It took a few days of traveling, but eventually Ash and his friends found their way to Striaton City.

"Wow. Striaton City. We're finally here, buddy," Ash excitedly said to his partner Pikachu. "First badge here we come. Now the only question that remains is where is the gym?" At this, Dawn, Iris, and Bianca fell down comically.

"You don't even know where the gym is? Man, you're like a young child," Iris teased as she gave a fruit to Axew, who was in her hair.

"Hey, give me a break. I used to have a friend that would handle the navigation," Ash countered.

"Yeah, be fair guys. I don't really have the best system for navigation either," Bianca tried to defend.

Before the group could continue, a man dressed in a fancy suit and with green hair approached them. "My, my. Is that an Axew that you have with you, my dear?" the man said. He took a closer look at Iris's Axew. "I can tell just from looking that you have a strong bond with your Axew, Miss."

"Um, excuse me, but who are you?" Dawn asked the strange man.

"Oh, where are my manners? My name is Cilan. And I am a Pokemon Connoisseur."

"What?" Ash and Dawn were both confused at the term.

"Man, seriously? You guys don't know what that is?" Iris questioned the duo.

"You see, Pokemon Connoisseurs rate the friendship of a Pokemon with their Trainer," Cilan explained.

At this, Pikachu and Piplup both gave out confused cries, which were noticed by Cilan.

"Wait, do you guys have a Piplup and a Pikachu?!" Cilan's mood brightened. "I'm sorry for not noticing before. They look amazing. It looks as if your bonds with your Pokemon are strong too. Where are you from?"

"I'm Ash from Pallet Town in the Kanto region," Ash answered.

"I'm Dawn from Twinleaf Town in Sinnoh," Dawn also answered.

"That explains both your Pokemon and your lack of knowledge on what a Connoisseur is. They are mostly found in Unova, you see," Cilan explained.

"Hey, what about me and my Pokemon?" Bianca asked, wanting to know what the relationship with her Pokemon was like. "Pignite, Minccino, come on out!" Bianca sent both Pokemon out of their Pokeballs, ready to have them be evaluated by the Connoisseur.

"Hmm, let's see. Your bonds with your Pignite and Minccino are both strong, though your Minccino's bond seems to not be at its max yet. If I'm not mistaken, your Minccino is a new Pokemon," Cilan guessed.

"Wow, you knew that?" Bianca was stunned.

"Um, excuse me," Ash interrupted. "Not that this conversation isn't interesting, but you see Bianca and I were here so that we could have a Gym Battle."

"Oh, right! I almost forgot! I would also like to challenge the Gym" Bianca suddenly remembered.

"Well, don't worry. I happen to know where the Striaton City Gym is. I can take you there if you want," Cilan offered.

"It's a deal," Ash accepted.


After a few minutes, Ash and his friends found themselves in front of a grand-looking building. Ash entered the building, ready to have a Gym Battle only to find what looked like a restaurant. Cilan, along with two other waiters named Chili, who had red hair, and Cress, who had blue hair, seated Ash and his friends at a table. The trio proceeded to ask Ash and his friends for their order. While Bianca, Iris, and Dawn were interested in getting something, Ash was less on board as he wanted to have his Gym Battle soon as he came here for it. Eventually, Ash called out the brothers for tricking him and that he wanted to have a Gym Battle soon, only for the brothers to reveal that they were the Gym Leaders of the Striaton Gym, opening a wall to show a rocky battlefield. The brothers said that they would be ready to accept challengers and suggested doing so after they eat. When Ash tried to argue, his stomach growled and he agreed to have a meal at the restaurant first.


"So, which of you two would like to go first?" Cilan asked the two challengers.

"I would," both Bianca and Ash said. "No, me."

"How about we use my Poketch's coin flip feature to decide?" Dawn gestured to the pink Poketch on her wrist.

"Sure," both Bianca and Ash agreed.

Dawn flipped a coin, with it landing on heads, which Bianca called. Therefore, Bianca would get to battle first.

"Alright, so what do we do?" Bianca asked the trio.

"Well, you simply select which of the three of us you want to battle and if you defeat them you win a badge," Cilan explained. "You can challenge me and my Pansage." Cilan sent out his Pansage.

"Me and my Pansear," Chili said as he sent out his Pansear.

"Or me and my Panpour," Cress said as he sent out his Panpour.

"Pansage, Pansear, and Panpour?" Ash and Dawn were curious and got out their Pokedexes to scan the trio of Pokemon.

Pansage, the Grass Monkey Pokémon. Pansage offers leaves on its head to Pokémon that have low energy. The leaves relieve stress.

Pansear, the High Temp Pokémon. Pansear lives in caves near volcanoes. The temperature on the tuft on its head can reach 600 degrees when it's angry.

Panpour, the Spray Pokémon. Panpour lived in forests long ago, but developed a body that makes it easy to live near water. It can store water in the tufts on its head.

"So, who will you challenge? Me, Chili, or Cress?" Cilan asked the girl.

"Well, I guess I will choose you Cilan. I would like to challenge your Pansage," Bianca chose.

"Well, I wish you a good battle," Cress responded as he stepped to the side.

"Same here," Chili echoed the sentiment as he stepped aside.

"Alright, will our referee please come to their place at the arena?" Cilan politely asked.

Soon, a man with black hair that was also wearing a tuxedo came to the outside of the middle of the arena. "The battle between the Gym Leader Cilan and the Challenger Bianca will now get underway. Each trainer will only use one Pokemon. The battle will be over when one trainer's Pokemon is unable to continue."

"Pansage, you're up!" Cilan said as Pansage took his spot on his side of the arena.

"Minccino, you're up too!" Bianca called out as she sent out the Chinchilla Pokemon.

"Wait, Minccino? Why not battle with Pignite?" Dawn was confused.

"Yeah, Pignite would totally have the type advantage," Ash was similarly confused.

"Maybe she wants to test out Minccino against a strong trainer?" Iris suggested as a possibility.

"Ready? Begin!" the referee called out.

"Pansage, use Bullet Seed," Cilan called out, with Pansage shooting out multiple seeds from his mouth at Minccino.

"Minccino, dodge them," Bianca called out for the Chinchilla Pokemon to do. He dodged the attack and was ready to attack. "Minccino, use Tickle." Minccino approached the Grass Monkey Pokemon and started to Tickle the Pokemon, with Pansage trying and failing to refrain from laughing. "Now, use Double Slap!" Minccino attacked Pansage, knocking him back towards his Trainer.

"That was a good call using Tickle before attacking," Iris mentioned.

"In what ways?" Dawn asked.

"You see, Tickle lowers the defenses of the opponent," Iris explained.

"So that would make Pansage more vulnerable to attacks," Ash realized.

"Pansage, use Bite!" Cilan called for the Grass Monkey to do. The Grass Monkey complied, Biting the head of Minccino and causing him a fair amount of pain.

"Minccino, use Attract!" Bianca called out. Minccino used Attract on the Biting Pansage only for it to fail outright. "Oh, so your Pansage is male then. In that case, shake him off Minccino!" Bianca impatiently called out. After a few shakes, Pansage flew off of Minccino's head. "Minccino, use Hyper Voice!" The Chinchilla Pokemon rolled up his ears and sent out a soundwave attack from his mouth, hitting and damaging Pansage. "Now, use Double Slap!" Minccino jumped toward Pansage, ready to strike.

Cilan, however, was ready for that attack. "Pansage, use Dig!" Pansage burrowed underground. After Minccino spent a few seconds looking for Pansage, Pansage jumped out of the ground and threw Minccino into the air. "Now, Pansage, use Bullet Seed." Pansage shot out several seeds from his mouth at Minccino.

"Minccino, use Hyper Voice to deflect the Bullet Seed." Minccino once again rolled up his ears and sent out a sound wave attack from his mouth, deflecting the seeds back at Pansage. "Now, use Double Slap!" Minccino tried to hit the Grass Monkey only for Cilan to call for Pansage to dodge it.

"Now, let's wrap this up, Pansage. Use Solar Beam!" Pansage created an orb of solar energy from the energy stored in his head. After the orb was big enough, he shot it out at Minccino, hitting him and knocking him down.

"Minccino! Are you okay?" Bianca was worried about her Pokemon. Fortunately, Minccino got up and was ready to continue battling. After getting up, Minccino flicked his tails and he sent out a flurry of stars.

"You guys, I think that Minccino just learned Swift!" Dawn called out.

"You may be right, Dawn. Go, Bianca and Minccino!" Iris cried out in support.

"Okay, Minccino, let's use Swift!" Bianca called out. Minccino flicked his tail and sent out a flurry of stars that hit and knocked over Pansage. "Man, Swift is such a great move!"

"Pansage, quick! Use Bite!" Cilan tried to counter the Swift by attacking up close.

"Minccino, use Hyper Voice!" Minccino, after closing his ears, sent out a sound wave from his mouth at Pansage before the Bite could hit, knocking him back.

"Pansage, use Bullet Seed!" Pansage shot out a bunch of seeds from his mouth out at Minccino.

"Minccino, use Swift!" Bianca called out, with the two moves hitting evenly until the Swift got the edge and hit at Pansage, creating a bunch of smoke around the two Pokemon. When the smoke cleared, both Pokemon were still standing until Pansage suddenly fell forward onto the ground unconscious.

"Pansage is unable to battle. Minccino wins. The victory goes to Bianca, the Challenger," the referee made the call.

"Yes! We did it, Minccino. We won! Can you believe it?!" Bianca jumped up and down in excitement with her Minccino.

"Pansage, you did wonderfully. Now, take a good rest," Cilan said as he recalled his Pokemon. "You did wonderfully, Bianca. And for your victory in this Gym you have won this, the Trio Badge!"

"Alright! I have won the Trio Badge!" Bianca cried out in joy, with Minccino also crying out in happiness.

"Now, Ash, who will you choose to battle? Chilli or Cress?" Cilan asked the Challenger.

Ash took a moment to think about it before coming to his decision. "You see, I wouldn't feel like I truly earned this badge without defeating all three Gym Leaders. Not only that, but I would like to battle as many new Pokemon as possible. So, for that reason I would like to challenge all three of you to a battle!" Ash announced his decision.

The three Gym Leaders were definitely surprised at this request. After all, no one had made a request like this before. Still, this was what the Challenger wanted so who were they to question this decision. "Alright, it's a deal. However, can we wait until tomorrow? My Pansage needs some time to recover from today's battle."

"Sure thing. Come tomorrow, I'll have the Trio Badge for sure!" Ash yelled out.