Noctowl

he gang now walked through a forest. The forest was so thick that it looked dark, even though it was still the middle of the day.

Just then something was seen in the tree. It was some sort of birdhouse.

"Do you think that someone built that for some flying type Pokemon?" Misty asked.

"They could have." Brock answered. "But it looks like only Pidgey and Hoothoot will fit in it."

Suddenly, a big brown bird that looked like an owl landed on the branch next to the birdhouse.

"It's a Noctowl." Brock said.

Ash looked Noctowl up on the Pokedex.

"Noctowl, the Owl Pokemon and the evolved form of Hoothoot. It's eyes are specially adapted. They concentrate even faint light and enable it to see in the dark."

"How funny." Ash said. "I mean Hoothoot and Noctowl are nocturnal Pokemon and it's not even night time. But then again this forest does make it look like it's night time."

Suddenly a branch moved scaring the Noctowl away.

"Did you guys see that branch move?" Ash asked.

"I certainly did." Misty said. "What's going on?"

"Hey look there." Tomo said.

Another Noctowl appeared, but it was smaller than the last one. It was also a different color than the last Noctowl.

Instead of being colored light brown and dark brown, this Noctowl was orange and beige colored with black triangles.

"That's a shiny Noctowl." Ash said. "I never thought I'd see a shiny Pokemon."

Ash had heard about shiny Pokemon before. They were extremely rare and very difficult to capture. Just then a man came out from behind the tree.

"I found you at last Noctowl." He said. "Now I will catch you. Come on out Mareep."

The man released a Mareep from a Poke Ball but this Mareep was different; it had pink wool instead of white wool.

"That Mareep is also shiny." Ash said.

"Okay Mareep, use Thunder Shock on Noctowl." The man ordered.

Mareep sent a surge of electricity at Noctowl, but it flew off the branch to dodge the attack.

Noctowl stared at Mareep, then it's eyes started to glow red and they released some red circles which expanded at Mareep.

"Oh no Noctowl just used Hypnosis." The man said.

Mareep started to get drowsy and was confused with what it was doing.

"Hypnosis is a very tricky move." Brock said. "And Noctowl's Hypnosis caused Mareep to become confused."

"But I thought Hypnosis only puts the opponent to sleep." Ash commented.

"It does, but it can do other things too like cause confusion or put them in a trance so you have to be careful." Brock explained.

While Mareep was still confused, Noctowl flew away.

"Oh I failed again!" The man whined before returning Mareep.

The gang walked up to the man.

"Are you okay sir?" Misty asked.

"Yeah I'm good." The man replied. "It's just trying to catch that shiny Noctowl is tricky. I'm Dr. Wiseman by the way."

The gang introduced themselves.

"I noticed your Mareep was a shiny Pokemon." Ash said.

"Oh so you've heard of shiny Pokemon Ash?" Dr. Wiseman asked.

"Yes I have." Ash replied. "I've also heard that they can be hard to find."

"They are, but it's not going to stop me from finding and catching them." Dr. Wiseman said. "I catch shiny Pokemon."

"Wow." Brock said. "I would like to see your shiny Pokemon if you have more."

Ash, Tomo and Misty wanted to see them too. Dr. Wiseman agreed and led the gang to his cabin in the forest. Dr. Wiseman took ten Poke Balls from his cabin and released his Pokemon outside. The gang was shocked with what they were seeing; aside from having a shiny Mareep Dr. Wiseman had a shiny Magikarp, a shiny Weepinbell, a shiny Marill, a shiny Growlithe, a shiny Sentret, a shiny Gastly, a shiny Goldeen, a shiny Jigglypuff, a shiny Zubat and a shiny Hoppip. Magikarp was a golden Magikarp. Weepinbell had a greenish-yellow body and a lavender mouth. Marill was light green instead of blue. Growlithe had a yellow body. Sentret was light brown with dark brown stripes. Gastly had a purple body with a blue haze around it. Goldeen's markings were light orange. Jigglypuff was a pale lavender color. Zubat was green. Hoppip had a green body. Ash, Tomo, Misty and Brock were amazed. Even Growlithe and Togepi were surprised by the different colored Pokemon.

"Wow Dr. Wiseman." Brock said. "Your Pokemon are impressive."

"Thank you." Dr. Wiseman said. "It does take me ages to find a shiny Pokemon, but it's worth it when you want to catch shiny Pokemon."

"Does anyone aside from us know about your shiny Pokemon collection?" Misty asked.

"Nurse Joy does." Dr. Wiseman replied. "But I try not to show them in case someone tries to steal them from me. Shiny Pokemon tend to be targets to those who sell Pokemon for money."

The gang agreed with him.

Unfortunately two men were watching them.

"Well Chad." One of the men said. "Look at all of those shiny Pokemon."

"Yeah Claude." Chad said. "We should definitely get rich with them."

"Shall we get that shiny Noctowl too?" Claude asked.

"Yes we shall." Chad said. "We will let Dr. Wiseman find it for us first. Then we swipe his other shiny Pokemon."

Dr. Wiseman and the gang returned to the forest to go after the Noctowl again. Dr. Wiseman was setting up something in a tree branch between the leaves.

"This trap of mine is certain to work." He said before climbing down from the tree.

"What's this trap of yours?" Ash asked.

"You will have to wait and see for when Noctowl gets here." Dr. Wiseman replied.

"Will Noctowl come back here though." Misty said. "I mean it flew away when you tried to catch it earlier."

"It will come back here." Dr. Wiseman said. "It always comes back here."

And he was right; Noctowl did come back again. Just then it started to use Hypnosis while looking at something in the branch of the tree and then it fell out of the tree in a daze.

"What happened?" Tomo asked.

"My plan worked." Dr. Wiseman said. "I placed a mirror in the branch between the leaves. So Noctowl used Hypnosis on it's own reflection and the mirror reflected the hypnosis back at Noctowl."

"That's a clever idea." Brock said.

Dr. Wiseman was about to go and catch Noctowl, when suddenly Chad and Claude showed up and caught Noctowl in a net.

"Thanks for the shiny Noctowl, Dr. Wiseman." Chad said, picking the Shiny Noctowl up in a net.

"Yes and we would like your other shiny Pokemon too." Claude added.

"Who are you?" Ash demanded.

"We are Chad and Claude." Chad introduced them.

"Pleasure to meet you." Claude said.

"I've heard of you." Dr. Wiseman said. "You guys capture rare Pokemon and sell them to make money."

"That's right." Claude nodded. "And your shiny Pokemon will make a lot of money for us."

Ash, Tomo, Misty and Brock couldn't believe what Chad and Claude just said.

"Not gonna happen." Ash ran up and punched Chad, making him drop the net.

"We'll show you brats." Claude said, pulling out two Poke Balls. "Go Houndoom and Granbull."

Chad pulled out two Poke Balls as well.

"Go Scizor and Ursaring." He said.

Claude's Pokemon were a lavender colored bulldog and a black, red and white dog that looked like Houndour, only bigger. Chad's Pokemon were a big brown bear and a big red insect.

Ash looked at them on the Pokedex.

"Houndoom, the Dark Pokemon and the evolved form of Houndour. If you are burned by the flames it shoots from it's mouth, the pain will never go away."

"Granbull, the Fairy Pokemon and the evolved form of Snubbull. It is actually timid and easily spooked. If attacked, it flails about to fend off it's attacker."

"Scizor, the Pincer Pokemon and the evolved form of Scyther. It swings it's eye-patterned pincers up to scare it's foes. This makes it look like it has three heads."

"Ursaring, the Hibernator Pokemon and the evolved form of Teddiursa. Although it is a good climber, it prefers to snap trees with it's forelegs and eat fallen berries."

Ash released his Chikorita, Cyndaquil, Mareep and Totodile from their Poke Balls.

"We need to protect Noctowl from these men." He said.

"Use Flamethrower on Scizor. Totodile, Water Gun on Houndoom. Chikorita, Vine Whip on Granbull and Mareep Thunderbolt on Ursaring." Scizor was burned by Flamethrower, Houndoom was drenched by Water Gun, Granbull was whipped by Vine Whip really hard and Ursaring was shocked by Thunderbolt. The four Pokemon fainted on the spot. Chad and Claude were terrified after their defeat and tried to make a run for it. Ash wasn't about to let them escape, Mareep paralyzed the men with Thunder Wave. Chad and Claude had trouble moving after being hit by Thunder Wave.

"I better call Officer Jenny." Dr. Wiseman ran to his cabin to contact her.

Ash ran over to Noctowl to get it out of the net and Brock tied Chad and Claude up with rope so they wouldn't escape.

"Are you okay, Noctowl?" Ash asked.

Noctowl hooted to let him know it was okay. Dr. Wiseman then approached them.

"Officer Jenny is on her way here." He said.

"That's good." Misty said. "These two deserve to be in jail."

Noctowl flew up to a tree branch and began hooting at Ash.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Ash asked it.

"Nothing's wrong Ash." Dr. Wiseman replied. "Noctowl wants to battle you. I have tried many times to capture Noctowl, but it's too smart for me. Now it's your turn to catch it."

Ash stared at Noctowl; the truth is he had been interested in capturing it as well.

"I accept your challenge Noctowl."

Ash decided to have Mareep battle Noctowl due to the type advantage.

"Mareep, Thunderbolt." He said.

Mareep was about to release a bolt of electricity when Noctowl used Hypnosis, confusing it.

"Hang in there Mareep." He said. Mareep had difficulty trying to control himself, but after shocking himself a little he regained his senses. Noctowl swooped down towards Mareep to tackle him and Mareep ran to the side to dodge Noctowl's attack.

"Attack with Thunderbolt again." Ash said.

A second Thunderbolt was released and this time it successfully hit Noctowl. Noctowl then proceeded to fall to the ground.

Ash removed a empty Poke Ball from his pocket.

"Poke Ball go." He said, throwing it at Noctowl.

The Poke Ball sucked Noctowl in, wriggled around a bit and then dinged, which meant Noctowl was caught.

"All right I caught Noctowl!" Ash cheered.

Dr. Wiseman, Tomo, Misty and Brock congratulated him.

A few minutes later Officer Jenny pulled up to arrest Chad and Claude.

"Thank you for contacting me." She told Dr. Wiseman. "I've been pursuing these two for a while. They're not going to be selling any more Pokemon after this."

The gang was relieved to hear that. After Chad and Claude were taken away by Officer Jenny, the gang bid farewell to Dr. Wiseman and left the forest to continue traveling.