Chapter 2: Aerialidis
The second they landed in front of the Pokemon Center Brock's Pokegear rang unexpectedly.
"Hey, it's from Professor Elm!" exclaimed Brock, pressing a button. "Hello, Professor!"
"Hi Professor Elm," chorused Ash and Misty.
"Hi kids," said Professor Elm with a smile. "How are things going on the journey?"
"Professor, I just got my eighth Johto Gym badge!" cried Ash excitedly.
"Really? That's great Ash! That means you're only two months behind Gary! Are you planning on challenging the Elite Four?"
"You bet I am!" said Ash, punching the air.
"Good news, good news! But can you kids get down to New Bark Town right away?"
"Well, we were headed there anyway," said Brock, "so sure. Why do you want us to come down?"
"I want it to be a surprise—you'll find out as soon as you get here!"
"Okay, Professor, we'll come right away," said Brock. He pressed the same button and Professor Elm's face disappeared from the display on the Pokegear, leaving blackness.
"I wonder what that was about," said Misty. "He doesn't usually call us does he?"
"You're right, Misty," said Brock.
"It seems like he wants to talk to us about something important. Maybe he discovered a new Pokemon!" said Ash. "Let's get down there!"
"Ash, we still need to get your Lapras, remember?" said Misty.
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot!" cried Ash and he opened the door to the Pokemon Center and walked through, Misty and Brock behind him.
"Nurse Joy, I found it!" said Ash after he reached the desk. "I got my badge!"
He opened the right side of his vest to her, revealing four rows of two badges, having just fastened the Rising Badge on.
"That's great!" said Nurse Joy. "Am I right to assume that all went well in the house, or did you have to go through the whirlpools to get the Dragon Fang?"
"No, I passed the test, and I got a Dratini too! Not even Clair passed it! I must be really good!"
"Well, I can't say that. I would say that everybody
but Clair passed the test."
And upon looking around the waiting room, Ash did see that there were a number of Dratinis and Dragonairs being groomed by their trainers. "Oh," he said, and he suddenly got an image of how stupid he must have looked saying it.
Nurse Joy must have noticed his embarrassment, because she then said, "Are you here to pick up your Lapras?"
"Yeah, I am," said Ash.
"Well, you'll be happy to hear that it made a full recovery! Here you go." She handed a Pokeball to him from across the counter.
"Thanks, Nurse Joy," said Ash, some of his usual gusto returning to his voice, and after she gave her usual bow, the three turned and walked out of the Pokemon Center into the beautiful weather outside.
"Brock, what's the quickest way back to New Bark Town?" asked Misty.
"Our best bet would be to jump the rocks south of Blackthorn City, which would leave us a mile from New Bark Tow— "
But at that precise moment, two voices being spoken through megaphones had filled the air along with a large hot balloon in the shape of a Meowth's head.
"Prepare for trouble," said a magenta-haired girl standing in the basket.
"And make it double," said a boy with purple hair.
"To protect the world from devestation."
"To unite all people within our nation."
"To denounce the evils of truth and love."
"To extend our reach to the stars above."
"Jessie!" cried the girl, leaping out of the balloon and landing on the ground."
"James!" cried the boy, landing a foot away from her.
"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!"
"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"
"Meowth, that's right!" said a lifesize version of the hot air balloon, just now making its appearance.
"Say good-bye to your Pikachu!" cried Jessie sinisterly, and she pulled out a jar that she had somehow managed to fit into her back pocket and tossed it at Pikachu.
Almost like a Pokeball, the jar opened itself and landed upside down on Pikachu, who immediately fell off of Ash's shoulder and onto the ground behind them. The jar toppled back upright and the cap screwed itself back on.
"Pikachu, use a Thunderbolt!" shouted Ash.
"Pikachhuuuu!" cried the Pokemon; for a moment the entire jar glowed with electric light, but nothing happened.
"That's not going to work, twerp!" yelled Meowth triumphantly. "That jar's electric proof!"
"Well, how would I know?" said Ash.
"Ash," said Misty, picking up Pikachu's jar, "couldn't you just unscrew it—"
She gave it one good twist, and the top of the jar came off with a
plop.
"Meowth!" yelled James in outrage.
"Heh, guess I didn't think about that…" it said, looking up at its two partners.
"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" shouted Ash.
Pikachu squeezed itself out of the jar and into the air, its electrical sacs sparking, and sent a jolt of electricity at Team Rocket. There was a huge explosion, and all three of them were sent blasting into the air, all crying, "We're blasting off again!"
"Don't those three ever quit?" said Misty, shaking her head.
"On the bright side, we can take their balloon!" said Ash.
"Pika!" said Pikachu delightedly.
It was an exciting change of pattern, looking down at the giant rock walls that they were originally planning to jump over instead of scaling them, gliding silently but quickly over the routes, and it wasn't long at all before Ash could read the sign that said "New Bark Town- Where the Winds of New Beginnings Blow."
It was not long at all until the trio had glided over the small town, landed smoothly, and were stepping through the door of Professor Elm's laboratory, eyeing cautiously some of the silver complex machinery and their many dials and knobs that had not been there when they had been in the same building several months before.
They found Professor Elm typing so quickly that his fingers appeared blurred over the computer's keyboard behind his desk, cluttered with papers. He looked quite a bit more stressed since they had last seen him: several creases had appeared on his forehead and his face had a crumpled look.
"Hi Professor Elm!" they all chorused brightly as they approached.
He gazed up at them, and an unforced smile appeared on his face.
"Hi, kids! So great to see you again! Had a good journey throughout Hoenn?"
"Yep," said Ash at once, "and now I'm ready for the Johto League!"
"That's great news, Ash! How about you, Misty, Brock?"
"I've won the Seaking Fishing Contest!" said Misty.
"And I've been training up the Pokemon that hatched from that egg, the Elekid," said Brock.
"What an exciting journey for all three of you!"
"Have you found any new Pokemon since we've been gone?" asked Misty politely.
"I have been able to visit Hoenn on the opposite side of the world—they have a wide variety of new Pokemon and moves that seemed to have originated there that have somehow reached over here to Johto—but right now my main project is a strange disease that has seemed to affect only Flying Pokemon, or otherwise Pokemon that can fly. It caused much strife in the Pokelympic's quadralathalon, during which there was death of both Pokemon and trainer when the Pokemon suddenly wasn't able to fly any further…the other Pokemon couldn't reach the summit of Mt. Grande, which was their destination. They thankfully were able to land safely, if not smoothly."
Ash suddenly remembered his Charizard's peculiar behavior. Could that have not been accidental, and instead in result of this disease?
"Professor," said Brock as though he had read Ash's mind, "earlier today we were flying on Ash's Charizard, and it suddenly went into a dive. Ash thought it was just kidding around with us—but this couldn't be the disease, could it? Is it contagious?"
"No, the disease doesn't seem to be contagious; any Pokemon that flies seems to get it. This has never occurred before, so I'm not exactly sure how you could describe it—but back onto the subject of Ash's Charizard, you shouldn't be riding on it or any other flying Pokemon for a while, it very well could be dangerous, and for all we know it could have affected all of Johto by now. And what is more, Professor Oak and I are not meeting until a week from now, he seems to have made much headway on this disease, I believe he is developing a vaccine for it so Pokemon can become immune."
"Isn't Professor Oak in Goldenrod City right now?" asked Brock. "His radio show is today, isn't it?"
"Yes, you are quite right," replied Professor Elm. "In fact, you might be able to catch him if you teleport there, the show ends in a few minutes. I don't know if he carries any of his vaccine around with him, but you could certainly try, and you three probably want to see him anyway. Which reminds me of why you're here in the first place! I had a gift for you, Ash."
He rolled out from behind his desk on his chair over to a silver machine that looked like a small vending machine. He punched seven keys on the right side of the machine with a well-practiced hand and the entire front automatically sprang up like a garage door. Inside the machine were rows and rows of different kinds of Pokeballs. Ash immediately recognized a few of the Pokeballs that Kurt from Azelea Town had made using Apricots. Professor Elm took out a jet black ball with four diagonal white stripes. Ash thought he could vaguely remember it, but somehow his brain associated it with a human-made Pokemon who made evil clones of a large number of other Pokemon, at which he decided that this distant memory was made-up and that he had simply seen it somewhere before.
"This is called the Masterball, Ash. It is the strongest Pokeball in the world; so strong that it—"
"Can catch any Pokemon without fail," said Brock. "I read about it in
The Pokemon Chronicle. They're supposed to be really rare."
"Yes, they indeed are. I managed to get this one from Professor Redwood from Orre, who has a small collection from his ancestor, whom is believed to have invented several kinds of Pokeballs. I have researched it thoroughly, but I believe that it will be of much more use to you than it would be to me."
He held out the black Pokeball to Ash, who took it. "Thanks Professor Elm!"
"You're quite welcome," he said. "Well, it has been great seeing you three again, but I am sorry to say that I must be getting back to my work…however, if you would still like to visit Professor Oak in Goldenrod City I can lend you my Abra to teleport you there."
"That would be great, Professor Elm, thanks," said Misty.
Professor Elm detached a Pokeball from his belt and gave it to Brock. "I will see you three later!" he said dismissively and he turned back to his computer screen.
***
Seconds after they left the laboratory they had successfully teleported with Abra to Goldenrod city, the largest city in Johto, with its Department Store, Daycare Center, National Park, Train Station, Gym, Underground, and Radio Station, or in other words, "Goldenrod City- Where co-operation is bigger than the city itself."
Goldenrod City was as busy as ever; having to avoid people rushing past them enlongated the process of reaching the radio station greatly. Soon enough, however, they were walking through the doors of the radio station, unsurprised to see Professor Oak in the lobby, signing out at the front desk. Ash remembered that it was just until very recently that he had not been allowed to go upstairs to the recording stations, but ever since he saved the entire region from Team Rocket's radio program, he had been allowed to go anywhere in the skyscraper, and was even allowed to keep his Key Card.
Professor Oak finished signing his name on the sign-out sheet, turned around, caught one glimpse of Ash, Misty, and Brock, and made a beeline straight for them.
"Ash, Misty, Brock! So good to see you! What brings you here? Again, I might add?" he said.
"We wanted to see you, Professor," said Misty. "Professor Elm suggested we come see you."
"Well, how is your journey throughout Johto doing?" he inquired.
"Great, I already got my eighth badge! I'm officially qualified for the Johto League's Silver Conference!"
"That's great news, Ash!" exclaimed Professor Oak. "Maybe in a few months you'll be fair match for Gary! So, what made you com see me?"
"Well actually Professor," started Brock, "we were wondering if you had that vaccine for the new Flying Pokemon disease."
"Yes, actually I do," said Professor Oak. "But I cannot allow you to use it on your Pokemon yet. I have no idea what kind of side effects it will have—this disease, Aerialidis, hasn't been around for centuries, any working vaccine that was made last time it was around has been lost. In any case, I will not be testing it out until I can make absolute sure that it will not harm any Pokemon.
"But I'm still glad you came—now I can tell you about a Pokemon competition that you might want to enter."
Ash's eyes seemed to light up. "A Pokemon competition? That would be great training for the Silver Conference!"
"And I wouldn't mind training my Pokemon," said Misty.
"Nor would I," said Brock.
"Well you are certainly in luck—tryouts are being held today in Goldenrod's national park! Gary has already entered and is in training. It would be a great experience for all three of you, and as you said, Ash, it would be an excellent training course for the Johto League. Best of all, it would give you a chance to travel, for those who make the cut will travel to Hoenn, where all of the competition will take place."
"Wow, that would be awesome!" said Misty excitedly.
"Yeah, imagine all the new Pokemon we would find!" said Ash in equal awe.
"Well, if all four of you qualify for the competition, then I shall be seeing you in Hoenn!" said Professor Oak, smiling. "Now I better be off—and remember, do not risk anything with any of your Flying Pokemon. It could cost you more than an extra trip to a Pokemon Center."
And with that, he walked out of the Radio Station.