After meeting Ichigo and his Absol, Orihime has decided to go on a journey with him. They travel together, but where is their destination exactly.
"Ichigo, where are we going?" Orihime asked.
"We're heading to Suzumu City. I heard there's a gym there." Ichigo said.
"You mean a workout gym?" Orihime said. "Are you planning to get in shape?"
"No." Ichigo said. "It's a facility where trainers can challenge and get badge if they win. I'm going to challenge the gyms so I can enter the Unova League. What about you? Isn't there something you want to go after on a journey?"
"Um….I haven't thought about it." Orihime said.
"Aw! Help me!" They heard someone screaming for help and knew there had to be trouble.
I wanna be the very best
Like no one ever was
To catch them is my real test
To train them is my cause
Pokemon
Gotta catch'em all, it's you and me
Pokemon
I know it's my destiny
Pokemon
Yeah, you're my best friend
In a world we must defend
Pokemon
Gotta catch'em all
Gotta catch'em all
Gotta catch'em all
Pokemon
(Ichigo's voice) Zubat Batty
Orihime and Ichigo followed where the scream came from and ended up on the foot of the mountain. They saw a brunette male scientist and he was being attacked by a flock of Zubat.
"What are those?" Orihime asked.
"Zubat and they're attacking that man." Ichigo said. One of the Zubat spotted them and went to attack them as well. It charged at them with a wing attack. "Absol use Night Slash."
"Absol!" Absol countered Zubat's attack and sent it flying right into the rock wall and hit the ground.
"Nice. Now chase the rest of them away with Razor Wind!" Ichigo said. Absol used Razor Wind and hit near the Zubat. It scared them all off and went flying back into a cave.
"Are you alright?" Orihime asked as they helped the scientist.
"Yes. Thank you." The scientist said as he was able to stand up.
"Zuba. Zuba." All of them looked and saw the Zubat Absol hit was still on the ground and it looked like it had bruised wing.
"Oh my! That one looks like it's really hurt." The scientist said.
"I guess I hit it harder than I thought." Ichigo said as he went to help it, but Zubat started flapping its wings and was still able to fly. "Zubat, hold on. You can't fly with that wing." Zubat ignored Ichigo and flew back into the cave.
"That one seems like a tough one." The scientist said. "Thank you for helping me out."
"Our pleasure. My name is Ichigo and this is my partner Absol."
"Absol."
"My name is Orihime."
"Hello. I'm Dr. Morin."
"So why were those Zubat attacking you?" Ichigo asked.
"I'm not sure." Morin said. "I've been doing research around the mountain. However, something strange has been happening the last couple days. The pokemon that live in the cave have become more hostile and will attack anyone."
"Why are they doing that?" Orihime asked.
"I don't know." Morin said. "That's what I was trying to find out when the Zubat attacked me."
"Let's go get some answers." Ichigo said as he ran for the cave and the others followed him. Ichigo stood in front of the cave and so far didn't see anything out of the ordinary. "I guess we'll have to go deeper in to get some answers." Ichigo stepped into the cave with the others following him.
"I don't know if this is a good idea." Morin said as he was feeling nervous about being attacked again.
"Not to worry. Ichigo's a strong trainer. He must have tons of pokemon that will protect us." Orihime said.
"Not really. Absol is the only pokemon I have." Ichigo said and that put a damper on Orihime's enthusiastic spirit. "What's that?" All of them stopped when they looked ahead and saw a group of pokemon such as Geodude, Sandslash, and the Zubat and they saw in the center was an Excadrill in the center.
"Those are the pokemon that live in the cave." Morin said.
"Why are they around that Excadrill?" Ichigo wondered.
"Ichigo, look up." Orihime said. Ichigo looked up and saw another Zubat hanging above them, but it was the same one with an injured wing.
"That's the same Zubat from before." Ichigo said. Zubat was able to hear them as it looked down at them. Zubat flew down and tried getting in their way, but it was still injured. "Zubat, take it easy. It's my fault you got hurt. Let me help you."
"Zuba!" Zubat alerted the other pokemon and they didn't look friendly.
"Zubat, I'm only trying to help you." Ichigo said.
"Wait, look in the center." Morin said. All of them looked and saw a Drilbur in the center and it looked ill. "That's a Drilbur. They must all be trying to protect it."
"Zubat, we only want to help." Ichigo said.
"Excadrill!" Excadrill ordered all the other pokemon to attack. Ichigo and the others got out of their as fast as they could. Zubat watched them leave, but it seemed like something was going on in its mind.
…
A Hut
They retreated to a hut that Morin has been using. After seeing what they saw in the cave, they were beginning to understand what's been going on.
"It all makes sense now." Morin said as he was working on a little medicine. "That Excadrill must be the one in charge of that place and that Drilbur must be related to it in some way."
"They're only trying to keep Drilbur safe." Ichigo said. "Obviously that Drilbur is sick and needs help."
"But what are we going to do? They won't let us near Drilbur." Orihime said.
"We need to figure something out." Morin said as he finished it up. "If I can just get to that Drilbur, I can give this medicine."
"But how?" Ichigo said.
"Absol!" Absol seemed to be alerted about something and ran out.
"Absol, what's wrong?" Ichigo said as they all went after him. All of them stepped outside and saw the same Zubat hanging from a tree. It looked it was daring Absol to come and get it. "That Zubat again?"
"Why is it out here?" Orihime said. "Is it going to lead the other pokemon to where we are?"
"No. I think it wants to battle. I guess it wants to settle the score." Ichigo said. "You want to battle, you got one." Absol stepped forward and ready to battle.
"Ichigo, hang on. You really want to battle that Zubat when it's injured?" Morin said.
"It's willing to battle even though it's injured. Denying a tenacity like that would be rude." Ichigo said. "I'll make this quick so we don't injure it too badly."
"Zuba!" Zubat flew out of the tree and shot out blue energy X's that ended up being Air Cutter.
"Dodge it, Absol." Ichigo said as he jumped away. Zubat flew over to Absol and it used Supersonic. Absol got caught in it and was acting crazy.
"What's going on with Absol?" Orihime asked.
"That's Super Sonic." Morin said. "It causes confusion. Absol could hurt itself." Absol made charge for the tree to do just that.
"Absol, stop!" Ichigo said as he stepped in the way and grabbed Absol when he tackled him. Both of them were impressed that Ichigo did such a thing for Absol. Absol could feel Ichigo and snapped out of the confusion.
"Absol?" Absol was worried if Ichigo was hurt.
"I'm okay." Ichigo said. Both of them turned to Zubat and saw the unstable way it was flying. "We've got to end this before Zubat gets worse and there's only one way I can think of to do that. Absol use Night Slash." Absol charged at Zubat and banged his horn against it with Zubat hitting the ground. Ichigo reached inside and pulled out a pokeball. "Zubat won't let us help easily. This is the only way we can get it to. Go, pokeball!" Ichigo tossed the pokeball and Zubat went inside with it moving around.
"Wow! So Zubat is yours!" Orihime said.
"Not yet. We need to wait for the ball to stop moving around to see if Zubat will stay in." Ichigo said. They waited for a few more seconds and then it stopped. "Ha!" Ichigo ran over to it and grabbed it. "I actually got Zubat! Awesome! Zubat is the first pokemon I caught!"
"That's great and all, but we should treat it's injuries." Morin said.
"You're right." Ichigo said. All of them moved inside and super potion was being used on Zubat and got his injuries all healed up.
"There we go. All fixed up." Morin said.
"I'm glad you're all better." Ichigo said as Zubat flew over to him and sat on his shoulder. Ichigo rubbed his finger under its chin. "Zubat, we want to help that Drilbur. Can you please explain to those other pokemon that we only want to help?"
"Zuba." Zubat nodded its head and led them back to the cave.
…
The Cave
All of the pokemon were worried about Drilbur and didn't know what to do.
"Excadrill!" All of them looked back and saw Ichigo and the others came back with the pokemon ready to fight. Zubat stood in the way and began talking to all of them to try and tell them that Ichigo and the others want to help.
"Excadrill, please let us help." Orihime said.
"I have medicine to help Drilbur." Morin said. Excadrill wasn't certain, but Zubat was standing up for them. Excadrill let them through. Morin went over to Drilbur. "Swallow this." He took a spoonful of medicine and fed it to Drilbur. Drillbur was already starting to feel better and everyone was glad for it. With Drilbur starting to get better, Ichigo and Orihime were going to hit the road again.
"It's time we get going. Zubat, are you ready to come with us?" Ichigo asked and Zubat was all set. "Zubat, return." He brought Zubat back in its pokeball.
"Be careful out there and thanks for all your help today." Morin said.
"It was our pleasure." Orihime said.
"So long." Ichigo said as all of them started leaving.
"Bye and take care!" Morin said as they all waved goodbye.
With Zubat joining them for the ride, Ichigo and Orihime continue to the gym in Suzumu City. What else awaits them on their journey? Stay tune to find out.