Well, Ima back! And I have another new chapter (no duh xD). Today's episode features something really important that SHOULD have been mentioned in the original version of the show, up to you guys to guess what it is. Oh, and we're also one step closer to seeing who Ash's real eighth Pokemon is! Now admittedly, certain readers have messaged me and guessed right, but I'm leaving them anonymous...and should you manage to find out which readers figured it out...they're sworn to secrecy so =P Now as per my new custom, I will answer the anonymous reviews.
lightningblade49: Glad you liked the last chapter! And nope, it's not Snover or Aggron or Steelix. BTW, don't worry about the other reviewers...who knows? Maybe I WON'T add Gible! *Shock*
pidgeotexpress: Nope, not Lapras or Primeape. Good guesses though! ^^
charizardlover: Nope, it's not Azelf, interesting idea though, although I don't have plans for Ash to catch another legend. So no, not Azelf. ^^
darky/Darkness Shadow: Yeah D, everyone knows now. xD And I imagine Oak will be having issues for a few days at least. xD
Airoh: Looking forward to seeing you on FF! ^^
Trayton125: Thanks!
Anna: Well in this story, Misty's a bit less withdrawn regarding her emotions. Knowing that Ash loves her has allowed her to be more open with her emotions and be able to hide behind her temper less. Thanks for sharing your opinion though. ^^
Lotty: Right now! ^^
Anyways, enjoy this chapter! I own nothing except the story
_
Chapter 40
Misty's POV
Another day, another ghost story. Ash caught a Pokémon that none of us even knew existed up until yesterday, it was called a Rotom. It had this uncanny ability to possess numerous mechanical devices since its body was made entirely made up of plasma and electricity. And one important detail, it drove us nuts the entire day! See, Prof. Oak had called us the day before to check up on me and Ash after the whole Darkrai thing, and he told us about this awesome dessert called Gateau.
Since we were in Canalave City, Prof. Oak suggested that we go to an old mansion that was appropriately named the Old Chateau, where they made the yummiest Gateau on the face of the planet, at least according to critics' reviews. Well our appetites got the better of us, so after we said goodbye to Ash's mom, we headed on our way to the next island over where they made the delicious pastry.
We entered after the door eerily opened the door on its own; at least that's what we thought until we found out that it was just another Haunter prank. But then the door closed behind us, that was NOT a Haunter prank. We would find out later that it was Rotom trying to play with us in its own way.
Ash felt sorry for Rotom since it was so lonely, so Ash caught it so it could hang with Haunter, who it had made friends with. But Prof. Oak suffered more than any of us since he had both Haunter AND Rotom wreaking havoc in his lab. Giving him some Old Gateau calmed him down, but Tracey, Daisy, and all of Ash's Pokémon were still understandably miffed at Ash for sending those two.
But either way, what was done was done. So we moved on and had ourselves a good night's sleep. When we woke up the next morning, we all sat in the Pokémon Center lobby while a report on television broadcasted the latest results in Pokémon Contests, which naturally peaked Dawn's interest.
Normal POV
"And now for the Contest wrap up! As you can see, the Gerber Contest has ended in a HUGE victory for Kenny from Twinleaf Town, which means Kenny's total ribbon count is now up to three, and Nando's Contest victory gives him FOUR ribbons! As these two coordinators progress the excitement is building! You won't wanna miss our next Contest which is to be held in Chocovine Town located up north. We hope for a large group of coordinators and you!" and with that, the news flash ended.
"Wow, Kenny's doing great so far." Ash said. "Yep, that's my Kenny." Dawn giggled. The two guys had missed that comment, but Misty hadn't. "YOUR Kenny?" she whispered.
Dawn blushed and quickly tried to rephrase. "W-What I meant to say was, that's great for Kenny!" she whispered back. "Whatever you two are whispering about, feel free to say it out in the open." Brock said.
"All I said was that Kenny's doing awesome so far, Nando too! They're working really hard!" Dawn exclaimed. "Nice save." Misty mumbled to herself.
"That's probably gonna keep you on your toes." Brock said. "You bet Brock! I'm planning on entering the Chocovine Contest too, and I intend to win it!" Dawn replied.
"Well in that case, we've both got some training to do! So let's head on out and get started! Come on buddy!" Ash and Pikachu ran outside, laughing excitedly as they got ready for training. "(Sigh) Ash, you never stop." Misty said admiringly.
"How can he? You and I both know how he gets when a badge is on the line." Brock chuckled. "Ain't that the truth?" Misty giggled.
"Do you know who he's planning on using?" Brock asked. "I'm sure he's using Chimchar and Charizard to take on steel-types, but I dunno about the third one, maybe Buizel." Misty replied.
"I just realized, it's been a long time since Ash used Charizard in a gym battle if you don't count the Battle Frontier. It's kinda like a comeback debut." Brock said.
"Well that gives me an idea! As long as we're talking debuts, I think I'll use Piloswine in the Chocovine Contest!" Dawn exclaimed. "You serious? I mean, no offense…but Piloswine doesn't have the uh…cuteness factor in his favor." Misty replied.
"No need to worry Misty, cuteness isn't the only thing that catches the eye. Remember YOU used your Gyarados in the Wallace Cup." Dawn said.
"But I'm willing to bet the only ones watching Gyarados were the judges themselves." Brock joked. "Oh yeah, we all saw how love-struck Ash was while you were in your mermaid outfit. I bet nobody bothered to notice Gyarados." Dawn laughed.
Misty blushed embarrassedly. "Hey, come on, I bet the girls were watching Gyarados." she said coyly. "Oh please, the girls in the audience were probably watching with envy." Dawn replied.
Just then, Ash peeked his head through the door and called out. "Hey Misty, I need my sparring partner!" he said enticingly.
Smiling, Misty stood up and ran outside to join her enthusiastic boyfriend for a training session. "Alright Ash, what'll we do today?" she asked.
"Well I wanna get some more training done with Chimchar and Charizard, but I'm thinking about maybe letting Gliscor watch so it can get the feeling of what a real gym battle is like." Ash said.
"Sounds like a plan, so who do you wanna spar with? Staryu? Vaporeon? Maybe a big challenge in Gyarados?" Misty asked. "Well…actually Mist, I was hoping you would be willing to use Grotle so it can work on its defense." Ash replied.
"Wait…you want me to skip training MY Pokémon so Grotle can power up?" Misty asked incredulously. "Well I'll definitely make it worth your while! I'll do some training with Vaporeon in exchange." Ash said, quickly getting his defenses up to avoid a rage attack.
"Either way you get to train with Pokémon! No way Ash, if you want me to train with Grotle, you'll need to pay up on MY terms." Misty said, a victorious smirk slowly spreading across her face. She knew she was in the driver's seat in this conversation, she also knew very well that Ash could just drop everything and ask Brock to train instead, but she knew Ash enjoyed doing it with her, which was partly fulfilling in itself, but now she wanted a little bonus.
"Well, what DO you want then?" Ash asked. The young trainer was a little nervous to what his girlfriend had in mind. Misty could be extremely devious when she wanted to, and he had a feeling that she knew what he was thinking.
"How about another date? Just you and me, no interruptions?" she said alluringly. Ash felt a small smile tugging from the corners of his mouth. She wanted a date? That would be really easy! And it'd be a lot of fun for him too! But he didn't want the light-hearted rivalry to end just yet, so he tried to nibble at her temper a bit. "A date? With you? Come on Mist, gimme Vaporeon and let me train her!"
Misty was startled by Ash's rejection, but she took another look at his face and saw the playful attitude that donned his features, which signified that he was messing around with her. So, she decided to play along. "Nope, it's a date or nothing. Take your pick." Misty smirked.
"Oh forget it; I think I'll go get Brock." Ash turned to walk back to the center, which once again startled the water-trainer. "He's not actually serious is he?"
Ash was just about to reach the door when he turned to Misty and gave her a smile. "Did I fool ya?" he asked playfully. Misty sighed with relief and shook her head. "No way, I knew you wouldn't trade me in for Brock. Please, what do you take me for?" she said teasingly.
"Hmm, a vicious, mallet-wielding, hot-tempered tomboy?" he said with a playful smile. "Oh yeah, well YOU'RE a Pokémon obsessed, hyperactive, map-challenged, knucklehead." Misty replied with the same silly grin.
"Hey, I just told the truth, you insulted me!" Ash exclaimed. "Because calling me vicious and hot-tempered isn't insulting?" Misty replied.
"But calling me Pokémon obsessed is hitting me below the belt." Ash said. "Tough Ash, the truth hurts." Misty replied.
While the banter went back and forth, Brock and Dawn walked out and noticed Ash and Misty exchanging words. They also noticed that with each sentence they uttered, they grew closer to each other; pretty soon they would be within arm's reach. They stopped and watched to see what would happen.
"Scrawny!" Ash exclaimed
"Weakling!" Misty quipped back.
"Meany!"
"Wimpy!"
They were now right in each other's faces, and they both automatically knew they wouldn't be able to keep up the comical banter when they were so close to each other. That was proven correct with Ash's next so-called "retaliation".
"…Pretty…"
"…Handsome…"
That settled it. They blushed, their eyes locked, and they moved in to share a blissful kiss right then and there, wrapped in each other's arms. The now disgusted Pikachu had been sitting under a tree waiting for Ash and Misty's playful argument to stop. Now he wished that they would go back to arguing. "Pika pika." (Get a hotel room.)
The almost exact moment Ash and Misty broke their lip lock, Dawn and Brock walked up to them, applauding as if they had just seen a show. "Bravo, bravo! Encore, encore!" Brock laughed hysterically. Misty pushed Ash back and stomped over to the chortling breeder with her mallet at the ready. "So you think that's funny huh?" she screamed, her face crimson from blush and now rage.
Dawn immediately stopped laughing and backed up with her hands held up defensively. "N-Now Misty, let's not do anything hasty!" she whimpered, "After all, it was BROCK'S idea in the first place!"
Now Brock stopped laughing, and his eyes grew wide with fear. "WHAT?" he shouted, "It was not my idea!"
"Excuse me you two, but regardless of whose idea it was, you're gonna pay for this." Misty said with a sinister grin. "Oh crud…" the two helpless victims to be said. Both Dawn and Brock took off running while Misty chased them down.
"Pikachu walked up to his trainer and hopped up onto his shoulder. "You think they'll be alright Pikachu?" Ash asked. "Pika pika chu." (I wouldn't bet on it.) Pikachu replied.
After Misty finally cooled off after failing to nail either one of her targets with a well-placed thump, she walked back over to Ash and snatched Grotle's Pokéball from his belt. "Ow! Hey, come on Mist, I didn't do anything wrong." Ash whined.
Misty glared at him, but it lacked the cold feeling that usually came with a Misty glare. After all, she wasn't mad at Ash, but he did get a little bit of the leftovers from her temper tantrum. "Just remember, you owe me a date after this." Misty spat, her fire simmering down.
"Looking forward to it." Ash said with a loving smile. Ash's tender expression invoked her heart to swell, and a small smile slowly etched its way onto her pretty face. "Me too." she said, finally back to her happy self.
"Good thing Ash cancels her temper out these days." Brock sighed, wiping nervous sweat from his forehead. "But what happens when Ash is the one who makes her mad?" Dawn asked, still rattled from being chased around by one of her best friends.
"Then she'll only give Ash the cold shoulder and we'll be a'ok regardless." Brock explained. Dawn sighed with relief and took some deep breaths to prepare herself for training. In the meantime, she and Brock watched Ash and Misty spar with each other.
"Alright everyone, come on out!" Ash threw out all his Pokéballs, and Misty threw out Grotle's so that all of Ash's Pokémon could watch as the practice battle ensued. "Alright Chimchar, you're up first. You'll be going up against Grotle. Grotle, you do whatever Misty tells you to, ok?" Ash exclaimed.
Chimchar and Grotle acknowledged with nods, and got into battle ready stance. "Alright Chimchar, use 'Scratch'!" Chimchar ran forward to scratch at the turtle with its nails. "Brace yourself Grotle!" Misty countered.
Grotle took the scratch attack, ironically without a scratch, and bounced the small fire-type back to where it came from. "Wow, looking good Grotle!" Ash exclaimed. "Well with the right trainer at the helm, of course he does!" Misty quipped.
Grotle looked back and smiled at the red-head giving him commands. All of Ash's Pokémon considered Misty to be just as capable of giving orders as their real master, which gave Ash a feeling of pride in his Pokémon, and Misty a feeling of comfort to know that she had grown so close to Ash that all his Pokémon obeyed her without question.
"Very funny Mist, you know that that's just Grotle being awesome!" Ash exclaimed. "Wow, Ash is into it." Dawn said. "With his sixth badge on the line, he should be." Brock replied.
Ash was about to call out another order, when Gliscor started calling from the sidelines, its battling spirit was firing up and it wanted an opportunity to get in there and show its master what it was made of. "Relax Gliscor." Ash said calmly. Again Gliscor begged Ash to let it battle, but Pikachu hopped off the field from where it was standing next to Ash and went to explain the situation to the fang-scor Pokémon.
"Thanks Pika-pal!" Misty exclaimed cheerily. "Pi pika chu!" (You're welcome!) Pikachu replied, matching Misty's happy tone. "Pikachu's such a help. A real diplomat." Dawn said. "Which makes Ash's life a little easier." Brock added.
"Now, 'Flame Wheel'!" Chimchar followed orders and enveloped itself in fire as it rolled towards Grotle in a blazing inferno. "Brace yourself again!" Knowing that the point of the training was to build its defense, Grotle acknowledged Misty's order and took the hard hit. But this time, Grotle was knocked back by the power that Chimchar exerted.
"Great! You just keep that up Chimchar, and we'll be ready to take on the Canalave Gym in no time!" Ash exclaimed. "You doing alright Grotle?" Misty asked. Grotle stood up, looked back at the water-trainer and smiled. Out of all of Ash's Pokémon besides Buizel, Misty felt happiest while using the affectionate grass-type that seemed to take a liking to her. So regardless of the unnecessary hassle Misty gave Ash, the truth was that Misty liked using Grotle, because Grotle liked being used by her.
"Enough watching! It's time for me to get busy! Piloswine, spoootlight!" Dawn threw out her newest Pokémon, and the swine-Pokémon emerged from it and fell to the ground, "It's time for a little training!"
Ash and Misty got off the field to let Dawn get her turn. "This'll be Piloswine's contest debut right?" Ash asked. "Yep, it'll be interesting to see what Dawn comes up with." Misty replied.
"Alright, start by coming here to me!" Dawn exclaimed. Piloswine stood still, not even acknowledging Dawn's voice. "Huh?" Dawn sweat-dropped and smiled, "Ok, whatever. Now let's start by…spinning and using 'Ice Shard'!" Again, Piloswine ignored the order and just sat there in place.
"Huh? Ok, maybe that's a bit too much right off the bat." Dawn figured, "Alright then, 'Take Down'!" Dawn's third order was ignored as well, and by this time, Dawn was getting a little confused. "Um…ok."
Ash, Misty, and Brock caught Charizard snickering at what they were watching. "What's so funny Charizard?" Ash asked quietly. Just then, a light-bulb turned on in Misty's head. "Ash…what if…Piloswine's ignoring Dawn like Charizard used to ignore you? Or like Gyarados used to think of me before I tamed it?"
"You think so?" Ash asked. Charizard nodded to confirm. If anyone knew what it was like to pretty much pretend its trainer didn't exist, it was Charizard. "Should we tell her?" Ash asked. "No! We'll ruin her confidence! And we all know how tough it is for her to build herself up." Misty replied.
Ash and Brock nodded in agreement, but they felt bad inside for making their coordinator friend go through the hassle of futilely trying to make Piloswine obey. "Come on Piloswine, 'Take Down'!" Dawn ordered once more. Piloswine once again ignored Dawn's command.
"Maybe…it's tired?" Dawn asked herself. The curious water-type next to Dawn waddled over to the swine-Pokémon to see if it could find the problem. Piplup first raised Piloswine's left ear to search for a problem. "No I think Piloswine's hearing's just fine." Dawn said, rather embarrassed at the whole situation.
Piplup waddled over to the other side of the large pig and lifted the hair from its right eye. "With twenty-twenty vision too." Dawn said. Well this left the penguin-Pokémon positively stumped. It had no idea why Piloswine was refusing to listen. "Alright, we'll try one more time…Piloswine, 'Take Down'!" This time Piloswine did move, however it wasn't 'Take Down' that it used. "Hold on! I didn't say 'Dig'!"
"I'm really starting to think that Piloswine doesn't respect Dawn as a trainer anymore. Now instead of ignoring her it went ahead and used 'Dig'." Brock said quietly. "I-I get it!" Dawn stammered, starting to get a little frazzled, "Of course! That's it! F-First Piloswine goes underground and then it jumps out using 'Take Down'! Just wait Piplup, it'll be any second!" she said, trying desperately to remain optimistic.
"More time passed, and Piloswine still hadn't emerged from its huge hole. "(Groan) Man, this sure is taking a long time!" Dawn whined. The blue-haired coordinator ran up to the huge hole and shouted down it. "Piloswine! Piloswine, come on out!"
Exchanging sad glances at each other, Ash, Misty, and Brock slowly walked over and joined Dawn near the hole. "You ok Dawn?" Misty asked gently. Dawn sighed and faced her three friends. "Since Piloswine just evolved, maybe this is all a bit too soon."
"Yeah, maybe that's it!" Ash said, trying to sound convinced. Ash tried, and hoped he DID sound convincing for Dawn's sake. But the Pokémon trainer knew in the back of his mind that it was déjà vu all over again. Except this time it wasn't his Pokémon, it was Dawn's. "What's going on down there anyway?" Dawn wondered, her tone revealing discouragement.
"Pika pika?" (You want me to find out?) Pikachu offered, hoping that his volunteering would cheer the saddened girl's spirit. It worked. "Wow, that'd be great if you'd go check it out!" Dawn said gratefully. However Piplup would have no such thing. Pikachu was Ash's Pokémon, and he was Dawn's. So as Dawn's Pokémon, he gently shoved Pikachu back and jumped into the hole himself.
After Piplup caught everyone off guard, Dawn looked back down the hole to check on her beloved starter Pokémon. "Hey, you ok?" she asked with concern. "Pi plup." (I'm fine.) Piplup replied.
After confirming his condition, Piplup explored the large tunnel that Piloswine had dug for some unknown reason. He then found Piloswine wedged into its own tunnel, and the frustrated penguin pushed on Piloswine's behind in an attempt to get it moving again.
After a long strain to no avail, Piplup tried a different approach. He squeezed through a tiny crevice between the tunnel and Piloswine's body, and the resulting pop that sounded was loud enough to startle the swine-Pokémon.
With a loud roar, Piloswine charged through the ground, pushing Piplup up and out of the ground like he had just been shot by a geyser. "Piplup! Oh no!" Dawn cried. "Charizard, catch Piplup!" Ash reacted. The mighty dragon roared and took off to catch the penguin Pokémon before it had a chance to hit the ground. "Pi plup pip." (Thanks.) Piplup sighed.
Charizard nodded and slowly descended, allowing the small penguin to hop back to the ground and greet his master. "Oh Piplup, are you alright?" Dawn asked with concern. Piplup waved his arm nonchalantly in response; his usual cocky attitude wouldn't allow him to admit that he was actually scared for a while there.
But the big problem still remained. Piloswine was now once again just lying there on the ground. Its rampage against Piplup was the only thing that had motivated it to really do anything huge that day. "Oh, what's going on with Piloswine?" Dawn whined. The trio behind Dawn looked at each other desperately; it seemed that they were fighting a losing battle since her confidence was slowly ebbing away regardless of what the cause.
"You know, it might just be that Piloswine's just a little hungry and nothing more." Brock suggested. Ash and Misty smiled at the eldest teen's insight. "Nice save Brock." they both thought.
Dawn apparently thought so too, as her eyes lit up and her whole face seemed to lift. "That's right! Piloswine never likes to miss lunch!" Dawn reached into her vest pocket and pulled out one of her homemade poffins and held it up for the wind to carry its aroma. "Hey look! I've got a poffin for you!" Dawn exclaimed enticingly.
The mention of food got the swine Pokémon moving, as it rushed towards Dawn and gently ate the tasty snack from her hand. "I know how much you like my poffins." Dawn said happily. The trio smiled at each other as they saw that Piloswine had had a change of heart after the snack, maybe their suspicions were premature after all. But although they didn't know it, Charizard wasn't convinced.
"Alright, one more!" Dawn began throwing poffins up into the air, and the swine Pokémon rushed to catch them in midair, moaning with pleasure as each decadent morsel danced across its taste buds. Finally, Dawn ran out of poffins, and she held up her hands to show the swine Pokémon that fact. "There, all gone!"
But then the group's suspicions not only returned, they had turned into confirmed facts. Piloswine charged straight for Dawn and it didn't look like it was coming for affection. "Dawn, out of the way!" Ash grabbed Dawn by the waist and yanked her out of harm's way just before Piloswine got there, making the swine-Pokémon grunt with pain as it rammed its head into a tree.
"What's going on? Piloswine just tried to run me over!" Dawn gasped in shock, dusting herself off after hitting the ground with Ash. But Piloswine wasn't through yet; it went into reverse and changed its course, back towards the two trainers who were standing in shock.
Pikachu and Piplup stood in front of the swine-Pokémon like a roadblock in an attempt to get it to stop, but it just ran them over without a second thought. "Ahh! Piplup!" Dawn cried. Once Piloswine was a safe distance away, Misty ran to scoop up the two rattled Pokémon and hand them to Brock. "I think Pikachu's having trouble breathing!" Misty panicked.
Brock gave Pikachu the once-over and acknowledged that fact, but wasn't too concerned. "Got the wind knocked out of you?" Brock asked. Pikachu forced a smile and nodded, "Pika pika." (I'll be ok.) he gasped breathlessly.
But that same fact wouldn't hold true for Ash and Dawn, who were now running away from the stampeding Pokémon. "You've gotta start listening to what I say Piloswine!" Dawn screamed in panic. If anything, that merely provoked Piloswine more as it launched an 'Ice Shard' at its two targets.
"Look out!" Misty and Brock shouted. Ash and Dawn ducked the huge chunk of ice, and watched in horror as one poor tree took the hit instead and froze solid. "I felt the cold from that!" Ash exclaimed.
But they wouldn't get much time to catch their breath since Piloswine was still heading towards them. Ash and Dawn dove in opposite directions and dodged the Pokémon's attack, but it just turned around and fired another 'Ice Shard' at them both. "Ash, Dawn, get out of there!" Misty pleaded.
Needless to say, that sounded like a good idea to them. But even while they ran back towards their friends, Piloswine was charging towards them. Gliscor called out to Ash to convey its willingness to stop the swine Pokémon, but Ash had two others in mind. "Hey Grotle, Charizard, do something quick!"
The two Pokémon rushed to oppose Piloswine, but one certain fang-scor Pokémon was feeling rather bad about being brushed off again. But it quickly snapped out of its phase of self-pity when Ash and Dawn came and joined the group.
Grotle and Charizard stood in front of the swine Pokémon and braced themselves, but they wouldn't get the chance to do anything as two 'Ice Shards' were fired and froze them both in place. "Oh no, Grotle! Charizard!" Ash cried.
Grotle didn't have the capability to do anything, but Charizard was struggling to break free of the ice that was keeping it in place. But with all its brute strength, the ice was holding firm. "Alright, it's up to you Gliscor!" Ash exclaimed.
Gliscor grinned and took off to finally take a shot at stopping the stampeding Pokémon, and Piplup insisted on joining the battle as well despite the beating it had already taken so far. "Gliscor, use 'Screech' to distract Piloswine!" Ash ordered. "Ash, wait!" Misty cried.
It was too late. Gliscor had already acknowledged and was currently emitting ear-piercing sound waves that caused Piplup to stop in his tracks and cover his ears in pain. And if that wasn't bad enough, Piloswine's blind rage had allowed it to ignore the screeching, but that didn't stop it from attacking its opposition.
Piloswine fired an 'Ice Shard' into the air, and it nailed the fang-scor Pokémon's face, causing ice to spread across its face, burning Gliscor with its sheer freezing temperature. "Oh man, Gliscor." Ash moaned.
Gliscor was tearing up from the pain, but then a miracle seemed to happen as fire appeared in Gliscor's mouth, and it roared a battle-cry as it melted the ice that was hurting it. "Gliscor's using 'Fire Fang'!" Brock exclaimed. "Amazing, when did Gliscor learn that move?" Ash said in shock.
Gliscor swooped down with its flaming mouth and melted the ice encasing Grotle. That's when Charizard realized what it had to do. With a blast of fire, Charizard melted the ice on its feet and wings and charged for Piloswine before it could reach the humans and the smaller Pokémon.
"Hurry Charizard!" Misty squealed in fear. Charizard floored it, and managed to get in front of the swine Pokémon and scare it away with a 'Flamethrower' to the ground. Piloswine turned around and started running towards Grotle again, but not before running Piplup over again.
Gliscor leaped off of Grotle's back and flew high into the air to catch the penguin Pokémon. "Thanks Gliscor!" Dawn exclaimed. Now with Piloswine running at full steam, Grotle stepped in front and pushed against the momentum. "Gro…tle…" The amount of power that Grotle was showing shocked the trainers, but even Grotle's amazing power wasn't enough as its feet began to dig into the ground and move back.
Now was when Charizard made his move. Charizard flew low to the ground, grabbed Piloswine and took off into the sky, which let Grotle take a few breaths of much needed oxygen. The mighty dragon did three flips in the air, but then it just hovered in the sky instead of throwing the struggling Piloswine down.
"I know what Charizard's doing! He's holding Piloswine still so you can return it Dawn!" Misty exclaimed. That was indeed the case, but while Dawn fumbled around for Piloswine's Pokéball, Piloswine launched an attack that looked like 'Ice Shard', but the power of the attack invoked a roar of agony from the fire/flying-type. "Hurry Dawn!" Ash yelled.
"Got it!" Dawn held up the Pokéball and fired. "Piloswine, return!" The red light caused the swine Pokémon to disappear from Charizard's grasp, and the powerful dragon slowly descended and collapsed onto one knee. "Oh man, you alright Charizard?" Ash asked, running up to check on his old friend.
Charizard held his head in his claw and tried to shake the pain off. Blinking a few times, Charizard eventually stood up and gave his master a look of reassurance. "Alright buddy, you did good. Take a nice long rest." Ash returned Charizard to his Pokéball, one thing was for sure, Charizard had earned his keep for the day.
"Was that 'Ice Shard' that did all that damage?" Misty asked. "It looked like it, but I was staring into the sun so I couldn't tell." Ash replied. "Yeah, me neither. But if it was 'Ice Shard', Charizard shouldn't have been hit as hard as it was, right?" Dawn said.
"Well Charizard is part flying-type, maybe it was just a critical hit." Brock suggested. "But why was Piloswine misbehaving like that?" Dawn sighed sadly. "Hey, I've got an idea! Why don't you put Piloswine into a battle; that way Piloswine will have no other choice other than to listen to what you command!" Ash exclaimed.
Dawn liked that idea. "Good idea Ash! I'll go get ready!" Dawn ran onto the field with Piplup and got herself in the mood. Meanwhile, Ash beamed with pride at his quick thinking, and he awaited Misty's praises for the awesome idea.
*BAM* "OW! What was that for?" Ash growled. Misty had banged Ash's head with her mallet, fuming with anger. "You imbecile! Charizard didn't listen to you in battle! What makes you think Piloswine will listen to Dawn?" Misty hissed quietly.
"I dunno! Look, maybe she'll get lucky?" Ash said hopefully. "For your sake, I hope so." Misty threatened. Ash gulped audibly and walked onto the field. "Let's go Grotle." he mumbled. The grass-type obeyed without question, it figured the best way to keep things calm would be to stay quiet.
I'll uh…I'll go referee." Brock mumbled. The nervous breeder zipped away from Misty and went to the side of the field, partly because they needed a ref, and partly because he didn't want to be anywhere near Misty at the moment. "Alright, let the battle begin!"
"Grotle, use 'Razor Leaf'!" Grotle got up on its hind legs and then jerked its body forward, making sharp leaves shoot out of the bush on its back.
"Piloswine, use 'Dig'!" Dawn countered. Piloswine just stood there and groaned when the attack hit it. Once again, Piloswine was disobeying her. "What are you doing? Don't just stand there! Now it's our turn to attack! Use 'Ice Shard'!" Piloswine ignored the coordinator's orders, and it was quite clear to Dawn that something was indeed wrong. "Uh oh…not again."
Piplup went to check on Piloswine's hearing again, but again he found no physical reason as to why Piloswine was ignoring Dawn. "(Groan) This isn't going to work either." Dawn said sadly.
Seeing that Dawn wouldn't be able to force Piloswine to make the first move, Ash took charge. "Ok Grotle, use 'Razor Leaf' once more!" Grotle fired again, and Dawn wasted no time in reacting. "Take Down' now!"
This time Piloswine did attack, but it wasn't 'Take Down' that it used. For a split second, Piloswine glowed white, and a white ball of energy formed and shot through the leaves and towards the large turtle. Grotle fought the attack head on and managed to bounce it off, but it didn't recognize exactly what had just been used against it.
"What was that?" Misty screamed from the sidelines. "Piloswine used 'Ancient Power'!" Brock replied. "But how can that be? When it was a Swinub it couldn't do that!" Dawn exclaimed.
"That was BEFORE it evolved. It's a Piloswine now." Brock said. "That must be what hit Charizard so hard! Since it's a fire and a flying-type, he's doubly weak to it!" Misty exclaimed.
"Wow, that's amazing!" Dawn exclaimed. "What's so amazing about my Pokémon taking a beating Dawn?" Ash asked. "Not that Ash, the new move is what's amazing!" Dawn replied.
Just then, Piloswine took off running. "Aah! Where are you going now?" Dawn screamed, as she watched her evolved Pokémon run out towards the nearby park. "Let's go!" Ash yelled.
"What is going on with you Piloswine? Stop running away already!" Dawn screamed. The group took off running after the swine-Pokémon, with Dawn leading the pack. "Alright you guys, I think it's time we let Dawn know exactly what's going on." Brock said sternly.
Ash and Misty frowned at each other, as they followed the obvious trail of footsteps through the park. They finally found the large pig chowing down on either an abandoned sponge cake, or a hijacked one depending on what Piloswine did to whoever used to be there. "Piloswine, what's gotten into you?" Dawn said disapprovingly.
Piloswine just kept on eating, paying no mind to the coordinator's presence. Dawn slumped her shoulders and sighed sadly, as she returned the swine Pokémon to its Pokéball. "Come on guys, let's head back." she said with a sad crack in her voice.
Dawn slowly made her way back to the Pokémon Center, with her three friends trailing behind, wondering how they would ever be able to break the unfortunate truth to Dawn. When they reached the Pokémon Center, Dawn sat down on a bench and placed her face in her hands.
Misty sat down next to her and placed a comforting on the younger girl's shoulder. "You ok Dawn?" she asked gently. "I never used to have problems with Swinub before." Dawn replied, her eyes watery with unshed tears.
"It's not unheard of for Pokémon to change after they evolve. Take Ash and Charizard for instance." Brock said. Ash shot a quick glare at the breeder, but he quickly shrunk back as Brock's stern glare overpowered him.
"What do you mean?" Dawn asked, wiping her eyes. Ash sighed and sat on the bench opposite that of Misty and Dawn's.
"Before it became a Charizard, I found it as a Charmander in a rainstorm, abandoned by its trainer and left to die. Thanks to Misty and Brock though, we were able to get it back to health. Charmander then joined my team, and at first we were great friends, like you and Swinub were." Ash explained,
"But then one day…" Ash blushed a little, which provoked Misty to also blush, although Dawn couldn't figure out why. "One day, Charmander evolved into Charmeleon, and I was totally psyched, just like you were about Piloswine…but when I tried to get Charmeleon to obey my commands, it ignored me." Ash was cut off.
"Just like me…" Dawn said, still somewhat sad.
"Right. And then a few days later it evolved into Charizard in order to rescue me from an Aerodactyl. I thought that was a sign that Charizard would listen to me now…but I was wrong. It wasn't until after Brock left and me and Misty went to the Orange Islands that Charizard started obeying me." Ash explained.
"What did you do?" Dawn asked.
"Well, Charizard got into a battle with a Poliwrath, and it got frozen, similarly to how Piloswine froze it today, except it was COMPLETELY frozen, not just parts of it. Me, Misty, and Tracey stayed up all night trying to thaw it out, and I basically told it that regardless of all the attitude it had given me, I was still willing to put up with it, and I reminded it about everything I had done for it. And after that, me and Charizard were friends again." Ash finished.
"The same thing happened to me too Dawn." Misty said, giving the coordinator a comforting squeeze. "You too Misty?" Dawn asked in shock.
"Yeah. Gyarados wasn't always as loyal to me as it is now. In fact, Gyarados came close to killing me once." Misty said. "Killed you? What was up with it?" Dawn exclaimed in shock.
"It was…after I left Ash…" Misty said, feeling her heart heave as she reminisced on that awful day, "Daisy and my other two sisters had left the gym in shambles before their cruise. When I got back, it was up to me to fix the place before an inspector from the PIA came to judge the gym's condition. It probably would've been shut down if it weren't for me!"
"But I didn't realize the worst part yet. One of the gym's Magikarp had evolved into Gyarados and was wreaking havoc! I was really scared of Gyarados, at the time it was the only water-type I was actually AFRAID of. But I knew that if one of the gym's Pokémon were out of control, it wouldn't matter how pretty the gym was, we would be shut down guaranteed." Misty explained,
"So I sucked up my fear and tried my best to tame it, but nothing I did worked. It refused to go into its Pokéball, so I had no choice but to cage it. Then, just when I had given up hope, these creeps named the Invincible Pokémon Brothers, came and had their Tentacruel use 'Poison Sting' on Gyarados. But I wouldn't let that happen. I took the hit for Gyarados and from that moment on, it respected me and we even managed to become friends." Misty finished.
"Wow…both you and Ash went through a lot for your Pokémon…and now they're your strongest and most loyal ones…but I'm not sure I have enough training experience to pull off the same thing with Piloswine." Dawn sighed.
"Hey Dawn, look, there's no need to worry. You'll become good friends with Piloswine in no time. Just keep your head up and try to show Piloswine that you'll be its friend no matter what. It's a part of the trainer experience." Ash said.
"Exactly. Take it from two trainers who've already gone through what you're going through. It's the growing pains of Pokémon training, but you stay strong and everything will work out in the end." Misty added.
"I sure hope you guys are right." Dawn sighed. "Come on now, cheer up. Whaddya say I make you some of my signature hot chocolate?" Brock suggested. Dawn looked up and relinquished a small smirk. "It's like eighty-five degrees outside Brock."
"Ok, then how about a chocolate milkshake?" Brock asked with a smile. "I'd like that Brock, thanks." Dawn stood up and followed the gracious breeder to the room, where Brock would be able to make a nice comforting snack for the downhearted coordinator.
"Hey Mist, sorry I made that dumb suggestion earlier. I shoulda known better than to expect Dawn to be able to handle Piloswine just because it was in a battle." Ash said, somewhat regretfully.
"Aw Ash, I was rougher on you than I should've been. I mean, it was my idea to try and keep what was wrong a secret. You were just trying to help." Misty replied.
Misty got up so she could sit next to Ash, and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "So…what'll we do about Dawn and Piloswine?" Ash asked.
"There isn't really anything we CAN do. All we can really do is stick by her and support her. But the only way she'll be able to get Piloswine to obey her, is to gain its respect, and she'll have to figure that out on her own." Misty replied.
"(Sigh) It discourages me ya know? She's my friend and I can't help her." Ash said. Misty stroked Ash's cheek with her soft hand and gently turned his head to face her. "I know Ash. I wish there was something I could do too."
Ash stroked her face gently; Misty had this uncanny knack of making an otherwise depressing moment, turn into a tender and loving time between him and her. "Thanks Mist, I needed that." Going with the moment, the Pokémon Trainer gently pressed his lips against her soft face, sending a wave of pleasure through her body.
"You know what? Just for that, I'll let you off the hook for that date you owe me." Misty said, still a little shaken by the kiss Ash gave her. "Who said I wanted to be off the hook?" Ash said through a breath. As Ash got more and more used to having these loving moments with his red headed girlfriend, he was slowly getting the hang of being romantic and making her happy, which naturally made him feel happy too.
"Alright you two, we're back, so knock it off." Brock gagged. Ash and Misty immediately split up, and the couple blushed furiously as they looked around awkwardly. "I don't understand how you two can have been together all this time and you STILL get embarrassed if you catch us seeing you." Dawn said, taking a slurp of her huge chocolate milkshake.
"Very funny you guys." Misty grumbled. As the two got up to rejoin their rather nosy friends, they overheard a conversation being held between two punks with piercings and makeup all over their faces and bodies. "Wow! What a totally awesome poster!" the female exclaimed.
"Rad to the max my peeps, Pokémon Friendship School!" the male replied. "Hubba bubba, to think that there's a groovy place that'll help all sorts of trainers get closer to their Pokémon." the woman said. "Yeah, twenty-three skidoo!" the man added.
"Shall we?" the man asked. "Sweet! Meowth, doesn't that look like a party?" the woman exclaimed. The cat Pokémon in the man's arms meowed in agreement, and the trio ran outside. Curious, Ash and co. checked out the poster that the two weird people had been looking at.
"It says Pokémon Friendship School alright." Ash said. "I think that's the only thing I understood with those two." Misty sweat-dropped.
"Hey! Maybe this'll help me get closer to Piloswine! Oh man, wouldn't that be perfect?" Dawn squealed giddily. "I dunno Dawn, this seems a little fishy, I've never heard of this place and it just so happens we hear about it when you're having trainer troubles." Misty said suspiciously.
"But Misty, think of the opportunity! I could finally gain Piloswine's respect if we could learn to get along!" Dawn exclaimed. Misty looked at her two friends for support, but their expressions said they were on Dawn's side. "(Sigh) Alright, let's give it a shot." And that made it unanimous.
After a quick walk, the group found their way to a tented area that had a sign that said they had found exactly what they were looking for. "Well, this is it." Ash said. "Hello! We're here for the Pokémon Friendship School! Anyone here?" Dawn called out.
Almost immediately, a young lady came out, her long magenta hair swishing from side to side as she cheerily skipped to greet the group. "Hi ho, happy howdy!" she said cheerily, "We exist to promote peace, love, and understanding; to foster guaranteed friendships between trainers and Pokémon on and on and on!"
Just then, Brock went nuts and dropped on one knee. "If you do as you say, please try to understand that you'd put MY heart at peace if you'd just say that you love meeeee!" Brock was jabbed by Croagunk, and the breeder crumpled to the ground. "We're so sorry about our friend, he's got mental issues." Misty said rather coldly.
"Don't you worry your fiery little head about a thing! Although I suggest that your twe – uh – friend there should go through our eloquently effective training program with his little froggy friend there." the woman said, still unbelievably cheery.
"Can you really help me make friends with my Pokémon?" Dawn asked, somewhat desperately. "Of course! We guarantee that if you're not friends with your Pokémon, you will be. And if you're already friends with them, you'll be the BFF's you've always dreamed of!" the woman replied.
"Ok! I'm in!" Dawn squealed. "Me too!" Ash added. "I guess I'll give it a shot." Misty admitted. Brock stayed silent except for the soft groaning he was doing on the floor. "Croagunk, be a dear and bring Brock along, will you?" Misty requested. Croagunk saluted the water-trainer and dragged its master into the tent.
Inside, they found all sorts of equipment, ranging from exercise balls to a huge pool with floating platforms. "Your first task will be to navigate our friendship obstacle course, along with your estranged Pokémon." the woman said.
"Looks weird." Ash said. The woman turned around and smiled at Ash. "Judge not, you'll discover by sharing this adventure with your Pokémon this exercise will end up being a piece of cake. So which Pokémon will you be getting closer to today?" the woman asked.
"Charizard, let's give it a try!"
"Come on out Piloswine!"
The two Pokémon emerged, although they looked rather bored with the whole thing. "Whaddya say Charizard, you wanna go out there with me?" Ash asked. Charizard shot his master a "you're kidding right?" look, which made Ash sweat-drop. "I know, I know, but you never know, it could be fun!" Ash said.
"Pika pika, pika chu." (Come on Charizard, let's go.) Pikachu added. Charizard grunted and face-clawed, thinking to himself, "What did I do to deserve this?"
"Well…uh…and your Pokémon will be?" the woman asked. "Well you already know who Brock's using," Misty said, "So I'm going with…" Misty was cutoff when a white light flashed and Psyduck emerged, holding his head in his hands.
Misty face-palmed, "I guess I'll use Psyduck." she grumbled. "But I wanted to use Gyarados…"
"Well go on, your friendship is waiting!" the woman said cheerily. "Alright Charizard, let's go!" Charizard grunted and walked up the ramp with his master, but it was merely for the sake of obeying, truth be told, it was REALLY bored.
"Come on Croagunk!" the breeder's Pokémon also went along with it as its master held its hand, but it too had a few reservations about the whole thing.
"Well Piloswine, it's our turn." the coordinator and her penguin Pokémon started up the stairs, when Piplup noticed that Piloswine wasn't budging from its spot. "Uh, Dawn?"
Dawn turned around at Misty's voice and saw her pointing down at Piloswine and Piplup, the penguin Pokémon was pushing with all his might to try and get Piloswine to move. "I've got just the thing!" Dawn pulled out a poffin and held it down for the swine Pokémon to sniff, and that got Piloswine to follow the breeder up the ramp.
"Well Psyduck, let's go." Misty grabbed Psyduck's hand and started walking up the ramp, but about halfway up, Psyduck started turning left. "Psyduck, where are you going, we have to stay on the ramp. Psyduck!" Misty hadn't thought to let go of Psyduck's hand, and the trainer and Pokémon hit the ground with a painful thud.
"Mist, you alright?" Ash asked with concern. "Oh yeah, I'm juuust peachy." Misty grumbled, "But YOU might not be for long." she hissed, turning back to her dopey Psyduck.
After Misty got up, she and Psyduck went back up the ramp and this time made it all the way up to where the others were waiting. "See? Now that wasn't so hard, was it Psyduck?" Misty asked.
Psyduck just tilted its head at the water-trainer, which she chose to take as a confirming nod. "Ok, next up is our friendship balance beam." the woman said.
"Alright Charizard, let's just take it slow and easy." Ash said. Charizard again glared at Ash, and decided that he was going to make this fun, HIS way. "Ok Charizaaaard!" Charizard had grabbed Ash and flew over the balance beam, then landed right in front of where they would've ended.
"I guess that's one way to do it." Dawn sweat-dropped as she watched Brock and Croagunk go across. "Alright Piloswine, now it's our turn! Let's go!" Piloswine obeyed halfway, as it walked in between the beams rather than balancing. "That's another way I guess." she sweat-dropped again.
"You're the last one Mist!" Ash exclaimed. Misty looked at the beams and sweat-dropped. There was no way her clumsy Psyduck would make it across without falling. Although Psyduck seemed excited to try. "Psyduck, for my sake, PLEASE try not to fall."
Misty hopped on one end and held Psyduck's hand as it waddled across the other, and miraculously, the duck Pokémon had managed not to fall. "Wow Psyduck, that was awesome!" Misty cheered. Misty's cheers turned into groans as Psyduck did a pratfall AFTER getting off the beams.
"And finally, our pool of friendship." the woman said. "Ok Charizard, let's do this one the right way." Charizard rolled his eyes and obeyed, as they hopped across the floating platforms. When they finally got there, Ash congratulated the dragon. "Yeah Charizard! That's the waaa!" Charizard had pushed Ash into the water, which made the dragon laugh, and even Pikachu found it amusing. "Very funny you guys." Ash grumbled, spluttering water.
Brock and Croagunk made it across without any issues, which left Misty and Dawn. "You go first Misty; I have to convince Piloswine to get moving." Dawn said. Misty nodded and also started hopping across with Psyduck, however about halfway, Misty noticed that Psyduck had apparently let go and was now floundering desperately for help. "D'oh, Psyduck!"
Misty backtracked and headed for her Pokémon while Dawn tried to convince Piloswine to keep moving. "Look here Piloswine, I've got a poffin!" she exclaimed enticingly. The swine-Pokémon smelled the tasty treat and leaped into the air to go after it.
Dawn screamed and dove out of the way, ironically ramming into Misty who had just reached Psyduck, and now both of them were in the water. "Thanks for that Dawn." Misty sighed, as she swam to the end of the pool with Psyduck in tow.
"(Groan) That's enough." Dawn sighed. Dawn resorted to putting soggy poffins on each platform as she swam through the water; luckily Piloswine wasn't picky about texture. When they finally got out, they followed the woman outside the tent.
"Hey guys, you know the point of that exercise was to NOT get wet right?" Brock snickered. The three younger teens glared at the breeder, but that didn't stop Brock from getting his laughs. They eventually stopped at a canyon where there were pulley cars that would carry them down.
"Now, if you and your Pokémon will take a seat, we'll begin our famous friends forever course." the woman said.
The group looked down the canyon, where a man with blue hair cheerfully waved at them. "Hey, that sounds like fun, right Charizard?" Ash said. Charizard just crossed his arms, rolled his eyes and flew down into the canyon without his master.
"Uh, ok, see you there." Ash sweat-dropped. "Hey Ash, come on and sit with me!" Misty patted the spot next to her and Psyduck, and Ash gratefully accepted the gesture so he wouldn't have to go alone. So the couple went down into the canyon riding the pulley cars, with Brock and Dawn each following in their own individual ones.
As soon as Dawn got down, the man spoke up and got their attention. "Trainers and Pokémon, welcome to our friends forever course. I'm your friendly friend's trainer in charge! Now please produce all the Pokémon you have on your person!"
"Huh? All of them?" Ash asked. "Right. Of course we realize you're not having nasty hassles with ALL of them, so if you'll whip out the ones you're getting along with famously, the ones that you're not will watch and learn! In this manner you'll be setting a lovely learning example of just how friendly friends can be don't you see? It's the Pokémon see, Pokémon do demo." the man explained.
"You know what? That actually makes sense." Misty admitted. "That settles it!" Ash grabbed all his Pokéballs as the others did the same. "Ok gang, everybody out!" Multiple flashes of light shined, as each and every one of the group's Pokémon made their appearance, and once Buneary emerged, Pikachu hopped off of Ash's shoulder to join the cute little rabbit.
Unnoticed by them however, the instructor cringed at the sight of Misty's Gyarados, but he quickly recomposed himself and got to work. "And now the time for comprehensive calisthenics is here!"
"Comprehensive calisthenics?" Dawn asked. "Right. Where both you and your Pokémon will be striking the same pose, to establish trainer and Pokémon synchronicity you see." the instructor explained.
Taking two flags and putting a whistle in his mouth, the instructor got started. "Let's begin, just do as I do. Here's pose number one!" the instructor blew his whistle and spread his arms out wide, and all the humans and Pokémon, with the exception of Charizard, did the same.
"Come on Charizard." Ash whispered. Charizard groaned and gave in; he would get Ash back for this humiliation.
"You're doing great Piloswine!" Dawn whispered, but when Dawn looked again, she noticed that Piplup was controlling the swine Pokémon's ears, and not doing a very good job at that. "(Groan) Piloswine…"
"No Psyduck, put your arms up, not your foot." Misty sighed exasperatedly. Psyduck switched into the right pose, which gave the water-trainer a slight bit of hope.
"Number two!" the instructor blew his whistle and struck a different pose, and the humans and Pokémon did the same, even Psyduck had somehow figured it out. But Piplup was still controlling the swine Pokémon's ears.
"Now roll up into a ball!" the instructor blew his whistle once more, and the humans and Pokémon did the same, with Piplup trying as hard as he could to get Piloswine to at least look like it was trying.
"Good. Now I'd like all the trainers to please proceed into the wide white circle, and all of the Pokémon please get into the red circle to its immediate right." the instructor said. They acknowledged, but it took a while for Piloswine to get there. "Well, we can't ALL be speedy." the instructor chuckled. The four trainers groaned at the sight of Piplup pushing Piloswine around.
The instructor sighed and put the whistle back into his mouth. "And now I'd like everyone to do exactly as I say once again! Roll up into a ball!" With another blow of the whistle, the humans and Pokémon obeyed, with Piplup STILL controlling Piloswine's actions. "Very ball-ish! You guys are good!" the instructor exclaimed.
But just then, the floor underneath the humans collapsed, and they fell into a small pit. Seeing that happen, the Pokémon got on guard, although Charizard seemed more excited than scared. The canyon wall opened up, and a huge cage shot out and fell on top of all the Pokémon, trapping them. "What's with the cage?" Ash yelled angrily.
He got his answer when the all too familiar Meowth balloon came floating out of the canyon, and the instructor turned out to really be James.
Jessie: "We've always been cagey, that's nothing new."
James: "We always find cagey ways to fool you!"
Jessie: "On the wind!"
James: "Past the stars!"
Meowth: "Whoop de do!"
Jessie: "Bringing chaos at a breakneck pace!"
James: "Dashing hope, putting fear in its place!"
Jessie: "A rose by any other name's just a sweet!"
James: "When everything's worse, our work is complete!"
Jessie: "Jessie!"
James: "And James!"
Meowth: "Meowth's the name!"
Jessie: "Putting you do-gooders in your place!"
James: "We're Team Rocket!"
Team Rocket: "In your face!"
"How did you trick us?" Dawn screamed. "We've tricked you twerps more times than you've had birthdays!" Jessie exclaimed. "Ugh, I just realized something really gross!" Misty spat. "What's that Misty?" Brock asked.
"You hit on Jessie!" Misty gagged. Brock turned as pale as his brown skin would allow, Misty was right. "I…fell for her disguise?" Brock passed out after that.
"Hey! The fact that your twerp friend actually fell for my dashing good looks only further proves my superior fashion flair!" Jessie exclaimed. "Oh yeah? How'd you measure up to Daisy?" Misty countered.
Jessie growled at the mention of her part-time rival in style, Misty's older sister had given Jessidiah a real hassle about her outfit. "We're off-topic!" Jessie hissed.
"Give us back our Pokémon or else!" Ash roared. "Not on your life! Catching your Pokémon is only a down payment for Piloswine stealing our poor sponge cake!" James yelled back.
"All this is because you lost your lunch? You guys are such losers! You don't even realize what you're missing!" Misty exclaimed.
"Missing? What are we missing?" James asked. "Do you realize you faked this whole friendship school thing, when in reality you three could make an honest living doing it for real! You actually had some good ideas!" Misty replied.
James pondered it for a moment, but the ever-stubborn Jessie and Meowth wouldn't hear it. "Keep your ideas to yourself red twerpette!" Jessie hissed. "Yeah! We criminal types always stay true to da code!" Meowth pushed a button, and the canyon closed up and the balloon started going up.
"No you don't! Charizard, bust that cage open with 'Steel Wing'!" Charizard roared as if to say "finally", and the mighty dragon attacked the bars of the cage relentlessly, but unfortunately, it was to no avail. "What the?" Ash gasped in shock.
"Dis bad boy's been specially treated to ignore even da strongest of your twoip Pokémon attacks!" Meowth cackled.
The balloon continued to go up, but the Team Rocket members had an abrupt stop when the cage wouldn't get off the ground. "Oh great, the tall twerp must be overfeeding these Pokémon." James said. "Meowth, give her the gas!" Jessie exclaimed.
Meowth pushed a button on his remote control, and two powerful propellers extruded out the sides of the Meowth balloon's basket. "Props at max power!" James exclaimed. The propellers started up, and the cage carrying every single Pokémon started rising up, with the captives crying for help.
"You're not getting away that easy! Gyarados, try a 'Hydro Pump'!" Misty ordered. Gyarados fired a high-pressured blast of water from its gaping mouth, but the cage was left undamaged. Out of desperation, Pachirisu launched a 'Discharge' attack, but it left the other Pokémon that it was sharing the cage with ducking for cover. "Pachirisu, stop that!" Dawn exclaimed.
Pachirisu complied and relaxed, but the leftover static from the 'Discharge' surged through Piloswine's body, provoking it to another rampage. The cage swung back and forth under the force Piloswine was causing, sending the Team Rocket balloon out of control. "Whoa! Turbulence!" James exclaimed.
"Piloswine's rockin' da boat!" Meowth shouted. "Behave! Or I'll have to spank you!" Jessie screeched. "Quick everyone! Rock the cage!" Misty exclaimed.
The Pokémon complied and started swinging the cage around, forcing the balloon to lower despite the extra power from the propellers. "We're being dragged down to their level!" James yelled. The cage hit the ground, and the balloon crash landed back into the canyon. When the dust emerged, Team Rocket was seen dusting themselves off.
"Great work you guys!" Ash exclaimed. "Poor work!" James yelled back. "I have just the thing in lieu of a spanking!" Jessie grabbed a Pokéball, "Yanmega, 'Sonic Boom'!" Jessie's dragonfly Pokémon beat its wings with a hard flap, and a powerful sound wave went through the bars of the cage and hit Piloswine dead-on, provoking a bellow of pain from the swine Pokémon.
"Carnivine, you too!" James threw out his own Pokéball, and the grass-type emerged and bit down on James' head affectionately. "Save the scalp massage for later!" James ripped Carnivine off of his skull and threw it back in the right direction. "Bullet Seed'!" Carnivine opened up its gaping maw, and a shower of energized seeds blasted out and pelted the furry body of Piloswine, invoking another angry bellow.
"Hey! Leave Piloswine alone!" Dawn ran off to block her Pokémon from any further abuse. "If this doesn't do it, nothing will!"
"Hey! Out of the way!" Jessie screamed. "We need ta teach dat furry freako da rules ta bein' captured!" Meowth added.
"Absolutely not!" Dawn reaffirmed. "I'm in no mood to commit twerpicide! Yanmega, use 'Silver Wind'!" Jessie ordered. The dragonfly Pokémon flapped its wings hard, and the ensuing gust of wind hit the Pokémon hard, and sent Dawn flying. "Aah! Dawn!" Ash ran to dive and catch the girl before she hit the ground, but he was just short of the goal and the coordinator hit the ground with a painful thud. "Ow." she whimpered.
"Now that the twerpette's out of the way, back to the spanking. 'Sonic Boom' again!" Jessie ordered. Another beat of its wings sent another sound wave careening towards the swine Pokémon, but one last angry bellow, made Piloswine begin glowing white.
"Uh oh! Piloswine?" Dawn exclaimed nervously. "It's evolving!" Brock said in shock. The white light grew quickly and rapidly, as it almost tripled in size in a matter of seconds. When the white light dissipated, an absolutely huge Pokémon that dwarfed Charizard stood where Piloswine once was.
With an angry bellow, Mamoswine broke open the cage by exerting more pressure on the already straining bars. All the Pokémon went flying after the cage burst open, and they slowly got up and went back to their respective masters. "It's a Mamoswine." Brock said.
"Mamoswine?" Dawn pulled out her Pokédex to scan the enormous Pokémon that she still couldn't believe was hers. "Mamoswine, the twin-tusk Pokémon, and the evolved form of Piloswine. Distinguished by its large tusks, its weight is more than five that of Piloswine's, and is less commonly found since the Ice Age." the Pokédex explained.
"Wow! And it evolved right after I defended it! Does that mean it'll listen now?" Dawn asked hopefully. "Guess we'll know soon, let's see what it does to Team Rocket first." Misty snickered.
"Quick James, what is that?" Jessie asked nervously. James shuffled through his Pokémon cards and found a match, "Wow! It's a Mamoswine!"
"Cut da cheer! We got problems here!" Meowth exclaimed. "Yanmega, 'Sonic Boom' quick!" Jessie ordered. Yanmega launched another sound wave, but this time Mamoswine totally ignored the feeling, and its temper flared towards the trio.
Team Rocket squeaked with terror as Mamoswine turned around and launched an 'Ice Shard' at them. The attack hit dead-on, and the trio of criminals froze solid in a block of ice. The twin-tusk Pokémon then stomped the ground causing a huge earthquake, and with big, bounding steps, the enormous Pokémon charged and sent the trio blasting off.
Jessie: "A Pokémon THAT huge should be against the law (Groan)."
James: "True. As should the heartbreak of rendering one's sponge-cake inedible."
Meowth: "You just tell me how we can talk through ice…"
Team Rocket: "While we're blasting off again." *ping*
"Yeah Mamoswine! I knew you'd come through for me!" Dawn cheered. But her excited smile quickly turned into a terrified frown as the twin-tusk turned around and charged to run them into the ground. "Oh no…no Mamoswine! PLEASE don't do this!" Dawn begged desperately.
Infuriated with the Pokémon, Piplup charged ahead to try once more to stop the stampeding Pokémon. "Piplup, what are you doing?" Dawn cried. The small penguin ran ahead firing with 'Bubblebeam', but the enormous Pokémon merely ignored it and ran ahead uninterrupted.
It was down to the last resort. Piplup formed the most powerful 'Whirlpool' it could muster, and launched it to act as a blockade for the twin-tusk Pokémon. But the mighty Mamoswine ran right through it and continued on, running over the exhausted penguin in the process. "Aah! Piplup!" Dawn cried.
At this point, Charizard, Gyarados, Grotle, and Gliscor ran forward to try and stop Mamoswine. Charizard and Gliscor grabbed onto the tusks of the enormous Pokémon and pushed, while Gyarados and Grotle dug in and tried to stop the momentum, but even all of them combined couldn't stop Mamoswine completely.
In desperation, Charizard roared for help. "They can't hold out much longer!" Misty exclaimed. "But why is Mamoswine so mad at me?" Dawn whimpered. "It doesn't matter! Dawn you gotta put Mamoswine in a Pokéball NOW!" Brock exclaimed.
Just as Brock yelled that, Mamoswine broke free and charged forward with an even greater speed than before. "Hurry Dawn!" Ash yelled. Dawn grabbed Mamoswine's Pokéball and fired, and with a low moan, Mamoswine returned to its ball.
They all breathed a sigh of relief when Mamoswine vanished, and they went to check on their heroic Pokémon, especially one that deserved more praise than all the others. "Piplup, are you alright?" Dawn asked.
Piplup chirped quietly, but managed to smile up at his master. "Piplup, thanks so much…you went the extra mile and did everything you could…" Dawn embraced her determined penguin in thanks, "But next time take it a little easier ok?" Piplup hugged Dawn back, chirping happily at the show of affection.
"So…I guess Mamoswine didn't appreciate my offering to take a hit for it." Dawn said. "It won't happen on the first day Dawn." Misty said honestly. "You'll have to take it slow." Brock added. "And don't forget what you always say, no need to worry." Ash added.
Dawn smiled and nodded gratefully. "Right. Thanks guys."
And with another challenge set for Dawn to tackle, the group walked back to the Pokémon Center, where they would get a good night's sleep and prepare for whatever awaited them the next day.
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A/N: See what I mean? Did Ash somehow forget that Charmeleon/Charizard did the EXACT SAME THING to him for like three seasons? I mean seriously, memory problems anyone? I made Ash remember what happened so he along with Misty could be a role model for the coordinator girl with training issues. So yeah, I'm thinking it's high time for another imagination-generated chapter, but I dunno. What do you guys think? Should I make with an original chapter? Or should I go on ahead with the Canalave Gym arc? As always, signed reviews will get messages saying ahead of time when the update's coming. So please review! ^^