The group walked together through the forest and were taking a break by a spring. They had been travelling for more than a week now and it looked like they were not getting closer to Vermillion city any time soon. According to Fearrow they would take another two weeks by walking. It made Misty curse Team Rocket in her mind, her bike had been destroyed by them back in Viridian city and good bikes were costly to get.
Misty sighed, "What I wouldn't give for a warm bath right now? I can't help it, it's been a week since I had a bubble bath."
Ash laughed, "I know, I miss it too and I want to check in on the others."
Brock, "It has been a while since we called home, hasn't it?"
Jessilina, "Homesick?"
Brock, "A little bit. Last time I called them, they were managing."
Jameson, "Happens on everyone's first journey."
Ash leaned against Lucario, "You miss baths too, don't ya bud?"
Lucario nodded, -It feels a bit strange to go without for so long.-
Pikachu, "Pika?"
Lucario, -Truly!-
Misty all of a sudden got up, "Look, a Pokemon."
Ash looked where she was pointing, "An Oddish."
Misty ∑(￣□￣|||), "I want to catch it, but if I do they will go to the gym directly. Ah! It's so cute too."
Ash pat her head, "There, there! I know what you mean, hey I think they are getting along with our Pokemon."
Misty, "Oh! That's cool."
Their Pokemon were talking with the grass type that had come to drink water. Oddish was honestly a little surprise none of the trainers had thought about catching it but also a little relieved at that. The Pokemon were telling the new audience about their travels and adventures making the Grass type's eyes widen and look at the humans. She told them that they were like her friend Melanie, and Oddish started to talk about her friends and home.
Brock, "Looks like we are camping here for tonight. It is a bit late as well."
Ash nodded, "That's fine. Wanna train you guys?"
Pikachu perked up, "Pika Pikapi!"
Lucario, -Yes let's go, you almost managed to access your aura last time.-
Ash smiled before setting up his tent and supplies, then leaving for training a bit further away, "We'll try new combinations for Pikachu. The next gym is an electric type and I want to see how far Pikachu is compared to a Gym leader's electric Pokemon. What do you say? Don't worry I have a few ideas for the rest of you to try as well."
Pikachu pumped his fist up, "Pi pika!"
Lucario watched as the Pokemon listened attentively before it was Ash's turn to practice, -You should meditate more and try to bring your aura out. Preferably try to make a ball in your hands.-
Ash nodded and proceeded to meditate calming himself down and searching for the blue warmth from a few days ago. It became a bit easier to access it with every try, however making it do something was another challenge entirely. He had decided to try imagining a string of aura connected between him and the core and imagining he was pulling on the Aura through that string. It took a while but he managed to pull enough aura to be able to materialise outside in the form of a transparent blue ball the size of a palm.
This was a common sight for Pokemon in the group but Oddish was shocked, she didn't know there were people capable of using aura. Milotic who was taking a break explained about the risk of being hunted by bad humans. Oddish nodded understanding the need for safety, her previous trainer was a bad one, she can only imagine how she would have reacted if she knew about this. Oddish was not the only one surprised, in the bushes was a Pokemon watching the group.
He was about to approach them but realized they meant no harm and decided to observe them instead. He had scoffed when Lucario started to instruct the human, he had never heard or seen a human take instructions from a Pokemon before, it was always humans instructing Pokemon. Imagine his surprise when the young boy started to follow them and successfully perform as instructed. He had heard whispers of humans like him before but such humans were so rare, they remained hidden themselves. Here infront of him was one such human, he half wondered to himself, if he should approach them or not, from what he could see the other humans were not surprised by his abilities.
Ash opened his eyes, "Ah! So this is my aura?"
Misty, "It's so pretty."
Brock, "You better be careful not to show it infront of others even by accident."
Jameson, "Especially infront of Team Rocket, or what happened back in Mt Moon will be nothing compared to what they will do to get their hands on you."
Jessilina nodded, "I would suggest learning to hide it first."
Ash nodded as Lucario pat his shoulder, -We will get to combat soon.-
Ash turned to the bushes, "Hello! You can come out, you know? We won't hurt you."
The Pokemon hesitate before the bushes moved and Oddish brightened up and went to greet him. Ash was surprised to see a Bulbasaur coming out of the bushes. He could have sworn the only wild Pokemon belonging to the Venasaur line were now available in the wildlife sanctuaries due to the poaching. As he wonders what a Bulbasaur was doing out here in the middle of nowhere he was struck by the memories again and he realized the Pokemon in front of him was abandoned.
Ash spoke softly, "Hello Bulbasaur, did you come in search of your friend?"
Bulbasaur nodded before turning to Lucario and spoke to him. Lucario nodded, -He says there is a Pokemon village nearby, it's at a one day walking distance from here.-
Ash blinked, "Are you inviting us to your village?"
Bulbasaur nodded and Lucario translated, -You don't seem interested in catching Pokemon so, yes. Please inform the others.-
Ash smiled, "Of course. Guys we are being invited to the Pokemon village as long as we don't catch any Pokemon."
Misty, "Is there a bath?"
Brock, "It's a village Misty."
Misty, "I just miss a good bath okay."
Jessilina, "We would love to visit the village and we promise we won't catch any of the Pokemon."
Bulbasaur nodded and made himself comfortable by the base of a tree a bit further away from the group. Jameson simply smiled at that and told him he was welcome to the food as they had more than enough for everyone. Bulbasaur watched as they trained with the Pokemon which baffled him a bit. Usually trainers trained their Pokemon never trained with them, it was a little refreshing to watch if he was being honest. Despite his hesitance he found himself relaxing in their presence and enjoyed having dinner with them and the food.
The next day he woke up very early to the sound of training, he watched as the young girl, Misty got into the stream to train with the water Pokemon before coming out and training with Butterfree, Oddish it seems had taken to her and keeps following her. The older female, who's name is Jessilina was training with her Pokemon further away, she was telling her Pokemon to attack her and dodging all of their attacks.... strange but okay. The youngest male, Ash was running and exercising with his Pokemon and his Pokemon were running enthusiasticly beside him. It made him remember his own trainer, he was kind in the beginning but with each loss became cold and cruel till he finally abandoned him. He shook his head and turned his attention to the older males, Brock was brushing and massaging his Pokemon while Jameson was reading a few papers as his Pokemon dozed around him.
Lucario, -Are you alright?-
Bulbasaur blinked, "Bulba! Saur?"
Lucario, -Ash felt your emotions were in a turmoil. Also breakfast time, come join us.-
Bulbasaur looked at the boy who was looking at him worriedly he got up and went to sit beside him patting his leg. Ash smiled and served him his breakfast before he served the other Pokemon and eating his own. Bulbasaur led them through the forest towards the Pokemon village. They walked from morning to early evening taking a break to have lunch before seeing a few houses surrounded by fields. A ranger came out to greet Bulbasaur and saw them.
Ranger, "Hello there! Looks like our Bulbasaur made new friends."
Bulbasaur humped and walked towards a woman who was talking to another ranger and pulled at her pants. The woman greeted Bulbasaur before following him back to the group. The woman introduced herself as Melanie before introducing the three rangers who joined them as Kevin, Kenny and Betty. The gang introduced themselves and told them how they met Oddish first before meeting Bulbasaur who invited them to come here with him.
Melanie, "Oh my! That is new. Bulbasaur does not like other humans."
Betty, "Humans who are not Melanie at least."
Melanie, "He only liked me after I proved to him that I would not leave him hurt."
Kevin, "Sure."
Ash laughed, "Bulbasaur is pretty cool."
Misty nodded, "Yeah."
Fearrow, Pidgeotto, Butterfree, Zubat and Chimecho flew down after flying around and checking the place out. As Bulbasaur was the one to invite them Melanie offered them to stay the night. Brock would have gone on a tirade about love if Misty had not pushed him away and thanked Melanie and asked her if there was a bath she could use. Melanie nodded and showed them the two baths they had and they decided the girls would use one and the boys the other. Misty went first and among the boys Ash, the rangers were a bit surprised when the Pokemon rushed after them, while Melanie giggled.
Brock moved towards the stream close to the village and called Onix and Graveller to clean them up. Jessilina decided to do the same for her Sandshrew and gave her a wash first so she could enjoy the warmth of the sun while the others were bathing. Misty came out with her Pokemon and Oddish who had joined them, after half an hour, all clean, relaxed and fluffy. Ash came out with his Pokemon and Bulbasaur fifteen minutes after Misty did as his Pokemon were a bit bigger in size. Brock, Jameson and Jessilina finished their own baths after them before they volunteered to help in caring for the Pokemon.
Melanie, "Do you always take a bath with your Pokemon?"
Misty nodded helping a Staryu, "It's more fun, plus it helps the Pokemon relax after training."
Ash was helping a Scyther much to the rangers worry and flabbergasted look, "Yeah and they love it too. Bulbasaur sure did."
Jessilina, "Not to forget it's a great way to bond with them."
Melanie, "I was honestly surprised about that, he has never been interested in another person before."
Kenny, "Yeah, he's very comfortable around you, Ash."
Ash smiled looking at the Bulbasaur sticking close to him as he helped Scyther, "I'm happy, he doesn't mind."
Melanie, "Would you consider taking him with you?"
Betty, "Eh?"
Kevin, "What?"
Melanie, "Bulbasaur has been here for a long time now and his bulb has grown as much as it could here. This village is too small for his bulb. Out there in the world, I have no doubt he'll grow bigger. Please Ash. This village was meant to be a healing ground not a place for Pokemon to live in. They were meant to come here, heal and then leave. Not stay here forever. So what do you say?"
Ash bent down, "I say, that's Bulbasaur's choice. We will not leave till tomorrow morning so Bulbasaur why don't you think about it and then decide."
Bulbasaur looked at Ash then the village before he nodded and decided to think on it before making a decision. He didn't want to leave the village but at the same time, he wanted to see the world. He knew that thanks to the Rangers this village was safe and nothing bad would happen to the Pokemon here. When morning came, Bulbasaur approached Ash and pawed him making Ash smile but he wanted to battle first. Oddish meanwhile approached Misty and motioned she wanted to go with her.
Ash, "Togepi, wanna battle?"
Togepi stood up and faced Bulbasaur who attacked with vine whip that Togepi dodged.
Ash, "Sweet kiss!"
Bulbasaur ran as Togepi ran after him to kiss him.
Ash, "Yawn followed by metronome."
Togepi yawned making Bulbasaur drowsy before he released his metronome which was a shadow ball, knocking the grass type out. Ash caught Bulbasaur before activating the stall option and released him so he could say good bye to Melanie, before using one of the Ranger's videophones to send Togepi to the lab. The Pokemon agreed to take a break from the training they were doing, Misty meanwhile decided to send the two Poliwhirls back to the gym before catching Oddish and after that they left the village with Ash and Misty making a promise to take care of the Pokemon. Also since they had their number Bulbasaur and Oddish could visit anytime they wanted to making the two smile.