Our heroes continue on their journey. They're close to Cian Town so that Orihime can compete in her first talent star.

While they were walking, Rukia took a notice on the trees and saw some of them had some slash marks in them.

"Hold on." Rukia said as she got the others to stop. "Take a look at the trees. This is really weird." All of them had a look around and saw what Rukia was talking about.

"You're right. What happened to all the trees?" Orihime asked.

"Maybe some pokemon cut through all of them." Ichigo said. "It could have been something like a Scyther."

"But why are there so much?" Rukia asked.

"Kkkkkkkkeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyayaaaaaaaaa!" All of them heard a strange sound it they also heard something chopping against wood. Whatever cut through the trees, they're about to find out what it is.

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) Shell of the Slash

All of them followed the sound of the sound and found more chopped trees on the way. They soon came across a man with a bald head and had red marks around his eyes with jeans and a blue vest with a white shirt underneath. He also carried a wooden sword. He also had a Dewott with him.

"Good work. Again, Dewott. To be the best, we have to train like we are the best." The guy said.

"Dewott!" Dewott did what it was told and pulled out its two scalchops with it starting to strike against a tree and it was. What was impressive was how fast Dewott was going. They could barely keep up with it.

"So that's what caused all those marks in the trees." Rukia said. "That guy is just training with his Dewott."

"Dewott is the evolve form of an Oshawott. That's one of the starter pokemon new trainers can choose from here in Unova, right?" Ichigo asked.

"Right." Rukia said. Dewott seemed to have heard them and tossed one of the shells at them and it lodge into a tree with all of them freaked out by it.

"Who are all of you?" The guy asked.

"We're sorry. We didn't mean to disturb you." Orihime said.

"What are you doing?" Ichigo asked as Dewott went over and pulled its shell out of the tree.

"Just doing some training. My name is Ikkaku and this is my partner Dewott."

"Dewott!"

"It's nice to meet you. My name is Orihime."

"I'm Ichigo and this is Absol."

"I'm Rukia."

"And I'm Chad."

"So is all this you're doing?" Rukia said as she referred to the trees.

"Sure is." Ikkaku said.

"How did Dewott do all this?" Ichigo asked.

"Not just Dewott. Watch this." Ikkaku said as he and Dewott took their positions in front of two trees. He held out his wooden sword and Dewott held out his shells. "Kkkkkkkkkkkeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyaaaaaaaaaaa!" Both of them used that wooden sword and shells to strike against the trees and they both going greatly fast.

"Wow! Look at them go!" Orihime said.

"You want to train your pokemon, you've got to train just as hard." Ikkaku said as he swung away. Both of them stopped and saw they left some marks in the trees.

"Oh man. Both of them are really strong." Rukia said.

"You can say that again." Ichigo said.

"It's good to be strong." Ikkaku said. "I'm aiming to win the Unova League and after that, I'm going to take on the Elite Four."

"That's aiming pretty big." Ichigo said.

"You've got to dream big to go big." Ikkaku said.

"Who's the Elite Four?" Orihime said and that little sentence almost knocked all of them off their feet.

"Are you kidding me, woman?! You don't know who the Elite Four are?!" Ikkaku shouted.

"The Elite Four are the four strongest trainers in the entire region." Ichigo said. "The only one that stands above them is the champion of the whole region and they each specialize in a certain type."

"Oh! So who's in the Elite Four?" Orihime said.

"I can tell you that." Ikkaku said. "There's Toshiro that specializes with ice-types. There's Kenpachi that uses fighting-types. We also have Kurotsuchi that specializes with poison-types. Finally, there's Ukitake that works with electric-types."

"So who is at the top?" Orihime said.

"That would be Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto." Rukia said.

"Yeah. Once I'm going to win the Unova League, I earn the right to challenge them and I'm going to rise up to the top." Ikkaku said.

"Well, you're going to have a long wait." Ichigo said.

"And why would that be?" Ikkaku said with displeasure.

"Because you're not going to win the Unova League." Ichigo said. "That's going to be me."

"Absol." Both of them stood with confidence that they would win.

"You wish." Ikkaku said. "I'm the one who is going to win the Unova League and take on the Elite Four and you are not going to stop me from doing that.

"Is that so? How about a battle?" Ichigo said. "Let's see which one of us would be ready to take on the Elite Four."

"There's no way you can decided something like that." Rukia said. "The Elite Four far surpass anything either of you would have right now."

"I don't think they care." Chad said and Rukia groaned in annoyance.

"Why is it that Ichigo always seems to find himself a battle to get into out of nowhere?" Rukia said. Ichigo and Ikkaku stood facing each other to see who would have a better chance at facing one of the Elite Four.

"I'll be using my Dewott in this battle. Who will you be using?" Ikkaku said.

"If you're using your ace partner, I'll use mine. Let's go, Absol." Ichigo said. Both of their pokemon stepped forward and were ready for this battle.

"Before we begin, there's a little something we need to do." Ikkaku said.

"And what might that be?" Ichigo said and he and Absol saw something they both thought was really weird and stupid.

"Luck. Luck. Luck. Luck!" They walked on their toes and stretched out their arms and legs. "Luck. Luck. Luck. Luck!" They did the same thing in the opposite direction. "Luck. Luck. Luck. Luck!" They both flipped and stood on their hands and then landed down with their feet spread and holding out their arms.

"What the heck was that?" Ichigo said.

"My lucky dance." Ikkaku said.

"Can we just battle already?" Ichigo said.

"You asked for it. Dewott, start out with your Razor Shell!" Ikkaku said.

"Dewott!" Dewott formed two blades from his shells and went to attack.

"Absol, counter that with your Night Slash." Ichigo said. Absol charged in and met the attack. Both of them tried to pushed the other back.

"Push harder, Absol!" Orihime cheered.

"You can try, but you won't get my Dewott to move that easily." Ikkaku said.

"Go!" Ichigo shouted. It ended up being a stalemate and both of them pushed the other back.

"No way! No one has ever been able to match Dewott's Razor Shell like that before!" Ikkaku said as he was completely surprised.

"We're just getting started." Ichigo said. "Absol use Razor Wind." Absol powered up his horn and shot out the attack.

"Dodge it and use Fury Cutter." Ikkaku said. Dewott jumped over the attack and came at Absol with its paws sharpened.

"Dodge it!" Ichigo said and Absol was able to move out of the way. "Absol use Dark Pulse."

"Dewott use Water Pulse." Ikkaku said. Absol shot out the dark beam and Dewott shot out and orb of water. However, Absol's Dark Pulse was stronger and pushed through with Dewott getting blasted.

"Had enough?" Ichigo said, but Ikkaku seemed too cocky.

"Revenge." Ikkaku said. Dewott let out a battle cry and shot out a blast of energy and Absol got hit hard from the attack.

"What was that?" Orihime asked.

"Revenge is a powerful move." Rukia said. "It takes the damage the user just took and doubles it to send it right back. With it also being a fighting-type move, it did a lot of damage."

"I guess that's it." Ikkaku said as he truly believed he won.

"No. Absol, I know you can do it." Ichigo cheered. Ikkaku thought it was pointless, but he was proven wrong as Absol was able to get on his legs and stand back up.

"No way! How can Absol still battle after getting hit with so much power from our Revenge?" Ikkaku said.

"Don't ever underestimate my Absol." Ichigo said.

"One more attack shouldfinish the job. Dewott use Razor Shell." Ikkaku said. Dewott pulled out its shells and went for the attack.

"Knock those shells out of Dewott's hands with Razor Wind." Ichigo said.

"Absol!" Absol used his attack and blasted Dewott with the scalchops knocked out of its hands.

"Absol, finish this with Night Slash." Ichigo said.

"Dewott use Fury Cutter!" Ikkaku said. Both of them prepped their attacks and attacked. Both of them clashed into each other and pushed the other back. Dewott and Absol were both shaking in their stances and it seemed risky to continue. However, Dewott was the first to fall and lost the battle. "Dewott!"

"It looks like it's over." Rukia said.

"Nice going, Absol." Ichigo said. Absol was glad it won, but could barely stay up. "Absol!" Ichigo ran over to Absol as he was afraid Absol was hurt.

"I'll admit that you are strong, Ichigo. I'm looking forward to us battling again." Ikkaku said. "This just show I still need to get stronger."

"Thanks. You weren't so bad, Ikkaku." Ichigo said.

"This has been great and everything, but we should get going. I want to get to Cian Town and reach the talent star." Orihime said.

"You guys are going to Cian Town? I'll lead the way." Ikkaku said. "It isn't that far." Ikkaku led them to Cian Town and they arrived as they saw Cian Town just down a hill. "There it is."

"Awesome! Thank you so much for bringing us here." Orihime said.

"No problem. Good luck, Orihime. Ichigo, I'll be waiting at the Unova League." Ikkaku said.

"Dewott!"

"You can count that I'll be there." Ichigo said.

Looks like Ichigo has made himself a new rival and a tough one at that. With motivation to get stronger, Ichigo and Ikkaku part ways for the moment. Now, Orihime's first time in a pokemon talent star is soon to come.

To Be Continued….