In a shaded area on Route 14, between Lumiose City and Laverre City, there sat a small lake which found itself with a bit of company. Iris was swimming back and forth through it, doing laps, getting in some early-morning exercise in the manner she enjoyed most. She was alone, having headed off herself, leaving Ash and Brock at camp; there weren't many Pokémon around, either, as many of them were scared away by the noise.
Once she'd swam enough laps, she headed to the edge of the water and pulled herself out, right next to her towel and her large overshirt. She sat on the edge of the lake, feet still in the water, taking a moment to rest before starting to wring out her hair. She reached for her towel, wanting to at least get her undershirt and shorts dried off before she headed back, before she noticed a strange sensation on her leg. She held it straight out and glanced down, expecting to see some algae covering it; instead, she found herself face-to-face with what looked like a giant purple-and-white slug with green cheeks, clinging to her shin.
"Gyah! Get off, get off!" She started violently kicking her leg, trying to dislodge the Pokémon; it attempted to hold on as best it could, but it eventually went flying back into the lake. Iris quickly stood up, moving a couple feet away from the water, as the Pokémon reemerged, looking confused and upset.
"Don't spook me like that!" she called out to it. "I thought you were some kind of giant leech! Find someone else to cling to!"
The Pokémon looked hurt by her words, frowning at her and focusing. Iris started to turn away, when she felt a few drops of water falling on her. Looking up curiously, she saw a storm cloud forming just a couple of feet above her head, the water starting to come down harder.
"Rain Dance…?" she wondered to herself, recognizing this as a Pokémon move. She didn't have much time to think before a bolt of lightning shot out of it, zapping her where she stood. She stood frozen in place for a moment, a shocked and pained expression on her face, before falling forward into the lake, stiff as a board. Satisfied, the Pokémon turned and swam off.
Back at their campsite near the main trail of Route 14, Ash was sitting down on a picnic blanket, hungry, as Brock set out breakfast plates for the three of them. They quickly dug into their meals, while Pikachu and Axew sat nearby, eating their own small bowls of Pokémon food.
Hearing footsteps behind him, Ash turned around to greet Iris, but paused upon seeing her, eyebrows raising. She was soaked from head to toe, her hair frizzed and sticking out in every direction, and her face bore the irritated look of someone who would bite the head off of anyone who talked to them.
"Whoa, Iris, what happened to you?" She growled in response, taking a seat next to Ash and accepting a plate of food from Brock wordlessly, starting to tuck in.
Brock watched her for a moment, intensely curious, but knowing that asking her about her current state might be hazardous to his health. He eventually decided to risk it. "Did you… have a good swim?"
Iris grumbled, swallowing her mouthful of scrambled eggs. "It was fine, until I got zapped by a Rain Dance from a giant slug."
"A giant slug?" Ash wondered aloud, thinking about what species of Pokémon might fit that description. "Was it colored purple and white?"
"Mm." She nodded in response, taking another bite of her breakfast. Behind her, Pikachu had finished its food, and was now wandering through the grass, tracking the movement of some small critter.
"That sounds like a Goomy to me. Why didn't you capture it, Iris?"
"I told you, Ash, I'm only here to catch Dragon-type Pokémon." She took a drink from her water bottle.
"A Goomy is a Dragon-type, though," he responded, reaching for his Pokédex.
Iris glanced over at him, in disbelief. "That's a joke, right?" He held his Pokédex out toward her in response, which was displaying the Pokémon that had just shocked her.
"Goomy, the Soft Tissue Pokémon," the device stated mechanically. "The weakest Dragon-type Pokémon, it lives in damp, shady places, so its body doesn't dry out."
Her eyes widened in shock. "Are you kidding me?! That little booger is a Dragon-type?!" She leaned in closer, as the device showed the evolution from Goomy, to Sliggoo, to the goofy but imposing Goodra.
"I thought you knew all of the Dragon types in Kalos," Ash responded, putting his Pokédex away again.
"I did! Or I should! I just assumed that thing was… argh!" She slapped her forehead. "Now I have to go and catch it!" She quickly shoved the rest of her breakfast in her mouth all at once before hopping up to her feet, grabbing her Poké Balls before running back in the direction of the lake.
Ash and Brock watched her go for a few moments, before a sharp cry drew their attention elsewhere. Ash's eyes widened as he saw Pikachu lying on his back, foot in the air; the grass nearby started to shift, as some small Pokémon started scurrying away.
"Pikachu! Are you okay?" Ash quickly hopped up and ran over, kneeling next to his Pokémon, whose pained expression was giving way to a sickly one. He reached down and lifted Pikachu up, holding him in his arms, recognizing the telltale signs of being poisoned. He quickly shifted his gaze toward the creature running away; most of its body was hidden by the grass, but a look at its scorpion-like tail quickly told Ash that it was a Skorupi.
"Brock, do we have any Antidotes?"
Brock stood up. "Give me one second, I'll grab one." He quickly ducked into his tent and rummaged through his pack, emerging with a small bottle in his hand, which he tossed over. Ash caught it easily, popping the top off and gently spraying his Pokémon with its contents. Once the bottle was empty, he set it aside and continued holding Pikachu gently, waiting for the effects to kick in.
A minute later, Pikachu sat up, looking much healthier than he had before. He hopped out of Ash's arms, eyes following the trail the wild Skorupi had taken, looking as angry as Iris had been just moments before. Ash sighed in relief.
"Good, you're feeling better." He followed Pikachu's gaze, trying to find the scorpion Pokémon that had just run off. He knew that a Fairy-type Gym Leader was waiting for him in Laverre City, and having a Poison-type Pokémon on his side could give him an edge. "Want to get some payback, Pikachu? Let's go and capture it!"
Pikachu nodded, getting down on all fours and starting to follow the Skorupi like a bloodhound. Ash stood up and followed, turning back to thank Brock for breakfast, which he was carrying part of in his hand. Brock watched the two of them head out, before looking around at the empty camp, with Axew as his only remaining company. He shrugged, before continuing to eat his own breakfast at his leisure.
Back at the lake, Iris was sitting high up on a tree branch, scanning for any signs of the Goomy from before. A handful of other Pokémon had arrived while she was gone, swimming and drinking, which made it difficult to find the Pokémon she was looking for.
After several long minutes of waiting, she spied a Goomy sliding out of the lake, filled almost to bursting with water. She hopped up and started following it, practically gliding from one tree branch to the next, as comfortable traveling through the tree tops as she was on the ground. She kept her Poké Balls at the ready, wanting to take the first opportunity to capture this little thing.
After following it for a minute, Iris was surprised to find another Goomy on the trail. Unlike the one she was following, however, this one looked like it was withering away, almost completely dried out. The Goomy she had been following crawled right up to it, spitting out some of its water to try and revive it. The desiccated Goomy regained a little bit of strength from this, starting to move toward the lake, albeit very slowly.
She watched with wide eyes as the plump Goomy continued along its path, moving to another dried-out Pokémon, then another. She started running ahead of it, following the trail of weak Goomys, until she eventually found a large collection of them seated in a large, empty depression in the ground, at the base of a tall cliff. Her eyes widened as she saw the state of these Pokémon; there were maybe two dozen of them, all in varying states of drying out, and some of them even looked close to perishing.
"Oh my gosh…" She quickly climbed down her current tree, wanting to get a closer look. She ran down into the large depression, right up to the small colony of Goomys, kneeling down next to them. "You poor things, what happened here?" She took a quick look around; there was no grass at all in this giant hole, just dry and cracked soil. Iris quickly realized that this used to be a lake, but something had caused it to completely dry out.
A high-pitched cry from nearby caused her to jump and quickly stand; looking toward it, she saw the hydrated Goomy from before, glaring at her. It had used up nearly all its water and was looking very tired, but it was still determined to protect its family at any cost.
"Hey, hold on!" Iris waved her hands, trying to head off a potential conflict. "I'm not here to fight, honest." The Goomy kept glaring at her as she slowly walked forward, keeping her hands visible, not wanting to appear as a threat. "Something happened to your home, didn't it? That's why you were traveling to the other lake."
The Goomy made a sad sound in response, letting its guard down a bit, and it looked upward toward the top of the cliff. Iris turned around, following its gaze, and was surprised to see a makeshift dam, made out of wood and mud.
"A dam? Who built that?" She walked out of the former lake and up to the cliff face, reaching out and starting to climb it, almost effortlessly. Less than a minute later, she had managed to make it to the top, finding an overflowing creek that had turned into its own pond. She could see the surface of the water being disturbed, as if a number of Pokémon were swimming underneath. She frowned and walked over to the dam, poking at it with her foot; it mostly held together, but she could feel a bit of movement. Whoever made this, it wasn't a professional job.
"Hm… I wonder if…" She started kicking it a bit harder, wondering if she could dislodge it on her own, not particularly concerned with how it had gotten there in the first place. As she worked on it, she failed to notice several large Pokémon emerging from the water, walking toward her. After a few more kicks, she noticed the large shadows that were surrounding her; she quickly whirled around, eyes widening as she found herself face-to-face with four large, angry Pangoros.
"I…" She took a step back, nervous. "I guess this is your dam, huh?"
The Pokémon growled and stepped forward, not pleased.
Elsewhere, Ash and Pikachu were continuing to stalk Skorupi, much less stealthily than Iris. They were moving as quickly as they could without being too loud, not wanting it to be scared off as they followed the subtle trail it had left behind. After a few minutes, they both stopped in their tracks as they found it slowly trying to climb a tree.
"There it is," Ash whispered, glancing down at Pikachu. "You ready? Hit it with Electroweb!"
His Pokémon nodded, creeping forward as he formed a ball of electricity on his tail. Once he was close enough, he whirled around and flung the energy ball toward the Skorupi; the ball turned into a web of electricity, which perfectly hit its target, wrapping around both the tree and the Pokémon before shocking both. The Skorupi cried out as it was jolted, falling back down to the ground as the web dissipated.
"Perfect shot!" Ash exclaimed, grabbing an empty Poké Ball from his pack. He pressed the button on the front to enlarge it, before hurling it at the stunned Pokémon. Skorupi managed to quickly come to its senses, however, and burrowed underground as fast as it could; the Poké Ball missed its target, rolling limply along the ground.
Pikachu's ears perked up, and he looked around carefully for any signs of his opponent. He yelped as a stinger shot out of the ground right in front of him, causing him to jump backwards, not wanting another dose of poison. Seconds later, the tail emerged again right next to him, and he ran across the field, wanting to put as much distance between them as possible.
"Use Iron Tail, Pikachu!" Ash reminded him. His Pokémon nodded, focusing and turning his tail to iron before turning around and tapping it against the ground. A few seconds later, he frowned and shook his head, stopping the tapping; the ground here was too moist, and he couldn't get any useful information from it.
Ash gritted his teeth. "Well… be on your guard. It's not faster than you. Just focus."
Pikachu nodded, getting down on all fours and focusing as best he could. He closed his eyes, all of his other senses focused on feeling out the location of his opponent. Seconds later, he could feel the tiniest of vibrations near his feet, which quickly grew in intensity. At the last possible second, he jumped back as the tail emerged for a third time; he whirled around and used his Iron Tail to hook the stinger skillfully, yanking a very surprised Skorupi out of the ground. Pikachu continued spinning around for a second, flinging the Skorupi off of his tail and sending it slamming into a tree; it fell back onto the ground, stunned for the second time.
"One more try!" Ash grabbed another Poké Ball and flung it as quickly as he could; this time, the ball made contact, and the Skorupi was turned into energy and absorbed by the contraption. The Poké Ball fell to the ground, starting to rock back and forth as the Pokémon inside struggled to get free. After a few tense seconds, the ball settled down, and the button on the front stopped glowing, indicating a successful capture.
"Yes! We got it!" Both Ash and Pikachu cheered, as the trainer ran forward and grabbed both the spent Poké Ball and the newly occupied one. "Our first new Pokémon in Kalos. Great job, Pikachu!" Pikachu climbed up Ash's side onto his shoulder, looking down at the ball containing his new companion, before Ash pocketed it. "Let's get back to camp. If Iris is still gone, maybe we can get a little bit of training in."
He turned around and started walking before quickly stopping again, looking around at the unfamiliar terrain. In his haste to catch Skorupi, he had not paid any attention at all to where he had been going.
"Uh… do you remember how to get back, Pikachu?"
Iris kept her gaze focused on the four angry Pokémon in front of her, looking for some sort of opening, acutely aware of the steep cliff that was right behind her. All she needed was a bit of time and space to deploy her own Pokémon, and she'd stand a fighting chance; right now, though, that wasn't looking very likely.
One of the four Pangoro growled and charged toward her; thinking quickly, she jumped to the side out of its way, then dove forward through the gap that had just formed in their line. Safely behind them, she started running to get some distance, grabbing a Poké Ball and turning around to throw it behind her.
"Go, Dragonite!" The Poké Ball hit the ground, bursting open, and a seven-foot, orange-colored dragon Pokémon emerged from it. His gaze immediately focused on the four opponents in front of them; while he was larger than any one of them, four at once was definitely going to be a challenge.
"Slow them down, Dragonite! Ice Beam!"
Her Pokémon reared back for a second before shooting a light-blue beam of ice at all four of them, sweeping across. Having already been covered in water, the Pangoros felt their fur freezing in place, slowing their movements dramatically as they fought against the ice.
"Great work!" Iris cheered. "Now let's take them out, one by one! Thunder Punch!"
Dragonite grunted, using his wings to lift himself up into the air, before charging forward. His fist crackled with electricity as he slammed it into the gut of one of his opponents, sending it flying off the cliff, where it crashed into the trees below. It wasn't badly hurt, but it wouldn't be rejoining the fight.
Dragonite hmphed, turning toward the other three, when one of them managed to break itself free of its icy bonds. It reached out and grabbed Dragonite by the arm, surprising him; seconds later, the other two broke free as well, each grabbing a leg. Iris gasped as she watched him try to break free, but the Pangoros roared and started running forward, slamming Dragonite headfirst into a nearby tree.
Dazed, he started flapping his wings as hard as he could, trying to lift off again and create some distance. All three Pangoros held on tightly, not wanting him to escape, starting to drag him slowly back toward the makeshift pond. With one mighty collective pull, the three managed to yank him down into the water, where they started raining their fists down upon him.
"No!" Iris ran forward, panicked, wanting to help get him out of their grasp. One of the Pangoros noticed her approach and swung its arm around, backhanding her and sending her flying backward. She landed on the ground with a thud, groaning in pain as she sat up, watching the beating unfold. Her mind raced as she thought of how to save her Pokémon, eyes traveling from him, to the water, to the dam. Her eyebrows raised as she got an idea, and she ran forward again, cupping her hands to her mouth.
"Dragonite! Dash forward with Dragon Rush!"
Dragonite managed to hear her command, focusing as best he could, a blue aura starting to envelop him. His assailants paused for the briefest of moments, curious, giving him the opening he needed to dash forward through the water like a rocket. He used his head to slam into the wooden dam as hard as he could, shattering it into tiny pieces, before flying up into the sky, back in control.
As soon as the dam was gone, the water started to rush toward the edge of the cliff as it was meant to. The three Pangoros panicked, trying to get out of the water, but the rushing torrent was too powerful for them to overcome. All three of them were dragged along and sent flying over the edge of the cliff, landing just on the other side of the former lake, crashing into the fourth Pangoro that had been taken out earlier.
Dragonite took a second to catch his breath, hovering above what was now a rushing waterfall. He snorted angrily as he looked down at his attackers, sore all over and feeling vengeful, as Iris ran up to him.
"Let's finish this!" she shouted. "Hyper Beam!"
Her Pokémon opened its mouth, starting to gather a ball of yellow energy, which quickly grew to great size. He lunged his head forward, and the ball erupted into a beam of energy, aimed directly at the four Pokémon down below. The Pangoros had no time to react before the beam impacted the ground directly under them, sending all four of them flying far away. Dragonite grunted, satisfied, before landing back on the ground, where Iris threw her arms around his neck.
"You did it!" she cheered. "Great job, Dragonite!" Her Pokémon nodded, awkwardly putting one hand on her back; even years later, he was still a bit uncomfortable with the affection Iris showed all of her Pokémon, but he was slowly warming up to it. She let go and climbed onto his back, and the two flew down the cliff, watching as the waterfall started to slowly fill the lake again. As they landed, they saw one Goomy after another pop up to the surface, plump and hydrated once again. Iris beamed, thrilled to see them healthy again, before running off along the trail she had taken, wanting to gather the others.
Three minutes later, she had gathered five more dried-out Goomys in her arms, running back with them to the reformed lake and carefully placing them in. They instantly started swelling with water, swimming out to happily greet the other members of their family. She sighed a happy sigh, watching the reunion take place, before noticing a strange and familiar sensation near her foot. Glancing down, she saw the same Goomy that had attacked her before, now rubbing affectionately against her ankle, wanting to thank her for her help.
"Looks like they're all pretty healthy now," she said, smiling and kneeling down to pat its head. "I'm glad everything ended up working out." Goomy quickly shifted and moved to her side, butting its head against one of the Poké Balls attached to her pack.
Iris raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Huh? You want to come along?"
"Goom," the Goomy responded affirmatively, backing away and looking up into her eyes. She grinned and grabbed a spare Poké Ball, touching its main button to make it grow, before holding it out in front of the slug Pokémon. Goomy cheered happily before pressing its forehead against the button, causing the ball to open and absorb the Goomy inside of it.
She stood up again, glancing at the Poké Ball in her hand, as it quickly registered the capture without a struggle. "Well, it was more trouble than I thought, but it was worth it in the end." She thanked Dragonite again for his help, sending him back to his own Poké Ball before making her way back to camp.
Back at their campsite, Brock had finished his breakfast and taken his time getting everything cleaned up. He was putting away the cooking equipment when he heard multiple sets of footsteps, approaching from different directions. Looking around, he saw Ash and Pikachu approaching from one direction, as Iris approached from the other.
"Hey, Iris!" Ash called out, running forward. "Did you manage to catch it?"
"I sure did!" Iris held up the newly-occupied Poké Ball proudly, as if it were a trophy. "One Dragon-type down!"
"That's great!" Ash reached down and grabbed a Poké Ball of his own, holding it up. "Pikachu and I caught a Pokémon too! It's a Skorupi!"
"Good job, Ash!" Brock chimed in, as he started folding up the picnic blanket. "That'll come in handy. Are you going to use it at the Gym?"
"Sure am! Once we get some training in, that badge is as good as mine!"
The three friends continued talking and laughing as they packed up their campsite, before setting out once again toward Laverre City.
