"When we walk out of this forest area, we should be able to see the outer streets of Mauville City!"
As Brock said before, the starting point and the end point were already confirmed before they got ready, and now they were at the middle of the road under the hot sun. Since it was a return trip for the group, they all readily agreed on taking a shorter but a little more dangerous route to Mauville City.
Danger was something they were all used to at this point, so they didn't have much fear towards of anymore.
Seeing how confident Ash was, May couldn't help leaning toward him while holding his hands. Ash, too, was liking this feeling, but he couldn't say the same thing for his friend. Brock was just dying of jealousy, but his Spinda was able to take his minds of this, for now.
Ash's eyes flashed from time to time with a blue hue from time they began their journey to now, with the same ever present smile on his lips, but he didn't say anything about why he was doing it.
Ralts and Togetic, like usual, were messing around with him with their powers, and his cute green puppy was at his feet, being trained by the much more experienced Pikachu.
He teleported his Electrike back to the Lab a few days ago due to his Gym battle since he decided not to use him during the battle, so he got teleported back to train up. Ash ordered his Raikou helped train Electrike for a while. Now he has reached the edge of his evolution. All he needs now was a hearty battle to help it complete his final transformation, or the middle evolution he he counts their future Bonds Evolutions.
So, when they walked out of the forest, what they saw was not the bustling streets of Mauville City they expected it to be, but a valley strewn with gravel.
"How did we come to the wrong place, to a place like this?" Brock was confused and looked over at Ash, "Ash, didn't you say you were going to use your Aura Sense to detect if we were going the right way?"
"Yes, I did. I think this place is very interesting and this place is very close to our destination, even faster than the last route, so l want to come over and have a look!" Ash just said with his usualsmile. The look he gave was one of his looks that suggested that he knew and was in control of everything.
But before Brock could nod and get ready, a Skarmory appeared close to them in the air. Right below it was three Magnemites that were using their electromagnetic force to trap a big Torkoal in the air.
The Torkoal kept struggling up the air, and it spit up some flames to attack the Magnemites, but since it couldn't move at all, the flames failed to do anything as the Magnemites were quickly able to dodge it. Instead, it was hit by the Skarmory's Swift attack, causing it to scream in more pain.
"Hey, you can't bully the minority, that's too much!" Max did not hesitate to defend this wild Torkoal.
But his voice not only failed to make Skarmory and Magnemite restrain themselves against thsi Torkoal, but instead released their electromagnetic force on it, causing the poor Torkoal to fall high from the air.
"Oh no you don't!" Ash hurried over with his group of Pokémon's.
Seeing that Ash was breaking into their home, the three Magnemites were the first to attack him. Their three combined Thunder Shocks was almost about to hit Ash when his Electrike ran out in front of him and withstood all the Thunder Shocks!
Spark crackled around his body, but it didn't seem to cause any damage to himself, but instead it made him feel more and more energetic.
This was because of Electrikes Ability, which is Lightning Rod!
"Then I'll leave them to you! Electrike, use Roar!" Ash used his Psychic at the last moment ti catch that giant Torkoal. Ash smiled softly after looking back to his Electrike.
This was just the right place and time for his Electrike to evolve!
"ELEC!"
With a loud roar, the three Magnemites were sent back and forth, and then Ash and his Electrike both focused their attention on their boss, the Skarmory, in the air.
"Electrike, can you use your speed on those high and low rocks to jump to where that Skarmory is?" Ash asked softly, and the answer he received from his Electrike was t transform into a blur, and burst out of there.
He quickly jumped onto the highest rock in front of him and opposite to the Skarmory.
"Thunderbolt!"
"Pika pi!" Pikachu was cheering for his little buddy too.
The galloping thunder and high voltage hit Skarmory hard, dead center. Even with all the resistances brought to it by its Steel-type, Skarmory still lost his fighting ability before he could even do anything.
"Well done!"
Ash complimented him happily, and then Electrike suddenly glowed in delight.
"Oh, it's evolving. Another evolution." Although this moment of evolution was very nice to see, Max and the others have indeed seen to many of such evolutions lately to get too excited.
Ash has indeed caught a lot of new Pokémon along the way, and he want even done, nowhere near in fact. The most important thing now was that each one was trained to the best of his capabilities. Ash wants to challenge the Gym Leaders with mostly new teams, to give his Pokémon's more experience for their growth.
"Mena!!!"
A loud barking sound came from writhin the light, and the size was still growing until it finally stopped!
"What is that Pokémon?" Brock asked.
May quickly took out her Pokédex and read out the information, "The Pokemon that little Electrike evolved into is called a Manectric. It should be about 1.5 meters tall and weigh around 40.2 kilograms. But the height of this one is definitely even taller than Brock!"
A very cute electric puppy turned into a very cool electric dog, tall and mighty, and now he had a sense of dependence and security with him.
Manectric: 240/250
Manectric opened his red eyes, came to Ash's side, and gently rubbed his hand with his nose. Before he evolved, it was very friendly to new people, but it was very fierce when fighting. Although his body has become much larger now, he still liked to get pats from his master, Ash.
"Ral ral!"
"Toge ge tic~"
Both Ralts and Togetic were having fun and ran to sit on Manectric's back. Ralts always liked to ride around Growlithe everywhere when Ash personally teleported her back to see how strong she was. Now that Growlithe was gone for now, Electrike's back was also very fun to ride in.
Ash happily patted his Manectric's neck gently, "Good job, bubby!"
He was caught by Ash near Mauville City, and he also completed his evolution when he was near and was about to return to Mauville City, which was a really lucky thing.
At this time, Ash finally remembered that there was a Torkoal that he had just saved. He had saved it aside so casually that he just forgot about it, and now it was still on its back and unable to turn over.
Brock and the other two also came next to it. Ash turned it over with his Psychic, "Hey, big guy, are you okay?"
Just by asking this question, Torkoal was so moved that his eyes were filled with tears in an instant, and there was some new thick smoke coming out of his nose, which immediately made Brock and Max's faces turn black.
As for Ash and May, Togetic immediately set up a Safeguarda round them when she realized it was a Smokescreen, and everything was turned out to be fine.
This Torkoal seems to have a "bit" of an emotional personality. It was honestly cute.
Suddenly, a roar came from deep in the valley.
Torkoal was immediately attracted to that sound and set his attention on it.
He no longer cared about Ash and his group, and ran towards the direction of that sound like it was his everything.
"Since when could Torkoals run so fast?" Ash's eyes lit up when we saw this, and he quickly called out to his group to catch up with that Torkoal, and then said, "Everyone, this should be the forbidden Valley of Steel!"
"Yes!" Max also reacted, "Before entering the forest, the Nurse Joy near here told us not to get close too the Valley of Steel! And now we are inside of it!"
"Most likely, Magnemite, Skarmory, and such Steel-type Pokémon's tend to have a very strong sense of territoriality. We, and that Torkoal, must be expelled by them as intruders to their home!"
Ash led his companions to chase after the speedy Torkoal. Their speed as a whole couldn't be too fast. After all, the road here was difficult, but they still managed it follow after that Torkoal.
Soon, they saw a large pillar of fire and sparks were appearing not far away from them. It should be Torkoal, that defeated Skarmory, and those Magnemites fighting again.
Although it had just gotten beat up by the group, Torkoal had no intention of retreating, and there were obviously many new scars on his body because of this.
Ash was very pleased with this kind of Pokémon, the ones that didn't fear in the middle of a battle, "Torkoal, use Lava Plume!"
Ash directly shouted out a order to the wild injured Torkoal, but in the surprised eyes of everyone else, especially Max, Torkoal had obeyed Ash's command.
Hot smoke suddenly emerged from its tortoise shell, and the three Magnemites surrounding its body were immediately burned and fell off one by one, losing their ability to fight in a split second.
This was the difference between having a Trainer and not having a Trainer, especially in a wild battel such as this.
Seeing this, Skarmory suddenly became angry and used its Steel Wing attack to hit Torkoal.
But this time, Torkoal just stared at the Skarmory and made no other moves until Skarmory came closer and Ash gave out another one of his orders, "Use Flamethrower!"
The Flamethrower hit Skarmory head-on at close range, and especially because he wasn't even half recovered after being defeated by Ash's Manectric, and it ultimately couldn't avoid it and immediately lost its ability to fight for the second time!
Just as May and Max were getting ready to cheer, there was a sudden turmoil on the ground surface, and a huge Pokémon appeared in front of them.
This was a Steelix, it was also the big BOSS of the Valley of Steel as a whole.
The roar that attracted Torkoal just now was made by it.
Torkoal immediately spit up is a cloud of smoke, and his fighting spirit was burning like crazy.
Torkoal against the big boss Steelix, the battle was just about to begin.
"Let's first test out on him!" Ash began to direct the battle of Torkoal without any second thoughts, "Use Flamethrower!"
Torkoal's flames were indeed excellent, especially with all of its makeshift coal burning in inside of his body and then releasing the powerful heat.
However, this pillar of fire was almost completely ignored by the giant Steelix. Just by moving, he stirred up large amounts of sand and dust, thus easily blocking Torkoal's Flamethrower!
This was also the reason why Ash usually will never use any of his Fire-type Pokémon's when fighting against Pokémon's such as Steelix.
Steelix evolved from the Rock-type Pokémon Onix and has most likely learned a lot of Rock-type skills. It also has the Ground-type both before and after evolving into a Steelix.
Using Fire-type Pokémon's against such Pokémon's is usually only done when he wants to build up resistance for his Pokémon's.
Of course this can be directly linked to how strong his Pokémon's were.
He won't choose to use his Growlithe or Combusken against this Steelix unless he uses his Aura Powers to amplify their fire power. He almost never uses his own powers to make his Pokémon's stronger in battles because it is too much for his opponents; it also just happens to be not allowed in official Pokémon battles, so he only uses it against stronger wild Pokémon's against his own weaker Pokémon's.
His stronger Fire-type Pokémon's like Charizard and Thyplosion can directly ignore this Steelix as they both can instantly defeat it with a simple attack.
Seeing this, Torkoal gritted his teeth. He had fought with this Steelix several times before, and was defeated every single time and was injured all over without being able to do much damage to Steelix.
He used his Flamethrower again of Steelix. Unexpectedly, Steelix did not chose to dodge or block it, and took the damage from the Flamethrower head-on without flinching, and then used his huge tail to use a powerful Iron Tail towards Torkoal.
"Use Iron Defense!" It was too late to dodge and not enough time to counterattack, so Ash quickly locked in and ordered Torkoal to increase his defenses by going inot the shell. This not only increased his defense but also blocked most of the damage from that Iron Tail.
Torkoal resisted the hit from Iron Tail a second time and spit up large amounts of smoke from his nostrils and back, his fighting spirit was still burning crazily high! He was putting the dignity of being a Fire-type Pokémon on the line, so he must defeat this Steelix!
"He's so hot-blooded. He definitely a Fire-type Pokémon! So that's what a true Fire-type is supposed to look like…" May was already felling extremely hot just by being close to the Torkoal.
She almost forgot that her own Starter Pokémon was also a rare Fire-type Pokémon.
"In that case, Torkoal, get ready!" Ash could feel all the determination and the will that thsi Torkoal's had. It has been seriously injured before even coming here and does not have much strength left to fight this stronger Pokémon, so he might as well put everything on this last attack.
"Torkoal, use Shell Smash!"
Ash's order surprised even Brock, not to mention Max, but Torkoal had already executed it before they could say anything.
Cracks suddenly appeared on the thick turtle shell, and then it began to shatter. At this moment, Torkoal was like red-hot giant charcoal. He now had that scalding hot felling to him.
"Brock, what kind of move is that?" May asked Brock, who was right beside her.
"That Shell Smash that Torkoal just used will reduce his Defense and Special Defense, but in turn he will greatly increased his Attack, Special Attack and Speed!" Brock's eyes sparkled, "Ash bet everything on the outcome of this move. If he does go for his final attack, that attack must be..." Before Brock could even finish, Ash was already on it.
"Overheat!"
Ash raised his arms and his fighting spirit with Torkoal was already burning to their current limits.
With the new increased Speed, Torkoal was able to continue to avoid Steelix's Iron Tails, and then his entire body turned a burning red after hearing Ash's command!
The double defense that Torkoal had just abandoned were also now his greatest advantage, in exchange for those things that he didn't need yet, he greatly improved his main Special Attack. This will requires all of his strength to use, this last attack will use all of his new and old Special Attack to decimate his opponent!
He bet his everything on this last attack!
BOOM!
The new massive fire pillar took on a high-heat color, and with Ash's and Torkoal's new bond, it hit Steelix hard on the face!
This Steelix still didn't dodge, or rather he didn't have the time to dodge, and he had to withstood this full force attack head on without any second defensive layer.
The enhanced Overheat pushed Steelix back continuously, but it still managed to withstand it for some time. It glared fiercely at Torkoal and Ash, who was behind him. The metallic luster appeared on its tail again on the final moment of his consciousness.
"Come on, Torkoal!"
Ash decisively added his Auta to help out Torkoal, and the fire pillar that Torkoal was continuing to release became even more powerful. He finally pushed Steelix hard against the hard mountain wall, and the explosion immediately swallowed it completely! The sound was deafening to them.
Steelix immediately lost his ability to fight and fell down.
Risking everything, Ash and Torkoal ushered in their new victory.
Torkoal, who was out of the battle, naturally returned to its original state and lay down directly to rest. It had barely rested before he came to battle this Steelix. Now he was full of bruises and was completely out of energy.
"Hey, you're really strong. Do you want to follow me?" Ash squatted in front of Torkoal and took out one of his unused Poké Ball.
"TOR KOAL!"
Torkoal burst into tears again, then almost immediately spit up a lot of smoke, he was really excited, like a child, but he was really fierce when fighting, just like his little Electrike.
After Torkoal finished crying, he rested his head on the Poké Ball Ash showed him.
Torkoal: 200/215
Ash was immediately surprised by the high Bond Value and compatibility this Torkoal shared eith him. It was almost as good as when his Lapras had hatched in front of him, not even the Phanpy he had hatched had such a high level of bonding with him from the get go.
Neither Torkoal nor Lapras can evolve anymore, so there was no such thing as an increase in their shared Bond Value along with their degree of compatibility as others when they evolve.
With such a high degree of compatibility and bonding, it was no wonder that this Torkoal had listened to him complete this gamble without any second reservation.
Torkoal had fully recognized Ash as his Trainer, even before Ash asked him to join his team.
Ash now hoped that their future Bond Value can be further improved when they do their next training and battles.
"It's so beautiful. I neve knew there was such a way to catch a Pokémon!" May's eyes were opened again today by her boyfriend. For the first time, she saw that besides catching a Pokémon through battles, there was such a way to have them join you so willingly.
Of course, this method of subduing was only for those very few Trainers that truly did love Pokémon's as if they were family.
The past Ash was an expert in this kind of capturing method. He could almost make a full team of them if he so chose to.
The now defeated Steelix left with Skarmory and the three Magnemite to the other side of thei valley. They had now recognized the power that Torkoal and Ash had.
After passing through the Valley of Steel, Ash and his party quickly got on the right road again. And it turned out that Mauville City was right in front of them.
"Babe, let me tell you a good thing!" When entering Mauville City, May suddenly kissed Ash with a air of mystery.
"And what might that be, babe?" He said with the same tone May used on him.
"When we came to Mauville City last time, didn't I tell you about the Mauville City Food Court?" May said with a smile, "So you see, that place is also called the Battle Food Court. We can battle with the people there while waiting for our food to be prepared! And of we win, it's completely free; and the more times you battle and win, the more luxurious dishes you can eat!"
Hearing this, Ash's eyes lit up. Isn't this the perfect place to get more of his needed Exchange Points and more training?
He wasn't exactly short on money, not by a fat chance. He always saved up the extra money he had earned and sends them to his mother to use or save.
And the monthly pay he gets from the G-Men was something that he had saved up for a while now, he was now closer to being a billionaire then being as "poor" like his old self.
But looking at May's look, he realized what his girlfriend was truly thinking of, "You just want me to help you fight and win, and then you can eat more luxurious food, right?"
"Uh!" May stuck out her tongue, "You got me detected, love. I tried to win against them teh last time I was here, but they were too strong for me and I couldn't fight them after round two." She said in dissatisfaction.
This was the best of both worlds for Ash, he can earn his Exchange Points and experience for his Pokémon's by doing battles, and his girlfriend can also enjoy the delicious snacks for free.
It really was such a good thing; he has to hurry up now.
Sure enough, the Mauville City Food Court was at its busiest time now. In addition to some small vendors, the three core stores included Explore Gardevoir, Magnemite Magnet and Assorted Muk Noodles. On the battle field in the center of this whole area, a graceful lady wearing a long blue skirt was directing her Walrein to crush the opponent's Camerupt on the opposite side like it was nothing, it was a one hit knock out.
Her strength was cheered by everyone present there.
May's eyes were the brightest, "Ash, that lady over there has neck won ten battle in a row and can eat the most luxurious Assorted Muk Noodles for free!"
When it comes to the most luxurious Assorted Muk Noodles, his girlfriends eyes were filled with bright stars.
She was very much looking forward to all free food her boyfriend was going to win for her!
Ash then saw the lady put away her thickkk Walrein, shook her head as if she was disappointed, came to the counter to receive her luxurious Assorted Muk Noodles, and started to eat it like it was the last thing she will ever eat.
She ate very quickly and was sweating profusely after a while.
Ash looked at his girlfriend, who was drooling uncontrollably on the side and said with a smile, "Are you ready for it?"
"Yes! I want to eat that Magnemite thing first!"
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