ONE PIECE Orange Archipelago

The Lost Lapras

It was a nice day on the Thousand Sunny, when Ash was introducing his newest catch, Mew, to the rest of his team. Ash: "Mew, this is Bulbasaur and Charizard, your new team mates." said Ash, before Mew started to hover around the two Pokémon out of curiosity, checking out her new team mates. Charizard didn't seemed all that impressed as it was hoping to have a team mate that can give it a challenge, so it crossed his arms and looked away, much to the psychic type's confusion. Ash: "Sorry about Charizard, he has a bit of an attitude problem that makes him want to battle only when he feels like it... even when it means a battle that coasted me a chance to win the Indigo league..." said Ash in a sad tone in the end, which Robin heard. Robin: "The Indigo league?" Ash: "Yeah, it was a Pokémon competition where Pokémon trainers that earned 8 gym badges can enter and battle one another, and the last trainer gets to be the winner and gets a chance to battle one of the Elite Four, the most powerful Pokémon trainers, other than a league champion." Luffy: "Whoa, that sounds awesome, and you went into it?" Ash: "Yeah... but I only made it to the top 16 due to my other Pokémon got beaten and Charizard refused to listen to me due to him believing that his opponent wasn't worth it, as a result, I lost..." said Ash, with his head hanging down in sadness as the loss was still painful to him. Mew used her psychic powers to see her trainer's memories and couldn't help but feel sorry for him, then sees that Charizard didn't looked sorry at all about that, which made her mad and started to glow and changed shape, much to everyone's surprise. Once the glow ended, Mew was now in the form of another Charizard, and used a flamethrower on the original Charizard, who was very surprised by what just happened. Sanji: "Did you see that...?, Mew just turned into a Charizard..." Ash: "Mew!, why did you do that?!" Mew: "Mew, Mew, Mew, Mew, Mew!" Chopper: "She said that Charizard was being mean and she wanted to show him that she is strong, despite being small." said Chopper, as Charizard was shaking the smoke off of his face, before glaring at the psychic type. It wasn't long before Carrot noticed another island nearby, but what really got her attention was that there was what looked like a plesiosaur like Pokémon, being abused by a pair of humans with black uniforms and big red R's on them. One was a woman with yellow hair, and the other was a man with green hair. Carrot: "Guys!, some jerks are attacking a Pokémon!" shouted Carrot, alerting the rest of the crew about the scene ahead of them, and the sight of it made Ash really mad. Ash: "We gotta stop them!" shouted Ash, before he asked Mew to use her psychic powers to teleport the group to the beach, standing in front of the humans that Ash soon recognized. Ash: "Cassidy and Biff?!" shouted Ash in shock, seeing that it was the other members of Team Rocket, Cassidy (voiced by Megan Hollingshead), and Butch (voiced by Eric Stuart). Butch: "Ugh!, the name is Butch!" Cassidy: "Wait, you're that twerp that messed up one of our operations in Kanto." Ash: "What are you doing here?!, I thought you two were still in jail!" Butch: "We were, but the boss bailed us out, and now we came here to begin our operations here on the Orange Archipelago, and I'm guessing you're here for the Orange league?" Ash: "The Orange league?" Nami: "Never mind that now, Ash, who are these guys?" Ash: "They're other members of Team Rocket, Cassidy & Biff." Butch: "I just told you, the name's Butch!, not Biff!" Jimbei: "Whatever your name is, you two are hurting that Pokémon." Cassidy: "What is that?" Butch: "Some sort of fish like Pokémon?" Nami: "That's the least of your worries if you don't leave that poor thing alone." Butch: "Oh yeah, like we're really scared of a brat like you." Sanji: "Hey don't call my beautiful navigator a brat in front of me!" Cassidy: "What's wrong?, getting mad for us making fun of your girlfriend?" Nami: "I'm not his girlfriend!, he's just a guy who's nuts about women." Cassidy: "Really, well let's see how much he'll still like you after we do a number on your face, go Nidoqueen!" Butch: "Come out Golem!" shouted Cassidy and Butch, before letting out their own Pokémon, one looked like a dinosaur and the other looked like a round rock with a snake head and limbs. Ash: "Pikachu!, use your thunderbolt!" called out Ash, before Pikachu let out a powerful Thunderbolt attack on the targets, but it seems to have no effect on them. Usopp: "It didn't do a thing!" Butch: "Of course not, they're both part ground types, so electric attacks won't work." Jimbei: "Then how about this?... fish man karate... thousand brick fist!" said Jimbei, before he let out a punch on the air, pointing at the Team Rocket duo, who seemed confused at first as it didn't seemed like anything happened, until they felt their whole bodies begin to move backwards and got sent flying with their Pokémon. Jimbei: "They might be ground types... but they still have water in them, and my attacks effect water, so it won't matter what type they are when their opponent is me." Ash: "Whoa... that's so cool..." said Ash in amazement, seeing that Jimbei took out both Cassidy and Butch with just one attack. Chopper then ran up to the plesiosaur like Pokémon, checking to see if it was okay. Chopper: "Poor thing, we need to get it some help fast." Carrot: "I saw a building that looked like the Pokémon center on Valencia island, maybe we can get this poor thing help there." Ash: "Then let's hurry." Usopp: "But how are we gonna get it over there?" Jimbei: "Leave that to me." said Jimbei, before he picks up the Pokémon with his own two hands, and started carrying it without trouble, much to Ash's surprise. Ash: "Whoa!, are you seeing this Pikachu?!, I knew Jimbei was strong, but I never imagined him to be this strong!" Pikachu: "Pika..." said Pikachu in agreedment. Not long after, the Straw Hats got the Pokémon to the Pokémon center, and soon placed it in a pool outside of the building to make it more comfortable. Thanks to Nurse Joy, they learned that the Pokémon was called a Lapras, and a baby to add that, and Ash decided to check out his Pokédex to find out more. Pokédex: [Lapras, The Transport Pokémon, Lapras is a large water/ice type that enjoys giving people rides on it's back, and it often swims in pods.] Luffy: "So it gives people rides on it's back?, cool!" Nami: "Yeah, but it doesn't look like it's in a mood to do that... I mean it didn't seemed to trust us..." said Nami, as she remembered how Lapras tried to avoid them when it got to the pool, like swimming away to the far edge when they tried to get close, including Ash. Robin: "No surprise, after how those two were treating it earlier." Ash: "Speaking of which, they mentioned something about the Orange League... I wonder what that is..." that was when the Nurse Joy of the island's Pokémon center came, and she heard what Ash said. Nurse Joy: "Why it's the Pokémon league of the Orange Archipelago, like how the Indigo league is to the Kanto region." Ash: "Really?" Nurse Joy: "That's right, first you must beat the 4 gym leaders, known as the Orange crew, then you'll have the right to compete against the Orange league champion, Drake." Ash: "Wow... sounds like a good challenge to me." Luffy: "Me too, I like to see this champion too." Nami: "Hold on you two, we're supposed to sail back Kanto to help Ash deliver the remains of the GS Ball to the one called Professor Oak, remember?" Ash: "Oh yeah... maybe I should ask him if it's okay if I can compete in the Orange league." Franky: "Can you even call him?, I mean I don't any transponder snails." Ash: "Transponder snails?" Chopper: "They're snails that we used in our world for communication." Ash: "Well we don't have snails for that... but we do have a video phone." said Ash, before walking to one of the video phones he was talking about, turning it on, and soon the image of Professor Oak (voiced by Stan Hart) soon appeared. Professor Oak: "Hello Ash, I was waiting for you to call me." Ash: "Hey Professor Oak, sorry about the delay, things got a little uh..." Professor Oak: "Yes, Professor Ivy told me about what happened in her lab, especially about Mew, I must say that I'm really looking forward to study it along with the GS ball." Ash: "Well just try not to make the info about her being my Pokémon into the public, as Brock told me that it could attract unwanted attention." Professor Oak: "Yes I'm fully aware of that, and by the way, where are you right now?" Ash: "I'm on Tangelo island right now, and I recently learned that the Orange Archipelago has it's own Pokémon league... and I was wondering if..." Professor Oak: "Let me guess, you want to compete in it, well I'm not one to stop you, just make sure you get here as soon as you're done with it." Ash: "Sure thing." and so with that, the call ended, which was when the sound of a van crashed through a wall where the pool that Lapras was resting in. Ash: "What was that?!" Chopper: "Look!" called out Chopper, seeing Lapras being taken by the Team Rocket trio, who stuffed it inside a van and driving off. Jessie: "Finally!, we caught a rare Pokémon!" James: "And it was easy!" Meowth: "Yeah!, like taking candy from a baby!" said Meowth with an evil laugh. Luffy: "Not those jerks again!" Nami: "They took Lapras!" Usopp: "Not on my watch!, special attack, green star devil!" shouted Usopp, before firing what looked like a green seed with his sling shot, and once the seed hit the ground in front of Team Rocket's van, which was located on a steep cliff road, a giant Venus fly trap popped out and got a hold of the van, much to the trio's surprise. Jessie: "What the?!, where did this giant plant come from?!" James: "Somehow it reminds me of Carnivine!" Meowth: "I hope it doesn't eat things like us!" while the plant kept the trio busy, Ash rushed to the van, opening the doors and came over to Lapras. Ash: "It's okay Lapras, we're gonna get you out of here." said Ash, trying to comfort the young Lapras, who was amazed that this boy was will to risk his own life to protect it from Team Rocket. That was when Zoro took out his swords and used them to send an air slash that cuts the van in half, much to Ash's and the Team Rocket trio's shock. Meowth: "He didn't touched the van, but he used his swords to make the wind cut it like it was made of cheese!" suddenly, the ground below the van started to break, as it seems that Zoro has cut it too by mistake. Sanji: "Moss head!, you weren't supposed to cut the ground too!, the sea's below it!" Zoro: "Wasn't trying to, and besides, Lapras is a water type, so it should be fine right?" Nami: "Not from a drop like that, and Ash is there too!, you moron!" shouted Nami, as both Lapras and Ash were falling down from the cliff and heading for the sea below. Suddenly, a psychic energy bubble appeared and soften the landing for the young trainer and Lapras. Pikachu: "Pika Pi!" Chopper: "Look!, they're both okay!" Usopp: "But what's that pink bubble?" Robin: "I have an idea." said Robin, pointing at Mew, who was hovering down to Ash, checking to see if he was okay. Ash: "Is this your doing?" Mew: "Mew, Mew!" Ash: "Well nice job then." said Ash, which made Mew let out a happy giggle. Brook: "Looks like they're both okay." Luffy: "Good... now to take care of these guys." said Luffy, before cracking his knuckles to get ready on making the Team Rocket trio pay. Jessie: "Uh oh..." James: "I don't think this will end well for us..." Luffy: "You got that right, now Gum Gum... Bazooka!" shouted Luffy, before using his Gum Gum Bazooka attack to send the trio flying away from the scene. Team Rocket Trio: "Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!" some time later, when the sun began to set, Lapras was now at the beach with Ash and the Straw Hats. Ash: "Well Lapras, you should be safe now, so you better go find your pod." Lapras made a sad look on it's face, before saying something in it's own Pokémon speak that made Chopper gasped in sadness. Usopp: "What's wrong?" Chopper: "She said... her pod was killed by a bad man not too long ago... and she was the only survivor..." this made Ash gasped in shock and horror, never had he heard something so terrible before. Ash: "You mean... she's an orphan?" Chopper: "Apparently so..." Ash couldn't help but have tears in his eyes, and went to wrap his arms around Lapras by the neck in hopes to give it comfort, which touched the water/ice type's heart as she has never met a human quite like him. Ash: "I'm so sorry... I had no idea..." Zoro: "So what now?" asked Zoro, before an idea came into Ash's head. Ash: "Well... if it's okay with Lapras... I can catch her and take her with us... but that's her choice to make." it took Lapras a moment to think, knowing that she had no pod to return to anymore, and Ash and the Straw Hats were the ones who saved her from Team Rocket twice in one day, it didn't took long for her to make her choice. Lapras nudge her nose on the side of Ash's body, where his Pokéballs were being held, allowing the trainer to realize what she was trying to say. Robin: "Seems like Lapras has made her choice." Franky: "Yeah." Ash: "Alright then... welcome to the team." said Ash, before used an empty Pokéball to catch Lapras as his newest catch. Ash: "Alright!, I've caught Lapras!" Pikachu: "Pi, Pikachu!" it wasn't long before the Straw Hats and Ash sailed away on the Thousand Sunny, with a new goal in mind, which is to help Ash find and beat the Orange crew so he can battle the Orange league champion. Lapras was out of her Pokéball so she can stretch her flippers and now was following the ship. Brook couldn't but stare at the transport Pokémon, as she reminds him so much of a certain whale friend of his. Ash: "Hey Brook... are you okay?" Brook: "Hmm?, oh yes, it's just... Lapras there reminds me so much of Laboon." Ash: "Laboon?" Brook: "A whale that me and my old crew befriended a long time ago... we used to play wonderful music together to cheer up Laboon... perhaps Lapras would like to hear it too." Ash: "Good idea Brook, she could use something to make her feel better right now." so with that Brook, began playing his violin to play the song 'Bink's brew', which was a classic pirate song in the One Piece world, and Lapras was enjoying it very much, the same with the rest of the Pokémon as well.