Having handed over his third and last Pokédex to Crys, Prof. Oak decides to give the girl some guidance and suggests that she start off by capturing the Pokémon inhabiting around Cherrygrove. To his surprise, Crys grins that she has most probably caught all Pokémon living in that area already, and begins pulling out a handful of Pokéballs from her backpack. She explains that she took time to do some capturing before coming to lab, and leaves the professor stunned when she remarks that there are altogether 30 different species of Pokémon caught in 30 Pokéballs. She says she will send over her new captures via the transfer system in the future, and turns to leave. Still recovering from his surprise, Prof. Oak stops her abruptly and wonders if she wishes to take along any of the Pokémon to assist her on the journey. But Crys refuses the offer, and explains that she only travels with her trusted team members only.

At the front door, Prof. Oak watches as his capture specialist departs, and muses how different trainers excels in different areas. Just then, Prof. Elm, who has been waiting in the next room, gets impatient and decides to come out, only to discover that Crys has already left. He immediately gets upset at Prof. Oak who has promised to inform him once the Pokédex handover is done, but apparently Oak was too stunned by Crys's zealous attitude, and has totally forgotten about it. Elm's Chicorita comes wiggling out onto the pavement outside the lab, and Elm sighs that he initially wished to have Crys take it along with her. Knowing that Totodile and Cyndaquil have both matured and grown on their separate journeys, he has always wanted to give Chicorita a chance to see the world outside as well. But then the young professor lets out another sigh, and reveals that he has actually overheard what Crys said earlier about not taking in any new team members.

Elm picks up Chicorita into his arms, and says it might have to wait until another suitable trainer comes along before it can have its own adventure. Chicorita immediately gets heartbroken, and tears start to well up in its eyes. Not willing to spend another day doing nothing in the lab, the little leaf Pokémon decides to go in search of Crys itself, and scratches hard on Elm's face before dashing away. Both professors jump in shock at Chicorita's sudden behaviour, but see that it is already too late to give chase. Oak hollers that they have to contact Crys as soon as possible, and they both hurry back into the lab.

Meanwhile, on route 30, Crys is facing a wild Victreebell, and is about to order another ember from Arcanon. Just then, Chicorita charges out from the bushes and hops in front of the Victreebell, wiggling its tail with a big grin. Crys gasps in shock and immediately holds back Arcanon, but Victreebell decides to use the little leaf Pokémon as its shield and snatches it up with its vines. As Chicorita and Victreebell are both grass types, Crys knows she cannot depend on Arcanon's fire attacks anymore, and calls out Smoochon to unleash a meanlook instead. She then kicks off two Pokéballs, and instantly captures both Chicorita and Victreebell.

Walking over to pick up her captures, Crys remarks that she should send them over to Prof. Oak once she arrives at the next PokémonCenter, but to her surprise, Chicorita starts shaking its head frantically in the ball. It points towards the other Pokémon in Crys's active party, and the girl realizes that it wishes to join her team. Knowing that Chicorita is far too inexperienced to help her on her quest, Crys explains that there will be times when she ventures into dangerous zones for captures, and that she cannot afford to have weak Pokémon in her party. But Chicorita persists, and is determined to convince Crys of its worth. After a moment of thought, Crys decides to give the little Pokémon a chance to prove itself, and releases it out of the Pokéball. She then calls out her Hitmonchan, Chanon, and says Chicorita will have to fight it and try its best to impress her.

Though a little intimidated by Chanon, Chicorita stands its ground and unleashes a razorleaf. To its surprise, Chanon fends them off easily and proceeds to deliver a megapunch on the ground. Cracks immediately radiate out from the spot, and Chicorita finds itself on the verge of falling into them. But it decides to carry on, and plants its feet down solid, until it can no longer maintain balance and rolls on its back, feeling discouraged and dejected. Having observed everything with a keen eye all this time, Crys walks over to Chicorita and compliments on its bravery, saying that Chanon's megapunch has never failed to make a wild Pokémon draw back in fear. She picks up Chicorita, and remarks that though small, it certainly shows a mega class of peseverance. She decides to call it Megapon, and the little leaf Pokémon quickly lightens up with joy, knowing that it has finally succeeded in convincing the girl.

Crys warns Megapon that there will be all kinds of danger along the way, and says it will have to look out for itself sometimes. She then introduces it to her other Pokémon, who all seem happy to have a new teammate. Crys remarks that everyone in her party has star-related features: the star collar of Arcanon the Arcanine, the star sticker below the left eye of Naton the Natu, the star mark on the right glove of Chanon the Hitmonchan, the star-shaped crack on the skull of Cubon the Cubone, the star-shaped pattern on Paron the Parasect, as well as the star pendant around the neck of Smoochon the Smoochum. Seeing that the star pendant is the only transferrable feature, Crys apologizes to Smoochon, and wonders if it minds to take a little break and let Megapon take its place for a while. Smoochon hesitates for a moment before making up its mind, and trots over to offer its pendant to Megapon. Officially being accepted into the team, Megapon rejoices as everyone else cheers.

Back at Oak's second science lab, the two professors are still troubled about not being able to get in touch with Crys. Oak remarks that Crys must have switched off her Pokégear phone during captures, and Elm prays that Chicorita is safe from harm…

Thanks To Coronis For Writing this for us