"Oh, I don't think it went that badly," Julianna replied.
She had been listening to Florian's rant about how his first contest had gone.
"It was though! It was my first contest, and I was completely humiliated. I know I'm better than that; I have to be."
"Florian, this was one contest. You have plenty of chances to prove yourself."
"My next contest isn't for two weeks; that feels like forever."
"That just means you've got plenty of time to train."
"Thank you, that's a great idea. I need to get on with that; I can't win contests with just two Pokémon."
Julianna's phone began to ring. "Hold that thought."
"Hello?"
"Julianna, hi," Arven replied cheerfully. "Do you know where Florian is? It takes him ages to reply to people."
"I do not!" Florian snapped.
"Right beside me."
"Perfect, I needed to talk to both of you."
Julianna had a bad feeling about this. "What is it?"
"I found the location of the first herba mystica."
"Where is it?" Florian groaned, annoyed.
"I sent my location to your phone. I'll be waiting when you get there," Arven hung up.
"How are we supposed to get there? It's all the way on the other side of the South Province," Julianna asked.
"We could take my bike," Florian suggested.
Julianna winced. "There's no way I'm getting on that death trap."
"Then what's your suggestion?" Florian scoffed.
"I have Koraidon's Pokéball; I think you could travel on him like a Cyclizar."
…
"Alright, ready Koraidon?"
"Agghar!" the dragon grunted happily.
"3, 2, 1, go!" Koraidon shot forward like a rocket, sprinting across the terrain much faster than any Cyclizar.
"How is this better than my bike?" Florian screamed, grabbing onto Koraidon's feather tufts to steer him away from obstacles.
"At least you can tell him to stop!"
"Stop! Koraidon, stop!" Florian tried, but Koraidon kept going.
"What was that about telling him to stop, Julianna?" Florian sneered.
"Pull on his feathers; that should stop him!"
Florian tugged as hard as he could, and Koraidon skidded on his back legs, throwing them over his head and against a sandstone wall.
"Did you really have to bring that thing here?" Arven stood over them.
"What, we needed a fast way to get here?" Julianna snapped back.
"Okay fine, whatever; just put him back in his Pokéball so we can find that Stony Cliff Titan."
"That's a comforting name," Florian winced.
They arrived at the edge of the largest rock face in the area, the place where Arven suspected the Titan was located. e in the area, the place where Arven suspected the Titan was located.
Unfortunately, two strangers and a Meowth were already there.
"You, you're the ones with that weird red Cyclizar!" Jessie yelled.
"How do you know about that?" Florian asked.
The two strangers froze. "Not important right now, we would kindly like you to hand it over to us," James replied.
"Ya otherwise things are gonna get messy," Meowth sneered.
"That's" Arven said, stunned.
"Ya, ya talking cat big deal"
"No behind you it's t-the Stony Cliff Titan!"
Meowth turned around to see a giant eye staring back at him.
"Klaaawwwwaaaafff!" A gigantic Klawf leapt off the cliff.
"That's the titan!" Florian asked in shock.
"Yes, it is, and the only way we're gonna get the herba mystica is by force. Shellder go!"
Florian and Julianna did the same, sending out their starters.
Even Jessie and James decided to help, sending out Glimmet and Bramblin.
Enraged, the Klawf fired a Rock Blast at everyone.
"Use Ancient Power!"
"Use Bullet Seed!"
Team Rocket's Pokémon were able to repel the rocks aimed at them.
"Shellder, use Water Gun!"
"Aqua Jet!"
"Ember!"
Shellder and Quaxly used their water attacks to destroy the rocks aimed at them.
Fuecoco, on the other hand, was not so lucky.
"Hey twerp get you're Fuecoco to do something!" Jessie snapped.
"I'm trying, lady, it's not my fault he's slow!"
The Klawf lunged forward with Rock Smash aimed at Fuecoco, the slowest one there.
"Shellder, use Protect!" Shellder blocked the attack.
"For fuck's sake forget it!" Florian cursed, "I'll just use Tarountula."
The Klawf went for a Rock Smash and Glimmet, but Bramblin intercepted, blocking it with its immunity.
"Use Night Shade!"
"Use Ancient Power!"
"Aqua Jet!"
"Use Bug Bite!"
The three attacks connected, driving the Klawf up against the cliff.
"Glawwwwwfff!" The Klawf smashed through the cliff face, pulling a branch of a strange pink plant.
Downing the plant in one go, the Klawf seemed suddenly energized with a powerful aura.
Another Rock Blast came their way, sending everyone tumbling.
Klawf attacked with an X-Scissor, knocking away Bramblin and Glimmet.
It turned its sights on Quaxly and Tarountula, but Shellder intercepted with Ice Shard.
Enraged, the Klawf smacked Shellder aside with X-Scissor.
Julianna noticed something purple sticking out of the ground.
"Toxic Spikes, from Glimmet's ability"
"Wing Attack on the ground!" Quaxly slammed his wing into the ground, knocking the Toxic Spikes into the air.
Too large to avoid them, the spikes fell onto Klawf. The beast groaned in pain as the poison dug into it.
Enraged Klawf slammed Quaxly with Rock Smash.
With everyone else gone, the Titan set its sights on Florian's Tarountula, throwing a Rock Blast at it.
"Use String Shot on the rocks." Tarountula swung around the boulders with String Shot, almost landing on Klawf.
But the titan attacked the little bug with X-Scissor.
Only for Tarountula to be enveloped in a strange blue light.
He was evolving.
Covering itself in silk, Tarountula was no more; instead, Spidops stood in its place.
With its new move, Silk Trap, it blocked Klawf's Rock Smash, covering its claws in sticky silk, which slowed it down.
Giving everyone else's Pokémon the time to collect themselves and ready one final strike.
"Use Venoshock!"
"Use Night Shade!"
"Shellder, use Ice Shard!"
"Use Struggle Bug!"
"Aqua Jet!"
All five attacks collided with Klawf, sending it collapsing down the cliff.
"Spidops! That was awesome!" Florian cheered, his sour attitude about Fuecoco gone.
"Spi-Dops!" the Trap Pokémon saluted him.
"In there, that must be where the Titan guards the Herba Mystica," said Arven, "Come on, follow me."
Inside the cavern was a small bush of the same pink plant the Titan had been eating.
"This is it!" Arven happily cheered "the sweet Herba Mystica." In a comically fast time, he had set up a table and portable cooking setup. Florian didn't know how he fit all that in his bag.
"You all sit down and make yourselves comfortable. Well, I'll whip us up some sandwiches."
Also in record time, Arven had whipped up 5 sandwiches and a half one for Meowth.
"There you go, 5 and a half Arven special sandwiches packed with herbs
Florian was hesitant about eating a sandwich with a sweet herb, but Arven had found a way to make it taste delicious.
"Wow, this is amazing!" everyone said in unison.
"I was expecting this to be too sweet, but this is absolutely delicious," James praised.
They weren't the only ones who wanted the food.
"Ghhhaaa!" Koraidon emerged from its Poké Ball.
"Do you always have to do that?" sighed Arven. "Does he always do that?"
"We can't really do anything about it," Julianna responded.
Koraidon sniffed hungrily at Julianna's sandwich, salivating intensely.
"That's not for you!" Arven shouted.
"It's fine, I don't mind giving it to him," Julianna replied.
"Ya, she can have half of mine, I'm not that hungry."
Julianna handed her sandwich over to Koraidon, who scarfed it down without chewing.
"Oh, come on! If you're going to eat the sandwich, at least bother to taste it!" Arven yelled.
Koraidon gave him his best puppy dog eyes.
"Don't look at me like that!"
The herbs in the sandwich seemed to affect Koraidon. He started zooming around the cave with seemingly boundless energy.
"That's interesting." Julianna thought, "Gonna have to look into that later."
"Now you guys get going, I'll clean up," Arven said.
"But," they all offered.
"No, no, I insist, I like doing this," he ushered them out of the cave.
End Credit Song, Summer- Calvin Harris
Florian's Tarountula evolving might have come a bit out of the blue, but it is a Pokémon that evolves at a super low level, and honestly, more interesting to have it as a Spidops.
Also, how do you feel about Team Rocket getting in on the action? This'll make sense later, and if you remember one of the Pokémon they had in the original story you might know why.