Our heroes continue to explore the Galore Islands. They have been to many different islands with many different adventures. I wonder what kind of adventure they might have on the next island.
"What's the next island we're heading to?" Tetsu asked.
"Fruitful Island." Cletus said. "There's a small town we can stay at until he head to the next island, but there's more. It's best known for growing some of the largest and best apples in all of the Galore Island."
"Are those apples really that good?" Davis questioned.
"They say that an apple a day keeps the doctor away. Well, apples like these will keep the doctor away for more than one day." Cletus said. "You'll see when we get there. Fruitful Island is coming up." All of them could see Fruitful Island coming up ahead. They'll see just how good those apples really are.
So you want to be Master of Pokemon
Do you have the skills to be Number One
I wanna take the ultimate step
Find the courage to be bold
To risk it all and not forget the lessons that I hold
I wanna go where no one's been
Far beyond the crowd
Learn the way to take command
Use the power that's in my hand
Hey
We all live in a pokemon world
I wanna be the greatest master of them all
We all live in a pokemon world
Put myself to the test
Be better than all the rest
So you wanna be a Master of Pokemon
Do you have the skills to be Number One
We all live in a pokemon world
I wanna be the greatest master of them all
Got the power right in your hands
Po-ke-mon
(Davis' voice) The Grass is Always Darker
They arrived at the island and wanted to get a good look at those apples. They heard that the apples were on the other side of the island. That was where they were going and could see them just up ahead.
"Are those the apples you were talking about?" Imperialdramon questioned.
"That's them." Cletus said. All of them got a good look at those apples and could see it. They were pretty big and shiny. It was almost unnatural, but they all looked good.
"Wow. Just look at these things. I wonder how they got that big." Davis said as he reached out and picked one. "Let's see how it tastes." He was about to take a bite right out of the apple.
"I've got you!" Suddenly, the apple was smacked right out of his hands by a wooden stake. They all met a young woman with red hair tied back and wore a pink polo with beige pants. "I finally caught you. You think you can just come around here and ruin our apples? Well, you were mistaken."
"What are you talking about?" Davis questioned.
"Don't try to deny it. I just caught you trying to ruin one of them now." She said as she held the stick at him like a sword, but Davis pushed it away.
"Lady, I was only going to taste one. I don't even know who the heck you are or what you're even talking about." Davis said.
"We weren't trying to ruin anything." Cletus said.
"We just got here." Tetsu said. The lady wasn't convinced, but she gave them the benefit of the doubt. They all took a moment to explain the situation and it seemed that they managed to convince her.
"I'm so sorry about that. My name is Tammy. I happen to work at the apple orchid that help made all these apples."
"We just assumed they grew naturally." Tetsu said.
"We're really sorry about this. If we had known they grew because of you, we would have asked first." Cletus said.
"They do look good. How did you get those apples that way?" Davis questioned.
"It's not easy. It takes a lot of work, effort, and we all love what we do." Tammy said. "Seeing what we have done and what we accomplish fills me with such delight. I've come to see these apples like they were my children. That's why I can't stand the idea of anything happening to them."
"On that note, what were you talking about earlier? Is someone actually ruining all your hard work?" Tetsu said.
"I'm afraid so. Let me show you." Tammy said. She brought them over to some of the other trees that she and her people grow, but they all looked fine.
"These apples look pretty good to me." Davis said.
"Maybe in appearance, but take a closer look." Tammy said as she pulled out an apple. She took it in her hands and easily broke it apart with the inside looking nasty and rotten. It was a little disgusting. "Someone has been poisoning, contaminating, and just basically ruining everything me and my friends have worked on. I'm worried what might happen if this keeps up."
"Who would do something like that?" Cletus questioned.
"Well, there has to be something around here that can tell you who is doing this." Davis said as he looked around until he ended up slipping on something. "What the heck?" He questioned until he smelled something he slipped on. "That better not be what I think it is." He took a look and saw that it was some sort of slimy trail...and it stinks. "What is this stuff?" He questioned with everyone having a look at it.
"It's some sort of trail made of slime." Tetsu said.
"I didn't see this before, and it looks fresh." Tammy said.
"Maybe whoever is ruining your apples is near." Imperialdramon said.
"Let's take a look." Davis said as they all followed the trail to see who the culprit might be. All of them kept going until they all began to smell something.
"What is that smell?" Tetsu said as they all felt a little disgusted.
"Something stinks around here." Imperialdramon said.
"This smell is not good. The trees could absorb it and ruin the apples." Tammy said. "What could... Oh my goodness!" She said as she spotted someone on another one of her trees. All of them took a look and were shocked to see something big, purple, and slimy against the tree.
"Muk!"
"It's a Muk!" Cletus said.
"Muk?!" Davis said as he pulled out his pokedex to learn more about it.
"Muk, the Sludge Pokemon. A poison-type, and the evolve form of Grimer. Muk emits a toxic sludge that is quite hazardous to plants."
"You mean like that!" Tetsu said as they saw the tree looked rather sick as Muk was trying to get some of the apples to come down and was able to eat some.
"So it was this Muk the whole time! Where did it come from?!" Tammy said.
"This is bad. I don't think Muk is even aware of what it's doing." Cletus said.
"Well, let's take care of it." Davis said as he marched right over. "Hey! Muk! You need to stop what you're doing! Not only are those apples not for you, but you're ruining all the trees they grow on!" He said as he tried to get Muk to stop, but it wouldn't listen. "Hey! Don't ignore me!" He said as he grabbed Muk by the arm, but Muk just pushed him away. This Muk clearly isn't going to listen. "Am I seriously getting the cold shoulder by a giant pile of sludge?!"
"Muk, please! You need to stop what you're doing right now or else you're going to ruin all our hard work." Tammy pleaded, but Muk just doesn't seem to listen. "Why won't it listen?"
"Tammy, this isn't looking good. Maybe you should return to the orchid and try to salvage as many apples as you can before Muk ruins them." Cletus said.
"You're right." Tammy said as she ran off to try and save all the apples that she can.
"Imperialdramon, get that Muk out of here." Davis said.
"You want me to touch that thing?!" Imperialdramon said as he felt disgusted from the thought.
"You have any better ideas? We need to convince that Muk to leave." Davis said.
"Cletus, how about you try Grimer?" Tetsu suggested.
"Good idea!" Cletus said as he reached for Grimer's pokeball. "Since Grimer evolve into Muk, I'm sure it will listen. Grimer, come on out!"
"Grimer!"
"Grimer, we need you to talk to that Muk and convince it to leave without hurting the apples." Cletus said. Grimer helped out as it went over to Muk. Grimer tried talking to Muk while it was eating, but Muk just shoved Grimer away. That didn't go the way they expected. It certainly didn't help when Grimer got angry and tried attacking with Mud Shot. "No, Grimer! That's not going to help! Return!" Cletus acted quickly and brought Grimer back to it's pokeball before any real damage could be done.
"Not even Grimer helped! I guess that Muk doesn't like being bothered while it's eating!" Tetsu figured. With that, Muk just moved on and it looked like it was still hungry. They need to figure out how they're going to stop Muk or else the orchid will be ruined.
...
The Orchid
The guys regrouped with Tammy at the main base of operations on the Orchid. Tammy and others were trying to save as many apples as they could from Muk's poison, but it didn't look like there was much.
"This was all we could salvage." Tammy said as she didn't like the results. "Too many trees have been contaminated from Muk's sludge. We have to do something. It's not safe to regrow any new apples as long as that Muk and it's toxins are around."
"There's got to be something about that Muk we can do." Tetsu said, but there was no clear answers.
"I think the only way to stop that Muk and make sure this doesn't happen again is catch that Muk." Davis said.
"You might be right, but it's not a good idea to have a battle here." Cletus said. "A battle could cause even more damage to the area. We need to try and lure that Muk away from here if we're really going to catch it."
"Lure it away..." Davis said as he tried to think of something. There was really only one thing that they have that can be used as bait to lure that Muk to another area.
...
Muk
Muk continued to eat some of the apples and was ruining the trees in the process. However, Muk's appetite was exactly what they needed for their plan.
"Venomon! Venomoth!" Venomoth came flying in and was carrying some apples in a net. It certainly got Muk's attention and it was working. Venomoth was flying away with the apples and Muk chased after it as it wanted those apples. Venomoth flew away from the area and right to where Davis and Imperialdramon were...away from the apples.
"Nice work, Venomoth." Davis said as Venomoth flew by and the others watched. "You're mine, Muk! Imperialdramon, get that Muk with Dragon Pulse!"
"Right! Muk's going down!" Imperialdramon said as he unleashed the Dragon Pulse attack and blasted Muk. It certainly made Muk angry as it used Sludge Bomb, but Imperialdramon flew around and avoided each attack.
"Dragon Pulse again!" Davis called as Imperialdramon blasted Muk again. "Now use Brick Break!" Imperialdramon flew straight down and smashed its arm against Muk with some real damage dealt. It looks like they got it now. "You're mine now!"
"All Davis has to do is catch it now!" Tetsu said as they thought this was it.
"Go, pokeball!" Davis threw the pokeball and thought they had it, but it was wrong. The ball just bounced right off Muk and nothing happened. "Nothing?! What went wrong?!"
"It didn't work?" Cletus said. "If it didn't work... That must mean that Muk already belongs to someone!"
"But if it already belongs to a trainer, where's the trainer?" Tammy questioned as this was getting more and more confusing.
"Muk! There you are!" All of them looked and saw a young trainer heading straight for them. "Hey! What's the big idea attacking my Muk?!"
"You're Muk?! You're it's trainer?! Dude, do you have any idea what your Muk has been doing?" Davis said. It took some explaining, but Muk's trainer understood what was going on and felt mortified that his own pokemon caused so much trouble.
"I'm so sorry." Muk's trainer said as he bowed to them with Muk starting to regret it's actions. "I let my Muk roam around freely, but I didn't know it was causing so much trouble. My Muk is a glutton and clearly loved your apples. Still, I feel bad. Is there anything I can do to make this right?"
"Well, if you keep Muk in its pokeball, you can work here and help replace the apples that we lost." Tammy said. "We might not have been able to save every apple, but some of the trees themselves can be recoverable. We can make them healthy again."
"That be a big help. You can replace the lost apples, and also prevent further damage from being done." Tetsu said.
"Deal, and again I'm very sorry." Muk's trainer said.
"Well, all's well that ends well." Tetsu said.
"True. It also looks like Muk regrets its actions." Cletus said. "Looks like Muk never meant to cause any harm. It just couldn't seem to help itself."
"Speaking of which, I say we try to have some of those great apples. I still want to see if they're really that good if we had to go through all of this to save them." Davis said and they all certainly agreed with that. Those apples might keep the doctor away, but it looks like they can't keep gluttons away.
Aiding in an environmental situation and saving some trees and apples, our heroes managed to fix another problem. I'm sure once they get a taste of what they saved, they'll be hitting the sea once again for their next island adventure. Stay tuned...
To Be Continued...