Chapter Text
Ash bounced on the dirt path that paved out to the entrance of the small looking cave. “Finally, the Miracle Seed,” he cheered. Mallow said the final ingredient would be on the other side of the cave. His hair tickled his ears when the longer strands were hit by a breeze. Pikachu moved around on his shoulder, grabbing on to his striped shirt as his trainer moved like a rattling roller coaster. Mallow and him were given the task of getting ingredients for a curry Olivia wanted to make. He tried Galarian curry before, so he assumed Alolan curry would be just as good. His good mood was as contagious as usual, with Mallow skipping with them. It was adventures like these that reminded him why he loved being out and about.
The entrance had thick grass hair and bangs of vines that deepened Ash’s idea of how the plants of the area had gotten to grow. Instead of being automatically filled with luscious greenery, mud-colored coated every surface of the inside as they made their way through. Ash swayed his arm freely like a Chimeco in the breeze. His brighter mood lit up the cave even so slightly as he found himself in a simple sway while humming an old song he used to play when he was homebound. Even Pikachu took the lighter atmosphere to hop off of his shoulder and talk with Steenee. Mallow seemed to have the same idea.
“You’ve been in a bright mood today,” she commented.
“Aren’t I always?”
“Yeah, but you’re more happy than usual today.”
“I guess I just have a feeling something good’s coming out of this, it’s a seventh sense.” Then he shrugged off what the sixth sense was when she asked about it. Their walk through the cave, or tunnel at that point, was mostly uneventful. Ash made the choice to go to the right when there was a fork in the tunnel, no thanks to Rotom and his accurate fifty percent chance. He just spun around and chose the path he was facing when he stopped, twice. Rotom should learn to make random choices, he noted, not that he’d remember it later. At least he was able to tell them they happened to be stumbling through a Diglett nest. Now Ash had to wonder why they needed tunnels so large for their size.
“How are we going to get through without disturbing them?” Mallow pondered aloud as Ash picked up an Alolan Diglett whisker.
“By smelling them,” the raven-haired trainer grinned. He released Rockruff, who luckily was in one of his mood swings. The Puppy Pokémon listened to Ash explain how he could sniff out which tunnels actively had Diglett so they could go the opposite way. He kept part of his focus on Rockruff in case of another outburst. When a Pokémon was beating evolution, their aura would ripple like the ocean’s waters. His were violently splashing about like stormy sea waters. The only other time he could pin down setting something like that was when Dawn’s Piplup was refusing to evolve. “Hey, Rockruff,” he approached slowly, “is something holding you back?”
The first stage Pokémon paused in its tracks and looked at him with beady azure eyes. Ash told Star to walk for a bit, guilty to interrupt her process of falling asleep, then scooped up the worried Pokémon. He gave him a moment to relax, before he whimpered his worries into Ash’s ear. His eyes softened at the sweet concern behind the Pokémon’s spicy actions, but understood what he meant. “I’ll try to help you for a bit, but you can’t hold it in forever.” He didn’t notice the confused looks from Mallow and Rotom as he pressed his noggin against his furry friend’s head. His muscles relaxed, working with his inner aura to calm Rockruff’s internal storm into mild waves. He licked his face affectionately and bounced out his arms, now being naturally happy instead of the mask he failed to hold up. Ash knew he couldn’t magically keep him from evolving without an item, and he didn’t plan to get one for him. It was something he could only watch get solved.
When the group found the end of the Diglett nest, they were greeted by a thick forested area. Rays of sunlight broke in between the clusters of leaves that hid the pale blue sky. His nostrils were hit with multiple different plants that his eyes identified: moss, a couple of berries, and mushrooms— not that he could point out the smell of them. He couldn’t help relaxing his aura in the green atmosphere. The Pokémon around him instantly felt the approachable feeling, a few peeking their heads out to examine the new presences they were planning to ignore or scurry from. Ash lifted the Pokémon out of the hole of the nest, then Mallow and himself to get a feel for the new area. “Thanks a lot Rockruff!”
“Awooo!” The puppy Pokémon skipped ahead to where Steenee was pointing out randomly scattered berries for Star to learn about. They all decided to see who could find the most berries for her to learn and taste while Ash and Mallow searched for the Miracle Seeds. He only learned about their competition when they found a large stash of berries in a tree stump and Pikachu declared himself victorious.
“Hey, look, a Miracle Seed,” he picked up as Pikachu tossed everyone a berry, “Maybe we should ask before taking these though. No, finders keepers doesn’t count, and no, beating them in a battle for them doesn’t make it fair, Pikachu.”
“Chu ka,” he argued poorly.
“Okay, yeah it counts. But we should still replace the berries with something since the owner isn’t around.”
“I got that covered,” Rotom chimed, swooping down from a tree with a couple of berries in his robot arms. “They are a little ripe, but I’m sure they will work.”
“Great!” Chu! Pikachu said at the same time. “Let’s head ba-” A cloud of dust formed from nearby the group. Mallow hugged Steenee protectively from the dirt while Rockruff pulled Star behind Ash as their shield. Pikachu leapt in front of Ash instinctively in a battle ready pose. “So that’s who it was.”
“Wait, you knew? I thought…”
“I, uhm, just felt watched. Didn’t expect such a big Pokémon though. Sounds like you know something about this though.” Ash didn’t wait for a response. Rotom identified the Pokémon as Lurantis, the Bloom Sickle Pokémon. Lurantis use their flower-like appearance and aroma to lure in their opponents and defeat them, he overheard Rotom saying quickly. Lurantis growled at its intruders, lifting its arms up to begin its flurry of attacks.
“It’s about to use Petal Blizzard, run!” Ash let Mallow, Rotom, and Steenee take cover towards the trees while he commanded Rockruff to use Rock Throw against the petals. Collision blasts equally matched the attacks sent to him. He grinned at the probable Totem Pokémon with the equally matched attacks. Star was clutched to chest in one arm like a Kangaskaun protecting its young while Pikachu stood guard around his ankle, eager to watch the battle unfold. The Totem Pokémon growled, its deeper voice echoing past the trunks surrounding their natural battlefield. It called out to the sky, where a break in the leaves poured sunlight onto the larger Pokémon. Before it could finish taking in the solar energy, Rockruff used Bite to take damage where he could. With the interruption, Lurantis understood it was time to bring in the real chaos.
“A two-on-two? You’re about to regret that with the training we do! Let’s go Litten,” he called, throwing it his Pokémon. Now that he thought about it, all of his Pokémon were out of their Pokéballs at the moment. “Litten, Rockruff, let’s show them how strong you two are!” Litten glanced at Rockruff suspiciously, but still yowled with pride. He leapt at the grass-type with simmering flames forming a Fire Fang. The loud sound of high pressure water blasted into his right ear as he noticed the Castform using Water Gun at him midair. Rockruff’s tan fur flashed in the corner of his eye before he landed his attack at his opponent and dug his attack into the arm of the Totem Pokémon. The screech of the effective attack alerted him before he was sent tumbling into the ground. Rockruff called to him from his front, water dripping from where Castform hit him. Even though he was a rock-type, Rockruff wasn’t too bothered by water.
Castform began to zip around the field like a Yanma, it watched Litten for any opening to use its attack. Its companion called out as it prepared to use Solar Blade again. Instead of taking time like last time, Lurantis instantly used a blinding bright blade that both Pokémon dodged at his call. Ash noticed with its Sunny-Day form, the sunlight grew stronger on the area and it didn’t need time to store up energy. Along with this, luckily, fire-type moves were stronger. “Ember and Rock Throw, watch each other’s backs!” The Pokémon stood back-to-back and sent their attacks to either Pokémon. Litten ran up to the Totem Pokémon line before, and landed another Fire Fang right after the Ember hit. Following behind him, Rockruff leapt to Lurantis but used it as a platform. His paws pressed back against the soft shell of the Bloom Sickle Pokémon and made it stumble as its neck was sent back from the force of his hinge legs. Rockruff dove towards Castform, ready to use Bite and didn’t fail him. The two Pokémon were sent tumbling to the ground. His opponent got to land Tackle afterwards though.
“Oh no, Lurantis is using Synthesis to try and recover health,” Rotom called out from behind him. He gave Rockruff commands to take out Castform. The Puppy Pokémon shook off the grass blades that stuck to his coat and countered another incoming Tackle with his own. In mid air, he firmly pressed his head against the fluffy, warm Pokémon. With a second push, he sent Castform to the ground again. He could see Litten was holding up well on his own while blocking any attacks towards him. Water Gun flashed a brilliant blue in the sunlight before sending Rockruff into a tree. Castform followed behind the attack with an unknowing grin.
In the tree, Rockruff somewhat blended in with the grass stains in his fur, speckles of mud from Water Gun attacks, and his overall tan color darkened in the shadows of leaves. Castform’s bright colors stood out in the shadows like a piece of coal in the snow. He ran along the cool branches that were hidden from sunlight and used them to leap past Castform while attacking. Ash couldn’t tell if Mallow and Rotom could tell what he was commanding Rockruff to do since he wasn’t verbally converting every message. He mostly gave vague commands to keep his opponents on their toes. It was a part of the reason why he found bonding with Pokémon valuable: if they both knew how each other thought, then it’s easier to quirk together. He also found sharing his vision with Greninja had made him easily imagine the different perspectives of others.
“Ruff ruff!” Castform was sent out of the leaves to where Litten was for his Scratch of defeat. Litten and Rockruff high ‘pawed’ before turning to the final opponent. Ash could see Rockruff was taking in deeper breaths, while Litten was smirking at the Totem Pokémon who was injured but still roaring for more, then he knocked out from exhaustion. Ash noted how Litten’s agility was a saving grace for taking on Lurantis alone. He easily flipped and slipped past most of the harder hitting attacks while quietly taking down his opponents health. Good job Litten, you held up well.
“Rockruff, let’s finish this for Litten,” he called out, switching the Z-Crystal in his Z-Ring as he recalled Litten to his Pokéball. Ash crossed his arms into an ‘X’ shape, Rockruff’s front legs crossed over on the ground. They moved in sync the best they could. Rockruff even stood on his hinge legs to get the message across. They moved their arms apart in a stretched out circular motion, then locked their arms in above and below their head. Rockruff held his front legs to his chest and laid his paws on top of each other. “Rockruff, use Breakneck Blitz!” The Puppy Pokémon glowed a cream color, announcing his attack with a howl. He quickly picked up speed as he ran up to Lurantis, who looked ready to brace the attack. His head clashed against the sturdy arms of the Totem Pokémon with string wins accompanying the impact. Ash held on to Star as she and Pikachu cheered on Rockruff. The thin cloud of smoke they were hidden cleared up enough for them to notice Rockruff wasn’t head-to-head with Lurantis anymore, he was in an offensive pose in case the knocked out Totem Pokémon rose.
“That was amazing! You’re so strong Rockruff,” Mallow cheered, running past him and to the weakened Lurantis and Castform with berries in her arms. Star and Steenee ran over to Rockruff with berries as well and cheered the exhausted Pokémon on for the victory. “Here, you should recover after that battle. You did great Lurantis, you too Castform.”
“Yeah,” Ash agreed as he walked up to Mallow’s side, “thanks for the awesome fight.”
“Lurantis,” it nodded, then held up a twinkling stone in its arm. Ash beamed and took it graciously. The Grassium Z’s evergreen shone in the sparkling sunlight that lit up their battle field when he held it up to the sun. So it was the Totem Pokémon, he confirmed.
“You did great! Kudos Ash,” Olivia cheered as she leapt out from behind a bush then fell predictable. She instantly got up to squeeze Ash and Pikachu, who was on his shoulder. Rowlet flew out of his backpack before getting squished, but he still joined in to receive undeserved praise. He was definitely making Rowlet battle next time.