"It looks like a shopping mall around here..." Akito said as he rode an escalator with Ash as his Pokeball shook and jittered before he then dropped it to activate the Pokemon inside of it who seemed anxious. "All right, all right, come on out."
And where out came Pupitar who evolved from Larvitar.
"Hey, Pupitar," Akito smiled. "Sorry about that."
"It's okay," Pupitar replied. "Uh, where are we?"
"LaRousse City." Akito informed.
"Akito, when did you get a Pupitar?" Ash asked.
"Remember Larvitar?" Akito asked back.
"Yeah?" Ash nodded.
"Well, that's what happened," Akito replied. "Larvitar evolved into Pupitar."
"Ah, I see." Ash smiled.
They soon ended up on the top floor, but seemed to be lost.
"Uh-oh..." Ash frowned. "Now where are we?"
"There's a library," Akito told him. "Maybe someone in there can help us."
"Yeah, maybe." Ash agreed.
A young boy soon put a book back on a shelf before leaving which had the boys come over.
"Uh, excuse me?" Akito spoke up.
"Hello!" Pupitar came beside him.
The boy screamed at the sight of Pokemon and soon ran away the other way.
"What was that about?" Pupitar asked.
"I'm not sure," Akito frowned. "You think he'd never seen a Pokemon before."
"Come on, let's go catch up." Ash suggested while Pikachu also looked bewildered.
They soon tried to catch up to the boy. The boy ran into the elevator, but Ash and Akito soon rushed in with their Pokemon.
"Hi, let me start that again," Akito smiled friendly. "We're on our way to a battle, but we don't know how to get there. So, we're kinda lost."
"Can you help us?" Pupitar added.
"It would mean a lot to us." Akito said.
"Please?" Ash added with Pikachu.
The boy seemed still scared of Pupitar and Pikachu as he left the elevator once it stopped.
"Wait, we just wanna-" Ash tried as a man soon held the boy as he cried.
"Are ya ready for your battle?" A man smiled to them. "Right this way, gentlemen..." he then led them through the door.
Akito and Pupitar shrugged to each other before following.
"Y-You don't understand..." The boy nervously told the man.
'This kid doesn't seem like he's a Pokemon trainer.' Pupitar thought to himself.
"Hurry up, you two might just make it, you too, little buddy." The man smiled as he pushed the boy and Ash before adding to Akito.
"But Akito and I haven't registered yet!" Ash told him.
"That will all happen automatically," The man said as he moved them on another moving sidewalk. "Now, good luck, you two!"
"Awesome!" Akito smiled.
Ash and the cowardly boy were soon scanned in a futuristic way.
'Passports confirmed,' A robotic voice replied. 'Battle participants accepted accessibly.'
"Great, and just in time!" Ash smirked. "Wait 'til you see what Pikachu and I have been workin' on, Akito."
"Okay." Akito smirked back.
"Let's go!" Pikachu chirped.
'Now introducing our present entry.' A robotic voice said as the boys were soon lifted from a platform to go into a battle field.
"This is going to be so exciting." Akito smiled.
"Here we go!" Ash smiled back.
"Awesome!" Pikachu beamed out of excitement.
'Our first match will be an official Battle Tag-Team Match Team Event!' Someone announced. 'Remember to cheer for your favorite!'
"Tag-Team?" Pupitar asked.
'We have Ash Ketchum in the blue corner; a trainer all the way from Pallet Town, and his tag partner: Tory Lund, a local trainer!' The announcer announced, revealing the shy boy's name.
"All right, Tory, good luck." Ash smiled to the boy.
"Akito, what are you doing out there?" Emi pondered as she sat in the audience with the others.
"Hmm... Must be if either Ash or Tory lose, then Akito will take their place." Estelle guessed.
"I wonder how Ash and Akito got entered so quickly." May commented.
"By cutting in front of me." Rebecca pouted before she joined them and sat down with her laptop.
"Or they got there before you." Vincent said.
"Rebecca, there comes a time in a man's life when he's presented with the gift of love at first sight." Brock smirked to Rebecca only to get his ears tugged by Max and Charity.
"How 'bout pain at first pull?" Max glared at Brock.
"Oh, good one, Max~" Charity giggled as she found that funny.
"I wonder who's going to be their opponents?" Vincent said.
'And in the red corner, we have two trainers from South City: Rafe and Sid!' The announcer announced, showing two familiar faces from earlier.
"Hey, Ash, you sure didn't waste any time." Rafe smirked to the Pallet Town trainer.
"Of course not," Ash smirked back. "I couldn't wait to beat you."
'Should have known.' Akito thought to himself.
"Hey, May!" Sid called out. "Make sure you watch! I'm dedicating this battle to you!"
The twin girls giggled while May looked bashful and sunk in her seat.
"May, do you have a crush on anyone?" Charity whispered to May.
"What?!" May yelped. "Why do you ask?"
"Just curious..." Charity smiled. "It's okay if you do."
"Well, there's Drew..." May blushed.
"Who's Drew?" Felicity smirked. "Who's Drew?"
"Heh..." May smiled nervously while blushing and rubbing the back of her head.
"You remind me of our younger sister." Gloriosa said to May, comparing to her when Mo was younger and dating Atticus before they got married.
"Drew's kind of like her rival." Max said.
May bit her lip slightly while the girls giggled as she seemed to get hot and bothered by the mention of Drew.
'The basic rule in all tag-team battles is teamwork!' The announcer announced. 'Each team uses a single Pokemon and works with his teammate! And now, trainers, bring out your Pokemon!'
"All right, here goes!" Rafe and Sid called out as they brought out Pokemon.
"Tory, which Pokemon are you going to use?" Akito whispered to the shy boy.
"Uh, guys, actually, I don't have any Pokemon..." Tori replied anxiously.
"But..." Ash spoke up.
"No Pokemon?" Pikachu blinked.
"Uh-oh, then this could be a problem." Akito said.
'There seems to be a problem,' The announcer announced. 'We've seen only one Pokemon from the blue corner!'
"See, I was trying to tell ya guys," Tory said to Akito and Ash. "I'm not a trainer! I can't battle."
"Ash, quick, give him one of your Pokemon." Akito suggested.
"Whatya say?" Ash smiled to Tori as he took out another Pokeball. "Come on, that'll work."
"But-" Tori frowned as he took the ball.
"I'm gonna go get a seat," Akito said before leaving with Pupitar to sit down with the audience before ending up in Emi's lap by accident which made them both blush. "Oops! Sorry, Emi... It's kinda dark in here..."
"T-That's okay, Akito." Emi replied.
"I hope Ash and Tory win." Vincent said.
Tory soon summoned out the Pokemon that Ash had loaned to him so that the battle could begin.
"What is that?" Timber asked about the Pokemon. "It looks like a smoke-breathing turtle."
"That's Torkoal." Emi informed.
"Whoa," Akito smiled. "When did Ash catch that?"
"We found it in the Valley of Steel," Emi explained to Akito about that. "Poor thing was being attacked by a bunch of Magnemite and even a Skarmory, and it didn't even stop there. Torkoal was even attacked by them again before Brock gave it an extra helping hand until Ash grew attached."
"Cool." Akito smiled.
"I wish you could've been there..." Emi sighed. "I swear, it feels like an eternity before our next adventure together."
"Too bad we can't see an Oracle like Drell did with Dad, Mom, and Aunt Cherry..." Akito replied before smirking. "Hmm... I wonder..."
"Oh, Kito, you remember what Mr. Drell said about disturbing him~..." Estelle warned her twin brother.
"Dang it." Akito groaned.
Estelle smiled nervously.
"Still, it feels like ages before we see each other again..." Akito pouted to Emi.
"I know..." Emi pouted back. "I've been counting the moments since our last journey with Jirachi."
"Same here." Akito added.
Akito and Emi then smiled to each other.
"Let's do it!" Rafe called out once the battle began. "Blaziken, use Blaze Kick now!"
Blaziken soon jumped up in the air toward Pikachu.
"Watch out, Pikachu!" Emi cried out.
"Pikachu, Dodge!" Ash told his primary Pokemon.
Pikachu soon jumped up and avoided Blaziken's attack.
"Whew." Emi sighed.
"Go, Blastoise, Hydro Pump!" Sid commanded his Pokemon.
"Uh-oh." Emi frowned as water was soon gushed towards Pikachu.
'It's a dazzling competition from the red corner!' The announcer announced.
"Blastoise, Bubble Attack!" Sid commanded.
"His Blastoise still knows that attack?" Vincent asked.
Torkoal yelped as it was soon attacked by the bubbles.
"TORKOAL!" Ash panicked. "Tory, you have to tell Torkoal to do something!"
"But... I don't know what to tell him!" Tory replied.
"Seriously?" Estelle asked. "Doesn't he know any Pokemon attacks?"
"Well, he did say that he didn't train Pokemon..." Emi replied.
"Blastoise, Rapid Spin!" Sid told his Pokemon.
"Tory, quick, tell Torkoal to use Defense Curl!" Estelle told him.
"Uh, okay!" Tory blinked rapidly. "Torkoal, use Defense Curl!"
Torkoal soon went into his shell to increase its defense.
"That was close," Ash said in relief. "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!"
"Eat Thunder, you jerk!" Pikachu glared before shocking Blastoise.
"Yes!" Emi smiled before noticing Tory looking like he was terrified when Blastoise was almost inches away from him. "Oh, poor baby~..."
Blaziken soon breathed fire and Pikachu jumped up to avoid it.
"Blastoise, Skull Bash, go!" Sid commanded.
"Quick, Tory, tell Torkoal to intercept that with Over Heat!" Akito told him.
"Torkoal, Over Heat!" Tory told the Pokemon.
"Wow, you guys are good." Emi smiled admirably.
Before Blazekin could use Skull Bash, it was intercepted by Over Heat.
"Oh, I can't look." Charity pouted as she covered her eyes at such violence.
"Don't worry," Max said. "This isn't as bad as fighting without their attacks."
Charity soon took a peek, and of course, Max was right. Charity still felt scared and held him for comfort which made him blush harder than before.
"Ash and Tory might win." Vincent said.
"I sure hope they do." Felicity hoped.
Pikachu soon landed on top of Torkoal and where that gave Ash an idea.
"Don't worry, Tory, I'll take care of it," Ash told the shy boy. "Flamethrower, Torkoal, let's go!"
Torkoal soon breathed fire.
"Ow, hey, man!" Pikachu yelped as he felt the flames.
"Ooh, that's gotta hurt." Estelle winced.
"I'm sorry, Pikachu!" Torkoal bawled.
Ash soon face-palmed his Pokemon as he didn't mean for that to happen.
"How embarrassing!" Rafe smirked.
"This is embarrassing." Estelle said.
"So, Rafe, you wanna finish this one up?" Sid asked his friend.
"Let's go," Rafe nodded firmly. "Blaziken, Overheat!"
Blaziken soon attacked which sent both Pikachu and Torkoal flying.
"Ooh..." Charity winced.
"Pikachu! Torkoal!" Ash frowned as he knelt to his Pokemon.
Emi soon rushed over and came to the injured Pokemon. "Oh, you poor things..." She cooed as she gently pet them for comfort. "Are you both okay?"
"Emi..." Pikachu and Torkoal whimpered.
"Oh, it's okay..." Emi soothed as she hugged them both. "I may not be Nurse Joy, but I promise you'll feel better soon."
"Were we knocked out?" Torkoal frowned.
"I'm afraid you were..." Emi frowned back. "Hang in there, guys."
Sid and Rafe were soon declared the winners and Ash and Tory as the losers.
"Okay, Torkoal, you get some rest, Pikachu, I'll carry you." Emi decided maturely.
"Okay." Torkoal and Pikachu said.
Torkoal was soon brought back into his Pokeball while Emi carried Pikachu in her arms almost like a baby and softly sang him a lullaby.
"She's... So maternal..." Akito said to himself as he watched Emi. "You'd think Pokemon were like babies to her."
Gloriosa and Timber smiled to him.
They all soon left the Battle Tower. A man and a woman soon came toward Tory.
"Daddy!" Tory called to the man.
"We just watched your Pokemon Battle," The man told Tory. "I'm incredibly proud."
"Don't be, it was all an accident," Tory bowed his head sadly. "It wasn't even supposed to happen."
"Yeah, but you did great for your first time battling." Akito assured him.
Tory frowned and soon ran off which concerned everybody.
"Who are you?" Estelle asked the man and the woman.
"Allow me to introduce myself," The man replied. "I'm Professor Lund, and this is my laboratory assistant: Yuko."
"Pleased to meet you both." Estelle curtsied.
"Oh, you're a sweet one," Yuko smiled. "And who might you all be?"
Everyone soon introduced themselves to the pair and they decided to sit down and get to know each other a little bit better.
"So, mind telling us what the deal is with Tory and his fear of Pokémon?" Emi asked the pair.
"We apologize about that," Yuko replied softly. "The truth is, Tory is completely afraid of them because about four years ago, he had a very traumatic experience, and it left him terrified of them. Sadly, he still hasn't managed to get over those fears."
"Really?" Vincent asked. "What happened that was so traumatic?"
"There was a stampede of Walrein." Yuko sighed softly.
"Oh, dear..." Emi frowned.
"Wow... I shouldn't have pushed him so hard." Ash frowned with his sister.
"But underneath it all, I think he loves them," Yuko sighed softly. "All he really needs is the chance to get to know them. That's all."
"I'm sure that's all it'll take." May gently added.
"Fine, then I'll give him that chance!" Ash stood up in determination.
"Ash, I'm not sure it's going to be that easy." Gloriosa said.
"I'm sure all he needs now is to become friends with me and Pikachu," Ash replied before petting his Pokemon. "Right, pal?"
"Right, Ash!" Pikachu purred while nuzzling against him.
"I have a feeling this won't end well." Timber said.
The other young ones soon volunteered into helping out Tory with his Pokemon phobia.
"I guess we should all look for Tory then." Felicity said wearily.
"You're awfully kind, thank you." Yuko approved.
"It's the least we can do as his friends." Akito smiled.
"We better keep an eye on them..." Gloriosa sighed to her brother.
"That's our job, isn't it?" Timber smirked innocently to his sister.
They soon went to find Tory.
