Episode 110: The Spy Who Loathed Me

Ash shouts, "Dashilisk, use Scald!"

"Dashiiiiii!" Dashilisk sends a torrent of steaming water at a nearby boulder. Its aim looks pretty good.

Nearby, Brenda, Brock, and Pikachu watch as Ash and Dashilisk train.

Today our heroes decided to slow down for a bit and do some training. As always, Dashilisk looks raring to go.

Dashilisk dances around in joy. Ash, however, doesn't seem fully impressed. After thinking for a moment, he picks a small rock the size of his fist up off the ground. He says, "You're aim is great, Dashilisk, but it can be better." He places the rock on top of the boulder. "Try to use your Scald to knock this rock off the boulder without hitting the boulder itself."

Dashilisk smiles broadly as it energetically nods it head. "Dashi dashi!" Dashilisk leaps backwards with a small backflip to position itself. It eyes the target, and then attacks with another jet of water. It would seem that its aim isn't quite good enough. Dashilisk lands a glancing shot, but only just barely, so the rock stays put.

Despite its failure, Dashilisk does what Dashilisk does and dances in joy. "Dashi, dashi, dashilisk!"

Brenda comments, "It sure would take a lot to make that Pokémon disappointed." She chuckles.

Ash doesn't seem as amused. Just as he's about to lecture Dashilisk, a small and extremely precise shot of water comes from the distance and knocks the rock off the boulder. The suddenness and precision of the shot stuns both Ash and Dashilisk, causing Dashilisk to stop its dance. They look towards the source and see an Inteleon holding a finger straight out in front of it. The Inteleon then points its finger upwards in front of its mouth and blows on it.

Dashilisk's jaw drops as its uncharacteristic speechless streak continues. From Dashilisk's perspective, time seems to slow. It watches as, in slow motion, Inteleon flicks its head to the side, causing the crest on the back of its head to whip to the other side.

Back in normal time, a man walks up behind the Pokémon. He's a handsome man with jet black hair and dressed in a tuxedo. He says, "Sorry about that, my partner Inteleon never gives up a chance to show off her sharpshooting skills."

Brenda gets up for a better look, and quickly digs for her Pokédex. It says, "Inteleon, the Secret Agent Pokémon, and a Water-Type. This Pokémon is a master of espionage and spy craft. It can shoot bursts of water from the tips of its fingers with extreme accuracy. Evolves from Drizzile at level 35."

Ash responds to the man, "No need to worry, that was an amazing shot. From three times the distance as Dashilisk to boot. I think that's exactly what Dashilisk needed to get serious about this. Just look at it now. I've never seen it so quiet." Sure enough, Dashilisk is still staring intensely and silently at Inteleon.

Brock chuckles to himself and says under his breath, "Not quite, Ash."

The man introduces, "The name's Bron, Jace Bron. I would stay and chat, but my partner and I are late for an engagement. Tell me, are we nearing the city?"

Brenda nods. "Yeah, just follow this path for a few minutes, and you'll be there."

Jace nods appreciatively. "Thank you, my dear. We're off, Inteleon."

Inteleon responds, "Intel." The two continue on down the path.

Dashilisk takes several steps to follow, and then stops. It says with bliss, "Dashi…"

Brock walks up behind Dashilisk and says to it, "Go Dashilisk, follow her."

Dashilisk looks to Brock and tilts its head. "Dashi?"

"True love is always worth pursuing. Don't let her go so easily."

Dashilisk stares Brock in the eyes for several moments, and then nods. It gives a determined, "Dashilisk." In its unique hobbling walk, it runs after Jace and Inteleon.

Ash shouts in surprise, "Dashilisk! Where are you going!?"

Brock says, "Don't worry about Dashilisk, I sent it off to town to get some groceries for tonight's diner."

Ash objects, "You could have sent any other Pokémon. Dashilisk and I were in the middle of training…"

Brock shakes his head. "No, it had to be Dashilisk."

Ash groans.

Jace and Inteleon stand outside a large building. Judging by the large group of people entering the building wearing fancy clothing, it seems to be a high-class party for the rich and famous. Jace straightens his bowtie. "You ready, Inteleon?"

Inteleon affirms, "Teleon."

Jace hands it a small device. Inteleon takes it and inserts it into its ear. Jace places another one into his ear. "We're online."

They cross the street and enter the queue to get in. At the door, a woman asks, "Name?"

"Bron, Jace Bron."

The woman looks down to a tablet in her hands and searches a list. "I'm sorry, but I'm not seeing any Bron on the guestlist."

Jace can just barely be seen pulling something from his pocket and pointing it at the tablet. He then says, "If you don't mind, could you double check?"

The woman shrugs and looks again. A look of surprise crosses her face. "Oh, you are on the list. How could I miss that? Welcome, Mr. Bron. Enjoy the party."

"I will." He and Inteleon stroll in.

Once inside, Jace and Inteleon take a moment to survey the area. They are in a large and opulent ballroom filled with the upper class conversing. Jace looks to Inteleon and says, "You know what to do."

Inteleon nods. "Intel." It walks off, not attempting to hide itself, but also not drawing any attention to itself.

Jace then walks over to the bar and takes a seat. He says to the bartender, "I'll take a Pinap Juice. Shaken, not stirred."

"Right away." The bartender pours a yellow juice into a shaker, gives it several shakes, pours it into glass, and hands it to Jace.

After taking a sip, Jace asks, "So, what can you tell me about our host?"

"Dr. Nay? Not much, I'm afraid. He's a very… enigmatic man. He throws parties like this all over the world, but never appears at any of them."

"How odd. He hired you, surely you've met him."

"No, we were contracted via a third-party."

"Is there anything you know about him?"

"I don't know anything. Except…"

"Except what?"

"Well…" She leans in and whispers, "I've heard rumors that wherever he throws a party, a major robbery takes place. Surely that has to be a coincidence though, right?"

"One can never be certain." He gets up. "Thank you for the juice." He walks off.

On the opposite end of the ballroom, Inteleon surveys the area. It notices a door guarded by three funny looking thugs. It contemplates for a moment how to best get in.

Its thoughts are interrupted by a sudden, "Dashilisk!"

Inteleon looks behind it to see Dashilisk happily waving at it. "Teleon?"

Upon being noticed, Dashilisk blushes and freezes up. Inteleon stares at Dashilisk for a moment. Confused, Inteleon walks away without another word.

Realizing that Inteleon is gone, Dashilisk's nervousness turns to depression. "Dashi…"

Upon closer examination, the strange-looking thugs guarding the door across the room is actually Jessie, James, and Meowth. They are dressed in the most ridiculous villain stereotype costumes possible. James is dressed in a tan suit with his hair slicked back, an eyepatch over one of his eyes and a rose in his mouth. Jessie is dressed in an overly gaudy and sequined crimson dress with a massive feather boa wrapped around her neck. Meowth wears a clearly fake muscle suit complete with phony tattoos.

Meowth complains, "What kind of party is this? All anybody's doing is talking. Where's the cake? The party hats? The piñata? Lame." He tries to cross his arms, but the fake muscles around his arms prevent him from doing so. After a bit of a struggle, he settles for resting one arm on top of the other.

James comments, "I have to admit, this is almost nostalgic. This is the exact sort of party that my parents would always drag me to."

Jessie remarks, "No wonder you ran away."

James points out, "Regardless, we're not here for the party. We were hired as security. We have to be on the lookout for anything suspicious."

Meowth asks, "Does a twerp Pokémon count as suspicious?" He points forward.

Jessie and James look across the room to see Dashilisk still frozen in place.

Jessie says, "You're right, that's the Twerp's Dashilisk. What's it doing here?"

James suggests, "Perhaps it's waiting to be poached."

Meowth grins. "I like the way you think." They sneak away towards Dashilisk, only to find that while they weren't looking, Dashilisk disappeared.

While they're away from their post, Inteleon takes the chance to sneak in the door they were guarding.

At the same time, Jace sneaks behind some other guards to get upstairs.

Who's That Pokémon!?

It stuns its prey with psychokinesis and then grinds them to mush with its strong teeth. Even Shellder's shell is no match for it.

Inteleon enters a dimly lit storage room with a roll and dives behind a crate for cover. Moments later, it pops up from behind the crate with its finger carefully pointed out and ready to attack at a moment's notice. After surveying the area and seeing no threat, it gets up for a better look.

Inteleon walks towards a specific oversized crate in the center of the room. It whispers, "Teleon, intel."

Via communicator, Jace responds, "You found it? Great job. Grab the target and get out of here. I'll be paying our gracious host a visit."

Inteleon pries open the crate to reveal a cylindrical capsule inside. Inteleon grabs the capsule and turns to leave. When it turns around, it's confronted by Dashilisk staring it right in the face. Dashilisk happily waves and greets, "Dashilisk!"

This startles Inteleon, causing it to stumble backwards and fumble with the capsule. It falls back, and its back lands up against a fire alarm trigger, causing it to go off. Inteleon's eyes widen. "Teleon!" It looks around with panic, trying to find an escape route.

Dashilisk doesn't appear phased by the alarm in the slightest. It remains fixated on Inteleon.

Inteleon homes in on an elevator behind Dashilisk. It runs forward, tucking the capsule beneath an arm, and shoving Dashilisk aside with the other. Instead of waiting for the elevator, Inteleon pries open the door, and leaps into the shaft. Using the adhesive membrane on its finger tips, Inteleon climbs up the empty elevator shaft.

It scales several floors, carefully tracking how far it's traveled. Inteleon freezes when it hears a loud rumbling. It looks down to see the elevator car rising up beneath it. Riding on the roof of the car is Dashilisk. It dances around happily and shouts, "Dash-il-isk!" It seems to be enjoying itself. It beckons for Inteleon to join it.

Inteleon completely ignores it. Instead it looks around frantically and notices an air vent. Inteleon leaps up and dives into the vent. The secret agent Pokémon crawls its way through the tight duct. Fortunately, its slim figure allows for this without too much difficulty.

It turns a corner and finds itself face-to-face with Dashilisk. Dashilisk waves in greeting once again. "Dashilisk!"

"Inteleon!" Inteleon quickly backs up and makes a different turn. After traveling this way for a little more, Inteleon kicks down a grate and leaps down into a room. It surveys the area before continuing, and freezes up when the door begins to open.

"Dashilisk!" Dashilisk stands on the other side of the door.

Inteleon can't believe this. After a quick moment of exasperation, it swivels around, shoots a water bullet at the window, shattering it, and leaps out. Once in the air, Inteleon grabs the membranes on its back and spreads them, using them like a wingsuit to glide. It breathes a sigh of relief, knowing that there's no possible way that Dashilisk could follow it out here.

At least that's what it thought. Using it Scald to propel it through the air like a rocket, Dashilisk pulls up next to Inteleon. It waves and gurgles a hello through the water coming from its mouth.

Inteleon's head twitches several times. "Teleon…" It and Dashilisk land on the building across from the window they leapt from. Inteleon turns to Dashilisk and shouts angrily, "Inteleon! Tele! Intel leon! Inteleon!"

Dashilisk cowers back several steps. "Dashi…?" It appears hurt. But only for a moment, then its usual happy demeanor returns, and it asks, "Dashilisk?"

"Inteleon!"

Before the conversation can continue anymore, a net suddenly ensnares both of them.

"Teleon!?"

"Dashi!?"

Team Rocket steps forward. Meowth declares, "Target acquired."

Inteleon begins to struggle to escape. Dashilisk is as aloof as usual and doesn't seem too worried.

Before Inteleon can do anything to escape, Jessie says, "Nah ah ah." She opens a canister and rolls it towards the captured Pokémon. It spews a cloud of gas. Upon breathing it in, both Pokémon pass out and everything goes black.

It's Bruxish!

When Inteleon comes to, it finds itself tied to a chair. It's back-to-back with Jace, who is tied to another chair. Inteleon asks, "Teleon?"

Jace responds, "Glad to hear you're back. And I see you brought a friend."

On the floor beside them, Dashilisk lies on its belly, arms tied to its side and legs bound together, still as aloof as ever. It greets, "Dashilisk," and tries its best to wave.

Jace chuckles. "I like this one."

Inteleon disagrees, "Intel teleon…" as if it's saying, "That makes one of us."

Dashilisk looks around with curiosity. It doesn't seem concerned about being bound in the slightest.

Jace assures, "Not to worry, I've got my laser cufflinks on." He struggles to reach them. "If I can just tap one of them, I can cut us right out."

A baritone voice suddenly announces, "That won't be necessary, Mr. Bron." Inteleon and Jace quickly look to the side of the room. Behind a desk is a chair facing away from them. It slowly swivels around, revealing its occupant. It's a man dressed in a striking white suit. His face has sharp angular features, and he's bald.

Jace says, "Dr. Nay, I presume."

"Mr. Bron, I'm afraid that you've stuck your nose a little too deep into affairs you should have stayed away from."

"And you, Dr. Nay, have over-played your hand. Maybe you can cover your tracks from a robbery, but kidnapping an intelligence agent of the International Police is going too far. Maybe you stop me, but others will come. You can't hope to stop the entire force of the IP. You've already lost, Nay."

Nay chuckles. "Very wrong, Mr. Bron. Very wrong." He sets the capsule on his desk. "Now that I have this in my possession, not even your precious International Police will be able to stop me."

Dashilisk seems to be paying little attention to the conversation. Instead, it's trying to keep a fluffball in the air by blowing it upwards.

Nay gets up from behind his desk and steps closer to his prisoners. "So, tell me Mr. Bron, what is it that your intelligence suggests I'm building?"

Jace scowls. "So far, the list of stolen pieces seems to imply some sort of directed energy weapon."

Nay grins. "Not just any directed energy weapon, the ultimate directed energy weapon." He pulls out a remote and presses it. A nearby screen activates, showing a diagram. A satellite is shown in orbit. "With the Energy Variance through Induced Light satellite," he snidely adds, "or E.V.I.L., as I like to call it," Inteleon rolls its eyes at the forced acronym, "I will be able to attack any location on Earth with the press of a button."

Jace objects, "But for a laser of that kind of power, you'd need a super alloy. Nobody can produce an alloy like that."

Nay grins. "No person perhaps." He presses a button on the capsule, causing it to open. Inside is a Pokémon egg. It's divided in half, with the left side of the egg colored a copper color, and the right a silver. A dark blue zig-zag divides the two colors.

Jace gasps. "That egg! It can't be."

Just then the egg begins to glow. Nay seems to take pleasure in this. "Indeed, it is, Mr. Bron."

The egg glows even more intensely, and then transforms shape into that of a Pokémon. Left standing on the desk is diminutive Pokémon. It bears a resemblance to Duraludon, though with a much shorter torso, giving it a stout shape. Instead of Duraludon's polygonal rock grinders, its arm tips are much more rounded, with one pointing outward, and one inward. Like the egg, the Pokémon looks to be made of copper on one side and aluminum on the other, with the two sides divided by the blue zig-zag.

The baby Pokémon squeaks, "Solu!"

Dashilisk briefly looks up at the new Pokémon, but then returns its attention to the fluff.

Jace gasps again. "A Soludon! The pre-evolved form of Duraludon! That Pokémon can create any alloy simply by consuming two different types of metal!"

"Exactly! This little Pokémon will create the exact alloy I need for the E.V.I.L.!" He begins to laugh maniacally. Once he's satisfied, he stops and presses another button. At his summon, Jessie, James, and Meowth enter the room.

James asks, "What do you need of us, sir?"

Nay orders, "Watch them and make sure they don't escape. I have some alloys to concoct." He grabs the Soludon in his arms and leaves.

Once he's gone, Jessie asks, "Do you think he'll let us keep the twerpish Dashilisk as a bonus?"

Meowth nods. "I bet he will. And then The Boss will give us a second payday."

James agrees, "This gig really is working out."

While they're talking amongst themselves, Jace whispers, "Alright Inteleon, let's try that laser cufflink again."

Dashilisk gives another puff at the fluff, causing it fly further away than expected. In an attempt to get it back, Dashilisk breathes in through its mouth to suck it back towards it. Dashilisk overdoes this and ends up breathing in the fluff. This immediately causes Dashilisk to begin a sneeze. "Dash… dashilisk!" The sneeze launches Dashilisk upwards. As it tumbles through the air, it's tail whips downwards between Jace and Inteleon's backs. The tail hits one of Jace's cufflinks, activating the laser and cutting away Jace's bindings.

Immediately taking advantage of the situation, Jace leaps up, turns around, cuts through Inteleon's ropes, and then Dashilisk's. Once Inteleon is free, it leaps up from the chair and launches three shots from its fingers without pausing to aim. The first shot shatters the window behind Team Rocket, the second unhinges a large and heavy decorative piece hanging on the wall beside them, and the third hits the wall ornament, changing its course so that it lands precisely on the opposite end of a floor board that Team Rocket stands on. Before they even realize the prisoners are free, the seesaw effect of the floorboard being forced down launches Team Rocket up and through the open window.

With extreme confusion, they shout, "We're blasting off again!?"

Jace and Inteleon end in a pose, as if flourishing their victory. Dashilisk leaps in front of them and begins its happy dance.

Jace says to Inteleon, "Now I really like this one. Good idea bringing it along."

Inteleon groans. "Teleon…"

"Now come on, let's stop Dr. Nay and rescue Soludon." He and Inteleon rush out from the room, leaving Dashilisk to dance by itself.

It's only moments later that Dashilisk realizes that it's alone. After this, it quickly runs out after them.

Jace and Inteleon burst through a door into a lab. Inteleon has its finger out and is ready to attack. Dashilisk rolls in between them. It seems to be enjoying pretending to be a spy.

Dr. Nay looks up at them. Situated in front of him is Soludon in a clear capsule. "Mr. Bron, you're too late. I've already fed Soludon the metal components of the super alloy, and once I press this button," his finger hovers over a button, "this machine will forcefully extract the alloy from the Pokémon and instantly transport it up to my satellite. You've lost." He moves to press the button.

Inteleon does a quick shot of water at his finger to stop him, but an energy barrier appears, and the water flash evaporates on impact. Inteleon scowls.

Nay laughs some more. "I do not lie, Mr. Bron. I cannot be stopped."

Jace asserts, "You can't do this. Soludon is composed of the metals it eats. If you extract it, Soludon won't survive."

"What is the life of one Pokémon, when compared to the ultimate power I will hold?"

Jace grunts in anger. "Try something stronger, Inteleon. Hydro Pump!"

Inteleon raises both hands, conjuring up water from all of its fingers at once. The multiple jets of water all combine into one powerful Hydro Pump. Despite the added power of the attack, the result is no different. The energy barrier continues to protect Nay.

Nay takes a moment to laugh at this failure, and then declares, "As I said, you've lost." He pounds his hand down on the button.

A glowing field envelops Soludon. At first, the baby Pokémon stares curiously at the light, but then it suddenly cries out in pain as the process begins. "Soluuuuuuuu!"

Nay then questions, "But why let poor Soludon suffer all by itself?" He presses another button, and the flooring beneath Jace and Inteleon becomes electrified. They both cry out in pain as they're electrocuted.

Dashilisk, however, wasn't standing on the electrified floor. It looks to Inteleon with concern. "Dashilisk?"

Nay is going all out with the evil laugh now. He notices Dashilisk and asks, "You want to help your friends, don't you? Well, you can't! You're not even an actual spy, are you? You're just a random Pokémon that tagged along." He laughs more. "In mere moments, the alloy will be extracted, and I will be unstoppable!" More laughing.

Dashilisk lowers its head in shame. "Dashi…" It looks over towards Inteleon once more. It continues to writhe in pain. Dashilisk looks back up and notices something. Behind Nay, just barely peeking over the top of the energy barrier, is a circuit box that is just barely exposed. Dashilisk's eyes widen as it realizes this could be its chance. It has no time to move for a better angle and has to take its chance now. With a deep breath to calm itself, Dashilisk prepares to attack.

Nay notices this and asks, "What do you hope to accomplish it!? You already saw that attacks can't penetrate my shield!"

Calling upon its training with Ash, as well as everything it saw Inteleon do, Dashilisk attacks with an ultra-precise Scald attack. The attack passes just over the barrier, high enough to not be stopped, but low enough to still continue on target. It then hits the circuit box, causing a cascade of sparks. Had the shot been just a little off in any direction, the attack would have missed its mark entirely.

And with that, all the power in the room goes out. In the pitch-black darkness, Nay can be heard saying, "Oh no…"

Jace and Inteleon can then be heard leaping into action. When the lights flicker back on several moments later, Dr. Nay has been bound in handcuffs and Inteleon is holding onto the alright Soludon. It happily cheers, "Solu-don!"

Dashilisk begins a celebratory dance. "Dashi dashi dashilisk!"

Jace smiles at it. "That was some top-notch sharp-shooting, Dashilisk. Wouldn't you agree, Inteleon?"

Inteleon crosses its arm and gives no response. Moments later, it sighs and begrudgingly admits, "Teleon…"

Jace walks over to Dashilisk and kneels down to eye-level with it. "Thank you, Dashilisk. You saved the day. As far as I'm concerned, you're now an honorary agent of the International Police." He salutes Dashilisk.

Dashilisk stops its dance and looks back to Jace with disbelief. "Dashi…?" It then returns the salute in a goofy manner. "Dashilisk!"

It's late evening. Ash is sitting slouched over a picnic table. He demands, "What's taking Dashilisk so long? Now we've lost out on a whole day of training, and I'm starved."

Brock assures, "What I sent Dashilisk for takes time. You can't rush it."

Then Jace calls, "Hello! I believe this is your Pokémon!"

Ash quickly looks up and sees Jace, Inteleon, and Dashilisk approaching. He gets up and runs towards Dashilisk.

Seeing Dashilisk walking aside Inteleon makes Brock smile. He notices as Dashilisk attempts to hold Inteleon's hand, but Inteleon slaps it away. Brock nods, feeling its pain.

Ash asks, "Dashilisk, did you get the supplies?"

Dashilisk is confused. "Dashi?"

Covering for Dashilisk, Jace explains, "I'm afraid that your Dashilisk got distracted trying to help Inteleon and I out with some… business."

Ash hangs his head in despair. "Oh… so we don't have dinner…"

Brock, ready for this eventuality, announces, "Not to worry, I have an alternate dinner planned! It will be ready in less than ten minutes!" He quickly gets to work.

Jace says to Ash, "You've got yourself one unique Pokémon with Dashilisk."

Ash chuckles. "That's one way to put it. Sorry if it caused you any problems."

Jace shakes his head. "Oh no, not at all. In fact, I'm not sure what we would have done without its help."

Ash nods. "Great to hear." He looks to Dashilisk and says, "Come on Dashilisk, we better get back to our training while we still have time before dinner."

Jace states, "And Inteleon and I better be off. Farewell, Dashilisk." He turns to leave.

Inteleon is about to leave, but it turns to take one last look at Dashilisk, who is still staring at it. Inteleon sighs, then leans down and gives Dashilisk a kiss on the cheek. Dashilisk freezes up. In the background, Brock can be seen silently celebrating. Inteleon then casually walks away, flicking its hair-crest as it does so.

Ash realizes that Dashilisk isn't following him. He looks back to see the still frozen Pokémon standing absolutely still. "Dashilisk?" He waves a hand in front of Dashilisk's face. "Huh, that's strange. I've never seen Dashilisk stand still before, let alone freeze up like this. Brock, is it okay?"

Brock says with a smile. "It's more than okay."

Ash shrugs. "If you say so."

Dashilisk then suddenly leaps high upwards and cheers at the top of its lungs, "Dash-i-lisk!" It then begins to dance.

Brenda chuckles. "There's the Dashilisk we know."

And so, maybe Inteleon has feeling for our little Dashilisk after all. Ah, Pokémon love, what could be sweeter? Stay tuned.

To Be Continued…