Episode 31: Up the Creek

Ash, Brock, and Brenda are continuing on their journey. They arrive at a bend in a nearby river. Brock says, "Alright, this looks like a perfect place to have lunch."

Ash cheers, "Yeah, let's eat!"

Brock sets down his backpack and begins to unload materials for a picnic lunch.

Ah, the great outdoors, the perfect place for a picnic lunch. Of course, when you're our heroes, you get the pleasure of being outdoors all the time. How lucky are they?

Ash pulls all his Pokéballs off his belt and tosses them into the air. "Come on out everybody!" Turcell, Falcoknight, and Dashilisk all appear. Turcell and Falcoknight cheer happily, and Dashilisk begins to dance around.

Brenda laughs. "That Dashilisk, it's always so happy."

Brock, looking up from pulling plates out of his bag, nods. "Yeah, it sure has a positive attitude."

Dashilisk, upon hearing this, dances some more. "Dashi dashi dashilisk!"

Brenda throws her Pokéballs, releasing Kappaqua, Glitterfly, and Rabbolt. They also cheer happily.

Brock takes a break from setting up to let Blissey and Meteorfight out. The Pokémon all run to go play. Falcoknight and Glitterfly fly around in circles, Turcell finds a sunny spot to bask, Kappaqua, Pikachu, and Blissey go to play in the river, with Rabbolt watching suspiciously and deviously from afar, Meteorfight trains by punching a tree, and Dashilisk begins to run back and forth across the river. After a few moments of playing, Pikachu, Kappaqua, and Blissey turn to watch it. They begin to cheer it on.

Brock calls, "Alright, I have our lunch!" He holds out a plate of sandwiches. Ash and Brenda run over to grab some. They all sit down on Brock's picnic blanket and start eating.

Brenda says, "Wow, Brock, these are your best sandwiches yet!"

Brock smiles. "Thanks, I used a new type of bread that I picked up in Atmos City." He suddenly remembers something. "Hey, I know what could make this better." He reaches in to his backpack and pulls out a jar. "Let's spread some honey on them." He opens the jar.

The moment he opens the jar, there is a rustling in the nearby bushes. Three large Ursaring appear. They roar.

Ash, Brock, and Brenda leap up in shock, as do all the Pokémon except for Dashilisk, who continues its water-running. The Ursaring angrily unleash several Hyper Beams. Everyone runs for cover, except Dashilisk. The Ursaring rampage through the camp, eating the food. Two of them fight over the honey.

While hiding behind a tree, Brenda pulls out her Pokédex. "Ursaring, the Hibernator Pokémon and a Normal-Type. Ursaring are very territorial, and will attack without provocation, especially if those who infringe on their property possess food. Evolves from Teddiursa at level 30."

At this point, Ash, Brock, Brenda, and all of the Pokémon except Dashilisk are hiding behind trees. Dashilisk continues its business care free. The Ursaring finish eating the last of the food. They turn and look around. They notice Dashilisk and growl at it.

Ash shouts, "Dashilisk, get out of there!"

Dashilisk makes it to the shore and looks to Ash. It waves happily. "Dash dashilisk!"

The Ursaring stomp towards it angrily and growl some more. Dashilisk smiles at them and begins to dance around excitedly. All three Ursaring begin to charge their Hyper Beams.

Ash shouts, "Dashilisk, out of the way!"

Dashilisk still refuses to take the situation seriously. It continues to dance. The Ursaring have fully charged the Hyper Beams and prepare to attack.

Ash shouts, "Dashilisk, no!" and leaps at Dashilisk. Just as the Hyper Beams would hit Dashilisk, Ash pushes it out of the way. The two land in the river and are swept away.

Brock and Brenda shout, "Ash!"

The Ursaring take a few moments of looking where Dashilisk just stood with confusion, but then they turn around to look back at the picnic site. Once they are certain that all of the food is gone, they leave the way they came.

Brock, Brenda, Pikachu, and the other Pokémon come out from hiding. Pikachu runs up to the edge of the river and looks in the direction Ash and Dashilisk were carried. It calls out, "Pika! Pika!" There's no response. Pikachu hangs his head and sadly laments, "Chu…"

Brenda and Brock walk up to it and look around as well. Brenda asks, "Do you think Ash and Dashilisk are okay?"

Brock looks around and points out, "He doesn't have any of his Pokémon, but then again, he is Ash. If anyone can manage, it's Ash."

Falcoknight flies over and declares, "Falllllllcoknight!"

Brock asks, "Do you want to go and look for Ash and Dashilisk?" Falcoknight nods. "Alright, go ahead." Falcoknight flies off in Ash's direction.

Brenda turns to Glitterfly and suggests, "Why don't you go and help out?" Glitterfly nods and flies off as well.

Ash is struggling to stay afloat in river. He and Dashilisk are being dragged down the river by a strong and powerful current. He looks further down the stream and sees rapids ahead, followed by a waterfall. He shouts between moments of being forced underwater, "Dashilisk…We have to…get out of…the water…before we get…to the waterfall!"

Dashilisk, who seems to have slightly more control than Ash, but not much, responds, "Dashi!"

Ash grabs a hold of Dashilisk's back. Dashilisk attempts to swim with Ash in tow to shore, but has trouble due to the current. Just as it's about reach the shore, they are forced into a rock and split apart, Ash being thrown back into the center of the river. Dashilisk quickly turns around and swims back after Ash, who continues to struggle against the current. Ash manages to grab back on, and Dashilisk attempts to swim back to the banks again, but it's too late. The hit the waterfall.

Ash screams in terror. Despite the extreme situation, Dashilisk remains calm. As it falls, it repositions Ash so that he's riding on top of its back. It then reorients itself so that its head faces downwards. It then releases a jet of water from its mouth using Scald. Just as it did in Ash's battle with Skyler, Dashilisk uses the recoil of the attack to slow their descent. Despite its efforts, the two still fall. They hit the bottom of the fall, but thanks to Dashilisk, it's not that sudden of an impact

Now that they are in calmer waters, Dashilisk manages to swim Ash to the side of the river. They both crawl up onto the bank. Ash coughs. He looks to Dashilisk and says, "Wow, that was some quick thinking Dashilisk, good job."

Dashilisk smiles and begins to dance again. "Dashi dashi!"

Ash sighs and shakes his head. "Dashilisk, I think it's great that you're always so happy, but don't you think you should some things a little more seriously?"

Dashilisk doesn't seem to take this statement in, as it continues to dance care-free.

Ash gets up and looks up the cliff that the waterfall is on. He says, "Hmm, it seems pretty high and steep to climb." He pulls a Pokéball off his belt. "I know, I'll have Falcoknight fly up and look for an easier path." He throws the Pokéball, but it just bounces back to his hand without releasing anything. "Darn, I forgot that Falcoknight and all my other Pokémon are still with Brock and Brenda." He turns to Dashilisk. "I guess it's just you and me."

"Dashilisk!" Dashilisk continues to dance.

Ash shakes his head in disbelief. He looks around some more. "Alright, I suppose we should hike along the bottom of cliff until we find a spot that we can climb up." Dashilisk is too busy dancing to answer. Ash begins to walk off, Dashilisk notices and rushes to catch up, dancing all the way.

Who's that Pokémon!?

By changing the direction in which it rotates, this Pokémon communicates its feelings to others. When angry, it rotates faster.

Team Rocket is huddled around a tree stump with their balloon parked nearby. Jessie asks, "Alright, what's on the menu today chef?"

Meowth is rummaging around in a sack. "Something special. That guy I was talking to on the outside of the forest, he was eager to get rid of this for some reason, so I took it off his hands." He pulls out a jar and a box.

James exclaims, "Ooh, honey and crackers. We get something sweet today."

Meowth nods. "You bet. What sucker gives up perfectly good honey?"

Jessie replies, "A sucky sucker."

Meowth says, "That's for sure," as he opens the jar.

The moment he opens the jar, there is a familiar rustling in the nearby bushes. Out of the bushes burst the three Ursaring from before. Jessie and James, who are facing the Pokémon, freeze up in fear.

Meowth, who is facing away from them, gulps and states with fear, "Let me guess, there's something really scary behind me…"

Jessie and James slowly nod.

Meowth slowly turns around and sees the Pokémon behind him. He's instantly paralyzed in fear.

The Ursaring roar and unleash their Hyper Beam attack at Team Rocket, causing them to fly into the air. The Ursaring happily eat the honey and crackers.

As Team Rocket flies into the air, Jessie smacks Meowth and shouts, "That 'sucker' gave you the honey because this area is full of Ursaring!"

James also hits smacks him. "You dummy! Didn't you know we were in Ursaring territory!?

Wobbuffet appears. "Wobbuffet!"

Meowth cries, "I agree with Wobbuffet!"

Jessie asks sternly, "And what did Wobbuffet say?"

Meowth suggests, unsure of himself, "That it's not my fault…?" He laughs awkwardly.

Jessie grunts, "Likely story," as she returns Wobbuffet.

James adds, "I know another likely story."

They all shout at once, "And it's that we're blasting off again!" They disappear in a twinkle of light.

It's Klang!

Ash and Dashilisk have found a slightly less steep section of cliff, and have proceeded to climbing it. They are almost a fourth of the way up. Ash looks down and calls to Dashilisk, "Stay focused, we can make it."

Dashilisk nods. Ash looks back up, and is shocked by what he sees. Three Ursaring are staring down at them from the top of the cliff. One of them angrily growls. It unleashes a Hyper Beam at Ash. Ash quickly moves sideways, just avoiding the beam. The Ursaring tries another, this time looking at Dashilisk. Ash warns, "Dashilisk, get out of the way!"

Dashilisk looks up at the Ursaring and waves happily at them. "Dashilisk!"

Ash shouts, "Dashilisk, no get away!" This causes Dashilisk to look at Ash and then wave at him. During this process, the Hyper Beam hits just above it, causing it to lose its grip on the rock wall. It slips and falls almost twenty feet.

Ash shouts, "Dashilisk!" He quickly climbs downwards and jumps for the last several feet, landing right next to Dashilisk. Dashilisk is lying on the floor, holding ones of its legs. Ash, beginning to sound angry demands, "What do you think you were doing Dashilisk!? You did exactly the opposite of what I told you, and you fell!"

Despite holding its leg in pain, Dashilisk happily responds, "Dashi dahsi!"

Ash groans. "How could you still be happy!? Your foot is hurt and you probably can't walk now! How is this a good thing!?"

Dashilisk looks towards its foot, thoughtful for a moment. It then happily answers, "Dash dashilisk!"

Ash looks up and sees the Ursaring leaving. "We'd better get out of here in case those Ursaring decide to climb down here and finish the job." He looks around and notices a small cave in cliff base nearby. "Let's go hide over there." He grabs Dashilisk and drags it towards the tunnel.

Falcoknight has made it to the waterfall. It looks around and sees no sign of Ash or Dashilisk, probably because they've made it to the cave. It looks towards the waterfall and sighs regretfully. It turns around.

A little while later, Falcoknight returns to Brock and Brenda. Pikachu stands at their feet, looking worried. Brock asks, "Did you see anything Falcoknight?"

Falcoknight shakes its head and says regretfully, "Falco…"

Brock looks at his Pokéssistant. "According to this map, there's a waterfall in that direction. If Ash and Dashilisk didn't make it out before then, I'm afraid of what might have happened."

Brenda asks Falcoknight, "And you went all the way to the waterfall, and didn't see either of them?" Falcoknight nods.

Brock suggests, "We should go look on foot. Come on." Pikachu instantly moves.

Ash and Dashilisk are in the cave. Ash has just finished tying some vines around two sticks on either side of Dashilisk's injured leg in order to make an improvised splint. Ash says, "That should do it. I hope that I followed Brock's instructions okay."

Dashilisk smiles and gives him a reassuring, "Dashilisk!"

Ash looks at Dashilisk and sighs. "Look, I'm sorry that I raised my voice at you earlier. But that's twice today that your carefree attitude has put us in a bad situation. If you had just been paying attention when those Ursaring attacked, and realized they were angry and not friendly, then I wouldn't have had to push you into the river. And look where losing focus while we were climbing got you."

Dashilisk responds, "Dash dashilisk," as if to say, "It's okay."

Ash peeks out the cave entrance. "Alright, it looks like those Ursaring won't come back. Let's get moving." He looks Dashilisk over, turns around so that his back is facing it, kneels down, and says, "Come on, hop on. I'll carry you." Dashilisk happily obliges and jumps onto Ash's back. Ash grunts and stands up straight with effort. They leave the cave. Ash looks up the cliff and says, "I guess that climbing up this is out of the question now. Maybe if we keep on following it, it will turn into a more gradual hill." He walks on, struggling to carry Dashilisk.

It's nighttime. Ash and Dashilisk are taking refuge in another cave. Dashilisk is leaning against the back wall of the cave, with its injured leg elevated on a rock. Ash is tending to a fire he lit. He says, "Don't worry Dashilisk, we'll just spend the night here, and then we'll find everyone else tomorrow."

Dashilisk nods. "Dashi." And gives Ash a thumbs up.

Ash shakes his head disbelief. "Of course, what am I saying? You never worry about anything." They just sit there looking at each other for a while. Ash finally says, "You know, I've never met anyone, person or Pokémon, who is as outgoing and cheerful as you are. There's no way that having those kinds of personality traits can be a bad thing, and I never thought it was possible, but it can be overdone." Ash shakes his head and sighs. "Oh, who am I kidding? Me asking you to stop being so cheerful would be like you asking me to stop trying to be a Pokémon Master. It's just not who we are."

Despite the fact that it's lying down, Dashilisk begins to wiggle its upper body as if it were dancing. "Dash dashilisk dash!"

Ash chuckles. His stomach rumbles. "Speaking of things that will never change, I'm hungry. We didn't even get to finish lunch." He groans.

Dashilisk smiles, and from underneath it, as if it were hiding it, pulls out an apple. "Dashi dash!"

Ash exclaims, "An apple! Where'd you get that?"

Dashilisk has a flashback to when it was riding on Ash's back. They walk by a tree covered in apples. As they pass it, Dashilisk plucks an apple off the tree. The flashback ends. Dashilsik simply replies, "Dash dashilisk!"

Ash reaches out and grabs the apple. "Thanks Dashilisk." Once he has it, he takes a good grip on it and rips it apart into two halves. He looks at the two pieces and notices one is large than the other. He hands the larger half to Dashilisk. "Here, you have the larger piece, you need to keep your strength up to heal that injury."

Dashilisk happily accepts it. "Dash!" It begins to bite into it.

Ash eats as well. In between bites, he looks to Dashilisk, and Dashilisk to him. They both smile at each other and laugh.

Brock and Brenda are near the top of the waterfall. They and the Pokémon are searching the forest for Ash. Brenda finally says, "It's hopeless. We've searched this area over and over again all day. Ash and Dashilisk aren't here. What if they didn't make it out of the river before they got to the waterfall?"

Pikachu, who was looking in a bush, looks up towards Brenda with worry. "Pika?"

Brock sighs. "I don't know what would have happened to them if they didn't make it out first." He sighs again. "It's getting late. We should take a rest for the night."

Brenda is surprised by this statement. She demands, "But what about Ash!?"

"Ash is probably doing the same. I'm sure he'll be fine, but the later we stay up, the less alert we'll be, and the less alert we are, the less of a chance we have of finding Ash. Not to mention, we wouldn't want to encounter those Ursaring in the middle of the night."

Brenda sighs in despair. "Yeah, I guess." Pikachu joins her in her sadness.

Brock says, "Hey, but don' forget about Dashilisk. Remember its positive-no-matter-what attitude. If it can do it, so can we."

Brenda shrugs. "I guess you have a point."

"Now come on, let's go back to the campsite."

It's the following morning. Ash and Dashilisk are huddled together in the back of their cave, sleeping. The fire is out, reduced to nothing but ashes. Ash wakes up and stretches. He looks around before remembering where he is. He turns to Dashilisk and shakes it to wake it up. "Wake up Dashilisk, we should continue our search." Dashilisk slowly wakes up. Ash asks, "How's your leg?"

Dashilisk moves it a little, but then stops suddenly because of the pain. It smiles at Ash and declares, "Dashi dash!"

Ash shakes his head in disbelief. "And, of course, by that you mean it still hurts too much to walk. You're unbelievable."

Dashilisk smiles. "Dashi!"

Ash stands up fully. "Alright, back on my back." Dashilisk climbs back on Ash's back for another piggyback-style ride. They leave the cave.

They've been walking for a little while now. Suddenly, Ash points ahead. "Hey look there!" He's pointing at the cliff ahead of them. It begins a gradual decrease in height, until in the far distance, it can be seen meeting with the ground. "That's what we've been looking for! We can get to the top of the cliff from there!" With renewed energy, he sprints for the decline.

They've almost made it there when an angry growl is suddenly heard. Ash suddenly freezes. He slowly turns around, knowing what is behind him. The three Ursaring stand there. The middle Ursaring points at Dashilisk and growls, "Ursa ursa ring!" as if to say "We have unfinished business with you!"

Ash kneels down and sets Dashilisk down so it's propped against a tree. He gets back up and looks at the Ursaring. He says to Dashilisk, "If I had any of my other Pokémon, I'd just have Pikachu, Turcell, or Falcoknight battle these Ursaring for you, but seeing as they're not here, and you're in no condition to fight, I have no other choice."

Dashilisk looks at him slightly confused. "Dashi?"

Ash takes a step forward and declares to the Ursaring, "Dashilisk is my friend, and I won't let you hurt it! If you want to get to Dashilisk, you'll have to get through me first!" He raises his arms so that they are straight out in either direction, blocking Dashilisk from the Ursaring's view.

The lead Ursaring grins, as if accepting the challenge, and then growls, "Ursa…" It then commands, "Ursa ring ursa!" All three Ursaring begin charging for another round of Hyper Beams.

Ash closes his eyes and braces himself. Dashilisk looks to the attacking Ursaring, and then to Ash. "Dashilisk?" The three Hyper Beams are fired. In a split second, Dashilisk leaps up, and using its Extreme Speed, knocks Ash out of the way, while also dodging the attacks itself.

Ash exclaims in surprise, "Dashilsisk!?"

The lead Ursaring asks in confusion, "Ursaring?"

Dashilisk declares excitedly, "Dashilisk!" It's back to dancing around. It favors its non-hurt foot, and limps when on its hurt foot, but it seems able to move for the most part. It looks to the Ursaring and says in challenge, "Dash dashilisk!"

The Ursaring growl with rage and each one attacks with another Hyper Beam. Dashilisk dodges each consecutive attack by dancing, making the attack just miss it each time.

Ash says in surprise, "That's what you were trying to do before, back at the picnic! You were paying attention! If I hadn't knocked you into the river, you would have just dodged the attacks! The same if I hadn't distracted you on the cliff side!"

Dashilisk looks back to Ash and nods, happily declaring, "Dashilisk!"

Ash sighs. "I'm sorry I doubted you Dashilisk."

"Dashi!" It returns its focus to the Ursaring. They attempt to attack with more Hyper Beams, but Dashilisk dodges each and every one of them. It then leaps into air, covers itself in water, and rams into the Ursaring.

Ash exclaims, "That was Aqua Jet! You learned how to use Aqua Jet, Dashilisk!"

Dashilisk, now that it is close, attacks with Dragon Claw. This causes the Ursaring to run away. Dashilisk turns to Ash and happily declares, "Dash dashilisk!" and begins to dance the best it can with its injured leg.

Suddenly, "Falllllllcoknight!" can be heard.

Ash looks up to see Falcoknight flying overhead. He calls excitedly to it, "Falcoknight, over here!" Falcoknight sees Ash and turns around.

Within moments its back, and Brock, Brenda, Pikachu, and Ash's other Pokémon are running behind it, coming down the hill.

Ash runs towards them to. Pikachu runs ahead of the others. "Pika!"

Ash shouts happily, "Pikachu!" Pikachu leaps into Ash's arms and Ash hugs it.

Brock asks, "How are you doing? Are you two okay?"

Ash looks to Dashilisk and back to Brock and nods. "Yeah, we're fine. We've reached a new understanding actually. Didn't we Dashilisk?"

Dashilisk nods excitedly. "Dashi!"

Brenda exclaims, "That's great!"

Ash puts his arm around Dashilisk shoulder. "It sure is."

Sometimes the only way to learn about another is to be thrown into the most extreme of circumstances with them. Ash and Dashilisk certainly learned this hard way, but their partnership will be all the stronger now because of it, as the journey continues!

To Be Continued…