Pokémon: Dreams Come True Starting in Sinnoh

Ash and his friends stayed overnight at Yukino's house. The next day, after letting Turtwig say a final goodbye to the old woman and Ash promising Yukino that he would let her see Turtwig on the stage of the competition, the three of them finally left and continued their journey towards Lucky City.

Setting off...that's how it should be, but now the three of them have encountered a problem that no traveler can avoid, a problem that heavily depends on the traveler's individual abilities:

"Why did I get lost?!"

Xiao Guang messed up his once neat hair and cried out in despair.

"That's strange. We were supposed to follow the map, so did I make a mistake at one of the corners?"

Xiao Gang looked at the map in his hand and muttered to himself in this strange way.

But whatever he saw on the map couldn't hide the fact that they were now lost.

"Rather than figuring out whether we're lost or not, or where we started getting lost, it's more important to figure out where we are right now..."

Seeing the opportune moment, Ash raised his hand and made a suggestion.

Since getting lost is a fact, complaining won't solve the problem. Instead of dwelling on why you got lost, you should figure out your current location so you can compare it with a map to find a way out.

"Susu~"

Just as Ash and the others were discussing what to do, a rustling sound suddenly came from the woods behind them. Dawn nervously took out Piplup's Poké Ball, fearing that some ferocious wild Pokémon might have emerged.

however--

"Ok?"

“?!” xN

When they saw the person emerge from the bushes, Ash and his friends stared at them in surprise, and the person looked back at them with the same expression.

"Shinji?! What are you doing here? Did you get lost too?" Ash asked Shinji, who was standing in front of him.

"Lost?" Shinji sneered and said disdainfully, "As expected of a useless bunch of guys. They can't even get lost from Masago Town to Kikkaichi City."

Shinji's attitude remains as unlikable as ever.

"So do you know where we are? Please help us out, we're really struggling because we don't know our location."

The older Brock wouldn't challenge Shinji, especially since he realized Shinji wasn't as cold as he seemed. He figured he could get a response if he asked Shinji for help.

As for Hikari, what Shinji is saying is the truth, so even if she's uncomfortable, she has no reason to refute it, right?

"Hmph, whatever." Shinji turned around and pointed to a grove of trees that looked a bit different near the small pond. "That's the Forest of Bewilderment. You're at the entrance to the Forest of Bewilderment right now. To get out of here, you either have to climb up the cliff behind and take the main road, or you have to go through this grove and keep going."

"cliff......"

Ash and the others looked back as Shinji had pointed, and saw a cliff tens of meters high standing silently there, its walls almost vertical. Although there were many protruding rocks and dead branches that could be used as stepping stones to help them climb, it was generally better for Ash and the others to avoid such extreme terrain.

"Anyway, let's get out of the Forest of Confusion. Once we get out of there, it's a much wider area, and we really won't get lost anymore!"

Xiao Gang said with great confidence.

"Really......"

Xiao Guang was skeptical of Xiao Gang's statement.

After all, when Ash was telling her about his past travels, it seemed like he spent most of the time getting lost. Dawn had been wondering if it was Ash's fault, but now it seems like Brock was the one leading the way. So maybe Brock is the one who's really bad at directions.

"By the way, since we're heading to the same place, why don't we walk out together? It'll be good to have company so we don't get lost here."

Brock ignored Hikaru's suspicions and instead said this to Shinji.

“There’s no need,” Shinji replied coldly. “I’m not your babysitter, and I have no reason to go with you. Keep your silliness to yourselves.”

After saying these words, Shinji left without even glancing at them again.

"What the heck! Why can't this person be a little nicer?! Talking to everyone like that, they'll never have any friends!"

Hikaru said this indignantly after Shinji left.

Shinji's words were infuriating, but the fact remained that they were lost, so Hikaru didn't dare to refute him, even though what he said was really harsh.

"Forget about Shinji's situation, let's hurry up and set off before it gets dark."

Ash waved his hand weakly as he spoke.

Anyway, he was already used to Shinji's personality. Even when the two of them became true friends, Shinji always had a sharp edge to his words... well, Gorilla was pretty much the same.

"Although setting off is no problem, remember to be careful. The book says that there are many startled deer in the Forest of Confusion. They seem to put travelers into a hallucinatory state, causing them to wander around in circles and get lost."

"A startled deer...?"

After Brock reminded him, Dawn took out his Pokédex and started looking up information on Stunister. As for Ash... to avoid being tricked by Stunister, he sent out Aipom.

"You'll stay in the tree and wait. If you spot a startled deer, remember to alert us, understand?"

"OKI~OKI~"

Aipom seemed quite happy, whether because it had come out of the Poké Ball or because it had received its mission.

Aipom looked happy, but Ash looked a little worried. After all, Aipom's expression was never a good thing. Although it wasn't always entirely Aipom's fault, it was still enough to make Ash anxious.

"Let me make this clear beforehand: if you mess around today, your training volume tomorrow will be five times that of others. If you don't mind, I don't care."

"OKI?!"

Aipom stared wide-eyed, then looked at Ash innocently. After confirming that Ash was serious, Aipom drooped its head in disappointment.

This guy, oh, he really was planning something weird...