After leaving the dojo, Ash and his group continued traveling toward Azalea Town.
That day, they passed through a forest.
"Ash, if we keep taking this route, it'll still take another day to reach Azalea Town. Why don't we just take another road? We probably would've arrived by now," Brock said while looking at the guidebook.
"The reason is simple. There are reports of Cyndaquil appearing in this forest," Ash replied.
"Cyndaquil? Ash, are you sure about that?" Misty asked uncertainly.
"I only heard it from others. But as the saying goes, it's better to believe it exists than to ignore the possibility. Besides, coming here may not necessarily be a bad thing," Ash said patiently.
In reality, thanks to memories from his previous life, he clearly remembered that there really was a Cyndaquil in this forest.
And that Cyndaquil was destined to belong to him.
Suddenly, Ash stopped them.
"Wait."
Misty and Brock turned around.
"What's wrong?"
Ash didn't answer. Instead, he bent down, picked up a rock from the ground, and tossed it onto the path ahead of them.
Boom!
A deep pit instantly collapsed open in front of them.
"There was actually a trap here? Good thing we didn't step on it," Misty said nervously. "But who would do something this awful? Why set traps in a place like this?"
"Could Team Rocket have set up an ambush in advance waiting for us?" Brock guessed.
Ash walked over to the trap and examined it carefully.
"This wasn't Team Rocket's doing. First of all, with their level of efficiency, there's no way they could've gotten ahead of us. If they had arrived earlier, they would've shown up back at the dojo already.
"Secondly, this doesn't look like a trap meant for humans. Judging by its structure, it looks more like a trap designed to capture Pokémon."
"You guys ruined the trap I worked so hard to make! Who the heck are you people?!"
At that moment, a teenage boy emerged from the nearby bushes. He was holding a shovel in his hand, and beside him was another freshly dug pitfall trap.
"What exactly are you digging traps for? Don't you realize how dangerous this is?" Misty immediately demanded angrily.
"Hmph, if you fell for it, that just means you're stupid. Who told you to interfere with my plan to catch Cyndaquil?" His tone was incredibly irritating. "My name's Koji! And listen up, you'd better stay right here and stop messing with my traps!"
Ash frowned.
"So you know there's a wild Cyndaquil nearby too?"
"Of course I do. I heard there's a wild Cyndaquil around here. But you're not allowed to interfere. That Cyndaquil is mine."
The moment the young man finished speaking, he suddenly felt his collar being lifted.
When he looked up, he found Ash staring at him coldly.
"I hate hearing people say things like that in front of me," Ash said icily. "If we hadn't avoided your trap, you'd already be crippled by now. This forest doesn't belong to you, so what right do you have to stop us?"
"Y-You... let me go!"
Ash casually tossed him aside, throwing him onto the ground before dusting off his hands.
"Tch. So filthy. I'm afraid even hitting you would dirty my hands."
"And another thing. Catching Pokémon is supposed to rely on your own skill. Cheap tricks like yours are disgusting."
"Y-You just wait!"
After throwing out a threat, the young man grabbed his shovel and ran off.
"Ash, just now..."
"What about it? I just didn't like him. We're all Trainers, so what gives him the right to order other people around?"
"Ash is right. Let's just keep moving," Brock agreed.
"Hahaha, twerps, we're here!"
Just as they were about to leave, Team Rocket suddenly arrived piloting a Meowth-shaped robot.
As they approached, they smugly began showing off.
"This is our newest invention, Steel Armor Meowth Number One..."
Before they could finish speaking, the robot's legs fell straight into the pitfall trap.
"Looks like we've found someone to clear the traps for us," Ash said with a grin.
"Sounds good!"
"Hey, twerp, help us out!"
"Pull us out of here, meow!"
Soon after, Ash and the others arrived at the foot of a mountain. There were numerous cave entrances scattered across it, seemingly connected like a giant maze underground.
"Look, it's a Cyndaquil!" Misty had the sharpest eyes and immediately spotted three Cyndaquil up ahead.
Cyndaquil were naturally timid Pokémon, but this one didn't appear frightened. It simply yawned, looking somewhat sluggish and slow to react.
"Wow, it's so cute! Ash, you have to catch it!" Misty said excitedly.
"Don't even think about stealing it from me! Sandslash, use Sand Attack on them!"
That Koji guy appeared again, and this time he even had a Sandslash with him. No wonder he suddenly acted so arrogant.
Ash directly sent out Pidgeot to clean up the situation. With a few powerful flaps of its wings, Pidgeot blew all the sand right back at them instead, causing Koji and Sandslash to get hit by their own attack.
"Alright, Pidgeot, take us to the Cyndaquil!"
Ash climbed onto Pidgeot together with Misty and Brock, and with a few beats of its wings, Pidgeot flew straight toward the Cyndaquil.
"Hahaha, twerps, we finally got out!"
"You didn't think a trap like that could hold us forever, did you?"
"Team Rocket, he's the one who dug the traps. Go settle the score with him," Ash said without even turning his head.
"You destroyed my traps?!" Koji shouted angrily at them.
"That brat said you were the one who dug them," James said while rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
"Then what are we waiting for? Get him!"
And just like that, without any outside interference, Ash and the others smoothly approached the Cyndaquil.
Ash crouched down and spoke as gently as possible.
"Don't be scared, Cyndaquil. I'm not here to hurt you."
He took out some high-quality Pokémon food, placed it in his palm, and slowly extended it forward.
Cyndaquil stared at him warily before glancing at the food. Its nose twitched slightly, clearly tempted, but it was still very cautious.
Ash remembered that this particular Cyndaquil was even slower to warm up than others of its kind. It needed more patience and guidance.
He didn't rush it. Instead, he quietly waited while releasing a gentle aura of Aura power, conveying calm and reassurance.
Finally, Cyndaquil seemed to sense Ash's sincerity and kindness.
It cautiously stepped forward little by little before suddenly darting in, snatching the food from Ash's hand, and immediately retreating to nibble on it in tiny bites.
After finishing the food, the fear in its eyes lessened considerably, replaced instead with curiosity.
"It's too noisy over there. Why don't you come with me?" Ash slowly reached out and gently picked it up in his arms.
"It's really well-behaved!" Misty exclaimed.
"That's just Cyndaquil's natural personality."
Meanwhile, the chaotic dog-eat-dog battle on the other side was finally coming to an end. In the end, Team Rocket's robot came out on top, using a special rubber ball to glue Koji to the ground and leave him rolled up helplessly.
"Now it's finally our turn to battle, twerp! Hand over your Pokémon!"
"You're going to wake it up with all that noise. Oddish, Solar Beam."
Ash casually tossed out Oddish's Poké Ball. Oddish didn't hesitate for even a second. One Solar Beam instantly blasted the robot into pieces, sending Team Rocket flying off again.
"Why does it always end like this?!"
"We finally got some screen time, meow, and we still got blasted off again, meow!"
"What a terrible feeling!"
"Cynda? Cynda!"
Cyndaquil seemed to understand what Ash meant and nodded firmly.
"Great, I caught Cyndaquil!"
"Pika Pikachu!"
"Damn it, that was supposed to be mine! Let me go! Let me go! I want to battle you! My Cyndaquil!" Koji shouted furiously as he watched Cyndaquil being carried away.
Ash walked over to him and crouched down.
"Sorry, first come, first served. I'm the one who caught it. Also..."
Ash casually pulled out a smelly sock and stuffed it into Koji's mouth.
"Keep your mouth shut. I don't want to hear you talking."
"Mmph... Mmph..."
Koji could only widen his eyes as he watched them slowly walk away, despair filling his heart.
Someone save me!
A moment later, the smell from the sock knocked him unconscious.
[ A/N: Should Cyndaquil eventually get a Hisuian form evolution later on? Like evolving it into Quilava first, then using a special item to evolve it into Hisuian Typhlosion? ]
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