"Again, two hits. I think we need to have more of a challenge soon Pikachu because this is getting ridiculous now" Ash said shaking his head looking at the clearly shocked girl. "You know what Giselle, keep training here. You'll be absolutely no threat to me when you enter the league."
Walking away he left with a parting shot to the professor "I will be speaking with my sponsor Professor Oak about this. At no point have I ever endorsed this place, nor will I ever do so."
The next day Ash came to a bridge across a small valley. Looking at it he knew immediately that something was wrong "this is clearly a trap Pikachu. My eyesight isn't amazing but even I can see the ropes are hanging on by a thread. Someone or something obviously doesn't want us to cross here." Looking around he noticed half a mile downstream the valley dipped down and became just a river. "we'll just walk around it" doing so only took an extra four hours but Ash had no desire to go tumbling down onto rocks so felt it was worth it. Making his way along the narrow bridge he arrived at the other side of the bridge and carried on down the path. Ash could see that he was delving into a bit of a what looked like a forest, so they stopped to eat before venturing on forwards. "Be wary Pikachu, you too Eevee. These woods don't feel very welcome" and so he continued on, occasionally sidestepping traps on the floor, traps on the trees and the occasional wild Pokémon attack them.
Hours later the trees started thinning when he rolled out of the way of what was clearly a Pokémon attack. "Thunderbolt Pikachu, ten o'clock!" hearing a pained cry he was again attacked from behind by a Stun Spore. Rolling out of the way Ash launched an Aura Sphere in its general direction hitting a tree "Come out!" Ash shouted "Now, or I carry on attacking" silence reigned for several minutes. Expanding his Aura Ash was surprised to receive nothing. "Come on guys. Whatever was here isn't here anymore." Putting a scarf around his mouth in case of other status attacks they carried on. Ash continued to use his Aura as a kind of sonar and every now and then he would get a blip but whatever they were following was always just out of range and whatever it was clearly knew its way around these woods. Ash had long since left the path, but he knew that if he just kept walking forward he would eventually get out.
"This place looks vaguely familiar Pikachu" Ash said sitting on a boulder. I think we've been led in circles guys" Ash said sitting down. "Let's rest for a bit while I see where we are" taking out his Pokégear Ash brought up the map section and discovered that he was right. They were back to where they started when they were first attacked. "Well guys the path is about twenty yards over there so we're back there. Whatever we followed has led us back to here, we've wasted around four hours trying to find it, so I suggest we rest here for the night and carry on using the path tomorrow. We're going to have to take turns keeping watch as whatever we followed didn't mind attacking us in the slightest."
Setting up camp they chatted about various things, Ash brought Eevee up to speed on what Arceus had tasked him with "it is important you understand this, Eevee. There's another reason I will be sending you to my mother Pokémon. One, she is likely aware of this but will also probably never mention. Arceus has given me a great task. I have set my sights on defeating Team Rocket and any other evil group that is out there, including any and all abusive trainers. That means once I reveal myself my family will become a target. The Pokémon I am sending to her will be there to defend her. It's why I am sometimes harsh with training as you need to learn things quickly because you won't be with me long enough. I'll be sending mum a training schedule for you to keep up with, so I expect you to keep it up. It will be nothing like the schedule my six will be doing, but it will keep your skills sharp. Family is everything to me Eevee. You are a part of that family now and with my father gone there is only you, Pikachu, Mum and I left. And I will do everything I can to protect that, at any cost. I expect my family members to do the same. We have already killed to do so and will likely do so again in the future. I suggest you both get some sleep and Eevee, think over what I just said."
Unbeknownst to them Ash had gotten lax during his talk, and someone heard every word he said. Walking back into the forest as quietly as he could he contemplated the trainers' words. Arceus herself had given the trainer a task? And he was training a team to do the task. Not only that but he was training other Pokémon to defend his family. Thinking of his own family made his respect for the trainer go up as he too would defend them with his life but this trainers' words kept coming back to him. Family is everything. The people he was staying with wasn't his true family. It had been a long time since he was adopted and he was very grateful, but he had felt his abilities were destined for something greater. Was this trainer the one to be able to help him achieve that greatness? Reaching his home, he walked in.
"Hello Bulbasaur" his adopted parent said, "How are you faring?" Shaking his head, she looked at him sadly "I think its time we had a chat, don't you?"
The next morning Ash was woken up by Pikachu pointing to the forest. Sending out an Aura wave he felt the presence from last night. It was just beyond the trees and was clearly watching them. Silently the group packed up and walked towards the presence. It turned around and kept up a stead pace. Following it Ash brought out his Pokégear to make sure they went going around in circles again and found they were going in a straight line. Puzzled they followed for another hour until the presence disappeared. Walking through the bushes Ash was very surprised to find it open up into a big clearing where a big pond sat next to a wooden house. Beside the pond were many Pokémon happily playing in the water. Immediately all activity stopped as Ash walked closer to the house and there sat on the doorstep was a Bulbasaur. It was the presence they had felt all day yesterday and again today.
"Hello Bulbasaur" Ash said looking at it curiously "you seem to have brought me here on purpose. Why?"
Instead of answering Bulbasaur raised a vine and knocked on the door before walking off to the pond. It opened in surprise and a young woman came out. She stopped in surprise at seeing another trainer and immediately her face changed from curiosity to understanding.
"You must be the Pokémon trainer Bulbasaur was telling me about last night." The woman said "My name is Melanie; this is my home. I apologise for his actions, but he takes his job of guardian of the woods very seriously. You see, all around you are Pokémon that were abandoned by their original trainers in this forest. I look after them until they're healed, and they move on."
"Well Melanie my name is Ash Ketchum. I'm a junior professor from Pallet Town on a journey to become a Pokémon master." Ash said kissing the back of her hand "I am pleased to meet you. What you do is admirable. I have a deep loathing for anyone that mistreats their Pokémon, especially abandoning them. These Pokémon all look very healthy though so why haven't they left?"
Sighing she walked to the ponds edge and sat down "unfortunately Bulbasaur is too good at his job. They don't want to leave because they know they're safe here due to his actions."
"Is that a problem?" Ash asked sitting beside her "if you need funds my sponsor Professor Oak and I can happily help you out to keep this place going. What you do here is amazing".
"No" she said shaking her head "funds aren't an issue, everything we have we get from the forest here. The issue is Bulbasaur. He needs to leave before the others do. Unfortunately, he doesn't really like trainers after his original partner left him here abandoned while injured. He came up against a Charmeleon in a battle and was beaten. His trainer didn't like being humiliated despite Bulbasaur being at a severe disadvantage and brought him into the forest where he abandoned him".
"Grrr" Ash said shaking his head angrily "I despise trainers like that. Rather than admitting it was them that was the problem and trying to come up with a solution together they take it out on the Pokémon. Bastards. It's a real shame too as Bulbasaur is clearly a good Pokémon judging on how many traps I avoided. I would love to have him as a partner as I had plans to hunt for a Bulbasaur. I decided on my team long before I left and a Bulbasaur was on that list. But I won't take a Pokémon that doesn't want to be caught. It's a shame really." Looking up at the sky he saw the sun had passed overhead "I must get going, I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help to you. Here" he said handing out a phone number "give Professor Oak a ring. He's a good man. And I'm certain he will help you re-home these Pokémon to trustworthy people. Again, I wish you all the best" standing up he said goodbye and walked back into the forest and following his Pokégear he quickly found the path again and carried on with his journey.
"We should be out of here by noon tomorrow at the latest guys. It gets dark too soon to walk at night, so we'll carry on until the sun starts to go down" Ash said.
"It was a real shame about Bulbasaur Ash" Pikachu said, "but it's an admirable job he's doing."
"It certainly is Pikachu" Ash replied "to both of those points. But it clearly views his role here of extreme importance, which it is. I just hope Bulbasaur realises that he will never reach his full potential staying here, but who am I to say what constitutes a fulfilling life? We all have our own path to lead."
Nodding the trio carried on in silence until they set up camp. They decided to keep a shift pattern again, just in case a wild Pokémon attacked. The next morning Ash woke up to see Bulbasaur standing staring at his tent.
"Er, Hi Bulbasaur" Ash said surprised. Looking around he saw Eevee asleep "did you knock out Eevee?"
"I did" Bulbasaur said in a slow deep voice, again surprising Ash "I wanted to talk to you before you left, and this was going to be my last chance".
Walking over to Eevee he shook her awake where she started chattering angrily about sneak attacks while glaring at Bulbasaur. Chuckling Ash stood up and walked back "and why did you need to talk to me?"
"You can understand me?" Bulbasaur said surprised.
"Yes, I can so I repeat, why did you want to talk to me?" Ash said sitting down and making breakfast for them all. Grabbing an extra bowl out of his bag he sprinkled on a few sweet berries and gave it to Bulbasaur.
"Oh, this is nice" Bulbasaur said happily "I wanted to know what your goals are. Melanie explained to me what you said, and I overheard you a few nights ago talking about Lady Arceus and a mission and I wanted to know why you feel you deserve to be my trainer."
"I'm going to stop you right there Bulbasaur" Ash said seriously "If you join our family then I will not be your trainer, I will be your partner. I do not ask Pikachu or Eevee for that matter to do any training that I myself am unwilling to do. We train together, we spar together, we battle together and when we eventually lose a battle we will lose together. This is very serious to me; my family is very serious to me. I don't have much but what I do have I cherish. Now I will tell you what I told Melanie. Your old trainer was a bastard for doing what he did and I will not now, nor will I ever abandon a Pokémon for losing a battle. Most trainers seem to forget the golden rule of battling. 'If you win it's the Pokémon that did so, if you lose it's because of the trainer'. I've always believed that and always will. Now, onto you. I would like you to become my Pokémon because I think you'll be an excellent addition to our family and will help us achieve our goals. What they are I can only tell you if you decide on joining us. Arceus herself decreed that and I will not go around it for anyone."
"What If I don't want to evolve?" Bulbasaur asked.
"Then we make you the strongest Bulbasaur the world has ever seen" Ash said simply "Pikachu doesn't want to evolve, and I will not force him to do so, and when we get to Vermillion, I'm going to buy Eevee an Everstone so that she can choose if and when she wants to evolve. That will be her choice. I will say this, our life is not going to be easy. We will constantly be heading into dangerous situations; some we may not live through so this is not going to be an easy choice. We have already been forced to kill. But as long as you are part of my family you will always be my priority. I will give you until noon to decide Bulbasaur. It's our training time right now. Come on guys. Up and at it."
Watching Ash and his Pokémon train was a revelation to Bulbasaur. They clearly didn't take things lightly with what they did. Seeing Eevee headbutting a tree to learn Headbutt and then use Iron Tail over and over on the same point of a tree showed the level they were willing to go through. Watching Ash and Pikachu though was amazing. They never kept still as they went full force at each other. How could a Pikachu use Aura Sphere? If that's what it was as it wasn't blue, it was a mixture of green and yellow.
Ash had discovered what the issue was. Pikachu wasn't a fighting type, and he also shouldn't be able to learn the move so he couldn't expect him to know how to form an Aura Sphere. Aura was the life force of everything around them which as a Pokémon he was more in tune with. Feeling the energy in the air was natural to a Pokémon, forming it into an attack was just as natural. Getting an Aura Sphere out of it was not so what they did was cheat. They came up with the idea to shape the aura around him into a ball and fill it with electricity and then throw it. Calling it Lightning Sphere was so that they could easily remember what it was they were after. Perfecting it was difficult though but the progress they made was phenomenal.
"You see Pikachu" Ash said stopping and taking a breather "when you don't think about the move you're using and just act on it naturally, in the heat of battle you're able to do it. When you have time though you overthink it and that's when it starts becoming an issue. With time though it will just be natural. Well done buddy. Eevee come on over, we're done for today. I saw the progress you made; you're doing really well. Learning Headbutt using your own initiative is also really good. Like I said before, if it's a good idea I'll leave you to it."
After they ate Ash packed up and they all walked over to Bulbasaur. "Well Bulbasaur, were going to be going now. Have you come to a decision?"
"Yes" he said standing up "I will join you. Watching you train I realised that the potential I have could make me extraordinary. And I will never become extraordinary here on my own. I would like to become your Pokémon".
"Family" Ash said gently correcting him taking out a Pokéball "if you join us, you become family".
"Family it is" Bulbasaur said extending a vine and touching the button on the Pokéball and being absorbed inside. Dinging to signal a capture he released Bulbasaur who shook itself.
"That was weird" Bulbasaur said.
"I told you Ash" Pikachu said smugly "it's a really strange feeling."
Laughing Ash pointed Dexter at Bulbasaur, and it bleeped to life.
"Bulbasaur, Pokedex Number 1, the Seed Pokémon. This Pokémon has a Sassy nature and the ability Chlorophyll. This Pokémon is male. A strange seed was planted on its back at birth. The plant sprouts and grows with this Pokémon. Bulbasaur knows the moves Tackle, Vine Whip, Razor Leaf, Stun Spore, Poison Powder, Sleep Powder and has the egg move Sludge Bomb that has yet to be unlocked."
"Ok, that's a good move set Bulbasaur." Ash said "Your nature isn't the best with the minus speed, but we can work around that. A Plus Special Defence is really good though for dealing with Pokémon that can seriously hurt you. Should you evolve you become more rooted to the spot anyway so any speed training wouldn't really be beneficial to you. We'll still do it but for now we'll focus on increasing the power of the attacks you know and teach you some new moves. You may have to be used in the next gym battle in a few weeks, so we've only got a short time frame to get you up to speed. Normally I don't think you can learn Sludge but obviously you may be able to given what your egg move is. We'll work on that at some point. For now, we'll attach some weights to your legs as you walk to build up the leg muscles and we'll go through topics you need to know."
Nodding happily Bulbasaur joined them and chatted away to Eevee and Pikachu while Ash listened on. Bulbasaur would be a very good addition Ash decided.