AUTHOR'S NOTE
This story takes place immediately after the events of my previous story 'The Road To Hoenn', and is based on the episodes 'A Ruin With A View', 'There's No Place Like Hoenn' and 'You Never Can Taillow'. It is a variant on Ash's journey into Hoenn, with Misty accompanying him instead of returning to Cerulean City, and she gets a new Mudkip along the way.
I take no credit for the original episode material used here. This story is written purely for entertainment purposes, with no copyright infringement intended.
Many thanks to jettmanas, who did the artwork for the cover.
Shortly after their arrival in the Hoenn region, Ash and Misty met an aspiring new Pokémon trainer named May. Now, together they were making their way along the road through some woodland, heading towards Oldale Town, where Ash intends to register for the Hoenn League.
"Say Ash, Oldale Town can't be much further now, can it?" asked Misty, clutching Togepi in her arms as usual. "Only we ought to get there before it gets too dark."
"Don't worry, Misty. May said it should be fairly close now," grinned Ash, before turning to Pikachu, who was perched on his shoulder. "Hey Pikachu, you want to race the rest of the way there?"
"Pikachu!" agreed Pikachu with a happy grin.
"Hey, hold up a minute!" cried out a voice from behind.
Turning around, Ash and Misty saw that May was lagging some distance behind them and was now standing breathlessly on the spot.
"What's the matter, May?" asked Misty.
"If I knew you'd run the whole way, I wouldn't have offered my help!" complained May with a furious wave of her arms.
"But we weren't even going that quickly!" argued Ash. "You're walking too slow!"
Misty could not help but agree with Ash on this point. "You know, May, for someone just starting their first Pokémon journey, you don't exactly seem that particularly excited."
"Well, I did have a bike," grumbled May, causing Ash, Misty and Pikachu to all look very sheepish, since it was one of Pikachu's thunderbolts that had accidentally destroyed May's bicycle.
"Um, on the other hand, Ash, there's no real rush is there?" said Misty quickly. "I mean, it won't get dark for a while yet, will it?"
"Yeah, I guess there's no harm if we slow it down just a little bit," agreed Ash with an equally timid expression.
"That's right," smirked May, pleased at getting her way.
So, the three Pokémon trainers walked on at a much slower pace, glad that the weather was so good and the sun shining brightly in the sky. After a while, May broke the silence as she wanted to find out about something that had been puzzling her.
"Hey guys, I always thought that Pokémon were supposed to stay inside their Poké Balls, so how come Pikachu and Togepi aren't inside theirs?"
"Well, I never really bothered to put Togepi in a Poké Ball," explained Misty, looking fondly down at her baby Pokémon. "You prefer being carried in my arms, don't you Togepi?"
"Togi togi prriii!" confirmed Togepi cheerfully.
"And Pikachu likes it better hanging outside with me," added Ash. "Right, buddy?"
"Pika Pika!" agreed Pikachu happily.
A little surprised by this, May got out the Poké Ball containing her own Pokémon and gazed at it thoughtfully. "I haven't gotten any complaints from my Torchic yet. Come to think of it, I barely know anything about this Torchic."
"Then what you should do is look it up in that new Pokédex you just got," suggested Ash helpfully.
"Oh yeah!" smiled May, as she pulled out the miniature red computer from her waist-pack, opened it up and began reading the data about Torchic on the screen. "Well, it says here that Torchic is a fire-type Pokémon and its attacks are..."
But before May could continue, she was interrupted by an enthusiastic cry from Misty, who had spotted something just ahead of them:
"Hey, look over there! What a cutie!"
Ash and May looked ahead and saw what Misty had seen. In the middle of the path just a few feet ahead of them was a round, blue mouse Pokémon. It had circular ears with pink insides, two white dots on its cheeks, black eyes and a thin, black, zigzagging tail with a large blue ball at the end about the same size as its body. As they got closer, May's Pokédex automatically scanned the Pokémon and began to read out loud the data it had:
"Azurill, the water-ball Pokémon. Azurill is able to throw its tail like a lasso, using the momentum to move about."
"It's so adorable. I want it!" said May with a keen look in her eyes.
"Then try and catch it," said Ash.
"All right, I'll just grab me a Poké Ball and throw it!" said May enthusiastically, as she got out one of her Poké Balls and and tossed it right at the Azurill. The ball impacted with Azurill's head, opened up and zapped the Pokémon inside in a dazzling beam of red light.
"Oh yeah!" grinned May. "I caught my first Pokémon!"
But a second later, the ball abruptly opened up again, and Azurill emerged, looking fairly cross.
"Hey! What gives?" exclaimed May in annoyance.
"Well I could have told you that wasn't going to work," sighed Misty wearily.
"Why?" said May defensively. "I threw an empty Poké Ball at it, didn't I?"
"May, you can't expect to catch every Pokémon just by throwing a Poké Ball at it," Misty explained seriously. "You may get lucky on the occasional throw, but usually you have to first battle the Pokémon you want to catch."
"Misty's right," agreed Ash. "Only when the Pokémon is weakened do you try to catch it in a Poké Ball."
"Right!" said May, trying her best not to look embarrassed. "I know. Time for a Pokémon battle! Torchic, I choose you!"
With that, May threw the Poké Ball containing Torchic, and a second later the orange-furred chick-like Pokémon emerged, hopping happily on the ground.
"Now what are those attacks again?" May mused as she tried to recall the data she had read on her Pokédex.
But before May could remember what attacks Torchic could do, the Azurill began hopping away, using its tail like a springboard to bounce away. Torchic began chasing after the Azurill, only to crash right into a tree when Azurill suddenly swerved to the side!
"Ouch! That wasn't good," remarked Misty, with a strong feeling of déjà vu. All this was reminding her of how inexperienced Ash used to be when he started his own Pokémon journey all those years ago. But whereas Ash had started off with a tendency to get overconfident, May in contrast seemed decidedly lacking in self-confidence!
"Torchic, are you okay?" asked May in concern.
Torchic was more annoyed than hurt, and it began to chase after the Azurill again. The two Pokémon went this way and that, all over the place, until Torchic crashed again, colliding right with a rock due to Azurill bouncing out of the way at the last second!
"Okay, next time don't do anything until I tell you too," said May, as she picked up her dazed Pokémon, who looked teary-eyed at her.
"May, if you don't hurry, that Azurill will get away!" pointed out Ash, as the Azurill stood defiantly against another tree.
"All right, Torchic, use your peck attack!" commanded May.
Eyes closed, Torchic leapt forward towards the Azurill, but the blue mouse Pokémon again dodged clear, and the only thing that suffered Torchic's ferocious pecking was the tree! Realising its mistake, Torchic began chasing the Azurill again, moving at such a fast pace, that May, Ash and Misty had to give chase themselves, just to keep the two Pokémon in sight. As the Azurill disappeared behind some bushes, Torchic fired an ember attack, sending a series of laser-like blasts into the bushes. There came a startled cry from behind the bushes, and Torchic looked initially pleased with itself, thinking it had finally managed to get its quarry.
But as Torchic leapt into the clearing behind the bushes, its smile dropped as it saw it had made another dreadful error. Although Torchic's ember attack had indeed hit the Azurill, it had also hit the blue mouse's parents, an Azumarill and a Marill. All three water Pokémon had been scorched by the attack, and were now glowering angrily at Torchic, who began backing nervously away.
"Torchic!" called May, as the human trainers finally managed to catch up, but they were just too late. Before anyone could do anything, Azurill, Azumarill and Marill all simultaneously blasted Torchic with their water gun attacks, knocking it out in one shot and sending it crashing to the ground!
"Oh no! A combined triple water gun attack!" exclaimed Misty.
"Torchic!" cried May in alarm, as the three angry water Pokémon charged straight for the helpless Torchic.
"Quick Pikachu, use thunderbolt!" commanded Ash.
Reacting as fast as its trainer, Pikachu launched into the air and fired a powerful bolt of lightning, which struck the ground right in front of the attacking water Pokémon. There came a small blast, followed by a cloud of smoke, and although they had not been actually hit by the thunderbolt, Azurill, Azumarill and Marill were sufficiently alarmed by the attack, prompting them to retreat and jump into a nearby stream, before swimming away to safety. As the three Pokémon disappeared from sight, May rushed over to the fallen Torchic and cradled it in her arms.
"Torchic, say something! Anything!" pleaded May, but the bruised Torchic was completely out for the count.
"Poor Torchic. It never stood a chance," said Misty sympathetically.
"See, Fire-Pokémon like Torchic are weak against water attacks," Ash explained to May.
"Pika," agreed Pikachu.
May gazed regrettably at her unconscious Pokémon, knowing that it was her fault that Torchic got hurt. "I feel terrible. What should I do about this, guys?"
"Cheer up, May," said Misty encouragingly. "As soon as we reach the Pokémon Centre, Nurse Joy can get Torchic's energy restored."
"Togi togi," added Togepi.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" exclaimed May. "Let's go!"
