After leaving Vermilion City, and passing through Cerulean City and heading east, Ash, Misty, and Brock were now traversing Route 9, on their way to Lavender Town. Currently, Ash was battling another young trainer named Dean, who was using a Sandshrew.
"Krabby, Stomp!" Ash ordered. Krabby jumped forward, then he kicked, slamming his foot into Sandshrew's face.
"Use Poison Sting!" Reacting to its trainer's order quickly, Sandshrew curled into a ball, and began to spin, firing glowing purple needles at Krabby, who was to close to the Mouse Pokémon to dodge in time.
"Ah! Krabby, use Bubble!" Krabby opened his mouth, releasing multiple clear bubbles that collided with the opposing ground type, causing small explosion on contact, causing super-effective damage. Sandshrew was send backwards, landing on the ground with a thud, but it managed to get back up.
"Sandshrew, use Rollout!" Dean ordered. Once again, Sandshrew curled into a ball, and began to roll towards Krabby.
"Use Harden!" Ash instructed. The River Crab Pokémon nodded, and his body flashed white and suddenly seemed stiffer. Sandshrew slammed into Krabby, but he barely moved, taking the hit like it was nothing. "Now, Bubble!" Krabby released more bubbles at Sandshrew, who cried out in pain, before falling backwards, fainted.
"Sandshrew is unable to battle, Krabby wins, meaning Ash wins the battle!" Brock announced. Dean recalled Sandshrew, and walked over to Ash, holding a hand out "Great battle!"
Ash accepted the hand shake "Yeah, your Sandshrew was great!" he praised. "Thanks, so was you're Krabby!" replied Dean.
After talking for a few moments more, Dean left, leaving the group to continue on towards Rock Tunnel. "There should be a Pokémon Center coming up soon, just before Rock Tunnel" Brock stated.
"Cool, my Pokémon need a rest after all the battles we did today" said Ash. "Pika" Pikachu agreed. Suddenly, his cheeks sparked for a second before stopping. "Pika?" he questioned, tilting his head. Ash turned to look at his partner, "What's up Pikachu?" he asked. Pikachu just shook his head, saying he was fine, deciding to just ignore the sparking.
As the group exited the Pokémon Center, Ash clipped Nidorino's Poké Ball onto his belt, having switched him back out for Krabby, preferring to not have two water types on his team, in favour of more diversity.
"Ready to go then guys?" Ash questioned. Before either of his companions got reply, Pikachu's cheeks began to spark once again, much more than last time, gaining the group of trainer's attentions. Suddenly, Pikachu ran off, jumping over a fence, and kept running. "Pikachu!? Where are you going?!" Ash cried out.
"Brock, is there anything down that way?" Misty asked the older boy. Brock quickly flicked through his guide book, before stopping on a certain page. "It looks like an abandoned Power Plant is close by" he stated, "Maybe something there is attracting Pikachu towards it.
"How do we get to it?" asked Ash. "It looks like there's a river that leads to it" Brock replied. "Then that's where we're going!" Ash exclaimed
Reaching the river, Ash released Squirtle, while Misty released Staryu and Goldeen, and used to swim down the river, Ash holding onto Squirtle, Misty clinging to Staryu, and Brock with Goldeen. "I'm coming Pikachu…"
Soon, the group arrived at the end of the river, in front of a large, broken down building with what looked like four smoke stacks coming out of the roof. Recalling their water Pokémon, the group walked towards the power plant. Before they could reach it however, a cry came from the roof of the plant, "ELEUUUUUBUUUA!" The group looked up, to see a yellow and black humanoid Pokémon glaring down at them from the roof, before jumping down and landing in front of them, its eyes glowing red. Ash pulled out his Pokédex. "Electabuzz, the Electric Pokémon. An Electric Type Pokémon. When a storm arrives, gangs of this Pokémon compete with each other to scale heights that are likely to be stricken by lightning bolts. Some towns use Electabuzz in place of lightning rods" stated the red device. The Electabuzz roared, before releasing a Discharge from its body. Brock quickly grabbed a Poké Ball from his belt "Geodude, use Mega Punch!"
The Rock Pokémon burst from his Poké Ball, fist glowing as he flew towards the rampaging electric type. The Electabuzz reacted by engulfing its own fist in electricity, and punched, the two Pokémon's fists colliding, Mega Punch versus Thunder Punch. Electabuzz swung its body around, tail glowing a metallic silver, slamming it into Geodude, causing the rock type to fly backwards.
"No, Geodude!" Brock exclaimed. Geodude pushed himself back up, "You okay, Geodude?" Geodude nodded in response, "Okay then, Rollout!" The rock/ground type, curled into a ball, and rolled towards Electabuzz, slamming into it. Electabuzz cried out in pain, and kicked, hitting Geodude with a super-effective Low Kick. Geodude groaned as he pushed himself back up. The electric type ran at Geodude with a Quick Attack, slamming into the Rock Pokémon.
As Geodude pushed himself up once again, he let out a roar of "GEO!" before he began to glow with a white-blue light. The three trainers watched on in surprise as Geodude began to grow larger, gaining short legs, and a second set of arms. The light faded, and in Geodude's place, was a Graveler. Ash quickly scanned the newly evolved Pokémon with his Pokédex. "Graveler, the Rock Pokémon, the evolved form of Geodude. A Rock and Ground type Pokémon. It rolls on mountain paths to move. Once it builds momentum, no Pokémon can stop it without difficulty. Upon evolving, this Graveler has learned the moves: Rock Polish, Magnitude, and Rock Blast"
"Congratulations, Graveler!" Brock called out happily. "Grav!" the Rock Pokémon replied. Brock smiled, "Okay, Graveler, use Magnitude!" Graveler jumped into the air, and then slammed himself into the ground, shaking the ground, causing Electabuzz to cringe in pain and fall over, "Now, Rock Blast!" Rocks formed around Graveler's body, which then shot at Electabuzz, one after the other, it didn't get back up.
"Good job, Graveler!" Brock called out. With Electabuzz now out of the way, the group ran into the power plant, with Graveler following behind. As the group ran through the plant, they came across a cage, filled with many electric type Pokémon: Voltorb, Magnemite, Elekid, Jolteon, and many others, including a certain Mouse Pokémon, but all of their eyes were glowing the same red colour as Electabuzz's.
"Pikachu!" Ash cried, spotting his partner in the cage. "Graveler, use Rock Blast on the cage door!" Brock instructed, Graveler formed rocks and fired them at the door, breaking it down easily. Ash ran into the cage and knelt down in front of Pikachu, "Pikachu, you okay buddy?" he asked. Pikachu didn't answer, he just surrounded himself with electricity and tackled Ash with a Spark attack. "Gah!" ash cried, "Pikachu, what's wrong!?"
"Pikachu's eyes are glowing red like Electabuzz" Brock stated, "Maybe something here is controlling them and making them aggressive" he theorized.
"I thought I heard something over here!" exclaimed voice from a nearby hallway. Emerging from the hallway, were two men in familiar looking black uniforms.
"Team Rocket!" Ash shouted. The two grunts jumped at Ash's cry "Intruders!" one of them cried. The grunts threw a Poké Ball each, releasing a Raticate and a Drowzee. "Raticate, Quick Attack!" "Use Psybeam, Drowzee!"
Ash threw his own Poké Ball, "Squirtle, go! Use Bite on Drowzee!" "Graveler, Rollout on Raticate. As Squirtle emerged from his Ball, he avoided the multi-coloured beam coming from Drowzee, and bit down hard on the psychic type's head, causing it to cry out in pain. Raticate collided with the rolling form of Graveler, who was way to strong for the rat to handle, sending it flying backwards into the grunt who owned it.
"Squirtle, Water Gun!" Squirtle let go of Drowzee, and fired a blast of water at it, sending it flying as well, back into its trainer. Before the grunts could get back up, the trio ran past them, leaving Graveler and Squirtle to keep the grunts down, and to make sure nothing happened with the captured electric types. The trio entered a room and were shocked at what they saw, a few Rocket grunts, and a large yellow bird-like Pokémon in a cage, and it looked like electricity was being sucked from it.
"That's a Zapdos!" Brock exclaimed.
"What?!" cried Ash, quickly scanning the bird with his Pokédex "Zapdos, the Electric Pokémon. An Electric and Flying type Pokémon. A legendary Pokémon that is said to live in thunderclouds. It freely controls lightning bolts"
"They must be using Zapdos' electricity to control the electric types somehow, which is why Pikachu was drawn here!" Brock realised.
"Team Rocket, let Zapdos go!" Ash demanded, the Rocket Grunts looked at the boy like he was crazy. "Yeah, right, go Sandslash!" The evolved form of Sandshrew appeared in front of them, glaring at the intruding trio.
"Go, Bulbasaur, Charmander!" Both Starter Pokémon appeared from their Poké Balls ready for battle, "Bulbasaur, Razor Leaf, Charmander, Flame Burst!" Both Pokémon obeyed, firing sharp leaves and a fire ball at the opposing ground type.
"Sandslash, use Slash!" Sandslash avoided both attacks, and rushed forwards, claws glowing white, as it slashed at both opponents.
"Dodge it!" Ash ordered, narrowly, both of his Pokémon managed to avoid. "Dragon Rage, Energy Ball!" Purple flames and a green orb blasted Sandslash, knocking it out surprisingly easily.
"Charmander, Flame Burst on the cage bars!" the fire type move hit the bars, heating them up and making them red hot. Misty seemed to understand what Ash was thinking, "Poliwag, Ice Beam!" she ordered, as she released the Tadpole Pokémon, who then froze the bars. "Now, Charmander, break the bars with Metal Claw!" Ash instructed, Charmander's claws glowed and he slash at the frozen bars, shattering both the ice and the bars. Immediately, electricity stopped flowing from Zapdos, who stood up, and screeched angrily, glaring at the criminals who kept it captive. It screeched once more, as it released a powerful Thunderbolt, electrocuting all of the grunts in the room. The grunts screamed in pain, before collapsing to the ground. The Legendary Pokémon let out another screech, and then turned to look at the humans who saved it. Under its gaze, the trio stepped back slightly, but relaxed when Zapdos nodded at them, blasted a hole in the wall with a Zap Cannon, and flew off. As the Electric Pokémon flew off, a voice filled the trio's heads "Thank you" They immediately knew who was thanking them.
"Pikapi!" Pikachu came running into the room, Graveler and Squirtle following behind him, and jumped into Ash's arms. "Pikachu!" Ash cried.
"I guess with Zapdos free, the other electric types are back to normal" Brock guessed. "I wonder what Team Rocket wanted the electric types for anyway?" Misty wondered.
"Probably to sell them or something" Brock suggested.
"Well, whatever they were doing here, we've stopped them now!" Ash exclaimed.
"Right. Well, I'll call the police, and then we can head back to the Pokémon Center" said Brock. Ash and Misty nodded, recalled their Pokémon, and left the building, as Brock pulled out his Pokégear and called the Cerulean City police, and then, they started heading back to the Pokémon Center.
Geodude has evolved! I don't really get why Geodude never evolved in the anime, so I wanted to change that. I finished this chapter a lot faster than I thought I would, but since I'm done with school now, I have a lot more time to work on this, though that doesn't stop me from procrastinating. But chapters should hopefully be finished a lot quicker in the past. Next chapter, the group will be heading into Rock Tunnel.
Current Teams:
Ash:
Pikachu (Male)
Charmander (Male)
Pidgeotto (Female)
Bulbasaur (Male)
Squirtle (Male)
Nidorino (Male)
At Oak's Lab:
Beedrill (Male)
Krabby (Male)
Misty:
Poliwag (Male)
Staryu (Genderless)
Goldeen (Female)
Oddish (Female)
Horsea (Female)
Brock:
Onix (Male)
Graveler (Male)
Zubat (Male)
