Thanks for the reviews guys I really appreciate you taking the time to write one.
Sorry for the wait guys but some things came up and I didn't get as much time to write as I wanted so I've made this chapter a bit longer which hopefully makes up for it being late.
This story has hit over 400 favourites and followers now. I know that I did a thank you at 350 but I wanted to thank you all again for supporting this story. It's your support that motivates me to keep writing new chapters.
I guess the next milestone is 500 favourites and followers – then again maybe I'm being a bit ambitious. I tell you what if I get to 500 I'll write a modified version of one of the movies into this story – It would probably be Pokémon Ranger and the Sea Temple since I love Manaphy.
I didn't say this last chapter and some of you have asked so yes Raimodo is my own creation.
Well I'm not surprised that so many of you got Raimodo's name. It is Rai(lightning) and modo(Komodo Dragon). So the ones who got it right are: Wrath Of The Heavens, Beastmode456, NY514, tricia13, Blabla and merry1995.
Also only a couple of you guessed at the movies that I referenced. Yes there was actually 2 I just wanted you guys to guess one of them. The first person was doom66 who got my reference to the movie DodgeBall and the second was firelovesme who got the reference to Pokémon Heroes: Latios & Latias.
Right that's all the rambling done, let's get on with the story. Here's chapter 29 I hope you enjoy.
In conversations:
'- Translation of Poké Speech – No human unless otherwise stated can understand it. Ash can get the gist of what his Pokémon are saying due to his close bond with them.
"- Human speech
' - Thoughts'
" - Telepathy
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.
Ash and Salem followed Greg out of the desert area and watched as he walked towards the small mountain to the west of the desert. They exchanged a glance as they both were still wondering where Greg's house was. A look of confusion appeared on their faces as Greg started to press various rocks.
"What the hell's he doing?" Ash whispered.
Salem, Rai, Chu, Meowth, Eevee and Ralts shrugged in response and continued to watch Greg.
Ash was about to ask Greg what he was doing when suddenly there was a beep and a chunk of the mountain face moved revealing a door.
"So that's why we couldn't find you house." Ash said.
"Yes well I was tired of people bombarding me with requests for studies to help with so I had a home built into the mountain and knocked my old house down." Greg replied.
Greg then opened the door and walked inside signalling for Salem and Ash to follow him. The two young trainers entered the mountain and looked around the massive room they were in. Ash thought that it very closely resembled the lab in Devon Corp where they had kept their top secret projects. The only difference being that the room had countless shelves that had various fossils on them. Salem approached one of the shelves and looked at the fossils.
"Are all of these Pokémon fossils?" Salem asked.
"No sadly they are not Pokémon. The majority of those fossils are just plant life. Now Ash if you'll come over here we can deal with your fossils." Greg replied.
Ash nodded and alongside Salem he walked over to Greg who was stood in front of a strange looking machine. The machine had a circular dome in the middle with some kind of device pointing down at the dome. Greg pressed a few buttons and the sound of gears grinding filled the room as several lights switched on.
"So what does this machine do?" Ash asked.
"This machine can revitalise fossils." Greg stated.
"Wait a minute Greg. I was at Devon Corp and they said that they were developing that technology." Ash replied.
"They are, but who do you think came up with the initial designs?"
"So is this the prototype?" Salem asked.
"Yes it is. The only flaw this one has is that it takes a long time to recharge the system after reviving a Pokémon."
"How long will it take?" Ash asked.
"About a month. So choose which fossil you want me to revive wisely."
Ash took his bag off and opened it. He looked from the Old Amber and Raimodo egg in his bag to the Sail fossil in his arms trying to decide on which one to choose. His curiosity finally got the best of him so he took the egg out of his bag and put the Sail fossil in its place. He then gave the egg to Greg.
"I want to see what Raimodo looks like so revive the egg first please."
Greg nodded and placed the egg in the dome area of the machine. He then pulled a lever and a beam shot down from the device above the dome which made the fossilised egg glow white. After a few minutes Ash was starting to get impatient as nothing seemed to be happening however he then saw the that the very top of the egg was no longer glowing white. It was instead a greyish colour which had flecks of yellow, the top of the lighting bolt designs could also be seen and were golden yellow.
They only had to wait for another couple of minutes for the egg to be fully revived. Greg turned the machine off and took the egg out of the dome checking it over just to make sure that it was fine. Once he was certain it was okay Greg handed the egg to Ash who carefully cradled it in his arms.
"Hold on to this for a minute Ash while I get you an incubator." Greg said.
Ash nodded and examined the egg while Greg started looking through one of the nearby cupboards. Greg quickly came back with an incubator that looked a lot sturdier than the one that Eevee had been in. It had several claw like arms inside that appeared to be made from the same material that the translator Mr Stone had given him was made of. Ash could only presume that they were there to hold the egg in place. Ash placed the egg into the incubator and as he thought the claws surrounded the egg holding it in place.
"This incubator is designed to give complete protection. Fossilised eggs are usually a little bit more fragile than recently laid eggs so be careful."
Ash tightened his grip on the incubator, he didn't want to accidentally knock the egg and damage the Raimodo inside so he was going to be extra careful. Ash then stared at the Raimodo egg and started wondering why he hadn't heard of it before. Professor Oak had told him that he had learned everything but now he finds this fossil Pokémon. Professor Oak obviously knew about Raimodo since there was data in the Pokédex So why didn't the Professor tell him about Raimodo?
"Ash you look like you have something on your mind. What's wrong?" Greg asked.
"Well I'd never heard of a Raimodo until today but I studied with Professor Oak who said I learned about every Pokémon. I don't suppose you know why he'd do that do you?."
Greg sighed sadly and looked from the incubator to Ash.
"The thing is Ash we have only ever found one Raimodo before today."
"What happened to it?" Salem asked.
"It passed away within a month of being revived. The technology at the time had only just been created so it was still unknown how well it would work. We believe that the cause of its passing was either the stress of being revived or the machine didn't fully function. I guess that Professor Oak didn't tell you about it because he didn't want to tell you the story about what happened to it." Greg answered sadly.
Ash looked worriedly at the incubator in his arms.
"Don't worry Ash. We've revived several fossils since then and they have all survived and been perfectly healthy."
Ash let out a sigh of relief and then picked up his bag but found that it was still incredibly heavy.
"Thank you for reviving the the Raimodo egg but this doesn't solve the problem of carrying the Old Amber and the Sail fossil though."
Greg chuckled and then walked over to a machine that looked very similar to the transfer devices in Pokémon Centre's. Ash and Salem were confused by Greg's chuckling but shrugged it off and followed him to the machine he was now turning on. Greg turned around and could see the confusion on their faces.
"This is the solution to your problem with the remaining two fossils. I can transfer your Old Amber and Sail fossil to Devon Corp with this machine. Then when you get back to Rustboro they'll revive them for you."
Ash handed the incubator to Salem and took the Old Amber and Sail fossil out of his bag. He gave the fossils to Greg who placed them in the transporter and then dialled a number. The face of Mr Stone appeared on the screen moments later.
"Hello Mr Stone." Greg said.
"Hello Greg. Don't tell me you've come up with something else you want Devon Corp to build." Mr Stone replied.
"No, not yet at least. I actually called you because I need to send you some fossils belonging to a young trainer."
"Who's the young trainer?" Mr Stone asked.
Ash then stood in front of the screen.
"Hey Mr Stone." Ash said.
"Hello Ash. I heard that you delivered the electrical upgrade to Wattson so thank you again."
"It's no problem Mr Stone. It's the least I could do after what the G.S Ball did."
"I wish you would forget about that Ash. When you come back to Rustboro come by and we'll revive your fossils."
"Thank you Mr Stone."
"It's my pleasure Ash. Now if you'll excuse me I have a meeting I need to attend. Farewell."
Mr Stone hung up before they could reply. Greg then looked at his watch and realised that he had left the others at the excavation site for too long.
"Mr Stone isn't the only one who has things to do. I should really get back to the excavation site so goodbye both of you and good luck."
"Goodbye Greg." Ash and Salem replied.
They walked out of Greg's home and Greg went back towards the desert while Ash and Salem headed west.
As the evening approached Ash and Salem started to look for somewhere to stay for the night but after hour they still hadn't found anything. They were starting to get desperate to find anywhere they could rest when they spotted a small cave. They looked into the inky blackness of the cave and then to each other.
"Could we stay in that cave?" Salem asked
"As long as it's safe that should be fine. I'll go in there with Meowstic and make sure it's safe."
"Are you sure it's wise to only take Meowstic with you?" Salem asked worriedly.
"We'll be fine. I have my flash light and her ability is Keen Eye so if we find anything we can't handle we'll be right out."
"Ok just be careful."
"I will. Take care of Eevee, Ralts and the egg while I'm gone."
Salem nodded and watched as Eevee and Ralts reluctantly jumped off of Ash's shoulders. She carefully took the incubator from Ash and held on to it tightly. Ash then took Meowstic's Pokéball off of his belt and threw it.
"Meowstic come on out."
The psychic feline appeared in front of Ash and smiled brightly at him.
"Hey Meowstic will you help me check out this cave?"
Meowstic was always more than happy to help Ash so she instantly nodded. Ash smiled at her and rubbed her head which made her purr in satisfaction. She then followed Ash as he walked into the cave with his flash light which was the only thing that was illuminating the cave. They walked through the cave for several minutes but found no sign of life. They were about to turn back and get Salem and the others when they both could swear they heard a faint pained hiss.
"Wait, did you hear that?" Ash asked.
Meowstic nodded and they both headed a little further into the cave. With every step the hissing sound was getting louder and they finally came to a room that had a small Pokémon lying on the ground. Ash immediately recognised it as a Trapinch, he was about to approach it when it started crawling towards the way he and Meowstic had entered. The Trapinch obviously hadn't noticed either of them however it knew something was up when he felt himself hit something. Trapinch looked up and the minute he saw the human in front of him he shuffled away.
As he looked at the Trapinch Ash was wondering why it wasn't walking. He knew that although they weren't the fastest Pokémon in the world a Trapinch would walk faster than it could crawl. Ash took another look at the Trapinch and spotted that it's rear left leg seemed to be slightly swollen. Ash took a step towards the Trapinch to get a better look however the Trapinch growled and gnashed his teeth aggressively.
"Whoa calm down. I just want to help you."
Trapinch studied the human for a moment and after a long internal debate decided to allow the human to help him. He gave a quick nod and watched as the human crouched down next to him and looked at his injured leg. Trapinch then saw the the feline Pokémon move forward and started growling again.
Ash stopped examining Trapinch's leg as he was confused about what had caused Trapinch to start growling again. He followed Trapinch's line of sight and saw that it was glaring at Meowstic, presumably it thought that Meowstic would attack while he was in a weakened state.
"Meowstic go outside and get the others. Take them about halfway through the cave and I'll meet you up once I've finished helping Trapinch."
Meowstic nodded and quickly headed back to the entrance to the cave. Once Meowstic was out of sight Trapinch calmed down and relaxed. Not that Trapinch was relaxed Ash was able to properly look at Trapinch's leg. He was relieved to find that nothing was out of place it just seemed to be swollen
"Well it doesn't look like you've broken anything. I think you just injured your leg and kept walking on it which is why it's swollen. If you come with me I'll try and help you out."
Trapinch eyed Ash warily, he didn't exactly like the terminology the human had just used.
"When I said come with me I just meant back to my Pokémon. I'm not going to catch you. I just need my other Pokémon to help you."
Trapinch gave a reluctant nod and got up to start walking down the tunnel however he immediately collapsed. He tried to get back up again but pain shot through his leg again so he was forced to start crawling again. Ash looked at the Trapinch and couldn't watch him keep struggling like this. He bent down and used all of his strength to pick the Trapinch up, he felt it squirm in his grasp clearly not liking being carried.
"Listen I know you would rather not have me carry you but you'll just make your leg worse if you walk or crawl."
Despite his desire to not have the human carry him Trapinch stopped squirming and reluctantly settled in the humans arms. It was obvious that the human wouldn't put him down and even if he did he would be forced to drag himself along the ground which was incredibly painful.
A few minutes later Ash and Trapinch met up with the others at the larger area of the cave. He let out all of his Pokémon and so did Salem, this caused Trapinch to feel nervous about his current situation. He was injured and there were now a lot of Pokémon here to stop him if he tried to flee.
Ash felt Trapinch stiffen slightly and turned the small, orange, insectoid Pokémon around so that it was facing him.
"It's okay, we're not going to hurt you. I'm just going to help you out and then you can go. Do you trust me?" Ash said softly.
Trapinch once again looked into Ash's eyes trying to see if there were lies in his eyes. After a few minutes Trapinch finally stopped staring at Ash since he had seen no trace of anything other than concern in the humans eyes. Trapinch had been surprised to find that the human was in fact being genuine. He gave Ash another nod and watched as a grin broke out on the humans face.
Ash gently placed Trapinch on the ground and took his bag off. Ash then took one of the food bowls out of his bag and placed it next to Trapinch. The Ant Pit Pokémon looked confusedly at the food bowl wondering what it was and why the human had placed it there.
"I need this to help reduce the swelling." Ash said when he saw Trapinch's confused expression.
"Meowth use Water Pulse to fill the bowl and Togetic use the ice part of your Tri Attack to freeze the water."
Meowth formed a small orb of water and placed it in the bowl which filled it to the brim. Togetic then formed a trio of orbs in front of him, he instantly dispelled the the one that was engulfed in flames and the one that crackled with electricity. This just left the one that was encased in ice, a frozen beam then shot from the orb and froze the water in the bowl.
"Before you go Meowth can you use Iron Tail to break up the ice for me please?"
The cat nodded and gently swung his which had turned metallic at the ice, the force of the attack broke the ice apart into several tiny pieces.
"Thanks guys." Ash said gratefully.
Trapinch watched as the Meowth and Togetic nodded and then walked over to the rest of the humans Pokémon. He turned his attention back to the human when he heard him rummaging through the bag. It was obvious that he was looking for something specific and it made Trapinch wonder what he'd pull out next.
Moments later Ash found what he was looking for and pulled it out of his bag. He held the small ice pack out of him and started to scoop some of the shattered ice into the pack.
"Alright, Trapinch I'm going to put this ice pack around your leg. The cold will help reduce the swelling."
Trapinch's eyes widened and he looked at Ash in fear as he shuffled away from the ice pack. There was no way he'd let that ice anywhere near him.
Ash saw the fear in Trapinch's eyes and started to think about how he could reassure Trapinch. He looked around the cave as he tried to think of something when he spotted Nincada and an idea formed in his mind.
"Hey Nincada could you come over here please?" Ash asked.
Nincada cocked his head in confusion but did as Ash asked and scuttled over to him. Nincada looked from Trapinch to Ash wondering why his trainer had call him over.
"Trapinch hurt his leg which is now swollen and I need to place this ice pack on to reduce the swelling. The problem is that Trapinch is scared of me placing this ice pack on him. So I was wondering if you'd let me place the pack on you to show him that it's not going to hurt him."
'Sure.' Nincada said.
Nincada had seen the fear in Trapinch's and wanted to help ease his fears. Ash gave Nincada a grateful look and then pressed the ice pack to the bug and ground types body. Trapinch couldn't watch and shut his eyes tightly so he wouldn't have to see the pained look that would be on Nincada's face.
'Damn that's cold.' Nincada said as he shivered.
Trapinch's eyes shot open and he looked at Nincada in shock. He looked from Nincada to the human and was amazed that the bug wasn't screaming in pain. Trapinch shuffled closer to Nincada to get a closer look and saw that the bug appeared to be okay.
'It.. it doesn't hurt?' Trapinch replied.
'No it doesn't hurt at all but it is really cold.'
Ash removed the the ice pack from Nincada who placed a claw on Trapinch's shoulder.
"Trust my trainer. Ash treats us like family and he knows what he's talking about."
Nincada then scuttled away rejoining his conversation with Heracross.
"So can I place this on you now that I've proved it won't hurt ground types?" Ash asked,
Trapinch nodded so Ash slowly moved the ice pack to Trapinch's injured leg. Trapinch watched the ice pack as it got closer to him and when it was mere inches away from his leg Trapinch flinched. Ash placed a comforting hand on Trapinch's back understanding how scared he must be.
"I promise that the ice won't hurt you."
Trapinch felt the tenderness in Ash's touch and saw the kindness in his eyes showing that he only wanted to help him. So he forced himself to calm down and relax. The calm look on Trapinch's face reassured Ash so he placed the ice pack around Trapinch's leg making the ground type shiver but he made no attempt to get away. Trapinch had to admit that it was very cold which he didn't like but it wasn't painful just like Nincada had said. Ash shifted from kneeling to a sitting position and placed Trapinch in his lap to the ground types surprise. Thanks to the way Ash had sat down the ice pack was now resting against Trapinch's leg without holding it. This freed up his arm that he used to start stroking Trapinch's head making the ground type a satisfied sigh.
"I thought you might find this to be more comfortable."
Trapinch replied by letting out another sigh as he relaxed in Ash's lap.
A smile crept on to Salem's face as she watched Ash take care of Trapinch so tenderly, she was still amazed at the bond Ash was able to form with any Pokémon. She had been waiting until Ash had finished taking care of Trapinch to bring the Raimodo egg to him and decided that now was probably the best chance she'd get tonight. Ash heard her getting closer and looked at her was as she sat down next to him. She placed the Raimodo egg between them and wrapped her right arm around him.
"I thought you'd like to keep it near you." Salem murmured.
Ash smiled at his girlfriends thoughtfulness and gave a her brief kiss.
"Thank you Salem."
Ash wrapped his left arm around Salem and pulled her close to him which made her rest her head on his shoulder. They both started to feel weary and their eyes started to droop. Ash looked around the room and saw that most of the Pokémon had already fallen asleep, the only exceptions were Ralts and Eevee who walked over to Ash and snuggled into the gap between him and Salem. Ash smiled as he saw them both yawn cutely and then fall asleep, he checked to make sure that the egg was safe and once he was sure it was he joined everyone else in slumber.
The next morning Ash's eyes flickered open, he looked around the cave and saw that everyone else was still asleep. He smiled at the peaceful look on Salem's face and he tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. His attention then shifted to his daughters who had both at some point during the night crawled on to his lap. He gently stroked their heads and watched as small smiles crept on to their faces. His focus then went to Trapinch, he took the ice pack away from Trapinch's leg and placed it on the ground. He then checked Trapinch's leg to see how it was and leg and saw that the swelling had gone down. Ash felt Trapinch start to shift as he woke up and his eyes opened. The ground type looked up at Ash and smiled.
"Good morning Trapinch, how's your leg?" Ash whispered.
Trapinch moved his leg around and found that it was still a little stiff and sore but the majority of the pain was gone.
"I'm glad to see that your leg is feeling better."
Ash was about to ask Trapinch about how he ended up here when he heard a groan as someone else woke up. He looked around the cave again and saw Rai now stretching his limbs out. This gave Ash an idea since he needed someone to translate what Trapinch was saying.
"Rai could you come here please?" Ash whispered hoping that Rai heard him.
The mouse nodded and stretched his limbs out once more, he then quietly walked over to Ash and stood next to him.
"Can you translate what Trapinch is saying for me please?"
'Sure Ash I'm happy to help you out.'
"I appreciate it Rai. So Trapinch what were you doing in this cave on you own?"
Trapinch looked at Ash and started talking, Ash waited for Trapinch to finish and then looked at Rai.
'He was travelling to a new area with his friends and family since there old living area was taken over by some Baltoy and Claydol. They had chosen to go through the mountains to hopefully lose the Baltoy and Claydol when there was a rock slide that split the group apart. One of the rocks landed on Trapinch's leg which caused the injury. He was trying to get to the agreed meeting place but had to take shelter in this cave when the weather looked bad and he was stuck in here since then.'
"Well don't worry we'll help you get to the meeting place." a voice to Ash's left said.
Ash turned his gaze from Trapinch to Salem who had woken up. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and stretched her arms.
"Morning sleepyhead." Ash said.
Salem smiled at Ash and playfully nudged him.
"Good morning." Salem replied.
Ash and Salem got up and quickly prepared breakfast for everyone. To Trapinch's surprise the food the Pokémon were given seemed to vanish almost instantly, he took a bite of his and immediately realised why they had scoffed their food. His food didn't last long either causing Ash and Salem to smile at the content look on Trapinch's face.
Once everyone was finished Ash and Salem packed everything away and were getting ready to leave the cave. They watched as Trapinch started walking towards the mouth of the cave although he was walking slowly, clearly still suffering from some pain in his leg.
"Trapinch are you sure that you want to walk. I'm sure that Heracross would carry you if I asked him nicely."
Heracross gave a quick nodded showing that he was more than happy to do that. Trapinch was appreciative of the offer but shook his head and decided that he'd rather walk since he hadn't gotten to do that much over the past few days. Ash decided not to force the issue and like Salem returned the majority of his Pokémon. Ash then picked up the incubator and his daughters jumped on to his shoulders. The young trainers then followed Trapinch out of the cave and walked alongside him as he headed towards Lavaridge
An hour after leaving the cave Trapinch turned off the main path and headed towards a mountain path. Ash and Salem followed him and wondered why a family of Trapinch would want to live in a mountain when they were more at home in a desert. The only thing they could think of was that the Baltoy and Claydol had scared them so much that they didn't want to encounter them again. Trapinch reached the top of a ridge and expected to see his family and friends happily settling into their new home but to his horror he saw nothing like that. He felt rage build in him as he looked around the area and he let out an enraged cry.
Ash and Salem were surprised by Trapinch's outburst and quickly made their way up the ridge to see what could have made him cry out like that. When they got to the ridge Ash and Salem's eyes widened as they looked around at the badly wounded Trapinch and Vibrava that were scattered around the area. They watched as Trapinch ran to the nearest Vibrava and nudged it hoping that it would wake up and tell him what happened but Vibrava didn't move.
"Don't worry Trapinch, It's alive." Ash said.
An explosion followed by a pained cry drew everyone's attention to the pathway ahead of them. Trapinch immediately ran to the path, Salem was about to follow however she was stopped by Ash who had taken off his bag.
"I need you to stay here and look after the egg, Eevee and Ralts. Take my bag and try to help the Trapinch and Vibrava."
Salem nodded and took the incubator from Ash, she then placed it on the ground and sent out her Pokémon who all surrounded it protectively. Eevee and Ralts nuzzled Ash and then jumped off of his shoulder quickly standing alongside Salem's Pokémon.
Ash, Meowth and Rai chased after Trapinch and easily caught up with the ground type who was solely focussed on the path ahead of them. They only had to run for a couple of minutes to find what had cried out. All of them saw a group of Baltoy and Claydol attacking a Vibrava.
"Hey leave that Vibrava alone." Ash demanded.
The Baltoy and Claydol dropped the Vibrava and turned their attention to Ash, Trapinch, Rai and Meowth. Trapinch growled at them and was desperate to get revenge for what they had done to his family. However he knew that he couldn't do anything on his own, he looked up at Ash hoping that he would help. Ash smiled at Trapinch and took all of the Pokéballs off of his belt.
"I'm with you Trapinch."
Trapinch gave Ash an appreciative look and then a bright light radiated off of him. Everyone was forced to shield their eyes until the light finally died down revealing a Vibrava where Trapinch had been. Vibrava smirked cockily and focussed on his enemies.
"Your desire to avenge your family made you evolve didn't it?" Ash said.
Vibrava gave a quick nod to confirm what Ash had said.
"Well I'm happy for you Vibrava. Now let's beat these guys, Meowstic, Heracross, Kingler, Nincada, Butterfree, Togetic and Hitmontop to the battlefield."
All seven Pokémon appeared and could tell by how Rai, Meowth and Trapinch were glaring at the Baltoy and Claydol that they were enemies. They all got into combat stances and awaited Ash's commands.
"Alright guys let's show them what happens to Pokémon who mercilessly attack others. Togetic hold them in place with Psychic, Butterfree use a full power Bug Buzz, Hitmontop get Vibrava and bring him here, Meowstic rapid fire Shadow Ball, Heracross use Megahorn, Kingler use Crabhammer, Nincada hit them with an X-Scissor and Rai and Meowth finish any of them that are still standing with Iron Tail."
Before any of Ash's Pokémon could attack the Baltoy and Claydol released a massive psychic wave that knocked all of them off their feet. Ash groaned as he collided with the floor, he shook his head to regain his senses and got back to his feet. He looked at his Pokémon and saw that everyone had quickly got back to their feet and were prepared to retaliate.
A blue glow then surrounded Togetic and the Baltoy and Claydol which had the ground type Pokémon in place. Butterfree could see wings turned red and they started to vibrate which made red sound waves be released from them. The red sound waves created a painful siren-like sound that made all of the Baltoy and Claydol collapse as they tried to block the skull splitting pain. Seeing that all of the Baltoy and Claydol were temporarily incapacitated Hitmontop chose this moment to run behind them and pick up the unconscious Vibrava quickly darting back towards Ash. Meowstic covered Hitmontop's escape by forming several orbs of black energy and firing them at the Baltoy and Claydol that had started to get back in the air which combined with the Bug Buzz knocked a lot of the Baltoy out.
Hitmontop got back to Ash and placed the Vibrava on the ground, he then turned around and his fist glowed white as he started charging towards the Claydol alongside Heracross who's horn was glowing green, Nincada who had crossed his claws and Kingler who's larger claw was surrounded in water. Three cries of pain could be heard as Heracross slammed his horn into one of the Claydol, Kingler smashed his claw into a Claydol's face and Nincada slashed another one, the super effective attacks knocked all three Claydol out leaving only two. Hitmontop hit the mark on the smaller Claydol with his Mach Punch but only succeeded in knocking the part psychic type back. Meowth and Rai's tails turned metallic and they leapt into the air aiming their tails at the smaller Claydol. Their tails slammed down on top of its head and it crashed to the ground unconscious.
This only left the largest Claydol who glared at all of the Pokémon surrounding him, everyone was about to converge on the Claydol but were stopped by Vibrava demanding that he be allowed to fight on his own. They all respected his request and stepped away leaving Vibrava facing Claydol.
'You will pay for what you did to my family.' Vibrava growled.
'You appear to be stronger than the others. Maybe you'll put up a bit of a fight unlike those pathetic Trapinch and Vibrava that I decimated.'
Vibrava roared angrily and charged at Claydol, he appeared to be aiming for his right side which the ground type spotted and it shifted its body so that it was protecting its right side. At the last moment Vibrava changed his target area and slammed into Claydol's left side. The ground type levitated away from Vibrava to get some distance and figure out what just happened. Vibrava could see the confusion in Claydol's eyes and smirked.
'If you're wondering how I just did that it's called Feint Attack.'
Claydol mentally cursed itself for falling for such a simple trick. Claydol didn't allow himself to dwell on the fact and used his psychic powers to levitate some of the rocks around him and he launched them at Vibrava. The Vibration Pokémon easily dodged the rocks by flying straight up into the air. He allowed himself a brief moment to celebrate his flying abilities, he then focussed on Claydol and noticed that the psychic types body was still surrounded in a blue glow. Moments later several rocks slammed down on Vibrava's back and sent him crashing to the ground.
Vibrava felt stupid for getting so cocky and letting his guard down. He got back up and saw the rocks headed his way again, this time instead of trying to dodge the rocks Vibrava's eyes glowed blue and he created a tornado of sand in front of him. The tornado blocked Claydol's view of Vibrava so it was unable to know where to land the attack so it fired them at the tornado hoping that they would get through and hit Vibrava. The rocks were caught in the tornado and were gradually broken down until they were dust. The tornado then dissipated and Claydol was able to see Vibrava again, Claydol was about to launch another attack several green tendrils shot off of Vibrava and wrapped around Claydol. The psychic type struggled to free itself but the tendrils were too tight, not even its psychic powers could break the tendrils. Claydol then cried out in pain as it felt its energy being drained by the tendrils, it watched as the energy travelled down the tendrils and restored Vibrava's strength.
Ash and the others were all watching in shock as the tendrils continued to drain Claydol's strength.
"Is Vibrava really using Giga Drain?" Ash asked.
'Yeah I think he is.' Rai replied.
"But Vibrava can't learn Giga Drain, can it?" Meowth added.
"Maybe it's a move he inherited from one of his parents." Ash guessed.
Ash watched as the attack by Vibrava finally wore off, Claydol was now looking like it was on the verge of fainting. Vibrava could sense that too so he opened his mouth and fired a green and yellow beam at Claydol. The psychic type made no attempt to stop the attack as it was too weak to gather the energy to move, the beam then engulfed Claydol and a finally cry of pain was heard followed by a slight tremor as Claydol fell forward, slamming down on the ground.
Vibrava walked over to the barely conscious Claydol and forced its head up so it was looking at him.
'If you or any of your group attack my family again I will look for you, I will find you and I will beat the living hell out of you. Do you understand?!'
Claydol nodded while looking at Vibrava, it then gathered up its group and teleported them away. Vibrava felt a great sense of relief that he had defeated the Claydol, now they could live in peace. He was brought out of his thoughts when he felt a hand on his back, he looked at the owner and saw Ash smiling at him.
"Way to go Vibrava."
Vibrava smiled at Ash, he then saw Ash's Pokémon surrounded him and they all congratulated him on evolving and defeating Claydol. Ash suddenly remembered that Vibrava's family were injured so he picked up the injured Vibrava and made his way back towards where he had left Salem, Eevee, Ralts and the egg. He was closely followed by all of the Pokémon who were all talking about he battle they'd just fought.
They walked back into the area where the Trapinch and Vibrava had been and they were relieved to see that they were all walking around and talking with each other. The minute the Trapinch and Vibrava saw their family they charged over and embraced their lost family member. While the family reunited Ash quickly walked over to Salem who was stroking Eevee and Ralts while her Pokémon were still guarding the egg and he healed the injured Vibrava. He gave Ash an appreciative nod and then walked over to the rest of his family.
"You did a really good job Salem. How badly injured were they?"
"Well some of them were just exhausted however the majority of them needed some of our potions to heal their wounds." Salem answered.
"That's fine, as long as they are all okay." Ash replied.
Ash and Salem watched as the Trapinch and Vibrava interacted with each other. The family then walked over to Ash, Salem and their Pokémon and spent some time with them. The younger Trapinch were all taking turn sitting in Ash and Salem's laps and let out content sighs as the young trainers stroked them.
After a couple of hours the young trainers stood up and returned their Pokémon, Ash then picked up the incubator and they walked over to the Trapinch and Vibrava. The ground types all looked at the humans who had saved them from the Baltoy and Claydol who had tormented them for so long and wondered why they had returned their Pokémon.
"Hey guys we're gonna get going now." Ash said.
The Trapinch and Vibrava looked disappointed that they were leaving but they understood that they had to leave. The only exception was the Vibrava that they had found who stepped forward, Ash handed the incubator to Salem and got on his knees in front of Vibrava.
"Goodbye Vibrava. Try not to get separated from your family again."
Vibrava responded with a small nod and to Ash's surprise Vibrava flew on to his shoulder and nuzzled him briefly. Ash smiled and briefly stroked Vibrava's head. He then placed Vibrava on the ground and got up, he then took the incubator from Salem and they started to walk away while waving back at them. Vibrava watched sadly as Ash slowly faded from view. When Ash was no longer in sight Vibrava turned around and followed his family and friends to their new home.
Notes
I considered giving Vibrava to Ash but with him getting the fossils he has enough Pokémon for now. That doesn't mean that he won't catch Vibrava in the future though.
Next chapter we'll have Ash and Salem reach Lavaridge Town, Ash will have a battle, they'll visit the hot springs and some other stuff will probably happen.
Thanks for reading this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it.
Please give a review telling me what you liked/didn't like.
If you have any questions I am more than happy to answer them.
Ash:
Kanto - Raichu, Meowth, Ivysaur, Wartortle, Charizard, Pidgeot, Kingler, Muk, Tauros(x24), Snorlax, Sandshrew, Aerodactyl (Fossilised) & Eevee (Shiny)
Johto - Totodile, Meganium, Cyndaquil, Heracross, Noctowl (Shiny), Phanpy, Hitmontop, Togetic & Sneasel
Hoenn - Marshtomp, Nincada, Treecko, Zangoose, Sableye, Raimodo (Egg) & Ralts
Sinnoh - Monferno
Kalos – Meowstic & Amaura (Fossilised)
Pokémon on hand – Raichu, Meowth, Meowstic, Heracross, Kingler, Nincada, Hitmontop, Butterfree, Raimodo (Egg), Togetic, Ralts & Eevee
Salem:
Kanto - Raichu & Jolteon
Johto – Chinchou, Togetic & Mareep
Hoenn – Electrike, Plusle & Minun
Sinnoh - Luxray
Unova - Zebstrika & Galvantula
Pokémon on hand – Raichu, Galvantula, Jolteon, Luxray, Togetic, Plusle & Minun