Chapter 11: On Cloud Swablu
With Nikki's first Pokémon Contest under her belt the group continued on towards Lunick Town and Ash's first Gym battle. While Ash and Pikachu were eagerly anticipating their first Gym battle Nikki was busy thinking about the Contest. Ash noticed she was being strangely quiet and looked in her direction, seeing her in deep thought.
"Still thinking about the Contest?" Ash inquired. "You can't let it get to you. You'll do better next time."
"Don't worry, I'm not letting it get me down," Nikki replied. "But I am thinking about what I can do next time." Ash smiled.
"I'm glad to see this hasn't bummed you out too much," he said. "So, have you come up with anything?"
"Well, the way I see it, the reason I lost was because I couldn't come up with enough combinations to wow the judges," Nikki explained.
"If only Shinx and I knew some better moves we could have been more effective in the Contest,)" Buneary said, feeling that is was her fault. Nikki smile and pet the Rabbit Pokémon on her head.
"It's not your fault, nor is it Shinx's," she said. "If anything it's my fault for not having more Pokémon."
"You think the reason you lost was because you didn't have enough Pokémon?" Ash inquired.
"It's not just that. If I had more Pokémon I would have had a larger variety of combinations to work on," Nikki explained.
"And with more combinations you think you would have stood a better chance at winning," Ash observed.
"Yeah. That's why I want to catch a few more before my next Contest. That way I could come up with more combinations and have a better chance at winning next time," Nikki said.
"Well, if that's what you want then the only thing left to do is to find you a new Pokémon," Ash announced.
"(And we'll help,)" Pikachu added.
"Thanks. With you two helping I'm sure I'll get a new Pokémon," Nikki said. The two trainers and their Pokémon continued on, a new objective in front of them. What was not known to them was the fact that Team Rocket was listening in, hidden behind a thick growth of bushes along the path they were walking.
"Sounds like the twerpette wants to add to her roster," Meowth commented.
"Perhaps we should swoop in and add to our own," James suggested.
"I like your way of thinking, Jimmy," Meowth agreed.
"Let the twerps do the work while we reap the benefits," Jessie said.
"Then let's tail them and see what they find," Meowth suggested. His human partners agreed, following the Scratch Cat Pokémon as they quietly followed Ash and Nikki.
Ash and Nikki's search led them through a small forest. Various Pokémon from Pidgey and Starly to Caterpie and Burmy scurried about. The looked around at all the different Pokémon, trying to decide which one to add to their family.
"Oh man. There are so many to choose from," Nikki gasped.
"Yeah," Ash agreed. "So, do you have anything specific in mind?"
No, just whatever catches my eye first," Nikki answered.
"Well I'm sure there's something out here that'll do just that," Ash commented. Then, as if on cue, a shadow passed over their heads. They looked in front of them and saw a small blue bird Pokémon with cloud-like wings land in a tree.
"That looks like a Swablu," Ash said.
"That is a Swablu," Nikki confirmed. She took out her Pokédex and scanned it.
Swablu, the Cotton Bird Pokémon. Its wings bring cottony clouds to mind. It grooms with spring water and loves to sit on heads.
As they looked at the Flying type Nikki's eyes grew wide.
"That Swablu is perfect! I just have to catch it!" she exclaimed. She grabbed a Poké Ball and tossed it.
"Okay, Shinx! We've got a Pokémon to catch!" she exclaimed. As the Flash Pokémon appeared from her Poké Ball the Swablu saw that it would soon be engaged in battle. It flew down from the tree and faced Shinx.
"(Don't take this personally. My trainer would like to add you to our team,)" Shinx stated.
"(I can see that, but don't think I'll be an easy capture,)" the Cotton Bird Pokémon replied in a feminine voice.
"Let's start off with Charge Beam, Shinx!" Nikki instructed. She quickly gathered the electricity in her mouth and fired it. It looked as though the attack would hit, but the Swablu was surprisingly agile and dodged it with ease.
"Darn! Looks like we'll have to go with an in-your-face approach!" Nikki commented. "Use Spark!" Shinx charged towards the Swablu, her body engulfed in a blue aura. Just as she reached the Swablu the Cotton Bird Pokémon flapped her wings and flew over the charging Flash Pokémon.
"Try another Charge Beam!" Nikki shouted. Shinx gathered the leftover electricity from her Spark and concentrated it in her mouth, quickly powering up and firing a Charge Beam. This time, instead of dodging, the Swablu fired a blue orb from her mouth.
"That's Dragon Pulse!" Ash commented. The two attacks collided and canceled each other out.
"Wow… now that's power," Ash commented.
"(No kidding,)" Pikachu agreed.
"Okay, let's try…" Before Nikki could complete her instructions the Swablu opened her mouth and began singing.
"What the?" Nikki wondered. Ash, however, knew exactly what was happening.
"Don't listen to it!" he warned. "That's Swablu's… Sing… at… tack…" His warning came too late. By the time he got the words out of his mouth he, Nikki, Pikachu, Buneary and Shinx were all sound asleep.
"(There. That should give me some time to make my escape,)" Swablu commented. She flapped her wings and flew off, leaving the sleeping trainers and their Pokémon in dreamland. Seconds later Team Rocket emerged, their ears protected by special earmuffs. They removed the earmuffs and examined Ash, Nikki and their Pokémon.
"That Swablu put them on a one-way trip to dreamland," Meowth commented. "I gotta said I'm impressed."
"If we had that Swablu on our team defeating the twerps would be a piece of cake," Jessie said. "I say we catch her."
"In that case we should use this time to get an early start of finding that Swablu," James suggested.
"Yeah," Meowth and Jessie agreed. The trio disappeared into the forest on the trail of the Swablu, hoping to find it before Ash and company woke up.
Hours later Ash, Nikki and their Pokémon began to wake up as the effects from Swablu's Sing started to wear off. Upon waking the first thing they noticed was that Swablu had vanished.
"Aw man. The Swablu got away," Nikki whined.
"Don't worry. We'll find her," Ash said.
"How? We don't even know which way she went," Nikki pointed out. To answer her Ash grabbed a Poké Ball and called out Pidgeot.
"We need your help finding a Swablu that got away from us. Think you can spot her from up there?" Ash inquired.
"(Leave it to me,)" Pidgeot replied. With a flap of his wings Pidgeot was off searching for Swablu, leaving Ash, Nikki and their remaining Pokémon to search from the ground.
"Come on. We might get lucky enough to find her down here," Ash suggested. Nikki agreed as the group began their search.
Half an hour went by, and so far they had found no trace of the Swablu. Ash was still confident they'd find her, but Nikki was starting to grow a bit skeptical.
"Do you really think we're going to find that Swablu? I mean, we've been searching for a while and we haven't found anything," she wondered.
"We'll find her, and even if we don't Pidgeot's still out there. He might find her before we do," Ash explained.
"I suppose," Nikki agreed, though she still sounded less than enthusiastic about their chances. While they continued their search on the ground Pidgeot continued his from above. His high vantage point as well as excellent eyesight allowed him to see things Ash and the others could not. As he looked down at the forest he spotted the Swablu resting in a tree.
"(Found you. Now to alert Ash and Nikki,)" Pidgeot said. He did a 180 and flew back the way he came so he could direct Ash and Nikki in the direction of the Swablu. In his haste to leave, though, he failed to notice that he wasn't the only one who spotted the Swablu.
After some more searching with no results Ash and Nikki were starting to believe that the Swablu had indeed left the area. Just when they were ready to call it quits and move on Pikachu spotted Pidgeot heading towards them.
"Any luck, Pidgeot?" Ash called.
"(Yes. I believe I found her,)" he reported.
"You did? Alright!" Nikki cheered.
"I told you Pidgeot wouldn't let us down," Ash bragged. "Which way is she?"
"(This way,)" Pidgeot said, using his wing to point in the direction he saw the Swablu.
"Thanks, Pidgeot," Ash said. He recalled his avian friend and called for Nikki and the Pokémon to follow him. As they headed in the direction Pidgeot directed them in Nikki began formulating her battle plan.
"Okay… since Shinx didn't work last time I think I'll go with Buneary. She's more agile than Shinx and should be able to keep up with Swablu easier," she thought. "Now, the first thing I'll do is…"
"There she is!" Ash shouted, snapping her from her thoughts. Looking up they saw a large tree in front of them, and sitting on one of the branches was the Swablu they encountered earlier.
"Alright! Time to catch you!" Nikki declared. The Swablu heard them and prepared to defend herself, but before a battle could begin a metal claw came from above and grabbed Swablu.
"Ah, Swablu!" Nikki shouted. "We've got to do something!" Before she and Ash could come to the Swablu's aid the air was filled with sinister laughing.
"You have got to be kidding me!" Nikki groaned.
"Out of the sky, falling with grace.
A spark in the eye, arriving with haste.
Ready and willing to put twerps in their place.
Jessie!
James!
Meowth's the name!
Team Rocket, burning a trail!
Blazing a path!
Kickin' some tail!
Wobbu Wobbuffet!
Mime Mime Mime Mime!"
"Don't you ever get tired of being losers?" Nikki spat.
"Of course we do! That's why we're taking the first step down the winner's path!" Jessie retorted.
"And this Swablu is going to help us stay on that path!" James added. Hanging beneath the balloon Swablu struggled to free herself from Team Rocket's clutches.
"Don't worry, Swablu! We'll save you!" Nikki called.
"I seriously doubt that," Jessie sneered.
"Well I don't! Pikachu, use…" Before finishing his command Ash paused.
"What's wrong?" Nikki asked.
"If I have Pikachu use an Electric attack Swablu will get hurt in the process," Ash explained through gritted teeth.
"That's right, twerp! If you blast us then the little cotton ball gets it too," Meowth shouted.
"And now that we have the upper hand, or claw in this case, I think we'll just help ourselves to the rest of your Pokémon," Jessie gloated.
"Umm, shouldn't we first make our getaway with our new catch before we try for more?" James inquired.
"Yeah. Being greedy always messes us up. Let's just be satisfied with what we got," Meowth agreed.
"No! I'm taking advantage of this and that's final!" Jessie announced. "Now hand over your Pokémon!" Nikki looked at them with disgust.
"Not a chance! Buneary, use Bounce!" she shouted. After a few small hops the Rabbit Pokémon launched herself into the air.
"Now use Jump Kick!" Nikki said. Using the momentum she built up from Bounce Buneary went into a Jump Kick, hitting the arm in its joint and shattering it. With nothing holding the claw shut Swablu easily freed herself. She flew down and surprisingly landed on Nikki's shoulder.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"(Y-Yeah… I'm just a little shaken up,)" Swablu replied.
"That's good," Nikki sighed.
"No, my Swablu!" Jessie cried.
"I told you we should gone while the getting was good!" Meowth screeched. With Swablu now free Ash and Nikki were free to attack them however they wanted.
"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" Ash shouted.
"Shinx, use Charge Beam! Buneary, Hidden Power!" Nikki instructed. As the three Pokémon launched their attacks Swablu fired a Dragon Pulse at them. The combined attacks were too much for the balloon to handle. It to explode moments later, sending Team Rocket hurtling through the air.
"Great! Not only did we lose to the twerps, but I didn't get my Swablu!" Jessie whined.
"Well if you listened to me in the first place we wouldn't be having this problem!" Meowth spat.
"When I want your opinion I'll give it to you!" Jessie retorted.
"I just hope this is over by the time we land!" James cried.
"Team Rocket's blasting off again!" she screamed before vanishing in the distance.
Great job, you guys!" Ash praised. Pikachu, Buneary and Shinx all smiled. Ash then turned to Nikki.
"So, you going to catch that Swablu now?" he asked. She looked to the Cotton Bird Pokémon on her shoulder and, with a warm smile, shook her head.
"She's had enough for one day. I don't want to put her through any more," she explained. This wasn't what anyone was expecting, but at the same time they all understood.
"I guess she has been through a lot today," Ash agreed. "I guess we'll look for a different Pokémon for you to catch."
"Yeah," Nikki said.
"(Hold on,)" Swablu interjected.
"What is it?" Nikki wondered.
"(I want to thank you for helping me, and the only way I can think of is by becoming your Pokémon,)" she said.
"What? Are you sure?" Nikki questioned.
"(Yes. After what I saw I want to come with you, if you'll have me,)" Swablu explained.
"Of course! I'd be glad to have you!" Nikki announced with a smile. She grabbed an empty Poké Ball and gently tapped Swablu with it, drawing her inside. The light flashed a couple of times before a 'ping' announced a successful capture.
"Alright! I've got a Swablu!" Nikki cheered.
"(A new friend!)" Buneary added.
"Congratulations, Nikki," Ash said.
"Thanks," Nikki replied. "With Swablu on my side there's no telling what new combinations we can come up with."
"(I can't wait!)" Buneary excitedly announced.
"(Neither can I,)" Shinx agreed. After returning the Flash Pokémon to her Poké Ball the group continued on their way to Lunick Town, where Ash's first Gym battle awaited.
After thwarting another Team Rocket Pokémon theft attempt Nikki finds herself the new trainer of a powerful Swablu. With this newest family member by her side Contest ribbons are sure to be in her future. What else is in her future, as well as Ash's? Find out in the next chapter of Search for Power!
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