"Ah, Piplup, are you okay?"
Dawn anxiously checked the little penguin's condition.
"Pip~"
Piplup weakly waved a flipper, still stubbornly insisting it could keep going.
It had just been careless! It hadn't dodged!
That was how it had accidentally gotten knocked out.
After two failures, Dawn couldn't help sighing. "Sigh, catching Pokémon is so hard. I wonder if I'll manage to catch one today."
"Piplup, Piplup!"
Despite losing, Piplup stayed quite positive. It soon regained its energy and comforted Dawn, telling her not to lose heart, since there would definitely be more chances later.
"No problem! Let's keep exploring, then!"
After Piplup's encouragement, Dawn gave herself a pep talk and continued deeper into the forest.
Rustle~
Hearing the noise, Dawn and Piplup immediately looked toward the bushes beside them.
Then, under the eyes of girl and Pokémon, a yellow figure suddenly jumped out of the bushes.
"Pika~"
"What's this Pokémon?"
At the sight of an unfamiliar Pokémon, Dawn instinctively took out her Pokédex to check.
Pikachu, the Mouse Pokémon. Commonly active in the Kanto Region. The electric sacs in its cheeks can store electricity. When angry, it releases all its stored electricity at once.
"Oh, it's a Pikachu. That's a pretty rare Pokémon."
"Looks like we're pretty lucky today!"
Although Pikachu were electric mice found everywhere in the Kanto Region, this was Sinnoh. Overall, they were still quite rare here.
Besides, Pikachu's appearance appealed to women's tastes. Dawn immediately rubbed her hands together, ready for another capture battle.
"Piplup, we're definitely going to succeed this time!"
"Piplup, Piplup!"
Piplup's gaze instantly sharpened, and it patted its chest with a little flipper.
"Pikachu, battle me! I'm going to catch you and make you my Pokémon."
Dawn challenged Pikachu to a battle.
"Pi... Pika?"
Having just escaped Team Rocket's clutches, little Pikachu was about to catch its breath, but the moment it looked up, it saw a girl in a white hat challenging it to a battle.
"Go, Piplup! Use Bubble Beam!"
Dawn instinctively assumed Pikachu had agreed and immediately ordered Piplup to attack.
(You two really are reckless, using a Water-type against an Electric-type! Do you think you're masters of battling against type disadvantages?)
"Piplup!"
Hearing her command, Piplup quickly spat several streams of pale blue bubbles toward Pikachu.
"Pi... Pikachu!!"
Seeing that its opponent had already attacked, Pikachu had no time to explain. Electricity gathered in its cheek sacs, and it quickly unleashed a powerful Thunderbolt.
Electricity against water-the result was obvious.
Like golden arrows, Thunderbolt effortlessly shattered all of Piplup's Bubble Beam. The remaining lightning shot toward Piplup without losing any power.
"Piplup, Piplup!!"
Seeing its special move broken so easily, Piplup's eyes widened, but it seemed to have forgotten to dodge.
The remaining Thunderbolt struck it square in the face. It instantly saw stars and turned into charcoal.
Pikachu versus Piplup. Piplup was knocked out!
"Pika..."
However, that attack seemed to have exhausted what little stamina Pikachu had left. It lay on the ground, panting heavily.
"Go, Poké Ball."
Although Piplup had failed again, Pikachu wasn't in good shape either. Thinking she might as well try, Dawn threw another Poké Ball.
However, when the Poké Ball struck Pikachu's head, a red film of light actually appeared around its body, protectively bouncing the Poké Ball away.
"Huh? Does this Pikachu have a Trainer?"
Although Dawn was a complete newbie, she knew what it meant when a Poké Ball failed to capture a Pokémon like that. It meant this Pokémon had already been caught and belonged to someone.
"That's right, little girl. This Pikachu is our Pokémon."
"Exactly. You're a Trainer, aren't you? You can't just catch someone else's Pokémon. That's something only bad people do."
"That's right, meow~"
At that moment, the Team Rocket Trio caught up as well. Jessie, who was in the lead, scooped up Pikachu from the ground and covered little Pikachu's mouth to keep their lie from being exposed.
Meowth and James smiled at Dawn, playing off each other as they tried to fool her.
"Are you... this Pikachu's Trainers?"
Looking at the strange man and woman who had suddenly appeared, Dawn frowned and eyed the trio suspiciously.
These people didn't look like good people.
But that Meowth could actually talk. How amazing!
"Of course it's ours. We chased Pikachu for ages before finally finding it. If it isn't ours, whose is it?"
"That's right, meow!"
With tears in their eyes, the trio hugged Pikachu tightly. The scene of such heartfelt emotion looked as though they had endured countless hardships and finally found a family member who had been missing for years.
But their exaggerated performance only made the already suspicious Dawn even more doubtful. Staring straight at the three, she probed them.
"Really? But Pikachu looks like it's really uncomfortable."
"Ah... well, um..."
"Pikachu's just been apart from us for too long. It might feel a little distant."
"It's fine, it's fine. We'll just have a little private chat later."
The trio sweated profusely under her stare, but they stubbornly stuck to their story.
"Pika... chu!"
Just then, Pikachu, still in Jessie's arms, seemed to recover a little stamina. Lightning flashed across its cheeks, and it unleashed Thunderbolt directly on the trio.
"Aah!! N... numb!"
Caught completely off guard, the trio trembled all over as Pikachu electrocuted them.
After a round of electric massage, the trio successfully advanced into Indian blokes.
"I knew at a glance you weren't good people!"
"Piplup, get ready to battle."
While Team Rocket was trying out the Black person experience card, Dawn seized the chance to take Pikachu from Jessie's arms and ordered Piplup into a battle stance.
Jessie angrily pulled out a remote control, and a hot-air balloon suddenly appeared overhead.
"Ah! You rotten Pikachu, you rotten little girl! Have a taste of what we can do!"
Then a mechanical arm extended from the hot-air balloon and snatched Pikachu back as though it had a tracking system installed!
"Pika... chu!!"
Caught in its grip, Pikachu continued using Thunderbolt on the mechanical arm.
But it had no effect.
"Don't waste your energy, Pikachu! Our mechanical arm is equipped with the latest electricity storage device. Save your strength!"
Seeing Pikachu helpless, the trio laughed smugly.
Their weapons could lack anything else, but an electricity storage device was a must. Otherwise, how would they catch Pikachu?
"What do I do..."
Dawn was a little anxious. As a rookie just starting out, faced with a situation like this right away, she didn't know what to do for the moment.
The scene shifted.
"All right! That's it for today's training. Come over and rest for a bit!"
Xiaoyun clapped his hands, signaling for the two Pokémon to take a break.
Boom, boom, boom!!!
Just then, a series of explosions suddenly rang out in the forest, accompanied by the sound of trees collapsing.
Xiaoyun hurriedly looked up and saw a huge Meowth hot-air balloon hovering in the air.
Could that be those three from Team Rocket's hot-air balloon? Since Team Rocket is here, doesn't that mean Ash is here too?
Wait, could Dawn be over there too?
Xiaoyun remembered Dawn saying she was going into the forest to catch Pokémon, and that direction seemed to be where she was.
At that thought, he hurried toward the explosions. Although he remembered those three having little fighting ability,
They certainly knew how to cause trouble.
And Dawn was a rookie. If she got hurt or anything, he would definitely have to teach the trio a lesson.