Reunions

It has been two days since the tournament ended, and Shuichi was roaming the streets of Jubilife absentmindedly.

Since the tournament a few minor things happened, first off was what happened directly after the tournament.

Nando decided to go to Oreburgh immediately to challenge the gym, in the end Shuichi didn't give him the advice to be less of a people pleaser.

Paul also quickly disappeared, Shuichi didn't talk to him or even knew he was gone until he just didn't appear in the Pokémon Center anymore.

Barry was a bit more difficult to leave, he had become a Shuichi fanboy and wanted to know how Shuichi trained.

In the end Shuichi just said he prioritised the Pokémon's emotions and their needs and wants.

Barry seemed content and he also was on his way to the Canalave City gym, Shuichi didn't know if he had to say more or not.

The second thing that happened was more annoying and worrisome than anything, his nightmares and intrusive thoughts had returned.

They were gone for two nights due to prepping for the tournament however since the tournament was now over, it all returned.

The third thing was his Pokémon's injuries and evaluation from Nurse Joy, this was by far the most important to Shuichi.

Combusken's main injury was Elekid's Thunder attack and the paralysis which were healed by Chansey and another day of rest just to be safe.

The downside to that was that Combusken was a battle freak and trained even harder, getting her to sit still was difficult.

Clamperl on the other hand would be bedridden for 3 days due to taking a thunder point blank as a water-type, Nurse Joy didn't like it but she understood the situation and didn't reprimand Shuichi for it.

Eevee was damaged by the Brick Break and the Ninjask getting in a few slices which were healed by Chansey, the main problem was again fatigue due to fighting in almost every fight.

As a result Nurse Joy advised Eevee to rest for a few days as well just to make sure he didn't develop any hidden injuries.

So currently the only Pokémon Shuichi had on him was Combusken, he was currently looking for a place to celebrate with his Pokémon.

Once they were all cleared for health he was going to celebrate the victory with a good meal so he was hoping to find a good place.

It also helped him focus on an objective while beating the intrusive thoughts out of his head.

Occasionally he was recognised as he walked the streets of Jubilife, it was the occasional staring or even being challenged to a match.

Pokémon battles were not allowed on the streets and had to be fought at the battlefield by the Pokémon Center and Shuichi wasn't going all that way.

Having to walk back and forth continuously was annoying to say the least, so Shuichi declined all battles and only wanted to walk around.

As he walked around he suddenly spotted a small crowd forming, wondering what the commotion was all about Shuichi decided to get a look.

Once Shuichi got close he could see what all the commotion was about, ('Three clowns selling watches?') Taking a look at the watches revealed they were in fact Pokétch's.

A Pokétch or Pokémon Watch for short was a popular electronic watch for Coordinators and people who just like electronics.

Shuichi didn't have a need for such a device as he could check the time on his own watch or even the many clocks that hung throughout the city.

('Wasn't there an event like this one in the games?') Shuichi remembered the clown events in the Pokémon game he played where one had to find multiple clowns and answer questions for a free Pokétch.

('Maybe I should get Dawn one-, hm?') As Shuichi was thinking about getting Dawn one he noticed he could feel the shortest clown's emotions of greed whenever it handed out a Pokétch.

Shuichi felt greed like this before as he remembered it quite vividly, and this person was also the right size to match the one he had in mind.

Just as he was about to leave one of the clowns spotted him and said "Hey! You there! You must be that twe- I mean you must be Shuichi, the recent winner of the tournament!"

('Oh great, they spotted me.') Shuichi turned around to see that one of the 'clowns' had indeed spotted him.

"Indeed I am, can I help you with anything?" Shuichi said with a 'friendly' smile, he didn't like the situation but now he was trapped.

If he just ran away it would not do him any favours among the public, he just hoped whatever they wanted was simple so he could leave.

"Help us? No! But we can help you! Since you are the recent winner, take this free Pokétch as a congratulations from us for winning the tournament!" One of the 'clowns' said as a Pokétch was shoved in Shuichi's hands.

Shuichi really didn't want to take something from these people but he smiled all together, "Thank you, I'll be sure to treasure it." he replied to the 'clown.'

He was quickly let go now with a Pokétch in hand, as Shuichi was walking around with that item he turned a few corners and decided to go to his father at the police station.

Shuichi was 99% confident that the clowns were Team Rocket in their latest scam to sell people fake Pokétches. If anyone could quickly determine if they were fake his father and the police could.

Shuichi didn't know if they only wanted to make money or if there was more at play than money.

By now the police station knew of Shuichi as he came by nearly daily to visit his father, normally this would cause a problem however his father was on standby with a case and wasn't allowed to leave Jubilife normally.

They couldn't force him to stay cooped up at the station or else Enki might go insane himself before he finishes the case.

"Wanted criminals selling fake Pokétches? Are you sure?" Enki replied upon hearing the story, had it been anyone else telling him he would've waved it off, however the one who told him was his own son.

Enki knew his son better than anyone else, and he knew his son wouldn't make such claims just to get attention.

Shuichi nodded and pulled out the fake Pokétch, "I've got the fake one right here, they gave it for free to me 'due to me winning the tournament'." Shuichi explained how he obtained it and his father also frowned.

Pokétches were expensive and they wouldn't just be given out to people. Taking the Pokétch from Shuichi, Looker pulled out a few tools and quickly pried it open.

Looking inside there was a bunch of technical equipment that Shuichi couldn't make heads or tails out of, he wasn't a mechanic in his past life so he had no idea what any of this was.

Looker on the other hand had plenty of experience, "It's a transmitter and a small speaker, it's clear there's no equipment inside that a Pokétch normally uses." he explained to them.

"Can we apprehend them?" Shuichi asked the two professionals who sadly gave a negative answer.

"Yes and no, we could arrest them based on them selling a fake Pokétch however that isn't a great charge and they would go out before you know it." Enki explained a small bit of the law.

Pokémon offences like the Gyarados incident a few days ago were seen as big while small scams like these were seen as insignificant.

"Still, why would they give this out? There has to be a bigger reason for it" Looker was unconvinced that this was all at play.

"All we can do is wait until they send out whatever they plan to send out." Enki was helpless as well.

Suddenly Enki noticed something about Shuichi as he looked at his son closely, he could see bags under his eyes.

"Shuichi, have you been sleeping poorly?" Enki concernedly asked his son, at the end of the day he was still his father and cared about him greatly.

Shuichi didn't expect the question so he froze up for a second before answering "I-its nothing, must be from the tournament."

Enki however didn't buy that for a second, he looked at Looker and gave a silent hint. "I'll see if I can't trace where this thing is going to emit from." Looker said before getting up and leaving.

It was clear this was a family issue and he didn't want to interrupt them, Shuichi tried to escape but his father didn't allow him.

Suddenly Shuichi was alone with his father who was giving him a stern look. "All right, spill it, you know you're terrible at lying to your parents."

Shuichi didn't dare to look his father in the eyes, this was easily worse than battling Paul in the finals.

"I-it's nothing dad, It'll go away eventually, just… trust me." Shuichi decided to use the same excuse he told his mother.

Enki just looked sternly at his son, he knew there was far more to the situation than just this. "Does your mother know about it?" he asked if Umeko knows more.

"She knows just as much as you do now, she found out two days ago when I called her. I… didn't want you to know." Shuichi truthfully told his father.

Enki didn't know how to feel about this one, on one hand he was glad that Umeko also realised something was bothering Shuichi.

On the other hand was that he wasn't happy he was purposely being left in the dark about this.

"Does this have to do with your past condition?" Enki still asked if this was about when he didn't have emotions.

Shuichi didn't say anything but just nodded, there was no reason to hide that it indeed had to do with that.

Enki had half a mind to just pull him out of his journey right here and now, mental problems were no joke, especially the ones Shuichi's.

In the end Enki just sighed, "I will discuss this with your mother, but if the situation hasn't improved when you return here from Oreburgh we're going to have to ask what's bothering you."

He decided to give Shuichi until the first gym to figure out his problems, if he couldn't by then they will help him whether he wants it or not.

"Thanks dad." Shuichi knew that one day he would have to face these problems, it wasn't healthy to keep having these hallucinations.

Looker came back to see Shuichi looking down and Enki staring out the window, from the atmosphere it was clear a heavy subject was just discussed.

Enki noticed Looker coming back and asked "Have you found something out?" pointing to the fake Pokétch in Looker's hand.

Looker decided to ignore the atmosphere and just went straight to work. "I did indeed, I've managed to trace a weak signal to just outside of Jubilife." Explaining his findings.

Enki just sighed, officially they weren't allowed to leave Jubilife. Shuichi suddenly said, "I can check it out if you two can't."

"I've got Combusken with me and you know she's strong." Shuichi continued, his father and Looker just looked at him.

Enki just nodded at Looker and said "Fine, but Ditto will come just in case." And as he said that Ditto slid out of his coat and crawled towards Shuichi.

Shuichi nodded and picked up Ditto and put him on his shoulder. Ditto was happy to be going with Shuichi. 

Looker told Shuichi where the signal came from and with that Shuichi was off, once Shuichi was gone Enki just released a big sigh.

"Are you okay Enki? It seems like a serious problem." Looker asked, referring to Enki's talk with his son.

"I'm fine, I just have an incredibly stubborn son who wants to shoulder all his problems alone." Enki replied, summarising Shuichi's problems.

Shuichi was unaware that his father already had grasped at the roots of his problems, he indeed wanted to do it alone.

He didn't want to ask a random therapist or 'specialist', what would they even do if they heard about it? Declare him mentally unfit and take his Pokémon? No chance in hell.

As Shuichi was walking to the destination of the signal he could see that the sun was already starting to set, by the time he would reach the destination it would already be dark.

He decided to continue onwards to the destination, Team Rocket could strike at any time and Shuichi didn't want to sleep anyway. He likely would encounter another nightmare.

Ditto on his shoulder gave off a worried emotion, clearly it was also worried about Shuichi as it had heard Shuichi's talk with his father.

"I'm fine Ditto, really there's no need to worry." Shuichi tried appeasing the Pokémon on his shoulder but it had little effect.

Ditto was his father's partner when dealing with crime, as a result it saw the most out of all his Pokémon when dealing with criminals. Because of this Ditto too had a ton of experience in scoping out lies.

Feeling Ditto's scepticism made Shuichi give up trying to convince it that he was all right, he just walked in silence towards the destination of the signal.

Once Shuichi was near the signal it indeed was already dark, the signal came from just outside Jubilife.

Looking around Shuichi could see a big cell phone tower and multiple lights setup, there also were multiple other pieces of equipment like a microphone.

The biggest eyecatch was however a giant container that was placed in the middle, Shuichi wondered what the plan was seeing all of this.

Just as he was about to investigate closer, he saw four figures were walking around. Two of the figures were human and two were Pokémon judging from their emotions.

Shuichi could see that the four figures were indeed Team Rocket however there was a new Pokémon added to the mix.

By now Meowth had already patented that greedy emotion but the other hand had a different emotion, determination and happiness with some sadness underneath it all.

The Pokémon in question was a yellow duck-like Pokémon that Shuichi had seen before, Psyduck.

Shuichi frowned upon seeing the Psyduck, he could swear he's seen that exact Psyduck somewhere before.

Before Shuichi could recall where he had seen the Psyduck, Team Rocket talked to Psyduck and Psyduck walked to the microphone.

Psyduck began speaking into the microphone and Team Rocket was behind some sort of sound mixer.

('Why are they airing Psyduck's cries?') Shuichi didn't know what they were doing when suddenly something approached them.

Turning around Shuichi could see and feel a horde of Pokémon incoming, all their emotions were dull and unfocused as if they've been hypnotised.

They were all walking towards the container and slowly moved into the container, this way it would be easy to take them.

('Hypnosis? Psyduck is hypnotising them!') Shuichi figured it all out, Psyduck had a special talent for psychic powers and hypnosis was one of them.

Selling a fake Pokétch to stream out hypnotic waves, who would even come up with ideas like these?

One had to applaud Team Rocket's genius ideas, they would always come up with the craziest methods of catching Pokémon.

Psyduck continued its performance with more Pokémon walking towards them in a line, soon Meowth told Psyduck to stop and they gave it a basket of food for the trouble.

('Psyduck did this for food?') Wild Pokémon usually have their own methods of finding food so it doesn't need to do such a thing if it was a seasoned wild Pokémon.

('So it's a new wild Psyduck? Wait! Could it be?') Shuichi suddenly realised a Psyduck that might fit the bill.

In the tournament a fisherman named Adam had a Psyduck and a Gyarados, Gyarados went mad and Adam was arrested. It's likely his Psyduck that recently got released and needed food.

Once Psyduck was gone did Shuichi decide to interfere, Psyduck had enough troubles already and didn't need to be implicated for this.

"Ditto, transform into Ursaring to destroy the container." Shuichi told Ditto who nodded and transformed.

"That twerp's Eevee and Pikachu should soon come walking in here!" Jessie told her partners, this plan really was ingenious.

Suddenly a roar was heard as a mad Ursaring came running towards them, "Uh, did we anger an Ursaring recently?" James asked them, a little scared.

"It's saying that we should release these Pokémon!" Meowth understood what Ursaring was yelling about and was a little nervous as well.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's run!" Jessie advised her partners to run and they all nodded.

The container shutter was closing and Shuichi also ran out with Ursaring, he suddenly heard some yelling from behind him.

"Where are you all going!?" He heard a familiar voice call out, looking back he could see it was Ash's group with some people he didn't recognise.

Ditto was close enough to start attacking, its claw suddenly glowed white and grew larger as it was going for a Slash.

A balloon suddenly popped up behind the container and boosters came from the side, Ditto jammed its claw into the closed door and ripped open a huge portion of it.

"Shinx!" A boy in Ash's group yelled and ran forward as debris flew everywhere, "Watch out!" Dawn quickly intercepted and pulled the boy away from the debris.

"Landis! Are you okay?" Dawn asked the boy as he calmed down and nodded, Dawn looked around and could see an Ursaring staring at the container that was going in the air.

She swore she knew that Ursaring from somewhere when she suddenly spotted a familiar red haired boy running towards them "Shuichi!?" she yelled in surprise which caused everyone to focus their attention on him.

"No time to explain, It's Team Rocket again!" Shuichi quickly told the group who also realised it.

"Normally we would introduce ourselves by now" Jessie said before James finished "But we've an angry Ursaring on our tail so we'll be going now!" 

"Not If I can't help it, Pikachu!" Ash exclaimed while Dawn released Piplup, both Pokémon were ready to blast them away when suddenly a glass ball caught them.

"They're getting away!" Landis cried out, Dawn however was ready with another Pokéball "Not for long! Now Buneary go!"

Out of the Pokéball popped a rabbit-like Buneary, this must be Dawn's new Pokémon. Shuichi could sense Buneary's fury at Team Rocket.

('Why is Buneary so mad at Team Rocket? Did they do something to it personally?') Shuichi was unaware but it didn't matter much.

"Now Ice Beam, Buneary!" Dawn quickly instructed a light blue ball of energy formed in front of Buneary's mouth. Light blue beams of ice cold energy were fired off.

Unfortunately the Ice Beam just ended up short, Team Rocket decided to gloat and taunt Dawn and Buneary.

"Are they going to get away?" Landis asked a little dejectedly when Dawn interjected. 

"No way! My Pokémon friendship might be low and I might've been a trainer for a few weeks but I don't care, I'm never going to give up!" Dawn spoke passionately and Shuichi could see something was bothering her for a while now.

"Let's show them Buneary! Ice Beam at full power!" Dawn said to Buneary and a giant Ice Beam suddenly shot out toward Team Rocket.

This one didn't fizzle out at the end and directly hit Team Rocket freezing them solid, "Wow, that's so cool" Landis was wowed at Dawn's achievement.

The controls to the Pikachu and Piplup balls went wild and ended up releasing them, both Pokémon ended up falling to the ground below.

"Starly grab them!" Ash released his Starly and Shuichi quickly intercepted as well "Ditto, transform into Fearow and also grab them!"

Ditto transformed into Fearow and quickly set off, Starly was underway when a Fearow sped by it and grabbed Piplup. Starly changed course and grabbed Pikachu.

"Whoa!" Everyone was surprised at the sudden Ditto who came back with Piplup on its back, Starly and Pikachu were also amazed at the feat.

"Thank you Ditto," Shuichi thanked Ditto for its hard work, "Ditto? Isn't this a Fearow?" Dawn was confused and pulled out her Pokédex.

"Ditto, the Transform Pokémon. Ditto has the ability to reconstruct its entire cellular structure into whatever it sees." The Pokédex rattled on.

"But I don't see a Ditto here." Dawn noted and Shuichi explained it to her, "This is actually my father's Ditto who has memorised the forms of the rest of his team making it able to transform into Fearow."

Meanwhile the Team Rocket balloon crashed to the ground and the impact tore open the container shutter and woke up the Pokémon inside.

The Pokémon quickly ran out and ran back to Jubilife to reunite with their trainers. Team Rocket also broke out of the ice block and quickly threw out their Pokémon.

"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" Ash had enough of them and Pikachu sent them flying with a Thunderbolt, "We're blasting off again!" They screamed as they were sent flying.

"Do they ever quit?" Shuichi sighed as he saw Team Rocket being blasted again, these people were as persistent as cockroaches.

"Probably not, so Shuichi, how did you end up here?" Ash asked the obvious question as Ditto transformed back and jumped up on Shuichi's shoulder.

Shuichi explained his side of the story from being recognised to having his father's help in finding out where Team Rocket was.

"Ah! I knew you looked familiar!" Landis suddenly exclaimed, causing everyone to turn to him, "You won the recent tournament!" Landis excitedly told them.

"Tournament? What tournament?" Ash's group was confused which caused Landis to tell the whole tournament story.

Landis was apparently in the crowd the whole time and didn't manage to miss a beat, he even memorised the entire final battle against Paul.

While Landis was narrating the entire tournament, Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy came to the scene and Shuichi explained what happened to them.

Brock tried to flirt with both of them when he was suddenly jabbed in the side by a dark blue, bipedal Pokémon that resembles a poison dart frog. It had yellow eyes, which were surrounded by black markings; A Croagunk.

Shuichi could feel Croagunk's enthusiasm as it clearly enjoyed stopping Brock's flirting advances.

"I wish I could've entered the tournament," Ash mentioned a little dejectedly, he didn't need the money but battling Shuichi, Paul, Nando or even Barry that Landis mentioned already sounded good.

"No worries Ash, remember my promise when we parted ways?" Shuichi reminded Ash of his promise.

"Oh, yeah! Shall we battle now?" Ash was excited for a battle however Shuichi had to disappoint him.

"About that, The tournament did more damage to my Pokémon and they're still at the Center, however they should be good to go tomorrow?" Shuichi pointed that last line at Nurse Joy who was still at the scene and she nodded.

And just like that Shuichi and Ash promised to battle each other tomorrow, Shuichi was getting tired and he still had to drop off Ditto to his father.

While walking back to the police station he wondered if his father was still there, he also noticed another thing.

The voices were gone, for now, and Shuichi knew his battle with Ash was what's keeping them away temporarily.

But this also meant that Shuichi would finally have a good night's rest again, exhaustion hit him like a truck when he realised it.

When he reached the police station his father told him that if there was something wrong to tell him, after giving Ditto back Shuichi headed for the Pokémon Center.

Crashing into his bed and quickly falling asleep Shuichi had no dreams or nightmares for the first time in days.

Shuichi woke up in the morning and finally felt refreshed, he did some chores and when Nurse Joy was ready he decided to finally grab the rest of his team.

Shuichi was ready to battle Ash right then and there, however someone wasn't as ready. Dawn wanted to grab a new Pokétch first so they went Pokétch shopping first.

They all caught up on the walk to the shop, apparently Ash and co stayed at Route 202 a little longer.

Ash, Dawn and Brock all caught a new Pokémon, Ash didn't want to spoil the surprise while Dawn and Brock each showed a Buneary and Croagunk respectively the previous day.

Ash also encountered and challenged Paul who beat him with Chimchar, it wasn't a loss Ash was proud of and he said that next time he would win.

Apart from that battle, they encountered Team Rocket a fair few times. With hindsight now Shuichi was glad he didn't have to encounter them every time.

Ash also told the story of how he and Paul were in Bewilder Forest, the Stantler apparently hypnotised Ash a fair few times.

Shuichi told them his own travels of Bewilder Forest and how he managed to capture his own third Pokémon, copying Ash a little; he also decided to keep the surprise.

He also told them about the tournament from his own perspective and how it managed to grow to an audience of well over 1,000, along with the prize pool and it getting doubled.

"Did you…buy another TM?" Ash asked a little carefully, this was a main arguing point of theirs when they split up.

Shuichi could feel Ash's awkwardness and quickly shook his head "No, I don't want to enter another food crisis situation." Ash was a little relieved hearing that.

After the tournament Shuichi hadn't bought anything yet, not even berries for poffins due to his Pokémon all being in the Center.

The first thing he wanted to buy for his Pokémon was a good meal at a local restaurant, thinking about this point he realised he completely got sidetracked for his goal yesterday.

('Something to figure out later in the day, if Ash doesn't rough up my Pokémon too hard.') Shuichi was a little nervous facing Ash.

Ash was the main character of the show, he literally fought against legendaries and lived to tell the tales.

Finally after Pokétch shopping they went back to the Pokémon Center to finally have their battle.