It was two days after leaving Floaroma Town and Shuichi hadn’t battled any trainers for money yet, there were some battles but Shuichi had easily won those and he was beginning to question if he should even battle without stakes because it slowly turned into a time waste.
Shuichi wondered if he was any closer to Valley Windworks yet or if it would still take a few days of travel, as he was walking he suddenly spotted a home with a ‘P’ on it. ('Is this a Pokémon Center?') Shuichi was a bit confused by the difference from the other Pokémon Centers.
"Excuse me! Is someone home?" Shuichi decided to ask and knock just in case this was someone else’s home. The door slid open and a small girl with pink hair stood in front of the door, she looked just like a little Nurse Joy.
"Yes? Can I help you?" She politely asked, seeing the mini Nurse Joy confirmed it for Shuichi, he still asked to be nice. "I was wondering if this was a Pokémon Center but I think I have my answer already."
The little girl smiled "Of course! Come in, mommy is inside!" She quickly led the way and Shuichi followed her. Nurse Joy was indeed inside and was currently tending to a different trainer.
Shuichi decided to wait until she was done and chatted with the little girl named Paige, Paige told him that she wanted to be a Nurse as well once she grew up. Shuichi didn’t expect anything else from her, she was a carbon copy of Nurse Joy after all.
"Apologies for the wait, can I help you with anything?" Nurse Joy asked once she was done with the other trainer. Shuichi nodded, "I was looking for the Valley Windworks and I wondered if you would know more Nurse Joy." He asked.
Nurse Joy seemed a bit surprised "Valley Windworks? Why yes I know of it, my husband works there. But why would you want to go there?" She asked why Shuichi was interested.
Shuichi was glad that she knew where to find it "I’ve heard rumours of Drifloon appearing frequently there, I’m looking to add one to my team." He explained to her. Paige was listening and immediately shot up "You’re correct! I have a Drifloon and my sister even has three! All of them were from Valley Windworks!"
Four Drifloon meant there had to be a colony of Drifloon near Valley Windworks which was exactly what he was looking for. "Then in that case I would be happy to tell you the way to the Valley Windworks, however my oldest usually delivers my husband his meals because he always forgets it and you’ve just missed her." Nurse Joy explained.
Shuichi was a bit disappointed "Bummer, mind if I stay here and wait for her to return? I could help around with some chores if you don’t mind." He offered his help in return for a free stay.
Nurse Joy accepted it with open arms and he did some chores with Paige, Paige was a fun person and she seemed to have deep respect for her sister from what she told Shuichi.
Suddenly on the horizon, another girl came, she was holding onto three Drifloons and slowly floated towards them, "That’s my sister! Hey Marnie!" Paige shouted but Marnie didn’t seem to be in the mood to talk.
"Where’s mom!? There’s something bad going on at Dad’s!" She yelled half panicked, she was a bit bigger than Paige but currently, her complexion was a bit pale. Paige was a smart girl and quickly let her sister to Nurse Joy, Shuichi decided to join them.
Nurse Joy heard the commotion and asked "Marnie? What’s-" She couldn’t even finish the sentence as Marnie cut her off "Dad’s in trouble! There’s a lot of people in weird uniforms at the Valley Windworks and they didn’t seem friendly!" She quickly explained.
('People in weird uniforms? At the Valley Windworks? It couldn’t be them could it?') Shuichi remembered a detail from the games and asked Marnie "Excuse me, did they all wear space suit-like uniforms with turquoise hair?"
Marnie was surprised at the stranger being able to accurately guess their appearance. "Yes! You’re correct!" Nurse Joy looked at Shuichi for an explanation. Shuichi explained that they were Team Galactic and that the International Police was looking for them.
"Nurse Joy, do you have a telephone here?" Shuichi suddenly asked, if he was correct then one of the Galactic admins was here. Shuichi already learned that this wasn’t the game and didn’t underestimate the power of the Galactic admins.
Meanwhile, at Jubilife City’s police station, Enki was reviewing what he had learned from the Team Galactic grunts he had apprehended a week ago, they were certainly tight-lipped but they eventually cracked.
Just as he was about to head to Eterna for a possible clue he suddenly got a call from his son, Enki frowned a little as Shuichi knew better than to call him for chit-chat and suspected something was off.
And something was indeed off as Enki went to the phone "Dad! Team Galactic is attacking the Valley Windworks! There’s a lot of them and I even suspect someone is leading them!" Shuichi added that last line based on his game knowledge.
Enki had no reason to doubt his son’s words, he had never done something like this for attention and even if he tried it wouldn’t work due to his inability to lie to his parents. "I understand, me and Looker will be there soon. Can you deal with a few grunts to make sure they’ll stay there?"
Enki basically asked his son if he could be bait but Enki knew Shuichi could deal with the grunts if Rowan’s account was to be believed. Shuichi smiled and accepted it "Consider it done! Be quick or else there will be nothing left for you two!" And with that, the call ended.
Enki looked around and spotted Looker standing by him, "Let’s go, there’s a big Team Galactic fish at the Valley Windworks." Enki stated as he started to walk away.
Back at the Pokémon Center was Shuichi who was already mentally preparing for a tough battle, he understood that what he was about to face could be as dangerous as the Pokémon Hunter J situation.
"Marnie, could I borrow your Drifloon for a ride to the Valley Windworks?" Shuichi asked Marnie as he looked at her. Marnie thought Shuichi was joking "You can’t be serious! There are tens of them and only one of you!"
Nurse Joy however came to Shuichi’s defence, "Marnie, will you please? Shuichi here is stronger than he looks." This came as a surprise to Shuichi, he hadn’t told Nurse Joy his name yet.
Just as he was about to ask Nurse Joy how she knew about him she smiled at him "Remember, us sisters talk amongst each other and my sister in the village between Jubilife and Floaroma wants to express her gratitude in dealing with the Steelix problem."
('Ah, right, the Nurse Joy gossip session.') Shuichi remembered what Nurse Joy back in Jubilife City told him, he still didn’t know if he was off that list already.
Marnie seemed to believe her mother’s words and was just about to agree when Paige suddenly interrupted "Wait! Can’t we just ask you know who?" Paige was very vague to Shuichi but her sister seemed to understand.
Marnie shook her head, "We can’t just inconvenience them constantly, we also don’t want more eyes on them, especially from criminals." She explained to Paige, and Paige seemed to understand her. Shuichi was a little lost in the conversation but he wasn’t going to ask.
Marnie released her Drifloon, Drifloon is a Pokémon that has the appearance of a purple balloon. Its face has two beady eyes and a yellow patch in between them that looks like a cross and near the bottom of its body are two string-like arms that end in hearts.
Drifloon was a ghost-type Pokémon however unlike the usual ghost types Drifloon were calm and didn’t seem to cause pranks and mischief for their entertainment.
Paige also had her own Drifloon help Shuichi as he grabbed onto their arms and was slowly whisked away off his feet and into the air. It took around 5 minutes of riding in the sky to see the eye-piercing turquoise hair of the people walking around.
"You can set me down here, this way they won’t notice us." Shuichi talked to the Drifloon who slowly lowered him down to the ground. "Thanks, Drifloon, you don’t need to wait for me here," Shuichi said to them and they nodded.
Just as they were about to leave Shuichi called out "By the way, do you know where other Drifloon are around here? I’m looking to add one to my team." Drifloon turned back and they looked at each other, all of them then pointed towards the west. "So west huh? Thank you very much Drifloon." Shuichi thanked the Drifloon for their help.
Drifloon flew off and Shuichi was left there, Shuichi released his Pokémon and brought them up to speed. They were in perfect health as the last few days' battles were fairly easy with no real threat to them.
Shuichi recalled them for easier transportation but they were all on standby should things get rough, Shuichi sneaked around until he got close to the Grunts that were patrolling the area. He observed them for a few seconds and noticed they all seemed to be working in pairs of two or more, unlike Hunter J’s henchmen.
('A little bit annoying but physical combat seems to be lacking among people.') Shuichi had noticed this with J’s men, once the Pokéballs were gone they were just normal people.
However, their Pokémon were also not a threat at all if the two grunts in Jubilife were any indication. ('Taking on a group while not making any noise will be difficult, I might catch them by surprise but knocking them out is another story.') Shuichi theorised about the problem.
He was there as a distraction however should he attract the admin that was here then he would be in big trouble, Shuichi didn’t dare underestimate and guessed they should be just under Hunter J in terms of strength.
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Shuichi waited until two stragglers were separated far enough from the rest and released Combusken, Combusken would lure them out by acting as a random wild Pokémon and running away when he was spotted.
Combusken acted out and walked past the grunts, they all ‘noticed’ each other simultaneously and Combusken quickly retreated. The grunts looked at each other and although Shuichi couldn’t sense human emotion he could still see the greed that was on their faces.
The grunts started to chase after Combusken, they were led further and further away from the others. Once Shuichi decided it was far enough he released Eevee and yelled out "Both of you Quick Attack!"
The grunts turned around surprised to see someone and another Pokémon, they wanted to grab their Pokéballs however Eevee and Combusken rammed into them with a Quick Attack. Getting attacked by a Pokémon was no joke and it could easily kill them had they not held back enough.
The two grunts were quickly knocked out and Shuichi released their Pokémon and crushed the Pokéballs under his feet, "Get out of here!" Shuichi said and the Pokémon quickly fled. Shuichi could feel their relief and happiness though, all of their Pokémon were unhappy with them.
Shuichi returned to the Valley Windworks and wanted to repeat the process, he would need to buy time until his father came here with reinforcements. After repeating the same trick with two more grunts he came back and noticed something was off.
There seemed to be groups of four now and they were all looking around wildly and seeming on alert, was he spotted? No, they simply noticed that there were four missing grunts and they raised their alert.
('Tch, I suppose this is the end of stealth') Shuichi internally clicked his tongue, he couldn’t knock out four guards in one ambush so he had to do this the loud way. Four grunts walked around and Shuichi had Combusken and Eevee do a surprise attack on two grunts knocking them out.
"What the!? So there was an intruder here! Commander Mars was correct!" One of the remaining grunts yelled out. It confirmed Shuichi’s theory that Admin Mars was indeed here, the other grunts quickly grabbed their Pokéballs and threw them.
A Glameow and a Zubat came out, The Zubat was a much smaller version of Golbat and didn’t have eyes. "Fury Swipes!" "Leech Life!" The grunts bellowed out, and the Pokémon charged at Shuichi.
"Big Ember and big Swift!" Shuichi had his own Pokémon attack, Combusken fired a big fireball and Eevee fired a big star. Both attacks hit the two Pokémon and it knocked them out pretty quickly.
Grunts were given the Pokémon and they rarely even trained them which caused them to be pretty bad. "W-Warn the Commander! He’s incredibly strong!" One of the grunts yelled at the other, Shuichi had no intention of letting Mars know where he was.
"Clamperl, Ice Beam, block them off!" Shuichi threw his last Pokéball and Clamperl came out and froze the grunts in a shallow block of ice, they would be trapped there as they had no Pokémon to break the ice.
More grunts came as they noticed the commotion, "Clamperl block them off!" Shuichi instructed Clamperl and an ice wall quickly stopped them all in their steps. Shuichi retreated around the Valley Windworks and hid in the area.
They were now aware that an intruder was somewhere attacking the grunts and as a result, they would search the perimeter until he was found. Shuichi took a moment for his Pokémon to catch their breath.
Shuichi could hear multiple grunts run around cursing as they couldn’t seem to find him, after a minute of hiding his Pokémon were back in business and Shuichi ambushed another group. 4 more grunts quickly joined the ever-growing pile of unconscious grunts in the area as Shuichi retreated once more.
Having experience in this type of combat certainly helped a lot and Shuichi was taking full advantage of his experience, however, sooner or later he was bound to be found out.
Shuichi ran rampant for close to 10 minutes until he ran into a brick wall or in this case a red-haired female brick wall that wore a space-themed dress. "So, you’re the one who has been running around causing chaos." She said to Shuichi.
"Looks like you’re the one in command." Shuichi decided to start small talk, he still didn’t know how long it would take for his father to get here so he needed to buy more time.
The woman nodded, seeming completely confident in the situation. "Indeed, I’m one of the four commanders of Team Galactic, Mars." She introduced herself to Shuichi with a small bow.
"So, why are you all here anyway?" Shuichi decided to probe for some information while still stalling for time. "We’re here to syphon off some power to help us with our ultimate goal, to create a new world that's better than this one," Mars explained the plan a little.
Shuichi knew of this so-called plan to use the legendary Pokémon to create a brand-new world in Cyrus’s image and scoffed "You know nothing of how good this world already is." He had seen the worst world imaginable and this one was leagues above his old one.
Mars sighed a little "Seems like you also don’t understand, a pity as you could’ve done well in Team Galactic. Oh well, time to clean out the trash I suppose." She said as she grabbed her Pokéball and released her Pokémon.
A plump quadrupedal feline Pokémon appeared. It has mainly grey fur with a white face, a white chest, and white stripes on its legs. It has large ears with frilled purple tips, yellow eyes with black pupils and purple eyelids, a small black triangular nose, and a frowning face. It was Purugly the evolved form of Glameow.
Shuichi sensed that Purugly oozed out aggression and loathing aimed directly at him, it was clear Purugly was no pushover and Shuichi hoped his father was close by and he needed to stall for more time.
"Clamperl, block it off!" Shuichi told Clamperl and quickly created an ice wall that blocked off Shuichi and his team from Mars and her Purugly, "Iron Tail." Mars responded sounding a little bored Purugly’s tail glowed a silvery-white and it smashed the ice wall into a million pieces.
As the ice wall crumbled it was revealed that Shuichi had already disappeared again with his team, "Tch, find him." Mars was a little annoyed at the cat-and-mouse game. Purugly sniffed the ground and quickly ran towards Shuichi until it reached another ice wall.
The game continued for another 10 minutes until Clamperl was too tired to create another ice wall, Shuichi had already seen that Purugly was way stronger here than in the games at this point and he was correct in his assessment that the admins were way stronger here.
"Finally done running around?" Mars called out as she found him again, Shuichi tried to find another way to stall for time but he couldn’t find it anymore. "Combusken, Eevee, get ready!" It was time to make a last stand and Shuichi hoped his father would get here in time.
"Big Ember, big Swift!" Shuichi opened it with a strong-charged attack on Purugly, a big fireball and star were both released and heading directly at Purugly. "Iron Tail." Mars gave out a simple command and Purugly set off and smashed the fireball and star into pieces with a single Iron Tail.
"Body Slam" Mars continued on the offensive and Purugly jumped into the air and wanted to land directly on Eevee, "Protect!" Shuichi quickly defended and Purugly landed squarely on the green shield and was bounced off.
"Double Kick!" Shuichi seized the opening and had Combusken attack, if a long-range attack didn’t work then how about a super effective close-range one? Combusken jumped at Purugly and kicked it as hard as she could, Purugly seemed to be more annoyed than hurt at the kick.
Combusken then kicked it again sending it back to Mars, Purugly shook off the damage as it once again looked at Eevee and Combusken. "Talented indeed, last chance to join Team Galactic as it would be an incredible waste to end you right here and now."
Seeing this as another chance to stall for time, Shuichi asked "Do I have to dye my hair? That turquoise colour doesn’t suit me, you know." Bantering a little with her. Mars didn’t expect the sudden interest and laughed a little. "You indeed have to dye your hair as a grunt but maybe I can try and convince the boss to make an exception."
Shuichi shook his head "No deal then, I’d rather die than ever be seen with that hairdo." He wasn’t interested in joining them either way even if they let him have his hair colour. Mars sighed again "Quite sad indeed, Purugly, end him."
Shuichi didn’t seem to panic as Purugly started to walk towards him, he’d finally achieved his goal. "Fearow, Drill Peck!" Enki’s voice suddenly came and he jumped off his Fearow as Fearow’s beak glowed white and it started to spin wildly.
The sudden interference came as a surprise for both Mars and Purugly as they couldn’t react in time which caused Fearow to nail Purugly directly. Purugly was thrown aside and it couldn’t shake off the damage this time around as it was truly hurt.
"Who are you?! And what do you think you're doing to my Pokémon?" Mars was suddenly a lot more emotional as the situation suddenly got out of hand. "Enki Tsuki of the international police, you’re coming with me Team Galactic commander Mars," Enki explained.
Mars scoffed a little "As if! Purugly, Iron Tail!" Mars was more agitated and Purugly shot forward with far more speed than before, it showed that Purugly was just playing around with Shuichi.
"Fearow, Steel Wing!" Enki responded and Fearow flew up and its wings took on a silvery-white glow as it dive-bombed Purugly. The two attacks met and Shuichi could see sparks flying off in between them.
"Go help looker with the other grunts!" Enki yelled as he glanced at Shuichi, Shuichi nodded "Yes sir!" he yelled out instinctually before running off. Mars looked a little annoyed that Shuichi was getting away, however, Enki proved to be much more of a handful.
Shuichi went around and met up with Looker, both of them took down any Team Galactic grunts that they spotted. Luckily Looker had enough handcuffs with him to arrest all the grunts, they also released all of their Pokémon and most of them ran away.
There were also some Pokémon that stayed with their trainers, this was a way to gauge the trainer. These trainers would receive some leniency whereas the other trainers whose Pokémon ran at the first opportunity wouldn’t get leniency.
Soon the Valley Windworks was secured and Shuichi met up with Karsten, Karsten was Nurse Joy’s husband. He thanked Shuichi and Looker for their help and he hurried off home, his own Pokémon tried to fight back and they got hurt instead.
Enki came back a few more minutes later, surprisingly he came back empty-handed. "She got away, another commander teleported in and got her out of the situation," Enki explained how a purple-haired older male commander helped commander Mars escape.
Shuichi barely remembered the fourth commander, he was barely mentioned in the story and was mainly a background character. Enki turned to Shuichi "You’ve done well Shuichi, you managed to keep them busy and not focused on their objective while also keeping them here. I’m proud of you."
Shuichi was a bit embarrassed, he mainly used his past experiences and ran around the Valley Windworks a few times. "Thanks, Dad." he had never really heard these words from someone he considered a father so it felt nice.
He conversed with his father and Looker for a bit before bidding them farewell, it was time to meet his fourth teammate. Enki looked at his son walking away and frowned a little once he was far enough.
Shuichi had indeed completed what his father asked of him however it was the results that surprised him the most, Shuichi and his Pokémon barely had a scratch on them. This was way too skilful for a 13-year-old, Enki hadn’t taught him any of this.
('Just what are you hiding Shuichi?') Enki couldn’t make sense of it, all of Shuichi’s past problems and even current skills were all pointing to something Enki would’ve never believed in before and if he wasn’t present during his son’s birth he would’ve thought he was a faller.
Shuichi travelled west unaware his father was slowly suspecting his origins, he currently had a different problem on his mind. The voices were increasing in volume once more, the last time this happened was after the encounter with J.
('Last time I also used my experience to sneak around, whenever I’m reminded of my past the voices grow stronger?') Shuichi put one and one together and came up with a theory. If the theory proved to be correct then he needed to make more progress on his meditation.
There were some mountains to the west of Valley Windworks, Drifloon were known to enjoy strong winds and the higher up one went the stronger the winds became. Shuichi climbed up the mountains and came to a plateau.
('Bingo.') Shuichi could see dozens of Drifloon all floating around minding their own business, some eventually noticed Shuichi and the word spread quickly so all of them watched Shuichi now. Most of them were curious about Shuichi.
"My name is Shuichi and I’m looking for a Drifloon to join me and my team on a journey to become the strongest trainer in the world, if any of you are interested then let me know," Shuichi explained to them why he was there.
The Drifloon had differing reactions, some even came forward wanting to join Shuichi, while others stayed behind not sure about the decision. Shuichi’s eyes scanned them all and he sensed their emotions, his eyes stopped at a certain Drifloon.
This particular Drifloon had not come forward as it just hung around in the back, there was excitement present, the biggest one that Shuichi could feel among them but there was also modesty and nervousness present.
Shuichi pointed towards the Drifloon "You there, how about it? Want to come with me?" The Drifloon was surprised Shuichi even pointed towards it, it hadn’t expressed willingness to come yet he was able to notice it.
The other Drifloon were a bit confused but Shuichi didn’t elaborate, "How about a battle? I can prove my strength through my Pokémon." He asked the Drifloon in question.
Drifloon didn’t know what to do, on one hand, it really wanted to see the world but on the other hand, it wasn’t so sure that it should deserve this chance over the rest. Shuichi could sense the internal battle and that just made him sure of it, this Drifloon was underestimating itself.
"Come on, let’s have a battle." Shuichi wanted this particular Drifloon for a simple reason, it would thrive once it had more confidence in itself. Shuichi released Eevee and was ready for a battle, Drifloon fought hard internally until it decided to take Shuichi on.
"There you go, now Eevee let’s do this." Shuichi was happy that Drifloon managed to gather enough courage to accept Shuichi’s challenge. Drifloon’s body glowed light blue as it blew a gust of wind directly at Eevee.
Eevee stood in the winds unperturbed, "Eevee, Shadow Ball!" Eevee collected a black ball of chaotic energy and shot it directly at Drifloon through the winds. The ball hit Drifloon in the face and it flew down like a kite unconsciously.
"Well, that was anticlimactic, I suppose Eevee was a tad bit overkill here," Shuichi muttered as he looked at Drifloon who was on the ground. The difference between them was too great.
Shuichi gave Drifloon a potion and it quickly woke up, there was worry in its emotions as it was worried that it had failed Shuichi’s test. "That just proved I know how to train a Pokémon, so, you still want to come along?" Shuichi asked.
Drifloon thought about it and nodded, there was still some modesty and nervousness present however it seemed that it wouldn’t be enough to stop it. Shuichi grabbed and pressed it against Drifloon’s head, Drifloon shrunk into the Pokéball and it quickly stopped shaking.
Shuichi pulled out his Pokedex and scanned Drifloon, it could barely show off its capabilities against Eevee.
Drifloon - Male
Age: 1 year
Ability: Flare Boost
Height: 1'04" / 0,4m
Weight: 2.6 lbs / 1.2 kg
Moves: Constrict, Minimize, Astonish, Gust, Tailwind, Defog
It was something Shuichi could work with, the added egg moves of Tailwind and Defog might not seem like much but everything would help. Now to get him to Nurse Joy for a simple check-up.