On the road to route 202 there was a group of four trainers just discussing the battle between Ash and Paul, this was indeed Shuichi’s group. Shuichi himself had gotten a fresh bandage from Dawn and went with the group to route 202.
"Oh right!" Dawn suddenly exclaimed, causing everyone to turn to her as she turned to Shuichi, "Shuichi, you told me to watch Paul’s Starly closely, what did you mean by that?"
She recounted Shuichi’s words and was waiting for his answer, "Did you notice anything about it?" Shuichi replied he wasn’t going to give away the answer that easily which caused Dawn to grind her teeth.
"No! I couldn’t see anything except for it being stronger." Dawn was helplessly lost, Shuichi was always like this. Always giving cryptic messages and never the answer on problems like these.
Shuichi smiled at being able to tease Dawn a little, it was fun to tease her. "I guess it can’t be helped, Ash, Brock, you two want to have a guess?" Pointing the question to the both of them.
"I didn’t really pay much attention, so I don’t know," Ash replied, Shuichi couldn’t really blame him for not paying attention. Being in a battle required focus.
Brock however was sharp at identifying Pokémon and he did get a good look. "Now that you mention it, there was something off about that Starly." Brock said, uncertain of what it was precisely.
Seeing no-one getting the answer and being looked at for the answer Shuichi complied. "Paul’s Starly half-assed the battle." Shocking Dawn and Ash while Brock realised it.
"Wait! What do you mean!" Ash was about to protest but Brock suddenly asked. "You’re saying Paul’s Starly was lazy?" getting half the answer correct.
"More precisely, it was contempt and laziness. Paul’s Starly knew it was stronger than Ash’s and as a result it did the bare minimum to win the fight." Shuichi explained about Paul’s Starly.
"Oh wow, then what you said to Paul?" Dawn realised the meaning of Shuichi’s earlier words. Paul had said there were a million better Starly.
"Correct, his words were just plain wrong. It’s a trainers job to make sure their Pokémon don’t lose their drive to become better, if they don’t, you get Paul’s Starly." Shuichi presented the point to everyone.
"Wow, you got all that from just one look at Paul’s Starly." Ash found it hard to believe and Brock also found it a little hard to believe.
Before Shuichi could explain, Dawn quickly chimed in "Shuichi’s always been incredibly sharp when it comes to Pokémon and their feelings!"
"Really?" Ash was still a little unconvinced and it seems like he needed a little bit of convincing. So Shuichi would give him a little demonstration.
"Really, for instance Ash, you’re Aipom is quite the attention seeker correct? I assume Aipom has pulled quite a few pranks on you." Shuichi explained judging Aipom’s character from the emotion Shuichi felt.
"Wha-! How did you know?!" Ash was shocked Shuichi was even able to correctly assume about his Aipom’s character.
"That’s quite impressive Shuichi, how did you learn this?" Brock was interested in this talent, however sadly for him you’d need to first lose your emotions and beg Mesprit for help.
Even then he doubted Mesprit would give that talent, even Shuichi didn’t know why Mesprit gave that talent to Shuichi.
"Don’t bother Brock, it’s not something you can learn. Call it a special talent, he’s had it for as long as I’ve known him. In fact the first day I met him-" Dawn explained it was a special talent and recounted her first day of meeting Shuichi with the Plusle and Minun.
The group eventually reached the forest where they encountered a brown and beige rabbit like Pokémon; Buneary.
Dawn decided she wanted to catch it because it was cute. Ash was coaching her on the sidelines with Shuichi and Brock sitting by, Dawn had asked Shuichi however his method was different than others causing Dawn to be confused.
Ash was backseat driving really hard when Dawn’s hand slipped causing the Pokéball to hit Ash in the face. "Hey! Watch where you’re throwing!" Ash said angrily.
"Well I’m sorry, if someone was not in my face about it maybe I wouldn't have hit you." Dawn also got angry and shot back at Ash causing an argument between the two.
Everybody looked at the scene unfolding with awkwardness, Brock and Shuichi looked at eachother with the same question ‘Does this happen often?’ Seeing each other's looks Brock and Shuichi just sighed.
Meanwhile the Buneary Dawn was trying to catch, got bored and just left. Piplup was trying to get their attention however Dawn and Ash were constantly yelling at each other not hearing him.
Once they realised Buneary was gone it spawned another rant on both sides which continued even after they were walking again.
The situation reached a high point soon enough with both of them screaming at eachother, Shuichi had heard enough and decided to step in.
"Both of you, stop it!" Shuichi said, placing emphasis and a certain tone of voice on the last part. Hearing Shuichi’s uncharacteristic tone of voice made both of them stop and look at him.
Shuichi wasn’t a commander for nothing in his past life, speaking with a voice of authority wasn’t too difficult.
Before Shuichi could say anything else a ray of light shone down upon them with beautiful sparkles.
Everyone looked at it in awe and Shuichi could feel the tension in the air melting like snow in the sun, "Isn’t this Sunny Day?" Shuichi said as he could feel the warmth increasing.
Brock confirmed it with some extra information and a small green seed-like Pokémon with two buds on its head waddled over and said "Budew Bud" it was a Budew.
Shuichi could feel Budew’s happiness at being able to calm them down, "I suppose you’re the one who used Sunny Day? Thank you Budew." Shuichi said.
"Correct." A voice came from behind a tree and a man with long black hair, he was wearing a green hat, a green cloak with a green shirt, beige pants and dark green boots.
"Let the Sunny Day soften your heart, for when your heart is light your mood is happy and bright. Tell me don’t you feel better now?" The mystery man asked them.
Everyone agreed with his words and the man introduced himself as Nando the Pokémon bard. Shuichi remembered the man once he gave them his name. ('If I recall correctly wasn’t he a rival to Dawn?') Shuichi recalled the events of the show.
"Pokémon bard huh? Quite an interesting title." Shuichi said, his own mother played the shamisen back in Johto and she hadn’t been slouching either in her time here in Sinnoh.
"Budew and I travel the world bringing joy to all." Nando said as he looked at the group.
"Say I have an idea, I’ll show you just how strong I’ve gotten Shuichi!" Dawn suddenly spoke up with some vigour. Shuichi had a feeling of what was about to come.
"Nando, would you mind a battle with me?" Dawn said as she looked at Nando. Before Nando could agree Shuichi dropped in.
"Wait a minute, I haven’t gotten to battle anyone either yet when do I get a chance?" The only battle he’s done so far was against Clamperl.
"Too bad! ladies first of course!" Dawn teased Shuichi back for his earlier teasing. Shuichi really had no comeback against that and just sighed and gave up.
"Are you two going for the Sinnoh League?" Nando asked Dawn and Shuichi of their goals. "I’m challenging the League and Dawn here is challenging the grand festival." Shuichi replied and Dawn nodded.
"Then how about a two on two battle? I happen to have two Pokémon." Nando instead asked for a two on two battle.
Shuichi and Dawn looked at eachother and Shuichi was the first one to respond "I’m down for a two on two." Dawn replied "Yeah! Me too!"
"Great, there is a clearing up ahead that will be perfect." Nando walked forward with the rest of the group following along.
"This will be you guys first trainer battle, are you sure about this?" Ash was a little hesitant however Shuichi quickly eased his worries.
"We’ll be fine, after all we’ve even sung together in the past." dredging up an old story, Dawn quickly got embarrassed remembering that one and hurried after Nando.
Unbeknownst to the group another trio of thieves were lurking behind them. A blue haired male, in a white outfit with a red ‘R’ on it, a woman with long dark pink hair dressed in the same fashion and a beige cat-like pokemon.
Even Shuichi who could normally spot someone tailing them couldn’t spot them, it seems they were no amateurs when it came to sneaking around. "It seems there’s another new twerp in the group." The blue haired man said.
"Yeah, and dis one’s givin' me de creeps, especially when he spoke in dat weird tone of voice. Right? It almost felt like I was standin' in front of de boss." The cat-like Pokémon with a coin on its head suddenly spoke in plain english.
"Still that other twerp thinks she can win contests huh?" The dark pink haired woman noticed that Dawn was after the Sinnoh grand festival and didn’t like that.
"Well too bad for her because there’s only one that’s going to win and that's me!" She continued to fantasise in her own world causing the other two to just sigh.
Over at the clearing Nando and Budew stood across from Shuichi and Dawn, Shuichi knew who he was sending out to have a battle next. "Clamperl, get ready!" Shuichi said as he threw the Pokéball and Clamperl emerged.
"Alright Piplup, spotlight!" Dawn said as she sent out Piplup, Piplup also came out in a flash and stood next to Clamperl.
"Then I suppose it’s time to level the playing field, Sunkern, please." Nando said as he released a seed-like Pokémon that resembles a sunflower seed, a small sprout exited at the top. Two grass types versus two water types, it was already not looking good.
"I’ll let you two have the first move." Nando said as Budew and Sunkern looked across. Shuichi could feel Budew and Sunkern both getting ready to dodge the first strike.
"Budew and Sunkern are both grass-types so let’s go with a flying-type move." Dawn said however before she could issue the command Shuichi said "Dawn, get ready for a boost."
"Huh? What do you mean?" Dawn was confused, a boost? Shuichi just looked at her "Trust me." Dawn nodded, trusting Shuichi.
"Okay Piplup use Peck on Budew!" Dawn said and Piplup’s beak started to glow with Piplup running. Under normal circumstances it was an easy to dodge attack however Shuichi had other plans.
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"Clamperl use Water Gun to shoot Piplup across!" Shuichi said, surprising everyone. Clamperl hopped behind Piplup and fired a stream of water at Piplup’s back.
Piplup heard the command and Shuichi’s initial warning as well so it was prepared for a boost, the Water Gun slammed into Piplup’s back and carried it towards Budew at breakneck speeds.
Nando didn’t expect a combination attack right off the bat so he couldn’t even issue a dodge command before Piplup slammed into Budew with a high speed Peck.
"Direct hit!" Dawn was ecstatic of the hit, however Shuichi pulled her back quickly "Don’t get carried away Dawn, focus on the battle!" Dawn quickly got her act together and said "Right!"
"Sunkern Mega Drain on Clamperl, please" Nando said to Sunkern before issuing a command to Budew "Budew, Sunny Day please, " and both Pokémon got ready.
"Not if I can help it! Piplup BubbleBeam on Sunkern!" Dawn said intend on helping Shuichi this time around. Piplup nodded and fired off bubbles at Sunkern blasting it away, cancelling the Mega Drain.
"Wow, they're perfectly in sync." Ash said on the sidelines, Brock nodded and also commented "I guess when you’ve been friends for so long it’s only natural."
"Clamperl focus on Whirlpool!" Shuichi said, the more time Clamperl had to focus the bigger the whirlpool could be. Budew finished the Sunny Day and a bright light came from above.
Sunny Day would weaken water type moves somewhat however it couldn’t be helped. Shuichi turned to Dawn and asked a weird question "Dawn remember Johanna’s Hearthome contest?"
"Huh? What do you- Oh! Sure! Let’s do it!" Dawn didn’t get why Shuichi brought up her mothers contest at first, however with the amount of times she’s seen her mothers contest videos she soon got the idea.
Nando didn’t know what they were planning, however he had underestimated them, or more specifically he underestimated Shuichi. Shuichi had multiple strategies and due to their history they were able to communicate with only hints.
"Sunkern Growth please, Budew Bullet Seed on Clamperl please," Nando decided to play it safe and buff up Sunkern and fire from a distance at Clamperl.
Sunkern started to glow green in the sunlight and seemed to grow a little, Budew fired off seeds at Clamperl. Dawn wanted to shoot them down, but Shuichi stopped her.
"Clamperl endure it!" Shuichi said to Clamperl, if there was one thing he’s seen from Clamperl then it was his ability to focus through the pain.
Clamperl got ready as the whirlpool was slowly getting bigger, Budew’s seeds hit Clamperl however he ventured through the pain and continued to focus on the whirlpool.
"Budew Solar Beam please, Sunkern Mega Drain please," Nando went for the knockout with an all out attack. Budew could charge quickly due to sunlight however would still take a second or two.
"Clamperl fire! Dawn, get ready!" Shuichi gave Dawn the signal and could see the Whirlpool was done and a big Whirlpool was fired at both Budew and Sunkern.
Sunkern however attacked with a green energy beam that collided with the Whirlpool, due to a growth boost it looked like the Whirlpool was losing.
"Piplup BubbleBeam on the Whirlpool to give it a boost!" Dawn however came in clutch and Piplup fired off a BubbleBeam at the Whirlpool, bubbles started to mix with the Whirlpool giving it enough of a boost to break through.
"What!" Ash and Brock on the sidelines were blown away, however they quickly realised something. Wasn’t this sort of a contest move?
The Whirlpool only sped up faster and faster after breaking through, and quickly slammed into Budew and Sunkern sweeping them both up in a whirlpool of bubbles.
"Clamperl Aqua Ring!" Shuichi didn’t think it would be enough and turned to Dawn once more "Dawn, remember Ariados?" He asked her about the Ariados from this day.
"Of course! Piplup, get ready to use Bide!" Dawn understood Shuichi’s hint system and had Piplup use Bide.
Meanwhile Clamperl got a ring of water around him to heal off some of the damage from the Bullet Seed.
Piplup started to glow white and Shuichi gave Clamperl another command "Clamperl, Water Gun in short bursts on Piplup!" Clamperl nodded and fired rapidly at Piplup.
Over at Nando’s side of the field the whirlpool fizzled out and Budew still had the charge of Solar Beam ready "Budew fire!" he said looking at Piplup glowing brighter as well.
"Piplup you also fire!" Dawn said noticing Piplup couldn’t take anymore, both Pokémon fired off a beam of white light at each other and Shuichi could feel a big explosion incoming.
"Clamperl Iron Defense quick!" Shuichi said frantically, a moment later both beams collided and turned into a massive explosion nearly sweeping everyone away.
A giant smoke and dust cloud covered the field, "Who won?" Ash asked after the smoke started to clear. There were three figures on the floor knocked out, with the last one in its shell with a blue light.
"Seems like you won, congratulations, it was a great fight." Nando said as he recalled his Pokémon and walked over.
Shuichi and Dawn recalled their Pokémon, "Well done Clamperl, I’m proud of you." Shuichi said to the Pokéball. Pokémon could still hear inside the Pokéball.
"That was amazing! Congrats you two!" Ash excitedly said as he walked over. Brock also nodded and commented "That Whirlpool and BubbleBeam combination was something else, how did you know it would work?"
"That move was used by one of my mothers competitors in a contest once, we simply copied it." Dawn said, making it sound simpler than it actually was.
Shuichi on the other hand sighed a little and added "The amount of times Dawn made me watch those videos were uncountable so they’re all etched in my memory." It was no joke Dawn made him watch those videos hundreds of times.
Dawn quickly got embarrassed and said "Well- It won us the battle so it was a good thing right?" Everyone seemed to be in good spirits as Nando walked over.
"I see you two have been friends for a while, your teamwork also showed it." Nando commented, noticing their friendly banter with each other and their communication in battle.
"Pretty much the first day I moved here to Sinnoh she started pelting me with questions about contests in kindergarten and from there it began." Shuichi narrated his first day of kindergarten teasing Dawn once more.
"You…Urgh!" Dawn was feeling lost at words, was she really that much of a contest fan? Oh who was she kidding? She totally was.
"Seems like a lot of fun, you two fought well for your first trainer battle. Best of luck to you two." Nando said and with that he walked off.
"Seems like it was a great experience for the both of you, let’s go find a Center for Clamperl and Piplup." Brock advised and the group agreed and also went forward unknown to the trio of thieves who also saw the fight.
"Wow, that new twerp sure can fight." The blue haired man commented after watching the battle, he had seen his fair share of action so he could see that Shuichi was leading the fight.
The cat-like pokemon also spoke up "Yeah, but d'ja see dat Clamperl, or what? It’s quite talented." It commented on Clamperl’s endurance and ability to focus through the pain.
"Well, then let’s prepare, they’re bound to be tired after a fight like that." The dark pink haired woman said. The other two nodded and they sneaked off into the distance.
And tired Shuichi was, with all the action today from the Ariados to Nando just now it was no wonder Shuichi was getting tired. The rest of the group was also getting a bit tired as the sun was starting to set.
The group was looking around for a Pokémon Center to stay at, if they couldn’t find one they would have to camp out in the forest and Dawn was somewhat against that.
As they were looking around, a man with blue hair and a woman with dark pink hair both dressed in a green jacket and white uniform called out to them.
"Well hello there! You four seem pretty tired! Please follow us to our inn where all your fatigue will be washed away!" The man and woman spoke together.
Shuichi had an off feeling seeing these two however he couldn’t quite place it. The others also had such feelings and Ash even sceptically asked "An inn? Here in the forest?"
"Of course! Where there is a forest there are weary travellers." The blue haired man spoke and the woman finished with "And since you four look awfully weary we’ll let you stay for free!"
The group of four looked at eachother and Ash said "Well, If it’s free then we might as well follow them right?" Dawn and Brock nodded but Shuichi still had an off feeling.
"Are you two the only personnel there?" Shuichi decided to dig a little deeper. However the blue haired man quickly said "We have another coworker at the inn setting things up."
Shuichi couldn’t find a flaw in their words so he just opted to follow them and stay on high alert. Once deeper in the forest the group came to the entrance of a luxurious inn.
('Was there really nothing wrong here?') Shuichi felt conflicted, on one hand it seemed nothing was wrong yet he still felt off.
Before he could say anything a third figure appeared also dressed in a green jacket and holding a box, however this figure was tiny. "Please put your Pokéballs in dis box fawh safekeeping." The figure said.
Shuichi was frowning even harder, not because the person was so tiny. But because he could sense an emotion of greed from the man.
('Since when can I sense the emotions of a person? Unless…') Shuichi considered the truth and realised who he was dealing with here. "Quite impressive, you almost had me fooled," Shuichi said, surprising everyone.
"Wh-what ever do you mean?" The blue haired man was a little nervous about their cover being blown. "We’re just inn workers," The woman added.
Shuichi ignored their pleas as he looked at the tiny figure now recognising who it was. "A talking Pokémon, I’ve never seen that before." Shuichi’s words caused the rest to also figure it out.
"A talking Pokémon? Then you must be Team Rocket!" Ash had experience with them for over three years by now so he put two and two together real quick.
"Uh oh busted!" The figure said as the entrance to their ‘Inn’ collapsed revealing it was just a decor set used in movies.
"Great job, I told you we needed a real inn!" The woman yelled at her two co-workers. The tiny co-worker yelled back "Yuh just try tuh build a real inn in 30 minutes!"
They all removed their jackets to reveal their Team Rocket uniform and the tiny figure was revealed to be a talking Meowth. "Listen, is that voice I hear?" the woman asked.
"It’s speaking to me, loud and clear." The man continued with their speech, Shuichi already expected this to happen. They would always announce themselves like this in the show.
"Floating on the wind…" The woman said and the man continued "Past the stars…" and finally the Meowth ended with "In your ear!"
"Bringing chaos at a breakneck pace…" The woman started again and the man bounced back with "Dashing hope, putting fear in its place."
"A rose by any other name is just as sweet…" The woman said and the man continued, "When everything’s worse our work is complete."
"Jessie!" The woman revealed her name. "And James!" The man also told his name and finally the Meowth finished with "Meowth, Dat’s my name!"
"Putting the do-gooders in their place…" Jessie said "Team Rocket…" James continued and Meowth finished with "We’re in your face!"
Suddenly a tall cyan Pokémon came out and said "Wooobuffet!" while saluting, then another Pokémon came out and this one was a small pink and blue Pokémon "Mime! Mime!"
Shuichi could feel some proud and enthusiastic emotions from the Pokémon, he turned to Ash and asked "Do they really say that everytime they come out?"
"Sadly they do and it even changes from time to time." Ash nodded a little helplessly. It was getting really old hearing that motto every day.
"How rude! Didn’t your parents ever tell you that it’s not nice to talk like that?" Jessie overheard Ash’s comment and took a jab at his parents.
"Are you here for Pikachu again?" Dawn asked angrily, she really didn’t like these goons and their persistence.
"Yes, but we’re also here for that twerp’s Clamperl. Now hand them over!" James said as he threw out a Pokéball.
Out of the Pokéball came a huge plant-like Pokémon that suddenly started biting James’s head.
"They seem to have a new Pokémon." Ash said as he got out his Pokédex, curious at what sort of Pokémon it was.
"Carnivine, The bug catcher Pokémon. It binds itself to trees in marshes. It attracts prey with its sweet-smelling drool and gulps them down." The Pokédex rattled off.
"So you want Clamperl? You’re gonna have to go through me first! Eevee, get ready!" Shuichi wasn’t going to give his Pokémon unless they pried it out of his dead hands and released Eevee.
"Are you sure Shuichi?" Ash asked, Team Rocket wasn’t too tough however they were also not complete pushovers.
"Leave this to me! Eevee still needs some practice." Shuichi said confidently.
"An Eevee! Quite rare!" Jessie said and Meowth added "Change in plans Pika first, Eevee second an Clamperl toid". Shuichi could feel Meowth’s greed getting bigger and it was quite nauseating.
"Leave it to me! Carnivine, use Bite!" James said and Carnivine switched from his head to Eevee with a wide open mouth ready to chew.
"Eevee Protect!" Shuichi wanted to try out Protect for the first time and this was a ripe opportunity. Eevee acknowledged and a green shield appeared around it stopping Carnivine in its tracks.
The shield surprised everyone except for Shuichi as he pressed further. "Now, Tackle Eevee!" The shield dropped and Eevee tackled Carnivine hard, sending across the field.
"Double tap, another Tackle Eevee!" Shuichi didn’t want to lose his advantage and pressed further in.
Eevee ran towards Carnivine however when it was halfway across the field Eevee suddenly sped up and left a white outline where it went.
This time it was Shuichi’s time to be surprised however Brock was quick to identify what happened, "That’s Quick Attack!" And quick it was as Eevee tackled Carnivine once more knocking it out.
"Well done Eevee!" Shuichi was ecstatic, being able to learn Quick Attack now meant more options for Roark and also halfway through the moves he wanted Eevee to learn.
Eevee was breathing a little heavily, ('it seems like Protect took out a lot of energy.') Shuichi noticed. It was something to keep in mind.
"Why you little twerp! The battle is not over yet!" Jessie said angrily as she took out her own Pokéballs. "Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" Ash had seen enough and had Pikachu use Thunderbolt.
"Pika!" A large electric shock travelled and blew up near Team Rocket sending them flying. "We’re blasting off again!" They said as they were sent flying.
"Wow, well done Shuichi and Eevee! But when did you learn Protect?" Dawn congratulated them and asked an important question, Eevee didn’t use Protect during the Ariados encounter.
"It was on sale at the Sandgem Mart, a one time TM for ₽1,500." Shuichi revealed where he had bought it, causing Dawn to groan out "What! Ohh, if only I had checked the Mart."
They all had a good laugh when Shuichi noticed something in the forest, ('Were they still here?') Shuichi thought so he called out. "Who’s there?" causing all three of them to go on high alert again.
"Please, don’t worry it's just me wondering what the commotion was about." The man revealed himself and was revealed to be Nando again.
"Oh it’s Nando, what are you doing here?" The group was relieved it was just Nando and Ash asked him what he was doing here.
"I was just out on a stroll waiting for my Pokémon to heal at the Center when I heard a commotion." Nando revealed why he was here.
"A band of thieves wanted to steal our Pokémon, however we dealt with it. Wait, did you say Center?" Shuichi told him about Team Rocket and noticed his use of the word Center.
"I see, well I see you’re wanting to go to the Center. Would you like me to guide you there?" Nando offered to bring the group to the Center and everyone readily agreed.