A Different Path Chapter 8
OMG, I'm sorry this took so long to post. I had writer's block. Hopefully, this chapter will be worth the wait!
"Hello." Normal speech
"Hello." Ash, Pikachu, and Charmander's mind link
"Hello." Pokémon speech
Beauty and The Beach and Tentacool and Tentacruel
"Surf's up, dudes!" Ash yelled as he, Brock, and Pikachu jumped into the ocean. After last night's arrival at Porta Vista, the group decided to take a break from training and have a beach day.
"The water is cool." Ash said.
"And the beach is hot." Brock replied.
"And you two are both masters at pointing out the obvious." Pikachu muttered as he floated on a tiny inner tube. Ash stuck his tongue out at his starter when Brock wasn't looking and Pikachu just rolled his eyes.
"Hey, where'd that little inner tube come from?" Ash asked Pikachu.
"Over there," Pikachu thought back, pointing to a stall on the beach where a little old lady was handing out inner tubes. The sign on the stall read, Keep Your Pokémon Safe In The Ocean! Get Your Free Inner Tube Here!
"Weird." Ash muttered to himself.
"Hey, I thought you guys were going to meet me at the snack bar." Misty said, coming up to them. She was wearing her pink bikini and carrying a beach ball shaped like a Master Ball. Ash thought she looked incredible and simply stood there, staring at her. Pikachu laughed at the goofy look on Ash's face, but Ash didn't even hear him.
Misty frowned. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Um, I…You…" Ash stammered before getting his brain into gear. "You look nice. That swimsuit looks good on you." He admitted, then wanted to beat his head against the wall. Could he have sounded more stupid? She was probably going to hit him over the head with that mallet of hers.
But she didn't. Instead she blushed and murmured, "Thank you."
Brock let out a fake cough. "Lovebirds…" Misty glared at him and threw her beach ball at his face, knocking Brock into the water. Ash couldn't help but laugh, which was cut off when Misty playfully splashed him.
"I'm gonna get you for that!" Ash said, laughing as he chased Misty, splashing her when he caught up to her. She laughed and threw her beach ball at him, splashing him right in the face as he was trying to catch it. "No fair!" Ash yelled, laughing as he splashed her back.
She dodged it, laughing. "All's fair in love and splash wars." Then she noticed Brock staring dreamily at a pretty girl. She whispered something in Ash's ear and he grinned, both moving towards Brock. Just as Brock was about to approach the girl, Ash and Misty splashed him right in the face.
Brock sputtered. "Hey!" Ash and Misty just laughed. "Two on one, huh? Let's see how you handle this!" He pulled out a Super Soaker he had bought on a whim from the beach store.
"RUN!" Ash yelled to Misty and the two took off, Brock hot on their heels. Poor Pikachu was spun around on his inner tube as they rushed past him.
The group played together for a few more hours, letting their Pokémon out as well. The water Pokémon played in the ocean except for Rudolph, who decided he'd rather build a sand castle with Bulbasaur and Charmander. Scyther immediately fell asleep on Ash's beach towel and Squirtle decided it would be funny to shoot a Water Gun at him, but soon realized that was a mistake when a startled Scyther hit him with such a strong Razor Wind that he flew into the water.
Ash, Misty and Brock grew hungry and decided to head towards the snack bar. When they were about halfway there, they were approached from behind by a tall, brown haired girl with a stack of flyers in her hands. A Charmeleon walked beside her.
"Hello, I'm Angie. Please check out my website, Pokémon Adventures…Oh, hi, Ash!" she said as Ash turned to look at her.
"Hi, Angie." Ash greeted her with a smile. Angie was his neighbor and one of the other trainers who had started the same day he did.
"You two know each other?" Misty asked.
"Yeah. Angie lives a few doors down from me," Ash told her.
"Nice to meet you, Angie," Misty said, shaking her hand. Brock nodded, but his attention was more focused on a pretty girl in a bikini.
"So how are you doing?" Ash asked Angie.
"Great, just doing a little advertising for my website." Angie told him.
"Oh, yeah, Pokémon Adventures." Ash said with a smile. "I heard you and Janie talking about it one time. Speaking of Janie, how's she doing on her journey?" Janie was another of Ash's neighbors and Angie's best friend.
"You can ask her yourself. She's right over there." Angie told him, pointing to a short girl with light brown hair and thick glasses who was setting up a camera on a tripod. An Ivysaur and a Machoke were helping her as an Abra slept in the sand.
"Hi, Janie." Ash said, walking up to her. Startled, Janie jumped, nearly knocking her head on the camera, then turned around.
"Oh, hi Ash." Janie said with a smile. "How's your journey been going? What starter did you get?"
"I got Pikachu here." Ash told her. "I see you picked out Bulbasaur." He looked at her Ivysaur.
Janie smiled. "Yeah, he's awesome. And Angie was worried we were going to get into a fight on who got Charmander. But Mosi and I were friends from the start."
"As you can probably tell, Gary got Squirtle and he wouldn't stop bragging about how he got the best Pokémon there. He got on our nerves, so we just left. Sorry we didn't wait for you." Angie said.
"That's fine. Gary seems to have that effect on people." Ash told her with a smile.
Misty watched with a slight hint of what suspiciously felt like jealously as Ash talked and laughed with Janie and Angie, then did her best to push it out of her mind. Ash was allowed to be friends with other girls and they were his neighbors, for crying out loud! "Want to head over to the snack bar?" she asked.
Ash nodded. "Sounds good."
"What about you, Angie, Janie?" she asked, just to be polite.
Angie nodded. "Sure."
"I'd love to, but I need to get this camera set up before the contest starts." Janie said. "I'll meet you guys after I finish this."
"What contest?" Misty asked.
"The Porta Vista Beach Beauty, Pokemon Costume and Talent Contest." Janie answered.
"Janie got hired as photographer," Angie said, proud of her friend.
Misty's eyes lit up. "That sounds like fun! When does it start?"
"This afternoon, but they're still accepting entries if you want to sign up," Janie told her.
Misty smiled. "Thanks. Maybe I will."
"You should." Ash said supportively, making Misty blush. Angie and Janie exchanged smiles.
"Sign-up sheets are over at that table by the snack bar." Janie told them. "I'm actually entering James in the talent contest myself." She patted her Machoke on the arm.
The mentioned Machoke grinned. "My act's going to be epic."
Janie's Ivysaur rolled his eyes. "I still say you're going to fall and land on your head. I have no idea why you're doing that."
"What are you doing anyway?" Pikachu asked. James grinned and told him. Pikachu looked at him strangely. "He's right. You are going to land on your head."
"Hey, if the trick works, it'll be epic and Janie could win the thousand dollar prize. If it doesn't, the audience will have a great laugh and we can put it on Kanto's Funniest Home Videos." the Machoke said with a shrug. Pikachu just shook his head, then said goodbye and headed over with his trainer towards the snack bar.
…...
As they were walking to the snack bar after Misty signed up for the contest, they suddenly heard Brock's voice cry, "Guys, I need help! Get me out of here!" They turned to see Brock stuck inside a trash can.
"How on Earth…" Misty muttered as she, Angie, and Ash ran over to help. Ash held the can still as Angie and Misty pulled him out. "How did you get yourself stuck in a trash can?"
"Remember the pretty girl in a bikini?" Brock asked and they nodded. "Well, she has a very jealous boyfriend who happens to be very muscular and he didn't appreciate me telling his girlfriend she was Heaven's most beautiful angel."
"Brock, you have got to stop flirting with girls who have boyfriends." Ash sighed, picking a banana peel off his friend's shirt.
"Find me a nice single girl and I'll flirt with her," Brock told him.
"Hey, I know you!" Angie said. "I won my Boulder Badge from you!"
Brock looked at her, trying to place her face. "You're…the girl with the Machop right? He was very…intense."
"If by intense, you mean hard-headed, I agree." Angie said. Her Machop got into fights with everyone.
"What do you mean you're sick?" a man nearly shouted over the phone. He listened for the reply, then sighed. "I'm sorry. I hope you feel better." He hung up. "Now who am I going to get to be the announcer for the beauty contest?"
Brock went up to him. "Excuse me, sir, I couldn't help but overhear. Did you say you needed an announcer for a beauty contest?"
"Yes, my announcer got the flu and I don't know where I'll get another on such short notice. The beauty contest starts this afternoon." the man sighed.
"I could be your announcer." Brock said eagerly.
The man looked relieved. "Are you good at public speaking?"
"Very," Brock told him. "I was the Pewter City Gym Leader."
"Could you do it for a hundred dollars?" the man asked.
Brock checked his wallet. "All I have is thirty-five." he said, disappointed.
The man shook his head. "No, I'd be paying you to do the job." he told Brock, rolling his eyes.
"I'll take the job." Brock said immediately. The man thanked him and told him when and where to go to the stage before leaving.
As soon as he was out of earshot, Brock cheered and leapt into the air. "YES! I get to watch beautiful girls AND get paid!" He hugged Ash, Misty, and even Angie, who got annoyed and shoved him off her, then he started dancing around. "Someone pinch me; I must be dreaming!"
"Okay, you asked for it," Pikachu said, going over to Brock and lightly shocking him.
"It was a beautiful dream and it's turning into a nightmare!" Brock yelled as Pikachu shocked him.
Ash sweat dropped. "I have weird friends…"
"What did you say, Ketchum?!" Misty yelled, taking out her mallet and chasing him.
Angie rolled her eyes and looked up at the sky where a Pidgeotto, a camera around its neck, was coming in for a landing. "Did you get that?" she asked and Pidgeotto chirped and nodded. "Great. This will be awesome for our comedy page."
…...
Misty and Brock eventually calmed down and they headed towards the snack bar to pick up lunch. Angie bought a hamburger and fries for Janie, and as they were on their way back to the beach, Ash collided with someone. "Oops, I'm sorry…Mom?"
Delia turned to see Ash and drew him into a bone crunching hug, nearly squishing Pikachu. "Hi, Ashy! I'm so glad to see you, honey!"
"Mom…can't…breathe!" Ash gasped and Delia let him go.
"Sorry, honey, I missed you and with you being on that ship…" She shuddered.
"I'm all right, Mom." Ash told her, hugging her. "So what are you doing here?"
"I'm part of the Pallet Town Volunteer Patrol." Delia told him. "We were cleaning up the beach this morning. Professor Oak is…"
"Hello, everyone!" Professor Oak said cheerfully, walking up behind them.
"Hi, Professor Oak." both Ash and Angie said at the same time.
"I hope you're enjoying your journeys." Professor Oak told them. "All your Pokemon are doing great, though your Geodude still wants to battle everything that moves." he told Ash. "Thankfully, your Nidorino keeps him pretty much under control." Ash just shook his head at that. Peter would never change.
"All of your Pokemon have been doing great as well, Angie." Professor Oak told the brown haired girl. "I would like to take a look at the fine Kabuto you caught that you showed on your website." Angie agreed to this, taking out a Poke Ball and releasing a young Kabuto, who looked around, then hid behind Angie when it saw Professor Oak staring at it.
"It's okay, Kabuto." Angie soothed, picking the fossil Pokemon up. "She's a little shy." she told Professor Oak.
"Wow, how'd you get a Kabuto?" Ash asked.
"I got lost exploring and taping for my website somewhere between Mt. Moon and Cerulean and fell down a hole into an underground cave. The next thing I know, there's a bunch of red eyes coming at me, so I used the flash on my camera to scare them off and threw a Poké Ball. It wasn't until I got out and saw the picture that I realized what I caught."
"I wish you had gotten a better video though." Professor Oak said. "It would have been great for my research to get the exact location of those Kabuto."
"Hey, I got lost and fell down a hole," Angie replied. "I was lucky to get anything at all. I'm just glad I didn't lose my camera."
Professor Oak nodded at that as he looked over the Kabuto. "I'm getting regular reports from both Ash and Gary, but I haven't heard much from Jane or gotten any Pokémon from her. Do either of you know how she's doing?"
"She's doing fine. She's right over there actually, if you want to talk to her," Angie said, pointing to where Janie was finishing setting up her camera.
"Oh. Hello, Jane!" Professor Oak called.
"Hi, Professor Oak," she said, walking up to them.
"So how has your journey been going and how many Pokémon have you captured?" Professor Oak asked.
"It's been going great and I now have four Pokémon." Janie told him.
Professor Oak frowned. "Jane, that's not very many. You'll have trouble in the League if you don't catch more Pokémon."
"Actually, I…um…" Janie stammered.
"Go ahead, Janie, tell him." Angie encouraged her as her Machoke and Bulbasaur nodded.
"I'm more interested in research than I am in battling." Janie said. "I might still try taking on the gyms, but I like exploring and doing research better than battling."
Professor Oak nodded. "Well, Jane, there are two choices on how you go about this. You could either try to capture every Pokémon you can…" He noticed Jane and her Pokémon didn't seem to be too keen on the idea. "Or I could make you a junior field researcher and get you a Research Dex. Basically, you'd be observing Pokémon in the wild and taking notes on their behavior for me to study."
Janie's eyes lit up. "I'd like that, Professor Oak. Thank you."
"No problem." Professor Oak said. "Just make sure to work hard and take lots of notes and that's all the thanks I'll need. Jane, remember, you don't have to make your journey match everybody else's, and the same goes for all of you." he told the others, then turned back to Janie.
"If you don't like to battle, there are other careers out there that involve Pokémon, and you can still keep your team if that's what you're concerned about. The main reason trainers go on journeys is to find out what they like and what they're good at. Some find they like Gym Battles, some like contests, some find they enjoy breeding or research, some even find that they like playing sports with their Pokémon. Try different things to see what you like, but don't force yourself to do something your heart isn't into, just because it's what other trainers do." Professor Oak told them all, though he was mainly speaking to Janie. The group nodded.
"Brock, you're needed onstage." one of the techs for the beauty contest said. Brock nodded and left quickly.
"Attention everyone, the Porta Vista Beach Beauty and Pokémon Costume and Talent Contest begins in thirty minutes. If anyone else wants to enter, now is the time!" Brock's voice announced over the loudspeaker.
"I'm already entered, so I'll start heading backstage." Misty said, walking away.
"I could enter you in the costume contest. Want to sign up?" Ash joked to Pikachu as some girl walked by with an indignant Eevee who was trying to tear off the dress it was wearing.
Pikachu glared at him. "Very funny, Ketchum. You may be my best friend, but if you try to force me into one of those ridiculous costumes, I will zap you."
…...
Meanwhile, Team Rocket was staring at their wrecked Meowth balloon. "James, you idiot! You wrecked our balloon!" Jessie yelled.
"It's not my fault!" James protested. "Meowth was supposed to be keeping lookout!"
"I was!" Meowth retorted. "I saw the Pidgeot and I yelled, "Look out!" You're the one who didn't turn in time!"
"Yeah, because you only gave me a two second warning!" James yelled.
"Yeah, well…Jessie was supposed to be keeping lookout too, but she was too busy brushing her hair!"
"Hey, it takes work to keep me looking this good!" Jessie protested.
"How are we supposed to pay to repair our balloon?" James asked. He opened his wallet and flies came out of it. "Because we're broke!"
"Attention everyone, the Porta Vista Beach Beauty and Pokémon Costume and Talent Contest will begin shortly! Top prizes are a thousand dollars for each category, so if you'd like to sign up, now's your last chance!" Brock announced over the loudspeaker.
Jessie, James, and Meowth exchanged evil grins. "I think we just found a way to pay for our balloon." James said.
…...
Ash, Professor Oak, Angie, and Delia took their seats, waiting for the contest to begin as Janie went backstage to take photographs of the contestants before the contest, then came back out to take her place at her tripod to film the contest.
"Attention ladies and gentleman, the annual Porta Vista Beach Beauty and Pokémon Costume and Talent Contest will now begin!" Brock announced. "Now please give a warm welcome to our first contestant, the lovely and talented Misty Waterflower!"
Misty walked onto the stage in her pink bikini, smiling and waving as the audience cheered. Ash stared at her, thinking she looked incredible. Pikachu, who was sitting on Ash's lap with Charmander, started chuckling, then waved a paw in front of Ash's face. "Hey, Ash, you in there?"
Ash blinked, then turned to Pikachu. "Huh? Oh, sure, Pikachu, I'll get you some ketchup after the contest." he mumbled, his eyes going back to Misty.
Pikachu laughed. "Remind me to get Misty to dazzle Ash more often." he joked to Charmander, who was trying to hide a laugh of his own.
"Misty is a Water Type trainer who sure is making a big splash here today!" Brock said. "Now let's take a look at the costume she and her Pokémon have created!" Squirtle, wearing an alien helmet, floated down on top of Starmie, who was hovering with his gem side down. "Well, this is a very imaginative costume! It's Starmie and Squirtle as extraterrestrials in their flying saucer!" Starmie and Squirtle flew in slow circles around Misty and Squirtle released a small water spout in the air, grinning and loving the attention. "Excellent job, Misty!" Brock said as the crowd went wild, Ash cheering the loudest.
Misty left the stage as the next contestant entered. "And next, we have two Pokémon calling themselves the Rocket Boosters, dressed as a legendary Pokémon." Brock announced, frowning.
Pikachu slapped his forehead. "I think we know who they are…" he muttered, and was proven right when Koffing floated onto the stage, a big clump of grass over its face and Ekans curled around its head in a spiral.
"That is a very…interesting costume." Brock said. "I believe it's supposed to be Omastar, and the Pokémon are Ekans and Koffing."
"Interesting is one way of putting it." Angie muttered, looking at the poorly thought out costume.
Suddenly, a sandaled foot kicked Ekans and Koffing out of the way. "Get lost." a familiar voice said in a taunting tone and Ash growled inwardly as Gary walked onto the stage, his fan club of six beautiful girls behind him.
"He seems pleasant." Pikachu said sarcastically.
"And now we have a surprise appearance by Gary Oak, an up and coming Pokémon trainer, accompanied by a squad of his adoring and adorable fans." Brock announced.
"I forgot to mention my grandson came along with us." Professor Oak said sheepishly.
Gary saw Ash in the front row and smirked. "Ash, I know you're out there in the crowd somewhere! But I didn't come here to make you jealous of me, Ash. I came here so that my adorable fan club members could make you jealous of me!"
"Gary, Gary, he's our man! He'll trash Ash, we know he can!" the fan club cheered. Ash clenched his fists, trying his hardest not to lose his temper, and Pikachu and Charmander began growling.
"Thank you, fans! Great cheer!" Gary told them before turning back to Ash. "How'd you like that, Ashy? I wrote it myself. A little present from me, the greatest trainer in Pallet Town, much better than the loser who came late and got the wimpy Pikachu, the little wanna be famous trainer next to him, and the girl that's scared of battles!"
Janie flinched a little at the last insult, then had to hold her pissed off Ivysaur back from going on the stage and pummeling Gary. Angie rolled her eyes at being called a "wanna be famous trainer" and whispered to Ash, "How were you once friends with him?" while holding her own angry Charmeleon back.
But Ash was too busy trying to hold back an enraged Charmander to answer. "He dares to insult my trainer and my friend?! Let me at him, let me at him!" Charmander yelled, trying to go beat up Gary. Ash picked him off the ground, holding him tightly, but Charmander continued to "run" in the air, his little feet moving at top speed. Angie was taping all this, trying not to laugh.
"Don't worry, guys, I'll take care of this." Pikachu said, his voice deadly calm. He jumped off Ash's lap before Ash could stop him and rushed over to the stage, giving Gary a good zap, hard enough to hurt a little but not do any serious damage. Gary yelped in pain, his hair sticking up all over the place.
People in the audience started laughing. "You deserved that!" somebody yelled. Pikachu ran back to Ash and took his place back on his trainer's lap, looking smug and satisfied. Gary, seeing he would get no support from the audience, glared at Ash and Pikachu and left the stage.
Angie was grinning. "I got that all on tape! This is going straight on my website! I'm calling it "Jerk Gets Zapped."
Ash smiled. "Can't wait to see it." he said, petting Pikachu. But he suddenly jerked up when he heard a loud rumbling noise that shook the entire beach.
"GYARADOS!" someone screamed as a huge Gyarados-shaped submarine shot out of the water and onto the beach. People began screaming and running.
"Where's Misty?" Ash exclaimed in fear as the Gyarados submarine headed towards the stage. He got up and began to run towards the stage, as did Brock, Janie, and Angie.
"And first place for Best In Show, Team Rocket!" Meowth cheered from inside the sub. "And we win...all the money!" All the beauty contestants scattered, but several bumped into Misty, knocking her to the ground dazed as the submarine came at the stage. Misty was right in its path.
But before the submarine could reach her, there was a deafening roar, and Misty's very real and very pissed off Gyarados barrelled iinto it, keeping it away from Misty. Misty was silently thanking Arceus that she had let her Gyarados out to relax and swim while she was doing the contest as she looked up at her most protective Pokémon.
Gyarados placed his large body between her and the threat, growling angrily. How dare anyone try to attack his trainer?! He roared and charged a Hyper Beam, firing it right into the fake Gyarados's mouth. Team Rocket was blasted off through the safety hatch in the top.
"Team Rocket's blasting off again!" Jessie, James, and Meowth screamed in unison as they became mere specks in the distance.
Once he was sure the threat was gone, Gyarados turned back to Misty, his eyes going from enraged to concerned. He nuzzled her and checked her over.
"It's okay, buddy, I'm fine." Misty reassured him, getting up shakily. She threw her arms around him and hugged him. "You saved me again. Thank you." Gyarados nuzzled her and let out a rumble that sounded like a purr. People gasped in shock, some grabbing their cameras and taking pictures.
...
Everything was soon cleaned up and the contest started again and had been going on for almost an hour. Gyarados had returned to the water, but stayed close to the shore, watching over Misty protectively.
Ash yawned and petted Pikachu and Charmander, who were asleep in his lap. He was completely bored. The only interesting thing that had happened after the contest began again was when Janie's Machoke took the stage. The Machoke had done a trick where he balanced on an exercise ball while juggling and it had gone completely wrong. The Machoke had done fine until Janie's Abra had tossed him the last ball, but as he tried to catch it, he had gotten off balance and fallen flat on his face, the balls he was juggling landing on his head while the exercise ball bounced into the audience. Janie's Machoke hadn't been phased or embarassed by the mishap though, and simply got up and gave the audience an exaggerated bow that had everyone laughing.
But most of the other contestants weren't even remotely entertaining, though Ash knew Brock was probably drooling over the girls in swimsuits. Most of the "talent" competition seemed to be Pokémon trying to rip off their ridiculous costumes and giving their trainers death glares, though there were a few showy appeals, like the Ember/Psychic combination a trainer and her Delphox used to create fireworks on stage. Still, Ash was bored silly and was about to join Pikachu and Charmander in slumber when he was snapped to attention.
"And now I will announce the winners of this year's Porta Vista Beach Beauty and Pokémon Costume and Talent contest!" Brock called over the loudspeaker. Ash crossed his fingers as Brock began announcing the winners. Finally, he reached Misty's category. "And the winner for most imaginative costume is...Misty Waterflower!"
"Yes!" Ash cheered, jumping to his feet and forgetting Pikachu and Charmander were in his lap. Both Pokémon yelped as they tumbled to the ground. Pikachu gave Ash a death glare and a mild shock. People around Ash started laughing and the raven haired trainer sheepishly sat back down, pulling Pikachu and Charmander back into his lap again and apologizing.
"Never do that again." Pikachu growled.
"Sorry, I just was excited because Misty won." Ash told him. This mollified the yellow mouse, who cheered for Misty as well as she accepted her check and trophy. The rest of the winners were announced after that, and Ash and Angie cheered for Janie as her Machoke got second place in the talent competition for "Most Interesting Act." The prize was a hundred dollar gift card to the Poké Mart. The Delphox, of course, won first place.
After the contest was over, Ash hugged his mother goodbye and waved her and Professor Oak off as they headed off. Delia of course left him with the reminder to change his underwear every day, which had Misty, Brock, Pikachu, and Charmander holding back laughter. Angie didn't even bother holding it in.
Soon enough Janie had finished packing her camera equipment and it was time for her and Angie to say goodbye as well. "It was great seeing you guys." Janie said.
Angie nodded. "And you gave me a lot of material for my comedy page." she joked.
"You don't know the half of it." Misty muttered, watching Brock attempt to flirt with another pretty girl, which of course led to him getting slapped in the face.
Ash checked his watch. "Guys, if we don't hurry, we're going to miss our ferry." he said quickly.
Angie nodded. "Bye guys! I'm sure we'll meet again soon!"
"Have a good journey." Janie told them.
"You too." Ash told them as he, Misty, and Brock hurried off to catch their ferry.
...
"I can't believe we missed the ferry." Misty groaned.
Ash sighed and flopped down on the dock with Pikachu on his lap. Charmander had asked to go back in the Poké Ball as he hated boats. "And now we're going to be stuck here for three hours." He pulled out his laptop. "I'm going to check out Angie's site. I want to see if she uploaded Jerk Gets Zapped." He typed in the web address and a well made webpage came up. There were five sections, Pokémon, Battles, Gyms, Comedy, and Misc. Ash clicked on the comedy section and the video of Gary was the first thing that popped up. He immediately clicked on it.
"Oh man, this is hiliarous." Misty laughed. Angie had caught everything, even Ash holding Charmander back as Pikachu ran to the stage and zapped Gary. "The look on that jerk's face...Pikachu, you're awesome."
"I know." Pikachu said smugly.
"I think I'm gonna watch this a few dozen more times." Ash joked.
"In a sec...check under the Gyms tab. I want to see if she did anything on the Cerulean Gym." Misty said. Ash nodded and clicked the link, searching for the Cerulean Gym. He quickly found a video on it and clicked on the video and watched as Angie defeated the Cerulean Gym easily, Misty's sisters barely putting out any effort. Comments under the video from various site visitors read, "This gym sucks," "I got my badge in less than five minutes too," "Those girls are awful battlers," and "Did you hear they're actually giving out badges for free?"
"This is humiliating." Misty growled. "My sisters are giving Cerulean Gym a bad name." She sighed. "Maybe if I become a water Pokémon master, I can bring Cerulean back to its former glory."
"You will." Ash told her.
She smiled and was about to thank him when she noticed something in the water coming towards them. "What's that?"
Ash looked up from his laptop and leaned over to see what she was pointing to, his head almost on her shoulder. "What?"
"That blue thing coming towards us." Misty said. It moved closer and Misty saw that it was a tiny Horsea. "Aww, a Horsea! It's so adorable!"
"It looks like it's injured." Brock said, noticing that it had a black eye.
"C'mere, little guy." Misty said as she took out a Hyper Potion. The Horsea came closer, but was still out of reach. "It's okay. I just want to heal you up."
The Horsea came a little closer, trying to say something, then sprayed an ink drawing of what looked to be a group of jellyfish.
"Pikachu, what's it saying?" Ash asked his starter through the link.
Pikachu's eyes widened. "This is bad. It's saying..."
KABOOM!
Everyone let out a scream and turned at the sudden noise. A boat had literally exploded in the middle of the water, sending some sailors flying into the ocean.
"We've got to help them! Go! Gyarados!" Misty called, letting out her Gyarados. The serpentine Pokémon looked at his trainer to see what she needed. Ash ran to call 911.
"Gyarados, the sailors in the water, please help them!" Misty told Gyarados who nodded and rushed to rescue the sailors, who began panicking.
"Will you guys stop freaking out and hold still?" Gyarados muttered though he knew they couldn't understand him, diving under both sailors and lifting them out of the water. The sailors stopped freaking out once they realized he was there to help. Gyarados carried them back to shore where Ash, Brock, and Misty helped them off and checked them over.
"They look to be paralyzed." Brock said. They heard sirens in the distance and Ash ran off to guide the paramedics to the dock.
"What happened to you?" Misty asked one of the sailors.
The guy still appeared to be in shock. "The boss...I got to tell the boss what happened..." Ash came running back, leading the paramedics over. Underneath the deck, Horsea watched worriedly.
...
"I can't believe this!" Misty exclaimed angrily as she stormed out of the boss's office, Ash, Brock and Pikachu right behind her. The woman that had hired the sailors had to be one of the cruelest...and craziest...people they had come across. The boss, a short red-headed old woman named Nastina, had thanked them for saving her sailors, then wouldn't let them leave until she showed them the new resort she was building. That wouldn't have been so bad if she hadn't started ranting angrily about the Tentacool that were apparently sabatoging her resort and saying she was going to exterminate them all. She offered Ash, Misty, and Brock a million dollars, free dinners, and hotel stays to kill the Tentacool for her, but all three had refused, Misty being the most vocal about it. "Why would she want to kill all those cute Tentacool?"
Ash looked up Tentacool on his Pokédex. Personally, he thought they were kind of ugly, but Misty liked them, and to each their own. "I'm not sure, Mist. It's downright cruel. I wonder if there's anything we can do to stop her." He remembered the ink drawings the Horsea had made. "I wonder if this is what that Horsea was trying to warn us about."
"Horsea!" Misty gasped. "We left it out there injured!" She began to run towards the dock when she heard a desparate cry.
"Horsea!" The little Horsea cried as it was being being pursued by an angry Tentacool, swimming for its life towards Misty.
"Don't worry, Horsea! I'll save you!" Misty called. "Go, Gloom!" Misty's Gloom appeared, glaring at her oppenent. "Use Razor Leaf!"
The Tentacool dived underwater to avoid the attack, then charged towards Gloom, preparing a Water Pulse. "Razor Leaf again!" Misty called and this time the attack struck, hurting the Tentacool, but it still powered through it and hit Gloom with a Water Pulse, making Gloom stumble backwards.
"Use Giga Drain to regain some of your energy!" Misty called and Gloom hit the Tentacool with Giga Drain. The Tentacool staggered backwards, then tried to get back in the water. "Block it from going back in the water, then use Razor Leaf!" Misty called. Gloom hit the Tentacool hard with Razor Leaf and it fell to the ground. Misty tossed a Poké Ball at the Tentacool and the ball rattled once, twice, three times...then burst open. The angry Tentacool grabbed Gloom in a Constrict.
"Razor Leaf to make it let you go!" Misty called, and Gloom hit the Tentacool with one more Razor Leaf right to the face, which made the Tentacool let go and fall to the ground. Misty threw the Poké Ball again. It rattled once, twice, three times...then clicked shut. "Yes! I caught a Tentacool!" Misty cheered, jumping up and doing the V for Victory sign that Ash always did.
"Hey, you stole my pose!" Ash mock-whined jokingly.
"It's actually really fun. I'll have to do it more often." Misty said with a laugh.
"Maybe I should start doing it." Brock joked, and Ash rolled his eyes at his two friends.
Misty's attention returned to Horsea. "Hey, little one, are you okay?" she asked softly, scooping it up. She sprayed a Hyper Potion over it and its wounds immediately started to heal, the black eye fading away as well. "Feel better now?" The little Horsea nodded, but then looked worried and tried to say something.
"She's saying that the Tentacool are angry because their homes are being destroyed and that they're attacking any boat that comes near their area." Pikachu told Ash.
"Horsea, I wish I knew what you were saying." Misty mumured.
"Hey, remember those drawings Horsea did earlier? They kind of looked like Tentacool." Brock said.
"Maybe he was trying to ask us for help because that Tentacool was after him." Misty said. "Is that right, Horsea?" Horsea shook his head.
"Maybe there's a connection between what Horsea's trying to tell us and the Tentacool attacking the boats going to the resort." Ash told them. "Didn't Nastina say that the resort was being built on a..."
"Coral reef!" Misty exclaimed before Ash could finish his sentence, catching on. "That's why the Tentacool are attacking! They're trying to protect their homes."
"Is building on a coral reef even safe?" Brock asked. "Or legal?"
"I don't know about safe, though it definitely doesn't sound safe, but it's definitely not legal." Misty said. "You can't build within a certain distance of a coral reef, and if the Tentacool are this upset, she's definitely violating that code."
"Then this problem has an easy solution. Let's go to the Pokémon Center and call the Rangers." Ash suggested. "If the construction is shut down, the Tentacool should stop attacking boats."
"Good idea, Ash." Misty said, getting up. "Let's go." She checked Horsea over again, who snuggled closer to her chest. "Hey, little one, are you feeling better?" The little Horsea wrapped its tail around her arm and nodded, giving her a pleading look. "What's wrong, Horsea?" Horsea wriggled around in her arms, finding an empty Poké Ball on her belt, and began nudging it. "Are you saying you want to come with me?" she asked and the little Horsea bounced in her arms and nodded. Misty smiled widely. "I'd like that. You'd need to stay at Professor Oak's lab for a little while, but you will be on the team soon. Is that okay?" Horsea nodded and Misty tapped the Poké Ball against her, sucking her inside. The ball clicked shut without even a struggle.
The group headed to the Pokémon Center. Misty first sent Goldeen and Horsea to Professor Oak so her Poké Balls would unlock, then called the Rangers, explaining the situation. They said they would send a team over right away to shut down the hotel.
"Well, looks like everything's going to be okay." Ash said with relief. Then a loudspeaker crackled.
"Citizens of Porta Vista, listen up!" Nastina's voice boomed through the loudspeaker. "Effective immediately, I'm recruiting volunteers to exterminate the Tentacool terrorizing our town!"
"You were saying, Ash?" Misty growled, giving her best friend a glare. She then informed the Ranger she was talking to about what was going on, though the Ranger could actually hear it over the speaker.
"I will award one million dollars to anyone who can exterminate the Tentacool!" Nastina called. "Isn't Nastina generous?"
"Not if you're a Tentacool." Pikachu muttered.
"Anyone who wants money and to help with the development of our town, come to the yacht harbor immediately!" Nastina called.
"No one could do something that cruel for money! How ridiculous!" Misty said. But just as she was saying that, people began rushing from their places in the Pokémon Center, some even leaving their Pokémon behind as they rushed out the door. A few people crashed into Ash and knocked him and Pikachu to the floor.
"Apparently it wasn't so ridiculous to them." Ash groaned, picking up Pikachu as Brock helped him up. All four ran to the yacht harbor, hoping the rangers would arrive quickly.
And of course, where there was money to be gotten, there was Team Rocket, arriving on a speedboat as Nastina called for volunteers. The first thing they did was go through their motto.
"Darn, can't hit them with Thunderbolt from here." Pikachu groaned.
"Uh-oh, this is bad." Misty said as Team Rocket took off in their speedboat. "How do we stop them?"
"WE don't need to." Ash said, pointing at a boat coming in quickly that had the Rangers symbol on the side. The Ranger's boat quickly followed Team Rocket.
"We're gonna make a million!" Meowth cheered.
"And we do it with...oof...our Super Secret stun sauce." James said, carrying a barrel of the stun sauce to the side of the boat and prepared to dump it on the school of approaching Tentacool.
A loud siren went off. "Stop what you're doing and leave the Tentacool alone!" a blond haired ranger yelled through a megaphone. But this succeeded in startling James, who dropped the barrel, which landed on a Tentacool's head, making it grunt in pain. The Tentacool then started to glow and began rapidly growing until it became a Tentacruel that was the size of a skyscraper.
"AHH! We super-sized it! James yelled before being grabbed by the angry Tentacruel and flung into the distance. The Tentacruel did the same with Jessie, then smashed their boat, grabbing Meowth. It made a signal to a Tentacool who carefully climbed up and placed a tentacle on either side of Meowth's head.
Meowth's eyes began to glow and he said in a creepy double voice, "Humans, you have destroyed our home!"
"That was not us, but a human who disobeyed the law and illegally built the hotel." the ranger called back through a megaphone. "The construction will be shut down and there will be no more building on your reef."
"How can we trust you?" the Tentacruel growled angrily, still using Meowth as a puppet.
"Listen, the actions of one bad person is not the entire species." the ranger said. "And our job as Pokémon Rangers is to protect Pokémon, not to hurt them. We're here because a group of kids contacted us after hearing what the owner of the hotel was trying to do to you so we could help you."
The Tentacruel seemed to calm down a little and looked at the Ranger, studying him to see whether he was telling the truth or not. Finally, the Tentacruel decided he was. "All right." the Tentacruel said. "Do what you need to do, but our home is to be left alone from now on." The giant Tentacruel then threw Meowth and moved slowly back into the water.
Meowth flew screaming and landed on top of Jessie and James. "At least we managed to land on something soft." James groaned.
"And squishy." Jessie said, poking the gelatinous surface they were laying on. "It's almost like we're laying on..." The gems of the school of Tentacool they landed on lit up. "TENTACOOL!" they screamed together, jumping off the Tentacool and practically running on the water back to shore. The school of Tentacool looked at each other, gave the jellyfish version of a shrug, then continued on their way.
...
"Well, that was one of the weirder situations we've been in." Ash said as they boarded the ferry. Nastina had been arrested and led away screaming after she attempted to shoot the giant Tentacruel with a machine gun and her hotel was being dismantled.
"We'll probably have much weirder ones." Misty muttered.
"Hey, don't jinx us!" Ash said as the ferry carried them towards Saffron City and their next adventure.
Ash's Pokémon(+ means still learning)
Scyther (Sarge) (M): Vacuum Wave, Quick Attack, Leer, Focus Energy, Pursuit, False Swipe, Agility, Wing Attack, Slash, Razor wind, X-Scissor+ Egg Move: Steel Wing (Locked).
Geodude (Peter) (M): Defense Curl, Tackle, Mud Sport, Rollout, Rock Throw, Magnitude. Egg move- Hammer arm (unlocked)
Pikachu (M): Thunder Shock, Thunder Wave, Quick Attack, Thunderbolt, Iron Tail, Agility, Thunder+ Egg Move: Volt Tackle (locked)
Shellder (F): Tackle, Withdraw, Icicle Shard, Razor Shell, Protect, Aurora Bean, Ice Beam. Egg Move: Water Gun (unlocked)
Nidorino (M): Leer, Peck, Focus Energy, Double Kick, Poison Sting, Drill Run, Fury Attack, Horn Attack. No egg move.
Bulbasaur (M): Tackle, Growl, Vine Whip, Poison Powder, Sleep Powder, Take Down, Razor Leaf, Sweet Scent, Growth, Double Edge and Worry Seed. Egg move: Nature Power (semi-unlocked)
Charmander (M) : Growl, Scratch, Ember, Smokescreen, Flamethrower, Metal Claw, Fire Fang, Flame Burst. Egg move: Dragon Rush (Locked)
Krabby (Rudolph) (M): Mud Sport, Bubble, Vice Grip, Leer, Harden, Bubble Beam, Mud Shot.
Misty's Pokémon:
Staryu: Harden, Tackle, Water Gun, Rapid Spin, Recover, Bubble Beam, Gyro Ball, Camouflage. No Egg Move
Seel (M): Headbutt, Growl, Water Sport, Icy Wind, Encore, Ice Shard, Ice Beam, Drill Run. Egg Move: Signal Beam.
Goldeen (F): Peck, Tail Whip, Water Sport, Supersonic, Horn Attack, Flail, Water Pulse, Aqua Ring. Egg Move: no egg move
Gloom (F): Absorb, Sweet Scent, Acid, Poison Powder, Stun Spore, Sleep Powder, Giga Drain, Mega Drain. Egg Move: Razor Leaf(unlocked)
Squirtle (M): Tackle, Tail Whip, Water Gun, Bubble, Bite, Rapid Spin, Protect. Egg move: Aqua Jet
Gyarados (M): Tackle, Thrash, Bite, Dragon Rage, Hyper Beam
Tentacool(M): Poison Sting, Constrict, Supersonic, Acid, Toxic Spikes, Water Pulse
Horsea(F): Bubble, Smokescreen, Leer, Water Gun