Spencer and his team arrived on location, where they met with Schuyler. As he led Spencer into the place and handed him a tablet, he said, "Thanks for coming, professor!"
"Yes. Now tell me everything," Spencer said. He wanted to do this as fast as he could.
"Well, you see, recently, Gym Leader Bugsy announced that he saw the Unown reemerge into the world, and shortly after, there were sightings of groups all over the world," Schuyler said as he showed him pictures on the tablet.
"Fascinating…" Spencer said. "And what about this place? If they've seen Unown in other places, why are we wasting time here?"
"Well, you see, that's another thing—it's easier for you to see," Schuyler said as they passed through a stone wall that moved, revealing a hidden chamber. Inside, the walls were covered in symbols, and as Spencer looked at them, he saw they were identical to the Unown in the pictures.
"What is this?" Spencer asked.
"It seems like this place has something to do with the Unown, but I don't know what," Schuyler said. "That is why I called you, and I think we should send this to Gym Leader Bugsy as well. He may know more."
Spencer nodded. "I agree." Then, he started taking pictures of the walls, taking note of each symbol. But as they stood there, he couldn't help but feel like he was being watched.
As he took another step, he saw something that looked like a box. He crouched down and opened it, revealing a stack of stone chips.
When he picked one up, he saw there was a picture of a Unown on the stone chip. He noticed more scattered around, so he decided to pick them up one by one. In total, there were 28.
As he touched the last one, the carvings on the chips started glowing, and then Unown appeared around Spencer.
Spencer looked around in shock. "W-what?" But then he saw them spell something out:
DISAPPEAR
Spencer's eyes widened, and before he could say anything—poof—he was gone. Spencer Hale was gone like the wind. When Schuyler looked back, he saw Spencer's belongings were all that remained.
He looked around. "Professor? Professor! PROFESSOR!!!"
—-
{Back with Ash}
Olesia and Ash rode back after about an hour. Pikachu and Clefairy were both spoiled and round after being fed tons of snacks by the two women.
Olesia glanced back at Ash while still driving. "So, do you think things are okay back at the daycare?"
"Errr…" Ash thought about it.
{Meanwhile}
Brock, Misty, and Yellow were running across the field, being followed by the Wooper, who were hopping happily behind them.
One Wooper shot a blast of water, hitting Brock's foot and turning the ground beneath him into mud. He slipped and fell face-first into the muck.
"Brock!" Yellow yelled out, but Misty grabbed her hand.
"It's too late for him! Let's keep going!" Misty said, pulling her along.
Brock flipped around and saw the little Wooper bouncing happily toward him. He tried to scramble to his feet, but he slipped again. Looking up, he saw Misty and Yellow running off.
He turned back to the Wooper, who were still hopping toward him. Quickly, he reached down to his belt and grabbed a Pokéball. "Looks like there's only one way out of this. Bring it on!"
{Back with Ash}
"Probably…I know my friends—Brock wants to be a breeder, Misty loves Water Pokémon and Yellow… well, it's hard not to like Yellow," Ash said, shaking his head.
"Well, that's good. I was worried. The Wooper can sometimes get rowdy, but as long as they get exercise and sometimes get to battle, they'll be fi—oh my Mew!" Olesia exclaimed, realizing something.
"What's wrong?"
"I forgot to put on the list that they like battling! If they don't battle, they become mischievous. Oh, I hope they figured it out on their own," Olesia said, holding her head down.
"I'm sure they did. Now, can you please look at the road? I may be a lot of things, but a mechanic isn't one of them, so I'd rather not see you crash this thing," Ash said helplessly.
"Oh, right!" Olesia said as she readjusted herself. "We should get there in about 10 minutes."
—--
Once Ash and Olesia pulled up to her house in the middle of the small valley, the first thing they noticed was that the grounds were thrashed like a wild animal had run through the place. The house, however, was relatively untouched.
There seemed to be smoke rising from nowhere, and over in the corner, Brock was lying in the mud, breathing heavily. About six Wooper were sitting on top of him—beaten and dirty but happy—and now napping on him.
The rest of the Wooper were gathered around Yellow and Misty, who were sitting on a bench. The Wooper hopped happily, looking slightly dirty but satisfied, while Misty and Yellow caught their breaths.
Ash and Olesia walked up. While Ash stared at what almost looked like a war zone, Olesia seemed unfazed—like this was completely normal.
"Ohh, thank goodness everything seems okay," Olesia said as she ran up and picked a few Wooper off Brock's body. "How do you do it? All the Wooper look so happy!"
"Uhh, well…" Brock said. He wanted to get up and start flirting, but he was too tired to move. Instead, he lay back down in the nice, soft dirt. "Uhh, I guess… it just came naturally."
Meanwhile, Ash walked over to Misty and Yellow and leaned down. "Soooo, what happened here? You guys look half-dead, and Brock isn't simping."
Misty tilted her head slightly as the Wooper on her lap started nuzzling her. "Trust me, it's better if you don't know…"
Before Ash could ask any more questions, Olesia clapped her hands happily. "Thank you all so much for everything! I hope taking care of all my Wooper wasn't too much of a problem."
"Err, no, it was no problem at all, Olesia…" Brock said, still face-first in the mud. "They were… interesting. Little angels, really."
Olesia smiled. "Oh, that's wonderful! Well, thank you again. If you'd like, I'd love it if you st—"
"NO!" Brock and Misty shouted in unison.
Brock quickly cleared his throat as he got up. "Sorry! What we mean is that we need to go. You know, I have the breeding competition nationals coming up, so we can't stay."
"Oh, I understand," Olesia said with a smile. "Then I won't stop you, but you're welcome back here anytime at the Wooper Daycare!"
Ash walked over. "So, we'll probably have to do something about you, Brock. You're covered in mud, and I really don't want to have to explain that this is not how a mud bath works. You need a bath-bath."
"I got it…" Misty said, forcing herself to her feet as the Wooper jumped onto her head. She walked over and pulled out a Pokéball, but before she could throw it, one of the Wooper shot a [Water Gun] at Brock, drenching him from head to toe.
"...Huh…" Misty said, still holding the Pokéball as Wooper jumped down to her shoulder and nuzzled her cheek.
Olesia clapped her hands together. "Aww, it looks like this Wooper likes you! Hey, why don't you take Wooper with you?"
"Err… well, is that okay? I mean, I don't want to take Wooper away from his friends," Misty said. After what she'd experienced—the horrors that lay behind those eyes—she wasn't sure.
"It's fine! After all, all the Wooper here have to leave eventually. Just remember to give him plenty of battling and training. Otherwise, I'm afraid they get restless and can get a little wild."
"WAIT, SO THAT'S WHY—" Misty started but quickly covered her mouth. "I mean, I guess I don't see a reason why not. If Wooper wants to come with me, and I have your permission, then… why not, I guess."
Wooper nodded happily as Misty brought out a Pokéball and pressed the button. Wooper went inside with a ding.
Misty held the Pokéball tightly, but before she could say anything, Ash slapped her back with a smirk.
"Hey, nice catch! At least now you aren't worthless when fighting an Electric-type," Ash teased.
Misty felt slightly annoyed but also knew he was right. "Yeah, I guess. I guess now I don't have to be scared when we do our little battles. With this bad boy, I don't have to be scared about Pikachu~"
"Easy there, tiger. Pikachu can still wreck you—even without Electric moves," Ash said with a grin.
"Oh yeah? You wanna bet?" Misty said, throwing him a challenge.
Ash smirked. "Alright then. You wanna go? Any time, any place, any Pokémon—Pikachu can still beat anything you throw at us."
Meanwhile, as Ash and Misty were butting heads, Olesia looked on in amusement. "So… does this happen often?"
"I mean, I guess," Yellow said, shrugging her arms. "Ash... he pushes Misty's buttons the most, just because she gives the biggest reaction."
"And don't forget—because Misty has lost to Ash the most out of all of us, with only about a handful of wins for herself," Brock added.
"I mean, I haven't battled Ash yet," Yellow reminded Brock.
Brock raised an eyebrow. "Wow, really? How? You've battled both me and Misty, but not Ash?"
"I-I dunno. I guess it never came up. Ash asked me once, and I said I didn't want to at the time—and then never again," Yellow explained.
Meanwhile, Olesia watched everything from the side and chuckled. "You all seem like really good friends."
—-
It was a few days later after they hit the road, they traveled more, and eventually, the Group decided to stop for lunch near a stream. It was Brock's turn to cook, so Ash was free to do what he wanted—which was exactly what he planned.
He walked over to Misty and Yellow, who both held fishing rods and were getting ready to fish—not so much to catch anything, but more to pass the time.
"Hey, do you mind if I join in on this one?" Ash asked.
Misty blinked owlishly. "Oh, I mean, sure. I have an extra one."
She reached into her bag and pulled out another shrunken rod, handing it to Ash.
Ash took it and sat down at the edge of the lake. "Thanks. It's been a while since I've done some fishing."
Yellow sat a healthy distance away from Ash, not wanting to get too close. "U-um, so… are you looking for a Pokémon to catch?"
"Maybe. I guess it depends. I don't have a good Water-type to use here in Johto, and reusing my old ones would be too easy," Ash said.
Misty sat on the other side and threw her line out. "Only you can complain about things being too easy."
"Aww, thank you," Ash replied, throwing his own line out. "By the way, I wanted to ask something."
"Shoot," Misty said.
"Well, remember how you went feral at the island of Squirtle?" Ash asked with a teasing smirk.
"You're not going to let me live that down! I already said I was sorry," Misty replied, looking embarrassed.
"Right. Well, besides that—you caught a bunch to give to your gym, but you said you were keeping one. Whatever happened to it? I haven't seen you use it—like, ever."
"Oh yeah, I guess you never found out. Here, let me show you," Misty said as she pulled out a Pokéball and opened it. From it, a little Wartortle emerged, but as soon as she saw Ash and Yellow, she quickly ran to hide behind Misty.
"Yeah, you see, I got her to evolve, but she's extremely shy. I barely got her comfortable around me," Misty said, scratching the little turtle on the head.
Ash and Yellow looked at each other.
"Should we tell her?" Yellow asked.
Ash shook his head. "Nah, let's let her find out by herself."
"Wait, what are you talking about? What do you want to tell me?" Misty asked, crossing her arms.
"I wanted to show her something," Ash said as his Rotom Phone flew out of his pocket. It scrolled through videos until it pulled up the live stream of the Fire and Rescue Grand Prix, where Blastoise was competing.
He then had his Rotom Phone hover over to the little Wartortle.
"There. Let her watch that, maybe it'll help her," Ash said with a smile more directed at Misty than anything else.
"How is that supposed to help her? Isn't that entire thing involving burning stuff, isn't that going to freak her out more?" Misty said, not seeing Wartortle hold the phone and watching the scream
"Uhh, Misty…" Yellow said, pointing behind her.
Misty's eye twitched. "There's no way…" She looked down to see Wartortle completely engrossed in the video, sitting by a tree and forgetting to stay hidden.
Misty sighed and looked at Ash. "You're not going to let me live this down, are you?"
"Oh, you have no idea of half of what we're going to do, but for now, let's just keep fishing~," Ash said, smirking at Misty.
"Fine…" Misty said, squinting at Ash
"Alright!" Ash responded
Yellow looked between her friends, "Uhhh, okey dokey,"