"After losing in his first Gym Battle, Victor challenges Milo to a rematch. While facing off against some powerful and speedy Pokémon as well as his own nervousness, Victor manages to win the Grass Badge. With his first victory in the Gym Challenge, will Victor be ready for what comes next?"
"Pikachu's Tragedy Past"
Victor and Gloria are walking through the Turffield Stadium's lobby.
"So how about going to the Pokémon Center and then grab some lunch?" Gloria asks.
"Sound good," Victor says. "I'm sure Scorbunny and Rookidee are hungry."
"Well, I'm hungry for a gym victory."
Victor and Gloria look ahead to see Hop in front of the entrance, with his hands on his wrist, "Hop."
"So you here for your Gym Battle?" Victor asks, as he and Gloria walk up to him.
"You know it," Hop starts. "And me and my Pokémon are all ready for our first gym victory."
"He definitely doesn't lack self-confidence," Victor thinks.
"Wait, Hop, you left Motostoke before we did, so how did we beat you to Turffield?" Gloria asks.
"Oh, I decided to do some training in the Wild Area and I most definitely did not get lost," Hop claims, with a sweat drop.
"Well, I'm sorry we won't be able to watch your battle inside the stadium," Victor looks over his shoulder. "But as we're coming out, it looks like the stadium had already filled up."
"It should come as no surprise there aren't any empty seats," Hop starts, patting a hand on his chest. "After all, I am the future League Champion."
Gloria sighs, "Some things never change."
At the outdoor market, a woman seats a crate full of different berries onto a table. She holds up one of the berries, turning it slightly as she studies it.
Unawared to the woman, a Pokémon, covered in shadows and scratches, watches her from the around of the stand, with small electricity coming from its cheeks.
Victor and Gloria are leaving the Turffield Stadium.
"How about we stream Hop's battle while at the Pokémon Center?" Victor suggests.
"Sound good," Gloria smiles.
Victor and Gloria start to walk by the market, as the woman at the berry stand turns away, with the shadowed Pokémon running from around the stand, jumps and grabs a berry from the crate.
"Hey!" the woman yells, as she turns, while the Pokémon runs away with the berry in its mouth, coming out of the shadows, revealing it to be a Pikachu. "Thief! Stop that thief!"
"What's that?" Gloria asks, as she and Victor stop.
Pikachu runs toward the two Trainers, before running off to the side.
"That Pokémon…" Victor starts, when his Rotom Phone flies up and floats in front of him.
"Pikachu, the Mouse Pokémon, when Pikachu meet, they'll touch their tails together and exchange electricity through them as a form of greeting."
Victor grabs his Rotom Phone, looking at its back, "I know about Pikachu, they're in Kanto."
The face on the back of the Rotom Phone smiles with a sweat drop.
Pikachu, still with the berry in its mouth, continues to run with the woman chasing after it, "Stop there! Stop!"
Pikachu runs under a series of other stands, with the woman running parallel to the stands, keep on glancing under the stands while continuing running. The woman then reaches the end of the line of stands, and stands, ready to grab Pikachu as it runs out, but Pikachu then runs out from under the front of the stand, and back toward the two watching Trainers, with the woman giving chase again.
"Stop that, thief!" the woman shouts.
Victor watches as Pikachu runs past him, clearly seeing its scratches and marks, as well as seeing that it is sweating heavily.
Pikachu continues its run, when it trips over its feet, with the berry flying out of its mouth, "Pika!"
Unable to stop, Pikachu slams into several large boards placed next to the row of stands, causing them to fall on top of it. Victor then runs over to Pikachu.
The woman walks over and picks up the dropped berry, "That Pikachu is a real troublesome one."
Gloria walks over and looks at the woman, "Is one berry really worth all of this."
The woman, surprised by what Gloria said, looks down at the berry in her hand.
Victor picks up Pikachu in his arms and turns to face his friend, "We need to take this Pikachu to the Pokémon Center."
Victor, holding Pikachu, and Gloria hurry into the Pokémon Center's lobby, running to the counter, where the nurse is, who turns to face them.
"Oh no, it's that Pikachu," the nurse suddenly says.
Victor and Gloria look at each other, before looking back at the nurse.
Pikachu is lying, asleep, on a bed in a hospital-like room, with plugs connecting Pikachu to a monitor. A Hattrem is standing on a stool next to the bed, holding its hands to Pikachu, with its hands glowing, as glowing leaves float around the sleeping Pokémon.
At the same time, a two-way mirror is allowing Victor and Gloria watching the Hattrem healing Pikachu.
Victor looks over to the nurse, standing next to the Trainers, "You knew this Pikachu?"
"I do…" the nurse takes a step forward, looking through the two-way mirror. "And this Pikachu's story… is a sad one…"
A Trainer, whose face is hidden by shadows, with Pikachu on his shoulder, waves at the nurse, who is standing outside the Pokémon Center, before turning and starts to walk through Turffield.
"This Pikachu used to belong to a Trainer, who was pretty reckless. Since it was the offseason, he decided to do some traveling with his partner."
"Pika, Pika," Pikachu happily says.
"One day, the mine was closed for extended maintenance, so the Trainer and Pikachu traveled around the mine. Unfortunately, there was a terrible storm that day."
The Trainer, with Pikachu on his shoulder, runs through the rocky terrain around the mine's mountain, as the sky is darkened with thunder and lightning cracking over them.
"It was my understanding, they were searching for some cover from the storm, when…"
A lightning bolt struck the side of the mountain, causing cracks, before another bolt of lightning struck the top of the mountain, blowing a large boulder from the top, which started to fall downward.
The Trainer, who was holding one hand to his Pikachu, helped keep it on his shoulder, before suddenly pulling it off his shoulder.
"Pika!"
The Trainer jumps forward and pushes Pikachu forward, as the large boulder slowly falls down.
"Pika!"
The large boulder continues to fall down.
"And the Trainer was never seen again…"
The nurse looks down, sadden, "Ever since then, Pikachu had kept its distance. Only coming into town to steal food."
"That's so horrible," Gloria comments.
Victor looks from Gloria to the window, watching the sleeping Pikachu.
Later, Hop enters the Pokémon Center, hunch over, his face covered in sweat, and breathing heavily. He then notices Victor and Gloria at the counter, with the nurse placing on the counter a tray with two Poké Balls. Hop then immediately straightens up, with a big grin, as he approaches his friends.
"Well, I have completed my first step toward being the League Champion," Hop says, upon reaching his friends.
Gloria looks over to him, "Hey, Hop, exactly how many first steps would that make it now?"
"Excuse me," Victor asks the nurse, who stops turning. "How is Pikachu doing?"
Hop tilts his head slightly, "Which Pikachu?"
Shortly later, Victor, Gloria, and Hop stand in front of the counter, looking at each other.
"And apparently Pikachu only comes into town to steal food," Gloria says.
Hop looks down slightly, "Hard to imagine something so terrible could've happened."
The nurse hurries out a door behind the counter, "PIkachu is gone."
"What?" Victor turns to face her.
"It woke up and left."
The room Pikachu was in is empty, except for the Hattrem looking in from a door and the broken window that faces outside.
"I wonder where Pikachu could've gone…?" Gloria asks.
Victor looks down, with a hand to his chin, before suddenly looking ahead, "Could it…"
Victor then rushed through the lobby and out the door, as Gloria calls out, "Victor!"
"And you say that I'm already in a hurry," Hop puts his hands on his hips.
Gloria turns back to the counter to see the tray with Poké Balls, "Great, and he forgot his Pokémon."
The nurse holds her hands down, "I hope he'll be okay, we've been getting reports of rockslides on the mountain."
"Rockslides…" Gloria says, before she turns back. "Oh Victor…"
Victor jumps the fence at the outskirt of Turffield, before running into the distance, toward the mountain that the mine was built into.
Near the mountain, Pikachu is walking around the side.
"Pikachu!"
Pikachu looks over to see Victor running toward it, before stopping. Pikachu looks angrily, as its cheeks spark, "Pika…"
"Listen, I understand you don't want to be close to anyone, but you are hurt and you need help," Victor says, causing Pikachu to look at its hand, seeing small scratches on it. "C'mon… what your Trainer would want…?"
"Chu…" Pikachu looks ahead, surprised, before looking to the side.
Victor takes a step forward, snapping a twig.
Immediately, Pikachu snaps back into a defensive stance, "Pika…"
Victor looks at it, before noticing small pebbles falling onto the ground, then he looks up, with Pikachu following his glance, with them seeing small rocks falling down the mountain's side, before a couple larger rocks come loose and then fall down.
"Watch out!" Victor calls out, as he backs up and side steps, avoiding rocks, with Pikachu jumping to left and right, before jumping back, also dodging rocks.
Victor then notices a large rock falling toward Pikachu, who looks up to notice it, but then Victor pushes Pikachu out of the way, with the rock crashing onto the ground, inches away from Victor, who falls down, with Pikachu knocked back several feet.
"Pika, pika…" Pikachu looks at Victor, even more surprised, before noticing a large boulder tumbling down the side of the mountain.
Pikachu looks at Victor, who seems to have trouble getting up, and not noticing the boulder.
"Pika…" Pikachu gets onto all four, as its cheeks spark, with electric gathering on its tail. "Pika pika pika pika pika pika…" An electric ball forms on its tail. "Pika pika pika pika… Pika-chu!"
Pikachu swings its tail, throwing the electric ball at the large boulder midair, blasting the boulder, as cracks quickly spread, before the boulder then blows apart into pebbles and dust, with Victor covering his head.
Victor then gets onto his knees as Pikachu walks over to him, "Pikachu?"
"Pika… pi…" Pikachu then collapses into Victor's arms, who holds up the Pokémon.
Later, at the Pokémon Center, Gloria gets in close to Victor's face, "Are you out of your mind?! Running out by yourself! How can you be so reckless?!"
"Scor! Scor!" Scorbunny jumps up, waving its arms.
"Dee! Dee!" Rookidee flaps in close to Victor.
"You're right," Victor holds up his hands, in defense. "You all are right. I'm sorry. And I promise I won't be reckless again."
Gloria crosses her arms and sighs, "I hope so."
Off to the side, Hop and Grookey are standing, laughing.
Then the nurse comes into the lobby, holding Pikachu in her arms, "Good news, everyone, Pikachu had made a full recovery."
"Pika! Pika!" Pikachu exclaims, before jumping into Victor's arms.
"I'm glad you okay, Pikachu," Victor says.
"Pika Pika!"
"I wonder if Pikachu wants to go with you…" the nurse holds a finger to her chin.
"Really?" Victor asks, before looking down at Pikachu in his arms. "Do you want to come with me?"
"Pika Pika!" Pikachu nods its head.
"Wow," the nurse smiles. "I never seen someone bonded with a Pokémon so quickly before."
Gloria looks over to Scorbunny and Rookidee, "He very good at that."
Pikachu jumps down and turns to face Victor.
"Okay, then, go, Poké Ball!" Victor throws a Poké Ball.
"Pika!" Pikachu smiles, as the Poké Ball bounces off its head and opens, with Pikachu turning into red energy and flies into the Poké Ball, which then closes.
The Poké Ball lands on the floor, shakes three times, before small stars shoot off the button.
Victor picks up the Poké Ball and holds it up, "Alright, I caught Pikachu!"
Suddenly the Poké Ball opens up, shoots out red energy, which forms Pikachu on the floor.
"Pika Pika!"
Scorbunny and Rookidee confusedly watches Pikachu, before it jumps onto Victor's shoulder, "Pika!"
Victor shares Pikachu's smile.
"Scor…" Scorbunny angrily looks at them, before it jumps onto Victor's other shoulder, and then glaring at Pikachu.
Victor has trouble keeping his balance, before falling backward, with both Pikachu and Scorbunny falling off. Then everyone started laughing.
"Pikachu had experienced an unforgotten tragedy, but it had found a second chance at happiness with Victor, while Victor found his third Pokémon. Now with a new friend and partner, Victor is ready to continue his Gym Challenge. But what could be next for our heroes?"
"Find out, as the journey continues…"