On the way to Ashlyn's next gym battle, the gang had arrived in Lilycove City. When they arrived, May immediately signed up. Ashlyn helped May with her Combusken who just learned Fire Spin. They also met a girl named Kelly, a fellow Coordinator, who knows how to make good Pokéblocks. She also taught the gang how to make good Pokéblocks. Team Rocket had shown up and tried to take Kelly's Grumpig, but failed after Combusken used Fire Spin at them. With faith and determination, May was able to win her fourth ribbon. So she only needed one more ribbon to enter the Grand Festival.
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Also, on the way, they came across an injured female Mawile. Ashlyn helped heal it. Once Mawile was healed, Ashlyn was going to let her go, but Mawile wanted to go with her. So Ashlyn caught her and named the female Mawile 'Trixie'.
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Today the gang were travelling across the ocean on a ferry. Brock told the others that they were heading towards three islands called the A-B-C Islands. The islands were called the A-B-C because they were three islands grouped together. Brock also said that they were going to Island A, because it was the only island of the three with a Pokémon center. It seemed to be a nice, peaceful day for the gang, but the peace didn't last for long.
Some kids were racing each other in the ocean and they were riding on two different types of water Pokémon. One water Pokémon was a blue serpent like Pokémon with orange fins and designs and a big mouth with big sharp teeth. This was called a Huntail. The other one was a pink serpent like Pokémon with two long thin fins (one on the head and one below the head), a purple fin on the tail and two purple shells on the chest. This one was called a Gorebyss.
Alain looked at Huntail on his Pokédex:
[Huntail, the deep-sea Pokémon. The evolved form of Clamperl. It lives deep in the sea. With a tail shaped like a small fish, it attracts unsuspecting prey.]
Ashlyn looked at Gorebyss on her Rotom phone:
[Gorebyss, the south sea Pokémon. The evolved form of Clamperl. It lives at the bottom of the sea. In the springtime, its pink body turns more vivid for some reason.]
"Wow, so both of those Pokémon evolve from Clamperl?" Max asked.
May looked at Clamperl on her Pokédex:
[Clamperl, the bivalve Pokémon. It makes a single pearl during its lifetime. The pearl is said to amplify psychic power.]
"So it's a branch evolution like Poliwhirl's evolutions and Eevee's evolutions huh?" Ashlyn commented.
The gang noticed that the kids were arguing and, in a hurry, to get to Island A.
"I wonder what those kids are in a hurry about." Brock pondered.
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Soon the gang got to Island A, and to the Pokémon center. Nurse Joy told the gang that since her Pokémon center on Island A was the only Pokémon center, the people on Island B and C had to transport their Pokémon to her by a transporter. Brock did try to flirt with her, but Max dragged him away by the ear just in the middle of it. Suddenly there was a lot of shouting coming from another room in the Pokémon center.
Nurse Joy sighed, "Oh not again."
The shouting was from some children, and they were arguing about Huntail or Gorebyss being better than the other. Nurse Joy told them to stop arguing and get back to their studies. Apparently, the Pokémon center was also a school and kids from Island B and C attended it.
Max asked why and what the kids were arguing about. Nurse Joy explained that swarms of Clamperl lived around the A-B-C Islands and for some reason Clamperl end up evolving into Huntail on Island C and Clamperl evolved into Gorebyss on Island B.
"Because of that the people from Islands B and C keep on arguing with each other about Gorebyss or Huntail being better than the other." Nurse Joy concluded.
"Say no more Nurse Joy," Ashlyn requested, "Brock and I have heard something like this before."
"Ashlyn's right. We've heard about people arguing over the different Eevee evolutions, over Poliwhirl with Poliwrath and Politoed and over Gloom with Vileplume and Bellossom." Brock stated.
"And over Tyrogue with Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan and Hitmontop don't forget that." Ashlyn added.
"I see," Nurse Joy said, "and what do you three say about this?"
Ashlyn was about to answer Nurse Joy's question when suddenly they saw a surprise. The surprise was Prof Birch talking to some kids outside the Pokémon center.
"Prof. Birch!" Ashlyn called out.
Prof. Birch turned to the one who called him out.
"Oh! Ashlyn, Alain, May, May, Brock! Good to see you all here." Prof. Birch greeted.
"What brings you here, professor?" Nurse Joy asked.
"I came here to investigate on the evolutions of Clamperl." Prof. Birch answered.
"I must ask, how do Clamperl evolve into Huntail or Gorebyss?" May asked.
"It depends on the two objects that Clamperl holds when its being traded. Like a Deep-Sea Scale will make Clamperl evolve into Gorebyss." Ashlyn replied, holding a Deep-Sea Scale which is a pink scale.
"And a Deep-Sea Tooth makes Clamperl evolve into Huntail." Alain added, holding a Deep-Sea Tooth which is a grey tooth shaped fang.
"That's correct, Ashlyn, Alain." Prof. Birch confirmed, "I think I should make you two my assistants when I'm travelling for research."
"Maybe some other time, professor." Ashlyn commented.
"By the way, where did you two get the Deep-Sea Scale and Deep-Sea Tooth?" Max asked.
"We got these from an old man back when we were in Slateport City." Alain replied.
Ashlyn then had a thought. "Nurse Joy, you said that Clamperl evolve into Gorebyss on Island B and that Clamperl evolve into Huntail on Island C right?" she said.
"That's right I did." Nurse Joy answered.
"Then maybe there are Deep Sea Scale located at Island B." Ashlyn theorized.
"And Deep-Sea Teeth over at Island C." Alain added.
"I think you may be right Ashlyn, Alain," Prof Birch agreed, "so I should head over to those two islands right away to see if the theory is correct."
"Can we come as well?" Ashlyn asked.
"Of course! The more the merrier." Prof. Birch replied.
Just then a boy and a girl came up to the gang. The boy was called Keith and the girl was called Nancy.
"I want to come too." Keith pleaded.
"And me." Nancy added.
Keith and Nancy explained that they both had a Clamperl each and they wanted to evolve them.
"I see so you two want to see how your Clamperls will evolve, right?" Prof. Birch asked.
"Yes." Keith and Nancy said in unison.
So Prof Birch and the gang agreed to let Keith and Nancy join them.
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The first stop was at Island B. The group went into an underground cave. In the cave there was a big pool of water, with a little waterfall.
"This is a nice cave to explore." Prof. Birch commented.
Just then some clam like Pokémon jumped out of the pool; these Pokémon were Clamperl.
"So it seems that Clamperl live in the underground caves around the A-B-C Islands." Brock stated.
"That's correct," Keith confirmed, "this cave is where I got my Clamperl from."
"And I got my Clamperl from the cave on Island C." Nancy added.
"So where are the Deep-Sea Teeth or the Deep-Sea Scales then?" Max asked.
"I don't know, but I know how we can find them." Prof. Birch replied.
Prof. Birch had a brown bag on him and he took out two metal rod things. "This item finder of mine should do the trick." he said.
Prof. Birch held out the item finder and then the rod pointed out to the pool; this meant that the Deep-Sea Teeth or Deep-Sea Scales were probably in the pool. Prof Birch, Keith, Nancy and the gang started to search for Deep-Sea Scales in the pool, and in no time at all they did find some Deep-Sea Scales.
"So Ashlyn's theory about Island B was right," Prof. Birch confirmed, "Deep-Sea Scales are only located here which explains about Clamperl only evolving into Gorebyss here."
"Do you think there's a chance that Alain's theory about Island C is right too?" Max questioned.
"There is only one way to find that out." Prof. Birch answered.
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To see if Alain's theory about Island C was right, everyone headed there next. Like Island B, Island C had an underground cave with a big pool of water and of course there were Clamperl living there too. Prof Birch checked with his item finder again to see if any Deep-Sea Teeth were around. And there was. Prof. Birch claimed that Alain's theory about Deep-Sea Teeth being located at Island C was right, which explained about Clamperl evolving into Huntail.
Suddenly a small grey pig like Pokémon, with a springy tail, jumped towards the Clamperl.
"That's a Spoink." Prof. Birch said.
Ashlyn looked at Spoink on her Rotom phone:
[Spoink, the bounce Pokémon. The pre- evolved form of Grumpig. It bounces constantly, using its tail as a spring. The shock of bouncing keeps its heart beating.]
"Hang on, that Spoink doesn't have a pearl on its head like it should." Max pointed out.
"That must be the reason why it's here. Spoinks get their pearls from Clamperl, so it's going to ask the Clamperls for a pearl." Prof. Birch theorized.
Prof Birch was right; the Spoink asked the Clamperl for a pearl. One Clamperl was just about to give the Spoink a pearl, but then it and the other Clamperls were caught in a net.
"What on earth?!" Prof. Birch gasped.
Suddenly they heard three familiar laughs. They looked towards the source and saw a familiar trio: Team Rocket who were carrying nets full of Clamperl.
"Pretty good catch here." Jessie bragged.
"Yeah, these will fetch a good price for sure." James agreed.
"Especially their pearls." Meowth confirmed.
"Team Rocket!" The gang exclaimed.
"The twerps!" Team Rocket gasped.
"Release those Clamperls at once!" Prof. Birch demanded.
"No way!" Jessie denied.
"We caught these Clamperls on fair grounds!" James stated.
"So they rightfully belong to us now!" Meowth added.
Suddenly Meowth was tackled to the ground. It was the Spoink. Spoink wasn't happy with what Team Rocket were doing either, so it was trying to stop them too by using bounce.
"Get away from us you!" Jessie shouted and kicked Spoink.
Spoink was sent flying, but Ashlyn caught it in her arms.
"You okay?" Ashlyn asked the Spoink.
Spoink nodded, "Spoink."
Ashlyn was clearly not happy about this. She wanted to use Tesla to attack, but if she did Tesla could end up hitting the Clamperls with her electric attacks.
"Leave this to me. Blaziken!" Alain said as he tossed a Pokéball.
"Blaziken!" Blaziken appeared.
"Blaziken, Blaze Kick!" Alain ordered.
Blaziken's feet were incased in flames and kicked the Team Rocket trio so hard, that they let go of the nets that carried the Clamperls.
"Tesla, Thunder Shock!" Ashlyn ordered.
Tesla sent out her electric type attack at the Team Rocket trio which they yelped in pain and were sent flying into the sky.
"Well so much to getting those Clamperls." Jessie complained.
"Maybe pearls don't bring good luck after all." James added.
"Our plan went down into the sea." Meowth commented.
Wobbuffet appeared and saluted, "Wobba!"
The trio sighed in defeat.
"WE'RE BLASTING OFF AGAIN!!!!" The trio yelled as they disappeared across the sky.
DING!
"Great work there, Ashlyn, Alain," Prof. Birch thanked the two trainers, "Now let's get to the Pokémon center on Island A to have Spoink and the Clamperls checked out."
=========================
And so, Nurse Joy checked out Spoink and the Clamperls from Island C.
"This was certainly quite a day," Prof. Birch commented, "We solved a mystery behind the evolutions of Clamperl and Gorebyss and Huntail. And got rid of Team Rocket."
"For now." Max added.
There was still one more thing to sort out; Nancy and Keith hadn't evolved their Clamperls yet.
"So what do you two want your Clamperl evolve into?" May asked.
"I actually want my Clamperl evolve into Huntail. I think they're pretty cool." Keith admitted.
"I want mine as a Gorebyss. They look really beautiful." Nancy added.
"You two can evolve your Clamperl into whatever they want." Ashlyn encouraged, "What's important of evolving your Pokémon is the happiness of you and your Pokémon." She said.
So Keith evolved his Clamperl into Huntail and Nancy evolved her Clamperl into Gorebyss.
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The next morning, the gang got ready to leave the A-B-C Islands by a ferry. Prof Birch decided going to stay behind a bit more to study the Clamperl, the Huntail and the Gorebyss. Nancy and Keith were happy with their new evolved Pokémon, and because of what they did the people of the B and C islands had finally stopped their quarrelling. Nurse Joy informed the gang that the Clamperls were okay and so was the Spoink. The Spoink was standing next to Nurse Joy and it had a new pink pearl on the top of its head; a Clamperl gave its pearl to Spoink.
"Good for you Spoink, now you won't need to worry about not having a pearl." Ashlyn smiled.
Just then the Spoink bounced into Ashlyn's arms and nuzzled her.
"You like me Spoink?" Ashlyn asked.
Spoink nodded to say yes. So Ashlyn caught the Spoink along with a female Clamperl. Alain also caught a male Clamperl. May caught a female Clamperl as well and found a Deep Sea Scale from earlier. She hoped to evolve her Clamperl into a Gorebyss soon.
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After that the gang said goodbye to Prof Birch and Nurse Joy and left the A-B-C Islands. They were on their way to Mossdeep Gym. On the other hand, Ashlyn knew that their next encounter with Team Magma and Team Aqua was getting closer.
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Pokémon Caught: Mightyena (Lela)(F), Marshtomp (Finn)(M), Shiny Blaziken (Hestia)(F), Kirlia (Miku)(F), Kirlia (Lancelot)(M), Swellow (Percy)(M), Linoone (Ziggy)(M), Grovyle (Kazuki)(M), Beautifly (Willow)(F), Shiny Milotic (Ula)(F), Crawdaunt (Sebastian)(M), Lairon (Hagane)(M), Sableye (Jacinth)(M), Shiny Flygon (Libelle)(F), Shiny Manectric (Damini)(F), Shiny Shelgon (Idris)(F), Torkoal (Shula)(F), Swablu (Alta)(F), Mawile (Trixie)(F), Clamperl (Coral)(F), Spoink (Sumire)(F)