Dwayne/Indigo Challenge

On the day that Dwayne prepares to embark on his journey, he, his father, and his mother head towards Professor Oak's Laboratory, where Dwayne obtained six Poké Balls for his journey. Also, Professor Oak gifted Dwayne with a Pokédex. Outside the laboratory, Dwayne prepared to say goodbye to his family, and while doing so, Roberta strictly tells Dwayne to call her once he arrived in Viridian City, which makes Dwayne sweat as he promises to do so. Then, Dwayne brings out Ralts from her Poké Ball, and asks her if she was ready, to which Ralts nods in agreement, and they set off.

Dwayne and Ralts begin their long journey, walking beyond the outskirts of Pallet Town. Just then, the two hear footsteps behind them and find that they are close to a Pidgey. Dwayne is happy at the chance of catching his first Pokémon, and sends Ralts out to battle. Pidgey notices them and immediately takes the offensive with Gust, but Ralts uses Teleport to dodge the attack, before using Disarming Voice to cause moderate damage to the Flying-type Pokémon. Pidgey then retaliates with Sand-Attack, which blinds Ralts for the moment. Pidgey then uses Tackle, but Dwayne direct Ralts towards Pidgey's position and commands a Growl, lowering Pidgey's attack power and allowing Ralts to withstand the attack.

Nevertheless, Pidgey remains in the fight, and retaliates with a Gust attack, and Ralts becomes unable to dodge, and gets struck. Despite still being able to battle, Pidgey flies off, clearly having had enough of the two, which disappoints both Dwayne and Ralts. After Dwayne washes Ralts's eyes, Dwayne thanks Ralts for her effort, but the Feeling Pokémon seems rather saddened, clearly feeling upset for having failed her Trainer, but Dwayne assures Ralts that he was proud of her, and says they would catch the next Pokémon they see.

Just then, Dwayne spots a Spearow, and becomes excited at the thought of catching it. Upon seeing Dwayne's excitement, Ralts impulsively attacks Spearow with Disarming Voice, and while the damage wasn't extensive, it annoys Spearow, who quickly attacks with Peck, but a second Disarming Voice knocks Spearow down to the ground. Spearow is down, but not out, and it lets out a loud cry. In the distance, Dwayne and Ralts spot a large flock of Spearow emerging from a tree and heading straight towards them. The two decide to make a run for it, and quickly try to get away as the furious flock gives chase. Dwayne promises to protect as he picks her up and carries her away. The two come to a fast flowing river and Dwayne, needing to get away from the angry Spearow quickly, jumps in and allows himself and Ralts to be swept away, during which he very nearly becomes lunch for a Gyarados.

Further down the river, where there's no current, a young girl is leisurely fishing when the lure starts to react. The girl quickly grabs her rod to reel in what she thinks will be a big one, but instead yanks out Dwayne and Ralts. She is disappointed, but then notices Ralts and angrily tells Dwayne that he should never let his Pokémon get into such a bad condition. Dwayne says that he was trying to prevent Ralts from getting swarmed by a pack of Spearow, but the girl rebuffs his comments, calling him an awful Trainer for allowing Ralts to get in danger. The girl's comments anger Ralts, who quickly uses Growl on her to force her to shut up.

The girl notes that Ralts was fiercely protective of him, and Dwayne says that they've been together since he was young. However, their conversation gets interrupted when they notice the pack of Spearow angrily flying towards them. Dwayne panics, but the girl says that he was being pathetic by panicking and brings out her Kangaskhan. The girl smugly tells Dwayne to watch closely as the Spearow swoop in towards Kangaskhan. The girl commands Kangaskhan to use Rock Slide, and many of the Spearow are struck by the rocks, while some others manage to evade. The few that dodged continue to speed towards Kangaskhan, who quickly uses Endure to allow her to withstand the barrage of attacks. Then, Kangaskhan uses Focus Energy, which increases the critical damage of her attacks, before following up with Power-Up Punch, which successfully knocks the remaining Spearow.

The girl then says that they were safe now, and Dwayne thanks her, but the girl simply says that it was easy. However, they all failed to notice one remaining Spearow hiding in the trees next to them, who quickly charges towards Dwayne with a Peck attack. However, Ralts instinctively learns Confusion, which she uses on the girl's bicycle, and throws it towards the Spearow, causing it to flee after recovering from the attack. However, the girl's bike becomes completely dent to the point of being unusable, which infuriates her. Dwayne apologizes, but the girl refuses to accept his apology, angrily stating that her bicycle was a limited-edition version that she won in a contest.

Dwayne becomes taken aback, knowing that limited-edition bicycles were extremely expensive, and states that he didn't have enough money to pay her back. The girl then states that she would find a way to make him pay her back. Dwayne then states that he was heading towards Viridian City and they could work something out and asks for her name. The girl then introduces herself as Jade and says there was nothing for them to work out besides Dwayne paying for her bicycle. Ralts then grows tired of Jade's tirade and uses Teleport to teleport herself and Dwayne away, which leaves Jade both flabbergasted and irate. She quickly grabs her dented bike and curses out Dwayne, before sprinting towards Viridian City, vowing to find him again and giving him a piece of her mind.

Meanwhile, Dwayne and Ralts find themselves in the center of Viridian City, and Ralts faints in his arms, with Dwayne noting that using Teleport on such a long distance was too much for her to handle. Dwayne quickly heads towards the Pokémon Center, where Dwayne asks Nurse Joy for help. While Nurse Joy is attending to Ralts's injuries, Dwayne calls his mother, notifying her of his arrival in Viridian City, and Roberta says that she was glad Dwayne remembered his promise, saying that she would've traveled to Viridian City herself to scold him if he hadn't, causing Dwayne to simply laugh to hide his fear of his mother's temper.

Afterwards, Jade storms in the Pokémon Center, looking for Dwayne, and she sees him, she angrily marches up towards him and demands him to pay her back for her bicycle, but Dwayne again states that he didn't have enough money to pay her back, and mentions his sick Ralts, and Jade then drops the subject and instead asks about Ralts's status, and Dwayne says that she was rather weak but overall okay. Jade says that she was glad to hear it, but quickly returns to demanding him to pay her back, and Dwayne finally snaps, telling her that it was an accident that her bicycle was destroyed, and states that Ralts decided to protect himself and Jade from the Spearow by using her bicycle as a weapon, and Jade should be thanking Ralts instead of being angry at him, and Jade finally backs down, and says that while she was still angry, she recognizes that Dwayne shouldn't be the one to blame, as Ralts was the one who decided to use her bicycle as a weapon, and admits that Ralts did save them from the Spearow.

Just then, Nurse Joy returns with Ralts, who's fully recovered, and Dwayne hugs Ralts, stating that he was glad to see she had recovered. Jade then thanks Ralts for helping them earlier. Outside the Pokémon Center, Jade asks Dwayne how did the Spearow began attacking them, and Dwayne explains that he just set off on his journey, and battled the Spearow whilst trying to catch it, and it called its friends for help during the battle. Jade asks Dwayne if he would start challenging the Gym Leaders around Kanto, which Dwayne confirms, and Jade smiles, and states if that was the case, it meant they were rivals, and much to Dwayne's surprise, Jade reveals that she, too, was challenging Gyms to eventually qualify for the Pokémon League, and says she already obtained the Boulder Badge from Pewter City.

Upon hearing this, Dwayne smiles, saying that he was glad to have found competition so early in his journey, and warns Jade that he would catch up to her soon enough. Jade says that she was looking foward to meeting him at the Pokémon League, and urges him to qualify, because she wanted the pleasure of eliminating him from the competition herself as "payment" for her bicycle, and Dwayne says that wouldn't happen as he would emerge victorious. Both Trainers stare at each other with determination in their eyes, before Jade directs Dwayne towards Viridian Forest, the shortest path towards Pewter City. Dwayne thanks her, and says that they would meet each other again eventually.

While venturing through Viridian Forest, Dwayne spots a Caterpie and prepares to catch it. Knowing that Caterpie are usually weak, instead of battling, Dwayne simply throws his Poké Ball at Caterpie. It attempts to break free but is unsuccessful. Dwayne celebrates catching his first Pokémon, holding the Poké Ball, and running in circles out of joy. Ralts is happy to have Caterpie along, and Dwayne decides to bring Caterpie out, who quickly befriends Ralts. Later that night, Dwayne sets up camp for the night. Dwayne sleeps, Ralts and Caterpie get to know each other a little better. In the morning, Dwayne wakes up and prepares packing his supplies until a wild Pidgey captures his attention.

Wanting to catch Pidgey, Dwayne throws a Poké Ball, but Pidgey simply swats it away. Despite Caterpie wanting to battle, Dwayne tells him that his status as a Bug-type would make him at a disadvantage, but Caterpie refuses to back down, determined to prove his worth, and Dwayne relents, and commands Caterpie to use String Shot, but Pidgey manages to dodge the attack and unleashes a Gust attack. Surprisingly, Caterpie manages to evade the attack, and follows up with a Tackle attack, but Pidgey quickly blinds him with a Sand-Attack. As Caterpie struggles while unable to see, Pidgey knocks him out a Quick Attack.

Dwayne recalls Caterpie and sends out Ralts to battle next. Pidgey attacks with Wing Attack, but Ralts uses Teleport to evade, before using Confusion, to which she uses to thrash Pidgey around, before sending him crashing onto a tree. Dwayne throws a Poké Ball and Pidgey gets locked inside and Pidgey gets captured. After retrieving Pidgey's Poké Ball, Dwayne feels confident, especially by capturing two Pokémon in the span of a day and loudly celebrates his captures. His celebration gets interrupted, however, by two voices calling out to him. Dwayne turns around to see two people staring at him, and questions their identities.

They introduce themselves as Adrian and Adriana, and make a dramatic motto about themselves. They're twins who travel throughout Kanto looking for strong Pokémon to capture and "weak" Trainers to demolish, and arrogantly claim that Dwayne was their next "victim", and Dwayne takes offense to being called weak, and accepts their challenge, and asks which one would battle him. The twins both grin at this, and both send out a Pokémon at the same time: Adrian sends out a Bellsprout and Adriana sends out a Koffing. Dwayne claims they're cheating, but the twins merely state that someone battles one of them, they battle both of them. Dwayne then sends out Pidgey to battle them, despite Pidgey being slightly tired from his previous battle.

Koffing's Sludge attack blinds Pidgey, but Pidgey uses Gust on himself to blow the sludge away from his eyes. After regaining his sight, Pidgey dodges both Koffing's Sludge and Bellsprout's Razor Leaf before going into a Quick Attack. Bellsprout avoids the attack by using Double Team, forcing Pidgey to come to a sudden stop. Koffing fires a Smog attack, which Pidgey splits with his wings before dodging multiple Sludge attacks and Bellsprout's Vine Whip. Despite soaring high into the sky, both Bellsprout and Koffing are able to keep up with Pidgey. Pidgey tries to hit Koffing with Gust, but misses and is defeated.

Dwayne recalls Pidgey and in a final attempt, Dwayne sends out Caterpie, which only amuses Adrian and Adriana. Bellsprout and Koffing attack and Caterpie cowers, but Dwayne orders him to use String Shot. The attack completely incapacitates Koffing before Caterpie damages Bellsprout with Bug Bite. Caterpie Tackles Koffing, knocking it into Bellsprout and taking them both out. Adrian tries to send another Pokémon, but he is also wrapped in String Shot. Taken by surprise, Adrian and Adriana flee but promise they will be back to get revenge on him. Dwayne congratulates Caterpie on coming through, and after some encouragement, Caterpie begins to glow, signaling his evolution. Caterpie evolves into Metapod, and Dwayne's Pokédex notes that it has reached this stage more quickly than any other Caterpie on record.

Shortly thereafter, Dwayne gets greeted by a familiar voice, and sees Bayley waving at him. Dwayne asks why Bayley was there, and she explains that Edge had informed her that Dwayne would most likely pass through Viridian Forest after learning about his arrival in Viridian City, and wanted her to test his skills as a Trainer by challenging him to a battle, to which Dwayne accepts. Dwayne uses his exhausted Pidgey against Bayley's Raticate. Pidgey uses Sand-Attack, but Raticate easily dodges and knocks out Pidgey with a single Bite. Dwayne then sends out his Metapod. Raticate attacks with another Bite, but Dwayne orders Metapod to use Harden and his hardened skin cause Raticate's teeth to hurt, and Raticate rolls around in pain, and Bayley forfeits the round, tying the score 1-1. Before Bayley can send her second Pokémon, a wild Beedrill swoops in and kidnaps Dwayne's Metapod, despite Dwayne's attempts to return his Pokémon. Bayley grabs Dwayne to start running and they hide amongst some shrubs, only to encounter a hive of Kakuna. When the Kakuna evolve into more Beedrill, the group flees to Bayley's log cabin.

Inside the cabin, Bayley notes that it would be too dangerous to walk around the forest, and seeing the sun going down, she remarks that they should look for Metapod in the morning, despite Dwayne's protests, but Bayley assures him that Metapod would be fine, as his hardened skin would make the Beedrill not attack him, unless Metapod provoked them. During the night, Dwayne is unable to sleep and can only think about his Metapod. Early the next morning, Dwayne begins his search for Metapod. He sees him lying at the base of a tree, surrounded by many Kakuna, and attempts to sneak forward through the grass towards him without alerting the Beedrill swarm. However, he is interrupted by Adrian and Adriana, who loudly announce their intentions to defeat him and gain "revenge", ignoring Dwayne's warnings that they will alert the Beedrill. The sound awakens the Beedrill, who prepare to dive-bomb Dwayne and the twins. Dwayne rolls underneath their attacks and reaches Metapod. Adrian and Adriana attempt to sweet talk the Beedrill into not attacking them, but it proves useless, and they run instead.

Dwayne attempts to recall Metapod to his Poké Ball, but he shakes in disagreement. With a Beedrill fast approaching, Dwayne runs with Metapod in his arms. Seeing a look of sorrow in Metapod's eyes, Dwayne realizes that he has lost Metapod's trust. Dwayne attempts to explain what happened, saying that losing Metapod wasn't his fault. However, Dwayne suddenly realizes that he is lying to himself and to Metapod, and admits that losing Metapod was his fault and his alone because he didn't notice the Beedrill coming for them, and should've paid more attention to his surroundings. Dwayne is upset upon realizing that it was his carelessness that put his Pokémon's life in danger, and, amid tearful apologies to Metapod, he sincerely promises to stop making excuses and take better care of his Pokémon. As Bayley arrives in a protective bug net, Metapod leaps into the path of a Beedrill's Twineedle, sparing Dwayne. Dwayne cradles Metapod, thinking he has been badly injured, but he instead begins to glow. The attack caused by Beedrill has triggered Metapod's evolution into Butterfree. Dwayne gazes happily at his first fully-evolved Pokémon, and Bayley calls Dwayne's Butterfree beautiful.

Another swarm of Beedrill appear, but this time, Dwayne orders his Butterfree to use Sleep Powder, which puts the Beedrill to sleep and allows the group to escape. Bayley applauds Dwayne for his control over Butterfree so soon after its evolution. She then shows Dwayne the path out of Viridian Forest to Pewter City. Before Dwayne can even take two steps, Adrian and Adriana block his path, visibly battered and exhausted, and claim that the Beedrill attacking them was his fault and vow to make him pay. However, Butterfree swoops in and puts them to sleep with Sleep Powder, and Bayley says that Butterfree is really protective of him, and wishes him luck on his first Gym battle. Dwayne thanks Butterfree before recalling him and bids Bayley goodbye as he reaches the end of the forest.

Soon thereafter, Dwayne arrives at the outskirts of Pewter City. After making his way to the Pokémon Center and healing his team, Dwayne makes his way towards the Pewter Gym. When he arrives, the Gym is dark, though he soon meets the Gym Leader Brock. Brock greets Dwayne and says that he has grown since the last time they saw each other, and Dwayne thanks him and said that it was good to see him again, and challenges him to a battle. Brock queries Dwayne, and he replies that he has been traveling for a week. With a snap of his fingers, Brock transforms the Gym into a rocky field and turns on the lights. In the Pewter Gym, battles are two against two. Dwayne begins the match with Ralts while Brock starts off with Onix. Ralts is intimidated by the giant Pokémon, but Dwayne's words of encouragement make Ralts confident enough to battle. Ralts's Disarming Voice is woefully ineffective against Onix's Bind, which begins to crush Ralts, inflicting visible pain. This prompts Dwayne to recall Ralts to her Poké Ball, though the attempt is thwarted by the larger Pokémon's bulk. Dwayne cannot bear to watch Ralts's suffering and he forfeits the match. After Onix releases Ralts, Dwayne craddles Ralts, and begins apologizing, but Ralts caresses his face, assuring him that she wasn't disappointed. Brock commends Dwayne for knowing when to give up for his Pokémon's sake, and also praises the clear bond that he and Ralts had, but urges him to become stronger, otherwise Ralts and his other Pokémon would pay the price.

As a dejected Dwayne leaves the Gym, he encounters Jade again, who says that she watched his battle and said that his battling skills needed work and offers him some assistance. Dwayne agrees, and over some tea at the Pokémon Center, they discuss what happened in the Gym. Jade notices that Dwayne is obviously upset over his loss, so she encourages him and says she'd help him become stronger. At the battlefield in the back of the Pokémon Center, Jade assists Dwayne in training his Pokémon, with Ralts, Pidgey, and Butterfree engaging in spar battles against Jade's Kangaskhan, and after a few hours, Jade deems Dwayne's Pokémon stronger and urges him to re-challenge Brock. The next day, Dwayne returns with confidence to the Pewter City Gym for a rematch. Brock is also confident after his easy victory in the last battle, and the two quickly start the rematch. Brock starts off with Geodude, while Dwayne sends out Pidgey, and Brock questions Dwayne's mind-boggling choice. Despite the type disadvantage, Pidgey's speed allows him to easily evade all of Geodude's attacks, and repeatedly lowers Geodude's attack power with Feather Dance. As Geodude's attacks become almost inoffensive due to its lowered Attack power, Pidgey begins continuously using Twister, inflicting tremendous damage to the Rock-type Pokémon. As Geodude struggles to remain in the battle, Pidgey finally knocks it out with Gust, giving Pidgey the win. As Dwayne praises Pidgey for his victory, the Bird Pokémon suddenly begins evolving into Pidgeotto, and Jade cheers them from the rafters, which catches Dwayne by surprise as he didn't expect to see her, and Jade reminds him that she had watched his match the day earlier, she simply made no noise at all.

Brock comments on Dwayne's cunning strategy, but says that he wouldn't be lucky again and summons his Onix, and Dwayne retorts by commanding Pidgeotto to attack with Sand-Attack, but Onix blocks the incoming sand with its tail. Onix then uses Screech, and Pidgeotto gets caught in the sonicwaves, lowering his Defense and stopping him in his tracks, which allows Onix to knock him out with Bind. Dwayne recalls Pidgeotto, and summons Ralts next. Onix wraps Ralts with Bind, but Ralts makes a comeback by using Teleport, and the sudden disappearance causes Onix's tail to smack against its bulk, which allows Ralts to unleash her newly-learned attacks: She first uses Confuse Ray to leave Onix confused. Brock urges Onix to snap out of it, and orders Iron Tail, but Onix smacks itself instead due to its confusion, and Ralts takes this opportunity to use Rain Dance, which causes a strong rain to spray down, and the falling water causes Onix to cower, as Onix's species are known to fiercely dislike water, and Ralts finishes off Onix with a super-effective Magical Leaf, giving Dwayne the victory.

Dwayne leaves the Pewter Gym and Brock gives him the Boulder Badge. Dwayne thanks Brock and says that he was glad to have finally earned his first Badge. Brock praises Dwayne's improvement and says that he would definitely become a great Pokémon Trainer and offers him a handshake, which Dwayne accepts, and Brock urges him to become stronger while also treating his Pokémon with love and respect, which Dwayne fiercely affirms. Jade then walks up, and begins saying that Dwayne should also be thanking her for helping him, and Dwayne indeed thanks her for her help, and Jade puffs her chest, saying that she deserved all the credit, to which both Dwayne and Brock laugh, amused by Jade's antics, although Brock notes that Jade's antics are playful banter rather than arrogance and believes that Dwayne and Jade are quite good friends.

At the Pokémon Center, Dwayne heals up Pidgeotto and Ralts, thanking them for their efforts. Jade then questions Dwayne on his next Gym of choice, and Dwayne says he would challenge the Cerulean Gym next, wanting to meet Misty, having not seen her in a while. Jade asks him how did he know Misty personally, and Dwayne says that Misty and his parents have been friends for a very long time. This prompts Jade to ask about his parents, and Dwayne reveals that his parents are Edge and Roberta. This makes Jade gasp in surprise, and she excitedly grabs Dwayne's arms, and begins frantically shaking them, asking him if he was seriously Edge's child, to which Dwayne, rather taken aback, confirms. Jade excitedly states that she was a massive of fan of his father's, and solely decided to become a Pokémon Trainer because of him, wanting to become a legendary Trainer like him one day. Dwayne thanks her for complimenting his father, and Jade says that she would definitely defeat him at the Pokémon League, stating that defeating "the son of her personal hero" would surely mark her first steps towards greatness. Dwayne states that her goal was unachievable as he would defeat her. Jade smiles and says they would find out at the Pokémon League, and excitedly says that she would make sure to meet him again eventually and bids him goodbye as Dwayne leaves for his next Gym battle.

As Dwayne is hiking towards Mt. Moon, he encounters a wild Cleffa. Dwayne thinks about catching the Fairy-type Pokémon, just as Cleffa gets attacked by a wild Sandslash. Cleffa keeps evading Sandslash's attacks by running around in circles, and Dwayne decides to help her by having Butterfree use Sleep Powder, putting Sandslash to sleep. However, they are then attacked by a Paras, who quickly uses Poison Powder on Cleffa, but Butterfree pushes Cleffa out of the way and takes the hit, getting poisoned in the process. Despite his poison, Butterfree manages to poison Paras with his own Poison Powder, which soon knocks it out.

As Butterfree struggles with his poison, Dwayne panics as he knows there are no Pokémon Centers nearby, but his worries are extinguished once Cleffa heals Butterfree with Aromatherapy, curing his poison, but Butterfree remains weakened, and Cleffa then uses Heal Pulse to restore Butterfree's strength. Dwayne thanks Cleffa, but it soon collapses, having exhausted itself from healing Butterfree. Suddenly, three Beedrill suddenly appear out of the bushes, and Dwayne grabs Cleffa and takes off with Butterfree in tow. They accidentally run off a cliff and fall into in a forested area. Luckily, they are saved from serious injury when they land on a large patch of thick, soft moss. A storm begins to form, frightening Cleffa, so they wait it out in a nearby cave. After finishing off some Pecha Berries he had in his bag, Cleffa sleeps as Dwayne and Butterfree watch over it, with Dwayne telling Butterfree that he was proud of him for defending Cleffa so fiercely, and Butterfree is visibly embarassed, blushing and hiding himself within his wings.

The next morning, Dwayne and Butterfree ask Cleffa if it was feeling better, and Cleffa happily responds by jumping up and down, and Dwayne is glad to see that Cleffa was feeling better. As they walk out of the cave, however, they are again attacked by the Beedrill from the day before, and Butterfree uses Stun Spore, but the Beedrill all dodge the attack. As the Beedrill make a beeline for Cleffa, Dwayne grabs Cleffa in his arms and jumps out of the way to protect it. However, the Beedrill quickly return with another attack, and as Dwayne turns around to make himself a shield for Cleffa, it call for his friends, Clefairy and Clefable, who appear and begin using Metronome. The Clefairy use Splash, causing the Beedrill to bounce up and down. The Clefable use Teeter Dance, causing all of the Beedrill dance as well. Cleffa then jumps out of Dwayne's arms and attacks Beedrill with Hidden Power, and the Beedrill are struck, and seeing Cleffa and its friends glaring at them, the Beedrill fly off in fear.

Afterwards, Cleffa, Clefairy, and Clefable march off to Mt. Moon. Dwayne mentions that since tonight will have a full moon, they are probably going to perform a moon dance, and follows them to watch the Pokémon perform their ritual dance around the Moon Stone, instantly putting a smile on Dwayne's face, and Butterfree joins in by swirling around the air. The following morning, Dwayne prepares to depart, but the Cleffa that he and Butterfree saved runs up to him, blocking his path, and Dwayne assumes that Cleffa wanted to join him, to which Cleffa affirms with a nod, and Dwayne throws a Poké Ball to catch Cleffa.

When Dwayne arrives in Cerulean City, he heads straight for the Cerulean Gym, where he meets Misty. Misty greets him and says that she was glad to see him again, but when Dwayne refers to her as "aunty", Misty smacks him on the head, and tells him to stop calling her that as it makes her feel old and proceeds to go on a dramatic rant about being over 30 years old and still unmarried. With a sassy tone in his voice, Dwayne says that she missed her chance with his father, causing Misty to go on a rage and chase Dwayne around the Gym, with Dwayne simply laughing at her reaction.

After calming down, Misty says that Dwayne hasn't changed at all, always provoking her with sarcastic remarks and jokes at her expense, and Dwayne admits this, saying that it was his "favorite passtime". However, Dwayne then becomes serious again and challenges her to a Gym battle. Grinning at this, Misty eagerly accepts and says that she was hoping he'd challenge her, and she'd been waiting for this moment for years. Misty presses a button on a remote, causing the rocky field to sink into the floor, after which it's filled with water, creating a water field, leaving only some rock formations standing above the surface. After some thought, Dwayne chooses to use Butterfree, wanting to rely on his agility and flying abilities, while Misty sends out her Gyarados, to which Dwayne gulps at. Misty lets out a rather sinister laugh, saying that she rarely used Gyarados in Gym battles since her challengers were mostly rookies, but since Dwayne was the one challenging her, she would finally get "revenge" on his years of mockery at her expense by crushing him in their battle and says their battle would be 1-on-1. Despite his initial fears, Dwayne regains his confidence and tells Butterfree to be careful, but not scared. Dwayne has Butterfree attack with Poison Powder, but Gyarados blocks the attack with Hydro Pump. Butterfree then charges in with Tackle, hitting Gyarados straight in the face. Dwayne tells Butterfree to follow up with Mega Drain, but while the attack is charging up, Misty has Gyarados use Rain Dance, causing a rainstorm to appear inside the Gym. As Butterfree launches his attack, Misty calls for a Hurricane from Gyarados, which dissipates the Grass-type attack before it can hit the Atrocious Pokémon and blows Butterfree back in the process.

As Dwayne asks Butterfree if he's okay, Misty has Gyarados attack with Hydro Pump, which sends Butterfree flying into the water below it. Gyarados follows up with Crunch, but Butterfree manages to fly away at the last second, allowing him to use his full maneuverability to avoid the attack. Dwayne tells Butterfree to use Stun Spore, which he manages to execute after climbing onto Gyarados's back, covering the Water-type Pokémon in spores and causing it to become paralyzed and causing it to fall underwater. Misty compliments Dwayne and Butterfree, before having Gyarados use Hurricane underwater, creating a cyclone of water around Butterfree. Butterfree tries to escape the vortex, but fails. Misty comments that no challenger has ever been able to break her combination of Rain Dance and Hurricane. Dwayne, however, merely comments that breaking through stuff like this is what makes battles fun for him. To everybody's confusion, Dwayne tells Butterfree to climb out of the Hurricane, bouncing off the vortex while still circling on its sides. While everybody expresses their surprise of this unpredictable move, Dwayne and Butterfree begin performing their move, and Butterfree successfully escapes from the vortex, shocking Misty. Dwayne then orders Butterfree to charge up all of his strength into his Mega Drain attack, which Butterfree does so, and drains away all of Gyarados's strength, which knocks it out and gives Butterfree the victory.

As Misty recalls Gyarados, she expresses both surprise and anger at Dwayne being able to best her in combat, but nonetheless states that she was proud to see his growth, and presents him with the Cascade Badge. Outside the Gym, Dwayne thanks Misty for the amazing battle, and says that she was truly strong, and Misty shows off her confidence, saying that it should be expected. Dwayne then follows up his praise by saying that it was too bad that she was still single, though, which causes Misty to enter a frenzy, and Dwayne speeds off while Misty roars out in anger, with Dwayne laughing all the way through.

After healing Butterfree at the Pokémon Center and making his way through Route 5. Once there, Dwayne passes by a building, and the sign outside reveals that the building was a Gym, although it indicates that the Gym is unlicensed by the Pokémon League and the "Gym Leader" has a record of 99 wins to zero losses. Suddenly, the "Gym Leader" Natalya walks up and challenges Dwayne to a battle. She says that she plans to start competing for Badges after her 100th consecutive win, and summons her Cubone to battle against Dwayne's Pokémon, and Dwayne summons Pidgeotto to battle Cubone, knowing that a Flying-type Pokémon should have the advantage. However, Cubone surprises him by using Smack Down, which connects and causes Pidgeotto to lose his Flying-type privileges, and Dwayne notes that now Pidgeotto could get affected by any Ground-type attacks. Dwayne tries to use Double Team, but Cubone quickly uses Earthquake, which eliminates all copies at once, and promptly defeats Dwayne with Take Down. Dwayne notices that Cubone suffered no recoil damage, and realizes that its Ability was Rock Head.

Dwayne then calls out Butterfree, and he orders a Stun Spore attack, but Natalya cracks her whip and Cubone Digs underground, avoiding it. It bursts out of the ground, eliminating Butterfree with Smack Down, as the attack causes double the damage due to Butterfree's typing, giving Natalya the victory, and Dwayne becomes surprised at the strength of Natalya's Cubone. Later, Dwayne overhears Natalya training her Pokémon, yelling angrily and cracking her whip. Dwayne intervenes to stop Natalya from hurting the Pokémon, but Natalya tells him to mind his own business. Her Cubone is wearing a strength intensifier brace invented by Natalya herself. It enables the Cubone to withstand the weakening effects of water. Natalya says she's tougher on Cubone than her other Pokémon because it was her very first.

Appalled at Natalya's training methods, Dwayne asserts that a great Pokémon Trainer should make friends with their Pokémon. After the training, Natalya's Pokémon are all exhausted, and Natalya insults Dwayne's Pokémon, referring to them as "weak-spirited" and "soft", and Dwayne angrily tackles her, causing them both to fall into the pool. Dwayne and Natalya continue fighting, with Natalya saying that Dwayne was unfit to be a Trainer if he couldn't compose himself, but Dwayne says that he only cared about the Pokémon, even those who he didn't owned, and Natalya could insult him all she wants, but he would never stand by and allow anyone to insult his Pokémon. Hearing this, Natalya stops fighting and apologizes, saying she only wanted to rile him up, and didn't realize he cared that much about his Pokémon, and explains that despite her methods being too extreme, her Pokémon were not only tough enough to handle it, but they actually enjoy it, as they share the same habits and traits, and says that she truly loves her Pokémon, too. Cubone hugs Natalya to prove her point, and Dwayne also apologizes for assuming that Natalya was mistreating her Pokémon. Both Trainers shake hands to settle their differences, and Natalya says that since her victory over Valeria was her 100th consecutive win, she would now start challenging for Badges, and tells Dwayne they would meet again at the Pokémon League, and tells him to become stronger so they can have another battle. Dwayne agrees and both parties head into separate directions, with Dwayne continuing towards Vermilion City.

Sometime later, Dwayne wanders around a forest, and encounters a group of boys in suits. One of them is running on a treadmill, while the rest are gathered around, quizzing him about various Pokémon. He misses a question and is rejected by the other boys, and Dwayne jumps in to defend him, but upon taking a closer look on their uniforms, Dwayne freezes in fear. The boys reveal that they are students of Pokémon Technical Institute, a boarding school which educates Pokémon Trainers, to which Dwayne remarks he knows about them, all the while stuttering. They leave, stating they don't want to fight. As the boy questions Dwayne on he knows about the school, Dwayne says he was a former student, but was the target of bullying and belittling by one of the students, and ultimately dropped out. Dwayne and the boy talk on how the school trains its students without sending them to collect Badges, and guarantees entry into the Pokémon League upon graduation. The school is expensive, and therefore populated with rich kids, and Dwayne remarks that he only got accepted because of his family's reputation.

The student who was being bullied, Wes, defends his so-called friends, who were trying to help him. He explains that he sometimes pretends to know less than he really does because the questions get so much harder. Dwayne is very upset at this brutal "tutoring" system, reminding of his awful time at the school, but because he's now older and more "experienced", demands to meet the student in charge, with plans to stop it. The head student of the beginner class is a girl; and upon looking at the picture, Dwayne's face becomes pale, and he stutters out the girl's name in fear: Lauren. Wes questions if Lauren was the same girl that bullied him, and Dwayne nods, and says that she made his life at the school horrible, and was genuinely surprised she didn't seek him out after leaving the school as he was "her favorite pet".

Wes leads Dwayne to Lauren's study area, all the while Dwayne remains uncomfortable. Wes says it's overall skill as a Trainer, not any one battle, that determines success at Pokémon Tech. He says that even though he is the weakest student in his class, he is still better than someone with two Badges, to which Dwayne takes offense and demands a battle against him, but Wes is doubtful of his ability to beat him. Dwayne calls his Ralts, though Wes calls on Nidorino, a Poison-type Pokémon, and has the type advantage over the Fairy-type Ralts. Nidorino attacks with Horn Attack, but Ralts uses Confusion, which stops Nidorino on his tracks, and Ralts sends him crashing onto the wall, knocking him out. Lauren walks in and chastises Wes for forgetting that Ralts was also a Psychic-type Pokémon, which was super-effective against a Poison-type like Nidorino, and calls him an embarrassment to the school. Hearing Lauren's voice causes Dwayne to take a step back, with memories of his awful time at the school flooding in, but quickly realizes that Lauren wasn't as "scary" as he remembered, and wonders why he was so scared of her. Lauren continues to upbraid Wes, and threatens to withdraw the help of the other students. Seeing this, Dwayne overcomes his fear of her and stands up against her, calling her an awful person. Lauren then says that it was good to see him again, but Dwayne rebuffs her comments, sarcastically remarking that he couldn't say the same, and with a pure tone of disgust in his voice, states she hadn't changed at all. Lauren seems offended by his comments and angrily asks him what he meant by that, and Dwayne says she knows very well what he meant.

Dwayne then challenges Lauren, saying crushing her in battle was something he'd been looking foward to in years, and that Lauren's beauty was only on the outside as she rotten and "ugly" on the inside, and Lauren becomes shocked at Dwayne accidentally calling her beautiful and after momentarily blushing, she regains her composure and accuses him of being jealousm, saying he wasn't "tough enough" to handle the school's strict teaching system. Dwayne brags that he has two Badges, and Lauren insults him. When Dwayne reveals that he has been on his quest for a month, she snidely remarks that most beginners have six Pokémon, and she attributes his two Badges to luck. She is also surprised that he chose Ralts as his starting Pokémon, as they are known to be rather weak and defenseless. Her mockery and laughter angers Ralts, mostly because of Lauren's mockery towards Dwayne instead of herself, and Dwayne demands a battle.

In response, Lauren summons Graveler. Dwayne calls for a Magical Leaf attack, but Graveler deflects it with Rollout, much to his dismay. Lauren orders Graveler to use Rock Polish to increase its Speed, but Ralts responds by teleporting around Graveler. Graveler tries to aim its Mega Punch at Ralts, but her quick teleporting makes him unable to land a hit. Finally, Ralts catches Graveler off-guard with a Confusion before knocking him out with a close-range Magical Leaf. Lauren is taken aback by the loss and returns her Pokémon. She is amazed that Ralts won despite her Graveler's experience and durability, as noted in textbooks.

Dwayne then angrily calls out Lauren, saying that she would never become a great Pokémon Trainer by relying solely on textbooks and simulations, and says that defeating her was something that he'd been looking foward to in years, and mocks her by saying that despite all her talent and intelligence, she couldn't defeat a "newbie". Lauren lowers her head and admits that Dwayne was a very skilled Trainer, and apologizes for her rudeness, but Dwayne refuses her apology, which takes Lauren by surprise, and Dwayne claims that all her years of abuse towards him couldn't be solved with a simple apology, and Dwayne promptly storms off, loudly exclaiming that he never understood why he was always terrified of her, since she was pathetic. Dwayne's harsh words cause Lauren to fight back tears, but as she herself notes, not due to the fact that Dwayne insulted her, but rather due to the fact that Dwayne leaving the school years earlier was entirely her fault and becomes apalled at the fact she had caused Dwayne so much fear and pain during his time at the school.

She runs up to him, frantically apologizing, stating that all her years of abuse towards him was her way to try and make him stronger. Dwayne angrily questions her logic, and Lauren explains that she was raised in the same manner that she treated him, which catches Dwayne off-guard. Lauren explains that her parents were extremely strict, and often diciplined her with "tough love", threats of grounding, and punishments, all in the hopes of making her "stronger" and mature quickly. Lauren came to genuine believe that she was helping him by using the same methods that her parents did, and because of the school's prestigious nature, and how difficult and tasking it's curriculum was, Lauren genuinely never noticed that her tactics were seem as bullying, and begs him for forgiveness, and says that even if he didn't accept it, she wouldn't stop working to prove that she wasn't the "monster" Dwayne thought she was.

Despite still not completely forgiving of her, Dwayne shows sympathy towards her, and tells Lauren that he couldn't imagine growing up with parents such as hers, and understands why she would think her tactics were normal, but admits that her decision to "target" him caused great fear and anxiety, and Lauren says she focused on him because she saw great potential in him, and believed that Dwayne would become the greatest student in the history of Pokémon Tech, but after he abruptly dropped out, she was both disappointed and worried, assuming that something happened to make him leave, but never figured out it was her. Dwayne says that she indeed was the reason, to which Lauren apologizes again, but Dwayne says that it was fine, as after seeing her again after all these years, his fear of her was already gone, and says that despite them having a long way to go, they could eventually become friends, but it would take a while for Dwayne to "heal" from his past. Lauren says that she would her hardest to make up to him, and Dwayne says he appreciated it. As Dwayne prepares to leave the school, Lauren hands him a homemade lunch she cooked herself, saying that she hoped to be of some assistance towards him, even in the slightest. Dwayne thanks her, and Lauren wishes him luck on his Gym battles, and vows to cheer him on at the Pokémon League. Dwayne thanks her, before leaving as Lauren and the other students wave him goodbye.

After leaving Pokémon Tech, Dwayne wanders through a forest without a compass, trying to find the path to Vermilion City. Dwayne decides to pause for a rest, and sees an Oddish taking a drink. Dwayne sends Ralts to fight the Oddish so he can catch it. The Oddish is defeated by Ralts's Confusion, but Dwayne's Poké Ball is deflected by a Budew's Pin Missile before he can claim it. The Budew attacks and defeats Ralts with a combination of Bullet Seed and Frustration. Dwayne sends his Butterfree after the Budew with a Tackle attack, but Budew dodges and hits Butterfree with Weather Ball, and due to the strong sunlight, the effect was a Fire-type move. Both the Oddish and Budew run off into the forest afterwards.

Dwayne attempts to cross a rope bridge, but a wind starts to rip the bridge apart and he falls into the river below. When Dwayne wakes up, he finds himself in a cabin within a small village, and is greeted by a girl named Melanie. Dwayne then notices the large number of Pokémon in the village and wonders if they belong to Melanie. Melanie explains that the Hidden Village is a place for abandoned or injured Pokémon to come to rest and relax. She cares for them until they are better, and then they leave. Melanie collects plants to use for medicine, though she says that she is unqualified to be a Pokémon doctor. Melanie explains that she sets traps, such as the rope bridge, to prevent Pokémon Trainers from reaching the village and protect the injured Pokémon from being captured, and apologizes for putting Dwayne in harm's way.

Dwayne promises Melanie that he will not try to catch any of the Pokémon in the village. Dwayne tends to a Staryu, and later apologizes to Oddish. Suddenly, the Budew from earlier tackles him, thinking Oddish is in danger. Melanie explains that Budew has volunteered to protect the whole village. Budew tries to nudge Dwayne out of the village because she doesn't trust Pokémon Trainers. Melanie explains that Budew was once abandoned by her previous Trainer after the Trainer deemed her as "weak", and Dwayne feels awful for Budew, understanding her mistrust towards humans.

Suddenly, Adrian and Adriana appear from the trees, and claim the Pokémon living in the village had great potential, and announce their intentions to capture them all and use them to get "revenge" on Dwayne. They quickly try to collect all the Pokémon in the village as Dwayne and Melanie herd everyone into the cabin, but Oddish gets almost caught by Adriana's Poké Ball, but Budew deflects the Poké Ball's direction with Bullet Seed, and Dwayne helps carry Oddish to the cabin. Adrian and Adriana move towards the cabin, so Dwayne instructs his Pidgeotto to use Gust, and this causes a tornado that tosses Adrian and Adriana into the distance, and the twins flee, screaming they would beat Dwayne one day whatever the cost.

Melanie asks Dwayne to take Budew with him, seeing the pair as a good match; she says the Pokémon have stayed in the village too long, because Budew has done too good a job of protecting them. Budew agrees to go with Dwayne, on condition that they battle first. Dwayne sends Ralts, who dodges Budew's Bullet Seed, but is struck by Pin Missile. Budew then uses Frustration to slam Ralts into the ground, but Dwayne calls for a Confusion, which allows Ralts to lift Budew into the air and smack her against the trees before slamming her onto the ground, allowing Dwayne to catch her. After giving Budew an Oran Berry to heal her injuries, Dwayne and Budew wave goodbye to Melanie as they leave the village together.

After two days of traveling, Dwayne has finally made it to Vermilion City. At the Pokémon Center, Dwayne witnesses Nurse Joy's Chansey and a Trainer run in. On a stretcher pushed by the Chansey is a badly beaten-up Rattata. Dwayne wonders what happened, and Nurse Joy sadly comments on all of the injured Pokémon that have been coming in. Dwayne gets taken to a room where there are many badly injured Pokémon. Nurse Joy explains that they have all lost to Lt. Surge, the Vermilion City Gym Leader. At this, Dwayne begins to worry over his upcoming Gym battle against Surge.

Shortly thereafter, Dwayne makes his way towards the Vermilion Gym, and declares his intention to win a Thunder Badge. Lt. Surge's two subordinates in the Gym mock him, and the man himself is even crueler, christening Dwayne "baby". Surge then calls on his Raichu, a Pokémon that has a personality very like its Trainer's. Listening to Surge's taunts, Ralts pops out of her Poké Ball and glares at Surge, and Surge laughs at Ralts's anger, saying that she was "cute". Lt. Surge accepts Dwayne's challenge and the battle promptly begins, with Ralts facing Raichu. Ralts attacks with Confusion, but Raichu's Thunder Shock is significantly stronger and overpowers Ralts's attack. Dwayne realizes that Ralts simply cannot stand up to Raichu's more powerful attacks and tells her to return, but Ralts refuses and charges again at Raichu. The resulting trade-off between Ralts and her adversary leaves Ralts severely damaged by a Mega Punch and Mega Kick from Raichu. Raichu then unleashes a powerful Thunderbolt that defeats Ralts easily.

Later, at the Pokémon Center, Ralts awakens, and Dwayne is relieved that she is all right. Ralts, however, is upset to have been beaten so badly by Raichu. Nurse Joy enters the room, and says that she's got a training room especially designed for training Pokémon, and offers Dwayne and Ralts to train there and become stronger for their rematch, and both Dwayne and Ralts accept, with the latter being fiercely determined to train. Approximately five hours later, Ralts is out of breath, having just finished her training, and Dwayne notes that Ralts's speed had increased, and suddenly, Dwayne comes up with a way to get an advantage over Raichu.

Later, Dwayne and the fully recovered Ralts head back towards the Vermilion Gym. After receiving more mockery from Surge and his subordinates, Dwayne demands a rematch, to which Surge accepts. Once again, it is to be Raichu against Ralts. The battle begins, and Dwayne tells Ralts to stick to their planned strategy. Lt. Surge uses the same strategy as last time, but Dwayne orders Ralts to dodge Raichu's heavy attacks, causing Raichu to give itself recoil damage from moves like Body Slam. Dwayne then orders Ralts to use Double Team, and Ralts creates several copies of herself. Repeated Body Slam attempts from Raichu all miss completely. Dwayne then recalls the strategy: because Lt. Surge evolved his Pikachu into a Raichu too fast, it never had a chance to learn the speed attacks it can only learn as a Pikachu. Lt. Surge, growing aggravated, orders Raichu to fill the entire Gym with a vicious Thunderbolt attack. Raichu rips up the arena floor and even blows out all the windows around the arena. At first, Lt. Surge is convinced he has won, but the smoke clears, revealing the unharmed Ralts standing on the rafters, having teleported herself there.

Lt. Surge orders another Thunderbolt, but Raichu is unable to muster up the electricity for it. Lt. Surge orders a Take Down, but Ralts quickly uses Charm to drastically lower Raichu's attack power, and repeatedly uses it as Raichu continues to attack. Finally, Raichu lands a hit with Take Down, but Ralts suffers little damage due to Raichu's lowered attack power. Finally, Dwayne orders Ralts to unleash her new powerful attack: Dazzling Gleam while Surge orders a Thunderbolt. The quicker Ralts manages to strike first, slamming into Raichu's stomach, knocking out her opponent and winning the match. Conceding defeat, Lt. Surge awards Dwayne with the Thunder Badge. As Dwayne and Ralts hug, Ralts suddenly begins evolving into Kirlia, and Dwayne notes that Ralts withheld her own evolution until after the match to prove her point that evolution wasn't necessary to win a battle.

After healing Kirlia at the Pokémon Center, Dwayne congratulates her on evolving, and Kirlia bows as a sign of gratitude, and Dwayne notes that Kirlia has become more graceous than before. After leaving the Pokémon Center, Dwayne walks across a bridge and spot a luxury liner in the distance. He takes a closer look at the ship and wants to get on board, but then remembers that he cannot afford it, so he begins walking away. However, two women dressed as ganguro girls, gives him a free ticket to participate in a Pokémon Trainer party that is going to be held aboard the S.S. Anne, as they heard about his victory over Lt. Surge and deemed him a plausible candidate for the party.

Dwayne boards the ship and heads into the main ballroom, noticing all the people, Pokémon, and merchandise. Dwayne notices a battle between a Starmie and Raticate. Raticate uses Super Fang to break Starmie's jewel, giving Raticate the win. Dwayne decides to step forward to challenge the Raticate's Trainer, sending out Cleffa. Raticate attacks with Bite, but Cleffa counters with Pound. Raticate then uses Hyper Fang, and Cleffa responds with Attract to smitten it. Dwayne prepares to finish the duel, but the Gentleman recalls his Raticate and declares it a draw, even though Dwayne was actually winning.

The ship sails out of Vermilion City as Dwayne and the other Trainers start eating. The Gentleman comes up to Dwayne and commends his Cleffa. He proposes a trade between his Raticate and Cleffa. However, Dwayne refuses, saying he didn't want to become separated from Cleffa. The Gentleman, while understanding of his reasons, offers a deal: They would battle each other, and if Dwayne wins, they wouldn't trade, but if the Gentleman wins, Dwayne would trade his Cleffa. Despite some reluctance, Dwayne accepts after the Gentleman says that a true Trainer never backs down from a battle. At the center of the ballroom with everyone spectating, the Gentleman sends out his Raticate while Dwayne chooses Cleffa. Raticate attacks first with Quick Attack, but Cleffa uses Pound to counter-attack, and both attacks cancel each other out. Raticate then uses Super Fang, but Cleffa successfully dodges and uses Attract again, but Raticate manages to bite away the incoming hearts launched from Cleffa's attack to cancel it.

Dwayne then commands Cleffa to keep using Attract, but Raticate manages to swiftly dodge the incoming attacks, before striking Cleffa with a vicious Hyper Fang, causing severe damage. As the Gentleman professes his inevitable victory, Dwayne says he wouldn't give up, exclaiming that Cleffa would stay with him, and Cleffa nods in agreement and suddenly evolves into Clefairy. The Gentleman becomes surprised, but nonetheless orders Raticate to use Quick Attack, to which Clefairy blocks with Mega Punch, sending Raticate flying back. As Raticate struggles, Clefairy charges up a devastating Moonblast, which successfully lands, knocking out Raticate and giving Dwayne the victory. The Gentleman recalls Raticate and praises Clefairy's power, and states that Clefairy must be deeply fond of him, since Cleffa can only evolve after the bond with its Trainer is proven to become powerful.

A few hours later, the S.S. Anne anchors in Porta Vista, a seaside resort island, and Dwayne wastes no time in switching into his swimming trunks and jumps into the ocean. Just then, Dwayne hears a voice calling out to him, and he sees Jade, sporting a swimsuit, to which catches his attention, as he keeps ogling her, although trying to hide it. Jade asks what was wrong, and Dwayne lies and says that he was surprised to see her there, and Jade explains that she was taking a small break from her travels to enjoy the beautiful island. She then invites him to visit a nearby city, Hutber Port, a tourist town, and Dwayne accepts.

After arriving in Hutber Port, Dwayne spots an injured Squirtle in the water. The Squirtle seems to be communicating a warning, but neither Dwayne nor Jade doesn't understand it. Suddenly, there is an explosion and a boat is destroyed. Jade immediately sends her Slowbro to rescue the sailors that have been flung into the ocean. Dwayne grabs a nearby boat and heads out to assist in the rescue effort. The sailors are paralyzed and mumble about what caused their ship to explode.

Later, Dwayne and Jade meet Nastina, who explains her plans of building an exclusive hotel on the ocean (literally, perched on a coral reef) for wealthy tourists. However, her building plans are upsetting the local Tentacool and Tentacruel, who've been attacking her construction site. She wants the Pokémon exterminated and offers a million bucks as a reward, but Dwayne and Jade angrily reject Nastina's offer, explaining that they would never exterminate any Pokémon. Afterwards, the duo make their way to Squirtle, now healed by a Super Potion, who is enjoying a swim in a small pool. Dwayne finally understands Squirtle's warning: Squirtle warned them of the Tentacool and Tentacruel. Nastina then makes a public announcement offering the prize money to anyone who exterminates the Tentacool and Tentacruel. Dwayne and Jade are nearly run over by the town's citizens, rushing to the beach to carry out Nastina's orders, and Nastina makes her way over to her loyal followers in a tank.

At the coastline, a large gang of Tentacool and Tentacruel are blocking the oceanview. Suddenly, a giant Tentacruel appears from behind them, who's clearly the leader of the gang, and the Water-type Pokémon promptly begin a citywide rampage. Tentacool overwhelm the land, while the giant Tentacruel causes a tidal wave that floods Porta Vista. Watching from afar, Dwayne wonders how could a Tentacruel be as tall as a building, and Jade theorises that the toxic waste around the island caused the Tentacruel to mutate and reach his current size. Dwayne tries to stop the Tentacruel with Kirlia, but the Emotion Pokémon is captured by the large Tentacruel, who uses its tentacles to tap into Kirlia's Psychic powers to communicate with the townspeople via telepathy. It explains that it is destroying the city in much the same way Nastina has been destroying its home, the coral reef. Squirtle pleads with the Tentacruel to stop, but is swatted away by its tentacle, though Pidgeotto manages to catch the small Pokémon and bring it back to Dwayne. Then, Dwayne and Jade send out their Pokémon to stop the Tentacruel, managing to return some of the Tentacool back to the ocean.

The Tentacruel doesn't understand why the Pokémon would fight on the side of the humans, but then Dwayne stops it in its tracks. He climbs to the roof of a building and pleads with it to stop its rampage. He tells the Tentacruel that the humans now understand that what they were doing was wrong, and promises that the hotel won't be built on the coral reef. Tentacruel replies that if their homes are attacked again they will not stop the destruction, then tosses Kiria towards Dwayne, who catches her. Tentacruel then slowly returns to the ocean, followed by the Tentacool. Nastina attempts once again to destroy the Tentacruel with a rocket launcher, but has her face frozen by Squirtle's Ice Beam before being whacked into the air by the Tentacruel's tentacle. The giant Tentacruel calmly slips into the blue sea, and Dwayne promises that the townspeople will not forget.

As Dwayne and Jade board a boat to the mainland, Squirtle suddenly jumps into the boat, and after Jade wonders why it was there, Squirtle knocks one of Dwayne's Poké Balls off of his belt, and Dwayne realizes that Squirtle wants to join him, which Squirtle confirms with a nod, before tapping into the Poké Ball's mechanism, and allowing himself to be captured. Jade says that Dwayne's capture was the most "odd" capture she'd ever seen, and Dwayne sarcastically says that it was because Pokémon willingly chose to follow him because he was such a good Trainer, and Jade simply grunts in return.

After arriving at the mainland, Dwayne and Jade bid farewell to each other before going their separate ways. Days later, Dwayne finally arrives in front of the Saffron Gym and challenges Sabrina, but faints soon afterwards. Later, a fully restored Dwayne eats and talks to Sabrina. She tells him that she had dreamed he was coming and Dwayne compliments her premonition skills, and reaffirms her challenge. Sabrina accepts Dwayne's challenge and fights using an Abra which was sleeping when the battle started. Sabrina tells Dwayne to go on with the battle since Abra can fight even while sleeping, and Dwayne chooses Butterfree. Dwayne commands Butterfree to use Poison Powder, but Abra Teleports away, dodging the attack. Butterfree tries using the same attack repeatedly, yet Abra kept teleporting and dodging each one. Eventually, Abra uses Psychic, knocking Butterfree out, and making Dwayne lose the match.

Later at the Pokémon Center, Dwayne expresses his amazement of Abra's power, and Sabrina warmly welcomes him to stay at the Gym for as long as he wants, since he could watch and learn how other Pokémon Trainers battle. Nurse Joy appears and announces to Sabrina that she has a phone call to attend. Sabrina excuses herself. Sabrina picks up the phone, and she is told that something is back. A week later, Sabrina lies unconscious in a hospital bed. The phone call she had received was about the Black Haze, a high-level Haunter who has been preying on people and Pokémon's souls for years. A group of Trainers explained what had happened: Sabrina had fallen prey to a Haunter’s Dream Eater attack and her soul had been sucked out. While most people had given up the fight, the group of Trainers vowed to get rid of the wretched Pokémon. Sabrina made the same vow since she wishes to exact revenge for her Pokémon who got wiped out by that Haunter years earlier. But when she was helping her friends last time, she herself had her soul sucked out by the Haunter’s Dream Eater attack and ended up in a coma.

As they were talking, Abra suddenly moves and writes "Lavender Town" on a clipboard telepathically. The group then realized that it is Sabrina. Even if she had her soul sucked out, she can still tell them where she is through telepathy. Dwayne then assumes that she may still be alive. Dwayne quickly develops a giant Poké Ball and stations himself outside the Pokémon Tower in Lavender Town. The giant Poké Ball or Enormo Poké Ball XI has a capture net that is a hundred times more powerful than an ordinary Poké Ball, so normal Pokémon have no chance against it. Dwayne then gets a report of the Haunter sleeping in the Tower, and the leader quickly orders to move out. The first group of Trainers enter the tower and lures out the Gastly, followers of the Haunter. After that, Dwayne enters and wakes the sleeping Haunter by throwing rocks at it. After throwing another rock, the Haunter charged at the Trainers. Dwayne quickly get his Pokémon to attack, having Kirlia attack with Confusion, and Clefairy assisting her with Helping Hand, although the Haunter was too strong and presses everyone to the wall using a strong Psychic attack.

However, Abra stops Haunter's attack, countering it. Dwayne sees Sabrina is commanding Abra through telepathy. Haunter uses Psychic again, though Kirlia uses Teleport to dodge, before grabbing a rather large piece of rubble and uses Fling to launch it towards Haunter, and Clefairy assists with Dazzling Gleam. Haunter recovers and goes to use Dream Eater. Haunter goes to devour Abra, but Kirlia rescues it by teleporting it away from harm's way. Haunter follows them to the exit, then gets absorbed into the giant Poké Ball. Abra, Kirlia, and Clefiary are pleased, but Haunter emerges from the Poké Ball, as it used Explosion inside it. However, they are certain Haunter's health is near zero, and now it can be caught with just an ordinary Poké Ball, but are not sure where it went. Dwayne follows Haunter into the ruins, so Haunter throws some rocks. Abra, Kirlia, and Clefairy dodge, then Clefairy retaliates with Moonblast.

Dwayne sees his chance and throws an Ultra Ball. Unfortunately, before it could reach the Pokémon, Haunter uses Self-Destruct, killing itself and causing the underground cavern to collapse. The moment Haunter dies, Sabrina wakes up and Kirlia teleports everyone to safety, who were about to be crushed by falling debris. They teleported back up to the surface and see the partly destroyed statue of a Haunter. Sabrina explains that people used to worship Pokémon like gods in the past, and that maybe the Haunter was used to being worshipped, it would rather kill itself than get caught, fitting for a god. Sabrina started sobbing, saying that it can no longer hate the Pokémon, despite doing so for years. She threw herself to Dwayne and starts to bawl her eyes out, while Dwayne silently mourns the events that transpired.

Back at the Pokémon Center, Sabrina gives Dwayne the Marsh Badge, but Dwayne refuses, saying he didn't beat Sabrina in a battle, but Sabrina insists, saying that saving her life, and avenging the countless lives that Haunter took was more than enough worth to earn him the Badge. Despite the compliments, Dwayne still feels unworthy to receive the Badge, but after some further encouragement from Sabrina, Dwayne finally accepts it, although he still feels slightly disappointed with himself for not having defeated Sabrina. However, Sabrina gently pats Dwayne's head, saying that his kindness and bravery were something that most people struggled their whole lives to develop, and he shouldn't ever feel disappointed with himself.

While traveling through Route 7, Dwayne makes a stop for lunch, and sets a picnic with his Pokémon. At that moment, Dwayne notices a Machop peeking from behind a rock nearby. Just then, Machop hops over Dwayne, wanting the rice ball he had. Machop takes it and climbs atop a rock to eat it. Dwayne decides to catch it by merely throwing a Poké Ball at it, but Machop throws the rice ball, which the Poké Ball catches, and Dwayne becomes visibly infuriated. Machop then charges towards him, but Budew suddenly jumps in front of Dwayne and takes the hit for him. As Dwayne calls out to Budew to check her well-being, Machop jumps on Dwayne's face, and begins beating him up. Budew sees this, and quickly uses Bullet Seed, but Machop grabs Dwayne and uses him as a human shield, and Budew cancels the attack as Dwayne gets hit with the attack instead. Machop then leaves Dwayne beaten and without his hat as it climbs atop a tree, now wearing the hat.

Dwayne gets up and notices his hat is missing. Dwayne confronts Machop as the Pokémon mocks Dwayne, flaunting his hat while flipping him off. Dwayne climbs the tree to reclaim the hat. Dwayne manages to climb high enough, though Machop attacks him with Mega Punch and jumps off, sending Dwayne hurdling back down. As Machop focuses on Dwayne, Budew attacks Machop from behind with Razor Leaf, which leaves Machop irate. As Machop stomps his foot in anger, it suddenly evolves into Machoke, catching everyone off-guard.

Dwayne notices his hat on the ground and Budew runs for it. However, Machoke jumps between Budew and Dwayne's hat. Budew bravely stares Machoke in the eye, and Machoke reclaims the hat, all the while mocking Budew. Budew attacks with Bullet Seed, but it only makes Machoke angrier. Dwayne theorizes that Machoke may just be afraid and lonely, and decides to approach it with kindness, but it pounds on himand sends him flying. Machoke then runs after Dwayne and Budew.

Dwayne and Budew keep running as Machoke destroys everything in its path. Machoke then fires off a Focus Blast, but Budew deflects it with Pin Missile. Dwayne then decides to get serious and catch Machoke. He tells Budew to fire Razor Leaf, but it only makes Machoke angrier. Budew tries to use Razor Leaf again, but Machoke's punches destroy the leaves. Budew then tries to use Bullet Seed, but Machoke dodges before pounding Budew with several punches. Machoke is relentless, though Budew suddenly puts on a brave face, and pushes Machoke off of her. Budew takes more punches before suddenly evolving into Roselia, and Machoke stumbles back surprised by the sudden evolution. After evolving, Roselia fires off her newly-learned Leech Seed, which grows vines that latch onto Machoke and drain it of its energy, and Roselia takes this opportunity to retrieve Dwayne's hat, which she successfully does. Machoke then slowly marches towards Dwayne while still getting its energy drained, and Roselia continues the attack with a devastating Petal Dance. Machoke slumps as Dwayne tosses the Poké Ball. Machoke goes inside as the Ball rattles. It stops, the catch an apparent success. However, the Ball starts to rattle again, but it stops a second time, this time inert as Dwayne claims the Ball holding his newly captured Machoke. The Poké Ball then gets immediately teleported away, as Dwayne suddenly remembers that he already had six Pokémon with him, and any more additional Pokémon would be immediately transported to Professor Oak's Laboratory.

Roselia points over the cliff as Dwayne sees Celadon City, and notes that Machoke's chase sped up the trip. Dwayne puts his hat on, as he is excited to get his next Badge, and recalls Roselia before speeding towards Celadon City. Arriving at the Celadon Gym, Dwayne is greeted by Erika, the Gym Leader, who welcomes him to Celadon City. Dwayne asks how did Erika know he was going there, and Erika says that Sabrina informed her that he was heading towards her Gym next, and says she was looking foward to battling him. Inside the Gym, Erika explains that both Trainers can use three Pokémon each, and Dwayne sends out Butterfree while Erika sends out Tangela. Butterfree attacks with Gust, but Tangela dodges and uses Constrict to pull Butterfree closer before following up with Stun Spore. However, Butterfree quickly uses Safeguard, preventing himself from getting paralyzed. Butterfree then uses Poison Powder while Tangela charges up an Energy Ball, and the point-blank distance between both Pokémon causes an explosion that knocks out both Butterfree and Tangela.

Dwayne recalls Butterfree while Erika recalls Tangela, and Dwayne chooses to bring out Pidgeotto next while Erika sends out Weepinbell, who opens with a Razor Leaf attack. Pidgeotto uses Wing Attack to block the attack and send it back towards Weepinbell, who manages to narrowly dodge. However, Pidgeotto uses Quick Attack to chip away at Weepinbell, before knocking it out with Gust. Erika praises Dwayne's Pokémon, saying they were well raised before sending out her Gloom. It releases its stench and upon smelling it, Pidgeotto flinches due to its bad smell, and gets struck by a direct Acid attack, but Pidgeotto shakes it off. Dwayne commands an Agility, drastically increasing Pidgeotto's speed. However, Gloom uses Sunny Day, and the harsh sunlight blinds Pidgeotto, allowing Gloom to knock it out with Solar Beam. Dwayne then decides to choose Kirlia as his last remaining Pokémon.

Dwayne starts off by commanding a Psybeam, but Gloom dodges and fires off another Solar Beam, but Kirlia manages to dodge the attack. Dwayne then orders Kirlia to use Dazzling Gleam, and scores a direct hit. Gloom retaliates with Acid, but Kirlia dodges and uses Psybeam again, but Gloom counters with Solar Beam, and a clash occurs, and both attacks cancel each other out. As both Pokémon stare each other down, Erika breaks the silence by ordering a Bullet Seed, but Kirlia quickly uses Reflect to decrease the attack's power and block it altogether. As Gloom is tired out from overusing the attack, Kirlia takes this opportunity to finish it off with a Psybeam, which knocks out Gloom and earns Dwayne the victory. Erika recalls Gloom and thanks it for the effort, and presents Dwayne with the Rainbow Badge. Outside the Gym, Erika suggests that Dwayne travel to Fuchsia City next for his next Gym battle. Dwayne and Erika shake hands, with the latter wishing him luck, and says that she would root for him at the Pokémon League, and Dwayne thanks her, before he continues on his travels.

A Hitmonchan runs along a road and suddenly stops by a tree to punch the air, while a girl watches the Fighting-type from behind. Meanwhile, Dwayne is amazed at the vigor of the seemingly wild Hitmonchan. After checking his Pokédex, Dwayne resolves to catch it. Dwayne decides to choose Squirtle, who uses Water Gun, but Hitmonchan blocks the attack with its fists. A man runs over, and reminds Hitmonchan to not let his guard down. He commands Hitmonchan to knock Squirtle out, which it does with a Thunder Punch, with the man declaring Hitmonchan the victor. Suddenly, the girl behind the tree runs out, calling the man her father, begging him to come home and to give up being a Trainer. The man tells his daughter, Rebecca, that he won't quit until he becomes the P1 Grand Prix champion. He then informs his daughter that he will be at his unofficial Gym and leaves. Dwayne sees Rebecca is upset asks if there was anything he could do to help. She asks if Dwayne can defeat her father's Hitmonchan for her, and Dwayne accepts, wanting a rematch against Hitmonchan anyway. At the Fighting Spirit Gym, Rebecca informs Dwayne that her father's constant training for the championship has caused him to forget about his family. Dwayne decides to enter the tournament with Machoke into the championship to defeat Hitmonchan, and subsequently transfers Machoke into his party at the Pokémon Center.

At the P1 Grand Prix, after the competitors are presented to the crowd, the first battle commences between a Machop and Dwayne's Machoke. Machop repeatedly chops Machoke, sending the Pokémon flying. Without waiting for a command from Dwayne, Machoke attempts to leap at Machop and deliver a kick, but Machop catches him and uses Seismic Toss to send the Pokémon out of the ring. Dwayne dives to save it, but misses. He asks his Pokémon if it is okay, but Machoke gives Dwayne a tearful look. However, after some motivation from Dwayne, Machoke shakes it off and jumps back into the ring. Now fully obeying Dwayne's commands, Machoke is able to take control and defeat the Machop with Mega Punch and Brick Break.

As the tournament continues, Hitmonchan and Machoke battle their way up the ladder. Ultimately, Machoke and Hitmonchan meet up in the finals. The final battle between Machoke and Hitmonchan begins with Machoke blocking multiple rapid punches from Hitmonchan. Dwayne reminds Machoke to attack, and it manages to sneak through a few hits. Hitmonchan jumps down, but Machoke leaps and grabs him. It uses its Seismic Toss and wins the match, becoming the new P1 Grand Prix Champion. Machoke proudly boasts its new championship belt. Dwayne congratulates Machoke, telling the Pokémon how proud he is. Anthony concludes that Machoke has a lot of natural talent, and offers to train it for Dwayne, but Dwayne seems hesitant.

Outside the arena, Anthony again offers to train Machoke, making him even stronger than before, and Dwayne decides to ask Machoke what he wanted to do, and after some thought, Machoke flexes his muscles, and Dwayne takes this as Machoke wanting to train under Anthony. Dwayne says that he was hoping to battle alongside Machoke at the Pokémon League, and Anthony assures Dwayne that he would return Machoke back to him by the time the Pokémon League kicked off, and said to expect Machoke to become more powerful, and urges him to train his other Pokémon well, otherwise Machoke would outclass them all. Dwayne thanks Anthony and bids goodbye to Machoke, promising to meet him again at the Pokémon League, and urges him to train hard, and Machoke nods in response. Rebecca affirms that she will also make sure her father spends plenty of time with his family. A teary-eyed Machoke waves goodbye to Dwayne as he sets out to continue his journey.

Upon arriving at the polluted industrial town of Gringey City, Dwayne heads to the Pokémon Center as he is watched by a shadowy Pokémon. At the Pokémon Center, Dwayne finds an uncharacteristically apathetic Nurse Joy, who dismisses Dwayne's requests for a check-up, saying that she only worked when Pokémon were actually injured. When Dwayne insults her for not being very helpful, she explains that Pokémon Center rarely had any emergencies, but after Dwayne insists, she allows him to leave his Pokémon there for the night.

At the same time, a large group of Grimer block the water flow into the hydroelectric power plant, causing the power to go out, as well as the Pokémon Center's intensive care unit. Dwayne decides to head for the power plant to try to do something. As Dwayne receives directions from Officer Jenny, he enters the power plant and notices that nobody is there to greet him. Dwayne locates a map and sees the direction to the central control room. Dwayne gets spooked as something flies behind him. He turns around, but nobody is there. The shadowy figure, with a glowing blue eye, appears behind him again. Fearing the worst, Dwayne looks it up on the Pokédex and the mysterious creature is revealed to be a Magnemite. Dwayne decides to try to catch it, but Magnemite only seems interested to scare him, and begins to follow him. Dwayne yells at the Magnemite to cut it out, and the Magnemite backs off.

A nasty stench then enters the corridor. Dwayne turns around to see a grating fall off the ceiling, followed by several Grimer. Dwayne decides that it would be best not to say anything to insult their pride and pretends to compliment their unique smell. The leader of the Grimer, a Muk, rises from behind them. With a command from Muk, the Grimer attack, forcing Dwayne to make a run for it. As he rounds the corner, Dwayne bumps into two plant workers. The Grimer approach, and they all start running for the control room. After everyone makes it inside, Dwayne bolsters the door shut. One of the workers explains that the Grimer are clogging the sea intake valve, preventing the power from coming back on. The Grimer throw themselves at the door and soon bust it open. Magnemite uses his Thunderbolt attack to knock out some of the Grimer, but it isn't enough. Suddenly, the Magnemite knocks out the control room's ceiling grate, and several more Magnemite and Magneton arrive. Their combined electric attacks prove effective and they manage to scare off the Grimer blocking the flow of water into the power plant, restoring power to the plant.

However, the Muk leader remains. Magnemite uses Thunderbolt, but Muk resists. Muk then uses Sludge Bomb, but the move is pointless due to Magnemite's Steel-type immunity. Magnemite then knocks out Muk with a Sonic Boom, and Dwayne takes the opportunity to catch it in a Poké Ball. Everyone but Dwayne recoils and plugs their nose, as a horrid odor still seems to be present. Outside, Dwayne realises the smell of Muk is coming through the Poké Ball. Thankfully, Muk's Poké Ball gets transported away, much to Dwayne's relief. At Professor Oak's Laboratory, a Poké Ball arrives from Ash. As Oak wonders what Dwayne has caught this time, the Poké Ball opens up. The Professor covers his nose in disgust as Muk appears and smothers him in a hug, and Oak yells out, asking Dwayne why he'd sent him a stinky Muk.

After leaving Gringey City, Dwayne finds himself lost in a forest en route to the Fuchsia Gym and decides to take a break by a waterfall. Dwayne brushes Kirlia and comments that she looks great, and Kirlia blushes in return. After packing his bags and heading off for the Gym, a Venonat watches him from the trees. Dwayne ends up at an odd-looking mansion where he stops to ask directions, though it appears to be deserted. Dwayne leans against a wall and falls through it, revealed to be a secret door. Suddenly, the same Venonat that was spying on him before appears. It hops away, so Dwayne decides to follow it. However, Dwayne runs into a small series of mishaps, such as being electrocuted by a Voltorb, colliding into an invisible wall, nearly falling off a ledge because of a wall trap and being pinned to another wall by several throwing stars. Then, a girl, who identifies herself as a ninja warrior Aya, jumps from the ceiling. Though Dwayne criticize Aya's dangerous traps, she will not let him go until she and Dwayne have a battle; he accepts the one-on-one match.

Aya sends out Venonat and Dwayne chooses Pidgeotto. Pidgeotto uses Wing Attack, but Venonat jumps on its head and launches a Stun Spore attack, but Pidgeotto shakes Venonat off before it can fire the attack. Pidgeotto then replies with Gust, though Venonat evades it and scores a direct hit with its Psybeam. Pidgeotto then finishes it off with Quick Attack. Aya recalls Venonat, just as a Voltorb appears and uses Self-Destruct, filling the room with smoke. Koga appears, explains that they are at the Fuchsia Gym, reveals that he is the Gym Leader, introduces Aya as his student, and announces that he will battle Dwayne and not let him go until he does, and Dwayne sarcastically remarks that his statement sounded awfully familiar.

Dwayne sends in Pidgeotto again, and Koga responds by sending out his own Venonat, which promptly evolves into Venomoth. Koga orders Venomoth to use Stun Spore, and Dwayne orders Pidgeotto to use Whirlwind. This time, however, the Stun Spore paralyzes Pidgeotto. Venomoth then follows up with Sleep Powder, prompting Dwayne to recall Pidgeotto and send out Squirtle. Venomoth uses Stun Spore again, but Squirtle blocks it with Rapid Spin, before knocking out Venomoth with Ice Beam.

Dwayne and Koga resume their battle outside in the courtyard. Koga's Golbat makes the first move, swooping on Squirtle with a Wing Attack. Squirtle keeps Golbat away with his Water Gun attack, though Koga responds with Screech. Despite the high frequency, Squirtle launches a series of Ice Beam attacks, freezing one of Golbat's wings in the process. Squirtle then wins the battle with an intense Headbutt attack directly onto Golbat's face. Koga promptly gives Dwayne a Soul Badge in recognition of Squirtle's battle skill. Outside the Gym, Koga thanks Dwayne for the great battle, and states that it's been quite a few years since he had been defeated, and says that Dwayne had a bright future ahead of him. Dwayne thanks Koga and walks off, heading to the Pokémon Center to heal his Pidgeotto and Squirtle.

Once at the Pokémon Center, Dwayne decides to call Professor Oak. During the call, Oak asks him about the Pokémon he was currently carrying. After informing Dwayne on his current party, Oak says that his current team was rather unbalanced. When Dwayne asks him to elaborate, Oak explains that too many Pokémon of the same type, and a lack of diversity could become a problem later on. After Dwayne asks for advice, Oak informs him to head to the Safari Zone to catch more Pokémon, specifically Pokémon with different types. After arriving at the Safari Zone's gates, Dwayne prepares to head in and expresses his excitement at catching the Pokémon living there, but a man approaches from a nearby building and abruptly demands that he keeps quiet. When Dwayne asks what the man's problem is, the man pulls out a firearm and asks whether he wants to get shot. Dwayne hastily apologizes and the man relents, then introduces himself as Kaiser, the Safari Zone warden.

Inside the warden's office, Kaiser shows Dwayne a basket of Safari Balls and a fishing rod. Dwayne is delighted and reaches out eagerly for them, but Kaiser pulls his gun out and explains the rules of the Safari Zone: all that is permitted to be used are the Safari Balls and the fishing rod. If Dwayne break the rules, his gun, nicknamed Thunderbolt, will burn him. He then points the gun at Dwayne's head to demonstrate his point. Dwayne then notices a picture of Kaiser as a young man, in which he is holding a Dratini. As Dwayne views the picture, Kaiser leaps forward and snatches the picture from Dwayne's hand, screaming that there is no Dratini. Dwayne argues otherwise, but he is silenced by seeing Kaiser reach for his gun. Kaiser leaves Dwayne and walks outside, taking the picture with him. He stares at the picture and apologizes to Dratini, saying that he will never bother it again.

Meanwhile, Dwayne calls Professor Oak for further details, and Oak explains that he knows Kaiser well. Many decades ago, a Dratini was found in the Safari Zone by Kaiser himself. Trainers from all over flocked to the Safari Zone to catch Dratini, but while they were there, they caught many other Pokémon in the process, literally destroying the Safari Zone. Since then, only the use of Safari Balls has been allowed in the Safari Zone. The Dratini was never found, and all that remains is a picture. Later, Dwayne is about to enter the Safari Zone, Safari Balls and fishing rods in hand.

The first Pokémon that Dwayne sees is a Geodude, which Dwayne promptly and easily catches it with a Safari Ball. Dwayne then hides behind bushes while observing a Growlithe. Dwayne throws a Safari Ball at it, but Growlithe notices it and burns the Safari Ball with a Flamethrower. Growlithe then growls at Dwayne and attacks him with Bite, but Dwayne quickly pulls another Safari Ball and uses it to block Growlithe's attack. As Growlithe's fangs accidentally touch the Safari Ball's mechanism, Growlithe gets inserted inside the Safari Ball and promptly caught. Later, Dwayne sees a male Nidoran eating a fruit, and while preparing to toss a Safari Ball, trips and alerts the Nidoran, who promptly attacks with Poison Sting, but Dwayne evades. However, Nidoran quickly follows up with Fury Attack and Horn Attack, but Dwayne successfully dodges on both occasions before finally catching Nidoran with the Safari Ball. Meanwhile, Adrian and Adriana observe Dwayne from afar, commenting on how they will end up getting more Pokémon than Dwayne.

Shortly thereafter, Dwayne decides to fish at the lake with one of the lures. Soon after, he gets a bite from a Gyarados, but the line breaks, allowing the Gyarados to return to the water. Kaiser appears before him, asks Dwayne to help, and reveals that Adrian and Adriana are going after Dratini, who is in the Dragon Valley. Adrian and Adriana are at a lake inhabited by Dratini. Suddenly, a Dratini emerges from the water and reveals itself to them. Just then, Dwayne and Kaiser intervene. Adriana asks whether Dwayne has caught any Pokémon, and he answers that he has and orders her to leave Dratini alone, as Dratini was off-bounds, but Adriana laughs at this, saying that Dratini was a wild Pokémon, so it was fair game, and sends in her Goldeen inside the lake to draw out Dratini.

Dwayne and Kaiser jump into the lake after it, with Squirtle assisting them underwater. Dwayne and Squirtle catch up to Kaiser, and Dwayne orders Squirtle to take Kaiser back to the surface. He reaches the bottom, and catches Goldeen's attention, and starts to swim back up with Goldeen in tow, but he runs out of air and falls to the lake-bed. Suddenly, a storm begins and a giant whirlpool churns the lake's waters. A bright blue light beams through the whirlpool, a Dragonair emerges with Dwayne on its back, and the skies clear up. Dwayne throws Goldeen back at Adrian and Adriana and Squirtle blasts them with Water Gun, scaring them away from the area. Dwayne returns to shore and Dragonair approaches Kaiser, who realizes that it is the same Dratini that he took care of all those years ago. A Dratini appears next to Dragonair, and Kaiser realizes that this Dratini is Dragonair's child. Both Kaiser and Dragonair are moved to tears by their reunion after so many years.

Back at the warden's office, Dwayne promises Oak that they will never share his experience in the Safari Zone with others. Oak says that Dwayne has grown up well and asks him if he has sent him any new Pokémon. Just then, Growlithe, Geodude, and Nidoran tackle Oak out of the way and enthusiastically greet Dwayne through the computer screen, and Dwayne laughs at this, while Oak grunts about Dwayne's Pokémon being often quite aggressive and rude, but Oak promises to keep his Pokémon safe and sound until Dwayne decides to call upon them should the situation call for them. After the call, Dwayne bids farewell to Kaiser, with Dratini and Dragonair watching over them.

Continuing on his journey, Dwayne comes to a fork in the road. Dwayne decides to take the trail to the right leading into a huge mountain. As he notices his snowy surrounds, Dwayne briefly thinks about turning around and go the other way, but ultimately decides to stay on course, no matter what the conditions. However things get worse, as the mountain they have stumbled upon is actually a part of a huge mountain range and Dwayne's compass goes haywire from electromagnetic interference. Dwayne calls out his Pidgeotto to find another route, and it soon returns with news of a good path up ahead.

The light snowfall has now turned into a full-on blizzard, so the group contemplate setting up camp. As Dwayne struggles to keep walking, he ultimately decides to set up camp, and decide to dig a cave, just as the snowstorm starts to intensify. The strong wind knocks Dwayne down as the storm starts to intensify even more. In spite of the awful conditions, Dwayne trudges through deep snow until he collapses from exhaustion. Then he hears something: Kirlia's voice. Dwayne sees that Kirlia forced herself out of her Poké Ball and wonders how she did it, but quickly drops the subject as Kirlia frantically tries to help him get back to his feet. Dwayne decides to dig a snow cave rather than brave the bitter cold. After his hands begin to suffer frostbite, Kirlia panics and fears for Dwayne's well-being, and ultimately channels her inner Psychic power and forces herself to learn Will-O-Wisp to burn a hole through the snow wall. It does a good job of building the cave and then, Dwayne sends out Roselia and Squirtle to help seal the cave off from the elements. It takes them a while, but they do it. Dwayne then tries to figure out how to heat up the cave. Kirlia uses Will-O-Wisp and creates a small firepit, although at the cost of her stamina after having forced herself to abruptly learn a new attack.

As the brutal snowstorm rages on, Kirlia's power starts to weaken from trying to keep everyone warm. Dwayne tells Kirlia to get back into her Poké Ball, but she refuses, but Dwayne calls her back anyway, much to Kirlia's shock. Dwayne then figures that the Pokémon should be warm inside their Poké Balls. So, he tells Roselia and Squirtle back into their Poké Balls, and like Kirlia, they refuse too. Dwayne calls them back anyway, despite Roselia and Squirtle trying to evade the beams. As the time passes, Dwayne is freezing cold, and wonders if his other Pokémon are warm enough inside their Poké Balls, so he takes off his jacket and wraps his Poké Balls inside. But now, the snowstorm has gotten so bad that a part of the snow wall has broken through. Dwayne runs over to the hole and sits in front of it, blocking the snow coming in. Then, the rest of Dwayne's Pokémon – Kirlia, Roselia, Squirtle, Pidgeotto, Clefairy, and Butterfree – all free themselves from their Poké Balls. Dwayne tells them all to return to their Poké Balls, but his Pokémon adamantly refuse and each one hold onto Dwayne – Squirtle hugs his left arm, Clefairy hugs his right arm, Roselia lays down on his lap, Pidgeotto and Butterfree both incase him with their wings, and Kirlia lays onto his chest in a hug – Dwayne is so taken aback by his Pokémon's commitment to him that he is reduced to tears. He then looks at them and conceded that they will be cold all together. The next morning, the harsh snowstorm has completely subsided. Kirlia demolishes the snow wall with Will-O-Wisp, and Dwayne looks upon the amazing view with his beloved Pokémon. Dwayne then decides to leave quickly, afraid of another sudden snowstorm, and quickly reaches the bottom of the mountain and feels very relieved to be away from the snow, and jokes that he would be traumatized of snow from now on.

Dwayne walks in an area called Grampa Canyon when he sees a large group of people walking with picks and shovels. Jade appears and explains that she and the group are here for the Fossil Rush, because of a great discovery. Dwayne decides to join in hopes of finding a Fossil and ressurecting it to have his very own Fossil Pokémon. Dwayne soon finds a large area of the canyon where many people, including Jade, are digging. While digging however, Dwayne accidentally cracks the surface and creates a hole towards an underground cave, and the whole quickly gets blocked by falling debris caused by the crack.

In the cave, Dwayne notices that he is surrounded by mysterious glowing eyes and falls silent. Dwayne checks his Pokédex for details, and the Pokémon are revealed to be Omanyte, Omastar, Kabuto, and Kabutops. Dwayne begins to speculate that the small earthquake caused by his digging must have awakened them from thousands of years of sleep. Regardless, Dwayne attempts to catch them by throwing Poké Balls at the Fossil Pokémon. A Kabutops blocks the balls, and they are rebounded at him. All of the Fossil Pokémon start approaching Dwayne to attack. A chase scene ensues, where the Fossil Pokémon are winning the chase. Then, all of a sudden, the Pokémon run away deeper into the cave. Originally confused, Dwayne soon realizes why, and an Aerodactyl swoops in, knocking over Dwayne. Aerodactyl then grabs onto Dwayne with its claws and begins to fly towards the surface.

Back above ground, Jade had finally dug a hole through the rubble. The Aerodactyl flies out of the hole in the ground, bumping onto Jade its way out, and perches on a cliff with Dwayne still in hand. Dwayne manages to grab a random Poké Ball of his and throws it, which summons Pidgeotto, which Dwayne realizes wouldn't help much, since Aerodactyl was part Rock-type. Seeing his Trainer held hostage, Pidgetto gets ready to fight, but the Aerodactyl just taunts him. Fueled with anger, Pidgeotto evolves into Pidgeot, giving him a better fighting chance. Pidgeot then takes flight and chases after Aerodactyl, who still has Dwayne in his claws. Pidgeot continues attacking, but Aerodactly dodges all of his attacks, until Pidgeot showcases having learned Aerial Ace, scoring a direct hit, although Aerodactly barely suffers any damage.

Dwayne decides to help, and struggles for a bit, before grabbing Clefairy's Poké Ball and summoning her. Jade sees this and realizes Dwayne's plan, and tells Clefairy to use Sing to make Aerodactyl fall asleep. Clefairy agrees and quite happily sings, sending everyone in the canyon to sleep. Aerodactyl, now asleep, falls into the rubble, dropping Dwayne before plummeting. Luckily, Pidgeot manages to stay awake by shaking his head violently and proceeds to catch the sleeping Dwayne before he hits the ground. However, he also falls asleep after landing. After awakening, Officer Jenny announces that the whole incident was a dream caused by Clefairy's song, although Dwayne knows it wasn't, and realizes that Jenny was merely doing damage control. In addition, Jenny announces that paleontological work will no longer be permitted, as any further digging may lead to more cave-ins and the eventual collapse of the entire canyon.

As Dwayne continue his journey towards the Cinnabar Gym, he comes across a Hiker who challenges him to a battle, which he gladly accepts. The Hiker sends out his Rhyhorn while Dwayne counters with Roselia. Rhyhorn executes a Take Down, the ground shaking as it charges right at Roselia. Dwayne commands Roselia to use Leech Seed, but Rhyhorn closes in and sends Roselia flying before the attack is launched. Dwayne tries to recall Roselia, but Roselia refuses. The Hiker says that Dwayne must be a bad Trainer if his own Pokémon does not listen when told to return it to its Poké Ball. Rhyhorn charges again, but Roselia's Bullet Seed stops its rampage and follows it up with a Petal Dance. Rhyhorn collapses, giving Dwayne the victory, and the Hiker commends Dwayne for training his Roselia well.

After arriving at the nearest Pokémon Center, Dwayne has Roselia checked by Nurse Joy, who suggests leaving Roselia during the night for a full recovery, to which Dwayne accepts. Later that night, as everyone is asleep at the Pokémon Center, a long line of Bulbasaur appear outside. Roselia gets up and walks outside, watching the view of the sparkling flowers and the full moon. Suddenly, a group of Bulbasaur use their vines and grabs Roselia, taking her towards the forest. Hearing the commotion, Dwayne checks Roselia's room, but finds it empty, and upon looking out the opened window, sees Roselia being taken away by the Bulbasaur, and gives chase.

As Dwayne continues to follow the Grass-type Pokémon, the roots of a group of trees start thrashing around and then tangle together to form a barrier. Getting through it, Dwayne gazes upon the garden, where he finds thousands of Bulbasaur. They chant and the central tree's branches grow, complete with foliage. The tree's hollow then glows intensely and a Venusaur emerges and climbs on a tree stump. Dwayne searches for Roselia, and ultimately manages to find her. All of the Bulbasaur are happy except for Roselia. The Venusaur roars and the Bulbasaur follow suit. This continues several times before all of the Bulbasaur's bulbs begin to glow. The Bulbasaur begin to evolve into Ivysaur. Just then, Dwayne notices that Roselia seems displeased, which enrages Venusaur and all of the Ivysaur. Venusaur is about to hit Roselia with its Vine Whip, but Dwayne rushes in front of her and takes the hit to his shoulders, much to Roselia's shock. Dwayne apologizes for coming to their festival, but states that Roselia is his friend. He asks if they are mad that Roselia does not agree with their ritual, and they all nod, and Venusaur presents a Shiny Stone, the only way that Roselia can evolve into Roserade. Dwayne says that if Roselia does not want to evolve, they cannot force her to. Venusaur roars, sending pollen to the tree, which bursts out in red flowers, the vibrant display easily impressing Dwayne.

Roselia then jumps foward and signals for Venusaur, and Dwayne realizes that Roselia was challenging it to a battle to prove her point that she didn't need to evolve to become stronger, and Venusaur accepts the challenge. Venusaur starts off with Razor Leaf, but Roselia manages to dodge the attack, and retaliates with Bullet Seed, but Venusaur easily takes the hit, and responds with Vine Whip, smacking Roselia onto a tree. As Roselia struggles to get back up, Venusaur attacks again with Vine Whip, continuously smacking her on the head, as Dwayne encourages Roselia to not give up, and Roselia suddenly shouts and the sun rises over the horizon, and Roselia's roses begin to glow. Dwayne consults with his Pokédex, which says that she was getting ready to use Solar Beam. Roselia then releases a beam of energy towards Venusaur, scoring a direct hit that pushes Venusaur back, making it stumble. As Roselia prepares to attack again, Venusaur roars, which makes Roselia stand down, and Dwayne realizes that Venusaur called off the battle, and upon seeing Venusaur smile, Dwayne concludes that Venusaur was impressed with Roselia's strength. Dwayne says Roselia did great, with Venusaur agreeing, before smiling and extending a vine. Roselia shakes Venusaur's vine as a sign of respect, and Venusaur kicks the Shiny Stone towards Dwayne, and motions to Dwayne to give it to Roselia once she felt ready to evolve, and both Dwayne and Roselia nod in response. The vine barrier pulls away, and as Dwayne and Roselia are about to leave, they notice that the garden has disappeared. They then wave goodbye to Venusaur and Ivysaur.

A few days later, Dwayne takes a boat ride towards Cinnabar Island. However, he meets Jade aboard. Jade explains that Cinnabar Island is a tourist resort, and that Trainers have not ventured to Cinnabar Island in years. He adds that the island no longer has a Gym, much to Dwayne's frustration. The ship docks and Dwayne leaves the ship. Once on the island, Dwayne decides to find the Cinnabar Gym, refusing to believe Jade's claims, and eventually does so with the help of a local who tells him by using a riddle. However, Dwayne learns that the Gym has been abandoned. The local tells them the story of how Cinnabar Island was once a hot-spot for Trainers, but tourism took off due to the rise of hot springs resorts situated near the local volcano. The Cinnabar Island Gym Leader, Blaine, closed down his Gym due to being forced to battle tourists who had no interest in obtaining Badges. The local leaves, but not before leaving Dwayne a business card for the Big Riddle Inn.

Dwayne then decides to explore the world-famous Pokémon Lab. There, he discovers that it too has been turned into a tourist trap. Finding nothing else to do, Dwayne decides to look for lodging, but finds that all of the rooms at the local Pokémon Center and the hot springs resorts have been booked. As a result, he camps out. Meanwhile, Jade has found herself a room, but her room entertainment is in the form of Hitmonlee and Electabuzz dressed up in costumes playing the shamisen, something she finds rather boring. When Dwayne remembers the business card, he finds that it also contains directions there, but in the form of a riddle, and correctly solves the riddle, and locates the Big Riddle Inn because of its clock tower. The local from earlier, who runs the inn, reveals that he has a vacancy and allows Dwayne to stay for free. Furthermore, as a reward for solving the riddle, the local reveals that Blaine had built a secret Gym, in a place where firefighters couldn't win.

Later that night, as Dwayne mulls over the riddle in the hot springs, he accidentally activates a secret switch that moves a boulder when he backs up against it, exposing a cave. After quickly getting his clothes back on, Dwayne explores the secret cave, and finds a metal door that is hot to the touch. Beyond the door, he finds Blaine's secret Gym, suspended over the Cinnabar Island volcano. The local suddenly appears, revealing himself to be Blaine, who accepts Dwayne's challenge. The Gym battle begins as a three-on-three battle. Confident that the Fire-type leader will use his Fire Pokémon, Dwayne decides to start off with Geodude, whom Dwayne had previously transferred to his team due to his knowledge of Blaine's Fire-types, while Blaine counters with a Ninetales. Despite the type advantage, Geodude's Rock Tomb is no match for Ninetales's Fire Spin. When Ninetales's Fire Spin continues to charge towards him, Dwayne tells Geodude to use Gyro Ball to deflect it, but the attack proves too powerful regardless, and Geodude gets knocked out in a single hit.

Dwayne theorises that the volcano's heat enhanced Fire Spin's power, which Blaine agrees with. Deciding to take a gamble, Dwayne decides to use Butterfree despite the type disadvantage. Blaine orders Ninetales to use Overheat, but Butterfree dodges and uses Stun Spore, which paralyzes Ninetales, allowing Butterfree to knock it out with a barrage of Gusts. For his next choice, Blaine chooses Rhydon, who quickly defeats Butterfree with a single Horn Drill. For his final choice, Dwayne decides to rely on Growlithe. Growlithe's Flamethrower does not faze Rhydon at all, but Dwayne decides to take advantage of using Rhydon's horn, and tells Growlithe to aim at the horn, and a well-aimed Flamethrower caused Rhydon's horn to overheat, causing Rhydon great pain, as Rhydon runs around, trying to aleviate the heat and pain, before Growlithe knocks it out with a Double Kick.

Wanting to "spice things up", Dwayne and Blaine agree to battle on the summit of the volcano, Blaine with Magmar, and Dwayne with Growlithe. As the battle begins, both sides trade Flamethrowers, and Magmar counters with a Fire Blast, which Growlithe to dodge. Magmar then proceeds to hit Growlithe with a Skull Bash, pushing him into a pillar. Growlithe begins to fall towards the lava, but he recovers and locks up with Magmar. Magmar then uses Growlithe's own momentum against him by flipping him over and pushing the two into the lava. However, once the two emerge from the lava, Growlithe is now the one with the upper hand, having used its Flash Fire Ability to enhance its attack, and creates a devastating Overheat attack to finish off Magmar, as the enhanced boost received from Flash Fire proves enough to damage it despite its resistance to Fire-type attacks. Having won the battle, Dwayne proceeds to congratulate Growlithe and earns the Volcano Badge and leaves soon after. At the Pokémon Center, Dwayne sends Growlithe and Geodude back to Professor Oak's Laboratory, but not before thanking them both for their efforts, and decides to challenge the Viridian Gym next, wanting to earn his final Badge at the strongest Gym in all of Kanto.

Dwayne runs to catch the last ferry off Cinnabar Island when he collides with a Wartortle. It tries to tell him something, but he does not understand. As such, Dwayne brings out his Squirtle, who begins to talk to Wartortle, in a serious and urgent manner. Suddenly, Squirtle gets a shocked look on its face, and follows Wartortle into the water and Dwayne tows along in a boat. Wartortle leads them to an unnamed island that resembles a Squirtle's shell. Once there, Dwayne finds Wartortle and Squirtle inside their shells on the island, who upon closer inspection, realizes that they are asleep. As they look farther up, there is a giant shell, which Dwayne's Pokédex reveals it is a Blastoise. Dwayne and Squirtle check out Blastoise, and suddenly they fall sleep. Wartortle tries to wake them up, but to no avail. Then, Wartortle drags them away from Blastoise and hits them with a gentle Rapid Spin, which manages to wake Dwayne and Squirtle up. Dwayne the comments that when he approached Blastoise, he heard mysterious music that was vaguely familiar that caused him to fall asleep.

Dwayne decides to call upon Kirlia, who upon hearing Wartortle's story, uses her telepathy to speak directly towards Dwayne to tell their story. Kirlia reveals that the group live under Blastoise, who is considered their king. A few days ago, Blastoise was swimming in the ocean when it washed ashore. After retrieving Blastoise, the Squirtle and Wartortle also withdrew into their shells. He leads off by saying that when a Wartortle returned to find everyone inside their shells, it headed to the mainland to get help, and bumped into Dwayne. Dwayne comments that people have been searching for the Wartortle's breeding grounds for years, and that the island may be it. He imagines that the discovery would be invaluable to learning about breeding. Suddenly, Blastoise's head and limbs pop out, lifting Dwayne into the air. He hops off, and then Blastoise's cannons pop out of its shell. Squirtle then notices something stuck in one of Blastoise's hydro cannons. It is revealed to be a Jigglypuff, who starts to sing, and everyone falls asleep.

Dwayne soon wakes up to discover that Blastoise has disappeared. He informs Squirtle and Wartortle, whilst the Turtle Pokémon are sent into distress. Squirtle's Water Gun helps to grab the attention of the other Squirtle and Wartortle before taking to a rock to calm them down. Dwayne suddenly notices the drag marks in the sand, and with that, the Squirtle and Wartortle dive one after the other into the ocean to search for Blastoise.

Elsewhere, Adrian and Adriana are celebrating their "capture" over Blastoise, and are revealed to have rented a ship to take them to the island, and comment how "stupid" Dwayne was to not have noticed they followed him all the way to the island and sarcastically thank him for giving them Blastoise. However, Adrian and Adriana soon begin to argue over who would actually capture Blastoise, leading to a brief scuffle that damages the ship, causing it to fill with water. The unusual noise coming out of Blastoise's shell puts the twins to sleep as the ship begins to sink. Fortunately, the Squirtle and Wartortle arrive on the scene and bring the sub to the island.

Dwayne fears for Jigglypuff, who is still inside the mecha, and Squirtle goes to rescue it. An underwater explosion occurs, and Dwayne fears the worst. A few moments pass before a Wartortle emerges and returns to the island with Jigglypuff on its back. Dwayne panics, and asks where his Squirtle was, and the Wartortle that just appeared raises his hand, and Dwayne realizes that his Squirtle had evolved underwater, to which Wartortle confirms, and Dwayne hugs Wartortle, congratulating him on his evolution. Later, Dwayne waves goodbye to the island and its Turtle Pokémon as he heads off from the island towards Viridian City.

After nearly a week, Dwayne arrives in Viridian City and immediately heads towards the Viridian Gym, where Dwayne challenges his godfather, Robyn Oak, for the Earth Badge. Robyn smiles, and says that he was looking foward to battling him, and says that as the strongest Gym Leader in Kanto, he wouldn't hold back, and explains that in his Gym, Trainers could use all of their available Pokémon against Robyn's three, and despite Dwayne's protests, Robyn says that he was more than capable of defeating his entire team, and Dwayne chuckles, saying that he was looking foward to see if he could back up his claims.

Robyn chooses Magneton as his first Pokémon, while Dwayne brings out Pidgeot as his first Pokémon. With that, the referee begins the battle, and Dwayne has Pidgeot use Air Slash kick off the battle. Robyn isn't bothered and has Magneton counter with Sonic Boom, which blows away the Air Slash and follows up with Thunderbolt, causing severe damage to Pidgeot. However, Pidgeot stands his ground and uses Gust, but Magneton counter-attacks with Magnet Bomb and strikes Pidgeot for massive damage. Magneton then uses Electro Ball and Pidgeot dodges with Quick Attack. Magneton then uses Sonic Boom, which Pidgeot attempts to defend against with Aerial Ace, but Magneton breaks through and knocks Pidgeot out.

Dwayne sends out Clefairy next to counter Magneton, starting off with Hyper Voice which does considerable damage. Magneton then proceeds to use Magnet Bomb, but a cleverly executed Hyper Voice towards the ground allows her to bounce up and dodge before striking a direct Moonblast for considerable damage. Clefairy then uses Dazzling Gleam, but Magneton dodges and follows up with Thunderbolt. The smoke clears and it appears that Clefairy has been paralyzed. Magneton then uses Magnet Bomb to ramp up Clefairy's damage. Dwayne considers withdrawing Clefairy, but she lands and stands her ground confidently. Dwayne is pleased and calls for Dazzing Gleam. Clefairy clashes with Electro Ball and is knocked back. Clefairy tries once more, but this clash renders her unable to battle. With that knockout, Dwayne is left with four Pokémon.

Dwayne brings out his third Pokémon, Butterfree. Dwayne feels confident about his choice and has Butterfree use Sleep Powder. The attack hits and has a direct effect on Magneton: putting him to sleep. Robyn tries to wake up Magneton, but to avail, and Butterfree uses a barrage of Gusts that knocks Magneton out at last. Robyn brings out his next Pokémon, Rhyperior. Buttefree fires a Sleep Powder, but Rhyperior's Megahorn dissipates the spores. Rhyperior then responds with Rock Polish, greatly increasing Rhyperior's speed. Dwayne commands a Stun Spore, but Rhyperior easily dodges with his increased speed, and knocks out Butterfree with a single Rock Wrecker.

Despite losing half his team, Dwayne remains confident that they can win, sending out Wartortle. Dwayne orders an Ice Beam, but Robyn has Rhyperior use Earthquake, and the earthquake ends up being disruptive enough for Wartortle to lose balance and miss Ice Beam. Wartortle uses Rapid Spin, but Rhyperior dodges again and attacks with Megahorn. Dwayne encourages Wartortle not to give up and calls for Water Pulse. Wartortle manages to stand up despite the damage he suffered, launching the powerful attack towards Rhyperior, knocking him out. Robyn surprises Dwayne when he tosses Wartortle a Sitrus Berry, restoring some of his energy, saying that it wouldn't be fun facing a weakened opponent. Robyn sends out his third Pokémon, Charizard.

Dwayne orders another Water Pulse, but Robyn orders Charizard to dodge, which it does, and Charizard uses Mega Punch on the floor to cause the ground to shake violently, causing Wartortle to lose his balance. Dwayne tells Wartortle to use Iron Defense to predict another physical attack, but Robyn surprises him by ordering a Hyper Beam, which Iron Defense is useless against, and Wartortle gets knocked out. Dwayne sends out Roselia as his fifth Pokémon. Dwayne orders a Solar Beam, but Charizard once again dodges before calling for Fire Punch, which Roselia counters with Petal Dance, cancelling it out. Dwayne orders another Petal Dance, but Charizard responds with Flamethrower, launching a blast of fire that meets Petal Dance head-on. Robyn follows up with Mega Punch as Charizard punches the Grass-type Pokémon towards the ceiling. As Roselia falls down, Dwayne commands her to use Bullet Seed, which scores a direct hit, although Charizard shakes it off and knocks Roselia out with Fire Punch.

Dwayne finishes up with Kirlia as his final Pokémon. Robyn begins by ordering Mega Punch, and Charizard charges towards Kirlia. Dwayne orders continuous dodges with Kirlia weaving in and out of Charizard's punches, and Kirlia ultimately grabs both of Charizard's arms, canceling out Mega Punch, before scoring a point-blank hit with Psybeam. Charizard tries to attack again, but Kirlia dodges and fires Dazzling Gleam to knock Charizard over. As Charizard gets up, Dwayne orders a Shadow Ball, but Robyn has Charizard swing its arms to throw Kirlia off, and orders a flurry of Flamethrowers. Kirlia is cornered by the exploding blasts, and Robyn calls for Charizard to grab Kirlia and pin her to the ceiling before releasing, letting Kirlia plummet into range of Mega Punches and unable to counter.

After continuous Mega Punches, Charizard notices that its arm is somehow getting numb. Robyn orders for another Mega Punch, but Charizard suddenly punches himself on the face, leaving everyone shocked, and suddenly, Robyn realizes that Charizard has become confused, but wonders how did that happen, and Dwayne theorises that Kirlia's Psybeam had a delayed effect on Charizard. Kirlia fires another Psybeam, which Charizard unwillingly takes. Robyn calls for Hyper Beam. Charizard attacks, but Dwayne orders Kirlia to use Teleport. Teleporting behind Charizard, Kirlia swoops Charizard's leg, causing him to fall flat on his back, and this makes the Hyper Beam be launched directly towards the sky, before raining down directly onto Charizard's face, which knocks it out, giving Dwayne the victory.

Dwayne rushes onto the field to help his injured Kirlia, while Robyn retrieves Charizard, and handing Dwayne a Sitrus Berry for Kirlia. Despite losing, Robyn says that he's extremely proud of his progress and says that he's been waiting for this moment since Dwayne embarked on his journey, and awards him with the Earth Badge as Dwayne lifts the Badge up and celebrates with Kirlia. Later that day, Dwayne retrieves his Pokémon from the Pokémon Center, and Robyn says that the Indigo League would take place in three months, and urges Dwayne to train up until then, and Dwayne says that he would look foward to compete and win the tournament. Robyn then shocks him by saying that he was glad to have had Dwayne as his final opponent, and Dwayne asks him to elaborate, and Robyn reveals that he was retiring as a Gym Leader and Pokémon Trainer entirely, and would study to become a Pokémon Researcher like his grandfather.

When Dwayne asks about the status of the Viridian Gym, Robyn says that Edge would take his position, as Edge was originally elected to become the Gym Leader, but had turned it down as he felt unworthy, but now, Edge was more than capable of taking the role, and Robyn reveals that Edge had actually already accepted the role, and would officially start his duties after the end of the Pokémon League. Dwayne expresses his surprise, and Robyn says that his father had always been the better Trainer between the two of them. Robyn then suggests Dwayne return to Pallet Town for the time being, saying that he could train there while waiting for the League to start, which Dwayne accepts, and he starts to make his way back towards Pallet Town.

With three weeks left until the Pokémon League competition, Dwayne has fallen behind in training. On the couch of his home, Dwayne watches Bruno of the Elite Four battling a Trainer with his Hitmonchan on television. As Bruno commands Thunder Punch, the TV turns off. Roberta chastises Dwayne for goofing off, and Dwayne tells his mother that he was studying the tape of Bruno, and adds that he was learning the "powers of Pokémon" despite not knowing what those powers were. Dwayne then comments that Bruno could train him to learn the power. However, Roberta laments that Bruno wouldn't waste his time with him. Dwayne confidently states that if he knew how to find him then Bruno would definitely teach him. Just then, Edge enters, telling Dwayne that Bruno may be at his secret training ground, on Mt. Hideaway.

Now on his way to the mountain, Dwayne, completely exhausted, decides to rest. He rests at a house where an old lady brings him food and drinks. Dwayne asks her if she knows of a Pokémon Trainer named Bruno training around the area. The old lady doesn't recognize the name but tells him that Pokémon have been stealing her meatball kebabs. As Dwayne eats, a bunch of windchimes start rattling. The lady angrily tells them that the thieves must be back again. Push broom in hand the lady runs out followed by Dwayne. They see three Rattata running off the old lady's food, but Dwayne manages to catch up to the Rattata and snatch off the kebabs, and the Rattata flee. The lady thanks Dwayne, and informs him that the mountain is known for overgrown Onix; the area's fertile soil makes them grow larger. The lady assures him that, despite their size, the Onix are very gentle.

Continuing up the mountain, Dwayne notes that he's been walking for hours but haven't seen any sign of Bruno or any giant Onix. Dwayne notices what he thinks is a road, but quickly realizes that, instead, were tracks made by a really big creature. Suddenly an intense rumbling is heard and Dwayne turns to see an enormous Onix heading his way. The Onix approaches as the Dwayne runs for his life. A man beckons him to jump behind a rock, which saves Dwayne from being crushed and the Onix rushes by. The man asks if Dwayne is okay, and Dwayne turns to thank him and is amazed to see Bruno. Dwyane then begins trailing Bruno up the mountain, when Bruno asks if there is a reason why he's following him. Dwayne gets on his knees, and asks him to help him train for the Pokémon League. Bruno agrees to help them as long as he is willing to do everything he tells him to do.

His first task is to carry buckets of water. Dwayne theorizes that the task is to make him physically strong, and also adds that it also helps inner balance and outer equilibrium before he trips, which soaks Bruno. His second task is splitting wood. Bruno tells Dwayne this is to give him a firm grip. Dwayne chops the wood successfully, though the rogue piece hits Bruno in the face and knocks him off the rock he was sitting on. Task three is to carry heavy rocks up hill, with Bruno tells Dwayne that this will teach him how to control his 'inner nature'. Finally Bruno asks Dwayne to peel the bark of a twig, and Dwayne peels it perfectly. Bruno takes it and tells him the lesson is to always pack a fork when camping. Bruno breaks the twig in two and uses them as chopsticks. Dwayne is a little discouraged by this and that all of Bruno's lessons seem phony. However, Dwayne suddenly believes that Bruno's training must have a deeper meaning, and decides to check to see if Bruno is a great Trainer. Dwayne sneaks up behind him and to hit him with a stick, claiming Bruno should sense him and stop the attack. Dwayne envisions him doing so and goes behind Bruno and attacks full force. Bruno fails to detect anything and Brock strikes him hard over the head leaving a large bruise.

As Bruno recovers from the incident, he asks Dwayne if he really want to know about the secrets of Pokémon training. Dwayne eagerly replies yes, and Bruno tells him there are no such secrets and the reason he was on Mt. Hideaway was to catch the biggest Onix he could find. Bruno says that it's no secret that to be a strong Trainer you have to catch strong Pokémon. These revelations leave Dwayne distraught. Following the gigantic Onix tracks, Dwayne believes that they have no hope of catching such a big Pokémon, but Bruno exclaims that any Pokémon could be caught, regardless of size and power.

A giant Onix begins tackling the wall of the cave causing it to start collapsing. Seeing a group of Oddish in the danger of being crushed, Dwayne sends out his Wartortle. Dwayne orders his Wartortle to use Rapid Spin, but he gets knocked back by the wild Onix's size. He then tells use a barrage of Water Pulse and Ice Beam, and the combined attacks cause the Onix to recoil from the cave. The wild Onix recovers from the attacks and uses its tail to hit Wartortle and then notices Dwayne standing on the ledge above. The Onix tackles the edge where he's standing, causing Dwayne to lose his balance and fall into right in front of Onix. Wartortle his Rapid Spin attack, but Onix just shakes it off. Wartortle is about to try again before Dwayne grabs him, and huddle together awaiting Onix's attack. But before Onix can strike, a lightning-fast Bruno leaps in and carries Dwayne and Wartortle to safety. Bruno looks down at the Onix which is thrashing around. Dwayne then asks him what Pokémon and attack he will use, and Bruno states that he will not use a Pokémon.

Bruno jumps down and asks Onix why it is acting so violent. The Onix dives at him several times, but Bruno dodges its hits asking it why it is attacking him. Bruno then jumps on Onix's head. Onix whips his tail around, which misses Bruno and instead connects with its own head. Bruno requests it not to be afraid of him and asks it to let him know what it is feeling. He closes his eyes and concentrates for some time. He then starts feeling around Onix's body. Eventually he finds something between Onix's rocks. Asking Onix to bear with the momentary pain, he strains before pulling out a Sandslash. Dwayne is shocked at this, as apparently the Sandslash was irritating Onix the whole time and causing it to act aggressively. Bruno lets the Ground-type Pokémon go and asks Onix if it wants to come with him. Onix accepts and Bruno catches it in a Poké Ball. He jumps back up to Dwayne and tells him the true secret is for Pokémon and humans to care for each other like Dwayne and Wartortle. Both of them look at each other and start laughing. Bruno then bids Dwayne farewell and wishes him luck on his upcoming Pokémon League tournament.

With two weeks remaining until the Pokémon League, Dwayne finally starts making his way towards the Indigo Plateau, and barely manages to contain his excitement at the thought of competing in a arena filled with fans, and envisions him entering the battlefield to cheers and applause from the entire audience. While walking through a grass field, Dwayne hears a voice calling out to him, and sees Natalya sprinting towards him. Without any time to lose, Natalya challenges him to a battle, to which Dwayne eagerly accepts. However, she tells Dwayne that the loser must give up all eight of their Badges to the winner. Dwayne turns down the offer and starts heading back on his way when Natalya suggests that Dwayne is afraid of losing to her yet again, and this tempts Dwayne into agreeing to the battle.

The battle begins, with Natalya revealing her Marowak having it evolved from Cubone. With this, Dwayne chooses Roselia. Dwayne commands Roselia to use Bullet Seed against Marowak, though Marowak dodges. Dwayne instructs Roselia to use another Bullet Seed as Natalya tells Marowak to use Focus Energy and Bone Club to deflect the attack. Then Marowak rushes over and attacks Roselia with Bonemerang, causing great damage. Dwayne then tells Roselia to use Solar Beam, but Marowak's flurry of Bone Club attacks force Roselia to have to dodge the attacks while continuing to charge Solar Beam. Natalya then commands an Ice Beam attack, just as Roselia's Solar Beam launches. However, the Grass-type attack proves stronger, as it easily pushes the Ice Beam, and scores a direct hit, giving Dwayne the victory.

Natlaya then begins to cry over her loss, and when Dwayne questions her odd decision to battle him for his Badges, Natalya admits that she has no Badges to give. Natalya reveals that her Badges were stolen from him as she was walking to the Pokémon League. Natalya and Marowak noticed some fruit on the ground. Being very hungry after much training, the pair rush over to eat, only to fall into a pit fall trap. It is revealed that Adrian and Adriana took her Badges as she laid dazed in the pit. Upon realizing that the twins were behind it, Dwayne decides to help her get her Badges back.

Meanwhile, Adrian and Adriana are bragging about how easy it was to steal Natalya's Badges, and gleefully envision meeting Dwayne at the tournament and eliminating him to finally get their long-awaited "revenge" on him. Elsewhere, Dwayne's Pidgeot flies about searching for the twins, but finds no sign of them. Marowak starts throwing a tantrum, and begins to walk away without Natalya. When she asks Marowak to stay, the Bone Keeper Pokémon knocks Natalya's hand away and leaves her. Dwayne agrees that they have to find the twins and the Badges or else Marowak may never come back.

After searching for almost ten minutes, Dwayne and Natalya find the twins resting underneath a tree, and Dwayne throws a rock at them to wake them up, and Adriana curses him for throwing the rock at them. Dwayne demands that the twins give the Badges back to Natalya. Adriana tells them that they won't give the Badges back unless they can beat them in a Double Battle. The battle begins as Adrian and Adriana send out Weepinbell and Weezing, respectively, while Dwayne and Natalya choose Roselia and Beedrill, respectively.

Meanwhile, Marowak is walking through the woods and notices some Trainers and their Pokémon training for the Pokémon League, which reminds him of the intense training it experienced with Natalya. Subsequently, Marowak decides to go back to Natalya's side, remorseful and ashamed of abandoning her because of a single mistake.

The battle between the twins, and Dwayne and Natalya ensues as the twins call for Weepinbell and Weezing to use Poison Powder and Sludge Bomb, but while the dodge the Sludge Bomb attack, they are both engulfed within the Poison Powder. However, it has no effect due to both Roselia and Beedrill being part Poison-types. Dwayne and Natalya call for their own battle combination. Roselia uses Petal Dance while Beedrill uses X-Scissor, and both attacks successfully connect, although Weepinbell and Weezing suffer only moderate damage.

Weepinbell then uses Vine Whip and begins squeezing Roselia, but Beedrill stops the attack by using Fury Attack onto Weepinbell's vines, hurting it and forcing it to recall its vines back. Weezing then uses Gyro Ball, but Roselia's Petal Dance traps Weezing within a vortex of petals, and when Weepinbell tries to use Slam on Roselia, Beedrill attacks with X-Scissor, sending Weepinbell back. Then, Roselia slams Weezing down with the vortex atop of Weepinbell, and the impact knocks out both Weezing and Weepinbell at once, giving Dwayne and Natalya the victory.

Dwayne and Natalya then demand the Badges back, but Adrian and Adriana refuse and try to run away, only to get clocked on the head by Marowak's bone. Marowak then threatens to attack them with Bone Club if they don't surrender the Badges, and the twins fearfully comply, and throw the Badge case to Natalya. Marowak then fires off an Ice Beam at their feet, and the twins flee while cursing the duo for ruining their chances of competing at the Pokémon League. Natalya walks over to Marowak asking it if it will battle in the Pokémon League by her side. Marowak accepts as Dwayne congratulates Marowak for seeing sense and not abandoning his Trainer. By sunset, Dwayne notices the Indigo Plateau up ahead and begins to run towards it.

Arriving at the Indigo Plateau, Dwayne successfully registers for the competition, and is directed towards the Trainers' Lounge by Nurse Joy. There, Dwayne begins mingling with other Trainers, and meets up with Jade, who says that she was glad that Dwayne made it, as she wanted to defeat him in battle, and Dwayne simply says that he was looking foward to do the same. Jade simply smiles and says that they would decide it in the battlefield before leaving. The next day, the opening ceremony of the League begins with the competitors walking onto the field. The torch runner runs up the stairs and lights up the stadium's torch with the flames of Moltres to officially start the Indigo Plateau Conference.

After registering, Dwayne learns that he must first pass through four preliminary battles on four unique battlefields (Grass, Water, Ice, and Rock) to qualify for battling inside the Indigo Stadium. The lady at the registry has Dwayne go through a random selection, and he is assigned to battle on the Water field later that day against a Trainer named Darby. Afterwards, Dwayne runs into Jade again, who is battling on the Ice field, who effortlessly defeats her opponent's three Pokémon using only her Kangaskhan. At that moment, Dwayne receives a call from Professor Oak, who suggests he swap out one of his Pokémon. Dwayne decides to have his male Nidoran sent through to boost his team. Oak is worried because Dwayne had never used Nidoran before, but Dwayne is confident in the Pokémon.

Dwayne's battle on the Water field soon begins, and he starts off with Nidoran, while Darby uses an Exeggutor. Nidoran jumps into the pool, but Exeggutor uses Psychic to create a whirlpool, revealing Nidoran's hiding space. Darby then orders an Egg Bomb, knocking Nidoran into the whirlpool and preventing him from using any attacks. Dwayne tries to recall Nidoran, but the whirlpool prevents him from doing so. Suddenly, Nidoran escapes from the vortex, and Dwayne orders him to use Double Kick on Exeggutor's leaves, stopping its attacks. Hanging on tightly, Nidoran uses Leer to decrease Exeggutor's defenses, and his Peck attack knocks it out. As he stands triumphant over Exeggutor, Nidoran suddenly evolves into Nidorino. Darby, still confident, sends out his second Pokémon, a Staryu. Staryu uses Teleport to dodge Nidorino's Venoshock, but Nidorino manages to slow it down with Peck, and then knocks Staryu out with Double Kick.

Darby remains undaunted as he sends out his last Pokémon, a Crobat. Crobat manages to evade Nidorino's attacks, dealing a great amount of damage in the process with X-Scissor. Dwayne then orders Nidorino to use Leer, decreasing Crobat's defenses, followed by Double Kick. Nidorino's two shots hits Crobat dead-on, knocking it out and winning Dwayne his first Indigo League victory. Darby is astounded by his defeat, with the commentator confirming that Dwayne successfully used only one Pokémon for the entire match. Jade watches on in shock as Dwayne jumps around, overexcited by his first win, and hugs his newly-evolved Nidorino, thanking him for winning the match.

After advancing through all four preliminary rounds, Dwayne finds himself battling in the fifth round. However, much to Dwayne's utter shock, Jade gets eliminated in her fourth round match-up, being defeated by Natalya's Marowak, who successfully knocks out her Kangaskhan. At the Indigo Plateau's registration center, the attendant instructs Dwayne to fish for a Magikarp to find out his next opponent, and he finds it is Natalya, and both Trainers exchange glances. Afterwards, Dwayne sees Jade healing her Pokémon with Nurse Joy, and asks if she was okay, and Jade expresses that she was okay, and losing was only a part of becoming stronger. Dwayne asks what she would do next, and Jade says that she would stick around to watch his performance, and Dwayne gets taken aback, not expecting Jade to care for his performance, but Jade says that it was obvious she would stay as Dwayne was her friend, causing Dwayne to blush.

Overnight, Dwayne and Jade research Natalya to gain some insight into her battling style, and are surprised to see that she did not lose any Pokémon during the previous four rounds of competition. The following day, both Dwayne and Natalya make their entrance onto the Indigo Plateau battlefield. Natalya sends out her Beedrill while Dwayne chooses his Wartortle. Beedrill first uses X-Scissor, and Dwayne commands Wartortle to use Water Pulse. Both moves collide and make a powerful explosion, as Beedrill moves straight into Sludge Bomb and Wartortle repels it with Rapid Spin. Natalya then commands Beedrill to use Hyper Beam, as Wartortle dodges. Right before Wartortle can attack, Beedrill uses Double Team. Wartortle looks around for the real Beedrill but cannot point it out. Without any room to dodge, Wartortle is hit with multiple X-Scissors and Sludge Bombs, resulting in massive damage. After pulling himself together, Wartortle is commanded by Dwayne to use Ice Beam, which lands and causes Beedrill to fall down. Natalya then has Beedrill use Double Team again, and Wartortle attempts to avoid any possible attacks with Round, with the powerful sonic waves making all of Beedrill's copies dissipate, before Wartortle knocks it out with a powerful Water Pulse attack.

Natalya recalls Beedrill and sends out Nidoqueen. Dwayne recalls Wartortle and sends out Butterfree. Natalya commands Nidoqueen to use Mega Punch, as Dwayne commands Butterfree to keep Nidoqueen away with Stun Spore. Nidoqueen dodges Butterfree's attack with great speed and lands her attack on Butterfree. Nidoqueen follows up with Double Kick, and Dwayne commands Butterfree to dodge, but Butterfree can't pull it off with Nidoqueen's speed and takes damage from the attack. Dwayne then commands Butterfree's new attack: Silver Wind, which lands and greatly damages Nidoqueen. Natalya then orders Nidoqueen to use Fire Blast, but Butterfree swiftly dodges the attack and knocks out Nidoqueen with Gust, leaving Natalya with only one Pokémon remaining, although Butterfree faints afterwards due to exhaustion. Dwayne and Natalya both recall their Pokémon. Directly after, Natalya chooses Marowak, while Dwayne chooses Pidgeot, and both sides get ready to battle.

Marowak starts out with Smack Down, and makes a direct hit and grounding Pidgeot, which now allows Ground-type attacks to affect him. Marowak then uses Bonemerang, and Valeria commands Pidgeot to dodge. Natalya takes on a surprised look, and Dwayne points out that he and Pidgeot have been doing special speed training. Dwayne then commands Pidgeot to use Aerial Ace, which lands and causes Marowak to take severe damage. Natalya then commands Marowak to go in for multiple Ice Beams. However, Pidgeot dodges them all with grace. Natalya then commands Double-Edge. However, Pidgeot dodges again and uses Gust, which Marowak blocks. Pidgeot then uses a powerful Brave Bird attack which lands and sends Marowak flying back. Marowak gets up, and Dwayne commands Pidgeot to use another Brave Bird. Marowak commands Marowak to catch the Brave Bird and use Bonemerang. After being weakened, Pidgeot is unable to dodge an incoming Ice Beam from Marowak, which knocks him out, evening the score between both Trainers.

Dwayne recalls Pidgeot and sends out Wartortle, who shows his exhaustion from the damage he took earlier in the battle. After giving each other a quick speech of intimidation, Dwayne and Natalya get ready to finish it. Marowak is commanded by Natalya to use Bonemerang while Wartortle is commanded by Dwayne to counter with Rapid Spin. After attacking, Wartortle begins to look like he can't take another attack, right as Marowak prepares for an Ice Beam. However, at that exact moment, Wartortle charges up and learns a brand-new attack: Skull Bash, which pushes through the Ice Beam and makes direct contact with Marowak, knocking him out and giving Dwayne the win allowing him to advance through the tournament.

That night, Dwayne heals up his team, when he hears his mother's voice calling out behind him, and Dwayne expresses his surprise at seeing her, and Roberta states that she would definitely watch her son's performance in the tournament, and brags about her own performance at the tournament years earlier, but Dwayne points out that she lost a battle to Professor Oak, who only used a Spearow to defeat her entire team, and Roberta's sudden change of expression is enough to scare Dwayne into silence. Then, Jade walks in and introduces herself, and Roberta bumps her elbow onto Dwayne, teasing him on whether Jade was his girlfriend, but both Dwayne and Jade, beet red, adamantly deny it, saying they were only friends, and Roberta chuckles, saying that the future was uncertain. Suddenly, Edge enters the Pokémon Center, and Jade's eyes light up, and she runs over to him and introduces herself as a massive fan of his. Edge sheepishly laughs and thanks her for the compliment, and Jade recounts all of his achievements, and Edge becomes surprised at this, and admits that he actually forgot some of his own achievements, and Dwayne sighs as Jade proved herself as a true fan.

Edge and Roberta plan to have a big meal to celebrate Dwayne's last victory, and invite Jade along with them, who eagerly accepts, merely due to Edge being present. Roberta says that she's going to cook them Dwayne's favorite meal and takes them all to a restaurant, where she goes to the kitchen and makes the meal herself instead of the restaurant cooks, who merely look at her in confusion. As everyone settles down to eat, Edge tells his son that the battles after the fifth round are going to be Full Battles and asks if he's already decided which Pokémon to use. Dwayne says that he'll wait to see who he's going to be battling first. After finishing their meal, they all head into the elevator, whereupon a boy named Lagi asks them to hold it open. Edge manages to keep the doors open long enough for him to enter. Lagi introduces himself to the group, and congratulates Dwayne on making it through the preliminaries, and Dwayne asks whether Lagi was competing as well, and Lagi confirms, and says that he, too, advanced to the fifth round. The elevator then reaches the first floor, and Lagi says that he hopes to meet Dwayne in battle, and Dwayne shares the sentiment as Lagi leaves the elevator and heads off.

Dwayne and his group return to the Indigo Plateau's registration center. The attendant instructs Dwayne to fish for a Magikarp to find out his next opponent, and he finds it is Lagi, and Dwayne sarcastically remarks that it was convenient that they were each other's next opponents. The following day, Dwayne goes to pick up his Poké Balls. Later, Adrian and Adriana sneak into the Indigo Plateau, and lure him into meeting them with a fake phone call, with Adrian peferctly mimicking Lagi's voice, asking for help as he was being attacked by a group of thieves. They kidnap him and take him away, locking him inside a cabin, planning to make him miss his match and get disqualified. Faced with the threat of missing his battle, Dwayne uses Wartortle to blast through the door with Skull Bash. Adrian and Adriana are not surprised, as they expected this, and wait for him outside, and without warning, attack him with Weepinbell and Weezing. Dwayne asks them to leave him alone, but they refuse, saying that they'd never been embarassed as much as Dwayne embarassed them, and vow to make his life a living hell until they grow tired of "playing" with him. Dwayne has Wartortle attack Weepinbell and Weezing with Rapid Spin, and sends both Pokémon crashing onto their Trainers, and Dwayne and Wartortle take this opportunity to run away back to the Indigo Plateau.

At the stadium, as Lagi makes his entrance onto the Indigo Plateau battlefield, Jade confronts him over the morning's phone call, as she had overheard it, suspecting he scared Dwayne off with his words to win. He denies making the call, and Jade realizes something is amiss. Meanwhile, Adrian and Adriana return a second time with bicycles onto a road, and Dwayne has Wartortle attack, but before Wartortle can fire any attack, Weepinbell attacks with Razor Leaf, and Dwayne recalls the injured Wartortle. They hop off the bicycles and prepare for another battle, but Dwayne summons Pidgeot to use Gust to knock them off their feet, before climbing atop of Pidgeot and asking him to fly him towards the arena. However, Weepinbell's Vine Whip wraps around Pidgeot's feet, and drags him back down, injuring his wing in the process. Dwayne then summons the rest of his Pokémon and asks them to deal with the twins, and Dwayne's Pokémon all use their strength and attacks to defeat the twins and their Pokémon, sending them rolling off the cliff into the forest below. Dwayne asks Pidgeot if he was alright, but Pidgeot's wing seems too injured to fly. Dwayne realizes that he wouldn't reach the stadium in time, and reluctantly decides to summon Butterfree to fly him instead, despite Butterfree not being as strong as Pidgeot.

Meanwhile, as everyone waits impatiently for Dwayne's arrival, the referee approaches Lagi to inform him that Dwayne will be disqualified for not turning up and Lagi will win the match by default. Lagi tells the referee that he and Dwayne promised each other a great battle, and that Dwayne must have a good reason for not being there, and that he is certain he will turn up. The referee agrees to give Dwayne ten more minutes. Eventually, Dwayne appears overhead in the sky. Unfortunately, Butterfree has been left exhausted from flying him to the stadium, and Dwayne thanks him for his effort.

The battle between Dwayne and Lagi begins, with Dwayne sending out his exhausted Wartortle, and Lagi using his Fearow. After Fearow quickly defeats the exhausted Wartortle easily with Drill Peck, Dwayne chooses Clefairy next. Clefairy dodges Fearow's Fury Attacks before knocking it out with a combination of Sing and Moonblast. Lagi sends out his Charmander, who uses multiple Embers that Clefairy dodges. Then, Charmander uses Slash, finally defeating Clefairy. Left with no other choice, Dwayne sends out his tired Kirlia. Despite being tired from fending off Adrian and Adriana, Kirlia manages to knock out Charmander with a Psybeam and Shadow Ball.

Lagi recalls Charmander and sends out his Pikachu. Kirlia starts panting, out of breath and stamina, and Pikachu attacks with Quick Attack, sending Kirlia flying back. Dwayne tells Kirlia to use Psybeam again, but Pikachu uses Agility to evade, and finishes off Kirlia with a devastating Thunder. The referee eliminates Kirlia, giving Lagi the victory. Though he is left upset by this, Dwayne suppresses his feelings and congratulates Lagi. Dwayne craddles Kirlia and lifts her up in his arms, and Kirlia begins shedding tears for not winning and disappointing her Trainer, but Dwayne kisses her forehead, and says that she did an amazing job, especially since she was already tired, and says that they would definitely win the next tournament and urges her to not feel sad. Later, Dwayne stands alone in the empty stadium, knowing that regardless of his loss, he still learned a lot.

Dwayne is still upset that he lost his last match and is curled up in bed, which concerns his friends and family. Jade comments that he should be happy that he made it as far as he did and enters the bedroom to try to cheer him up. She offers to get him something to eat and then suggests he take a walk, but he refuses. The pair begins to argue about how good a Trainer Dwayne really is, and Edge eventually agrees with Jade, saying that a good Trainer would never feel disappointed in losing, but use their loss to motivate them to become better instead of only sulking around. Dwayne apologizes to Jade for lashing out, but Jade assures him that she wasn't angry, and understands his feelings on the matter, but Dwayne admits that he felt his loss wasn't fair because his Pokémon were exhausted before the battle, and Edge admits that while Dwayne was correct that the circumstances weren't fair, he adds that the world wasn't a fair place, and simply urges him to train for the next competition.

Later, Lagi's next battle commences; both Trainers are equally matched and are eventually down to their last Pokémon. Lagi's opponent sends out Ivysaur and Lagi calls on Pikachu. As soon as he pops out, Pikachu is beaten by Ivysaur, and none of his Thunder Shocks are effective. Ivysaur eventually jumps into the air and unleashes a Solar Beam, hurling Pikachu to the ground. Just as he gets up, he is hit and defeated by Ivysaur's Take Down, eliminating Lagi from the tournament. Later, Dwayne joins Lagi near a lake. As their Pokémon play, they talk about their losses. Lagi says that he would have trained harder if he had known how tough the competition would be, and Dwayne wonders why Lagi wasn't upset by his loss. Lagi then comments on how losing is good for Trainers, and Dwayne realizes how immature he was. Lagi says that while disappointed, he wasn't actually sad, and feels proud for making it this far in his very first tournament.

Later that night, the closing ceremonies begin and the Indigo League competitors march with their main Pokémon into the stadium, waving to the eager crowd. Mr. Goodshow gives each and every one of them a special Pokémon League Badge for competing in the league. The top three Trainers, two males and one female, wave from the stage amid the cheers of the crowd. The commentator then asks the audience to focus on the night skies. As the stadium lights dim, the closing ceremony fireworks display begins. The next morning, Dwayne and his family prepare to head off. Dwayne sees Jade walking out of the stadium and says where she would head next, and Jade says she was thinking about returning to her hometown in Pewter City to think about her next step, and Roberta invites her to join them in Pallet Town for a small party they were planning, and Jade accepts, having grown comfortable around the family.

After Dwayne's Top 16 achievement in the Indigo Plateau Conference, Pallet Town holds a party celebrating his accomplishment at Professor Oak's Laboratory, hosted by Professor Oak himself. Dwayne grabs some lunch at a food stall for the party. Dwayne takes the food back as he and his Pokémon take the first bite, only to suffer from the extreme burning sensation from the spicy takoyaki. Seeing this, Jade tells Dwayne's Wartortle to cool them down with Water Pulse, and Wartortle slams the water sphere onto the ground, causing a small wave that engulfs them, alleviating the burn.

Later, Oak calls for Dwayne and Jade into his laboratory, and asks Dwayne to head to Valencia Island in the Orange Archipelago to visit his colleague, Professor Ivy, to pick up a mysterious Poké Ball for her. It cannot be transported, and Dwayne agrees, and Jade interjects, and asks if she could accompany him, having gained an interest in this mysterious Poké Ball, and Dwayne accepts, and allows her to join him on his travel to the Orange Archipelago.

That night, Dwayne sleeps on his bed while Jade sleeps on the couch inside his room, and they discuss their next adventure at the archipelago, and Dwayne admits having never heard about it before, and Jade shares this sentiment, and wonders if there are rare Pokémon living there, and Dwayne grows excited at this prospect. The next morning, Dwayne and Jade prepare to head off, with Dwayne also deciding to leave both Butterfree and Pidgeot at Oak's laboratory, and Roberta packs them a box of lunch for them to eat, and teases them by saying they were giving her a "preview" of their future honeymoon, leading to Dwayne and Jade adamantly tell her to keep quiet, all the while blushing heavily. They quickly sprint off, having had enough of Roberta's teasing, and Roberta simply chuckles at them, mumbling that they were a cute couple.