An Electrifying New Teammate!

"Baah!" A stray Wooloo happily cried out before grazing on a field of grass unaware that he was currently being watched as Marnie and Chloe were stalking it from some nearby bushes. The gang had recently arrived in the Galar region but rather than rushing straight to Hulbury they'd taken a detour to the Wild Area as Zach had wanted to go off to the lab and train with his team members for some last minute preparation, which gave time for the others to look around the Wild Area or train as well in Ash's case, he'd gone off to train on his own while Marnie decided to help Chloe and keep her word on getting her a Wooloo. They were set to meet back up later that night at the local train station so that they could get a ride to Hulbury.

Marnie briefly pulled out her Rotom Phone in order to do a quick scan of the sheep Pokemon. "Alright this one's perfect for you and Eevee, he's away from his flock and isn't that experienced. Should be rather manageable for ya to catch!"

Chloe lightly nodded and took a deep breath before stepping forward. "Eevee use Sizzly Slide!"

"Sizzly Slide, seriously...?" Marnie facepalmed while uttering out a loud sigh upon hearing Chloe's name for the attack. Eevee's body became cloaked in flames as she rushed towards Wooloo and rammed her body up against Wooloo's before tackling him to the ground! Wooloo let out a pitiful sounding groan before going limp beneath Eevee as his eyes reduced to swirls.

"Alright, now for the Pokeball!" Marnie cheered Chloe on while the less experienced trainer reached for her bag and pulled out a Pokeball before performing an awkward throw as she took aim at Wooloo before proceeding to throw the ball! Wooloo's body was engulfed in a bright red light as he was absorbed into the Pokeball, the ball hit the ground and proceeded to shake for a small bit while Chloe nervously clutched her fists and watched on, hoping that she wouldn't fail her first time. After what felt like an eternity the ball chimed and announced the capture as a success! Chloe's Rotom Phone then turned on to read her it's data as it was registered to her Pokedex.

"Wooloo the Sheep Pokemon, its curly fleece is such an effective cushion that this Pokemon could fall off a cliff and stand right back up at the bottom unharmed!"

"Alright, we did it!" Chloe couldn't help but let out a laugh, falling to her knees as she held out her arms to grab Eevee as the Pokemon ran towards her trainer before jumping right into her arms, Eevee licked her face in an affectionate manner while Chloe continued to laugh and hold her close as they celebrated their first catch!

"So you managed to successfully control her emotions then?" Marnie asked as she noticed Eevee had pulled off Sizzly Slide without looking angry like the previous times she unintentionally used the attack.

"Just the anger so far, still working on controlling her tears." Chloe was still unaware of what Eevee's fourth move was, thus far she utilized Fire, Water and Electric attacks but she had yet to show off a fourth move. Given how the attacks seemed tied to Eevee's emotions due to whatever experiment Team Rocket had put her through, Chloe could only guess that it was some emotion that Eevee hadn't showcased yet like love.

"Even one attack is perfect, given how often we run across Team Rocket or the boys throw themselves into danger you definitely need a means to defend yourself!" Marnie was thankful her friends were gradually becoming strong enough that they didn't need to hide behind her or Ash, it wouldn't be too long until Zach was capable of actually standing toe to toe with more competent Team Rocket threats due to his League challenge but Chloe didn't have a goal or destination yet so progress was a bit slower on her end.

"That's true," Chloe said before uttering out a soft sigh as she gazed off into the distance. "I'm still not sure what kind of goal I want to do, you all look so sure on what you want in life but I can't even decide!"

Marnie placed her hand on Chloe's shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile. "And that's okay, some people are born knowing what they want in life. Ash grew up wanting to become a Pokemon Master, Zach wanted to become Galar's champion while I want to become the world's top Dark type specialist! Some people don't know the moment they're born and some even switch goals, I'm sure that we'll find something that suits you. There's all sorts of careers out there like Coordinators, Showcase Performers, Connoisseurs, Breeders, Rangers... we'll find something for you!"

Chloe looked back at her friend and gave an appreciative smile.


"Sobble use Water Pulse!"

"Sob!"

Sobble created a blue sphere of energy between his hands before firing it at his opponent, a Carkol. The sphere burst and splashed the Rock/Fire type as it let out a pained groan before collapsing onto it's side as swirls formed within his eyes.

"Carkol!" His trainer cried out before hanging his head and returning his Pokemon as a Rotom Drone declared the results.

"Carkol is unable to battle thus challenger Ash wins the match and gets a boost in his ranking!"

Ash stepped forward and held his hand out to his opponent. "That was a good battle, you and your Pokemon fought well. Hopefully we'll get to battle again when you get even stronger!"

The trainer formed a light smile as he raised his head and took Ash's hand before shaking it. "Count on it, once my Pokemon evolve and get stronger we'll be sure to track ya down!"

"Sobb..." The cry of his Pokemon caused Ash to immediately shoot around with concern.

"Sobble?!" Ash's eyes then widened as he realized a blue light had surrounded Sobble's body, engulfing him in a bright light as his body started changing. He began growing taller while the color of his skin changed to a darker shade of blue, his hands and feet changed into a light green color. His fin had retracted and three long strands of hair took it's place, covering up his right eye while his left had a rather lazy look to it. "Whoa, you evolved!" Ash's eyes lit up with excitement but his Pokemon merely glanced at him and shrugged it off as if it wasn't a big deal. Ash pulled out his Rotom Phone to quickly read up on the Pokemon as he'd never seen it before.

"Drizzile the Water Lizard Pokemon, highly intelligent but also very lazy. It keeps enemies out of its territory by laying traps everywhere."

"Drizzile, that's a cool name!" Ash smiled at Drizzile once again but the Water type gave him a blank stare, Ash stared back for a moment before deciding that perhaps Drizzile wanted some alone time. He had enough experience to know that sometimes evolutions had an effect on a Pokemon's personality, if Drizzile wanted to be alone then he'd let him have some alone time before trying out his potential new moves!

"Alright Pikachu, we've gotten Dreepy and Sobble both some decent training so how about the two of us go explore the Wild Area and enjoy the sights?" He didn't get to enjoy much of it last time as they spent most of the day lost in the woods before eventually coming across those strange wolf Pokemon.

"Pika!" Pikachu flicked his tail in agreement before the two set off to admire the sights and scenery. Rookidee and Corvisquire happily chirped about as they flew through the sky above and sat perched in nearby trees. A group of Orbeetle hovered about nearby while some Skwovet and Greedent could be seen gathering up and eating up berries as they found them! Ash even saw a stray Porygon happily flying through the air and enjoying it's newfound freedom!

"Arooo!" A sudden howl caused Ash and Pikachu to jerk their heads and notice the two wolf Pokemon from before standing at the edge of the woods. They appeared to be beckoning for him as they jerked their heads as if to ask him to follow them. Ash and Pikachu turned to one another and shrugged before deciding that it wouldn't hurt, if the Pokemon wanted to try something then they'd have done so last time rather than helping them. They followed the two wolves through the woods with the wolves slowing their pace as to avoid Ash losing sight of them. They'd soon bring Ash into a spot in the forest that felt oddly familiar.

"Wait a sec-This is where I saw you for the first time!" Ash shouted while pointing towards the female wolf, the wolf nodded her head in acknowledgement before pointing forward with her nose causing Ash to turn his head once more before spotting a purple egg with a white lightning bolt patterned onto it sitting a few feet away from in within the grass, looking to be abandoned as there was no sight of Pokemon nor trainer! Ash couldn't help but emit a light chuckle as he seemed to have a habit of finding stray eggs or baby Pokemon, first Togepi and Larvitar then Noibat and Nebby and now this!

Ash picked up the egg and turned to thank the wolf Pokemon for alerting him to the abandoned egg only for them to have disappeared and Ash soon found himself back where he was before he saw the wolves but the egg still remained within his hands!

"Arooo!"

"Thanks whoever you two are, I'll take good care of this egg I promise!" Ash stared down at the egg and formed a rather excitable smile. "I can't wait to meet you!"


"Obstagoon!" Obstagoon charged across the laboratory's field as he saw his trainer enter it and quickly pull him into a tight hug, holding him in a tight grip while uttering out a happy sounding growl. Lucario and Scorbunny laughed at the sight while Zach let out a light gasp for air before wrapping his arms around the badger Pokemon the best he could.

"I-It's good to see you too, Obstagoon!" He gasped out. "I missed you!"

"Pory pory pory!" Porygon 2 excitedly flew circles around them with a delighted expression across it's face. It's cries alerting the people within the lab as a certain orange haired girl peeked out the window and let out a happy squeal before rushing on out.

"I see you've already met Porygon," Zach let out a laugh as Obstagoon released him from his grasp. "And you're looking a lot better, I've been focusing on trying to get you some company here since it's just the two of you!" He glanced around the lab as not a single other Pokemon was in sight other than Sonia's Yamper who was sunning close by. "Which reminds me, come on out everyone!"

Four balls were thrown forward and burst open as Corvisquire, Prinplup, Dratini and Raichu burst out. The Pokemon let out a happy cry upon seeing Obstagoon again before rushing forward to interact with him.

"I caught Raichu not long after you left, he took your space on the team until you recover."

"Obsta..." Obstagoon quietly stared down Raichu, causing the normally chill Raichu to begin sweating nervously as the Dark type towered over him. Obstagoon soon smiled and let out a happy roar before pulling Raichu into a tight hug, welcoming him to the family!

"Rai!" Raichu cried out while letting out a sigh of relief.

"You've sure been busy!" Sonia said, having snuck up on him before throwing her arms around Zach and leaning her head against his with a warm smile. "You caught a newly discovered Pokemon which will do wonders for my research, evolved half your team and caught some new additions too! Though I am disappointed you didn't keep Regice." Sonia fake pouted as Zach turned to her.

"Hey catching it wasn't even my decision, it's too hot here for a Pokemon like that. I wouldn't want to tear it away from it's home, especially when it spent most of it's life in solitude. Once we rescue it, I'm going to personally see to it being put where nobody can find it!" He had no visible sign of wanting a legendary Pokemon, partly due to him thinking he wasn't good enough for something of that scale while the other half genuinely wanted the legendary Pokemon to remain free and happy in the wild! Sonia really found his nobility admirable as she planted a kiss on his cheek before giving him a teasing smirk.

"Ya wouldn't even let me study it for a little bit first?"

"I-I suppose I could if Regice agreed to it." Zach sweated lightly as a huge blush spread across his face. Sonia giggled before giving him a light push.

"I was only teasing you silly! Now I know you've come here to train with your Pokemon so I'll let you be for a bit as I finish up some quick work for my grandma. Then I'll tag along to watch ya kick Nessa's butt, this is so exciting seeing my two closest friends getting to battle it out!" Sonia let out a light squeal before turning and hurrying back into the lab so that she wouldn't keep him waiting whenever he wrapped it up.

Zach smiled as he watched Sonia go before turning back to his Pokemon. "Alright, let's get this training underway!"


"So you've got an egg now too?" Marnie asked, tilting her head as she saw Ash approaching the station with a bright purple egg within his grasp.

"Yep, strange as it sounds Pikachu and I found it abandoned in the woods." Ash neglected to mention the wolves, Marnie didn't believe him last time and it'd be difficult to explain to Chloe as she wasn't there the first time.

"I see..." Marnie felt like Ash wasn't telling her the true story but didn't push, she knew Ash wasn't hiding anything immoral. He'd never steal. "Ya know ya could ask Scorbunny to touch it, I think she has an ability that helps with hatching eggs. The moment she touched Dratini's egg it hatched, I admit ta losing my patience and I'm not sure if it was a coincidence or not but upon asking her to touch my egg, it hatched into Deino!" She held up the ball belonging to the Dark/Dragon type.

Ash looked thoughtful for a brief moment before lightly nodding as if Scorbunny could do that, it'd honestly be for the better. With how often he came across Team Rocket or some other villainous foe lately him having an egg could be quite dangerous! He didn't want to risk Pokemon Hunter R or a Team Rocket member to show up again and risk the egg getting smashed!

"Yeah, I guess it wouldn't hurt. Besides the sooner we met you the sooner we get to start training!" Ash excitedly spoke to the egg, it shook within his grasp in response causing Ash to jump up from surprise before calming himself as he saw Zach and Sonia approaching with Scorbunny, Lucario, and Yamper right behind their trainers. Ash didn't even have to bother asking Zach as soon as Scorbunny saw the egg her eyes lit up and she raced across the walkway and leaped up before touching her paw against the egg's shell! The egg was soon engulfed in a bright white light as cracking noises could be heard as purple paws began punching their way out! A purple lizard-like head emerged from the top with the lightning bolt symbol present on the egg now atop his forehead. The rest of the egg cracked open as he shot out onto the ground and looked up at Ash from the ground, the lizard having a rather found look in his eyes as he imprinted on Ash.

"Tox!"

"Wow a Toxel!" Zach and Sonia both shouted simultaneously with stars in their eyes at the sight of it.

"Toxel?" Ash never heard of this one. He pulled out his Rotom Phone in order to read up on his newly found catch.

"Toxel the Baby Pokemon, tt manipulates the chemical makeup of its poison to produce electricity. The voltage is weak, but it can cause a tingling paralysis!"

Ash and Pikachu both tensed up upon hearing that, their eyes immediately went towards the information half of the screen which confirmed what they'd just heard. Marnie seemed to understand what was going on but Chloe, Zach and Sonia all looked confused as they didn't get what was going on here.

"W-We just got our first Electric capture... ever."

"P-Pika..." Both of them stood down in shock at Toxel as the baby Pokemon looked up at them and let out a happy cry! One thing was for sure this would definitely take Ash and Pikachu some getting used to as throughout their long career they'd never had another Electric type on their team!

I sorta hinted at this back when Ash first met Marnie but yeah, it's happened. Ash now owns a second Electric type! What sort of relationship will it have with Pikachu and will it affect Pikachu's relationship with Ash?

A bit shorter than recent chapters but I tried making it a more balanced focus for a change, I've been focusing on trying to buff up Zach's team lately so he doesn't have to hide behind Marnie and Ash in an arc that's finishing up after this Galar one is finished. Hint: Silver and Blue