Our heroes have learned that Team Shade has returned, and is plaguing the river nearby Ironriver City!
Ash, Serena, Pikachu, Vernon, and RotomDex were walking down the hillsides along Ironriver City. "I can't believe Team Shade is here, too!" said Ash. "Just what could they be up to this time?"
"Beats me," said Vernon. "They must be after capturing any Pokémon around the river."
"But what for?" said Serena.
"Well, we're gonna find out," said RotomDex.
"Pika!" said Pikachu.
Two Team Shade grunts, male and female, walked along the river, carrying nets over their shoulders. Scanning the water, they spied something blue swimming along it. The male grunt stuck his net in the water, and pulled this Pokémon out, revealing it to be a Platide.
"So, this is one of those blasted Water-Types that keep causing all this trouble?" he said.
"Indeed," said the female grunt. "Can you believe that people actually sympathize with this creatures?"
"Not anymore," said the male grunt. The two carried the net with the Platide away, but the Platide struggled to fight back before blasting the male in the back of the head with a Water Gun. The grunt dropped the net, and they turned back to see the Platide getting into a defensive stance.
"So that's how it's gonna be, huh?" said the female grunt. The two threw out some PokéBalls and then, a Venomoth and a Cacnea appeared.
"Use Poison Sting!"
"Use Pin Missile!"
The poor Platide was bombarded by these painful attacks before it could even react, leaving it covered in bruises. "Now use Needle Arm!" The Cacnea's arm turned green and spiky and it smacked the Platide in the face with a supereffective hit.
"Now, enough. Just come with us quietly and-" said the female grunt.
Suddenly, Cacnea and Venomoth were bowled over by a fast moving figure. The grunts looked to see a Sudowoodo standing in front of the Platide, before it used Hammer Arm to beat back Cacnea and Venomoth. As the knocked-out Pokémon landed in the grunts arms, they reluctantly turned to run when Sudowood came closer, swinging Hammer Arm like crazy.
The Sudowoodo then turned to see the injured Platide laying on the ground, and carefully picked it up in its arms. The Platide's body turned purple and emitting purple bubbles, showing that it was poisoned. Sudowoodo carried it away to a tent that was hidden by some trees. Opening the tent flaps, it saw a tall man with tanned skin, spiky, brown hair, closed eyes, and a doctor's lab coat. The man turned to see Sudowoodo, and gasped upon seeing the injured Pokémon in its arms.
"Ah, man, they got another one, did they?" said the man, picking Platide up. Platide looked at the man with weak eyes, but the man smiled and said, "No worries, little guy. You're in good hands now. Doctor Brock is on it!"
Ash, Serena, Pikachu, Vernon, and RotomDex walked alongside the river, looking around. "Well, I can't see any Team Shade grunts..." said Serena.
"Over there!" Ash pointed. Three Team Shade Grunts were fishing in the river with nets.
"They're... fishing?" Serena said.
"What are they trying to do?"
The grunts suddenly pulled out a Chewtle, who was biting savagely at them. One grunt then saw the group and led the other grunts over. "What do you kids think you're doing here?"
"We could ask you the same question!" said Vernon.
"We have work to do," said a grunt. "You might not realize it, but all these Water Pokémon, they have got to go."
"Why, 'cause you decided they're dangerous?" said Ash.
"Kid, you don't see it, but this whole ordeal goes deeper than you think," said a grunt.
"Then why'd you send a couple of crooks to torment Wildshore Park?" said Vernon.
"We did what we had to do to keep the Gym Leader distracted. If she interfered, we'd never accomplish anything."
"You guys won't get away with this!" said Serena.
The grunts suddenly pulled out PokéBalls. "Kids, if we can't do what needs to be done here, it's gonna be on you."
Suddenly, the grunts were bombarded with a Supersonic attack that forced them to cover their ears. "Where is that coming from?!"
Everyone looked to see a Crobat flying above them, emitting the attack. "A Crobat?" said a grunt. "That's impossible! Crobats are not native to Ralia!"
The Crobat suddenly used Cross Poison to blast the grunts aside. It set the Chewtle in their net free, and the Crobat flew down to the group and motioned its head to left.
"I think it wants us to follow it," said Vernon. Everyone ran after the Crobat as it flew away, but as Ash looked at the Crobat, he couldn't help but think he had seen it somewhere before.
As the grunt stood up and saw the group was gone, they sighed and walked away. However, upon the trees, Team Rocket was looking down.
"So, those are the Team Shade mooks, huh?" said Meowth.
"We can't have them running around like this," said James. "This region must be claimed in the name of the boss."
"Well, if the twerps are here..." said Jessie. "Maybe we can come up with a plan."
The Crobat led the group to the tent, and they walked in through the tent flaps. They looked around and saw various Water Pokémon on tables, all wrapped in bandages and resting.
"Whoa! All these poor Pokémon!" Serena said sympathetically. "Those lousy Team Shade punks must be doing all this. But who's taking care of them?"
Ash looked hard at the Crobat, but suddenly, something clicked in his head. "I knew it! I've seen you before, Crobat! You're-"
Suddenly, the tent flaps opened again, and Brock walked inside. He was stunned to see that he had company, but was even more stunned to see Ash.
"Ash!? Is that you?" Brock said.
"Brock?" said Ash. "Whoa, what are you doing here?"
"Do you two know each other?" said Vernon.
"Huh?" said Ash. "Oh, yeah, I'm sorry. Guys, this is my old friend, Brock. We used to travel together until he decided to become a Pokémon Doctor. Brock, this is Serena and Vernon. You remember RotomDex."
"Pleasure to meet you, Brock," said Vernon, before he struck a pose. "Though I'm sure you're in awe of a fabulous movie star like myself."
"Vernon? Oh, yeah!" said Brock. "I think I heard your name credited with the voice in a toothpaste commercial once!"
Vernon sighed. "Eh, close enough."
"Well, it's nice to meet all of you," said Brock, "and it's always a pleasure to see you again, Ash. But now's really not a good time."
Ash looked the entire tent over again. "Man, you've got a whole operation out her, don't you? But does this have anything to do with those Team Shade grunts outside?"
Brock sighed. "Unfortunately, yes. See, they tried not to draw too much attention to themselves, but people have been reporting the disappearance of Water Pokémon around this river for a while now. The truth is, Irene actually found a few injured Pokémon, and that's when she hired me to help out. These Pokémon keep turning up injured every day, and after being here for so long, I can confirm that Team Shade is behind it all."
"That's horrible!" said Serena. "I can't believe those punks would just randomly beat up Pokémon."
Ash kept looking around, surprised at how many injured Pokémon were in here. But his eyes settled on one: the Platide from before. It was resting, bandaged up from where it had been pummeled by those attacks from before.
"Aww, what happened to this guy?" he said.
"Sudowoodo found it just as some Team Shade punks were attacking him," Brock explained. "It was poisoned, but I was able to treat it in time. Right now, he just needs some rest."
Ash looked at the Platide as it breathed slowly. He definitely pitied the poor guy, but he knew that Brock could help it for sure.
"Is there anything we can do to help, Brock?" said Serena.
"I'm not sure," said Brock. "With all the injured Pokémon, I'm running out of supplies. We need to get rid of Team Shade for good."
"Alright, then we'll just find them, kick their butts, and send them packing for good!" Ash said, clenching his fists determinedly.
Suddenly, from Ash's back pocket emerged Wobbuffet, who triumphantly saluted and said, "Wobbuffet!"
"What the-" said Brock before he recognized the Pokémon before him. "Ash? Is that-"
"Oh, yeah, that's a long story," said Ash, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Wob," Wobbuffet shrugged.
Unbeknownst to anyone, Team Rocket was carefully eavesdropping from outside the tent. "So, the twerps need some help gettin' rid of those Team Shade goons, huh?" said Meowth. "Well, I think I know a guy. Or three."
Three Team Shade grunts were fishing in the river again, this time pulling out a Psyduck. "C'mon, tough guy," said a female grunt. "No need to make this harder than it needs to be."
"Psyyyyyy!" Psyduck cried out, suddenly, causing the grunts to double over in pain.
"Ack! It's using a Psychic type move or something!" said a male grunt.
Eventually, it stopped, and the Psyduck waddled away.
"Someone remind me why on earth people adore those things so much," said the second male grunt.
"Aha! We found you!" came a voice, before the grunts turned to see Ash, Brock, Pikachu, Serena, Vernon, and RotomDex running up to them.
"I've had about enough of this!" said Brock, crossing his arms sternly. "This ends now."
However, the grunts just calmly stood up and looked at them with disdain. "People, please," said the female grunt. "What we're doing, it's being done for a reason."
"We don't wanna hear it!" said Serena. "You guys are nothing but cruel people who hurt Pokémon!"
"Oh, we'll show you brats a thing or two," said a male grunt. However, when they all reached back for their PokéBalls, their hands grasped nothing. "What? WHat is the meaning of this?"
Above everyone upon a tree branch were Jessie, James, and Meowth, each clutching a PokéBall with glee. "Perfect!" said James. "Now we got some new Pokémon for the boss, and those Team Shade punks are easy prey for Team Twerp."
Jessie suddenly looked down, and almost gasped at what she saw. "Is that the tall twerp?"
Meowth and James looked down too. "It is," said James. "Guess today is just full of surprises."
"You guys are going down!" Ash said, as Pikachu jumped off his shoulder, electricity emitting from its cheeks.
"No hurts Pokémon on my watch and gets away with it!" said Brock, as Crobat swooped down and readied itself for battle.
The three grunts exchanged worried glances, until they all had one single thought...
"Okay, we give up."
"Huh?" said Vernon.
"Look, we obviously can't win," said a male grunt. "We were just doing a job, but clearly, we never will with you folks here. So I think it's time we all headed out."
The other male grunt put finger to his earpiece and said, "Attention all Team Shade personnel. Our mission has been aborted. Everyone along the river, pull back immediately."
"Seriously?" said RotomDex. "Just like that?"
"We know when we can't win," said the female grunt. "But we'll leave you lot with a piece of advice. We were doing all this for a reason. And now that we're leaving, you're going to find out what that reason was, and you'll be begging for us to return." The three grunts turned and walked away as the heroes just exchanged confused glances.
Team Rocket looked on the scene confused as well, but then the Psyduck from earlier landed on their tree branch, and began emitting another psychic attack.
"Owie!" said Meowth. "He's makin' the ears in my brain bleed!"
In the midst of this, Team Rocket dropped the PokéBalls they had just stolen, and they landed before the Team Shade Grunts.
"Hmm?" said one grunt, picking up his PokéBall. "Ah, here they are."
"Should we attack?" said the female grunt.
"Nah," said the last grunt. "I think they need to learn their lesson the hard way."
Who's that Pokémon?
It stores an enormous amount of energy inside its body. It is said to alter weather conditions in its vicinity by discharging energy from the crystals on its neck and tail.
"That was way too easy," said Brock as he led everyone back to his tent. "I'd be willing to bet that they come back."
"Probably," said Vernon, as they entered the tent. "But maybe we'll have a moment's peace to check on all the injured Pokémon."
"I hope so," said Brock. Everyone looked around, and saw that the injured Pokémon were finally beginning to recover. The Platide was sitting up again, nuzzling its wounds with its bill. Ash couldn't help but walk up to it.
"Man, it looks you got the worst of it, huh?" he said. "Well, no worries. We can help you get up and at 'em again in no time." The Platide only looked at him before its body suddenly flashed purple.
"Uh oh," said Ash. "Hey, Brock! We got a problem."
Brock walked to the Platide, who was cringing in pain. "Aw, man, looks like that Antidote I gave it wasn't strong enough. I'll have to mix a stronger one."
Brock quickly ran over to the table and gathered a few ingredients. "Let's see here..."
Suddenly, everyone heard a bunch of loud screaming. They looked up confused and exited the tent real quick to see that the screaming was actually coming from Ironriver City.
"Huh?" said Serena. "What's going on over there?"
"I don't know," said Brock. "But someone should go over there and help out."
"Just leave that to us," said Vernon, gripping a PokéBall.
"Right," said Serena. "You guys should stay here and work on helping the Pokémon recover."
The two took off towards the town, as Ash, Brock, and RotomDex shrugged and went back inside the tent.
"So how does this Antidote work, Brock?" said Ash.
"Well, it's something like making a PokéBlock," explained Brock. "You just need the right combination of berries. You'll need three Pecha Berries, two Persim Berries, one Figy Berry, and one Lum Berry."
Suddenly, they heard crashing from outside. Brock suddenly looked up from his work, until the entire tent came crashing down.
A tall woman with long, red hair, fierce, green eyes, and wearing a green robe and skirt was walking through the forest. She looked around at the fussy Water-type Pokémon running around the riverside. However, then she saw another Pokémon causing a ruckus. It was a tall Lurantis, causing the Water Pokémon to run from its Solar Blade.
"Just as I thought," said the woman. The Lurantis got close to a Psyduck and stood over it with intimidation, but then, another Pokémon swooped down to land before it. The Lurantis turned to see a giant, dragon-like Pokémon, covered in yellow and black scales, with wings that were like wide quills, and a long law or razor-sharp teeth, and its body was sparking with electricity. Afraid, the Lurantis quickly turned and ran.
The woman walked up to the Psyduck and patted its head. "Don't worry, we'll try to get to the bottom of all this, right, Thundragon?" The dragon Pokémon nodded with a grin.
It's Dragonair!
Serena and Vernon ran into Ironriver City, and what they saw made them gasp. There were Pokémon from the river all over the place. Many people were freaking out, seeing the Pokémon snatch up their food and trinkets.
"What's going on?" said Serena. "Why are all these Pokémon running around the city?"
"Oh, I don't know," came a mysterious voice. Vernon and Serena turned to see a pair of Team Shade grunts. "All we do know is that our work by the river was keeping them at bay. At least, until some kids decided to chase us away, that is."
"What are you talking about?" said Vernon. "You guys were just bullying the Pokémon by the river."
"Did you ever stop to think that maybe sometimes, Pokémon actually do need to be kept in check?" said a grunt. "This is our oath, and this is our duty." The grunts let out a Frosmoth and a Honchkrow before beginning to fight the Water Types.
Serena and Vernon looked at each other confused. "Are they right? Did we somehow do this?"
"Forget that," said Vernon. "Right now, we can help by getting everyone away from the Pokémon."
Ash woke up and saw that the entire tent was in tatters. He peeked over to see Brock laying down on the floor.
"Brock!" yelled Ash, running over to him to shake him awake, but to no avail. "Oh, no, now what are we gonna do?" Ash looked around to see the injured Pokémon laying on the ground, including Platide, whose poisoned status was only getting worse.
"Ugh, I gotta do something quick," said Ash, until he heard the tent rustling again, and turned to see Crobat, Sudowoodo, Pikachu, and RotomDex stand back up, fortunately looking none the worse for the wear.
"I'm glad you guys are okay," said Ash. "I need your help! I need to try to finish this Antidote for Platide. Can you guys try to get the other Pokémon back into their beds?"
"Leave it to us, Ash!" said RotomDex. Crobat, Pikachu, and Sudowoodo nodded and got to work. Ash helped set the unconscious Brock up on a chair, before picking up Platide and setting it on the table. Platide cringed at the feeling of the poisoning.
"Ugh, okay, I can do this," said Ash. "Now, what did Brock say? Pecha Berries, Lum Berries..."
After a while, Brock woke up, but saw that his tent was standing again. The injured Pokémon were resting in their beds again, and Crobat, Pikachu, Sudowoodo, and RotomDex were cleaning up. That was when Ash walked over to Brock, Platide in his arms.
"Oh, good, you're up!" said Ash. "I was wondering when you'd wake up."
"Whoa," said Brock, standing up. "Seems like you guys held down the fort alright." He looked at the Platide, who was now smiling. "And looks like Platide here should be getting better in no time."
"I'm glad," said Ash.
"Still," said RotomDex, "I can't help but wonder what on earth attacked us before.
Suddenly, they heard crashing outside. They looked outside to see a Gogoat wandering around outside. "A Gogoat?" said Brock.
"That's odd," said RotomDex. "My data doesn't say anything about Gogoats in this forest."
Suddenly, the Gogoat looked their way and snorted, scraping a hoof on the ground. Pikachu's cheeks sparked with electricity as it prepared to defend the tent, until suddenly, a much larger bolt of electricity hit the ground. Shocked, the Gogoat ran away. Everyone looked up to see the woman from before descending on her dragon Pokémon before landing before them.
"So sorry about that," said the woman. "I'm glad to see you folks are alright, considering how chaotic it's been around here lately."
Ash looked at this woman stunned, but Brock quickly ran up to her to grasp her hand and say, "Oh, it was difficult, but it's so much better now that you're her, milady! Honestly, the sight of you descending from the heavens on your Pokémon, it's like you're an angel sent from above!"
"Uh, right," said the woman, pulling her hand free and sliding onto the ground. "Name's Heidi. And this is my partner, Thundragon."
RotomDex quickly scanned her Pokémon and said, "Thundragon. The Thunder Scale Pokémon. An Electric and Dragon Type. Each scale on Thundragon's body is supercharged with electricity. Using its electricity breath, it has the electricity needed to power a city fro three months. Evolves from Wyvoltage at level 45, whoch evolves from Lizap at level 36."
"Well, thanks for the save, I guess," said Ash. "I'm Ash, by the way. And this is Pikachu, RotomDex, Crobat, and Sudowoodo."
"And I am your dashing dream man, Doctor Brock," said Brock, almost bowing before Heidi.
"Right," said Heidi. "Actually, I came down here to get some help. See, the thing is, the Water type Pokémon around here are going amok, and they've been making a few scenes in the city for a while now. In fact, that's exactly why Team Shade stepped up."
"Team Shade?" said Ash. "But why? Why would any of this be happening?"
"Because of the Grass Types in the area, that's why," said Heidi. "Like that Gogoat that you just saw. There aren't supposed to be so many Grass Types in this forest. And with all of them here, they're basically chasing the Water Pokémon out of their territory."
"Oh, I get it," said Brock. "Since the native Pokémon are Water Types, and the invading Pokémon are Grass Types, they can't fight back. So they're running into the city to find a place where it's safe."
"But where are all these Grass Types coming from anyway?" said RotomDex.
"Actually, I think I found the reason," said Heidi. "You guys should follow me."
Heidi led the group for quite a while, but eventually, the made it to a clearing where they saw a large road being developed. "You see? This piece of land was once habitat to a bunch of Grass Type Pokémon. But now that we've got all this construction going on-"
"The Grass Type Pokémon are moving to new territory!" RotomDex finished her thought.
A small Skiddo came prancing along the road, but then, a construction worker saw it and poked it with his shovel. "Go on, get!" he said, as the Skiddo felt the shovel poking into its side, and turned to run away.
"Aw, that's horrible," said Ash. "We should try to do something about it. Maybe then everything should go back to normal."
"Platide... Plat, Platide!" came a voice. Everyone looked down to see the Platide standing by Ash's feet, a determined look on its face.
"Hey? What are you doing out here?" said Ash, picking it up.
"Hang on, guys," said Heidi. "I've been gathering evidence about the damage these guys have done to nature. I think I know just what to do."
Some time later, Ash, Brock, RotomDex, and Pikachu had returned to Ironriver City, meeting up with Serena and Vernon.
"Finally!" said Serena. "I've been wondering where you guys were."
"Don't worry, we found the root of the problem back there," said Brock. "Now, our friends should be able to work out an agreement."
Heidi and Irene walked up to the group. "Well, guys, it's been settled," said Irene. "I'm gonna have that road they're building out there relocated, so that it doesn't cut straight through Pokémon habitat anymore."
"With that, the Grass Type Pokémon can go home," said Heidi, "and then, so can the Water Types."
"So that just leaves one more thing we never got to tell you all about," said Vernon, apprehensively. Everyone turned to see a truck backing up towards them, and in the back were various Water Type Pokémon in cages. Exiting the truck was Team Shade.
"So, that's it?" said a grunt. "After all these creatures did, you just want to send them home?"
"They were just trying to survive," said Heidi. "It's not the Pokémon's fault at all. It was because of humans that any of this happened."
"See, humans can do foul things to Pokémon, too," said Irene.
The grunts glanced at each other, before they did something the heroes did not expect. A grunt tossed the keys to the truck to Heidi, telling her, "Well, then, if you care so much, then you can take care of this, hmm?"
"Doesn't matter," said another grunt. "We came to protect people from these invading Pokémon. And so we have done that." The grunts began walking away, but turned back towards the group. "Still, you best not get in our way, anymore, you hear?"
As the grunts walked away, everyone looked at each other confused. Honestly, at this point, Team Shade was becoming a mystery to them. In a way, what they were trying to do here today was something that made sense. Maybe they went about it the wrong way, but they actually were trying to help the people in the city.
"Well, that's enough of that hullaballoo," said Heidi. "Irene and I have some work to do, okay, you guys?"
"So I guess my Gym Battle's still gonna have to wait, huh?" said Ash.
"I'm afraid so," said Irene. "But don't worry. Just drop by the Gym first thing tomorrow morning, and I promise that I'll be ready to challenge you then, okay?"
Ash grinned. "Sounds good. I'll be there!"
Irene nodded with a smile and walked away, but then Brock turned to Heidi. "You know, Heidi, you haven't really told us much about you, yet."
"Oh, I'm just a gal who works to help out all the different kind of people and Pokémon here in Ralia," said Heidi. "I have a special connection to this whole region. My ancestry dates back to the very first people who ever lived here."
"It does?" said Ash.
"Yep," said Heidi. "In fact, what I really like to do is check out all the local legends of this region. And I found one in particular about a Legendary Pokémon coming to the aid of my ancestors."
"Really!?" said Ash, now excited. "Oh, you gotta tell me that story! Just what is the story behind the Legendary Pokémon!?"
"I can tell you later," said Heidi. "Right now I got work to do."
As Heidi walked away, the narrator spoke. Well, today is just full of mysteries, huh? Mysteries of Team Shade, mysteries of Heidi, and mysteries of the history of Ralia. Are any answers to come? We'll soon see, as the journey continues!
TO BE CONTINUED...