Upon entering Paniola Town, it was like walking into a Western you'd see in cowboy movies. A native was walking a herd of Miltanks somewhere while a Snubbull slept outside a saloon.
"Hey guys!" Ash and Misty quickly spotted Hau as he ran up to them with Torracat. "Nice clothes, Ash! You got some good merchandise! Glad I ran into you two!"
"Why's that?" Misty asked.
"So that Ash and I can have a battle to see who's stronger by now! Having a battle in a place like this feels like we're in the Old West! And I'd really like if we had a showdown! It's so cool!"
"Oh, sure." Ash smiled as he nodded. "Let's get our Pokemon healed up first."
"Cool. It would be the more honorable cowboy way of doing it anyway." Hau agreed. After getting their Pokemon healed, the two trainers will in the middle of town, walking towards each other like cowboys, going to their respective corners of a dirt Pokemon battle field in between them.
"Oh boys and their fantasies." Misty giggled. Once the boys stopped their dramatic walking, they waited for the bell in the clock tower to ring. They waited... and waited... and waited some more, growing impatient with how long it was taking... "It's past 2:30 in the afternoon guys!" The redheaded girl told her friends. Hau lost his composure as he nearly crashed to the ground with exasperation while Ash just stood up straight, embarrassed as he pulled his hat down to cover his blush.
"Why didn't you tell us before hand?!" Hau cried out, feeling humiliated as Misty and the rest of the townspeople started laughing.
"Because you were so into it it was funny!" She answered, holding her gut as she laughed hard and loud. Tears came to her eyes. Hau looked like he was going to yell some more, before he gulped and took a big smile.
"Haha, very funny. Well, so long as we're having fun, right?!" He turned to Ash. "Let's just start already." His friend nodded in agreement.
"Sure." A sheriff stepped up.
"This will be a battle between the trainin' buckaroos Ash and Hau! This will be a four on four battle with no substitutions! If all three Pokemon on one side throws in the towel, the match is done! Draw!" The two threw their Pokeballs.
"Brionne, I choose you!"
"Torracat, let's go!" However, once he recognized Ash's starter has evolved, Hau gasped. "Wait, your Popplio has evolved?!"
"Yep! Just a short while ago in fact!"
"Cool! She looks pretty! But that won't stop us from beating you down! Use Double Kick!" The faster of the starters meowed as he pounced and spun around to deliver two kicks against the Pop Star Pokemon like last time. She was too slow to get out of the way so received the same initial punishment as before, but the water starter was prepared this time as she held her ground, growling.
"She's tougher than before! Use Water Gun!" Shoving her face into Torracat's chest, and lifted the red and black feline up. He yelped and hissed as he was juggled like a ball from the Pop Star Pokemon, causing everyone around to laugh before the water starter use Water Gun to spray the fire starter high into the air, way above the crowd.
"Torracat, you can do this! Use Fire Fang!"
"Counter with Aqua Jet!" With his fangs heated with flame, the Fire Cat Pokemon descended like a meteor while Brionne shot up like a rising star as she was surrounded by water. When the two collided, there was an explosion of vapor as Brionne landed on her tail, using it to jump back with a flip while Torracat landed on the ground unconscious, proving cats don't always land on their feet. The water type cheered while clapping her fins.
"Way to go Brionne!" Ash congratulated her.
"Torracat has been shot down! The winner is the winner!" The sheriff exclaimed.
"Pretty good." Misty nodded with approval.
"Torracat, return!" Hau withdrew his starter. "Thanks buddy. We nearly got them. Take a good rest. Pikachu, let's go!" Sending out his electric type mouse Pokemon, he ordered, "Use Electro Ball!"
"Pikachu!" He obeyed as he jumped and quickly formed a yellow plasma ball at the end of his tail. Pikachu threw it and successfully shocked the water type as she screamed from the super effective move.
"We're not out yet! Use Icy Wind!" Despite the fact she was being zapped by a move, Brionne was able to endure the pain and breathe out a gust of chilled air which caught the Mouse Pokemon off guard as he was pushed back in mid-air, some of him partially freezing with ice.
"Wow, your Brionne is strong! But we won't let you win! Use Quick Attack!" Despite the partial freezing, Pikachu was still able to speed blitz forward and slammed himself into the water starter. She cried out as she crashed towards Ash's feet, knocked out.
"Brionne has been shot down! Pikachu is the winner!"
"Hey buddy. At least we showed Torracat what we're made of." Ash comforted his Pokemon, whom smiled and nodded weakly. "Return. Alright then, let's see what this new Pokemon can do. Mudbray, I choose you!" Ash sent out his newest catch, the Donkey Pokemon.
"A new catch?!" Hau gasped. "Well then, let's see what it's got! Pikachu, use Quick Attack!"
"Quick, counter with a... ground attack!" Ash awkwardly ordered, not having taken the time to actually know what moves his Pokemon had. Mudbray raised her front legs with a sense of slowness, which definitely allowed Pikachu to jump and bash his forehead into the ground type's head. He jumped off her head to gain some distance, but Mudbray started to fall and when her hooves came into contact with the ground, the Donkey Pokemon used Bulldoze to send a yellow shock wave through the ground, and Pikachu was unable to stop himself from landing right at where the attack caught the electric type, so the terrified Mouse Pokemon was hit hard by the super effective move, crying out as he flew into Hau's arms, knocking the boy onto his butt with a grunt.
"Pikachu is shot down! The winner is Mudbray!"
"Way to go Ash!" Misty complimented her friend.
"You did great Mudbray!" Ash cheered. The Donkey Pokemon brayed in response.
"Thank you Pikachu. Return. Noibat, let's go!" Sending out his dragon/flying type, he ordered, "Use Gust!" Flapping his wings, the Sound Wave Pokemon sent a strong breeze against the ground type, but Mudbray appeared to be unfazed, due to her weight. At the level Noibat was, she was too heavy for such a weak flying type attack. "Alright then, use Absorb!" Noibat's ears glowed green before firing green lasers that covered the ground type in the energy, and she even groaned from having her strength sapped. "Use Wing Attack!" With his wings glowing white, Noibat flew straight towards the ground type. In response, she raised herself up again. Mudbray was struck at her underside, but the attack visibly appeared to have done nothing as the 242 pound Donkey Pokemon stomped down on the 17 pound bat, and the dragon/flying type screeched as she was being crushed by the deceptively heavy. "Whoa, hold on! Return!" Hau withdrew his Pokemon, fearing for his health.
"Noibat has been sidelined! The winner is Mudbray!"
"Alright, no more messing around! Eevee, I choose you!" Hau was determined now as he sent out the normal type Evolution Pokemon. "Use Swift!" From her mouth, Eevee spewed out a flurry of stars which exploded upon contact with Mudbray. Finally, the Donkey Pokemon took enough damage to bray in pain before falling onto her side.
"Mudbray has been taken down! The winner is Eevee!"
"Yeah, that's how you do it!" Hau celebrated his win, with the normal type cheering as she hopped up and down.
"Mudbray, return." Ash called back his ground type. "You did great. Thank you. Hawlucha, I choose you!" His opponent paled as he saw the Wrestling Pokemon appear. Hau shook his head however as he pointed. "Let's not get scared now! Use Swift!"
"Use Karate Chop!" With his superior speed and greater physical power, the fighting/flying type had no problem running ahead first and delivering a critical blow to the shocked Evolution Pokemon, only letting out a gasp of pain as she was sent flying into Hau's arms like Pikachu, once again knocking the boy onto his butt.
"Eevee has been taken down! The winner is Hawlucha, and thus the hero of this match is Ash!"
"Sorry about that Eevee. Take a good rest." Returning his last Pokemon, Hau stood up as he scratched his head. "Nice! That was some battle plan there! You've got to tell me how'd you do it?!"
"I didn't really have a plan. I was just reacting to your actions." Ash admitted as he returned his Hawlucha.
"Well then, you certainly know how to react correctly!" The boy laughed. "But man was that some battle! Everyone looked like they had a blast! As a reward, I'll let you in on something."
"What's that?" The Kantonian trainer inquired, curious.
"You know how those totem Pokemon seem to glow and be tougher? Turns out landing critical hits on them is like shooting an arrow into the kink of armor. So go for any weak spots they might have. But yeah, Pokemon battles. You win some and lose some. But just have fun regardless of the outcome. Anyway, I'm heading off to see the ranch."
"Help, help please!" The three trainers heard a woman cry out from somewhere in town.
"Sounds like someone's in trouble!" Misty commented as she and her friends ran towards the calls of distress, and found two Team Skull thugs harassing a woman and a white Vulpix.
"Yo yo Vulpix! Hand us over that bottle cap!" The male demanded. The white fox turned away, shielding the bottle cap away.
"Hey, leave her alone!" Misty yelled towards them. The two thugs turned to face the trio.
"Whatchu lookin' at?! What's this Pokemon need a valuable bottle cap for?! I'll be sure to put it to better use!"
"Please, help me!" The native woman pleaded.
"You want a piece of me?! I'll show you what happens when you mess with Team Skull! Go, Rattata!"
"Go Staryu, my steady!" Misty sent out her signature Pokemon while Ash brought out Hawlucha for the female's Rattata.
"Use Quick Attack!" The grunt ordered. The Mouse Pokemon blitzed out of sight before ramming into the Star Shape Pokemon. It grunted in response.
"Use Bubblebeam!" Misty retaliated. The water type sent a stream of glowing bubbles towards the dark/normal type, and they popped violently against the Pokemon, whom was struggling to endure.
"Karate Chop!" Said Rattata was also helpless when the female thug's own Pokemon was chopped towards into the males' own, and both were knocked out from the collision of each other.
"No way! We've both been beaten in one move!" The female gasped.
"I think we got a piece of both of you." Misty smirked. "You'd better think twice before doing something bad around us."
"Agh! It's all your fault!" The male thug blamed the Vulpix whom ran behind the woman's legs, the bottle cap in her mouth. "You got lucky, yo! Don't count on others rescuing you next time! Let's scram!" The two thugs then left.
"Thank goodness. Everything will be alright now." The woman sighed as she picked up her Vulpix. "Thank you so much."
"Whoa, I've never seen a white Vulpix before. Just the red ones back home." Ash stared in wonder at the ice type variant.
"You must be from Kanto. Indeed, while they're normally fire types, Vulpix here have adapted to colder temperatures and sort of evolved into ice types as a result."
"That's so cool!" Hau exclaimed. "I'm already familiar the different versions of Pokemon here and from Kanto, but actually meeting them is so awesome!" Vulpix turned its head towards a distance and jumped out of the woman's arms, heading North of the town. "It's getting away! Let's make sure nothing happens to it!" Hau chased after the Fox Pokemon.
"Oh dear. He doesn't need to make sure she's safe. But I do appreciate the thought though." The island native said. Misty sighed though.
"We'll have to catch up to him though. He has no Pokemon to protect it right now. Come on Ash." The two trainers then followed suite to make sure he didn't get into unnecessary trouble along the way.