Episode 209: A Bite To Remember
A few days came and went since Sora, Kairi, and Pikachu had foiled Team Rocket's Pokémon stealing scam and continued on towards Rustboro City for his very first Gym battle in Hoenn. Aliong the way, they wondered though the woods, looking for a way back on the path as Sora had looked over his PokéNav to see where they are.
"We keep going through here, we'll be sure to make it to Rustboro City in no time," Sora said.
"I hope so, because I don't want to end up being lost again just like the last time," Kairi said.
"Me neither. We should be back on the road again soon enough. What do you say? Shall we keep going?" Sora asked.
"Sure, but I think we should make a stop first, because my feet are starting to hurt," Kairi said.
"Okay, we'll make a stop," Sora sasid. Sora, Kairi, and Pikachu made their stop in the woods. As they sat down, they quickly noticed they weren't the only ones there. There were all sorts of wild Pokémon everywhere they looked. There were some Zigzagoon, Shroomish, Sentret, Furret, Aipom, Spinarak, a Sudowoodo, a ground of Stantler. They decided to to deal with them since they might end up scaring them.
"Kairi, are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Sora asked his girlfriend.
"I see them, Sora. They're all around us," Kairi said.
"Pikachu," Pikachu said.
Sora took off his shoes to air out his feet and Kairi catches a whiff.
"Phew! Have you smelled your feet lately? Because your feet stink!" Kairi said, waving the stink with her hands.
"Not my fault they're sweating so much! It doesn't help if we have been our feet all day long," Sora said.
"I guess that's true. I feel like my toes are going to have blisters the size of Guzzlord if we go on one more step," Kairi said, taking off her sandals.
"You had the right idea not to wear any socks with those sandals, since they'll end up stinking worse than mine," Sora said.
"Yeah, good thing. Maybe, we should get you a pair as soon as we find the nearest town. That way, we could match," Kairi said.
"Can I pick the color?" Sora asked. Kairi giggled at the question. Sora then laughed along with her. After several minutes of rest, the couple put their footwear back on and started to depart when suddenlythey heard a howl not too far away from them. "What was that?" They turn to see where the sound came from and Kairi points upwards at something.
"Up there!" Kairi said. Sora turned to see what Kairi was pointing at. The howl came from a pack of large wolf-like Pokémon With fur being mainly silvery-gray, and they have a sleek voluminous mane of long black ruffled fur extending all the way down their backs, to its tail, which is also long and black-furred. They have black patches of fur below their eyes and on their foreheads. Their legs are black, and they have large sharp-clawed feet. They have upright, pointed ears with black insides, bright red intimidating eyes with slit pupils, a long muzzle, and a large black nose. They have sharp fangs, showing as they were snarling at the couple.
"Pi!" Pikachu said, jumping in front of Sora and Kairi with electricity emitting from his cheeks.
"Okay, call it a wild guess, but I think this might be their territory," Sora said.
"What does the Pokédex have on them, Sora?" Kairi asked.
"I was about to get to that," Sora slowly takes out his Pokédex, being careful not to make any sudden movements and used it to scan the new Pokémon.
Mightyena, the Bite Pokémon
The evolved form of Poochyena
Type: Dark
Mightyena gives obvious signals when it is preparing to attack. It starts to growl deeply and then flattens its body. This Pokémon will bite savagely with its sharply pointed fangs.
"And they look like that they will bite if we're not careful," Sora said.
"We have to get through, Sora; or else they will," Kairi said.
"You're right. Those Mightyena aren't gonna stop us from getting to Rustboro City," Sora said, taking out all of his Pokéballs and hurs them. "Go! Grubbin! Mudbray! Treecko! Torchic! Mudkip!" Kairi had taken out all of hers as well.
"Go! Morelull! Stufful! Plusle! Minun!" Kairi called out. All of the couples' other Pokémon came out to assist Pikachu to battle the Mightyena.
"Pikachu! Thunderbolt! Mudbray! Mud Slap! Grubbin! Electro Web! Treecko! Bullet Seed! Torchic! Ember! Mudkip! Water Gun!" Sora ordered.
"Stufful! Use Tackle! Morelull! Astonish! Plusle and Minun, you use Discharge!" Kairi ordered.
Each of the Pokémon launched their attacks and the Mightyena has dodged them all and lands a Tackle on Pikachu. Another Mightyena lands a Tackle onto Stufful. Both Pokémon tumbles back as the Hoenn starters were about to get ready for another launch attack when something small darts into each of Sora's and Kairi's Pokémon. It turns out that it was just a Poochyena.
"A Poochyena!" Sora said.
"Fair warning, Poochyena: get out of the way or you'll get hurt!" Sora warned.
"That's enough, Poochyena!" A female voice called out. A young woman wearing a ranger's uniform, being an orage jumpsuit and a red cap with a yellow stripe in the middle. She has green hair and light blue eyes. "Just what do you think you are doing in here? This is a Pokémon reserve!"
"Nature reserve? Sorry, we didn't know!' Kairi said.
"It's true. We were just passing through to reach Rustboro City," Sora added. The young woman raised a brow.
"Rustboro City?" The young woman asked.
"Yes, we're heading there so I can have a Gym battle," Sora said.
"Sorry for sounding suspicious. It's just we get poachers in here sometimes and I need to on alert. Anyway, my name is Katrina, and I'm the ranger of this Pokémon reserve," Katrina introduced herself.
"Nice to meet you, Katrina. I'm Sora and this is my girlfriend Kairi," Sora introduced.
"Hi," Kairi greeted.
"Again, I'm sorry about being suspicious," Katrina said, turning to the Mightyena and to Poochyena. "Poochyena, Mightyena, stand down. They're not here to cause problems." They have listened to her. "How about you come with me and I'll show you around. But I want you to promise me that you won't catch any Pokémon while you are in the reserve boundries."
"That's not a problem," Sora promised.
"We won't catch a single one," Kairi added.
"Pika," Pikachu said.
"Great. Now come with me," Katrina said as the couple followed her back to the ranger station. "Welcome to the reserve center. This reserve takes care of sick and injured Pokémon back to health."
"Hard to believe you do this on your own," Sora said.
"I just have the Mightyena to help me out," Katrina corrected him. She picks up an Azurill. "This little Azurill got hurt when it was lost in the woods, but its almost all better now." She places Azurill down as Azurill bounces off.
"I guess it never hurts to have some additional help," Sora said.
"Just like the help you'll need when it comes to travels," Kairi said, poking some fun at him, making Sora laugh a bit.
"You've got me there," Sora said. He took a look at Poochyena. "So, what's the deal with this Pocchyena?"
"This Poochyena was born the same time as the others, but they all evolved into the Mightyena you see today; and they all did it right at the same time," Katrina explained.
"And how long ago did they evolve?" Kairi asked.
"It was just a little while ago; about a few weeks ago, to be exact. This one has the habit of using Tackle so many times, it's been kept out of many battles," Katrina said.
"So, he's a late bloomer?" Kairi asked,
"I guess you can say that, Kairi. But it's no big deal, because there's a possiblity that Poochyena will never evolve at all," Katrina said.
"So, there's no hurry," Sora said.
"Pika," Pikachu said.
Katrina looked right over to Sora and Pikachu and stroked her chin.
"Say, I've been wondering about something, Sora. I hope you don't mind me asking," Katrina said.
"Not a problem. What is it?" Sora asked.
"It looks like you had your Pikachu for a long time, but it looks ready to evolve, but it hasn't. How come you didn't evolve your Pikachu into a Raichu?" Katrina asked.
"It was Pikachu's choice," Sora said. Katrina blinked twice.
"Pikachu's choice?" Katrina asked.
"Yeah. It was back in Vermillion City when I lost to the Gym Leader there. I thought of having Pikachu evolve, but Pikachu just smacked the Thunderstone from my hand and refused it," Sora explained.
"The Gym Leader there had a Raichu and he beat Pikachu pretty quick, but I noticed how slow his Raichu was since evolving and Sora won it the second time," Kairi said.
"So, the Gym Leader just evolved his Pikachu too fast?" Katrina asked.
"Sure did," Sora said. "I have so much Pokémon and most of them have already evolved, but Pikachu is an exception."
"Piachu," Pikachu said.
"Also, Kairi has plenty of unevolved Pokémon and they still came through for her," Sora said.
"Yes, it's true. I am wondering how they're doing back home," Kairi said.
"I'm sure they're fine," Sora said. "Professor Oak, Lea, and Isa are taking very good care of them. And I'm sure your mom is doing her part too."
"I guess you're right," Kairi said. She did wonder about Togetic and her other Pokémon since she hasn't seen them since she and Sora had left with Professor Birch to get to the Hoenn region. Sora took out his Pokédex and he used it to scan Poochyena to see what attacks he could use.
"So, Poochyena can only use Tackle, Howl, and Sand Attack. And no Bite," Sora said, putting his Pokédex away. "Would it be alright if Kairi and I helped your Poochyena learn how to use Bite?"
"No problem at all. I am very busy and the Mightyena could go out on patrol to make sure there aren't any poachers around here. Also, Poochyena could use some more battling experience," Katrina said. With that settled, Sora, Kairi, and Pikachu took Poochyena out into the woods to have Poochyena learn how to use Bite.
"Okay, Poochyena. The key to winning a battle is by using the right moves. The moves you have now isn't enough, so you'll have to learn a new one. The move to learn is going to be Bite. You've seen the others use it and you can use it too," Sora said. "To use Bite, you're going have to use your jaws to bite down on things. Like this." Sora demonstrated by making a bite in the air. "See? Like that. Now you." Poochyena didn't do a bite, but instead, used Tackle on Sora sending him back. He wheezed, "Gotta hand it to your Tackle, it packs quite a punch." Kairi we t over to her boyfriend.
"Are you okay, Sora?" Kairi asked.
"I'm fine. Just gotta try again," Sora said, getting back up. "That was a good Tackle, but we are to bite, not tackle. Let's try again, shall we?" Sora asked. "Okay, Poochyena." Sora took out a stick. "Bite into this stick as hard as you can." Poochyena looked right at the spiky-haired trainer. "You can do it." Poochyena looked at the stick and tackled into Sora once again. "Oof!" Sora fell on his back. "Uh, the sky is falling, the sky is falling." He sits back up. "Okay, this is even harder than I thought." This took a few hours and each and every time, Poochyena just kept tackling into Sora.
Elsewhere, two travelers are in the woods, but they were Abner and Auggie from before.
"I can't believe we lost the chance of nabbing an Ultra Beast. There hasn't been any sightings of those for months," Auggie said.
"Forget about that, Auggie. Maybe we can try our luck with some of the Pokémon around here," Abner said.
"We've been searching around for them for hours and we haven't even seen a Zigzagoon or a Rattata for miles," Auggie said.
"Don't sweat it, Auggie. We'll just set some traps for them. And maybe we might end up getting lucky," Abner said. Auggie laughed.
"Our luck will finally change," Auggie said.
"Good. You set up the traps, while I set up the bait," Abner said.
Auggie has set a net down on the ground and camouflaged it with some forest debris while Abner has set the trap with some berries, only to accidentally set off the trap and trapping Abner in it.
"Uh, Abner?" Auggie asked.
"Get me out of this thing now," Abner said. Auggie cut Abner out of the net and threw the cut piece of net in the bushes behind him, unaware of one of the Mightyena watching them. It takes the the piece with it to show Katrina.
Back over to Sora, Kairi, and Pikachu, Poochyena still was having trouble learning how to use Bite.
"It's okay, Poochyena. You're doing fine," Sora wheezed from the last several tackles from Poochyena. Kairi stepped in.
"Why don't you take five and let me handle it," Kairi said.
"Good idea. Because I don't think I can take one more Tackle in the gut," Sora wheezed, sitting down. Kairi took out a pepperoni stick from Sora's backpack.
"I dont think you're doing the right kind of motivation," Kairi said. Poochyena looked right at her. "Alright, Poochyena. Let's try this. If you bite into this, then you'll be able to learn how to use bite." Poochyena sniffs it. "You bite it like this." Kairi took a bite of the pepperoni stick. "Now you try it." Poochyena bites the stick and it was a much bigger bite than the one Kairi had demonstrated. "That's it!" She took the stick from before. "Now do what you just did before. Just pretend that it's the pepperoni stick."
Poochyena bit the stick and held it tight.
"Once again, you have mastered a Pokémon with ease," Sora said. Kairi smiled at her boyfriend's compliment.
"Thanks Sora. Like I said before, it's a gift," Kairi said. Sora was about to give his girlfriend a kiss on the lips when Poochyena tackles into Sora once more. The little hyena-like Pokémon licks him on the face. "Isn't that cute? Poochyena really likes you, Sora."
"I think Poochyena just likes to use Tackle on me," Sora said, getting back up on. "But at least Poochyena landed a bite after showing him how." Just then, Katrina shows up to find, Sora, Kairi, Pikachu, and Poochyena.
"Sora and Kairi! So glad I found you two!" Katrina said.
"What's wrong, Katrina?" Kairi asked.
"One of the MIghtyena came across this just a little while ago," Katrina said, showing them the piece of net. "This is from a poacher's net."
"That means there could be poachers in the reserve," Sora said.
"Yes, and I'm going to need Poochyena for this one," Katrina said.
"Sure. We should come along as backup," Sora suggested.
"Normally, I wouldn't allow it, but I'll make an exception," Katrina said. "Let's go!"
The two Pokémon hunters have managed to make some successful captures.
"At last, we managed to catch some Pokémon, and these are no Ultra Beasts, but they'll do," Abner said.
"Yeah. And I wonder how much all these beauties will be worth when we sell them to the highest bidder!" Auggie said. Just then, Katrina, Sora, Kairi, Pikachu, Poochyena, and the MIghtyena all showed up to see the hunters with their haul.
"Pokémon hunters. They've got into the reserve," Kairi said.
"Those two are going be sorry they ever came in here," Sora said. He turned to Poochyena. "Let's see if all that training will payoff, Poochyena." The Mightyena moved in first as they howled, startling the hunters.
"Hey! What was that?!" Auggie exclaimed.
"Sounds like more coming our way! Get the nets ready!" Abner said as Auggie went to get them as the Mightyena had arrived and gave Auggie a bite on the rear, making him cry out in pain. His pants ripped to reveal his hearts boxers.
"You damn mongrels!" Auggie hissed. Poochyena bites him on the leg. "Hey! You little runt! Let go of me! I said let go of me!"
"Get off of him!" Abner shouted as he tried to get Poochyena off, only to end up being bitten by him. "Ow! OW!" Poochyena then uses Tackle on him followed by Bite on the rear the same way as Auggie. "Ouch! STOP BITING MY ASS! STOP BITING MY ASS! STOP BITING MY ASS!"
"That'll be enough, Poochyena!" KJatrina called out. She, Sora, Kairi, and Pikachu had shown up in front of the poachers. "You two are both under arrest for Pokémon poaching!"
"Take us if you can!" Abner said as he and Auggie both took out a Pokéball to toss at them.
"Mightyena! Go!" Katrina ordered as two of the Mightyena charges at them and snatches the Pokéballs from them. Poochyena lets go of Abner as Sora stepped in.
"Okay Pikachu! Thunderbolt!" Sora ordered. Pikachu shocks both of Abner and Auggie, making them scream. Sora then takes out a Pokéball and tosses it. "Your turn, Grubbin!" Grubbin comes out of his Pokéball. "Fire your String Shot!" Grubbin uses String Shot to tie them both up. "Now all we need is a big red bow and they'll make such wonderful presents for the prisons."
"Why you little f-" Abner said, before getting his lips strung shout with String Shot. Grubbin does the same for Auggie, ending up being gagged.
"You two can save it for the judge!" Katrina said. She turned in the hunters and freed the captured Pokémon and filled out her report on the arrest. Sora, Kairi, and Pikachu were about to take their leave. "I can't thank you enough for helping out Poochyena. I am really grateful to the both of you."
"You don't have to thank us, Katrina," Sora said.
"We were just happy to help," Kairi said.
"Now, Poochyena isn't going to need us to teach him anymore since he now knows how to use Bite," Sora said, bending down to Poochyena. "Take care of yourself, Poochyena. And be sure you do your best to help them out. Poochyena tackles into Sora again and nuzzles him. Katrina laughed.
"Poochyena must really like you a lot, Sora," Katrina said as she then gets an idea. "I was wondering if you would like to be Poochyena's trainer, Sora?" Sora, Kairi, and Pikachu all looked at her, wondering if she is serious.
"Are you sure about that, Katrina?" Sora asked.
"I'm sure. Poochyena doesn't want to say goodbye to you and I think it's a good idea for him to learn and grow with you," Katrina said.
"But, won't you need some additional help since your Mightyena are short-handed?" Kairi asked.
"Don't worry about it. I'll have some Poochyena eggs delievered to me soon and the Mightyena will teach the new batch of Poochyena what they know. So, it's nothing to worry about. I want you to promise me that you'll take very good care of Poochyena for me," Katrina said. Sora looked right at the bite Pokémon.
"You sure you wanna roll with us, Poochyena?" Sora asked. Poochyena barked to confirm it. "Great. But, let's make it official with a battle. He looked over to Pikachu. "Go for it, Pikachu."
"Pika!" Pikachu said. Poochyena starts up with Tackle.
"Dodge it with Quick Attack!" Sora ordered. Pikachu avoids Poochyena's Takle, using his speed attack and darts right into Poochyena. "Now use Iron Tail!" Pikachu swings at Poochyena with Iron Tail and strikes him hard. Poochyena moves in with Bite and lands a successful bit on the mouse Pokémon, but Pikachu's Static kicks in, paralyzing Poochyena in the process. "Now use Thunderbolt!" Pikachu shocks Poochyena good and fell to the ground. Sora takes out a Pokéball and throws it at Poochyena, making him flow inside. The Pokéball wobbles around and around until stars swirls around it, confirming the catch. Sora's Pokédex starts to buzz, asking him if he wants to keep Poochyena with him. He decides to keep Poochyena in exchange for Mudbray. Sora throws the Pokéball containing his new Poochyena as he barked upon being let out. "Welcome to the team, Poochyena." Poochyena barks in happiness.
As a sign of thanks, she led the coupe to a path they were looking for prior to the misunderstanding from earlier.
"This path should take you down to Rustboro City. Just go down this path and you'll reach it in no time, flat," Katrina said.
"Thank you, Katrina. You have been so very helpful," Kairi said.
"No. Thank you for what you've done and for agreeing to take care of Poochyena," Katrina said. She bends down to Poochyena. "Now Poochyena. Be sure you do what Sora tells you, because from now on, you are his Pokémon." Poochyena nods. "We will all miss you." She hugs him as he licks her face on last time. With that done, Katrina waves goodbye to Sora, Kairi, Pikachu, and Poochyena as they continued towards Rustboro City. As the couple had continued on their way to Rusboro City, they run into a young man, wearing small lens glasses.
"Hello there. Aren't any of you Pokémon trainers?" The young man asked.
"We are," Sora said.
"Good, because I was looking for a challenge. How about you and I have a battle; unless you're afraid to lose," the young man said, taking out a Pokéball. Sora takes out a Pokéball as well.
"You're the one who is going to lose this battle," Sora said, accepting the challenge. Kairi takes out Plusle's and Minun's Pokéballs and hurls them up to let them out.
"Go get 'em, Sora!" Kairi cheered.
"Plus, Plus, Plus!" Plusle cheered.
"Min, Min, Min!" Minun also cheered.
"Let' do this thing! Let's go, Duskull!" The young man said, throwing his Pokéball and Duskull is let out to battle. Sora threw his Pokéball.
"Now, to make your howling debut! Go for it, Poochyena!" Sora shouted as Poochyena is let out. Sora took out his Pokédex and scanned the ghostly Pokémon.
Duskull, the Reqiuem Pokémon
Type: Ghost
Duskull wanders lost among the deep darkness of midnight. There is an oft-told admonishment given to misbehaving children that this Pokémon will spirit away bad children who earn scoldings from their mothers.
"Ooh, scary," Sora said, pretending to shiver with fright. "Poochyena, your Tackle isn't going to work on Duskull since it's a Ghost Type, so Bite will be effective." Poochyena nodded.
"Duskull! Use Night Shade!" The young man ordered. Duskull fired Night Shade from its single eye to strike Poochyena.
"Poochyena! Dodge and use Bite!" Sora ordered. Poochyena ran towards Duskull to land a bite, while avoiding Duskul''s Night Shade.
"Duskull! Turn invisible!" The young man called out as Duskull turned invisible. Poochyena looked around to find Duskull. "Now use Night Shade!" Duskull fires Night Shade while invisible and strikes Poochyena hard.
"Poochyena! Use Howl!" Sora called out. Poochyena howls as his attack power increases. "Now use Sand Attack!" Poochyena kicks up sand all around.
"If you think that's gonna stop me, then you are sadly mistakeing! Duskull! Move in with Hex!" Duskull's eye start to glow purple and light red. Duskull sneds out a sphere of black energy with a red eye in the middle. Duskull sends it to Poochyena to deal some damage.
"Poochyena! Dodge it!" Sora called out as Poochyena avoids Duskull's attack and jumps into the air. "Now use Bite!" Poochyena lands a bite onto the ghotsly Pokémon and gives it a toss and smacks into its trainer.
"Way to go, Sora!" Kairi cheered.
"Plusle!" Plusle cheered.
"Minun!" Minun also cheered.
The young man calls back Duskull and went over to Sora.
"Congrats on the win. You're a pretty tough trainer," the young man said.
"Yeah, you too," Sora said.
"Also, I would like to add, your Poochyena is a real tough opponent," the young man said.
"What can I say? Poochyena and I are just really close," Sora said as Poochyena tackles into Sora once more. "See what I mean?" The young man laughed as Kairi picked Poochyena up.
"I think I do," the young man said.
The young man took his leave of the couple as the couple continued on their way to Rustboro City and with many more adventures coming their way soon enough.