章 28: Entering Viridian Forest

"Do we have to?" Misty whined as we left Viridian city behind and continued northward.

"Of course. I want to catch some Pokemon we can find there, and I need to spend some time to train up my team to face Brock as well." I told her with a wry smile.

"Why do you need to train for Brock? Isn't Riolu strong enough for him anyways?"

"Yeah, but I don't plan to use Riolu for every battle, even the Gym Leaders. If anything he'll be my anchor that goes last if everyone else is beaten." I told her, making Misty groan again, but she didn't say anything else since she probably knew where I was coming from.

"Why don't you want to go through Viridian Forest Misty?" Dawn asked curiously.

"Because..... That place is filled with all kinds of creepy and disgusting bugs!" The ginger screamed, alerting May who worriedly asked,

"B-bugs?! Maybe we should go around it like Misty said Ace..." I shook my head at her and stated firmly,

"No. Treecko, Squirtle, and Miltank all need the time to start their training to get stronger and build up their stamina. And I need to be able to talk to Sharpedo to try and get it to listen to me."

Either because I reminded her about it, or because she wanted to change the subject, Misty suddenly said,

"Oh yeah! Thanks for the Carvanha you gave me! It looks so cool with the red and blue scales, the ragged looking fins, and it's wicked underbite!" As she said that Misty held up the Pokeball with the Pokemon in question, and clung to it lovingly.

"You're welcome. It was part of a school that tried to take down the boat May and Dawn arrived to Kanto on. I caught them all to keep them from attacking anyone else, but we'll have to figure out what to do with the rest of them in the future."

Even as I was telling her that Misty didn't appear to be listening though, as she repeatedly fawned over her Carvanha. We continued walking like that for a bit, until May asked me,

"By the way Ace, what kind of Gym Leader is Brock? I haven't had the time to look into the Gyms of Kanto yet." With Dawn also looking at me pointedly, and Misty still in her own little world, I explained to them,

"Brock is a rock type specialist of Pewter city, which was established right at the base of Mt Moon. He's usually the first Gym Leader that people challenge on their journeys so it's rare to see him go all out, but he is a very skilled trainer since he's a Leader despite only being a few years older than us. The most notable thing about him though is his relationship with fossil Pokemon."

As I said that I pulled out my Pokenav, which I already registered Misty, Mom, and professor Oak's numbers in, and accessed Pokevision to locate a certain video.

Unlike the anime where Brock had been forced to give up his ambitions of being a Pokemon Breeder to stay in Pewter city to take care of his siblings, he currently seemed to be trying to make it the best of both worlds as he became one of the only people in the world to establish a breeding community of fossil Pokemon.

The video I was showing May and Dawn was an interview he did a while back regarding the various Gym Leaders of Kanto. In it he explained how the labs on Cinnabar island had sent the famous Museum of Pewter one of their machines to revive Pokemon that had long since fossilized, due to the large amount of fossils that could be found in Mt Moon.

With Brock possessing a large collection of fossils from his years of training his team on and exploring the mountain, he'd readily revived as many as he could before turning the Gym into both a battling center, as well as a place for fossils Pokemon to live. Not only did he revive a large enough population to start breeding them, but Brock also added several of them to his teams since the three fossil species found in Kanto were all rock types.

"So we should definitely expect to face a member of the Omanyte, Kabuto, or Aerodactyl lines then?" Dawn asked, to which I nodded while saying,

"Though he usually changes up the ones he uses to keep things fresh, I doubt he'll use an Aerodactyl in your battles since neither of you have any Gym Badges yet. From what I recall, he also has numerous Pokemon of the Geodude line, several Onix, a few members of the Rhydon line, and his first and strongest Pokemon, a Steelix."

The two girls became silent as they started thinking on everything I told them, possibly trying to decide which Pokemon they should focus on training for the coming battle. It was then that Misty suddenly piped up,

"I wouldn't be too worried about Brock to be honest. Even if he's got numerous tough Pokemon, he's also relatively famous for going somewhat easy on people who don't have a single Gym Badge. I'm willing to bet that Ace's Riolu would be able to take out every single Pokemon he'd use without much effort."

Riolu looked up at Misty pointedly when he heard that he might even get a proper challenge, before I said to her, "I don't plan to challenge his typical team when we get to Pewter. We'll never reach our goals if we just breeze through the Gyms with minimal to no effort."

"Ri!" Riolu barked in agreement, making Misty look at us curiously. I couldn't blame her though, since normally people just wanted to get their Gym Badges as quickly and easily as possible.

Anything she might've said was lost though, as we arrived at a massive line of thick trees accompanied by a wall of foliage from the brush surrounding them.

"It's not to late to go around..." Misty said quietly, with May giving me the Growlithe eyes to plead not to go into the bug type infested Forest.

"Nope. Who knows what opportunities we could miss if we skipped any place that might have bug types? We go forward!" Declaring so, I entered the forest on the path that many a trainer before us had beaten down with Riolu, Dawn, Piplup and Torchic at my side, while a reluctant Misty and May followed us.

"I don't understand how you guys think bug type Pokemon are creepy..." Dawn said as she pulled out one of her Pokeballs, and released the Silcoon within. "My little silky is adorable! And she'll evolve into a beautiful Beautifly!"

"C-coon!" Silcoon cried out as she happily snuggled with her trainer, making the other girls shudder at the sight.

Looking back at them, I thought for a second before saying, "Maybe you should catch yourself a Caterpie while we're here May?"

The girl looked at me as if I were crazy as she demanded, "and WHY would I want a creepy bug of my own!?"

I just shrugged before replying, "why not? Maybe it'll help you get over your fear of bugs?"

May just shuddered at the thought, while Misty started gagging slightly at the idea of owning a bug type herself. I have to admit, I'm VERY tempted to tell her about Surskit since it was water/bug type.

As we walked the forest around us became even denser and thicker with each step, both around us and overhead as we were only able to see actual daylight in the occasional break between the trees. Numerous times as we walked the bushes around us would shake and rustle, scaring May and Misty as they imagined all the horrible bug Pokemon it might, only for it to only be a little Ratatta or Pidgey looking for bug Pokemon to eat.

What they didn't know was that I was using my aura to detect any surrounding Pokemon, and steer our path around the ones I wasn't interested in and would terrify the two girls.

Eventually however I detected an aura signature that I hadn't felt yet, one that was typical of grass type Pokemon, but wasn't the usual Oddish or Bellsprout that one would find around here.

My first thought was that it might be a Bulbasaur, which I still wanted even after getting Treecko since the two grass types used entirely different styles of fighting than the other. Plus they could each learn moves the other could, like how Treecko or his evolutions couldn't learn the different pollen moves like Poison Powder or Stun Spore.

However as we got closer to it I realized that couldn't be it since it didn't feel like it had the poison typing Bulbasaur did, plus it's aura was fairly scattered as if it were spread out. And when we reached the area where the Pokemon was, all I could see was a fairly large bush obscuring it, yet the Pokemon's aura seemed as if it was the entire bush itself.

*rustle*

"W-what's that!?!" May exclaimed as she and Misty both went on the alert, both girls looking at the bush with blatant trepidation.

For a moment nothing happened as the bush before us rustled slightly, before it suddenly fell still. All of us watched the bush with interest, or fear, as we waited for whatever was within to make its appearance. Then suddenly,

"Exeggcute!"

""KYAAA!!!""

Both girls shrieked in terror as they kept up into my arms, where I held them up as they tried to smother me with their breasts. As they did that, six eggs with faces on them surrounded us while bouncing up and down excitedly.

"Egg!" "Egg!" "Cute!" "Exe!" "Cute!" "Exe!"

"IYAAAAAAAA! MAKE THEM STOP!" May screamed as she clung to me even tighter.

"Hmph mgh angg ahhh."

"Eh?" Misty uttered as she seemed to finally notice our current situation, with me being smothered between her and May's breasts.

"!!!"

Misty hurriedly let go of me and stepped down away from the Exeggcute surrounding us, and coughed lightly before saying Mareepily, "Ehem.... Sorry about that.... I thought it was a bug."

I just smiled wryly at her embarrassment before looking down at my hand pointedly, which had been holding her up by her ass a second ago. When Misty saw what I was looking at her cheeks reddened, and she looked away while muttering, "jerk..."

I smirked at her attitude before looking at May, who was still clinging to me tightly, and said, "you can get down now May, it's not a bug type."

"..."

"No..."

"Huh?" I asked as I looked at her curiously.

"No. I'm gonna stay like this." May replied stubbornly as she clung to me even tighter, all while the Exeggcute were still bouncing around my feet.

...

After finally detaching May from my side I knelt down to examine the curious Exeggcute, who were all similarly looking back at me with as much curiosity.

Though there were six of the egg-like seeds bouncing around, they were all one and the same Pokemon. Exeggcute were Pokemon with the grass and psychic typing, and from what I recalled all the seeds communicated with one another via telepathy.

My mind raced as I studied the six faces of the Pokemon, and they studied me, until finally I held up a Pokeball and asked, "Would you all like to come with me?"

Rather than immediately answer, the six seeds formed a huddle as they seemingly discussed my offer amongst themselves, before they turned back to me and declared as one,

""""""Egg!""""""

Smiling at their acceptance, I gently tapped the Pokeball against the seed in the front, which then sucked all six of them into it before before issuing a slight ding, signaling that they had been captured.

I quickly pulled out my Pokedex after capturing the Exeggcute, and scanned it to see how strong it was.

~~~

Exeggcute- the egg Pokemon

Type- grass/psychic

Despite looking exactly like eggs, the six faces that make up this Pokemon are in fact seeds that merely look like eggs. There are always six of them to make up the Pokemon that communicate through telepathy, and if even one is missing the rest become panicked. This Pokemon has the Chlorophyll ability.

Moves-Absorb, Hypnosis, Reflect, Leech Seed, Confusion, Poison Powder, Stun Spore, Sleep Powder

~~~

I smiled as I read the information on Exeggcute, satisfied with my find as I put the Pokeball on my belt and led the girls further into the forest.

Though they were both grass type Pokemon, Treecko and Exeggcute were completely different fighters in that the former specialized in attacking directly with close quarters combat, while the latter was more attuned to ranged and special attacks. Plus it used the status related moves I was after, such as Hypnosis and the different spore type moves.

"You seem pleased." Dawn said in observation.

"Well this guy fills a hole in my team nicely. Now let's go so we can find a place to camp for the night."

Both Dawn and I chuckled as Misty and May wailed at the idea of spending the night in the bug infested forest. As we did that I communicated my intent to Pidgeot above us, who readily directed me to a spot he had noticed a short ways away.

About a thirty minute walk from where we were our group arrived at a river that was cutting through the forest, and on the other side we could see the clearing Pidgeot had been directing me to.

"That's pretty handy. I remember spending hours just looking for a good camping spot whenever I had to camp until now, and then I'd have to take the time to actually set up camp once I found a place." Misty said wryly, before I surprised her by creating several platforms out of aura across the river.

"Sounds tedious." I replied while crossing without looking back, May and Dawn at my side.

"H-h-h-HOW ARE YOU DOING THAT!?!" Misty exclaimed in amazement, to which I looked back at her with a smirk as I said,

"I can use aura, which can be applied in numerous ways. It's also how I can understand what the Pokemon I'm talking to say." As I said that I patted Riolu's head affectionately, making my partner squint his eyes in contention as we walked across the makeshift bridge.

Though it took her a moment to test out the bridge, Misty soon followed us hurriedly as she said proudly, "Well, it's certainly not as 'flashy', but I have an ability too!"

"Oh? What is it?" Dawn asked excitedly.

Misty proceeded to stick her chest out proudly and stick her nose in the air as she declared, "everyone in my family has a special affinity with water type Pokemon! Even water Pokemon as rowdy as the Carvanha you gave me last night quickly became putty in my hands!"

I looked back at Misty in genuine awe while considering what she said. With legendary Pokemon being akin to gods, I couldn't help but wonder if one with water typing blessed one of her ancestors or something.

Questions for later.

Once all of us were safely across the river I dispelled the aura bridge I'd created, and looked around curiously at the spot Pidgeot had led us to.

It was a fairly large clearing with numerous logs in the center that surrounded a ring of rocks, showing that it had been used as a campsite in the past. The canopy of branches and leaves that we had gotten used to seeing overhead also broke to give us a nice ring of blue skies above us, while a few bushes nearby also had nice and fat berries that were waiting to be picked.

"This is nice!" Dawn exclaimed as she looked around excitedly with Piplup at her side, while May wandered around with Torchic, and Misty examined the river with Psyduck.

After checking with my aura to ensure there was nothing dangerous nearby, I pulled out the four Pokeballs on my belt and tossed them up into the air, releasing Squirtle, Treecko, Miltank, and Exeggcute. I quickly introduced Exeggcute to the other three members of my team, before Pidgeot also decided to glide down and grace us with his presence, surprising Misty since she hadn't actually seen him up close yet.

Once the introductions were done, I told my team and the girls, "ok! Let's hurry and set up camp, then we can relax the rest of the night so we're all nice and rested to begin our training tomorrow!"

There was resounding cry of excitement that mostly came from my team, with Treecko's eyes being the most intense after his loss to Ash's Pikachu earlier today. And as everyone psyched themselves up, I pulled the two eggs out of my bag to gently place them on the ground.

Or so I tried to, as the Charmander egg was now hot enough that I nearly dropped it in surprise.

***

*meanwhile*

Nurse Joy was fuming as she sat at her station.

Her Ace was out there, who knew where, and here she was sitting and unable to follow him because of her bitch of a grandmother, the Nurse Joy overseeing all of them in Viridian city.

She had even gone out of her way to attach an ankle monitor to her in order to track her movements, which would go off if she left this area of Viridian city. She had also been expressly forbidden to shirk any more of her duties due to her affection for Ace, which Nurse Joy thought was completely unfair!

"Excuse me!" Cried out a woman that had been trying to get Nurse Joy's attention, startling her slightly as she looked up at her with less than enthusiastic eyes.

"Can I help you?" She asked in a curt, dry tone, which visibly annoyed the young woman before her. However her attitude quickly flipped around as she stated in a cheeky voice,

"I was looking for a certain boy that I'd heard was staying here! Dashing good looks, rugged muscles, and beautiful amber eyes-"

"You mean Ace?" Nurse Joy asked warily.

"Yes! That's it! Ace!" The woman exclaimed in a fairly loud voice, though Nurse Joy's attitude became worse when she realized she was dealing with yet another Ace fan girl, which reminded her of May, Dawn, and Misty.

Nurse Joy was about to tell the woman to buzz off, when she suddenly had an idea. Instead, she laced her fingers as she leaned forward, prompting the young woman to do the same, and whispered,

"He left this morning, BUT, I heard he's headed to Pewter city to challenge the League circuit. If you hurry you can still catch him."

The woman beamed at the news as she clutched Nurse Joy's hands affectionately, and declared, "Thank you so so so SO MUCH! I'll never forget this!"

Nurse Joy just forced herself to smile at the woman, willing her to leave already. And when she turned around to do just that, her smile turned more sinister as she anticipated how those three tramps would deal with ANOTHER skank showing up on their journey.

Unknown to her though, the moment the other woman stepped out of the door, her eager and excited smile was quickly replaced with a pained grimace.

The woman quickly made her way down the street and turned into an alleyway, where she quickly began stripping parts of her outfit off, revealing a white Team Rocket uniform underneath.

"So? How'd it go?" Asked a Meowth that came out of hiding alongside a man with shoulder length blue hair.

"Easily enough, but there's one little hiccup." Jessie said as she removed the binding on her hair, revealing her tell-tail long magenta comet tail.

"The brat is headed to Pewter city." Jessie said with irritation, making Meowth and James both groan since they had an idea what route he was going to take.

"Do we really have to go back in the forest?"

"Yeah! We'd just got outta there too!"

The two of them whined pitifully, irritating Jessie as she snapped,

"Stop your whining! Think about this logically, if we go into the forest there's no guarantee that we'll ever find him. BUT, if we go around the forest, then we'll probably make it to Pewter city ahead of him!"

Posing with her nose in the air, James and Meowth got on their knees before Jessie as they showered her with praise for her smart thinking. And so, the trio quickly set off on a route that would help them avoid the forest as they tried to cut Ace off.