It had been two days since Shuichi left Jubilife City and he was walking towards a small village, the village had a Pokémon Center and a population of around a couple hundred people.
Shuichi had a total of 4 fights of which only one was with a bet on the line, the trainer he had fought had obtained Gardenia’s gym badge and proposed a bet of ₽400. Shuichi accepted and won the battle, it wasn’t easy as the trainer was much more skilled than the other three battles.
Entering the Pokémon Center and having his Pokémon checked up Shuichi called his parents, his mother told him that Dawn would compete in a contest at Floaroma Town in a couple of days. His father told him nothing about the Team Galactic he had captured.
He sadly couldn’t see the battle however he would be able to find the contest on the internet after it happened. Shuichi went to Nurse Joy and asked if there were any jobs in this village, "I’m sorry but, there are no jobs here. The village is mostly self-sufficient and everyone knows each other." Nurse Joy had bad news.
"That’s too bad." Shuichi still had enough supplies and didn’t need to earn a lot of cash at the moment but more couldn’t hurt and all the jobs he’d done so far had pleasantly surprised him. Nurse Joy hesitated for a moment as she looked at Shuichi’s team but still spoke up "There is something that might interest you." She said,
Having his interest piqued he waited for Nurse Joy to speak. "There’s a Steelix on the road to Floaroma Town, it usually sleeps at this time of the season however something seems to have woken it up and from what I’ve heard it’s not happy." She explained the situation.
Nurse Joy continued with her request "Steelix is a very strong Pokémon and it usually sleeps after it’s satisfied with a strong battle. I’m only telling you this because your team is strong against it."
Shuichi thought about it and noticed she had a point, Combusken and Clamperl were both at an advantage against Steelix’s steel and ground types. "I’ll see what I can do, no promises though." Shuichi was interested in a tough battle, Nurse Joy nodded and gave him back his Pokémon.
There wasn’t much left to do in the village. There was a mock Contest here a few days ago. Shuichi wondered if Dawn had entered it but the only way to know was to ask her the next time he would see her.
Nurse Joy hadn’t mentioned a resting period so Shuichi was ready to continue, he was going to keep an eye open for a random Steelix that wouldn’t be happy. Soon his efforts paid off.
Shuichi could feel a slight rumble on the ground as something huge was travelling on the ground. He released all of his Pokémon just in case it was Steelix and soon a long, silvery-grey serpentine Pokémon could be spotted. It had a huge head, with large square-shaped teeth and red eyes.
Steelix was the evolution of Onix and was similar in body type. Shuichi could feel that Steelix was indeed irritated and frustrated, in other words, it was cranky that its sleep got disturbed and now it was looking for strong opponents so that it could release its pent-up energy.
"Hey! Steelix! Want to take us on?" Shuichi yelled as Steelix came closer. Steelix glanced at them before literally scoffing, Shuichi could feel annoyance flare up in Steelix’s emotions. Shuichi and his Pokémon were a little offended, they didn’t look the toughest but were still strong.
"Is that how you want to play it? Fine, Combusken, big Ember. Clamperl big Whirlpool." If Steelix didn’t think they’d be a problem then they would prove it wrong. Combusken took a deep breath and fired off a big fireball and Clamperl conjured a Whirlpool that kept expanding.
The fireball slammed into Steelix getting its attention, that move hurt more than it expected but it still didn’t take them seriously as it opened its mouth and quickly formed an orange ball that shot out in a beam.
('Hyper Beam!') Shuichi quickly recognised one of the most powerful moves in the world "Protect!" he quickly said as the beam came towards them, Eevee jumped in front and conjured the green shield to block the Hyper Beam.
Steelix looked at them with some surprise; it didn’t expect the smallest of the group to be able to stop its Hyper Beam with relative ease. "Clamperl, fire!" Shuichi wasn’t going to let the opening go away, Hyper Beam had a nasty effect where the Pokémon needed a second or two to ‘recharge’ from the attack.
Clamperl fired off a big Whirlpool as soon as the green shield was dropped, Steelix was still immobile so the Whirlpool slammed into Steelix causing it to grunt out in pain. Steelix’s tail glowed silvery-white as it swiped the water away, ('That one was Iron Tail') Shuichi recognised it.
Steelix now looked fully at Shuichi and his team with a hint of respect and expectancy in its emotions. "Still think we’re no match for you?" Shuichi grinned as he asked the question.
Steelix didn’t respond with words but with actions as its tail glowed silvery-white once more and Steelix wanted to slam it down towards the team, "Eevee and Combusken dodge with Quick Attack! Clamperl Iron Defense!" Shuichi quickly prepared a defence, Clamperl couldn’t set up an ice field because it would be bad for Eevee and Combusken.
Eevee and Combusken dashed to the left and right each while Clamperl ducked into his shell and set up a light blue sheen as Steelix’s tail slammed down on Clamperl. That had to hurt somewhat even with the Iron Defense up.
"Eevee, big Swift! Combusken, big Ember!" Shuichi went back on the offensive and Combusken fired off a fireball and Eevee fired off a big star. Steelix however wasn’t going to let them hit it anymore as it moved out of the way.
"Now Clamperl, Water Gun!" Shuichi was prepared for Steelix to dodge and Clamperl was ready as he opened his shell and fired off a jet of water hitting Steelix directly in the face. Steelix couldn’t shrug off the hit like it wanted to, the damage was slowly piling up.
That still didn’t mean Steelix was down for the count, Its tail glowed once more as it wanted to side-swipe Eevee. Shuichi frowned a little, Eevee could easily dodge it. "Eevee dodge! Clamperl and Combusken repeat the last moves!" Shuichi didn’t forget about his other Pokémon.
Eevee quickly jumped up and over the tail but the tail didn’t stop. Instead, it kept going even after it lost its white glow, realisation hit Shuichi a moment later as the tail was heading straight for Combusken. ('The Iron Tail was a feint!') "Combusken, Block!" Shuichi warned Combusken.
Combusken however was in the middle of a move that required most of her focus and she couldn’t respond in time as the tail slammed into her, Combusken was tossed to the side like a rag-doll. Clamperl fired off the Water Gun but it still wasn’t enough.
Combusken slowly got up and activated Blaze, one hit was enough for Combusken to be put in Blaze compared to the multiple hits they’ve already done to Steelix. It was a massive difference in power, Steelix was starting to breathe heavily due to the cumulative damage.
Steelix suddenly dove underground. ('It knows Dig as well?') Shuichi recognised the move however now he was at a difficult decision, who was Steelix going to attack? Shuichi suddenly had an idea, "Everyone to Clamperl!" he yelled.
Combusken and Eevee both sped off to Clamperl and quickly stood next to him, "Combusken pick-up Clamperl, then both of you get ready to jump when I give the sign. Eevee will put up a Protect after jumping." Shuichi laid out the plan and everyone nodded, trusting Shuichi’s plan.
Shuichi took a deep breath as he focused on his ability, he wanted to sense Steelix’s emotion the moment it came up from the ground. The seconds felt like hours and just as Shuichi was getting impatient and thinking Steelix left, he felt something being sensed. "Now!" He didn’t even register if it was indeed Steelix completely trusting his ability.
Combusken and Eevee jumped up with Clamperl in Combusken’s arms, Steelix erupted from the ground a moment later ramming into Eevee’s Protect as he put it up after jumping. "Now Combusken! big Ember!" Shuichi yelled.
Combusken fired off a fireball that was much bigger than usual due to the Blaze boost, the fireball slammed into Steelix which caused a small explosion to occur. The team landed on the ground all breathing heavily, although Eevee hadn’t taken any damage he had still spent a lot of energy on the Protects.
The smoke cleared and Steelix was visible once more, this time it was truly knocked out from the multiple effective hits it had taken. "Well done all of you, let me take a look at you all." Shuichi praised the team and performed some first aid to Combusken.
Clamperl had also taken some damage but it could recover with Aqua Ring or even one nap in artificial seawater, Eevee was undamaged but tired. Shuichi decided to also take a quick rest and wait for Steelix to wake up.
Steelix woke up after around 10 minutes feeling a lot better, Shuichi could sense some relief as well as some tiredness. It looked around before spotting Shuichi and his Pokémon, "Feeling better now?" Shuichi asked and Steelix nodded with some gratitude.
"Glad I could help, It was a good fight." Shuichi didn’t ignore the fact that this was a three vs one, Steelix would’ve won if this had been a one vs one. Steelix nodded and dove underground.
Shuichi thought it was going to sleep immediately, however, it returned after a few minutes, and Steelix came back up with something in its mouth. It dropped the item at Shuichi’s feet and looked back at Shuichi.
The item was a gold-coloured orb that was about the same size as Shuichi’s hand. Shuichi’s eyes nearly popped out when he recognised the item, ('I-It’s a Nugget!!') Nuggets were solid golden orbs worth quite a lot of money! "Thank you very much for the kind gift Steelix!" Shuichi sincerely thanked Steelix.
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Steelix smiled at the thanks and let out a big yawn shortly after, it dug back into the ground. This time it wouldn’t go back up as it would enter a deep sleep. ('Pleasant surprise for sure.') Shuichi smiled at the Nugget, he had already been happy with the battle but now he was even getting paid.
Shuichi decided to let his Pokémon rest in their Pokéballs for the day as he travelled along the Route, he had to turn some trainers who wanted a battle down but it was fine. People couldn’t force battles on each other, if one party didn’t want to battle then it was fine.
Shuichi travelled for two days after the Steelix battle before stopping at an interesting place, it was a bakery. Supposedly the bakery was one of the best in Sinnoh and Shuichi wanted to treat his team after the Steelix battle.
The bakery was handled by an old lady with a Raichu. Raichu was the evolution of Pikachu and had orange fur with two strips of brown fur on its back. It had long ears and feet, but had little stubby arms with no noticeable fingers. Additionally, its electrical sacs are yellow and last but not least it has a long, thin, black tail that ends in a large lightning bolt shape.
Shuichi was able to purchase sweets for himself and his Pokémon that matched their favourite flavours, It did cost Shuichi ₽1,000 but the sweets were delicious and it would help the team be more motivated.
It was back on the road after the quick stop at the bakery, it took another three days until Shuichi finally arrived at Floaroma Town. Shuichi had many battles but only two of them were betting matches, Shuichi lost once and won once making his net profit from battles only ₽400.
Floaroma Town was a town full of flowers and greenery, there were tons of flower decorations everywhere and the smell was nice and pleasant.
As usual, he went to the Pokémon Center first to get his Pokémon checked up on, Shuichi mentioned the Steelix problem and that it had been solved. Nurse Joy believed him as Shuichi didn’t have a record of lying and his care for his Pokémon showed that.
('I should give mom a call, she’s probably watched Dawn’s contest.') Shuichi was interested in how Dawn did in the contest and walked to the phone section. He suddenly stopped because there already was someone on the phone.
There was more than one phone however this was someone Shuichi knew, a boy with dark auburn hair and a green shirt with beige pants. Shuichi stood by and waited for the boy to finish his call, the boy soon hung up and turned around only to come face to face with Shuichi.
"Well, well, if it isn’t Kenny," Shuichi said, the boy was one of his childhood friends Kenny. "Oh, I thought I saw red hair in the corner of my eyes. How is it Shuichi?" Kenny immediately bantered back.
Shuichi and Kenny both liked to tease their friends and such a friendly bantering competition would always take place when they talked. "Pretty well, how about you? Gyms or Contests?" Shuichi didn’t know which path Kenny had taken.
"Contests, as for how well I've been well, I recently took a loss." Kenny smiled bitterly as he told Shuichi his path. Shuichi was a bit surprised by Kenny’s patch, he thought for sure that he would take on the gyms.
('Wait a second, recent loss?') Shuichi suddenly picked up on the word choice. "You lost the Floaroma Town contest?" Shuichi asked Kenny. Kenny nodded, "Indeed, Dee Dee beat me in the finals." Confirming his recent loss and it was against Dawn no less.
Shuichi scoffed a little "Way to spoil it, I haven’t seen it yet." He only acted angry but Kenny decided to play along "What! You missed two of your dear friends’ contests! And they were both in the finals too!" Kenny smiled as he teased Shuichi.
"Still, contests huh? You never mentioned you had an interest in them." Shuichi was interested in the odd choice on Kenny’s part. "You must’ve missed it, pretty rare for you." Kenny didn’t dive too deep into it, it was clear to Shuichi he wanted to keep the reason hidden.
"Anyways, how is your gym crusade going?" Kenny knew Shuichi was going for the gyms and was interested if he had beaten one already. Shuichi showed the Coal Badge "One down, seven to go." He explained.
Kenny was impressed. "Well done, I haven’t gotten a ribbon yet, twice runner up," Kenny explained how he lost his first contest to a girl with a Glameow back in Chocovine Town, Shuichi instantly thought of Zoey.
"Say Shuichi, how about a battle?" Kenny was interested in Shuichi’s team and his strength. Shuichi sadly had to turn him down "Sorry, Nurse Joy has my Pokémon maybe later."
"Bummer, so what will you be doing?" Kenny was disappointed he couldn’t battle Shuichi. "Well, I was thinking of staying here for the day and continuing to Eterna City tomorrow," Shuichi told Kenny his plans.
Kenny was a bit surprised at the sudden rush, "Not going for a job? There are some decent ones here for one badge trainers." Kenny guessed Shuichi’s financial situation because he was pretty much in the same boat as Shuichi.
Shuichi shook his head, "I’ve gotten a big boon on the way here so I want to get to Eterna quickly so I can get the second badge and get access to better jobs." Kenny nodded his head in agreement, he didn’t ask about this ‘boon’. It was of course the Nugget.
"What about you? Where are you heading off to? Shuichi asked Kenny. "Probably going south to Jubilife, there should be another contest there soon then after that, I’m going further south to Sage Town," Kenny revealed his path.
There were more towns and villages than the games showed, some of the towns also had gyms however these gyms were more or less known as B-grade gyms. The ones from the games were much tougher A-grade gyms.
To enter the Lily of Valley one needed at least five A-grade gym badges and three B-grade badges. There was another caveat to the B-grade gyms, there was no option to put a bet on yourself. Shuichi wasn’t interested in these gyms.
Their chat soon ended as Shuichi got called up by Nurse Joy, he received the standard one-day resting period advice as nothing seemed to be wrong with his Pokémon. Shuichi quickly called his home and was told to watch Dawn’s contest.
With nothing else going on Shuichi went into his room and browsed the internet a bit to find a recording of the contest, during his travels on the internet he discovered some other interesting things. There was even a forum where trainers could talk and gossip about other trainers.
Shuichi watched the recording and could see Dawn survived the appeal round with a new Pokémon, a squirrel-like Pokémon. Its fur is white with a faint bluish tint and it has a light blue stripe which originates at its forehead and extends to the tip of its tail. It was a Pachurisu that was accompanied by yellow cheeks indicating its electric type.
Pachurisu panicked at first but Dawn managed to calm it down and finish off strong enough to advance to the next round. Dawn managed to win against Jessilina and then another trainer before fighting Kenny in the finals.
Kenny had shown Alakazam in the appeals round, Alakazam was the evolution of Kadabra and had two spoons instead of one and its tail had disappeared. Then after that, he went on to do the battles with a Prinplup. Kenny and Dawn faced off in the finals and a nail-biting battle ensued, it came down to the wire but Dawn won securing her first ribbon win.
Shuichi was happy for her to have won but he was also worried, Dawn was already a bit overconfident at the Jubilife contest and they’ll only get tougher due to trainers not sitting still either, she might be heading for a brick wall at this pace due to overconfidence.
However, Shuichi couldn’t stop her even if he wanted to. Last time had proven that she wasn’t interested in hearing that type of advice so he would let her trip. It was a rough lesson she would learn but he would support her if that moment came to pass.
There wasn’t much other news as Shuichi was scouring the forums, he tried to look up information about the people he knew. Barry was still struggling with Byron from what Shuichi could see, Nando had gotten a ribbon in Sandalstraw Town and should be heading to Eterna by now. Paul was completely off the map as his battles were likely private, Zoey was also not mentioned recently.
Shuichi wasn’t mentioned much on the forums, there was a small mention during the Jubilife tournament. He didn’t know if he wanted his gym battles to be public or private, there were pros and cons.
The pro of becoming more known was that there was a big chance for him to receive a sponsor to make his journey easier. The con was of course that his team and tactics were out in the open, veteran trainers could spot weaknesses in Shuichi even this early on in the season.
The sun was still up after Shuichi was done catching up with his friends and acquaintances so he went to the Mart to see if he could sell the Nugget and stock up for the Eterna Forest. Shuichi had ₽7,300 left and he still had the Nugget, sadly he got bad news at the Mart. "I’m sorry, we don’t have a use for Nuggets, you’ll have to find someone willing to buy it."
It was bad news but in hindsight it made sense, what would the Pokémon Mart do with a solid gold ball? "Bummer, any ideas where to find someone like that?" Shuichi asked the shop assistant, shopkeepers were usually up to date with other buyers and sellers.
"Supposedly there’s a collector for items found underground in Eterna City, he might be your best bet. I do have to warn you though, there are some bad rumours about him trying to steal other people’s items." The shopkeeper told Shuichi what he knew.
Shuichi nodded in thanks, he went on to spend ₽4,000 on preparation for Eterna Forest. It might seem like overkill but Shuichi expected to spend three weeks in the forest, and he also would be looking to add a fourth teammate soon so he prepared some supplies for it.
Shuichi didn’t plan on another training session and just relaxed with his Pokémon until it was nighttime, Pokémon weren’t machines thus they needed some time to rest and relax as well. It also helped Shuichi more than he first thought it would.
Once it was nighttime it was once again time to sleep, after preparing his Pokémon’s sleeping quarters came another meditation session. Shuichi had slowly gotten the hang of meditation as he could go on for close to 10 minutes before losing focus, he had a feeling it wouldn’t be long until he could try to understand his emotions.
The next morning came and Shuichi was ready to hit the road once more, this time he would take a small detour towards the Valley Windworks to try and find his fourth teammate. "Hey! Aren’t you forgetting something?" A voice called out to him, turning around it turned out to be Kenny.
"Kenny? I thought you had already left yesterday?" Shuichi asked Kenny, he was surprised to see Kenny was still around. "You’re not getting rid of me that easily, how about a battle now? Simple one on one." Kenny asked Shuichi the same question as yesterday.
Shuichi smiled "You could’ve mentioned yesterday that you wanted to battle the next day, that way you wouldn’t have had to wake up so early." Kenny scratched his head a bit embarrassed, it was well known in the friend group that Shuichi woke up extremely early.
"Fine then, simple one on one." Shuichi agreed to the battle and they moved to a nearby battlefield, it was still early in the morning so the battlefield was pretty desolated.
Shuichi stood on one side of the battlefield and Kenny stood on the other side, "Which one will it be Kenny? Prinplup or Alakazam?" Shuichi asked, he had seen Kenny use both Pokémon in the contest.
"Not fair, you know my Pokémon but I don’t know yours." Kenny bantered back a little. He did have a point so Shuichi revealed his Pokémon first "Eevee, get ready!" He yelled as he threw Eevee’s Pokéball.
Eevee was the safest option against Kenny’s Pokémon, Shadow Ball against Alakazam and overall a good basis against Prinplup. Eevee hit the ground and was a little surprised to see Kenny, Eevee knew of Kenny, Dawn and Leona as Shuichi’s friends.
Shuichi started to emit a small amount of pressure that alerted Eevee that it was in the middle of a battle, Kenny frowned a little at the sudden change in feeling but he still grabbed his own Pokéball.
"Eevee huh? Well then, in that case, Prinplup, let’s hit it!" Kenny responded by throwing his own Pokéball, Prinplup appeared on the battlefield and looked at Eevee.
Shuichi could feel Prinplup’s pride and confidence emitted, pride and confidence were a difficult combination of emotions due to it often leading to overconfidence but Kenny seemed to have it under control.
"I’ll let you have the first move, Shuichi!" Kenny shouted from his side of the field, he seemed to be pretty confident. Shuichi wasn’t going to turn down the first move, "Eevee, Swift!"
Eevee’s tail glowed and he sent out stars directly at Prinplup, Kenny wasn’t intimidated "Bubble Beam, Prinplup!" He responded and Prinplup fired off bubbles directly at the stars, the two attacks met in the middle and the Swift managed to overpower the bubbles.
"Eevee, Quick Attack!" Seeing a small opening Shuichi opted for a quick close-range blow, Eevee sped across the battlefield but Kenny wasn’t going to sit around "Defend with Metal Claw!"
Prinplup’s fins started to glow silvery-white as it put up a guard, Eevee rammed directly into the guard but was thrown aside as Prinplup pushed it away. "Now Prinplup, Drill Peck!" Kenny decided to press on the opening.
Prinplup’s beak shone brightly as it jumped into the air, it started spinning as it fell and aimed directly at Eevee, "Eevee, Protect!" Shuichi decided to show Protect here as Drill Peck was the only fast close-range attack Prinplup had.
Eevee put a green shield around himself and Prinplup crashed into the shield causing it to be deflected back. "Quick Attack!" Shuichi decided to capitalise on the opening with a Quick Attack.
Eevee quickly tackled Prinplup, "Big Swift!" Shuichi decided to double-tap with a powered-up Swift. Eevee’s tail glowed brightly as he jumped back and released a big star that was heading straight towards Prinplup.
"What! Prinplup, Bubble Beam!" Kenny didn’t expect such a move and decided to take it out with a Bubble Beam, Prinplup fired off a barrage of bubbles however the star kept going strong and crashed into Prinplup.
The smoke cleared and Prinplup was knocked out on the ground, Kenny sighed a little and recalled Prinplup. "It was a good battle, Prinplup." He said to Prinplup and then looked at Shuichi. "I have to say Shuichi, you’re as good as Dee Dee told me."
Shuichi was a bit surprised that Dawn had talked about him. "Oh? What did she say about me?" Kenny looked at Shuichi and said, "She said you were a monster in battles."
It was quite the assessment Dawn made, Shuichi didn’t know if he should be feeling honoured or insulted by the insinuation. Kenny however continued "Shuichi, I’m telling you this as a friend, you changed the moment the battle began and even Eevee changed for that matter."
"How did I change?" Shuichi still didn’t know the extent of it and if his Pokémon were starting to get influenced by him, there could be negative effects that came from it.
Kenny thought for a moment and said "It’s difficult to explain but in a sense, it felt like I was up against a raging storm and Eevee instinctually focused once he felt it." Kenny explained to the best of his ability.
Shuichi thought about it and realised this wasn’t exactly a bad thing. If it helped his Pokémon focus and perform better in battles then shouldn’t he try and encourage that feeling? Shuichi quickly shook his head and shelved the idea, what if encouraging it had the opposite effect? For now, there was no reason to encourage it.
Kenny and Shuichi chatted for a bit before separating, Eevee didn’t take any real damage and was only winded a bit so he didn’t need to go to the Center anymore. It was time to move on and go to the Valley Windworks for the fourth teammate; Drifloon.