The Berry Thieves

After leaving where the Battle Pyramid was, the gang were on the way to the Indigo Plateau for the grand festival. May was excited and didn't stop looking at her five Kanto ribbons.

"I wonder what this grand festival is going to be like." May pondered.

"One thing for sure it will be tough to earn the title top coordinator just like the Hoenn Grand Festival was." Ashlyn confirmed.

"Yeah, because there will be tough competitors for you and Ashlyn to go against with May." Max added.

May was still excited about entering the Grand Festival and Ember couldn't wait either.

"Stop!"

Suddenly the gang heard shouting from behind. A man was shouted at a bunch of Aipoms who were carrying berries in their arms.

The man was yelling, "Stop thieves!"

Just then the Aipoms ran over to the gang, one took Alain's scarf, and one took May's ribbon case.

"Hey that's my scarf!" Alain shouted.

"You give my ribbons back!" May demanded.

Before they could do anything, Aipoms quickly got away from them, much to their disappointment.

May fell to her knees, "No way, my ribbons." She held her cheeks.

"Don't worry, we'll get them back." Max assured her.

The man ran up to the gang, "Are you all okay?"

"Yeah, kinda." Alain admitted, grimly.

"What on earth are the Aipom's doing?" Ashlyn asked.

"Come with me to my place and I will explain." said the man.

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The man's name was Taylor and he was a berry farmer who grew berries to make Pokéblocks to sell, and he had a very big orchard. But all of his berry trees had no berries. Taylor explained that the Aipoms would often come and get some of his berries only when they were hungry. But now the Aipoms had taken all of berries off the berry trees and Mankeys, Vigoroths and Slakings were doing it too.

"Why are they doing this?" Brock asked.

"Well it's like this." Taylor began. He explained one foggy night a traveler was lost on the mountain roads, and there he saw a shadow of what looked like a giant monster behind a giant wooden fence and gate. "He ran away and found me and told me all about his encounter."

The gang was surprised by that story.

But Ashlyn knew that Team Rocket was behind this incident. The idiotic trio had built huge Slaking to make all the Pokémon gather berries so that they can make Pokéblocks to sell at the Indigo Plateau. Not to mention that Jessie will try and use May's ribbons to enter in the Grand Festival.

"Do you think that monster has something to do about the Pokémon around here taking all your berries?" Brock asked.

"I do not know I'm afraid." Taylor replied.

"We should check this out," Ashlyn decided, "if there's a giant monster about it will mean trouble."

"Yeah, and I want my ribbons back!" May said.

"By the way, Alain, where did you get that scarf from? It seemed important to you." Max asked.

Alain rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Ashlyn got it for me actually." He admitted, looking away.

Brock, May and Max blinked.

"Ashlyn gave it to me for my ninth birthday. I was always fascinated with my Charizard's Mega Evolved form. She got it for me because it reminded her of the flames that are on Charizard's mouth." Alain explained.

"At first I thought you didn't like it." Ashlyn admitted.

"But I really do like it, Ashlyn. When I was first started traveling the Kalos region, I felt like you were with me when I wore that scarf." Alain explained.

Ashlyn blushed bright red at that. Alain had also turned bright red as well.

"We should go and find out who this monster is." Brock spoke, changing the subject.

"I want to go with you all. I want to see what was going on too." Taylor decided.

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Taylor and the gang were heading to where the traveler said he saw the monster, when suddenly they saw some Mankey's carrying some berries.

"Let's follow them, they might lead us to the monster." Alain decided.

Taylor and the others agreed.

They followed the Mankeys to the giant wooden fence and some Vigoroths, Slakings and Aipoms were there too all carrying berries.

"So all the berries are for the giant monster." Max said.

Taylor and the gang were hiding behind the bushes. Meowth thanked the Pokémon for the berries and then the gate opened.

"I want my ribbons back!" May ran towards the gate.

"May, it's dangerous!" Taylor called out.

"Let's go!" Ashlyn decided.

The others followed after May.

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Once Taylor and the gang went through the gate, they saw millions of berries and they saw Team Rocket right away who noticed them as well.

"Oh no, not the twerps!" Meowth exclaimed.

"You got my ribbon case! Give it back now!" May demanded.

"Are you talking about this ribbon case?" Jessie taunted as she held May's orange ribbon case.

"Team Rocket, why am I not surprised that you three would be behind this?" Ashlyn asked.

"Team Rocket?" Taylor asked.

"They're a group of criminals who are always causing us big trouble." Max explained.

"Curve your tongue, tattle twerp. We're just dishonest folks earning a dishonest living." James defended.

"I want my case, give it please!" May demanded as she held her hand out.

"No can do! I'm going to use them for the Grand Festival!" Jessie taunted.

Ashlyn grew angry at that. She knew that May had worked really hard to earn those five ribbons. She wasn't going to let Jessie take away all of May's hard work. Ashlyn's eyes glowed blue and the case was outline blue. Then the case was snatched from Jessie's hands and landed in Ashlyn's. Jessie blinked at the absence of the ribbon case.

"This belongs to you, May." Ashlyn handed the ribbon case back to May.

"Thanks, Ashlyn." May smiled as she held her ribbon case. Then she put it back into her bag where it would be safe.

"Hey! Those were mine!" Jessie exclaimed.

"Sorry, but a dishonest person should not earn an honest ribbon." Ashlyn taunted.

Jessie growled.

"What are you three doing with all of those berries anyway?" Alain asked.

"Well we want to make a lot of Pokéblocks out of the berries and then sell them at the Indigo Plateau." James revealed proudly.

"You revealed our plan, nitwit. Never mind, let me introduce you to the Mountain King!" Meowth introduced, waving a fan around.

Something huge walked towards them and the Mountain King was revealed; a giant Slaking.

"A Slaking?!" Brock and Max gasped.

"It's giant all right." Alain commented.

"I didn't know Slaking can grow that big." Taylor commented.

"That thing is just a robot Slaking." Ashlyn confirmed.

Meowth call forward the wild Pokémon and told them to get rid of the gang. Ashlyn tried to tell the Pokémon that the mountain king was a fake, but Meowth convinced the Pokémon that Ashlyn was lying. The gang was in trouble.

"Run for it!" Taylor shouted. He and the gang ran away with the wild Pokémon chasing them.

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Taylor and the gang were still running from the wild Pokémon.

"Tesla, use Screech!" Tesla screeched loudly and the Pokémon ran away.

"What should we do now?" Max asked.

"Well we can't let Team Rocket get away with this," Ashlyn stated, "and we need to get the Pokémon to believe that the giant Slaking isn't real."

Just then they heard a noise.

"I think the Pokémon are coming back." Brock said.

Taylor told everyone to split up; Max and May went with Taylor and Ashlyn and Alain went with Brock.

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Ashlyn, Alain and Brock got chased by a bunch of Aipom's. Ashlyn was about to tell Tesla to use Screech again, but then they came to a cliff.

"We better go back." Brock suggested.

Suddenly two Aipom's, one wearing Alain's scarf, came and climbed over Ashlyn.

"Hey cut that out!" Ashlyn called out, angrily and trying to get the Aipom's off her. Suddenly Ashlyn slipped down the cliff with the two Aipom's.

"Ashlyn!" Alain cried out.

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Ashlyn and the Aipoms slid down the cliff and ended up in a bush. The Aipom dropped Alain's scarf onto the ground. Just before it could get to the scarf, Ashlyn used her psychic power to get the scarf before Aipom. The Aipom's were impressed with Ashlyn's power.

"Listen to me you two," Ashlyn ordered, "you can't go around taking things that aren't yours. Especially other people's things: stealing is bad."

The Aipom's felt sorry for taking Alain's scarf.

"Listen you two, that Slaking isn't real. It's just a robot that Team Rocket made to fool you all into giving them the berries." Ashlyn explained.

The Aipom's looked shocked at that.

"Please tell the other Pokémon. We can't let Team Rocket get away this." Ashlyn pleaded.

Just then Alain and Brock turned up and Tesla was happy to see that Ashlyn was okay.

"We better go and find Taylor, May and Max." Brock suggested.

Ashlyn and Alain agreed, and they left, leaving the two Aipom's.

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On their way to find Taylor, May and Max, they saw the giant Slaking break through the fence and started to walk away.

"Oh no, you don't! Tesla, Thunder Shock!" Tesla let out her electrical attack, stopping Team Rocket in their tracks.

"Totoro, let's go!" Ashlyn let out her Sleeping Pokémon.

"Snorlax!" Totoro the Snorlax appeared.

"Use Fire Punch on that giant Slaking, Totoro!" Totoro started to punch the Slaking right away.

"Combusken, Flamethrower!" Combusken launched a stream of flames at the giant Slaking.

Together the Flamethrower and Fire Punch attacks set the giant Slaking on fire.

"Swampert, Water Gun!" Brock released his Swampert.

"Swap!" Swampert appeared and shot a stream of water at the giant Slaking.

When the flames were out thanks to Swampert's Water Gun attack, the giant Slaking revealed its robotic form.

"I told you it was a robot." Ashlyn said.

At that moment the wild Pokémon turned up. The two Aipoms from earlier told the other Pokémon what Ashlyn told them. Now that they saw the robotic Slaking, they now knew that Ashlyn was telling the truth. The wild Pokémon started to attack the robot kicking, punching and scratching it. That of course made Team Rocket and they tried to get the wild Pokémon off them. The wild Pokémon attacked some more, and then the robotic Slaking started to malfunction and break down. It fell over and all the berries came out of it and so did Team Rocket.

"I can't stand berries!" Jessie exclaimed with an irk mark on her forehead.

"Always with a helpful thought." Meowth commented.

"Stop bickering! There's work to be done!" James ordered.

"Wobba!" Wobbuffet appeared and saluted.

"I think it's time for you three to hit the road." Alain decided.

"Not without the twerp's ribbon case! Go Seviper!" Jessie sent out her Seviper to battle.

"Seviper!" Seviper appeared.

"Combusken, Quick Attack!" Combusken tackled Seviper really hard.

"Seviper, use Bite!" Jessie ordered.

"Dodge and use Sky Upper Cut!" Combusken dodged and punched Seviper hard with Sky Upper Cut. Seviper crashed into Jessie who then crashed into James, Meowth and Wobbufeet.

"Here's your one-way ticket to the sky! Tesla, Volt Tackle!" Tesla dashed towards Team Rocket as her body then becomes surrounded by golden electricity, her body looking almost black and white and slammed into them which sent them flying into the sky.

"All those fabulous berries and we don't even get a smoothie!" James complained.

"Next time I chant for something, it's going to be cash!" Meowth exclaimed.

"The next time you start chanting, I'll be chanting for earplugs!" Jessie complained.

'WE'RE BLASTING OFF AGAIN!" The trio screamed before they disappeared into the sky.

"WOBBA!" Wobbuffet added.

DING!

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In the end, Taylor got his berries back and Alain got his scarf back.

"I thank you all so much for helping me get my berries back. I owe you all one. The mountain Pokémon owe you all one as well." Taylor said.

Taylor and the gang turned to the mountain Pokémon who were all smiling at them.

"We were glad to have helped. I hope you'll let all your friends know that everything's okay." Ashlyn admitted.

The Pokémon grunted and trilled happily at that.

Then the two Aipom's from earlier went over to Taylor and handed the berries to him.

"Oh thank you." Taylor thanked the two.

The Aipom's went over to Ashlyn and hugged her legs.

"Aipom aipom?" The first Aipom asked.

"You both want to come with me?" Ashlyn asked.

The two Aipom's nodded 'yes'.

"Alright then, welcome to the team." Ashlyn held out two Pokéballs and both Aipom's pressed the buttons and were sucked inside. They wiggled for a second and then 'ding'. That meant two successful captures.

"Well I guess it's time for us to get going." Max said.

Taylor nodded, "Yeah. I wish you luck on the Grand Festival, Ashlyn, May." He prayed.

"Thanks, Taylor. I'll do my best." Ashlyn and May said in unison.

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With the so-called Mountain King gone and the Mountain dwelling Pokémon retrieving their home back, the gang went on their way for the Indigo Plateau.

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Pokémon Caught: Shiny Arcanine (Sonia)(F), Magmar (Fuji)(M), Hisuian Zorua (Yuki)(F), Sprigatito (Fleur)(F), Aipom (Shantae)(F), Aipom (Luffy)(M)