Chapter 7: Going west
After they took Koraidon and Miraidon over to the Pokemon Center at Mesagoza, they decided to call it in for the night and go to bed. Ash went to his dorm where he contemplated on what he had experienced in Paldea so far. "I've only been here for a couple of days and already things are going to be interesting" Ash said as he laid down on his bed, with Pikachu joining in. "Pikachu pika" "You said it pal, hopefully Fuecoco isn't the only Pokemon we'll catch here in this region" Ash said as he turned off the lights and dozed off.
The next day
Ash and his class were back on the road, all of whom had their own interests and goals, or 'treasures' as they like to call them. Ash was taken aback by the sheer plethora of Pokemon that were in Paldea, most were ones that he already saw, while some were entirely new ones, the latter of which he hopes to catch along his journey. "Ok class, we are now in Area Two of the South Province, if we continue down this path, we will reach Cortondo" Ash said as he held the map. "I always wanted to go to Cortondo, it's where one of the best chefs are" Zeke said as he read the brochure detailing the city and its customs. "Is this going to lead into our next assignment?" Felia asked as she inspected the nearby Pokemon off the path, such as Fletchling, Mareep, and Maschiff.
"You see, I want to make sure you all are ready for the challenges ahead of you, I can't be guarding you 24/7" Ash said as he turned to face them. "Which is why, we are going to do some training, our second assignment." And with that, Ash sent out his Pikachu and Fuecoco out for some training, and it wasn't long before the others sent out their Pokemon too.
"So what kind of training do you want us to do sir?" Thomas asked with a question mark over his head. "I want you to test your metal against the wild Pokemon here, they will make some good practice against some of the tougher foes we will face" Ash declared "If you need me, I'll be off training with my own Pokemon."
Soon, the students ran around, fighting wild Pokemon to improve both their battle tactics, and their Pokemon's battle prowess. For those like Vanny and Gus, who either have a strong fighting spirit or powerful Pokemon, it proved to be more easy, but for those like Penny or Thomas, it proved to be more challenging, so they went with lower level Pokemon. Penny was testing her Vaporeon's Water Gun attack on a wild Diglett, but it proved to be too slippery as it simply burrowed out of the way.
This began to frustrate Penny, until she had the idea of ordering her Vaporeon to fire Water Gun into the hole that Diglett dug, this forced the mole to come out, all soggy and knocked out. "Wow, so that's what a brilliant tactic is like, maybe not brilliant, but most certainly better than normal" Penny said to herself as her Vaporeon felt her strength increase from the battle.
Over with Zeke, he was going up against mostly maschiff and Mukuhita as they are weak to fairy types like Fidough and Azurill, and they easily fell to their combined Play Rough attacks. "Tch, this is nothing, I'll be a fairy type expert in no time" But as Zeke said that, a Bronzor charged into them and began a fight. This immediately set Zeke back as steel types were strong against fairy types, and it showed when Bronzor slammed into Fidough with Gyro Ball.
"Quick Azurill, get Bronzor away from Fidough with Water Gun" On that order, Azurill fired a blast of water that got Bronzor's attention. "Ok, now Fidough, use Bite" Gnashing his jaws, Fidough bit down hard on Bronzor, doing major damage before being blasted with an Extrasensory attack. "Oh man, this is bad, I better think of something quick, Azurill, Slam attack" Azurill then swung her tail and it collided with Bronzor, sending it back a few feet. "Ok, now Fidough, use Roar" Fidough let out a loud roar that scared Bronzor away from the battle. "Phew, that was a close one" Zeke wiped a sweat from his brow as his fairy types dodged what would have been a disastrous battle.
Over with Thomas, he was helping Clodsire increase his reaction speed, as the poison fish proved to be rather slow to attack and defend. "Ok Shroodle, use Bite, Clodsire, defend yourself" Shroodle then scampered up to Clodsire with his jaws elongated, but Closire stuck one of his spines to block the attack from connecting. But Shroodle then switched into Fury Swipes and it did a bunch of damage to the poison/ground type. "Clodsire, fight back with Mud Shot" Clodsire then launched a blob of mud at Shroodle, which stuck him to the ground. "Alright Clodsire, you're getting sharper and sharper" Clodsire let out a yawn of happiness as he was improving.
It was eventually time for a break, with everyone having a snack before they were off to Cortondo. "So Ash" Vanny said "When did you and Pikachu meet?" Ash replied with "Oh man, Pikachu and I go way back, he was my starter Pokemon" "Wow, I bet you and Pikachu got along very well from the beginning" Carla said "Actually, that was the opposite at first, me and Pikachu didn't exactly see eye to eye" Ash said while Pikachu rubbed the back of his head rather sheepishly. "He won't even listen to me at first, but I managed to earn his trust by defending her against a flock of Spearow" Ash finished. "Wow, some story" Gus remarked, but as he was about to take a bite from his granola bar, it went missing. "What the!?" He zipped around to see where it might have gone, and found a dark colored petrel with yellow marks, whom then swallowed it whole.
"What is that?" Felia exclaimed "I think that's a Wattrel." "A Wattrel you say?" Ash said as he pulled out an empty pokeball. "Pikachu, get ready for a second electric type" "Pika pi" The electric mouse shot a Thunderbolt attack which startled Wattrel, and sent it flying in action and it attacked with a Peck attack. But Pikachu dodged wasily and slammed it into the ground with Iron Tail. Ash took this chance and threw a pokeball at Wattrel, making a successful acpture in the process.
Ash then scanned his newest catch and saw that the Wattrel knows Peck, Thundershock, and Quick Attack, and has an ability called Wind Power. "No matter how many times I see it, it still manages to be cool" Gus said as Ash let out his new bird Pokemon.
End of Chapter
Ash catches Wattrel