Chapter 6

One for the Goomy

It was a bright and sunny afternoon on Fourrage Road to Coumarine City. The lot of us were traversing a mountainous trail which proved to be rather exhausting.

…especially for Serena and Clemont, both of whom looked ready to pass out. "Isn't this hill ever going to end?" the former groaned.

"I can understand Clemont tiring out," Misty commented, "but you were bright and cheery a minute ago."

"You guys!" Bonnie cried out from a bit of a distance. "This is the top of the hill! We made it!"

"Praise Arceus..." sighed Clemont.

As the rest of us made it to the top of the hill, we stopped briefly to take in the cooling breeze. Such a relaxing sensation. Then Bonnie pointed out a lone Swanna flying above us. As it passed over our head, something seemed to drop from the Swanna. Before anyone could realize what it was, it slammed down atop Ash's head, pummeling him to the ground.

"Ash!" Brock called out as he aided him. "Are you okay?"

He did not reply, as the object, gelatinous in appearance, was completely covering his face. He carefully pulled the slimy creature off his face. "Yuck! What is this thing?!"

Diancie came over and examined the blob. 'It's Goomy!' she declared with a smile and picked up the object carefully.

"Oh?" I asked. "Do you know each other?"

'Yes, remember that one friend I told you about? This is him!'

"So this is a Pokémon?" As he spoke, Ash pulled out his Pokédex.

"Wait!" a digitized voice cried out. Dexter jumped out in front of him. "Please leave the Pokémon descriptions to me." As he spoke, an image of the blob appeared on his screen.

Goomy
The Soft Tissue Pokémon
A Dragon-type
Because most of its body is water, it will dry up if the weather becomes too arid. It's considered the weakest Dragon Pokémon of them all.

'Something's not right,' Diancie stated with worry. 'Goomy feels weak… more so than normal.'

"Maybe it needs some water," Serena pulled out her thermos and dumped the water all over Goomy. While it did seem to work a little, as he did open his eyes to see us, it was obvious he needed more.

So Ash looked around and quickly spotted a river nearby. He turned to the duo and confronted Diancie. "Let me have him. I'll take him down to the river."

'You will?' She asked in concern. 'That way down looks awfully dangerous...'

"Maybe so, but Goomy needs this."

Diancie nodded and handed him over. Ash attempted to slowly move down. However, not two seconds into the descent did the ground give out on him. Ash, Pikachu, and Goomy started running down quickly and uncontrollably. Though he was able to dodge most of the terrain by jumping or with Pikachu's attacks, he tripped on something and crashed into the river. Luckily, nobody was hurt.

"Are you okay?" Misty asked as the rest of us reached the river.

"I think so..." he replied.

Goomy sat in the river, but he still looked weak, so we all started pouring water into him, letting him absorb into his skin.

"Feeling better?" I asked the little guy. He smiled in response.

'Thank Arceus...' Diancie sighed as she hobbled over. 'I'm so happy to see you're better.'

Goomy cuddled against Diancie, pleased with their reunion. Then he looked around at the rest of us, then back at her. "Goomy Goo?"

'They're my friends...' she explained. 'I owe them my life, in fact. I know you will love them all.'

But she spoke too soon. At that instant, Dedenne popped out from Bonnie's pouch to greet their new friend. But Goomy was immediately frightened and hopped atop Ash's head.

"Goomy? Does Dedenne scare you?" Cocoa asked.

'Pardon that,' Diancie apologized. 'I am the only Fairy Pokémon he is comfortable around.'

"That makes sense," Dexter chimed in. "Fairy-type Pokémon have a huge advantage against Dragon-type c in battle."

"Wow, Goomy's scared of cute little Dedenne? That's weird..." Bonnie muttered. Goomy, offended by her remark, jumped at her feet and started slapping her shins with his antennae. It did not hurt her at all. In fact... "Hey! That tickles!"

Later, we made our way into the forest to find something fast to eat. Goomy started to eat some of the leaves. Meanwhile, we found a large tree with a bunch of Pecha Berries.

"Allow me," Clemont summoned Chespin. "Pin Missile, if you please." Chespin fired the projectile at the tree, knocking the fruit to the earth.

But that was not all that fell out. We also knocked out an Ariados who made its nest out of that tree, and it was angry. Goomy cowered behind his friend as Ariados fired a String Shot at us. But Pikachu countered it with an Electro Ball.

Then Clemont knelt down, and he and his Pokémon bowed their heads. "We're so sorry! We didn't know you were in there! We meant no harm!" The Ariados seemed to understand as it scurried back up the tree, though it still looked mad.

'It's okay, Goomy… We're safe...' Diancie assured her. But to little avail. Goomy was so scared that a small puddle of sweat appeared underneath him… at least I hope it was sweat…

As it was shaking in its puddle, Dedenne crawled out of the pouch and started collecting more leaves for Goomy to eat. As he approached, Goomy jumped behind Diancie.

Then Squishy did the same. 'Listen, Goomy,' he began in a gentle tone. 'I understand if you're scared, but Dedenne's not gonna hurt you. You know, I'm a Dragon-type like you… I think… and we're best friends.'

Just then, something fell from the sky. Before it could touch the ground, a beam of sorts wrapped around everyone human-sized and pulled them tightly into Ariados' tree.

"What's going on?!" Brock asked. We got our answer soon enough as a certain trio appeared.= in a certain balloon.

"Prepare for trouble; we're going strong!"

"And make it double as the day is long!"

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all people within our nation!"

"To denounce the evils of veering off-course!"

"To catch Pikachu, we must come to the source!"

"Jessie!"

"And James!"

"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender Pikachu now, or prepare for a fight!"

"Meowth! That's right!"

"Wobbuffet!"

"Did you miss us?" asked James. "Admit it, you missed us."

"How can we miss you?" replied Ash. "You never go away."

"Persistence is the key to success!" Jessie chimed in as though she never acknowledged the insult, "Now, Meowth, show them the best!"

"Sure with zest!" He pressed a button on the control panel, and a particular net-like device appeared under their feet.

"Quick, Pikachu! Use Thunderbolt!" Ash called out. The Electric Mouse fired a beam of electricity on his target, but it failed to even scratch the machine.

"Push-lease…" James laughed. "Don't you think we've learned to shock-proof our weaponry by now?" The net scooped up everyone who was not tied to the tree: Pikachu, Goomy, Chespin, Diancie, Dexter, Dedenne and Squishy. After sealing them inside, the balloon then started to float off. "So, as they say in Kalos… Arrivederci!" He threw another cube our way.

"That's not how we say goodbye at all!" …was the last thing I could cry out before a cloud of black smoke broke out of the second cube.

"What do we do now?" asked Bonnie. "How do we get out of here?"

Ash smiled. "Don't worry. They took a lot of our Pokémon, but not all of them." He was just barely able to wriggle a Poké Ball out of his pocket and release Frogadier. "Use Cut to slice through this thing!" He instructed.

The Bubble Frog Pokémon complied to his Trainer's order, and we were all set free. Then, the Trainer from Pallet Town released his other two Pokémon: Fletchinder and Hawlucha. They would be used as aerial surveillance to locate Team Rocket's balloon. The hunt was on!

*Goomy's POV*

What a predicament… Pabi trusted me with the duty of protecting Diancie until we returned home. It took me forever to find her, and I failed miserably at my self-appointed job. Now, we were captured by a trio of thieves.

And what was worse… one of them was a Fairy Pokémon. I never liked Fairy Pokémon, though not for the reason you think. Back home, there was this one group of Pokémon led by a Florges who always picked on me. I still do not understand why.

But never mind my life story. Fuerst we were taken away from those humans who saved me, the thieves stopped for a celebratory meal. As they ate, drank and became merry, Pikachu tried to destroy the cage with Thunderbolt. But each time was met with disappointment.

(Let me try…) Chespin then tried to barrel at the cage with Tackle, but it only gave him a headache… (I'm not doing that again)

Then that squishy fellow noticed something… 'Is that a dent you made?' he asked quietly. 'Maybe we can squeeze out of this thing.'

He and Dedenne were the first to leave, then myself. Pikachu and Chespin seemed too big to fit, but I was able to help by coating some of my slippery mucus on him. The Rotom was able to escape by throwing out his shell separately.

All that was left was Diancie, but her rocky hips made it too difficult to squeeze through. 'I cannot break free,' she whispered. 'What do I do?'

The small green one spoke up. 'I have an idea, but we'll need to move swiftly… stand back everyone.'

As we backed away, he closed his eye, trying to focus. A pulse of green light flowed past everything and revealed these strange green shapes. They all started to flow towards him and it rapidly transformed into something akin to a Houndoom. 'Quick! Get the cage onto my back!' he instructed, and we scrambled to throw it on.

In seconds though, I understood what he meant earlier. Those Team Rocket fellows saw the light and noticed us trying to escape. "After them!" the male shouted. He ran after us, while the others untied their balloon. Then he threw a Poke Ball and revealed an Inkay. "Use Psybeam!"

The Pokemon fired off its attack.

(Bank right!) Pikachu stated. The black and green one jumped to the side to avoid the attack.

Soon, the balloon caught up to us, which the male clambered onto. "Shadow Ball! Let's go!" the female commanded her Pumpkaboo, who complied. The Pikachu countered it with an Electro Ball, only to be struck down by another Psybeam. The canine creature skidded to a halt and turned around to defend him.

I was frightened to a near standstill. Recent memories of the invasion flooded my mind like a storm. As did the fear and the doubt… (Oh no… not again.. Not again!) And I squirmed into the forest to hide in disgrace.

*Squishy's POV*

'You'll regret ever trying to hurt my friends! Take THIS!' I fired a Dragon Pulse at Team Rocket and they were unable to evade. The resulting blast sent them flying.

"WE'RE BLASTING OFF AGAIN…!" they screamed as they disappeared.

'Good riddance to bad rubbish!'I huffed. Suddenly, I was met by a blinding light. 'What the…?'

Apparently, Dexter had a built-in camera on his body, and he was snapping photos of me like mad. "No data! NO DATA! This specimen just transformed into an undiscovered form! And it used Dragon Pulse! Maybe it really is a Dragon-type!"

Pikachu looked around. (Speaking of Dragon-types, where's Goomy?)

'Goomy! Where are you?' Diancie called out.

Then Pikachu noticed something. (Hey, what is this stuff?) On the ground, there was a trail of slime that led into the forest.

(This must be Goomy's. Come on!) Chespin stated, and we all began to search.

Shortly though, the trail ended near some large rocks. I noticed as the trail ended specifically at a really small crevasse. 'Blast it, there's no way any of us could squeeze through that thing.'

(I can fit in there. I think...) Dedenne pointed out. (I'll find Goomy, you guys find Bonnie and the others.) He squeezed into the tiny hole and began to dig.

'Be careful, and good luck,' said Diancie from within the cage.

After a minute or two, Ash's Hawlucha found us. (There you are!) he stated as he landed in front of us. (The others sent me to seek you out. Is everybody here?)

(Not quite.) Then we started to explain. As we did, our human friends arrived and were quickly brought up to speed.

"So Squishy defended you all from Team Rocket?" Clemont asked. "I can't thank you enough."

'You're welcome,' I replied as I set Diancie's cage down and reverted to my old self. 'Anyways, Goomy ran off in the midst of that battle. Dedenne went looking for him inside some large rocks.'

"Then we better do the same," Brock cut in. "Clemont, see if you can dismantle that cage and free Diancie. Everyone else, let's go!"

*Goomy's POV*

(I'm sorry, Pabi. I failed you. I failed Diancie. I failed everyone. All because I'm a weak little scaredy'mon.) My heart sank lower and lower as I thought this. I did not know what else to do.

I heard some rustling as well as some voices. "We need a plan to find those Twerps and take back what's theirs," one of them stated. As she was saying this, she accidentally sat down on me, only to jump back up. "GROSS!"

Another looked at what the first sat on. "Hey, isn't that one of the Pokémon we caught earlier?"

I panicked and tried to flee. But the first one grinded her heel into my foot. "What the heck is this thing anyway?" she asked.

The other pulled out a device and scanned me. "It's called a Goomy, the weakest Dragon-type species in the world."

"Not worth our time," the first stated.

"Not hold on," he stated as he continued reading. "It says here that Goomy can eventually evolve into Goodra, a pseudo-legendary Pokémon."

"Pseudo-legendary, eh? In that case, maybe we can make good use out of it after all."

"Then while we're here, we'll make the catch."

"Then Pikachu, natch!" said the Meowth.

I could not take any more pain from them. Quickly thinking, I used my Rainy Day move to make a large storm cloud over them. They started to evade the storm, and in the confusion, I managed to slip away.

The one who grinded her heel into my foot was especially mad. "It takes forever to blow-dry all this hair! Pumpkaboo! Make him pay with Shadow Ball!" The Pumpkaboo adhered to her command. I closed my eyes tightly, ready for the worst.

But out of nowhere, another attack blasted it away. The one who defended me before ran out between us. (Don't touch my friend!) he shouted.

(Dedenne...) He was throwing himself in harm's way for me?

"You little runt! Inkay, Tackle!" The Inkay made his move.

"Pumpkaboo! Dark Pulse!" as did the Pumpkaboo.

Dedenne tried to fend them off. Some attacks made their mark, but Dedenne repelled or dodged most of them. As I watched him, I realized I was wrong about Fairy Pokémon. There were some worthy of my trust, especially this one.

Before long, though, Dedenne was weakened. So I tried stepping in to defend him this time.

"Enough of this! Time to make the catch!" The female threw another cube at us. But another attack destroyed it. "Oh, come on!"

I looked at the source. It was the humans from the river. They saw the storm cloud I had conjured up and came to our rescue. "Don't worry, Goomy! Leave it to us!" said the one in the cap. "Pikachu! Thunderbolt!"

"Starmie, Water Gun!" the orange-haired one called out.

"Crobat! Wing Attack!" said the tall one.

The three Pokémon fired off their attacks, and there was no way they could have dodged them all. The explosion made the bad guys fly away.

"WE'RE BLASTING OFF AGAIN AGAIN…!" they screamed as they disappeared.

The little human came over to Dedenne, who had collapsed. "Dedenne hang in there..."

(Is he okay?) I asked.

"I'll fix him up, Goomy," said the one with the glasses.

*Brianna's POV*

After everyone was all patched up, Goomy came over to Dedenne happily. He started to nibble on his ear while he laughed.

"What do you know?" Serena's eyes widened. "I guess they're friends now."

'What a relief...' Diancie sighed.

Ash kneeled down toward our new friend. "Sounds to me like you care a lot for Diancie. Why don't you come along with us?" he asked. "With that kind of love and determination, there's no way you could ever be weak."

"The only question is which of us should catch him?" Serena asked.

That question was quickly answered. Goomy jumped up onto Ash's shoulder and nibbled on his ear. I guess he liked how Ash risked his own health to get Goomy to the river.

"Then it's settled," Ash then put Goomy down and tapped a Poke Ball to his forehead. Goomy went inside joyfully and the Poke Ball clicked, confirming the catch. "Goomy, let's grow strong together."

It was a trying day for all of us, especially for Goomy… but you know, it was all worth it. Now, Diancie was together with her old friend, Ash had a new partner, and Goomy had a new family in all of us. With that, our expanded group resumed our trek to Coumarine City as the journey continues...