"Ta-da!" Serena exclaimed, as she's known for doing. After a shattering defeat, she decided it'd be best if her and her Pokémon took a little break before training for her second chance.

And she decided the best way to start said break was to make a delicious breakfast for her friends!

"Woah!" Ash, Goh and Chloe exclaimed in unison, their eyes sparkling and their mouths already beginning to water.

"You made all of that yourself?" Goh asked, impressed by the way all the food looked.

"Sure did!" Serena smiled. "Now let's dig in!"

"Alright!" They all exclaimed together before they started eating the breakfast.

From the opening into the kitchen, a small, lizard-like Pokémon emerged. It slowly made its way closer and closer to the table, eying the food the same way the kids were. However, even though nobody noticed its approach, as soon as it climbed the table it began sweating with stress... before disappearing completely!

Ash's Treecko and Serena's Pancham were happily chowing down on some well prepared Pokémon food, but while they were chewing and distracted, a small piece of their food began floating before it too disappeared into thin-air.
When the two prideful Pokémon returned their attention to their bowls, their missing food did not go unnoticed.

"Treecko!"

"Pancham Cham Pan!"

The two glared at each-other before jumping backwards and readying an attack.

"Hey! What's the matter?" Goh asked, noticing the hostility between the two Pokémon.

"Huh?" Ash said as he turned around to face Treecko and Pancham.

"Hey, you two! Stop fighting!" Serena exclaimed, not happy at all that her Pokémon was acting up.

"Pika..."

"Scorbun..."

Before long, the food disappeared from Pikachu's plate. And then from Scorbunny's. Then from Yamper's.

"Serena's right. Knock it off you two!" Ash said, not noticing the piece of food he had on his fork also vanished. "If you want to battle, we can train after breakfast!" Ash then bit down on an empty fork.

The kids finally began to take notice of the disappearing food, but the only one of them who caught sight of the levitating piece of pancake was Goh.
Suspecting that Gengar may be back, Goh put one hand on his Scyther's Poké-Ball before he took a closer look at the plate.

Soon enough, the lizard-like Pokémon re-emerged from nothingness. It took Goh a moment to process what had just happened, but as soon as he did both he and the Pokémon jumped in fright. It seemed that the Pokémon was a lot more scared than Goh was, as it began to back away into a wall, tears in its eyes.

"How did that Pokémon get here?" Chloe asked.

"I don't know. I've never seen one before..." Goh replied.

Soon enough, the Pokémon began balling its eyes out.

"Crying?" Goh pondered. "Maybe it just recently hatched...?"

Unfortunately for the catching maester, he did not have much time to understand the situation, because soon enough, everybody in the room began crying just as hard as the Pokémon was.

"Wh-what's going on?!" Ash cried (literally).

"I-I don't know!" Goh wept.

The four kids and their Pokémon stood there for a while, just crying for no reason, before the Pokémon disappeared again. This seemed to calm everybody down.

"It's..." Chloe sniffed before continuing, "it's gone..."

"Guess it ran away..." Serena wiped her eyes.

Goh's face shot up with worry. "We gotta find it!"

"Right!" Ash replied, a determined smile now replacing his weeping face.

"What happened here?!" Professor Kukui asked, having just ran into the room. "I heard you guys crying. Is everything alright?"

"Fine and dandy, Professor!" Ash smiled. "Now we have a Pokémon to find!"

He ran past Kukui with Goh, Chloe and Serena shortly behind him. Kukui looked at them for a moment before smiling with pride.

.......................................................................

"Where is it?" Goh asked himself as the gang moved around one of Centra City's many parks, a fountain shooting water right behind them. They spent a lot of time searching around the laboratory in vain, until Yamper got the scent of the Pokémon and led them outside.

"Hey Goh..." Ash approached Goh, as the latter was looking for the lizard Pokémon in some bushes. "You sure you wanna catch that Pokémon?"

"Sure do!" Goh exclaimed, giving an arm pump. "It knows how to disappear! Just like Mew! I just have to catch it!"

Ash chuckled.

Serena and Chloe returned from their separate expedition.

"Did you find anything?" Ash asked.

Serena shook her head while Chloe answered: "No. You guys got any luck?"

"None whatsoever..." Goh sighed.

"I don't get it..." Chloe murmured. "If Yamper led us here, then that Pokémon should still be close by..."

"Have you checked the Pokédex?" Ash asked. "Maybe it could help us know where it likes to hang out?"

Goh facepalmed, disappointed at himself for not thinking about something so obvious. He then grabbed his phone from his pocket and opened the Pokédex application.

Sobble, the Water Lizard Pokémon. A Water type.

When Sobble touches watery substances, its body takes on the color of its surroundings. Because it's timid, it produces large amounts of sweat and tears that cause it to become invisible. It is said that when Sobble cries, its tears have the same effect as chopping one hundred onions.

"That's oddly specific..." Chloe raised an eye-brow upon hearing the last part. "Did someone replicate that experiment?"

"No idea..." Goh chuckled. "But if it's timid, then Sobble may be afraid and hiding out..."

"And its sweat and tears were how it disappeared when it cried..." Ash said.

"Could be..." Serena chimed in. "Hey! It said that it turns invisible when it touches water!"

"Yeah!" Chloe exclaimed. "Let's check the fountain!"

"Yeah, makes sense!" Ash said.

"Pika Pika!"

The four made their way to the fountain. Just like Serena and Chloe suggested, Sobble was Indeedee hiding in the fountain. Unfortunately for them, they couldn't see it.

"Sobble? Are you hiding in there?" Goh spoke to the fountain. "My name is Goh, and I like the cool things you can do! Know what? I think you and I should be a team!"

"Sobble?" Sobble croaked quietly.

"We're not mad at you for eating our breakfast, really!"

"I'm a little mad..." Ash murmured.

"You want Yamper to Spark you again?" Chloe threatened.

"Hey! Let's all become friends and eat together!" Goh continued.

They all waited around for a few seconds but they got no reply.

Goh let out a sigh of disappointment. "Guess it's not there..."

"It's probably far away from here by now..." Ash lamented.

Goh was frustrated and grabbed a Poké-Ball. "Argh... I WANTED TO CATCH IT SO BAD!" He yelled as he threw the Poké-Ball at the fountain.

Instead of the expected outcome, that being the Poké-Ball landing on the water and making a loud splash, the Poké-Ball opened up and sucked something inside it.

"How dumb..." Goh chuckled in embarrassment. "I threw one of my Poké-Balls cause I got carried away. What a goof..."

As soon as he was done talking, sparks flew out of the Poké-Ball and it made a thung sound, indicating that Goh caught something.

Wide eyed and excited, Goh ran to the Poké-Ball and took it back. The familiar Pokédex notification sound emanated from his phone and he took it to claim his prize!

Only...

Panpour has been registered to your Pokédex!

"What?!" Goh exclaimed. "Aww come on!"

Startled by Goh's loud exclamations, Sobble started running away from the fountain, every step making a splash and catching the gang's attention.

"It was in the fountain!" Ash exclaimed, noticing the splashes.

"Let's go after it!" Goh exclaimed.

"Goh, wait!" Chloe said, stopping her friend from moving any further. "If Sobble is this timid and easily startled, maybe it would be easier if we approached it with something more familiar to it..."

"You mean like another Water type?" Serena asked.

"Exactly like another Water type!" Chloe answered.

"Good idea, Chloe!" Ash said, grabbing a Poké-Ball from his belt. "Froakie, I choose you!"

The Bubble-Frog Pokémon exited the Poké-Ball, ready to help his Trainer as best as he can.

Ash opened the Pokédex application on his phone and showed Froakie a picture of Sobble.

"We're looking for a Sobble that looks just like this..." he explained. "But it's very timid and anti-social, so help us find it and calm it down, kay?"

"Fro!"

Froakie wasted no time before leaping high in the air, landing on a streetlight before hopping again and vanishing from sight.

.......................................................................

Froakie looked around the city for a while and up until now he had little luck finding Sobble. That was until he heard a crowd of people crying for no reason. He took a closer look and sure enough, he could barely make out the outline of a sobbing Sobble.

Sobble didn't stay there for long though, and it began running away. It reached a dead-end soon enough and its sobs slowed into whimpers before they completely stopped.
That moment of calm did not last long though, as a group of Nickit appeared from the shadows and cornered the Water Lizard Pokémon.

Fearful for what might happen to it, Froakie leaped into action, hurling a Water Pulse at one of the Nickit before Pounding the others so fast they couldn't see what hit them. The Nickit quickly cut their losses and ran away, finally giving Froakie the opportunity to introduce himself to Sobble.

Of course, Sobble got scared of him at first but Froakie managed to calm it down. He asked the Water Lizard what was the matter, and it told Froakie that it felt so nervous around everything, so it wanted to grow stronger so it could defend itself; but it got so nervous around everything that it never had the chance to train effectively.

Feeling sympathy for his fellow small Water-type, Froakie decided to tell Sobble about his own past:

For as long as Froakie could remember, probably ever since it hatched, it wanted to get stronger. While the other Froakie of his community only cared about fun, he trained. Because of his intolerance for the fun-loving way of the rest of the Froakie community he was shunned since nobody wanted to hang out with him. But he didn't care. All that mattered was him becoming stronger.

Then one day, he came upon a researcher.

He was in charge of overseeing the community; protecting it from predators and poachers, making sure they were all healthy and well-fed, and prepare them for the day that they might be chosen to be given away to a fledgling Trainer, who will love and care for them.

Knowing full well that, as a rule of thumb, Pokémon caught by humans are far stronger than those in the wild, Froakie made a ruckus and showed off to the researcher until he was chosen to be the next one to be handed to a Trainer.

And sure enough, he found one! But he was a coordinator who did not care about battles. So Froakie got on his nerve enough for him to return him to the Researcher. This process repeated itself a few more times, and Froakie never seemed to find the right Trainer.

Then one day, the researcher got word of the PML and asked Froakie if he wanted to go there and act as a first partner Pokemon for a Trainer there. He jumped on the opportunity, and he's still glad he did it' because his first day on Pasio Island was the day he met Ash.

Froakie finished telling his story to Sobble and ended it by letting it know that joining Ash was the best decision he's ever made. And from the time he spent with Goh, Sobble would be a missing a great opportunity if it refused to join him.

Sobble took a moment to reflect over what Goh had told it:

My name is Goh, and I like the cool things you can do! Know what? I think you and I should be a team!

A team? Maybe forming a team with someone like Goh really is the best way to go about it...

"Sob-Sobble!" Sobble put on a brave face and decided to go to Goh.

.......................................................................

Hovering near the top of a building was a familiar looking ballon. Its occupants were sitting inside the cockpit with a small feast of their own.

"Ah... the stars finally give us a break!" Jessie said, grabbing a piece of food.

"And decent food as well!" James added.

"There's no way that little monster's gonna catch us here!" Meowth concluded, jabbing some food on his claws as if they were a fork.

"Wobbuffet!"

They all started to eat their food but before long, they heard a rustling sound. Looking around the cockpit they quickly noticed that the rustling was coming from inside an open bag of chips (crisps?).

"What's that?" James asked.

The answer quickly presented itself, as a Pokémon that somewhat resembled Pikachu got out of the bag, chewing on a tasty snack.

"Morpeko!" It squeaked, just as Team Rocket screamed in horror.

"IT'S BACK!" James yelled.

"THAT SELFISH FULL-TUMMY BUM! WE'RE GONNA STARVE IF IT KEEPS GOING LIKE THIS!" Jessie added.

"SOMEBODY KICK IT OUTTA DA BALLOON!" Meowth pleaded.

"Wobbuffet!"

But before Team Rocket could panic any further, they heard a familiar croaking sound. To make sure they heard what they thought they heard, they lowered the balloon closer to the ground. Sure enough, they witnessed Ash's Froakie gently hopping around with Sobble on his back.

"Say, does that Froakie look familiar to anybody else?" Jessie asked.

"It looks like it's the twerp's..." James replied.

"And if it's carryin' that blue finned thing, it means the tweips want it..." Mewoth concluded.

The three huddled together and grinned meanicingly.

"Let's get to work!" They shouted in unison.

"Wobbuffet!"

"Morpeko!"

"'Ey! Who made you part of da club?!" Meowth yelled.

This was something they should not have done, because their loud screams were enough for Froakie to spot them.

"Fro?!" It croaked, surprised to see them.

Froakie and Team Rocket looked at each other for a few seconds before the two humans and Meowth decided to do what they thought they were contractually obligated to do.

"Prepare for trouble, are you all that surprised?"

"Just make it a double and a super-size!"

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all people within our nation!"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To expand our reach to the stars above!"

"Jessie!"

"And James!"

"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare for a lop-sided fight!"

"Meowth! That's right!"

"Wobbuffet!"

"Morpeko!"

They all stopped and stared at Morpeko for a moment before shrugging and eying the angry Froakie once more.

"Don't get cocky now guys..." Meowth said. "Small potato or no, dat Froakie is still the tweip's, so it knows how ta fight!"

"Well then, that really just leaves us with one option..." Jessie said, looking over at James who was already holding a remote-like device.

"Indeed! Ready when you are!"

"Come on down!" They exclaimed in unison, as James activated the device.

The device quickly called over a Pelipper, who dropped a gumball machine-like device in front of them.

"You know the drill!" The two said to Froakie, who actually didn't know the drill. "We are the drill!"

Meowth jumped head-first into the slot in the machine and his coin was inserted inside it. The machine activated, causing Meowth to shutter a bit.

"It feels like you're drillin' me!" He said.

"Oh quit your yapping, because we have our secret... Rocket..." Jessie said, as two purple Poké-Balls dropped from the machine.

"Prize..." James added.

"Master!" The two exclaimed before hurling their Poké-Balls up in the air, unleashing their two newest threats upon twerp-kind.

"The Magnet Area Pokémon; Magnezone!" Jessie exclaimed as she unveiled which Pokémon she got.

"And the Collective Pokémon; Barbaracle!" James did the same.

Froakie croaked, and told Sobble to get out of there, but Sobble refused.

"Not backing down, I see..." James said.

"We'll make it back down! Magnezone! Supersonic!" Jessie ordered.

"And Barbaracle, use Mud-Slap!"

Magnezone's eyes glowed red before it started spinning its magnets and releasing a horrible noise from them, disorienting both Sobble and Froakie. This gave Barbaracle the opportunity to slam both of its claws into the ground, causing two streams of brown mud to shoot out of the ground and hit Sobble and Froakie.

Because Froakie was disoriented from Magnezone's Supersonic, he was unable to save Sobble from getting hit, and the force of Barbaracle's Mud-Slap sent it flying away from view.

"Woah..." Jessie said.

"Agreed, it feels good to be on the winning side for once..." James replied.

"You can say dat again..." Meowth added.

"Wobbuffet!"

"Morpeko!"

.......................................................................

"Froakie's been gone for an awfully long time..." Chloe said, worried.

"He'll be alright!" Serena reassured. "Froakie can handle itself, right Ash?"

"Absolutely!" Ash replied. "I have absolute faith in Froakie! There's no way he won't find..."

"Froakieeeeeeeeeeee...!"

The gang heard Froakie's desperate croaking and saw him falling from a high altitude, covered in mud. Thinking quickly, Ash ran towards him and caught him.

"Froakie! Are you okay?! What happened?!"

Froakie croaked desperately at them, but they weren't able to understand it. Tired of trying to explain, Froakie simply drew a letter 'R' on the ground, and that got the message across.

"Team Rocket!" Ash, Goh and Serena exclaimed, leaving Chloe confused.

"It's all my fault..." Goh said, looking down.

"What?" Ash said, surprised.

"I threw a Poké-Ball at it without checking if it even wanted to join me..." Goh lamented. "Everything I did scared it... and now, it's at the hands of Team Rocket because of me... what kind of Pokémon wouldn't want to run away from a Trainer like that...?"

"Don't be too harsh on yourself, Goh!" Ash said, still as enthusiastic as ever. "You'll make sure you'll do better next time!"

Seeing that Ash's sentiments weren't making him feel better, Chloe decided to step up. She knew him better than anyone here.

"You didn't catch it..." she said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "And you're still taking on the responsibility to finding it and taking care of it once it's found..." she smiled. "If I were a Pokémon, I'd fight tooth and nail so that you'd choose to catch me..."

"Yamp! Yamp!"

As expected, Chloe's words did the trick. Goh was incredibly touched by what she had to say and was able to see things from her point of view. Comparing herself to a Pokémon was a bit weird, but it was just the thing to lift his spirit. It also gave him an idea.

He smiled back at her and reached into a pocket, taking out a Poké Ball. He stepped closer to her, making her blush slightly, confused as to what he had planned.

He pressed the front of the ball against her forehead.

There was a moment of silence as they stood there like that.

Goh smiled at her, the joy evident in his eyes as he stared back into hers. "There. No need to fight, I caught you."

She looked at him, waiting for something else to happen. When nothing came, she began to giggle. First, it was slow, but it boiled over into raucous laughter.

"H-Hey, that was supposed to be cool...!" Goh stammered, surprised by her reaction.

"That was so sweet!" Serena exclaimed with sparkles in her eyes.

"Not as sweet as victory!" James spoke from behind them.

"So it was you!" Ash growled.

"Prepare for trouble, we're guilty as charged!"

"And there's no need to make you guys sit through that twice..." Meowth said as Jessie and James continued to annoy the kids. "Let's fast-forward a bit..."

...

"Wobbuffet!"

"Morpeko!"

"Could it be this is the Pokémon you're looking for...?" Jessie taunted before revealing Sobble trapped in a cage.

"It's Sobble!" Goh gasped.

"Why do you have it?!" Ash asked angrily.

"We're perfectly willing to give it back..." Jessie said. "Only... you'll have to trade it for that Pikachu of yours!"

"No way!" Ash exclaimed, and seeing how they already had their Pokémon out, he decided to return the favor. "Froakie, use Pound!"

"You've got the right idea, Ash. We gotta save Sobble!" Goh exclaimed. "Scorbunny, use Double Kick!"

"It won't be so easy this time!" Jessie exclaimed. "Let's do it again! Supersonic!"

"Mud-Slap"

Team Rocket's Pokémon did what they did before; disorienting the incoming attackers, before sending them flying backwards with an attack of their own. Already slightly weakened by the previous Mud-Slap, Froakie was sent flying backwards into a nearby building and ended up getting trapped under some rubble.

"Froakie, no!" Ash cried out, before he and his friends covered their ears from the Supersonic attack.

Team Rocket giggled meanicingly, seeing their enemies losing for once was satisfying.

"But don't you think it's a bit too far...?" Jessie asked.

"You're right. I want to get Pikachu, but maybe we shouldn't torture these children..." James added. "Unfortunately, we must take down their Pokémon. Barbaracle! Poison Jab!"

The claws on one of Barbaracle's hand glowed purple before it started to step meanicingly towards Scorbunny and Pikachu.

Everybody was too busy to notice Froakie feeling devastated. He may be trapped, but he refused to let Team Rocket win. He had to be strong. He was NOT going to fail Ash!

"FROAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Froakie screamed with all his might, causing the rubble he was buried under to explode. He leaped into the air, his body glowing blue and shifting, his limbs and frubble scarf elongating before he stopped Barbaracle from jabbing Scorbunny.

"FROOOOOOOO... GAAAAAAAAA.... DIER!" It croaked as a great explosion blew Barbaracle away. In the place Froakie once stood was a completely different Pokémon.

"Did Froakie just...?" Goh gasped.

"It Evolved!" Ash exclaimed. "Awesome!"

Not believing their eyes, the gang checked their phone's Pokédex application.

Frogadier, the Bubble Frog Pokémon.
A Water type and the evolved form of Froakie.

Frogadier's speed is unmatched. It can climb a tower over 2,000 feet tall in one minute.

"Awesome!" Ash said. "It's also got some brand new moves!"

"That doesn't matter!" Jessie exclaimed.

"Even if it did evolve, it's no match for us!" James added. "Use Razor Shell!"

"And Magnezone, Electro Ball!"

Barbaracle's claws on both hands started to glow yellow. A light blue aura then appeared and hardened around them, forming into two curved blades of energy.

Magnezone's body became surrounded in yellow electricity and multiple yellow sparks come off its body. All the electricity then condensed in front of its eye and formed into an orange-yellow orb of electricity with sparks of yellow electricity coming off it.

"Use Double Team!" Ash commanded.

Frogadier's body flashed white before it created multiple copies of himself, causing both attacks to miss.

"Now's our chance!" Goh exclaimed. "Use Double Kick!"

Scorbunny did just that and kicked Magnezone back with both its feet, leaving scorch marks on its body.

"Now for the counter-attack, Frogadier, Aerial Ace!" Ash commanded.

And boy did Frogadier obey.

"Argh! I don't understand!" James exclaimed.

"Why go to all that effort just to get some crybaby Pokémon back?!" Jessie yelled.

"Stop that right now!" Goh growled. "Sobble may cry a lot but it's anything but a weakling! You hear me?!"

"Sobble?"

"Just you wait, Sobble! We'll save you, no matter what it takes!"

Witnessing its mentor evolving to defend it and its potential Trainer worried about it so much, Sobble decided to finally pull itself together and help them. How? By doing what it does best; crying! And using its small hands to pry apart the bars of its cage.

Team Rocket were about to use Taunt once again when they suddenly began crying uncontrollably.

"O-oy v-vey! It got aw-away!" Meowth cried.

"I t-told you not to buy a b-bargain b-bid cage!" James yelled at Jessie.

Sobble then jumped high and landed in Goh's arms.

"Sobble..." Goh said, holding it close. "You did it!"

"Goh! Now's our chance!" Ash exclaimed.

"Right! Time for a counter-attack! Use Double Kick!" Goh commanded. "And Sobble, use Water Gun!"

"Frogadier, Water Pulse! And Pikachu Thumderbolt!"

Scorbunny kicked Magnezone again, and Sobble fired a blast of water from its mouth at Barbaracle.

Frogadier created a blue sphere of energy from in between its hands. It then fired the spheres at the two Pokémon, which exploded into a wave of water. Finally, Pikachu fired a powerful blast of electricity at all of them.

The resulting explosion blew Team Rocket away. "We're blasting off again!"

"Hey, Sobble..." Goh said, getting the attention of the Water Lizard Pokémon. "I'm sorry I lost my temper back then, that was just wrong." Goh reached for his pocket and pulled out a Poké-Ball. "You see, I want to catch you so much because of how timid you are. Because you're timid, you're always on high alert, and so you're always ready to defend yourself and your friends. And that's why you're no weakling! So what do you say...?"

Sobble's eyes began to water again, but this time from joy. But before it started to full-on cry again, it pressed the Poké-Ball's button with its hand, which caused it to get sucked into the Poké-Ball.

Sobble has been registered to your Pokédex!

"Al... right!" Goh exclaimed.

Goh and Sobble are now partners! And they've grown just a bit closer! Not to mention his other capture of Chloe, and Ash's Froakie evolving into a Frogadier! And now...

Our heroes' journey continues!