After winning his Fog Badge at the Ecruteak Gym, Ash and friends learn of a tea ceremony happening in town and decide to check it out. Inside they find out it is run by five sisters. Misty befriends the youngest sister, Sakura. Sakura wants to start a Pokemon journey and asks if she can join Ash, Misty, and Brock. They agree, but her sisters don't. Her sisters propose a challenge, they have a set of battles, and if Ash, Misty, and Brock defeat them Sakura can go. They agree and the battles begin.

Parched from a long desert journey, our heroes are excited to see a promising sparkle in the distance. As they press toward this spectacle, a city in utter ruin unfurls before them. This desolation notwithstanding, they are able to locate an intact Pokémon Center and learn from the Joy in residence that there ruins had once been a great city, inhabited by a tribe of people who were known for the reverence they showed to Remoraid.