A Hole Lotta Trouble

Soon after they landed on Dewford Island, the gang decided to go to Granite Cave because Brock wanted to find a Nosepass there. But first they wanted to do some fishing. Ashlyn, Alain, and Brock taught May and Max how to do fishing.

As they fished, Brock managed to catch a Relicanth, May caught Staryu, Max caught a Seel, Alain caught a Sharpedo, and Ashlyn caught a Shiny Feebas and a Corphish.

Soon after they were done, they headed off to Granite Cave.

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Granite Cave was located far away from the town of Dewford Island and it was one big cave.

"Since this cave is so huge, how we will find our way through it and back? I mean we will get lost in there." May asked.

"Don't worry, I have a solution to that." Brock took out a packet of big stickers from his backpack. "These stickers are markers and they glow in the dark so if we get lost we just follow the markers." He explained.

"That's smart." Max commented.

The gang also got out their flashlights to see because it was dark in the Granite Cave.

"Let's go." Ashlyn said, and the gang went into the cave.

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The gang had now walked a long, long way from the entrance of the cave.

"I'm glad you're putting up markers, Brock." May said.

The gang were glad that they had the stickers to help them remember the way.

"This cave is like a maze." Max commented.

Unexpectedly, the ground beneath them broke and the gang fell down in a hole.

"Ooww, my head." Max groaned.

"How did we not see that hole?" Brock grunted.

At that moment they heard familiar laughing. Everyone looked up and saw the Team Rocket trio.

"Team Rocket!" May shouted.

"Ha! Ha! You fell for it! Fell for it! Fell for it!" Team Rocket trio taunted.

Suddenly, the gang heard cracking sounds and the ground beneath them broke apart. Everyone screamed as the gang and Team Rocket trio fell further down into the hole.

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Ashlyn heard a noise underneath her. She was confused at first, but then she realized it was a heartbeat. She slowly opened her eyes and saw that Alain was looking at her.

"Ashlyn, you alright?" Alain asked.

"Yeah, I'm good." Ashlyn replied.

But then the two trainers noticed what position they were in. Ashlyn was straddling on Alain. When they both realized that, they jumped away from each other and looked away.

"S-Sorry about that." Ashlyn stuttered with red cheeks.

"I-It's fine." Alain rubbed the back of his head sheepishly with pink cheeks.

"Raichu!"

The two looked down and saw Tesla smiling at them.

"Tesla!" Ashlyn went over to Tesla and Tesla jumped into Ashlyn's arms and snuggled against her chest. Ashlyn smiled as she petted her Electric-type Pokémon, "Thank goodness you're okay."

Then Ashlyn looked up at the hole in the cave ceiling.

"I wonder how far we fell?" Ashlyn pondered.

"I figured we must be pretty far down." Alain guessed.

"We better get going if we want to get out of here." Ashlyn suggested.

Alain nodded, "Right."

Then she, Alain, and Tesla headed off into the tunnels.

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So far the three haven't had any luck on getting out of the cave. They decided to stop for a moment.

"This tunnel seems to go on forever." Ashlyn said.

"I'm sure that we'll find a way out." Alain assured her.

Ashlyn nodded and took out her flute. She started playing a random tune. Alain and Tesla closed their eyes as they listened to the soothing melody. Suddenly, they hear something coming towards them. At that moment, two beings popped out of the ground in front of them. Ashlyn, Alain, and Tesla blinked at the two beings who turned out to be Pokémon. They were quadrupedal Pokémon with four stubby legs and a large round head. Its body is black with plates of gray armor covering its head, back, and legs. Throughout its body are small openings in the armor. There are six openings on its head, with the largest two being openings for its pale blue eyes and one opening on either side of the spike on its back. A single, blunt spike protrudes from its back.

"Those are Aron's." Alain said.

Ashlyn took out her Rotom phone:

[Aron, the Iron Armor Pokémon. Aron has an impressive defense power and eats iron ore in order to build up the metal in its body.]

"So what are these two doing here?" Ashlyn asked.

"Aron Aron Aron. (We heard music and wanted to see who was playing it.)" Aron one said.

"Aron ron. (It was beautiful.)" Aron two added.

"Thank you." Ashlyn smiled at the two Aron, "If you don't mind, could you help us find our friends? We got separated when we fell down a hole."

"Aron. (Sure.)" Aron one said.

"We need to get the higher level of this cave. I'm pretty sure that everyone else will too." Ashlyn suggested.

Alain nodded, "Yeah." Then he turned to the Aron's, "Can you show us the way?"

Aron one nodded, "Ron. (Follow us.)" It said and began to lead the three out of the tunnel.

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The Aron duo soon led them to a shaft. The two Aron's went first, followed by Alain, Ashlyn with Tesla behind her. The Aron's came out of the other end of the shaft. Alain came out next and was surprised at who was standing in front of him: Steven Stone and his Aron by his feet.

"Alain?" Steven blinked.

"Steven?" Alain blinked.

"What are you doing here?" Steven asked.

"Long story." Alain replied.

Steven held his hand out to Alain who grabbed a hold of it and Steven gently pulled him out. Then Alain turned around and helped Ashlyn and Tesla out of the shaft.

Ashlyn let out a sigh of relief, "Thank goodness we're out of the shaft."

"You three okay?" Steven asked.

"We're okay." Ashlyn replied. Then she noticed who was standing beside Alain, "Hey are you Steven Stone by any chance?"

"Yes that's me," Steven confirmed, "So who are you?"

"Oh, I'm Ashlyn Ketchum and this is my partner, Tesla." Ashlyn introduced herself and her electric type.

"Raichu!" Tesla greeted.

"Could you tell me why you three are down here?" Steven questioned.

"One of our friends wanted to find a Nosepass and we fell into a hole that was dug up by Team Rocket. Then the ground broke underneath us and we fell further down into hole and got separated from our friends." Ashlyn replied.

"I see." Steven understood.

"Luckily, these two Aron's helped us." Ashlyn looked down at the two Aron's and smiled at them who smiled back.

"Ashlyn! Alain!"

Everyone turned to the voices and saw Max (who was carrying a Whismur) and Meowth running towards them.

"Max!"

Alain and Ashlyn shouted as they ran towards Max. They soon made a group hug.

"Are you okay?" Alain asked.

"Don't worry, I'm fine." Max assured them.

Ashlyn and Alain let out sighs of relief, "Thank goodness." They said.

"Hey Max, is that a Whismur you have there?" Ashlyn asked.

"Yeah, I found it all alone." Max replied.

Ashlyn took out her Rotom phone:

[Whismur, the Whisper Pokémon. Whismur can become so startled by the sound of its own crying, that it will continue to cry until finally falling asleep from exhaustion.]

"Why was it alone?" Alain asked.

"It said that it was bullied by a Loudred." Meowth replied.

"Loudred?" Ashlyn kept her phone out:

[Loudred, the Big Voice Pokémon. Loudred has a voice powerful enough to blast a wooden house into splinters. Its round ears act as speakers.]

"Poor Whismur." Ashlyn said, sadly.

"By the way, are you Steven Stone?" Max asked.

"Yes, I presume you're all lost." Steven answered.

"Yeah." Max confirmed, "Steven, could you please find my sister and our friend?"

"Hey! What about my friends?" Meowth whined, jumping back and forth.

"That must be why the wild Aron are agitated." Steven stated.

"Something tells me that it was Team Rocket who caused that to happen." Ashlyn commented.

"I wouldn't be surprised if they did." Alain agreed.

"Your friends could be in danger if we don't act fast." Steven warned.

"Lead the way, Steven." Ashlyn decided.

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With no time to waste, the group headed down the tunnel, hoping to find the others.

"Are you sure you know the way, Steven?" Max asked.

"I've been in these caves for months, so I know them inside out." Steven assured him.

Meowth gasped when he saw the huge gap in the floor.

"Why did you take us here? We can't get across this!" Meowth exclaimed.

Steven knelt down and looked down in the gap, "Just take a look down there."

The group looked down in the gap.

Ashlyn then sensed Brock, May, Jessie and James's auras nearby along with a swarm of ones she doesn't know. She knew that they were being chased by the Aron's that James mostly likely agitated.

"Hey I hear something!" Meowth said.

The sound of footsteps was getting closer.

"May!" Max called out.

Then May, Brock, Jessie and James appeared in the gap.

"Hey it's Max and Ashlyn!" May cheered when she saw Max and Ashlyn.

"Alain!" Brock smiled.

"And Meowth." Jessie added.

"You guys okay?" Brock called out.

"Yeah, we're fine. Steven found us." Max assured him.

James screamed when he saw that the Aron group were stampeding towards them.

"HELP US!" James shouted.

"Listen, settle down and listen to me. Keep moving forward then go right. Turn left at the next corner, you'll find a waterfall. That's where we'll meet up." Steven instructed.

"Okay!" May called out.

Then they ran off with the Aron stampede behind them.

Max turned to Steven, "Did you know that everyone would come this way?" He asked.

"Nope, but I had a feeling that the Aron would." Steven clarified. Then he stood up, "Let's go."

"Alright then." Ashlyn's eyes glowed blue and the others were outlined blue and were hovering into the air.

"Ashlyn, what are you doing?!" Max exclaimed in panic.

"Just trust me." Ashlyn said.

Then they floated over the gap and gently landed on the other side of it.

"Wow. That's a pretty handy power, Ashlyn." Steven complimented.

"Thanks." Ashlyn said.

"Come on, we have to get to the others." Max reminded them.

"Right." Steven said.

Then they quickly headed off.

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They soon reached the top of the waterfall where they saw the others panicking as the Aron stampede got closer to them.

"Aron, stop! Be calm!" Steven ordered.

However that didn't work.

"Aron, use Roar!" Steven ordered.

Aron let out a loud roar which stopped the stampede in their tracks.

"These are good people, go back to your roosts. It's okay!" Steven assured the Iron Armor Pokémon.

The Aron's soon left and headed back to their roosts.

"Wow." May awed.

"That was incredible." Max added.

Meowth ran straight towards Jessie and James and they formed a group hug as Ashlyn, Tesla, Alain, and Max reunited with Brock and May.

Then the Team Rocket trio cried happily.

"I thought you didn't like them, James." Brock commented.

"You too, Jessie." May teased.

"And you Meowth." Max added.

"Hey, let's recite the motto to celebrate." Jessie suggested.

"Yeah!" James and Meowth cheered.

"Who are these people?" Steven asked, confused.

"Tesla, Thunder Shock." Ashlyn ordered.

Tesla fired her electric type attack and the trio was sent through the ceiling and into the sky.

"TEAM ROCKET'S BLASTING OFF AGAIN!" The trio screamed before they disappeared into the distance.

"Do you know those guys?" Steven asked the gang.

"That would be Team Rocket." Alain replied.

"Team Rocket?" Steven blinked.

"It's an evil organization that steals Pokémon and uses them for evil deeds." Ashlyn replied.

"WHAT?!" Steven exclaimed in shock.

"It's true." Max confirmed.

"They've been after Tesla and any other rare Pokémon we come across." Brock stated.

"I see." Steven understood.

"Ar!"

The group turned towards Steven's Aron who was digging from a pile of dirt. Steven walked over to his Aron and knelt down beside him.

"What is it, Aron?" Steven asked.

"Ar!" Aron said.

Steven turns to what Aron had found which turned out to be a Fire stone and two Mega Stones.

"Well done, Aron." Steven complimented Aron as he took out the three stones.

The gang went over to Steven.

"So what did you find, Steven?" Max asked.

"A Fire Stone and two Mega Stones." Steven showed them the stones.

"Wow! Mega Stones!" Max gasped.

"Well I've been looking for the Fire Stone for a while now. But I didn't think I would find two Mega Stones." Steven replied as he stood up.

Then he held out the two Mega Stones to Alain and Ashlyn. The two blinked in confusion.

"I already have a Mega Stone for my Aggron. So I want you two to have them. Besides, it looks like those two Aron's want to go with you two." Steven stated.

Ashlyn and Alain looked down at the two Aron's who smiled up at them which made Ashlyn and Alain smiled at that and gently took the Mega Stones from Steven.

"Thank you, Steven." Ashlyn thanked him.

"You're welcome." Steven said.

At that moment, Alain's Sharpedo along with Brock's Sharpedo came out of their Pokéballs.

"Sharpedo?" Alain and Brock asked.

The two Brutal Pokémon jumped into the pool at the waterfall. Everyone blinked in confusion on what their Pokémon were doing. A minute later, the water Pokémon came up to the surface, but they had something in their mouths.

"Mega Stones?" Alain and Brock blinked in shock.

Both Sharpedo's handed the stones to their trainers.

"Wow, I didn't think we would find two types of Mega Stones in one day." Ashlyn commented.

Alain nodded, "Yeah."

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Soon enough, Steven led the gang out of the cave, and they invited him to have lunch with them. Whismur decided to stay with Max. The two Aron's decided to stay with Ashlyn and Alain. Brock told them how he found a Nosepass while he was stuck with James and how James caused the Aron to be agitated. Max talked about how he was stuck with Meowth and May commented how annoying Jessie was when she was stuck with her which made everyone else laugh.

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Then it was time for Steven to leave. He was heading out to find some more rare stones. He and his Aron were on a sailboat, ready to head out.

"Thanks for everything, Steven." Ashlyn thanked him.

"You're welcome, Elena. I wish you luck at the Dewford Gym." Steven said.

"Thanks once more, Steven." Ashlyn said.

"Yeah, thanks." Max added.

Steven then set sail and the boat headed out.

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And so, the gang continued on their way to Dewford Town where Ashlyn will get her next gym battle. But Ashlyn knew that their confrontation with Team Aqua and Team Magma was drawing close.

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Pokémon Caught: Poochyena (Lela)(F), Mudkip (Finn)(M), Shiny Torchic (Hestia)(F), Ralts (Miku)(F), Ralts (Lancelot)(M), Taillow (Percy)(M), Zigzagoon (Ziggy)(M), Treecko (Kazuki)(M), Wurmple (Willow)(F), Shiny Feebas (Ula)(F), Corphish (Sebastian)(M), Aron (Hagane)(M)