Disclaimer: We don't own Loud House or Pokemon. All rights to Loud House belong to Nickelodeon. All rights to Pokemon belong to Nintendo and Game Freak.
Connecting Cave
Lincoln and his friends were continuing to make their way towards Cyllage City for his next gym battle.
"What did you think of the Battle Chateau, Lincoln?" Shauna asked the white-haired trainer.
"I thought it was kind of cool." said Lincoln.
"Are you going to try going for the Duke title?" asked Trevor.
"Working my way up to that would help me get battle experience for the Kalos League." said Lincoln. "And it would give me a chance to earn more travel funds."
"If the other trainers at the Battle Chateau had nearly as much money as the guy you beat back there, then you could get lots of money for expenses." said Serena.
"I'll focus on that later." said Lincoln. "Let's just keep going."
Later that day, Serena was facing a small, round Pokemon covered in white fluffy fur. She takes out her pokedex and points it at the Pokemon.
"Swirlix, the Cotton Candy Pokemon. To entangle its opponents in battle, it extrudes white threads as sweet and sticky as cotton candy." said Serena's pokedex. Serena takes out a pokeball.
"I'm catching this Pokemon." said Serena as she pulls out a pokeball. "Go, Froakie!" She throws Froakie's pokeball and releases it. "Froakie, use Quick Attack!" Froakie runs at Swirlix with incredible speed and rams it, knocking it back. The Swirlix sings, releasing red soundwaves that hits Froakie, knock it back.
"Froakie, use Water Pulse!" said Serena. Froakie forms a blue ball of water between its hands and it launches it at Swirlix, hitting it; Swirlix begins floating around, dizzily.
"Swirlix is confused." said Trevor. The Swirlix leaps at Froakie and rams it, knocking it back.
"Froakie, Bubble!" said Serena. Froakie releases bubbles from its mouth and they hit Swirlix, knocking it to the ground. Serena takes out an empty pokeball and throws it at the Swirlix, hitting it, and sucking it in; it wiggled a few times until it clicked. "Yes! I caught a Swirlix."
"Way to go, Serena." said Tierno. Froakie suddenly freezes up and begins to glow.
"Hey, Froakie's evolving." said Lincoln. Everyone watches as Froakie begins to glow. When the glowing stopped, Froakie was taller, had a dark blue marking covering its head, and the bubbles around its neck now resembled a scarf. Serena takes out her pokedex and points it at her newly-evolved Froakie.
"Frogadier, the Bubble Frog Pokemon and the evolved form of Froakie. It can throw bubble-covered pebbles with precise control, hitting empty cans up to a hundred feet away." said Serena's pokedex.
"Congratulations, Serena." said Shauna. Serena looks up her new Swirlix's information on her pokedex.
"This says my Swirlix is a boy, he knows Sweet Scent, Tackle, Fairy Wind, Play Nice, Fake Tears, and Round; he has the Sweet Veil ability which prevents his ally Pokemon from falling asleep." said Serena. She returns Frogaider to its pokeball and the group continues walking down Route 7 until they reach a cave entrance.
"This is it; Connecting Cave." said Trevor. "We go through here to get to Route 8, then we go throught there to get to Ambrette Town."
"We can stop there for lunch, and get some supplies while we're at it." said Lincoln. The group then enters the cave. As they walk through it, Lincoln looks up to see several blue, batlike Pokemon hanging from the cave ceiling. Lincoln takes out his pokedex and points it at the Pokemon.
"Zubat, the Bat Pokemon. Even though it has no eyes, it can sense obstacles using ultrasonic waves it emits from its mouth." said Lincoln's pokedex. Lincoln looks with sadness due to the Zubats reminding Lincoln of Fangs, his sister, Lucy's pet bat. As they looked at the Zubats, Tierno's nose suddenly starts to twitch.
"What's wrong, Tierno?" asked Serena.
"I gotta... I gotta..." Tieno says before he lets out a loud sneeze. The Zubats suddenly flew down from the ceiling and began flying towards Lincoln and his friends.
"RUN!" yelled Lincoln. The group splits up in order to divide the swarm of Zubats that were after them.
With Lincoln, he was ducking everytime a Zubat swoops down at him.
"That does it!" said Lincoln as he takes out his Braixen's pokeball and lets her out of it. "Braixen, use Psybeam!" His Braixen grabs the stick out of her tail and fires a beam of psychic energy at the Zubats, hitting a couple, doing super effective damage, and making the remaining one fly off somewhere else.
"Glad that's over." said Lincoln. He looks around and sees his friends weren't with him. "I better find them; I hope they're okay."
At another part of Connecting Cave, Shauna was hiding behind a stalagmite to lose the Zubats.
"That was close." said Shauna. She then looks around and sees the rest of her group wasn't around.
"I gotta find everyone." said Shauna. As she walks through the cave tunnels, she was looking up at the ceiling for any more Zubats; because she wasn't looking where she was going, she didn't see the small chasm in front of her until she feel into it. She instinctively reached out and grabbed the edge of the chasm. She looks down and saw there didn't seem to be a bottom to the deep pit; she struggles to try to climb out.
At another part of the cave, Trevor was walking around looking for the others.
"I hope I find the others soon." said Trevor; he suddenly sees Tierno. "Hey, Tierno."
"Trevor." replied Tierno before running to Trevor. "You okay, man?"
"Yeah." said Trevor.
"Sorry about that." said Tierno.
"It's okay; you didn't mean to." replied Trevor.
"Where do you think the others are?" asked Tierno.
"Don't know; hope they're okay." replied Trevor. He and Tierno began looking for the rest of their friends.
With Lincoln, he was still searching the tunnels for the others.
"I hope everyone's okay." said Lincoln.
"HEEEEEEEEEEELP!" a familiar voice screams out.
"Shauna?!" Lincoln yells out.
"Lincoln!" Shauna calls out from somewhere. "Help me!"
"Where are you?!" Lincoln replied loudly.
"I'm hanging onto a ledge!" shouts Shauna. "I don't know how much longer I can hold on!"
"Keep shouting!" said Lincoln. "I'll follow your voice!"
"Hurry!" shouts Shauna. Lincoln starts running in the direction that Shauna's voice was coming from.
In another part of the cave, Serena was still looking around for her friends.
"Where can everyone be?" asked Serena.
"Hey, Serena!" Tierno's voice calls out, making her look to see Tierno and Trevor running over to her.
"There you guys are!" said Serena.
"Where are Lincoln and Shauna?" asked Trevor.
"I haven't found them yet." said Serena.
"Let's keep looking." said Tierno.
"HELP!" Shauna's voice yells out, surprising everyone.
"That's Shauna!" said Serena.
"She's in trouble!" said Tierno. He, Serena, and Trevor run through the cave tunnel to where Shauna's voice was calling out from.
Back with Shauna, she was barely hanging onto the ledge with just the tips of her fingers.
"I... can't... hold on... any longer." said Shauna as she was almost at her limits; her grip suddenly breaks, and she starts to fall, only for someone to grab her hand at the last second.
"I got you, Shauna!" Lincoln's voice calls out; Shauna looks up to see him hanging onto her.
"Lincoln!" Shauna says to her savior.
"Hang on!" said Lincoln. He then stands up and pulls with everything he's got and was soon able to pull Shauna to safety.
"Too close! Too close!" said Shauna as she tries to catch her breath.
"Are you okay, Shauna?" asked Lincoln, only to be tackle hugged by the girl he just saved, making him fall back onto the ground.
"THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!" shouts Shauna as she hugs Lincoln with all her might.
"Shauna... can't... breathe." Lincoln says as his face turns blue.
"Hey!" Serena calls out from nearby, making Lincoln and Shauna look to see their friends running over to them.
"Are you okay, Shauna?" asked Tierno.
"We heard you calling out for help." said Trevor.
"I felt into a big hole." said Shauna. "I was able to grab the edge of it; I lost my grip after a while, but Lincoln showed up and saved me."
"You might want to let go of him." said Serena. Shauna looks to see Lincoln's face starting to turn purple, making her quickly release her hold on him.
"S-Sorry." said Shauna as Lincoln takes big gulps of air.
"Don't... worry about it." said Lincoln as his face turns back to its regular color.
"I think we should get going before something else happens." said Trevor.
"Good call." said Tierno.
Everyone keeps walking until they finally see the opening to the other side of the tunnel.
"There's the way out." said Serena. The group runs until they finally exit the cave.
"Glad to be out of there." said Shauna.
"Check out this view." said Tierno. Lincoln, Shauna, Serena, and Trevor walk over to the cliff edge Tierno was at and look to see the ocean stretching over the horizon.
"This is so cool." said Shauna.
"Never saw anything like this back home." said Serena. Shauna looks over at Lincoln who had a look of sadness on his face.
"What's wrong, Lincoln?" asked Shauna.
"The ocean reminds me of what happened over a month ago." said Lincoln.
"Are you going to be okay?" asked Serena.
"I'll be fine." said Lincoln.
"Are you sure?" asked Shauna.
"I'm sure." said Lincoln as a small smile appears on his face.
"Let's get going!" said Tierno. "You have a gym to challenge!"
"You're right!" said Lincoln.
"Well, let's go then." said Serena. The group then starts heading down the path towards Ambrette Town. While they walk, Shauna gives Lincoln a quick kiss on the cheek, making him blush, and surprising everyone else.
"W-Why did you do that?" asked Lincoln.
"For saving me back in the cave." said Shauna.
"Oh." said Lincoln. Shauan grabs his hand, making him blush some more, and starts pulling him down the path while the others chuckle.
Lincoln and his friends are continuing to make their way to Cyllage City for his next gym battle. What awaits him as his Kalos journey continues?
End of Chapter 18
Pokemon on Lincoln's Team: Bagon (M), Braixen (F), Panpour (M), Dunsparce (M), Lucario (M), and Flabebe (F).
Pokemon in Lincoln's Collection: Bagon (M), Braixen (F), Zigzagoon (M), Beedrill (M), Panpour (M), Dunsparce (M), Riolu (M), Farfetch'd (F), Budew (F), Flabebe (F), Honedge (F), and Volbeat (M).