Weather Institute

After the Pokéringer Contest was over, the gang had a few surprises while on their way to Fortree City. First while Ashlyn was training, Idris the Bagon and Brock and Max's Trapinchs' finally evolved to them to their second stages. Idris evolved into a Shelgon and the two Trapinchs' evolved into Vibrava.

Ashlyn, Brock, and Max were happy that their dragons had evolved to their second stages and asked them to not cause trouble at Prof Oak's lab or their family's gym again.

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The next surprise was that one day the gang was attacked by an angry swarm of Shroomish and Breloom. But Hestia and Alain's Combusken evolved into Blaziken and Max's Shroomish evolved into Breloom and they were able to frighten the Shroomish swarm away. And now the gang was continuing their way for Fortree City.

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On the way though some peculiar happened, the weather kept on nice weather to rain, snow and then back to nice weather again.

"What's going on here?" May asked.

"I know what's going on," Ashlyn replied, "This is the work of a Pokémon who's using the moves Rain Dance, Sunny Day and Hail. I've seen something like this before."

"Ashlyn's right." Alain confirmed.

"Question is, what Pokémon is doing this?" Brock pondered.

Brock's question was soon answered. A grey sort of cloud shaped Pokémon appeared in front of the gang.

"No way, it's a Castform!" Max shouted excitedly.

Ashlyn looked at Castform on her Rotom phone:

[Castform, the weather Pokémon. Its appearance changes with the weather. It uses the power of nature to transform in order to protect its small body.]

"Are you the one responsible for this crazy weather?" May asked.

"No actually it wasn't." said a voice.

The voice belonged to a male scientist, who was running up to the gang.

"I do apologize the crazy weather was caused by our research." The scientist apologized.

"So this Castform is helping you with the weather?" Alain asked.

"That's right." The woman next to the male scientist said.

Ashlyn recognized the male scientist as Bart. Beside him was a female scientist, who had a Ditto on her shoulder. Ashlyn recognized her as Millie.

"So who are you two?" May asked.

"Oh, I'm Bart. I'm the manager of the Weather Institute in this town." Bart introduced himself.

"And I'm Millie. This Ditto here is my partner." Millie introduced herself.

Brock blushed and was instantly right in front of Millie while clasping his hands together, "Amazing! Your genius is only equal by your incredible beauty!"

Millie blinked in confusion, "What?"

The rest of the gang sweat-dropped at this.

"Sorry about that." Alain apologized.

"Max, this is your que." May reminded him.

Max sighed, "Okay. Here we go again." He walked towards Brock, only to stop when he and the others noticed that Brock was no longer flirting with Millie, "What's this?"

"Brock, are you okay?" Alain asked.

"Is he sick or something?" May questioned.

Brock frowned as he crossed his arms in front of his chest, "I'm not sure what's happening. Something seems to have thrown my charisma out of whack." He pouted.

"Well then, how about we give you a tour of the Weather Institute?" Bart suggested, changing the subject.

"We would love to!" Max beamed at the idea.

"I wouldn't mind a small detour." Ashlyn commented.

"It might be interesting." Alain added.

"Follow us then." Bart instructed.

As the gang followed the two scientists, Ashlyn stared at Millie and tried to remember who she was. Then it hit her; the Millie right in front of them was really Brodie of Team Magma.

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Bart and Millie brought the gang to a building called the Weather Institute. The Weather Institute was a building where the researchers predicted and researched the weather, and they also had a machine that could control the weather. Max asked Bart if the Castform was his and Bart said it was.

"Truth is we raise and look after Castform here too, they like the weather institute so they made it their home and they also help us protect it." Bart informed the gang.

"So cool!" Max beamed.

"Millie, would you be so kind to give these kids a tour?" Bart requested.

"I would love to." Millie accepted, "Follow me, everyone."

The gang followed after Millie. Even though Ashlyn wanted to tell the others about Millie's true identity, she couldn't really do it in front of Millie who could easily hear them. She would have to wait for the right moment to do so.

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Millie started the tour by showing the gang a room with computers and computer screens that showed what was happening outside. One screen even showed dozens of Castform flying about.

"Wow you really do keep a lot of them." May commented.

Suddenly Ashlyn and Alain saw a helicopter on a computer screen.

"Oh-oh that's Team Aqua's helicopter!" Ashlyn gasped.

"Which means that Team Aqua is here." Alain confirmed.

"Team Aqua huh?" Millie said, looking crossed.

Ashlyn glanced over at Alain who caught her expression. He was thinking the same thing. He figured out who Millie really was.

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Soon enough, Millie and the gang looked at the cameras and saw Commander Shelly and some Team Aqua members coming out of their helicopters and demanded Bart to hand over the pass card, which held the information of the legendary Pokémon Kyogre and Groudon on it. But Bart handed the pass card to his Castform who soon ran off with two Team Aqua members after it.

"We need to do something fast." Alain declared.

"I can download the data on our main computer onto a disk and then delete on the computer before Team Aqua gets here." Millie said.

"Okay, Alain, Tesla and I will help the Castform that Team Aqua is chasing." Ashlyn decided.

Even though Ashlyn knew that Millie was not really who she was, her main concern now was protecting the data from Team Aqua. She would have to sort out Millie afterwards.

Max and May noticed that the other Castforms were being threatened by Team Aqua on the computer screen and they went off to help them. So Ashlyn, Alain, and Tesla went off to help Bart's Castform, Max and May went off to protect the Castforms and Brock stayed with Millie.

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Ashlyn was alone with Tesla and Alain, she decided to tell them about that Millie was really a man.

"This may sound crazy, but I think that guy is a Team Magma member in disguise." Ashlyn stated.

"Raichu?!" Tesla exclaimed, shocked.

"I agree. I noticed how that guy reacted when he saw that Team Aqua arrived. But also why Brock stopped flirting with Millie. My guess is that his inner instincts warned him or something like that." Alain guessed.

"Right now we have to protect Castform from Team Aqua and we shall deal with that Team Magma member afterwards." Ashlyn answered.

"Can you locate Bart's Castform?" Alain asked.

Ashlyn closed her eyes to concentrate. Then, just like at Granite Cave, the blue light appeared again and it showed Ashlyn the surroundings of the weather institute. Then she found Bart's Castform.

"Okay, let's go!" Ashlyn said.

Ashlyn kept her eyes shut but thanks to the blue light she saw and knew where she was going. Tesla held on tight to Ashlyn and Alain followed next to Ashlyn. They were ready for a fight against Team Aqua.

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Soon enough, Ashlyn, Alain, and Tesla found Bart's Castform who was being chased by two Team Aqua members and a Crawdaunt.

"Tesla, Thunder Shock!" Ashlyn ordered.

Tesla's electrical attack knocked them out at once. Then Ashlyn, Alain, Tesla and Castform hide in another room.

"Listen I have an idea of how to fool Team Aqua." Ashlyn said.

"What do you have in mind, Ashlyn?" Alain asked.

"Castform, I need you to give me the pass card." Ashlyn declared.

"Form? (Why?)" Castform asked.

"I'm going to hide it inside my hoodie. You'll hold a fake one so that Team Aqua won't get the real one." Ashlyn explained.

"That's a great idea." Alain agreed.

"Raichu (Yeah)." Tesla agreed as well.

Castform nodded, "Castform (Okay)."

Castform handed the pass card to Ashlyn, and she placed it in a hidden pocket it was tucked on the inside of her hoodie. Alain managed to find another pass card that was in the room and gave it to Castform. Then they came out of the hiding place and set off to get out of the Weather Institute.

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Ashlyn, Alain, Tesla, and Castform arrived outside where everyone was, but Shelly and other Team Aqua members were still there with the researchers.

"I've wasted a lot of time because of you lot today," Shelly stated, "so to not have me waste any more time, hand over the data or the researchers will get hurt."

"Quick Ashlyn, give Castform's pass card to me!" 'Millie' pleaded when she spotted Ashlyn, Alain, Tesla, and Castform.

"Sorry but you aren't getting anything from me, Millie," Ashlyn denied, "or as I should really call you Team Magma member."

Everyone went puzzled on what Ashlyn just said.

"What are you talking about, Ashlyn?" May asked, confused.

"Tesla, Thunder Shock on Millie!" Ashlyn ordered.

Tesla launched her electrical attack on 'Millie'. And when 'Millie' got shocked her clothes ripped off and then she was revealed as a man with purple hair with an orange streak and he was wearing Team Magma clothing.

"So how did you figure it out?" The man asked.

"I noticed that you were really a guy when I first saw you," Ashlyn explained, "and the look of anger you had on your face when you saw Team Aqua was the same look the other Team Magma members had the last time I saw Team Magma."

"Not to mention that Brock wasn't flirting with you at all." Alain added.

"So who are you?" May asked.

"The name's Brodie the man of a thousand faces. A proud member of Team Magma." 'Brodie' declared arrogantly with his arms spread out. "Now I must be going. My leader is waiting. Ditto, transform into Growlithe." Brodie commanded.

Ditto transformed into Growlithe.

"Now Flamethrower on that Castform." Growlithe use Flamethrower on Bart's Castform. Castform got hit and the pass card it was wearing got burned to cinders.

"I have the spare copy of data that I downloaded earlier," Brodie smirked as he held the spare, "and let me tell you Shelly I deleted the data on the main computer, so you're at a loss."

He quickly revealed a hidden jet pack on his bag. Then he and Ditto left quickly while laughing menacingly.

"This isn't over yet! Just wait until the next time! Retreat, all of you!" Shelly ordered to the others.

Team Aqua left in their helicopters.

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The researchers couldn't believe of what had happened, especially that they had been fooled by Brodie.

"What's worse is that Team Magma now has all our data on Kyogre and Groudon." Bart stated.

"Yes, but you haven't exactly lost it either." Ashlyn assured him as she took the pass card out of her hoodie.

Bart gasped, "But I thought Brodie destroyed it." He said.

"The pass card that was burned was a decoy." Ashlyn explained as she handed the pass card back to Bart.

"You are one smart trainer, Ashlyn." Bart complimented her, who was grateful.

"Excuse me." A female voice called out.

Everyone turned to the voice and saw a woman who looked just like Millie. Ashlyn knew that this was the real Millie.

"I'm looking for the Weather Institute. My name is Millie and I'm here to start my new job today." Millie said.

"Millie?!" Bart gasped.

"Ashlyn, is that?" Alain trailed.

"Don't worry that's the real Millie." Ashlyn confirmed.

Suddenly Brock was right in front of Millie and held her hands in his, "Millie, in just one instant, you've changed my forecast from cloudy gray, and lonely to sunny, bright, and happy! And now, filled with love for you!" He flirted.

Millie blinked in confusion, "Huh?"

Max appeared behind Brock and grabbed his jacket, "Storm cloud approaching! Let's go!" He pulled Brock away from Millie.

"Oh Millie." Brock groaned.

"Looks like Brock's back to his old self again." May commented.

"It would seem so." Alain agreed.

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The researchers told the real Millie of what had happened with Team Aqua and Team Magma.

"Goodness me," Millie gasped, "Well thank goodness that Ashlyn saved our data then. And don't worry I will put it up on the main computer at once."

The researchers were grateful to the gang for their help.

"We're just sorry that Brodie managed to gain your data." Ashlyn apologized.

"Yes and I do fear of what they'll do with it," Bart said, "I will tell Officer Jenny of what's happened and hopefully Team Aqua and Team Magma will be stopped."

Suddenly a wild Castform appeared, and it flew in front of Max.

"Hey there." Max greeted.

"Max, as a thank you for protecting the Castform I want you to take this Castform with you." Bart said.

"Do you mean it?" Max asked, in surprise.

"Yes I know that this Castform will be happy with you." Bart answered.

Max accepted the offer, and they caught the Castform, which of course made Max very happy. After that the gang said goodbye to Millie and Bart and left the weather institute.

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That evening, the gang thought about today as they headed towards Fortree City.

"After what had happened makes me fear of what Team Aqua and Magma are going to do next." May commented.

"Me too." Max agreed.

"But if worse does come, remember we have Rayquaza on our side to help us." Ashlyn reminded them.

"I hope that Rayquaza will be able to stop those Teams." Brock prayed.

"I know that Rayquaza will." Alain confirmed.

It was clear to the gang that they had to now be on their guard if they ever ran into Team Aqua and Team Magma again.

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The gang had once again had encountered Team Aqua and Team Magma. Ashlyn knew that both Teams were getting closer to achieving their goals.

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Pokémon Caught: Mightyena (Lela)(F), Marshtomp (Finn)(M), Shiny Blaziken (Hestia)(F), Kirlia (Miku)(F), Kirlia (Lancelot)(M), Swellow (Percy)(M), Linoone (Ziggy)(M), Grovyle (Kazuki)(M), Beautifly (Willow)(F), Shiny Milotic (Ula)(F), Crawdaunt (Sebastian)(M), Lairon (Hagane)(M), Sableye (Jacinth)(M), Shiny Flygon (Libelle)(F), Shiny Electrike (Damini)(F), Shiny Shelgon (Idris)(F), Torkoal (Shula)(F), Swablu (Alta)(F)