Pokemon: Friends to the End
Chapter 56: Bibarel Gnaws Best!
The four heroes were making their way to Solaceon Town.
"Hey look over there."Dawn admitted. "That bridge will make a great short cut."
Ash, Brock, Denise, Pikachu, Piplup and Eevee followed her gaze and saw an incomplete bridge which was the trail they were heading to.
"But the map says its still under construction."Brock said looking at his book.
"Looks like we'll net getting passed the river that way."Ash admitted.
"Pika."Pikachu replied.
"I guess we'll have to find another way beside the bridge."Denise stated.
Eevee looked at her trainer.
"Eevee."She said softly.
"There is someone up there."Ash admitted.
Brock looked at the bridge closely and saw a female builder with dark green hair.
"A beautiful someone!"Brock said lovingly.
He then notice the lady was taking a few steps back which caused him to get alarmed.
"Look out!"Brock shouted and ran forward.
"Brock!"Ash, Dawn and Denise called out.
"Pikachu!"Pikachu said.
"Eevee!"Eevee shrieked.
"Don't take another step, I'll save you, my lady!"Brock said as he ran to the bridge.
He then rushed to bridge and stopped when he was at the ending part of it.
"Don't worry, I got you!"Brock shouted.
The Breeder lot his balance but Croagunk quickly caught his trainer before he fell to the river.
"Thanks I owe you one, Croagunk."Brock said nervously.
The three trainers rushed to the bridge.
"Brock!"Ash said.
"You kids know better than to hang around here."A Man stated.
"I'm here to save this beautiful lady from the danger your putting her in!"Brock answered angrily.
"I'm putting her in?!"the Man questioned.
"Your making a mistake."the lady admitted.
"Huh?"Brock asked in confusion.
Dawn looked at Ash and Denise.
"Looks like lover boy has done it again."She said.
"Yeah."Ash agreed.
"Oh boy."Denise mumbled.
"You see the head engineer, the mayor and I were simply in a middle of a discussion about the construction of the bridge and that's it."the green haired lay admitted.
"So nobody was getting hurt?"Brock asked in surprise.
"You see son, the head engineer is the supervisor of this important project."the Mayor explained.
The Head Engineer clears his throat causing Brock to bow his head in apology.
"I do hope you all forgive!"Brock apologized.
Dawn sighed with a smile.
"One minute, Brock finds a beautiful girl and the next he loses his mind."She commented.
"Whether or not these ridiculous instructions continue this bridge will be completed in three days time even if you and my pokemon collapse from exhaustion!"the Head Engineer stated.
"You know the bridge grand opening is way passed the planning stage, so we're depending on you to finish up by then."the Major stated.
"Yes, sir."the lady replied while sadly bowing her head.
The Major and the Head Engineer began to walk away.
"Remember I got my reputation as head engineer to think about."the Head Engineer admitted.
Ash, Dawn, Denise, Pikachu, Piplup and Eevee watch the two men walk away from the uncompleted bridge.
"Just thinking about himself."Ash said.
"That's so selfish."Dawn agreed with a frown.
"Pfft, reminds me of a certain someone."Denise complimented bitterly.
"Pika pika."Pikachu responded.
"Eevee."Eevee growled softly.
Brock looked at the green haired lady.
"Isis, what a lovely name."He remarked. "The name is Brock."
"Croagunk."Croagunk said.
The three trainers walked up to them.
"I'm Ash."Ash introduced.
"My name is Dawn."Dawn said.
"And I'm her twin sister Denise."Denise answered kindly.
"Pikachu."Pikachu said.
"Piplup."Piplup chirped.
"Eevee."Eevee giggled.
Isis gave them a small smile.
"If I may I would like to offer my assistant to you in any possible way I can."
Isis was surprised and then smiled.
"Thanks."She replied.
Isis tells Ash and his friends what is going on.
"To travel from this village to the next town we've always had to take an very convenient mountain pass."She explained. "And that's why they decided to construct this bridge, originally they hired a well master stone cutter to do the work, but the poor man threw out his bag, the head engineer then took over construction and the very first thing he did was to put me in charge of every last bit of stone cutting, but work has ground to complete hault and our finished deadline is three days away."
"Well that's harsh."Denise commented.
"But wait so why isn't your crew working?"Ash asked.
"You see..."Isis started.
"Say no more, you just leave it to me."Brock stated. "Let's go!"
The Breeder gives some of his special Pokémon food to the construction company's Machoke and Machamp.
"Incredible."Isis remarked.
"Brock wants to be a top pokemon breeder."Ash admitted.
Piplup giggled. "Piplup."
"I know your a big fan of Brock's Piplup, but I think she was complementing Brock's food."Dawn reminded.
"Piplup."Piplup said shyly.
Brock walked up to Isis.
"Yep, my special energy boosting pokemon food will give the most tired pokemon enough power."He remarked proudly.
"That's great except these pokemon aren't the real problem."Isis said.
"What?!"Brock said in shock.
"It's the pokemon that cuts the stones in the stone quarry, they don't do the work so we don't have any stone."Isis explained.
"Aha!"Brock said and smiled. "My pokemon food will have those pokemon cutting up stone for ten bridges, where is your stone quarry, lead the way, go please go."
"Sure."Isis answered.
The female builder began leading the four heroes to the quarry.
"Over stones are being cut by the pokemon up on that ledge."Isis stated pointing to the top.
At the top there was a sleeping Bibarel.
Ash took out his pokedex to scan the pokemon,
"Bibarel, the Beaver Pokémon."Ash's Pokedex said. "It dams up rivers to make a nest and is well known as a hard worker."
"Doesn't look like a hard worker to me."Dawn admitted.
"Yeah looks like more like a total sleeper."Denise complemented.
"A good napper though."Ash stated.
Pikachu, Piplup and Eevee chirped in agreement.
"Like I said I'll take care of this."Brock stated. "I'll make more of my energy pokemon food and Bibarel will be working in no time flat."
He pulls a table and ingredients from his bag before making a large bowl of food.
"Umm...okay."Isis replied.
Brock uses a fishing net to give the bowl of food to Bibarel.
"Just one bowl of this food and you will be edging to cut stones."Brock said with a smile.
Bibarel started eating the energy food.
"See?"Brock asked. "What did I tell you."
However when Bibarel ate the food it went back to sleep.
"What?"Brock questioned in disbelief. "What's up with that? With that big appetite, Bibarel is one of the healthiest pokemon I ever seen."
"Isis, are you sure Bibarel is the first class stone cutter?"Ash asked.
"Well, I'm the one who taught Bibarel how to cut stones in the pokemon training center."Isis replied sadly.
"Huh?"Ash, Dawn and Denise said in surprise.
Brock went up to Isis.
"Are you by chance a professional pokemon breeder?"He asked.
"Umm...yes."Isis answered.
"Please forgive me!"Brock stated bowing his head down.
"Wait, but it is not something I'm proud of."Isis admitted. "I can't even motivate my own workers."
"Has is it always been like this?"Brock asked.
"No not always, not at first."Isis answered. "At the center, Bibarel always listened to me, no matter how hard the work was or how much stone Bibarel had to cut, so Bibarel and the expert stone cutter left the training center to begin their work then after a while I went to see how they were doing, Bibarel has become a stone cutting expert like its teacher from that moment on Bibarel never took a day off from work until its teacher stopped coming to visit and that's when Bibarel lost all of its drive."
"Hmm, so Bibarel misses his teacher, huh?"Brock said.
"Bibarel!"Isis called out and stepped forward. "There are only three days left until the bridge opens up, won't you please cut the stones?"
Bibarel ignored her and went back to sleep.
"Bibarel..."Isis said sadly.
"Excuse me, Isis."Brock admitted. "I be more happy to help you with the stone cutting, see I was the Pewter City rock pokemon gym leader in the Kanto Region."
"Brock I know you want to help, but it's impossible to cut them the right way."Isis stated.
"But you only have three days left to finish the bridge, we've got to try."Brock reminded.
"I think if we put our heads together, I'm sure we can get your bridge finished and do it right!"Ash remarked.
"No need to worry."Dawn admitted.
"Yeah, better to help than be alone."Denise commented.
Isis had a unsure look on her face.
"Ash, I would like to use your Turtwig, Buizel and Chimchar, okay?"Brock asked.
"Sure."Ash replied. "Now Turtwig, Buizel and Chimchar, come on out and help Brock!"
His pokeballs opened causing Turtwig, Buizel and Chimchar to appear.
"Quick Sudowoodo, you too!"Brock stated.
His pokeball opened and Sudowoodo came out.
"Sudowoodo!"Sudowoodo said.
Piplup and Eevee went next to the four pokemon.
"Piplup!"Piplup chirped.
"Eevee!"Eevee answered happily.
"Wow Piplup, I guess you and Eevee don't wanna be left out."Dawn said kindly.
"Cute little things."Denise remarked.
"Chimchar, I need you to start with Flamethrower first."Brock explained.
Chimchar activated Flamethrower and fired it on the wall.
"Okay Buizel, I want you to cool down the stone fast using Water Gun, so let's go!"Brock said.
Buizel fired Water Gun on the rock, cooling it down and showed a crack in it.
"Great, now the stone cracked."Dawn remarked.
"Turtwig use Razor Leaf, Sudowoodo use Razor Leaf with Mimic!"Brock ordered.
Turtwig uses Razor Leaf, which Sudowoodo copies with Mimic, to break the rock off and cut it into smooth blocks.
"I'm impressed."Isis admitted.
"Piplup!"Piplup giggled.
"Eevee."Eevee said sweetly.
"Eevee, Piplup, you two didn't do anything remember?"Denise teased.
Isis walked up to the big smooth blocks and measured them.
"I'm afraid this is no good."She stated.
The four heroes were surprised at her answer.
"See all of these blocks have to be exactly have to be the right measurement to make up the bridge's ark."Isis explained.
"I guess it's impossible to do after all."Ash said.
"Yeah and I thought things we're going so well."Dawn admitted.
"Pika."Pikachu said.
"But that bridge has to done, so we can't accept defeat."Brock reminded. "No matter what."
"So what do we do now?"Denise asked.
"Well, start again!"Brock stated confidently.
The pokemon cheered before Bibarel went on one of the blocks.
"Bibarel, so are you finally ready to get down to work?"Brock asked with a smile.
Bibarel glared with a frown on its face.
"I don't think so."Isis admitted. "I think Bibarel is angry, you came around stir things up."
"I don't like Bibarel's face."Dawn stated worriedly.
"Well, me neither, sis."Denise said.
"Same with me."Ash added.
"Pikachu."Pikachu said quietly.
Bibarel continued glaring at the group.
Suddenly, the cries of Machoke and Machamp break the deadlock.
"What's that?"Dawn asked.
"It sounds like the Machoke and Machamp."Brock replied.
"Oh no, look up there!"Isis commented.
The heroes followed her gaze and Team Rocket's balloon appears over the trees with the fighting type pokemon in a cage beneath it.
Team Rocket perform their motto.
"Listen up, the boos and shakers are here!"
"Casting life, loud and clear!"
"On the Wind!"
"Pass the Stars!"
"In your Ear!"
"Buidling our dream base in a brick neck pace!"
"Giving us hope and putting fear in your place!"
"A rose by any other name just as sweet!"
"When everything is worse, our work is complete!"
"Jessie!"
"James!"
"Meowth the name!"
"Putting the do gooders in their place!"
"We're Team Rocket!"
"In your face!"
"Wobbuffet!"
"Mime Mime Mime!"
The group saw Machoke and Machamp in the cage.
"No, they've been captured!"Isis panicked.
"Now what do you crooks want with them?"Brock questioned.
"If those four muscles pals can build a bridge, they can build a base with ease!"James remarked.
"But we need Bibarel to complete our construction crew!"Jessie reminded.
"Wohoo!"Meowth cheered.
The Normal Type pushes a button, causing an arm to shoot out and grab Bibarel.
"Bibarel!"Isis shouted.
"Get Bibarel back now!"Brock ordered.
"Quick Chimchar, Buizel and Turtwig save Bibarel!"Ash ordered.
The three pokemon try to free Bibarel the same way they cut the stone, but the arm was not even scratched.
"But how?"Brock asked. "Razor Lead had no effect on it at all."
Meowth laughed. "Without an iron fist without an iron arm, we got bold!"
Team Rocket then throw Bibarel into the cage.
"Oh no!"Dawn panicked.
"Now what do we do?"Ash asked.
Bibarel ties the string on its the headband on its head and angrily begins gnawing on the bars.
"Uh oh, Bibarel is biting the bars."James said.
"Its teeth can slice through stuff."Jessie commented.
"Those bars are made like our iron fist arm."Meowth reminded proudly.
"Oh you can say we're showing our iron fist charm!"Jessie giggled.
Bibarel quickly breaks through the bars and all the Pokémon jump out causing Team Rocket to gasp in shock.
"I think its a great time to use Thunderbolt."Ash remarked with a smirk.
"I agree and how about some Thunder to add to it, Eevee?"Denise asked with a smile.
"Pikachu!"Pikachu replied.
Eevee smirked. "Eevee!"
Pikachu and Eevee rushed to the top before using Thunderbolt and Thunder to send Team Rocket blasting off.
"With choppers like that, I think Bibarel could win a reward for best build construction."James admitted.
"Well you should win a reward to forget which side your on!"Jessie retorted.
"We've been crossing at that bridge for more times than I cared to remember."Meowth stated.
"That's life with James just like an old pair with shoes."Jessie mumbled.
"Awful as it sounds, I'm taking that as a compliment."James said happily.
"WE'RE BLASTING OFF AGAIN!"Team Rocket screamed as they disappeared in the sky.
"You were wonderful, Bibarel, you saved them all."Isis said kindly.
The heroes pokemon cheered in agreement.
"I've got an idea, how about you do some little stone cutting right about now?"Brock suggested with a smile.
Bibarel frowned and looked away causing Isis and the heroes to become surprised.
"But you must know that Isis is running out of time, think about it."Brock reminded.
"There must be something I could do to complete that bridge quickly..."Isis said.
Then the head engineer shows up in a giant digger.
"Oh no, it's the head engineer."Isis commented.
"You can't be trusted to get the job done, can you?"the Head Engineer scoffed and took out a pokeball. "I'll just have to get the stones cut, and finish that bridge myself."
"But sir wait!"Isis admitted.
The pokeball opened and a Rhydon came out.
"Okay Rhydon use your horn to cut that stone!"the Head Engineer ordered.
"But sir without Bibarel's help, Rhydon will never cut the stones to the right size."Isis protested.
"If you'll forgive me, sir, I think Isis is right."Brock agreed.
"Rhydon, go!"the Head Engineer ordered.
Rhydon began to cut the stone with Horn Drill.
Bibarel angrily tackles Rhydon, which then hits it with its tail.
"Bibarel!"Isis shouted.
Rhydon was about to stomp on Bibarel but the Normal Water Type Pokmon bites it's foot.
"Hey you, out of the way!"the Head Engineer shouted. "I guess you want to fight! Aggron! Magmar! Metang!"
His three pokeballs opened revealing Aggron, Magmar and Metang.
"Now Aggron use Iron Head!"the Head Engineer ordered. "Metang, Metal Claw, Magmar use Flamethrower.
Bibarel dodges the Iron Head and Metal Claw, but gets hit by the Flamethrower.
"Bibarel!"Isis shouted.
"What are you doing?!"Brock demanded.
"Get back to work."the Head Engineer stated with a smirk.
Bibarel stood up and glared at him.
"Stubborn, are you?"the Head Engineer questioned. "Bibarel, get out of there now!"
Magmar, Rhydon, Aggron and Metang all charge at Bibarel.
"I think Bibarel is doing all this just to protect the stone quarry."Isis said.
"Time to even up the sides."Ash admitted. "Pikachu, Iron Tail, let's go!"
Pikachu uses Iron Tail, which hits Rhydon.
"Chimchar use Flamethrower!"Ash ordered. "Buizel, Water Gun, Turtwig use Razor Leaf."
"Eevee use Shadow Ball!"Denise ordered.
"Sudowoodo use Mimic on Razor Leaf!"Brock ordered.
"Piplup use Bubblebeam!"Dawn ordered.
The seven pokemon fire their attacks causing them to combine and to stop the Head Engineer's pokemon.
"Alright, punks, you really made me mad!"the Head Engineer stated. "I'm gonna finish that confound bridge right now, if it's the last thing I'll do!"
He jumps into his digger and drives it towards the quarry wall, but a large rock comes out of nowhere and knocks it over.
"Alright, who did that?"the Head Engineer questioned.
"I did that!"
At the top of the quarry was the expert stone cutter with a third Machamp.
"Bib!"Bibarel said with a smile.
"He's come back!"Isis said happily.
"What the-"the Head Engineer said.
The third Machamp brought the Stone Cutter down as Bibarel rushed up to him.
"Bibarel, it's wonderful to see you again."the Stone Cutter remarked.
Isis and the four heroes rushed up to them.
"So does this mean that your back is totally healed?"Isis asked with a hopeful smile.
"The truth is, I never hurt my back in the first place."the Stone Cutter replied. "This blueprint was the only thing that needed to be healed."
He took out a blueprint surprising the group except the head engineer.
"That's a lie!"the Head Engineer shouted angrily. "My blueprints are always perfect!"
"Your blueprint caused less stones than necessary!"the Stone Cutter snapped. "So I built the model just to make sure."
"Why you sneaky-"the Head Engineer started.
The Stone Cutter reveals a model of the bridge he had built to the blueprint.
"Now watch this."the Stone Cutter said.
When he removes the support structure, the bridge immediately collapses.
"It fell apart!"Ash said.
"So the real thing will collapse too."Brock admitted.
"I guess it's true that the selfish will never succeed."Denise retorted.
"If this bridge was built following this blueprint it wouldn't support its own weight and would collapse in a complete heat of disaster."the Stone Cutter stated ripping the blue print.
"How could you!"Isis shouted glaring at the Head Engineer. "Why did you do this?!"
"Because we never would've finished it in time and my reputation would've been ruined!"the Head Engineer replied angrily.
"So, that's it?"Isis questioned. "Well, you'll never work as a head engineer again!"
"You're not fit to work alongside with stone cutters!"the Stone Cutter shouted. "Now get off this site or else..."
Bibarel and the heroes pokemon glare at the Head Engineer.
Threatened by the pokemon, the head engineer and his pokemon run off.
"Go build yourself, a ferrous wheel, I don't care!"the Head Engineer shouted.
The heroes pokemon, Bibarel along with the Machoke and Machamp cheer that the bad man was now gone.
"Oh, but, without a blueprint, we'll never get it done in time."Isis said in realization. "What do we do?"
"I just happened to adjust with the blueprint before I came here today."the Stone Cutter remarked showing a new blueprint. "Do exactly what it says and it'll be fine."
"Then we better get started, right away."Isis admitted.
"Great, we'll give you a hand."Brock remarked.
Bibarel tightened his headband and let out a call making the other pokemon cheer in agreement.
The four heroes pokemon combine their attacks and Bibarel cuts the stone blocks to the right size and shape.
The other pokemon then start carrying the blocks to the bridge, while Ash, Dawn, Denise and Brock help to build the bridge itself.
Three Days Later...
The group watch from an overlook to see the bridge they have made while fireworks were fired in the sky.
"Wow, what a beauty."Ash remarked.
"And finished on time."Dawn added.
"You've done a wonderful job, Isis."the Stone Cutter said proudly.
"Well, I was certainly given a lot of help, sir."Isis answered. "It's strange for a Pokémon Breeder to not know how Bibarel was feeling, it's kind of embarrassing."
"Well, you can work together with your pokemon just the way you did."the Stone Cutter explained with a smile. "Then I can guarantee you'll make an excellent pokemon breeder before you even know."
"Oh, I agree a hundred percent."Brock remarked.
"And thanks to you all fine folks for a hard work."the Stone Cutter remarked. "A token of my appreciation."
The expert stonecutter gives the group headbands like his and Bibarel's.
"Wow, thanks a lot."Ash answered. "It'll be perfect to know that I'm working hard."
"This will look great when I'm competing in a Contest."Dawn said sweetly.
"I hope it will make me work a lot harder when training for gym battles and contests."Denise commented looking at her headband.
"One thing Isis!"Brock said lovingly wearing his headband.
"Uh, yes?"Isis asked in confusion.
"I was wondering if you'd built us a bridge of love, connecting our hearts..."Brock flirted.
The Breeder is then Poison Jabbed by Croagunk causing him to collapse.
"I forgot no blueprint."Brock mumbled.
"Brock, you don't look so good."Isis stated.
"You do."Brock muttered weakly.
After waiting a few moments for Brock to recover, the four heroes wave goodbye and they continue on their way to Solaceon Town.
Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter
Feel free to review of what you think so far:)
Denise's Team:
Grotle (Male): Solar Beam, Heavy Slam, Razor Leaf and Bite
Eevee (Female): Water Gun, Shadow Ball, Attract and Thunder
Luxio (Male): Spark, Night Slash, Wild Charge and Ice Fang
Ralts (Female): Psychic, Double Team, Magical Leaf and Confusion
Hoot Hoot (Male): Peck, Reflect, Aerial Ace and Supersonic
Drifloon (Female): Ominous Wind, Thunderbolt, Will-O-Wisp and Astonish