//------------------------------// // Smooze Move // Story: Pokémon: Equestrian Champions // by Banshee531 //------------------------------// Fresh off Flash's victory at the Balance Battle Tournament, the group are still in Splash-Splash-Splash Town. Intending to leave later that day, the group had stopped at the city's local park for a picnic lunch, Spike licking his lips at the large assortment of food laid out on the picnic blanket. "This looks delicious. Where to start?" "You can start by helping with the Pokémon Food," Twilight chimed in as she and Flash put a bowl down. Spike rolled his eyes at this as Doc and Cadance walked over carrying plates of different sandwiches. "Alright," Flash stood up, "I think that's everything." "Then let's get this going," Twilight took out two Pokeballs before throwing them, Shine and Owlicious now appearing. "Lunch time!" Doc added as he let out Flitanium and Lairon. "Come on out, guys!" Flash threw his five Pokeballs up, Skyler, Riptide, Prongs, Viper and Astro now landing beside Springer, Peewee also joining them. They all licked their lips, ready to get started...only for Cadance to leap in front of them. "Hold it!" She yelled before pointing to the side. The Pokémon turned to see a tap and drain. "Before we eat, we all need to wash our hands. Eating off the ground doesn't mean you don't still need table manners." The Pokémon all frowned by did as they were told, moving over and getting in line. Spike laughed at this before reaching to grab a sandwich, but then Cadance grabbed him by the ear. "You too mister." Spike cried out in pain as he was pulled over to the tap, Flash and Doc laughing as they followed. "Now I can see where you learned to handle him," Flash joked to Twilight. "I took very clear notes when she was babysitting me," Twilight giggled as they all got in line, now washing their hands, Viper quickly realising he didn't have any to wash, and that he hated water. Then, when the first group finished washing up, they ran back to their picnic. But when they got there, they were greeted by a horrifying sight. The bowls of Pokémon food were gone. "RIOLU?!" Springer screamed as he, Astro, Peewee and Viper stared down at where their food had previously been. They then looked over at the picnic blanket and found the plates of food were gone too. "What the-?" Flash yelped as he saw the sight, "Where'd the food go?!" They all glanced around, but saw not a crumb nor crust. "NOOOOO!" Spike cried as he fell to his knees, his eyes comically tearing up. "It's all gone!" "But where did it go?" Twilight asked, "A whole picnic just can't up and disappear." "The only explanation is that someone took it," Doc added, the statement hitting Spike's ears. His tears quickly evaporated as fire appeared in his eyes, the child standing back up and clenching his fists. "When I find out who it was, they're gonna be sorry!" The Pokémon roared in total agreement, ready to use their strongest attacks on the culprit. "Now hang on. Let's not go overboard." Twilight chimed in as she walked in front of the angry Pokémon and child. As this happened, Cadance stared at the picnic table, only to smell something. Turning to the smell, she saw a small amount of smoke in the edge of her vision. Turning to it, she saw it was coming from the ground, off of a small splodge of green...mucus. "Hmm?" She picked up a stick off the ground and used it to pick up the green stuff. "What's that?" Flash asked. "I don't know," Cadance replied, looking back at the ground and seeing it was now burnt and the stick was slowly growing shorter. "But whatever it is, it's acidic." This made the others step back as Twilight continued, "But where did it come from?" But as she said this, more smoke appeared behind a nearby bush. Turning to it, they saw more slime as they walked over to the shrubbery. "I think we might have found a trail to our culprit," Cadance finished as they walked past the bush, now finding some more slime on the ground behind it. They kept following the trail for about five minutes, only to find something new. It was a large pile of green slime that wobbled back and forth like a plate of jelly. It didn't have eyes, but it did have some kind of gap between the slime to give it the appearance of having a mouth. "What is that thing?" Spike asked with his tongue sticking out, "Yuck!" Doc just blinked at the sight, "For once, I don't know. I've never seen anything like it." "I...think I know what it is," Twilight started. "But I've only read about it in books." She turned to Cadance, "Is that a Smooze?" "Yup," Cadance nodded, "But this is the first I've seen of one too." Flash took out his Pokedex at this. Name: Smooze Category: Oozing Pokémon Type: Poison/Dark Info: Made of an unidentifiable substance, it doesn't eat, and instead seeks out anything made of gold, silver or platinum. Absorbing too much at once will cause it to grow too large to control. "That's pretty weird," Flash replied before pointing to the ground next to the Smooze. "Hey, look!" The others followed and saw it was one of their plates...or half of one. "So this thing did steal our food." "But why?" Twilight asked while the others growled at the Pokémon, "The Pokedex said it doesn't eat." "Well, it seems this one does," Spike hissed as the Smooze moved over to the half dissolved plate and sucked it into its body. The plate floated within it for several seconds before breaking apart and vanishing. "And it's gonna pay for taking my lunch!" "Ri!" Springer nodded, about to charge before Cadance held her arm out. "Wait! Don't forget, that thing's a Poison-type. And since it can dissolve a plate, I don't want to think what it can do to the flesh." The Pokémon all gulped at this, only for Flitanium and Lairon to leap out of the bushes. "Just leave this to us." Doc laughed as he joined them, "Poison-type attacks can't hurt Steel-types." The Smooze turned to them as Doc pointed at it. "Alright guys, let's take it down!" The two nodded and charged. "Smooze!" It roared before opening its 'mouth' and shooting out several balls of green slime. "I think that's an Acid attack!" Cadance yelped. "Steel Wing and Metal Claw!" The two's appendages glowed as they swung them, hitting the balls of green slime. But as soon as they did, both went wide-eyed and leapt back. "FLY/LAIR!" They cried, their wings and claws smoking while Doc gasped, now seeing the acid somehow doing damage. "How?! Unless...does that thing have Corrosion?" They all turned to Twilight, who just shrugged. "I don't know. The books I read about them didn't have a lot of details." Doc growled before turning to his Pokémon and holding up their Pokeballs. "Alright, return!" The pair were sucked inside while Smooze stared at them...if it could stare. "Now what?" "Let's try some ranged attacks," Flash hopped out of the bushes with Springer, Astro, Prongs and Viper. "Go guys! Aura Sphere, Dragon Rage, Energy Ball and Flamethrower!" The four roared as they unleashed their attacks in the slime creature's direction. But before the attacks got there, the Smooze simply morphed its body. Holes appeared in the pile of slime that the four attacks simply flew through, instead hitting the trees behind it and causing them to be knocked over and catch fire. This made Flash quickly tell Riptide and Skyler to put it out, the Smooze laughing at the sight. "Nothing's working!" Twilight cried, only for a new noise to sound out. It was the roar of an engine. They spun around to see a white van coming up to them. It then turned to do a skidding stop only feet from the group, the side door sliding open a moment later. From it, a tall lanky man with white skin, brown hair, black glasses and bucked teeth leapt out. His face was covered in zits and he was wearing a white shirt and brown vest with a green bowtie. He stared at the Smooze with a growl, the others now seeing something on his back that looked like it was from Ghostbusters. It had a long tube connecting it to something inside the van. "Gizmo?" Cadance asked as the others stared at the man as he got closer to the slime-ball. "Alright, you overgrown pile of snot." He pulling out a vacuum nozzle, which was connected to the device on his back. "This time, you're mine!" Smooze turned to him and unleashed several blasts of acid. "Not this time! Boomax!" From out of the van, a Pokémon they recognised as one their friend Vinyl had leapt out and jumped in front of Gizmo. "Boomburst!" "BOOM!" It yelled as it unleashed blasts of sound that struck the Acid, pushing them upward before the slime suddenly faded into nothingness. "What just happened?" Spike asked. "The Acid must not last too long when it leaves the Smooze's body," Cadance guessed as Gizmo pulled a cord on the device, making it rev as he pointed the nozzle at Smooze. "You're mine!" He pulled the trigger and a powerful suction occurred, pulling some of the Smooze toward it. The Oozing Pokémon tried to escape, only to be sucked into the nozzle. "Now I've gotcha!" Everyone watched as more and more of the Smooze was sucked up, travelling through the nozzle and into the machine on his back, and then through the tube leading into the van. The Smooze let out several cries, trying to pull away or making its body bubble and sizzle. "Don't bother," Gizmo responded, "I made sure you can't burn through it this time." Eventually, the whole Smooze was sucked into the nozzle, pulled into the machine before getting sent to the van. A few seconds after this, Gizmo let go of the trigger and fell to his knees. "Phew," he whispered before turning to Boomax, "We finally did it." "Boom!" Boomax's eyes made it look like it was smiling. "You certainly don't disappoint when it comes to being showy, do you Gizmo?" The man looked up at Cadance, going wide-eyed. "Cadance?!" he stood up, "What are you doing here?!" "Just passing through," Cadance gestured to the others. "This is my sister and brother." The others waved, giving their introductions. "Nice to meet you," Gizmo replied. "So...how do you two know each other?" Twilight asked next. Cadance let out a small laugh, "Gizmo and I have been friends since our journeying days. He's actually one of Shining's old rivals. Similar to what Flash has with Rainbow Dash." The others nodded at this, Gizmo now speaking up, "It's nice to meet you all," He pushed his glasses up before gesturing to his Pokémon. "And this is my partner, Boomax." Boomax let out some interesting sounds as Flash took out his Pokedex, unable to believe he forgot to scan it the last time he saw it. Name: Boomax Category: Subwoofer Pokémon Type: Steel/Normal Info: The evolved form of Soundrop. Its sonic blasts are three times stronger than its pre-evolution. It can link itself to computers and play any sound files on it. Cadance smiled at the machine. "Hello again Boomax. It's nice to see you again." Boomax let out a happy chime in response. "So Gizmo, what's the deal with that Smooze anyway?" Gizmo sighed and looked down at the ground, "That thing showed up a few months ago. I was passing by at the time when I heard about it. For some reason, this particular Smooze decided it liked dissolving anything it could get its slimy mits on. At first, it only ate stuff like trash and other stray pieces of metal....but then it started targeting bigger more important things. Park benches, street lights, fire hydrants and anything else." He adjusted his glasses. "I decided to look into it and found it after a little searching. But when Boomax and I battled it, I was amazed to find its Poison attacks actually hurt him." "So what's with the gear?" Spike asked, pointing to the backpack and tubing. "Well, I first tried catching it with a Pokeball," Gizmo replied, "But every time I threw one, it either made holes in its body for it to fly through, or caught the ball and dissolved it. That's why I had to get a little extreme." They all headed to the van and looked inside, where another big machine could be seen. "I built these machines using the best materials I could find. This thing is able to eat platinum and other strong metals, so finding something it couldn't eat through wasn't easy." "Well, at least all your hard work wasn't in vain," Cadance chuckled, "So what are you going to do with it now?" "Oh, I have a lot of plans for it." Gizmo climbed into the van. "First I'm going to find a way to get it in a Pokeball. Once it's inside the Pokeball, it won't be able to eat its way out. Then I'll start working on figuring out why it came here and why it doesn't seem bothered by eating other things instead of rare metals." He patted the machine, but in doing so an echoing sound filled the air, making Gizmo go wide-eyed. "That didn't sound like it was full to Smooze," Spike pointed out as Gizmo inspected the machine. He circled it but found no holes, only to tip the machine over to reveal the bottom. The bottom had a large hole in it, along with another hole that could be seen on the floor of the van. "OH COME ON!" He fell to his knees as the others looked under the van and spotted a trail of bunt grass leading to a sewer drain. "It's gone underground," Twilight commented as Gizmo picked himself up. "That's usually its MO. Dropping into the water of the sewer so it doesn't leave a trail." "I guess it's back to the drawing board with your device," Doc added. "The design isn't the problem. It's the materials!" Gizmo groaned, "This was the strongest metal I could get! If this doesn't work, nothing will. It can eat freaking platinum for crying out loud. How am I supposed to contain that?" The others shrugged while Gizmo sat back and sighed. "Maybe we should go back to my place and try to come up with a new strategy." They nodded in agreement as he moved over to start the van. But before he did, he stopped as he remembered the damage done to the thing. "Actually, why don't we walk? It's not that far." They nodded again and all got out of the van. They walked through the town for about fifteen minutes before arriving at an area filled with storage units, the group travelling through the valley of metal lockers until they found the one Gizmo was looking for. "Here we are." He unlocked the place, opening to reveal a messy lab-like assortment with a small cot bed in the corner. "Sorry the place is a mess." They stared at the place with raised eyebrows, "When you said your place..." Cadance picked up a stack of papers off a stool, "I was thinking an actual place." "Sorry," Gizmo sighed. "I didn't expect to spend so long here. When catching it in the traditional sense didn't work, I realized I couldn't stay in the Pokémon Center. I needed someplace I could work on catching it without problems. I only expected to stay here a week...but..." "This Smooze is majorly tricky," Flash finished with Gizmo nodding. Twilight stared at the place, seeing tons of failed devices, books on Smooze and other slime-like Pokémon, and even a map on the wall of what she assumed was the city with multiple pins in it. "What's this?" She asked, Gizmo moving over and sticking a pin in a spot on the map that was the park they were just in. "I've catalogued all the sightings of the Smooze. My plan was to try and find a pattern and use it to locate where it's home was...but there doesn't appear to be a pattern. I'm not even sure it has a home." He moaned as he sat on a large stack of books, "I'm completely out of ideas on how to stop this thing. Maybe I should just give up." "No way!" Flash chimed in, "We can't let that thing run loose! There's gotta be some way to stop it." "Maybe one of your old plans can still work," Doc suggested, "It could be that they just need a little tinkering." He looked around again, now noticing a small beaker with a familiar green slime. The strangest part of it was that the slime appeared to be...moving. "Hey," he picked it up, "What's this?" "Oh, it's just a sample of the Smooze I managed to get a hold of. Unlike other pieces of the Smooze, this one seems to remain and not evaporate under heat or any other substance." He got up as Boomax leapt onto the table. "I was trying to see if I could find a particular sound frequency that might effect the Smooze and prevent it from moving so fluidly." Boomax unleashed a low sound that hit the beaker, making the liquid bubble and shake. "But so far, I haven't found anything that might have that effect." "There has to be some way to stop it," Cadance whispered, only to see Twilight stare at the green slime with squinting eyes. But before any of them could say anything, a nearby computer began to beep. "What's that?" Spike asked as Gizmo ran over to it and started typing. "I set up this computer to monitor the city's communications and pick up certain key words that could mean the Smooze. It's name, green slime, living snot, all that." He looked it over, only to go wide-eyed, "Not good! The Smooze has shown up in the busiest sector of town. It's never gone someplace that populated before." "We've gotta get over there before it eats an entire building or something!" Flash added, the group nodding back. But as they ran out of the storage unit, Twilight stayed still as she stared at the beaker of slime. "Twilight?" She turned to Cadance, "Is something wrong?" "I'm not sure," Twilight replied before taking out a Pokeball. In a flash, Shine appeared. "Go with Flash and help them out as best you can. Your Pastel Veil should come in handy." Shine nodded and galloped out of the room as Cadance raised an eyebrow. "What's going on?" "I think I might know what this is," Twilight replied while holding up the beaker, "But I'll need to run a few tests." She turned to her sister-in-law, "Wanna give me a hand?" Cadance smiled and nodded, the two quickly getting to work with what Gizmo had while the rest ran into town. Flash and the others had managed to get to the area the Smooze was spotted, only to find it almost completely deserted. All there was was several trainers, including Officer Hard Case, who appeared to be battling the Smooze. "Dark Pulse!" The police officer ordered his Umbreon, the Pokémon firing a barrage of energy rings,while other trainers launched their attacks. But the Smooze easily dodged them or absorbed the attacks with its gelatinous body. Several other trainers were standing beside their downed Pokémon, many being poisoned. "Not good," Flash whispered before turning to Shine. "Think you can help them?" She nodded and started galloping around, her horn glowing while unleashing waves of different colored lights, healing the poisoned Pokémon. But as she did this, the Smooze opened up its mouth and started shooting out blasts of green slime. Everyone around it started jumping back, dodging the now melting surroundings. "Springer!" Flash pointed at it, "Aura Sphere!" "Ri!" Springer fired the orb, only for the Smooze to turn to him and its entire body appeared to melt into a puddle, allowing the Aura Sphere to fly over it. "It just used Acid Armor," Gizmo added, "Not good." The Smooze returned to normal as Officer Hard Case ran over to them. "Listen to me." He pointed to one of the buildings behind them. "Whatever happens, we cannot allow it inside that building." "Why?" Spike asked as Smooze fired another volley of Acid around. "That building is a research facility. It contains multiple different kinds of metal from all over the world. There's even a special metal that was just delivered there today from the Sinnoh Region. Apparently, it was discovered during an expedition to some place called the...Distortion...zone?" Hearing this made Gizmo's eyes go wide. "That's why it's here!" he gasped, "Even if it doesn't mind eating non precious metals, it probably still enjoys them. It must have...sensed of smelled it or what it uses to figure out where it is!" "So what do we do?" Spike asked, "we can't keep it away forever." "Just catch it!" One of the trainers yelled before throwing a Pokeball, but the Smooze just created a hole that the ball flew through, hitting the ground before the slime creature slithered over and began to consume the device. "Oh, come on!" "That's not gonna work," Gizmo sighed, only to go wide-eyed, "Or maybe it could!" He glanced around at the trainers. "Everyone, surround it!" They turned to him. "If we all throw our Pokeballs at it at the same time, one of them has to connect!" They all nodded and began to run around the Oozing Pokémon. "Alright," Gizmo held a Pokeball up and the others did the same. "On three! One...two...THREE!" "POKEBALL!" Everyone yelled, "GO!" They threw the orbs at the Smooze, all about to reach it at the same time. But before it could be struck, the Smooze appeared to tense its body up before firing green slime-balls out in every direction. The projectiles hit the Pokeballs, which opened up and unleashed the red energy around the slime-balls. But seconds after that happened, they exploded off the slime, all falling down before the Smooze absorbed them into its body. "What just happened?" "Pokeballs are only able to capture Pokémon," Doc explained. "When those slime-balls left the Smooze, they stopped being Pokémon, so the balls couldn't captured them." Flash let out a long sigh, "For something with no visible brain, this thing's smarter than it looks." The Smooze then began to get covered by purple a strange purple lightning that flew into where its mouth was and formed an orb of dark energy. It let out a roar next, the ball exploding out of its mouth. The sphere flew through the air, a hissing sound being heard as it shot toward Flash and the others. "Look out!" Flash yelped as they jumped out of the way, the ball hitting the ground behind them. "That was Snarl," Doc gasped as the Smooze's mouth began to rotate around the rest of its body, firing a barrage of energy blasts. "Dog gone it!" Hard Case growled, "There has to be some way to beat this thing!" "Poison and Dark is a really good type combo," Gizmo grumbled, "And with that Corrosion ability, its even more dangerous." "It has to have some kind of weakness," Spike added. Gizmo nodded, "Just one. Ground-types." Hearing this, Hard Case turned to the trainers. "Listen, does anyone here have a Ground-type?" They all shook their heads, "Do you at least have a Pokémon that more any Ground-types attack?" Again, they shook their heads, making him sigh, "So much for that idea." "There has to be something we can do..." Flash mumbled, staring at the gooey beast just stare at them, "Darn it. If only Twilight or Cadance were here. They'd think of something..." Back at Gizmo's lab... The dup were now wearing goggles and had their hair up as they did a few tests on the slime sample Gizmo had. "Alright," Twilight picked up a stray bolt and held it over the beaker. "Test number three." She dropped the bolt into the slime and they watched it float in place for several moments before it slowly started to melt, soon vanishing into the mixture that began to grow. "Amazing..." Cadance whispered. "The evidence just keeps piling up and up. I'm surprised Gizmo didn't realize what it was before." "Sometimes it takes a fresh set of eyes to see something that should have been completely obvious. I mean, it's not like he had any previous knowledge on the subject. Smooze wasn't even mentioned in the theory I read about. Heck, I might not even be right about this." "Well, if your are right, it would explain why the Smooze got so much more aggressive." She picked up a nail and held it over the beaker, dropping it in before it dissolved like the bolt. "Yup. That's just more evidence." She took a Pokeball next, "But if we really want to confirm our theory, there's only one way to do that." Twilight nodded back, adjusting her glasses as she stared at the lab equipment. "Alright. But let me try one more thing Cadance." "Okay." Meanwhile... Back at the battle, the boys were still trying to figure out a way to stop the Smooze. "Aura Sphere!" Flash yelled as Springer fired his orb attack at the Smooze, but the slime pile simply created a hole in its body, letting the ball go right through. At the same time, Doc, Tockwork, Spike, Peewee and Shine readied their attacks. "Zap Cannon!" Tockwork pointed its gun arm at the Smooze and fired an electrified orb, only for the Smooze to suddenly shake its body from side to side before morphing into a C-shape to dodge the sphere. "Dragon Rage and Dazzling Gleam!" Peewee and Shine unleashed their attacks at the Smooze, which used Acid Armor to evade them. "Come on! Just let us hit you already!" Meanwhile, Gizmo and Hard Case were helping the people evacuate from the building the Smooze was targeting. "Come on! Come on! Come on!" Hard Case yelled as the people ran out in swarms, only to see a scientist leading some workers as they carried large stacks of metal toward a large vault. "What are you doing?!" The scientist turned to the police officer, "We can't leave these things to be consumed by that creature if it gets in here! We have to make sure they're safe!" "He's right," Gizmo added as he glanced into the vault and saw multiple gems and metals inside. Gold, silver, platinum, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, diamonds and pearls, and it the center of the room was a large pile of metal ore that had been transported to Equestria from the Sinnoh Region. "If that thing gets even one of these things, it could grow too large to ever stop." "Fine..." Hard Case groaned, "But hurry up! We can't keep that thing back!" The scientist nodded as the last worker placed a gem down on a shelf before running out, the scientist hitting a button on a keypad next to it. The vault door slammed shut, several locking sounds now filling the air. "There," the scientist responded. "Now it's completely sealed." "Hopefully," Gizmo added, "That Smooze is able to eat through platinum. This door might not be enough to stop it." "All the more reason to stop that thing once and for all." Hard Case turned to the door, but when he opened it, he let out a yelp, "WHOA!" He pulled the door closed, seconds before a slime-ball slammed into it and began melting the glass. "Before it melts my entire city." He and Umbreon ran outside at this, just in time to see the Smooze now firing Acid balls out in every direction. Flash, Doc, Spike and their Pokémon managed to avoid the Acid, but several other Pokémon were now getting hit. Their trainers had had enough and returned them before running off, leaving just the six men and their Pokémon to battle the Smooze. Several people had also stayed behind after evacuating the building, wanting to watch them battle. But they would soon regret this decision when the Smooze's Acid attacks flew up and hit parts of the building above them, melting off sections as the rest began to fall off. "Look out!" Doc yelled as Tockwork turned to fire its Zap Cannon at a large piece of rubble, making it explode into pebbles. At the same time, Shine used her psychic abilities to grab some of the falling pieces of metal and rock, letting the people run away. As this happened, Flash pulled out his Pokeballs. "Skyler, Riptide, Steel Wing and Aqua Break!" He threw the Pokeballs and unleashed his Tornavian and Reptidal, the two leaping into the air as Skyler's wings glowed and Riptide drew his water sword. With several slashes, the debris was sliced into pieces before harmlessly fell to the ground. Flash smirked at this, only to notice something splash onto his shoe. Looking down, he went wide-eyed as he saw the side of the Smooze, using Acid Armor, sliding along the ground between his legs. "GYAH!" He leapt away, quickly stomping his feet on the ground to get the acid off before it started eating his shoes. The others heard this cry and turned to see the Smooze going for the building. "Stop it!" Doc yelled, Tockwork preparing to fire another Zap Cannon. Riptide and Skyler also planned to attack, but before the three could, the Smooze fired Acid at them. The slime-balls hit the three, making them cry out as they were poisoned, Shine now having to gallop over to use Pastel Vail to heal them. Once she did this, Flash and Doc returned them so they could rest. This left the Smooze with very little to stop it, only to for Gizmo and Boomax to run between it and the door. "Boomax!" Gizmo pointed at it, "Boomburst!" "BOOM!" It yelled as sound exploded out of the speakers. But the slime used Acid Armor to dodge again before firing a slime-ball at Boomax. "MAX!" It cried in pain as it was struck in the face, getting knocked onto its back as Gizmo ran over to it. "Boomax!" He cried, seeing the acid eat away at its metal. He quickly ripped the sleeves of his shirt off and used it to wipe the acid away, hissing as some drops got on his hands and burned them. As this happened, the Smooze slithered past them, now heading for the vault. "NO!" The scientist screamed as the others ran up to the building. But before they could do anything, Smooze uses Acid Armor to melt into a fat pile of slime that slid along the ground, squeezing through the almost non-existent gap in the door. It took a few seconds, but soon the whole thing managed to get through and was inside the safe. "NO!" One of the scientists yelled as he ran to the door, trying to open it. But before he could, something happened. Inside the room, the Smooze rebuilt itself and looked around the place to see everything it could gobble up and enjoy. It then turned to the door and shot several Acid attacks, hitting the gap between it and the wall, causing them to melt and mix together before cooling to form a welded seal. It then turned back to the treasure then started its feast. "It's no good," the scientist whimpered, "It's sealed in." "Not for long," Flash took out a Pokeball. "Viper, I choose you!" He threw the ball, revealing the Vipeacon. "Use Flamethrower and melt your way through the door!" "Vip!" Viper unleashed a burst of fire at the metal door, slowing trying to melt it. "This won't work," Gizmo told Flash as he returned Boomax. "That door was built to be incredibly strong and withstand extreme heat. It'll take a while until it starts to melt." As he said this, the room around them began shaking. "What's that?" Spike asked, only for another to shake to occur, "An earthquake?!" "I don't think so," Gizmo gulped as he slowly turned back to the vault. Viper had stopped using Flamethrower, only for the group to now notice several cracks appearing on the wall around it. "Oh no..." the gym leader whispered before turning to the other. "RUN!" And as they began to sprint, getting to the door, the wall exploded, propelling the group flying out of the building. The vault's door flew above them as they fell over, freeing the contents of the vault as a tidalwave of green slime shot out of the room. Everything it could get its slimy hands on was absorbed into its mass, dissolving as it began to grow larger and larger. Everyone outside the building saw this, now going wide-eyed as more green slime began to fill the building as the Smooze's body expanded. "How big is that thing gonna get?" Spike asked, turning to the smarter members of their group. "Honestly...who knows?!" Gizmo replied, "If the metal in that vault was really pure, it could make enough of itself to fill five swimming pools. Maybe even more." As he said that, the glass doors that the slime was being pushed against began to crack and break. "We need to get out of here," Officer Hard Case announced. "Get to higher ground." They nodded before they and their Pokémon ran into the building across from the one Smooze was in. They ran to the nearest elevator, calling it as the sound of breaking glass filled the air. The elevator arrived and they all got inside, Flash returning Viper and Shine choosing to go up the stairs. Hitting the button for roof, they were lifted up to the roof, clambering out a second later. Running over to the edge, they looked down at the street and were greeted to the sight of an entire street filled with green slime and growing more by the second. The Smooze's huge body slithered down the road and had already completely engulfed the base of the building...and the building had began to shrink, the humans and their Pokémon all now realizing the Smooze was consuming it. The building began to shake at this, parts from the top of the construct breaking off and splashing down into other sections of the Smooze's body. Soon, it was an entire river of green that were turning the streets into canals. "This is really bad," Flash gulped, "That thing is gobbling up everything except the kitchen sink." He then noticed something floating down the river. "Oh, wait. There it is." Gizmo sighed, putting his head in his hands. "If this keeps up, the entire city will be consumed!" They all grimaced at this as Spike now saw the Smooze's slime heading toward their building. "Oh no! We're trapped!" The others looked down, now seeing their mistake. And as Shine arrived at the top, they started trying to come up with a plan. "We can use our Flying-types to escape," Flash suggested. "Then what?" Doc asked, "We need to find a way to stop that thing!" "It may be time to accept it can't be stopped," Gizmo replied, "I hate to admit it, but I've exhausted every idea I have." "Then we need to evacuate the city," Hard Case sighed, "I'm afraid this may be the end for Splash-Splash-Splash Town." "Maybe not!" The men looked up at the female voice, her friends knowing it was the one belonging to Twilight. "Up here!" They all saw Owlicious carrying Twilight and Cadance on his back. He flew down and the two jumped off, landing on the roof, "We know what's going on." Cadance nodded and took out a Pokeball, "There's a reason this Smooze is so aggressive. It's because its scared for its child." "Child?" Gizmo yelped before the Pokeball opened, a red light taking shape to reveal another Smooze. But this one wasn't even as big as Springer, it was barely the size of a basketball. "Where did that thing come from?!" "It was the beaker of slime you had in your lab," Twilight replied while adjusting her glasses, "There's a reason it didn't disappear like the other slime. It was a Smooze that hadn't fully developed yet." "It was Twilight who figured it out," Cadance added, "She remembered a theory about certain genderless Pokémon who reproduce asexually. And since Smooze are amorphous, it would make sense that they would do something like that. My best guess is that the first Smooze produced this one from itself, but was planning to keep it close so it could feed it scraps to make it big enough to survive on its own." "But they must have gotten separated when I tried to catch it," Gizmo gasped, "That's why it got so much more aggressive. And without being fed, it couldn't grow stronger or even communicate to make me realise it was alive." Twilight nodded at this, "It wasn't able to eat through your glass container, but bits of metal worked fine. Once we gave it enough, it grew and was finally able to move on its own." The baby Smooze wobbled and waved as it moved over to the edge of the building and climbed up onto the ledge. It stared down at the bigger Smooze, clearly recognising its daddy. "So what do we do now?" Spike asked, "Show the big guy his little friend and hope he calms down?" "I don't think that'll work," Gizmo replied, "With their size difference, the bigger Smooze probably won't even notice the little one." "So we gotta find a way to shrink it down before it can be shown the little Smooze?" Doc chimed in, Gizmo staring over the side of the building at the ever expanding ocean of slime. "How?" "I believe I know a way to return it to normal," Gizmo slowly said, "But..." "But what?" "It would require the Smooze to be inside a Pokeball. And as we've all seen, that's not possible." Flash frowned at this, only to walk up to the side and point at the slime, "Springer." The Riolu hopped up to the edge, "Fire an Aura Sphere into it." Springer nodded and thrust the orb, "Ri!" The sphere hit the slime, causing it to explode, making a tiny section of the ocean to be displaced, only for it quickly return to normal. "Maybe we can catch it," Flash told the others. "At that size, I bet it can't defend itself as easily. Bigger Pokémon are usually more clumsy." Twilight nodded again, "That's definitely true. And with all the other things falling into it from above, one little Pokeball will likely go unnoticed." "Great," Hard Case exclaimed, "Then let's try it!" Gizmo took out a Pokeball before stepping onto the edge of the building. "I've waited a long time for this," he told the Smooze before holding the Pokeball up. "You're mine. Pokeball, GO!" The ball fell toward the slime, everyone watching with baited breath as it drew closer to the Smooze. They feared the Pokémon would do something to stop the ball...only for the ball just hit it. The Pokeball opened up, releasing the red energy that began to surround the slime ocean. But before it could suck the Smooze inside, the energy field suddenly exploded, the Pokeball falling into the Smooze's body and dissolved like all the other Pokeballs. They all sighed as Gizmo got down, "It's too big! The Pokeball can't create an energy field big enough to encase it!" The group all grimaced at this, only for Cadance's eyes to go wide, "Wait," he reached into her bag and pulled something out, "What if we use this?" They all turned to her, now seeing a strange looking Pokeball with a grey top and blue bubbles. "Is that a Heavy-Ball?" Gizmo took it, "Where'd you get this?" "Same place I got the Love-Ball I carry my Crystardian around in," Cadance giggled, "Met a man who dresses like a Slowpoke and has some serious back issues." The others raised an eyebrow at this, but were interrupted by Spike asking, "What's a Heavy-Ball?" "It's a Pokeball designed to catch large Pokémon," Twilight replied. "It can create a larger and more powerful energy field than a standard Pokeball," Doc continued. "Which means it might be able to catch the Smooze." "Let's hope so," he turned to the Smooze and threw it, "Go Heavy-Ball!" The ball hit the Smooze like the Pokeball before it, opening up and unleashing the red energy that surrounded the slime ocean. Everyone preyed to Arceus and even the great Helix, hoping it would work this time. Seconds passed as more of the Smooze was surrounded by the energy. But then, the Smooze's entire body turned red and was sucked into the ball. They gasped in relief as the ball slammed shut and fell to the ground, then started wiggling. And as it began to shake side to side, it slowly came to a stop as it made the telltale flash of it locking into place. The Smooze...was caught. "YES!" They all cheered as Gizmo fell back in relief. "You did it," Cadance added, Gizmo nodding with a sigh. "Yeah...now I gotta get it back to normal size." Luckily, the Pokémon Center hadn't been destroyed in the rampage, and Gizmo was able to use their transporter system. He was fiddling around with the device, Doc, Twilight and Cadance helping him after he explained the process. Flash wasn't sure what they was gonna do, but overheard that it involved filtering out something during the transport process. Whatever it was, hopefully it would work. "Alright," he closed the panel, "that should do it." He took out the Heavy-Ball, "You guys ready?" They all nodded as Gizmo placed the ball down on the transport pad, then activated it. "Transporting....now!" He hit the switch and lightning shot down from the machine and struck the ball, causing it to de-materialize before the lightning was sucked back into the machine. The other machine then lit up and unleashed the lightning, which hit the pad and caused the Pokeball to appear. Once that happened, the machine switched off and Gizmo moved over to pick up the Heavy-Ball. "Well, here we go." "We're right behind yah!" He heard Flash yell, now turning to see all his friends on the other side of the room, hiding behind an upturned table. "Just uh...getting ready if it's still huge." The others nodded as Gizmo sighed. "Alright," he held out the Pokeball, "Come on out!" The ball opened and the energy shot out, everyone bracing themselves as it took form. But after a few seconds, they weren't swept away by green slime and opened their eyes. They saw Gizmo and the Smooze in the middle of the room, now back to the size it was the first time they saw it. "Phew," Spike sighed in relief as the baby Smooze slithered out from behind the table. The adult one smiled seeing it and the two hugged...kinda. Gizmo smiled at this, both Smooze turning to him. "I'm sorry I took you two away from one another. But I promise, I'll make it up to you." He glanced to the bigger Smooze. "You can't stay in this city, but I'll find you a place to call home. Somewhere you and your spawn won't be disturbed. Is that alright?" The Smooze stared at him for a moment before nodding, Gizmo nodding back while the others moved over to him. "Great work Gizmo," Cadance added, "Now the city can live in peace without worry of being swallowed alive." Gizmo nodded again, "But I couldn't have done it without all of your help." He bowed to them all, "thank you all for helping me finally put an end to this." The others all nodded and told him not to worry about it. They were just happy the city got out of the disaster with only minor damage. Their final day in Splash-Splash-Splash Town had been an interesting one for sure. And now, with their goal of the Crystal Empire still on the horizon, one can only wonder what crazy situation the group will find themselves in next. As the journey continues