We now rejoin our heroes as they make their way to the site of Serena's next Pokémon Pageant in Redfox Town.
Ash, Pikachu, RotomDex, Serena, and Vernon were making their way through a forested area. The sun was going down, and the sky was turning a dark orange.
"It's getting kind of late, isn't it?" said RotomDex. "Do you think right now is a good time to make camp for the night?"
"Yeah, you may be right," said Ash. "Alright, let's settle down for the night."
The group was settling up their tents in the middle of the woods. They had let all their Pokémon out of their PokéBalls, and they were all playing with each other.
Vernon was picking up all their supplies to hide it away in the tent. However, he realized he was missing a box of Berries they had picked. Where the heck are they? he thought. As he walked around looking for it, he heard something stirring. He looked over to see a bush moving nearby. He silently gasped, worried that some unruly Pokémon had come by. Slowly, he made his way towards it, and he parted the branches out of the way. But inside was the Pokémon that had stolen the Berries. It was scarfing them down like crazy.
"Hey, you! Drop those Berries!" Vernon said. Suddenly, the Pokémon turned to face him, and Vernon gasped. The Pokémon was none other than the Toxel from before. Vernon felt shocked. He though he had left this little guy back in the forest where they found it. He thought its mother had been looking for it.
"Hey, guys!" he called out. "We have a visitor."
Ash, Serena, and RotomDex came over and all gasped upon seeing the baby Pokémon. "Is that the same Toxel from before?" said Ash.
"What's it doing all the way out here?" said Serena.
"Naughty little guy," said Vernon, picking the Toxel up.
"Tox, tox, tox," the Toxel said.
"It's saying it decided to follow us," said RotomDex. "It says it never did find its mother again."
"Really?" said Serena. "That's horrible!"
"Poor little guy," said Vernon. As he looked at the baby Pokémon, he decided to ask. "Hey, how would you like to come with me? Like, be my Pokémon?"
Toxel's eyes opened wide upon hearing that, and it excitedly said, "Tox! Tox!" as it jumped up onto Vernon's shoulder.
"Heh, heh, guess that's a yes, then!" said Vernon. "Hold on, I've got something I was saving for a special occasion." He fished in his pockets until he found a PokéBall that was white and red.
"Is that a Premier Ball?" said Ash.
"Sure is," said Vernon. He tapped it on Toxel's nose, and it turned into red light before going into the Ball, which shook three times before clicking.
"And now..." Vernon said while striking a pose, "Toxel is mine!"
"That's awesome, Vernon!" said Ash.
"I figured you two belonged together all along!" said Serena.
Vernon let his new Pokémon back out, and all the Pokémon gathered around to see their new recruit. Zubat decided to be the first to approach the little guy, who looked up at it with big, shining eyes.
"Zu," said Zubat.
"Toxel," Toxel said as it crawled closer to Zubat. Suddenly, though, it felt a little sick from eating all those Berries. Before it could even think, it unleashed a Belch attack, which splattered purple goo all over Zubat.
"Bat! Bat!" Zubat cried, desperately trying to get the goo off.
The humans couldn't help but laugh. "Hey, I think Toxel likes you, Zubat!" said Vernon.
Zubat glared at its Trainer- quite a feat since it had no eyes- but it felt something nuzzling up to it. It looked down to see Toxel nuzzling it.
As their Trainers were getting ready to settle into their tents, the Pokémon decided to have one last meal before bed. They scarfed down the PokéPuffs as fast as they could. But then, suddenly, they heard a small voice speak up.
"Tox?" They looked over to see Toxel crawling up to them.
Vernon looked over and said, "Oh, yeah, that's right! You're probably hungry, aren't you?" He looked at the Pokémon and said, "I don't suppose you guys are willing to share?"
Everyone looked down at their food, and pulled out whatever food they were willing to part with. They all set it down in front of Toxel, and gobbled them up with a smile on its face. But just as it finished, it saw Zubat about to eat a big PokéPuff covered in strawberry frosting and a cherry on top. It couldn't help itself. It ran over to chomp that PokéPuff in one, swift swallow.
"Zu!" Zubat obviously cried out.
Finally, it was nighttime, and the humans were asleep in their tents. The Pokémon, meanwhile, were sleeping outside in one big pile. Unfortunately for Zubat, Toxel was sleeping right above it. As Toxel stirred, it fell down on top of Zubat, who woke up.
"Zu!" it complained. Toxel was still fast asleep, but an annoyed Zubat decided it had had enough, and picked up Toxel to make it sleep off to the side.
"Zu!" it complained before turning around in a huff. As it made its way back to the pile, though, Toxel's eye suddenly slowly opened as it saw a light in the distance. Waking up, it felt entranced and began crawling towards it.
Zubat, meanwhile, was getting itself comfortable again, before it briefly looked in Toxel's direction. But now Toxel was gone.
"BAT!" it cried out, shooting up into the air. In doing so, it made some other Pokémon out of the pile, namely, Humbeat, Iroach, Platide, and Quokkawatt. All the Pokémon burst awake, before looking up at Zubat.
"Quokka!" Quokkawatt complained.
"Bat! Bat! Zubat!" said Zubat, looking at the others and pointing in the direction Toxel was. All the other Pokémon gasped as they understood.
Who's that Pokémon?
A master of courtesy and swordsmanship, it fights using extended swords on its elbows.
Toxel was crawling around the forest floor, trying to find the source of the light. Eventually, it saw a group of Ledian, all floating around and playing with each other. It was amazed as it saw the light show above and it began sparking some electricity to make a little light show of its own. The Ledian took notice of this and flew down to flicker their lights, in an effort to play with Toxel.
Zubat, Humbeat, Iroach, Platide, and Quokkawatt were searching the forest high and low, trying to figure out just where Toxel could have gotten to. Humbeat and Zubat flew up in the air, Iroach and Quokkawatt looked under a bunch of rocks, and Platide looked within a river. Unfortunately, they couldn't find anything.
They all met up and and tried talking to each other for ideas. Just then, they suddenly noticed something flickering in the distance. Curious, they made their way closer and saw Toxel playing with the Ledian, the Pokémon making a little light show with each other.
Zubat gasped a sigh of relief as it flew over to Toxel. Toxel looked up and was excited to see Zubat, jumping onto it. Zubat pushed Toxel off, annoyed, before it angrily ranted at Toxel for running away.
"Bat! Bat! Zubat!" it cried.
However, the Ledian suddenly flew towards it, and it paused to look up at them. The Ledian smiled, and held onto Zubat as they twirled it around, trying to play.
"Bat! Bat!" Zubat protested. Eventually, its fellow Pokémon came to its rescue, grabbing onto to it to pry it free.
"Grrr!" they all growled, but unfortunately, the Ledian refused to give Zubat up. The Pokémon had to twirl around with them for some time before they finally managed to get Zubat loose. At this point, the Ledian fly away, laughing with each other.
Zubat growled as it got up off the ground, brushing the dust off of itself. However, Platide suddenly spoke up.
"Platide! Platide!" it said, as it pointed. The others looked to where it was pointing, and gasped to see that Toxel had wondered off again.
The group found themselves chasing after Toxel all over the forest. It kept playing with a bunch of other forest Pokémon, and every time, Zubat and the others had to interfere. And they experienced more than their fair share of humorous results.
Poor Zubat ended up getting zapped by a Pawmot, Platide almost got stepped on by a Garganacl, Iroach had to duck under a Magby's playful ember, Humbeat found itself being juggled by a Mr. Mime, and Quokkawatt got a Slowpoke laying down on it to sleep. Toxel, of course, was having the time of its life, playing with these Pokémon and remaining completely oblivious to its friends' antics.
As the exhausted Pokémon kept following it, it finally seemed to stop, tired and beginning to fall asleep. Seeing this, the others breathed a sigh of relief, and Zubat picked up Toxel as they tried to make they're way back to camp.
As it flew though, Toxel slowly woke up and saw Zubat carrying it. It cooed and jumped up onto Zubat's back, trying to snuggle.
Zubat looked at it confused, but Toxel looked it in the face, and cooed, "Tox, Toxel."
As Zubat was confused, there was suddenly a noise. Everyone looked over to see a group of weird Pokémon walking through. They looked like cassowaries, big, bird-like Pokémon with red crests and waddles and blue feathers on their bodies, and featherless necks. Whatever they were, they were eyeing everyone with angry looks in their eyes.
Our heroes' Pokémon didn't move, unsure of what to make of these guys. One of the cassowary Pokémon leaned its head down to look at Iroach on the ground, who only gave it an annoyed look. Suddenly, the cassowary Pokémon poked it with its beak, causing Iroach to smack it in the face. Unfortunately, this just made the cassowary Pokémon get angry, and they suddenly attacked. Our heroes' Pokémon were sucked into a big fight, and threw everything they had at the cassowary Pokémon, but they wouldn't budge.
Zubat set Toxel down on the ground as it quickly joined the fight. A cassowary Pokémon tried to run up to them, but Zubat quickly got in the way of Toxel and lashed out, using a Dark Pulse attack.
Toxel watched the battle with concern. At this point, it was feeling a bit guilty. But then, it saw all the cassowary Pokémon standing together against the heroes' Pokémon, and as it noticed a bush of Berries nearby, it had an idea.
The heroes' Pokémon got ready to fight again, but suddenly they all heard a "Tox, tox!" coming from behind them. Everyone turned around to see Toxel scarfing down a huge Berry, but then unleash the mother of all Belch attacks, knocking the cassowary Pokémon down and covering them in purple goo. Toxel laughed mischievously to itself, but stopped when it saw all the cassowary Pokémon standing on top of it, furious. However, Toxel quickly relaxed and decided to run, causing the birds to follow it. It would try to get these guys away from its friends.
The heroes's Pokémon gasped seeing this. Zubat, Iroach, Platide, and Quokkawatt ran off after them, but as Humbeat was going to follow, it suddenly had a better idea.
Humbeat flew back into the camp, and began shouting out. "Beat! Beat! Humbeat!"
The other Pokémon stirred away as they fell out of the pile. Ash, Serena, and Vernon slowly got out of their tents, rubbing their eyes.
"Ugh, what's going on?" said Ash.
"Beat! Humbeat!"
"What's going on Humbeat?" said Ash.
"Hold on!" said RotomDex. "It's saying some of our Pokémon are in trouble!"
Vernon was confused upon hearing that, but then saw that both Zubat and Toxel were missing.
It's Gallade!
Toxel rushed into the forest, but it sadly just wasn't fast enough to get away from the cassowary Pokémon. Finally, it was too tired to run anymore, and it fell down to catch its breath. It looked up to see the birds now standing over it, rage in their eyes. But then, suddenly Toxel was swooped up into the air but a black blob. It looked up to see Zubat holding it up.
"Bat, bat," it reassured Toxel.
"Tox," Toxel said, shocked that Zubat went to so much trouble to save it.
Another shout was heard, and they looked over to see Iroach, Platide, and Quokkawatt arriving to help. Of course, Zubat and Toxel were confused when they saw Humbeat was gone. Still, the cassowary Pokémon turned to face the others. But as they fought, one cassowary Pokémon still decided to try to attack Zubat and Toxel.
"Tox!" Toxel, in desperation, unleashed another Belch, but it wasn't as strong as before without anything in its stomach. Fortunately, Zubat quickly stepped in and used Snarl to stop the Pokémon.
Unfortunately, the cassowary Pokémon ran back up to them, and it used Peck. This knocked Toxel out of Zubat's grip, and the baby Pokémon tumbled on the ground. The cassowary Pokémon walked up to it, ready to go to town on it, but Zubat suddenly rammed into it to knock it away. The bird quickly stood back up, angrily glaring, but Zubat stood its ground. The bat Pokémon was breathing heavily, but it rose up, determined to protect Toxel.
And then, its body glowed.
The action suddenly stopped as they all looked over to see Zubat. It gained a white, crescent moon on its chest, gained small eyes, its mouth was small but its ears were larger now, too. It rose up, its longer wings now spread out wide.
"Umbat!" it cried out. It had evolved into an Umbat.
As the cassowary Pokémon looked shocked, Umbat unleashed another Snarl attack, blasting it away and leaving it laying on the ground with swirls in its eyes.
"Tooox!" Toxel said, its eyes sparkling in awe. The other cassowary Pokémon looked at them, and got ready to fight Umbat, but then, a bolt of electricity came, narrowly missing them. Everyone turned to see Ash, Serena, Vernon, and the others coming up. Pikachu was up front, its cheeks sparking with electricity.
"We found you!" said Ash.
"But what are those Pokémon?" said Serena.
RotomDex stepped up and scanned the bird Pokémon, saying, "Lacerwary. The Cassowary Pokémon. A Normal Type. Lacerwary have a ferocious temper in the wild, and tend to attack intruders in their territory with little provocation. They slash up their opponents with sharp beaks and talons. Does not evolve."
"You guys picked the wrong Pokémon to mess with!" said Vernon. "Jelloater! Use Venoshock!"
"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" said Ash.
"Braixen, use Fire Blast!" said Serena.
All three Pokémon unleashed their attacks, and at this point, the Lacerwary decided to cut their losses and finally run for it.
"Nice job, guys!" said Vernon. He saw Toxel on the ground and quickly ran up to it to pick it up. "Toxel! Thank goodness you're safe." He then looked up at the other Pokémon. "Thank goodness all you guys are safe. Humbeat told us that you were all trying to protect Toxel. Thank you so much."
Suddenly, he finally noticed Umbat, and did a huge double take. "Z-Zubat, is that you!?" he said.
"Whoa, I think Zubat evolved into Umbat!" said RotomDex. It scanned Umbat and said, "Umbat, the Darkness Pokémon. A Dark and Flying Type. It is believed that the power of a full moon gave Zubats in Ralia the ability to evolve into Umbat. It stalks the night skies, searching for unsuspecting prey. Evolves from Ralian Zubat at level 22 and into Lunabat at level 33."
"That's amazing, Umbat! You evolved!" said Vernon.
"Umbat! Bat, bat, bat!" Umbat said.
"I think it's saying it evolved in order to protect Toxel," said RotomDex.
"Really?" said Vernon, looking down at Toxel in his arms. "Looks like the two of you are getting pretty close, huh?"
"Tox!" said Toxel.
The next morning, everyone was ready to head out. They had packed up all their stuff and set out on the road. However, Vernon was carrying Toxel on his shoulder.
"Now you stay with me, alright?" said Vernon. "I don't want you getting into anymore trouble, okay?"
"Tox," Toxel nodded, before it nearly lost its balance. Though it steadied itself, Umbat suddenly popped out of its PokéBall, ready to catch it.
"Umbat, calm down!" said Vernon. "We're all gonna take good care of Toxel."
As so, just like that, our heroes have a new friend joining them on their journey, and one of their old friends evolved, too. Hopefully, they'll make many more friends down the road, as the journey continues!
TO BE CONTINUED!