The Pond

Today was Misty's twelfth birthday and the others were having a picnic to celebrate it. Last year on her eleventh birthday they celebrated it on the beach near Pallet Town.

"I thank you Ash, Tomo and Brock for this wonderful picnic." Misty smiled. She was really enjoying it.

"No problem Misty." Brock said.

"Yeah, besides special days like birthdays deserve special treats like picnics." Ash said.

Brock had made Misty a cake; a sponge cake with strawberries and cream in the middle and had decorations of a Goldeen and Psyduck on it. Misty also got presents from the boys. Ash got her a book which showed all the water type Pokemon in the other regions. Tomo got her a Totodile doll and Brock got Misty a white jacket that had a picture of the Cascade Badge on it. Misty was grateful and thanked the boys with all her heart.

"Hey Misty." Ash said. "Did Rudy wish you a happy birthday too?"

"Yes he did Ash." Misty nodded. "And he and his sister Mahri sent me a new fishing rod as a present."

Misty's new fishing rod was a Super Rod with a blue handle.

"Wow Misty." Ash said. "Are you going to use it later?"

"Yes Ash." Misty remarked. "In fact I want to use it now on that pond over there."

There was a big pond not far from where the gang was sitting.

"I want to catch myself some new Johto water type Pokemon."

So Misty ran towards the pond, leaving Ash, Tomo and Brock to tidy up.

As soon as Misty reached the pond, she put a lure on her new rod and tossed the line into the pond. Misty waited and waited for a water type Pokemon to bite on her lure.

"Any luck Misty?" Ash whispered.

He had to keep quiet whenever someone was fishing, otherwise the water type Pokemon would get scared and swim away.

"No nothing yet." Misty whispered. "You can't expect something to bite your line right away."

Just then Misty's line began to jerk in the water.

"Oh I got a bite." Misty said.

Misty carefully wound up her fishing line, trying not to break the line.

"Need any help Misty?" Ash asked.

"No thanks Ash." Misty replied. "I've got this."

Misty wound up her fishing line some more, until at last she hooked out what it was she had captured. But when she and Ash saw it, they were shocked. What had hooked onto Misty's line were two Woopers and three Marills and they were all injured.

"Oh my goodness." Misty gasped. "What on earth happened to them?"

"I don't know." Ash said. "But we better get them back to Brock."

Ash picked the two Woopers up and Misty picked up the three Marills. Then they ran back to where Brock and Tomo were. When Brock saw the five injured Pokemon, he got his Pokemon medical kit out. He sprayed Potions on them and wrapped them in bandages.

"Did you see how these five Pokemon were injured?" Brock asked them.

"No we didn't." Misty shook her head. "They were already injured when I hooked them. And I don't think my rod had anything to do with these injuries."

Ash knelt down to one of the Marills and placed his hand on it's forehead.

"What are you doing Ash?" Brock asked.

"I'm going to read their mind to see if I can find out what happened to them." Ash responded back.

Tomo, Misty and Brock knew that reading minds was one of Ash's psychic powers, so they let him get on with it. Ash had his eyes closed for a minute and then quickly reopened them.

"Did you see anything?" Misty asked.

"Yeah." Ash nodded. "And it isn't good."

Ash explained that while in Marill's mind he saw a wild Poliwrath attacking the Marills and Woopers.

"That Poliwrath sounds like a big bully." Tomo said.

"It is." Ash replied. "And the worst part is that not only is it bullying the water type Pokemon around here, it also bullies the other Pokemon that come here for a drink."

"Well that's terrible." Misty said. "No Pokemon should be a big bully."

"I agree." Brock added. "That Poliwrath needs to be stopped."

After the Wooper and Marill recovered a bit, they led the gang to where the Poliwrath was. The Poliwrath was standing on a big stone at the edge of the pond and it was pumping it's fists as if it was saying it ruled the pond.

"That Poliwrath is a big show-off." Misty said.

Misty did like water type Pokemon, but she hated Pokemon that acted like big bullies and show-offs no matter what type they were.

"Hey look there." Tomo said, pointing to something in the pond.

The gang noticed two small blue crocodiles in the pond and they were growling at the Poliwrath.

"Hey those are Totodile." Brock said.

Ash looked them up on the Pokedex.

"Totodile, the Big Jaw Pokemon. It's well-developed jaws are powerful and capable of crushing anything. Even it's trainer must be careful."

"It looks like those Totodile are going to fight Poliwrath." Ash noted.

He was right; the Totodile did try to fight Poliwrath. One Totodile used Water Gun on Poliwrath and the other Totodile used Scratch, but neither attack hurt Poliwrath. Then Poliwrath rolled itself straight into the Totodile, seriously injuring them.

"That was Submission." Ash said.

Brock became angry and decided to something about this situation.

"Hey Poliwrath, I challenge you to a battle." He said.

Brock had enough of Poliwrath's bullying and decided to catch it, so it wouldn't bully any more wild Pokemon.

"Go Weepinbell." Brock said, throwing a Poke Ball.

"Weepinbell is a good choice since it's a grass type Pokemon." Misty said.

"I hope it does well against Poliwrath's muscles." Ash commented. "After all Poliwrath is a water and fighting type Pokemon."

"All right Weepinbell, Razor Leaf." Brock said.

Weepinbell fired it's leaves straight at Poliwrath, but Poliwrath jumped to dodge them and fired Bubble Beam at Weepinbell.

"Wow that Poliwrath is tough." Ash said.

"Brock better do something or he'll lose." Misty stated.

"Use Vine Whip, Weepinbell." Brock ordered.

Weepinbell extended the brown vine on it's head and went to grab Poliwrath with it. But Poliwrath continued to dodge Weepinbell's Vine Whip.

"Oh man, that Poliwrath is fast." Ash said.

"Yeah." Misty added. "Poor Weepinbell's attacks keep missing."

Brock decided to try and slow Poliwrath down.

"Use Stun Spore." He said.

Weepinbell released an orange powder from his mouth and Poliwrath got caught in it then ended up getting paralyzed.

"Now that Poliwrath is paralyzed." Misty said. "Brock has the chance to weaken it."

"Use Solar Beam Weepinbell." Brock commanded.

Weepinbell gathered energy while his leaves were glowing and then fired a beam of light from his mouth which headed straight towards Poliwrath.

Poliwrath fainted after Solar Beam struck it.

"Time to catch it." Brock said, taking a empty Poke Ball out of his pocket. "Go Poke Ball."

The Poke Ball hit the Poliwrath, sucked it inside and then a few seconds later Poliwrath was caught.

Ash and the others were relieved it was finally over.

"Now with Poliwrath caught, all the wild Pokemon can drink from the pond once again." Misty said.

"I still can't believe that Poliwrath tried to claim this whole pond as his territory." Ash said.

"Wild Pokemon can be like that sometimes." Brock pointed out. "Sometimes wild Pokemon act mean like humans do."

"Goodness." Tomo said.

Brock checked to see if the two Totodile, two Wooper and three Marill were okay and they were. Just then Misty's Wooper popped out of it's Poke Ball.

"Hey why are you out Wooper?" Misty asked.

Misty's Wooper ran over to the wild Wooper and Marill and began talking to them.

"It seems he wanted to see and play with the wild Wooper and Marill." Brock explained.

Misty spoke with the wild Wooper and Marill.

"Do you five want to come with me?" She asked. The Wooper and Marill looked at Misty and then nodded yes.

Misty removed five empty Poke Balls from her backpack and captured them in a matter of seconds.

"Wow." Misty said. "Not only do I have more Wooper, I also have my own Marill too."

Ash, Tomo and Brock were happy for Misty. Then Ash turned to one of the Totodile.

"Hey Totodile, I wish to capture you." He said. "I saw you stand up to the Poliwrath earlier and thought you were amazing. I want you on my team."

The Totodile stood still and stared at Ash for a minute then posed for a fight. Misty told the other Totodile she wished to capture it. The other Totodile agreed to the challenge.

Ash and Misty got ready to battle the two Totodile. The Totodile wanted to battle together so this turned out to be a double battle. Ash chose Chikorita to battle Totodile and Misty used one of her two Poliwag to battle the other Totodile.

"Chikorita, Razor Leaf." Ash said.

"Poliwag, Double Slap." Misty said.

Chikorita swung her leaves at the first Totodile and Poliwag slapped the other Totodile repeatedly with it's tail. Both Totodile were hit by the attacks, but it didn't stop them. The two Totodile opened their jaws, then their teeth started to glow blue with ice appearing and the two Totodile ran to bite Chikorita and Poliwag.

"They are using Ice Fang." Ash said. "It's an ice-type move."

"We better attack quickly then." Misty said.

"Chikorita, use Vine Whip." Ash ordered.

Chikorita sent her vines out and whacked Totodile repeatedly. Totodile fainted on the spot. Misty's Poliwag fired Water Gun at the second Totodile, stopping it in it's tracks.

"Now Double Slap again." Misty said.

Poliwag slapped Totodile repeatedly with it's tail a second time, causing Totodile to become exhausted.

"Time to catch them Misty." Ash said. Misty agreed with him.

She and Ash took out their Lure Balls and tossed them at the two Totodile. A few seconds later they were captured.

"All right we did it Misty!" Ash cheered.

"Yeah, we got our own Totodile." Misty said.

Tomo and Brock congratulated them on their captures.

Ash and the others started to continue on their journey.

"Did you enjoy your birthday today Misty?" Brock asked.

"Yes I did Brock." Misty said. "In fact, this was the best birthday I ever had. Aside from having a nice picnic with lovely presents, I caught some new water type Pokemon; two Wooper, three Marill and my very own Totodile."

"Yeah and since I caught myself a Totodile as well." Ash said. "I have all three of Johto's starter Pokemon."

So today turned out to be a great day for both Ash and Misty.