Day 3
"And that's what happened," Ash told May and Max about his adventures and recent capture of Larvitar. Needless to say, they were both shocked at the story. "Wow, that's so sad. Being separated at such a young age," May said. "Must have been hard on Larvitar's mom," Max finished.
"Yeah," Ash admitted, "but after seeing me in the Johto League, Larvitar began to train himself to be stronger and wanted to see the world. And since I hatched him, he imprinted on me." Brock nodded along with that statement, hatched Pokemon usually imprint on the first person or Pokémon they see. Example: Misty's Togepi.
Ash had sent out Larvitar and his friend: a small, light blue elephant. Phanpy, Ash's other hatched Pokémon, was great friends with the Rock Skin Pokémon, probably due to typing. The two were chatting as the other Pokémon were training.
Swellow had returned and was practicing his Flying type moves against Noctowl, who was working on Flying and Psychic type moves. Ash never had a proper Psychic type on the team, but he knew Noctowl could use learn a few plus some Ghost type moves. This would be great for some additional coverage.
Corphish was getting along with a small blue crocodile Pokémon, both working on their range moves. Ash had decided to bring Totodile back for some training. It seemed the two Water type Pokémon were similar, with Corphish's perky attitude and Totodile's dancing. Kingler seemed like a Pokémon he should later to train his Corphish until he was ready.
Pikachu had finally began to do some training of his own. Since he had learned Iron Tail in a last minute effort during the first Hoenn Gym, Pikachu didn't want to learn anything last minute. His Electric type moves were great and all, but he knew he couldn't keep winning with Thunderbolt and Quick Attack. Hence why Pikachu had a glowing white paw and cracked a rock briefly. Shaking off the pain, Pikachu repeated the action.
"Alright, time to see what you got, Larvitar!" Ash said before scanning his new member.
[Larvitar, the Rock Skin Pokémon. Raised on nutrients it finds in the dirt, it eats roughly a mountain's worth of dirt before it becomes a pupa.
Gender: Male
Ability: Sand Veil
Moves: Screech, Hidden Power, Bite, Dig, Rock Slide]
Reading the list and information, Ash was greatly impressed by the Rock/Ground type. "Okay, Larvitar. Let's do some practice!" Ketchum said. The Rock Skin Pokémon nodded before squaring off against Phanpy. The two baby Pokémon readied themselves before the Long Nose Pokémon started by curling into a ball and rolling towards Larvitar.
"Use Screech!" Ash commanded and Larvitar started by unleashing sound waves from his mouth. Screech caused the Rollout to swerve off course and Phanpy uncurled. Glowing green, Phanpy fired off a few green orbs.
"Counter with your Hidden Power!" Larvitar glowed green himself and fired his own green orbs. The two Hidden Powers exploded upon contact.
"Dig!" Larvitar leapt before Digging in a fast pace. The Long Nose Pokémon heard the command and decided to retaliate. Lifting his forelegs, the elephant Pokémon slammed them back into the ground which created an Earthquake. Larvitar, being underground, was dealt double the damage before coming up and striking with his cone. Phanpy stumbled back from the impact before shaking off the attack.
The Long Nose Pokémon trumpeted with a smirk. The Rock Skin Pokémon responded with a smirk of his own. "Rock Slide!" Larvitar shimmered with a white glow and cried to the sky. Above them, rocks began to fall from portals. Phanpy glowed green and fired Hidden Powers nonstop to prevent any rocks from falling on him to the best of his ability. A few rocks fell around the elephant Pokemon.
"Use Bite!" Larvitar ceased his Rock Slide before rushing in. Phanpy saw this and ran down his opponent. The Ground type charged with a Take Down attack, colliding with the dual type. Larvitar held on from the attack and Bit into the trunk.
Phanpy endured the Dark type move, still performing Take Down and ran towards one of the fallen rocks. The two collided before Larvitar leapt off and on his feet.
"Alright, you two," Ash addressed, "Great training!" His two baby Pokémon puffed up with pride at the praise. They loved whenever their "father" complemented them.
"Now, Phanpy. Nice use of your Hidden Power and that Earthquake was great. But I want to work with some new moves you can learn. Larvitar, excellent performance of your first mock battle! Your execution of your moves was incredible. With more training, we can get you to learn more moves!" Ash informed.
The two baby Pokémon nodded and were ready for the next hurdles in their training.
In the afternoon, Ash was with his two on hand Water types. Totodile was dancing around as Corphish was being his chipper self. Ketchum had a brief destination in mind for them. His other Pokémon were with his friends, training themselves. Brock, having experience with Rock and Ground types due to him being the previous Pewter City Gym Leader, opt to teach his two baby Pokémon some great moves.
The destination was the beach. A perfect place to train Water types. Ash had been informed that like his previous leagues, the terrain would switch from time to time during the latter rounds. Ketchum took it upon himself to train his water types on the proper terrain.
"Corphish, Totodile," Ash said, getting the two's attention, "time to practice your swimming skills. The Hoenn League will have a few Water terrains and I want you to practice your underwater maneuvers." Both nodded and immediately hit the waves. Ash wasn't sure if they were either excited for the ocean or training.
A few hours passed and Ash was still there on the beach. He saw the Ruffian Pokémon occasionally on the beach and the Big Jaw Pokémon often burst happily in the water. He was readying up on their information in the Pokédex, wanting to see any potential moves he could have them work on.
But all that changed when a net from the ocean was fired on the two.
"Corphish! Totodile!" Ash cried. The two Water types struggled to be free but no avail. The source of the net began to burst from the water and revealed to be...
A large Magikarp?
The "Magikarp" began to have its fin pop out and reveal the "masterminds" behind the abduction.
(Cue the infamous motto)
"Team Rocket!" Ash snarled.
"The one and only, twerp!" Jessie remarked.
"Thanks for the Pokémon!" James replied.
"We will be taking them to da boss after we snag your Pikachu!" Meowth said.
Ash growled, these three clearly knew never to give up. They had followed him throughout Kanto, Johto, and Hoenn now. And he wouldn't let them steal his Pokémon, no matter had many times they tried.
"Use Vise Grip and Bite to get yourselves free!" Ash called out. The two Water types nodded before getting to work. Totodile lived up to his species name, effectively gnawing himself from the ropes. Corphish was able to snip away the net and ran towards Ash's side. Their trainer agreed that affection would have to wait, so they ready themselves.
"Ugh! I knew we should have a more thicker thread!" Jessie said.
"We were on time table!" Meowth retorted.
"Perhaps, we could bicker later," James chided in, "Twerp at twelve o'clock!"
"Fire Bubble Beam and Water Gun!" Ash shouted. The two fired their respective attacks at the hull of the submarine, but it did nothing.
"Hahahahaha!" TRio laughed. "Our Magikarp sub is built to witness any Water type attack that comes our way!" Meowth boasted.
Ash and his two Pokémon growled with that information. Corphish and Totodile glanced at each other and nodded.
Both soon began to glow and grow. Corphish grew larger pincers and star on his forehead. Totodile grew a large fin on the top of his head and his jaw became bigger. The light died down and revealed two evolved forms. "Craw!" "Croc!"
Ash was amazed at his Pokémon, wanting to scan them right now but he had bigger Magikarps to fry. Both literally and figuratively.
"Alright you two, fire again!" Crawdaunt stepped forward before opening his pincers. He began to channel some energy and fired two purple double helix spirals. The attack did massive damage to the hull. Croconaw got himself ready and rushed at the submarine. Scaling the vessel, the evolved Water Johto starter's claws turned teal green and elongated themselves. Croconaw began to claw and scratch the hull to no end. After finishing his handiwork, he leapt off and landed near his trainer.
"Look what you did to our ride!" Jessie complained.
"Do you know how much it will take for this to buff out!?" James added.
"Too bad, I don't care!" Ash said. "Fire away!" His two evolved Water types cried and fired a Dark Pulse and a chill of freezing air towards to trio, who huddled in feared. The Magikarp sub exploded and sent the man, woman, and feline flying away as they usually do.
"Probably should have made the sub built to withstand all attacks," Meowth mused.
"Of course you would say that now," Jessie said.
"But back to the task at hand," James said.
"Looks like Team Rocket is blasting off againnnnnnnnnnnn!" They said before becoming a twinkle in the sky.
Ash let out a brief breath of relief before smiling at his Pokémon. "Awesome work you two!" Crawdaunt and Croconaw smiled to the best of their ability. They felt much stronger now and were glad to evolve at last.
"Come on, we have to tell the others!" Ash said before heading back with the Rogue and Big Jaw Pokemon in tow.
Another night in the room, and Ash had told his friends what had happened. They were surprised to know Team Rocket was here but they knew they would try anything at this point, Brock especially.
As everyone dozed off, Ash was staring at the ceiling again. Crawdaunt and Croconaw had evolved! Something he kinda wondered about if they ever could. Having used first stage starter Pokémon was useful most of the times, but occasionally he wondered if they had enough experience. Bulbasaur and Squirtle agreed on holding off evolution, but his other Pokémon seemed they wanted to evolve.
And that was fine by him. He wasn't one to force evolution, but if his Pokémon wanted to get stronger by evolving, who was he to deny such a chance.