What's going on, everyone? Last chapter was somewhat uneventful, but Owen's mom was mentioned by Gurkinn, who knows their relationship Now, there will be a new addition to someone's team, and Owen will try to break through to Hawlucha. Let's get going!
Owen's team
Frogadier, (m), level 26, Pound, Lick, Round, Quick Attack, Water Pulse*, Smokescreen*
Charizard, (m), level 70, Flamethrower, Dragon Claw, Seismic Toss, Blast Burn, Aerial Ace*, ?*
Butterfree, (f), level 34, Tackle, Silver Wind, Psybeam, Gust, Poison Powder*, Sleep Powder*
Pikachu, (m), level 23, Thundershock, Quick Attack, Thunderbolt, Nuzzle, Electro Ball*, Double Team*
Tyrunt, (m), level 27, Tackle, Stomp, Stealth Rock, Bite, Ancient Power*
Hawlucha, (m), level 30, Wing Attack, Karate Chop, Flying Press, Aerial Ace
Owen sat on the cliff overlooking the ocean with his six Pokemon near by. Charizard stayed by his trainer's side while the younger Pokemon ran around playing with one another, and Hawlucha had separated himself from everyone while sitting at the top of a tree and hiding in the leaves. The fighting type was completely different from the others, and Owen found it difficult to connect with him. He hadn't owned a Pokemon like Hawlucha, who was somewhat like Krookodile, except much more quiet.
"Rrgh," Charizard growled to himself, cursing about Gurkinn refusing to teach himself and Owen about Mega Evolution. He was confident that he would've beaten any of Gurkinn's Pokemon, especially because they were too old to keep up with his speed.
"Who was that girl in the picture?" Owen thought to himself, remembering the portrait he saw at the Tower of Mastery. There was something about the picture that he felt connected too, but he didn't know why. "Maybe it's because she had a Charizard? Or we could've met before and maybe I just don't remember her."
"Owen looks really lost," Brooklyn noted in concern while looking up at the fifteen year old. He had a blank look on his face, almost giving off the impression that he had lost all of his emotions. "I'm going to check on him," the blonde informed Eddy and Cindy, but she was stopped by Litleo, who shook his head dismissively.
"Litleo's right. Owen's fine, he just needs to take a step back from everything and relax. After all, we've gone through some crazy stuff," Eddy told the older girl, who frowned at the insightful response. Brooklyn sat back down on the sand and watched as her three Pokemon talked, with Amaura leading the conversation.
"Excuse me, kids, but you have to leave the beach." Eddy, Cindy, and Brooklyn turned to see a police officer shining his flashlight on them.
"Why is that?" Cindy shot back aggressively, making the officer step back in fear of the twelve year old.
"There have been some issues with wild Pokemon around these parts lately, and Korrina isn't able to do much about it due to their types. You see, a few weeks ago a large colony of Haunter and Gengar settled in the woods over by that kid over there." The officer pointed at Owen and his Pokemon, who had all settled down and were laying by the teen and his Charizard.
"That's weird. Why would ghost types be in Shalour?" Eddy quizzed. The man shrugged his shoulders before walking up a case of stars that took him to Owen. "Ghost types generally live in Laverre City, which is really far from here. Somebody or something must have kicked them out of their habitat," Eddy concluded angrily.
"That's not our problem, it's Korrina's and Gurkinn's. We're only here for Owen's gym battle and your contest," Cindy told Eddy as she pointed at Owen and Brooklyn to emphasize her point. The three then watched as the officer walked away from Owen and his Pokemon, leaving them alone. This prompted them to walk over to Owen despite their previous conversation, and they stood behind him.
"Are you feeling okay?" Brooklyn asked, hoping the boy was fine. Without saying a word, Owen nodded and continued staring out at the ocean, thinking about the picture of the girl and her Pokemon.
"Then what are you doing?" Cindy inquired.
"It's that picture without the girl's name. Ever other one had the person's name, but there wasn't one for her's." Owen rose to his feet after answering, and he smiled at his companions. "Come on, everyone, we've gotta go back to the Pokemon Center. I don't feel like getting attacked by a ghost types," Owen told his Pokemon before shuddering.
They all followed the teen's orders except Hawlucha, who remained at the top of his tree. Once he realized the group was actually leaving, Hawlucha quietly followed them. He stopped, however, when he heard a weak cry come from near the water. Acting quickly, Hawlucha ran over to the cries and saw a strange Pokemon laying on the sand with water occasionally splashing its body. It was a circular Pokemon with a light coating of purple smoke - or gas - floating around its black body, and there was a pained expression on its face.
"Lucha! Haw! Haw!" Hawlucha cried to his trainer and the others, who turned around and quickly ran over to him.
"What is it, Hawlucha?" Owen shouted as he ran towards his Pokemon. Hawlucha pointed at the downed Pokemon, and Owen immediately picked it up. "Come on, guys. We've got to get to the Pokemon Center!" With that, everyone sprinted/flew towards their destination. "Don't worry, you're going to be okay, Owen told the inured Pokemon.
"Stly," the ghost muttered as it opened its eyes. The circular Pokemon looked up at Owen with admiration before she closed her eyes after feeling a jolt of pain.
Once they reached the Pokemon Center, the doors opened swiftly and Owen ran up to Nurse Joy's desk while panting slightly.
"Can I help you?" she quizzed, completely unaware of the injured Pokemon.
"We found this Pokemon by the beach and it looks really hurt. Can you help it?"
"Of course!" Nurse Joy quickly took the Pokemon out of Owen's arms and scurried to the back of the building and into a room for untamed Pokemon. The trainers followed Nurse Joy and stared at the Pokemon as it was given an oxygen tank before receiving several shots.
"What Pokemon is that?" Eddy asked Owen as he looked up at his idol, who continued to look at the Pokemon.
"That's a Ghastly. They're really common in Lavender Town back in Kanto." Owen shuddered. He remembered his time passing through Lavender Town when he traveled across Kanto, and whenever someone in Pallet Town passed away. Every time he went to Lavender Town, ominous music would begin playing in his head, and he could feel the depression radiating from the citizens of the gloomy town.
"Aaaah!" The group ran into the Pokemon Center lobby and saw dozens of people running around outside while dark figures flew after them at light speed.
"What's going on?" Brooklyn shouted to the terrified people hiding in the corner of the lobby. They were all shivering as if they had been in subzero conditions, and they flinched when the Unova native screamed.
"Th-the Haunter are attacking! They're too strong for us!" a large, muscular man shrieked ironically. Owen and Brooklyn, who had withdrawn their Pokemon, looked at Eddy and Cindy, and they nodded before running out of the Pokemon Center. The group looked around and gasped as dozens of Haunter were picking people up and throwing them around like rag dolls. They were even attacking Pokemon that hadn't provoked them.
"Come on out, Pikachu!" Owen shouted as he threw the rodent's Pokeball high into the air. Pikachu hopped out of the spherical device and was accompanied by Frogadier and Charizard, and they waited for Owen's commands.
"Fennekin, Smeargle, Amaura, let's go!" Brooklyn yelled. All three of her Pokeballs opened, revealing her aforementioned Pokemon, who stayed close to the teen and Owen.
"Litleo, let's get in on some of the action!" Cindy cheered, throwing her fist into the air. Litleo roared quietly, and then everyone turned to Eddy. The eight year old pouted because he didn't have any Pokemon, but Owen handed him a random Pokeball.
"Here, Eddy. Use this to protect yourself," Owen instructed. Eddy nodded emphatically, but Owen wasn't finished. "Charizard, stay close to him. Now let's go!" Owen, Froakie, Pikachu, Cindy, and Litleo then ran towards a tiny Haunter that had grabbed a Minun, and a little girl was chasing the ghost type while crying.
"Please, leave Minun alone!" she cried, but the Haunter began to wind up to throw the electric type into the water.
"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" Pikachu jumped as high as he could before releasing a zigzagging bolt of electricity from his body, and Haunter was zapped powerfully. It then dropped Minun from an incredibly high elevation, but Cindy was more than ready for that. "Litleo, hurry and catch Minun!"
"Pikachu, wrap this up with Electro Ball! Frogadier, use Water Pulse!""
Litleo sprinted forwards while kicking up clouds of dirt, and he dove while extending his arms. The fire type barely caught Minun, and the little girl sprinted over to her Pokemon and hugged it tightly. While the girl was celebrating, Pikachu formed a ball of electricity on the end of his tail and whipped it towards Haunter. and Frogadier threw a ball of water. The ghost was crushed by the attack sand sent flying into the forest before a loud thud echoed through the air.
"Nice job, guys!" Owen cheered, making both of his Pokemon smile, but they stopped when the little girl ran over to them.
"Thank you all so much." Owen, his Pokemon, Cindy, and Litleo bowed at the little girl and she waved before running towards her house, but the trainers' attention was snapped back towards the wild Pokemon when a Shadow Ball flew past Owen's head.
"Alright, let's keep going!"
While Owen and Cindy began to fight off more Haunter, Brooklyn was trying to keep people from being attacked.
"Come on! Keep it going, everyone!" The girl pointed towards the Pokemon Center as an area to take refuge while she and her companions attempted to handle the horde of ghosts. Brooklyn began to look for more people to help, but she was stopped by a Haunter that had flown in front of her.
"Ter!" The large ghost's hands shot forwards and grabbed Brooklyn, and she tried to break free. She was unable to, however, but her Pokemon quickly came to her aide.
"Fennekin, use Ember! Amaura, use Aurora Beam! Smeargle, Flamethrower!" Fennekin fired a flurry of orange bullets that struck the Haunter's hands, making it let go of Brooklyn. Then, Amaura reared her head back and fired a light blue beam of icy energy that froze the wild Haunter on the spot, allowing Smeargle to finish the job. The normal type began to spin its tail before glowing red, and then she unleashed a wave of fire from her mouth that incinerated the ghost and poison type. After being thawed out of the ice, Haunter looked at Brooklyn and her Pokemon before flying away in fear, and the group smiled in joy.
"Come on, we have to get rid of all of these pests!" Brooklyn told her Pokemon as she began to run towards the cliff that Owen had been sitting at earlier. The three Pokemon ran after their trainer, and they continued to fend off the intruding Haunter.
000
"Ghast," Ghastly muttered as she rose from her bed. She remembered a trainer rushing her to the Pokemon Center, but nothing else. Despite being injured, Ghastly floated out of her room and made her way out of the Pokemon Center, hoping to find Owen to thank him. Much to her dismay, she saw the dozens and dozens of Haunter attacking people, and she began to desperately search for Owen, knowing that a much mightier foe would be joining the fight soon.
000
Eddy and Charizard stood near the entrance to the city, and the eight year old had a grin stretching across his face while holding a Pokeball in his hand. He didn't know which Pokemon Owen had loaned him, but it didn't matter, because all of his Pokemon were strong.
"Go, Pokeball!" Eddy yelled while throwing the Pokeball Owen had given him. In a flash of light, Eddy squealed like a little girl when he saw Hawlucha standing in front of him. "Yay! Hawlucha, let's go fight some Haunter!" Eddy shouted to the fighting type. Hawlucha, however, shrugged him off and walked away from Eddy. He stopped, though, when Charizard flew and landed in front of him before pointing back at Eddy. The Wrestling Pokemon looked back and saw a hurt look on Eddy's face, and Hawlucha rolled his eyes before halfheartedly cheering for a battle.
"Rawr," Charizard muttered while shaking his head at Hawlucha before he unleashed a Flamethrower at a Haunter that had started flying towards Eddy. The ghost was knocked out instantly, and Charizard released embers from his nostrils before roaring proudly.
"Nice job, Charizard! Hawlucha, use Wing Attack on that Haunter over there!" Eddy yelled, pointing at a spiky eared shadow hiding behind a bush. Hawlucha reluctantly obeyed the young trainer and attacked the hiding Pokemon. A loud grunt could be heard coming from the Pokemon that Hawlucha attacked, and Eddy gave the Pokemon a thumbs up. "Charizard, we can hold our own here. You can go help out the others," Eddy told Charizard. The fire and flying type nodded at the confident kid and he flew towards the sand to help Owen.
"Gar," the Pokemon that Hawlucha attacked spat. Eddy continued to grin confidently while a Gengar began to hover into the air. Hawlucha, on the other hand, sweat dropped at his luck with hitting a Gengar, but he wasn't going to back down to the fully evolved ghost. The only issue was going to be protecting Eddy and possibly having to run away incase the fight got out of hand.
"Hawlucha, use Aerial Ace!" The fighting type refused to listen to Eddy, and he decided to motion for Gengar to make the first move. Gengar cackled at Hawlucha's actions, and he flew forward while charging a Shadow Ball. "Hawlucha, watch out!" Eddy yelled. Hawlucha smirked as Gengar began to close in on him, and he performed a quick hop before slamming his glowing fist against the ghost. Shockingly, the attack went straight through Gengar's body, and the ghost type struck Hawlucha with a wicked Shadow Ball.
"Luch!" Hawlucha cried as he was sent spiraling away from Eddy. He quickly got back on his feet and began to charge towards Gengar before hopping into the air, grabbing Gengar's attention. Hawlucha then descended as his body was coated in a white light, and he crashed on top of the ghost.
As that battle raged on, Owen and the others had successfully gotten rid of all the Haunter.
"Man, that was some good training," Owen remarked with a stupid grin before he fell on his rear end. Frogadier and Pikachu did the same thing, and they tried fanning themselves off with their arms, just like Brooklyn's Pokemon and Litleo.
"Haha, you can say that again," Cindy replied. As they continued to converse, the older members of the traveling quartet were surprised when they saw Charizard land on the ground without Eddy.
"Charizard, what are you doing here? You're supposed to be with Eddy!" Owen shouted at the fully evolved Pokemon. Charizard then explained why he left Eddy, and Owen shot up from the ground. "Come on! We need to check on Eddy!" As they made their way towards Eddy's location, the Ghastly Owen had helped earlier saw them and followed.
000
"Haw!" Hawlucha cried as Gengar punched him across the face, and he rolled back to Eddy. Hawlucha then watched as Gengar began to walk towards the eight year old with an evil look on his face, prompting Hawlucha to stand back up. He then charged towards Gengar and grabbed the larger Pokemon before hurling him away from Eddy.
"Hawlucha, let's finish this! Use Aerial Ace!" Hawlucha once again disobeyed Eddy, and he stuck his wings out to his sides almost like he was a wall that would protect the young boy from Gengar's attacks. He knew he didn't have much energy left, but Hawlucha was going to make sure Gengar didn't hurt the eight year old.
"Kek kek kek," Gengar laughed before rearing his fist back. Once he threw it forwards, Hawlucha was shocked to see a shadowy fist crash into his stomach. The flying type rolled around on the ground in pain before pushing himself back up once again, refusing to give up.
"There they are!" Brooklyn shouted as she, Owen, and Cindy ran towards Eddy and Hawlucha. The two turned away from Gengar, giving the ghost the perfect opportunity to attack. As he flew towards Hawlucha, Owen realized the evil Pokemon's intentions, and he kicked it into high gear.
"Hawlucha!" he shouted before diving and pushing the fatigued Pokemon out of the way. As Hawlucha fell, he gasped when Owen was hit by Gengar. The teen, however, was able to take the attack head-on and Charizard swooped in before grabbing Gengar and hurling him over Reflection Cave. The teen then dropped to one knee in pain as everyone circled him, but he waved off the attention and helped Hawlucha back to his feet.
"Cha?" the Pokemon asked worriedly, causing Owen to laugh.
"I'm fine, Hawlucha. It looks like you took a beating, though." Everyone looked at all of the bruises and cuts covering Hawlucha's body, but the fighting type shrugged it off. He then smiled at Owen slightly and stuck his fist out, catching Owen by surprise. "Does this mean we're partners now, Hawlucha?" Owen asked the fighting type. Hawlucha nodded slowly, making Owen grin with delight.
"Stly!" The fist bump was interrupted suddenly by the Ghastly Owen had helped earlier, and she looked around worriedly.
"Hey, isn't that the Ghastly from earlier?" Eddy inquired. The ghost type nodded at Eddy and then stared at Owen strangely, making everyone feel uncomfortable. The awkwardness soon stopped once Ghastly looked down at Owen's belt, showing that she wanted to join him.
"Well this is pretty surprising," Owen said to himself as he took a Pokeball off his belt and held it up to Ghastly. "Go, Pokeball." The red and white ball opened and sucked Ghastly inside, but it didn't even shake. The capture was anticlimactic, to say the least, but Owen held the Pokeball out and smiled at it. He had caught a new Pokemon and connected with another. There was no way he was going to lose to Korrina again.
Who needs Mega Evolution anyways?
No A/N
Next Chapter: Go Go Gogoat: Before Owen can challenge Korrina for his rematch, Brooklyn takes the gang to the Gogoat Ranch. While there, Brooklyn meets her second rival, a girl who loves to pull pranks. After a prank goes wrong, sparks flare and Brooklyn challenges her rival to a battle. Will Brooklyn be able to defeat her new rival?
Shalour Arc Chapters
Chapter 28: Forming an Alliance
Chapter 29: Mega Destruction