Hello one and all to a new chapter of Pokemon SVTA where today, we will focus on the gang's arrival to Cortondo where they find out that a festival is taking place and some criminals try to ruin the fun and festivities by taking some coins. A hero however rises up being a little Nymble but after her defeat, Ash and his Hawlucha seek to help the little Nymble become the hero she was meant to be through training (and Team Rocket) with guest appearance of the city's hero Hawluchador.
Without further ado, let's begin. Also, only one Cover Story for today but next chapter will contain 3 stories that continue where Cover Stories 3-5 took off from.
Cover Story 18: Dawn's rise to the top! 1: The Battle Frontier
Dawn was many things, a coordinator, a trainer, a friend and a companion of Ash's but the one thing she isn't known for is being a regular battle trainer. Dawn is a coordinator similar to May who practices combinations of moves with her Pokemon for contests. This time, things change for Dawn as after her last contest in the Galar region, she's invited to participate in a competition along with several coordinators such as Kenny, Zoey and Nando in collaboration with a man named Scott (yes that Scott) and the Contest headquarters to the Battle Frontier in Sinnoh as a race to earn the top ribbon known as 'Coordinator X Trainer'.
This sounded intriguing to Dawn because she's heard of the Battle Frontier in Hoenn because of Ash but never a Sinnoh one until she remembered Barry mentioning his father Palmer is a member of the Battle Frontier during her journey with Ash. She decides to go there, feeling like it's a good change of pace until her next contest.
After her journey with Ash ended, she's been all over the world preforming contest battles and even reuniting with Ash at certain points including when he was participating at the Masters 8 tournament and won. Dawn has also caught some Pokemon throughout her journey such as Nidoqueen, Frosmoth (evolved from her Snom from an extra in chapter 14), Gothitelle and Polteageist and her Quilava evolved into Typholosion during her journey (her mons goes to Professor Rowan for spacing purposes whenever she needs to switch).
Upon arriving to the location, she sees that she's the first person to arrive and the only Coordinator or so it seems as we see Barry trying to make it through the gate that leads to the Battle Frontier but is blocked by Sinnoh Gym Leader Volkner and Sinnoh Elite Four member Flint who wants to test the strength of two people even if Barry is the son of a Battle Frontier. Barry picks out Dawn to be his battle partner despite her reluctance and the battle begins with Dawn and Barry sending out their Typholosion and Flygon respectively while Flint and Volkner send out their Infernape and Electivire.
Dawn's Piplup, Buneary and Gothitelle cheer them on alongside Barry's Empoleon.
Flint and Volkner do not hold back with Flint's Infernape going at Typholosion with Close Combat while Volkner's Electivire (despite the type disadvantage) using Thunder Punch on the ground to create a large pile of dust distracting Flygon as Electivire uses Iron Tail to slam Flygon to the ground. Typholosion tries using Shadow Ball strategically while Flygon uses Boomburst with no thought distracting Typholosion enough to only graze Infernape and the Boomburst was cancelled out by Electivire's Protect covering both Pokemon.
Dawn chastises Barry over his stubbornness and his 'act before you think' logic while Barry does the same 'criticizing her strategy over action' logic to which both Flint and Volkner see an opportunity to use a combination of Electivire's Thunderbolt and Infernape's Flamethrower causing both Typholosion and Flygon to act quickly both taking the hit with Typhosion absorbing the fire thanks to their Flash Fire but hurt by the Electricity while Flygon was immune to the Electricity because of its Ground type but damaged by the Fire.
This caused both trainers to realize how they should've been focusing on working together and a determined Dawn asks Barry if he has a move that can affect the field with Barry mentioning Bulldoze and she asks him to use it and follow her lead. Dawn tells her Typholosion to jump really high while Flygon uses Bulldoze causing the two opposing Pokemon to trip and Dawn tells her Typhlosion to use Fire Blast in combination with another move that Barry had that being Draco Meteor and once the two moves combined, the Draco Blast splits apart to attack both opposing Pokemon KO'ing them.
Both Dawn and Barry celebrate their success and Flint and Volkner allow them to pass and that they should be ready for the things they're about to face. Barry apologizes for his attitude earlier and that although he's still stubborn, he has mellowed out a bit by focusing on the growth of his Pokemon first rather than trying to instantly catch the first strong Pokemon he sees and to focus on his style a bit. Barry runs off before Dawn can ask any more questions and Dawn, although confused decided to head into the new frontier.
END
Main Story:
It was another beautiful day in Paldea as we see the gang arrive to the city of Cortondo where it appeared very festive, and everyone appeared to be very active setting up decorations and everyone seemingly having fun which surprised the group except for Penny who appears to be looking casual about this. Cortondo was more of a small city with smaller business buildings compared to Mesagoza or Levincia but is filled with many buildings of the old past, local businesses and such.
"So, this is Cortondo." Ash says amazed as Penny puts her hood up seemingly embarrassed as her Sprigatito looked on curiously, "Yeah, this is my hometown. A very festive town." Penny says embarrassed.
"C'mon, what's so embarrassing about being here in your hometown?" Arven says as Penny sighs, "It's just my family's embarrassing. Can we just move along!" Penny says as the gang move along through the street. The decorations varied from various Bug type Pokemon like Scyther, Heracross, Vivillon, Rellor and even non-Bug types like Teddiursa and Fidough.
"Just what festival is going on today." Ash says as his Pikachu, Hawlucha and Koraidon look at the decorations with one of them being a masked man with a cape, muscular body, red pants and a Shiny Hawlucha catching the eye of the Pokemon. There was a shy Nymble watching Hawlucha from the distance and Hawlucha turns to see no one was watching him feeling like he's being followed before shrugging and joining back with the group.
"It's a festival called 'Día de la Fundación', it's a festival that celebrates the founding of Cortondo on this day. There are games, shows, and even delectable treats made by everyone including our very own baker Katy whose treats are so good, that you'll be energized for the next 3 days from what I've heard. which is also how long this festival lasts." Penny says making the group curious about those delectable treats.
As the gang were walking a man setting up a stand looked to Ash and Hawlucha and looked impressed, "That's a mighty fine Hawlucha you got there, Nino." the man said to Ash as Hawlucha scratched his head.
"Thank you." "Lucha." Ash and Hawlucha say politely impressing the man once more, "Oh and you your Hawlucha are very humble and polite just like our hero Hawluchador and his Hawlucha Spector." the man says catching both individuals' attention.
"Hawluchador and Spector?" Ash asks as the man laughs, "Yeah, Hawluchador and Spector are heroes in Paldea helping stop crime wherever they go. No one knows where they've come from but around 31 years ago back when they were only 17, they've arrived in the city upon a group of criminals terrorizing our festival taking all the food and helped drive the criminals out of the city and into their cells. Since then, we have celebrated this hero coming to help us and so whenever an individual arrives to the city with a Hawlucha, it's a sign of good luck young man!" the man said excitedly as he pulls out a good luck charm and a mask and cape for both of them.
"What's this?" "Lu?" both ask, "It's a replica of their mask and cape, it will make you feel cool in a way. You have fun here in Cortondo young Nino." the man says as Ash says thanks and both Ash and Hawlucha put on the mask and cape impressing the group.
"Wow, you're just like Hawluchador Ash and you look like Spector." Nemona says impressed, "Really, I'm sure he's much taller, cooler and muscular than me." Ash says honestly as Penny blushes.
Well, I think your pretty cool. Penny thought to herself as a lady and her Teddiursa walk to the group, "Well you don't have to be muscular or tall in my opinion to be cool." the lady says. The lady was in a baker's uniform with green hair that ends in a spiral and had a motherly face.
"Oh, thanks I guess." Ash said nervously, "Katy, it's been a while." Penny says as Katy smiles as she hugs Penny the life out of her.
"Penny, my dear how are you!" Katy says happily squeezing her, "C'mon not in front of the group!" "Tito!" both Penny and Sprigatito say happily as the gang got curious.
"You two know each other?" Nemona asks as both Penny and Katy nod, "Yep, Katy is a family friend of ours." Penny said surprising the group.
"Your family friends with a Champion and a baker?" Arven says as Penny nods, "You'd be surprised on how my family has so many friends. I may not be a rich individual like you, Nemona or Ash but we have a lot of connections due to my family's various jobs." Peny says as Ash remembers something from Mesagoza.
"I've heard of you, isn't your father Harold?" Ash asks as Katy lets go of Penny and softly smiles, "Oh, dad mentioning little ole me, he shouldn't have. Yes, I'm his daughter and the Gym Leader of Cortondo." Katy says happily as Nemona got excited.
"Does that mean you're up to fighting challengers today!" Nemona said excitedly as Katy shook her head, "Sorry sweetie, I have a festival to run but I can start accepting your challenge tomorrow and once you pass the Gym Test." Katy says as Nemona put her head down in disappointment and Pawmo rubbed her neck out of comfort.
"The Gym Test?" Ash asks as Nemona put her head up and turns to Ash, "In the Galar and Paldea regions, a Gym Challenger participates in a test in order to face the Gym Leader from answering questions, pinball, pushing certain Pokemon like Wooloo, etc. Once they pass the test, they're given the honor to challenge the Gym Leader." Nemona says as rejuvenating her spirit.
"Oh, I forgot to ask, did you sign up for the Gym Challenge?" Ash asks as Nemona's eyes widen in horror, "Oh my, I completely forgotten about that!" Nemona says as Katy pats her on the shoulder.
"Not to worry, there's a Pokemon Center nearby to sign up." Katy says as Nemona nods, bows and rushes over there immediately. A few minutes later, Nemona comes back now out of breath.
"Did it." Nemona says exasperated as her Teddiursa plays with Katy's Teddiursa awing both Nemona and Katy, "Aww, you made a new friend." Nemona says as Teddiursa holds hands with Katy's Teddiursa.
"That's very sweet." Katy says happily as the gang conversed with each other while the Nymble from before watches Hawlucha from a distance and Hawlucha gets suspicious.
The gang explore the town a bit until an explosion was heard and a puff of smoke was seen catching the group's and Katy's attention as they head over there to check out the problem. They see 4 criminals with a Crabominable, Perrserker, Salamence and Hariyama carrying bags of coins with some of them holding coins.
"That was easier said than done." Criminal 1 said with Brooklyn accent happily as Ash grits his teeth, "Some petty criminals, I'll stop the-" but before Ash or anyone could do anything. The Nymble from before jumped into the scene and faced the group.
"Nym Nym Nym Nymble!" Nymble says with confidence as the criminals laughed, "A Nymble really! That's who's going to stop us haha!?" Criminal 2 says with a Chicago accent as Nymble go angry and Ash scanned the Pokemon.
Nymble, The Grasshopper Pokemon, a Bug Type. Nymble is highly skilled at jumping when it's in a fight, it's able to dodge attacks at the blink of an eye and deal powerful hits.
"Show us what you got you little pest!" Criminal 2 said laughing as Nymble breathed in and its legs glowed with a green light getting the group's attention, "Hey boys, I think this Nymble here is about to use Pounce here." Criminal 3 said with a southern accent as Nymble jumped but as it was about to use Pounce, the glow suddenly disappeared and 'attacked' Crabominable which felt more like a pebble being thrown.
The criminals laughed at this before Criminal 1 ordering his Crabominable to use Power-Up Punch and sent Nymble flying towards a wall knocking it out. This shocked Ash's gang as Ash looks on impressed with Nymble's bravery and is angry towards Nymble getting hurt by them. The criminals laugh as they prepare to leave but Ash steps forward despite the insistence of others not to.
"C'mon, let's go home. It's clear that the only thing Nymble provides is being a laughingstock." Criminal 4 says with a British accent, "Don't undermine Nymble's strength you monsters!" Ash says as the criminals turn around to see a determined and angry Ash.
"Oh look, a kid. Go on home, this is adult business." Criminal 1 says as Criminal 2 seems to recognize the kid from somewhere, "Not a chance, I've dealt with people as bad as you but they weren't lower than trash on a curb." Ash says with snark causing the criminals to get angry.
"Trash!? You'll pay for that. Hariyama, Perrserker, teach em a lesson!" Criminal 1 says as Ash steps to the side to allow his Hawlucha and Pikachu through to take care of them as the criminals laugh again, "Really, those Pokemon!? Get em!" Criminal 1 says as Perrserker and Hariyama rush to the two Pokemon and Ash smirks.
"Pikachu, use Iron Tail on Perrserker's legs! Hawlucha, use Iron Head on Hariyama's stomach!" Ash called out as Pikachu swept at Perrserker's legs causing him to trip while Hawlucha used his quick speed to use Iron Head causing Hariyama to flinch as Ash sees an opportunity.
"Pikachu use Electro Web and Hawlucha use High Jump Kick!" Ash says simply as Nymble watches on impressed as Pikachu launched an Electro Web trapping and knocking out Perrserker while Hawlucha kicks Hariyama far enough to a nearby pool shocking everyone in the crowd and criminals as they had to blink twice towards their strength.
"There's no way that's possible." Criminal 3 says as Criminal 2 realizes something, "Say guys, we aren't dealing with an ordinary kid, this is the Champion himself in the flesh." the Criminal says now scaring the group except the first one who smirks.
"Still, he's 4 against 1, we can take him." Criminal 1 says as Ash, Pikachu and Hawlucha prepare to fight when suddenly, "Which is why he'll need a hand!" a voice was heard as 2 shadowy figures pop out of the shadow and jump in front of Ash revealing the same figure from before and his Shiny Hawlucha Spector, but this Hawlucha looked to be much older with graying feathers around the facial area and appearing not as flexible as Ash's Hawlucha.
"You must be-" Ash didn't even need to finish as Hawluchador nods, "Yep, it's me Hawluchador and Spector!"
"Hawlu." Spector said in a deep voice as Ash's Hawlucha poses right alongside Spector, "So the Champion and the Lucha Libre arrives, so what? We'll take you down and take all this sweet gold with us!" Criminal 3 says as Hawluchador chuckles.
"Well sweet is one thing." Hawluchador pointed out confusing the criminals, "How so?" Criminal 3 says holding a coin from the bank as Hawlucador points to the coin.
"Try looking at that coin once more." Hawluchador suggested as the 3rd criminal does so and realizes something is off about that coin, the criminal then bites the coin only for it to bent and realizes it's a chocolate coin.
"Hey, wait a minute, these are chocolate coins! Where are the real ones!?" Criminal 3 said as Hawluchador chuckles, "Didn't you know, the bank actually moved recently to an undisclosed location, but our city's lovely, most beautiful, wonderful Gym Leader Katy made these chocolate coins in hope to deter people like you finding the real bank." Hawluchador says as Katy blushes.
"Oh, stop you!" Katy says lovingly as the criminals grit their teeth in anger, "How dare you! You'll pay for this! Crabominable use Superpower!" Criminal 3 says as Crabominable rushes in as Spector stepped forward.
"Allow me, Spector use Detect!" Hawluchador says as Spector stepped to the side avoiding the attack and tripping Crabominable, "Now grab onto it and use your piledrive Body Press!" Hawluchador says as Spector nods and hugs Crabominable before jumping really high in the air and pile driving Crabominable to the ground knocking it out at full force and knocking it out.
"Crabominable!" Criminal 3 says as Hawluchador and Spector smirked, "You want some more amigo?" Hawluchador says as Criminal 4 steps up.
"Salamence go on and crush them!" the Criminal says as Salamence walked towards Hawluchador and Ash and prepared for battle when Koraidon walked towards the Salamence.
"Dooooonnnnnnnn!" Koraidon 'roared' as it then curled up and slept, this 'roar' horrified the group enough to go to return their Pokemon and got into the back of a Police van and curled up in fear.
"That was one mighty roar Koraidon!" Ash says to the sleeping Pokemon, "That wasn't a roar, that was a yawn." Arven says surprised confusing Ash. Either way, the crowd cheered in praises over Ash and Hawluchador but Ash was more concerned for the Nymble as he goes over and picks her up.
"Nymble? Are you ok?" Ash asks as Nymble nods slightly, "Nym Nym." Nymble tries to say confidently but is promptly knocked out. Ash decides to go to a nearby Pokemon center to have Nymble examined and looked at surprising the Nymble.
Nearby, we see a disguised Team Rocket at a cafe discussing their next plan of action.
"So, we finally made it to Cortondo, The city of Webs. Shall we grab Pikachu and Koraidon while we're here?" James suggested as Jessie shook her head and looked at the strange coin, "Not today, I have a better idea. They say there's two main banks in the city, one is your typical bank and the other contains these rare coins. From what I've heard, they're being kept at a secret location, and I say we find those real coins as soon as possible!" Jessie says excitedly confusing the group.
"What's so special about these here coins?" Meowth asks as James brings them up on Rotom phone, "They say these coins are a special currency in Cortondo, Medali, Seguncion, Invercima and Levincia and can go for a huge amount if brought over to Kanto." James says enticing Meowth.
"I'm in!" Meowth says as the gang giggle in evilness.
We see Ash and the gang waiting near the Pokemon center waiting for Nymble to get healed as Ash, Hawlucha and Pikachu wait.
"Ash, you're concerned for Nymble are you?" Nemona asks as Ash nods, "Yeah, I could tell that Nymble wanted to be a hero and help everyone, and I didn't want to see a Pokemon like that getting hurt by those type of people. I think Nymble has potential." Ash says as Katy and a male with a slight goatee and slightly gray tips of hair walks besides her.
"So, you see their potential too." the man says getting the group's attention, "Katy and um-" Nemona stops herself upon the man bringing up the Hawluchador mask slightly and shushing slightly as the gang nod.
"You know this Nymble?" Penny asks as both Katy and Hawluchador nods, "Yep, I encountered Nymble on my way back from Cascaraffa a month ago. Me and Hawlucha saved her from a Persian and it seems like she liked our battling style enough to follow us back home and whenever we train, she always seems to copy our moves in attempt to be like us including trying to learn Pounce."
"Pounce?" Ash asks.
"It's a move that allows a Pokemon to- well, pounce on an opponent making their speed lowered." Katy mentions as Ash looks to the healing Nymble, the gang decide to sit around while they wait with Arven curious about Hawluchador.
"So, you and Hawlucha have been doing this hero thing for a long time Haw- err" Arven asks as Hawluchador nods, "The name's Alonzo, and yes we have for a long 31 years ago and back when my body was still flexible. We came from the Unova region when we arrived to Cortondo for new opportunities when the town was under siege by criminals whose favorite comic book was cancelled and so we took action and drove them into their cells. I was praised as a hero and decided to stay in Paldea to become a hero who inspires courage in everyone throughout the region. It's how I met my future wife and had our children and became beloved grandparents recently." Alonzo says as Katy blushes.
"Oh stop!" Katy says happily shocking the group about her age except Penny who knows about it, "Wow, I thought you were in your 20's in some way. You're very youthful." Nemona says as Katy blushes.
"I get that a lot, I thank creams and vegetables for that." Katy says happily, "Does that mean you're in your 4-" Arven didn't finish as a Spidops comes out of Katy's Net Ball and wraps Arven in many webs surprising the group.
"Number 1 rule, never bring up age." Katy says happily and made everyone (including Alonzo) scared and nods. Ash scans the Spidops
Spidops, the Trap Pokemon, Bug type. Spidops creates tough, sticky webs to protect its territory. It's said that it's webs are tough enough to slice through wood and are a common rival to Scyther.
"Point taken." Arven says as Alonzo looks to the Pokemon center, "And it looks like Nymble's been healed." Alonzo says as Nurse Joy walks by on a stretcher carrying an excitable Nymble.
"Hey Nymble, you feeling better?" Ash asks the Nymble who excitedly jumps and goes to Ash's Hawlucha seemingly inspired by him confusing Hawlucha, "Hawlu?" Hawlucha says confused.
"I think you have an admirer Hawlucha." Nemona says to Hawlucha as Ash gets an idea in his head, "Say Nymble?"
"Nym?" Nymble asks Ash, "You're interested in Hawlucha right? And you seem to have a knack for wanting to use Pounce, how about me Hawlucha train you to test your strength?" Ash suggested which immediately excited the Nymble as Ash smiles.
"Then let's get to work!" Ash says.
We see Ash and Hawlucha standing across from Nymble who's both nervous and already to go. The gang (plus Alonzo, Katy and Spector) watch from the distance what Ash's plan is.
"I wonder what Ash's game plan is for Nymble?" Arven asks, "Well, he helped Tinkatink prior to catching her and her training involved mastering her rattle. So, I guess for Nymble, maybe speed?" Penny says as they watch on.
"Alright Nymble, from what I saw from your Pounce, it seemed a bit slow, and you were trying to focus all your energy and power into that move is exchange for speed. You need to balance that with your other moves, so I want you to try using whatever other attacking moves you have at Hawlucha. Ready you two?" Ash asked the two.
"Hawlu!"
"Ble!"
"Alright, Nymble, show em your moves!" Ash says as Nymble breathes in before her legs glowed red and lunged at Hawlucha using her front legs to kick before kicking herself off of Hawlucha. Nymble front two legs glowed again but with black energy and attacked Hawlucha once more as he blocked. Nymble then proceeds to jump to use Pounce but like before, it was slow, and the move didn't occur.
Ash nods towards this, So Nymble has Double Kick, Pounce and Assurance. It's able to use Double Kick and Assurance fine but her Pounce is having difficulties. Guess it's time to test her Agility! Ash thought to himself.
"Alright Nymble, we're going to test your agility when it comes to avoiding attacks. Hawlucha will lightly try to attack you and I want you to try to dodge. Got it?" Ash says as Nymble nods.
"Alright Hawlucha use X-Scissor!" Ash says as Hawlucha nods and create an X shape with his arms and rushes towards Nymble who panics and hops to the right quickly avoiding the attack, "Another one!" Ash says as Hawlucha does the same thing again as Nymble jumps on Hawlucha's head but surprisingly, her back legs were strong enough to push down Hawlucha's head making him trip a bit intriguing the group.
"She caused Hawlucha to trip with just her back legs!?" Nemona says surprised as Katy nods, "You'd be surprised as to how strong a Nymble's back legs are, they're enough to hop onto a tall rock." Katy says as Nymble is prepared once again as Ash nods.
"Alright, one more attack. Hawlucha use Flying Press!" Ash says as Hawlucha rushes in preparing to jump to land on Nymble who got so nervous she ran at quick speed behind a nearby walk causing Hawlucha to miss and hurt his knee.
"Hawlucha!? Are you alright?" Ash asks as Hawlucha nods before they look over to the Nymble who hid behind a rock.
And she has Agility, I think another idea came to mind. Ash thought to himself.
We see Pikachu prepared to run as Nymble was 10 steps away while Ash and Hawlucha were on the sidelines. "Alright Nymble, I want you to try to catch up to Pikachu and try attacking him with the moves you have and try to balance speed and attacking power while you run as fast as you can Pikachu." Ash says as Nymble and Pikachu nods and Pikachu began running.
Nymble was surprised to see how fast Pikachu was going and was determined to catch up, Nymble hopped as fast as she can to try to catch up to Pikachu but to no avail. Nymble then uses Agility to match the speed of Pikachu. Nymble was in close proximity to Pikachu before she tries to use Double Kick at full power but ended up missing and Pikachu was still running.
"Pika Pika!" Pikachu said critiquing on Nymble's slow movement and attack speed causing Nymble to focus, "You need to balance both speed and power into your attack, don't just focus on power!" Ash says as Nymble nods before catching up to Pikachu with Agility now side by side.
Nymble focuses once more on her Double Kick with her front legs but at the same time, also focusing that speed on her back legs before jumping and successfully kicking Pikachu twice sending him back as Pikachu nods with approval.
"Pika!" Pikachu says in approval as Nymble hops happily.
Ash nods to himself once more and an idea goes to his head, I think that's why she's unable to use Pounce, she's been focusing too much of her power on that move when she has to balance it with her speed. Time for the final test. Ash thought to himself once more.
A little while later after much training and unique strategies, we see Ash, Pikachu and Hawlucha on the sidelines as Nymble faces Alonzo in his Hawluchador outfit and Spector who's already to go.
"Lu Lu Hawlucha. (Try not to break your bones old man.)" Hawlucha says as Spector stretches and cracks his neck, "Lu Hawlu Cha (I maybe old, but I'm not breaking yet.)" Spector said with a deep voice.
"Alright Nymble, it's time to show your skills against your idol. Use all that you know and use that for battle, the winner will be decided on at a certain point instead of whoever faints." Ash says as Nymble, Alonzo and Spector nods and Ash nods too.
"Alright, you may begin!" Ash says as Nymble immediately goes for Agility circling around Spector as Nymble appeared to resemble a fast shadow surrounding Spector. Nymble sees an opening and tries to rush at Spector with Assurance.
"Detect." Hawluchador says as Spector moved to the side avoiding Assurance and Nymble lands near a rock and prepares to do so again with Double Kick, "Detect." Hawluchador says but Nymble didn't jump at Spector but instead, went behind him surprising both trainer and Pokemon as Nymble kicks twice at Spector sending him back a bit with both nodding in approval.
"Impressive, keep it up!" Hawluchador says encouragingly as Nymble nods, "Alright Spector, go for the Stone Edge!" Hawluchador says as Hawluchador stomps on the ground causing rocks to rise up and Nymble attempts to jump out of the way but is hit but sees a last-minute opportunity and uses Double Kick to launch a piece of stone towards Spector and launches away from the rock though injured.
The stone lands on Spector causing him to flinch and Nymble sees an opportunity to use Agility to rush towards Spector and use Assurance which appeared more powerful unlike before sending Spector significantly back a bit.
"That Assurance is powerful than before." Arven comments, "Possibly because Spector's been damaged by the stone from Stone Edge. Assurance boosts the power of attacks if the opponent was damaged in some way at the same time as Assurance." Katy mentions as the battle got back to focus.
Nymble focuses and it's front two legs glowed green as everyone looked on, "You can do it, balance that energy and go for the Pounce!" Ash says as Nymble nods but before she could do such a thing, an explosion was heard.
"What was that?" Penny says, "I'll check it out." Ash says as Hawlucha and Pikachu follow Ash and so does everyone else.
We see disguised TR walk out of a nearby bank with bags full of 'gold' as Jessie smirks, "Well that was easy." Jessie says smirking as Ash arrives to the scene.
"Alright, what are you doing!" Ash yelled out as TR turned towards Ash and James and Jessie smirk.
"Prepare for trouble, we'll be richer than gold." Jessie says confidently.
"To unite all people within our nation!"
"Jessie!" Jessie says taking off her mask.
"James!" James does the same, "To unite-" Jessie was interrupted by Penny.
"I hate to break it to you, but you did one thing wrong." Penny says confusing the group, "What's that?" both Jessie and James say confused.
"I know you most likely took off your disguise in the past but in a bank robbery scenario like in 'Reservoir Watchogs', you aren't supposed to take off your mask."
"Yeah so?" both TR members say, "In public where everyone can see your faces." Penny says causing the group to realize that they're being watched in the public.
"That means uglier wanted posters, right?" James says as Penny nods, "No matter, we're going to stop you and take this sweet gold home with us!" Jessie says excitedly as Hawluchador points to the bag.
"Those are chocolate coins." Hawluchador says as Meowth bites onto one of the coins to realize that it was dent, "You tricked us! And we were sure it was this location!" Meowth says angerly as Hawluchador smirks.
"I wouldn't blame you for thinking this was the place but even if it was, our banks our top-notch and secure to the point we have those chocolate coins here to deter criminals like you." Hawluchador says as Jessie gets noticeably angry and grabs her net machine.
"No matter, we'll just take Pikachu instead!" Jessie says launching the web towards Pikachu but Spector pushes Pikachu out of the way to be caught instead, "Spector!" Hawluchador yelled out to his captured partner.
"Not the intended target but he is a Shiny, so we'll take him anyway!" Jessie says with a smirk as Ash grits his teeth, "Oh no you don't Koraidon, go and-" Ash didn't finish as Koraidon curled up and sleep leaving Ash staring blankly at Koraidon.
"I think with most of their powers taken away, I think it caused Koraidon to be more tired if anything else." Arven mentions as Ash sighs and returns Koraidon to their Pokeball, "Alright then Pikachu go!" Ash says as Pikachu prepares for battle and so does Nemona's Pawmo, Arven's Sneasel and Penny's Sprigatito.
"Alright then, Klawf and Grafaiai, you're up!" James says throwing his two Pokeballs, "C'mon out sweetie!" Jessie says throwing her Pokeball for Lechonk.
"Alright Klawf, Mud Slap!" James says as Klawf stirs up some mud and launches some mud towards the group, "Deflect it with Leafage!" Penny yelled out as Sprigatito stirs up some leaves and launches it towards that Mud Slap creating a puff of smoke.
We see Pikachu and Morada the Sneasel in the air prepared to strike, "Iron Tail Pikachu!" "Brick Break Morada!" Ash and Arven yell out to their Pokemon as Pikachu's tail and Sneasel's hand glows prepared to strike.
"Oh no you don't, Disarming Voice!" Jessie yells out as Lechonk releases a dust like echo attack towards the both of them sending them back away from Klawf. As the battle was going on, Lokix was secretly trying to head to Spector's net trying to set him free with her tackles but to no avail, James and Grafaiai sees this, however.
"Oh no you don't! Grafaiai use Poison Jab!" James yelled out as Grafaiai's fingers glowed and Nymble panicked before she jumped over Grafaiai's head pushing him to the ground, Nymble sees an opportunity and focuses once more on Pounce using her front legs for the attack and her back legs for speed, she pounces on Grafaiai with more force than before sending Grafaiai towards his trainer.
Nymble then proceeded to use Double Kick to let Spector free as Spector acknowledges Nymble's heroism before proceeding to go to Klawf and use High Jump Kick to send Klawf flying onto it's back.
"Klawf, Grafaiai, are you alright?" James asks his two partners as Grafaiai gets up in anger prepared to fight once more, "That's the spirit! Use Metronome!" James says as everyone got back as Grafaiai created a huge Heat Wave that he launched towards the group.
"Heat Wave!? There's no way we can dodge that one. What are we going to do!?" Arven says as Katy steps forward with her Spidops and a couple of individuals with theri Dachbuns, "Spidops use Silk Trap to make a tough wall and Dachbuns, absorb the fire!" Katy says confidently as Spidops created a quick wall of web to protect everyone and the Dachbuns absorbed the fire through their skin and Spidops quickly creates a tough wall of web as Ash scans the Dachbun.
Dachbun, the Dog Pokemon, a Fairy type and the evolved form of Fidough. This Pokemon's skin hardens due to the intense heat causing their skin to flaky. They can absorb flames thanks to the body absorbing heat into its dough like skin with the Ability Well-Baked Body.
"An evolution of Fidough, wow!" Ash says with Penny admiring the Dachbun, "And they're too cute!" Penny says as the Heat Wave disappears and the Dachbun's bodies grow a bit bigger.
"Oh crud!" TR says nervously as Katy smirks, "Spidops use your webs to trap all of them and use Circle Throw!" Katy says as Spidops nods and quickly uses their web to wrap TR and grabs the web and spins it around fastly before sending them flying in the air.
"Well one thing is clear." Meowth says getting the group's attention, "What's that?" both Jessie and James say.
"It's quite comfy." Meowth says as the others nod and James yawns.
"Maybe we'll take a nap into this nice blast off." James says, "Agreed." Jessie says.
"We're blasting off again." "Wobbu, Chonk, AI, Lawf." TR say but more calmly as they went to sleep and disappeared into the sky.
The gang appeared impressed especially Nemona, "Your Spidops is strong!" Nemona says as Katy giggles.
"Thank you, their web is strong enough to pull a cart and so you'll need similar strength if you're going to face me." Katy says as Nemona nods with confidence.
We see the gang help return the chocolate coins to the fake bank before they were rewarded with churros from Katy's bakery. We see the Nymble from before enjoying a churro before Nymble hops on Ash's shoulder happily confusing Ash.
"Hmm, what's wrong Nymble?" Ash asks as Alonzo (out of his outfit) smirked and came to a conclusion, "It seems like your skills impressed Nymble here that she wants to go with you for the journey." Alonzo says surprising Ash.
"Really? What do you say Pikachu and Hawlucha?" Ash asked the two who nod with approval.
"Pika!" Pikachu says excitedly.
"Hawlu!" Hawlucha says simiarly to Pikachu as Ash smiles.
"Alright then, welcome to the team!" Ash says as he brings out a Heal Ball (from Chapter 2's Omake) and Nymble taps on the ball excitedly dissipating into red energy and sparkling signalling that she was caught.
"Alright I caught a Nymble!"
"Pika!"
"Hawlu!"
"Don!"
Nymble comes out of her Pokeball excitedly to admire Hawlucha some more, "Well it seems you're getting more admirers everyday Hawlucha."
"Hawlu?"
The gang then laugh it off and waved their goodbyes to Alonzo, Spector and Katy with Nemona promising that by tomorrow, she'll be ready for that challenge and the battle and Katy agrees to it. Penny suggested that the group stay at her house to save on hotel money, and they agree as the journey continues.
And Ash has caught Nymble. Nymble is a traditional Ash capture whereas Koraidon is more of a companion in a way (I'm not sure how to word this one). Anyway, this will be Ash's last catch in a long while as I decided that I have plans for Charcadet a bit differently (he'll still catch Charcadet but I have more story for the little guy) and Kleavor will be a later on in the journey (but not super late but more after the 4th or 5th of Nemona's Gym Battles).
The next chapter will revolve around Nemona partaking in the Gym challenge in order to face Katy where she'll have to roll the ball to the goal with her Pokemon helping deter opponents in a way before the major battle.
However, I'm also planning a 'Chapter 21.5' where we focus on Penny's house mainly because it felt like it's own mini chapter in a way in terms of character development and story which overlaps Nymble's capture and Nemona's challenge to put into either chapter so it will be a mini chapter.
Nymble (Female, Ability: Tinted Lens)
Description: Found by Hawluchador after being saved by him, she followed him back to Cortondo and has watched his training ever since. She wants to be the best hero out there much like her inspiration and goes with Ash impressed by his skills.
Moves:
*Assurance
*Double Kick
*Agility
*Pounce