Pokemon Moonlight Silver (COMPLETE!!!)

[EmeraldSky]

@Scytherwolf; @Soups;

Episode 58: The Bug Stops Here (part 2)


The grass rustled as Ash and Tintri stepped into another clearing, where a red haired boy and a pink fluffy sheep-like Pokemon were challenging a Scyther. While the green mantis Pokemon was familiar to Ash, he did want to read up on the sheep Pokemon:

"Flaaffy, the wool Pokemon. The evolution of Mareep, its fleece quality changes to generate strong static electricity with a small amount of wool. The bare, slick parts of its hide are shielded against electricity."

"Ah, so that's what Luce will become..." Ash smiled as he watched the Flaaffy battle.

[I'm not sure if the Flaaffy's gonna last very much longer...] Tintri mused as the Flaaffy tried to charge a Thunderbolt, but fell to the ground in exhaustion.

"Come on, Cloud, just a little more!" the boy urged, unaware of his Flaaffy heaving with exhaustion. "Try to use a Thunderbolt!"

Ash gasped in horror as the Scyther raised a bladed arm to slash the exhausted Flaaffy. "We have to do something, or that Flaaffy's roast mutton! Come on!"

[Take this!] Tintri screeched before firing a Thunderbolt of his own, making the Scyther stumble backwards as paralysis took hold.

"Th-thanks...how can I ever repay you and your Pikachu for saving Cloud?" the boy stammered, amazed and grateful someone had come to his rescue."

"Aw, it was nothin'!" Ash grinned. "Trainers help each other out in times of need."

He paused to get an extra blanket from his bag--one of many spare blankets he carried to give fellow trainers--and draped it over the Flaaffy, "But for now, just let Cloud rest--I think you may have pushed him past his limit."

"We were exploring the forest when that Scyther appeared..." the boy explained. "I wanted to catch it for the contest, but it turned out to be too strong for Cloud."

"It's perfectly okay to run from a battle--sometimes the better part of valor is discretion." Ash explained.

"Thanks...that makes me feel a little better." the boy weakly smiled. "I'll admit I pushed Cloud too hard without meaning to, but what if that Scyther tries to attack someone else that may not be so lucky to have someone intervene?"

"I'll go try and find it so it can't hurt any more Pokemon--for now, stay with your Flaaffy, and let him rest." Ash told the boy before motioning for Tintri to follow him. "Come on, bud."

"Bye, and thanks!" the boy called as Ash and Tintri charged through the brush.

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"Our second event in the beginners' water Pokethlon is Capture the Flag." the referee announced to the spectators, to cheers as Misty and her competition, now wearing swim goggles, arrived on the deck of a massive pool.

"This shouldn't be too hard...remember seeing Casey do this and having to defend Ash's honor?" Misty asked as she, Michelle, Ami, and Pearl made their way to the fourth starter deck.

[I still wanna give Kamon a piece of my mind for saying Ash was cheating!] Ami grumbled as she looked out on the large pool.

[Casey's obviously done this for a while, but finding flags is harder in water, because some of them could be beneath the surface.] Michelle cautioned. [So keep that in mind when picking which of us will compete.]

[Yeah, remember that you'll probably have to come up and breathe too.] Ami agreed.

"Well, this event tests skill as well as speed..." Misty mused as she checked the stat guide Casey had given her. "I'll stick with Pearl, since you guys are even in skill, but Pearl has the fastest speed."

[That's fair...climb aboard.] Pearl flew in the water and folded down some of her spires to create a place for Misty to sit. [We need some kind of signal to let me know when you need to come up and breathe....]

"I'll point upward." Misty replied before climbing on her faithful Starmie.

[Good luck, Pearl!] Ami called as Misty and Pearl paddled to the start line.

"Hidden in this pool are flags of many colors--some of them are on the surface, and some of them are underwater." the referee explained. "Whoever can find seven flags in the order of the rainbow the fastest, wins."

Once sure all the Pokethletes had their goggles on, he called "Ready? Set? GO!"

Cheers filled the air as Misty found a red flag hanging on a buoy, then held her breath as Pearl dove beneath the surface, intent on picking up an orange flag hiding on the bottom. But before she could reach out to grab it, the Greninja grabbed it away. Nuts... she grumbled as she motioned for Pearl to surface.

She found another orange flag around a prop coral, and eagerly grabbed it away from the Empoleon before motioning to Pearl to surface again. This is apparently harder than I thought... she thought as she surfaced, then held her breath again to go for a yellow flag hidden in a mermaid statue.

After surfacing yet again, she raced the Greninja to a treasure chest to claim a green flag, retrieved a blue flag twined around an anchor, beat the Greninja to an indigo flag hanging from an inner tube, and easily found the purple flag in a ship sail before the Greninja narrowly beat her across the line.

In third place, number 7, Misty Williams. the announcer reported as both the exhausted girl and the exhausted Starmie paddled back to the pool deck. That's okay, there's still only one more event to go--I can still finish strong. Misty told herself as she and her three Pokemon made their way down another tunnel.

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[No sign of that Scyther anywhere...] Tintri reported. [Imagine what a catch that would be for the contest!]

"It would be a nice catch, but first we have to--!" Ash replied before a crunch got his attention. When he looked down to see he had accidentally stepped on an abandoned Beedrill hive, he froze as he heard the hum of the Beedrill swarm approaching. "Uh oh..."

Suddenly, an idea came to him. Forget the Scyther, let's try catching one of these!

He called "Tintri, use Thunderbolt!" as the swarm drew closer. I'm not running from you guys today! You're gonna be my key to winning this contest!

[HI-YAAAAAA!!!] Tintri cried as he fired a Thunderbolt into the swarm, making many of the Beedrills drop to the ground paralyzed. [Okay...they're not gonna get up or attack for a while, so pick the Beedrill you like best.]

"All right..." Ash replied as he took a Park Ball, and heaved it at the one closest to the hive...

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"Our final event in today's beginner water Pokethlon is the Relay Run!" the referee announced. "Each of our Pokethletes will race each other around this circular pool, trying to complete as many laps as they can in two minutes. Whoever completes the most laps, wins."

[Misty...I think I can help you get a good finish to make up for the Capture the Flag disaster.] Michelle offered. {That is, if Pearl's okay with it.]

[That's fine.] Pearl replied. [Whichever one of us Misty feels can lead her to victory.]

"Okay, Michelle...you can try this event." Misty replied.

[Climb on my back, then.] Michelle replied before climbing in the pool and lying down on her stomach long enough for Misty to climb on. [Not the heaviest thing I've carried, but you're pretty light for a human.] she noted as she ran to the start.

"Pokethletes! Take your mark!" the referee called. "Ready? Set...GO!"

Michelle and Misty charged out in front, even outswimming the Grenenja and the Gorebyss as he field jockeyed for position. "Swim like your life depended on it." Misty whispered to the Golduck, who nodded and powered ahead through the backstretch to complete a lap first.

As the two minute timer ticked away, the Empoleon had long since given up, as had the Gorebyss, but the Greninja and Michelle were neck and neck. Mr. Frog-fu's on his last legs, and I'm still raring to go! Michelle thought as she watched the Greninja finally stop in exhaustion with ten seconds to go, leaving him with 11 laps just as Michelle completed her twelfth lap moments before time expired.

The winner and second place overall--number 7, Misty Williams! the announcer reported as Misty waved to the cheering crowd. The scoreboard displayed her and Michelle's picture as well as a replay of their last lap--while twelve laps was nowhere near the record of twenty, it was still very respectable for a first time competitor.

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"Those Beedrills never had a chance!" Ash bragged as he and Tintri made their way down the path, past the north observation deck. "And our competition won't have a ch-!"

This was as far as he got in his boast before the dirt gave way, sending him falling into what looked to him like a fish tank. "Who does Team Rocket think we are? Magikarps?" he defiantly yelled as he and Tintri banged at the insulated glass.

A whir snapped Tintri to attention. [We're moving...]

A grimace formed on Ash's face as he and Pikachu emerged from the pit and into the sun, where he could vaguely make out Jessie and James' faces. He could see them saying something, but the insulated glass made it hard to see. Their tones of voices sounded like the familiar motto, so Ash concluded that they were saying their spiel for the ten millionth time. I could practically say it along with them if I wanted... he grumbled.

Tintri noted a glass shard near where Ash was sitting. [Hey, Ash--think you could use this shard to make a flash? That way Brock would know we need help.]

"Sure..." Ash replied. He waited until he felt the thud of their prison being placed in something, then picked up the shard and focused it into the sun, making a flash that could be easily seen from the north observation deck.

Inside the deck, Brock panicked when he saw the familiar Meowth balloon start to rise above the trees--and he spotted a familiar flash coming from in the basket. Those lowlifes have not just Tintri, but Ash too!

He hurried outside and up the hill to the closest target sign he could find, where he had a clear line of sight to the balloon. Hang on, guys...I'm gonna shoot your captors down!

With that, he took an arrow, carefully aimed at the Meowth balloon as it rose past the hill he was on, and fired; a POW! and a CRASH! confirming he had both punctured the Meowth balloon yet again, and broken the insulated glass cage.

Ash climbed from the balloon's wreckage some moments later. "Nice shot." he smiled as he embraced his friend. "But how are we going to get Tintri out of there without the Rockets knowing?

"One step ahead of you..." With that, Brock set his bow and quiver aside, took Argent's Poke Ball, and heaved it skyward, at the same time singing Imultaos, ame no hao bakezo...

The Rockets jumped as they saw the green flash of Brock's Mega Ring, and screamed as a Mega Steelix loomed over them. "Take anything you want, just don't crush us into Rocket-cakes!" Jessie pleaded

[I only want this, thank you.] Argent replied as he carefully picked up Tintri, then slithered back down to where the boys were waiting.

[Whee!] Tintri smiled as he slid down Argent's coils and into Ash's arms.

Brock grinned as he retrieved his archery gear. "And now, for the coup de grace--the Electric Arrow Blast-off!"

[Payback time!] Tintri agreed before firing a Thunderbolt. Brock fired a second arrow that got electrified at the same time, sending the Rockets flying in an electric explosion...

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"...and in first place, Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town, who caught a Beedrill!" the ranger announced as Ash came up to accept a gold medallion and a Sun Stone. "Well done!"

"Thanks." Ash replied as the crowd cheered.

Just then, Misty and Casey arrived just as the crowd turned to leave. "Oh nice! You got a silver medal!" Ash smiled when he saw Misty wearing a silver medal.

"Had a little trouble in the water version of Capture the Flag, but we did pretty well." Misty replied.

"My training with you guys paid off--we took gold in the land competition." Casey smiled, showing off her gold medal.

"Would you want this Beedrill I got?" Ash asked Casey. "I already have a full team, so you can think of him as a congratulatory gift on your gold medal, and your obsession with black and yellow-striped things."

"Aw, you'd really give away a Pokemon you caught?" Casey smiled, tears of joy shining in her eyes. "Thank you! Thank you!" she giggled as the Beedrill flew towards her direction.

She paused to think of a suitable name for her new Beedrill. "I'll call you...Dodger!"

[After the baseball team?] the Beedrill buzzed. [I'd be honored to score you a home run!]

Casey, meanwhile, turned to Misty. "Let's meet again in another Pokethlon! Even though we're not on the same track..."

"I promise." Misty replied as she linked pinkies with Casey. "Good luck on your own challenge!"

After waving goodbye to Casey, Ash took a moment to admire Misty's silver medallion. "Wow...I'm impressed Misty got a medal her first time out..."

"As skilled as Misty is, her competition will only get harder from here." Brock cautioned.

"I know that, and I will rise to meet the challenge every time!" Misty smiled before leading her friends into the sunset...

To Be Continued...