Ash's Pokémon Journey

Chapters 41-45

The Naughty Murkrow, the Dunsparce

Swarm and Brock's sick day

Today the gang were taking a nice break near a stream. They were now heading for a city called Olivine City, where Ash could get his next badge. Brock was setting up lunch, Misty was helping him, Tomo was playing with Pikachu, Growlithe and Togepi and Ash was polishing his gym badges. Ash was becoming excited about his badges; he already had four and just needed another four to get into the Johto league. "You certainly look happy when you're polishing your badges Ash" said Misty, who had been watching him. "Of course I am Misty," said Ash "after all I only do need four more badges to get into the league". Misty couldn't argue with Ash there.

Just then Tomo saw something sticking out from a bush. It was some black feathers. "Hey, what's that?" Tomo asked Ash. Before Tomo's question could be answered, a black bird pokemon popped out from the bush. "That's a Murkrow" said Brock.

Ash took out his pokedex: Murkrow, the darkness pokemon. It appears near travellers to lure them into deep forests. It is said to carry misfortune.

Ash gathered up his four badges. "What are you doing Ash?" asked Misty. "I've heard of Murkrow, they love shiny things and they steal them from people," Ash explained "so I suggest you guys hide your shiny things, otherwise they'll get nicked by that Murkrow".

After hearing Ash's explanation, Misty and Brock started to gather up all the shiny things so that they wouldn't get stolen. Except, one shiny was still lying about on the ground; it was one of Brock's little spoons. The Murkrow saw it, picked it up in its beak and flew off with it. "Hey give that back!" shouted Brock, and he ran after it. Ash, Misty and Tomo packed up all the rest of the stuff, before any more of them got lost. "Brock sure is upset over a loss of a spoon" said Misty. "Well don't forget Misty, Brock hates it when someone or something takes his things," said Ash "besides you don't like it either when your stuff is taken". "You're actually Ash, I don't" said Misty.

After picking up all the stuff, Ash, Tomo and Misty caught up with Brock. Brock was now by a cliff and the Murkrow was standing at the top of it, with a big nest beside it. The gang noticed a lot of sparkles coming from the top of the cliff. "That Murkrow must have taken things from other people as well" said Misty. "Well I did say that Murkrow were the thieving type of flying pokemon" said Ash. Brock took out a pokeball from his pocket. "I'm getting my spoon back" he said, and sent out Golbat to retrieve the spoon from Murkrow.

Once Golbat flew to where Murkrow's nest was, Murkrow saw Golbat and started to pick a fight with him. "Use air cutter Golbat" said Brock. Golbat opened his mouth and then light blue S shaped energy disks flew out and headed towards Murkrow. Murkrow flew up to dodge the attack and then flapped its wings, and a cold wind blew out of them. "That Murkrow knows icy wind" said Ash. The icy wind hit Golbat; being an ice type move, Golbat couldn't stand the attack. Then Murkrow's beak turned white and began to spin. "Oh no," said Ash "that Murkrow knows drill peck". Murkrow charged into Golbat, Golbat got really hurt and then Golbat fell to ground over the cliff. "Golbat return" said Brock, returning Golbat to his pokeball. "What should we do now?" asked Misty "that Murkrow seems pretty tricky and with that icy wind move, it will be tough to defeat with a flying pokemon". "Which is why we fight it with non-flying type pokemon" said Ash. He released Sentret from her pokeball. Ash explained to Sentret about the thieving Murkrow and that he need her to fight it. Sentret climbed up the cliff towards Murkrow's nest. "Will Sentret be okay?" asked Misty. "No need to worry Misty," said Ash "I've had Sentret deal with flying types before".

When Murkrow saw Sentret, as soon as she reached the top of the cliff, it picked a fight with her at once. "Use double team Sentret" said Ash. Sentret multiplied herself to confuse Murkrow. Murkrow started to peck at the copies. "Use swift Sentret" said Ash. Sentret fired stars, from her tail, which hit Murkrow at once. Ash then sent out Chikorita and told her to hold her vines onto the top of the cliff. "Sentret may be in trouble," he said "so I'm going to help her". He started to climb up Chikorita's vines. "Be careful of that Murkrow Ash" said Brock.

When Ash reached the top of the cliff, he saw Sentret was okay and still fighting Murkrow. Murkrow began to use icy wind again. "Quick use flamethrower Sentret" said Ash. Sentret blew a flamethrower at the icy wind, which melted at once. Suddenly Sentret began to glow and grew into a pokemon, with a long body and tail. "Furret" gasped Ash

He looked at Furret on the pokedex: Furret, the long body pokemon. The evolved form of Sentret. It makes a nest to suit its long and skinny body. The nest is impossible for other Pokémon to enter.

Murkrow began to fly over to Furret, to peck her, but then Ash took out his fast ball and caught Murkrow with it. "Now this Murkrow won't be stealing anymore things from travellers" he said, and returned Furret to her pokeball.

Ash looked at Murkrow's nest; there was little metal bells, knifes, spoons and forks, pennies and a pair of earrings. "Wow this Murkrow sure was busy" he said. He grabbed Brock's spoon and the other shiny things and climbed back down Chikorita's vines. Then he told Tomo, Misty and Brock about Sentret evolving to Furret and his capture of Murkrow. He also showed them the things that were in Murkrow's nest. "We better give these things to Officer Jenny," said Brock, getting his spoon, "I'm pretty sure that someone may be missing these". And they did.

After doing that, they continued on their journey.

The gang came towards a small town, while on their way to Olivine City. Suddenly they noticed a boy looking through some long grass. "Hey kid, have you lost something?" asked Ash. "No I haven't lost anything," said the boy "I'm looking for a wild Dunsparce to catch".

Ash looked at Dunsparce on the pokedex: Dunsparce the land snake pokemon. It digs into the ground with its tail and makes a maze-like nest. It can fly just a little.

"That's a cute pokemon" said Misty. "Funny thing about Dunsparce is that they are always mistaken for a bug pokemon," said Ash "but they aren't bug pokemon; they are really normal type pokemon".

The boy, named Bucky, explained that a few weeks ago his grandfather, who lived in another town, got sick. So he and his parents went to visit him and care for him. After he got better, they all came back. But once they did they found out that lots of Dunsparce came out of nowhere, while they were gone, and everyone caught one. "This town must have had one of those pokemon swarms" said Ash. "What's a pokemon swarm?" asked Tomo. Ash explained that a pokemon swarm is when a large number of pokemon visit an area like forests, or woods, or lakes, or ponds once a week. Bucky explained that he's been trying to catch one of his own as well. All his friends had one, except him. The gang felt sorry for Bucky and offered to help him find a Dunsparce for his own. Bucky felt grateful and accepted their help.

But trouble was at work. Team Rocket was in a park, where a lot of kids with their Dunsparce were. Their eyes were on all of the Dunsparce. "I never thought I would see so many Dunsparce in one place," said James "they can be hard to find you know". "It would be great to give them all to the boss," said Meowth "but how will we get them all from their trainers?" "Leave that to me" smiled James. He took out a pokeball and out came a Gloom. "Wow James," said Jessie "did your Oddish evolve?" "Yep," said James "and I am extremely proud of her. Okay Gloom, it's time for work now". Gloom nodded in reply.

Meanwhile the gang were still looking for wild Dunsparce in the long grass. Ash had his Pikachu, Noctowl and Cyndaquil helping. Tomo had Growlithe, Houndour and Snubbull helping. Brock had Golbat to help. Misty had one of her Marill to help; Misty got her Marill from Cerulean Gym a while ago. Trying to find a wild Dunsparce turned out to be difficult thought. "I don't think I am ever going to find one" Bucky sighed. "Yes you will," said Ash "we will keep on looking until we find one.

Suddenly a little girl ran up to Bucky and the gang. "You've got to help us please!" she cried. "What's wrong?" asked Bucky. "The other kids and I were playing with our Dunsparce in the park," said the little girl "but then this Gloom came out of nowhere and sprayed sleep powder over everyone. Then I saw these two people grabbing all of the sleeping Dunsparce. They didn't get mine, because we ran away before the Gloom's sleep powder could get us". "What did those two people look like?" asked Misty. "One was a woman with long hair, and the other was a man with short hair," replied the girl "and they had a Meowth with them". "It's Team Rocket," said Ash "those crooks are not getting away with this. Let's go after them". Ash released his Noctowl to locate Team Rocket from up in the air. As soon as Noctowl left, the gang raced to the kids to wake them up. When the kids woke up the girl told them what had happened. The kids started to get upset, because of their kidnapped pokemon, but Brock reassures them that the Dunsparce will be found.

Meanwhile Team Rocket was in a wood, with all the Dunsparce they nabbed. "We did pretty good gathering up all these Dunsparce" said Meowth. "Thanks to my Gloom and her sleep powder attack of course" said James. "All right, enough chit chat," said Jessie "we need to concentrate of taking all these Dunsparce back to the boss". "Oh no you don't!" shouted Misty. Noctowl had found them and had led the gang and the kids to Team Rocket. "Give us back our Dunsparce!" shouted the kids. "No chance brats!" shouted Jessie, and released her Arbok. James released his Gloom to battle. Ash sent Pikachu to attack Arbok and Tomo had his Growlithe attack Gloom. The kids helped too and told their Dunsparce to use take down on Arbok and Gloom. Team Rocket and their pokemon were sent flying from that attack.

The kids were happy to have their Dunsparce back and thanked Ash, Tomo, Misty and Brock. "Glad to have helped" said Brock. Suddenly two Dunsparce came out of the ground. "Hey look those two Dunsparce are wild" said Misty. "Now I can catch a Dunsparce for my own" said Bucky, excitedly. "And me," said Ash "I wish to have one too". Ash had Pikachu battle it. Bucky sent out a Caterpie to battle the other Dunsparce. Of course Misty started to freak out from seeing Caterpie, but it didn't stop her from watching to see how the battle ends. Ash had Pikachu use quick attack on the first Dunsparce and Bucky had his Caterpie use tackle on the other one. The Dunsparce that Pikachu was battling started to wriggle to Pikachu and opened its mouth to bite on Pikachu. "That Dunsparce knows bite," said Ash "quick Pikachu use thunderbolt". Pikachu released a bolt of electricity and Dunsparce got shocked and weakened by it. The Dunsparce that Caterpie was battling used headbutt on Caterpie. "Use string shot Caterpie" said Bucky. Caterpie released its silk and the silk tied up Dunsparce good. "Now tackle it Caterpie". Caterpie tackled Dunsparce and it got weakened. "Okay time to capture them Bucky" said Ash. Bucky agreed. He and Ash threw empty pokeballs at the two Dunsparce and soon they were captured. "All right, we did it," said Ash and Bucky together "we caught our own Dunsparce". Tomo, Misty, Brock and the kids congratulated them for their capture.

So Bucky was now very happy; he finally had his own Dunsparce, and he didn't feel left out anymore. He and the other kids thanked Ash, Tomo, Misty and Brock again for everything, and the gang left to continue their journey.

One morning the gang were up and about and were ready to have breakfast. All of their pokemon were out of their pokeballs too. They were relaxing at a lakeside camp out and the pokemon were enjoying it. Brock had just finished making oatmeal for breakfast and was about to serve it. Ash and Tomo were getting bored of oatmeal, but they didn't say anything otherwise it would upset Brock. Misty looked at Brock and realised that he didn't look well. "Is something wrong Brock?" asked Misty. Suddenly Brock fell over onto the grass. "Brock what's wrong?" asked Misty. Ash and Tomo ran over to see what was wrong. Ash touched Brock's forehead. "He's burning up with fever," he said "we better get him to bed, in the cabin". Ash, Misty and Tomo helped Brock to bed, leaving all the pokemon worried.

Brock was tucked up in bed and Misty got a basin of cold water and cloth and placed the damp cloth onto Brock's forehead. "What's wrong with Brock?" asked Tomo. "I know what's wrong," said Ash "Brock had just collapsed from exhaustion. Prof Oak has collapsed from exhaustion before actually. All Brock needs to do is sleep through the whole day and not do anything". "I agree," said Misty "Brock has been working too hard lately, so he should rest". Just then Brock started to sit up. "I can't rest," he said, weakly, "I have some work to do". "Oh no you don't," said Misty, making Brock lie down again, "you're too sick and weak to work. You lie down and sleep and Ash, Tomo and I will do the work today". "Misty's right, we can take care of the chores today" said Ash. Brock smiled, knowing that he had good friends. "There is a notebook in my buck pack, and it will tell you what chores need to be done today," he said "and it has the recipes of what I was going to cook today". Misty got the notebook out. "Don't you worry about a thing and get some rest" she said.

Ash, Tomo and Misty left Brock to rest in the cabin and explained to the pokemon that Brock wasn't well. Brock's pokemon; Steelix, Graveller, Golbat, Pineco, Stantler and Chansey got worried about their trainer. "Don't worry you six," said Ash "Brock just needs a good day sleep and then he will be back on his feet in no time". "Ash is right" said Misty. Chansey offered to go into the cabin and stay with Brock. "Having Chansey stay with Brock is a good idea," said Ash "after all Chansey are the nursing pokemon". Misty and Tomo agreed and they let Chansey into the cabin to stay with Brock. They also told Chansey that if Brock ever woke up or tried to get up, she must use sing attack to get him back to sleep. Chansey understood.

Ash, Misty and Tomo started to get to work with the chores at once, after they had their breakfast. Misty looked through the notebook. "I can't believe that Brock does these so many things in one day" said Misty. "It's probably because you know he's the eldest sibling of ten children in his family," said Ash "and that he started learning to cook and clean at a young age". "Yes that's true," said Misty "and he did tell us once that he had to take a lot of responsibilities for his sick mum. We better get started now". The first chore that needed doing was polishing Steelix and Graveller; Brock liked to polish them to make them look smart. "I'll polish Steelix," said Ash "Brock taught me how to do that with my Steelix". "And I'll polish Graveller" said Tomo. "Okay boys," said Misty "you two do that, and I will was the dishes". She filled up a big bucket with water from the lake, found some washing up liquid in the cabin, and started to wash the dishes in the bucket. Ash asked Brock's Stantler to use a very gentle sand attack on Steelix and Graveller. Using a little bit of sand was used to give rock, ground and steel type pokemon a good polishing. Then Ash and Tomo started to polish Steelix and Graveller.

Meanwhile Brock was still sleeping in the cabin and Chansey was still watching over him. Brock's Golbat and Pineco were with her too; they had been worried about Brock. At the moment Brock was dreaming; he was dreaming that he was in a beautiful field, with flowers and Bellossoms. When suddenly the field burst into flames and Brock woke up from his dream at once. "Phew what a dream" sighed Brock. He noticed that Chansey, Golbat and Pineco were with him and was grateful to that. "I should go see how Ash, Tomo and Brock are doing" he said. He was about to get out of bed, but Chansey used sing to get him back to sleep. She knew fully well that Brock was not recovered yet. Golbat and Pineco ended up asleep from Chansey's sing, but Chansey used the move wake-up slap to get them to wake up. The move wake- up slap had the ability to wake up sleeping pokemon and humans.

At that time, Ash, Tomo and Misty had finished the polishing and dishes and started on the next line of chores. Ash cut up some firewood with Pikachu, Misty started doing the laundry and Tomo went to find some apples for Brock. Tomo had his six pokemon; Growlithe, Snubbull, Elekid, Smoochum, Farfetch'd and Magby with him. Misty's pokemon; Marill, Staryu, two Poliwhirls, Seaking and Totodile, were swimming in the lake with Ash's Totodile. Ash's other four pokemon; Togetic, Chikorita, Cyndaquil and Noctowl, were dozing in the sun with Brock's Steelix, Graveller and Stantler. Soon Tomo was back with eight juicy ripe apples, and then Misty washed, peeled and cut them for Brock to eat.

In the meantime, Brock had drifted off into another dream. This time he was dreaming that he was standing on some clouds in the sky, with some butterfly. Then suddenly he started to fall out of the sky. When he woke up from the dream he realized that he just fell out of bed. Ash, Tomo and Misty had just entered the cabin and asked him if he was okay. "Oh just a bad dream that's all" Brock replied. Misty handed him a plate of sliced up apples, and Brock ate the apple slices at once because he was hungry. Misty placed a hand on Brock's forehead. "Hmm, it seems you are getting better," she said "but you still need to stay in bed and sleep". Brock was happy that he had Ash, Tomo and Misty as his friends. Ash, Tomo and Misty left to let Brock sleep some more.

Now it was time for the coking chore to be done. Ash offered to do it. "Can you cook though Ash?" asked Misty. "Don't worry Misty," said Ash "I've followed Brock's cooking lots of times". The recipe for today's lunch was in Brock's notebook and Ash followed it carefully. Soon the stew that Ash made was ready. Misty tried it first, and when she did she found it delicious and so did Tomo. "Wow Ash," he said "your cooking is good, although it's not the same as Brocks". "Thanks Misty," said Ash, helping himself to the stew, "Brock's taught me to cook loads of times, and Nurse Joy and my mum have given me cooking lessons as well". "Well those cooking lessons have paid off well" said Misty. "Your stew is great big brother" said Tomo. Ash smiled with pride. Ash also made pokemon food for all the pokemon as well and they liked it as well. "It's all thanks to Brock's Nurse Joy's and my mum's cooking lessons" said Ash.

That night, after today's chores were all done, it was time for bed. Ash, Tomo and Misty decided to sleep in their sleeping bags outside the cabin. They thought that Brock would have a better sleep without them in there. All the pokemon were asleep outside too, except Chansey, Pineco and Golbat; they wanted to stay with Brock. Ash, Tomo and Misty were exhausted after doing today's chores. "Phew I'm tired" sighed Tomo. "So am I," said Ash "it's no wonder Brock has become so exhausted today". "I don't know how he does it," said Misty "I know he has done this for a very long time, but still". "Never mind," said Ash "we all got through it, and Brock has gotten plenty of sleep now. So let's go to sleep now". Misty and Tomo agreed and soon they were all asleep too.

Next morning Ash, Tomo and Misty and their pokemon; Pikachu, Growlithe and Togepi, woke up to see Brock making oatmeal for breakfast. "Hey Brock, how are you feeling?" asked Brock. "I feel a lot better thank you," said Brock "especially after all of that sleep I had yesterday". Misty suggested that Brock rested some more today, just in case he may collapse from exhaustion again. Ash and Tomo agreed with Misty on that. "Okay I'll have a nap after breakfast" said Brock. Brock then said to Ash that he had some of the stew that he made. "You have done well in cooking Ash". Ash smiled with glee.

Next day, after Brock fully recovered from his fever, the gang set off for Olivine City once more.

The Sumo Competition, the Electric Company and the cunning Smeargle and Kecleon

The gang were still on their way to Olivine City. At the moment they came to a village named Rikishii Town. "This is a nice looking village," said Misty "it also looks like what Japan used to look like four hundred years ago". Just then something caught Tomo's eyes; it was a big blue pokemon that looked like an Alligator. "What's that pokemon?" he asked. "Wow, that's a Feraligatr the final evolved form of Totodile" said Ash.

Ash looked at Feraligatr on the pokedex: Feraligatr, the Big Jaw Pokémon. The final evolved form of Totodile. Once a Feraligatr has clamped its powerful jaws around an opponent, it won't let go until the opponent is defeated.

"I can't wait for my Totodile to evolve into that pokemon" said Misty, dreamily. "Neither can I" said Ash.

At that time Feraligatr was fighting a Nidoking, but neither of them was using attacks at each other. In fact what they were just doing was wrestling each other. "It looks like the pokemon are sumo wrestling" said Ash. Just then Feraligatr tossed Nidoking to the ground, gaining a win. Then Feraligatr sumo wrestled with some other pokemon one after another; a Heracross and a Granbull. "Wow that Feraligatr is really strong" said Misty. "Yeah and after all that battling it's done so far, it looks like it wants to battle some more" said Brock.

Two men were with Feraligatr. The first man was Feraligatr's trainer, named Raiden, and the other man was an old man named Shonosuke. "You've done very well Feraligatr," said Raiden, "let's take a break now". "Your Feraligatr has become much stronger Raiden" said Shonosuke. "I plan to win the king's rock Shonosuke" said Raiden.

Just then the gang walked up and introduced themselves to Raiden and Shonosuke. Raiden explained that in Rikishii Town they held a pokemon sumo tournament, called the sumo conference, once a year. "Trainers here train their pokemon all the time like me to compete in the sumo conference" said Raiden. Shonosuke explained that he was the director of the pokemon sumo society. He also explained that pokemon sumo wrestling was when two pokemon battled each other, using only their physical strength. The pokemon had to be the heavy type to enter; otherwise no one could enter it. It was also forbidden for the pokemon to use any attacks like flamethrower, ice beam, focus punch, thunderbolt etc. The winner would receive a king's rock. "Why have a king's rock for a prize?" asked Ash. "Because the king's rock looks like a crown," said Shonosuke "and it makes trainer and pokemon, who win it, feel proud because of all the training they've done to gain it". Ash asked Shonosuke if it was too late to enter now. "No if you want to enter Ash, you may" said Shonosuke. "But you've never entered a pokemon sumo match before" said Misty. "True, but when it comes to battles, I'm always up for the challenge," said Ash, and anyway I do have a pokemon that would like to enter this. Besides I don't that she would forgive me if I didn't let her enter something like this". "I think you may be right about that Ash actually" said Misty. Tomo and Brock agreed; Misty, Brock and Tomo knew exactly what pokemon Ash was talking about.

Ash and the gang went to the pokemon center, where everyone was registering for the pokemon sumo conference, to call Prof Oak. Ash explained about the pokemon sumo conference to Prof Oak and asked him to send Kangaskhan to him. "I understand Ash," said Prof Oak "so what pokemon will you send to me?" "Furret" replied Ash. So Ash sent his Furret to Prof Oak, and Prof Oak sent Ash's Kangaskhan to him. Kangaskhan and her baby were happy to see Ash again and gave him a hug at once. "I'm happy to see you too girls" said Ash. He explained to Kangaskhan about the pokemon sumo conference, which made her excited because she liked to fight, and then they signed up for the conference.

Soon the pokemon sumo conference was about to begin soon. The pokemon that were entering, apart from Feraligatr and Kangaskhan, were Golem, Rhydon, Blastoise, Lickitung, Heracross, Poliwrath, Machamp, Ursaring, Nidoking, Nidoqueen, Quagsire, Golduck, Granbull and Ursaring. Shonosuke explained the rules and about what the winner would get. Apart from a king's rock, the winner would also receive a year supply of pokemon food. "Now best of luck to all of you, and may the best pokemon win" said Shonosuke.

Soon the pokemon sumo conference began. The first match was between an Ursaring and a Nidoqueen. The pokemon charged at each other each and were trying to push one another out of the ring. "Pokemon sumo wrestling looks more rough and tough than I thought it would be" said Tomo. "Yeah and from the looks of things," said Brock "trying to push a heavy opponent out of the ring is pretty difficult". In the end, Nidoqueen won the first match.

Next up was Raiden's turn. His Feraligatr was up against a Golem. "Golem is heavier than Feraligatr," said Brock "so it may turn out difficult for Feraligatr". "Don't forget though Brock," said Ash "Raiden has trained his Feraligatr a lot for this tournament. So I wouldn't underestimate it yet". Feraligatr and Golem were trying to push one another out of the ring like crazy. Just then Raiden told Feraligatr to step back a bit; once Feraligatr did that Golem fell over a bit. Then Raiden told Feraligatr to strike; Feraligatr hit Golem hard on the head and then Golem collapsed out of the ring, giving Feraligatr the win. "Wow," gasped Ash "they both used their strength and weaknesses. That's what we have to do too".

After a few more rounds, it was finally Ash's and Kangaskhan's turn. Their opponent was a Poliwrath. Kangaskhan's baby was sitting next to Pikachu on the bench with Brock, Misty and Tomo. Poliwrath charged at Kangaskhan to try and push her over, but Kangaskhan grabbed Poliwrath's arm and tossed it out of the ring. Poliwrath's trainer and the referee were surprised about what just happened. Ash, Misty and Brock was surprised with that too. "I know Kangaskhan is strong," said Misty "but that was unbelievable". "Yeah, especially since Poliwrath would normally have the advantage of a Kangaskhan" said Brock. Tomo, who was not in surprise mode, explained that Kangaskhan used to wrestle with the other Kangaskhan back at the safari zone. "Why am I not surprised by that?" said Misty. Raiden and Shonosuke were impressed with Ash's Kangaskhan.

Now it was the semi-finals matches, Raiden was up against a Blastoise. "Wow, I can't wait to see what will happen with Feraligatr and Blastoise" said Misty. Feraligatr and Blastoise were going at each other like crazy; pushing and tossing each other to try and get one or the other out of the ring. Then at last with one big effort, Feraligatr managed to toss Blastoise out of the ring. "That battle was sweet" said Misty. Kangaskhan started to move her arms up and down. "You want to battle with Feraligatr, don't you Kangaskhan?" asked Ash. Kangaskhan said yes. "We'll need to win our match first, and then we will fight Feraligatr" replied Ash. Ash and Kangaskhan's opponent was a Machamp. Like the last match, Kangaskhan easily tossed Machamp out of the ring, like it was nothing.

It was now time for Ash and Raiden to face each other in the finals. "I'm surprised that you and Kangaskhan have made it this far Ash," said Raiden "but I won't be going easy on you here". "I won't be going easy going you either" replied Ash. "I can't wait to see the results from both of you," said Shonosuke "now is time for both of you to give it your all".

Kangaskhan and Feraligatr were ready to fight each other. "Don't underestimate Feraligatr Kangaskhan," said Ash "it has fought in a lot of battles like you have". The fight was now on and Kangaskhan and Feraligatr started to go at each other like crazy. Feraligatr started to charge at Kangaskhan, but Ash told her to dodge and Feraligatr kept on missing her. "Sorry Raiden," said Ash "but Kangaskhan has practiced her speed a lot in the past". "Then watch this Ash," replied Raiden "Feraligatr show them your speed". Feraligatr charged at Kangaskhan again and started to try pushing her out of the ring. "Stand your ground!" shouted Ash. Kangaskhan stomped her left leg and then managed to push Feraligatr back. "That Kangaskhan is impressive," said Raiden "but this ends now. Let's go Feraligatr". Feraligatr and Kangaskhan went at each other again; this time they tried to toss each other. Kangaskhan roared and stomped her feet again. She was stomping her feet so hard that the ground shook a little, and Feraligatr went off guard from the shake. "Now's our chance Kangaskhan," said Ash "push Feraligatr out of the ring". With one big effort, Kangaskhan managed to push Feraligatr out of the ring. "Kangaskhan is the new champion!" said the referee.

So Ash and Kangaskhan won the pokemon sumo conference. Ash and Kangaskhan hugged each other, happy of their victory. The baby Kangaskhan joined in the hug too. Raiden congratulated Ash of his victory and so did Tomo, Brock and Misty. "You were awesome big brother!" cheered Tomo. "Kangaskhan was great too" said Brock. "I'm happy for the both of you" said Misty. Shonosuke declared Ash the winner of the pokemon sumo conference and congratulated him. Next he presented Ash the king's rock for his victory and the year supply of pokemon food.

Ash was happy because the king's rock was now part of his collection of evolutionary items. Nurse Joy presented the year supply of pokemon food; the pokemon food was in a total of a fourteen boxes. "What shall we do with the pokemon food?" asked Misty "I mean we can't carry all of this with us". "I know," said Brock "we'll keep a few boxes for ourselves, and give the rest away". Ash, Misty and Tomo agreed with that plan. Before they decided what to do, Ash gave Kangaskhan and her baby some of the pokemon food because they were hungry and they deserved it too, and then he sent them back to Prof Oak's lab. In the end; the gang kept three boxes of pokemon food, three boxes were sent to Cerulean Gym, another three were sent to Pewter Gym and the rest were sent to Prof Oak's lab.

With the pokemon sumo conference taken care of, the gang said goodbye to Raiden and Shonosuke, and left Rikishii Town to continue their journey to Olivine City.

Today the gang had come to a pretty green area. It was breezy in that area; a wind power generator was nearby and there were lots of windmills that made electricity about. "I think this is a good place to relax" said Brock. Ash, Tomo and Misty agreed. "We've been through a lot lately," said Misty "se we deserve a rest". This was true; the gang had been through a lot on their way to Olivine City. But they had been through one surprise along the journey; Brock's Golbat evolved into its final form Crobat. Ash let out all of his pokemon to relax and enjoy the fresh air. The six pokemon he had with him, apart from Pikachu, were Mareep, Chikorita, Togetic, Totodile and Houndour.

But trouble was around. Some punk teenagers were around the area. There were five of them and all of them had dark purple hair. Their leader was the tallest and he was called Spike, mainly because of his spiky hair. The second punk kid was a bit shorter than Spike and was called Scruff, mainly because of his scruffy hair. The third punk kid was short and fat and hardly had any hair at all. He was called Spuds. There were two girls as well; one with long hair and one with short hair, and they were twin sisters. The long haired girl was Selina and the other Camilla. The punk kids were hanging around the wind power generator and they came to a building. "Why are we here Spike?" asked Spud. "Because electric pokemon live in this building Spud," Spike answered "and we are going to grab them for ourselves. Now get your pokeballs ready everyone, because its pokemon nabbing time". The building had an electric lock on it, which would only open with a card. "Leave this to me" said Selina. She had a purse with her and she pulled out a card. "What card is that?" asked Scruff. "A card that I swiped from an electric company employee some time ago" replied Selina. "Trust you to be able to do that sister," said Camilla "after all you have always been good at swiping things". Selina put the card through the electric lock and the door opened. "Come on gang," said Spike "time to get the electric pokemon". The punk kids went inside and they left the door open, so that they would easily leave once they were done.

Meanwhile the gang were about to set up lunch and Ash and Chikorita and Mareep went to look for firewood. Just then Ash saw the building, with the door open. "There must be people working in there," said Ash "better not go in there, otherwise we may run into trouble". So he and his pokemon went back to looking for firewood.

At that time the punks ran into some of the electric pokemon in the building; some Magnemite. Scruff released a Charmeleon from a pokeball and ordered it to use flamethrower on Magnemite. Since Magnemite was also a steel type pokemon, as well as an electric type, Charmeleon's flamethrower made all the Magnemite faint. "That was easy" smirked Scruff. "Spud got the cages ready?" asked Spike. "Sure do Spike, they're right here" answered Spud. He had some metal cages on some trolleys with him. The punk kids placed the defeated Magnemite into the cages. "Since Magnemite are here, my guess is Magneton may be in here," said Camilla "whenever you see Magnemite, you would see Magneton as well". "There are supposed to be a lot of different electric pokemon here," said Spike "so there's no doubt that Magneton will be one of them. Now we keep on going".

At that time Ash, Mareep and Chikorita were still looking for firewood, when suddenly Mareep started to run back to the building. "Hey Mareep, what's wrong?" said Ash. He and Chikorita ran after Mareep to the building. Mareep ran straight inside the building. "Something wrong must be happening in there" Ash said to Chikorita. He and Chikorita entered the building to call out to Mareep. But then the door closed on them. "The wind must have done that" said Ash. The door was now locked and Ash and Chikorita couldn't get out again. "Oh no," he said "I better call for help". He started to bang on the door to call out to Tomo, Brock and Misty.

Pikachu heard Ash's call for help and ran off to where he was. Tomo, Misty and Brock noticed this and thought that Ash might be in trouble. They ran to the building. "Ash, are you in there?" asked Brock. "Yes I am" replied Ash. Ash explained about Mareep running into the building. "I fear that trouble may be brewing in this building," said Ash "which is why I'm going to look for Mareep; she might be in trouble". "Be careful Ash," said Brock "if there is trouble in this building, you may end up in trouble too". "Okay, let's go find Mareep, Chikorita" replied Ash, and then he and Chikorita ran off to search for Mareep. "We better call someone from the electric company to get the door open" said Brock. "We better get the police too," said Misty "just in case trouble is in there". "Oh, I do hope that big brother will be okay" said Tomo, worriedly. "Don't worry Tomo," said Brock "Ash will be fine". Then Brock went to find a phone booth to call for help.

Meanwhile the punk kids had walked farer and farer into the building. They now had some Magneton in their cages, as well as Magnemite, and right now they had run into some Voltorb and Electrode. Spud sent out a Golem to battle them, and Golem knocked the Voltorb and Electrode out with a combination of rollout and tackle. "Wow, we are hitting the jackpot here" said Spud. "Not yet we are," said Spike "I've heard that an Electabuzz is in this building too. Once we get that Electabuzz, we will hit the jackpot then". "Got it Spike" said Spud.

At that time Mareep was still running around the building. She knew that something was occurring in the building, and she wanted to know what was going on. Just then Mareep saw some Elekids. Mareep spoke to them, saying that she felt trouble was occurring in the building. The Elekids told Mareep that intruders were in the building, and they were trapping the electric pokemon in the building. Mareep thought that was awful and offered to help them. So both Mareep and the Elekids ran off together to fight the intruders.

Right now the punk kids had found the control room. Once they opened the door, they found Electabuzz. Electabuzz started to charge its electricity to force them to leave. "So we've finally found" smiled Spike. He took out a pokeball and released a Nidoking. Electabuzz charged at Nidoking. "Use dynamic punch Nidoking" said Spike. Nidoking's fist glowed white and then Nidoking punched Electabuzz. "Now use mega horn". Nidoking's horn glowed white and then Nidoking stabbed Electabuzz good with his horn. Electabuzz fainted. Scruff and Spud placed the Electabuzz into a cage. Spike looked at their capture of the Magnemite, Magneton, Voltorb, Electrode and Electabuzz. "I think this is enough," he said "it's time we left now". "Got it Spike" said the rest of the gang together.

While that was going on, Ash and Chikorita were still searching for Mareep. "Oh boy," sighed Ash "this place has so many twist and turns, it's like a labyrinth in here. It's going to be tricky trying to find Mareep". Just then he and Chikorita found Mareep, with the Elekids, in a corridor. "Finally we found you Mareep". Mareep was happy to see her trainer and ran up to him. "What's going on Mareep?" Mareep spoke to Ash. "I see, intruders have invaded this building and are taking the electric pokemon that work here," said Ash "well they aren't getting away with it. Come on Mareep and Chikorita, let's go after these crooks and set the electric pokemon free. Elekid show us the way to the invaders". And the Elekids did.

Meanwhile, Tomo, Misty and Brock were waiting for someone from the electric company to turn up and open the door. "I wish they hurry up and get here," said Tomo "I'm worried about big brother". Just then a car drove up, and a woman stepped out. "I'm the head of security and I'm sorry if I took so long" said the woman. "Oh don't worry," replied Misty "we are just glad you are here at last". The gang explained to the woman what had happened. "Hmm, I understand," said the woman "and I think I might know what trouble is brewing in the building. There have been reports about punk kids being around lately, and these kids cause trouble all the time". "Oh no," said Misty, worriedly, "I hope they haven't done anything to Ash yet". "I called the police and they should be arriving soon" said Brock. The woman got out a card and unlocked the door. "Come on, let's go" she said, and she and the kids went inside.

Right now the punk kids were getting ready to leave the building. The cages with the electric pokemon were on trolleys and all of the punk kids were pushing them. Spike was pushing the cage with Electabuzz. Scruff was pushing the trolley with Voltorb. Spud was pushing the cage with Electrode. Selina was pushing the cage with Magnemite. Camilla was pushing the cage with Magneton. "Where will we be heading next Spike?" asked Spud. Spud looked thoughtful. "We will take these pokemon to our hideout first," he said "then we will decide where to strike next".

They were just about to head back to the door they came through, when suddenly they were stopped by an electric bolt. "What was that?!" demanded Spike. Ash, Mareep, Chikorita and the Elekids appeared in front of them. "You aren't taking the electric pokemon anywhere!" shouted Ash. "Beat it kid," said Scruff "we don't have the time to deal with you". "No way," said Ash "I'm not leaving until you release the electric pokemon". "Very well kid," said Spike "everyone release the pokemon". The punk kids released their pokemon from their pokeballs. Scruff had a Primeape and Camilla had an Arbok. "Attack that kid and those puny pokemon" said Spike. Nidoking, Primeape, Golem, Charmeleon and Arbok started to charge at Ash and the pokemon. "Okay then, Mareep, Chikorita and Elekids, attack those pokemon together" said Ash. Chikorita used her razor leaf on Golem. Mareep used thunderbolt on Arbok. The Elekids used various attacks on Nidoking, Primeape and Charmeleon. But the pokemon were not beaten yet. "Okay all of you, let's finish off these punk kids now!" said Ash. Chikorita and Mareep agreed with that.

Suddenly Chikorita and Mareep started to glow. "They are evolving" gasped Ash. Chikorita evolved to Bayleef and Mareep evolved into Flaffy. "Oh wow," said Ash "okay Bayleef, use your razor leaf on the cages". When Bayleef flung her leafs at the cages, the cages broke and the electric pokemon were free. "No!" shouted Spike "grrr you will pay for that brat!"

Suddenly the woman, Tomo, Misty and Brock arrived at the scene. "Ash are you okay?" asked Misty. "I'm fine" said Ash. Tomo, Brock and Misty saw Bayleef and Flaffy and they were surprised by the evolutions. The woman saw the punk kids. "You kids are now in big trouble" she said. She and Ash attacked the kid's pokemon again with Bayleef, Flaffy and Electabuzz. The kid's pokemon fainted at once. Then the woman told the Magneton to use thunder wave on the punk kids. That way the kids would be paralyzed and unable to escape. "Now these punk kids won't be causing trouble anymore" said the woman.

Soon Officer Jenny and some other police were on the scene. The punk kids were handcuffed and put into the police cars at once, and their pokemon were taken away from them. "I thank you so much for helping us catch Spike and his gang," said Officer Jenny "my cousins and I have been after them for months, and now they will be getting a very long timeout". "Serves them right," said Ash "and I don't feel a bit sorry for them". "Neither do I" said Misty.

With the punk kids taken care off, the gang now continued on their journey to Olivine City.

The gang was getting close to Olivine City, but they still had some more walking to do to get there. Suddenly an enormous blimp flew over them. "Wow, look at that" said Misty. "I've never seen anything like it" said Brock. "It's huge!" said Tomo. "Let's check it out" said Ash. The blimp was flying over to the air station, not far from where the gang was, so the gang headed over to the air station.

Once the gang made it at the air station, the blimp started to land to get refueled. A lot of other people were at the air station too, all wanting to have a look at the blimp. "This blimp is awesome" said Ash. "I wonder what it carries" said Brock. A man at the air station explained that the blimp was called the Blue May and it carried people all around the world. The blimp was also like a five star luxury hotel because it had lots of luxury suites, restaurants and a theatre inside. "Oh wow," said Misty "I would love to see what it's like inside".

Just then a staff member of the blimp came out of the blimp. "Please excuse me," he said to the crowd of people "is there a pokemon doctor here? We have two pokemon on board that need help". The gang walked up to the man. "What's wrong with the pokemon?" asked Brock. "They seem to feeling sick," said the man "and we don't have a pokemon doctor on board, and the nearest pokemon center is in Olivine City". "You can leave it to me," said Brock "I'm studying to become a pokemon doctor and I have a lot of medicine supplies on me". The man was delighted and let the gang aboard the blimp at once.

The inside of the blimp was like a big mansion hall. "Wow, its more glamorous inside than it is outside the blimp" said Misty "it must be nice travelling in something like this". At the receptionist of the blimp, two beautiful women were waiting for the man. The man introduced the women to Brock, who would help their pokemon. The women introduced themselves as Madison and Alexa, and they were sisters. "Thank you for coming" said Madison. "Yeah our poor pokemon haven't been feeling well since last night" said Alexa. "No problem," said Brock "I'll make your pokemon well again in no time. So where are they?" Madison and Alexa turned to a big flower pot with a plant in it. "Come on out Arty," said Madison "someone is here to make you feel better". "You too Greeny" said Alexa.

A beige and brown colored pokemon, with a green tipped tail, came out from behind the flower pot. Then a green and yellow pokemon, with a red stripe on its tummy, appeared in front of the flower pot. "This Smeargle is my pokemon, Arty" said Maddison. "And this Kecleon is my pokemon, Greeny" said Alexa.

Ash looked at Smeargle and Kecleon on the pokedex: Smeargle, the painter pokemon. A special fluid oozes from the tip of its tail. It paints the fluid everywhere to mark its territory. Kecleon, the colour swap pokemon. It can freely change its body's colour. The zigzag pattern on its belly doesn't change, however.

"They are nice pokemon," said Brock "how did they become feeling sick?" Maddison and Alexa explained that last night it was very windy and the blimp kept on swaying side to side, and it was then that Arty and Greeny began to feel sick. "Ah it's just a case of air sickness," said Brock "but not to worry, I have a remedy for that with me". Brock took out a jar from his backpack, took out two pills from the jar and gave them to Arty and Greeny. Arty and Greeny started to feel better in no time. "Now they just need to take a good nap and then they will be right as rain again" said Brock. Maddison and Alexa were grateful o Brock, and asked him and the rest of the gang to have some lunch with them in the restaurant of the blimp. "Is it okay though?" asked Misty "I mean won't this blimp be leaving again soon?" "Don't worry," said the man "we won' be taking off again for a while, so you can have some lunch here". So the gang accepted Maddison and Alexa's invitation; besides it wouldn't be every day that they would get the chance of having a meal in a luxurious blimp. Maddison and Alexa asked the man to take Arty and Greeny back to their room, for a nap, and the man did.

But something suspicious was happening inside the Blue May. Two men in uniform were patrolling their way through the suite rooms. These men were not really staff members of the Blue May; they were really burglars, steeling valuable stuff from the rooms. "Good thing we managed to find uniforms on this blimp, and disguise ourselves as attendants" said one of them. "That's the best thing to do when stealing," said the other man "that way we will get away with it after stealing from these rooms". "Since all of these passengers are all wealthy," said the first man "there's no doubt there's lots of precious things to take like very fine jewelry and money". "And arts and other valuable stuff like that" said the other. "Exactly," said the first "now let's start looking for valuables". The two men started to sneak into the rooms.

Meanwhile the gang was enjoying a delicious meal with Maddison and Alexa. "This has got to be the best meal that I have ever eaten" said Ash. "I second that," said Misty "you don't get to eat exquisite food like this anywhere else". Just then an announcement was heard from some speakers. "Attention all passengers," it said "there have been reports of robbery lately. Please keep all your valuables out of sight and report to a staff member at once if you see anything or anyone suspicious". "Oh dear," said Maddison "I hope they haven't taken my jewelry". "Or mine" said Alexa. The sisters and the gang finished off their meal quick, and then set off for the sister's room.

Meanwhile the two burglars had just got into Maddison's and Alexa's room. They had already nicked some stuff from the other rooms, and had their loot in a bag. Right now they were aiming for Maddison's stuff and Alexa's stuff. Arty and Greeny heard them enter, but kept themselves out of sight. Arty hid under the bed and Greeny blended in with the wall. The two burglars found Maddison's and Alexa's boxes of jewelry. There were necklaces, earrings and rings in them. "Wow this lot will make us rich" said the second burglar. "Okay we better leave now," said the first "otherwise we will get found out". They were just about to leave the room, when suddenly a very long tongue grabbed the jewelry boxes. It was Greeny; Greeny had used its lick attack to grab the jewelry boxes. "Hey give those back!" demanded the first burglar. Just then Arty came out from the bed, splashed its paint onto the burglars, and then both Arty and Greeny dashed off with the jewelry boxes. The two burglars ran after them.

Right now the two sisters and the gang were heading for the suites. At the moment a lot of people were reporting to some staff their some of their belongings had been taken. "There must be some burglars on this blimp" said Misty. "If there are we better go after them, before they steal anymore stuff" said Brock. Ash, Tomo and Misty agreed with that.

Suddenly Arty and Greeny ran up to the gang and sisters. "Arty, Greeny," said Maddison "what are you two doing here?" Arty and Greeny gave their owners their jewelry boxes. "Was someone trying to take these?" asked Alexa. Arty and Greeny nodded. "The burglars must be nearby" said Ash. Sure enough they were; they had been chasing Arty and Greeny and had just arrived in the hall. An attendant saw them. "Wait a second, you two aren't part of our staff" he said. The burglars turned to run away. "Oh no you don't, you thieves!" shouted Ash. He released Bayleef and told her to use vine whip to trap the burglars. Bayleef trapped the burglars in her vines at once. "Now we've got you" said Ash. The attendant called for the police at once.

Soon Officer Jenny and her men arrived and the two burglars were arrested. The loot they had stolen were given back to their rightful owners. "Thank goodness you managed to catch those guys," said Officer Jenny "I have been after those two for ages. They sneak into luxurious hotels and other places to steal from wealthy people". "Well it's thanks to Arty and Greeny," said Ash "I mean we wouldn't have run into them if it wasn't for their clever thinking". "Then they are a very clever Smeargle and Kecleon" said Officer Jenny. Maddison and Alexa agreed with that. Officer Jenny thanked them again and left with the police and burglars. Maddison and Alexa thanked the gang too.

Soon the Blue May was refueled and stocked and was ready to take off again. Ash, Tomo, Misty and Brock said goodbye to Maddison and Alexa, and continued on their way to Olivine City, while the Blue May started to fly away. "You know," said Ash "I do like flying and all, but I prefer travelling by foot. I mean in the sky you don't see what you get to see on land". "I agree with that," said Brock "besides you see more people and pokemon on land than you do in the air". "Yeah and when you are on your feet, you don't get air sick" said Misty. "I prefer seeing things on the ground too" said Tomo. So it was agreed; the gang preferred to travel on foot than on any other way of transport.

The Light house, Shuckle and

Cianwood Gym

After days of travelling, the gang made it to Olivine City. "Finally we're here," said Ash "now I can earn my sixth gym badge". "Do you know what pokemon to use for this gym Ash?" asked Misty. "Yep, I found out earlier that this gym uses steel type pokemon," said Ash "so I will use Cyndaquil and Houndour, because fire beats steel type". "Trust you to think things out Ash" smiled Brock.

The gang arrived at the Olivine Gym. It was designed of a big steeled roof. Ash knocked on the door and asked for a battle, but there was no answer. Ash tried again, but still no answer came. "Do you think the gym leader isn't here?" asked Misty. Just before her question was answered, the door opened and out came a little girl. "Hi there," said the girl "my name is Janina, and I'm Jasmine's apprentice". "Is Jasmine the gym leader?" asked Ash "is she here?" "Yes Jasmine's the gym leader," said Janina "but I think she's at the shining light house at the wharf. She has been going there a lot lately". "Oh really?" asked Ash "then we shall go there to ask Jasmine for a gym battle then".

Janina led the gang to the lighthouse. "So Janina," said Misty "I take it you wish to take over the leadership of Olivine Gym for Jasmine when you're older?" "Yes I do," said Janina "but sometimes I don't think I'm cut out for it". "Huh? Why do you think that?" asked Misty. "Well because Jasmine says that I don't fully understand my Onix," said Janina "and there still so many things about being a trainer and gym leader that I don't understand. And I don't think I'm strong enough, because my Onix always gets beaten by water type pokemon." "That doesn't matter though," said Brock "rock pokemon grow stronger every time they lose to water pokemon. I'm from Pewter Gym, the rock pokemon gym, and losing helps you're pokemon get strong. I had an Onix, before I evolved it into Steelix, and even if he doesn't like water, we still battled against a lot of water pokemon in the past. We didn't give up and neither should you or your Onix". "Brock's right Janina," said Ash "besides if you do lose a match, you just have to keep trying until you win it". Janina had a thought about what Brock and Ash said.

Janina and the gang soon reached the wharf. There were two lighthouses; one was the old brick built lighthouse, and the other was the modern stone built lighthouse. "The old brick lighthouse is the shining lighthouse, and it has been around for a very, very long time" explained Janine. "Wow, let's check it out" said Ash. "Yeah, lets" said Misty. So they all went inside. "Hello is everyone one here?" Ash called out. No one replied. "Jasmine is probably at the very top of the lighthouse, where the light bit is" said Janine. Everyone began to walk up the stairs to the very top.

When they got to the top, they noticed a yellow, black striped pokemon next to the beacon of the light house. "That Ampharos is Jasmine's," said Janina "its name is Sparkle, and it's the one who makes the light shine from the lighthouse".

Ash looked at Ampharos on the pokedex: Ampharos, the light pokemon. The evolved form of Flaffy. The tail's tip shines brightly and can be seen from far away. It acts as a beacon for lost people.

Suddenly Ash's Flaffy came out of her pokeball. "Hey Flaffy, what are you doing out?" asked Ash. Flaffy ran over to the Ampharos and started to nuzzle it. "Flaffy must be excited seeing its final evolved form" said Misty.

Just then an old man and a pretty young, long haired, woman came up. "Oh hello," said the woman "what are you doing here?" "Hi Jasmine," said Janina "one of the trainers here wanted to challenge you to a gym match". Ash introduced himself to Jasmine and asked her for a gym battle. "I am sorry Ash," said Jasmine "but I'm afraid, I am not really in the mood to do any gym battles. Because my Sparkle here is sick and I can't even think about gym battles at the moment". The old man, whose name was Myron and Jasmine's grandfather, explained everything. In the olden days, before electricity was invented, Ampharos tail lights were used to become the light beacon for the shining lighthouse. Even though there was now an electric powered lighthouse, people still liked and used the shining lighthouse, even if it was now old. But recently Sparkle had become very sick and its tail light has become weak, and nothing seems to be helping Sparkle feel better. "No wonder you don't want to battle Jasmine," said Ash, walking over to Sparkle and petting its head, "I myself never think of doing anything while any of my pokemon are sick". Flaffy nuzzled Sparkle again to cheer it up. "Is there anything that can help Sparkle?" asked Brock. "There is actually," said Myron "I ordered a special medicine from the pharmacy in Cianwood City, which can cure Sparkle. I just got a call from the pharmacy that the medicine is ready and we can pick it up at any time". "I would like to get myself," said Jasmine "but I can't leave Sparkle. So Janina I need you to go to Cianwood City to pick up the medicine for me". "You can count on me Jasmine" said Janina.

Ash spoke with Tomo, Misty and Brock. "What shall we do?" asked Ash "I mean it's obvious I won't be able to battle here for a while". Myron had the answer; he explained that Cianwood City had a gym there as well. So Ash decided to head over to Cianwood City to earn his fifth badge there. Tomo, Misty and Brock liked that idea, so with Janina they jumped onto a ferry for Cianwood City.

It wasn't long before the ferry finally arrived at Cianwood City. Janina headed over to the pharmacy at once to pick up the medicine for Jasmine's Ampharos. After claiming the medicine, Janina jumped onto another ferry back to Olivine City. She needed to give the medicine to Jasmine as soon as she could. Ash, Tomo, Misty and Brock said goodbye to Janina and asked her to tell Sparkle to get well soon.

Brock spoke to the others. "Before we head off to Cianwood Gym," he said "there is something that I would like to do first". "What is it Brock?" asked Ash. "Well I find out earlier that you can find a pokemon called Shuckle here in Cianwood City" said Brock. "Shuckle?" said Misty.

Ash looked up Shuckle on the pokedex: Shuckle, the mold pokemon. It stores berries in its shell. The berries eventually ferment to become delicious juices

"The juices from Shuckle are very good for pokemon and its good medicine too," said Brock "so I want to catch one for myself. It would be great for my dream as a pokemon doctor". Ash, Misty and Tomo understood and they all offered to help Brock catch a Shuckle.

Brock looked into his guide and found out that Shuckle could be found at the northern beach area of Cianwood City. On the northern beach area of Cianwood City, there were a lot of rocks about. "Shuckle are rock and bug type pokemon and they normally live under rocks" explained Brock. So the gang began to search for them under the rocks and sand, but trying to locate them was not easy. Pikachu and Growlithe were sniffing around to find any Shuckle, but they had trouble finding one too.

But suddenly Growlithe picked up a scent, which led him to rubble of rocks. "I think Growlithe has found something" said Tomo. The gang ran over to the rubble of rocks and began to move the rocks a side. Just then Tomo found what Growlithe had been sniffing. He had found seven pokemon that looked like turtles and they looked hurt; they had bruises and scrapes on them. "Look at these pokemon" he said to the others. Ash, Misty and Brock came to have a look and gasped. "These pokemon are Shuckle," said Brock "and they look like they had been in a fight. We need to take them to a pokemon center at once". Brock grabbed two of the Shuckle, Misty grabbed two, Ash grabbed two and Tomo grabbed one.

The gang raced to the pokemon center and handed the seven Shuckle over to Nurse Joy at once. Nurse Joy had the Shuckle bandaged up at once. "What do you suppose happened to these Shuckle Nurse Joy?" asked Misty. "Well my guess is they must have had a fight with the wild Krabby that live in the same area where the Shuckle live," said Nurse Joy "the Shuckle and Krabby always fight over territory". "No wonder the Shuckle were hurt," said Ash "after all water pokemon do beat rock pokemon". Just then Tomo noticed something about the Shuckle. "One of them has a different coloured shell" he said. He was right; instead of having a red shell like the other Shuckle, one of the Shuckle had a purple shell. "It's a shiny pokemon" said Ash. "Ash is right," said Brock "it is a shiny". "Of all the Shuckle I've seen around here," said Nurse Joy "this is the first time to see a shiny Shuckle".

In no time at all, the seven Shuckle were all healed from their bruises and scrapes. Brock checked them over. "I'm glad that you seven are okay" he said. The Shuckle were grateful to the gang for helping them. The purple Shuckle shook its shell at Brock. "I think it wants to share its juice with you Brock," said Nurse Joy "Shuckle always like to share their juice with those that have been kind to them, and to those that they wish to be friends with". Brock accepted Shuckle's berry juice and found it very delicious. Ash, Tomo and Misty tried some too and they too liked the juice. Even Pikachu, Growlithe and Togepi liked it. "This is great juice" said Ash. "Yeah no wonder Shuckle are famous for making juice out of berries and things" said Misty. "I'd like some more please" said Tomo. Brock turned to the purple Shuckle. "Shuckle, I want to capture you," he said "my dream is to become a pokemon doctor in the future, and you will be perfect on my team. So will you let me capture you?" Shuckle stared at Brock for a few seconds and then it started to speak. "I wonder what it's saying" said Misty. "I can translate that," said Ash "it said that it will accept Brock of catching it, but on two conditions". "What are the two conditions Ash?" asked Brock. "The first condition is that you have to battle it," said Ash "and the second condition is that you capture the other six Shuckle too, because there are its siblings and it doesn't want to be separated from them". "I understand," said Brock "and I accept your conditions Shuckle".

The gang and the seven Shuckle made their way outside the pokemon center and onto the beach. The purple Shuckle was ready to battle and Brock released his Graveler to battle Shuckle. "Use rock throw Graveler" said Brock. Graveler released some rocks from his body and sent them at Shuckle, but Shuckle used withdraw to defend itself from the rocks. "Okay use rollout" said Brock. Graveler curled himself up into a ball and started to roll very fast at Shuckle, and then it tackled Shuckle really hard. Shuckle began to get tired out. "Now's my chance to catch you Shuckle," said Brock, taking out a pokeball, "go pokeball". Brock tossed the pokeball at the purple Shuckle and then a few seconds later it was caught. Then Brock took out six more empty pokeballs from his ruck sack and used them to catch the other six Shuckle. "I finally have my own Shuckle" Brock smiled. Ash, Tomo and Misty congratulated Brock.

Brock sent his Stantler and the six normal Shuckle to Pewter Gym and kept the shiny Shuckle with him. "Is it okay that the purple Shuckle doesn't get sent to Pewter Gym too Brock?" asked Misty. "Yeah it's okay Misty," said Brock "I explained to the Shuckle about my little siblings and the pokemon at Pewter Gym. So the Shuckle will have a lot of friends to keep them company and my family will defiantly look after them".

So with Brock finally having some Shuckle of his own, the gang could finally go to Cianwood Gym, where Ash could get his fifth gym badge.

The gang were now making their way to the Cianwood Gym. "I can't wait to battle at this gym" said Ash. Soon they reached a sort of fighting dojo building. "Is this the gym?" asked Misty. Before her question was answered, a woman came up to the gang. "Hello there," the woman said "I take it you are here to battle my husband?" "Your husband?" asked Ash. "That's right," said the woman "my husband, Chuck, is the gym leader of this gym". "So this fighting dojo building is Cianwood Gym" said Misty. "Yes," said Chuck's wife "and my husband also teach people how to become strong fighters and great fighting type pokemon trainers, so this both a gym and a fighting dojo school".

Chuck's wife led the gang to where Chuck was. Chuck was a big muscle man and right now he was doing some training with a Machoke. "My husband loves to practice fighting with his pokemon," said his wife "it also puts him into shape. Truth is he looks flabby most of time, so training does him good". "Do you own any pokemon too?" asked Ash. "Yes I own a few Tyrogue," Chuck's wife answered "and they are very good helpers around the house".

At that moment, Chuck noticed his wife with the gang and went up to them. "Who are these children my dear?" asked Chuck. His wife introduced him to Ash. "He wishes to battle you for a Storm Badge honey" she said. When Chuck heard that Ash wanted to battle, he started to show off his muscles. "Listen well son," he said to Ash "when me and my pokemon battle, we love to put up a really good fight. So there will be no mercy in our battle". "That's fine with me Chuck," said Ash "I like a good challenge in pokemon battles".

Ash and Chuck got ready to battle on the gym floor. Chuck's Machoke stood behind Chuck to wait for its turn to fight. Tomo, Misty and Brock stood at the side of the floor to watch Ash. "I think Ash may have some trouble with this gym battle," said Brock "Chuck seems to be no pushover". "But Ash has battled fighting type pokemon before," said Misty "so he would know really what he's up against". "Yeah big brother can win this" said Tomo. The referee, who was one of Chuck's students, explained the gym rules and that it was a two on two pokemon battle. Then he declared it to begin.

Chuck sent out a Poliwrath to battle first. Ash sent out Bayleef to battle. Since Bayleef was a grass type pokemon; she would have an advantage of Poliwrath a water type. "All right Poliwrath use water gun" said Chuck. Poliwrath fired a stream of water at Bayleef. "Dodge it Bayleef" said Ash. Bayleef jumped to avoid the water gun. "Now use magical leaf Bayleef". Bayleef flung some glowing light green leaves at Poliwrath, and Poliwrath got really hurt by that. "Now use vine whip Bayleef". Bayleef wrapped her vines around Poliwrath, held it up and then slammed it on the floor. Poliwrath started to look weak. "Focus Poliwrath" said Chuck. "Finish this with body slam Bayleef" said Ash. Bayleef jumped and then slammed Poliwrath good on the floor. Poliwrath fainted, gaining Ash the first victory. Chuck returned Poliwrath to its pokeball. "You put up a great fight out there Poliwrath" he said. "Bayleef certainly gave Poliwrath a good beating" said Misty. "Well don't forget, Bayleef is not a pushover either Misty" said Brock.

Chuck turned to his Machoke. "You're up now" he said. Machoke ran onto the battle field, ready to fight. "I think this battle may turn out to be a tough one" said Brock. "All right let's start this off with karate chop Machoke" said Chuck. Machoke repeatedly struck Bayleef with the sides of its hands. "Hang in there Bayleef" said Ash. "Now give it a cross chop attack Machoke" said Chuck. Machoke got its arms ready to perform that attack. "Quick Bayleef use vine whip" said Ash. Bayleef wrapped her vines around one of Machoke's arms. The vine whip was to intervene with Machoke's cross chop attack. "Now use cut Bayleef". Bayleef's leaf turned white and then she sliced Machoke. "That was a good strategy," said Brock "the vine whip attack distracted Machoke from attacking while Bayleef used cut". "I told you that Ash knew how to handle fighting type pokemon" said Misty. "All right Machoke," said Chuck "use submission now". Machoke grabbed Bayleef, rolled around while holding her in full-body mode, and then tossed her onto the floor. "Oh no Bayleef," said Ash "are you okay?" Bayleef was hurt by the submission, but she wasn't defeated yet. "All right use magical leaf". Bayleef flung her glowing light green at Machoke, which hit it directly. "Now finish it with body slam". Bayleef slammed Machoke good. "No Machoke!" gasped Chuck. Machoke fainted on the spot. "Machoke is unable to battle," said the referee "the winner of this gym battle is Ash".

Bayleef ran up to Ash and Ash hugged her. "You are one brilliant fighter, for a grass pokemon Bayleef" said Ash. Bayleef nuzzled Ash for that kind compliment. "Bayleef was amazing" said Misty. "Yeah and what's more amazing is that Ash won the whole gym battle with only one pokemon" said Brock. Tomo cheered for Ash and Bayleef. Chuck walked up to Ash. "You are one great trainer Ash" he said "I have never had a pokemon battle like this one. I could also see that you and your pokemon really now to work hard together. Now take this Storm Badge, you definitely earned it and congratulations". The Storm Badge was brown and in the shape of a fist. Ash happily accepted it.

That evening, Ash spoke to Janina on the phone and told her all about his victory at Cianwood Gym. "That's great Ash," said Janina "but I'm afraid you still won't be able to battle Jasmine. You see Sparkle has been given the medicine, but it's still not fully recovered yet. So I don't Jasmine will be up to battling until Sparkle is fully recovered from its illness. I really am sorry". "Oh never mind Janina," said Ash, kindly, "I'll just battle with her some other time, and I will call on you again some other time later. Goodbye." He put down the phone and turned to the others. "I wonder what we shall do now; I mean the battle with Jasmine is going to be delayed for a while". Chuck and his wife had the answer. "You can visit the Whirl Islands for the time being" said Chuck's wife. Chuck explained that the Whirl Islands were a group of islands that were between Cianwood City and Olivine City. "They are also home to many, many pokemon," said Chuck "and they are the source to many myths and legends". "That sounds interesting," said Misty "I bet they will have a lot of water pokemon that I want to catch". "Yeah, we should check it out" said Brock. "I agree," said Ash "besides it will be a great adventure. And I am very interested in myths and legends and I would like to see the pokemon that live in the Whirl Islands, so let's do it". Tomo, Brock and Misty agreed; their next destination was to be the Whirl Islands.

So the next morning, Ash, Tomo, Misty and Brock jumped onto a boat that would take them to the Whirl Islands. Chuck and his wife aid for their tickets to say thank you to Ash for the amazing gym battle, and they saw them off. The gang were excited, and could not wait to start exploring the Whirl Islands. "This journey in the Whirl Islands is going to be great" Ash said. And Tomo, Misty and Brock agreed.

The start of the Whirl Islands adventure

The gang were still on the ferry, on the way to the Whirl Islands. Ash was excited, because going to the Whirl Islands was a new adventure. Misty was excited because she couldn't wait to catch any water pokemon in the Whirl Islands. Right now she was looking through the water pokemon book Ash gave her for her birthday. "I can't wait to see all the water pokemon at the Whirl Islands," she said "I wonder which one I'll capture first".

Suddenly Brock noticed something in the ocean; there were lots of whirlpools around. "I hope we'll be okay" said Brock, nervously. Tomo felt scared and held onto Ash. The ferry managed to avoid the whirlpools, while still sailing. Suddenly the boat gave a sudden jolt. "I don't like this" said Misty, holding onto Togepi. Tomo returned Growlithe to his pokeball just in case. The gang all held onto the rails of the boat very tight, so that they wouldn't fall overboard. But then the boat suddenly tipped sideways. What was happening was that the boat was having trouble with one of the whirlpools.

Suddenly the gang fell overboard and into the sea. "Is everyone okay?" asked Brock. "Yes but look" said Misty. The ferry was moving away from where they were. There was even more bad news; the gang was getting swept by the current of the whirlpool. Misty sent out Seaking and her two Poliwhirls and Ash sent out his Totodile. Even if Seaking, the Poliwhirls and Totodile were strong swimmers, the current was stronger. It looked like the gang would be sucked into the whirlpool any second.

Suddenly something happened; the current of the whirlpool changed direction, and the gang was no longer in danger. "What happened?" asked Brock. Just then Ash heard a screech from under the ocean, and then the gang saw a big shadow swimming under them. "What was that?" asked Tomo. "That was a Lugia" said Ash. "Are you sure Ash?" asked Misty. "Definitely Misty," said Ash "I recognize that shadow and the sound it made, from my Lugia and the Lugia we met before".

Suddenly Brock noticed that something was heading their way really fast. The gang braced themselves, in case it was something dangerous. The thing turned out to be a pink and white pokemon, with horns on its head. "It's a Corsola" said Misty. Then the gang were grabbed by some tentacles of a Tentacruel, and the Tentacruel took them away from the whirlpools. "I wonder where this Tentacruel is taking us" said Ash. Misty was enjoying the ride because she loved Tentacruel.

The Corsola and Tentacruel brought the gang to a boat, and to the gang's surprise Prof Elm was on the boat. Prof Elm was surprised to see Ash, Tomo, Misty and Brock, because he hadn't seen them for a long time. Prof Elm brought the gang into the cabin of the boat so that they could get warmed up and chat with him. Growlithe was outside of his pokeball now and was comforting Tomo. The gang told Prof Elm about what has happened on their journey in the Johto region so far; about all the pokemon they had seen and captured and the amount of badges that Ash had. "Wow, it seems you kids have had lots of adventures here in Johto" said Prof Elm. Misty was admiring Prof Elm's Corsola and decided that she would defiantly catch one for herself.

Ash looked at Corsola on the pokedex: Corsola, the coral pokemon. It continuously sheds and grows. The tip of its head is prized as a treasure for its beauty.

Just then a man appeared in the cabin. He was Captain Marius, the captain of the boat. "I'm glad to know that you kids are okay" he said to the gang.

After the gang recovered from their experience, Captain Marius drove the boat to an island. "Where are we now Prof Elm?" asked Brock. "This is Blue Point Isle, one of the Islands of the Whirl Islands," said Prof Elm "it's called because a big, blue, pointed rock is there, and it is said to guide boats into ports safely after a long journey". Captain Marius docked the ship and explained that they were now in Inland City, the largest city on Blue Point Isle. The gang noticed that there were a lot of flags and other decorations put up and asked Prof Elm why. Prof Elm explained the Whirl Cup was going to happen in a month's time. He explained that the Whirl Cup was a water pokemon competition, held once every three years in the Whirl Islands. Misty got excited from hearing that and decided to enter. Ash decided to enter too because he thought this would be a great experience for his Totodile.

Prof Elm and the gang went to the pokemon center, and there Ash and Misty registered for the Whirl Cup competition. Nurse Joy handed the gang a guide book which explained the rules and regulations of the Whirl Cup. Prof Elm explained about the Whirl Islands and showed the gang a map of it. Apparently the Whirl Islands were split into four main isles; Blue Point Isle, where they were now, Yellow Rock Isle, Red Rock Isle and Silver Rock Isle, and there were small ones scattered about between those four. "This reminds me of the Orange Islands" smiled Ash. "Where is the Whirl Cup being held" asked Misty. "On Red Rock Isle" said Prof Elm. Misty couldn't wait to go there and compete in the Whirl Cup. Prof Elm then explained that the winner of the Whirl Cup gains the title of Water Pokemon Alpha Omega. Ash and Misty liked the sound of that. Misty thought that if she gained the title, it would make her sisters very jealous of her.

Later on the gang told Prof Elm and Captain Marius about the shadow of Lugia that they saw in the ocean. "Are you kids sure about the shadow being a Lugia's?" asked Prof Elm, finding it hard before. "Yes Prof Elm, I recognize a Lugia's shadow pretty well because of my Lugia" said Ash. Captain Marius looked thoughtful. "I have heard many stories about a mysterious pokemon lurking about in the Whirl Islands," he said "but no one knows what the pokemon is". "If that pokemon you saw was a Lugia, it would be a big discovery in a life time," said Prof Elm "the truth is, the sea is home to many pokemon and there's no telling what you'll find in there". "From hearing that," said Ash "I reckon this adventure in the Whirl Islands is going to be a blast". Tomo, Misty and Brock agreed with Ash's words.

Meanwhile trouble was a foot; Jessie, James and Meowth had also arrived at the Whirl Islands and were examining the water pokemon in the pool, at the pokemon center. "Good thing we decided to come to the Whirl Islands," said Jessie "with all the water pokemon about, we can catch a lot of pokemon for the boss". "Yeah, so let's go fishing now" said Meowth. Meowth pressed a button on the balloon and then a big net came out of the balloon and caught all the water pokemon that were in the net. There were a few Staryu, Magikarp, Goldeen, Golduck, Seel and Dewgong in the net. Nurse Joy saw everything and was upset. Prof Elm, Captain Marius and the gang saw what had happened too and went after Team Rocket in the boat.

Meanwhile Team Rocket was flying over the ocean, with the pokemon in the net. "We should go to the other islands to gather more pokemon" James suggested. "Great idea James" said Jessie. Just then Prof Elm and the gang turned up. "Release those pokemon now Team Rocket!" shouted Ash. Jessie released her Cloyster to battle the gang. Misty released her Staryu to battle Cloyster. "Use swift staryu" said Misty. Staryu fired stars at Cloyster, which hit it. "Now use water gun". Cloyster dodged the water gun. "Use icicle spear Cloyster" said Jessie. Cloyster fired multiple thin spear-shaped ice shards at Staryu. Staryu got hit by the ice spear attack. "Oh no Staryu," said Misty "use your recover at once". Staryu glowed a rainbow colour and then it healed from the hits it got from Cloyster's ice spear attack. "Great Staryu now use thunderbolt". Staryu fired thunderbolt from its body and shocked Cloyster. "Wow Misty," said Ash "when did Staryu learn thunderbolt?" "Staryu learnt it last Friday from Pikachu" smiled Misty. Prof Elm stepped forward. "I'll take over from here" he said. His Corsola jumped into the sea and got ready to fight. "Use tackle attack Corsola". Corsola charged at Cloyster and tackled it really hard. Cloyster went out of the ocean and flew up into Team Rocket's balloon. "Now use spike cannon Corsola". Corsola glowed white and then fired lots of white spikes from its horns. The spikes ripped the net apart and the water pokemon were set free, then it burst the balloon and sent Team Rocket blasting away. The water pokemon were grateful and Misty thought that Corsola was wonderful. "I'm so going to catch a Corsola for myself" she said.

That night the gang stayed at the pokemon center. The gang told Prof Oak that they were now in the Whirl Islands. "I think you kids are going to love it in the Whirl Islands" said Prof Oak. Ash then told him about seeing a shadow of a Lugia in the ocean. "Well that does seem fascinating," said Prof Oak "it seems there is a lot more mystery to the Whirl Islands". Next Prof Elm talked with Prof Oak and they ended up talking a lot.

Next day, the gang got ready to leave on their next destination. Captain Marius explained to the gang that to get to Yellow Rock Isle, they would have to get to Bluefinland. Brock looked at the guide of the Whirl Islands and discovered that Bluefinland was at the top of Blue Point Isle. The gang thanked Captain Marius for the advice and then they said goodbye to him and Prof Elm, and left for Bluefinland at once.

The water pokemon poacher, the wild Corsola

And the Silver Wing

The gang were now at Bluefinland, waiting for the ferry that would take them to Yellow Rock Isle. Only thing was though was that the ferry wasn't going to be around for four hours, so the gang didn't know what to do until then. Just then Ash had an idea; he suggested that the gang fish for some water pokemon. "Fishing will help pass the time while we are waiting for the ferry, besides I want to capture a new water pokemon for myself". "I call that a great idea," said Misty "besides this will be my chance of capturing a Corsola". Brock looked at the guide. "It says that there are some very good fishing spots near here" he said. "Well what are waiting for?" said Misty, getting out her fishing rod, "let's go".

The gang headed to where Brock had said, when they met Officer Jenny. "Hi Officer Jenny, is there anything wrong?" asked Misty. Officer Jenny explained that she was on the lookout for two water pokemon poachers. Then she showed the gang a wanted poster of the poachers she was looking for. There was a picture of two ugly men, dressed in fishermen outfits. "If you kids see these two men, contact me at once" said Officer Jenny. Misty was not happy about the two men. "If I saw those men right now, I would introduce them to my fist" she said angrily.

Soon the gang were at a fishing spot. Ash, Tomo, Misty and Brock all got their rods ready. Tomo and Brock decided to catch themselves a water type pokemon too. Soon they all let their fishing lines into the sea. At first nothing seemed to be happening, since it always took a while for pokemon to bite a line. But then Tomo's line started to move, which meant he had capture something. Tomo calmly reeled his fishing line in and then at last the pokemon he had caught came out of the water and onto land. Tomo's caught water pokemon was a red octopus, with yellow bumps. "It's an Octillery" said Misty.

Ash looked at Octillery on the pokedex: Octillery, the jet pokemon. The evolved form of Remoraid. It loves to lurk inside holes in rocks. It sometimes sprays ink on prey by sticking out only its mouth.

Tomo released his Elekid to battle Octillery. Octillery fired bubblebeam at Elekid. "Dodge those bubbles Elekid" said Tomo, which Elekid did. "Now use thunder punch". Elekid's fist charged up with electricity and then it punched Octillery really hard. Octillery got paralyzed by the move. "Catch it Tomo" said Misty. Tomo used his lure ball to catch Octillery and was happy with his capture. "What moves does my Octillery know Ash?" asked Tomo. Ash looked with the pokedex; Tomo's Octillery knew bubblebeam, rock blast, gunk shot, psybeam, ice beam, signal beam, bullet seed, octazooka and the egg move haze. "You've captured a great pokemon Tomo" said Ash. Tomo returned Elekid to its pokeball.

Just then Ash's line began to shake. "Hey, I have a bite now" said Ash. Ash reeled his fishing line calmly and carefully and reeled in his bite. He caught a blur and yellow pokemon, with two yellow orbs on the top of its body. "That's a Lanturn" said Misty.

Ash looked at Lanturn on the pokedex: Lanturn, the light pokemon. The evolved form of Chinchou. Lanturn's light can shine up from great depths. It is nicknamed "The Deep-Sea Star."

Ash knew that Lanturn was an electric type as well as water, so he used Bayleef to battle Lanturn. Ash commanded Bayleef to use magical leaf on Lanturn, and Lanturn got hurt by the attack. Then Ash tossed a pokeball at Lanturn, and Lanturn was caught in a second. Ash was happy with his capture, returned Bayleef, and checked Lanturn's moves on the pokedex. Lanturn knew the moves water gun, confuse ray, take-down, charge, discharge, thunderbolt, ice beam, bubblebeam, aqua ring, hydro pump and the egg move agility.

Then Brock's line started to move. "I wonder what pokemon I've got" said Brock. He reeled his line in and to his surprise, his catch was a Corsola. "Oh you're lucky Brock" said Misty. "This Corsola will be a great addition to the Pewter Gym" said Brock, knowing that Corsola was both water and rock. He sent out Weepinbell to battle Corsola. "Use razor leaf". Weepinbell fired leaves at Corsola, but Corsola used dig to escape from the attack. Then Corsola came out of the sand and fired bubblebeam at Weepinbell. "Quick Weepinbell, dodge that bubblebeam and use razor leaf again" said Brock. Weepinbell jumped to dodge the bubblebeam attack and then fired its leaves at Corsola again. This time Corsola got hit directly by the razor leaf. Brock threw a pokeball at Corsola and it was caught at once. "All right a new pokemon at last" said Brock, returning Weepinbell. Ash's pokedex found out that Brock's new Corsola new Tackle, bubble, bubblebeam, recover, refresh, ancient power, power gem, spike cannon, mirror coat and the egg move icicle spear. "What a great pokemon" smiled Brock.

Misty was starting to feel a bit left out because she hadn't caught anything yet. And Ash, Tomo and Brock had already captured great water pokemon. But then her line started to move. "Oh I do hope I've caught a Corsola as well" she hoped. But what Misty caught wasn't a Corsola; it was a blue- green and yellow pokemon, with pink lips and spikes nearly all over its body. "It's a Quilfish" said Brock.

Ash looked at Quilfish on the pokedex: Quilfish, the balloon pokemon. It shoots the poison spines on its body in all directions. They inject a toxin that causes fainting.

"It's not a Corsola," said Misty "but it's better than nothing". She sent out her Staryu to battle Quilfish and ordered it to use thunderbolt. Staryu shock Quilfish good and Misty captured Quilfish in a pokeball. She learnt from Ash's pokedex that her new Quilfish knew water gun, tackle, poison sting, pin missile bounce, poison jab, aqua tail and the egg move bubblebeam. "These are pretty good attacks," said Misty "and since Quilfish is part poison, it will do great against grass type pokemon". She returned Staryu. Brock looked at his watch. "Hmm, we still have plenty of time until the ferry gets here" he said. "Great I can use the extra time to catch a Corsola" said Misty.

Suddenly they heard a small bang from a bit far from where they were standing. "What was that?" gasped Misty. "Maybe someone is battling a water pokemon too" said Ash. "We better go and check it out" said Brock. The gang ran to where the small bang came from. It was from another fishing spot, near a big abandoned storehouse. The gang saw two men fishing and they had lots of lure balls with them. They also had two pokemon with them; a Electabuzz and Victreebel. "Hey those two men are the men that Officer Jenny told us about" whispered Brock. "Yeah and I bet they are capturing some water type pokemon now" whispered Ash.

At that moment, one of the men hooked something. It was a Kingdra, a water and dragon type pokemon, and the evolved form of Seadra. "Wow," said the man, who hooked it, "we will get a lot of money for this pokemon". The other man told the Electabuzz to use thunder attack on the Kingdra. Kingdra got really shocked by the thunder attack and the man caught it easily with a lure ball. "We have made a good capturing spree lately" said the man with the rod. "We certainly have," said the other man "let's check out what we have captured so far".

The two men returned Electabuzz and Victreebel, and then went into the abandoned store house. The gang quietly followed them, taking great care not to be seen by the two men. In the storehouse, there were lots of very big water filled tanks. The two men released the pokemon, from the lure balls, into the tanks. They had captured an Octillery and five Remoraid, a Lanturn and five Chinchou, a Mantine and five Mantyke and a Kingdra. "People should surely pay a lot of money for these pokemon" said the first man. "Yeah, pity that not all of the pokemon are fully evolved yet" said the other man. "Ah that won't matter," said the first man "they will evolve with their new owners".

Misty started to feel really angry. "Catching pokemon to sell them is horrible" she whispered. Ash, Tomo and Brock left to get Officer Jenny, while Misty stayed to keep watch. "Hey let's catch another water pokemon" said the second man. "Don't even think about that!" shouted Misty, coming out of hiding "as a water pokemon trainer, I will not forgive you for capturing and selling water pokemon". She sent out her Staryu, two Poliwhirls, and Totodile to battle the men. The men sent out their Electabuzz and Victreebel to fight back. "Staryu, Poliwhirls and Totodile, use water gun all of you" said Misty. Staryu, the two Poliwhirls and Totodile both blasted their water guns at the Electabuzz and Victreebel, and they got hit by the water gun attacks. "Don't think that scares us Missy" said the first man. The men ordered Electabuzz to use thunderbolt and razor leaf. All of Misty's pokemon got shocked at hit by the thunderbolt and razor leaf. "Oh no, stay strong all of you" said Misty. Totodile got up, ran over to Victreebel and used ice fang on it. Since ice fang is an ice type move, Victreebel couldn't stand the attack. "Knock that Totodile off you!" shouted the second man. Victreebel tackled Totodile off it. "Are you okay Totodile?" asked Misty. Totodile was fine and got ready to fight again.

Suddenly Totodile started to glow. Everyone watched as Totodile grew from a small crocodile, into a bigger crocodile; it was a Croconaw. Misty squealed over her new Croconaw. "Okay time to attack these crooks again," she said "Croconaw use hydro pump, Staryu use bubblebeam and Poliwhirls use water gun". Electabuzz and Victreebel got hit by the attacks and fainted. "Oh no!" shouted the men. "Now to deal with you two," Misty said to the men, "Staryu use ice beam on them". The two men got trapped into a block of ice by Staryu's ice beam. "All right, great work all of you" smiled Misty. Her pokemon were pleased with themselves.

Misty walked over to the tanks, where the captured water pokemon were. "Don't worry, you are safe now" she said to them. The pokemon were grateful to Misty. Misty could not keep her eyes off the pokemon.

At that moment Ash, Tomo and Brock returned with Officer Jenny and the police. While the police handcuffed the men and returned their pokemon to their pokeballs, Officer Jenny spoke to the gang. "I can't thank you kids enough," she said "if it wasn't for you; we would never have caught these two crooks". "Well I'm just glad that they will be put behind bars now" said Ash. "I especially thank you Misty," Officer Jenny said to Misty "it was thanks to you and your pokemon that we were able to catch them. If there is anything you want as a reward, tell me right now and I will grant it". Misty had a thought. "There is something I want," said Misty "I would like to claim all the water pokemon that those two crooks captured as my own. I'm from Cerulean Gym in Cerulean City and those pokemon will be great for the gym". Officer Jenny smiled and accepted Misty's wish of keeping the pokemon. So Misty used the lure balls to return the Octillery, five Remoraid, Lanturn, five Chinchou, Mantine, five Mantyke and Kingdra, and became their new trainer. "My sisters will be psyched once they see all of this pokemon" said Misty.

The gang went to the pokemon center to have Misty's pokemon checked. Misty sent all of her new water pokemon to Cerulean Gym, Ash and Tomo spoke with Prof Oak to ask if their new Lanturn and Octillery were okay, and Brock sent his Chansey to Pewter Gym and kept his new Corsola with him. After that, the gang got onto the ferry to Yellow Rock Isle. "This has been a great day for us," said Ash "I mean we all have new water pokemon". Tomo, Misty and Brock agreed with that. Misty was a bit disappointed that she hadn't captured a Corsola, but she was happy with her new pokemon and was still determined to catch a Corsola.

The gang were now at Yellow Rock Isle, the second island of the Whirl Islands, and had arrived at a city called Megi City. Brock explained that Yellow Rock Isle was called that because all of the rocks and streets were yellow coloured. Just then something caught Misty's eyes. A gift shop had some beautiful, pink-coloured crystal jewellery-like objects on display. "These things are so pretty," said Misty "I wonder what they are made from?" The shop clerk explained that the art pieces were made from Corsola horns. "You see every year Corsola shed and regrow their horns," he said "and we use their horns to make jewellery and other things". After hearing that Misty became more determined to catch her own Corsola. The clerk then said how he liked the gang's Pikachu because everyone on Yellow Rock Isle loved pokemon that were coloured yellow.

Just then Tomo had a thought. "Hey Ash," he said "do you think one of these crystal figures will be the perfect birthday gift for mum?" The truth is Delia's birthday was in another four days' time, and Ash and Tomo hadn't thought of a gift yet. Ash looked at the objects. "That is a great idea Tomo" he replied. He looked at the objects and found the one he thought would be perfect for Delia. It was a crystal figuring shaped like a coral reef, with small bubble shaped glass balls. Ash picked it up to look at it closely. "This will be perfect for mum" he decided. He bought the item and had it sent to Pallet Town. Ash and Tomo also included a birthday card with it. The Ketchum brothers knew right away that their mum would love her gift.

Suddenly Growlithe started to run off barking. "Something must be wrong if Growlithe is running off like that" Ash suggested. The gang followed Growlithe, who led them to a beach. "What's wrong Growlithe?" asked Tomo. Growlithe pointed to the ocean, and then suddenly the gang saw what the problem was. A little girl, with a Corsola next to her, was being swept out to sea on a floating house. "We have to help that little girl" said Brock. Luckily there was a speedboat nearby, so the gang quickly got into the boat and headed off to rescue the girl. But there was more trouble; the house was heading for a whirlpool. "Brock get your Weepinbell out," said Ash "we can use its vine whip to help that girl". Brock did that and Ash released his Bayleef. Together, Weepinbell and Bayleef wrapped their vines around the railings of the house. Thanks to the pokemon's vine whips, the gang were able to pull the house away from the whirlpool and back to shore.

The little girl's name was Mika and she lived with her dad and older sister Andrea. Andrea and her dad were grateful to the gang for saving Mika's life. "We are glad that we were able to help," said Ash "but what happened that made your house drift off to sea?" "Well the truth is we live on top of a Corsola nest," said Andrea "it's been a tradition here on Yellow Rock Isle to build homes on top of Corsola nests. My dad is an artist, who works with Corsola horns. So living on top of a Corsola nest makes it easier to gather the Corsola horns after they've been shed". "Wow that's cool" said Misty. She looked at the Corsola next to Mika. "Is that Corsola one of yours too?" "No this one isn't," said Andrea "it just appeared on our doorstep. This Corsola is more energetic than any other Corsola, and it kept on tackling our Corsola in affection. We think our Corsola had enough of that and left the nest. Because all of our Corsola were gone, the foundation of the nest broke apart and then our house slid out to sea, with Mika still on it. The wild Corsola tried to help, but it couldn't move the house back to shore so it ended up drifting away on the house too". "Then it's a good thing we saw the house floating away and managed to rescue Mika, Corsola and the house" said Ash. Misty was pleased to know that Corsola was a wild one and wanted to catch it right away, but Brock stopped her and told her that now was not a good time yet. "We need to get our Corsola back," said Andrea's dad "because our future depends on them". The gang offered to help.

Apparently Andrea Mika and their dad had nine Corsola in total and their names were Bonnie, Annie, Danny, Johnny, Connie, Donnie, Ronnie, Lonnie and Manny. Thanks to team work, the nine Corsola were all found safe and sound. Andrea and Mika's dad thanked the gang and the gang were glad that everything was okay again. With all the missing Corsola found, Misty decided it was time to catch the wild Corsola.

But then someone was shouting. The same clerk from the gift shop earlier was yelling for help. Andrea's dad asked the clerk what was the matter. "Robbers have just stolen some of my jewellery from my store" said the clerk. "Oh no," said Andrea "do you know who they are?" Suddenly came cables from out of nowhere grabbed the nine Corsola. It was Team Rocket in their balloon. They had heard about the Corsola and the jewellery made from their horns and wanted them all for themselves. "Thank you for the Corsola and beautiful jewellery," said Jessie "now we will make our leave". "Oh no you won't!" shouted Ash. He released Noctowl from his pokeball and Noctowl burst the balloon with his beak. The balloon came crashing down onto the beach. "Give me back the jewellery!" shouted the clerk. "And return the Corsola back!" shouted Andrea's dad. Team Rocket wasn't willing to do as they were told, and Jessie and James released Cloyster and Skiploom to battle; James' Hoppip evolved some time ago. "Cloyster use spike cannon" said Jessie. "Skiploom use bullet seed" said James. Cloyster and Skiploom got ready to use spike cannon and bullet seed, but they got stopped by a bubblebeam attack. The bubblebeam came from the wild Corsola, and Corsola was cross with Team Rocket. "Excellent job Corsola" said Misty. Misty sent out Staryu and told it to use rapid spin to cut the cables that held the nine Corsola. Staryu did that at once and the nine Corsola were free again. "Use bullet seed on that Corsola Skiploom" said James. Skiploom fired bullet seed at Corsola, and Corsola got really hurt by the move. But then it used recover to heal itself and then it used icicle spear on Skiploom. "Hey that Corsola knows icicle spear like mine does" said Brock. Misty got more excited of catching the Corsola. Then Corsola and the nine Corsola all used spike cannon together to make Team Rocket drop the jewellery and make them and their pokemon blast off.

The clerk gathered up all his stolen jewellery and headed back to his shop. Then Misty got ready to catch the wild Corsola, not that there were no more distractions. She sent out one of her Poliwhirl's to battle Corsola. "Use bubble attack Poliwhirl" said Misty. Poliwhirl fired a lot of bubbles at Corsola. "Now use mega punch". Poliwhirl punched Corsola really hard. Corsola got really weak, but then it used recover to heal itself and then tackled Poliwhirl really hard. "All right, Poliwhirl use water gun". Poliwhirl fired water gun attack at Corsola, but Corsola used mirror coat and the water gun fired back at Poliwhirl. "That Corsola is amazing," said Misty "okay then Poliwhirl use bubble, then use double slap and then mega punch". First Poliwhirl fired bubbles at Corsola, then slapped it lots of times and then punched it really hard. Corsola got really hurt by that triple attack. Before Corsola used recover again, Misty used her last lure ball to catch Corsola. "All right, I finally have my own Corsola!" Misty cheered. Andrea, Mika, their dad and the gang were happy for Misty.

At that time, it was now time for the gang to leave. The gang said goodbye to Andrea, Mika, their dad and the nine Corsola, and left Megi City for the next city on Yellow Rock Isle.

Today the gang were at Ogi City and they were heading for the port. They wanted to know when the next ferry for Red Rock Isle, the location of the Whirl Cup. The bad news was the ferry only travelled to Red Rock Isle once a day and the gang had already missed it. "What shall we do now?" sighed Misty. Just then a woman came up to the gang. "Hi there," she said "I can take you to Red Rock Isle". "Would you really take us?" asked Ash. "Of course," said the woman "I'm going past there, so I'd be happy to take you". The gang thanked her and the woman introduced herself as Luka.

Soon Luka was giving the gang a ride on her boat. The gang realised that Luka had a lot of diving equipment with her. "She must be a marine archaeologist" said Ash. Ash went up to Luka at the helm to ask her questions, when he noticed a photo of a map beside her on the right. "Hey Luka, what's this" he asked her. Misty wondered if it was a treasure map. Luka explained that it was a map and it belonged to her great-grandfather. She had a photo of him beside her on the left. "My family has been exploring the sea and researching many water pokemon, and it all started with my great-grandfather," said Luka "one day I discovered this map along with his old journal, and it said that he had required a silver wing somewhere deep in the ocean". "Wait a second," said Ash "did you say a silver wing?" "Yes, do you know about the silver wing Ash?" Luka asked. "Actually we do, because Ash has one" said Tomo. Ash took out his silver locket and opened it up, and inside it was a beautiful silver feather. Luka gasped when she saw it. "That's a silver wing," she spluttered "but how did you get it?" Ash turned to Tomo, Misty and Brock and Tomo, Misty and Brock nodded at him; apparently they knew how Ash got it. "Stop the boat and I will show and tell you" said Ash.

So Luka stopped the boat; they were still nowhere near Red Rock Isle, but far away from Yellow Rock Isle. Ash brought out a pokeball and released his Lugia. Lugia had grown up more and could really fly and swim by now. Luka couldn't believe her eyes and was nearly speechless. "How on earth did you get yourself a Lugia?" she asked. Ash, Tomo and Misty explained to Luka about the Lugia they met in the Orange Islands and about how the Lugia gave Ash's Lugia to him as a gift when it was a baby. "Wow that's amazing," said Luka "you guys are really lucky to have a Lugia on your team. But how did you get a silver wing?" "I'll explain that" said Ash.

(Flash back start)

"It happened the other day on Blue Rock Isle," Ash started "we had just heard about the Whirl Cup and Misty and I decided to train our water pokemon for a bit because we're competing in it". "Yes we trained at a town called Blue Lagoon for a while" said Misty. "I was training my Lugia in the water then, and it had just learned the moves whirlpool and hydro pump," said Ash "and it was at that moment, just as Lugia was stretching his wings, a silver feather came off him and he gave it to me as a token of our friendship. I realised that it was a silver wing, a feather of Lugia, because Morty told me about it when I last saw him in Ecruteak City, and I've kept it in my silver locket ever since".

"Flash back end)

Luka was amazed by Ash's story. "So the silver wing is a feather from Lugia, that's amazing" she said. Then Ash showed Luka his rainbow wing and told her that it was a feather of Ho-oh and how he got it. "Wow Ash you have really amazed me here," said Luka "you have any more mythical artefacts with you?" "Sorry Luka, but I'm afraid I don't" chuckled Ash. Ash then asked Luka to keep his Lugia, silver wing and rainbow wing a secret. "You don't need to worry Ash," said Luka "I promise that I will never reveal what you told me to anyone". "Thank you Luka" said Ash. "So Luka, where is your great-grandfather's silver wing?" asked Misty.

Luka explained that a long time ago, her great-grandfather was returning home after finding the silver wing. But his ship, the I.S.S Raspberry, got caught into a terrible storm and it sank to the bottom of the ocean. "Luckily everyone on that ship survived, but great-grandfather's silver wing went down with the ship. It was devastating for him to have lost, and the worst part was that when he told people about it, nobody believed him. So to make people believe him he tried to search for his sunken ship and silver wing, but he failed at locating it. And now I'm searching for the silver wing to clear my great-grandfather's name". "Have you found out where the ship is yet?" asked Misty. "Yes I have," said Luka "thanks to the map and some computer work, I have located exactly where the sunken ship is. And I put an X on the map to remember where it is".

Ash asked Luka if he could help her locate the silver wing. "I understand perfectly how much of finding this silver wing means to you," he said "because my silver wing means a lot to me as well. So please let me help you find it". Luka was surprised but agreed. Tomo, Misty and Bock offered to help too, and Luka accepted. Luka drove the boat to the location of where her great-grandfather's sunken ship was. Next, both Luka and Ash got into some of Luka's diving gear, which had a communicating device, and then released three Magikarp from their pokeballs. "My Magikarp will help us get to the sunken ship easier" she said. She and Ash jumped into the sea to get ready to search for the ship. Pikachu, Tomo, Growlithe, Misty, Togepi and Brock stayed behind on the ship to keep watch.

Soon Luka and Ash were now at the bottom of the sea. Ash was in awe when he saw many water pokemon and other things. But then they finally found the sunken I.S.S Raspberry. Ash told Misty, Brock and Tomo that they found it, and then he and Luka started to swim near to it. Suddenly Luka made them stop. "Is something wrong Luka?" asked Ash. "I don't know," replied Luka "but I think I saw something near the ship". She sent her Magikarp to swim closer to the ship, while she and Ash hid behind some rocks that were near the ship. Once the Magikarp got nearer the ship, a pokemon appeared in front of them; it was a Mantine. The Magikarp quickly swam back to where Luka and Ash to get away from the Mantine. "That Mantine must be guarding the ship" said Ash. "I agree," said Luka "and I'm pretty sure that it's not going to allow us to search for the silver wing inside the ship. We'll need to think of something else". She and Ash swam back to Luka's boat.

Luka and the gang started to think what to do now. "I have a feeling that it may not just be Mantine guarding that ship," said Ash "I mean a boat that big is bound to be home to many different water pokemon". "I agree with Ash on that," said Brock "and they are bound to get upset if we invade on their home". "Then I guess we will have to take action instead" said Misty. Misty suggested that they use their water pokemon to distract the water pokemon in the ship, and while they are distracted Luka can search for the silver wing in the ship. Everyone liked that idea. Ash released his Totodile. Tomo released his Octillery. Brock released his Corsola. Misty released her Staryu and Corsola. This time Misty got into a diving kit to help Luka and Ash, and so did Tomo. Brock decided to stay on the boat to look after Togepi, Growlithe and Pikachu. Pikachu did want to help too, but Ash reminded him that his electric attacks will hit everyone in the ocean, so Pikachu stayed behind.

Luka, Ash, Tomo, Misty and the pokemon swam back down to the sunken ship. Ash, Misty, Tomo and their pokemon, with two of Luka's Magikarp, headed over to the boat. Luka stayed behind the big rocks, to wait for a chance to sneak into the boat. As Ash, Misty, Tomo and the pokemon got nearer the boat, Mantine and two Remoraid turned up. "You were right about there being other pokemon in the boat, as well as Mantine Ash" said Misty. "Yeah, and I bet that Mantine is the Remoraid's friend," said Ash "come on though we now need to distract them for Luka. The Mantine and Remoraid headed over to the gang and pokemon to make them leave. Ash, Tomo and Misty told their pokemon to fight back, and soon the attacks of water guns and bubblebeam and tackles were happening.

While that fight was going on, Luka and her Magikarp swam into the sunken ship to search for the lost silver wing. She searched in every room and corner for the silver wing. Suddenly she saw a swarm of baby Remoraid. "This must be reason why the Remoraid and Mantine were guarding the ship" said Luka. At that moment she saw a small treasure chest near the baby Remoraid. "This must be it" she said, picking it up. Luka and Magikarp swam out of the ship, with the treasure chest. Ash, Misty, Tomo and the pokemon noticed her and then left the Mantine and Remoraid alone.

Once they got back on Luka's boat, Luka told the gang about the baby Remoraid. "Well that's no wonder the Remoraid and Mantine didn't want us near the ship" said Ash. "Yeah, they feared that we would hurt the baby Remoraid" said Misty. "Ah well, we found what we were looking for now," said Luka "so now we can leave them alone in peace". Luka opened up the treasure; inside was another wooden box. Luka opened up the second box; inside it was the silver wing. Luka picked up the silver wing. "I've finally found," she said, happily, "and now I can prove about my great-grandfather's story being true. And I will prove that the silver wing is indeed a feather of the legendary pokemon Lugia". Just then Ash remembered about when he and the others saw a shadow of Lugia near Blue Point Isle, and told Luka about it. "That's interesting," said Luka "if a Lugia is living somewhere in the Whirl Islands, then I would use my silver wing to find out for sure". "I'm sure you will," said Ash "actually I have the strange feeling that we all will find out". Tomo, Misty and Brock agreed with Ash's words.

With Luka's treasure seeking now over, Luka finished driving the gang to Red Rock Isle. "Finally we are at Red Rock Isle, where the Whirl Cup is" said Misty. "I can't wait for this" said Ash. "Neither can I" said Misty.