"Now that I've received Cubchoo, it's time to get on with other things."
Bai Shi planned to follow his original schedule and enter the Junior Cup in Lacunosa Town.
Winning the Junior Cup would give him another chance to battle Alder, and he certainly wouldn't miss that.
Lacunosa Town lay east of Icirrus City.
With Opelucid City between them, the two places were quite far apart.
If Bai Shi wanted to enter the Junior Cup, he would have to pick up the pace.
"Golurk, I'm counting on you!"
To save time, Bai Shi sent out Golurk and rode him there.
He reached Lacunosa Town in just a few days.
When he arrived, it was the eve of the tournament.
Bai Shi therefore spent a night resting at the Pokémon Center before throwing himself into the competition.
Perhaps because Lacunosa Town was relatively remote, there weren't many entrants.
Only a dozen or so Pokémon Trainers had signed up for the Junior Cup.
Among those competitors were quite a few faces Bai Shi knew.
Ash and his two companions, Trip, Langley, and Cabernet were all there.
Even Dawn, Bai Shi's "fellow native," had shown up.
"Long time no see, Bai Shi! You really did enter this tournament!"
Dawn greeted Bai Shi as soon as she saw him.
She had originally caught a ride with Cynthia to Nimbasa City in the Unova Region to watch a Pokémon Musical and Elesa's fashion show.
After learning that Ash and the others were entering the Junior Cup, she had signed up as well.
Dawn had already suspected that she might run into Bai Shi here, since he was also traveling through Unova.
Still, when they actually met face-to-face, she was delighted.
"It's been a while, Dawn!"
Smiling, Bai Shi struck up a conversation with Dawn,