Cyndaquil

After obtaining the Zephyr Badge from the Violet City gym, the gang headed to the next town so Ash could acquire his second gym badge. Brock was looking at the map book of Johto.

"According to this." He said. "The next place to earn a gym badge is Azalea Town."

"Azalea Town?" Ash asked. "Oh yeah, that's the hometown of Kurt."

"That's good." Misty said. "So we can complete Prof. Oak's errand and earn a gym badge at the same time."

"Hopefully this Kurt guy can find out more about the GS Ball." Ash stated. "Cause I'm really anxious to find out more about it."

Tomo, Misty and Brock were anxious about the GS Ball too.

Suddenly a purple-haired boy came up to them.

"Hey." He rudely said. "You better not get in my way while I catch Cyndaquil."

"Cyndaquil?" Misty asked.

"That's right." The boy said. "Wild Cyndaquil live in this forest and I plan to catch one. So again, don't get in my way."

Then he left.

"Goodness me, what a rude person!" Misty exclaimed.

"Yeah." Brock agreed. "And if he does catch a Cyndaquil, I'll feel sorry for it."

Ash turned to the others.

"If you three don't mind, I wish to catch myself a Cyndaquil." He said. Ash was eager to catch each starter Pokemon of Johto like he did back in Kanto. He already had a Chikorita, now he could catch Cyndaquil.

"Go ahead Ash." Brock smiled. "Just make sure to catch it before that purple-haired guy does."

Ash nodded and then he left the others to look for Cyndaquil.

Ash walked through several grassy areas with trees to search for Cyndaquil, but couldn't find one yet.

"Man I thought I would find one by now." Ash said.

Just then he observed something. On a big wall of rock with small caves was a Cyndaquil standing outside a small cave.

"All right a Cyndaquil." Ash said.

Ash took out the Pokedex.

"Cyndaquil, the Fire Mouse Pokemon. It is timid, and always curls itself up in a ball. If attacked, it flares up it's back for protection."

"Okay." Ash said. "I'm going to catch it."

Ash began to climb up the rocky mountain.

"I hope Cyndaquil doesn't leave before I get up there." Ash said.

Unfortunately trouble reared it's ugly head; the purple-haired boy from earlier showed up. He noticed Ash and the wild Cyndaquil.

"That Cyndaquil is mine kid." He said. He released a Sandslash from a Poke Ball.

"Stop that kid with Sand Attack." The boy instructed.

Sandslash climbed up the rocky mountain, stopped on a small cliff edge above Ash and sprayed sand down on Ash to make him lose his footing while climbing.

"Hey, what are you doing?!" Ash shouted.

"I'm catching that Cyndaquil kid!" The boy exclaimed.

Cyndaquil noticed what had just happened and then it ran off. The boy and his Sandslash ran after Cyndaquil.

Ash began to climb up the mountain again.

"I'm going to get to Cyndaquil before that loser does." He climbed up to an edge of one of the caves and ran into the cave.

Inside the cave there were lots of tunnels.

"Oh man." Ash said. "Cyndaquil could be anywhere in here."

Just he heard a noise; it was a crashing noise.

"What was that?" Ash asked.

He rushed to see what was going on. When he got his answer, he wasn't happy. The purple-haired boy had caught up with Cyndaquil and was ordering his Sandslash to attack it like crazy. Sandslash was firing Swift, Sand Attack and Poison Sting at Cyndaquil and it was having trouble trying to get away. Ash didn't like what he was seeing at all.

"That's it." He growled. "I've had enough of this guy."

He released Sentret from it's Poke Ball.

"Freeze this guy solid with Ice Beam." He ordered.

The boy and his Sandslash were instantly frozen in a block of ice.

"That guy needed to chill out." Ash said. Then he returned Sentret to it's Poke Ball.

After freezing the boy and his Sandlash solid, Ash brought Cyndaquil out of the cave.

"Man that was a nightmare." Ash sighed. "Are you okay Cyndaquil?"

Cyndaquil nodded to say yes.

Cyndaquil was surprised Ash saved him from the human with the Sandslash.

"Seriously, what was that guy doing? Even if he wanted to catch you, the way he went about it was wrong."

Just then, the boy turned up.

"There you are!" He shouted. "Get away from that Cyndaquil! It's mine!"

Ash was angry and he stood in front of Cyndaquil.

"Forget it! There's no way you're capturing Cyndaquil." He snapped. "You don't deserve to capture it."

"Oh, you want a fight huh?" The boy asked. "Okay, I challenge you to a Pokemon battle. If I win I keep Cyndaquil, but if I lose you will keep it."

Ash couldn't believe this trainer; making a Pokemon the prize in a Pokemon battle.

"Very well, I accept your challenge." Ash said.

Ash and the trainer got ready to battle. Cyndaquil watched from the side; it was nervous about which trainer would win. The trainer sent out his Sandslash to battle and Ash decided to use Sentret.

"Humph wimpy trainer using a wimpy Pokemon." The trainer said.

"Don't underestimate us!" Ash yelled. "Come on Sentret, let's show this loser what we can do."

Sentret nodded as if to say 'let's'.

"Okay Sandslash, Poison Sting." The trainer said.

Sandslash fired white needles from the quills on it's back at Sentret.

"Use Thunderbolt." Ash said.

Sentret's Thunderbolt blasted the white needles to bits.

"Use Fury Swipes!" The trainer shouted.

"Hyper Voice." Ash said.

Sentret screamed and released multiple light blue rings from her mouth at Sandslash, causing it to stop in it's tracks.

"Oh come on!" Sandslash's trainer shouted. "Get back to fighting!"

Ash could tell this trainer wasn't nice to his own Pokemon.

"Use Ice Beam." He told Sentret.

Sentret fired a beam of ice at Sandslash, freezing it and causing it to faint. Ash won the Pokemon battle.

Ash was happy with his victory, but the other trainer wasn't.

"I may have lost the battle." He said. "But I will get that Cyndaquil."

He took an empty Poke Ball out of his pocket and got ready to toss it at Cyndaquil.

"What are you doing?!" Ash shouted. "I won the Pokemon battle, so I get to keep Cyndaquil."

"No way punk." The trainer said. "I will get that Cyndaquil no matter what."

Ash's patience had reached it's limit and he was about to burn this guy to a crisp before Cyndaquil stepped forward.

"Cyndaquil?" Ash asked.

Cyndaquil's flames appeared on it's back and then it released Flamethrower at the trainer. The trainer was badly burned and ran away in fear.

"That couldn't have happened to a nicer trainer." Ash said.

Then he turned to Cyndaquil.

"Would you like to come with me?" Cyndaquil accepted Ash's offer and jumped into his arms.

Ash hugged Cyndaquil in return, happy to have a new Pokemon.

When Ash returned to the others, he told them what had happened.

"It's a good thing you captured Cyndaquil Ash." Misty said. "That guy doesn't deserve one."

"Yeah and I hope he trains himself more." Brock added.

Tomo, Misty and Brock were happy for Ash obtaining a Cyndaquil.

"I wonder if I can catch a Totodile next." Ash said. "Then I will have the whole Johto starter set like I have the whole Kanto starter Pokemon set."

"Maybe you will." Brock smiled.

Then the group set off again for Azalea Town.