Hello, again! So, what I was thinking is I tell you in my author's notes about the new mechanics and changes I'd introduce in Garnet, Jade, and Amethyst versions. First, Pokémon are now allowed to learn six moves instead of four. Also, I plan to include some new service Pokémon, because this is how we replace HMs. I would have a Scyther to replace Cut, a Wailmer to replace Dive, and a Munna to replace Flash. Also, Pokémon will be able to carry two items at once (but they cannot hold both a Z-Crystal and a Mega Stone). Anyway, here's the next chapter.
Our heroes are now making their way through the Corwald Forest, as on the other side, Ash's first gym battle awaits!
At the moment, Ash, Pikachu, Serena, Vernon, and RotomDex were walking through Corwald Forest, finding it to be oddly quiet. No Pokémon, no wind, just silence.
"Say, RotomDex," said Serena, "I though you said we'd find Bug Type and bird Pokémon out here."
"Maybe they're all just sleeping?" RotomDex suggested.
"Well, then," said Vernon, "I'd say we should be able to get to Corwald City soon."
Serena suddenly looked over at Ash, and walked closer to him to say, "Hey, Ash? Remember what we were talking about earlier?"
Ash's face suddenly felt serious as he looked over at Serena. "Oh, yeah."
"You said you had something to say to me?" Serena asked hopefully.
"Well, Serena, I've been thinking…" Ash began when…
BANG!
The clearing in front of the heroes suddenly filled with smoke, and Serena growled at Ash being interrupted again.
"Prepare for trouble, out for a stroll?"
"And make it double, we have a better goal!"
"To protect the world from devastation!"
"To unite all people within our nation!"
"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"
"To extend our reach to the stars above!"
"Jessie!"
"And James!"
"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"
"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"
"Meowth, that's right!"
"Wobbuffet!"
"Mime mime!"
"Team Rocket!?" said Ash, exasperated. "Again!?"
"Guess you guys just can't get enough," said Vernon.
"Come on, now!" said Meowth. "The five of us are the spice of your life!"
"So what say you just hand over your Pokémon, and we'll be on our way?" offered Jessie.
"Not gonna happen!" said Ash as Pikachu, standing by his ankles, got into a fighting stance.
"Very well," said Jessie as she pulled out a Pokéball. "Go, Napiat, use Venoshock!"
"And Choaking," said James, pulling out his own Pokéball, "use Sludge Bomb!"
Jessie and James threw their Pokéballs, which exploded into their respective Pokémon. Napiat and Choaking both growled before unleashing their respective moves. The group instinctively moved out of the way.
"Pikachu! Use Thunderbolt!" Ash called out.
"Braixen," said Serena, pulling out her Pokéball, "use Flamethrower!"
"Floattery," yelled Vernon, throwing his Pokéball, "use Acid!"
As Braixen and Floattery appeared, they and Pikachu geared up to use their respective attacks, before Napiat and Choaking suddenly leapt behind their trainers, who pulled out small machines in their hands before pushing a button on them. The result was enormous, metallic barrier popping out, completely negating the shots.
"What was that?" said Vernon.
"Like our newest invention?" said James. "It's capable of withstanding all kinds of damage without a scratch!"
"I think its time we changed things up," said Jessie. "Napiat, now! Use Constrict on the Twerpette!"
"Napiat!" Napiat called out, shooting forward to wrap it long body around Serena.
"Hey!" yelled Serena, struggling in the Poison Snake Pokémon's grip. "Let me go!"
"You wish!" said James as Napiat carried Serena over to Team Rocket.
"So here's what we're thinking," said Meowth. "You come find us later at the center of the forest, give us all you're Pokémon, and maybe, just maybe, you can have your Twerpette back!"
"No way!" said Ash, his face flushed with rage. "Leave Serena alone!"
"Doubt it!" said Meowth.
"Wobbuffet!" said Wobbuffet.
"Mime mime!" said Mime Jr.
"Choaking, use Smog!" said James.
"Choa-king!" said Choaking as it spewed black gases to conceal Team Rocket. Ash, Vernon, Pikachu, and Braixen all coughed as the smog cleared. Once it did, The opened their eyes to see that Team Rocket had vanished, along with Serena.
"Serena! No!" called out Ash, running forward to were his friend had been.
"Those cowards!" Vernon gritted his teeth. "We gotta find 'em!"
"Yeah, you're right," said Ash, who suddenly had an idea. He pulled out a Pokéball and threw it in the air. "Humbeat, I choose you!"
The Pokéball released the bird Pokémon, who appeared flying in the air. "Humbeat?" it questioned.
"Humbeat, Serena's been captured!" Ash explained. "I need you to fly up into the air and see if you can find her, okay?"
Humbeat nodded and took off into the sky. "So what do you think we should do?" Ash asked Vernon.
"Search the ground," said Vernon. "That's all we can do."
Ash nodded. "Right."
Who's that Pokémon?
It aimed for the top but got lost on a snowy mountain. It grew fur in response to the cold.
"You guys let me go!" Serena exclaimed as she struggled against Napiat's grip.
"I think not," said James.
"You'll come in very handy if your twerpish friends won't cooperate," said Meowth.
"Wobbuffet!" said Wobbuffet.
Serena eyes suddenly lit up with an idea. "I get it," she said. "You're all just so bad at battling, you have to resort to playing dirty."
Jessie suddenly glared over at her. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It's not like you guys could beat us in a fight," said Serena, "with or without our Pokémon."
"Is that so?" said Jessie, fuming. "I'd love to see you try!"
"I bet Napiat here couldn't even hold me still," teased Serena.
"That's it!" said Jessie. "Napiat, use Poison Fang!"
Napiat's fangs turned purple as threw its mouth closer to Serena, but Serena fell backwards and Napiat's teeth sank into its own skin instead. Napiat shrieked and suddenly dropped Serena on the ground. She wasted no time in standing up and bolting away.
"She's getting away!" yelled Meowth.
"Use Venoshock!" said Jessie.
"Sludge Bomb!" said James.
Napiat and Choaking launched their respective attacks at Serena, but she quickly disappeared behind the trees.
"Phew, that was close," said Serena, panting to catch her breath, before looking around the forest. "Now where are Ash and Vernon?"
Suddenly, she heard a quiet squeaking. Curious, she peeked around the trees and scanned the forest floor, until she noticed a little bug Pokémon on the ground. The Pokémon looked like a caterpillar, about a foot long, was striped yellow and black, had a small mouth and eyes, and three eye spots on top of its head shaped like stars. Serena felt frustrated that RotomDex wasn't around to tell her what it was. Still, the Pokémon was trapped underneath a fallen rock and was struggling to pull itself out. Serena quickly walked over and lifted the rock off of the little Pokémon's back.
"Hey, there," she said soothingly, rubbing the Pokémon's back. "Are you okay?"
The Pokémon took one look at Serena and run away to hide under the bushes.
"Hey, it's okay," said Serena, walking after it. "I won't hurt you. Ooh! I know what you'd like." Serena opened her bag and pulled out a plastic bag full of Poképuffs. She pulled one out and offered it into the bushes. Slowly, the Pokémon inched out of the bushes and felt the Poképuff before beginning to nibble on it. Serena smiled and fed it the rest of the Poképuff.
"You feel better?" she asked.
"Star, starva!" said the Pokémon.
"I'll assume you're called a Starva," said Serena, petting the Pokémon. "Well, I've gotta go. My friends are probably worried about me." She stood up to walk away, but halfway there, she felt something on her leg. She looked down to see Starva rubbing against her leg.
"You want to come with?" said Serena. Starva nodded, so she picked it up and held it in her arms. "Then let's go."
"Serena!" Ash called out as he, Vernon, RotomDex, Pikachu, Braixen, and Floattery scanned the forest.
"I wonder if we will ever find her," said RotomDex out loud.
"We're going to find her, and everything will be fine," said Vernon.
Suddenly, the group heard a rustle in the bushes. Ash couldn't help but walk over to investigate. He parted the bushes, hoping to see his missing friend. However, he was surprised when he instead saw a group of red, scaled Pokémon all playing with each other. Ash recognized them as Charmors, like the one Eva had accepted as her starter Pokémon.
"Are those Charmors?" said an approaching Vernon.
"I did not know that they lived out here," said RotomDex, as he tapped his screen. "Updating data."
Ash suddenly noticed one particular Charmor that was colored differently. Instead of red, it was colored bronze and had dark black, very thin stripes on its back. At the moment, the Pokémon was charging into the fray with the other Charmors, and it attempted to slam its head into a larger Charmor. However, the larger Charmor quickly got a smug expression on its face, and it ran forward and knocked the shiny Charmor to its side. The shiny Charmor refused to give up, however, and charged at the larger one again. Despite its best attempts, however, the bigger Pokémon didn't even budge. The bigger Charmor suddenly grew flames in its mouth and spat an Ember attack at the shiny Charmor, sending it flying into a tree. As it slowly got up, the little Charmor's eyes began to shed small tears, as the the rest of the group started laughing at its misfortunate. The shiny Charmor ended up running away.
"That poor Charmor!" said Ash. "Why would they treat him like that?"
"I guess it was the runt of the group," Vernon suggested. "But they still should be nicer to him.
Ash saw the shiny Charmor crouching underneath a bush, and walked over to see it trembling. Slowly, he reached out his hand to touch its back, but the Charmor turned around and jumped backwards.
"Hey, I won't hurt you," said Ash. Slowly, he petted the little Pokémon's head, and slowly, the Charmor stopped trembling.
"I can't believe those other guys were so mean to you!" said Ash. "Don't they respect you?"
The Charmor shook its head, before rearing on its hind legs, imitating the other Charmors, before shrinking to the ground, trembling as it did earlier.
"So those other Charmors bully you just because they're bigger than you?" Ash guessed. Charmor nodded its head.
"Hey, Ash," said Vernon, walking closer, "why don't you give him some of this?" Vernon held out a small Potion spray. "It should make him feel better." Ash took the Potion and slowly sprayed it on the Charmor's wounds. Charmor winced in pain for a moment, but it quickly relaxed and it began to stand up again.
"That's better, huh?" said Ash, stroking its head. "And don't listen to those other guys. You're tough in your own ways, don't you forget that."
Suddenly, they heard someone say, "I wonder if you twerps are tough enough yourselves!"
It's Crabominable!
Serena continued to carry Starva around in her arms as she scoured the forest for her friends, but noticed that Starva seemed to be anxiously looking around. She tried petting its head to calm it down, but then, a Fletchling flew down from a tree. At that, the Starva buried its face into Serena's elbow to hide.
"You're just a little scaredy Meowth, aren't you?" said Serena. "It's okay, that Fletchling won't bother you." Serena decided to carry Starva over to where the Fletchling had landed, and showed Starva how it was simply cleaning under its wing. As soon as the Fletchling saw its visitors, it happily chirped.
"See, it's okay," said Serena. "Say hi." Starva slowly peeked out from her arms, and anxiously looked the Fletchling in the eye. The Fletchling hopped closer and chirped to greet the larva Pokémon. Slowly, the Starva reached out and nibbled on the Fletchling's wing with its mouth, and the Fletchling looked on grinning. Then, Starva pulled back and almost grinned.
"See, nothing to be afraid of," said Serena soothingly, stroking Starva's head. "Well, I suppose we should get going."
Serena slowly stood up and began walking away, but suddenly heard something shouting, "Beat, beat!" She looked up and saw Humbeat flying down to greet them.
"Humbeat!" said Serena. "I assume Ash sent you to find me, huh?" Humbeat nodded. "Well, lead the way! I can't wait to get back to him and Vernon!"
Humbeat turned around to fly away and lead Serena back to the others, but Serena suddenly saw Starva hiding its face again.
"Don't worry, Humbeat's a friend," she said as she began following the bird.
"Team Rocket!" Vernon said.
"Surprised to see us?" said Jessie.
"You really shouldn't be," said James.
"Where's Serena!?" Ash demanded.
"How should we know?" said Meowth. "She got away on us."
"You lost her!?" said Ash.
"Oh, dear me," said Jessie, "so sorry we lost your precious girlfriend, twerp."
Ash suddenly felt red on his face as he hastily said, "Sh-she's not my girlfriend!"
"Either way, we'd like some justice!" said Meowth. "Maybe a fight with you twerps will lure the twerpette out of hiding!"
"If it's a fight you want…" said Vernon. "Floattery, use Acid!"
"And Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" said Ash.
Pikachu's body lit up with electricity and Floattery raised one of its tentacles to use their respective moves, and Braixen held its staff in front of it and lit it with flames to use Flamethrower.
"Wobbuffet, a little help here?" said Jessie.
"Wobbuffet!" said Wobbuffet, as it leapt in front of Team Rocket, and its body glowed blue as it used Counter. As soon as Pikachu, Floattery, and Braixen's attacks hit, they bounced right off and were sent straight back at the attackers. The three Pokémon tried to evade, but their own attacks made contact with them and blew them back.
"Is that the best you can do?" mocked James. Charmor noticed this in the background, and decided to run in front of everyone, making a fierce battle stance.
"What is that?" asked Jessie.
James took a peek into the deck of cards they stole from Professor Acacia's lab, and found one with Charmor's picture on it. "This says it's called a Charmor, but it's colored differently."
"Whatever, there's no way it can stop us!" Meowth laughed. Charmor felt some anxiety come inside its body, but quickly shook it off. It decided to spray Team Rocket with a Smokescreen attack, causing them all to cough as they couldn't see anything.
"Nice one, Charmor!" said Ash.
"Now's our chance! Wobbuffet can't see the attack coming!" said Vernon. "Everyone, try your attacks again."
Pikachu, Floattery, and Braixen used their attacks again, and this time, they were able to knock Team Rocket back.
"How dare you!" said Jessie as she grabbed her Pokéball. "Napiat, use Venoshock!"
"And Choaking," said James as he grabbed his Pokéball, "use Sludge Bomb!"
Napiat and Choaking came out of their Pokéballs, and spat purple liquid and black sludge at the other Pokémon, but Pikachu, Floattery, and Braixen dodged.
"Don't stop!" said Jessie.
"Keep going," said James.
"Napait!" "Choaking!" Napiat and Choaking continued to spit their attacks, and their opponents found it getting harder to dodge.
In the background, Serena, Humbeat, and Starva had suddenly arrived and were witnessing the battle in front of them. "Oh no!" said Serena. "We have to help them!" However, when it saw the battle, Starva jumped out of Serena's arms, and hid in a bush.
Serena walked over to the bush, lifted up the branches, and said, "Starva, please, my friends are in trouble. We really could use your help out here."
Starva slowly peeked out of the bush and looked up at Serena's pleading eyes. "I know you're scared, but we can do this together." Starva looked back at the battle, and reluctantly nodded.
"I have an idea," said Serena, who whispered something into Starva's ear. Starva nodded and spat a String Shot attack at Napiat and Choaking, clamping Napiat's mouth shut, and covering the holes on Choaking's body.
"What?" said Team Rocket.
"What was that?" said Vernon. Suddenly, he and Ash noticed Serena standing in the bushes nearby, Starva on her shoulder, and Humbeat hovering next to her.
"Serena!" said Ash, relieved.
"Looks like I'm just in time," said Serena.
"Who's that Pokémon on your shoulder?" asked Vernon.
RotomDex decided to scan it and said, "Starva, the Larva Pokémon. A Bug Type. in order to grow and mature into its final form, Starva spends most of the day eating leaves. At night, it likes to examine the stars before going to sleep. Evolves into Chrysaluxe at level 10, and into Solarfly at level 13 when male, or into Lunoth at level 13 when female."
"Never mind them!" said James. "Choaking, use Fire Blast!"
"Choa-king!" said Choaking, as it spewed fire front its holes hot enough to burn the silk, and spat a star-shaped ball of fire at the heroes.
"Dodge it!" said Ash, Serena, and Vernon. Pikachu, Floattery, Braixen, and Charmor jumped out of the way.
"Thunderbolt!"
"Acid!"
"Flamethrower!"
Pikachu, Floattery, and Braixen geared up their respective attacks, and Charmor prepared to use Ember. Ultimately, their attacks hit so hard, Team Rocket was sent flying off into the sky.
"We're blasting off again!"
"Wobbuffet!"
"Mime mime!"
"That was awesome!" said RotomDex.
"I'm just glad you're okay, Serena," said Ash, walking up to Serena.
"You too, Ash," said Serena, smiling.
Starva leapt onto the ground and looked up to Serena. She was about to ask what it was looking at, but its body suddenly began to glow. Everyone took a step back. "It's evolving!" said Vernon in shock.
Eventually, the glowing faded, and Starva was now shaped like a chrysalis, colored purple, with big eyes and white specks resembling stars covering its body. RotomDex quickly scanned it again, and said, "Chrysaluxe, the Pupa Pokémon. A Bug Type. Chrysaluxe's body is as hard as metal to protect from predators. They typically live in open places where they can see starry skies."
"You evolved!" said Serena. "That's fantastic!"
"Hey, Serena," said Vernon. "Do you want to catch Chrysaluxe? It really seems to like you."
"I don't know," said Serena. She looked down at Chrysaluxe in the eyes. "Would you like to come with me?"
Chrysaluxe considered that for a moment, but looked up and nodded.
"Great!" said Serena, pulling out a Pokéball, pushing the button on its head. Chrysaluxe turned to red energy and went inside the Pokéball, which wiggled three times before clicking.
"Yes!" said Serena. "I just caught Chrysaluxe!"
"Congrats, Serena," said Ash. He suddenly looked over to Charmor, and knelt down to him. "Hey, Charmor, I wanna say thanks for helping us back there. It could've been bad if you hadn't jumped out."
"Charmor," Charmor nodded.
"You see? You're really tough, and you sent Team Rocket running. You don't have to worry about being the runt." Ash stood up. "Well, we should be going now. So long."
Charmor grinned and waved its front leg goodbye.
As the group continued walking through the forest, Serena noticed Ash was walking by himself. She walked over to him, and said, "Ash, about that conversation we had earlier…"
"Serena," said Ash, looking over to her, "I've been giving it a lot of thought, and…"
"Yes?" said Serena hopefully.
"Maybe we should just be friends for now," said Ash.
"Huh?" said Serena, genuinely shocked.
"We both have other things to worry about. You have your Pokémon Pageants, I have the Ralia League, so maybe we should just focus on that for now."
"I, uh..." said Serena.
"It's not that I don't like you, Serena," said Ash. "I think that, after each of our missions are said and done, maybe the two of us could try be with each other."
Serena's face slowly lit up. "You think so?"
Ash grinned. "I promise."
Serena looked down, but looked at Ash again and nodded. "Yeah, we'll worry about our missions. But I'll be waiting."
Behind them, Pikachu was walking, but quickly face-palmed at hearing Ash's words.
As Serena stepped away, Vernon came closer to Ash. "Did you just turn Serena down? Why would you do that? Don't you like her?"
"Of course, I like her," said Ash. "But if I tell that now, I'm just gonna hurt her."
"What do you mean?" said Vernon.
"Pikachu and I always on the road, and if I let Serena get in too deep, I'm gonna hurt her even more if we get separated again. I don't want to put her through that."
Vernon looked at Ash surprised. "I see…"
As they kept walking, they didn't notice a certain Charmor hiding in the bushes behind them. It looked at Ash, and began walking closer.
A new member of the team has joined our heroes, and it seems like they have another Pokémon interested! Though I think what we're really concerned about is what will become of Ash and Serena? Will they ever be together? We'll find out as the journey continues!
TO BE CONTINUED…
I'm ashamed of myself, for that shameless cop-out between Ash and Serena. I really didn't want to do that. But rest assured, that part of the story is far from over. Boy, this story is hard to write. It's a very aggressive schedule. Now I know how the writers of Teen Titans Go! feel. And they have multiple people. Still, I'll continue posting chapters. Please review, I like reviews.