Evolution Fight

Today the gang traveled 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 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 with a Pokemon Center. It seemed to be a nice, peaceful day for the gang, but that would soon change.

Some kids were racing across the ocean and they were riding on two different kinds of water type Pokemon. One water type Pokemon was a blue serpent-like Pokemon with orange fins and designs as well as a mouth with big sharp teeth. This was a Huntail. The other one was a pink serpent-like Pokemon with two long, thin fins, a purple fin on the tail and two purple shells on the chest. This was a Gorebyss.

Ash looked Huntail up on his Pokedex.

"Huntail, the Deep Sea Pokemon and a evolved form of Clamperl. Huntail's presence went unnoticed by people for a long time because it lives at extreme depths in the sea. This Pokemon's eyes can see clearly even in the murky dark depths of the ocean."

May looked Gorebyss up on her Pokedex.

"Gorebyss, the South Sea Pokemon and a evolved form of Clamperl. Gorebyss lives in the southern seas at extreme depths. It's body is built to withstand the enormous pressure of water at incredible depths. Because of this, this Pokemon's body is unharmed by ordinary attacks."

"Wow, so both of those Pokemon evolve from Clamperl." Max said.

Tomo looked Clamperl up on the Pokedex.

"Clamperl, the Bivalve Pokemon. Clamperl's sturdy shell is not only good for protection - it is also used for clamping and catching prey. A fully grown Clamperl's shell will be scored with nicks and scratches all over."

"So it's a branch evolution just like Poliwhirl's line and Eevee's line?" Ash stated out.

The gang noticed the kids were arguing and in a hurry to get to Island A.

"I wonder what those kids are in a hurry about." Ash said.

Soon the gang got to Island A and to the Pokemon Center. Nurse Joy told the gang that her Pokemon Center on Island A was the only Pokemon Center, the people on Islands B and C had to transport their Pokemon to her by a teleporter. Suddenly there was a lot of shouting coming from another room in the Pokemon Center.

"Oh not again." Nurse Joy sighed.

The shouting was from some children and they were arguing about Huntail and Gorebyss being better than the other. Nurse Joy told them to stop arguing and get back to their studies. Apparently the Pokemon Center was also a school and the kids from Islands 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 Gorebyss on Island B.

"Because of that the people from Islands B and C keep arguing with each other about Gorebyss and Huntail being better than the other."

"Say no more Nurse Joy." Ash said. "Tomo, Brock and I have heard this before."

"Ash is right." Brock agreed. "We've heard people arguing about the different Eevee evolutions, Poliwhirl into Poliwrath and Politoed and Gloom into Vileplume and Bellossom."

"As well as Tyrogue into Hitmonchan, Hitmonlee and Hitmontop." Tomo added.

"I see." Nurse Joy said. "And what do you three say about this?"

Ash was about to answer Nurse Joy's question when they received a surprise. The surprise was Prof. Birch talking to some kids outside the Pokemon Center. The gang couldn't believe that they were seeing Prof. Birch again and Prof. Birch was surprised to see the gang again.

"What brings you here professor?" Nurse Joy asked.

"I came here to investigate the evolution of Clamperl." Prof. Birch answered.

"I must ask. How do Clamperl evolve into Huntail and Gorebyss?" May asked.

"I can answer that." Ash said.

He opened up his backpack and removed two objects from it. One object was a grey tooth-shaped fang and the other object was a pink scale.

"Aren't those a Deep Sea Tooth and a Deep Sea Scale?" Max asked.

"Yep." Ash nodded. "I received them from an old man back in Slateport City. The old man told me that a Deep Sea Tooth allows Clamperl to evolve into Huntail and a Deep Sea Scale allows Clamperl to evolve into Gorebyss. But the Clamperl have to be traded while holding the items to evolve."

"That's correct Ash." Prof. Birch told him. "I think I should make you my assistant when I'm traveling for research."

"Nurse Joy, you said that Clamperl evolve into Gorebyss on Island B and Clamperl evolve into Huntail on Island C right?" He asked.

"That's right." Nurse Joy answered.

"Then maybe there are Deep Sea Teeth located at Island C and Deep Sea Scales over at Island B." Ash said.

"I think you may be right Ash." Prof. Birch commented. "So I should head over to those two islands right away to see if that theory is correct."

Ash and the others asked to come along and Prof. Birch agreed to let them accompany him.

Just then a boy and girl came up to the gang. The boy's name was Keith and the girl's name was Nancy.

"I want to come too." Keith said.

"And me." Nancy added.

Keith and Nancy explained that they both had a Clamperl and they wanted to evolve them.

"I see, so you two want to see how your Clamperl will evolve, right?" Prof. Birch said.

"Yes." Keith and Nancy said at the same time.

So Prof. Birch and the gang agreed to let Keith and Nancy join them.

The first stop was at Island B. The group went into an underground cave. Inside the cave was a big pool of water with a little waterfall.

"This is a nice cave to explore." Prof. Birch said.

Just then some clam-like Pokemon jumped out of the pool; these Pokemon were Clamperl.

"So it seems that Clamperl live in the underground caves around the A-B-C Islands." Brock said.

"That's correct." Keith nodded. "This cave is where I got my Clamperl."

"And I got my Clamperl from the cave on Island C." Nancy said.

"So then where are the Deep Sea Teeth and the Deep Sea Scales, then?" Max asked.

"I'm not sure, but I know how we can find them." Prof. Birch said.

He had a brown bag on him and took out two metal rods.

"This Itemfinder of mine should do the trick." He said.

Prof. Birch held out the Itemfinder and then the rods pointed out to the pool; this meant that the Deep Sea Teeth and Deep 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 Ash's theory about Island B was right." Prof. Birch said. "Deep Sea Scales are only located here which explains Clamperl only evolving into Gorebyss here."

"Do you think there's a chance my theory about Island C is right too?" Ash asked.

"There is only one way to find out Ash." Prof. Birch said.

To see if Ash's theory about Island C was right, everyone headed there next. Like Island B, Island C had a underground cave with a big pool of water and of course there were Clamperl living there too. Prof. Birch checked with his itemfinder again to see if any Deep Sea Teeth were around. And there were. Prof. Birch claimed that Ash's theory about Deep Sea Teeth being located on Island C was right, which explained Clamperl evolving into Huntail there.

Suddenly a small grey pig-like Pokemon with a springy tail jumped towards the Clamperl.

"That's a Spoink." Prof. Birch said.

Ash looked it up on the Pokedex.

"Spoink, the Bounce Pokemon. Spoink bounces around on it's tail. The shock of it's bouncing makes it's heart pump. As a result, this Pokemon cannot afford to stop bouncing - if i stops, it's heart will stop."

"Hang on, that Spoink doesn't have a pearl on top of it's head like it should." Max said.

"That must be the reason why it's here." Prof. Birch said. "Spoink get their pearls from Clamperl, so it's going to ask the Clamperl for a pearl."

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 Clamperl were caught in a net.

"What on earth?!" Prof. Birch gasped.

Three men appeared and they were carrying nets full of Clamperl.

"Pretty good catch here." The first man said.

"Yeah these will fetch a good price for sure." The second man added.

"Especially their pearls." The third man continued.

"Who on earth are you three?!" Prof. Birch demanded.

The three men explained that they were Clamperl hunters. Prof. Birch and the gang were not happy with this.

"Release those Clamperl at once!" Prof. Birch shouted.

"No chance." The second man replied.

The three men were about to start running off with the Clamperl, but then they were tackled. It was the Spoink. Spoink wasn't happy with what the men were doing either, so it was trying to stop them too by using Bounce.

"Get away from us you!" The third man shouted and he kicked Spoink.

Spoink was sent flying, but Ash leaped up and caught it.

"You okay?" Ash asked Spoink.

He was not happy about this and was preparing to go on the offensive. This was before realizing he could hit the Clamperl by mistake.

"Leave this to me." Tomo said.

He tossed a Poke Ball and out came a Poliwhirl.

"Hey, when did your Poliwag evolve Tomo?" Ash asked his brother.

"The other day when I was training some of my Pokemon." Tomo smiled.

He ordered Poliwhirl to use Mega Kick on the men; this was to teach the men not to kick Pokemon. Poliwhirl kicked the men so hard that they let go of the nets that carried the Clamperl.

"Now knock them out with Hypnosis Poliwhirl." Tomo said.

Poliwhirl's Hypnosis put the men to sleep.

"Great work there Tomo." Prof. Birch said. "I'll contact the police. And then we will get to the Pokemon Center on Island A to get Spoink and the Clamperl checked out."

So the three men were arrested by the police and Nurse Joy checked Spoink and the Clamperl from Island C out.

"This was certainly quite a day." Prof. Birch said. "We solved the mystery behind the evolution of Clamperl, Gorebyss and Huntail. And we captured a couple of crooks."

There was still one more thing to sort out; Nancy and Keith hadn't evolved their Clamperl yet. Keith lived on Island B so he would have had a Gorebyss and Nancy lived on Island C so she would have a Huntail. But Keith confessed that he wanted a Huntail because it was really cool and Nancy confessed that she wanted a Gorebyss because it was really beautiful. Ash encouraged them to evolve their Clamperl into whatever they wanted.

"What's important about evolving your Pokemon is the happiness of you and your Pokemon." He said.

So Keith evolved his Clamperl into Huntail and Nancy evolved her Clamperl into Gorebyss.

That evening, the gang got ready to leave the A-B-C Islands on a ferry. Prof. Birch decided to stay behind a bit more to study the Clamperl, Huntail and Gorebyss. Nancy and Keith were happy with their new evolved Pokemon and because of what they did the people of B and C islands finally stopped their quarreling. Nurse Joy informed the gang that the Clamperl were okay and so was the Spoink. The Spoink was standing next to Nurse Joy and it had a new pink pearl on top of it's head; a Clamperl gave it's pearl to Spoink.

"Good for you Spoink. Now you no longer need to worry about not having a pearl." Ash said.

Just then the Spoink bounced into Ash's arms and nuzzled him.

"You like me Spoink?" Ash asked.

Spoink nodded to say yes; the truth is Ash noticed that this Spoink was female and she liked him. So he caught the Spoink.

After that the gang said goodbye to Prof. Birch and Nurse Joy, then left the A-B-C Islands.