Hey guys, Happy New Year!
I hope you all had a wonderful few days of the new year. Last semester of College coming up for me and then it's off to the world of the adults (like for real this time)
I added a twist in this chapter, and I hope guys enjoy it.
AzAlexZ out! Please R&R!
I DO NOT OWN POKEMON!
Edit: After more (unnecessary) consideration, I have decided (and this is final) to change Ash and Dawn's age to 15. The reason is I feel like this is an actual appropriate age for me to have them be, as I want to have them say and do things that are more mature than what 12-year-olds would, but also wouldn't be too farfetched for 15-year-olds to understand, I also want these guys to be able to take responsibility for whatever it is they're doing, and I felt like making them older was a good way for them to have that sense of awareness.
Chapter 18: Granite cave! Steven Stone and the secret to being strong.
Ash and Dawn have bested Brawly and won their second gym badge in Dewford town, getting them closer towards achieving their respective goals. Alongside their friends Trip, Tyson, and Gary, the group is now ready to make their way towards Granite cave, where the champion of the Hoenn region, Steven Stone has been conducting research at. What will they learn from meeting this powerful trainer?
Let the chapter begin…
Last time:
"We must be off." Ash said, "we need to get a place to stay for the day tomorrow."
"Alright then." Brawly waved, "Oh, and one last thing, Dawn."
"Yeah Brawly?" Dawn asked.
"Let's battle again someday when you become a frontier brain." Brawly exclaimed.
Dawn grew a huge smile and nodded, giving him a huge thumbs up.
The group left the Dewford gym soon after, each with their own advances in their dreams and ambitions, full of excitement, for the journey ahead.
Following the events of the last chapter:
Having won the Knuckle Badge from Brawly, Ash and Dawn have accomplished their main goals in Dewford town, what left to is delivering some letters and material to the rock-loving champion of the Hoenn region, Steven Stone.
After their battle, the group collectively decided that it was best for them to take a day off, though they were planning on looking for Steven Stone right away, Ash and Dawn insisted that they wanted to spend a day at the beach since they just had a battle the previous day.
So it was that the group spent a relaxing and fun-filled day at the popular beaches of Dewford Island, they got the pleasure of both watching the members of the community surf, as well as surfing alongside Brawly themselves. Unfortunately for almost all of Ash and his friends, this resulted in hilarious accidents as none of them had ever surfed in their lives before. Towards the end of the day, Brawly also had to leave to take on a few challengers at the gym, but our group remained on the seas, swimming, sunbathing, and relaxing.
Their fun was over quickly before the group knew it, the next day has arrived, and the group was on their way to the Granite cave.
Alongside their friends, Gary, Tyson, and Trip, as well as their ride across the Hoenn seas, Mr. Briney and the local gym leader Brawly, Ash and Dawn have ventured deep into the island, finding their way through the forest and slopes locating the entrance to Dewford Island's cave, the Granite Cave.
They spent a long time in the forest, perhaps up to a few hours, stopping only to rest and eat. Gary also stopped to sample a few herbs and plants that grew exclusively in the tropical island areas of the Hoenn region. The group was curious as to why but he explained that he wanted to use those samples to help aid his research in the different healing uses of different plants and berries between the Hoenn and the Sinnoh regions.
Eventually, the group reached the entrance of a cave, it was very dark and one could barely see the interior. The group was about to enter when a hiker emerged from within the cave. The hiker stopped after seeing the group and proceeded to greet them.
"Howdy, people, I trust you are trying to enter the cave?" The Hiker started.
"Yes, we heard rumors of someone important being inside the cave, and we wanted to find him." Brawly responded.
"Hmm, well I haven't seen anyone in the cave, but I also couldn't get far due to how dark it was, so maybe you lot will have more luck." The Hiker stated, "either way, good luck, and try not to get lost."
"Will do sir, have a good one." The group waved goodbye to the hiker as they moved into the cave.
They were about 40-50 steps where a small hole was in sight. The group decided to descend down where the hole lead, when they were down there, the amount of light that was present was almost non-existent.
"Well, this cave certainly is dark." Dawn murmured, earning a nod from both Riolu and Whismur.
"Luckily for us, I had my Eevee learn the move 'Flash' before we got here since I also wanted to explore the cave." Gary started, retrieving a Pokeball, "Umbreon, use Flash."
"I also have a pokemon that knows that move." Trip jumped in, "Electrike, use Flash."
The rings around Umbreon, as well as the horns on Electrike's head, all started to glow, it brightened the way forward, but only by a bit.
"Hmm, it seems like this may not be enough light for all of us." Tyson murmured.
To everyone's surprise, Whismur jumped down from Dawns' arms and waved her arms around, and in no time, a faint light gradually turned bright as she was trying to help the group lighten up the area.
"Woah, I did not know that Whismur could use the move Flash." Ash said surprisingly.
"She must have learned it just now by looking at everyone, she likes shiny things after all." Mr. Briney said.
"That's awesome!" Dawn cheered, "you're awesome Whismur!"
Whis Whismur
Come on out, Monferno, your flame can also help us." Ash said, calling out Monferno.
The pokemon all began to walk forward, guiding the path of the group
"Let's get going before it gets too late." Brawly suggested, to which the group agreed to. They then proceeded to go deeper into the cave.
The walk inside was relatively simple for the most time, however, the geography of the cave grew more maze like the deeper the group ventured, they eventually reached a part of the cave that had multiple pathways.
"Oh great, we're in a maze, how do we find where we're going?" Ash complained as he looked towards the different pathways of the cave in a frustrating manner.
"I have an idea," Mr. Briney suggested, "Dawn, call out your Marshtomp."
"Okay, Marshtomp, come on out." Dawn asked as she called out the mud fish pokemon.
"Swampy, come on out!" Mr. Briney called out.
"Let's get Swampy, Peeko, and Marshtomp to use their skills in detection in the cave, it may help us navigate the whole place." Mr Briney explained.
Dawn nodded and instructed Marshtomp to do so, Electrike and Umbreon hopped onto Swampy as Monferno and it led the way, Whismur jumped towards Dawn to provide the rest of the group with lighting. The group proceeded to follow the pokemon and venture deeper into the cave.
(Meanwhile deeper in the cave)
A man with teal-colored wearing hiker clothing was currently digging into the cave walls of Granite cave, with the help of an Aron, a Lairon, an Aggron, and a Metagross, he was making some progress.
The cave around him crumbled slightly as he hit something metal. With a smile on his face, he turned towards his pokemon.
"Aron, Lairon, use Metal Claw, Aggron and Metagross, use Flash Cannon."
The pokemon utilized their attacks and the wall quickly crumbled, revealing a painting of ancient proportions.
Steven walked towards the cave and placed his hands upon them, the cave reacted to an item on his hand as they began to open, causing more of the wall to crumble, the effect creating a shock wave that shook the cave.
Oh no, that was louder than I expected. Steven thought as he turned to his Aron and Lairon. "I need you two to go find the pokemon in the cave, and ask them not to be startled."
Aron and Lairon nodded as they left the floor and moved to the upper levels of the cave. Steven saw that they have left and began making preparations to move deeper into the cave.
Pikachu's ear twitched as he heard the sound coming from deeper in the cave, then the group felt a slight tremble from the ground, as they were slightly knocked off-balanced, the group fell onto the ground, the tremble continued as rocks started flying down from the upper cave floors, impacting the group and their pokemon.
"The tunnel is collapsing, everybody take some cover!" Brawly yelled as the pokemon rushed to their trainers.
"Swampert use Protect." Briney yelled as the group ran towards Swampy, they were almost there, but a collapsing rock cut off Ash and Dawn's path. Ash turned around and pushed Dawn away, absorbing the blow of the falling rocks.
"Hariyama, go protect Ash and Dawn." Brawly ordered as he called out his trusty pokemon, it materialized near Ash and Dawn and used its fists and body to defend them.
What were a few seconds felt like an eternity, and finally, the rocks had ceased to fall. Luckily for the group, they weren't buried completely, but they did have to remove rocks from around their body for them to be able to move around again.
The group got out of the rubble as Tyson started the whole mess with a simple, "Get off me Trip."
Swampy appeared from the rubble unscathed as it used Protect to shield itself, Mr. Briney, and the rest of the group, the only people missing were Ash and Dawn.
The group called out as they dug through the rocks, they found Hariyama, Ash and Dawn covered in dust and scratch marks, their pokemon rushing over to their side to check up on their respective trainers.
"Are you guys okay?" the group asked as they lifted the duo up.
"I think I'm okay." Dawn answered as she looked towards Ash, "Ash, how are you doing? Wait, you're trembling." Dawn said with concern, she looked at him as he struggled to stand up.
Ash felt a slight pain in his left leg, as he sat back down, he lifted his pants and he saw a faint red and a small trail of blood running down his leg.
"I'm fine Dawn, I think I got hit." Ash responded with a sigh as he tried again to get up, but failed.
Dawn looked at the wounds on his leg, and then turned to him furiously, "You complete idiot, why did you have to do that? Now you got yourself hurt."
"Well, the alternative was you getting hit on the head by a rock, and I couldn't have that happen." Ash answered sternly.
"Well you could have gotten seriously injured," Dawn refuted loudly, "I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if… if you were-"
She stopped talking as she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"I'm fine Dawn." Ash smiled, "don't worry about it."
"But-" Dawn was about to respond when Gary interjected and prepared to treat Ash's leg, "Dawn, this can wait," he then turned to Ash, "this may sting a little."
Gary applied some medicine to Ash's wounds which caused a reaction from Ash, Gary continued through and bandaged him up when he was done.
"Dawn, he'll be fine." Gary reassured, "Now let's get you moving. Brawly can you give me a hand please?" he said, picking Ash up along with Brawly.
"That was some shock wave." Trip stated, removing the dust from his attire.
"Yes, and it sounds like it's coming from the deeper parts of the cave." Tyson said, "let's get moving before we get into more trouble."
"No, let's give Ash a few more moments." Dawn said adamantly. Ash put a hand on her shoulder, gesturing her not to worry.
"I'm fine, Dawn, let's just keep moving. I would like to see Steven."
"Fine, but as soon as you feel worse, we're stopping and taking a break." Dawn demanded, "no arguments."
"Yes, ma'am." Ash responded with a laugh.
The group continued venturing into the cave, albeit slower in pace. This time they went as far as a few more moments before all the pokemon stopped. Swampy and Marshtomp suddenly began to growl; Pikachu jumped down from Ash's left shoulder, his cheek pouches sparkling; Riolu closed his eyes, utilizing his aura to detect the path ahead, there were many groups of pokemon approaching.
We have incoming.
Dawn looked at Riolu and nodded, then turned towards the rest of the group. Ash, who also heard Riolu, looked towards the duo with interest, but there was no time to waste as the group was about to encounter trouble.
"We have company, be mindful guys." Ash said, clinging onto Gary and Brawly.
The group waited in anticipation as they heard footsteps approaching, the first pokemon emerged from the darkness and revealed themselves.
It was a group of Aron and Lairon, they approached the group bearing looks of confrontation.
Dawn took out her Pokedex and scanned the approaching pokemon.
Aron, the Iron Armor Pokémon. Aron has an impressive defense power and eats iron ore in order to build up the metal in its body.
Lairon, the Iron Armor Pokémon. Lairon is the evolved form of Aron. It digs up iron ore for food and smashes its steely body up against others in battles over territory.
"They territorial pokemon. We must not alarm them, let's try to back off and keep a distance." Tyson whispered to the group, and they moved backward slowly.
Unfortunately for the group, Ash's wounds made things less than ideal, since when Ash applied any sort of weight onto his injured leg, the pain caused him to fall. The impact of his fall created a noise and a smoke cloud that scared the pokemon, causing them to attack the group.
"Ash!" Dawn wanted to turn towards Ash, but she had no time to focus on him as the pokemon began to charge at the group.
The group of pokemon suddenly stopped as Monferno unleashed a flamethrower attack at them, pushing them back momentarily.
"Monferno, stop!" Ash called out, "don't attack them."
Monferno stopped his attacks and looked at Ash with apparent confusion. Taking this opportunity, the pokemon started moving rapidly towards the group again, but this time, they were stopped by a few attacks coming from another direction.
The pokemon looked sideways as one Aron and Lairon approached them. A few minutes of the conversation went on, and the hoard of Aron and Lairon retreated deeper into the cave.
The duo of Aron and Lairon gave the group a look, motioning them to follow, and then they descended to where their original location.
"They want us to follow them, I think." Tyson stated.
"Well, let's follow them then." Gary said, continuing to help Ash walk.
The group recalled most of their pokemon and followed the two pokemon. They descended into a small section of the cave where Steven Stone and his pokemon were.
The group arrived shortly as Steven was just done with his preparations, he was just about to head deeper into the cave when he noticed the rest of the group coming forward.
"Hey, Steven!" Brawly said as he walked forward to greet the Hoenn Champion.
"Long time no see. Brawly, it's been a while." Steven responded.
"So what are you doing here?" Brawly asked.
"With the request of my father, I have set out to find an ancient mural present in this place." Steven responded.
"Well, I would certainly be interested, mind if our group tagged along?" Brawly asked, "we wanted to meet you anyway."
"I don't see why that should be a problem." Steven Stone answered while taking a look at Ash and his injured leg, "though we might want to wait for the young fellow over there to rest up a bit."
"It's fine, I'll have time to rest when we get to the mural, you have to study it anyway so we're going to have to stop for that right?" Ash reassured Steven.
Steven looked at Ash with interest. This kid is something different, it seems he is used to putting people's needs before his own, even his injuries. A very admirable trait.
"The path down should not take too long, follow me please." Steven looked at the group with an enthusiastic smile and gestured them to follow him.
Gary and Brawly looked at Ash with concern, but Ash shook his head, showing his confidence, with that in mind, the trio walked down with the rest of the group.
As they entered deeper into the cave, the same sort of salty smell Ash, Dawn and Trip encountered in the Oldale ruins captivated the group.
"We're getting close, you can already smell the ocean water." Steven stated.
"Are we even in Granite cave right now?" Tyson asked, "I don't remember ever seeing it being connected to the ocean in books or stories."
"Well considering there is a lot of this cave that we have not discovered, it looks like we have made yet another new discovery." Brawly responded, "this island just holds even more surprises."
"Hey young ones, I think I see something." Mr. Briney stated, pointing at a higher room.
In the middle of the room stood a platform that encased certain markings and drawings.
"Looks like we need to get to the platform above." Steven said, "we can either swim there or fly there."
"Okay, then let's get to it then, come on out Wartortle." Gary called out his trusty partner.
"Marshtomp, help me get across this water." Dawn asked her pokemon.
"You too Swampy." Mr. Briney ordered.
Tyson, Trip, Aron, and Mr. Briney got on Swampert as Gary and Dawn swam with their respective pokemon. In a few short minutes, they reached the platform and waved for the rest of the group to come over
"Looks like it's just the 3 of us as well as Pikachu, Aron, and Lairon, I'm certainly not getting into the water, you guys should go on without me." Ash suggested.
"Don't be ridiculous Ash." Brawly called out.
"Yeah. It's fine, I can get us all across." Steven added, pulling out two pokeballs, "come on out, Skarmory, Metagross."
Steven, Aron, and Lairon got onto Metagross, and Brawly and Ash climbed onto Skarmory. They were on the platform in no time, and everyone recalled their pokemon.
Steven took out his notebook and began to note down some things, the rest of the group decided to take a nap while Dawn took this opportunity to talk to Steven while he was doing his examination.
"How may I help you, Dawn?" Steven asked.
"Oh, I was just wondering about your story." Dawn asked, "I've always wanted to speak to you. Tycoon Palmer always spoke highly of you to me and his son"
"I'm flattered to hear that," Steven smiled as he continued to decipher the reading, "I am well acquainted with the powerful figures of the Sinnoh regions, including your mother, Johanna Berlitz."
"Wait, how did-"
"It's really obvious Dawn." Ash called out from his resting spot, "Blue hair, blue eyes, and Riolu from the Sinnoh region."
Dawn glared at him as he waved at the duo, sighing and turning back to Steven.
"Is it that obvious?" Dawn asked.
"Well, I've also seen you when I was traveling in the Sinnoh region," Steven explained, "your mother helped host the Twinleaf town festival and reached out to me when I was nearby."
"It was truly a fun time, I got to see many breathtaking battles in the festival tournament, including your quarterfinal battle," Steven continued, "it was also the time when I got to know Tycoon Palmer and his very energetic son, Barry if I remember correctly."
"Oh don't remind me of that battle please." Dawn quickly covered her face with her hands, "it was so embarrassing, I lost to my opponent in less than a minute. It was honestly humiliating, Barry teased me for days about that battle."
Steven stopped examining the mural and turned to look at Dawn, wearing an amused look on his face.
"Young Dawn what do you think is the meaning of being a competent or powerful trainer?" Steven asked.
"Hmm?" Dawn responded, clearly caught off guard by Steven's question, "where is this coming from?"
She looked up to see Steven's serious face. She stopped for a moment and thought to herself.
"Well…" Dawn stuttered, trying to form the right words, "I think it's becoming strong with your pokemon?"
Steven continued looking at her without giving a response.
"What? Did I give the wrong answer?" Dawn asked, clearly bothered by Steven's look.
"No, go on." Steven asked.
"Well if I were Ash, I would say that the way to be strong is to believe in your pokemon as well as yourself and keep working with them to reach the highest peak." Dawn responded.
"That is a great answer." Steven said, "do you think highly of Ash?"
"Well, Ash is so awesome, he is truly one of a kind." Dawn answered, "he blurts out the most accurate of answers without needing to think too much about it."
"That's because he has made up his mind, and had a goal from the beginning." Steven answered, "he has always been like this."
"Wait, you know Ash, how?" Dawn asked Steven.
"I have visited the Kanto region many times especially to Pewter City for the rare rock samples, and I have always wanted to visit the great Prof Oak," Steven responded, "one day I was just visiting his laboratory when I heard Ash talking with his friend Gary while they were cleaning the pokemon on the ranch, he had an aura about him, and it captivated me, so I went to go talk to him. Of course, I was not the Hoenn champion at that point, so he didn't recognize me."
The duo talked for a while longer as Steven continued his examination, he was about done when they heard something stir in the water. Steven and Dawn both turned their attention to the source of the sound as many figures emerged from out of the water. They landed on the platform and revealed themselves to be a host of penguin pokemon that consisted of a dozen Empoleon, multiple Prinplups, and even more Piplups.
Dawn saw all those pokemon and it piqued her interest, she always wanted a strong Empoleon, but she never got the chance to get a Piplup back when she was in Sinnoh.
"Looks like we got some more company, are you with me, Dawn?" Steven called out, pulling out a Pokeball, Dawn nodded and took out one of her own pokeballs.
"Let's go, Metagross."
"Riolu, assist me please." Dawn called out her pokemon to battle.
Empoleon and Prinplup eyed the duo suspiciously, then they started the offensive, both of them charged up attacks and released them. Empoleon released a Flash Cannon attack and Prinplup used a Water Pulse attack. At the same time, one of the Piplup's turned a curious eye towards Dawn, he decided to jump near the battlefield to get a better look.
"Metagross, use Flash Cannon."
"Riolu use Vacuum Wave."
All four attacks impacted each other and canceled out each other, creating a large explosion.
Seeing their attacks are doing little, Empoleon decided to change up the tactic and charged up a Drill Peck attack, it then proceeded to fly towards Metagross, meanwhile, Prinplup also ran at Riolu with a white fin, fully prepared for a Metal Claw attack.
"Metagross, intercept that using Meteor Mash."
"Riolu, counter that with a Power-Up Punch."
Once again the 4 attacks impacted each other and the pokemon pushed each other back.
"This Empoleon is powerful enough to counter Metagross' attack?" Steven gasped, "That is quite surprising."
"Yes and this Prinplup is also very strong." Dawn
Ash, who was sound asleep, woke up from the sound of the battle and was really confused as to what just happened, he looked at Dawn and Steven as they were engaged in the battle. Meanwhile, Piplup was also focused on the battle.
The battle continued on for a while but one of the move exchanges went very wrong, and the clash rebounded into the water, which created a huge whirlpool. The Piplup who was watching the battle stood too close to the water and was sucked into the whirlpool and pushed along its torrents.
Pip Piplup
"Oh no, guys! That Piplup is stuck in the whirlpool." Ash called out to Steven and Dawn.
Dawn and Steven, as well as the Prinplup and Empoleon all turned to see the trouble that the little penguin was in, panicking from the sight of the little penguin, Dawn immediately calls out Marshtomp and jumped into the water, though it was freezing, it did not stop her or Marshtomp from entering that Whirlpool.
"Guys help me save Piplup." Dawn called out.
Ash and Steven looked at one another as they nodded, "Dawn get ready to catch him." Ash said as he ran to the side and called out his Treecko.
"Treecko, use Leech seed and throw it towards the whirlpool, Pikachu, hit it with Iron tail to create a vine that Piplup and jump off." Ash called out.
Treecko hurled a seed towards Pikachu, who blasted it with its tail, causing the seed to fly towards the water. It anchored itself to the rock foundations, then began to grow higher.
"Piplup, jump onto the vine and come down to me!" Dawn called out towards the penguin pokemon.
The Piplup looked at her with frightening eyes, and shook his head, it felt its legs and they were heavy, he was overwhelmed with fear and could not move.
"You can trust me, Piplup, I'll catch you, I promise." Dawn called out again.
Once again Piplup cowered in fear at the height he was at, but then he saw Dawn, and her gaze remained determined. Sensing the energy she gave off, Piplup decided to trust Dawn and gave it a go. He jumped onto the Vine and tried to balance himself, but the vine was shaking and it was hard for him to remain standing still. He had to grab onto one of the vines as the whole stem started shaking.
"Metagross, help Piplup by using Psychic to stabilize the vine." Steven called out, and Metagross immediately used its Psychic attack to hold Piplup and the vine in place.
"Now, jump down to me." Dawn called out.
Piplup saw the height and was, still, frightened, it then momentarily remembered Dawn's promise to catch him, and with one deep breath, he jumped off the vines.
He closed his eyes as he was falling, and then he felt something catch him as he was cushioned. He opened his eyes and there was the human who promised him that she would catch him.
Unfortunately, the whirlpool was still going, and the group had to get rid of it.
"We need to cut through the water." Steven called out towards the group.
"Empoleon, Prinplup, lend me your power." Dawn called out as she ran with Pikachu towards Steven and Ash.
"Marshtomp, use Ice Beam to freeze the water." Dawn called out.
Marshtomp responded by freezing all the water and stopped the flow of the Whirlpool, however, this was only a temporary solution as the weight of the ice caused it to fall down.
"Pikachu, use Iron Tail to slice the frozen water." Ash called out.
"Riolu, let's assist them, use Power-Up Punch." Dawn hollered.
The two attacks broke the ice and the chunks flew everywhere.
"You idiots, that's not going to help this situation." Brawly called out, tossing out a Pokeball that revealed a Gallade, "Gallade, use Psychic to catch all the chunks of ice."
"Metagross, you too."
"Umbreon, help them out." Gary called out, releasing his Umbreon.
"You too, Sableye, use Psybeam." Tyson added.
All of the psychic users managed to catch the ice, they brought the ice near the water and held them there.
"Okay, let's melt the ice." Brawly suggested.
"In that case, Monferno, use Flamethrower on the ice, but try not to use full power." Ash called out.
"Growlithe, you too." Gary called out.
"Electrike, use Fire Fang." Trip called out his pokemon.
The pokemon successfully melted all the ice, as all of the chunks, no matter big or small, all turned into water and was sent back to the water.
Everyone took a deep breath and then laughed, Empoleon and Prinplup, as well as the rest of the penguin pokemon, looked at these humans in awe, they have never seen humans dedicate themselves to saving one of their own, and saying that they were surprised was a massive understatement.
The Piplup that Dawn held ran towards the leading Empoleon and pointed towards Dawn. Empoleon looked at him and they communicated for quite some time, then the Piplup returned to Dawn, and nudged on her leg.
"Wait, what's up Piplup?" Dawn called out.
Pip Piplup
"I think this little guy, like Whismur over here, has taken quite an interest in you." Briney spoke up after witnessing everyone's heroics.
"Is that true?" Dawn asked. Piplup nodded his head frantically and jumped towards Dawn. Dawn, who was overjoyed, caught Piplup and took out a pokeball. She tapped Piplup on the head with the ball, and Piplup transformed into a red beam and was engulfed into the ball.
Dawn then called out Piplup, and he went to his former pack and began to say goodbye, all the Empoleons, Prinplups, and Piplups waved and cheered, as they departed, descending deeper into the water. Pretty soon, the cave was just left with the travel crew.
"Well would you look at the time," Steven started, looking at his Navigator. "I'm afraid that I must depart to LaRousse City and prepare for my upcoming battle against Cynthia."
The group decided that it was best for them to leave, they packed up Steven's mining equipment and proceeded to leave the cave, headed towards the surface. Among them, Dawn was super happy that she made yet another fateful encounter.
"Before I forget," Ash muttered to Steven as they were walking, taking out a parchment from his bag, "this is for you, it contains intel on Code Red, Blue, and Delta."
Steven took the parchment and nodded, placing it back into his hiking bag.
The group quickly reached the surface, finding that Steven's helicopter was already waiting for him to depart Dewford island.
Steven turned towards Dawn for one last time before he departed and gave him a nod.
"Remember, you're strength comes from your bond with your pokemon." Steven said, "and you have a great bond with all your pokemon. I look forward to seeing you all in the future."
The group waved goodbye to Steven Stone, who got into the helicopter bound for LaRousse City.
Dawn took out her Pokedex and began to scan her newly captured Piplup.
Piplup, the Penguin Pokémon. Piplup is a proud Pokémon and an excellent swimmer, and it has a layer of down that keeps out the cold. Although not the most sure-footed, it is proud nonetheless, getting right back up after a fall with head held high. This Piplup is a male and knows the moves Whirlpool, Peck, Bubblebeam, and Aqua Ring.
"So Dawn, I never asked you but, are you challenging the gyms to become a Pokemon Master?" Gary asked as the group treks through the forest back to the Dewford pokemon center.
"Huh?" Dawn stopped as she looks at Gary, "what do you mean?"
The rest of the group stops and placed their attention on the Sinnoh native, who was caught surprised by Gary's random question.
"Well, I know that Ash wants to be a Pokemon Master, and since I don't know that about you, I'd like to rectify that." Gary responded.
Dawn took a moment to think, she looked down at her Riolu, who gave her a reassuring look, "I challenge gyms because I want to become stronger with my pokemon. I want to become a strong trainer, but my goal, ultimately, is to become a Frontier Brain."
Gary looked at her seriously and nodded, satisfied with her response, he started to walk forward. He stopped when Dawn spoke up again, "but, truthfully, I know that I have to do more than that."
Ash, Trip, and Tyson gave each other contended looks before smiling.
"She's right." Ash walked towards Dawn, placing his hand on her shoulder, "we all need to do more."
"I've always seen it on the TV screen." Trip said, "our champion, Alder is a fearsome one, he is unmatched in Unova and displays powers that are brilliant, and I want to be better than he is, I want to be the best in Unova."
"I always wanted to be a champion, and someone that can help people achieve their dreams." Tyson added, "I believe that we all need to work hard and do our best."
"That's right, kiddos." A slow and steady Mr. Briney said, "the road is not easy, Swampy and I will have you know that we, both metaphorically and physically, had to brave many waves in our lives."
"Never lose sight of your goals, and what is precious to you, your partners." Brawly added.
The group took those words and grinned, Ash glanced at Pikachu while giving him a head pat, Riolu and Piplup jumped towards Dawn and gave her a hug while Tyson and Trip gave their Meowth and Servine high fives respectively.
The rest of the trip was quiet and relaxing as the trainers reflected on their goals and dreams.
Ash remembers using his Aura to help his pokemon, his win at the Rinshin town tournament, how proud he was when he won both badges, and his fear when he encountered Team Aqua and Team Magma.
Dawn reflected on her goals and her declaration, her resolve in battles against Ash and the gym leaders, and her helplessness against the aforementioned villainous teams.
Gary, Tyson, and Trip all thought about their encounters and their dreams. In unison, all 5 aspiring trainers clenched their fists in determination.
"Well, kiddos, next stop, Slateport City!" Mr. Briney announced as the group cheered in agreement.
And that's a wrap!
Hopefully, you guys enjoyed the twist I put onto this chapter, Dawn not having a Piplup felt really weird so I eventually decided to give her one again, in this chapter.
Having met with the Champion of the Hoenn region, Dawn, as well as her companions are reminded that their goals require immense dedication and hard work, and they are burning with passion, looking forward to accomplishing their goals.
This chapter concludes the Dewford town Arc, next up is Slateport city as well as the battle cup arc.
To be continued…
Ash:
Pikachu (Male): Thundershock, Quick Attack, Electro Ball, Iron Tail.
Treecko (Male): Leech Seed, Quick Attack, Energy Ball, Double Team.
Monferno (Male): Flamethrower, Mach Punch, Flame Wheel, Dig.
Dawn:
Marshtomp (Female): Water Pulse, Ice Punch, Mud-Slap, Double Team.
Ralts (Female): Magical Leaf, Psybeam, Disarming Voice, Calm Mind.
Riolu (Male): Shadow Claw, Vacuum Wave, Power-Up Punch, Agility.
Whismur (Female): Uproar, Hidden Power, Headbutt, Growl.
Piplup (Male): Whirlpool, Bubblebeam, Peck, Aqua Ring.