The group were now at the border of the West Province, as they were ready to make their next step on their journey across the region upwards, literally. They were hiking up a mountain, and they were making sure they didn't lose track of any Pokemon they could possibly catch.
The wildlife consisted of the usual specimens one might find in a mountainous region, such as Numel, Phanpy, Bagon, and even Gible, the last of which was what Nemona attempted to catch, but when she sent out Lycanroc, the land shark quickly dug into the gound to escape, much to her distraught.
"Ugh" Moaned Gus "How much longer do we have to keep going, my legs are going to give out." "What's the matter Gus? Can't handle a little walking upwards?" Vanny teased "You say that again and I'll make sure you never walk again" Gus snapped back.
"Let's keep the hostilities to a minimum please" Ash said as he held the map for the area they were currently in, that was when Nemona walked up to him. "So Ash, were you like a major winner in all of the leagues you were in?" Nemona asked. "Oh no, we didn't win a league until we ade it to the Manalo Conference, though I did come close to beating the Lumiose Conference" Ash answered.
"Oh, so did you participate in any unofficial leagues?" Nemona asked again, to which Ash replied with "Yeah, I did win the Orange League, a couple of Pokeringer competition, heck I even beat the Kanto Battle Frontier." "Wait, really?! I heard Brandon is very powerful" "I know his Regice really put Pikachu through the wringer, right bud?" Ash said, to which Pikachu replied with a "Pikachu" and a nod.
As they continued on, a small blur out of nowhere and slammed into Ash, knocking him to the ground. "Are you alright?" Zeke asked "Ugh, yeah I'm fine, but what hit me?" That was when the blur stopped in front of them, revealing itself to be a Nymble.
"A Nymble, just like the one Katy has!" Felia cried out, ready to catch the bug type. "Rellor, I choose you!" She then sent out her dung beetle Pokemon to face the grasshopper.
"Alright Rellor, use Rollout!" Felia ordered, to which Rellor began to roll the giant ball of mud it has towards Nymble. However, Nymble hopped out of the way, and then attacks with a Tackle attack, nailing him.
"Quick, use Struggle Bug!" Felia ordered, and Rellor emitted beams of lime green energy that were about to hit Nymble, only for the bug to withstand it with Endure before striking back with Assurance, knocking the beetle out. "You think that was all I got, cause there's more where that came fro- OOF" Before Felia could bring out her Vivillon, she was slammed to the ground by a Tackle, and Nymble hopped away.
"What was that all about?!" Thomas wondered as Ash got up and helped up Felia "Some Pokemon just tend to like to pick fights with others" Let's keep moving.
And they continued onwards, unaware that Nymble was following them.
They eventually made their way to a clearing where they decided to settle down for the day and set up camp. When they finished setting up camp, Ash let out his Pikachu, Fuecoco, Wattrel, and Primeape.
"Hey Ash, I didn't know you had a Primeape" Vanny said aloud "Yeah, he looks very tough" Carla chimed in. "Well, I just got him back onto the team from an old friend of mine" Ash replied as Primeape was practicing his fighting type moves on a nearby boulder. "Wait, you mean you just got him back?" Vanny questioned "Yeah, I left him with someone named Anthony after he won the P1 Grand Prix" Ash answered.
"Incredible!" Vanny shouted out with stars in her eyes as she dashed towards Primeape. "I heard how strong you are Primeape, of course a fighting type like you would be strong, were you always like this, or were you a Mankey?" Vanny's rapid fire questions quased the pig monkey to get uncomfortable and he knocked her back a few feet with a Thunderpunch.
"I should have told you that Primeape is pretty concerned about his personal space" Ash mentioned, to which Nemona uttered "Wish I knew that sooner." As Ash's Pokemon continued to train, they didn't see a familiar trio peaking from the shrubbery.
"So the twerp is here as well" "And he brought along some small twerps" "Well we'll see which of them is the biggest twerp."
As they continued to train, Pikachu and Primeape heard the whispering, and before they knew it, Fuecoco and Wattrel were seen caught in a net. "What the !?" Ash cried out to see a trio that he thought wouldn't have followed him this time.
"You three again!" Ash growled, as they were none other than Jessie, James, Meowth. "That's right twerp, it's us again" Jessie laughed "And this time, we are playing smart" James added. "Since we didn't snag Pikachu, we can just take your weaker Pokemon" Meowth finished, and all of them began to laugh.
Ash merely looked at them like they were little kids playing an obvious prank "You did forsee one little detail however" Ash commented, with Jessie arrogantly replying with "Oh yeah? What's that?"
That was when Pikachu and Primeape jumped forward, letting out battle cries as Primeape charged forward and knocked James, whom was holding the net, to the ground. He began to lay waste to the poor rocket grunt with his Thrash attack while Pikachu sliced the net open with Iron Tail.
"You guys aren't the most thoughtful bunch are ya?" Ash taunted, which angered Jessie. "You'll pay for that twerp!" "Indeed" James added, before sending out his newest Pokemon. It was an odd Pokemon, it appeared to be an engine with eyes and it was on wheels.
"Hmm" Ash hummed to himself as he was getting some data on this new Pokemon.
Varoom: the Single-Cyl Pokemon, a steel and poison type
The steel section of this Pokemon is its actual body, they are said to have entered and possessed an engine to make this Pokemon
"That's all the info I need, Fuecoco, use Snarl!" Ash ordered as Fuecoco let loose an expanding sound wave that merely grazed Varoom. "Hahahaha, that won't do much of anything, use Headbutt!" Varoom then charged forward and slammed into Fuecoco, knocking him into Ash's arms "Haha, there's no way that puny croc can stop Varoom" Meowth taunted.
"Can you still fight Fuecoco?" Ash asked his Pokemon, which responded with a nod and went back into the action. "Alright, use Flame Charge!" Fuecoco then surrounded himself in flames before running towards Varoom "Use Iron Head and bash him in" James ordered, with Varoom's head turning a chrome color and rolling towards Fuecoco.
The two clashed with all of their might, but Fuecoco was starting to skid backwards as Varoom was starting to make him flinch from the impact of Iron Head, and he was bashed backwards again.
Ash cried out instinctively to his Pokemon "Fuecoco!" before the rockets taunted him again. "You may as well give up and hand us that Pikachu" Jessie laughed ever so annoyingly, but Fuecoco was not out yet.
The fire croc got back up and and let loose a massive battle cry while being surrounded in flames. "Whoa! What's happening?" Shouted Zeke as he had never seen this before. "That's Fuecoco's blaze ability" Nemona answered "Whenever a fire starter gets badly damaged, it's power increases" "Hopefully this will tip the balance in Ash's favor" Arven commented before going back to the fight.
"Alright, we're not going to quit, let's test out your newest move, FLAMETHROWER!" Ash roared, to which Fuecoco charged up the fire in his stomach before expelling it out as an intense blast.
"Oh no!" James cried out, that blast will surely take down Varoom. The blast reached Varoom, and soon enough, it was covered in soot, knocked out.
"Not even with this new Pokemon we got from those kids could we win" "I'll handle this, taste me Fury Swipes" Meowth shouted out with extended claws. However, just as he reached Fuecoco, he was kicked in the face by the Nymble from before.
"Hey! Who said anyone could interrupt" Jessie shouted incredulously, but she, along with James sand Meowth were sent blasting off again by Pikachu. "Who were those guys anyway?" Carla asked, Ash then replied with "They are Team Rocket, they are a group that steals Pokemon and uses them for their own cruel and greedy purposes."
"That's horrible!" Thomas cried out "Yes it is, luckily, those three are arguably the weakest members, and they aren't that difficult to take down" Ash said "Now, what are you doing here?" He then said to Nymble.
Nymble then pushed Fuecoco's pokeball forward, showing that it wants to join Ash's team "I see, well, pokeball go!" Ash shouted. He then threw the pokeball at the grasshopper, which sucked it in, and caught it without any hassle.
"Alright, I caught a Nymble" Ash shouted while striking a pose along with the rest of his pokemon. As he celebrated, Nemona thought to herself, if those three were going to follow them across the region, they are going to have to train harder in order to face them.
End of Chapter
Team Rocket appears again, with James having a Varoom
Ash's Fuecoco now knows Flame Charge and Flamethrower, and its ability is revealed to be Blaze
Ash has caught a Nymble