Ash's Pokémon Journey

Chapter 76-80

Chapter 76

Fortree Gym

Another training day

And Lilycove Contest

Today the gang had arrived at Fortree City, where Ash could earn his next gym badge. Fortree City was different from other cities because everyone lived in tree houses instead of buildings. Apparently this city was one of those quiet forest settlements where humans and nature coexist. To Ash, Tomo and Brock this reminded them of Arborville in Johto because it was nearly the same as Fortree City. Ash and the gang headed for the Fortree Gym, which was a temple with a lot of steps. But the gym assistant, Zachary, explained that the gym leader Winona was helping out at the feather carnival. The feather carnival was an annual festival where the people of the city celebrated flying type pokemon. Apparently flying pokemon were the favorite pokemon type of Fortree City. Ash didn't mind waiting for tomorrow to battle Winona; he had a fun time at the carnival and it gave him enough time to figure out what pokemon he would use for the gym battle. Ash also found out that Winona used flying type pokemon and she owned a Skarmory which was bigger than its normal size; it was big enough for people to ride on it. Winona was a woman, with lavender air, and the pale blue and white clothes she wore made her look like a pilot.

The next day the whole carnival was over with and Ash and Winona were at the gym for their battle. The battle field was located at the top of the gym; it was outside instead of inside. Ash and Winona stood on elevated balconies about the battlefield. Zachary explained that the gym rules were that it was a three on three pokemon battle. Winona did a prayer to the sky to guide her in this battle; Winona actually worshiped the sky as well as loving it. Then she called out her first pokemon, an Altaria. "Oh wow it's an Altaria, a dragon and flying type move" said Max.

May looked at Altaria on her pokedex: Altaria the humming pokemon. The evolved form of Swablu. It flies gracefully through the sky. Its melodic humming makes you feel like you're in a dream.

"So my Swablu evolves into that huh?" said May. She sent out her Swablu and told it to watch the battle carefully. "I'll be using you in battles soon Swablu, so pay attention to this". Swablu chirped as if to say 'okay'. Ash sent out his Milotic to battle. "So it's a battle between two beautiful pokemon" said May. "Water types aren't usually strong against dragon, but there's no doubt that Ash knows what he's doing" said Max.

Ash ordered Milotic to start it off with dragon pulse, but Altaria dodged it. Apparently Altaria was one of those speedy pokemon. Then Winona ordered her Altaria to use dragon breath. "Use your special move Milotic" said Ash. The move was of course mirror coat and as soon as the dragon breath attack hit Milotic it bounced off and struck Altaria. "That mirror coat move always makes me say wow," said May "I hope that I will earn a pokemon in the future that can learn that". "Yeah me too" said Max. Winona was also surprised by that attack, but she kept on going. She ordered Altaria to use peck. Altaria, being so fast, was able to peck at Milotic lots of times. "Use safeguard Milotic" said Ash. Milotic glowed green and it stopped Altaria from pecking it any more. "Now use blizzard". Milotic blew a strong blizzard attack and Altaria got hit by it. Being a dragon and flying type pokemon, Altaria took a lot of damage from that ice move. "Altaria use your sky attack" said Winona. Altaria powered up, while a white aura surrounded its body, and then it flew straight into Milotic with a direct hit. Milotic got hurt by that attack, but she was still willing to fight. "Wow that sky attack move was incredible" said May. "Sky attack is one of the strongest flying type moves" said Max. Winona ordered her Altaria to use dragon breath again and Ash ordered Milotic to use hydro pump. Milotic and Altaria struck each other with their attacks. The two pokemon panted for a moment, but then they all fell to the ground in defeat. So this match was a draw.

Winona was impressed with Ash's skill as a trainer and returned her Altaria. Her next pokemon was a Pelipper. Ash returned his defeated Milotic and sent out his Manectric. As Pelipper was water and flying type, an electric type would be stronger. Ash ordered his Manectric to use thunderbolt. "Use your steel wing Pelipper" said Winona. Pelipper's wings glowed white and then touched the battle ground. At that moment it got hit by Manectric's thunderbolt. But it didn't cause a lot of damage. Because Pelipper was using steel wing, the wings were attacking as lightning rods, which is why the thunderbolt did less damage than normal to Pelipper. Ash decided to do something else; he ordered Manectric to use swift. The stars struck Pelipper and Pelipper ended up stopping of using steel wing and let go of the ground. "Use hydro pump Pelipper" said Winona. Pelipper fired hydro pump at Manectric and he got it by it. "Use your thunder bolt again Manectric" said Ash. While still being hit by the hydro pump, Manectric fired a thunder bolt attack. The electric attack struck Pelipper very hard this time as it wasn't using steel wing anymore, and it fainted. So Ash only had to defeat one more of Winona's pokemon and then he would win the badge.

Winona's last pokemon was a Swellow, but this Swellow was shiny. Instead of being the normal navy blue and red, this Swellow was green and orange, but the white feathers were still the same. "You okay to fight again?" Ash asked Manectric. Manectric nodded to say yes. Winona ordered her Swellow to use aerial ace, and Manectric got hit fast and hard. "Try to hit Swellow with your ice fang Manectric" said Ash. Manectric's fangs glowed icy blue and it tried to bite down on Swellow, but it was too fast. "Manectric knows ice fang?" asked Max. "Oh yes, Manectric knows a lot of moves;" said Tomo "he knows leer, howl, thunder wave, spark, thunderbolt, quick attack, headbutt, swift, bite and the egg moves crunch, ice fang, thunder fang and fire fang. My Electrike knows the same moves too". May, Max and Brock were impressed with that. Winona ordered her Swellow to use hyper beam. Ash tried to tell Manectric to dodge the attack, but it was too late. Manectric got hit by the hyper beam attack and fainted. "Wow I didn't expect that; that Swellow knowing hyper beam" said Max. "I wonder what Ash will do now" said May. Ash only had one more pokemon to use now.

Ash decided to use Swellow now, so this was a Swellow vs Swellow battle. "Why is Ash using Swellow and not Pikachu?" asked May. "As this is a flying type gym Ash wanted to use Swellow for this gym battle," explained Brock "he likes battling in battles which are a pokemon versing the same pokemon and type". "I look forward to this battle Ash" said Winona. Apparently she liked to fight against other opponents who also had flying type pokemon. The elevated balconies rose high above the battlefield; as this was a flying vs flying pokemon battle, Winona wanted to have this battle higher in the sky. Ash noticed how windy it was and he told his Swellow to be careful.

Ash ordered his Swellow to use aerial ace and Winona told hers to do the same. The two Swellows were tackling each other like crazy. "Okay Swellow use your hyper beam" said Winona. Her Swellow was about to use hyper beam, but Ash ordered his Swellow to dodge it with quick attack. Thankfully Swellow was able to dodge it before the hyper beam attack could hit him. "Ash was lucky this time," said Brock "but that Swellow has better battling experience in the sky than Ash's". May and Max feared that Ash may ending up losing this battle. Even Brock and Tomo decided that this was a difficult battle for Ash. Ash discovered right away that Winona was a strong trainer and that her Swellow was pretty tough. He had to think of something or he would lose. Suddenly he noticed something; he realized that the wind was picking up the dust on the battle field. This gave him a bit of an idea. "Swellow dive towards the ground" he said. Ash's Swellow dived towards the battlefield at full speed and Winona's Swellow did the same to go after Ash's Swellow. It was like two biplanes heading towards the ground at full speed. "They're going to crash!" cried Max. The gang had no idea what Ash was thinking. As soon as the two Swellows headed towards the ground, Winona ordered her Swellow to use aerial ace. Then Ash ordered his Swellow to hit the ground with wing attack. As soon as Swellow hit the ground with wing attack, he made a lot of dust fly everywhere, making it look like a sand attack. Because of the dust, Winona's Swellow lost its concentration of its aerial ace attack. "Okay Swellow use your egg move; brave bird" said Ash. A blue flame colored aura surrounded Swellow and then he tackled Winona's Swellow hard. Winona's Swellow got hit hard by that attack and it fell to the ground, defeated. Zachary proclaimed Ash the winner of the gym match.

May and Max were surprised by the brave bird attack; they had never seen it before. Brock explained to them that brave bird was the second strongest flying type move, next to sky attack. He also explained to them that trainers and pokemon had to be careful with the move brave bird; pokemon who knows and uses brave bird receives damage after using it, so this move was a little bit dangerous. It was same with the moves double-edge, volt tackle, flare blitz and wood hammer because the users of these moves would receive damage after using them. Tomo was happy to see Swellow using brave bird. He explained to the others that Swellow tried to use it when he was still a Taillow, but was never able to do it right. "It was probably because Taillow was a small bird pokemon and could only master it when it evolved to Swellow, because it's a bigger bird" said Brock.

Winona returned her Swellow and thought that this was the best gym battle she ever had. She congratulated Ash and thanked him. "I enjoyed the battle as much as you Winona" said Ash. Winona presented Ash the Fortree Gym badge. This badge was called the Feather Badge and it was white-green colored and it was the shape of a bird's wing. So Ash had six gym badges now.

Sometime after the Fortree City gym battle, Ash had decided to spend a day with training his pokemon. May thought of that too because a pokemon contest was coming up and she wanted to practice for it. So the gang agreed that they would stop traveling for the day.

May decided to train with her Swablu, Combusken and her Bulbasaur. Her Swablu was female and she knew sing, peck, fury attack, safeguard, mist and the egg move feather dance. As May didn't do well with Bulbasaur at the Rubello Contest, she intended to work hard with Bulbasaur this time. Combusken had certainly grown up ever since it was a Torchic and it started to become a strong pokemon for May. Apart from knowing peck, ember, fire spin, quick attack and scratch, Combusken knew double kick, sky uppercut and slash.

With Ash, he was training his Breloom and Nuzleaf. Breloom and Nuzleaf had become quite strong ever since they evolved from Shroomish and Seedot. Apart from knowing tackle, stun spore, poison powder leech seed, bullet seed, sludge bomb, spore, headbutt, sunny day, bullet seed and the egg move wake-up slap, Breloom now knew synthesis, mach punch, counter, sky uppercut and energy ball. For Nuzleaf, it knew bide, sunny day, nature power, sunny day, solar beam, explosion, synthesis, bullet seed, energy ball, razor leaf, brick break, dark pulse and the egg move quick attack. As for Brock, Max and Tomo, they were also spending the day with their pokemon.

But they weren't the only ones that were taking the day off training their pokemon; Jessie and James had also decided to train their pokemon. Meowth was complaining that they should be working on planning of stealing pokemon for the boss. Jessie explained that stealing pokemon was the reason why they needed to train to get stronger. "The reason we get beaten by people is because their pokemon are stronger than ours" she said. "Yeah and sure you Meowth, a pokemon, would know the only way for our pokemon to get stronger is to train" said James. "And you Meowth should train too," said Jessie "you may act like a human, but you are still a pokemon". Meowth couldn't think of another way to argue anymore so he went off to train himself, and Jessie and James got to work on their pokemon. James had a new pokemon on his team; a Chimecho. Chimecho was a light blue psychic pokemon with red markings, a yellow globular growth and it looked like a wind chime. He caught it the other day.

Meowth walked into some part of a wood. "I'll show them," he said "if I train myself then I will show them that I can be tough like the other pokemon". He was just thinking on what to do, when suddenly he heard a thumping noise. "Sounds like somebody is whacking a tree very hard" he said. He went to see what the noise and then he saw what was making the noise. It was a Zigzagoon and it seemed to be using headbutt on the tree. "What are you doing?" Meowth asked the Zigzagoon. The Zigzagoon explained to Meowth, in its pokelanguage, that a Linoone was teaching the Zigzagoons hoy to use headbutt and swift. "I see so you are practicing now before you learn those attacks from Linoone right?" said Meowth. Zigzagoon nodded yes. Just then Meowth had a thought. 'This is it,' he thought 'I could ask the Linoone to teach me headbutt and swift too. My kind can learn those two moves and then I can show them off to Jessie and James'. He asked the Zigzagoon if he could go with him to see the Linoone because he wished to learn headbutt and swift too, and Zigzagoon agreed.

Zigzagoon brought Meowth to a location of the forest where there were many Zigzagoon and Linoones. Zigzagoon introduced Meowth to the Linoone, who was teaching swift and headbutt, and the Linoone agreed to help him learn headbutt and swift. Meowth was warned that the training would be tough but he was willing to go through it.

Meanwhile, the gang were enjoying some lunch. But then something strange started to happen. May noticed a rice ball was moving about all by itself along the grass. "We've got ghosts!" she cried. "No we haven't," said Ash, calmly, "that is a Kecleon". He pointed to a red stripe that was moving along the grass. "Kecleon can't hide their stripe when they are invisible". Pikachu did a light thundershock to startle the invisible Kecleon, and then Kecleon revealed itself. "See what I mean May?" asked Ash. "Yes I do" answered May.

She took out her pokedex: Kecleon, the colour swap pokemon. It can freely change its body's colour. The zigzag pattern on its belly doesn't change, however.

Max started to grin like a clown and told his Loudred to get ready to fight. "What are you doing Max?" asked May. "What do you think I'm doing May?" said Max "I am going to catch this Kecleon. Kecleon are hard to find, so this is my chance of catching one". "He's got a point about that" said Brock. So Max and Loudred got ready to catch the Kecleon.

At that time Jessie and James were taking a break with their pokemon. "I don't know about you James, but this is tough" said Jessie. "Yeah but some good things come out of this;" said James "our pokemon end up learning some new moves and they get stronger this way". "That's true," said Jessie "my Wingull here has learned new moves; it's learned air cutter, aerial ace, and steel wing. And so has my dear Loudred; she's learned ice, fire and thunder punch". "Exactly, and my Chimecho has learned some psychic moves; confusion, psywave and psychic. And thanks to some of my grass pokemon it knows energy ball now. I'm telling you Jess, at this rate we may end up stronger than Butch and Cassidy". "I hope you're right because I would love to beat Cassidy in a pokemon battle" said Jessie. "Speaking off pokemon, I wonder where Meowth went?" said James. "I don't know, maybe he went off to train himself" said Jessie. "That will make a change" replied James.

All the while Meowth was training hard with the Zigzagoons and Linoones to learn headbutt and swift. He kept on getting bumps on the head because of hitting the tree so much with his head and he got cramp in his tail because he had to swing his tail around so much to learn swift. Apparently the way that a Meowth and its evolution Persian could do swift was by the tail. Meowth wasn't willing to give up on learning swift and headbutt; he wanted to learn those two moves even if it cost him his head and tail. 'It feels strange this trying to learn a new move thing,' he thought 'I mean ever since I learnt to talk and walk, I never tried to learn a new move ever again. Especially since I'm not like other Meowth anymore. But truthfully I feel pretty good doing this. In fact I feel stronger than I ever felt before and I feel that a power is waking up within me'. It was at that moment when the brown turf on Meowth's tail started to glow and then stars came out of his tail; he had learnt swift at last. "I don't believe it, I did it!" cried Meowth, happily. He swung his tail and performed swift again. The Zigzagoon and Linoone saw that and congratulated Meowth on his success. Meowth then practiced on headbutt and slash some more and he learnt them too. "I can't believe that I really learnt swift, headbutt and slash" he said. He turned to the Zigzagoon and Linoone. "Thank you for helping me learn three new moves". He had never been so grateful in his life. Zigzagoon and Linoone were happy to have helped Meowth. Soon Meowth decided it was time for him to get back to Jessie and James, so he bid farewell to the Zigzagoons and Linoones and left the area.

By now Jessie and James had finished their training with the pokemon. "I think we did brilliantly with our training Jessie," said James, who was smiling like a happy child, "all of our pokemon has learned many new moves and my dear Shroomish evolved into Breloom". James' Breloom was happy that it evolved from Shroomish too. "I agree with you on that James" said Jessie. She and James returned all of their pokemon for a rest. Just then Meowth turned up. "Where had you been Meowth?" asked James. "Learning some new moves" answered Meowth. He demonstrated his new swift, headbutt and slash attacks. Jessie and James were amazed by that. "Wow Meowth, I never thought I'd see the day that you would learn some new moves" said Jessie. "It wasn't easy, but I did it after a lot of training" said Meowth. "I take you got my point when I said that training helps a pokemon become stronger" said James. "Yeah I get it, but we still having decided on our next move yet" said Meowth. "Say no more" said James.

James got out his laptop and typed in something. "I figured this pokemon should be our next target" he said. He showed a picture of a Kecleon on the lap top. "This creepy lizard thing?" said Jessie. "That Jessie is a Kecleon, and it has the ability to become invisible by camouflaging around objects" said Meowth. "That's right and Team Rocket can use that ability to steal things" said James. Jessie saw the point, and the trio agreed to go and gather Kecleons.

At that time, the gang were getting ready to leave and continue on their journey. "I feel ready now for the contest after that training" said May. "I feel happy because I have a Kecleon for myself" said Max, He and Loudred succeeded on catching the Kecleon. "Yeah but now it's time to go" said Ash. So the gang left the area.

Today the gang had arrived at a city called Lilycove City; there the next pokemon contest was being held tomorrow. There Ash and May met another pokemon coordinator named Kelly and her pokemon Grumpig. Grumpig was a purple, black and pink pig like psychic pokemon and its pink tail looked like a big spring. Kelly and her mother also owned a shop where they made and sold pokeblocks. The gang remembered about making pokeblocks and using the berry blender from Mr Big, back at Slateport City. Since they had come to a pokeblock shop, they decided to make some pokeblocks for their pokemon today. Even May was confident of making pokeblocks now. Kelly and her mother were happy to hear that the gang knew how to make pokeblocks. Kelly also told Ash and May that she was going to enter the pokemon contest tomorrow. So Ash and May had another rival to deal with tomorrow.

Next day it was time for the contest. Ash was going to use Corphish and May was going to use Combusken. Brock, Tomo and Max sat in the audience seat and Ash, May and Kelly was in the waiting room. Vivian did the normal opening speech and introductions, and then she showed off the Lilycove Ribbon. The Lilycove Ribbon was purple, with light purple spots and a light green outline.

May was first in the appeal rounds and she called out Combusken. "Start things off with fire spin Combusken". Combusken spun round and created a fiery tornado. "Cut that with slash Combusken". Combusken slash through the tornado, making it rain of balls of fire. "Now use sky uppercut". Combusken slashed through the balls of fire with sky uppercut and then it rained little bits of flames. Combusken kneeled to the ground for a finish. The audience thought it was incredible with how Combusken dealt with a fiery performance. Nurse Joy and Mr Suziko liked the performance too. As for Mr Contesta, he did like the performance but he saw that Combusken was showing off a bit during the performance. This was true really; Combusken acted like he was the lord of fire during that performance especially since this was his first contest. Mr Contesta was one of those judges who could see any faults and anything else like that. So May got a point of 23.6. This made May hope that this score was high enough for her to get into the second round.

Soon it was Kelly's turn with her Grumpig. First Grumpig did a springy entrance with its springy tail. Then Kelly threw out some pokeblocks from her pokeblock case and Grumpig used psychic to juggle them and then ate them to finish. The audience and judges liked the performance and Kelly got a score of 27.7. Then it was Ash's turn and he called out his Corphish. "Let's start with harden Corphish". Corphish's body glowed white and then it shined a bit. "Now show them your bubblebeam". Corphish opened his pincers and fired blue bubbles from them. "Now use night slash Corphish". Corphish's pincers glowed dark purple and then he slashed all the bubbles, making them pop. A shower of blue and purple sparkles flew everywhere, and the audience and judges liked it. Ash got a full total of 30.0.

After all the preliminary rounds were over it was soon times for the second rounds. This time, eight pokemon coordinators made it past the preliminaries and Ash, Kelly and May were three of them. May was relieved that she got into the second round, considering her low score. Ash, May and Kelly easily defeated their opponents in the top 8 rounds, and when it came to the top 4 rounds May had to face a male opponent named Sid and Ash had to face Kelly.

Fighting against Kelly and her Grumpig wasn't easy for Ash and Corphish. Kelly's Grumpig's psychic move made it hard for Corphish to do anything because Grumpig kept Corphish high and still in the air. Corphish tried to fight back with bubble beam, but the psychic move kept on preventing him from doing anything. In the end Ash and Corphish lost, and Kelly and Grumpig went to the last round. May won against Sid too, so May and Kelly had to fight each other now for the ribbon.

When it was now Combusken vs Grumpig, Grumpig used the same psychic move it used on Corphish. So Combusken was held high and still in the air. But May got an idea; she ordered her Combusken to use fire spin at the ceiling. When Combusken did that, the flames got thrown back by the ceiling and a rain of flames fell everywhere. Grumpig got hit by the rain of flames and became distracted a bot from using psychic. "May turned this match around like a chess game," said Brock "she figured that Kelly was going to use her Grumpig's move psychic, like she did when she battled Ash, so she found a way to fight back at it with that rain of flames. And Grumpig can't do anything about it because it's too busy using psychic". "This was a great strategy" said Tomo. "Yeah, I can't believe that my sister really came up with that" said Max. Ash and Pikachu, who were still in the waiting room, saw May's strategy. "May has grown up now with pokemon battling Pikachu," said Ash "before she was the nervous type who had no idea of what to do in a battle. But now she really has gotten better at battling". Pikachu agreed. At that moment Grumpig stopped using psychic and then both Grumpig and Combusken fell towards the ground. May quickly told Combusken to grab Grumpig and use flamethrower on the ground. The flamethrower acted like a rocket to help both Combusken and Grumpig get onto the ground safely. After that the time was up and May was the winner of the match and pokemon contest.

The judges were happy with May's kindness and they happily presented her the Lilycove Ribbon. Kelly and the gang congratulated May for her win and Kelly hoped to go against May in a pokemon contest again one day. May was happy to have earned a third ribbon and happy to have gained a new friend and rival.

Chapter 77

The Evolution fight

Aquadome Contest and

Glacia

Today the gang were travelling across the ocean on a ferry. Brock told the others that they were heading towards three islands called the A-B-C Islands. The islands were called the A-B-C because they were three islands grouped together. Brock also said that they were going to Island A, because it was the only island of the three with a pokemon center. It seemed to be a nice peaceful day for the gang, but the peace didn't last for long.

Some kids were racing each other in the ocean and they were riding on two different types of water pokemon. One water pokemon was a blue serpent like pokemon with orange fins and designs and a big mouth with big sharp teeth. This was called a Huntail. The other one was a pink serpent like pokemon with two long thin fins (one on the head and one below the head), a purple fin on the tail and two purple shells on the chest. This one was called a Gorebyss.

Ash looked at Huntail on his pokedex: Huntail, the deep sea pokemon. The evolved form of Clamperl. It lives deep in the sea. With a tail shaped like a small fish, it attracts unsuspecting prey.

May looked at Gorebyss on her pokedex. Gorebyss, the south sea pokemon. The evolved form of Clamperl. It lives at the bottom of the sea. In the springtime, its pink body turns more vivid for some reason.

"Wow, so both of those pokemon evolve from Clamperl?" said Max.

Tomo looked at Clamperl on the pokedex: Clamperl, the bivalve pokemon. It makes a single pearl during its lifetime. The pearl is said to amplify psychic power.

"So it's a branch evolution like Poliwhirl's evolutions and Eevee's evolutions huh?" said Ash. The gang noticed that the kids were arguing and in a hurry to get to Island A. "I wonder what those kids are in a hurry about" said Ash.

Soon the gang got to Island A, and to the pokemon center. Nurse Joy told the gang that since her pokemon center on Island A was the only pokemon center, the people on Island B and C had to transport their pokemon to her by a transporter. Suddenly there was a lot of shouting coming from another room in the pokemon center. "Oh not again" sighed Nurse Joy. The shouting was from some children and they were arguing about Huntail or Gorebyss being better than the other. Nurse Joy told them to stop arguing and get back to their studies. Apparently the pokemon center was also a school and kids from Island B and C attended it.

Max asked why and what the kids were arguing about. Nurse Joy explained that swarms of Clamperl lived around the A-B-C Islands and for some reason Clamperl end up evolving into Huntail on Island C and Clamperl evolved into Gorebyss on Island B. "Because of that the people from Islands B and C keep on arguing with each other about Gorebyss or Huntail being better than the other". "Say no more Nurse Joy," said Ash "Tomo, Brock and I have heard something like this before". "Ash is right;" said Brock "we have heard about people arguing over the different Eevee evolutions, over Poliwhirl with Poliwrath and Politoed and over Gloom with Vileplume and Bellossom". "And over Tyrogue with Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan and Hitmontop don't forget that" said Tomo. "I see," said Nurse Joy "and what do you three say about this?"

Ash was about to answer Nurse Joy's question when suddenly they saw a surprise. The surprise was Prof Birch talking to some kids outside the pokemon center. The gang couldn't believe that they were seeing Prof Birch again, and of course Prof Birch was surprised to see the gang again. "What brings you here professor?" asked Nurse Joy. "I came here to investigate on the evolutions of Clamperl" answered Prof Birch. "I must ask, how do Clamperl evolve into Huntail or Gorebyss?" asked May. "I can answer that" said Ash. He opened up his back pack and took out two objects from it. One object was a grey tooth shaped fang and the other object was a pink scale. "Aren't those things a deep sea tooth and a deep sea scale?" asked Max. "Yep," said Ash "I got these from an old man back when we were in Slateport City. The old man also told me that a deep sea tooth makes Clamperl evolve into Huntail and a deep sea scale makes Clamperl evolve into a Gorebyss. But the Clamperl have to be traded while holding the items to make them evolve". "That is correct Ash," said Prof Birch "I think I should make you my assistant when I'm travelling for research". Ash then had a thought. "Nurse Joy you said that Clamperl evolve into Gorebyss on Island B and that Clamperl evolve into Huntail on Island C right?" he said. "That's right I did" answered Nurse Joy. "Then maybe there are deep sea teeth located at Island C and deep sea scales over at Island B" said Ash. "I think you may be right Ash," said Prof Birch "so I should head over to those two islands right away to see if the theory is correct". Ash and the gang asked to come too and Prof Birch agreed.

Just then a boy and a girl came up to the gang. The boy was called Keith and the girl was called Nancy. "I want to come too" said Keith. "And me" said Nancy. Keith and Nancy explained that they both had a Clamperl each and they wanted to evolve them. "I see so you two want to see how your Clamperls will evolve, right" said Prof Birch. "Yes" said Keith and Nancy together. So Prof Birch and the gang agreed to let Keith and Nancy join them.

The first stop was at Island B. The group went into an underground cave. In the cave there was a big pool of water, with a little waterfall. "This is a nice cave to explore" said Prof Birch. Just then some clam like pokemon jumped out of the pool; these pokemon were Clamperl. "So it seems that Clamperl live in the underground caves around the A-B-C Islands" said Brock. "That's correct," said Keith "this cave is where I got my Clamperl from". "And I got my Clamperl from the cave on Island C" said Nancy. "So then where are the deep sea teeth or the deep sea scales then?" asked Max. "I don't know, but I know how we can find them" said Prof Birch.

Prof Birch had a brown bag on him and he took out two metal rod things. "This item finder of mine should do the trick" he said. Prof Birch held out the item finder and then the rod pointed out to the pool; this meant that the deep sea teeth or deep sea scales were probably in the pool. Prof Birch, Keith, Nancy and the gang started to search for deep sea scales in the pool, and in no time at all they did find some deep sea scales. "So Ash's theory about Island B was right," said Prof Birch "deep sea scales are only located here which explains about Clamperl only evolving into Gorebyss here". "Do you think there's a chance that my theory about Island C is right too?" asked Ash. "There is only one way to find that out Ash" said Prof Birch.

To see if Ash's theory about Island C was right, everyone headed there next. Like Island B, Island C had an underground cave with a big pool of water and of course there were Clamperl living there too. Prof Birch checked with his item finder again to see if any deep sea teeth were around. And there was. Prof Birch claimed that Ash's theory about deep sea teeth being located at Island C was right, which explained about Clamperl evolving into Huntail.

Suddenly a small grey pig like pokemon, with a springy tail, jumped towards the Clamperl. "That's a Spoink" said Prof Birch.

Ash looked at Spoink on the pokedex: Spoink, the bounce pokemon. The pre-evolved form of Grumpig. It bounces constantly, using its tail as a spring. The shock of bouncing keeps its heart beating.

"Hang on, that Spoink doesn't have a pearl on its head like it should do" said Max. "That must be the reason why it's here;" said Prof Birch "Spoinks get their pearls from Clamperl, so it's going to ask the Clamperls for a pearl". Prof Birch was right; the Spoink asked the Clamperl for a pearl.

One Clamperl was just about to give the Spoink a pearl, but then it and the other Clamperls were caught in a net. "What on earth?!" gasped Prof Birch. Three men appeared and they were carrying nets full of Clamperl. "Pretty good catch here," said the first man. "Yeah these will fetch a good price for sure" said the second man. "Especially their pearls" said the third man. "Who on earth are you three?!" demanded Prof Birch. The three men explained that they were Clamperl hunters, who captured Clamperls for their pearls. Prof Birch and the gang were not happy with this. "Release those Clamperl at once!" shouted Prof Birch. "No chance" said the second man.

The three men were about to start running off with the Clamperls, but then they got tackled. It was the Spoink. Spoink wasn't happy with what the men were doing either, so it was trying to stop them too by using bounce. "Get away from us you!" shouted the third man, and he kicked Spoink. Spoink ended up flying, but Ash caught it at once. "You okay?" Ash asked the Spoink. Ash was clearly not happy about this. He wanted to use Pikachu to attack, but if he did Pikachu could end up hitting the Clamperls with his electric attacks. "Leave this to me" said Tomo. He tossed a pokeball and out came a Poliwhirl. "Hey when did your Poliwag evolve Tomo?" asked Ash. "The other day when I was training some of my pokemon," smiled Tomo. He ordered Poliwhirl to use mega kick on the men; this was to teach the men to not kick pokemon. Poliwhirl kicked the men so hard, that they let go of the nets that carried the Clamperls. "Now knock those men out with hypnosis Poliwhirl" said Tomo. Poliwhirl's hypnosis attack put the men to asleep at once. "Great work there Tomo," said Prof Birch "I'll contact the police at once. And then we shall get to the pokemon center on Island A to have Spoink and the Clamperls checked out".

So, the three men got arrested by the police and Nurse Joy checked out Spoink and the Clamperls from Island C. "This was certainly quite a day," said Prof Birch "we solved a mystery behind the evolutions of Clamperl and Gorebyss and Huntail. And we captured a couple of crooks". There was still one more thing to sort out; Nancy and Keith hadn't evolved their Clamperls yet. Keith lived on Island B so he would have had a Gorebyss, and Nancy lived on Island C so she would have a Huntail. But Keith confessed that he wanted a Huntail because it was really cool, and Nancy confessed that she wanted a Gorebyss because it was really beautiful. Ash encouraged them to evolve their Clamperls into whatever they wanted. "What's important of evolving your pokemon is the happiness of you and your pokemon" he said. So Keith evolved his Clamperl into Huntail and Nancy evolved her Clamperl into Gorebyss.

That evening, the gang got ready to leave the A-B-C Islands by a ferry. Prof Birch decided going to stay behind a bit more to study the Clamperl, the Huntail and the Gorebyss. Nancy and Keith were happy with their new evolved pokemon, and because of what they did the people of the B and C islands had finally stopped their quarrelling. Nurse Joy informed the gang that the Clamperls were okay and so was the Spoink. The Spoink was standing next to Nurse Joy and it had a new pink pearl on the top of its head; a Clamperl gave its pearl to Spoink. "Good for you Spoink, now you won't need to worry about not having a pearl" said Ash. Just then the Spoink bounced into Ash's arms and nuzzled him. "You like me Spoink?" asked Ash. Spoink nodded to say yes; truth is Ash noticed that this Spoink was female and she liked Ash. So Ash caught the Spoink.

After that the gang said goodbye to Prof Birch and Nurse Joy, and left the A-B-C Islands.

Today the gang had come to an island called Aquadome Island. The island was called that because the island was famous for its many swimming pools and saunas and outdoor baths for tourists and a lot of water pokemon lived around the island. May of course wanted to check out the saunas, but the boys had to remind her why they came to Aquadome Island. There was to a pokemon contest being held there today, so the gang had no time to go to the pools or saunas until after the contest.

When the gang entered the contest hall to enter, a surprise was waiting there. Robert the pokemon coordinator that the gang met at Slateport City was there. "Hey Robert it has been a while" said Ash. "It certainly has Ash," said Robert "are you going to enter the pokemon contest here?" "Yes, both May and I are" answered Ash. "Well I hope that I will get to battle you again Ash" said Robert. Robert had hoped to battle Ash again ever since their battle at the Slateport Contest. The gang found out that Robert had four ribbons and needed one more for the grand festival. "It's not going to be easy to defeat Robert," said May "I remember how strong he was back at the Slateport City. "I do too," said Ash "but I have been training to be ready to go against him again, and the pokemon that I'll be using in this contest will defeat Robert". "What pokemon are you going to use Ash?" asked Brock. "It's a surprise" smiled Ash.

Soon the contest was about to begin. Tomo, Growlithe, Brock and Max were in the audience seats, while Ash and May were in the waiting room. Vivian did the normal introductions and showed off the Aquadome Ribbon. The Aquadome Ribbon was aqua green with white bubble shaped patterns and an aqua blue outline.

Robert went first in the appeal rounds. Instead of using his Milotic, he was using a black pokemon that looked like a mud statue. This pokemon was a Claydol, a ground and psychic pokemon. "Wow what a pokemon" said Max.

Tomo looked at Claydol on the pokedex: Claydol, the clay doll pokemon. The evolved form of Baltoy. An ancient clay figurine that came to life as a Pokémon from exposure to a mysterious ray of light.

Robert told his Claydol to start off with sandstorm and then he ordered Claydol to use rapid spin. The spinning of the rapid spin spun the sand round too. "Now use psychic Claydol" said Robert. While using psychic, Claydol rose into the air raising the sandy whirlpool as well and then Claydol made out looking like a statue on top of a sandy fountain. The audience loved it and the judges thought it was very clever. Robert got a 30.0 mark for it. "Robert is very good at this" said Tomo. "You're right," agreed Brock "I think Robert has what it takes to become a top coordinator". "I hope May and Ash will be all right when they have to battle him" said Max.

Soon it was May's turn. This time she was using her Marill. "Okay Marill let's start off with bubble beam" said May. Marill shot out a lot of blue bubbles. "Now use bounce". Marill started jumping around, in between, the bubbles and popping them. This was showing off Marill's adorableness. "Okay now finish off with aqua tail". Marills tail glowed blue and then Marill spun her tail around and a spiral of water spiralled around it. To finish it off, Marill hit the ground with aqua tail and then did a finishing pose. The audience liked the performance and so did the judges. May got a score of 28.9. "May's getting better at being a coordinator every time" said Tomo. "You're right, and that's because of all the new things she's learnt from the past contests" said Brock.

Ash was last. To everyone's surprise, Ash was using Latias this time. The audience and the judges were surprised to see a Latias, and the coordinators in the waiting room were surprised to know that Ash had a Latias. "Okay Latias fire a mist ball and then use dragon claw" said Ash. Latias fired a ball of mist into the air and then she slashed it with dragon claw. A mist started to cover the area. "Now use safeguard and fly around" said Ash. Latias glowed light blue and then she started to fly around in the mist. It was like watching a mysterious creature roaming around the mist. Then the mist cleared and Ash and Latias did a finishing pose together. The audience loved it, especially the judges. To them it was like seeing the mysterious side of a dragon pokemon. Ash got a score of 30.0.

In the waiting room Robert spoke with Ash. "I can't believe that you have a Latias Ash" he said. "I also have a Latios too," smiled Ash "I caught them sometime before I started my journey in Hoenn". Ash didn't intend to say anything about what happened in Alto mare; he had promised Bianca and Lorenzo that he would keep it a secret. "Why did you decide to use Latias Ash?" asked May. "Well Prof Oak told me that he and Tracey had been watching the pokemon contests on TV and Latias ended up watching them too," said Ash "and because of that Latias was desperate to participate in one. So that's why I decided to use her instead". "Got it" said May. Just then the results for the battle round were up. It was eight trainers that could enter the battle rounds and Robert, Ash and May were three of them. "Ash, May, I look forward for when I get to battle any of you" said Robert. "Same with me" said Ash. "And me" said May.

Ash, May and Robert easily defeated their opponents in the top 8 rounds, but when it came to the top 4 rounds Ash had to battle Robert and May faced another opponent. May was worried about Ash because Robert defeated Ash at the Slateport contest. But Ash told May not to worry because he believed that Latias could defeat Robert's Claydol.

It was now time for Ash and Robert to battle and Latias and Claydol were ready to fight. "Latias let's start off with dragon pulse" said Ash. Latias fired a dragon pulse at Claydol. "Counter that with hyper beam Claydol" said Robert. The dragon pulse and hyper beam attacks collided with each other and exploded. "Use sandstorm Claydol" said Robert. Claydol started to cover the battlefield with sand. Ash smiled, knowing what to do in a situation like this. "Rain dance Latias" said Ash. Latias made it rain and Claydol's sandstorm disappeared. "Claydol is in trouble now," Brock said to Tomo and Max. "Yeah because rain dance has the ability to power up water type moves and Latias knows some water type moves" said Tomo. "And as Claydol is part ground type, water is its weakness" said Max. Brock was right about Claydol being in trouble; Ash commanded Latias to use water pulse and Latias' water pulse attack hit Claydol dead on. Claydol fainted at once. So Ash was the winner of this battle round. Robert congratulated Ash. "Your Latias is indeed a powerful pokemon Ash," he said "and I hope I will get to battle your Latios someday too".

May got defeated by her opponent, a boy named Trevor, because he used a Breloom. As Breloom was a grass type pokemon Marill, being a water type, easily got defeated by its grass type moves. When Trevor battled Ash, his Breloom easily got defeated by Latias and her mist ball attack. Mist ball was a psychic move and Breloom, being part fighting type as well as grass, was no match for it. So Ash was the winner of the Aquadome contest and the Aquadome Ribbon. This was now Ash's fourth ribbon and he needed just one more for the grand festival.

When the contest was over with, the gang hung out at a sauna for a relaxation. "Finally a whole evening of relaxation," said May, who was enjoying the sauna, "after I'm done with this sauna I'll get into a nice bath next". "Just try not to faint May" teased Max. Ash was happy to have a fourth contest ribbon and he hoped to earn his fifth ribbon in the next pokemon contest.

The gang was having a think today. Ash, Brock and Tomo told Max and May that Misty's birthday was the day after tomorrow, and the gang agreed to send Misty a birthday present. But they didn't know what they should get her. May had suggested on clothes and jewellery, but Ash said that Misty had lots of those because she bought a lot of clothes and jewellery when they travelled together in the past. Max had an idea that they could give Misty and Huntail and Gorebyss and some Clamperls as presents. "That is a good idea Max, but Misty has already got those," said Brock "I had a talk with her on the phone the other day and she told me a few days after she got back to Kanto from Mirage Kingdom she captured fourteen Clamperls". "What a catch," said Max "and I take it she evolved some of them?" "She said that she evolved two of them into Huntail and two of them into Gorebyss, and the ten Clamperls are staying Clamperls because her sisters like them so much" said Brock. "So then that means that Misty and her sisters have all the water pokemon there are in the Hoenn region then?" said Max. "Not really," said Ash "Misty and her sisters don't have Spheal, Sealeo and Walrein. Misty told me. And they don't have Surskit either, which is part bug and water". "Well Misty wouldn't want Surskit," said Brock "she told me that she saw a Surskit before, and of course it left her screaming. So Surskit is out of the question. But she would like Spheal, Sealeo and Walrein defiantly". "Okay then those three pokemon will be her presents," said Ash "question is where shall we go and look for them?" "I know where," said Max "there is a cave across the ocean from Mossdeep City called Shoal Cave and Spheal live there". "Okay then that is where we shall go then," said Brock "we shall go to Shoal Cave and get some Spheals for Misty". "Speaking of Spheal, check this out" said Tomo. He sent out a Sealeo from a pokeball. "My Spheal evolved this morning". "Wow, that's impressive," said Ash "it makes me say that a few Spheals would defiantly make Misty happy".

So the gang took a boat to get to Shoal Cave. But when they got there they saw the police standing outside the cave. "There must be trouble brewing about" said Ash. "Let's see what's going on" said Brock. Ash asked a policeman what was going on, and the policeman explained that reports of people causing trouble had been located in the Shoal Cave. He also said that the no one was allowed to enter the cave until the situation had been solved. The gang was disappointed especially since they wouldn't be able to get any Spheals for Misty's birthday.

Just then a pretty middle aged woman, wearing a purple dress, came out of the cave. "I don't believe it!" gasped Max "that woman is Glacia. She's an elite four member of Hoenn and the master of ice type pokemon". "I wonder what she's doing here?" said May. "My guess is she's probably here to help with the problem that's happening here at Shoal Cave," said Ash "remember when Phoebe helped out at that mine because it was home to ghost type pokemon? Well Spheal are part water and ice type, which is a reason that Glacia would want to help them out being an ice type master". The others agreed to that.

Just then Glacia noticed the gang. "Excuse me," she said "are you kids by any chance Ash, Tomo, Brock, Max and May?" "Yes, but how do you know our names?" asked Ash. "I heard about you guys and your Pikachu and Growlithe from Phoebe," said Glacia "she also told me about how you helped her protect some ghost pokemon from some selfish miners". "I'm glad we were able to help at that time" said Brock. "Well would you kids mind helping me now please?" asked Glacia "I know that you will be a great help to me like you were to Phoebe". The gang couldn't believe that Glacia was asking them for help. "Let's do it," Max whispered to the others "I would love to have an adventure with Glacia". "This way we can see what's going on in the cave" whispered Brock. The gang agreed to go into the cave with Glacia. Even May agreed to go too.

Glacia led the gang through the cave; she had been in Shoal Cave lots of times so she knew the way through the cave without getting lost. It was quite chilly in the cave. "Do you have any idea of what the disturbance in this cave is about Glacia?" asked Ash. "I have two guesses," said Glacia "it's either because this cave is home to hundreds of Spheals or it's because of shoal salt and shoal shells". "Shoal salt and shoal shells?" said May. "Shoal salt is a special salt and shoal shells are special shells and you can only find them here in Shoal Cave" said Glacia. "What exactly are those things for?" asked Ash. "They are used to make shell bells," said Max "they are special shell shaped bells that have the ability to heal the pokemon, who wears it, after causing damage to a target". "Wow, then that must be the reason for this trouble then," said Brock "I mean I think anybody would want to get their hands on something as special as that". "Yes, but that doesn't mean they can cause trouble and disturb the pokemon who live in this cave" said Glacia. The gang agreed with that and decided to just concentrate on stopping the trouble that was happening in the cave.

The trouble in Shoal was really Jessie, James and Meowth. They were gathering up shoal salt and shoal bells and storing them into bags. "Tell me, why are we in this cold cave and gathering up salt and shells?" asked Jessie. Jessie didn't like being in Shoal Cave. "I told you already, we need the shoal salt and shoal shells to make shell bells," said Meowth "the shell bells will be a great help to Team Rocket, especially when the pokemon are fighting enemies". "Meowth's right Jess because shell bells have the ability to heal a pokemon after they've cause damage to another pokemon" said James. "Oh fine, but can we hurry up a bit so that we can leave soon?" said Jessie "I can't stand being in this cave anymore".

Meanwhile Glacia and the gang were still walking around in the cave. "This is weird," said Max "we have been walking in this cave for a while now and we haven't run into any pokemon at all. Not even one Spheal". "You're right Max," said Glacia "pokemon are always roaming around these parts. But now it's too quiet in this cave; something is not right". Just then Pikachu and Growlithe started to run ahead in front of the humans. "Ah when Pikachu and Growlithe act like that, it means something wrong is ahead of us" said Ash. "Yes let's hurry and follow them" said Tomo.

When Glacia and the gang caught up with Pikachu and Growlithe, they had a nasty surprise waiting for them. They saw dozens of Spheals and all of them were paralyzed. "Oh my gosh!" gasped May "what on earth happened". Brock checked on one of the Spheals at once. "They've been paralyzed by stun spore attack," said Brock. He revealed some stun spore powder on his hand. "So whoever did this must have been a grass type pokemon" suggested Max. "Yes but what should we do about the Spheals?" asked May. "I know what," said Ash "May do you have your Skitty with you?" "Yes I do, why?" said May. "Call her out and tell her to use heal bell" said Ash. May had no idea what it was going to do but she did as she was told and told her Skitty to use heal bell. Skitty's body glowed a blue-green and then Skitty released a green-blue wave from her tail towards all the Spheals. The Spheals were soon healed from their paralysis. "Wow, so the move heal bell can cure paralysis?" asked May. "It does more than that," said Ash "it can cure sleep, poison, freeze and burn as well as paralysis". "Ash is right and the move refresh can do that too, except it doesn't cure sleep and freeze" said Brock. "I am happy to see some trainers who know about how to heal a pokemon," smiled Glacia "but we need to sort out who did this". "I agree, before any more pokemon in this cave get hurt so let's go" said Brock.

At that time Jessie, James and Meowth had filled up ten bags fall of shoal salt and ten bags full of shoal shells. "Can we leave now? I'm tired from all of this" complained Jessie. "Yep, we can leave now," said Meowth "we have plenty now". Jessie sighed to say thank goodness. Suddenly Glacia and the gang turned up. "Why am I not surprised to see that you three are the ones causing trouble in this cave?" said Ash. Glacia asked who the trio were and Max explained that Team Rocket was bad people that stole pokemon from people and other places. Glacia was not happy with that. "I take you three are responsible for making the Spheals paralyzed?" she asked. "Those annoying pipsqueaks were in the way," said Jessie "so we paralyzed to keep them out of the way". "You're behaviour is unacceptable," said Glacia, crossly, "I shall punish you both". She sent out two ice pokemon to deal with Team Rocket; a Glalie and a Walrein. "Team Rocket's in trouble now" Max said to the others. He was right; Glacia ordered her two pokemon to use ice beam on Team Rocket and Jessie, James and Meowth were frozen solid at once. Tomo sent out his Sealeo to help out. "Sealeo use stockpile three times, and then use spit up" he said. Sealeo did that and when he used spit up he shot out a powerful beam of light from his mouth. Jessie, James and Meowth were shot out of Shoal Cave, leaving the shoal salt and shoal shells behind.

Glacia was grateful to the gang for helping her. "What should we do with all the shoal salt and shoal bells?" asked Max, who noticed the twenty bags. "Ah we can take it to the people who make shell bells," said Glacia "and they can sell the bells to trainers". "Let's go and see how the Spheals are doing now" said Brock. Everyone agreed and when they got back to where the Spheals were, the Spheals were all healed up now thanks to Skitty's heal bell. And to everyone's surprise, one of them had evolved into a Sealeo. "This is great to see that all the Spheals and the Sealeo are okay" said Ash. "Yes, but it was thanks to you and your idea of using heal bell Ash," said Glacia "I wish there was some way I could thank all of you". "Well the only thing we want is to catch some Spheals" said Brock. He explained about their friend Misty's birthday and their desire to give her some Spheals for a present because of her love for water pokemon. "I see, well since your friend loves water pokemon so much I'm sure she would love and care for the Spheals" smiled Glacia.

Just then the Sealeo and eight Spheals walled over to the gang and the Sealeo spoke up. "I know what this Sealeo is saying because I've learnt to understand ice type pokemon," said Glacia "it's saying that it will gladly be your friend's pokemon and it wants you to capture the eight Spheals beside it because they're its siblings". The gang agreed to Sealeo's request, and so Ash caught the Sealeo and Brock, Tomo, Max and May caught two Spheals each. As Ash's Sealeo and Tomo's two Spheals were going to Prof Oak and Max and May's Spheals were going to Prof Birch, they had to make sure to phone them and tell them about sending the pokemon to Misty.

Soon Glacia and the gang were out of Shoal Cave and they told the police what had happened. The police were happy to know that the disturbance had been sorted out now and they thanked Glacia and the gang. Now it was time for the gang to leave. "I thank you kids again and I wish you all luck on your journey" said Glacia. "It was a pleasure to meet you Glacia" said Ash. So the gang said goodbye to Glacia and left Shoal Cave by their boat.

Chapter 78

Groudon, Kyogre and Rayquaza

It seemed like a normal day for the gang; they were just on a ferry heading for Mossdeep City. But trouble had been following them; it was Team Rocket again. Jessie, James and Meowth were trying to nick the gang's pokemon again, and of course they were sent blasting off again. But in the process the gang ended up falling overboard and into the ocean. Tomo quickly returned his Growlithe so that Growlithe wouldn't get wet from the ocean. The gang tried to call out for help, but no one on the ferry heard them and so the gang was left in the ocean. "What shall we do now?" asked May, worriedly. "Don't worry I have my Milotic on me so she can give us a ride" said Ash.

Ash was just about to call out his Milotic, but then a red submarine came out from underneath the gang. "How'd you like that?" said Brock "we don't need Milotic after all". "Wait a minute," said Ash, worriedly, "this submarine is Team Magma's submarine". "Are you sure Ash?" asked May. "Ash is right May," said Tomo "Officer Jenny showed us a photo of this submarine before". "I remember, it was some time after we last met Team Aqua and Magma" said Max. "What shall we do?" asked May.

Before anyone could think of something, someone was about to come out of the sub. The gang quickly hid themselves away so that they wouldn't be seen. The Mr. Somebody, who came out of the sub, was Team Magma's commander Tabitha. The gang saw Tabitha, but Tabitha didn't see the kids. "This is Team Magma's sub all right" said Brock. "Then Team Magma must be up to something again" said Ash. "What should we do?" asked May, worriedly. "It's too late for us to try and get away now" said Brock. The submarine started to move towards a big sea fortress in the middle of the ocean. "I bet that's Team Magma's base," said Brock "and if it is then we are in trouble".

Brock was right about the fortress being Team Magma's base and the gang was in trouble. Once the submarine docked the gang was found out by the leader of Team Magma. The boss of Team Magma was a man named Maxie. "What are you going to do with us?!" shouted Ash, who was not happy to see Team Magma at all. "No need to fret kid, I'm just going to keep you all here until our mission is over" said Maxie. "My apologies sir," said Tabitha "I didn't realize that we had intruders on the submarine sir". "It's quite all right," said Maxie "bring those kids to my office so we can talk". Some Team Magma kids surrounded the gang and headed them away. Maxie also asked if there were any signs of Team Aqua. "We have found out that they have made some moves under water and we belive that they may head over to Monsu Island" said Tabitha. "I see, so that means we will be meeting up with Team Aqua soon" said Maxie.

Another intruder was also in Team Magma's base. It was Team Aqua's commander Shelly. The truth is Team Magma had somehow captured Kyogre, who Team Aqua was searching for, and Team Aqua found that out. So Shelly had snuck on board to release Kyogre.

In Maxie's office, Maxie asked the gang to sit on the sofa so he could talk to them. Max and May were scared of Team Magma, especially of their angry four Mightyenas. Tomo and Brock were a bit nervous, and Ash was looking very angry. Ash didn't really want to talk to Maxie but Brock told him not to anger him. "I take it you don't like us very much Ash?" asked Maxie. "You're right I don't!" shouted Ash "I know what you and Team Aqua are. You are a bunch of villains who plan to use Groudon and Kyogre for your own crazy, selfish ways!" The Mightyenas growled to silence Ash. "Watch your mouth kid!" demanded Tabitha, who was not happy with Ash. "It's all right Tabitha," said Maxie "we are not exactly the villains that you think we are Ash. You see Team Aqua wants to control all the oceans of the world, while we just want to control the land so that we can make the world better by expanding the land". "That still doesn't change the fact that you are a villain, especially since you and your team had been going around Hoenn terrorizing people and pokemon and stealing things that are not yours!" argued Ash.

Just then an orb appeared on Maxie's desk; it was the red orb. "The red orb" said Ash. "Oh so you know about this ancient treasure then?" asked Maxie "with this red orb I will be able to control Groudon once I obtain it". "It won't work," said Ash "Groudon and Kyogre are the type of pokemon that you should never underestimate; especially since their powers are far more powerful and dangerous than you can imagine. If you and Team Aqua think that you will be able to control Groudon and Kyogre even with the orbs, then clearly both of you are more stupid than I thought you were". "Hey!" shouted Tabitha. Maxie shushed Tabitha. "Reassure Ash, I have gone through every little detail about Groudon and this treasure so I will be able to control Groudon once I get it from Team Aqua" said Groudon. "What on earth do you mean?" asked Brock. Maxie explained that his team had captured Kyogre and Team Aqua had captured Groudon. The gang was not happy with that, especially Ash. "So we will be heading to Monsu Island, where Team Aqua will be, to get Groudon from Team Aqua," said Maxie "but I'm afraid we can't have you kids messing with our plans, so I'm afraid you kids will have to be locked up for a while".

Ash was about to order his Pikachu to attack, but an explosion happened on Team Magma's base. What had happened was Shelly had succeeded on setting Kyogre free from its cage in Team Magma's base. Then once Kyogre woke up from its sleep, that Team Magma put it under, it created a hole in the base and set itself free. After setting Kyogre free Shelly got ready to leave the boat feeling very pleased with her success. Suddenly Shelly was stopped by a man in a Team Magma uniform. "You're not really a member of Team Magma are you?" asked the man. "That's right, I'm not" smiled Shelly. She revealed herself as a Team Aqua member and then she jumped into the sea. The man was not a Team Magma member either; he was really Lance. Lance had heard about Team Aqua and Magma and had come to Hoenn to stop them.

Back in Maxie's office, Maxie was telling his team to evacuate from the ship. Suddenly the red orb got knocked off the desk by an explosion. "Pikachu grab the red orb quickly!" commanded Ash. Tabitha ordered the Mightyenas to attack and grab the orb, but Pikachu beat the Mightyenas to the orb first. But then red markings appeared on the red orb, and then the orb went into Pikachu's body like the orb bonded with Pikachu. "Grab that Pikachu!" demanded Maxie, who saw what happened. The Mightyena charged at Pikachu, but Pikachu blasted the Mightyena with thunderbolt. "That thunderbolt was more powerful than a normal thunderbolt attack!" gasped Brock. "And look there are strange markings on Pikachu" said May. May was right; there were some weird red symbol markings over Pikachu and Pikachu was in pain from that. "This must be something to do with since the red orb went into Pikachu's body" said Ash. Another explosion happened and Maxie and Tabitha got knocked off their feat. "Quick let's get out of here now" said Brock. Ash grabbed Pikachu, while he was knocked out, and then Ash and the others ran out of the office.

Outside, in the middle of the ocean, Team Aqua's sub which was a greyish blue colour Shelly was speaking with her boss. Team Aqua's boss was a man named Archie and he looked like a pirate captain. "You did a great job of freeing Kyogre into the sea Shelly" said Archie. "I thank you sir" smiled Shelly. "Now it's time to try out Kyogre's power" said Archie. He had the blue orb in his hand. "Come fourth beast of the sea Kyogre". Kyogre came out of the sea at once; this meant that Kyogre really was under Archie's control. Archie ordered Kyogre to attack Team Magma's base and Kyogre fired a hyper beam at the base. "Kyogre is more powerful than I thought" laughed Archie. Archie was more evil than you could ever think of.

Back at Team Magma's base Lance saw that something bad was happening and he had to do something about it. Suddenly he noticed Ash and the gang, who were about to jump off the ship. "What are Ash, Brock and Tomo doing here?" Lance asked him-self. May and Max were scared to jump off the ship, but Ash told them that they had no choice because it was their only way to escape. Suddenly a sudden jolt of the base tossed May, Max, Tomo and Brock into the sea, leaving Ash behind. Ash was about to jump off next but Tabitha and two Mightyena stopped him before he could jump off. "Sorry kid but you and your Pikachu aren't going anywhere" smirked Tabitha.

Max, May, Brock and Tomo saw that Ash and Pikachu had been captured. "What shall we do?" asked Tomo, worriedly. Team Magma led Ash to a cargo room of their flying ship, where he would be imprisoned with Pikachu. "Where's Maxie?" Tabitha asked a grunt. "He already headed off for Monsu Island" answered the grunt. "Then that is where we shall go" said Maxie. As soon as Team Magma took off in their flying ship, Archie ordered Kyogre to attack Team Magma's base again. This time Kyogre's hyper beam attack smashed the base some more and the base sunk into the sea. Archie laughed at this; he really was a cruel criminal. Bad thing was that because of the blast the sea acted rough and Brock, May, Max and Tomo got tossed under the water. There were in big trouble, but then a red Gyarados saved them; it was Lance's Gyarados.

On Monsu Island, which was a small island in the middle of the ocean, Jessie, James and Meowth were just picking themselves up from their recent blast off from the gang. "Hey where are we?" asked Jessie. "I'll look it up in my map book" said James, looking through is book. "Hmm it seems we are at an island called Monsu Island". "Well that's good to know," said Jessie "but what should we do now?" Just then they noticed a flying ship above them. "Hey that was Team Magma wasn't it?" asked Jessie. "It was," answered James "which means Team Magma are here". "Let's go see what they are up to now" suggested Meowth.

Team Aqua and Team Magma met up with each other by a sort of pyramid shaped building that stood on Monsu Island. "So nice to see you Maxie" said Archie. Two Aqua grunts revealed two Magma grunts all tied up. "As I recall these two tried to take Groudon from us but they failed, not a good way of doing business Maxie". "Listen here Archie," said Maxie "both you and I know that Groudon isn't important for your organization. So just hand it over". Archie laughed. "Sorry but I won't," he said "I have obtained Kyogre so I will keep Groudon too". He showed the blue orb to Maxie. "I propose that you and your team disband Maxie and let Team Aqua take over, or I will show no mercy to you with Kyogre". Archie was indeed more power hungry than you could ever think of.

Jessie, James and Meowth watched and listened to everything from a hill to where Team Aqua and Magma were standing. "Goodness me, Team Aqua really is power hungry," said James "and both Team Aqua and Magma really hate each other's guts". "This makes me glad that Team Rocket is the only team organization in Kanto," said Jessie "I'd hate to have a rival organization to fight against all the time like this". "We should do something; I mean Team Aqua and Magma wishes to take over the world. But our boss is the one who should rule the world". "That's right," said Jessie "I mean when we told our boss about Team Aqua and Magma, when we first met them, he told us to deal with them. But Team Aqua has got both Kyogre and Groudon with them, and those two pokemon are legendary". "Then how about we release them from Team Aqua," said James "remember when we released Moltres and Zapdos from that weird pokemon collector in the Orange Islands?" "Oh yeah I remember; his plan of capturing both the three legendary birds failed after we released Zapdos and Moltres" said Meowth. "That's right," said James "so if we release them, then Team Aqua's scheme of ruling the world will fail". "I like that idea, so let's do it" said Jessie. "Yeah, let's ruin Aqua and Magma," agreed Meowth "and make Team Rocket number one again".

Back in Team Magma's ship, in the cargo hold, Pikachu was still in pain and giving off electricity because of his fuse with the red orb. Ash had his Marshtomp to hold Pikachu; since Marshtomp was part ground type he could handle Pikachu's electricity. "Hang on to Pikachu well Marshtomp and don't let him go" said Ash. Marshtomp nodded. Ash then took out his master ball from his ruck sack; it was time to call Mewtwo for back up. "Mewtwo I need your help" he said. 'Ash, I'm glad you've contacted me,' said Mewtwo, who was flying across the ocean, 'I sense a real disturbance in the ocean, what's happened?' "It's Team Aqua and Magma," said Ash "they're making their moves, they've captured Kyogre and Groudon and they've got the red and blue orbs". Mewtwo was not happy with that. 'Where are they?' he asked. "They are at an island called Monsu Island and I am there too," said Ash "hurry and get here, I fear that something really bad is going to happen". 'I'm on the way to Monsu Island now, so I'll be there soon' replied Mewtwo. "Okay and I will be ready to summon Rayquaza if we need him" said Ash. Ash and Mewtwo finished their contact.

At that moment Lance, still in his Magma disguise, entered the room. "Ash, it's me Lance" he said, revealing his face. "Lance, how glad am I to see you" said Ash. He told Lance about what he knew about Team Aqua and Magma wanting to control Kyogre and Magma with the red and blue orbs. "I already know that Ash, and that's why I'm here to stop Aqua and Magma" said Lance. "The red orb went inside Pikachu's body and I fear for his safety" said Ash. "The red and blue orbs are dangerous things and if someone is in contact with them for too long then they're minds will be corrupted by them," said Lance "which is why both pokemon and humans have to be careful when around them. But don't worry Ash, I will find a way to help Pikachu out". "Lance I have something that you should see and know" said Ash. He took out the jade orb from his ruck sack and told Lance that it was to summon Rayquaza. "Ash how did you get that?" asked Lance, in surprise. Ash explained to Lance that he had a legendary pokemon called Mewtwo. "My friends and I found out some time ago that Magma wished to control Groudon and we figured that Aqua would be after Kyogre, and that gave me the thought that we would need Rayquaza's help. So Mewtwo found Rayquaza who lives in outer space and asked it to help us. That's where I got the jade orb from; Rayquaza agreed to help us and gave the jade orb to us". Lance as fascinated by this. "I actually feel relieved that Rayquaza is going to help us, because we will need all the help we could get," he said "Ash I need you to be patient and wait here a bit more, until I figure out what to do from here". Ash agreed to do so.

Out on the ocean, Brock, Tomo, May and Max were still riding on Lance's Gyarados. Brock and Tomo explained to Max and May about their encounter with Lance in the Johto region, and about him being a member of an organization called Pokemon G-men. "You guys are lucky to have met Lance, a member of the elite four in Kanto" said Max. "I'm relieved that we have an ally on our side here to help us" said May. "I hope Ash and Pikachu are all right" said Tomo, worried about his brother. "I hope so too," said Brock "which is why we need to get to Monsu Island quick". "Full speed ahead please Gyarados" Tomo said to Lance's Gyarados.

Meanwhile Jessie, James and Meowth spotted Team Aqua's sub. "Let's get this party started" said Meowth. "Wait a minute, I see some Aqua grunts guarding it," said James "we need to get in there, without being found out". "Not a problem" smiled Jessie. She handed a male Team Aqua uniform to James and presented a female Team Aqua uniform. "Wow, Jessie where did you get those from?" said James. "Let's just say that a borrowed a pair of these uniforms the last time we saw Team Aqua" said Jessie. Truth is she actually stole the uniforms. She and James changed into their uniforms. "You know I like this outfit," said James "I think I'll take a Magma outfit too". "Me too" agreed Jessie. "Hey how come I don't have a uniform?" asked Meowth. "Because Meowth you are a pokemon and you take the role of being our pokemon" reminded Jessie. Meowth saw the point.

Jessie, James and Meowth calmly walked towards the Aqua sub, in their disguised forms. Meowth stayed quiet, so not to ruin the disguise. Just then they got stopped by two Aqua grunts. "What are you two doing here?" asked a female grunt. "We saw somebody walking towards one of the cargo holds" James lied, winking at Jessie. "We think someone is trying to get to Kyogre or Groudon" said Jessie. "Let's check the cargo hold with Kyogre" suggested the female grunt. "Let's" agreed the male grunt. They typed in something on a computer and opened one of the cargo holds. This hold contained Kyogre. "Hmm everyone looks normal in here" said the male grunt. Suddenly they ended up drifting off to sleep. This was James' doing; he ordered his Roselia to use grass whistle and it put the grunts to sleep. "Great work there," said Meowth "now let's release Kyogre". The trio found Kyogre sleeping in an enormous tank full of water. "Kyogre looks exhausted don't you think?" said Jessie. "Team Aqua must have knocked it out unconscious" said Meowth. "Leave this to me" smiled James. James released his Chimecho and told it to use heal pulse. Heal pulse was a healing move that made the user heal another pokemon. Kyogre started to recover and then it woke up. It saw the trio. "We are getting you out of here Kyogre" said Meowth. Meowth started to use swift to break up Kyogre's tank; this way it would help Kyogre break out. Just then Kyogre used hyper beam to break open its hold and then it jumped into the sea. "Mission completed" smiled James. "Come on let's get out of here now before Aqua finds out" said Meowth. And the trio quickly left the Aqua sub.

At that moment stormy clouds were appearing over the sky, and Archie had just got word that his sub was attacked. "I don't suppose you had anything to do with this Maxie?" asked Archie. "How can I since me and my team just evacuated our sunken base?" said Maxie.

By this time Tomo, Brock, May and Max had arrived on Monsu Island and they noticed the dark clouds in the sky. "I don't like the looks of this" said Tomo, looking up at the sky. "Me neither," said Brock "we better hurry and find Ash and Pikachu. I have a bad feeling that something bad is going to happen".

There was worse to come after Kyogre escaped from Team Aqua's sub; a big terrible storm was brewing. This was because of Kyogre's ability drizzle, which was the ability to make it rain and stormy. Mewtwo was flying near the area. 'I must find Ash and quickly' he said to himself. He could sense that something terribly bad was happening.

Right now Archie, with the blue orb, was now ready to fully control Kyogre. "Maxie prepare to see Team Aqua take over the whole world" said Archie. Shelly and the Aqua grunts called out their Walrein to attack Team Magma. Tabitha and the Magma grunts called out their Mightyena to fight back. Archie saw this opportunity to get onto a miniature aircraft, a machine that can fly, to experience everything from the air. By now the storm was really bad and the sea was rising and getting very, very rough and dangerous. "Hey Maxie," said Archie "I was going to let you watch me become the ruler of the world, but it seems you won't be able to witness my triumph. It won't be long before Kyogre and I flood the whole of Monsu Island with you with it". "Are you crazy!?" shouted Maxie "your own team is on here too". "So what?" said Archie. Archie was willing to sacrifice his own team for his triumph. The truth is he had become very power hungry and berserk because of his control of the blue orb. (You could say that he was like Oakley was when she controlled the DMA machine). Shelly couldn't believe that Archie was betraying his own team and the Aqua grunts were angry at Archie. Lance could tell that Archie had become a real power control freak. Tabitha told the Magma grunts to gather up the pokemon and take shelter in the building and Shelly told the Aqua grunts the same thing.

Lance took off his hood and explained to Maxie that that the red and blue orbs were created by evil people who planned to use Groudon and Kyogre for weapons in ancient times. But the powers of Groudon and Kyogre were far greater than the ancient people ever thought of. The more evil the two pokemon became, the more things went out of hands and the people controlling them became more evil and corrupted. "That's why the orbs were sealed away; it was to prevent people from making the same mistake again". "But this can't be," said Maxie "we analyzed the orbs and came to a conclusion that only weak people could become corrupted by the orbs. And we need the pokemon to build a better world". "How can you believe that nonsense?!" shouted Lance "it's because of you and Archie that the Hoenn region is now in danger!" Maxie flinched.

By now Mewtwo arrived at Monsu Island and he saw the situation. Then he found Ash and Pikachu in Team Rocket's base. 'Ash, I'm going to get you out of there now' he said. He used psycho cut on the base and then Ash and Pikachu were free. But then Pikachu started acting up again and he ran off. 'What's wrong with Pikachu?' asked Mewtwo. Ash explained that the red orb bonded with Pikachu and it made him crazy. "What's going on with Magma and Aqua?" asked Ash. 'It's not good,' said Mewtwo 'the boss of Team Aqua has gone mad and Kyogre is starting to cause destruction with the sea'. Ash didn't like the sound of this and he returned his Marshtomp to the pokeball.

Just them Tomo, Brock, May, Max and Lance turned up. Tomo, Brock, May and Max were relieved to see that Ash was all right. Mewtwo took off his mask and the top of his cloak to reveal himself to Lance. Both Lance, May and Max were surprised to see Ash's Mewtwo in person. "Pikachu ran off and the symbols on his body appeared again," said Ash "and it's giving me the feeling that Groudon is somewhere behind it". 'I sensed Groudon's presence when I saw Team Aqua's sub,' said Mewtwo 'so Pikachu might be heading there'. "Then that is where we shall go to too" said Ash. "Okay you lot go and find Pikachu and I will try and stop Archie" said Lance. Lance called out his Dragonite and they took off into the sky.

Meanwhile Jessie, James and Meowth were trying to take shelter from the fierce storm. "I don't know about you guys, but this predicament is worse than the one we had in the Orange Islands when the three legendary birds fought each other" said Meowth. "Yeah I remember that," said Jessie "so we better head for shelter at once". "I thought you would say that so I did make a shelter for us to hide in" said James. He presented a big sort of ball shaped bush made out of vines, mud, sticks and leaves. "With the help of my pokemon we were able to make this shelter". "Excellent James, now we'll be safe until this storm's over" said Jessie. The trio got into it at once and agreed to not get out until it was all over.

Right now Lance was trying to stop Archie, while flying on Dragonite. "Archie you have to stop this!" he shouted "if you don't you might end up destroyed by the blue orb!" Archie laughed; he wouldn't listen and all he cared about now was using the power of Kyogre. "Blow that nuisance away with hydro pump Kyogre" said Archie. Dragonite managed to dodge before the hydro pump attack could hit it. Lance ordered his Gyarados to attack with hyper beam but Archie told Kyogre to do the same, and of course Kyogre's hyper beam was no match for Gyarados. At that moment the blue orb, in Archie's hand, glowed blue and then it went into Archie's body. Archie now had blue symbols on his body and he became more of a maniac.

Meanwhile Pikachu had jumped onto Team Aqua's sub and was releasing electricity on it. The gang had now showed up and saw what Pikachu was doing. 'I sense that Groudon is in there, so Pikachu must be trying to get it out of there' said Mewtwo. "Why would Pikachu do that?" asked May. "I know why," said Ash "remember when the red orb went into Pikachu's body on Magma's base? Well because of that Pikachu now has a bond with Groudon just like the boss of Team Aqua has a bond with Kyogre. So Groudon must have been calling out to Pikachu for help and now Pikachu is helping Groudon". Pikachu now used a thunder attack on the cargo hold of Groudon, and then it broke apart and Groudon was free.

As soon as Groudon was free, the volcano on Monsu Island started to erupt and lava started to pour out of it and into the ocean. Then it stopped raining and the clouds cleared away. This was because of Groudon's ability drought which had the ability to make the weather sunny, a bit like sunny day but stronger. Pikachu jumped onto Groudon's head, ready to fight alongside with Groudon. As soon as Kyogre and Groudon saw each other, a big tidal wave headed towards Monsu Island. "That wave is big enough to cover this whole island" said Brock. Just then Groudon fired a solar beam at the tidal wave and the tidal wave evaporated. "That was incredible!" gasped Max. The gang was amazed by how strong Groudon was.

Maxie and Tabitha, who had followed the gang, saw everything. "Tabitha we were fools to believe that we could control a powerful pokemon like Groudon," said Maxie "that kid Ash was right; we underestimated both the powers of Groudon and Kyogre". Maxie was now realizing his mistake. Shelly, who also followed them, too realized that controlling Kyogre was impossible and feared for Archie's safety.

Ash knew that Kyogre and Groudon were going to fight each other and he took out the jade orb from his rucksack. "It's time we call upon Rayquaza for help" he said. "Wait Ash, don't do it" said May. "Yeah otherwise the jade orb might possess you like its possessed Pikachu and Archie" said Max. "Maybe so but Rayquaza is the only hope we have left to bring peace to Kyogre and Groudon again" said Ash. "I agree with your decision Ash," said Lance, who joined the others, "in ancient times when Kyogre and Groudon attacked each other, Rayquaza was the peacemaker of the weather trio and the jade orb was created by good people so that if this ever happened again Rayquaza would help again. So Ash call Rayquaza now". Ash nodded and held the jade orb up towards the sky. "Rayquaza please here my call," he said "Groudon and Kyogre have been called out and are fighting each other. So please come forward and help free Kyogre from Team Aqua's control".

At that moment the jade orb turned green with green symbols on it, and then out of the sky came Rayquaza. So now Rayquaza was under Ash's control since he had the jade orb. Groudon and Kyogre looked up at the sky and saw Rayquaza. Maxie, Tabitha and Shelly saw Rayquaza too. "I can't believe it!" gasped Maxie "what is the legendary pokemon Rayquaza doing here?" Archie also saw Rayquaza; he called this another rival to dispose of. "It's good that both Groudon and Rayquaza are both on our side, but they may need some help," said Lance "Dragonite and I will see what we can do from the air". "I'm coming with you Lance," said Ash "I'm not leaving Pikachu alone in a state like this". "We will help too on your Gyarados Lance" said Tomo. "Yeah we are not going to leave Pikachu either" said Max. Lance agreed to let the gang help. 'What do you want me to do Ash?' asked Mewtwo. "Mewtwo I want you to find all the members of Team Magma and Aqua on this island and have them all tied up," said Ash "it's all because of Magma and Aqua's stupidity that this disaster is happening. So it's time to bring down Team Aqua and Magma once and for all". Mewtwo understood, put back on his mask and cloak and set off to find Team Aqua and Magma.

Ash got on Lance's Dragonite and he and Lance watched what was happening from the air. Despite being a ground type, Groudon could walk into the ocean with ease. Right now Groudon and Kyogre were tackling with each other in the ocean. "I don't like this" said Ash. "Neither do I," said Lance "remember Ash the one who's controlling Kyogre is Archie". "Where is he?" asked Ash. Lance pointed to where Archie was, who was watching everything on his miniature aircraft. "Okay then let's attack Archie," decided Ash, holding up the green orb, "Rayquaza fire a hyper beam at Archie to distract him from controlling Kyogre". Rayquaza fired a hyper beam towards Archie, just missing him and the aircraft. Archie didn't like that. "Oh so Rayquaza wants to fight too huh?" he said "okay then, Kyogre attack Rayquaza with hydro pump". Kyogre turned to where Rayquaza was and got ready to attack it. But because Kyogre was concentrating on Rayquaza, it now became an easy target for Groudon to attack and Archie realized that too late. Groudon fired a solar beam at Kyogre and Kyogre got hit by it. Because Kyogre got hit by the attack, the blue orb came out of Archie's body; so Archie no longer had control of Kyogre. Archie went unconscious and fell off his aircraft but Lance had his Dragonite grab Archie. Because Kyogre was now free the red orb went out of Pikachu's body; so Pikachu was no longer bonded to Groudon. Pikachu also went unconscious and then he fell into the sea. Ash saw that and dove into the sea to save Pikachu. As soon as Ash caught Pikachu, he saw that Kyogre was coming their way and he feared that it was going to attack them.

On Monsu Island Lance took Archie, who was still unconscious, to shore. Shelly, fearing for her boss, held Archie in her arms and asked him to wake up. When Archie woke up he had no memories of being possessed by the blue orb. At that moment Mewtwo, who was standing next to Lance, grabbed Maxie, Tabitha, Archie and Shelly with his psychic attack. 'Team Aqua and Magma, your reign of evil ends now' he said, angrily. Lance called Officer Jenny at once on his phone and told her that Team Aqua and Magma were on Monsu Island.

In the ocean Ash and Pikachu were on Kyogre's back, who emerged from the ocean. This meant that Kyogre was helping Ash and not attacking him; since Kyogre was free from Archie it was no longer evil. Kyogre, Groudon and Rayquaza stared at each other and growled softly; this meant that the weather trio was at peace with each other again. Just then Pikachu woke up and Ash was happy to see that Pikachu was okay again. At that moment Lance and Dragonite came up and Ash got onto Dragonite's back. Lance was indeed happy to know that the weather trio was no longer fighting. "Now Groudon, Kyogre and Rayquaza can live in peace again" he said.

Suddenly the jade orb, in Ash's pocket, started to glow green. Ash got the jade orb out and then the orb left Ash's hand and floated into the air. The red and blue orbs did the same and then the orbs started twirling around together as if they were dancing, and then the orbs combined with each other and then evaporated. The red, blue and jade orbs were no more. Because the orbs were now gone, the weather trio could finally return to their homes. Groudon went back into his home, which was actually Monsu Island's volcano. Kyogre went back into the ocean trenches and Rayquaza went back into the sky. Ash thanked Rayquaza for its help.

In no time at all lots of police were on Monsu Island and they arrested all the members to Team Aqua and Team Magma and placed them in prison boats, ready to be shipped off to prison. A dozen of Officer Jennies, who came from different places of the Hoenn region, were also there and they were speaking to Maxie and Archie. "Team Magma and Aqua, you have caused a lot of trouble here in the Hoenn region" said Officer Jenny, from Rustboro City. "Your desire of controlling Kyogre and Groudon could have destroyed the whole of Hoenn" said Officer Jenny, from Slateport City. "So now you will pay for all of your crimes in jail" said Officer Jenny, from Verdanturf Town. "We will go quietly," said Maxie "we realize that it was impossible to control Groudon and Kyogre". "You're right about that," said Ash, walking up to them, "only a bunch of morons like you two would think that you can control Groudon and Kyogre, when in fact you can never do that. You lot really are stupid!" Maxie and Archie knew that Ash was right. Maxie and Archie were then placed onto the prison ship. The Officer Jennies thanked both Lance and the gang. "Thanks to all of you, the Hoenn region is now safe from Team Aqua and Magma" said Officer Jenny, from Lavaridge Town. "Just make sure that Team Aqua and Magma never get released," said Ash "crooks like them don't deserve to be free". "Don't worry Ash, they will stay in jail for a long, long time" said Officer Jenny, from Littleroot Town. Then the police left with Team Aqua and Magma on the ship. It was now the end of Team Aqua and Magma.

So Monsu Island was safe again; because the lava from the volcano had cooled off and hardened, the island had more land. "I can't thank you kids enough for helping me stop Aqua and Magma," said Lance "especially you Ash. If it wasn't for you and Mewtwo on obtaining the jade orb we would have probably never defeated Aqua and Magma". "I'm glad that Rayquaza trusted me with the jade orb" said Ash. "That was no accident Ash," said Lance "Rayquaza probably noticed that you really cared about the pokemon world and so it answered to your feelings". Ash turned to Mewtwo and asked him what he was going to do. 'Ash I want you to return me to the master ball,' said Mewtwo 'I have done a lot on my travels so I wish to rest and heal up for a while'. "I understand," said Ash, taking out the master ball from his ruck sack, "I will also send you to Prof Oak. He knows of your existence so he will make sure you will get a good rest and heal up". So Ash returned Mewtwo to the master ball and sent him to Prof Oak's lab. Lance offered to give the gang a lift to Mossdeep City and the gang accepted it since it was there next destination. So now that the problem with Team Aqua and Magma was finally over, the gang could now enjoy their journey with no more disturbances from Aqua and Magma.

At that time, Jessie, James and Meowth were flying with their rocket back packs. They saw the arrest of Team Aqua and Magma and they were pleased with that. "Team Aqua and Magma have been defeated" laughed Jessie. "The boss will be happy to hear about this" said Meowth. "Let's hope that there are no other team organizations, apart from Team Rocket, elsewhere around" said James. "If there are we will just bring them down" said Meowth. So the trio left Monsu Island to, happy that Team Aqua and Magma were finished with.

Chapter 79

Mossdeep Gym, Drake

And Fossils 2

The word about Team Aqua and Magma finally being defeated spread across the Hoenn region like wild fire. People were relieved that the two teams were finally arrested, especially those who had trouble with them before. Archie, Shelly, Maxie and Tabitha were condemned to stay in prison for forty years and the grunts were for twenty years. So now the Hoenn region was save again.

By now Ash and the gang were now at Mossdeep City, thanks to Lance of given them a lift, and Ash was ready to face the gym leader of Mossdeep Gym. Mossdeep City was famous for its space center and the launch of the space rockets. Ash found out that the Mossdeep Gym had two gym leaders; twin brother and sister named Liza and Tate. He also found out that Tate used a Solrock and Liza used a Lunatone. As Solrock and Lunatone were both rock and psychic type, Ash decided to use Nuzleaf and Mightyena as they were both dark type pokemon and of course psychic moves don't affect dark types.

The Mossdeep Gum building was shaped like a space dome and the battlefield was something Ash had never seen before; the battlefield was three-dimensional and it had planet-like objects floating in the air. It was like the moon with planets flying around it. The gang thought this was very clever. The gym leaders Tate and Liza were twins all right; despite being a boy and girl they actually looked the same as well as dressed the same. The referee was their mother Rachel. Rachel explained that the battle would be a double and the opponent who knocks out the other opponent's two pokemon first wins. "Let the battle begin" she said.

Ash sent out his Nuzleaf and Mightyena while Tate and Liza sent out their Solrock and Lunatone. Brock pointed out that using dark type pokemon was brilliant to use against psychic pokemon because psychic moves were useless against dark types. "But we don't know what other moves Tate and Liza's Solrock and Lunatone know," said Max "and they might know some moves that could defeat Nuzleaf and Mightyena". "Don't worry Max," said Tomo "Ash will figure out what to do. You know that he always does". "That's true" said Max.

Tate started things off by ordering his Solrock to use tackle on Nuzleaf and then Liza ordered her Lunatone to tackle Mightyena. It was clear to Ash that Tate and Liza used combination moves in their battling, which meant they did work together well in double battling. "Okay Nuzleaf hit Solrock with energy ball, and Mightyena use crunch on Lunatone" said Ash. Nuzleaf fired an energy ball at Solrock and Mightyena jumped towards Lunatone to bite down on it. But Solrock and Lunatone had a clever trick; they were floating near some of the planet objects, so when the pokemon dodged Nuzleaf's energy ball just hit one of the planets and Mightyena just bit down on another planet. "Those two are good" Ash admitted. Liza then ordered her Lunatone to use ice beam and Tate ordered his Solrock to use solar beam. This was bad; if the ice beam and solar beam struck Nuzleaf and Mightyena, then they would be in trouble.

Ash was about to order his Nuzleaf to use protect and have his Mightyena also use protect to escape the attacks, but they didn't need to do anything. The ice beam and solar beam attacks ended up colliding with each other, leaving Nuzleaf and Mightyena unharmed. "Hey you messed up my solar beam attack!" Tate shouted at Liza "my Solrock was in perfect precision, but you interfered with it!" "Oh please!" Liza argued back "you were too slow!" This was clear to the gang that Tate and Liza were not fully in sync with each other yet, and that they were the arguing pair. Ash saw this as an opportunity to attack and told his Nuzleaf to use bullet seed and Mightyena to use dark pulse. The bullet seed and dark pulse attacks struck Solrock and Lunatone and those two pokemon didn't have the chance to dodge this time. "Aah what happened?" asked Liza. She and Tate didn't realise about the attack until it was too late. "What happened was that you two were busy arguing, giving Ash the chance to attack you," said Rachel, a bit crossly, "you two should think about this gym battle first and save the arguments later". Rachel may have been the referee but it still didn't stop her motherly duty of making her son and daughter stop arguing. "Wow she's good," said Max "she's like our mum when she tells us to stop fighting May". "You're right" agreed May.

So Tate and Liza got back to their battle instead of continuing their arguing. Even though Lunatone and Solrock got hit by the bullet seed and dark pulse, they were still willing to battle. "Okay Nuzleaf let's use seed bomb this time on Solrock" said Ash. Seed bomb was like bullet seed but the seeds were bigger and were a green colour. Nuzleaf fired multiple seeds towards Solrock, but then Lunatone came out in front of Solrock and used light screen. The seed bomb bounced off the light screen, leaving Lunatone unharmed. 'So that Lunatone knows light screen,' thought Ash 'but I know what to do'. He ordered Nuzleaf to use razor leaf, but Liza told her Lunatone to use light screen again. "Use brick break Nuzleaf" said Ash, quickly. Nuzleaf switched from razor leaf to brick break attack and struck the light screen attack. When the brick break struck the light screen, the light screen shield smashed like a mirror and then Nuzleaf hit Lunatone with the brick break attack. "Sorry Liza," said Ash "but the move brick break has the ability to destroy moves like light screen and reflect". "Ash is right, brick break can do that" said Max. "Woah I'm learning something new every day" said May. Tate and Liza were surprised by that; they clearly didn't know that. "Okay now Nuzleaf use seed bomb on Lunatone and Mightyena use dark pulse on Solrock" said Ash. Nuzleaf and Mightyena fired their attacks at Solrock and Lunatone, and this time the attacks hit them with direct hits. Solrock and Lunatone couldn't take any more after the attacks and fainted. So Ash was the winner of the match.

Ash was happy with his win and gave Nuzleaf and Mightyena some hugs, getting licks from Mightyena. Tate and Liza returned their pokemon and went over to Ash. "I must admit Ash, you are one strong pokemon trainer," said Tate "and we ended up learning new things from you". "It made us realise that Tate and I still have a lot to learn about battling and still need to work on our combination moves" said Liza. "I thought your combination moves were brilliant and you nearly had me with them," said Ash "but I have to admit you two still need more work on teamwork, especially on trying not to argue while battling". Tate and Liza blushed sheepishly. "Yeah you're right" agreed Liza. Tate handed over the gym badge to Ash; it was called the Mind Badge and it was pink in the shape of a heart with two sides closing in. So now Ash had seven gym badges and only needed one more gym badge to get into the Hoenn League.

With the gym badge all over with, it was now time for the gang to leave Mossdeep City for their next destination. So the gang said goodbye to Tate and Liza and left the city.

Today Ash was having some trouble; it was his Shelgon and Vibrava again. Even though Shelgon and Vibrava had behaved themselves recently, they were still getting impatient on evolving to Salamence and Flygon so they could fly. So Ash had them with him today so he could train them and hopefully help them evolve. Shelgon and Vibrava had grown stronger ever since they evolved from Bagon and Trapinch and they knew a lot of moves.

Shelgon knew rage, bite, leer, ember, headbutt, focus energy, protect, dragon breath, dragon pulse, dragon claw, shadow claw, brick break, zen-headbutt, crunch, outrage, flamethrower, fire blast, rock slide and the egg move hydro pump.

Vibrava knew bite, crunch, sonic boom, sand attack, sandstorm, supersonic, dragon breath, dragon pulse, dig, bug bite, hyper beam, solar beam, screech, silver wind, rock slide, outrage and the egg move gust.

"So Ash how are you going to train them today?" asked May. "Well I don't know about that yet," admitted Ash "I mean we could battle other trainers, but I have the feeling that probably won't help much". "I think you're right Ash," said Brock "I mean Shelgon and Vibrava are strong pokemon, and I doubt all the trainers around here will give them much of a good battle". Max had a thought. "Maybe you should battle Drake Ash" said Max. "Who's Drake Max?" asked May. Max face palmed. "For god sake May don't you remember?" he complained "Drake is another of the elite four here in Hoenn, and he's the master of dragon type pokemon". Ash had a think. "That's a good idea Max;" he said "I think I will have a battle with Drake. Sure I'll lose against him because his pokemon will be a lot stronger than mine, but at lease it will help me with Shelgon and Vibrava". "I call that a good idea too," said Brock "question is how we find Drake?" "If you're looking for the elite four Drake, I will take you kids to him" said a voice.

The voice belonged to a sailor man. "Pardon me sir but did you say that you know where Drake of the elite four is?" asked Brock. "Yes I do, I'm one of his sailors of his ship" said the sailor. "Oh yeah I heard that Drake is a ship captain" said Max. "Do you think you can take us to Drake sir?" asked Ash "we would love to meet him and there is something that I really need his help with some of my dragon pokemon". "If you have a question about dragon pokemon, then Drake will defiantly help you with that," said the sailor "follow me kids and I will show you the way".

The sailor led the gang to a port, where a big wooden ship was located. It was one of those old fashioned ships with masts, planks and other things. "You kids wait here; I need Captain Drake's permission first to let you see him" said the sailor. The sailor went up the plank onto the boat, while the gang waited on land. "Do you think Drake will see us?" asked May. "I don't see why he wouldn't," said Ash "besides the sailor did say that Drake would help". "That's true" replied May. Just then the sailor called out to the gang and told them to come aboard. "This is exciting" said Max, as he and the others got onto the ship.

As soon as the gang came aboard the ship, an old man, wearing a captain's cap, coat and boots, greeted the gang. This man was Drake of the elite four. "Welcome to my ship kids" said Drake, saluting them. The gang saluted back and introduced themselves. They really couldn't believe that they were talking with Drake. "Please excuse me Drake, but I need your help with something" said Ash. Ash explained to Drake about his Shelgon and Vibrava and their impatience of wanting to evolve to Salamence and Flygon. "I do understand that they want to evolve so that they could fly. But their impatience is causing trouble because they keep on battling my other pokemon so they could evolve". "Say no more Ash," said Drake "I understand that Ash; my Salamence was the same when it was a Bagan and Shelgon". "That's why I wanted to meet you; I was hoping you could help me with my Shelgon and Vibrava by having a battle with me" said Ash. Drake smiled. "I will gladly help," he said "and I accept your battle. Besides I haven't battled anyone for a month now, so I would like a challenge. We will battle on my ship". "On the ship?" asked Ash "but our pokemon's attack might destroy the ship a bit". "Oh don't you worry about that," said Drake "I built this ship for just sailing, but battling too. And this boat is plenty big enough for it, and I can always fix my ship up". "Okay" replied Ash, nervously.

So Ash and Drake got ready to battle each other. Drake's first mate, a man named Fitzwilliam, explained that the battle was a two on two pokemon battle and told the match to begin. Ash sent out his Shelgon to battle first, and Drake sent out his own Shelgon to battle. "Give me all you got Ash" said Drake. Ash ordered his Shelgon to start off with hydro pump, but Drake's Shelgon used dragon breath to counter the attack and the hydro pump evaporated. "I'm amazed that your Shelgon knows hydro pump Ash," said Drake "my Salamence and Shelgon don't know those moves". "Then check this move Drake, use fire blast Shelgon" said Ash. Shelgon fired fire blast at Drake's Shelgon, but it used protect so the fire blast attack didn't work. "Impressive, but now it's my turn to attack use dragon claw Shelgon" said Drake. "You use dragon claw too Shelgon" said Ash. Both Ash's Shelgon and Drake's Shelgon went at each other with dragon claw. "What a fight" said May. "Those two dragon pokemon are really going at it" agreed Tomo. "Yes but this battle may not last long;" said Brock "sure Ash's Shelgon is strong but Drake's Shelgon is stronger". It wasn't long before Ash's Shelgon got struck by Drake's Shelgon's dragon claw attack and fainted. So Drake won the first round. "Wow Drake's Shelgon is amazing" say May. "Drake's a member of the elite four, what would you expect?" said Max. "This makes me wonder what it would be like to battle Phoebe or Glacia" said Tomo.

Ash returned his Shelgon and called out Vibrava. Drake returned his Shelgon and called out an Altaria. "Since Altaria can fly, I have a feeling that Vibrava may have trouble since it can't fly as well as Altaria" said Max. "Yeah but let's see what happens" said Brock. Ash ordered his Vibrava to start the battle off with rock slide. As rock slide was a rock type move, Altaria would get hurt from hit since it was a flying type. Drake ordered his Altaria to use aerial ace to dodge the rock slide attack. Thanks to the speed of the aerial ace attack, Altaria was able to dodge the rock slide attack. "Okay then Vibrava use screech to distract Altaria" said Ash, covering his ears. Vibrava made a screeching noise with his wings and the noise stopped Altaria in its tracks. Everyone else also covered their ears because of the noise. "Now use dragon pulse Vibrava" said Ash. Vibrava fired a dragon pulse attack at Altaria, and it made a direct hit. "All right, Altaria got hit by it" cheered Tomo. But Altaria wasn't fallen yet; it seemed the dragon pulse attack didn't do much. "No way Altaria got hit by the dragon pulse, but it looks like it didn't work" said Max. "It's what you get of a pokemon of an elite four;" said Brock "an elite's four pokemon are difficult to defeat. And a region champion's pokemon are far more difficult to defeat". "Now Altaria use your solar beam" said Drake. "You use solar beam too Vibrava" said Ash. Both Altaria and Vibrava charged up their solar beam attacks and then fired the attacks at each other. Altaria's solar beam attack was more powerful than Vibrava's; it broke right through Vibrava's solar beam attack and then Vibrava got hit by it hard. The solar beam attack was too much for Vibrava and he fainted. So Drake was the winner of the match. "Ash lost but it was a great fight" said Brock. The others agreed.

Ash thanked Drake for the battle. He had both his Shelgon and Vibrava out and they thanked him too. "Well Ash I must say you gave me a good battle," said Drake "but you still have a long way to go if you want to be as strong as an elite four member, as well as having a lot to learn about pokemon battling". "That's why I'm still traveling around; it helps me learn new things everyday" smiled Ash. "Well Ash if you keep your training up, there is no doubt that you will be a great pokemon master in the future" said Drake. Ash thanked Drake for those kind words.

Suddenly a sailor ran up. "Captain Drake sir, some thieves just stole some of our pokemon" he said. Not only did Drake have pokemon but the sailors did too. "Where are the thieves?" asked Drake. Just then Tomo's Growlithe started barking and it pointed to the ground. "Those are the thieves!" said the sailor. "It's Team Rocket!" said Max. Drake had heard about Team Rocket and knew that they stole pokemon. "Let's go after them" said Drake. He ordered Fitzwilliam to take over while he dealt with the thieves. The gang decided to help out too.

The thieves were of course Team Rocket, doing their usual habit of nicking pokemon, and right now they were running for someplace to hide. "We got a good haul here," said Meowth, staring at the sack that held the stolen pokeballs that James was carrying, "I wonder what pokemon are in the pokeballs?" "We'll figure that out later," said Jessie "right now we need to find shelter so no one can catch us". Suddenly a swift attack stopped them in their tracks; it was the gang with Drake, and Pikachu used the swift attack. "Give back those pokemon!" demanded Drake. "No chance old man" said Jessie. She called out her Cloyster and ordered it to use blizzard. The blizzard was to stop Drake and the gang in their tracks. But Ash quickly ordered his Shelgon to use fire blast. The fire blast easily melted the blizzard attack away. "Okay Vibrava use silver wind to make Team Rocket drop the sacks of pokeballs" said Ash. Vibrava's silver wind made James drop the sack of pokeballs at once, and then Pikachu finished it off with thunderbolt, which of course made the trio blast off again.

Drake picked up the sack of pokeballs, and he was grateful. "I can't thank you kids enough for helping me get my crew's pokemon back," he said "especially you Ash; your pokemon were wonderful". Shelgon, Vibrava and Pikachu were happy to hear Drake's words. Suddenly Shelgon and Vibrava started to glow. "I think Shelgon and Vibrava are finally evolving" said Max. He was right; Shelgon evolved to Salamence and Vibrava evolved into Flygon. Salamence and Flygon were happy to have finally evolved to their final forms and started to fly at once. "It's obvious those two are happy" said May. "Well they would since they can fly at last" said Brock. Ash saw on his pokedex that both Salamence and Flygon now knew fly, aerial ace and steel wing. "I'm glad that they will stop causing trouble at the lab now" said Ash.

Now it was time for the gang to leave. They said goodbye to Drake and his crew and set off for their next destination.

Today the gang had come to an island called Wales Island. Wales Island was crescent shaped and it was filled with forests for pokemon to live in. Ash and May called Wales Island a great place for training their pokemon. Once they docked onto Wales Island May got out her Bulbasaur and Swablu at once; she wanted to train them today. Bulbasaur and Swablu had grown more a bit over the months and they learnt lots of new moves.

Bulbasaur knew tackle, vine whip, razor leaf, leech seed, sleep powder, poison powder, take down, sunny day, solar beam, energy ball, grass knot, sludge bomb, toxic, sweet scent and the egg move petal dance. Bulbasaur had learnt lots of these moves thanks to Ash's Venasaur. Ash had suggested to May, sometime after the Fortree Gym battle, that she should send her Bulbasaur to Prof Oak's lab and have his Venasaur help train Bulbasaur. May agreed to that idea; especially since Ash's Venasaur had a lot more battling experience than her Bulbasaur did. So May sent her Bulbasaur to Prof Oak's lab and Bulbasaur learnt well under Venasaur, and now Bulbasaur was more strong than the last time May saw her. As for Swablu; apart from knowing sing, peck, mist, safeguard, fury attack and the egg move feather dance, Swablu now knew aerial ace, steel wing, air cutter, fly and ice beam. May was happy that her Bulbasaur and Swablu had become stronger and couldn't wait to use them in contests.

Tomo decided to train some of his pokemon too; he was training his Totodile, Charmander, Elekid, Magby and Numel. Growlithe was helping out too. So while Ash, May and Tomo were training their pokemon, Brock and Max were left alone to set up lunch. Max was in the forest collecting firewood. But then he suddenly heard rustling from some bushes. "Who's there?" he asked, taking a pokeball out ready to fight. Out of a bushes came a green pokemon, with yellow markings and it had pink flower petal shaped tentacles around its neck. Max screamed; this pokemon was called a Cradily, a grass and rock type pokemon, and it was one of those fossil pokemon. Ash, Tomo, May and Brock heard Max's scream and they ran over to see if he was okay. Max told them that he saw a Cradily, but they didn't believe him. "Max that's impossible," said Brock "Cradily are extinct and no one has ever seen one". "Yeah Max you must have seen a different grass pokemon" said May. Max wasn't happy that none of the gang believed him. "I did see a Cradily and I will prove it to you!" he shouted, and he ran off.

Max ran off farer into the forest, hoping to find the Cradily he saw earlier. "I'll show them," he said to him-self "I'll show them that I did see a Cradily". At that moment he came to a big mansion in the middle of the forest. "Wow I wonder who lives here". He took a look through one of the windows and saw a room filled with computers and other scientific equipment; this room seemed to be a lab of something. Just then Max saw a little pen and it had three Lileep in it; Lileep were purple, yellow and pink type pokemon and they were the pre-evolved from of Cradily. Suddenly a man wearing a lab coat came up behind Max. "Hey kid!" he shouted, crossly, "this is restricted property!" Max was startled.

Meanwhile Ash, Tomo, May and Brock were looking for Max. "I can't believe that Max ran off like that and all because he thought he saw a Cradily" sighed May. "I still think that he saw a different grass pokemon" said Brock, who still didn't believe Max's story. Suddenly they saw Cradily by some bushes. "No way!" gasped Ash. "This is impossible!" gasped Brock. They were amazed to see a Cradily and they realized that Max was telling the truth. Just then a pretty woman, wearing a lab coat, came up to Cradily. "There you are Cradily," she said "come on you need to come back to the lab now". She noticed the gang. "Hello there, what are you all doing here in the forest?" May explained that her brother Max ran off into the forest. "I haven't seen him, but he might be at the lab" said the woman.

The woman led the gang to the lab, which of course was the same building that Max stumbled upon. Inside the lab the gang saw Max with the man. May apologized to Max for not believing him and Max accepted it eventually. The man introduced himself as Professor Proctor and the woman was his wife Annie Proctor. When Ash, Tomo, Brock and May saw the Lileep, they were amazed. Another amazing was that there were four Anorith in the lab. Anorith were bug and rock type fossil pokemon, and they nearly looked like brine shrimps. "Excuse me but how did you get these Lileep, Anorith and the Cradily?" asked Brock, who found this impossible. "We revived the Lileep from fossils" said Annie. "What fossils do they come from?" asked Tomo. Prof Proctor explained that Lileep came from root fossils and he told them that Anorith came from claw fossils. He even showed them some root and claw fossils that they were going to revive in a minute; there were five each of them. "Wow those fossils sure look different than the helix, dome and old amber fossils" said Ash. "You're right" agreed Brock. "Huh?" said Prof Proctor "you two know about those fossils?" Ash explained that he had an Omastar, Kabutops and an Aerodactyl. Tomo explained that he had an Omanyte and Kabuto and Brock explained that he had an Omastar and Kabutops too. Both Professor Proctor and Annie were speechless after hearing that. May and Max weren't because they already knew; they heard about Ash's Tomo's and Brock's fossil pokemon not long after they started travelling together.

Prof Proctor thought the boys were lucky. "My wife and I hope we can find helix, dome and old amber fossils to revive Kabuto, Omanyte and Aerodactyl," he said "you see my dream is to revive lots of fossil pokemon and turn this island into a tourist attraction so people could come and see the ancient pokemon". May and Max thought that was a wonderful dream, but Ash, Tomo and Brock thought differently. "That sounds wonderful Professor," said Ash "but it may be best that you don't do that". "Hey what are you saying Ash?" asked May. "Ash is right," said Brock "you see we got our fossil pokemon from the Grampa Canyon in Kanto. There people used to dig to search for fossils, but one day bad people tried to capture the fossil pokemon for themselves for evil doings. And because of that it's forbidden to hunt for fossils there now". "Yes and if you show Lileep, Cradily and Anorith to the public, bad people will go after them" said Tomo. "Yeah they're right" said May. "I forgot about that" said Max. Ash, Tomo and Brock had told May and Max about the incident at Grampa Canyon before. Professor Proctor and Annie started to think that Ash, Tomo and Brock were right and that maybe they should keep their fossil pokemon a secret.

Just then one of the Anorith started scuttering around its pen all of the sudden. "Hey, what's wrong with Anorith?" asked Max. Annie checked on the Anorith's health on the computer. "It's going to evolve" she said. She was right; Anorith evolved into a big sort of insect with a long tail and big claws. "It evolved into Armaldo!" said Professor Proctor, excitedly.

Ash looked at Armaldo on his pokedex: Armaldo, the plate pokemon. The evolved form of Anorith. Its enormous, retractable claws can cut through most anything. Its entire body is clad in sturdy plates.

"Wow, what a pokemon" said Ash, in amazement. Professor Proctor and Annie were happy to have another evolved fossil pokemon.

Suddenly a crash burst through the wall of the lab, and a big machine entered. "What's going here?" asked Prof Proctor. "Sorry about the crash," said a female voice from the machine "but we are here to pick up your fossil pokemon". "I know that voice," said Ash, crossly, "its Team Rocket!" Ash was right; Jessie, James and Meowth had found out about the fossil pokemon on Wales Island, and they wanted them for themselves. The machine had strong mechanic arms and it grabbed Armaldo, the three Anorith, Cradily and the three Lileep and placed them inside the machine container. "Thanks for the pokemon," said Meowth "bye". The trio left in the machine. "Come back here!" shouted Prof Proctor, running after them. Annie and the gang started to run after the machine too.

Jessie, James and Meowth were now laughing, while escaping with their machine. "I can't believe it," said Meowth "we got an Armaldo, a Cradily, a few Anorith and a few Lileep and all in one place". "Yeah but don't leave out the fossils we found too" said James. "You mean the fossils my dear Grumpiggy found" said Jessie.

(Flashback)

Jessie, James and Meowth had come to Wales Island, hoping to find new pokemon to get for Giovanni. But they didn't find any pokemon worth taking to the boss; all they found were the normal Breloom and Shroomish, Wurmple, Taillow, Seedot, Pidgey, Caterpie and Weedle. And the sea was no better because it only had Magikarp and Corphish about. "This is absolutely ridiculous!" shouted Jessie, who was feeling fed up, "there's isn't any valuable pokemon here". "Yeah and at this rate we won't receive our pay from the boss," said James "we only get our monthly pay if we've done our job of gathering pokemon". "You're right, but what can we do?" said Meowth. Suddenly they heard a crashing noise near the beach. "What was that?" asked Jessie. "Sounds like a pokemon going on a rampage" said James. "Let's see what it is; it might be a valuable pokemon" said Meowth. What the trio saw was a Grumpig and believe it or not it was using rock smash on some rocks. Normally Grumpig wouldn't know rock smash, but this one did. "It looks like that Grumpig is working on its rock smash attack" said Meowth. Jessie watched Grumpig smash the rocks with interest. "Hmm that Grumpig reminds me of me," she said "especially when I'm angry and have the urge to punch something. You know what I'm going to catch it". Jessie ran up to Grumpig and called out her Sneasel; she knew that Sneasel would be great against Grumpig. "Sneasel use dark pulse on Grumpig". Sneasel fired a dark pulse at Grumpig and Grumpig got hit by it. Grumpig went in for a rock smash attack, and Jessie told her Sneasel to use ice punch. The two punches collided with each other. "Now use ice shard Sneasel". Sneasel fired ice shard at Grumpig and Grumpig got hurt by the shards. Then Jessie captured the Grumpig. Jessie was about to dance, when she noticed something between the rocks that the Grumpig had smashed. She told James and Meowth to come over and they had a surprise of their lives. Between the smashed rocks were some fossils.

(Flashback ends)

"I can't believe that six each of helix, dome and old amber fossils were buried in those rocks, as well as three root fossils and three claw fossils" said Meowth. "Well that is how scientists found them Meowth" said James. "And with the Armaldo, Cradily, Anorith and Lileep, Team Rocket will have lots of fossil pokemon," said Jessie "and we will finally get our payment". "We better make this thing go faster, before we get caught by the twerps" said James. So Meowth made the machine move faster.

Right now Prof Proctor, Annie and the gang were having trouble of catching up to Team Rocket. "We'll never catch up to Team Rocket at this rate" said Max. "Then we will have to make them stop, and I know how" said Ash. He released his Flygon from the pokeball and told it to use draco meteor. Flygon fired an orange ball of energy into the air, and then the ball exploded into small orange spheres and they rained down towards Team Rocket's machine. Team Rocket had trouble driving through the draco meteor attack, without crashing, and then they came to a sudden stop. "Now Flygon use your dragon claw on the machine to release the pokemon" said Ash. Flygon flew up to the machine, used dragon claw on the container, where the pokemon were being held, and after a few scratches Flygon released the pokemon. Armaldo, Cradily, the three Anorith and the three Lileep were happy to be free again.

Team Rocket was not happy with that and they got out off their machine. "You will pay for that twerp!" shouted Jessie. She sent out Seviper, Arbok, Cloyster, Loudred, Dustox and Granbull to battle. James sent out Weezing, Victreebel, Cacnea, Roselia and Vileplume to battle. Meowth went out too to attack. Ash told his Flygon and Pikachu to get ready to attack. Just then Armaldo and Cradily stood next to Pikachu and Flygon to get ready to fight too. Ash was surprised that they decided to join in, but he wasn't complaining. "Okay Flygon show Team Rocket your hyper beam and Pikachu use thunder" he said. As Pikachu and Flygon were using thunder and hyper beam, Cradily used solar beam and Armaldo used hyper beam too. And it wasn't long when the Jessie and James and their pokemon were sent blasting off.

The machine was left unharmed and the gang went to check it out in case Team Rocket had stolen anything else. Max noticed the bag and saw that it was filled with helix, dome, root and claw and old amber fossils. Max showed this to Prof Proctor and Annie at once and the two professors were amazed with this. "Now we can revive Kabuto, Omanyte and Aerodactyl at last!" cried out Prof Proctor, in happiness. "Just be careful with Aerodactyl, because they can be tricky to handle" warned Ash. "Don't worry Ash we will," said Prof Proctor "oh and after today's events Annie and I have decided not to reveal the fossil pokemon here to the public". "Yes we would not like to have more people come here to steal them and search the island like crazy for fossils" said Annie. The gang agreed that was a good idea.

Just then Armaldo and Cradily went up to Ash and spoke to him, in their pokemon language. "I wonder what they are saying?" said May. "I know what they're saying," said Prof Proctor "the truth is they want to become strong like Flygon and Pikachu and so they want Ash to train them". The gang were surprised by that. "But they're yours and I can't just take them like that" said Ash. "It's alright," said Prof Proctor "its best you do take them. Armaldo and Cradily were always itching for a battle when they were still Anorith and Lileep, and Annie and I aren't really the battle type. So Ash I want you to have them and train them to become strong pokemon". Ash stared at Armaldo and Cradily and smiled. "You can count on me to do that" he said, and then he captured them in pokeballs. The pokeballs were transported to Prof Oak's lab. "I just hope that Prof Oak doesn't get a heart attack from seeing them" chuckled Ash.

Max found Ash lucky to have Armaldo and Cradily and wished that he could have a fossil pokemon for his own. "Well Max you can have one, and so can May, Brock and Tomo too" said Prof Proctor. Prof Proctor and Annie decided to revive some fossils and give the pokemon to May, Max, Brock and Tomo as thank you for helping them get their pokemon back. Brock, Tomo, May and Max couldn't believe their ears and thanked the professors at once. Both Tomo and Brock asked to have a Lileep and Anorith each. May asked for a Lileep because she thought Lileep and its evolved form Cradily was beautiful, and of course Max asked for an Anorith. So it was arranged; Prof Proctor and Annie revived three Anorith from three claw fossils, revived three Lileep from three root fossils, and gave them to Brock, Tomo, May and Max. So everyone was happy.

After that the gang left Wales Island, promising Prof Proctor and Annie that they would never reveal the secret about their fossil pokemon.

Chapter 80

Purika Contest,

A proud day for Meowth

And Sidney

Today the gang was on a boat that was taking them to Izabe Island, where the next pokemon contest was. It was to be held in a city called Purika City. May was training with her Bulbasaur on the boat; she had decided to use Bulbasaur this time. "Okay Bulbasaur," said May "last time you and I didn't do so well in the contest and lost. But this time you are ready for contests and we will win this contest together". Bulbasaur nodded in agreement.

Just then a teenager boy, about the same age as Brock, with purple hair came up to May. "Are you entering the Purika contest?" asked the boy. "Yes I am," answered May "and I'm entering with my Bulbasaur". The boy introduced himself as Harley and said that he would be entering the contest too. Then he took out a green pokemon that looked like a big cactus plant.

May looked at the pokemon on the pokedex: Cacturne, the scarecrow pokemon. The evolved form of Cacnea. It rarely moves during the day, but is active once the temperature drops at night.

"Wow what a pokemon" said May. Harley didn't seem a bit pleased that May didn't know about Cacturne. He returned Cacturne to the pokeball and he walked away. 'I can't believe her," he thought 'not knowing a thing about Cacturne. Well I'll show her by beating her in the contest'. It seemed Harley was one of those people with a sour puss attitude.

By the next day, the gang had made it to Izabe Island and Purika City and May signed up for the contest at once. Ash couldn't enter because there were no more applications for him to enter the contest. So May was the only one entering the contest. Right now they were waiting for Max; he had gone off to the bathroom but he hadn't turned up yet. Just then Max turned up with Harley. "Where have you been Max?" asked May. Harley explained that he and Max were just having a quick chat with each other and he started to walk to the waiting rooms. Ash stared at Harley; there was something about him that he didn't like. "Come on guys we better get to our seats and May better get to the waiting room" said Brock. "Hold on, May and I need to have a quick talk," said Ash "Brock, Tomo and Max you go on ahead". So Brock, Tomo and Max went to the seats while May and Ash had a talk. "What's wrong Ash?" said May. "I had a look into Harley's mind and he is the lying type and the picking on people type," warned Ash "so May be careful around him and watch out for his lies". May couldn't believe that Harley was that type of boy, but she knew that Ash was never wrong when he read people's minds and agreed to be careful.

Now it was time for the contest. Vivian did the normal introductions and showed off the Purika Ribbon. The Purika Ribbon was pinkish red with a yellow outline.

May went out first in the appeal rounds and called out her Bulbasaur. She ordered her Bulbasaur to use razor leaf and then use vine whip to hit the leaves. The audience was impressed when Bulbasaur whacked the leaves with her vine whip attack. Mr Contesta and Mr Suziko, who remembered May's Bulbasaur, could see that May and Bulbasaur were really in sync with each other now. There were some other great performances after May; there was a Camerupt, a Surskit, an Azuril and a Tentacruel. Until at last it was Harley's turn and he called out his Cacturne. The audience, including May, thought Cacturne looked scary. Harley ordered his Cacturne to use bullet seed on the ground, and Cacturne fires bullet stage on the ground while moving around. The yellow glowing seeds made a big picture of skull and crossbones on the ground. Both the audience and judges loved it. It was obvious to May that Harley was a good coordinator.

The results soon came and this time only four trainers got into the battle round. May and Harley were in the battle rounds and so were other two male trainers. May and Harley had to battle the other two male trainers first before they could face each other. The trainer that Harley had to face was Bob; the trainer with the Azuril. May's opponent was Kent; the trainer with the Surskit. Harley easily defeated Bill in a couple of seconds thanks to Cacturn's bullet seed attack. May congratulated Harley on his win; being a good sport. "I'm sure you will easily defeat your opponent May because Surskit are really slow pokemon" said Harley. That of course was a lie because Surskit was one of those speeding pokemon especially on water and ice.

May knew at once that Harley just made that up. She and the boys had met Surskit before and they all found out that Surskit was a fast pokemon. "Ash was right," she whispered to her-self "Harley is the lying type. Well I'll show him and then I will beat him in the next round". She was soon up against Kent and their pokemon were now out. Kent ordered his Surskit to use double team to confuse Bulbasaur and hit it with quick attack. Thanks to double team and quick attack Bulbasaur was in trouble. "Okay Bulbasaur use sweet scent" said May. Bulbasaur released a pink sweet smelling powder from her bulb, and because of the sweet smell Surskit slowed down and relaxed. "Since Surskit is a speedy pokemon I decided to use sweet scent to slow it down," said May "now Bulbasaur use vine whip". Bulbasaur whacked Surskit with her vine whip attack.

Seeing what May did made Harley realize that she knew that he had lied about Surskit being slow. It made him grit his teeth in anger because his trick failed. "Using sweet scent to distract pokemon is a great battle strategy," said Ash to the others "I know because I had my Meganium use sweet scent in battles before". "I remember that" said Tomo, and so did Brock.

Kent ordered his Surskit to do water pulse and ride it to use quick attack on Bulbasaur. As Surskit skate across the water pulse May ordered her Bulbasaur to use vine whip. The vine whip whacked the water, putting Surskit off. "Now use petal dance Bulbasaur" said May. Surskit got hit by the petal dance good and Surskit got knocked off the water pulse. The judges thought that the petal dance was gorgeous. Just then the time was up and the final result was May and Bulbasaur with more points than Kent. So May got into the final battle round.

Harley was not happy that May had won, but was happy that he would fight her next. "I'll just deal with her in the final battle" he said to him-self. May was not happy that Harley tried to trick her before. "Don't think I'll forgive you for what you did" she said, when they met up. "Humph you were just lucky in that round," said Harley "but you won't be in this round". May couldn't wait to battle and deal with Harley in the next round.

Now it was time for May and Harley to face each other, and they called out their pokemon. Harley started first by ordering Cacturne to use poison sting. When Cacturne fired the poison sting attack, Bulbasaur whacked the pins with vine whip so the poison sting failed. May went next by telling Bulbasaur to use razor leaf, but Cacturne blocked the attack with bullet seed. May and Harley were losing points by the second, but they were still tied. May then told Bulbasaur to use energy ball and Cacturne got hit by it.

Harley was losing points fast, but he wasn't willing to lose yet. He had a secret weapon planned to try and put May off and make her lose. He pressed a button a remote control that he kept in his pocket. Suddenly a voice, which seemed to Max's voice, was heard in the arena. Apparently a tape recorder was taped to a sound system and Max's voice was on the tape recorder and being played; this was Harley's doing. Ash asked Max what was going on and Max told Ash that he told something about May to Harley when they met up.

The voice started telling a story about what had happened to May when she was younger. The story was one day she and her family were out for a day on the beach and May was swimming in the sea. Her swimsuit and float were both blue so she nearly looked like a Tentacool. A wild Tentacool was in the sea too and May wanted to pet it. But then suddenly she got surrounded by a school of Tentacool and they thought she was a Tentacool too. Of Course May got scared of that and called out for her parents. Norman and Caroline heard her scream and Caroline grabbed a pokeball to help her out. But because May looked like a Tentacool swimming amongst the other wild Tentacool, Caroline thought that May was another Tentacool and had the attempt to capture her.

The audience thought the story was very funny and they all laughed, except Ash, Max, Brock and Tomo of course. Harley also thought it was funny and began calling May Tenta-girl. May felt really humiliated, upset and very angry from this. She glared angrily at Max from the audience. Max quivered in fear; he didn't really know that Harley would do something like this. "Okay no more mister nice guy" said May, angrily. She had enough of Harley's bullying. "Bulbasaur fire toxic at Cacturne now!" Bulbasaur fired a stream of purple liquid from her bulb and then the liquid hit Cacturne. Cacturne became poisoned at once and it started to lose energy at once. Harley was shocked by that. "Oh no Cacturne!" he cried. "Now Bulbasaur use sludge bomb now" said May. Bulbasaur fired a sludge bomb attack from her mouth at Cacturne and Cacturne got hit by it. As Cacturne was weak against poison, the sludge bomb attack was too much for Cacturne to take and it fainted. So May was the winner of the contest.

May received the Purika Ribbon and was happy to have earned her fourth ribbon. Harley of course was not happy that May won; he really had a sore loser attitude. So he returned Cacturne, left the building and vowed that he would defeat May next time. Max apologized to May for telling Harley that Tentacool story. May forgave Max, but she warned him not to tell Harley anymore embarrassing stories. "So now that this contest is over, where do we go now?" asked Tomo. Ash looked at his list of places where pokemon contests were being held. "Well there is another one in Dusk Town, which is also on Izabe Island" he said. "So we should go there, and check out the island around since it's so big" said Brock. The others agreed to that plan and they headed off for the pokemon center to rest for tonight.

May was happy to have a fourth contest ribbon, and now she only needed one more just like Ash.

Today Meowth was in a bad mood and he wouldn't stop looking sulky. It was making Jessie fed up with him. "Why are you complaining Meowth?" she asked. "That's what I am complaining about" answered Meowth, pointing to James. James was with his Jumpluff and James was ordering his Jumpluff to use pay day for money. "What's the problem with that?" asked Jessie "thanks to Jumpluff's pay day we get extra money from that for food and shelter". "But that move is a Meowth's signature move, not some weed pokemon" said Meowth, rudely.

James heard what Meowth said and whacked him on the head. "You ungrateful feline!" shouted James "if it wasn't for my Jumpluff knowing payday you wouldn't have any money for milk and fish!" He turned to his Jumpluff. "Don't listen to Meowth, Jumpluff. He is just being like that because he doesn't know payday, even though he should've learnt it by now". "James is right Meowth," said Jessie "you say that pay day is a Meowth's signature move, but you don't know it at all. Yet all the wild Meowth and Persian that we've encountered in the past know it, and the boss' Persian knows payday too". Meowth got upset by that; he hated the fact that he was the only Meowth in the world who didn't know payday. The reason why he didn't know payday because he spent a lot of time learning to walk and talk that he forgot all about the move payday. 'I need to do something about this, but what?' he thought.

Suddenly he noticed an old magazine lying on the grass. "What's that?" he asked himself. He went over to the magazine, while Jessie and James weren't looking, and opened it up. "No way!" he gasped. One of the pages in the magazine was about a man who was a pokemon relearner; someone who could help pokemon relearn moves that they had forgotten in the past. "That's it," said Meowth "maybe if I visit this guy he will help me relearn payday and the move screech that I want to know too". The magazine said that the man was in Fallabor Town and that trainers had to pay him one heart scale for each move. "Well that's handy; Jessie, James and I found some heart scales yesterday, that we are going to sell when we reach the next town. And I'm sure they won't mind if I take two of them for this pokemon relearner. After all they will help me learn payday and screech. I just need to get to Fallabor Town, without Jessie and James knowing".

Jessie and James decided to not go anywhere today and just relax and sort out their pokemon. The trio had come to a park and it was the perfect place to relax. "I'm going to get us and our pokemon some snacks from the shops that are not far from here" said James. "Okay oh and take our bag of heart scales to sell too, and make sure to get a good price for them" said Jessie. What Jessie and James didn't know was that Meowth had taken two heart scales from the bag.

Meowth asked Jessie if he could borrow Wobbuffet for a while. "What you want Wobbuffet for?" asked Jessie. "I am going to practice my moves so I need Wobbuffet for practice" said Meowth. "Okay but try not to hurt each other so much" said Jessie, and handed Wobbuffet's pokeball to Meowth. Meowth actually lied to Jessie; he wanted Wobbuffet for his help of getting to the pokemon relearner. Meowth sent out Wobbuffet and told him about the pokemon relearner. "Now you and I will go to Fallabor together Wobbuffet because I will need your help". Wobbuffet saluted and said okay. "Now question is how do we get to Fallabor Town and fast?" said Meowth. Wobbuffet pointed to the answer; there was a wild Pidgeot pecking at the ground for some insects to eat. "You're brilliant Wobbuffet" smiled Meowth. Meowth and Wobbuffet went up to Pidgeot and asked it if it could give them a lift to Fallabor Town. Pidgeot agreed on one condition; it wanted some food as payment. Meowth sighed, not happy with this. "Fine I will get you some food when we get to Fallabor Town" he said.

So Meowth and Wobbuffet got onto Pidgeot's back and Pidgeot flew all the way to Fallabor Town. Once they got there Pidgeot landed in a park and wanted its food now. "Wait here" said Meowth to the Pidgeot. He went to the pokemon center, grabbed some apples, grapes and peaches and gave them to Pidgeot, which of course made it happy. "We need you to wait here for us," Meowth said to Pidgeot "we will need you to get us back to where we came from". Pidgeot agreed, but it again demanded food as payment. Meowth agreed and he and Wobbuffet left to find the pokemon relearner. "Sheesh that Pidgeot sure is greedy for food," Meowth whispered to Wobbuffet "after this I am never going to ask Pidgeots for a lift again". Wobbuffet agreed.

They soon found the pokemon relearner. The pokemon relearner lived in a small house and the inside looked like a small lab. "Okay the magazine said that the pokemon who want to relearn a move must be in their pokeballs, so that means for once in my life I will have to be in a pokeball" said Meowth. He presented an empty pokeball and two heart scales. "Now I will go into the pokeball, and you Wobbuffet will give the pokeball and the two heart scales to him, got that?" Wobbuffet understood. "I better write down a note so that the pokemon relearner will know what I want to learn" said Meowth. He found a pen and some paper and wrote on the note that the Meowth in the pokeball wants to relearn screech and payday. And he wrote down Jessie's name as the trainer's name. "Okay let's do it" said Meowth. He tapped the pokeball, got sucked in and was captured in the pokeball.

Wobbuffet picked up the pokeball, two heart scales and the note, and then knocked on the door of the pokemon relearner's house. The old man answered the door and saw Wobbuffet. "What are you doing here?" he asked Wobbuffet. Wobbuffet handed the old man Meowth's pokeball and the note. The man read the note. "Ah so your trainer has sent you to me huh?" asked the man "what a good and loyal pokemon you are". Wobbuffet blushed. "Okay well let's help Meowth relearn payday and screech". The man invited Wobbuffet into the house to watch what happens now.

Inside the house there was a big, sort of scanning, machine and a few computers and other things. "What I do here is place the pokeball, with the pokemon in it, onto the top of the machine," said the man, placing Meowth's pokemon on the machine, "then I type on the computer what moves that Meowth wants to relearn". He typed in screech and payday on the computer. Wobbuffet watched everything with interest. "Then I stick these wires to the pokeball and then Meowth will relearn screech and payday in no time at all". The man stuck some wires to the pokeball, pressed a few buttons and then the machine turned on and Meowth's pokeball started to glow. Soon the glowing turned down and the man turned off the machine. "Okay now we are done; Meowth has relearned payday and screech". He handed the pokeball back to Wobbuffet and Wobbuffet handed the heart scales to man, said thankyou to him and left the house.

As soon as Wobbuffet exited the house, Meowth came out of the pokeball by him-self. "Ah finally," said Meowth "being in the pokeball doesn't suit me. Let's see if I have relearned payday and screech". Meowth and Wobbuffet went into an alleyway where no one could see them. Meowth then pointed a pay at Wobbuffet and then his charm glowed and multiple coins flew at Wobbuffet. "I can't believe," said Meowth, tearfully, "I finally have learnt payday". He then tried screech and that worked too. Meowth and Wobbuffet started to cheer and clap. "Wait till Jessie and James see this" said Meowth.

Just then Wobbuffet pointed to a sack, which was lying against a wall. "I wonder what that is?" said Meowth. He Wobbuffet walked to the sack, opened it up and inside was some disc things. "Hey these are TM's," said Meowth "they're discs that help pokemon learn new moves. I wonder which moves these teach." The TM's taught water pulse, aerial ace, thunderbolt, dig, shadow claw, double team, secret power and iron tail. "Wow most of these moves are what the twerp's pokemon uses," said Meowth "now I can learn them and fight the twerp's pokemon back with them. Now to work these you place the TM on the center of the pokeball and the pokemon inside the pokeball learns the move. So Wobbuffet, I'm relying on you on putting the Tm's on my pokeball while I'm inside it again". So Meowth went into the pokeball again and Wobbuffet placed the seven TM's on the pokeball one by one. Once Wobbuffet finished with the TM's Meowth came out of the pokeball and tried out his moves. He really did learn water pulse, aerial ace, thunderbolt, dig, shadow claw, double team, secret power and iron tail. "I really have done it," laughed Meowth "I have learnt a lot of new moves and in one day". He and Meowth cheered and dance. "Wait till Jessie and James see this. Oh but we will keep going to the pokemon relearner and the TM's we found a secret, okay Wobbuffet". Wobbuffet saluted and promised to keep today's events a secret.

Meowth got some more fruit from the pokemon center to give to Pidgeot. Then Meowth and Wobbuffet went back to the Pidgeot for a lift back to where they came from. Once they got there Pidgeot gulped down on the fruit and then flew away. "I hope I don't see that Pidgeot again" sighed Meowth.

Meanwhile James and Jessie were sorting out a picnic. James had brought lemonade, rice balls, cakes, cookies and sandwiches from the shops. "Did you sell the heart scales?" asked Jessie. "Yes and I got 10,000 pokedollars for all ten heart scales that were in the bag" said James. "That's not bad really," said Jessie "I wonder where Meowth and Wobbuffet are. They have been gone for a while now". Just then Meowth and Wobbuffet turned up. "Where had you two been?" asked James. "Ah here and there," said Meowth "but something wonderful has happened to me". He showed them his screech and payday attacks and then his water pulse, aerial ace, thunderbolt, dig, shadow claw, double team, secret power and iron tail attacks. Jessie and James couldn't believe their eyes. "I don't believe!" gasped James "Meowth you have really learnt payday and all of those attacks you just did?" "Yes I did" replied Meowth. "But how?" asked Jessie. "Let's just say that I was struck by a miracle" said Meowth, who didn't want to tell them the truth. Wobbuffet just kept quiet. Jessie and James were confused by this, but they left it like that.

Soon Jessie, James, Meowth and Wobbuffet tucked into their picnic. 'Today was the best day of my life,' thought Meowth 'and I hope I will have some more best days in the future'. He was happy to have finally learnt payday and it made him feel like a proper Meowth at last.

The gang had gone through a lot on Izabe Island; visiting different places and seeing more pokemon. Ash and Max got new pokemon; Ash captured a Snorunt from the snowy area of Izabe Island and Max had captured a Ralts. This Ralts had been separated from its family in a forest area of Izabe Island, which of course were a Gardevoir and a Kirlia. Ralts had developed a fever and was lost, but Max and the others got it to a pokemon center to heal up and they reunited it with Kirlia and Gardevoir. But Ralts had been close with Max and didn't want to leave him. Gardevoir and Kirlia saw that Ralts wanted to be with Max, so they agreed to have Max have him as long as he took care of Ralts. So Ralts belonged to Max now. Not only that, a few of the gang's pokemon evolved too. Ash's Aron evolved into Lairon and his Kirlia evolved into a Gardevoir. Brock's Lombre found a water stone and evolved into a Ludicolo. Tomo's Charmander, Totodile and Treecko evolved into Chameleon, Croconaw and Grovyle while Tomo trained them. And last of all May's Swablu evolved into an Altaria, so the gang had a lot of things happen to them.

Right now the gang was heading for a town called Dusk Town, where a pokemon contest was to be held. By now they had come to a rocky area of Izabe Island. "Oh man I can't take this" moaned May, who was tired from walking up a hill. "Hang in there May," said Brock "we are near a village called Riyado Town. We just need to cross over a bridge that will get us there". May was happy to hear that because she was dying for a rest.

Suddenly they heard a yelping noise. "That sounds like a pokemon is in trouble," said Brock "we better check it out". The gang ran over to where the noise was coming from, but what they saw horrified them. An Absol was stuck in a snare trap and the rope was wrapped really tight around its back right foot. Ash saw red. "That's disgusting!" he shouted "if poaches did that I am so calling Officer Jenny!" "Look its foot is bleeding!" said Tomo, in worry, and he was right. Absol's foot was bleeding a bit. Ash ran over at once to help Absol. "Stay still Absol, I'm going to get you out of there" he said. But the Absol didn't take Ash's presence very well and bit him on the left hand as soon as he tried to touch its leg; it thought that Ash was the one who put up the snare trap. Ash flinched as soon as Absol bit him on the hand. "It's okay," he said "I am not the one who put up this snare trap. I don't know who did it, but believe me Absol. I am not your enemy and I want to help you before you get hurt more by the wire. Okay?" Absol was still not sure if it could trust Ash, but it did want to get out of the snare trap. So it let go of Ash's hand, which was now bleeding. "Okay let's get rid of that rope first," said Ash "Brock pass me your scissors please and get your first aid kit ready". Brock came up to Ash, took out a pair of scissors out from his ruck sack and passed them to Ash. "Do be careful Ash" warned Brock. Absol braced itself while Ash slowly and carefully managed to cut the rope off Absol's foot, without harming it. Once the rope was off, Brock tended to the wound right away. He sprayed the wound with hyper potion and wrapped a bandage round it. "There we are," said Brock "you will be fine in no time at all Absol". Absol stood up, stared at Ash for a second and then ran off. "It's a good thing we came by," said Brock, tending to Ash's wounded hand, "if that Absol had still been in that snare trap, there's no telling what would have happened to Absol". "Yes, but who the hell put up this barbaric trap in the first place?" asked Ash. "I can answer that question" said a voice.

The voice belonged to a boy about ten years old. "Hi I'm Nicky and I'm from Riyado Town," he said "I saw you save that Absol and I'm glad you did that". "But why are there snare traps set up around here?" asked Ash, crossly, "a pokemon could die from those things". "It's because the people in Riyado Town hate the Absols who live around this area," said Nicky "you see we have had some disasters around here lately. And the people here are blaming them because they belive that Absol bring disasters to people". "That's nonsense!" said Ash "we have met an Absol before and it did not cause any disasters". "That's right," said Max "and anyway just because Absol is known as the disaster pokemon doesn't mean it can cause disasters". "That's what I say and so does my big brother Gordon," said Nicky "Gordon also didn't believe that Absol was the cause of the disasters around here. So he went on a journey to prove their innocence but he hasn't come back since. The people think the Absols made him vanish but I don't and I wish to prove their innocence too". "We should help prove Absol's innocence too," decided Tomo "otherwise the people will do more bad stuff to the Absols". The others agreed.

Brock started to think. "What disasters happened in the village Nicky?" he asked. "The only disaster we have is that our wooden bridge by the river keeps on collapsing, and of course the Absol are blamed for that" said Nicky. "Let's take a look at the river and bridge" said Brock. Nicky showed the gang the bridge and river. Ash looked at the river. "That river doesn't look safe to me" he said. "You're right Ash," said Brock "it's flowing so fast and dangerously and it looks like it's rising". Ash sat down on the ground; he was going to use his psychic power to try and sense what was causing the river to become over flowing. Ash closed his eyes for a few minutes and then opened them again. "What did you sense Ash?" asked Brock. "I sensed that something is wrong with the river," said Ash "Nicky where does the water in the river come from?" "The water flows down from the mountains, why?" said Nicky. "Then we should go up the mountains and check out the water source ourselves," said Brock "that must be why the river looks high and dangerous". Nicky and the others agreed. "I'll be coming with you kids too" said a voice.

The voice belonged to a man, who looked like a punk. "Hey aren't you Sidney of the elite four?" asked Max, in surprise. "I am," answered Sidney "and I am here because I heard rumors that Absol are being hated around here". Nicky bravely spoke up and told Sidney about the people in Riyado Town hating Absol because of the disaster with the river. Sidney sighed. "People are always thinking that Absol cause disasters, but that is not true," he said "Absol really have the ability to detect disasters. And what they do really is try to warn people of them. I know because I studied about Absol for years and I have an Absol myself". "So that means the Absol around here are detecting a disaster with the water, but the people in Riyado Town don't understand" said Brock. "This is all the more reason to prove Absol's innocence" said Ash. "I agree and we should head to the mountains at once," said Sidney "Nicky please lead the way to where the source of the water is". "Gladly" said Nicky.

Nicky led Sidney and the gang up the mountain, towards a big rocky peak. "Our water is from a mountain spring that's hidden inside this rocky peak" he explained. Sidney touched the peak. "There is water sipping out of this" he said. "Yeah and I feel it on the ground too" said May, noticing the mud on her shoes. "I think I've got it now," said Brock "the river is rising because the volumes of the water in the spring is rising. Which means it will be over flooded and it may wash out all of Riyado Town". "Then Absol was trying to warn the village about this all along" said Ash. "You're right" said Sidney. "I agree" said a voice.

The voice belonged to a green haired man; this man was Nicky's older brother Gordon. Nicky was happy to see his brother and hugged him at once. Gordon explained that he had been trying to learn all about Absol himself so to prove that Absol don't cause disasters. "I heard everything you all said, and we should do something about before Riyado Town gets flooded.

Suddenly there was a rumble and a big splash coming from the top of the rocky peak. Water burst out of the peak, creating a waterfall, and it poured down the mountain. "Oh no, what should we do?" asked May, worriedly. Just then a pack of Absol stood on a ledge just above from where the humans were standing. Ash noticed the Absol that they helped from the snare trap earlier; it still had the bandage around its foot. The Absols fired hyper beam attacks at a big boulder that lay above the flow of water. "The Absol are trying to move the boulder to try and stop the flood" said Sidney. "Then lets help them" said Ash.

He called out his Corphish, Torkoal, Nuzleaf, Lairon and Spoink and he ordered them and Pikachu to fire thunderbolt, bubble beam, bullet seed, flash cannon and psybeam at the boulder.

Tomo called out his Grovyle, Pelipper and Numel and he ordered both Numel and Growlithe to use flamethrower, Pelipper to use water gun and Grovyle to use bullet seed at the boulder.

May called out her Combusken, Beautifly, Bulbasaur, Skitty, Marill and Altaria and ordered them to use fire spin, silver wind, petal dance, blizzard, water gun and dragon pulse at the boulder.

Max called out his Loudred, Wingull and Shuppet and told them to use hyper beam, water gun and shadow ball at the boulder.

Brock sent out his Mudkip, Ludicolo, Aggron, Loudred and Nosepass and ordered them to use water gun, hydro pump, flash cannon, hyper beam and stone edge at the boulder.

Gordon and Sidney helped too. Gordon sent out a Heracross and ordered it to use hidden power at the boulder. Sidney sent out a Mightyena, Cacturne and an Absol and ordered both of them to use hyper beam at the boulder.

With all the attacks together, the boulder moved down the hill and stopped right in front of the water. The water split into two, stopping the flooding from happening. The humans and pokemon cheered, happy that Riyado Town was now safe. Gordon looked at the pack of Absol. "Thank you Absols," he said "thanks to you our village is safe". Suddenly the Absol, with the bandage around its foot, came down off the ledge and ran towards Ash. "What's the matter Absol is your foot alright?" asked Ash. Absol spoke to Ash, and Ash of course understood what it said. "What? You want to come with me?" asked Ash. "It's obvious," said Brock "Absol is grateful to Ash for saving it from that snare trap. So it wants to stay with its savior". Ash, of course, gladly accepted Absol's request and caught it in a pokeball, then the pokeball went to Prof Oak's lab. "You care good take of that Absol Ash" said Sidney. "Don't worry I will" replied Ash. "Now that this is over, we should get back to Riyado Town and tell them about what happened" said Gordon. "Yeah, because we can now prove that the Absols were innocent" said Nicky. "I'm coming too" said Sidney.

When they got to Riyado Town, Nicky and Gordon told the villagers about the flooding up in the mountains. The villagers realized that they had been wrong about the Absol, causing the disasters, all along and they apologized to Nicky and Gordon for not believing their innocence. "You should also apologize to the Absol," said Sidney "especially since you had being setting traps for the Absols. The Absols could have been really hurt by your snare trap or worse died". Nicky and the gang told him about the snare trap earlier. The villagers were very ashamed of their actions and promised to never do it again and to listen to Absols the next time they have a disaster. Nicky and Gordon were grateful to Sidney and the gang for helping them. Sidney was glad that this was all over now and he left the village.

Now that Riyado Town was safe from the flood and the wild Absols were proven innocent, the gang could finally have a nice rest in Riyado Town before continuing their journey.