Chapter 467: Into Petalburg Woods
Later that day, Ash was leading May and Max. Of course, as Ash walked, he saw in the distance the legendary shack where the legendary Peeko of the lake was waiting. Oh, and I guess Mr. Briney was there too, but he wasn’t as important.
He’d come back to the Peeko of the lake for her wisdom later. For now, it was onwards to Petalburg Woods. There were a few random Pokémon out, so he started training his little guys, his newly hatched babies, on the wild Pokémon around.
After walking for a few hours, May and Max began slowing down as their stomachs grumbled in unison, "I’m hungryyyy! Ash, can we please stop..."
Ash looked back. He was completely fine, but knowing Pikachu, it had been a whole hour since Pikachu got a snack, he must be starving.
"Yeah, sure. We can stop for today. We weren’t gonna make it to Rustboro anyway."
May dropped her bag with a groan. "Finally!"
Max sat down on a rock. "I’m starving. Let’s eat."
"Okay, Max, what did you bring?" May asked, looking over at him.
Max froze. "What did I bring... I thought you were bringing food?"
"What? I thought you said you were bringing it!" May pointed at him.
Meanwhile, Ash set his bag down and began taking out a few utensils and ingredients.
May stomped her foot. "I swear you said you were packing lunch, Max!"
Max pointed right back. "No way! You were the one who said, ’Don’t worry, I’ll handle it!’ I distinctly remember because you sounded way too confident for someone who clearly didn’t!"
"Oh, please! Like I’d trust you to remember anything that isn’t your PokéNav!"
While May jabbed a finger in Max’s face, Ash crouched down, struck a match, and gently lit a small campfire with Torchic’s help. The little Fire-type chirped happily as the flames caught.
"See!" Max said, his voice rising. "You’re yelling like someone who forgot lunch!"
"Because you forgot lunch!" May shot back, hands on her hips.
Behind them, Ash set up the picnic table and used a cutting board to prep ingredients. He took off his jacket and hat, and put on an apron so he wouldn’t get messy.
"I distinctly remember saying, ’I’ll handle dessert,’" Max argued, crossing his arms. "You said you’d do lunch!"
"Then where’s the dessert, genius?"
Max froze and looked away. "...In my imagination."
Cut back again, Ash flipped something sizzling in the pan, Pikachu taste-testing with an approving "Pika!"
May groaned dramatically. "Unbelievable! We’re gonna starve!"
"Hey, it’s not my fault you can’t communicate!"
"Maybe if you didn’t talk so much, I could!"
"Maybe if you listened-"
"Dinner’s ready!" Ash called out, his voice cutting clean through the chaos
Both May and Max froze mid-shout. Slowly, they turned.
Over by the bench Ash had set up, he was plating three dishes for them. Meanwhile, the three little Ralts were happily eating some soft tacos, just like Ash had promised them. On the table beside them, he placed a pot of sukiyaki, steam curling up into the cooling air.
May blinked, "Wait...when did you even make all that?"
Ash shrugged, wiping his hands with a towel. "While you two were arguing over who didn’t pack lunch."
Max gawked at the spread, perfectly plated sukiyaki, steam curling lazily upward. The scent alone was enough to make his stomach growl.
"No way... you just... carry ingredients for this kind of stuff?"
"I mean, duh. What did you think I ate, canned peas and carrots for like two years?" Ash asked, raising an eyebrow. "I learned how to cook, I’m going to cook. Oh, by the way, May, I made Pokémon food, it’s in that other pot. Let your two Pokémon help themselves."
May’s eyes lit up. "Wait, you made food for them too?"
Ash raised another eyebrow. "...Did you think I just, like, give them mixed berries or something? Yeah, obviously I made their food. I mean, May, I’ve cooked for you before, you’ve been to my mom’s restaurant. Why are you surprised about this?"
"Haa, right. I guess I kinda forgot, hehe..." May rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.
She sat down with a sigh, still slightly embarrassed she’d forgotten. "Well... I guess I can’t complain. This smells amazing."
"Guess?" Ash said, glancing over with a smirk. "You’ll be begging for seconds in five minutes."
May shot him a glare but couldn’t hide her grin. "Oh, please. Don’t get cocky just because you can cook."
"Hey, don’t hate me because I’m good at everything," Ash teased with a shrug.
May rolled her eyes but smiled despite herself. "Good at everything, huh? Those are big words. I’ll be the judge of that."
Ash rolled his eyes as he went over and started serving plates for their Pokémon. "Don’t worry, I’ll save you some when you’re done pretending not to like it."
May huffed. "Oh, I’ll like it, if it’s actually good."
She took a bite... and immediately froze.
Ash glanced over, smirking. "What, too spicy for you?"
Her eyes darted down. "Dang it... it’s really good..." she admitted under her breath.
"Told ya~" Ash stuck his tongue out. "I just don’t understand how you doubt me. I mean, I know I’ve said this like three times, but I literally cooked for you once."
"Yeah, but... I mean, I thought Delia was the one who cooked and you just said you did it, like, you helped with cutting or something," May mumbled, looking away.
Pikachu giggled while the three little Ralts clapped their tiny hands, all enjoying their soft tacos by the fire. Torchic left her Poké Ball and went over to eat next to Ash’s Torchic. Meanwhile, Ash took out the rest of his Pokémon to feed them, except Snorlax; he’d get fed last.
Speaking of which, you might wonder what Pokémon Ash brought with him. Well, besides the obvious ones like Pikachu, Vee, and Abby, there’s Dragonite, Tyranitar, Haunter, Snorlax, he also brought Skeledirge and Feraligatr because best friends need to stay together, Clefairy, Aerodactyl, and Togekiss.
As for the rest of his Pokémon, he put most of them into his PC, which, after winning the Silver Conference, got another upgrade. It was now like the Poké Pelago, so they had plenty to do in there and could battle each other full force with no consequences.
Or, if they wanted to go somewhere else, he let them. Nidoking wanted to stay with his family for a while, and Machamp went with him so he could train in the mountains.
Blastoise went off with his squad, determined to become not just the best firefighters in town, but in all of Kanto. Surprisingly, they set up their base in Cerulean, so Ash asked Misty to take care of him, which she was more than happy to do, especially since her Blastoise was still an extreme fangirl.
Speaking of which, he also left his Lapras with Misty because of all the new Lapras that were going to come to her Gym, and they actually liked his Lapras, unlike Misty’s Lapras.
And of course, Charizard went back to the Valley. Now that he’d felt how strong he was, he wanted to beat the King Charizard as soon as possible.
So that’s where most of them were. Ash could get his PC Pokémon out quickly, and for those out in the field, he could just get Abby to fetch them. What, did you think he was gonna abandon his Pokémon?
Anyway, he started serving his Pokémon their lunch too, letting them out. Max almost choked on his food trying not to fanboy seeing all of Ash’s Pokémon right there. Ash just let him, as he finally went over and took a seat to grab a bowl for himself. But when he looked at May, he saw that her bowl was already empty and she was looking embarrassed.
Ash snorted and got a teasing smirk. "See? Told you, begging for seconds."
May puffed her cheeks, pointing her chopsticks at him. "I am not begging!"
"So you’re saying you don’t want it~? Okay," Ash shrugged.
"Well... I didn’t say that..." May looked away but still held up her bowl.
Ash chuckled, shaking his head as he ladled more sukiyaki into May’s bowl. "You really need to work on your pride issues, May."
"Hey!" she huffed, cheeks puffed out as she took the bowl back. "I was just... being polite!"
"Right, because nothing says polite like drooling over someone’s cooking," Ash teased, sitting back down beside her. Pikachu laughed, clutching its belly as if it completely agreed.
Max wiped his mouth with a napkin, still trying to act casual while his eyes darted toward Ash’s Pokémon like a kid at a theme park. "S-So, uh... you really travel with all these guys? I mean, a Dragonite and a Tyranitar? Isn’t that... kind of overkill?"
Ash glanced over at him with a half-smile. "You’d think that, but fun little fact, those two are younger than you are. They’re big old softies."
Tyranitar, sitting nearby with a mountain of Pokéfood bowls, rumbled approvingly and waved one claw like he agreed completely.
"Right... softy," May said as she looked over at Dragonite, who was picking up the little Ralts and putting them on her shoulders happily, trying to see the literal dragon that stomped a Salamence’s head into a rock.
May couldn’t help but giggle at the sight of Dragonite gently spinning one of the Ralts around like a carousel ride. "Okay, fine, that is kind of adorable," she admitted, resting her chin in her hand.
"See? Told ya," Ash said, leaning back with his bowl. "They all look tough, but they’re big softies when it’s downtime. Even Tyranitar."
Tyranitar paused mid-bite, giving Ash a squint.
"Hey, don’t give me that look, or I’ll reduce your head-pat time to only two minutes," Ash pointed at him, and Tyranitar gasped, lowering his head.
"Okay... that’s really adorable..." May muttered. "By the way, I’ve been meaning to ask about those Ralts."
"What about them?" Ash asked casually, as the shiny Ralts waddled over and tugged on Ash’s leg, asking for another soft taco, which he gave her before she went back.
"...So, why... and how?" May asked slowly.
"I just found them and picked them up. Guess Pokémon just like me more than you, get on my level," Ash said as he pulled out his reading glasses and pushed them up dramatically.
May just looked at him. "...I’m going to pretend you didn’t do that. Anyway, ignoring the fact that you got any at all, why did you get three?"
"Oh, one of them was a gift for you," Ash said casually, putting his glasses away and going back to eating, like he hadn’t just completely dropped a bomb on her.
May froze mid-chew. "...Wait. What?"
Ash didn’t even look up, calmly eating his food. "Yeah, I was gonna give one of them to you, but then you were mean to me. I guess you wouldn’t want my gift if you hate me," Ash said overdramatically.
"I said I was sorry! Are you actually mad at me? Come on, I don’t hate you!"
Ash gave a little chuckle. "Hm... alright, alright. I believe you... maybe." He paused, then leaned closer, lowering his voice conspiratorially. "But, do you really want your gift? Say please~"
May’s face turned slightly pink as she looked away. She was almost going to reject it, but then she saw the little Ralts looking at her, and she couldn’t say no. "I... please, can I have my gift?"
Ash chuckled as he reached over and picked up the little Ralts. It was the first Ralts he’d caught, the really shy one. He held her out like a baby. "Well then, if you insist. Since I’m your super reliable and humble, not to mention super handsome childhood friend, I guess I have no choice but to give you your gift."
May’s eye twitched; she was about to say something, but the words died in her throat when she saw the tiny Psychic Pokémon. Its big, sparkling eyes blinked up at her, tilting its head and reaching its little hands up.
"Yup. She’s yours... if you want her." Ash grinned, nudging the Ralts gently into her arms.
May’s hands trembled slightly as she cradled the Ralts. "Ash... I..." She looked up at him, words failing her. The little Pokémon nuzzled her cheek, letting out a tiny giggle. May couldn’t help it, her grin was unstoppable. "She’s... perfect."
Ash smiled at May’s reaction, a real, happy smile, not one of his teasing ones. Ash might be a troll who loved messing with his friends, but he cared about them more than he’d ever admit.
But then May suddenly pulled some ninja-ass moves. Before he could react, she wrapped her arms around his and hooked her legs around his torso, pulling them both down to the ground. Ash let out a startled yelp as they tumbled softly onto the grass, Pikachu squeaking in surprise.
"W-What was that?!" Ash exclaimed, laughing as he tried to wiggle free, but May was surprisingly strong.
"Consider this your so-called ’thank-you hug’ you’ve been begging for," May said breathlessly, still holding the Ralts protectively against her chest. Her hair fell into her eyes, but she didn’t mind, she couldn’t stop smiling.
Ash laughed, finally sitting up as May stayed close. "Okay, okay, you win... I guess she’s officially yours." He gestured to the little Ralts, who squeaked in agreement and snuggled into May’s arms.
May and Ash both laughed, while Max, in the background, was watching and rubbing his hands together like his evil plan was coming together.
-
{In Team Aqua’s base}
Matt, Shelly, and Amber stood shoulder to shoulder. Behind them, a few hundred Team Aqua grunts watched. In front of them sat a man at a desk with the Team Aqua symbol, he had a dark tan, probably from sailing so long.
He wore a blue full-body wetsuit torn around his left bicep, with a white panel across his chest and light-blue-and-white sections on his legs. A ragged black cape with gray stripes hung from his back, connected to the gold chains he wore around his torso. Around his neck was a chain necklace with a small anchor embedded with a Keystone. This was none other than Archie.
On the table was a part, the component Matt, Shelly, and Amber had managed to steal from Mr. Stone. "Well done, Matt, Shelly, Amber... you have successfully stolen the key component for the submarine explorer," Archie said in a calm voice for now. "And as a reward I shall promote you all to the rank of Aqua Admin. Here are your new uniforms."
On cue, three grunts ran up and tossed three custom uniforms to them. Amber got a new jacket while Matt and Shelly received variations of wetsuits, though they didn’t put them on right away, for obvious reasons.
Archie looked down at them. "This does not mean I have forgiven you for your failure. You allowed Mr. Stone to escape." He frowned.
"But Archie," Amber started, "they’re just some weak children. We shouldn’t waste time on them, we left because they weren’t worth it." It was a big lie; they didn’t want to admit they’d been beaten by a twelve-year-old. (None of them knew it was Ash, so the trio agreed on a cover story.)
A woman walked in, barefoot in a wetsuit modeled after Kyogre. She strolled up and sat casually on the desk. "Really? I wonder if that’s true~"
"Not now, Audrey," Archie said without looking at her, closing his eyes before turning back to the trio.
Matt spoke next, looking frustrated since Audrey seemed to see through their lie. He looked at Archie. "Bro, we shouldn’t waste time on them. We should focus on crushing those Magma losers!"
Shelly cut him off. "Cool your jets. Be patient. We’re still in the middle of our plan. You think Team Magma hasn’t prepared their own moves? If we attack now, it’ll be a declaration of war, one we can’t afford when our plans haven’t even started."
Archie laughed. "Bwahahaha! Sorry, Matt. She’s right." Out of all the members of Team Aqua, Matt was the only one bigger than Archie, so Archie liked goading him and getting into scuffles every now and then, though not with Pokémon.
"I know you wanna get rowdy, but I need you to wait a little longer." He looked at Matt, "Listen, Matt... destroying Team Magma isn’t what we should be doing right now. We should be creating a utopia for Pokémon. That’s why we need Kyogre’s power!" Archie said, smirking.
Archie’s plan was to flood the world with Kyogre’s power to help Pokémon. He truly believed humans were the problem, that they polluted the world every day, making Pokémon suffer, and he hated that. He genuinely believed what he was doing was right.
"Never forget that." He smirked a little. "But I mean, if they try to bother us, I’ve got no qualms about beating ’em down!"
"Ha, that’s the boss I know!" Matt said with a grin. "Just say the word and I’ll beat down a hundred of those losers."
Shelly sighed. "Why do I even bother with you two." Amber remained silent, still watching. Archie’s eyes drifted to Audrey, who was still observing.
He always had a bad feeling about her. Apparently she and Archie were close, not in that way, you know, but they both wanted to use Kyogre’s power, and apparently they helped create Team Aqua.
Amber always felt uneasy around her. Audrey acted almost too casual all the time, and when Archie talked about creating more water for Pokémon, she seemed uninterested. What made it weirder was that Archie sometimes went out on missions with the others, but Audrey always stayed behind and watched. She said it was because she "isn’t strong like them," in her little sugary-sweet voice.
Worse, Archie was the only one who seemed to see through her act. Once he even heard her refer to Team Aqua as the "Aqua Cult," which was concerning on its own, yet he seemed the only one who noticed. What was she really after? That was something he didn’t know.
—
{In the woods}
Jessie, James, and Meowth were walking through the forest again. They didn’t really know where they were going since Jessie had taken the map and led them, so they were lost.
As for what happened the last time we were with them: they’d beaten the Team Aqua grunts, stole the supplies and submarines, and planned to tinker with those later. They were good mechanics when they felt like it, so they left the stolen gear in a warehouse.
"Man... we’re gonna be so late to the meeting with Carl," James muttered, Mime Jr. mimicking his tired look on his shoulder.
"Forget Carl, I’m more worried about that Sird!" Meowth shook his arms and sighed. Not only was Sird kinda weird, but she had a Persian... who rejected him, and he’s not over it.
Jessie groaned as Cubone sat on her head, using its bone to keep a branch from smacking her in the face. "Oh, will you two quit whining? We’ll find our way there! My internal compass is flawless!"
"Your internal compass got us into a swamp last time!" Meowth snapped, tail flicking. "And don’t even get me started on that time you led us into that Beedrill nest!"
Jessie glared down at him. "Excuse me, that Beedrill nest was poorly labeled! How was I supposed to know they disguised it as a berry bush!?"
James sighed dramatically. "Because it was buzzing, Jessie! BUZZING!"
Before Jessie could retaliate, Mime Jr. suddenly perked up and pointed ahead. "Mime mime!"
The trio looked and saw cages full of young Ekans and Koffing, looking down sadly. One Ekans touched the bars, got shocked, and cried out in pain.
Jessie’s eyes widened. "What in the, who would do something this cruel!?" she hissed, clenching her fists. Sure, they might be Team Rocket, but they never used electrical cages, only cages that absorb electricity.
James stepped closer, his face falling when he recognized the Pokémon. "Ekans... Koffing..." His voice trembled a bit, eyes soft with nostalgia. "They look just like ours did... back when we first started out..."
Meowth frowned, his tail drooping. "Yeah... before ya two let ’em go to protect their kind. Poor little guys..." He scratched his chin thoughtfully, then his ears perked. "Wait a second! Why are dey in cages? Ain’t this, illegal?" (They didn’t notice the irony in their own words.)
"Illegal and disgusting," Jessie growled. "Nobody locks up baby Pokémon on my watch!" She stormed forward, only for Cubone to bonk her lightly with its bone, stopping her.
"Cubone!" it warned, pointing with its bone toward the treeline.
A man with green hair and a red vest stepped out, carrying a stun baton, a tied-up green Pokémon on his back, and dragging a snake-like Pokémon by the tail. He eyed the trio. "Hands off the merchandise. This here is my catch. Now that you’re here, hand over all your Pokémon too and I’ll let you losers walk away. You’ve got some rare ones right there." He smirked at Mime Jr. and Cubone.
James’ eyes twitched as he grit his teeth. "Who are you and what are you doing to these poor Pokémon?!"
"Oh these? Isn’t it obvious? I’m a poacher, Poacher Rico, best in the business. These are my catch." He tossed the Pokémon he’d tied up onto the ground to prove the point, a Cacnea and a Seviper.
"Why you..." Jessie started, growing even angrier. "I’m going to give you one more chance to take that back before we get really angry!"
"Ha! What are losers like you gonna do?" he snorted. "But since you haven’t handed over your Pokémon yet, I’ll just take them." He reached for his belt and threw a Poké Ball, a giant Tyranitar leaped out.
The Tyranitar roared as Rico smirked and pointed forward. "Tyranitar, destroy them!"
Tyranitar opened its mouth, charging a [Hyper Beam], then fired it straight at the trio. But Jessie was far too angry to care.
She grabbed a Poké Ball and threw it down. "Wobbuffet, get out here and do your job!" she screamed.
From the ball, Wobbuffet burst out. "Wooooooobbbbuffet!" he cried, instantly putting up a [Light Screen] on instinct.
The blast hit Wobbuffet directly in the chest, but he didn’t budge. He absorbed the attack, then reflected it back twice as strong, sending the beam right at Tyranitar. Both Rico and Tyranitar were too shocked to react before the blast struck, slamming the massive Pokémon into a tree and cracking it clean down the middle.
Tyranitar was down in one shot. Rico’s smirk vanished instantly as he looked back at the trio, who were now glaring at him, cracking their knuckles and closing in.
"I–uh, now guys, you know I was joking! Y-you can have all the Pokémon I caught! They’re yours! We’re friends, r-right?" Rico stammered, his voice trembling.
But the trio was done with him. James stepped forward, grabbed Rico by the collar, and said, "Now, I usually don’t do this... but for you, I’ll make a special exception."
Then he wound up and punched him square in the jaw.
Now, fun fact, James wasn’t weak. Growing up rich meant his family forced him into martial arts and fencing lessons. So yeah, that punch hurt. Even more when Jessie joined in, landing kicks as James held him down, while Meowth was busy freeing the captured Pokémon.
Sure, the shock from the cages hurt, but it was nothing compared to Pikachu’s electricity. So Meowth picked the locks easily
Meanwhile, all the Pokémon, the groups of Ekans and Koffing, watched with stars in their eyes. From the ground, the Cacnea and Seviper also looked up in awe, deciding right then and there that they wanted to follow the trio.