Chapter 39 Route 6
As Ash and his group are now on their way, they finally get to Route 6 and encounter Team Yell who is watching at a Silicobra. Ash and the others are annoyed since they are blocking the path to Stow-on-Side.
"What a cute Silicobra." The make grunt says.
"Just look at those adorable eyes." The female grunt says.
"It's our duty as Team Yell to make sure Silicobra gets a nice peaceful sleep!" The male says to the female.
Ash says, "Those guys again? They sure know how to annoy us somehow..."
Then they see a woman walking by as she asks, "Hello there. If I promise not to wake the Pokemon, will you let me through?"
"Of course. It'd be our pleasure." Then the woman passes through the grunts.
Hop walks over and he says, "Oh, hey, Ash, everyone."
"Hop, good to see you again." Ash says, and he notices how different he is compared to the time when they leave Motostoke.
"You're heading to Stow-on-Side, right?" Hop asks.
"Yeah, but first, we have to get past the grunts." Mark says, "They are blocking the path after all."
Hop walks towards the grunts and says, "Oi, Team Yell. Don't suppose you'll let us through?"
"Nah, you are way too loud, Can't be lettin' you through." The male says, "And we're particularly not fond of kids wearin' the Challenge Band!"
"With all your stompin' around, Silicobra is sure to wake up!" The female adds.
"Right..." Ash says as the fact that they make more sound than them as the Silicobra is waking up. Hop asks, "What do we say, Ash? If we don't get past them, we won't be able to continue our Gym Challenge at Stow-on-Side."
"Well, then we are going to fight." Ash says as they reach their Pokeballs.
"You two are way too noisy. You don't wanna wake up Silicobra, now do you?" The female Grunt says.
"I swear, kids these days...Well, we've got no choice. We have to send you packin'. It's all for the sake of Silicobra."
Then they send out Skunky and Liepard, Ash sends out Feraligatr and Hop sends out a Pokemon known as Cramorant, who is a big bluebird. But Hop is being defeated in the end, so Alice uses her own Aromatisse to defeat the Liepard as Ash defeats his Skunky in the end with Feraligatr's Mega Kick.
"Ugh! Why do you 'ave to be such a bother?" The female grunt groans. "Silicobra might wake up after all that ruckus!"
"Then there's no point in us stickin' around! Let's get out of here! We'll make these bothersome kids holler some other day." Then the two grunts run away, and then Ash also goes towards the Silicobra, he offers some snacks and he eats them. And then it agrees to join Ash.
Silicobra: The Sand Snake Pokemon: Ground Type. As it digs, it swallows sand and stores it in its neck pouch. The pouch can hold more than 17 pounds of sand.
"It is a good thing that Nora told me how to capture it." Ash smiles as he puts the Pokemon away.
Hop turns to Alice and says, "Alice, you and your Aromatisse were brilliant together."
"Yeah, but why did you lose to them? It is not normal for you." Gloria says.
Hop frowns and says, "See, Bede really wiped the floor with me the last time we battled...And don't get me wrong- I can take a loss! Battling means you've got to lose sometimes."
"Then why are you feeling sad about it?" Alice asks.
Hop frowns, "He said that I was dragging Lee's good name through the mud, being so rubbish like I was..."
Serena says, "That is so mean... He shouldn't say that to you!"
Lillie says, "Hop, you don't have to listen to his words. He is just a jerk who acts like he is some sort of superior by using Chairman Rose's name."
"But I just can't get those words out of my head!" Hop yells. "If I am weak, then people will think Lee's weak, too... But I don't want that! I can't let Lee get dragged down! He's the unbeatable Champion! I am gonna have to take some time figuring this out. See you around..."
Hop rushes away with haste, causing the group of seven to get worried.
"He is one of the Gym Challengers endorsed by Leon, right?" They turn around and see Delia walking with an old woman. And they realize the woman is no other than Opal, the Fairy Type Gym Leader of Ballonlea.
"Ms. Opal? Mother? What are you doing here?" Ash asks.
Delia says, "Ash, she is my aunt, which means that she is your Grandaunt."
"Wait, you are related?" Dawn gasps as well as the others.
Opal laughs a little and says, "I know it may be confusing, but yes. My name's Opal Ketchum. If you want to know more, have a look at my League Card."
She gives them all the League cards. Gloria looks at it and says, "You really are old...so are you looking for a worthy successor?"
Delia says, "Yes. Auntie has been finding one since she really needs to retire. But she hasn't found one."
"I could have given the Gym Leader to you, Ash." Opal says to him. "But I know that you prefer traveling around rather than staying at my Gym, right?"
"I am sorry, Grandaunt..." Ash frowns.
"It is fine. In fact, I'll keep an eye on you: Ash, Gloria, and Alice. I want to see what you can do when you go all out." Opal says.
Then Delia says, "Well, Ash, I am going to take Opal back to the Stow-on-side. So I'll see you guys there."
They nod as the two adults leave. Serena asks, "So you don't know anything about your Grandaunt?"
Ash says, "I only know about my Grandmother to be honest since we have been contacting each other ever since I arrive at Kalos."
"So your Grandmother lives in Kalos?" Alice asks."I don't think you have told me about it..."
"Yeah. In fact, Serena knew her well." Ash says. "Her name is Palermo, and she is the founder of the Showcases and the first Kalos Queen in history."
"What? You mean...you and Palermo are related?" Serena asks in surprise. "I didn't know that."
"Well, I can't tell her that since you are traveling with me. But she did tell me that she has high regards for you." Serena nods as they move forward.
On Route 6, they decide to do some training and capture some Pokemon, and Lillie notices a Hippopotas and she wants to capture it. With the help of Cloyster's Icicle Spear, she manages to defeat it and also captures the Pokemon in the end.
Serena is now training Shiftry and Pancham in the wild, and much to her surprise, Pancham starts to glow and it becomes a Pangoro. Serena is surprised as she says, "Pancham...you evolved..."
Pangoro looks at its bigger body and he is frowning a little because he won't be able to be as flexible as Pancham. Ash says, "But why did Pancham evolve until now? I mean...he had no sign of evolving back in Kalos."
Rotom says, "That's because Serena has to have a Dark-type Pokemon in the team if Pancham wants to evolve into Pangoro."
"I see...because I have Shiftry, so Pancham can evolve..." Serena says, "But now I should think of performances that are good for Pangoro..."
She also trains Drilbur and it evolves into Excadrill, unlike Iris', Serena's Excadrill wouldn't usually curl into its shell. And when Steenee learns how to use Stomp, it also evolves into Tsareena, and finally, her Chinchou evolves into a Lanturn in the end.
Gloria has Ash help her evolve Gurdurr by trading, and her Tranquill evolves into Unfezant after battling some Maractus on the way. Wimpod also trains really hard and it evolves into Golisopod, and so is Woobat, who evolves into a Swoobat.
Alice is trying to have Impidimp under control, and it also evolves into a Morgrem and it is using False Surrender on her. "I really don't like this Pokemon..." Alice mutters.
Trenor captures a Torkoal in the wild, as he learns from Ash about how to train it. He also captures a Helioptile in the wild and also uses a Sun Stone to evolve it into a Heliolisk.
Now Ash is training as he sends out Hatenna and Impidimp. Both of them battle really hard until they evolve into their second stage.
Hattrem: The Serene Pokemon: Psychic Type. Evolved from Hattena at LV:32. No matter who you are, if you bring strong emotions near this Pokémon, it will silence you violently.
"I guess you have a Pokemon that can keep you in check." Gloria says.
"I know." Ash sighs.
Morgrem: The Devious Pokemon: Dark and Fairy Type. Evolved from Impidimp at LV:32. When it gets down on all fours as if to beg for forgiveness, it's trying to lure opponents in so that it can stab them with its spear-like hair.
Alice comes and says, "Looks like your Impidimp also evolves."
"Yeah...but he is really hard to tame." Ash mutters.
Just then, they notice some Yamask on the road, instead of holding the faces, they seem to hold something instead. Ash asks, "Hey, are they Yamask? They are not holding the faces!"
Rotom says, "Leave it to me."
Yamask Galarian Form: The Spirit Pokemon: Ground and Ghost Type. A clay slab with cursed engravings took possession of a Yamask. The slab is said to be absorbing the Yamask's dark power.
Perrserker says, "So in other words, it was possessed."
Yamask wants to battle them and then Ash lets Perrserker do the honors. He uses Flash Cannon to attack the Pokemon, but Yamask uses Hex, hurting the Pokemon. In the end, Perrserker defeats it with a Metal Claw and Ash captures it.
"Now I've realized...Nora has a Runerigus, right? Does that mean it is the evolution form of Yamask?" Alice asks.
"If that's the case...I would like to have a cool Runerigus." Ash replies.
When they keep walking, they see two ladders, one goes to the bottom and the other one goes to the top. There is also a sign that says that one leads to Stow-on-Side and the other one goes to Laterally. They decide to go to Stow-on-side first since it is where the next gym is. But they see a lab scientist that is on the road with a fossil restoration machine beside her.
"Hello there, Prince Ash. I am Cara Liss. I am researching Fossils, huh." Cara Liss says. "It is an honor to meet you."
"Same here. I did get some fossils with the help of Digging Duo, so I assume you can help me revive them?" Ash asks.
"The truth is, Fossils in Galar are broken into top halves and bottom halves for some reason. Not to mention, no matter which top and bottom you combine, they can be restored together."
"Are you serious?" Gloria asks.
"Perhaps, within this mystery, lies the key to understanding these combinable Pokemon." Cara says.
Ash takes out 8 fossils and hands them over to Cara, who says, "This is the Fossilized Bird, the Fossilized Fish, Fossilized Dino, and Fossilized Drake. I'll show you what will happen if two of them are combined."
As she is working on the machine, Serena says, "Are they really exist? Two different parts fuse into one?"
"It sounds a little inhumane, but she says that it really existed in the past..." Ash says.
Once the machine is done, she puts the Fossilized Bird and Fossilized Drake in the machine, and then out comes a Pokemon with a bird-like upper body with a dinosaur-like lower body. "What is that thing?" Serena gasps and Rotom scans the Pokemon.
Dracozolt: The Fossil Pokemon: Electric and Dragon Type. In ancient times, it was unbeatable thanks to its powerful lower body, but it went extinct anyway after it depleted all its plant-based food sources.
"From the look at your Pokedex, it is a success." Cara Liss says.
Then she tries the second one, which is combined with the Bird and the Dino. The body is blue and the bird looks like it has a runny nose.
Arctozolt: The Fossil Pokemon: Electric and Ice Type. This Pokémon lived on prehistoric seashores and was able to preserve food with the ice on its body. It went extinct because it moved so slowly.
As for the third one, she tries it with the Fish and the Drake, but what shocks them is that the head is on the tail of the body instead.
Dracovish: The Fossil Pokemon: Water and Dragon Type. Powerful legs and jaws made it the apex predator of its time. Its own overhunting of its prey was what drove it to extinction.
And the last one is also weird since its head is upside down once it attaches to the body.
Arctovish: The Fossil Pokemon: Water and Ice Type. Though it's able to capture prey by freezing its surroundings, it has trouble eating the prey afterward because its mouth is on top of its head.
"And that is all of them." Cara Liss says.
"They sure are one of a kind." Gloria says.
"I am definitely going to ask Dad about this." Ash mutters, then he captures all of them in the end. After that, they bid farewell to the scientist as they go towards the town up ahead.
Here is a new chapter, and in this chapter, Ash manages to get more new Pokemon from the fossils, and they also learn what happened to Hop. I hope you like this chapter and the next one will be the Stow-on-Side Date.
Ash's New Pokemon: Thwackey, Greedent, Corvisquire, Orbeetle, Thiveul, Eldegoss, Dubwool, Drednaw, Boltund, Carkol, Flapple, Appletun, Silicobra, Barraskewda, Toxtricity (Amped/Low Key), Centiskorch, Hattrem, Morgrem, Linoone (G), Perserker, Sirfetch'd, Yamask (G), Alcremie x63, Cufant, Dracozolt, Arctozolt, Dracovish, Arctovish, Koffing, Stunfisk (G)
Mark's Pokemon: Blaziken, Gyarados, Skorupi, Ninjask, Shedinja, Pawniard, Barraskewda, Orbeetle, Delibird, Alcremie (Strawberry, Ruby Cream)
Trenor's Pokemon: Greedent, Vileplume, Swampert, Rhyhorn, Gourgeist, Steelix, Torkoal, Basculin, Heliolisk, Noibat
Alice's Pokemon: Wooloo x29, Dubwool, Salandit, Trapinch, Lunatone, Butterfree (Pink), Litwick, Centiskorch, Drizzile, Eldegoss, Pikachu, Glaceon, Appletun, Morgrem, Aromatisse
Gloria's Pokemon: Cinccino, Conkeldurr, Unfezant, Drednaw, Dwebble, Cufant, Raboot, Golisopod, Ferroseed, Jolteon, Swoobat, Axew, Liepard, Gardevoir
Dawn's Pokemon: Lopunny, Noctowl, Mudsdale, Binacle, Duskull, Piplup, Quilava, Pelipper, Bellossom, Pachirisu, Wobbuffet, Mamoswine, Vullaby, Togekiss
Serena's Pokemon: Diggersby, Pangoro, Drifblim, Roserade, Solrock, Vespiquen, Excadrill, Braixen, Tsareena, Lanturn, Shiftry, Sylveon
Lillie's Pokemon: Eevee, Hitmonchan, Rufflet, Hippopotas, Shuckle, Ribombee, Gengar, Magearna, Cloyster, Boltund, Cherrim, Meowstic, Vulpix (A)