B&W009: Welcome to Striaton City!!

Welcome to Striaton City!! (VSタブンネ) is the 5th chapter of Pokémon Adventures: Volume 44.

Synopsis
Cheren and Bianca are on their way to Striaton City and on their way, they see Black, in a restaurant with a girl. Can he explain to them who she is before Bianca blows?

Chapter Plot
Somewhere, Bianca is searching for wild Pokémon. An Audino springs out in front of her from the bushes. She searches for her Oshawott in her bag, with Cheren and Snivy looking on her. She sends out Oshawott, but proves to be too weak against the Audino.

Cheren pulls Bianca behind him while she tells him she lost to the Audino. He tells her he knows and to move on. He talks to himself that she is such a dawdler. Cheren tells her to come on since they need to warn Black he has to take extra care for his PokéDex since it’s the only one that works. He mutters to himself that they don’t have time to be sidetracked. Bianca tells Cheren that they have reached Striaton City.

Once in Striaton City, Cheren excuses a lady. He suddenly shouts Black’s dream to her. Once finished, he asks if she has seen a boy who has shouted it. She replies in saying yes and that he went inside a building. He thanks the lay and they head off towards the building. Bianca notices it’s a restaurant by up at the building. Cheren sees Black inside with his Pokémon and a girl. Bianca is fuming with him as to see he is on a date and how long it’s taken to find him. Cheren on the other hand, tells her that from the looks of it, it isn’t a date. Bianca suggests they go and follow her to see who she is, but Cheren tells her to stop ridiculous and that they need to talk to Black.

Bianca and Cheren enter the restaurant to see Black. A maid greets them and tells them about their menu that is especially tailored to trainers. Cheren tells the maid that they have come to see a friend. Black soon hears them and says hi to them.

Bianca goes guns blazing with Black on whom the girl was. He explains that her name is White, who runs a talent agency for Pokémon who perform in movies and TV commercials. He goes on to say that somehow, he ended up working for her and now they travel. Cheren and Bianca tell him they don’t get it one bit but Black iterates what isn’t there to get. Three older teenagers look at the commotion going on. One of them states that Black has been getting into quite a few arguments while another suggests they toss him out. The other one tells the other to take it easy as he made a reservation for a full-course service. One of them tells them they should show some hospitality to him. They sent out their Pokémon.

The one with the Pansage apologises to him for keeping Black waiting while the one with the Panpour then offers some tea before the meal service begins. All three with their Pokémon perform to serve up the tea. Bianca and Cheren marvel the way they are moving. Black notes them. The one with the green hair must be a Grass-type trainer, the blue-haired one is a Water-type trainer and the last one with red hair is a Fire-type trainer. They all serve the tea to all three. Cheren and Bianca are delighted with the taste when suddenly, Black gets excited in his chair. He shots the he’s been waiting for this. Cheren questions why, to which he replies that the tea service is a signal that the full-course service is about to being, which is a signal for the gum battle to start. The ones with Pansage and Pansear agree while the one with the Panpour pulls the tog, revealing an area with three switches with signs on them with one of them on the curtain in front.

Cheren is in shock to see that the restaurant is the Striaton City Gym while Black confirms this. Bianca questions that one of them is the Gym Leader while Black tells her that isn’t precisely true since all three of them are the Gym Leaders. He explains that they are triplets and also triple Gym Leaders adding to the fact that this is the twist to the Striaton City gym as he has researched on all the gyms for ages. The one with Pansage applauds that he has done his homework and that he’ll know how to get past the appetiser. The one with Panpour tells him to choose the type of his Pokémon carefully as it’s important. The one with Pansear also tells that picking a Pokémon with a type advantage over the opponents Pokémon is the first step to victory.

He goes on to tell that to get through, you have to press a button on the floor that has a type advantage to the type symbol on the curtain. They all say that they’ll be waiting for him, the main course is battling them, if he makes it that far. Black to stand on the Grass-type symbol as Grass-types are super effective against Water-types. Before he could do this, Bianca steps on the Fire-type symbol, to Black’s horror. He shouts at Bianca asking why she did it. She answers back that fire evaporates water so she thought fire had that advantage. He shouts back that it isn’t that, it’s the fact that it isn’t her gym battle, stating also if she gets him disqualified. She states that simply it’s the correct answer.

Suddenly, Tep pulls Bianca’s satchel, making her fall. While on the floor, Black tells her to stay out of his battle. She shots back and throws Oshawott out. Tep and Oshawott start to then bicker and fight with eachother. Surprisingly, Snivy jumps in to break them up but it ends up a fight. Black then argues that this is all her fault. Cheren then calls Black out for what he did on the first day of their journeys. Opening the box without them, trashing Professor Juniper’s laboratory and breaking the PokéDexes. Due to this, they weren’t able to start on time and Black didn’t even thank Professor Juniper for Tep. He goes on to say that he understands that he was really excited and he’s happy Blacks enjoying his journey but mentions that he needs to be more considerate to others feeling. He relays Professor Juniper’s message that Black’s PokéDex is the only one working for.

Suddenly, the Fire-type Gym Leader speaks on the monitor stating that because someone other than the challenger participated in the test, he is hereby disqualified. Black faints in the shock but the Fire-type Gym Leader tells that he was kidding, as they aren’t that strict. He mentions that his friend doesn’t have a clue about Pokémon type compatibility and that she’s hopeless. He suggests all three go through as she could learn something along the way. He mentions the rules but offers them to battle all three of them in a battle and ends his message to them.

Black tells Bianca to watch the effects of the attacks that come to Oshawott. Tep uses Ember against Oshawott to show that the attack isn’t effective, while he orders Snivy to use Vine Whip, which has a real affect against Oshawott. She uses Potion on Oshawott for recovery. Black asks if she gets to type advantages and disadvantages of Oshawott, to which she says that she gets it now. Black tells her to come on and that she can answer this question, which she gets right. On the next question, Oshawott shows it’s effectiveness against the other two. Cheren thinks to himself that Black and the Pokémon are all cooperating with eachother and that they might have a chance. Bianca answers the last question, to reveal the Gym Leaders behind. They introduce themselves as Cress, Cress and Chili. Cilan asks what their names are, to which they introduce themselves. He tells that it’s time to being the battle.

Characters

 * Cilan
 * Cress
 * Chili

Pokémon
Pansear (Chili's)