Mitch's Johto Journey

Phanpy, Aipom, and the Day Care

           With their adventures in the Ilex Forest behind them, Mitch and Quilava make their way down Route 34 on their journey to Goldenrod City. They are about to walk by a small building with a fence surrounding it when a Poke Ball on Mitch's belt starts to shake. Before he has time to do anything, the Pokémon inside of the ball lets itself out. " Phan, Phan, Phanpy, Phan," Phanpy excitedly shouts as it runs up to the house and starts making a strange noise (one would say Elephant-like noise) using its trunk. " Phanpy, what are you doing it" Mitch asks before a sound from above them catches his attention. 

              " Ai, Ai, Aipom, Pom, Pom," a purple monkey-like Pokémon with a long tail, that ends with a large three fingered hand, that is standing on the roof of the building shouts before jumping down from the roof and landing in front of Phanpy. " Phan, Phan, " Ai, Ai, Pom," they both happily say as they hug each other. " Is this a friend of yours, Phanpy," Mitch asks as Phanpy nods and says, " Py." " Aipom, the Long Tail Pokémon, a Normal-type, It uses its tail to pluck fruits that are out of reach. Its tail is more adept than its real hands." Mitch puts his Pokedex away as he and Quilava walk up in an attempt to greet Aipom. " Hello, Aipom! I'm Mitc," his introduction is cut short by Aipom jumping behind Phanpy in fear. " Huh," Mitch says in a confused tone before the door to the building opens and an old couple walks out of it. " Hello, I'm Hartlee," the man, who has an Igglybuff  on his shoulder, says as the women, who has a Cleffa on her shoulder, introduces herself, " I'm Ethlyn." " We're the Johto Day-Care Couple," they both shout at the same time. " Phanpy is that you! It's been so long," Ethlyn shouts as she bends down and gives Phanpy a big hug. 

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                 Mitch, Hartlee, and Ethlyn sit at a table as Quilava rests at Mitch's feet and Phanpy, Aipom, Cleffa, and Igglybuff play in the yard outside of the house. " When we found Phanpy and Aipom they were both severely injured. We took them to the Pokémon Center in Goldenrod City and got them healed, but Nurse Joy told us that they might be a little too young and inexperienced to make it out in the wild, so we took them home with us and spend about a year training them. From the very start, Phanpy was great, and we even hired a move tutor to teach it Seed Bomb. It mastered the move the same day that the tutor began teaching it. However, Aipom was different, it was incredibly anxious and skittish. It would run away whenever things in a battle got tough, so when the time came, we decided to let Phanpy go out on its own and let Aipom stay here. Since then, Aipom has gotten a little better at battling and the Move Tutor successfully taught it Shock Wave, but it's still very anxious and shy," Hartlee explains as Mitch nods in agreement. Ethlyn glances out towards the yard for a few seconds and smiles before saying, " however, now that Phanpy is back, this is the happiest I've seen Aipom in a while."

         Mitch goes into a deep thought and an idea soon comes to his mind. " How about Exposure Therapy. I have a lot of Pokémon back at Professor Oak's lab, if I catch Aipom I could send it there to get exposed to other Pokémon and that might help it come out of its shell. It could even get better at battling by training with my other Pokémon. Here's my plan: We'll make it look like it's having a practice battle with Phanpy and when it takes enough damage, I'll catch it and send it there." Hartlee and Ethlyn look at each other as they contemplate Mitch's offer. " We're in," they both say at the same time.  

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               Mitch, with Phanpy in front of him (he has already told Phanpy the plan), stands at a makeshift battlefield with Hartlee and Aipom standing on the opposite side. " Alright, Aipom, use Astonish," Hartlee orders as Aipom's body becomes surrounded in an ebony-colored energy. " Pooommm," it shouts as it runs at Phanpy. " Stop that with Defense Curl and then use Seed Bomb," Mitch shouts as Phanpy curls into a ball, causing Aipom's Astonish to do no damage when Aipom slams into it. " Pyyyyyyyyyyy," Phanpy cries as it uncurls and fires a large seed made of dark green energy from its nose. The seed hits an unprepared Aipom in the chest and explodes, knocking it backwards. " Aiiiiiiiiiiiii," it cries as it skids across the battlefield on its back. Aipom stops a few feet in front of Hartlee as he yells " Come on, Aipom. You got this! Use Fury Swipes," Hartlee orders as Aipom jumps to its feet and the three fingers on its hand tail glow white. " Pooooooooom," it shouts as it jumps forward and begins to rapidly and repeatedly slash Phanpy across the face with its fingers. " Phaaaaaaaanpyyyyyyy," Phanpy whimpers as it takes more and more damage. " Don't give up Phanpy! Use Ice Shard and then Rollout," Mitch cries as Phanpy manages to push through the agony and fire a small beam of ice out of its mouth.

             " Poooooooooom," Aipom screeches as it is knocked back by the Ice Shard and falls down on one knee. Before Aipom has time to recover, Phanpy curls into a ball, rolls forward, and slams into it. " Pooooooooom," it cries as it lands face first on the ground directly in front of Hartlee with a loud thud and struggles to get back up. Hartlee looks over to Mitch and silently nods as Mitch quietly takes an empty Poke Ball from his backpack and throws it at the oblivious Normal-type.  The ball hits Aipom in the back of the head and sucks it inside. It takes about 4 or 5 minutes of shaking before the capture noise goes off, allowing everyone to breathe a sigh of relief. 

          Mitch pats Phanpy on the head before walking over to Aipom's Poke Ball and using the P.C. button on his Pokedex to send Aipom to Oak's lab. Hartlee, Ethlyn, Igglybuff, Cleffa, and Quilava walk over to Mitch and Hartlee and Ethlyn say their goodbyes to Phanpy . " It was great to battle one last time with Aipom and absolutely amazing to see how Phanpy has grown since it left us. I have no doubts that both of them are in good hands with one. Just tell Aipom that we said goodbye and we'll be proud of it no matter what" Hartlee says as he proudly pats Mitch on the shoulder. " You told us that you were planning to compete in the next Johto League Tournament. We'll be watching and if you don't use Phanpy or Aipom in any of your battles we might just come for you," Ethlyn says with a smile and a playful wink. " I'll remember that," Mitch says in a slightly nervous tone as Hartlee and the Pokémon gleefully chuckle.