Cheeky Snover

Today the gang stopped in a forest.

"What a beautiful day." Dawn sighed.

"Hey look at that." Tomo said, pointing to a tree.

Tomo had found three Cherrim in a tree.

"Ah how cute!" Dawn squealed. "I'm going to catch one. I always liked Lila's Cherrim and now I want one of my own."

"Then go for it while you have the chance." Ash said.

"Oh I will." Dawn said.

She released her Wormadam to battle a Cherrim.

"Wormadam, use Psybeam on one of those Cherrim." Wormadam's Psybeam hit one of the Cherrim and it fell out of the tree.

The other two Cherrim fled. Cherrim fired a Magical Leaf towards Wormadam.

"Dodge it and use Signal Beam Wormadam." Dawn said.

Wormadam dodged the leaves and fired a Signal Beam. Cherrim was hit by the attack and fainted.

"Okay, let's go Poke Ball." Dawn said.

She then threw the Poke Ball. Cherrim was sucked into the Poke Ball and was caught.

"Alright! I caught my own Cherrim!" Dawn cheered.

"Good for you Dawn." Brock smiled.

Cherrim's Poke Ball teleported to Prof. Rowan's lab as Dawn already had six Pokemon.

Ash and Tomo had something they wanted to do too and that was train for the Snowpoint City gym. So Ash released his Chimchar and Tomo released his Chimchar. They decided to have a Chimchar vs Chimchar battle.

"Alright Chimchar, use Flamethrower." Ash said.

"Use Dig to dodge it Chimchar." Tomo said.

Tomo's Chimchar tunneled underground and dodged Flamethrower. Then Chimchar came out of the ground and hit Ash's Chimchar with Focus Punch.

"Time for us to use a punching move." Ash said. "Chimchar, use Thunder Punch."

Chimchar punched Tomo's Chimchar with a electrified fist.

"Wow. Ash's Chimchar knows Thunder Punch." Dawn was surprised to see that.

"Ash and Tomo taught their Chimchar Thunder Punch in the event they face water type Pokemon." Brock explained.

"I see." Dawn said.

It was then the two brothers stopped their Pokemon now; they didn't want to go over the top with the training.

Suddenly a icy wind blew in the air and froze the gang. What had happened was a little white, brown and green Pokemon that looked like a small mountain had used Powder Snow. This Pokemon was called Snover and it found it very funny that the gang was frozen in ice. But then the two Chimchar's tails melted the ice and freed them. Then they melted the rest of the ice with Flamethrower, freeing everyone.

"Man that came out of nowhere." Dawn sighed.

"What kind of weird weather was that?" Brock asked.

"I don't know." Ash said. "But that felt like Powder Snow."

"How can that be?" Dawn asked.

"I don't know that either, but I suggest that we leave before anything else bad happens." Ash advised.

The others agreed.

*Sometime later...*

The gang was walking through a field. Snover was secretly watching them behind some bushes and decided to pull another prank. This time it used Grass Knot and that made Ash, Tomo, Brock and Dawn fall over.

"Okay something weird is going on." Ash said. "First we were frozen by Powder Snow and now we were just tripped up by Grass Knot. If I'm not mistaken, a Pokemon is pranking us."

He looked around the area.

"I can hear you behind the bushes." They decided to check out the bushes.

Snover panicked as the gang headed towards the bush it was behind. So it used Ingrain to wrap the gang up in vines.

"Make your presence known!" Ash shouted.

A second later; Snover revealed itself to the gang.

"This must be that Snover's Ingrain." Brock explained. "Grass Knot and Powder Snow must have been it's attacks too."

Ash looked Snover up on the Pokedex.

"Snover, the Frost Tree Pokemon. It lives on snowy mountains. Having had little contact with humans, it is boldly inquisitive."

"That's strange." Tomo said. "Why is there a Snover here when it's supposed to live in the mountains?"

"We'll figure that out later." Ash said. "Right now, we need to get out of these vines."

Ash then ripped through the vines that were restraining him.

Tomo released his Sunflora.

"Use Razor Leaf." He told her.

Razor Leaf cut the vines and Brock, Tomo and Dawn were now free. But Snover had one more trick up it's sleeve; it used Grass Whistle and the gang fell asleep.

Snover went up to Ash and shook him. Ash woke up and noticed Snover, causing him to jump in surprise. But then Snover pulled Ash in for a hug.

"Uh nice to meet you too, I guess." Ash said.

The others woke up too.

"What's Snover doing?" Tomo asked.

"Being friendly it seems." Ash answered.

After letting go of Ash, Snover pulled some white berries off of it's body and gave them to the gang. They tried the berries and found them to be delicious.

"This is good, it's cold and sweet like a ice lolly." Tomo said.

"Hey this reminds me of something." Ash said. "I was speaking to Prof. Oak on the phone in the last town we were in and he said that Grotle grows acorn-like nuts on his trees."

"That's amazing." Dawn said. "That's like Snover here that has grown the frozen berries on it's body."

"Yes, but Prof. Oak said they were delicious to Pokemon, not humans." Ash said.

"Oh well, that's nature for you." Brock said.

Ash then stood up.

"Snover, I wish to catch you." He said. "You're a cool Pokemon and I'd like a Pokemon like you."

Snover stared at him for a moment and then it suddenly hugged Ash happily.

"That definitely means it accepts your desire to catch it Ash." Brock said.

"Okay, let's do it then." Ash said.

He took out a Poke Ball and was about to throw it, but Snover touched the Poke Ball and was sucked inside. Snover was captured and the Poke Ball went to Prof. Oak's lab.

"That was an easy capture." Dawn smiled.

"I agree." Ash smiled.

Suddenly there were some big bangs coming from nearby.

"What was that?" Dawn asked out loud.

"I don't know, but I have a feeling there's trouble." Ash said.

The gang ran to the area where the bangs were heard. They were in for a nasty surprise. They came across a bunch of injured Pokemon on the ground. They had been defeated by a Magmortar and Rhyperior.

"What on earth happened here?!" Dawn gasped.

She soon got a answer when Butch and Cassidy appeared.

"What are you two doing here?!" Ash shouted.

"Well in case you don't know Jessie, James and that Meowth of theirs quit Team Rocket." Cassidy said.

"Yes, and since they are out of the way we came here to gather Pokemon instead." Butch said.

The gang was surprised to hear that.

"Do you think what they just said is true?" Dawn asked, whispering.

"It doesn't sound like they're lying." Ash whispered.

"I never thought those three would do that." Brock whispered.

The gang had no idea what happened with Jessie, James and Meowth.

But now they had Cassidy and Butch to deal with at the moment. Ash sent Luxio, Roselia and Prinplup out to battle Magmortar and Rhyperior.

"Okay Roselia, Prinplup, you use Energy Ball and Bubble Beam on Rhyperior." He said. "Luxio and Pikachu, you two use Thunderbolt on Magmortar."

"Piplup, you help out too." Dawn said.

"You too Growlithe." Tomo said.

The Pokemon began to fight Magmortar and Rhyperior together.

"Don't give into those pipsqueaks!" Cassidy shouted.

"Yeah beat them!" Butch shouted.

Rhyperior and Magmortar proved to be very strong especially with attacks like Hammer Arm, Rock Wrecker, Fire Blast and Hyper Beam. But the gang and the Pokemon weren't willing to give up.

"We can do this, no matter what!" Ash shouted.

Just then Luxio released a powerful Discharge. Then he evolved into a Luxray.

"Wow, look at that!" Tomo gasped.

He looked at Luxray on the Pokedex.

"Luxray, the Gleam Eyes Pokemon and the evolved form of Luxio. It has eyes which can see through anything. It spots and captures prey hiding behind objects."

"Okay everyone, let's do this!" Ash shouted.

All of the Pokemon attacked Magmortar and Rhyperior again and this time the two Pokemon were defeated. Cassidy and Butch growled in anger and returned their Pokemon.

"We'll retreat for now, but you haven't seen the last of us brats!" Cassidy shouted.

She and Butch revealed some jet backpacks and they flew away as fast as they could.

"I can't believe we encountered Cassidy and Butch again." Ash said.

"What I can't believe is Jessie, James and Meowth quitting." Brock said.

"I wonder where they went?" Ash questioned out loud.

"I don't know." Brock replied. "But one thing's for sure, we'll need to watch out for Cassidy and Butch next time we see them. Those two are a lot more dangerous than Jessie and James ever were."

The others agreed.

After defeating Team Rocket, the gang stayed with the wild Pokemon to help them recover from their attacks.

*The next day...*

The Pokemon were well enough to take care of themselves again and the gang left the area. Some time later, the gang arrived at the foot of the mountain. Brock looked at the map book and he said that they were close to Sandalstraw Town.

"Oh that reminds me." Ash said. "I learned in the last town that there is a Pokemon contest being held in Sandalstraw Town."

"Really?" Dawn asked. "Then I will compete in this contest to obtain my fifth ribbon."

"Then that is our next destination." Ash said.

With two new Pokemon on the team, the gang made their way to Sandalstraw Town for the next Pokemon contest.