Chapter 28: Barry's Fishing Trip

This one will be special, with Barry traveling through Route 12 to catch a bite. Paul and his traveling companions will appear in this chapter, though they won't meet Barry.

In Lavender Town Pokemon Center.

Paul and Hilda were packing their stuff. "Let's set out."

"Sure thing, I can't wait travel...hey, where is Daisy?" Hilda asked noticing the female professor was nowhere.

Daisy approached the two trainers. "Sorry I went off, I got a call and that we're going to Maiden's Peak." Paul was dumbfouned while Hilda looked excited. "Really!?"

Barry was carrying a fishing rod and heading toward Route 12. "I hope to get a good catch." He began to think about Paul's victory. "Man, Paul knows how to think on his feet as I remember. Those strategies he came up with to overcome Tucker were amazing not to mention he could stop Tucker's ultimate technique."

Barry smirked looking enthusiastic. "Well, I ain't going to let him keep ahead of me! I will become stronger and defeat him someday!" He arrived at Route 12, where there were plenty of walkways and water. "Great, time to see what I can catch."

He found a spot and got his gear ready. "Alright..." He pulled back his rod and threw it forward sending the rod's bait toward the water which landed with a splash.

He sat down patiently waiting for a bite. "Hmm...it seems the Water Pokemon don't like my bait..." He began to think about his future challenge against Sabrina. "I must come up with a good team to use."

He put his hand under his chin in thought. "Heracross is a bug type so it would have an advantage, but he's also a Fighting so, Sabrina's Pokemon would have the advantage too." He looked and took his Pokeball that had Tepig in it. "Tepig is strong, but I doubt it'll last long enough to fight strong evolved Pokemon." His thinking of a good strategy was becoming tougher than he realized. "Empleon's Steel Type would be able to resist strong psychic attacks. Alakazam knows Charge Beam which would be a problem."

"Uhhh...this is becoming more of a pain than it is!" Barry pouted somewhat loudly. "Either way, I should take it easy for a while until then...or perhaps-"

Suddenly he felt a tug on his fishing rod. "Huh?" He looked to see something tugging the rod's string and pulling in the rod. "Whoa!" He quickly grabbed the rod with his free hand. "I got a bite!" He stood up and began to pull, though, whatever had his bait began to pull back into the water.

"Is that how you want it?" Barry yelled noticing the Pokemon was testing him to either continue pulling or just walk away. "Then, allow me to show you that I don't give up!" He pulled hard and harder until he pulled all his might and a big Pokemon that was pink and had veil-like arms emerged from the water.

"What the heck is that?" Barry asked in surprise. Before he could react the Pokemon wrapped its arms around the blond boy in a tight grip. "Hey, cut that out!" He struggled to get the free but the Pokemon's grip wouldn't loosen.

He squeezed his left arm into his pockets and took out a Pokeball. "Have to use type advantage for now, Roserade!"

"Rose! Roserade!" The Bouquet Pokemon declared spreading its plant-like arms apart. "Use Energy Ball!"

Roserade opened its mouth and a green light energy ball appeared in front of its mouth then it released the new water Pokemon which released Barry from its tight grip.

"Now, let's check you out!" Barry took his Pokedex and scanned the creature. "Frillish the Floating Pokemon. With its thin veil-like arms wrapped around the body of its opponent, it sinks to the ocean floor. Also, the pink Frillish is a female and the blue kind is a male."

Barry grinned excitedly. "Alright, also according to the data, you're a ghost and water time. That should be helpful." He gave the floating Pokemon a challenging stare. "Frillish, how about you battle me?!"

The Floating Pokemon nodded her head like she was ready to brawl.

Roserade turned its head and nodded. "Now, use Poison Jab!" Roserade's flower-like hands glowed purple and jabbed them both into Frillish's body.

"Got ya!" Barry boasted.

Frillish shook off the damage and smiled. "What's she smiling about?" Barry asked quietly until he noticed Roserade was acting funny and a dark aura emitted from its body. "Roserade, what's wrong with you?"

"You certainly are new with Unova Pokemon." A voice said and Barry saw Cheren walking toward him. "Who are you?"

"Forgive my manners, I'm Cheren, I come from the Unova Region." The boy introduced himself and looked at Frillish. "Anyway, your Pokemon's strange behavior is due to Frillish's special ability called Curse Body."

Barry raised his eyebrow in confusion. "Huh, what is Curse Body?"

"It's an ability that disables a Pokemon's move when it's attacked directly," Cheren explained. "So, physical attacks will keep getting disabled for a short time."

Barry felt utterly embarrassed. "I should've known it had an ability that would be a pain in the butt." He knew Poison Jab would be useless for a while. "So, in this case, use Energy Ball!"

Frillish blinked and then a green-like barrier shielded itself from the grass attack move. "Great, it knows Protect too!"

Frillish then put its arms together and a water mass began to take shape and hurled it directly at Roserade. "That's Water Pulse! Quick, counter with Energy Ball!"

Roserade opened its mouth and a light green orb and fired at its opponent.

Energy Ball and Water Pulse collided with each other creating a mist-like explosion from the water. The mist covered the entire spot where the Pokemon were. "Impressive, the two attacks collided and created an explosion on top of that, mist was created by the Water Pulse."

"Roserade be on your guard. There's water nearby, and no doubt that Frillish will use it to hide itself!" Barry warned and his Pokemon nodded.

Barry was right of course, the moment the mist cleared away, Frillish was nowhere to be found. Barry groaned in annoyance. "Dang, I was right, Frillish went underwater, no doubt, she'll try a sneak attack from the water."

Cheren had his arms crossed. "What will this boy do now?" He knew that if Barry let his guard down, Frillish would have an opening and would have the chance to deal damage especially up close.

Barry had to think on his feet and quickly before Frillish decided to launch a sneak attack. "Wait, what if I lure Frillish on Roserade on purpose and it'll be wide open..." He snickered. "Roserade, just stand there and wait!"

Roserade and Cheren were puzzled, expecting this reaction, Barry had a serious look which Roserade noticed. "Trust me, stay still and quiet." The Bouquet Pokemon gave a slow nod and stayed still not moving a muscle.

Frillish was lurking underwater waiting for an attack but nothing, it soon became impatient. "Frill...Frill..." She said impatiently with a puff cheek expression. Not wanting to wait all day, Frillish quickly lunged itself out of the water and was right above its opponent.

Barry had a faint smile. "Just what I wanted! Roserade use Energy Ball!" Roserade fired the green orb and landed a direct hit on Frillish's face.

Cheren was slightly impressed. "Not bad, he had Frillish become impatient and then it lunged itself out of the water leaving it wide open for an attack."

"Now, let's end this, Magical Leaf!" Roserade released glowing light green leaves from the flowers at the end of its arms and sent them directly to Frillish.

The Floating Pokemon's body was completely hit by the glowing light green leaves and took super effective damage.

"To make sure you don't escape, Roserade use Stun Spore!" Roserade pointed its arm out and orange-like spores were released from its flowers.

The orange spores soon trapped the Floating Pokemon which felt its body get all numb and unable to move. Barry seeing his chance took out an empty Pokeball. "Alright, Pokeball catch it!" Frillish was soon caught in the Pokeball.

The Pokeball shook for a few seconds as Barry stared at it hoping this would be it. Then the Pokeball stopped shaking and the blonde boy picked up the Pokeball with a big smile. "Alright, we caught Frillish!"

"Roserade!" The Bouquet Pokemon cheered excitedly.

Cheren approached the boy. "Congrats, now, here take this." He handed over a Cheri Berry. "This is a Cheri Berry which will cure a Pokemon that's paralyzed."

Barry nodded and called out Frillish, who was still paralyzed. "Here eat this." Frillish ate the berry and after it swallowed it's paralyzing state was gone. "Doesn't taste good, yep, but it's worth it to get you all better."

"Also, here's an Oran Berry, it'll give back some its energy," Cheren said offering the blue-like berry.

Barry smiled. "Thanks, Cheren." He gave the Floating Pokemon the berry, who chowed the berry down in seconds. "Wow, you must be hungry."

Frillish then embraced Barry in a hug with a big happy smile. "Hey, cut that out! Not so tight!" Barry barked comically. "Or I'll fine you!"

Cheren smiled with a light chuckle. "Well, I can see that she likes you a lot."

"Gee, you think," Barry squirmed in a fake chuckle. "Anyway, I would like to test Frillish out, so, you up for a battle?"

Cheren took this offer in for a second and smiled. "Well, I don't have anything else going on, so, I accept your challenge."

"Alright, I will win too!" Barry chuckled with enthusiasm.

The two got in their position.

Cheren took out a Pokeball. "Alright, come on out, Herdier!"

"Rrrowfff!" Herdier barked.

"Whoa, what's that Pokemon?" Barry took out his Pokedex and scanned the new dog Pokemon. "Herdier the Loyal Dog Pokemon. Always obedient and faithful to their trainers. Herdier has helped them raise other Pokemon since long ago."

Barry grinned. "Wow, another Unova Pokemon, this should be good. Though, ghost-type moves won't work on Normal Types then again Normal attacks won't work on ghost types like Frillish."

Cheren didn't seem too worried. "As a trainer from Unova, I'm aware of the advantage we both have, though, my Herdier can use other attacks like this one. Herdier use Shadow Ball!"

Herdier opened its mouth and fired small black-purple balls of energy.

"Frillish use Protect!" Frillish held its tentacles with the bottoms facing toward the opponent and a turquoise force field surrounded its body.

"Nice defense," Cheren praised. "But, Protect only works one time, so, using twice in a row is quite slim."

Barry had to admit that was true. "In that case, use Water Pulse!" Frillish put its tentacles in front of its body and formed a light blue ball of energy between them. Then it threw it at the Loyal Dog Pokemon.

"Use Protect!" Cheren commanded.

"Great, Herdier knows Protect too," Barry muttered in annoyance.

"Now use Thunderbolt!" Barry and Frillish gasped in shock as Herdier's body emitted a strong electric jolt at its opponent.

"Frill!" Frillish cried in pain feeling the strong jolt of electricity shock its body.

"You know you should know how to counter or dodge," Cheren advised.

Frillish's body was feeling intense pain from the strong electric attack. "Frill...Frill..." She said still in pain.

Barry sighed in relief. "You can still battle, that's good." He looked at Herdier. "That Herdier is stronger than I thought. One more strike from that Thunderbolt and Frillish will lose."

Cheren saw Barry looking concerned. "Is that all, I was hoping for you to be a bit of a challenge." Hearing that provoked Barry, knowing he had to get more serious than before. "Oh yeah, let's try this. Double Team!"

Frillish created about four illusions of itself surrounding Herdier. "Trying to confuse us, nice try. Use Thunderbolt on all four!"

Herdier generated its electric attack and unleashed it all around striking each of the Frillish all of them were gone which Cheren struck as odd. "What...where is the real-"

"Frillish use Sludge Bomb!" Out of the water, the real Frillish emerged and opened its mouth and countless brown glob-like balls were fired down on Herdier.

"Oh no!" Cheren exclaimed.

Herdier took countless hits from the poison-type attack and was sent rolling across the bridge until it stopped lying on its side.

"Alright, Frillish wrap this up with Water Pulse!" Barry commanded.

Frillish placed its tentacles in front and gathered energy between them to create a light blue ball then threw it at Herdier.

Herdier opened its eyes and smiled a little. "Double Team!" Cheren commanded with a smile.

Herdier created four illusions of itself. "Okay, what's the idea of using Double Team!?" Barry yelled annoyingly.

"Use Shadow Ball!"

Barry wasn't going to go down easily. "Use your Double Team and counter with Water Pulse too!"

Frillish quickly reacted and made illusions of itself and created four copies too. All four launched four Water Pulse.

All four copies' attacks collided creating a powerful explosion sending the three copies flying away and disappearing. The real Frillish and Herdier were sent flying due to the shockwaves and then stopped themselves by regaining their balance.

Herdier and Frillish stared at each other panting heavily which almost seemed like for an hour or so.

Frillish felt its injuries and fell backward then fainted with dizzy eyes. "Frillish!" Barry ran over to his Floating Pokemon and held it up with a proud smile. "You did great, now take a good rest." He returned his new Pokemon to its Pokeball.

"Herdier good job," Cheren praised which the hairy dog Pokemon smiled in response before it was returned to its Pokeball. "I must admit you did quite well and did a quick counter that both got our Pokemon to stare down at each other to see who would fall. In the end, I won and it was a fun battle."

Barry chuckled. "Yeah, you bet I had fun, say, are you competing in the Kanto League?"

Cheren smiled a little. "Yeah, I already got my Thunder and Marsh Badge."

"So, you got two badges, and so do I," Barry showing his badges.

Cheren observed them. "I see, Cascade and Boulder Badge, impressive." He offered his hand. "Barry, I wish you good luck."

Barry shook the other boy's hand with a smile. "Same to you and next time we battle, I'll win!"

Cheren chuckled at the blonde trainer's spirit. "We'll see, what is your next gym battle?"

"Saffron City, however I decided to continue training for a few days and later challenge Sabrina." Barry declared with a confident smile. "After seeing my friend Hilda take her on, I know she's not going to be a pushover. I mean no gym leader isn't each of them is strong in their own way. But, that makes me fired up to keep getting better."

Cheren's smile didn't leave his face. "I wish you good luck, in the meantime hold your skills because someday we'll battle again."

Barry did a thumbs up. "Alright, but, if you don't battle me sooner, you'll pay a fine." Cheren chuckled. "Well, I'm not sure about that but again I wish you luck."

The two trainers waved once more before going their ways. Barry looked at his Pokeball that had Frillish. "Frillish, let's train together for a while and once we're ready. You and the rest of our team will take on Sabrina!"

Meanwhile

Paul, Hilda, and Daisy were on their way Maiden's Peak to pay a visit. "I don't get why we're visiting this Maiden's Peak." Paul grumbled.

Daisy chuckled a bit. "C'mon, I think it's time we need take a little break. After all, it's not everyday I get the chance to visit the place."

Hilda had to agree but she had a question on the professor's insist. "Sound exciting, but, is there another reason why you want to visit the place?"

Daisy chuckled once more. "According to what I learned on Ash's visit here from my grandpa, they came across a Gastly that had quite unique powers."

Paul was suddenly interested. "A Gastly with unique powers?"

Seeing the purple-haired trainer's reaction got Daisy to grin. "I thought that'd get your attention. It was a talking Ghastly and able to shapeshift into countless things. Ash and his friends tried to fight it but it was too strong. Not only that, it was able to talk."

Paul had never heard of Pokemon doing before expect for the Team Rocket's Meowth that can only talk.

"Not only that, there a legend of Maiden's Peak." Daisy added. "Though, I'll fill the details plus we get to meet another famous professor there that's visiting the place."

"Is that the call you were talking about?" Paul presumed.

Daisy nodded. "That's right. Also, it's the last week of Summer and that's when the Summer festival will appear." She continued. "Now that we're done talking, let's go."

Paul nodded his head.

"Yay!" Hilda raised her arm excitedly.

Barry catches his second Unova Pokemon Frillish and gets to battle Cheren, though, he lost it was a good match. Barry will continue on his journey and train his new Pokemon. Paul and his group are going to Maiden's Peak to pay a visit there and possibly seek out the talking shipshifting Gastly. The main question is, what other famous professor are they going to meet, find out next time.

End of chapter.