CHAPTER 9
Moving On
When Zora and the team woke up the next morning, she decided to try some treasure hunting in Violet City by using Crisper's Rock Smash against the rocks found there. The first rock they broke had nothing in it, though they did gain access to a hidden path with a Hyper Potion lying on the ground, so it wasn't a total waste.
The next rock they broke had a Yellow Shard inside, the first treasure they found. But not what they were looking for.
"We're broke," Zora said. "We need to find a Star Piece if we are to get any more stuff right now, before moving on."
The next rock they broke had a Revive inside. Zora groaned. "This is literally useless!" she exclaimed. "Though I guess we can sell it later at some point. Let's keep going."
They continued breaking rocks, ending up breaking a total of seventeen rocks before they finally found a Star Piece. Zora squealed with joy at the sight of the small red gem in the shape of a four-spiked star.
"We're gonna be rich now!" Zora said excitedly and showed the gem to her team members, who gazed at it in awe. "Until we buy stuff and get broke again, I mean."
"So pretty…" Omelet said with gleaming eyes. "We can't keep it?"
"We could, but it's better to sell it," Zora said. "But maybe some time after we've beat the League, we can find another and keep it. I'll let you have it then, Omelet."
"Really?" Omelet shrieked with joy. "I can't wait!"
Other than the Star Piece, the team had found two Yellow Shards, a Green Shard, two Revives and two Heart Scales. The other nine rocks broken had nothing in them. Still, Zora was surprised how fast they found a Star Piece, considering how rare they were.
They went to the Poké Mart and sold the Star Piece and Revives to get more money. Before selling, they only had 24 Pokédollars left, but after selling the three items, they had a total of 6424 Pokédollars! Zora was a bit surprised the Star Piece didn't sell for more, remembering it as usually selling for twice the amount, but she supposed she had seen people sell two gems at a time and forgot its actual price.
Despite this, they still got a good amount of money and could now buy two Repels, an Antidote, a Burn Heal, four Potions, two Super Potions and ten more Poké Balls, along with a bonus Premier Ball. She decided to buy one more Super Potion, and then they were broke again.
"Now we have enough supplies for our next trip," Zora said as they left the Poké Mart. "We'll get more money as we battle new Trainers and break more rocks on the way. We'll train Crisper throughout Route 32 and until we reach Union Cave. There, we can get an Onix."
"What do we need that for?" Kale asked curiously.
"Nothing, really, just to get the encounter out of the way, both the Pokémon itself and the area," Zora admitted. "The only other Pokémon we can get in there are Wooper, Magikarp and Goldeen, and those require either Surf or a fishing rod, neither of which we have. Onix is the only Pokémon we haven't caught yet which we can encounter on land in the cave."
"Well, alright," Kale replied. "Anything else we should know before going?"
"Well, yes, after we get out of the Union Cave, we'll arrive in Route 33, where we can encounter either a Hoppip or a Spearow. Again, we'll only catch either of them to get their encounters out of the way, as Hoppip is weak and we've already got a bird on the team, so we don't need Spearow."
Kale sighed. The next few encounters didn't seem to be all that exciting.
"But after that," Zora continued with a smile, "we'll arrive in Azalea Town, where we can go to Slowpoke Well and get a Slowpoke!"
"And you'll explain why we want a Slowpoke?"
"Both because the only other Pokémon we can get there is Zubat," Zora explained, "but also because Slowpoke is a Water- and Psychic-type Pokémon, and it can learn Surf as well as Headbutt. Headbutt will come in handy when the only new encounters we'll have in an area will be Pokémon only found in trees."
"Oh, that does sound useful," Kale commented. "And then we'll be fighting in the Azalea Gym?"
"Exactly," Zora said. "After we get the new encounters out of the way, we'll train up the team until we're strong enough to take on Bugsy. He has a really strong Scyther, so after we beat the Gym Trainers, if Fly Boy, Dingbat and Crisper aren't the same level as Bugsy's ace, we'll return to Route 33 and train until they are."
"Sounds like a plan," Kale said. "By the way, when will I get to fight in a Gym?"
"Um…" Zora brought out her notes, checking the Gym Leaders and Gym Trainers of the next Gyms. "You can probably help with the fifth and sixth Gym, maybe also the third, but other than that, there aren't actually any Gyms with Pokémon weak to Grass…"
Kale seemed a bit disappointed by the news, but soon put on a smile again. "Well, that's fine," he said. "I'll help in any way I can. Better we all survive than everyone getting a chance to fight in the Gym and accidentally get killed, right?"
"Right," Zora said. "Well, I think we've stayed in Violet City and the surrounding area long enough. It's time to move on to the next place. Let's go."
They left Violet City, though before they could get very far through Route 32, a man stopped them.
"Wait up!" he said. "What's the hurry?"
Zora turned and looked stumped at him. "Uh, I'm kind of on the way to Azalea Town…?" she drawled out quietly.
The man looked down at Crisper, who Zora had brought out to get some experience on the trip. "You have some good Pokémon there," the man commented. "It must be from the training you gave them around Violet City. The training at the Gym must have been especially helpful."
Zora and Crisper glanced at each other. "I haven't even trained her yet…"
"As a souvenir of Violet City, take this," the man said and pulled something out. "It increases the power of Grass-type moves."
The man handed over a Miracle Seed to Zora, which she stared at for a moment before putting it away.
"Uh… thanks?" Zora said. "I'll be going now…"
They left the man and instead started Crisper's training in the tall grass. The other team members fought her battles for her though, as she was still pretty weak. It was mostly Dingbat and Omelet that fought by Crisper's side, since Dingbat needed training for the upcoming Gym too, and Omelet was just a little powerhouse with Extrasensory. Zora never knew a Pokémon wearing an eggshell could be so bulky.
Dingbat defeated a Hoppip by biting it twice, followed by the team running into a battle-hungry youngster. Dingbat was sent out and took care of his Rattata with a Bite and Leech Life. Afterwards Youngster Albert sent out a Zubat, for which Zora sent out Bambi to Thundershock in one hit to take it out. Crisper grew stronger from the battle and learned Mud Sport.
Afterwards they ran into an Ekans in the grass, which they sent Omelet out to take care of with Extrasensory. They continued walking through the grass and found a Repel on the ground, after which another Ekans jumped out at them. Omelet took it out in one hit with Extrasensory as well.
They got out of the grass and ran into a camper girl who wanted to fight, so they fought her. She had a female Nidoran, so Zora sent out Omelet to take care of it. After the Nidoran scratched Omelet without much damage, he took it out with a single Extrasensory. Nidoran was Camper Liz' only Pokémon, so she was beat after that.
After declining Liz' offer to exchange phone numbers, Zora moved on along the dirt road until a flight of stairs appeared. Below, by some water, was a patch of grass leading to somewhere, so she decided to check it out. They go through the grass without encountering anything, and found themselves on a dock with several fishermen fishing for Pokémon.
For the sake of training, Zora decided to challenge the fishermen to a battle, starting with one called Henry, who had two Poliwag. Zora sent out Bambi, but the Poliwag immediately used Hypnosis and put Bambi to sleep. Zora swore but stayed calm, as she knew the Poliwag's only damaging move was Bubble, so Bambi should be fine.
Instead, Zora called Bambi's name to wake him up. The Poliwag used Water Sport and Bubble, which did almost nothing, as predicted, but Bambi was still fast asleep. Zora didn't want to use her Awakenings yet, since the opponent wasn't dangerous, so she just kept calling Bambi's name as the Poliwag used another two Bubbles on him. Bambi sure was hard to wake up.
After another Bubble, Bambi finally woke up and took out the Poliwag with a single Thundershock. Crisper grew stronger and learned Rock Polish, which Zora replaced Mud Sport with, as it was useless on Geodude, already being a Ground-type and thus immune to Electric moves.
As the other Poliwag came out and Crisper had come forth to get the experience, Zora sent Bambi forth again to fight the Poliwag. This time, Poliwag's Hypnosis missed, meaning Bambi's first Thundershock took it out, after it had pointlessly blown a Bubble at him. With the two Poliwag down, Fisherman Henry was beaten, and Zora got her prize money.
Zora faced the second fisherman, named Justin, who only had four Magikarp, none of them knowing anything useful, so Zora decided to try having Crisper fight the fish on her own, using Rock Smash. The first Magikarp simply splashed around, so Crisper had no problem taking it out in two hits. The second Magikarp also just splashed around and was taken out with ease.
The third Magikarp seemed to be three times stronger than the others, but its Tackles practically didn't do anything to Crisper. Crisper continued using Rock Smash, lowing the Magikarp's defense, while it either splashed or tackled in vain, and with five times Rock Smash, the 'strong' Magikarp was defeated. Justin sent out his Magikarp, just as weak as the first two and taken out with two Rock Smashes from Crisper while it just splashed around. Fisherman Justin was defeated, and Zora got her prize money.
Now there was one fisherman left, called Ralph. He had only a Goldeen with Peck and Supersonic for damaging moves, so Zora decided to also let Crisper fight this one. The Goldeen used Tail Whip while Crisper used Rock Smash, not doing much damage against it. The Goldeen pecked Crisper, which also didn't do much, and Crisper proceeded with another Rock Smash. The Goldeen then confused Crisper with Supersonic, and she ended up punching herself in the face.
Zora decided to switch tactics and sent out Bambi instead, even though he was getting low on health. Goldeen went for another Tail Whip and Peck, which didn't do much, followed by Bambi taking it out with a Thundershock. Fisherman Ralph was defeated, and Zora got her prize money.
Zora declined exchanging phone numbers with Ralph, and moved on. She saw the dock ended at land, suggesting this was where they were supposed to go. Zora then decided to return to the patch of grass by the stairs, running into a Rattata, which Crisper took out with one Rock Smash, and then they got up the stairs to the dirt road.
They walked under the bridge and through some more tall grass, until they ran into another camper that wanted to fight. He had a male Nidoran, for which Zora once again brought out Omelet to take out, but just as she had brought him out, the Nidoran used Double Kick and did a lot of damage to Omelet.
"No, no, no!" Zora exclaimed. "I forgot to check its move-set! Okay, uh… Fly Boy, you go instead!"
Zora immediately returned Omelet to his Poké Ball and sent out Fly Boy instead. Thanks to his Flying-type, he only took half the damage Omelet had, and with a Gust the Nidoran was taken down to half health. So was Fly Boy, however, and Zora was concerned. She had just checked the Nidoran's move-set and knew now it also had Peck, which could potentially do some damage against Kale, and she didn't want to risk him getting killed.
Instead, Zora decided to use a Potion on Fly Boy, getting him back to full health, just as the Nidoran decided to Peck him instead. Fly Boy took advantage of this and used another Gust against the purple thing, almost knocking it out. After another Peck by Nidoran, Fly Boy simply used Tackle and took it out. Youngster Roland was beat, and Zora got her prize money… and a racing heart.
"Omelet, I'm so sorry," Zora apologized to the Togepi after the battle was over. "I forgot to check its moves. If it wasn't because you're so tanky and a few levels higher, you could have been killed!"
"I was so scared…" Omelet whispered. "Please, always check your notes before sending me or anyone else in!"
"Don't worry, I will," Zora replied and looked at her team, all but Kale being wounded. She sighed. "I guess I can heal up Crisper, Omelet and Bambi, they're hurt the most."
She did that, having only six Potions left now, and they moved on. She spotted an item in the tall grass ahead, and she ran over to get it when a Hoppip jumped out at them. Zora decided to let Crisper fight, as the Hoppip only knew Splash and Synthesis, neither being damaging moves, completely useless. Crisper used a Tackle, then it used Synthesis and brought itself back to full health. Crisper used another two Tackles, and the Hoppip simply splashed around… in the grass. Crisper used another Tackle and took it out.
"Good job, Crisper," Zora praised.
"Thanks," Crisper replied. "Hey, can I learn Rock Throw now?"
"Oh yes, sure thing," Zora replied. "Let's see… we'll get rid of Tackle, it's weak anyway."
"Thanks, Zora!" Crisper said happily and learned Rock Throw.
After that was done, Zora found the item in the grass to be a Great Ball. That would be useful later. They continued running in the grass and encountered a Bellsprout, at which Zora decided to bring out Omelet again. He took it out with a single Extrasensory, and they got out of the tall grass.
They walked through another patch of tall grass to get an item, but first Crisper had to take out another Hoppip by throwing a rock at it. The item they found was the TM for Bullet Seed.
"Sweet!" Zora said as she put the TM away. "This might come in handy later."
They encountered another Ekans in the grass, which Omelet was sent out to Extrasensory to unconsciousness. They got out of the grass, moved down the stairs and encountered yet another two Ekans in the next patch of grass, both taken out by Omelet. They got out of the grass but was encountered by a youngster named Gordon, who had a Wooper. Zora checked her notes this time before acting, and learned this one had Water Gun and Mud Shot, so she decided to send in Kale for once.
Kale took out the Wooper with a single Razor Leaf, as it was twice as weak to Grass, being a Water- and Ground-type Pokémon. Youngster Gordon was beat, and Zora took his money and left. She walked around the trees and found herself back at the dock where she beat the fishermen. As such, she turned around and walked south, moving on.
At the end of the dirt road stood a Pokémon Center, highly convenient for the tired Pokémon and Trainer. Before they got to the Center, however, a man stopped them.
"How would you like to have this tasty, nutritious SlowpokeTail?" the man offered. "For you right now, just one million Pokédollars! You'll want this!"
Zora looked stumped at the man, looked at Crisper, just as stumped, then back at him. "Uh… no?" she replied.
The man seemed astonished she didn't want it. "You don't want it? Then scram. Shoo!"
Zora and Crisper quickly moved on, going inside the Pokémon Center and got the team healed up. While in the Center, Zora eyed a fisherman that stood with several fishing rods on his back, and walked over to him.
"Hello," Zora greeted the fisherman, who smiled and nodded back. "You have a lot of fishing rods, I see."
The fisherman nodded. "This area is great for fishing," he replied. "Looking at all those people fishing, did you feel like you wanted to try fishing, too?"
"Yeah, kind of," Zora said.
"Would you like one of my Rods?" the fisherman offered.
"Yes please," Zora said with a smile.
The fisherman handed over one of the Old Rods that he had on his back, and Zora accepted it. He then explained how to fish, which Zora didn't really listen to as she already knew how it worked. She left him be and went over to another man that stood by the wall, and greeted him.
"Bonjour," the man greeted. "How are you? Are you picking Apricorns?"
"Yes," Zora replied.
"Way to go, little Apricorn collector! I feel so great, I want to give you this!"
The stranger handed over two Lure Balls to Zora, who accepted them and put them in the Poké Ball pocket in her bag.
"Lure Ball!" the man said. "This Poké Ball makes it easy to catch the Pokémon that appear when you go fishing! Actually, this is made from Apricorns. Consider those two as small gifts from me. If you want more, go to Azalea Town. A man named Kurt can make special Poké Balls out of Apricorns. Apricorns rule!"
Zora smiled and nodded. "Thank you, mister," she said. "I'll be sure to pluck as many Apricorns as I can! Bye!"
Zora left the Apricorn-loving guy alone and left the Pokémon Center with Crisper right behind her. Crisper was getting stronger and close to being on par with the rest of the team. They would have to train a lot before entering the second Gym, but they were still a good distance from Azalea Town, so Zora wasn't too worried.
As they walked down the next dirt road, they ended up battling Bird Keeper Peter who had two Pidgey and a Spearow, all of which were taken out by Crisper with one Rock Throw each. Afterwards they found a rock blocking a small path with an item at the end, so Crisper used Rock Smash and smashed the rock. The item they found in the path was a Shell Bell.
"Nice," Zora said while holding the bell. "Maybe you should hold it, Crisper, it could be useful."
"How am I supposed to hold it?" Crisper asked. "I don't have a neck, and I need my hands free."
"Hmm, good point," Zora said and thought for a bit. "Maybe it can go on your finger like a ring?"
"Oh, that sounds need, let's do that."
Zora put the Shell Bell's ring part onto one of Crisper's fingers, not being too tight or too loose, fitting perfectly. Having taken care of that, they left the hidden path and went over to the cave mouth of Union Cave. Before they entered, Zora returned Crisper to her Poké Ball, instead sending out Kale.
"Hey, what's up?" Kale greeted.
"We're at Union Cave now," Zora informed. "In here, we will get an Onix. Maybe. Now, here's the plan: Onix seems to have a lower catch rate than all the other Pokémon we've caught so far. Much lower. I believe even with our usual poison-and-stall strategy, it might not get caught. And if it stays poisoned, it could faint, rendering me unable to catch it."
"Why is that, exactly?" Kale asked in wonder. "Why can't you just catch it when it's fainted? I mean, wouldn't it be easier to catch if it can't fight back?"
"I've been wondering that myself for quite a while," Zora replied. "But while I was researching for our journey, I came across an article saying that the reason why is because Poké Balls need to establish a link between itself and the Pokémon's mind. As such, the Pokémon needs to be conscious or asleep at most. If it's fainted, the brainwave activity is so low, the Poké Ball can't register it, and thus it won't work."
"Oh, I guess that makes sense, now that I think about it," Kale said. "I think…"
"Anyway, so instead of poisoning the Onix, you're just going to have to Tackle it until its health is low enough that I can try catching it," Zora continued. "It will take a while, but it's the safest way."
"Any moves I should be worried about?" Kale asked.
"No, at most it will have Tackle and Bind, which shouldn't be too bad, since Onix has terrible offensive power. The only thing we have to worry about is keeping it alive."
"Well, if that's all, let's get on with it," Kale said. "And I guess if we run into anything else, we run away from it, right?"
"Exactly," Zora said. "Let's do this."
They entered the Union Cave and wandered around. They found an X Attack on the ground, after which they just ran around, trying to find an Onix. They ran away from one Geodude and a Rattata before they ran into an Onix.
"Alright, remember what I said," Zora said. "Just Tackle it. If you get too injured, I'll heal you up. Just don't knock it out."
"I'll try not to," Kale said and Tackled the Onix, barely doing any damage.
The Onix landed a Tackle of its own, but it also did not do much damage, even with a critical hit. Kale continued chipping away at it, and it did not make things easier when the Onix started hardening itself to take even less damage. The Onix screeched and hardened to make things even harder for Kale, who was starting to get annoyed with the big rock snake.
Zora decided to send out Bambi as well, as Kale was getting a bit injured, and Bambi went on with the Tackle strategy. The Onix started binding itself around Bambi, but Bambi continued attacking it. As the Onix went for another attack itself, it got paralyzed by Bambi's Static ability. Bambi went for another Tackle and almost knocked the Onix out.
"Okay, okay, that's enough!" Zora exclaimed, worried about the extra damage Bambi had caused with his critical hit. "I'll throw a ball at it!"
Zora threw a Poké Ball at the paralyzed, near-unconscious Onix. It shook two times before breaking free. The Onix injured Bambi a bit more, after which Zora got another Poké Ball out. This time, it shook three times and clicked for capture.
"Excellent," Zora said and picked up the ball, contemplating a name. "Another female? Maybe that's just how it is. Uh… Rockette."
Zora and the others watched as the ball materialized itself away to the PC at the Pokémon Center. Then they moved on, having gotten the encounter out of the way. She healed up Kale and Bambi, having two Potions left, before deciding to explore the cave a bit, looking for items and fighting the Trainers training there, again with Crisper out front to get more experience.
They started fighting a Hiker named Daniel with an Onix, which Kale took out with Razor Leaf. The fight got Crisper on par with the rest of the team at last, though Zora decided to keep her out front a bit longer. They moved on to another Hiker, named Russel, who had three weak Geodude. Crisper took care of them all with Rock Smash. Then they ran into a firebreather named Bill who had two Koffing, which Zora decided to let Omelet take care of. Despite getting poisoned in the process, Omelet took care of both Koffing without any other problem.
After the fight was over, Zora cured the poison with an Antidote, and they found another Great Ball on the cave floor. They ran around the cave tunnels, and Crisper took out two Geodude, two Rattata and a Zubat that ambushed them, before running into another firebreather that had a Vulpix. Zora sighed at the little six-tailed fox, but nonetheless had Crisper take it out with one Rock Throw. After the fight, Crisper learned Magnitude, which Zora decided to replace Rock Polish with.
They moved on down to the lower floor of the cave, this time with Kale out to train, and they explored to find items. Kale took out a Geodude before they picked up the TM for Rock Tomb, then he took out a Rattata and a Zubat before they picked up an X Defend. Finding nothing else on the floor except water, they decided to return to the upper floor, going the right way to Route 33.
After Kale defeated another two Rattata, three Zubat and a Geodude, and Zora picked up a Potion on the floor, using it to heal Kale against hitting himself in the face by being confused by one of the Zubat, the team ran into a Poké Maniac named Larry. He had a Slowpoke, which Kale took care of with Razor Leaf.
After finding an Awakening on the ground, the team finally left Union Cave and arrived in Route 33. It was raining, so Zora and Kale remained by the cave mouth a bit longer.
"Alright, let's see," Zora said and brought out her notes. "Hoppip or Spearow. Either of those will be our encounter here. Both are easy catches, so we can probably use our poison strategy here. Let's get on with it."
They entered the tall grass and ran into a Rattata, which they ran away from. The next Pokémon they ran into was a Hoppip.
"Alright, use PoisonPowder," Zora said without much enthusiasm.
Kale poisoned the Hoppip, and Zora brought out Bambi so they could start the stalling part of their catching strategy. Unfortunately, the Hoppip used Synthesis and regained the health it had lost. Zora groaned.
"Okay, never mind, I'll just try to catch it," Zora said. "It should be weakened enough with the status condition."
Zora threw a Poké Ball at the Hoppip. The ball shook once… twice… then broke out and used Synthesis to heal its new damage from the poison. Zora sighed and threw another Poké Ball. This time it shook three times and clicked for capture. Zora picked up the ball and named the female Hoppip Dandy, like dandelion. The ball materialized away to the PC in the Pokémon Center.
They moved on, fighting a hiker on the way named Anthony, who had a Geodude and a Machop. The Geodude was taken care of by Kale, and Fly Boy got to take out the Machop. Hiker Anthony was beat, and Zora was given some prize money.
"Alright, let's move on," Zora said and declined exchanging phone numbers with Anthony, then stopped up. "Wait, Kale?"
Kale was starting to glow white, and he stood speechlessly and gazed down at himself and up at Zora. He smiled. In the next second, his entire body turned white, and he steadily began growing.
"Oh my gosh," Zora said with a huge smile.
Kale grew to about twice his original height, and the bright light disappeared from his body. Kale was now no longer a Chikorita, instead having evolved into a Bayleef.
Zora cheered and threw her arms in the air. "Kale! You evolved!" Zora exclaimed and hugged Kale. "You're a Bayleef now! Awesome!"
Kale looked down at himself with a big smile. "Hey, this is pretty cool," he said. "I feel stronger than before! I can't wait to try this new body out!"
Zora smiled at Kale. "Let's get to Azalea Town, buddy!"