Chapter 292: Totodile
Misty, Yellow, and Ash had been sitting along the edge of the water for a while. Yellow had Chuchu sleeping in her lap with Ratty snoozing on her back. Meanwhile, Ash had Crocalor happily dozing behind him.
And then there was the little Wartortle, who was still on Ash's phone watching the firefighter competition. Her favorites were the newcomers—the Blastoise brigade—led by a super cool Blastoise with sunglasses.
Yellow was just enjoying time with her friends, but she was slightly struggling to stay awake. Ratty was pretty soft, so it was comfy to lay against him.
Meanwhile, Ash and Misty were having a heated discussion that had been going on for a while.
"Look, I'm just saying—if we just get rid of all Bug types, then we can-"
"No, no, no, no, no," Ash said, shaking his head. "I am not hearing you out. And you know what? Bug type is my favorite type."
Misty gasped. "How could you?"
"Oh, please. You're looking at me like I just insulted your mother's honor. And you know what? You wanna know my favorite Bug-type? It's Golisopod."
"That's…" Misty stopped halfway through. "The only acceptable answer. At least it's a Water type, so I'll forgive you for now."
Ash gave a deadpan look. "I didn't ask for your forgiveness."
But before he could say anything else, he felt a strong tug on his fishing line that almost pulled him in since he wasn't ready for it.
"Hey, we got one!"
Misty looked smugly at Ash. "If you apologize, I'll help you pull it out~"
"It's not happening," Ash said as he sunk his shoe into the dirt. Then he swung his arm around, pushed it with Aura, and started pulling the line back.
"That can't be fair! Here I am, all-natural talent, and you can just do that stupid Aura thing. How am I supposed to compete with that?" Misty grumbled.
"That's the fun part. You're not!" Ash said. With one final pull, the line was yanked out of the water, and the Pokémon on the end jumped off, landing on the ground and immediately starting to dance.
This Pokémon was, of course, none other than Totodile, who didn't have a care in the world and just began to dance happily.
The commotion and shift when Ash got up woke Crocalor, who looked over at the water croc that was dancing.
"No way. How? Actually, how?!" Misty said, frustrated. The last thing she caught was a Magikarp. "How do you get all the good luck? It's not fair!"
"Hey, you get stabbed in the shoulder, then you can have all the luck. I'll give it to you," Ash said as Misty sat back down, still frustrated but keeping her mouth closed.
"Alright, Crocalor, you're already out—go get him!" Ash pointed at his own fire croc.
Crocalor walked up to Totodile as Totodile stopped dancing and looked at the fire croc. Crocalor did the same.
For a moment, neither of them moved. They just stood there, staring into each other's eyes.
Ash and Misty looked at each other in confusion.
"I-is… is there supposed to-no… we… shouldn't they be fighting? Are they… broken?"
"I dunno. I'm just as surprised as you," Ash said as he called out, "Crocalor, use Bite or something."
Crocalor blinked, then stepped forward and chomped on Totodile. But Totodile didn't really react—he just let it happen. Then, when Crocalor let go, Totodile looked at him and chomped back.
Once Totodile released him, they looked at each other again—then started celebrating.
"Croc~ Croc~ calor~! {New friend!}" Crocalor sang cheerfully.
"Dile! {New friend!}" Totodile replied, dancing along to Crocalor's singing.
Ash and Misty watched in silence. Meanwhile, over in the corner, Yellow had fallen asleep. Chuchu took over the fishing rod while Ratty adjusted himself to make her more comfortable.
Misty pointed at the two crocs. "Sooo… you got an explanation for this one, Mr. Expert?"
"I dunno," Ash admitted. "If anything, I would've thought they'd be rivals since, well, you know—fire and water. But it looks like they just like each other, huh?"
He walked over and crouched next to Totodile.
"Hey there, bud. You know, why don't you come with us? I can make you strong, and you can hang out with your new friend."
Totodile's eyes lit up, and he nodded excitedly.
"Totodile! {You had me at friend!}"
Ash's eye twitched. "But that's the last thi—oh, never mind," he mumbled as he grabbed a Lure Ball and tapped Totodile with it.
Totodile went in, and after three rolls, there was a Ding!—meaning he was caught.
Ash let Totodile back out, and the little croc immediately started dancing again, happily jumping around Crocalor as the fire croc kept singing his tune.
Ash sat back down next to Misty.
"Huh. This is… interesting. If you gave me 100 guesses, this would not be one of them."
As they watched the dance, Brock finally walked out from the side, holding a ladle.
"Hey, guys! Lunch is ready." Then he spotted the Totodile and shook his head helplessly. "I'll set up another bowl."
"Thanks, my dude," Ash said, handing the rod back to Misty before noticing Yellow still asleep.
"Should we wake her up?" Misty asked as she packed the rods back into her bag.
"Probably. She should eat something," Ash replied as he walked over and gently poked Yellow on the cheek.
"Hey, hey, Yellow. Wake up."
"Mmm?" Yellow murmured, slowly opening her eyes. Seeing Ash standing over her, she immediately sat up, blushing.
"S-sorry. I guess I fell asleep!"
"It's fine," Ash chuckled. "Lunch is ready, by the way."
"R-right," Yellow said quietly as she picked up Ratty and Chuchu and quickly walked over to the table.
Misty followed along shortly after, but Ash stayed behind, thinking. With Totodile, that meant there was really only one more Pokémon he was planning on catching.
He also thought about whether he should catch Girafarig and Dunsparce. Originally, he'd planned to do it to show more discoveries, but Oak had already told him the evolution methods from Paldea had been leaked.
He did want to use them at some point, but he wasn't sure if he'd do it here in Johto. Maybe some other time. Sinnoh, perhaps? Or Hoenn?
Questions for later.
Right now, he had more important things to worry about—like when the heck the events of the third movie would take place.
He had an idea, but nothing was set yet. The only thing he knew was that it'd happen sometime after he got his next target, That Shiny Noctowl.
As Ash finally got up, he noticed the little Wartortle still sitting under the tree, holding his phone and watching the video. He walked over and leaned down, seeing that the new Blastoise brigade had won.
On-screen, the leader, Blastoise, with sunglasses, was holding up the trophy triumphantly. Wartortle was completely enthralled, stars practically sparkling in her eyes.
Sensing her shyness, Ash released a bit of Aura to create a soothing effect and leaned closer.
"Hey, that's pretty cool, right?"
"Tortle…," Wartortle nodded absentmindedly, barely registering his presence.
Ash reached down and scratched her gently behind the ears. "You know, if you want, you can meet the leader Blastoise."
Wartortle froze and looked up. "War…to..?"
When Ash nodded, her eyes lit up even brighter, and she nodded back eagerly.
Ash smiled, taking his phone back and scooping Wartortle up into his arms. She let him, despite her usual shyness. Aura is great, isn't it?
As Ash walked over to the table, Misty immediately noticed him holding her Wartortle. Her eye twitched in annoyance. She slapped her hand down on the table and pointed an accusing finger at him.
"That is not fair! How do you just get her to be like that? It took me, like, a week before she even let me eat in the same room as her!"
Ash shrugged. "Beats me. But I bet Yellow could've done it faster than me."
He pointed behind him, where Yellow, surprised to be called out, shyly waved.
"Don't patronize me," Misty grumbled.
"Sounds to me like you're just mad 'cause bad," Ash teased.
—--
{A few days later…}
Brock, Misty, Yellow, and Ash were walking through yet another forest.
"Ughhh, why are there so many forests in Johto?" Misty grumbled. "Why did we have to go through here?"
Brock looked down at his map.
"I mean, it's not that bad. This is only, like, the third forest we've been in."
"Yeah, but it's been less than a week since the last one…" Misty muttered.
Ash trailed behind them with his arms behind his head.
"How about you get to complain after you get stabbed in the shoulder?"
"You're not going to let that go, are you?" Misty said, side-eyeing him.
"Oh, sorry. I guess the fact that I got STABBED. IN. THE. SHOULDER. Must not be a big deal. Sorry for bringing it up," Ash said sarcastically.
"Okay, okay! I get it," Misty relented.
As the bantering continued, Yellow wandered off slightly to the side, looking at the trees. Suddenly, she noticed something.
"Hey, guys! Look at that!"
The others turned and followed her gaze, spotting a large box mounted on a tree.
"It looks like a bird's nest box," Brock said as he examined it. "But it's too big for a Pidgey or Hoothoot nest box and too small for a Pidgeot, Pidgeotto, or Noctowl."
As he said that, a Noctowl landed in front of the nest box, tilted its head, and inspected it. It quickly realized the box seemed a bit too small for it.
Curious, the Noctowl leaned in to peek inside. But just as it put its head near the hole, a branch suddenly shifted and smacked the bird on the back of the head, forcing it to fly away in surprise.
"What was that…? Did that tree just move?" Yellow asked, staring wide-eyed as the branch calmly returned to its original position.
"Oh, don't tell me we're about to fight another ghost Pokémon," Misty groaned, already reaching for a Pokéball on her belt.
Ash pushed her hand away. "No, look closer, it's someone hiding. Probably the same person who set up the bird box."
"But wait," Brock interjected. "Aren't wild Noctowl supposed to be nocturnal?"
"It's the forest," Ash explained with a shrug. "It's so dark in here that the Pokémon don't really know if it's day or night. They just sleep and wake up whenever they feel like it. Same idea as changing a sleep schedule."
Just then, another Noctowl flapped down to land beside the bird box. This one was smaller than the previous one, and instead of brown feathers, it shimmered with golden ones, it was a Shiny.
As the Shiny Noctowl landed, the branch shook excitedly, waving berries toward it as if offering a snack. However, the Shiny Noctowl tilted its head, kicked the berries away, and then promptly rammed its head into the tree trunk with a headbutt.
The entire tree shook violently. Suddenly, a blanket fell from the branch, revealing a man clinging desperately to the trunk. As the shaking continued, his grip slipped. He tumbled down, hitting a branch on the way before landing face-first on the ground with a thud.
Misty gasped. "He just fell, like, 20 feet on his head!"
Ash walked over and crouched beside the man, quickly checking his condition.
"He's breathing, just knocked out," Ash confirmed as he stood up.
Looking up, Ash locked eyes with the Shiny Noctowl, who tilted its head mockingly at the unconscious man. Then its gaze shifted to Ash, eyes narrowing as if issuing a silent challenge.
Ash sighed, stretching his arms behind his head.
"Alright then," he said with a grin. "Time for me to put my hat in the ring."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone