Piplup's Pride
It was bright and early in the morning and after seeing Korrina off, Zach walked towards the nearby forest so that he could have some privacy as he attempted to teach Lucario the new technique. He gazed down at the move technique book once more before looking up at the jackal Pokemon, Lucario let out a happy growl as he gazed down at the book as well before looking up at his trainer.
"Alright Lucario, it'll likely take all day to learn this technique and we might not even fully master it before nightfall but we can always pick this up later." Lucario nodded in agreement before getting into position.
"Scor!" Scorbunny cried out eagerly as she broke away from Rockruff and Starly, she punched at the air before looking up at her trainer with a hopeful expression. "Scorr?"
"I'm sorry Scorbunny but I've already looked into it, Riolu's the only one of you capable of learning Thunder Punch. Your species is more skilled with your feet so it wouldn't be a good tactical choice but I can find something else for you to learn later!" Zach reached down and gave Scorbunny an apologetic smile before stroking her behind the ears. Scorbunny lowered her head in understanding as she gave a light nod in response however the sound of the book getting set down caught her attention and once his gaze was fully focused upon Lucario, Scorbunny quickly snatched the book and skimmed through it before landing upon a peculiar move that she was sure to impress her trainer with if she mastered it!
"Scor!" She got into a combat stance as she began practicing the move while Rockruff watched from afar with curiosity. Scorbunny and him must be awfully close for her to be attempting to learn a move to impress him like that, maybe life with her new trainer wouldn't be so bad!
"Is fishing always so boring?!" Dawn moaned out as she stood next to Zoey at the edge of the nearby lake. They'd been there for felt what like hours and nothing appeared to be biting!
"Patience Dawn, sometimes it takes awhile for a Water type to bite. You just got to have patience or try another bait." Zoey advised. Dawn puffed her cheeks as she quickly reeled in her line before switching the bait and casting the line back out onto the water not long afterwards. After a few minutes something began tugging on the line causing Dawn to let out an excited shout.
"I've got a bite!" She began reeling in the line but whatever was out there was fighting back! She started getting dragged towards the water before Zoey quickly grabbed onto her and held on, offering her support as Dawn continued reeling in the line. Piplup leaped forward and got into battling position as he was prepared to face whatever it was!
"Gyaaa!" Water splashed onto the three as the giant blue water serpent Pokemon known as Gyarados emerged from the depths of the lake. Gyaraodos cast the group a glare which resulted in Piplup letting out a cry of fear before cowering behind his trainer's legs while Dawn began shivering in fright at the sight.
"Heheh... s-sorry for disturbing you Gyarados, we'll be going now!" Gyarados wasn't having the apology though as he opened up his mouth before firing a Hyper Beam attack at the group!
"Gah! W-Well we're definitely not capturing him a Gyarados!" Dawn screamed out as the three scattered from the area. Apart from Gyarados being quite the frightening Pokemon it didn't suit Zach in the slightest due to it's ferocity and anger issues!
"We'll try the lake again later, let's try the river for awhile. It'll take Gyarados awhile to calm down but no sense in wasting that time, there are still plenty of Pokemon in the river that we could potentially catch!"
Dawn glanced back towards the lake before giving Zoey a light nod. "Right, I'm sure not in a rush to get back there!"
As the two arrived at the river and began getting set up Zoey took the chance to speak up. "So Dawn, when are you gonna ask your boyfriend out on a date?"
Dawn shot bright red as she cast Zoey a light glare. "Can't you just use his real name?"
"Avoiding the question I see!" Zoey gave a teasing smirk in response as Dawn let out a sigh as she began casting out her line.
"I don't know, I guess it depends on when he asks?" Dawn shrugged while Zoey let out a light scoff.
"Please it's obvious that you both love each other. Why don't you ask him?" Zoey suggested before doing a light eyeroll. "Asking somebody out isn't something only a guy can do, us girls can do it too! If you don't then somebody else might beat you to the punch!"
Dawn looked thoughtful for a moment before her thoughts were distracted by a sudden tug on the line. "Get ready Piplup, something's coming!"
"Piplup!" Piplup quickly got into a battling stance before falling backwards with an alarmed shout as another penguin Pokemon emerged from the water depths and landed right in front of him!
"Prinplup!"
"Oh wow, a Prinplup! That's what you'll be someday, Piplup!" Dawn cried out while Piplup glared upon seeing how excited the thought seemed to make her. He crossed his flippers before putting on an unamused expression as he looked his evolution up and down.
"Prinplup!" The taller penguin tapped his chest while giving Piplup a smirk. "Prinplup lup lup!"
An agitated look quickly crossed Piplup's face and the penguin began leaping up and down with crying out in protest to Prinplup's words. "Pip Piplup!"
"Prinplup!" Prinplup waved his flipper at Piplup as he appeared to be challenging Piplup to a Pokemon battle!
"Piplup!" Piplup accepted as he clutched his flippers before glancing back towards Dawn as he awaited her command.
"Well having two Empoleons around might get confusing but I think that this Pokemon will suit Zach!" Dawn exclaimed. Piplup narrowed his eyes as Dawn addressed the idea of him evolving once more, he crossed his flippers and turned his back to her causing her to tilt her head with a look of concern. "Piplup? What's wrong?"
Piplup remained silent as he awaited his order.
"Alright Piplup let's try starting things off with Peck!"
"Pip Piplup!" Piplup charged forward as he began pecking at Prinplup, rage filled the penguin Pokemon's eyes as he began relentlessly pecking at his evolution in the hopes of showing that he was better than it! Prinplup cast off a smirk, his flipper shined like a bright metal as he lashed out and battered Piplup away!
"Piplup!" The penguin cried out as he was thrown through the air. Prinplup slid across the ground on his belly before quickly springing up next to Piplup as his own beak began to glow brightly.
"Prinp." He pecked Piplup and the smaller penguin quickly fell into a state of unconsciousness as swirls filled his eyes.
"Piplup!" Dawn cried out in concern. Piplup's eyes slowly opened up to see Prinplup standing over him with a smirk across his face as he tapped his chest with a prideful look.
"Prinplup!" The penguin then turned and dove back into the water as Dawn rushed towards Piplup and pulled the penguin up into her arms.
"It's okay Piplup, we'll get you healed fast!"
"Piplup..." Piplup lowered his head as he gazed towards the water.
"So that was a bust, you gonna try for another Pokemon then?" Zoey asked upon the two leaving the Pokemon Center after healing up Piplup.
"I guess so, Gyarados has probably calmed down and we're not strong enough to take on Prinplup." Dawn spoke up before Piplup spoke up and pointed back towards the river.
"Pip Piplup!" He cried out as he tried telling Dawn that he wanted to beat Prinplup!
"Huh? Piplup you can't, we're not strong enough. Maybe after you've evolved-"
"Piplup!" Piplup's face turned red with anger before he crossed his arms and turned his back to her.
"Piplup..?" Dawn questioned before Zoey spoke up.
"I believe I know what's going on, the Piplup line can be quite prideful therefore Piplup losing to Prinplup might have put a serious dent on his pride. Piplup probably wants to restore his pride by besting Prinplup in battle!"
"But we can't, Piplup doesn't know any moves that are strong enough to take it on and Prinplup's too fast for us! I-I'm not like Zach, I can't think up a battle strategy!" Dawn spoke with a flustered tone.
Zoey looked towards Piplup with a thoughtful look before turning back towards Dawn. "Well there is one move that Piplup can learn that might help and luckily for you I just so happen to own a Pokemon that knows it! It shouldn't take too long for Piplup to pick up on the technique and master it!"
"Really? That's great, thank you so much Zoey!" Dawn gave her an appreciative smile before turning to face Piplup. "What do you say, Piplup? You ready to learn this move and beat Prinplup?!"
Piplup stood up before silently raising up his flipper as he gave off a nod, determination flared brightly within his eyes.
"Sounds like we can begin then!" Zoey grinned before tossing forward a Pokeball so that they could get things started!
"Alright I think it's time that we stop and head back for some lunch, I'm starving!"
"Carr!" Lucario cried out in agreement while his trainer turned to face Rockruff and Starly.
"Alright you two, return for now." He returned the two Pokemon to their Pokeballs before turning to head towards the nearby lake as he remembered Dawn said she'd be there today. "Maybe Dawn will join us!"
As they got closer Scorbunny's ear twitched as she heard the sound of machinery, she let out a cry as she pointed forward. Lucario closed his eyes before a growl released from his throat as he looked towards his trainer.
"Something's going on..? Oh no, Dawn!" Zach quickly rushed onwards with a worrisome look. "She better be okay, if something's happened to her... I don't know what I'd do!" He let out a frustrated growl as he emerged from the bushes before quickly going silent and leaping back in upon noticing the current state of the lake. Scorbunny hopped on out of the bush and continued rushing forward before Lucario grabbed hold of her ears and yanked her back into the shrubbery.
Butch, Cassidy and their Alolan Meowth companion stood next to a large machine that was currently draining the lake of it's water. Several Water type Pokemon such as Shellos, Wooper and Lotad were quickly fleeing from the scene as the three stood there with eager smirks across their faces.
"It will be only a matter of minutes before the legendary Pokemon of this lake will be ours!" Cassidy smirked.
"That'll sure go a great way towards getting the Team Rocket Sinnoh branch set up, nobody will be able to mess with us once we've got a legendary Pokemon on our side!" Butch exclaimed as Meowth let out an excited cry.
"Legendary Pokemon..? What on earth are they talking about, this is just a normal lake!" Zach hissed out. He examined the scene in preparation to set up his attack, fighting now would probably just get the fleeing Pokemon hurt and he wanted to avoid that if possible. The water was being stored within the machine so it could easily be returned to the lake as soon as the three were dealt with!
"GYA!" Gyarados suddenly emerged from the water causing Butch and Cassidy to let out an alarmed shout before Meowth began sparking with electricity before giving the blue water serpent quite the powerful shock! Gyarados let out a loud roar of pain as Cassidy flashed a smirk before grabbing an empty Pokeball.
"Welcome to Team Rocket, Gyarados!" The ball smacked against Gyarados' body before the Pokemon disappeared in a beam of red light, the ball began to shake before chiming to announce the capture complete!
"...Great, we've got to deal with a Gyarados and don't have an Electric type to help us!"
"Scor!"
"Not now Scorbunny, I don't want you getting hurt." Scorbunny crossed her arms as she puffed her cheeks, her foot began tapping impatiently at how quick she was dismissed. "We'll have to hope that you've gathered enough control over Thunder Punch, Lucario. You ready?"
"Car!" The two stood up and prepared to leap out of the bush before the three Rocket grunts let out ecstatic shouts as the last of the water drained away to reveal a small blue serpent Pokemon!
"A Dratini!" Zach gasped out in shock. "So that is what they're after! Let's go Lucario, we can't let Team Rocket own a Dragonite who knows what kind of chaos they'd unleash with one!"
"Carr!" Lucario nodded in agreement as the two quickly rushed on out of the bushes.
"Alright Biff, Pokeballs at the ready!"
"I told you a million times that my name is Butch!" Butch shook his fist at Cassidy, his face bright red from frustration before the two threw quickly threw empty Pokeballs towards the small Dragon type in the hopes of capturing it. Fear shined brightly within the Dragon type's eyes as she watched the Pokeballs flying towards her before Lucario quickly appeared and batted away the balls with his aura club as if he were playing a game of baseball! One of the Pokeballs smacked against Meowth's head and the Dark type disappeared in a beam of red light, the ball shook twice and right as it was about to shake a third time he burst out and began panting heavily before giving Lucario a harsh glare as he was almost captured!
"Meowth!"
"Carr!"
"You three again? I'm surprised you haven't been arrested yet." Zach caught up to Lucario and stood beside the jackal while Scorbunny stood alongside him, her arms crossed as she continued puffing her cheeks.
"You!" The three pointed towards Zach with visible frustration.
"I've been itching to get my revenge on you!" Cassidy flashed him a smirk as she grabbed a hold of the ball containing her newly caught Gyarados. "This'll be the perfect opportunity to do so, Gyarados it's lunch time!"
"GYA!" Gyarados burst out with a loud roar.
"You too Mightyena, let's go!" Butch called out before the wolf Pokemon came bursting from his ball with a howl!
"Lucario use Thunder Punch on Gyarados! Scorbunny deliver a Double Kick to Mightyena!" Zach shouted as he threw out his arm.
Scorbunny raced forward and delivered a kick to Mightyena causing the Dark type to let out a yelp before snapping his fangs at her ears and biting down on her. Scorbunny let out a cry of pain before coating her body in flames. Mightyena let out a yelp before finding himself launched through the air as Scorbunny activated her Flame Charge attack!
Lucario's fist was covered in electricity as he reached out to punch Gyarados however right before he could make impact the electricity faded away!
"Dang it!" Zach groaned out before clenching his fists. This would be so much easier if a certain somebody didn't run away and abandon them!
"Whirlpool!" Gyarados let out a roar, a large whirlpool formed at the end of his tail and quickly made it's way towards Lucario after Gyarados launched it off with a swish of his tail! The whirlpool sucked Lucario right in and began battering the jackal around as he cried out!
"Lucario!" Zach called out in concern for his best friend. Scorbunny took the opportunity to step forward now that Mightyena had been dealt with, the rabbit looked back towards her trainer with a hopeful gaze.
"Scor!"
"Scorbunny, I can't send you out there! You'll get hurt, your only non-Fire attacks require you to get up close and that's just too dangerous for a Water type like Gyarados!"
"Scor!" Scorbunny puffed her cheeks as she looked up towards her trainer. She began frantically pointing towards Gyarados before waving her arms about. "Scor Scorbunny, scor scor!" She cried out as she tried saying that he should trust her and that they didn't exactly have many options as Starly was the only other one not weak against Water attacks!
Zach was silent for a moment before he let out a sigh. "Okay Scorbunny, I trust you. Let's use Double Kick!"
"Scor!" However Scorbunny didn't use Double Kick as she stood where she'd been standing, she brought her hands together and began heavily focusing as electricity sparked between her paws before an electrical sphere appeared!
"I-Is that Electro Ball?! I didn't know you could learn that!" Scorbunny flashed a smirk upon seeing the proud look on her trainer's face and felt rather proud herself! She dropped the electrical sphere before giving it a swift kick, sending it flying straight towards Gyarados and delivering quite the shock to the large water serpent before it landed directly on top of his team mates with a loud thud!
"Mmmph!" Butch and Cassidy's arms flailed rapidly as they laid trapped beneath the large Water type before Scorbunny sent another electrical sphere flying straight at the machine causing it to explode! The water splashed out and returned to the lake while Team Rocket was sent blasting off into the sky alongside their Pokemon!
"No fair, that kid beat us again!" Cassidy cried out.
"We'll get him next time, Cassidy."
"Meowth!"
"But until then we're blasting off again!" The three disappeared over the horizon.
"Scor!" Scorbunny turned to face her trainer with a cocky smirk as Lucario landed back into his feet.
"Scorbunny did you teach that to yourself?" Zach questioned. Scorbunny responded with a quick nod as she gave her trainer an affectionate look.
"Scor!"
Zach smiled before dropping to his knees as he pulled Scorbunny into his arms. "You're the best Fire type that I could ask for!"
"Car!" Lucario agreed with a proud smile as Scorbunny gave the two an appreciative look while feeling thankful that she was given the opportunity to prove herself.
"And as long as you know Flame Charge, Electro Ball will only get stronger as you can become faster than almost any Pokemon out there!" Zach exclaimed as Scorbunny continued looking proud of herself while Zach felt thankful that his two closest Pokemon were willing to learn Electric type attacks in an attempt to cheer him up after the loss of the pesky rodent.
"Dratini!" Dratini cried out as she slithered out onto land, the Dragon type gazed up at the three as she cooed out in appreciation to them saving her!
"Carr!" Lucario turned to his trainer and informed him Dratini was thanking them.
"No need to thank us Dratini, we were only doing the right thing." Dratini continued looking up at him while cooing out in a questionable tone.
"Carr?" Lucario tilted his head before looking towards his trainer. "Carr, car!" He growled out. "I think she wants to join you!"
"You sure Dratini? You've got a huge lake to swim around in and you probably won't have much opportunity to swim when we're deeper into the region, you see I'm working towards competing in the Sinnoh League so we'll be traveling all over the region!" Zach tried to explain but it appeared Dratini didn't mind as she gave a simple nod in response resulting in Lucario casting off a smirk before looking towards his trainer. They might have failed to capture Gible but things ended up working out as they still ended up with a Dragon type on their team!
"Well in that case welcome to the team, Dratini!" Zach dropped an empty Pokeball and Dratini let out a cry of joy before tapping the button with her tail, allowing herself to be captured as the ball swiftly chimed to announce the capture complete!
"Dratini the Mirage Pokemon. Dratini continually molts and sloughs off its old skin. It does so because the life energy within its body steadily builds to reach uncontrollable levels. It is called the 'Mirage Pokemon' because so few have seen one!"
"Alright, we've got a Dragon type!" Zach grinned as he held up Dratini's Pokeball. Lucario and Scorbunny let out excited cries of their own as they welcomed Dratini to the team!
A few hours had passed since Dawn's previous encounter with Prinplup and she now stood beside the river alongside Piplup as the two kept their eyes locked onto the river.
"Alright Piplup, you ready?"
"Piplup!" Piplup raised his flippers up as he gave a nod in response. Piplup then lowered his head beneath the river surface as he let out a cry and called Prinplup out for a rematch, knowing that his species pride was too strong for the penguin to refuse the fight!
"Prinp!" Prinplup emerged from the water and locked his eyes onto Piplup as a smirk crossed the taller penguin's face. "Prinplup, lup lup!"
"Piplup pip!" Piplup cried out, his arms flailed about on account of what Prinplup said.
"Piplup keep a calm head and focus! Let's show off your Bide attack!" Dawn cried out as she threw out her arm. Piplup closed his eyes as his body began glowing a bright red color.
"Piplup!"
Prinplup's flipper shined like a metallic metal as he lashed out at his opponent, battering Piplup back but the smaller penguin stood his ground while biding his time. Prinplup narrowed his eyes as he began pecking Piplup furiously against his head! Piplup let out a grunt before the glow intensified and cast off a bright blinding red light as he unleashed a powerful beam of energy upon Prinplup resulting in the penguin flying through the air before landing on the other side of the river in a defeated slump!
"Alright Piplup way to go!" Dawn cheered. Piplup gave her a proud smirk and tapped his chest before suddenly holding onto his head as a bright blue glow surrounded his body. "Piplup...?" Dawn asked with visible concern. Prinplup looked up and slipped back beneath the water while Dawn and Zoey were distracted.
"It almost appears as if Piplup's fighting evolving?" Zoey questioned. It sounded odd to her as she'd never heard of a Pokemon refusing to evolve before.
"Piplup!" Piplup cried out.
"I-Is that true Piplup?" Dawn questioned. "Do you really not want to evolve?" And just like that Piplup's attitude earlier in the day was starting to make sense! Whenever he got angry or upset towards her she'd mention him evolving into Prinplup or Empoleon!
"P-Piplup..." Piplup gave off a nod as Dawn offered him a smile before giving his head a light pat. "That's alright with me Piplup, we can still put on great performances regardless if you evolve or not!" Piplup smiled upon seeing how Dawn accepted his decision but the penguin was finding it rather difficult to fight the evolution.
"P-Pip..."
"Dawn, I've been looking for you all over!" Zach sounded rather relieved to find her. After capturing Dratini he started searching for her to make sure that nothing had happened, he knew she wouldn't go on ahead without him but that didn't mean he wouldn't worry for her.
"Zach!" Dawn turned to face him with a bright smile, she quickly turned towards where Prinplup had been only for her look to quickly fade away as the penguin had disappeared!
"Carrr..." Lucario growled out as he turned to face his trainer.
"Piplup's fighting his evolution, huh?" Zach questioned before a bulb quickly went off within his head as he recalled one of the various objects that they'd collected while searching for Lucarionite. He withdrew a rather bland looking stone before he got down to his knees and held it out to Piplup. "Piplup this is an Everstone, it should help you out as it'll prevent you from ever evolving!"
Piplup gave his trainer's best friend an appreciative look as he reached out and took the stone, the blue glow immediately ceased and Piplup turned to face his trainer with a cry of joy! "Pip Piplup!"
Dawn smiled at Piplup as she was grateful that things worked out for him but then she remembered about Prinplup escaping causing her to lower her head. "Darn it, he got away..."
"Who got away?" Zach curiously asked.
"Dawn was trying to capture you a Water type to surprise you, she almost succeeded but it must have recovered and escaped while we were busy looking at Piplup." Zoey spoke up.
Zach turned towards Dawn before looking down towards Piplup as the penguin lowered his head with a guilty look. "It's not your fault Piplup, you had no control over that!" Zach gave Piplup a light pat, cheering the penguin up a bit before he stood up and moved closer to Dawn. "You were trying to capture me a Water type?"
"Y-Yeah, I wanted to repay you for helping me catch Buneary!" Dawn spoke up with a saddened expression across her face. Zach took a deep sigh before placing his hand on her shoulder in a comforting manner while offering her a warm smile.
"Dawn I did that because I care about you, you're my best friend and I'd do anything for you! I didn't catch Buneary expecting you to return the favor, I helped you because I knew you've wanted one ever since we were kids! Having a Water type would be nice but I've never been crazy about owning one, it'll happen surely happen someday but there's no rush!"
Dawn looked up and smiled back at him before wrapping her arms around him. "I'd do anything for you too, I care about you a great deal and I'd do anything to make you happy!"
"You already make me plenty happy by traveling around the region with me, so long as the two of us are together I'll never not be happy! Sure there might be incidents such as he who shall remain nameless running off but everything will work out so long as we're together!" Dawn blushed brightly at his words as Zoey looked at the two with a light smirk.
"Oh yeah, those two are definitely going to hook up before their journey is over."
"Piplup."
"Car."
"Scor." The three Pokemon nodded in agreement.
New moves were learned and a new member has joined Zach's team!
Let me know what you all think and if there is anything that you'd like to see further on