Previously, in Pokémon: The Lost Child, Piplup and Treecko met up with a mischievous Zorua who defeated them. However, once they were captured by the gang of Patrat's, they defeated Zorua and saved them. Piplup and Treecko were now wondering what to do next.
"Hey, Treecko?" Piplup shouted.
"Yeah, what is it, Piplup?" Treecko asked.
"I have been thinking about what Zorua said about evolution. When are we going to evolve, and how are we going to know when it will happen?"
"I wish I could say, but evolution seems to come randomly, even my brothers were surprised when they evolved," Treecko answered.
"I guess it gives an element of surprise, as random as it is," Piplup said.
"There is one thing I know: you evolve faster the more you battle."
"I would assume that means something, but I can't say what," Piplup commented.
"Well, we aren't going to battle anyone by just sitting around here. Let's keep journeying."
Piplup and Treecko would continue journeying around the area looking for other Pokémon to battle. They would find a few that gave them a quick battle, but it wasn't anything super crazy. It did feel like they were both starting to get stronger. Piplup and Treecko had not encountered a society of Pokémon yet; they had thought of the idea of a group of Pokémon existing somewhere but hadn't thought much more about it.
Piplup and Treecko were walking through a forest when they suddenly heard a scream. It sounded like someone was in pain. Piplup and Treecko rushed to the scream where they saw a Magby, though Piplup had no idea which Pokémon it was. They looked closer to see that Magby's foot was trapped inside a rock.
"Are you okay? You sound like you are in pain. Do you need help?" Piplup asked, running up to Magby.
"My foot is stuck inside this rock. None of my fire attacks are doing anything. It hurts so badly," Magby said.
"Treecko, help me lift this rock." Piplup and Treecko lifted the rock. It was really heavy, but they were eventually able to lift it enough that Magby was able to get his foot free.
"I can't thank you enough. You saved me."
"It was no problem. Do you need any more help?" Piplup asked.
"I should be good, but thanks." Magby thought he would be fine, but when he tried to walk, his foot was still injured enough that he was having trouble walking, and Piplup and Treecko noticed right away.
"You aren't in any position to walk," Treecko said.
"I just need to get back to my village. The doctors there should be able to fix this up," Magby said.
"Wait, you have a village," Piplup and Treecko both said, both shocked to hear this. They had never thought they would encounter that.
"Yeah, I do. I expect you don't know how to get there, so I will lead the way."
Piplup and Treecko carried Magby as he guided them to his village. It only took a few minutes, as Magby had just gone out into the woods to play.
"Where is the doctor?" Treecko asked.
"They are in that white building over there," Magby replied.
"Just rest your foot for a few days and you should be fine. Thanks for bringing him here. He could have been seriously hurt if he had been left out in the woods for too long," The Audino who was treating Magby said.
"It's no problem, we just happened to be passing by," Piplup said.
"So you aren't from around here?" Audino asked.
"No, we aren't. We are travelling Pokémon going from place to place training to be stronger," Treecko said.
"If you want to, you can stay in the village. We are welcoming to new people," Audino asked.
"I think we are good, but thanks for the offer," Treecko said.
"Well, at the very least, you should stay for a bit, rest up, and possibly get something to eat."
"Treecko I think we could use at least that," Piplup said.
"Alright, I guess I can go with that," Treecko said.
Piplup and Treecko start walking around the village, and it is so surreal to see such a wide variety of Pokémon all existing together peacefully. Nobody seems to be caring much about them being there. Piplup and Treecko, especially Treecko, started thinking about the idea of possibly finding a place to battle.
"Hey Piplup I was thinking maybe we could find some Pokémon to battle," Treecko said.
"I kind of had the same idea on my mind, but where do you think we could go?"
"Why don't we ask around? The Pokémon here seem friendly enough? Hey, do you know a place where we can battle some other Pokémon?" Treecko asked.
"Uh, If you're looking for battles, then you can try the fight club. That is where the battles usually are," the Quagsire responded.
"Thanks for your help." Treecko and Piplup followed the city map to find the fight club, and after not too long, they found it.
"I will admit it is not how I expected this thing to look," Treecko said, weirded out that the thing just looked like a normal house and not like some massive stadium as he expected. The two walked up to the front desk, where a Conkeldurr was there.
"Are you two here for the tournament?"
"Um, sure we are?" Treecko said, not knowing there was a tournament but interested in the idea of competing in one.
"Sign up on these forums and I will register you for the tournament. It's only starting a few hours from now. If you want, you can practice," Conkeldurr said.
Piplup and Treecko went inside the building only to realize that it was underground. It made a lot more sense. That is how they can have a fighting arena in such a small place. They went downstairs and saw it. It was a massive place with multiple arenas and Pokémon all over the place getting ready to battle, some of which were fully evolved. It intimidated the two. They both didn't think they were ready to compete at this level, but they had to at least try.
"So I guess we will practice until the tournament starts," Treecko said.
"It looks like that stadium over there is free. Why don't we use that one, Treecko," Piplup replied.
"Good idea."
Piplup and Treecko practiced at the stadium for a few hours until it was time to begin the tournament. The Conkeldurr read out the names of each tournament match that was happening first, Piplup was paired against a Magmar and Treecko was against a Furret, both Pokémon that had an evolutionary advantage over them. It was not ideal, but they were still willing to try it.
Both of them walked up to the arena they were fighting in, as well as their opponent. A referee was about to call the match to begin right after explaining the rules. However, just as they were about to begin, a loud alarm went off and a Pokémon shouted, "everyone, there is a Poochyena raid."
All at once, all the Pokémon started freaking out. Half of them went to hide, and the other half rushed out of the building. Piplup and Treecko had no idea what was going on, though, so Piplup asked the Magmar.
"Piplup, what is going on," Treecko asked.
"A gang of Poochyena's are attacking the village, I am guessing this is a regular occurrence. Some are going to help fight them off," Piplup said.
"Well, I guess we will need to help fight them off," Treecko responded.
Piplup and Treecko rushed into battle. The big hitters were holding off a majority of the Poochyena's, but there were so many that they could handle all of them, so a few managed to slip by and had to be handled by other people. Piplup and Treecko tried to help out when they could, taking out one Poochyena at a time, but not much else besides that.
Later, Piplup found himself surrounded by several Poochyena at once, and while he tried to fight them off, it wasn't much use. He found himself being attacked from every angle. Treecko saw what was going on and tried to help, but he got knocked back by the Poochyena.
However, just as things were looking dire, Treecko started glowing. He at first had no idea what was happening, but then he realized he was evolving. Treecko was suddenly several inches taller and had leaves sticking out of both his head and arms. Treecko knew what had happened. He was now Grovyle. Grovyle used his new leaf arms to attack all the Poochyena, taking them all out in one go.
"You evolved," Piplup said in shock.
"Yeah, it appears that I have; soon you will have the opportunity to evolve; let's keep chasing these Poochyena out," Grovyle said.
After not too long, the village was able to chase the Poochyenas out, though they had done a bit of damage. It was announced that the tournament would still be going on but was delayed by a few hours until they got everything cleaned up.