1.Ash's Story (Part 3: Hoenn)

Chapter 24

After taking a rest, we head to the Jagged Pass. We train up our Pokemon and Makuhita evolves into a Hariyama.

Hariyama: The Arm Thrust Pokemon: Fighting Type. Evolved from Makuhita at LV:24. Makuhita is tenacious - it will keep getting up and attacking its foe however many times it is knocked down. Every time it gets back up, this Pokémon stores more energy in its body for evolving.

Then we find a Spoink thanks to Skitty, Max says, "Something looks different..."

"Yeah, it doesn't have a pearl on the head." Minami says.

"And it seems to be very upset about it, too." I say.

The Spoink has been searching for the pearl, and we decided to help it out. We learn that Spoink was resting until it accidentally dropped the pearl off the cliff. We search down the cliff and we manage to find Igglybuff, Voltorb, and an Electrode instead.

"Just great... whenever it sees round things, it will try to put it on its head..." Mark says.

"Hey! I think that's it!" I notice the pearl and grab it, then Spoink is going to put it on its head, but much to our dismay, we fall into a trap. "Not another one of these holes..."

And we don't need to know who's the one who does the hole. Even though we manage to send them flying, we notice that the pearl is also sent flying along with Team Rocket.

"Get back the pearl!" I yell as we manage to find Team Rocket, who tries to get away with the pearl. After we lose them, Spoink decides to use Psychic to find other replacements, and we have to stop it and return the objects back to the owners.

When we find Team Rocket again, we demand the pearl back, and Jessie says, "You're a day late and a dollar short!"

"That pearl has turned into a Magikarp." James says.

Then I realized that it must be the same Magikarp salesman that I met back in Kanto, so he was still trying to cheat his way... Minami says, "You know this guy?"

"I know, I still remember I paid three times the money to buy a Shiny Magikarp from him." I say. "And I use a little threatening because he just likes to cheat others."

Everyone looks at me with surprise, and I decide to hit Feebas with a Water Gun without him noticing. He tries to get away, but I say, "Not so fast. Great to see you again, huh?"

The salesman recognizes me and gasps, "Wh-what do you want?"

"Is it true that you traded a Feebas for a pearl from a Spoink? We need it back now." I say.

"I don't know what you mean." He tries to struggle, so we decide to break the bag, but the pearl falls into Team Rocket's hands. In the end, I have Numel use Lava Plume, hitting Team Rocket and causing them to drop the pearl.

Spoink is happy to get the pearl back, and it uses Psychic to send them flying. We also notice the Magikarp Salesman is nowhere in sight. Then we decide to capture the Spoink.

Spoink: The Bounce Pokemon: Psychic Type. Spoink bounces around on its tail. The shock of its bouncing makes its heart pump. As a result, this Pokémon cannot afford to stop bouncing - if it stops, its heart will stop.

On the way, Minami also captures a Swablu and a Spoink, and that's when we decide to get to Lavaridge Town for my next gym badge.

We arrive at Lavaridge Town, which is said to be famous for its hot springs. Max observes around and says, "Look! There's a bunch of people over there all buried in the sand."

"That's a sand bath. This town is famous for those as well." Mark says.

"Yeah, I heard that the heat of the sand was supposed to take away the tiredness." May says.