xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Castelia City, 8:03 a.m. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In the early morning of the day of the PokéPotlucks preliminary fishing tournament, a store owner carrying a full garbage bag left a building as he turned a corner towards an alleyway.

"Stupid heavy trash..." The store owner thought as he carried the garbage over to a dumpster. "Better not see those dumb Trubbish lingering about..." He said aloud to himself as he approached the area to discard his waste.

Grabbing the top flap and looking left and right for signs of any Pokémon, the store owner opened the dumpster as a large, round and green figure with glowing red eyes popped out, standing upright to meet the store owner at eye level with the store owners' eyes bulging out of his skull in shock at the sight of what looked like a giant Pineco.

"Gaaahhh!" The store owner exclaimed.

"I am Pineco! I will explode and remove you from the world in an inferno!" The massive Pineco screamed in a threatening manner.

"Ahhh!" The store owner screamed as he dropped his trash bag on the ground and ran away from the alley as the massive Pineco-like being turned to watch him run for his life.

"Blagh! Blagh! Bla- bahahaha!" The Pineco-like figure blurted out until a zipper opened up in the front to reveal Keats. "Oh man! I didn't expect that to still be fun to do! Pfff!" He said as he climbed out of the dumpster and onto the ground as Rotom floated out.

"Did we really have to zzzzcare that guy?" Rotom asked with an exasperated face.

"Hey I thought it was funny." Keats said as Rotom floated next to him as he pulled out his twin messenger bags.

As he pulled out the bags, a trio of creatures popped out of the dumpster the same way Keats got out, a trio of creatures that looked like trash bags with faces and arms composed of random garbage.

'"Trubb! Trubb!"' The trio of rubbish-like Pokémon said in unison as they waddled over to the trash bag the store owner left behind.

"Lookzzzz like the Trubbish are happy you scared off the owner." Rotom said as the phone Pokémon translated.

"No problem. You see the look on his face, hehe?" Keats said as he stored away his Pineco sleeping bag in one of his messenger bags. "Oh yeah, thanks for letting us stay the night in your dumpster." He said towards the Trubbish as they rummaged through the trash.

"Trubb!" One of the Trubbish said with a nod as Keats walked away with Rotom floating behind him.

"Can't believe they let us sleep in their dumpster so eazzzzily." Rotom said. "And all for some old candy bar wrappers and a copy of "PokéConspiracy Digest" you didn't want." The phone Pokémon continued.

"To be fair, it was a crappy issue. Some moron wrote an article about that one lady from Kanto in the Elite Four with the Ice type Pokémon and kept getting her name wrong." Keats said as he stopped walking as he reached into one of his messenger bags and pulled out a container of body spray. "God, I probably smell like something died." He said as he sprayed himself down to hide his smell.

"I'm so glad I have no smell receptors in this phone body..." Rotom thought with a wince on its screen.

"Okay... That should do it... Ready?" Keats asked towards Rotom.

"I'm the one who zzzzhould be zzzzaying that..." Rotom replied as Keats took a deep breath.

"I'm not a fan of "trying my best" but I guess I have no choice..." Keats said as he scratched his head. "Come on, let's head to the docks." He said as he pointed at his pocket as Rotom floated into it.

Walking down the street, Keats headed in the direction of the docks as he thought about the prior days events, staring at his hand that was slightly reinjured. Reaching the docks, Keats walked past some of the boats until he noticed a large crowd of people, congregating in front of a large presentation stage.

"Bingo..." Keats said aloud to himself as he walked into the crowd.

"Okay sir, you ready to begin?" A Battle Club employee asked towards the Don George of Castelia City as he picked up a microphone.

"Yeah, should be good now." Don George said as he looked at the crowd. "Welcome, ladies and gentlemen." He said into the microphone as the crowd focused on him.

"Ladies, gentlemen, obnoxious teenage Pokémon thieves, cookies, light fixtures, wooden pedestals, dudes with black martial arts outfits... Something else, something else... Damn it nevermind, gotta pay attention." Keats thought as he started to just look around aimlessly before looking up at Don George.

"Since you're all here, as you all know, this is the official preliminary competition for the PokéPotluck tournament. For those who need a full rundown; in five days from today, right here in Castelia City, we'll be having the Battle Clubs first official cash prize Pokémon battle tournament." Don George explained as the crowd of trainers looked on. "Today, we'll be having a contest to decide the eight trainers who will make it into the brackets for said tournament." He continued.

"There's like forty or fifty people here but only eight are making it through?" Keats thought as he looked on, noticing the odds are not particularly in anyone's favor as Don George picked up a Pokéball marked with the initials "B.C."

"This preliminary contest is a fishing competition. The rules are very simple. We will give you approximately ten Pokéballs with these initials marked on them. You will use these Pokéballs to catch a Pokémon that's currently living in the water of the Castelia City Bay. If you run out of these balls, you may use one of your own but there will be a stipulation that the Pokémon you catch with your own ball will officially be one of your own Pokémon to keep if you choose to do so." Don George said, explaining the rules.

"Thank goodness they're giving us the balls... I only got one to my name." Keats thought with a raised eyebrow.

"When the contest is done, you'll return your leftover Pokéballs to us. Given the variety of Water type Pokémon that exist throughout the world and even so here, we've decided the best option for deciding whom advances to the PokéPotluck brackets will be based on "uniqueness."' Don George said, some of the people in the crowd confused by his declaration. "The rarer the catch, the higher your odds for advancing. Whether that be a Pokémon uncommon to Unova or a Pokémon that's slightly different in color, it will benefit you in the running. We'll also be supplying rowboats for all contestants willing to participate as well as fishing rods. You'll have until sundown to decide whatever Pokémon you catch to be the one you'll have representing yourself." He continued as he pointed towards a series of rowboats set up on the docks of the harbor with a Battle club employee in front of a stand that supplied rods for fishing.

'"Uniqueness" is an extremely broad term... And ten tries to catch before dipping into your personal stash and then you're saddled-" Keats thought as he looked through the crowd until he mentally stopped and noticed Carter in the audience.

Playing around on his phone without a care, Carter looked around with a dismissive attitude until he turned around and noticed Keats looking at him. As the two locked eyes, Carter maliciously smirked at him before shaking his head as he turned away with a nonchalant attitude.

"Now as an addition, I should also bring up the rules of the PokéPotluck. For all the contestants participating, you will need at least three Pokémon as the first two battles will be one on one and then the finals will be a three-on-three competition." Don George explained further as Keats' eyes widened in surprise.

"But... I only got two..." Keats thought with worry as he turned back to look at Don George.

"Now for the additional rules for the fishing contest: all trainers are allowed to use their own Pokémon to assist in capturing the ones in the bay. If on the off chance a battle between trainers ensues, you may adhere to standard battle rules, you will not be disqualified for having a battle but be mindful of the fact it may take time away from you being able to catch a representative Pokémon." Don George said.

"Well, that's nice..." Keats said aloud with a worried tone as Rotom popped out of his pocket slightly.

"It may be unwizzzze to target Carter during this contest." Rotom said.

"Something tells me he doesn't even consider me a threat..." Keats replied as he glanced back in Carters direction.

"That will be all for the rules." Don George said as all the trainers, aside from Keats, readied themselves. "You may now begin!" He shouted into the microphone.

'"Yeeeaaahhhh!"' The crowd of trainers, sans Keats and Carter, exclaimed loudly as the group of trainers hurried to the boats to get started.

"Oh crap!" Keats said while stumbling from people bumping into him before racing to a rowboat that was in the bay.

Placing his bags in the boat and jumping down, Keats stood on the boat as he looked back to notice the lack of a motor. Sighing, he grabbed a set of oars and proceeded to paddle out into the water, attempting to avoid bumping into other trainers doing the same.

"'Scuse me, one side, coming through!" Keats exclaimed as he paddled violently to get further out towards the sea before stopping in the water.

"We're pretty far out, zzzzt." Rotom said as it floated on the outside of the boat, above the water.

"Figured the best chance we've had to find a decent Pokémon is to avoid everyone else's spots." Keats said as he looked around the boat. "Okay. Here they are." He said as he lifted up a bag and opened it to reveal his ten Battle Club endorsed Pokéballs.

"Ten triezzzz. Are you looking for any specific Pokémon?" Rotom asked.

"Beats me... I barely know what Pokémon exist in Unova, let alone this part of the ocean." Keats said as he looked around some more.

"Given how most of the planet conzzzzizzzztzzzz of water, Water type Pokémon are arguably the most common Pokémon you can find on the planet." Rotom explained.

"And in a competition to find "unique" Pokémon, being "common" doesn't help us one bit." Keats said with a disgruntled tone as he looked under his seat in the boat and pulled out two fishing rods.

"You got two rodzzzz?" Rotom asked.

"Eyep." Keats replied as he pulled out his two Pokéballs, opening them as Pineco and Timburr emerged on the boat.

"Pine-pineco!?" Pineco exclaimed as she looked around to notice the group on a boat.

"Timburr?" Timburr said as he laid his log on the inside of the boat and looked down at the water.

"Timburr, here." Keats said as he gave the mole-like Pokémon a fishing rod. "I know you're not exactly the most patient Pokémon, but neither am I so this will be a bit of a test for us both." He said with an annoyed look as Timburr looked at the rod.

"Thizzzz the plan? We're gonna fish?" Rotom questioned.

"No, more like me and Timburr will fish, and you and Pineco will be on watch." Keats explained as he grabbed his fishing rod and threw the line overboard as Timburr imitated his trainer.

"I'm going to zzzzet up a timer." Rotom said as its screen begun a countdown of ten hours.

"I thought I told you to keep watching the water?!" Keats exclaimed angrily as looked at Rotom as its face returned to the phone screen.

"I'm juzzzzt zzzzetting it up!" Rotom exclaimed in similar agitation.

"Whatever! Just- oh..." Keats said until he noticed something out of the corner of his eye.

Turning around and catching the attention of Rotom and Keats' Pokémon, the group looked on as they saw trainer's closer inland, battling with their Pokémon against the Pokémon in the water as trainers threw Pokéballs at some of the defeated Pokémon including some green piranha-like creatures, blue and pink jellyfish-like creatures and a few red fish-like Pokémon with crossed eyes.

"Seems people are already making their marks..." Keats said as he looked on. "What are they catching Rotom?" He asked.

"It appears to be Basculin, Frillish and Magikarpzzzz." Rotom said as it looked on at the Pokémon being caught. "Let me ready off their Dex entries-" The phone Pokémon said until being cut off by Keats.

"No! You'll take forever to get through them all and we don't have eleven hours to hear all of it! We've only got ten!" Keats exclaimed in frustration. "Just tell me if those Pokémon are considered "uncommon" or not." He asked.

"Magikarp and Basculin are incredibly common Pokémon, the former more zzzzo than any other Pokémon on the planet." Rotom explained. "Frillish can be a tad bit uncommon due to the fact that they come in different forms depending on gender." The phone Pokémon continued.

"So, someone over there probably has a position in the eight trainers for the PokéPotluck." Keats thought with a deep breath. "Let's get to work..." He said as he grabbed his fishing rod and threw the line out into the sea.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Castelia Harbor, 2:00 p.m. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Five hours into the preliminary fishing contest, Keats and Timburr sat around with their heads hanging from the struggle to stay awake. Pineco, looking around with Rotom, suddenly then noticed Keats beginning to fall asleep until she hopped over to Keats and nudged him awake.

"Bah! Guh, I didn't eat the last tart- huh?" Keats blathered as he flailed about, accidently waking up Timburr as well.

"Timb-timbu!" Timburr blathered in surprise as well as he flailed his small arms as well.

"You both dozed off while holding the rodzzzz!" Rotom exclaimed as it noticed Timburr and Keats looking around.

"Were we asleep? How long were we out?" Keats said as he looked around.

"Almost three hourzzzz. I thought you were concentrating or something." Rotom said as Keats looked at the phone with wide eyes.

"No I wasn't! I didn't feel a hook on the line. Timburr, you?" Keats asked as the Fighting type Pokémon shook his head to signify a no. "Great... Just great." He complained as he stood up from the boat seat to look around. "Rotom, what's things like right now?" Keats asked.

"In the three hours you were out, some trainers made catches and others are doing the same things we're doing but more or less, we've still got time. It's only a few minutes past two o'clock, zzzzt." Rotom explained as Keats put his hands on his face and bent forward, Pineco and Timburr looking on.

"Gaaaghhh..." Keats groaned as he stood back up and scratched his head. "Okay, okay. We got until sundown, and we haven't wasted a single Pokéball. We can work around this." He said in an almost analytical fashion.

"Pineco!" Pineco said with a nod.

"Timburr." Timburr said casually as he picked up his fishing rod again with Keats sitting back down and putting his fishing line back in the water.

"We just need to concentrate and hope something latches on." Keats said. "And if not... Pray..." He thought with worry.

Suddenly, as the group tried to concentrate, a small wave rocked the boat slightly as Keats grabbed Pineco to keep her from falling over as Timburr held onto the boat. Turning their heads in different directions to find the source of the wave, Keats looked over to spot a familiar trainer on a rowboat with a gigantic blue serpent-like creature looming over his boat as a familiar rabbit-like Pokémon next to the trainer and an unfamiliar eel-like Pokémon floating above the water.

"Gyaaahhh!" The blue serpent screamed.

"What's a Gyarados doing around here?!" Keats exclaimed in shock and confusion.

"Now this entry I'll read!" Rotom said enthusiastically as Keats looked at the phone Pokémon with annoyance. '"Gyarados, the Atrocious Pokémon, a Water and Flying type. Once it begins to rampage, a Gyarados will burn everything down, even in a harsh storm. It has an extremely aggressive nature."' The phone Pokémon explained as it read the Dex entry for the notoriously vicious Pokémon.

"...I didn't ask for that, you know?" Keats said with annoyance as he turned towards the phone.

"Yeah, but it felt right to do, zzzzt." Rotom replied as everyone in the boat turned back to look at the battle.

"Lopunny! Use "Bounce!" Then use "Energy Ball!"' Carter exclaimed as Lopunny jumped into the air as Gyarados looked up at her.

"Gyaaahhh!" The Gyarados screamed as a torrent of fire emerged from its mouth.

"It knows "Flamethrower." Perfect find! Eelektrik, get ready to use "Spark."' Carter exclaimed with an opportunistic tone as Lopunny placed her hands in front of her and a large green and brown orb appeared between her palms.

Throwing the orb at the incoming fire, the collision caused a small explosion that made the two attacks cancel out as smoke filled the air as Lopunny landed back on the boat as his Eelektrik floated over towards the Gyarados. While the Gyarados was distracted from the smoke, Carter's Eelektrik latched onto the Gyarados as the eel-like Pokémon sparked up electricity, zapping it.

"Gyaaahhh!" The Gyarados exclaimed in pain as it lowered its head slightly as Carter readied one of the Pokéballs given by the Battle Club.

"Gotcha!" Carter said as he threw the Pokéball as it hit the Gyarados as it converted into energy and went inside the ball, shaking three times before becoming caught. "A "Flamethrower" knowing Gyarados, probably the rarest thing in this stupid bay- huh?" He said to himself as Lopunny and Eelektrik stood and floated on the boat, respectively.

Looking on with their mouth's agape was Keats, Timburr and Rotom as Pineco looked on with surprise as well but with no mouth to open.

"Well look who it is. How's the hand?" Carter said smugly as Keats closed his mouth and furrowed his brow at the teenage thief.

"It's fine, how's the bad haircut!?" Keats said angrily as he pointed at his head as Carter put his recently caught Pokéball in his pocket as he nudged his Eelektrik slightly.

"I got my capture for the PokéPotluck. What have you got?" Carter said with a smirk.

"I..." Keats muttered embarrassingly. "Don't tell him you made no progress..." He thought.

"Shot in the dark, you got caught a Magikarp?" Carter asked as Keats eyes widened.

"Ha! Jokes on you, I didn't catch a dang thing!" Keats said in an enthusiastic tone as Rotom, Timburr and Pineco looked at Keats.

"Pffff! Hahaha! Seriously?!" Carter exclaimed with laughter, mocking Keats.

"...I really shouldn't have said that..." Keats thought as he stood in the boat, motionless.

"Maybe I shouldn't have to do this." Carter said with his arms crossed as Keats and his Pokémon failed to notice the boat shake slightly, as if something was getting on it.

"Do what, zzzzt?" Rotom asked as it looked on.

"Oh, just taking your Battle Club balls." Carter said as Keats, Rotom and Keats' Pokémon made surprised expression as they turned around and noticed Carter's Eelektrik was on their boat and used its mouth to grab the bag of Pokémon balls.

'"Hey!"' Keats and Rotom exclaimed simultaneously as Keats lunged at the eel-like Pokémon, but it dodged as he nearly fell out of the boat as Timburr quickly grabbed his trainer's leg to keep him from going into the water as the Electric type floated back over to Carter.

"Thank you." Carter said as he grabbed the bag of Pokéballs as Lopunny stood behind Carter. "Not a single one used. Poor showing man." He said in a mockingly critical tone as he looked in the bag to see all ten of them still there.

"Those aren't yourzzzz!" Rotom screamed.

"Neither is that Lopunny!" Keats screamed as well.

"Who cares?" Carter said as he motioned for Lopunny to go near one of the seats in the boat. "Lopunny, remove one of the rowboats seats." He ordered.

Lopunny, lifting her arm in the style of a chopping motion, proceeded to break off one of the flat seats in the rowboat as it landed on the inside of the boat. Picking it up, Lopunny gave the detached seat to Carter, who proceeded to open the bag of Pokéballs and put the seat in, adding weight to it as Carter dropped the bag into the water. Looking on in horror, Keats and his team watched as the Pokéballs sank into the water.

"Those were mine! I needed those!" Keats exclaimed in frustration.

"Yeah, and now they belong to the sea!" Carter said jokingly.

"Oh that does it! Pineco! Attack him with "Pin Missile!"' Keats said as he turned to Pineco.

"Pineco!" Pineco said with an angered expression as she jumped into the air and begun to glow green, firing pins of energy towards Carter.

"Lopunny! Use "Energy Ball!"' Carter exclaimed as Lopunny put her hands close once more and generated a ball of green and brown energy.

Throwing it in the direction of Pinecos "Pin Missile," the ball of energy blasted through the pins on contact and hit the water next to Keats' boat, causing the boat to shake as the group held on to keep from falling out.

"Waah!" Keats exclaimed from the shockwave.

"That the best you got?" Carter said with the same smirk still on his face.

"You little brat! Do you have any rezzzzpect for peoples property?!" Rotom screamed in anger as Keats and his Pokémon looked at Rotom with surprise at the phone Pokémons reaction.

"Stupid question. Obviously not." Carter said smugly as he pulled out a Pokéball and recalled his Eelektrik. "Now, Lopunny. Row me back to the harbor." He said as Lopunny complied, grabbing a set of paddles and begun to paddle Carter away from Keats.

"Hey! I'm not done talking to you, zzzzt!" Rotom screamed as Keats sat down on the bottom of the boat with Timburr and Pineco looked at their trainer. "Keatzzzz?" The phone Pokémon said as it turned towards Keats.

"This is not good..." Keats said with a head shake.

"Pineco-co." Pineco said as Keats looked at the Bug type.

"What's she saying?" Keats asked towards Rotom.

"She's apologizing for not being strong enough to knock back that "Energy Ball."' Rotom said, translating.

"Don't blame yourself..." Keats said melancholically. "If I could've just kicked his head in back at the Battle Club, we wouldn't be out here making fools of ourselves..." He thought.

"Timburr. Timtim." Timburr said as he made an angry look in the direction of where Carter went.

"And him?" Keats said.

"He said he wants to find Carter and hit him with his log." Rotom said, translating once more.

"I can respect that..." Keats said as he held up his hand for a high-five as Timburr turned and noticed Keats' hand as the Fighting type walked over and high-fived its trainer. "But we're in a seriously bad situation that a high-five and an apology, which I accept by the way, won't fix..." He said as he stood up in the boat. "Rotom, what time is it now?" Keats asked.

"We're four hours from zzzzundown..." Rotom said in a worried tone.

"Damn it..." Keats said as he grabbed the fishing rod before looking at it for a few seconds and then reaching into his pocket and pulling out his empty Ultra Ball. "You normally use bait of some kind when fishing occurs right?" He asked towards Rotom.

"Indeed, zzzzt." Rotom replied.

"Well... We didn't have any bait on the two rods... That explains why we ain't got anything." Keats said as he scratched his head as he dropped the rod on the floor of the boat and putting the ball away. "So just throwing the lines won't work..." He said.

"Zzzztrange." Rotom said as Keats and his Pokémon looked at the floating phone. "There's numerous stories online of fisherman trainers managing to catch Pokémon using only the line with zero bait, zzzzt." The phone explained as Keats looked at the phone in frustration.

"Fishermen have hours to kill, we don't." Keats said with an unenthusiastic look. "Okay, we got four hours... Think, Keats, think..." He said as he paced around the boat slightly as Pineco and Timburr looked at their trainer. "Okay, hold on." Keats said as he placed his hands on his face and then bent forward.

"What'zzzz that?" Rotom asked.

"My thinking pose..." Keats said while his voice was slightly muffled from his hands covering his face. "Okay, I just got an idea. Rotom, go online!" He said as he pointed at the phone.

"Got it, what'cha need?" Rotom said as it opened up a search engine on its phone.

"Look up the soundtrack to the movie, "Crabrawlers Crossing" and then look up this video I found back home called "Falling Off a Bridge Because of a Tauros Stampede" then-" Keats said as he continued to list things until Rotom spoke up.

"Whoa wait, how doezzzz thizzzz help with catching a Pokémon?" Rotom asked in confusion.

"Help with- oh damn it!" Keats said until he realized what happened. "I got distracted! I was thinking about this video I found and thought it would look cool layered with the music from this movie I saw once..." He said disgruntled.

"...Really not the bezzzzt time." Rotom said.

"Yeah, I realize that now..." Keats said as he sat back in the boat.

"Keatzzzz, I need a nap..." Rotom said as its battery started to go down.

"Really? Now of all times?" Keats said as Rotom floated over into Keats' pocket. "Great, we're a man down now..." He said.

"Timburr..." Timburr said as he shook his head.

"Pinecoco-pine." Pineco said towards Timburr.

"Now I really wish Rotom was out here now..." Keats thought as he looked at the two having a conversation. "Hey, you two... I'm gonna have another moment." He said as he stood back up once again. "Okay, I can do this... I can do this... Just gotta think." He said to himself as he made his thinking pose once more of covering his face with his hands and then bending forward.

"Pineco..." Pineco said with a concerned tone.

"Timburr..." Timburr said with a headshake, showing signs of losing faith.

"I can't explode the water with Pineco, I'm almost out of Revives and moves like "Pin Missile", "Protect" or "Tackle" won't help either. Timburr doesn't know any long-range attacks that can help. Just "Karate Chop," "Scary Face," "Slam" and "Focus Ener-..." Wait... A move that involves focusing..." Keats thought until he begun to form an epiphany. '"Focus Energy..."' Keats said aloud as Pineco and Timburr turned to look at him as he stood up and took his hands off his face.

"Pineco?" Pineco questioned as she turned towards Timburr.

"Timb?" Timburr said as he stood up.

'"Focus Energy" is a move that Timburr can use that increases your ability to focus, right?" Keats asked towards his Pokémon as the Fighting type as Timburr nodded. "It increases your ability to do critical hits, right? Okay, well here!" He said as he grabbed a pebble he found on the floor of the boat. "Use "Focus Energy," take this pebble and then peg it at Carters head so it kills him, and he falls in the water so-" Keats explains until he noticed his Pokémon looking at him with confused expressions.

"Pineco?" Pineco said in a concerned tone.

"...No... No wait, that wouldn't work. He left already..." Keats thought as he slowly realized his idea wouldn't work. "Okay, better idea. The Ultra Ball has one of the best catch rates of all the Pokéballs that exists, right?" He continued as he pulled out the one Ultra Ball that he has. "What if, hear me out... We put this Pokéball on the end of a line that Timburr's holding, and he uses "Focus energy" to pitch the ball at the closest Pokémon in the water he can spot and catch it?" Keats said as Timburr and Pineco looked at one another.

"Timburr!" Timburr said with a vigorous tone as Pineco nodded to show they're both compliant with the idea.

Following the agreement from the Pokémon, Keats reached into one of his messenger bags and pulled out a tube of instant glue. Applying the adhesive to the top of the Ultra Ball, he attached the ball to the end of one of the fishing rods lines and handed it off to Timburr.

"Timburr, use "Focus Energy."' Keats ordered as Timburr begun to glow with a red aura. "Now keep an open eye out on the water Timburr... As soon as you see a shadow of some kind in the water, throw it." He continued as he sat down in the boat as Pineco and Timburr looked out at the water. "Okay, now we just gotta hope this doesn't take too long..." Keats thought as he looked up at the sky.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Castelia Harbor, 4:49 p.m. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

With the sun going even further down, evening approached as Keats and his Pokémon continued to look out at the water, still with zero progress in successfully catching a Pokémon for the contest.

"Timburr..." Timburr said with a bored expression on his face.

"Pineco..." Pineco said in a similar boredom.

"Keats..." Keats said, repeating his own name as Timburr and Pineco turned around to look at him. "...I'm so bored, I'm pretending to be a Pokémon..." He thought as he put his hands on his face and pulled in frustration. "Why do people like this?! How the hell do Water type trainers stomach sitting for hours like this just to catch buttloads of Magikarps?!" Keats exclaimed angrily.

"Pineco-co pine." Pineco said but without Rotom being out, Keats couldn't understand what she meant.

"...Sorry, I don't understand..." Keats said in an embarrassingly honest tone. "Look, this isn't working..." He said as he stood back up. "At this rate, we'll never-" Keats continued until Timburr spoke up.

"Timburr! Timburr!" Timburr said as he turned his head back to cut off his trainer. "Tiiiimbb..." The mole-like Pokémon said as he looked out at the water.

"Wha-what's up?" Keats said with an interested tone as he got behind Timburr as he and Pineco looked out at the water. "Think you got something?" He said as he looked around.

"Pineco! Pineco!" Pineco exclaimed as Timburr looked far out.

Spotting a shadow in the water, Timburr lifted up the fishing pole and swung around the Ultra Ball on the line to build up momentum. With a hard pull, Timburr threw the fishing line with the ball attached to it as far as possible at the water. Upon it hitting the shadow, a bright light came out of the water as the Ultra Ball on the end of the line floated up to the surface.

"It's a catch- oh wait it's shaking!" Keats said happily as he looked on before noticing the Pokéball stirring. "Please work! Please work! Please work!" He thought as he clutched at his head as the ball shook three times before finally stopping, signifying a catch.

"Timb! Timb!" Timburr exclaimed happily as the group finally caught a Pokémon.

"Yes!" Keats screamed out.

"Pineco!" Pineco shouted happily.

"Yes! Yes! Haha- whoa!" Keats said as he jumped up and down in the boat as it rocked as he and his Pokémon held on to keep from falling out as Timburr reeled in the ball. "Alright! What did we- huh?" He said until a siren noise went off as Keats and the few trainers left in the contest on their boats looked back towards the harbor.

"Attention all remaining trainers, the contest is over." Don George said over a P.A. system. "Please return to the docks and submit your catches for approval." He continued as the trainers grabbed their oars to head back.

"...Didn't even get to check..." Keats said with a headshake as he plucked the Ultra Ball off the line of the fishing pole as he grabbed his rowboats oars. "Great... Don't know if I caught a Magikarp the size of a bus or a Feraligatr that's a different color..." He mentally complained.

As the sun went down and after a few moments of deliberation with his staff as they looked over the various Pokémon that were caught, Don George stood in front of all of the participants in the fishing contest on the stage from before. Looking around nervously, Keats had a troubled expression as all the trainers looked on in anticipation.

"Yeah, keep looking around you jerks. You had more than one chance to catch anything..." Keats thought, judgmentally.

"Hello trainers." Don George said as everyone looked up at him. "We've finished looking over what was captured today in the preliminary contest for the PokéPotluck tournament, and I must say, I'm very impressed by everyone's catching abilities. A large variety of Water type Pokémon were caught today with the balls we'd gave out, but we've decided on the eight contestants who will be in the Pokémon Potluck tournament based on what they managed to find." The Battle Club manager continued.

"I know one of those people..." Keats thought as he looked around for any signs of Carter in the crowd.

"We'll be revealing the names of the contestants only, not the Pokémon that were caught so as to be fair and not to spark debate." Don George said as he pulled out a piece of paper with the list of winners. "First place winner: Carter." He said as the crowd listened on. "Second place: Morgana." Don George said as he listed more of the names in order.

"Damn it..." Keats said with a headshake as he noticed someone approaching him.

"Well, well, well." Carter said as he approached Keats. "You manage to catch anything?" He asked smugly.

"I don't have to answer that question..." Keats said with an agitated expression.

"You heard Don George, I'm the first-place lead. Which makes me the odds-on favorite for the whole potluck." Carter said in a self-aggrandizing manner. "That "Flamethrower" spewing Gyarados was probably the most interesting thing they saw all week." He said as Keats looked away from him as he continued to brag.

"Sixth place: Lennon." Don George said as he continued to list off names of contestants.

"What did you catch? A little Magikarp? Maybe you're one of the other three dozen here who caught a Basculin, thinking that's enough." Carter said, mockingly.

"And lastly, eighth place: Keats." Don George said as he finished up.

"Yeah, well maybe if someone didn't steal my Pokéballs, I-" Keats said until he stopped to acknowledge what Don George said.

'"What?"' Carter and Keats said in unison, shocked.

"Congratulations to our eight contestants, we hope to see your skills in battling in five days when the PokéPotluck begins." Don George said as he put the microphone down as the crowd begun to disperse.

"...Dumb luck..." Carter said, finally dropping his smug attitude as he looked at Keats. "I don't even care what you caught because it's going to mean nothing. I'm going to win and there's nothing you can do about it..." He said as he poked Keats in the chest before walking away as Keats took a deep breath.

"Can't believe it..." Keats said as he noticed a worker from the Battle Club approaching him.

"Hello, are you Keats?" The Battle Club employee questioned.

"Ye-yeah! That's me!" Keats said with a surprised tone. "I can't believe I made it in, this is incredible." He said with a delighted tone.

"Well, I wouldn't be counting your Torchics before they hatch. You still have to participate in the battle portion of the tournament before you can technically say you "win."' The Battle Club employee said.

"Right yeah, forgot." Keats said as he scratched his head.

"Here you go." The Battle Club employee said he pulled out the Ultra Ball Keats used for his catch. "Did you know you were the only contestant who used their own Pokéball for their catch?" He said as Keats grimaced slightly.

"Yeaaahh... Bit of a touchy subject for that." Keats said as he grabbed the ball.

"I will say this though, you got eighth place on a technicality." The Battle Club employee said.

'"Technicality?"' Keats questioned.

"Every contestant who submitted a Pokémon had caught a Water type in the Castelia City Bay. You were the only one who made a successful catch out there that wasn't a Water type, that's honestly an impressive feat for a fishing contest." The Battle Club employee explained. "But since you caught it in your own ball, it's also yours to keep." The employee said as he walked away as Keats looked at the ball.

"Wait what?" Keats said. "...I didn't catch a Water Type?" He thought with confusion.


Wooo! Sell-a-brate good times! Com- Oh right, he still needs to battle... He's screwed. The fishing contest is out of the way and after a ton of distractions, and by "distractions," I mean one teenage thief being a jerk and trying to make Keats' life more miserable, Keats has finally managed to catch a Pokémon for the fishing contest and has even made it into the PokéPotluck Tournament. But Keats now has the Pokémon in his possession and it's not what he was expecting. With five days to kill before the Potluck, Keats now has to prepare... Well as best a guy like him can with how little experience he has. Stay tuned for more!

Keats' Pokémon:
1. Pineco.
2. Timburr.
3. ?