
"You broke our synchronization… Our perfect combination…" Tate muttered, tucking his own Pokeball under the folds of his tunic and nodding at Liza, who in resignation withdrew Solrock.
"It can't be helped, can it, brother?"
"A word of advice..." Ash walked over, followed by Crawdaunt and Glalie, "Your minds were in synchronization. But what you lacked... was the synchronization of your hearts."
Ash wore a puzzled expression, lips twisted into curls. His mind was a surging perplexity.
"Man...its like choosing my team for the Finals! If i can't get last here, how am I gonna make that decision?" His fingers tapped against the glass table.
All of his thoughts were exploding into an inverse explosion, crazy chaotic turns and twists coming together to narrow down to just one final choice.
"...I'll have the Caipirosika Cone please. And sprinkles on the top, please."
Driven the customer retention segment, it was hard for the ice cream seller to suppress a sigh, as the customer finally made a choice in his finest Gelato. He placed two huge lumps of the flavour on a cone, and sprinkled the candy all over it. Ash fished out a note and placed on the counter, in exchange for his Cone. The trade was Sealed.
Suddenly, a huge shadow loomed over the petite cart, blocking Ash and the ice cream cart from direct sunlight. Sensing a threat on his ice cream, a natural childish instinct of Ash kicked in, as he twisted around to face the owner of the giant shadow.
"Oh it's just you... I thought it was an eclipse..."
The mysterious figure towering would be enough to scare anyone out of their boots... Except for Ash and Pikachu, apparently. Cause the figure was none other than their old acquaintance... Morrison. The chubby man lunged his hands forward, enveloping a reluctant Ash into a hug bear hug.
"Whoohooo! How are you my old buddy!" Morrison squealed, inviting him deeper and deeper into his body.
"Suffocating..."Ash managed to breathe out, face snuggled deep into Morrison's pillows. His ice cream was as good as be forgotten. A mess of his hand and Morrison's Yukata. The Cone pieced into two, slipping from Ash's fingers. Groaning, sadness was visible in his eyes.
Morrison released but not his affection,patting two strong arms on Ash's shoulders. "I can't believe it's ya! I haven't seen ya in years!"
Ash recoiled, from those hard smacks on his shoulders, "Really, I was behind you the whole time. It just took you a decade to turn around and find out."
that's how a fat insult made up for the loss of a precious ice cream. The saddest person that noon was the ice cream seller, who had to go through fifteen minutes pretending patience as Ash went through another series of choices.
"So," Ash turned to his old pal. "It's a surprise to see you in Mossdeep. I thought you resided in Verdanturf Town."
"Oh... I moved into Mossdeep a couple of years back." Morrison provided, gladly accepting the cone Ash bought him.
"Verdanturf wasn't Japanese enough?"
"No...My wife lives here!"
If the Gelato wasn't so delightful, Ash would have spit it out upon hearing that.
"She runs an Inn here, and couldn't move back and forth so I made things easier for here. She... " Morrison trailed off.
"Hold on.. Hold on..." Ash placed a hand on Morrison's sleeve, interjecting. "You got married?!"
"Yep..." Morrison nodded, not sensing the disbelief in that question.
"I mean... You, Morrison... got a woman... to marry you?" Ash gawked. "You, Morrison."
"Yes..."Morrison repeated. Ok, now he was getting somewhere.
"I am sorry but as I ask, you can sense the skeptism and disbelief I am bringing into the conversation right? Followed by immense hatred."
"Yep... "
Sighing, Ash smiled genuinely. "Well, I guess that puts an end to our rivalry. You scored big my friend. I am happy for you."
"Here, a picture of her." Morrison unlocked his phone to reveal the wallpaper of his wife: an equally stubby female.
Grinning widely, Ash displayed his teeth in buoyancy "I am even more Happy Now!"
The afternoon was spent with Morrison blurting out most of the gibberish, while Ash kept most of the things to himself, but just to be cordial, engaged in the social exchange of words. Eventually, the topic found its way to-
"Oh, right!" Morrison bolted on the bench, "Hey Ash! What do you say about a rematch! Who knows when we'll run into each other again? Whaddaya say?"
"Pika!"
"Hmmm... You are right!" Ash chimed,mirroring the trainer's expression.
Nodding they sprinted forward to the field in front of them. The two trainers got into the groove, each reaching out for a Pokeball.
Morrison called out, cupping his hands around his mouth to amplify his voice. "Good luck! You're going to need it against me!"
"You can chicken out if you want," Ash enlarged his capsule. "Better than the alternative..."
"That attitude does not sit Well with me." Morrison smirked.
"Nor does what you drink for lunch! Now get rolling!"
"I'll rock it first!" Morrison asserted, first Poké Ball already on hand. "Steelix, let's do this!"
From the small Poké Ball emerged a Pokémon of giant proportions. Once the light of the Poké Ball had cleared out, this Pokémon's form was revealed to gleam brightly as the sun casted its rays upon its body. Steelix roared, quaking the field with its tail.
Sizing up the Steelix, Ash made his decision. This was quick, unlike choosing the Gelato before. "... Donphan... Let's show them what Rolling really means!"
Donphan took his shape, ready for Steelix. He trumpeted with a war cry.
"Ready?" Ash quirked a brow.
"Born ready!" Morrison pumped up. "Sand Tomb!"
"Groar!" The Iron Snake pokemon roared, tearing the ground apart under Donphan. Swirling sand collapsed into a pit, dragging the smaller ground type towards the depths.
"Donphan, Earthquake!"
Stomping hard creating wave frequencies on the sand, Earthquake made Donphan thunder forward, and away from the sand pit. Steelix recoiled from the rumbles it was a Ground Type, it was still a Steel Type and vulnerable against the disturbance in the Earth.
"We are not letting you get away! Iron Tail!"
A tremendous weight smashed into Donphan, sending him bouncing off of the field, courtesy of Steelix.
"Donp..." the pachyderm skidded to a halt, momentarily seeing double for a second. He shook off the extra vision, focus and vexation once again directed at Steelix.
"Sorry, dude, but you're done!" Morrison punched the air. "Steelix, Stone Edge!"
Steelix smacked his tail against the earth, starting a tremor. Spiked stones erupted in a straight path, rushing for Donphan.
"Fire Fang!"
Stomping up a curtain of dust, Donphan lashed out. In sheer act of brashness, Donphan went through the artificial pillars of stones, bursting them into pebbles with fiery tusks. Knowing that the stout elephant was closing in, The Iron Snake Pokémon threw its head forward to intercept the attack. Their clash elicited a hefty explosion, in which the haze enshrouded both Donphan and Steelix's head.
Donphan struggled with all his might, however, pushing Steelix behind was an impossibility. Donphan barreled, igniting his tusks with blazing fire. Ducking, he grinded into Steelix's face, leaving embers in the face as the giant pulled away and roared. You could literally see the scars of the two tusks made a signature on Steelix's face.
"Steelix, use Autotomize!"
Steelix rumbled, standing upright. The various tough segments making up its body began to spin wildly, breaking down resistance between each bond.
"We got something like that too! Donphan, Rock Polish!"
Glinting, Donphan felt that half of his size disappear into air. All of a sudden, his speed was off the charts.
"Iron Tail!"
Despite its unnaturally large size, Steelix was fast in powering up and lifting its jagged tail over where Donphan was. All it had to do now was to let gravity plus its additional energy to crush Donphan for good.
However, Donphan was certainly no slouch. Iron Tail struck, only to hit thin air.
"Fire Fang!"
Donphan sprung into the air, aiming his blazing tusks at Steelix's midsection. Steelix bent his body, leaning his center out of Donphan's range.
"There's more!" Ash gestured to Donphan. "Seed Bomb!"
Invigorated, Donphan spun his trunk in mid-air, attacking Steelix with a flurry of seeds. The seeds found their target and detonated, leaving Steelix roaring in pain, coiling inward to soothe its tough hide, from the burns.
"Lastly Earthquake!"
While Steelix was recovering from the super effective Seed barrage, Donphan smashed his feet into the ground, sending terrible vibrations throughout the field. The sections on Steelix's body resonated, and soon vibrations took over the giant serpent.
Groaning, it tumbled. Receiving two super-effective back to back, Morrison knew Steelix wasn't going to get up anytime soon.
"Nice one, Donphan!"
Donphan let out a cry of approval, dancing on the appreciation. Morrison huffed, lifting an arm to recall his Steelix back. Maybe, he took Ash too lightly. "Well, this is embarrassing."
"Dont beat yourself over it. I have already done that twice." Ash brushed his bangs behind, returning Donphan.
"This battle still has a round two!" Morrison hollered, lifting a Pokeball and chucking it across. "Swampert, let's go!"
The Mud Fish starter appeared across the fray,crowing out its battle cry.
"rawwwwww!" the Volcano Pokémon assaulted the field with a horrible wail.
"Swampert, let's get started with Hydro Pump!"
A jet was spat at the larger fire Pokemon, sending him skidding back. The Volcano Pokémon roared, bracing his feet in the ground. Hydro Pump has choked the air out of his lungs. He swatted the gush of water aside with ease, but now irritated.
"Lava Plume..."
Typhlosion pointed his hands below him, letting the Earth know his command. With a roar, he expelled scalding lava into the explosion. A mighty explosion of magma and earth rocked the field, making its reach for Swampert.
"Guard yourself with Protect!"
The water type dashed without hesitation, projecting a barrier around Itself. Molten lava spewed on the green dome, falling harmlessly to the side. With a spacial sound, the barrier disappeared done with its job.
"Eruption!"
Typhlosion's body took a magnificent crimson glow. The flames on his back began to rip up. A humongous Geyser of flames jutted up from the Volcano Pokémon and rose up in the sky. Heavy flaming boulders began to rain,searing Swampert's Bulky hide.
"Swampert!" Morrison grit his teeth. "Use Muddy Water!"
"Swamp!" roared, shrugging the jagged stones off of it's body. A guttural hiss was directed at Typhlosion, its webbed hands trembling. The Mud Fish wretched, tilting it's bead back and throwing it forward, body with it, spitting out a flood of Muddy Water.
Waves of muck crashed into Typhlosion, disheveling the -heavy Volcano pokemon.
"Hmph...Typhlosion, Aerial Ace!"
A blur popped out, whisking across the mucky, debris-laden ground.
Swampert crouched, defensive. However, a surprise swat across the face bypassed his guard.
"Crush Claw!"
The water type lurched back, standing on his hind legs. "Swamp!"
A move that proved futile, when a vicious slash stung his side. He hissed, stomping a webbed foot down.
"Hang in there, Swampert," Morrison urged. "Mud Bomb!"
A mass of muck smashed into Typhlosion, toppling it with little trouble. The monster hissed, trying to blink the mud out of his eyes.
"Crush Claw!"
Typhlosion lunged at his target - at least, what he thought was his target. The eruptor was startled to find himself wadding across the wet pool, missing his target completely.
"Maybe that'll work! Mud Bomb again!"
Swampert launched a second assault, this time striking Typhlosion's side.
"Aerial Ace!"
Typhlosion shook his head, trying to get a clear vision. Nevertheless, he launched himself into the air.
"Protect!"
Swampert's shield held out through the last of Aerial Ace, with little trouble, but as always, a nigh-invincible barrier never lasted long. The green film flickered, and an ominous gleam from Typhlosion's eyes replaced it.
"Crush Claw!"
Startled, the Mud Fish jolted back. His barrier flickered away.
A sharp pain struck Swampert's side. Typhlosion had crashed into him, sending him tumbling.
With a croak, he collapsed.
"And that's why there shouldn't be a Round No. 3...But still, nice game Momo."
After a short pause, a smile crossed Morrison's face as well. "Indeed. You're quite the adversary, just as ever, Ash! I'm hardly upset that I lost. I am glad I ran into you. In fact, I've been inspired. This year, I'm going to retry the Ever Grande Conference! It's been decided."
"I'll be rooting for ya," Ash's eyes lit once more with that childish glow.
"Pika!"
"And I'll be rooting for you Ash. You are gonna make it to the Master Class! Count on it!"
"Well, I am flattered," Ash chuckled, brushing under his nose. "Thanks Morrison!"
They fist pumped.
"Pika Pika!"
Noticing his starter was trying to tell him something, Ash looked at the time before gawking. "Shoot!"
"Hey, you headed somewhere? If you want a place to stay, you can stay at our Inn," Morrison offered.
"No that's not it!" Ash hurried, "I have a ferry to Staleport and it's in 15 minutes! Sorry man, gotta take a raincheck! But nice running into ya!"
Turning around, Ash made the jolt of his life, Pikachu clutching to his shoulder tightly, fighting the wind as Ash scurried.
"See ya soon!" Morrison shouted behind, waving a hand before turning to return to his pursuits anew.
Not much, but the next Chapter is gonna be a real deal! Ash Ketchum vs Brendan Birch in a full 6 on 6 battle by the Staleport Beach. We are done with all rivals and Gym Leaders in Hoenn.
The next chapter will be out in two weeks! Until next time, have a good one!