"Hey, Dawn? Are you there?!"
"Pika Pika~ Pika~"
After promising Brock to find Dawn in the forest, they had been wandering around for four or five minutes, but they still hadn't seen Dawn's figure.
Combining that with Dawn's somewhat reckless personality, Ash and Pikachu were both starting to worry about her.
Although compared to when she first set out from Twinleaf Town, Dawn now has Piplup with her, giving her some ability to protect herself, but of course, Piplup is just a newly obtained rookie Pokémon, and Dawn is also just a newly debuted rookie trainer.
If they encounter any powerful wild Pokémon in the wild, it won't be easy for them to win.
"Seriously, where did she run off to? Should I let Starly out to look for them? But..."
Although the density of the vegetation in this Forest isn't as high as the forest around Lake Verity, and Starly has relatively more room to move around in here, this isn't an open area of course, and even Starly's field of vision is actually quite limited.
What if we not only don't find Dawn and the others, but we can't even find Starly afterwards.
"Pika?"
Just as Ash was hesitating, Pikachu's ears suddenly twitched.
It stood up, closed its eyes, and listened to every tiny movement it could catch.
"Did you find something again?" Ash asked in surprise upon seeing this.
"Pika!"
Finally, Pikachu, as if having reached a conclusion, quickly ran with Ash in a certain direction in the Forest.
Before long, Ash indeed saw Dawn and Piplup's figures fighting in a certain location.
"Finally found them..."
Ash breathed a sigh of relief and then looked in Dawn's direction, discovering that she was actually fighting a Buneary, and it seemed like she had the idea of catching it.
"Piplup, Bubble Beam!"
"Piplup!"
By the time Ash arrived, the battle had reached its final stage.
Buneary must have been hit by Piplup's skills in the previous battle, and it didn't even have the strength to dodge when facing the surging Bubble Beam, and was just
blasted away.
"Now's the time! Go! Poké Ball!"
Dawn threw her Poké Ball excitedly when she saw this.
Just as she thought she was about to capture her first Pokémon with her and Piplup's power, her hand slipped when she raised it high.
"Huh?"
"Ouch?!"
Just as Dawn made a questioning sound, seemingly not understanding what had happened, Ash's pained Growl came from behind her.
"Ash? What are you doing here?"
"I should be the one asking you that... Why are you throwing your Poké Ball around randomly?"
Ash said so dissatisfiedly as he touched the place where he had been hit.
"I'm not throwing them randomly! I'm trying to catch Buneary! If anything, you coming here is just delaying my Pokémon catching!"
"Huh? Who's delaying your catching? Isn't the problem with you throwing your Poké Balls around randomly? If you want to catch Pokémon, you need to throw an empty Poké Ball accurately at a wild Pokémon that has lost its ability to battle, that's Trainer 101! Not just tossing it randomly, you don't expect the Poké Ball to grow legs and go 'bang' and catch the wild Pokémon on its own, do you?"
"I just accidentally threw it wrong! Accidentally!"
"Then say so properly! Why are you blaming me?"
"It's because you, Ash..."
"Poliwag! Poliwag!!"
Just as Ash and Dawn were arguing, Piplup on the other side started making anxious noises.
When they turned their attention over there, they saw that Buneary, who had previously fainted, had woken up at some point and was now hopping away, preparing to escape.
"Oh no!"
At this moment, Dawn realized that it wasn't the time to argue, so she quickly took out another empty Poké Ball from her pocket and threw it straight at...
The bushes on the side.
"mi~"
Buneary let out a mocking sound and then disappeared from their sight.
Seeing this, Ash sighed in a pitying tone and said, "That's why I said, if you're not good, don't blame the road.
Who throws a Poké Ball like that~"
Dawn: "..."
Dawn: "..."
Dawn glared at Ash angrily.
If it had been a moment ago, she would have had a reason to refute Ash's words, but now that she had done such a stupid thing, Dawn couldn't continue to shift the blame.
She could only snort and say, "Just a minor problem! All new trainers make these mistakes, and it will naturally be resolved in the future!"
"Don't push everything onto new trainers.
It's just throwing a Poké Ball, it should be the easiest thing.
A normal person wouldn't throw it so crookedly."
"Huh? Are you deliberately picking a fight?"
"Isn't it? Pikachu, you be the witness."
"Pika..."
Pikachu didn't expect that this time it didn't even get to be a bystander.
It kept its face turned away the whole time, for fear of getting burned, but it never expected that even with all its efforts, it would still be dragged in.
Pikachu looked at Ash with pitiful eyes, as if begging him to spare it, but Ash and Dawn, who were clearly already worked up, seemed to really be treating Pikachu's opinion as the key to determining the final victory, and neither of them paid attention to Pikachu's expression at this moment.
Piplup retreated behind a large tree without leaving a trace, using it as cover to avoid getting caught in the crossfire.
"Pika... Pi..."
Pikachu looked at Dawn and then at Ash, its ears drooping in hesitation for a long time, before finally raising its hand with difficulty and pointing at Dawn.
"What?!"
"Hmph! I told you I was right!"
Dawn looked smug, seemingly a little surprised to have received Pikachu's support, but now that she had won, she naturally had to show off a bit.
"How strange~ Why would Pikachu choose to support me? Logically speaking, isn't Pikachu your initial Pokémon? That means, in its experience, rookie trainers can't achieve that level of support, right? If that's the case, I'm curious~ Ash, you weren't just chased by Spearow back then, were you? You must have done something even more embarrassing that you haven't mentioned.
Tell me about it~ Hmph"