Pokemon Moonlight Silver (COMPLETE!!!)

[EmeraldSky]

@Scytherwolf; @Soups;

Episode 61: Fossil Fools

"So this is the Ruins of Alph Ethan and Lyra were telling us about..." Misty mused as the group arrived in a site full of caves and rock formations.

"Mm-hm...it says here that many fossils of ancient Pokémon, including Omanyte and Omastar have been discovered here." Brock explained, showing Misty a picture of an Omanyte in the guidebook.

Ash gasped when he saw an outline of a familiar winged dinosaur Pokemon in a rock. "Is that...an Aerodactyl?"

"You'd be correct, Ash." a voice replied. "The easiest way to recognize a fossilized Aerodactyl is by its arrow-shaped tail."

Ash whirled around to see Prof. Oak approaching them. "Professor...what are you doing here?"

"One of my colleagues has made a mysterious discovery, so I came to help out." Prof. Oak explained before motioning to a black haired young man in researcher's garb. "This is Foster, a young scientist who is one of my top students."

"Nice to meet you three." Foster replied before motioning for Prof. Oak to come closer. "Mr. Oak, this is a very important matter, and it would be dangerous if any information were leaked..."

"You have nothing to worry about, Foster--Ash, Misty and Brock are serious Pokémon trainers, and won't tell anyone unless you give your express permission to do so." Prof Oak replied.

"Yeah! We won't tell a soul or post a word of it to Pokebook!" Ash agreed.

"Trainer's honor!" Misty grinned, making the three fingered scout sign.

"My lips are sealed, and throw away the key." Brock agreed, pantomiming drawing a zipper across his lips, and throwing something away to prove his point.

Foster chuckled. "All right, I will hold you to your promise, then."

As the group made their way through the site, Ash noticed a man gently washing a bone. "What's that guy doing?"

"He's removing the dirt from a fossil we just found this morning by using a special device which uses a water jet in order to not damage the fragment." Foster explained. "It came from the east end of the ruins, actually."

Just then, the water from the device slowed to a trickle. "Foster, the pump is being stubborn again..." the man called.

Foster sighed. "We've been having water flow problems lately." he explained as he gently stretched the pump's hose, allowing the water to flow again.

"Where does the water come from?" Prof. Oak wondered.

"It's a natural crystal clear water reservoir deep in the woods." Foster replied as the group arrived at a small cabin overlooking the site, which served as Foster's lab.

"Wow..." the group gasped as they gawked at all the fossils and other artifacts lining the walls. "It's like someone moved the Pewter Museum in here..." Ash mused.

"Or at least a tiny fraction of the collection." Brock explained. "The museum has millions of items on display, and they are continually rotated out, so what you see and interact with constantly changes. A place like this would be equal to maybe a single room, if that."

"You have quite the modest collection here..." Prof. Oak agreed as he admired a rock with cave paintings on it in one display case.

"Our studies have found that the first Pokémon appeared 2,000,000 years ago, and all Pokémon have their origins in the ancient seas." Foster explained. "However, this is only one possible theory of how Pokemon came to be."

Foster's observation got Misty excited. "If that's actually true, I can only imagine what the ancient Water Pokemon looked like!" she gasped, her eyes turning to stars as she imagined a prehistoric landscape populated with what she imagined the fossils in the display cases looked like as living creatures.

A guitar playing an A major chord snapped her back to reality. "Am I gonna have to sing?" Brock threatened.

"Okay! I'll keep my praise of Water Pokemon to myself!" Misty pleaded. "Save the folktale ballads for the campfire!"

Prof. Oak chuckled. "Oh, come now, Brock...I'm sure you sound lovely."

Even Foster was smiling. "If you need new inspiration for a song about the prehistoric Pokemon, come with me."

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Some moments later, the group arrived at a metal door that read AUTHORIZED EMPLOYEES ONLY. "What you are about to see is a place 2,000,000 years in the Poké-past." Foster explained as he swiped a key card, then opened the door.

"Whoa..." the group gasped as the looked out upon the recreation of an ancient forest, complete with all manner of animatronic Pokemon, including an animatronic Aerodactyl that seemed to glance at Ash as it flew past.

"What is this place?" Misty gasped.

"I would like to welcome you three to the Ancient Pokémon Study Park." Foster explained as he made a grand gesture to the ancient forest. "This is a special interactive and unique environment which recreates the ancient Pokémon world. If all goes according to plan, it will open for the public next week."

"Amazing--I would be first in line!" Ash smiled, giggling at Tintri gawking at an animatronic pale blue dinosaur Pokemon with colorful wings on its head.

Then he remembered what Prof. Oak had said before. "So, what was your mysterious discovery?" he asked as the group arrived at a lake, where a huge animatronic Kabutops was preying on a fish.

Prof. Oak was about to answer when some digging got his attention, and an Omastar and two Omanyte came out of the water. "More animatronics?" Misty asked.

"Actually, these are real." Foster replied.

A smile formed on Prof. Oak's face as the two Omanytes and the Omastar burrowed in the sand. "You know...Omanyte was what inspired me to become a professor--many, many years ago, of course!"

"Really?" Ash was impressed, and at the same time amazed at the smaller octopus-like Pokemon and its larger brethren.

Prof. Oak nodded. "When I was just a lad, my first grade class visited the Pewter Museum--back when it was a little smaller than it is today. As we toured the fossil room, I saw an Omanyte shell, and I promised myself I would learn all I could about Pokemon--a task I still continue to enjoy today."

"I believe that the two Omanytes and the Omastar's natural habitat was disturbed, so they came here." Foster explained. "It's still a theory, however."

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"Come on, we don't have all day to pump all the water out of here!" Jessie warned as Meowth finished yet another bottle of water, annoyed at why James was taking so long to fix the pump.

"I'm working as fast as I can..." James assured his companion before discovering an Omanyte stuck in the pump. "Huh...no wonder the pump was jammed." he mused as he carefully pulled the Omanyte out.

"Who knows--where dere's one Omanyte, dere has ta be more!" Meowth smiled. "Not ta mention more watta for us ta drain!"

"Uh huh..." the three Rockets sneered.

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"There's another one!" Misty pointed out another Omanyte on a surveillance camera.

"Well, after asking around the site, the ones you guys saw before appeared the same day we had water problems." Foster explained as Misty allowed Ash to have a look at the camera.

Just then, the door opened. "Boss! The water has stopped flowing completely." the female scientist reported. "Now we can't wash any more of our finds from the dig site."

"Something must be going on at the reservoir." Foster mused.

"We'll go with you to check it out!" Ash offered as the group made their way outside. "And deal with any intruders."

Once outside, Ash heaved a Poke Ball skyward. "Mina, help us out!"

[You called?] Mina asked as she materialized on the ground.

"Fly on ahead of us to the reservoir, and see what could be down there." Ash explained as he climbed into the back seat of an SUV, next to Misty.

"She'll need to fly west of here." Foster explained as he waited for the Trio to buckle up.

Mina nodded. [I'll be back soon with any news.] With that, she flew off as Ash buckled up.

---------

...70 bottles of juice on the wall, 70 bottles of juice on the wall, if one of those bottles should happen to fall, 69 bottles of juice on the wall... the Trio enthusiastically sang. Even Misty was enjoying singing the annoying car song. 69 bottles of juice on the wall, 69 bottles of juice on the wall, if one of those bottles should happen to fall, 68 bottles of juice on the wall.

68 bottles of juice on the wall, 68 bottles of juice on the wall, if one of those bottles should happen to fall, 67 bottles of juice on the wall.

67 bottles of juice on the wall, 67 bottles of juice on the wall, if one of those bottles should happen to fall, 66 bottles of juice on the wall...

Just then, Mina flew down from the sky, and glided down to Ash's eye level, interrupting the Trio's song. [Okay...there is something at the reservoir, and you're not going to like it.] she reported as the SUV pulled into a parking lot overlooking the reservoir.

Brock noticed Team Rocket loading their balloon with hundreds of Omanytes and Omastars in the distance. "Can I shoot down the balloon again?" he asked Ash as he unbuckled his seat belt.

"Get your gear, but let's see if the balloon is going to take off first." Ash replied. Brock nodded, and walked back around to the trunk to retrieve his archery gear.

After the group made their way up the hill, Meowth spotted them. "Hey! If ya want dese Pokemon, too bad! We found them foist!"

Just then, Prof. Oak arrived, where he saw the group and Team Rocket staring each other down. "It makes sense now! The Omanyte and Omastar from the Park came when Team Rocket started pumping the water!"

"Please, these Pokemon are important to our research!" Foster pleaded. "Please, give them back!"

Jessie just sneered at the young scientist. "You want them?" she challenged as she summoned Arbok.

"Come and get'em!" James agreed as he summoned Weezing.

Ash looked at Tintri as both Arbok and Weezing. "Showtime, bud."

[Yeah!] Tintri bounded off Ash's shoulder, nimbly leaping over Arbok's Poison Sting and Weezing's Sludge before unleashing a Thunderbolt, followed by a Tackle which sent both Pokemon flying into their masters.

Jessie seemed unusually calm as Tintri's Thunderbolt made the pump explode. "Why must you twerps make everything so difficult?" she grumbled as she recalled her swirly-eyed Arbok.

"The balloon's taking off!" Misty cried as the Meowth balloon--with the Omanytes and Omastars inside, began to rise in the sky. "What do we do now?"

"They won't get very far with how much they're carrying..." Prof. Oak assured Misty. "Their cargo creates too much drag, making it difficult to fly at best."

A smile formed on Ash's face as the balloon came to a stop due to the overload of Pokémon. "Now you're clear to shoot." he grinned at Brock.

"Got it!" Brock jogged further up the hill, nocked an arrow, and fired, bringing Team Rocket down to earth with a POW!.

[And now for the finishing touch!] Tintri called to the freed Omanytes and Omastars.

As if on cue, the Omanytes and Omastars blasted a huge water spray along with Tintri's Thunderbolt, sending the Rockets flying off with a ping.

---------

"Where are we going?" Ash wondered as he watched the Omastar and Omanyte dig a hole in the depths of the water.

Once the tunnel was done, an Omastar motioned for the group to follow it underground.

The tunnel eventually came out by a waterfall connected to a cave full of Omanyte and Omastar. "There's your ancient water Pokemon wonderland." Brock grinned at Misty, who was admiring the beautiful cave and its glittering crystals in awe.

"I can't even begin to thank you three for saving my research from those hoodlums." Foster smiled.

"Ash saves the day yet again!" Prof. Oak smiled. "Now you know why I speak very highly of him and his companions."

"Wherever your journeys take you three, the professor and I will be cheering you on." Foster went on before hugging Ash. "I hope you guys have an enjoyable and safe journey."

"Aw, it was nothing!" Ash smiled as he invited Tintri aboard his shoulder again. "All in a day's work!"

To Be Continued...