@Scytherwolf; @Soups;

Episode 108: Fangs for Nothin'

"Gold side ready?" Kaburagi announced as Ash and Clair met on a field outside Blackthorn City the next day.

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be." Clair replied.

"Silver side ready?" Kaburagi looked over at Ash and Tintri.

"Let's do this!" Ash replied.

Clair reached for a Poke Ball as Kaburagi counted down "Three...two...one..." and gave it a mighty heave when the whistle blew, revealing a huge blue seahorse Pokemon before the Pikachu, much to Misty and Brock's surprise as they watched from nearby a tree. "That's HUGE!!!" Misty gasped, her mind spinning with ideas of what Spritz would look like as a Kingdra.

"Okay, Tintri...let's open with a Thunderbolt!" Ash suggested.

He balked as the wave of crackling thunderbolts didn't seem to faze the Kingdra. "I'm about as shocked as Ash, here...if he very clearly has an advantage, then why didn't Clair's Kingdra Keela even flinch?" Brock wondered.

"Keela, start with Twister!" Clair commanded.

[Whoa!] Tintri gasped as a large shiny tornado picked him up and dropped him very close to where Misty and Brock were watching. Not one to be deterred, he launched the largest thunderbolt he could muster, but Keela remained unfazed, never mind that she had taken the Thunder attack point blank.

"Funny...why is Keela repelling Tintri's attacks so easily?" Ash asked, puzzled as to why his all out offensive wasn't working.

"When a Seadra is traded with a Dragon Scale, and evolved into Kingdra, it gains the Dragon type as well." Clair explained. "This way, its weakness to water is mitigated, if not nullified."

She then called to her Kingdra "Keela, use Hydro Pump!"

"Tintri, try to counter with another Thunderbolt!" Ash commanded.

"Well, that explains why Ash is barely making a dent against Kingdra..." Misty mused as the wave of water and spray of thunderbolts collided in the center of the field.

"Ice won't help either--Kingdra's water type also nullifies the most common counter to Dragon types." Brock cautioned. "Ash could try using Tintri's Disarming Voice, or sending River out--Maril is part Fairy type, and so would be immune to Keela's dragon moves."

Frustrated, Ash motioned Tintri back to his side. "Okay, if raw power isn't working, I'll just change up my strategy a little." he mused as he took the Poke Ball with Mina inside.

As he heaved the Poke Ball skyward, he sang Jao wiisha nes chiel com yutuul... engulfing the emerging Pidgeot in a wave of red thunderbolts...

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Meanwhile, Kamon and his team drifted into the pool where Clair had performed the ceremony the previous day. "Okay...how to grab that fang without tripping the security?" he wondered as he tied down the raft he had used and inspected the pedestal the Dragon Fang was on, protected by a ring of laser traps.

[Try and hook it with a fishing rod, so you don't set off the laser traps?] Talavar suggested as he retrieved a fishing rod in the raft.

"Good idea!" Kamon accepted the fishing rod from the Skarmory, climbed up on a rock, and gently lowered the fishing rod down into the ring of light, being extra careful not to let the hook break the laser beams.

Helena gasped as Kamon managed to pick up the Dragon Fang with the rod's hook. [He got it!]

The Gastly's cry startled Kamon and the other Pokemon, causing Kamon to trip the laser trap. [Uh oh...] she stammered as a piercing alarm rang across the city.

Clair gasped as soon as heard the alarm ringing. "The Dragon Fang!"

As she recalled Keela and summoned Minerva, she called "We're going to have to abandon our match for now--the Dragon Fang is too important a treasure to lose!"

"I know--we can't let it fall into evil hands!" Ash agreed as he recalled Mina and heaved another Poke Ball skyward. "River, I need you!"

"Come on out, everyone!" Misty proceeded to summon her whole team. "We'll ride Aurora, and the others can follow us." she suggested as she climbed on the Lapras' back.

Once the boys and the other land Pokemon were aboard Aurora, Clair and Minerva led the way down the river leading into the city, searching for any sign of the thief that had taken the Dragon Fang. When one tributary turned up nothing, Clair would lead the group down another route.

Just as the entourage of humans and Pokemon wee about to give up, Ash spotted Kamon, who had managed to commandeer a boat. "There's our thief!"

"That red haired punk's headed into the Dragon's Den." Clair noted as Kamon frantically rowed towards a cave in the middle of the water. "Let's follow him!"

She went on "The Dragon's Den is a sacred place to all dragon Pokemon and their masters--I trained there with Lance once, many many years ago. Supposedly, there is a large sanctuary for all Pokemon known as the Holy Land deep inside the den--I shudder to think what that punk plans to do to the Dragonite that guards it!"

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After winding down another fork in the river that passed a waterfall, the group emerged near a large plain filled with flowers and Berry trees that stretched as far as the eye could see. "Wow...is this the Holy Land?" Brock gasped.

"It is." Clair replied as she climbed off Minerva. "It has been some time since I was here last, but I wish we could be here in happier circumstances."

"For now, we need to find Kamon!" Ash reminded the group.

"We'll search the western zone, while you, Kaburagi, and Clair go east." Misty explained as she and Brock hurried off to look in the various Berry groves. "We'll meet back in an hour!"

"Right!" Ash replied as he and Clair hurried to check the many caves and alcoves in the walls for any sign of Kamon.

He gasped as a Hyper Beam landed inches away from his feet. "What the?"

"Up there!" Clair called, pointing out a Dragonite shielding a frightened Kamon on a cliff.

"The Dragonite up there once belonged to the first Gym Leader of Blackthorn City, and was the same since her trainer passed on." Kaburagi explained. "Although very few know her name, she is the guardian of this place."

"Then, if she is the guardian of this place, why is she protecting the punk?" Clair mused. "I don't understand..."

A familiar roar snapped Ash to attention. "No way...could it be...?"

To Be Continued...