Chapter 3

After turning his traveling pair into a trio, Ash leads his friends to Striaton City as fast as he possibly can. Therefore, it takes them three days to stop being lost. Along the way Jessie adjusts to the group dynamics Shauntal realizes she is now journeying with two people whose tempers are worse than Marshall's. Ash and Pikachu, meanwhile, get to know their new friend Pidove while also preparing Oshawott for its first gym battle. After Shauntal's reminder that the limit of four moves per Pokémon only applies to standard regulation battles and not training, Ash has Pikachu help Pidove with its Agility.

Once our heroes get back on the right path, the journey to their next destination becomes far easier. Reaching the bustling main street of Striaton City, Ash and Jessie immediately go look for the gym. While searching, they notice that Shauntal seems to have vanished into thin air. Now looking for their missing companion (Jessie has sent out Woobat to help look), a man with bright green hair walks up and compliments Jessie on her Pokémon's cuteness. Then, seeing Ash's Pikachu, the man gushes at the rare Kanto native. After a brief conversation with the two, Cilan offers to lead Ash and Jessie to the gym.

With his senses primed for battle, Ash is taken aback when Cilan takes him to a restaurant. He and Jessie are quickly overwhelmed by a blue-haired man offering them drinks and one with red hair asking for their entrée orders. The two trainers and Pikachu, none of whom had ever been known to turn down a meal, seemed not to want to eat anything the pushy waiters tried to give them.

Eventually Ash had enough and shouted, "I JUST WANT TO HAVE A GYM BATTLE!"

The response from the other customers was unexpectedly one of gleeful admiration (or what the medical community knew as fangirl-itis). The waiters and Cilan introduced themselves as the triplet gym leaders and were happy to accept Ash's challenge. Cilan, Chili, and Cress all called out their Pokémon: a Pansage, Pansear, and Panpour respectively. In order to decide which of the three Ash would face, they needed to know what his starter Pokémon was. Seeing Pikachu, Cress correctly assumed Ash was from the Kanto Region.

"So," he began, "was your starter Pokémon a Bulbasaur, a Charmander, or a Squirtle?"

"Um…" was a confused Ash's reply, "none of those-"

Chili cut him off by asking, "So you came to Unova to start your journey then? Did you pick Snivy, Tepig, or Oshawott?"

"No…" Ash tried to explain, but was again cut off.

"Then did you receive a Chikorita, or a Cyndaquil, or a Totodile, or a Treecko, or-" Cilan questioned before he too was interrupted.

"His first Pokémon was his Pikachu you nincompoops!" Jessie yelled, fed up with the interrogation.

The brothers were at a loss what to do with that information. Cilan thought that as grass-type Pokémon at least resist electric-type attacks, he should be the one to battle Ash. The other two weren't sure about his reasoning, but didn't have a better idea until Ash insisted he wanted to battle all three of them so he could battle against as many different kinds of Pokémon as possible. The trio of gym leaders appreciated the newbie trainer's attempt to take on a challenge, but decided to teach him a lesson about biting off more than he could chew. They accepted his proposed three battles, but declared he needed to defeat all three of them in order to earn a badge. Ash was fine with these terms, so the brothers led the way to the battlefield, with a trail of fangirls squealing at the possibility of seeing all three brothers battle in one day.


It was determined that Cilan would battle Ash first, so he stood at one end of the battlefield and called for his Pansage. Ash prepares himself to send out Pidove, but Oshawott, determined to show his strength, pops out instead.

"Do you wanna battle first?" Ash asks his Pokémon.

"Wott!" Oshawott nods and hits his scalchop.

"Interesting," Shauntal comments from next to Jessie in the stands, "this type disadvantage should give me excellent information about the bonds between Ash and his Pokémon."

"GAH!" Jessie shouts in surprise, "When did you get here?"

Shauntal seems not to hear the question and indicates the battlefield where Ash's first gym challenge in Unova is about to occur. Cress starts the one-on-one match between Pansage and Oshawott and the battle begins. Ash orders a Tackle from Oshawott, which Cilan has Pansage easily dodge. Trying a Water Gun next, Oshawott continues to be unable to hit the green monkey. Cilan is disappointed and tells Pansage to use Bullet Seed, which hits the retreating Oshawott directly. Oshawott doesn't go down, though, so Cilan decides to give a Connoisseur speech and calls for a Solarbeam. Seeing Oshawott's terrified face, Ash reassures his Pokémon that it is brave and strong and can win this. As Pansage launches the blast of solar energy, Oshawott becomes more determined and holds out his scalchop, deflecting the attack back to the sky.

Everyone but Ash and his traveling companions are shocked by this, and Ash takes advantage of that and instructs Oshawott to use Razor Shell on Pansage. Though he finally scores a direct hit, the water-type attack fails to do much damage and Pansage retaliates by knocking the scalchop from Oshawott's hands and directly across the gym. The Unova starter seems to barely hold in his fury after his most prized possession lands far away, where any attempt to get it would leave him open to attacks. In typical Ash style, the trainer sees a way to get the scalchop back without moving. Oshawott is a bit confused by the order, but decides to trust his trainer and launches a Water Gun at the wall. The resulting jet of water bounces of the wall, hits the boulders on the battlefield, and blast the scalchop directly back to its owner. While momentarily stunned, Cilan recovers and tells Pansage to hit the scalchop with a Bullet Seed. This time, however, Oshawott clings to his shell and avoids the incoming projectiles. Now seething with unbridles fury, the otter's scalchop glows red in his hand. Ash uses his Pokédex to see what is happening and grins when he sees Oshawott's new move.

"Oshawott!" Ash calls, "Use your new attack and don't stop hitting Pansage!"

Oshawott complies and runs over to the curious simian before slashing at it with his scalchop. The glow around the shell seems to increase with this and every subsequent hit until Pansage falls over, declared unable to battle. Cilan is confused that a water-type dealt such massive damage despite the type disadvantage, but Ash explains that Oshawott's new move dealt super effective bug-type damage. The first triplet smacks his forehead in disbelief that he forgot Oshawott can learn Fury Cutter. Shauntal, meanwhile, takes notes furiously muttering something about the Pokémon trusting its trainer so soon after joining the party as well as learning a move that it would normally need a much higher power level to pull off. At the other end of the stand, several young girls are openly weeping at Cilan's loss.


Determining that Chili would be next to battle, the brothers set the stage for round two against Ash. Chili brings out his Pansear while Ash releases his Pidove (this time successfully). The battle begins similarly to the last one, as Ash has his Pokémon dive in for a direct, close-range Quick Attack. Chili has Pansear flip onto a rock at the last second and hit Pidove head on with a Thunderpunch. The electric-type attack deals massive damage, but Pidove manages to hold on to consciousness, albeit barely. Ash is now grateful for his time training his most recent capture while lost on Route 2. He has the bird Pokémon fly to the rafters above the stands and use Roost to heal the damage. Chili tells his partner to get in range and hit Pidove with a Flamethrower, but the flying-type has landed far enough away that by the time Pansear gets in range on top of the rail in the stands, it is already recovered and ready to counterattack. Ash tells Pidove to send the Flamethrower back with Gust and then use Quick Attack to knock Pansear off its perch. Both attacks are successful and the fire-type falls and smashes into a boulder below.

To finish the match so he can move onto his next battle, Ash orders another Quick Attack to hit Pansear directly into the boulder. Chili has had time to recover, however, and manages to get his partner to avoid the attack using Dig. Ash, having used this trick against Paul and having it used right back against him, knows what to do and has Pidove use Gust into the hole. The resulting sandstorm sends Pansear right back out while also dealing damage. Pidove then finishes the match quickly with Quick Attack and Pansear is also declared unable to continue. Only one or two fangirls have a dry eye after the second loss.


For Ash's third battle, he faces the undeniably strongest of the brothers, who proceeds to send out his Panpour. The Pride of Pallet isn't remotely afraid of losing as he uses his strongest Pokémon, with a type advantage to boot. Ash calls out a Thunderbolt from Pikachu, but Cress is quick to respond ordering a Mud Sport from Panpour. The mud blocks the majority of the super effective attack, but the yellow rodent's strength is shown when it still deals significant damage. Cress sees he'll have to end the battle from a distance and quickly. He orders a barrage of Water Guns and Ice Beams, each one, though dodged, send Pikachu farther away from Panpour. The third gym leader then has Panpour use its anti-electric-type specialty: Earthquake. Knowing that the attack would be extra harmful to his Pikachu, Ash tries to find a way to get the electric-type off the ground. Seeing the boulders amid the pillars of ice left from the string of missed attacks, the trainer is struck with an idea. He has his most trusted companion use its Agility to bounce from pillar to pillar and boulder to boulder and get close to the water-type, ending the combination in a powerful Iron Tail and knocking out his last barrier to victory.

As the stunned triplets present Ash with the Trio Badge and he does his victory pose, the wails of disheartened superfans plays as background music.


After finishing healing the victors of his match at the Pokémon center, Ash and his friends prepare to leave Striaton City. They are stopped, though, when a large bunch of trainers run in with their sleeping Pokémon. As they explain that the Pokémon just fell asleep and won't wake up, Jessie's head whips around looking for the mysteriously vanishing elite four member. As Nurse Joy and Audino run around frantically trying to help the Pokémon in need, a tall woman with knee-length hair rushes into the Center, a short girl with pigtails and a floating pink-and-purple tapir following behind. The scientist explains about the dream smoke and seems panicked when Shauntal reappears.

"Doctor Fennel!" the author shouts, "As the resident expert on dream smoke, you need to calm down so that you can help fix the problem."

Fennel calms down at the elite four member's words and then proceeds to introduce herself and her assistant, Amanita. She tells the story of Musharna and its dream smoke, which is said to be able to make dreams a reality. Fennel also explains that people tried to harness its power for evil and it accidentally blew up the dreamyard. Amanita speaks for the first time when she says she saw weird people hanging out at the dreamyard earlier. At this the gang all takes off towards the danger, Ash covering Pikachu's mouth and nose with his hat.

When they arrive at the dreamyard, Ash and his group are met with a glare by a near army's worth of Patrat and Trubbish. These hostile Pokémon appear to be owned by a couple of men who are dressed in something that makes them look like something akin to a chess pawn.

"Stop!" one of them ordered, "This area has been commandeered by Team Plasma as part of our efforts to liberate Pokémon. You shall not pass!"

As Shauntal and Fennel prepare to question the idea of Pokémon liberation, the last person Shauntal would expect interjects.

"Oh puh-leaze," Jessie groans, "For an evil team your goal stinks. 'Oh, I want to free Pokémon for their own good!' Who would fall for that? For people so desperate to liberate Pokémon, you seem to have an awful lot of them. And don't even get me started on those outfits! You guys are worse than those fashion freaks, Team Galactic!"

Continuing Jessie's momentum Amanita continues, "Yeah! And you have no right to hurt Musharna. We're coming in whether you like it or not."

"Then we'll have to stop you. Patrat and Trubbish, attack!" orders a grunt.

"SHAAR!" A pained cry sounds from inside.

"The twerp, I mean Ash, and I will handle these goons, you check out what's going on inside," Jessie orders and then proceeds to call out her Seviper.

Dozens of little chipmunks and garbage bags go to attack Seviper after that. Seviper's Poison Tail keeps the Patrats from biting it, but it almost misses the Sludge Bombs from Trubbish before they're shot down by a Thunderbolt from Pikachu.


Inside the dreamyard, Fennel, Amanita, and Shauntal find a bald man in a brown robe trying to get Musharna to keep releasing its dream smoke.

"Hey! Stop that!" Fennel orders.

"Hmph!" the man huffs, "And who are you to disturb the work of Gorm, one of the Seven Sages of Team Plasma?"

"My name is Shauntal, one of Unova's elite four," the ghost-type user answered.

Seeing a challenge he needed to dispose of, Gorm orders his Stoutland away from Musharna to take on the elite four member. Shauntal calls out Jellicent to deal with the threat. Gorm has Stoutland start with a Shadow Ball, which Jellicent counters with its own, more powerful version of the same attack. Gorm switches tactics and orders a Thunder Fang, which is quickly halted by Jellicent's Psychic. As Jellicent finishes Stoutland with a Hydro Pump, Gorm sees he needs an entirely new strategy and motions his Liepard to leave Musharna and move somewhere else. A high-pitched shriek indicates that the somewhere else was behind Amanita.

Seeing the threat, Shauntal calls back Jellicent and Gorm prepares to take Musharna and leave. His plans are interrupted, however, when a silver zigzag hits Liepard over the head, knocking it out. As Gorm sees Ash and Pikachu running up, with Jessie and Seviper close behind, he realizes that with a member of the elite four as well as multiple allies present he is clearly outmatched. He orders whatever grunts are around to abandon the mission and retreat while it's still possible, aided by a Smog from whatever Trubbish have the energy to muster it.

The crisis dealt with, the appropriate authorities informed about Team Plasma, and Musharna happily reunited with Fennel, the gang prepares to head off to their next destination: Nacrene City. As they exit the Pokémon Center, they bump into Amanita, who is carrying a large backpack. From said bag, she retrieves a container holding a tan Pokémon egg.

"Here, Ash," she explains, "since you did such a good job protecting me I have no doubt you can handle whatever baby Pokémon hatches from this egg."

Ash is stunned, but is also happy to have a new member of the team ready to join him as soon as it hatches. As he thanks Amanita and Jessie asks where her egg is, Shauntal ducks away and pulls out a Pokégear.

"I think there might be a situation brewing," she says to the person on the other end of the call. Then she hangs up and walks back to the gang before Jessie can get suspicious. The three then bid farewell to the lab assistant named for a mushroom and depart Striation City to continue their journey through Unova.


A/N: The only major difference between this chapter and its original version (besides the numbering) is the description of how many moves a Pokémon can know in the first paragraph. Originally it had to do with the trainer's experience level, but now a Pokémon can know as many moves as it can learn, but only four can be used in each battled based on Pokémon Association guidelines. I like it better this way

Until Next Time -Me