Moving on

Zoey and Dawn stood on the battlefield ready with their Pokémon, "Buneary, spotlight!" Dawn sent out Buneary once more. "Glameow, curtains!" Zoey responded by sending out Glameow.

"Buneary, use Ice Beam!" Dawn opened up the fight with a strong Ice Beam. "Glameow, use Shadow Claw!" Zoey responded with a Shadow Claw confusing Dawn.

Glameow however shielded the incoming Ice Beam with the Shadow Claw causing Dawn to lose some points, "That's what contest battles are about, making use of your opponents moves to look better yourself." Brock evaluated from the sidelines.

Dawn wasn't deterred yet, "Buneary, use Bounce!" Buneary made a few hops as it gained height. "Glameow you also jump!" Zoey made another unorthodox move as Glameow used its cured tail as a spring to go even higher into the air than Buneary.

"Now Fury Swipes!" Zoey had Glameow scratch Buneary making it fall to the ground, Dawn was desperately thinking of a way out. Zoey wasn't going to give Dawn thinking time "Iron Tail!" as Glameow was still in the air.

Suddenly an idea came to Dawn as she remembered Shuichi's own battles, "Grab it Buneary!" and Buneary's ears stopped the Iron Tail dead in its tracks as Buneary struggled causing Zoey to lose some points.

"Now, use Ice Beam!" Dawn capitalised on the opening just like Shuichi would as Buneary released the tail and began charging the Ice Beam. "Dodge it Glameow!" Zoey was quick with a counter as Glameow jumped away.

The Ice Beam missed but managed to freeze the ground, Glameow slipped on the ice as it landed back on its feet. "Buneary, Dizzy Punch!" Dawn took advantage of the slip and went on the offensive.

Buneary punched Glameow with its ears, Zoey was surprised at the sudden attack but Dawn wasn't finished yet. "Now Bounce!" Dawn said, and Buneary jumped on top of Glameow's back and jumped up and down.

The crowd cheered at the battle, "This is what makes contests so much fun!" Dawn was happy that she was shining on stage.

('You're getting overconfident again Dawn, now's the perfect chance to back off and fire off another Ice Beam.') Shuichi added in his mind seeing Dawn's attitude towards the fight.

"Buneary, finish it off with Dizzy Punch!" Dawn sadly couldn't read Shuichi's mind as instead of backing off she had Buneary get in close again. Zoey had enough "Glameow, Shadow Claw on the ice!"

Both of Glameow's paws were covered in a black shadow and it began pouncing at the ice below it causing chunks to fly off against Buneary, "Now Iron Tail!" Zoey followed up with another Iron Tail and this one managed to land as Glameow jumped up and slammed its tail down.

"Buneary, please get up!" Buneary was struggling to stand however when it wanted to stand up a buzzer went off, the time limit was hit and attention was brought to the board as the victor was revealed.

And by a hair's margin Zoey was decided to be winner, Dawn was a little dejected and tried to cheer up Buneary. Unbeknownst to Ash and Brock, Shuichi was already gone and knew where Dawn would be.

Dawn was sad and in her mind she only really had one person to go to, her mother. To her surprise there was someone waiting for her, Shuichi was already at the telephones waiting for her.

"S-Shuichi, why are you?" Dawn tried to contain her tears and asked why he was here. Shuichi just sighed, "Dawn, I've known you for eight years by now. Whenever you're sad you want to call your mother." he threw back the line Dawn kept saying to him.

Dawn was just sadly looking at the ground, she didn't really know what to say. "I-I'm sorry I lost." She eventually apologised for losing the contest.

Shuichi looked at her confusingly "Why are you apologising to me? Apologise to yourself or your Pokémon if you want to apologise." Dawn only seemed to apologise further as tears started to form in her eyes.

"Dawn, stop crying." Shuichi didn't like to see Dawn cry and she seemed to get the hint and dried her tears. "Think about what went wrong during this contest and improve on it for the next contest." Shuichi advised her on how to improve.

"Okay…" Dawn was still a little sad but now she looked at Shuichi instead of the floor. Shuichi wasn't done yet. "Also, There's no reason to call your mother every time you win or lose, you can celebrate and cheer up with Ash, Brock or me and even with your Pokémon."

Dawn was a little surprised at the sudden revelation but she seemed to think about it and not say anything. "Furthermore your mother is just like you, a massive fan of contests and no doubt she'll be watching it all." Shuichi also knew Johanna for eight years, and like mother like daughter she also loved contests.

Dawn smiled a little hearing that accurate rating of her mother, Dawn knew she would be watching and cheering back home. "Yeah, you're right."

"Now speaking of watching, Zoey is about to have her final match. Want to watch it?" Shuichi looked at the time and saw that it was about time for the finals.

"Of course!" Dawn was immediately interested and walked to the audience only to see Shuichi not following, "Are you not coming?" She asked him.

Shuichi looked a little sheepish. "Well, you kinda reminded me that I haven't called my own mother in a few days and I'll be off the road soon again so…"

Dawn laughed a little "Shuichi, you really should call home more often!" She teased him a little before smiling at him once more. "Thanks for cheering me up, Shuichi!" and with that she left for the audience.

Shuichi took another sigh, it wasn't a lie and he really had to call his mother. He was going to come clean about his nightmares to her and his idea of how to maybe remedy them.

"Hello dear, how are you doing?" Umeko asked once the call was connected, she hadn't seen her son for a few days but she had heard of Enki and his own findings.

"I'm…okay for now mom, I assume dad talked with you about me." Shuichi appeased Umeko's worries before talking about the main issue at hand.

Umeko was a little surprised at her son's words, but she confirmed his assumption first. "Your father did indeed call me to tell me about your talk with him and the deadline he imposed on you."

Shuichi was reminded that his father told him that he had until his return to Jubilife from Oreburgh to solve the problem but now he managed to minimise the risk of his problem so he hoped his father would be more lenient with the timeframe.

"Correct, I was hoping he would be more lenient with that as I've sort of identified the cause and have an idea in mind as to how to stop it." Shuichi told his mother.

Umeko was interested in what the problem was and Shuichi told her that he's been having nightmares about becoming emotionless again, she was understandably concerned and even his supposed idea was only a theory and nothing more.

"Dear, I-I don't know if that would even work." Umeko was a little sceptical of Shuichi's idea and voiced her concerns.

Shuichi only smiled, "Mom, the last time you told me that it worked." Referencing his idea about seeing Mesprit back when he didn't have his emotions.

Umeko sighed, Shuichi's idea at that time was even more crazy than this one. "I suppose you're right, have you told your father about this yet?" She asked about her husband.

"Not yet, I plan on talking to him today and I was watching Dawn so I'm close to a phone currently." Shuichi recounted the day as he mentioned Dawn.

Umeko smiled a little dejectedly. "It's too bad for Dawn but Johanna and I watched the contest here so we knew what happened." Sharing that they watched it.

"Wait, you two are together now?" Shuichi picked up on that information and asked a little shakingly. If Johanna was there she could've heard them.

"She's currently in the other room, so this call is private. I can call her if you wish." Umeko quickly eased Shuichi's worries, this was a private ordeal after all.

"Sure, there's something I could tell her about Dawn." Shuichi told Umeko about his conversation with Dawn and relayed it to Johanna.

"I appreciate you cheering her up and stopping her from calling me Shuichi, she needs to learn to rely more on her friends than her mother." Johanna thanked Shuichi for his conversation with Dawn as she was currently on screen.

"No problem Ms. Berlitz. Though I do have to ask, when did you convert my mother into a contest fan?" Shuichi didn't know his mother liked contests that much to watch it along with Johanna.

"I'd say about an hour ago when we were watching the Jubilife contest, at first she watched purely for Dawn but now she's rearing to watch Zoey's next match." Johanna revealed.

Shuichi, upon being reminded of the finals, ended the call quickly after telling his mother he'll be on the road to Oreburgh soon. Shuichi ran to the audience to see Zoey in quite the pinch as she was struggling against the woman with the Carnivine.

"Ah, Shuichi! You missed the whole match!" Dawn noticed Shuichi as he came to their side, she told Ash and Brock that he made a home call so they both understood his absence.

"Sorry about that, turns out my mother has been successfully converted into a contest fan by your mother Dawn." Shuichi told Dawn about that little fact while hiding the other conversation about his nightmares.

Dawn was a little surprised but she was happy her own mother was also making friends, her father's death hit her mother the hardest and she knew that. Dawn herself didn't know her father well since he died just after Dawn was born.

Zoey had just won against the woman with the Carnivine, who Shuichi just learned was named Jessilina. At first it was a close match but Zoey managed to break the tie eventually, earning her the ribbon.

All the competitors were called up for the closing ceremony, everyone cheered and clapped for Zoey as she was given the ribbon. The ribbon looked like a gold diamond with two blue ribbons and a crown at the top.

All of the coordinators went to the dressing room to change back into their casual outfits, they couldn't really head out wearing fancy dresses and suits. Once they were done, Shuichi and the group met Zoey outside as the sun was going down.

"Will I see you at another contest, Zoey?" Dawn asked Zoey and Zoey simply responded with "You're just going to have to find out."

"Zoey, I know I still have a long way to go but I'll become a great coordinator just like you! And I'm going to win next time!" Dawn declared her intentions and Zoey smiled. "I'll take that as a compliment and I'll be looking forward to our next match."

And with that Zoey was off, Shuichi decided to not travel with Ash as he was going to train for around 10 days in between the route of Oreburgh and Jubilife. The route itself was a short one and Shuichi still had 23 days on average to reach Oreburgh and get the badge.

Ash was going to go the next morning but Shuichi was planning on going immediately, he had already stocked up on enough food and vitamins to leave him with a budget of around ₽3,000.

"Ah right before I forget, here take this Brock." Shuichi said to Brock as he handed him two bags of Pokémon food. Brock looked at him confused before realisation hit him.

Brock smiled a little "You know you don't have to do that." The last time they had parted Brock gave him a bag of Pokémon food due to Shuichi having not prepared enough food.

Shuichi only pushed the bags into his arms "I know, just consider it a gift." Brock had helped him in a time of need and it was only right if he repaid the favour.

Shuichi now turned to face the entire group, "Looks like it's time to part again, I suppose I'll see you all in Oreburgh?"

"Of course! You watched my first contest so I'm not going to miss your first gym battle!" Dawn was looking forward to Shuichi's battle.

Ash also chimed in "I guess you'll miss my gym battle though." Ash was going to challenge Roark first.

"Good luck with the battle, Ash." Shuichi also wished Ash good luck with his gym battle, he didn't remember how the battle went but he did know that he did beat Roark eventually.

There was also a possibility that he himself had changed the future with his own actions, he did beat Ash pretty badly and he didn't know if it lit a fire under Ash.

Shuichi bid them farewell and went to Route 203, once he was on Route 203 he decided to give his Pokémon a late night training session.

Shuichi had Eevee continue to learn Shadow Ball, something Shuichi wanted to test was Dawn's trick of storing power and making Piplup's beak longer and stronger. He wondered if something were to happen to moves like Swift or Shadow Ball.

Clamperl was still learning Ice Beam which would mitigate the grass-type weakness, something useful for the second gym which was a grass-type gym. He also got another idea from Dawn's contest battle which could give Clamperl more movement.

Combusken was next and she was still learning Quick Attack, Quick Attack was going to give Combusken movement and he also wanted to test if it was possible to combine Quick Attack and other moves. Unsurprisingly it was also inspired by some other coordinators during the contest.

After the training regiment came dinner, dinner was simple Pokémon food but Shuichi added some vitamins to the mix. Pokémon food was an all inclusive meal but there was of course a caveat, it was basic and not a lot of vitamins in there so it was the bare minimum.

Shuichi didn't want to only settle for the bare minimum but for now there were no other options, optimally Shuichi would make a specialised meal for each of his Pokémon but due to budget and even skill restraints that had to be shelved for now.

Shuichi decided to go to bed after dinner and bonding with his Pokémon, he bonded with them by telling them stories of his past life. Of course he made sure that no-one was listening in on his stories.

Opening his eyes Shuichi found himself in a room surrounded by other men, he frowned for a bit trying to recall the identities before clarity struck him. He was in a meeting with some other commanders about the war and the tactics at play.

There was a map on the screen on the table with multiple circles and dots on there all moving in real time. There were multiple other people with communications in live talks with other people.

Shuichi heard all sorts of tactics from the generals and other advisors but inside he didn't like any of them. That was until one of the advisors suddenly said "Let's do the commander's plan." getting the attention of the other people.

Shuichi didn't remember what plan he proposed but he couldn't intervene and ask, that would make him look like an absolute idiot. 

The other advisors seemed to be split, "It's too immoral! We can't do that!" cried some out. "It's currently the only source of action! If this plan works then we could blow the entire war open!"

Shuichi got a bad feeling about this tactic, what in the world had he proposed? He wanted to speak up but he found that the words were stuck in throat, he couldn't say anything.

The debate eventually simmered down and they all fell silent, the second in command at the time gave a deep sigh and said "Give the order." He didn't look happy giving out the order and even seemed to age years after that deep sigh.

The people on the communication team looked a little shocked but carried out the order nonetheless. Circles and dots on the map seemed to move, seemingly colliding with each other.

Dots started to disappear and the circle seemed to shrink, eventually the dots overwhelmed the circle but there were only a few left from the initial tens of dots.

Suddenly a man from the communications team announced "Sirs! We've managed to take the enemy compound!" There was tension in the air after the man spoke.

One of the advisors suddenly asked "How many casualties?" Shocking Shuichi, were there casualties? Were the dots our own soldiers?

The man of the communications team seemed to hesitate to say the number, after a bit he stated "Over 350 of our soldiers died in the mission." 350! 350 men sacrificed to create an opening for the war, was it worth it?

The advisors looked at Shuichi "There you have it commander, your plan worked but it cost us the lives of 350 valiant soldiers." When the advisor said this Shuichi remembered his tactic; straight forward attack, there would be many casualties but we would win.

Why? Why did he even consider such a plan? "Well commander, was it worth it?" The advisors suddenly said in unison. Shuichi entered in a panic, "I-I don't know, I don't know!" he suddenly yelled.

The advisors and even the communication team joined in on the chorus, "What do you mean you don't know? You know deep down. You just don't care." They all accused him.

Shuichi violently shook his head, "I do care! I don't know why I came up with that, there must have been a better way!" He tried to argue his case however it all fell upon deaf ears.

Skeletons suddenly crawled out of the floor, hundreds of skeletons came out. "You killed us all. Why? Why sacrifice us all?" The skeletons all spoke.

Shuichi couldn't make heads or tails from the situation when another man caught his eyes, it was a man that had been silent throughout the entire meeting and Shuichi didn't even notice him until now.

The trademarked soulless eyes along with a scruffy beard were tell-tale signs of who this man was. "Kristoph! Why do you keep returning!?" Shuichi suddenly recalled it all and yelled out against the man.

Kristoph looked at Shuichi "I can stop coming, you know what to do." Hinting at his past conversations with him, Kristoph wanted to make Shuichi like him again; emotionless.

Shuichi grit his teeth, "And you know my decision! I will never throw them away so stop with these nightmares and making me feel like garbage!" He wanted to charge at Kristoph when the skeletons started to pile on top of him.

Shuichi started to fight the skeletons and tried to pry them off him, "Kristoph!" he yelled as the endless sea of skeletons kept piling on him slowly crushing and suffocating him.

Just before Shuichi lost consciousness he heard Kristoph say "The pain will end if you just make the same choice as me."

Shuichi suddenly woke up sweaty and in his confusion he yelled out loudly "Kristoph!" waking up all his Pokémon that were sleeping. Shuichi was still confused as he violently looked around to see if he could spot Kristoph.

The air Shuichi was emitting was scaring his Pokémon, they had never even seen Shuichi this angry. Clamperl eventually mustered up the courage and shot a blast of cold water at Shuichi, snapping him out instantly.

"What the!?" Shuichi looked around again but this time he noticed his Pokémon and he could feel their emotions. Fear, they were afraid of him.

Shuichi felt guilty and calmed down in an instant. "I-I'm sorry for scaring you all, I had another nightmare." He had to find out what was causing these nightmares and if a Gardevoir was even willing to help in the first place.

His Pokémon eventually calmed down and Shuichi thanked Clamperl for snapping him out of the confusion. If there had been someone unfortunately passing by, there would be no telling what Shuichi would've done.

Having your Pokémon actively fear you is heartbreaking, he had to quickly fix his problem because it was getting worse and worse. Last time he broke down, this time he nearly lost his head due to anger.

The next morning came and it was another sleepless night for Shuichi, this was the second day in a row that he couldn't sleep due to his nightmares. It was affecting his mental health and his physical health as he didn't have the energy anymore for exercising.

He focused on the morning meal preparation instead of training while still overlooking his Pokémon's progress, he was making poffins once more and it was definitely helping his Pokémon focus on their training efforts even with the slightly different schedule.

His Pokémon were on the verge of learning all of their moves but it seems like they all needed one final push, and luckily for Shuichi there would soon be a volunteer.

A female trainer walked by Shuichi and she turned around and called out to him. "Hey, battle me? Three-on-three?" It really was that simple to ask for a match but it seems like she didn't like to say much.

Shuichi turned around to see a female trainer with short black hair with a white ribbon but the most interesting part was that she was dressed in a full black dress with white decorations along with black stockings and black shoes.

The trainer felt familiar to Shuichi but he pulled out his Pokédex and answered "Sure, do you want to make a bet on it?" Intending on recording the match for the bet.

The female trainer thought about it "Alright, ₽200?" she asked as she pulled out her own recording device. Shuichi accepted the bet and they both started to record and state the bet for the record.

Shuichi decided to open up the fight by throwing his Pokémon first, "Combusken, get ready!" and threw out Combusken's Pokéball. Normally one would throw a coin for heads and tails for who sends out the first Pokémon but Shuichi decided to take the initiative.

The female trainer didn't say no to an advantage and sent out her own Pokémon "Golbat" She said casually as she threw out the Pokéball. Out of the Pokéball came a large, blue bat with super long wings It also has two long, skinny feet but the most distinct was the large mouth with four sharp teeth.

Seeing the Golbat made Shuichi frown a little, this was no ordinary trainer. Golbat were notorious for not liking the light and being bloodthirsty, having it out in the open like this and Shuichi not even being able to feel any hyper aggression means it was well trained.

Staring at Golbat would get him nowhere, "Combusken, Ember!" Shuichi decided to kick it off with a ranged attack to test her out a bit and Combusken shot out fiery shots at Golbat. 

"Dodge, Confuse Ray" The female trainer responded quickly and Golbat flapped its wings and was gone the next second, ('It's pretty fast.') Shuichi noticed Golbat's speed more than anything. Golbat's eyes glowed purple and a purple beam shot towards Combusken.

"Dodge then Flame Charge!" Shuichi moved quickly, Confuse Ray would make Combusken confused and confusion was more akin to illusions than anything. Some illusion caused the Pokémon to miss their moves or even end up hurting themselves because of it.

Combusken quickly jumped out of the way and cloaked herself in orange-yellow flames and charged at Golbat, Golbat was flying in the air but Combusken could jump and reach Golbat.

The female trainer didn't seem to panic. "Air Cutter" she ordered and Golbat flapped its wings and shot out sharp blue 'S' lines directly at Combusken, Combusken had no time to dodge anymore and directly charged into the Air Cutter.

The Flame Charge mitigated the damage somewhat but Combusken still took a heavy hit. ('Combusken needs more speed, one stack of Flame Charge speed won't cut it.') Combusken was outsped and typing was also against her.

('Seems like I don't have a choice anymore. Maybe the speed boost from Flame Charge will help.') Shuichi realised what he had to do, faraway attacks would be easily dodged and charging moves would be intercepted if they were not fast enough.

"Combusken, we have no choice." Shuichi gave Combusken the hint and surprise was evident in her emotions, but it quickly gave way to determination. She knew the plan and had no intentions of failing.

The female trainer had no idea what their plan entailed but in her mind it wouldn't matter much. "Confuse Ray" She decided to give Confuse Ray another try, getting in close would be stupid against a Combusken and she wanted to keep away with speed.

Shuichi took a small breath, "Dodge, then use Quick Attack!" Quick Attack was still in the learning phase but Shuichi hoped the speed boost from Flame Charge would help Combusken get a feel for the move and master it during battle.

Combusken dodged the purple beam again and charged at Golbat, she tried to run as fast as she could while utilising normal-type energy. She wasn't a normal-type so she had to convert her own energy into the normal-type inside of her.

Due to the conversion some energy would end up lost, it meant that the attack was weaker than if she used a move that matched her own type. Along with the fact that it was harder to master.

White streak appeared intermittently behind Combusken, her face strained as if she was trying really hard to get the move going. The female trainer noticed Combusken was struggling "Air Cutter" She made Golbat intercept with Air Cutter.

Golbat flapped its wings once more and shot out more blue 'S' shaped lines that circled like a saw towards Combusken. Combusken tried hard to dodge but she couldn't control it much and ran directly into the Air Cutter.

"Combusken!" Shuichi thought she was done for but miraculously she slowly crawled to her feet, deviance and determination clear in her emotional spectrum. Suddenly Combusken started to glow red which was a clear indication of Blaze activating.

Shuichi knew Combusken wasn't a quitter and she wanted to give Quick Attack another try, he grit his teeth once more and said "Combusken last chance, Quick Attack!"

Combusken nodded and set off with all her might, she ran at top speed and tried to activate Quick Attack. White lines appeared behind her again but the female trainer wasn't going to let Combusken do her thing.

"Air Cutter" She uttered once more and Golbat once more shot off the attack, Shuichi could only hope now. The world seemed to slow down in Combusken her view as the attack neared, she tried her hardest to get the move going.

Suddenly she felt something click and her speed blurred faster than she had ever been, quickly getting used to the speed she dodged the Air Cutter and jumped straight into Golbat.

"Excellently done Combusken! Now follow up with Ember!" Shuichi complimented Combusken and intended to follow up with another attack. Combusken and Golbat were both still falling when Combusken opened her beak and shot out large fiery shots directly impacting Golbat.

Golbat wasn't out for the count yet as it quickly stood back up and flew into the air again, it was noticeably slower than the last time it was in the air. Combusken also wasn't feeling great, she was breathing hard but her intent to battle still raged on strongly.