Chapter 16: A Rush of Ninja Wisdom!
Along a road, Ash and Froakie are training. Ash yells at Froakie, "Alright Froakie, use Bubble on that rock."
Froakie then fires a barrage of bubble at a big rock, nearly destroying it. "Alright that's good Froakie." Ash praises his Pokemon and says, "Your Bubble is getting stronger."
"No, that's not good enough." A voice rang through the forest, causing the group to stop what they are doing and look around.
"What was that?" Trenor asks in confusion.
Ash then says, "Froakie, Frubble on the tree."
Froakie shoots its frubbles at a tree, and the stranger, having been disguised to blend in with the tree, reveals himself, a ninja.
"A ninja?" The others exclaim as the ninja says, "Ninja art of Leaf Concealment." Then he disappear again.
Froakie notices rustling in a bush, and when it shoots its frubbles, they are shot back, not only that, a Pokemon which looks like Froakie also appears and Ash looks at the Pokedex.
"That's Froakie's evolution?" Ash is surprised to learn that it is a Frogadier, and it is the second stage of Froakie's evolution line.
After showing the speed, both the ninja and Froagdier stop in front of them and the ninja says, "It's nice to meet at of you. I'm Sanpei and I'm a Ninja in training."
"A real ninja..." Bonnie says in awe.
"I have some question to ask you, what do you mean not good enough?!" Ash asks.
"Your Forakie is lacking in strength, he needs more training." Sanpei says.
Froakie is incense of the comment, Ash notices it and says, "If you really think so, then care to show me yours with a battle?"
"Sure. And I can show you why I think like that." Sanpei says.
Froakie begins with Bubble, followed by Pound repeatedly, both of which Frogadier evades with its superior speed.
"Wow, such speed..." Ash gasps at the speed, then he shakes it off, "Froakie! Use Water Pusle!"
Froakie shoots out the water ball, but is deterred by Frogadier's Smokescreen, and the ninja's Pokémon temporarily vanishes.
"Find it and use Water Pulse again." Ash commands.
Froakie shoots out the Ball at the tree, but Froakie hits a decoy made by Frogadier, who jumps from behind it.
"Bubble and Water Pulse." Sanpei says.
Both Pokemon use the same attacks, but Froakie is overpowered.
Frogadier counters Froakie's final Water Pulse with Quick Attack, and Froakie is hit, dodging too slow.
As Sanpei uses a final Quick Attack to finish the battle, he realizes the Froakie cannot fight back. He yells, "Ninja art of Leaf Concealment!"
After Froakie disappears, Ash is showing concern until Sanpei brings it back to Ash. "The match is already decided." He says.
Ash holds Froakie in his arms and says, "I'm sorry, Froakie."
Sanpei walks towards him and says, "The reason you lost the battle is because you fail to plan your strategy well."
Ash grits his teeth in frustration, until Sanpei gives him a pill, "This is made from Energy Root, give it to Froakie and it can be well."
Ash nods and gives the pill to Froakie, but due to the fact it is bitter, Froakie doesn't like the taste.
Trenor says, "That Frogadier is something."
Serena says, "Yeah, to be able to battle Froakie like that..."
"Now we are done here, let's go, Froagdier." Before Sanpei can leave, Ash says, "Please wait!"
"Is there something you need?" Sanpei asks while turning his head.
"Please! Can you teach me that Quick Attack?"
"Pardon me?" Sanpei asks in confusion. The others are also surprised at Ash's comment.
"That Quick Attack is one of the fastest I have ever seen, teach us how to be stronger like you." Ash says.
"Are you sure? My training is very difficult and hard work." Sanpei asks to be certain.
"Yes, please teach the both of us." Ash says while Froakie asks as well. After a moment Sanpei finally agrees to train them.
"Very well, but on one condition. You must take this seriously." Sanpei states.
Ash and Froakie nods at his request, both want to take their training very seriously.
"I want to be a ninja, too." Bonnie says.
"Then I'll help you." Serena says as she made ninja outfits for her and Dedenne, and she pretty like it.
"For the first lesson, for moves such as Quick Attack, the swift movements require muscle serving as springs." Sanpei says. "We will be doing the basic exercise."
"And that will be up to me, the future is now thanks to science." This causes the group to widen their eyes in horror. "Clemontic Gear on, presenting my new machine, Muscle Mass Magnifier Machine."
"Not another boring name..." Luke groans.
"They are basically shoes with springs to allow the wearer to be faster and stronger. Let me show you." But just as he tries to do it, the springs prove to be too strong and then Clemont is blasting off like Team Rocket.
"Well, it seems like the machine has failed." Trenor says.
"So what is that about?" Sanpei asks Ash, who says, "Ignore it, tell us how to do your basic exercise."
"Okay." Sanpei says as he and Frogadier starts to hop left and right in place.
"Come on, you can do it, too." Sanpei says.
"Let's go, Froakie." Ash says. Ash and Froakie starts to hop in place while Sanpei encourages him to go faster and faster over time. After a while Ash and Froakie are hopping in place fast enough to keep up with Sanpei and Frogadiar.
"Alright next up, Froakie you think you could reach that island without sinking?" Froakie and Ash are dumbstruck by this.
"Wait you saying that Froakie can move fast enough to run on water?" Ash asks.
Sanpei then snap his fingers and Frogadiar takes off the edge and into the water, but he never sinks, instead he runs all the way to the island.
Ash and Froakie are impressed by this and are excited to try. "If Frogadiar can do it so can you Froakie." Froakie nods and took off, but sank after the first few seconds. "Froakie needs to move his legs faster." Says Sanpei.
"How about I try it, too?" Ash says.
"Wait, are you serious? Ash?" Clemont asks.
"Yeah, even I couldn't make it." Sanpei says.
Ash just closes his eyes and then run with sonic speed, then he arrives at the island without sinking.
"Amazing..." Sanpei says. Trenor also does the same as Ash and says, "Wow, this is so cool."
"How do you do it?" Sanpei asks. "Not even I can have those insane speed..."
"Well, it is a secret that I shouldn't reveal." Ash says.
"I see. As a ninja, I won't pry other people's secret." Sanpei says.
After a few more tries, Froakie still can't reach the island without sinking. Meanwhile, Frogadiar laughs at the attempts his pre-evolution sinking into the water. Enraged by this Froakie then gets out of water back on land, takes a running stance, and takes off as fast as it could.
"Alright Froakie you can do it." Ash encourages him along with the others. At last Froakie makes it to island without sinking and gloats at Frogadiar's face for underestimating it. Frogadiar just shrugs it off, believing it is all luck. This causes Froakie to be enraged once more.
Done with the first stages of training, Ash's group and Sanpei have lunch together, and he is amazed at their cooking. Once the are resting in the shade of a tree while staring up into the sky, Ash asks, "So Senpei, you said that you were from the Ninja Village, what made you decide to go on a journey Sanpei?"
"I want to grow more as a ninja trainer, my goal is to one day be able to beat my brothers who are the strongest trainers in my village. There is Ippei , he is the best ninja in his village who uses Greninja, and Nihei is the second best, with his Venusaur."
"I see." Trenor says. "I assume that the place you came from is full of Ninjas?"
Sanpei says, "You can say so. We are actually one of the three biggest villages in the world. There is our village, the Ninja Village, and I also heard that there is a Samurai Village and the Magician Village."
Clemont says, "I have heard of them, all three of them have been rivals, and the villages are also the factors that decides the three Starter Pokemon."
"I never knew about that..." Serena says.
"What about you, Ash?" Sanpei asks. "What is your goal?"
"My goal is to become a Pokemon master." Ash says. "Even so, I still have a lot to learn."
"Pokémon Master huh? A long and hard road, but worth more in the end." Sanpei says.
Back at training, Sanpei aims to strengthen the power necessary for Quick Attack by jumping from tree to tree, Ash and his friends also do it. But in the end, Ash almost fall off the cliff and it is thanks to Froakie that he manages to be saved.
"Now that it is over, the final is that-" Before Sanpei can continue, the floor rumbles and a purple Meowth ninja machine appears. The others are surprised at the sudden appearance and Sanpei asks, "What is that?"
(Insert Team Rocket Motto.)
"Here come the clowns again." Luke sighs.
"Who are you saying clowns?" Jessie says irritated.
"We will be taking those two frogs with us." Meowth says.
"As if we let you." Ash says, Sanpei says, "He is right, if you are bad guys, you must face our wrath."
The both of them yell, "Froakie/Frogadiar." Both Pokémon ready and charges forward to attack.
"Use Quick Attack to close in, follow it by Water Pulse." Both of them rush in to attack but Froakie is falling behind and Team Rocket's machine is still launching metal stars at them. But one of the stars imploded close to Froakie pushing him back. Frogadiar sees this, but fails to notice the net casted by Team Rocket and gets caught.
"Oh no!" Sanpei gasps in horror as his Pokemon is taken.
"Pikachu! Sylveon! Iron Tail!" Ash yells as they also charge forward, but they are also captured by the net as well.
"Froakie help Frogadiar." Froakie then tries to rush in while avoiding more nets launched by Team Rocket. The more nets that came, the faster Froakie gets, and eventually Froakie is fast enough to create other images of himself.
"Double Team..." Sanpei says. "So it learned Double Team instead..."
"Wait, where is the real one?" Team Rocket are now confused as they didn't know the real Froakie. Ash uses the chance and he smiles, "Froakie! Use Bubble to free them!"
All the images then fired a Bubble Attack at the nets, freeing Pikachu, Sylveon and Frogadier, Team Rocket was surprised at first, and then they start to feel enraged.
"How dare you..." But their angry faces turn into horror seeing the determined faces of the Twerps.
"Use Water Pulse!" Ash and Sanpei yells as both frogs create a giant ball of water at the mech. The mech then falls down once the ball hits.
"Time to finish it off. Pikachu! Thunderbolt! Sylveon! Moonblast!" Ash yells. The two Pokmon shoot out their attacks and destroy the robot.
"TEAM ROCKET'S BLASTING OFF AGAIN!" The trio say as they fly sky high.
Back at the road, Ash says, "Although Froakie didn't learn Quick attack, but it learns Double Team."
"Yeah. But it is better than nothing. Now I have to go." Sanpei says.
Before they bid farewell, Ash also promise Sanpei to have a battle in the future.
Here is the new chapter, and Ash and the group finally meet Sanpei, I will have two more chapters that will be similar to this one, but with the Chespin and Fennekin, I hope you like it.