Pokémon: Best Wishes
Episode 3: Enter the Plasma!
Last time, Ash got to know the mysterious Darrien better, and has even decided to travel with him through his adventures in Unova! Meanwhile, Cheren, Bianca, and Hilda have all begun their journeys, and Cheren has even captured a Pidove! What adventures are in store today for our heroes?
"AHH," Cheren stretched, and looked around his tent. "Hm, everything seems to be in one piece!" Cheren said happily. He crept outside his tent, and began to admire the scenery. The sun was shining brilliantly, and a soothing but spine-chilling breeze whisked through the morning air, causing Cheren to wince. His attention soon diverted to the females' tent. "Hey guys, good morning!" Cheren called out.
"Hey, Cheren!" Hilda called out while exiting the tent, already dressed and ready to go.
"Woah! You were up early!" Cheren was surprised. He sheepishly looked at himself still in pajamas.
"Yeah, me and Bianca wanted to get a move on to Accumula Town and meet Professor Juniper. Oh, by the way, there's a river over there to bathe. P.S. it's freezing!" Hilda joked.
"Ugh…" Cheren sighed and walked in the direction of the river.
BEEP! A loud ring resounded throughout the great big ship. "Attention passengers, the ship is now safe to disembark. Thank you for riding with us, hope to see you soon!" an attendant's voice said calmly.
"Wow, Darrien, you ready? We're here!" Ash excitedly said as he ran out to his balcony.
"Huh?" Ash was surprised. From his room, he looked down at the city, and the bright lights of yesterday were gone, and replaced with skyscrapers and people walking around briskly.
"Surprised?" Darrien asked while walking to the balcony.
"There are so many people…" Ash said.
"I wasn't kidding when I said this is the BIG city, now let's go!" Darrien tugged Ash.
"WOOHOO! Let's go guys!" Bianca shouted out to the top of her lungs. The group had packed up their tents and such, and was ready to continue traveling to Accumula Town.
"Ugh B, don't be so lawless…" Cheren hissed.
"Chill out, Cheren, she's just excited!" Hilda shot back, defending Bianca. The three of them continued to walk, with their respective starter Pokémon in tow, and Oshawott in arms.
"Osha!" Oshawott pointed forward at a sign.
"Hey, what's up, darling?" Bianca sighed.
"Hey look there!" Hilda shouted. "20 minutes to Accumula Town! We're almost there! Let's step on it!" Hilda was excited. The three began running.
"So, this is Unova…" Ash stood in the middle of a very busy road, surveying the area, absorbing the city life.
"ASH, come on! There are some serious highlights to this city! Let's check 'em out!" Darrien suggested, positioned safely on the sidewalk.
"Wait! Isn't there a gym here?" Ash brought up while running to Darrien.
"Pika!" Pikachu shouted excitedly.
"Wait, you were serious about challenging Burgh with only Pikachu?" Darrien found it difficult to process this.
"Burgh's his name? Well, take me to this Burgh! Pikachu and I are super serious! Aren't we, Pikachu?" Ash said happily.
"Pikachu!" Pikachu beamed with energy.
"But…the gym isn't going anywhere….and don't you want to check out some places first? Some stores have sales that won't last forever, oh and today's the only day of the week where we can get Casteliacones!" Darrien tried to persuade Ash.
Ash frowned. "But it won't take long! I'll sweep through Burgh, and then we can go sightseeing, promise." Ash said genuinely.
"Hm, you're awfully confident…Fine, I'll take you to the gym. Follow me, and don't get lost…" Darrien said seriously, as he started to lead Ash to the gym.
"Wow…" As Darrien led him to the gym, Ash looked off into the coastline as he observed the many ports and ships that were docked there that day. He looked up at the skyscrapers that reached for the heavens, and at all the people that seemed almost programmed to not bump into another.
"And here we are!" Darrien came to a full stop in front of a huge building, decorated with a Poké Ball design on top. "You know it's a gym when it has that design on it." Darrien informed.
"Cool, now let's go, huh," Ash rashly charged at the door, when it abruptly opened and a man in colorful pants and a green shirt appeared. He also sported a scarf. His brown hair frizzled in the air.
"Oh, hello, what can I do for you?" he asked.
"Hi, I'm Ash. I'm looking for a gym battle with Burgh!" he said confidently.
"I'm sorry, Ash, but there is some business that I must attend to first before accepting any challenges." Burgh said in a rushed tone.
"Wait! That means you must be Burgh! Well, what is it? What do you have to do?" Ash pestered.
"Ash! You don't just go and pry into people's business like that!" Darrien reprimanded.
Burgh giggled. "It's fine, actually if you don't mind, would you help me?" Burgh asked the two boys.
"Sure, cos that means that whatever you're doing will get done faster, and then we can get to my gym battle!" Ash was excited.
"What can we do for you, Burgh?" Darrien asked.
"Well, there's a mysterious organization that has emerged recently. They call themselves Team Plasma, and they believe in Pokémon Liberation." Burgh started.
"Oh, I heard about that! My mom was talking about them back in Kanto!" Darrien cut Burgh off.
"Wait, liberation? Like freeing Pokémon?" Ash confirmed.
"Precisely, and well, they theorize that humans and Pokémon aren't meant to exist together," Burgh started.
"And so they take them away from you by force." Darrien completed Burgh's sentence.
"Wait, what?! That's awful. Well, they're definitely not getting Pikachu! First Team Rocket, and now these guys!" Ash said annoyed.
"Pika!" Pikachu was riled up.
"You see, gentlemen, I was just notified that there are some Team Plasma grunts who just stole a little girl's Purrloin and escaped into Pinwheel Forest. As gym leader, it is also my responsibility to look after the people of the city, so I would be grateful if you two could tag along and help in case things got crazy." Burgh admitted.
Darrien and Ash nodded and followed Burgh into his truck, which then drove off onto the Skyarrow Bridge.
"Here we are!" Bianca shouted. Bianca, Cheren, and Hilda stood at the gates of Accumula Town. They ran in and headed for the Pokémon Center.
"There it is!" Hilda pointed out. As they ran they overheard a band playing the piano and drums to a catchy melody. They walked into the center.
"Professor Juniper, here we are!" Cheren said excitedly, awaiting his present for being the first one to catch a Pokémon.
"You guys finally made it! Oh, and Cheren, here's your prize!" Professor Juniper handed him a badge case.
"Wow, a badge case? Not what I was expecting…" Cheren said almost disappointed.
"Sni…" his Snivy looked down in disappointment.
"Cheren, I realize your potential as a trainer, and I feel that you would naturally lean towards the quest of winning the Unova League while completing the Pokédex for me, so I thought that a new badge case would be perfect for you!" Juniper admitted.
"Wow, I'm happy for you!" Hilda said.
"Pig!" Gigi chimed in.
Bianca looked on in amazement. "Professor, I know I didn't catch a Pokémon, but may I please have a badge case too?" she asked hopefully.
"Osha?" Oshawott pleaded too.
"Sorry, but I only have one with me!" she said sadly.
Cheren began to smirk. "Not that you'd be able to win any badges anyway," he remarked sourly.
Bianca looked up at him then at the floor. Hilda's eyes made direct contact with Cheren, and he could tell that she was furious. Juniper, noticing the tension began to speak. "So, why don't we take a stroll outside through the town? Then, I'll tell you guys about some more basics to Pokémon Training." Juniper escorted them to the middle plaza.
"Hey, what's going on there?" Cheren asked.
"You're so smart…why don't you make an educated guess?" Bianca whispered to herself.
The group's attention was diverted to a gathering of people in a crowd. Interested, the four of them walked over. "Excuse me, what exactly is going on?" Juniper asked one of the people.
"Oh, professor, listen to their words, and liberate them…" The man then took out a Poké Ball and released his Patrat.
"Trat?" It looked up at him with sad eyes.
"Go on! Get out of here! You're better off in the wild!" The man angrily shouted as he ran off.
Juniper, Hilda, Cheren, and Bianca watched on in horror. "Wha- I mean, liberation? What could that man possibly be rambling about?" Cheren was dumbfounded.
"Look there, Cheren, those weird guys are giving a speech…." Hilda said warily pointing to a group of people wearing armor, as if from medieval times. They surrounded a man with gray-green hair, sporting a double-cape-esque shawl decorated with eyes and blue protrusions at the top. The group started to pay attention to the speech being delivered.
"Once again, my name is Ghetsis; and I urge you all to consider liberating your Pokémon. It is the best and right thing to do." Ghetsis said in a lifeless voice. "That is all…" he said. He raised his hand and began to leave. The armored people lifted up signs that were half black and half white, which had a blue P with a backwards Z scribbled through it, and surrounded Ghetsis, as if they were his bodyguards. The four of them watched on until they couldn't see them anymore. By that time, most of the crowd disappeared.
"What weird people…" Cheren tried to brush them off.
"That's a way you can put it," Juniper said lightly. "But, seriously, if someone feels that Pokémon need to be liberated, we need reasons, they can't just say it's for the best." Juniper said sternly.
"If you were here from the beginning, you would've heard Team Plasma's speech. Then, your views might be changed, professor." A male with tea green colored hair was eavesdropping on their conversation.
"Ah! Excuse me!" Juniper was taken aback. "I'm sorry, who are you?" Juniper shot back.
"Me, my name's N. I seek an ideal world for both humans and Pokémon." He said completely monotonously. His eyes and speech were just as lifeless as Ghetsis.
"Wow, an ideal world! What's that like?" Bianca inquired.
"A world where humans and Pokémon live separately…Humans do nothing but contain Pokémon in Poké Balls and use them for their own amusement in the disgrace called Pokémon Battles. But really, do you honestly think that Pokémon enjoy being commanded, pit to fight against their own brethren? Abused against their will?" N was beginning to sound condescending.
Hilda and Bianca looked at the floor. Cheren scoffed. "Please, come on, if Pokémon truly didn't enjoy battling then they wouldn't do it in the first place. Right, Snivy?" Cheren looked down at his starter.
"Sni," It shook its head in a ready response.
"Your Snivy…it lies…" N said in a dreading voice.
"Excuse me!" Cheren got riled up, and got in N's face.
Juniper held him back. "I think we're done here." Juniper said as politely as she could at the moment. She gestured for the three to come together, and they began to walk away.
"And you're the worst, professor." N started.
Juniper turned around slowly. "What was that?"
"Trying to categorize Pokémon how you feel fit. You don't see them trying to capture us, and categorize us! Oh, look, a human! It's called a Juniper! It doesn't evolve, and it isn't able to perform many skills, it's useless for getting the job done…." N mocked.
"EXCUSE ME?!" Juniper wasn't sure what she was more upset about: the fact that she was made fun of for her work, or basically called useless.
"Professor, he's not worth it." Hilda responded.
"Pig…" Gigi chimed in as well.
"Hm…Tepig, your voice seems different than Snivy's…" N said slowly.
"Are you crazy? You're nuts!" Cheren wanted to leave on that note.
"Your Snivy lies, boy. It doesn't care for battle. It just wants to please you. And you repay it by making it endure harsh painful battles." N spat the last word out. "But, Tepig, when it spoke, it seemed, well, genuine." N smiled.
"What do you mean?" Hilda questioned. "How can you tell these things?"
"I can hear the inner voices of Pokémon. I hate to battle, but sometimes I have to. I must save your Pokémon from you three, before it's too late, before you hurt them, like humans always do…" N whispered.
"This guy's something else…" Juniper groaned.
"Friend, please help me!" N shouted out as a Purrloin jumped and landed in his arms. It turned around to face Hilda and started hissing at her and Gigi.
"Hey, is that the Purrloin from yesterday?" Hilda couldn't believe it.
"Purrloin has suffered because of you. I can hear its anger, the anger you caused. I must show you equal suffering, and rescue your Pokémon. That is my goal. That will make an ideal world." N said proudly.
"I'm sorry, but that's so…wrong." Juniper interjected. "By battling, you go against every one of your principles…" Juniper said trying to wrap her head around all this madness.
"SHUTUP woman, your brain is consumed by all the lies that you have been fed! You disgust me!" N shouted back loudly. "Purrloin, save them!" N commanded as the Purrloin agilely ran up to Gigi, and scratched her square in the face, with enough force and vigor to lift her off the ground!
"PIG!" Gigi went flying!
"HEY! Gigi, are you all right?" Hilda was upset now. "Now you're gonna get it, Gigi, use-"
"WAIT!" Bianca shouted.
"What's up, B?" Cheren asked.
"N, or Mr. N, or whatever, my name is Bianca." She started.
N's eyes peered into her soul as he made eye contact, and that caused Bianca to shiver.
"This here is Oshawott; I just got this cutie recently." Bianca said somewhat cheerfully, even though she was quite obviously distressed. She looked down at her Oshawott, who was tightly kept in her arms, looking straight at N. "Well, I'm far from being, well, capable." Bianca admitted.
"B…" Hilda said quietly after getting her Gigi. Cheren looked down at the floor. Juniper watched on trying to decipher the situation.
"Basically, well, um…I know you hate to battle, but I challenge you and Purrloin. This will test me, you see. If I lose, well, there's no point in me going on as a trainer, and I will do nothing but bring pain to my Oshawott. And I don't want that. So, if I lose, I will stop being a trainer, turn over my Oshawott to you, and return home." Bianca said seriously.
"And if you win?!" Hilda said hurriedly in despair.
"She left that part out on purpose. She's giving up on us, Hilda." Cheren said sternly. Juniper watched on with raised eyebrows. Could she be serious?
"B! You battle him, and you win! Not just for you, but for me too! I believe in you!" Hilda said cheerfully, even though she was heartbroken. The strain in her voice was very noticeable.
N smiled. "Purrloin, rescue her Pokémon."
"PURR" It lunged at Oshawott, who quickly sprayed water in its face. Oshawott jumped down from Bianca's arms and got ready for battle.
Juniper observed in concern. "Come on Bianca, I didn't give you a Pokémon just to throw it away. Win this for me, too. And for every trainer out there. Win this for all of us." She whispered to herself.
Ash, Darrien, and Burgh entered Pinwheel Forest. "They're in here?! I'll teach them to steal Pokémon!" Ash was mad.
"Calm down, Ash, getting all mad like this won't solve anything!" Darrien smartly said.
They all exited Burgh's truck and started to scout the area. After some time, Darrien spotted something. "Hey, guys, over here!" Darrien called Ash and Burgh over to what seemed like a hidden base. Smack in the middle was a Pokémon-filled net.
"Woah, look at all those Pokémon!" Ash said in wonder for never seeing them before. He quickly became composed, remembering the task at hand. There were multiple Purrloin, Cottonee, Petilil, Pidove, Patrat, and Sewaddle contained in the net.
"Luckily the case of this single Purrloin has led us to a jackpot of stolen Pokémon." Burgh said somewhat cheerfully. He then nodded his head in shame of what Team Plasma did. "Ok guys, let's free these Pokémon. You know, for a bunch of thugs, it's quite dumb for them to leave their inventory wide in the open…" Burgh noted. The three of them walked towards the net to set the Pokémon free when suddenly a Purrloin jumped in front of them, and slapped its paws together, causing reverberations through the air!
"AAH!" Ash held his ears in pain.
"Ugh, that's Fake Out! This Purrloin must be a guard for Team Plasma! We gotta knock it out!" Darrien suggested.
"Sorry Purrloin, but if you work for evil forces, you got to be taken down! Leavanny, Struggle Bug!" Burgh said while throwing a Poké Ball. The Leavanny came out and took form.
"So, that's a Leavanny, looks like a grass type, kinda like a bug type too. What's Struggle Bug, though?" Ash whispered to Pikachu.
"Pika…" Pikachu was lost just as well.
The Leavanny glowed green, and crouched together, being very hesitant to open itself up.
"What's it doin'? Is it in pain?" Ash asked.
"Just watch," Darrien started, "Struggle Bug is different than most moves. The user resists, but still attacks." He explained.
"Purr!" Purrloin lunged at Leavanny, going for the Fury Swipes, but suddenly Leavanny opened itself up, and green energy engulfed Purrloin, causing it to instantly faint.
"Vanny!" Leavanny stood up proud.
"Thanks for everything, Leavanny, return." Burgh returned his Leavanny. During this, Ash and Darrien took the net off.
"So now that that's taken care of, how about our battle?" Ash questioned.
"Sorry Ash, but these aren't wild Pokémon, I have to return them all to their trainers, and hunt down these Plasma Grunts so that they cannot cause any more trouble. You understand?" Burgh said sympathetically.
Ash looked down in disappointment. "I hear ya," he said sadly.
"Pika…" Pikachu was sad too.
"Hey, I tell you what, there's a gym in the city at the other side of this forest. By time it takes you to get there, get a badge, and come back, I should be all finished! What do you say? Maybe I'll even finish another painting before then!" Burgh joked.
"Thanks for the info, Burgh. Yeah, Pikachu! We'll get our gym battle after all!" Ash was happy.
"Pika!" Pikachu shouted.
"So, I don't get to see the sights, eh, no problem I guess…." Darrien said sadly.
"See ya, Burgh!"
"Bye, Burgh, take care!"
"Pika!" They all said goodbye to Burgh as they waved off and walked deeper into the Pinwheel Forest, towards Nacrene City.
"Come on Oshawott! Keep up the Water Gun!" Bianca was growing desperate. She knew this was a losing battle, and began to slowly tear up.
"You can do it Bianca!" Hilda shouted from the sidelines. Cheren crossed his arms and sighed.
"WOTT! WOTT! WOTT!" Oshawott kept firing shots of water at the constantly dodging Purrloin.
"Friend, I think that if you want to rescue the Oshawott, you'll have to attack. I know how much it pains you to do this, thank you for doing this for me." N said almost manipulatively.
"Creep…" Juniper said to herself.
"PURR!" The Purrloin jumped high in the air, then came crashing down with sharpened claws at Oshawott.
"Oh dear Oshawott, counter with Water Gun!" Bianca replied.
"WOTT!" Oshawott fired another Water Gun, and it collided with the claws of Purrloin, fluctuating up and down trying to resist the power of the Purrloin's Scratch.
"All B is doing is Water Gun! She's gonna lose for sure! She should know that sooner or later, when a Pokémon does the same move too many times, it'll run out of steam…" Cheren kept on criticizing her.
"Come on Cheren! Can't you see that she's trying her best! You've driven her to even think that a better option would be to give up and stop being a trainer! Enough is enough!" Hilda lectured Cheren.
"You're calmer than usual…" Cheren was confused.
"Well, it's because seeing my best friend like this is breaking my heart…" Hilda said strikingly as she painfully continued to watch the battle.
"WOTT!" Oshawott kept on trying, battling for its fate, and blew more water.
"PURR! PURR! PURR!" Purrloin started to take matters into its own hands, and began to slash at the water repeatedly, increasingly decreasing the space between it and Oshawott's face.
"Dear Oshawott, it's coming in fast! You have to get out the way!" Bianca cried out.
"Wott…" Oshawott ceased fire, and tried to jump out the way, but was extremely fatigued.
"LOIN!" Purrloin successfully landed a hit.
"WOTT!" Oshawott went flying and hit into a nearby house wall.
"OSHAWOTT!" Bianca shouted out.
"Hypocrite! You say we cause Pokémon pain, but look at the pain you're causing by forcing people to liberate their Pokémon! If you truly want an ideal world, then you won't go about battling trainers for their Pokémon like they're prize cards!" Juniper said more to stall for time and Oshawott to get up, but also to get her point across.
"Yeah, you're just quite stupid if you think that's the way you should do things!" Hilda chimed in.
"PIG!" Gigi squealed in behind.
N was taken aback. "Oh, Tepig, you seem to, truly oppose me…" He took a deep breath and looked up to the sky. He walked over to Bianca. "Fine, Bianca, is it?" Bianca who was now on her knees crying over her fainted Oshawott.
Bianca, tears running down her face, held up her fainted Oshawott. "Take it…" she said looking down at the floor.
"I might have to rethink my approach…keep your Oshawott…for now…, oh and Tepig," he said turning to Gigi, "your trainer will hurt you, and cause you much suffering. The sooner you realize this, the better." N said spitefully, as if Hilda wasn't there.
"Jerk!" Hilda shouted out.
"Now friend, your battling abilities are to be marveled, but unfortunately Pokémon aren't meant to fight. They are meant to live peacefully in nature with others. Now, go, far away in the tall grass, and keep hidden from humans…" N said while petting the Purrloin.
"Purr…." Purrloin purred, while its tail wandered, trying to steal N's cube. N quickly noticed and laughed to himself.
"See, this is beauty. It is in this Pokémon's nature to try to steal, but a trained Purrloin will try its best against its urge to not steal. Untroubled nature, it's quite beautiful…" N said while beaming at the four. He let out a crazy laugh and walked off.
"B, come here…" Hilda hugged Bianca, who was still in tears on her knees. Cheren looked down guiltily, and Juniper stared at N in the distance, with a bewildered look.
Our heroes have made their first run-ins with the likes of Team Plasma. And who is this N, who looks for an ideal world? The answers to come, as the adventure continues!
I've received some notification that Darrien's link wasn't working, so here's another try: s14.[domain, then dot org]/ 75f4lu4pt / Darrien . p n g
Copy and paste that and replace the bracket and delete spaces. put postimg as domain. Let me know if it works :)