Trouble in the Forest

Today the gang headed to Violet City for Ashlyn's first gym battle, they are strolling through a beautiful leafy forest but all it seems like.

"This forest is so beautiful." Misty admired the forest.

"There's green everywhere and nothing wrong at all." Ashlyn said.

"Uh actually there is." Brock pointed to some trees up ahead.

They looked to where Brock was pointing at and saw some trees in the forest looked dead, not a single leaf on them.

"No way! What happen to these trees? There's not a single leaf on their branches." Misty questioned.

"It's strange, these trees don't even look burned or diseased, also it's not even autumn yet." Ashlyn explained.

Just then Brock noticed something. "Hey look at that." he pointed to a big tree.

The tree had some big, dark blue beetles on it and they were sucking tree sap. A few Butterfree's were sucking on the sap.

"Wh-What are those?" Misty stuttered, started freaking out.

"The blue Pokémon are Heracross." Ashlyn took out her phone:

[Heracross, the single horn Pokémon. Though gentle and docile, Heracross possesses great strength and power. Its favorite food is the fresh sap of leafy trees.]

"Do you think they're the ones who killed the trees?" Misty asked.

"No I don't think the Heracross are responsible," Ashlyn replied, "I mean it's natural for bug Pokémon to eat tree sap, and the bug Pokémon also help trees grow."

"Whatever is going on in this forest isn't good." Brock commented.

"Something is going in this forest alright." A male voice spoke from behind them.

They gang turned around and saw a man with dark brown hair and a beard, he wore a dark orange ranger outfit. Ashlyn recognized this Ranger.

"My name is Woodruff and I'm the Ranger around this forest." The man introduced himself.

The gang introduced themselves one by one to Woodruff.

"Raichu!" Tesla called out.

"Tesla, what's wrong?" Ashley asked.

Tesla pointed to her right. The group followed to her line of sight and a group of Pinsir running towards them.

"That's the problem in this side of the forest." Woodruff stated.

"Pinsir." Ashlyn said.

"Yes. They're the invaders, if they're not stop, they'll suck the whole forest bone dry." Woodruff said.

"What!" Misty and Brock exclaimed, shocked.

The Pinsir jumped on the tree and threatened the Butterfree's with this spike pincers and the Butterfree's flew away, afraid.

"Hey that's was very mean!" Ashlyn shouted.

"Come on Heracross! Don't sit there! Those Pinsir will take your tree if you don't do something!" Misty yelled.

Heracross flew into the air...

"THAT'S IT!" Misty cheered them.

And they flew away, scared.

"WHATTTT!" Misty froze, shocked.

"The Heracross could fight back but they are peaceful and friendly Pokémon you see. They would rather take flight than fight." Woodruff explained, amused.

"Well the info said that they're gentle and docile." Ashlyn added.

"Yeah, but if the Heracross don't fight off the Pinsir, then this forest is doomed." Brock pointed out.

Ashlyn looked back at the tree and notice a Butterfree and a Heracross still, "Oh no." She said.

The Pinsir began to attack the Heracross who was defending the Butterfree.

"Tesla, use Thunderbolt!" Ashlyn ordered.

"Raiiichuuuu!" Tesla fired an Thunderbolt at the stag Pokémon making them all cry out in pain.

The Pinsir immediately got up and ran away.

"That's good for now. But the Pinsir are going to come back I'm afraid." Woodruff said.

"What do you think is going on in this forest, Woodruff?" Ashlyn asked.

Woodruff got a serious expression, "You see the Pinsir and Heracross have always lived in together in peace because they each have their own forest. But recently something has been driving the Pinsir across the river, from their forest to the Heracross territory." He explained, "I'm afraid that I don't know why, but I fear for this side of the forest is going to be destroyed by those Pinsir if I don't found out the problem soon."

"This is a real bad situation." Brock said.

Ashlyn knew that Team Rocket was stealing the sap from the Pinsir's forest.

"Oh well, time to go." Misty said.

"We can't leave now, Misty. There's something wrong going on in this forest." Ashlyn stated.

"Ashlyn's right, Misty. If we don't help, this whole forest could be destroyed." Brock added.

"Oh way, right." Misty said, nervously.

"We'll help you find the cause of this, Woodruff." Ashlyn decided.

"Thank you, that would be great." Woodruff smiled, "Let's head to the Pinsir forest."

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Woodruff led the way to the forest where the Pinsir lived.

"Raichu." Tesla pointed behind them.

Everyone turned around and what they saw surprised them, they saw the Heracross that Ashlyn had helped was following behind them.

"What does that Heracross want?" Misty asked.

"I don't know," Brock replied, "but let's just keep on going."

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They came to a rope bridge, across a gorge, that would take them to the Pinsir forest, but it was broken.

Woodruff frowned, "That's strange, this rope bridge was just fine yesterday when I was here."

"Whoever or whatever have caused this doesn't what us to cross and enter Pinsir forest." Ashlyn said.

"So how can we get across?" Brock asked.

"Is there any way?" Misty asked.

"I'm afraid not." Woodruff replied.

Just then the Heracross, that was following the group, pushed a tree that was close to the rope bridge, and the tree landed across the gorge.

"That'll work." Ashlyn said.

The group used the tree and carefully walked across it to get to the other side.

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When they reached the Pinsir's territory, they suddenly noticed something in a tree. It was a Pinsir, but bigger.

"Do Pinsir grow that big?" Misty asked, a little scared.

"No they don't. Besides that Pinsir isn't even real. That's a robot Pinsir." Ashlyn replied.

"A robot Pinsir made out of steel. It's sucking out the tree sap from that tree." Woodruff said.

"But who would build something like that?" Brock asked.

"I have someone in mind." Ashlyn commented.

Suddenly they all heard a familiar laugh.

"Prepare for trouble while we're in the woods."

"Make it double we're up to no good."

"To protect the world from devastation."

"To unite all people within our nation."

"To denounce the evils of truth and love."

"To extend our reach to the stars above,"

"Jessie,"

"James,"

"Team Rocket blasting off at the speed of light,"

"Surrender now and prepare to fight,"

"That's right!"

"It had to be them." Ashlyn deadpanned.

"So you're the ones responsible for that mechanical Pinsir." Woodruff stated.

"That's right. We found an ad in the back pages of Popular Pokémon and sent away for the plan." Meowth confirmed.

"Tell them the story." Jessie ordered.

Meowth told the gang how they were hungry and came across the tree of sap in Pinsir's territory. Then Jessie coming up with a Pancake house idea.

"Tesla, go up the tree and use Iron Tail to cut the tube that sucking on the sap and cut the arms as well." Ashlyn whispered when she noticed that Team Rocket was too busy telling the gang their idea.

"That definitely sounds a recipe for disaster." Ashlyn commented, sweat dropped.

"I would have to agree." Misty agreed, sweat dropped.

Tesla's tail glowed a metallic color. She slashed her tail on the tube of the robot. Then slashed at the arms. With nothing to keep it steady the robot started to fall. Team Rocket yelped as the robot fell on top of them. They tried to move the robot off of them with no luck.

"Quick let's get the tanks!" Ashlyn ran over to the Robot Pinsir followed by the others. Ashlyn and Woodruff got the right one while Brock and Misty got the left.

"Lickitung, attack!" Jessie called out.

"Victreebel, attack!" James called out.

Jessie and James called out their Pokémon to attack,...only to find out that they were too busy eating the sap.

"Hey you're eating all of our profits, you yellow belly sap sucker!" James yelled.

Then Victreebel attacked his head.

James yelped, "Sorry! I didn't mean it! Let me go please!"

"What are you doing?! You're suppose to lick the twerps, not the sap!" Jessie snapped.

"Looks like they're out to lunch." Meowth sweat-dropped.

As this was going on, the gang had gotten both tanks of sap away from Team Rocket.

"Alright we got them!" Ashlyn cheered, "Tesla, use Iron Tail once more on the robot Pinsir and then use Thunder Shock."

Tesla nodded, "Raichu."

Tesla's tail glowed a metallic color and she slashed her tail on the back of the robot, revealing a whole bunch of circuits. She jumped back and was about to release her electric attack, but then a Heracross and the group of Pinsir showed up. They all charged up for a Hyper Beam. Tesla, Heracross, and the Pinsir shot their attack towards the robot. Team Rocket cried out in pain at the attack and the robot exploded, causing them to be sent up into the sky.

"I can't believe we're already out of business!" Jessie whined.

"It was doomed from the start." James whined.

"That twerp is going to pay!" Meowth declared angrily.

"LOOKS LIKE TEAM ROCKET'S BLASTING OFF AGAIN!" They screamed as they disappeared into the sky.

So in the end, Team Rocket was gone, the Pinsir got their forest back, and the Heracross and Butterfree could finally live in peace in their forest again.

"I can't thank you kids enough for your help. Thanks to you, the forest is safe again. And hopefully it will stay like that." Woodruff said.

"I hope so too." Ashlyn said.

Suddenly the Heracross, which had been following the group, stepped forward.

"Hey it's that same Heracross." Brock remembered.

"What is it doing here?" Misty asked.

Ashlyn knew why. "Do you want to come with us, Heracross?" She asked.

Heracross nodded happily, "Heracross."

Ashlyn smiled, "I thought so."

She threw a Pokéball at Heracross and captured it. "All right I caught a Heracross!"

After capturing Heracross, the gang said goodbye to Woodruff and left the forest to continue to Violet City.

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Pokémon on hand: Raichu (Tesla)(F), Type: Null (Talos)(Genderless), Lugia (Poseidon)(M), Heracross (M)

*Marshadow is hiding in Ashlyn's shadow

Pokémon Caught: Heracross (M)