Pokemon: The Journey

After they had sold the Sharp Beaks at the Poké Mart, they had used the money to buy the necessary supplies like food for weeks, medicines like Potion, Antidote, Paralyze Heal, berries of different varieties, and some miscellaneous items. They were prepared to head into the forest.

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It was around 10 AM when they reached the entrance to the Viridian Forest.

The ancient forest loomed over them.

The trees grew more as he went inside and traveled the route.

The forest didn't welcome them. It consumed them.

Trees rose like ancient sentinels, their trunks wide enough to hide houses, barks veined with moss and time. The canopy stretched above in a woven ceiling of green-too dense to let sunlight touch the soil. In most places, the forest floor was steeped in shadow, lit only by flickers of movement or the glint from a startled Pokémon's eyes.

Foliage layered thick from above, leaves slick and humid, dripping dew that never met the ground. Where light fell, it fell like coins- brief, golden, and quickly swallowed.

Each step sank into the loam rich with decay and memory. Roots coiled beneath them like sleeping serpents, vines whispering between the trees, brushing his shoulders with soft threat.

The air smelled of bark, wet earth, and breath- dense enough to make Pikachu's fur prickle as he stepped lightly beside him. Every chirp and call was distant. Every rustle felt watched.

The Viridian Forest was not a place to explore.

It was a place to survive.

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'Woah.'

Ash couldn't agree with Roshi more.

Looking at Pikachu, he saw that Pikachu shared the same sentiment.

'No wonder the place is a natural labyrinth. The forest extends for a long distance and with such thick trees with such little visible light, people are bound to get lost if they are not careful.'

Ash and Pikachu walked with comfortable silence, looking out for anything.

Hearing a sound, they looked to the side where they saw a Caterpie.

It was not looking at them and was eating a leaf.

'You know the other method to catch a Pokémon that did not involve battling?'

'Yup.'

Careful not to make a sound, he took out a regular Poké Ball, expanded it, and threw it with precision at the back of Caterpie's head.

Caterpie was too shocked upon being hit in the head and got absorbed into the ball.

Shake...shake...shake...ping!

Watching with bated breath, Ash walked with reverent steps up to the ball and took it in his hands.

With excitement, he looked at Pikachu and exclaimed, "I caught a Caterpie!"

'Hey...hey...hey. No need to shout. What will we do when we attract the attention of the Beedrill swarm? You heard the person while coming here.'

Grimacing inwardly, he remembered the person he met while travelling to the entrance of the forest. He said that the bugs and Pokémon were far more restless and aggressive since yesterday, for some reason.

Taking out Caterpie from the ball, he introduced Pikachu and himself to them. Pointing the Pokedex at Caterpie, the monotonic robotic voice filled the air,

"Caterpie, the Worm Pokémon. A Bug-type Pokémon.

Yellow ring-shaped markings down the sides of its segmented body resemble its eyes and are meant to scare off predators. Its most notable characteristic is the bright red antenna (osmeterium) on its head, which releases a stench to repel predators. Despite these features and its camouflage in green foliage, Caterpie is often preyed upon byFlying-typePokémon. Its four tiny feet are tipped with suction cups, permitting this Pokémon to scale most surfaces with minimal effort.

Caterpie is easy to capture and grows quickly, making it ideal for new Trainers. As Caterpie grow and develop over time, they will shed their skin many times before finally cocooning themselves in thick silk. It can also spit this silk to entangle foes. It has a voracious appetite, driving it to eat a hundred leaves daily. It will even eat leaves bigger than itself.

This Caterpie is a male. It knows the moves Tackle and String Shot."

Putting it back, Ash said to Caterpie, It was a nice Pokémon.

'We should begin training. Let's do it while we are moving. Okay?'

'Okay. So, what do you expect us should do?'

'See that tree over there where we caught Caterpie. Use the survival knife to cut out a chunk of wood from the tree. We are going to use that to teach a move to Caterpie called Bug Bite. We need to have him keep on biting it for that. Pikachu needs physical conditioning, so he should start running here and forth a little, but not now. We need to build up its leg muscles.'

'Why?'

Ash asked that question when he was doing exactly what Roshi said and was cutting out a small chunk of wood.

'Ash, you know the closest gym here?'

'The Viridian Gym is the closest, but only experienced trainers with possibly seven badges can challenge it. So, that is a no-go for us. The next best option is the Pewter Gym, which specializes in Rock-type Pokémon.'

'Yeah, Rock-type Pokémon with GROUND subtype, which are immune to Electric attacks from Pikachu. There are currently only a few moves that will be possible to teach Pikachu to have some form of advantage and form of attack. One of them is Double Kick, a Fighting-type move. Your Pikachu needs leg strength to use it, train its stamina, and dodge. We should have him keep a lookout for any attacking Pokémon.'

Wincing at the stupidity of his question, he returned to his Pokémon, whom he told about the training.

Both Caterpie and Pikachu were eager to learn new moves.

So, they started moving.

Ash was walking with Caterpie, continuously biting away at the piece of wood while Pikachu kept a vigilant eye on the surroundings.

After some time, Caterpie was tiring out, so Ash told him to take a rest and was about to return him to his ball when a bird came flying down to attack him.

As Pikachu was keeping a vigilant watch, he attacked the bird with Thunder Shock and leapt to the ground.

As both the attack and the bird were going at each other, the bird was not able to maneuver out of the way and got hit.

"Pikachu, Quick Attack before it regains its bearings, then Thunder Shock!"

As the bird was falling, it started to regain its balance when Pikachu ran with speed up the roots and leapt from there to hit it.

SMACK

The bird was hit, and Ash pulled out another Poké Ball and threw it at the bird.

The ball sucked in the bird and fell to the ground.

Shake...shake...shake...ping!

'Damn, that was aggressive. The man was not kidding about the aggressiveness.'

Taking the Pokeball in his hand, Ash sent out Pidgeotto while he sprayed them with a potion to heal them.

"Pidgeotto, the Bird Pokémon. A dual Normal/Flying type Pokémon. It has powerful, sharp talons that it uses to grasp prey. Pidgeotto is a powerful flyer capable of carrying prey several miles to its nest. It has amazing vision, which helps it locate preferred prey Pokémon such as Exeggcute, Magikarp, and small Bug-type Pokémon. Pidgeotto claims a sprawling territory of more than 60 miles (100 kilometers), which it defends fiercely. Its nest is usually in the center of its territory, and it circles its territory throughout the day, looking out for food and intruders. It is most often found in temperate forests.

This Pidgeotto is female and knows the moves Gust, Tackle, Quick Attack, and Sand Attack."

After introductions had been done, Ash had returned her.

They started walking again.

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Suddenly, the subtle feeling he was getting but was ignoring to some extent came back.

Feeling discomfort, he turned to the side where he was getting the feeling from.

The feeling was a mix of something dark. A little void that felt weak.

"Pikachu, do you feel that?"

Pikachu looked at Ash with a questioning look.

"The feeling of discomfort. You mean you can't sense it?"

Pikachu shook his head no.

'You want to investigate?'

'Yeah. I have been getting this feeling since coming inside the forest as if something is there, but I do not know what it is.'

'Hmm. You have just opened your Aura, so that would mean that you are sensing something that no normal human or Pokémon could. It may as well be the cause of the unrest in the forest. Do you still want to go?'

'I feel that we should see what is going on, and I also have a feeling that I may come to regret it if I do not see it.'

'I cannot change your mind on this, now, can I? Sigh... Very well. You have to remember to be careful, though, as it may be anything, even something dangerous.'

Nodding mentally, he started walking into the forest with Pikachu following him.

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After covering some distance for nearly an hour, Pikachu started acting weirdly. He covered his nose and did not want to go any further.

Ash had carved a mark in the tree trunk when he turned around and noticed it.

The closer he got to the feeling, the weaker it felt, but a greater number of Pokémon were attacking them, too.

Pikachu, Spearow, and Pidgeotto battled with them and gained some valuable experience and exercise. He would have caught them, but he did not want to catch them now. He thought he saw some Bellsprout and Oddish, but they ran away, leaving powder-based attacks behind them to escape. By the time both of his Flying-types blew the attacks away, they were already gone.

A shame, he would have had better chances to win the Pewter Badge too.

They battled so much that Chansey had to heal them. After she had been brought out, he felt as if the intensity was decreasing. It was his imagination, right?

'It does seem weird. Both the behavior of Pokémon and the feeling you are getting.'

Even Roshi agreed with him.

Returning to the present, he looked at Pikachu, who was increasingly getting restless the more they walked.

"Pikachu, what's going on?"

He asked, concerned.

Pikachu kept pointing at his nose, and Ash was not able to understand what was going on. There was no weird smell...

'Pokémon have a much more sensitive nose, remember? There must be something that he has smelled that is making him resistant to going there. He must have smelled some strong Pokémon that he is reluctant to fight with. We must leave, Ash.'

Ash nodded and was about to do just that when he thought about something and asked Pikachu.

"Have you smelled a scent similar to what you are smelling now before?"

Pikachu was going to shake his head, signaling no, when he remembered something.

Nodding, he pointed at Ash's bag.

Puzzled, he looked at his bag and then at Pikachu.

"First, let's take care of the smell for you. It will not stop it completely, but it will reduce its effects."

Putting his bag down, he called for Pikachu and tied a handkerchief around his nose.

Pikachu immediately relaxed. The smell was still there, but less potent. He went to the bag, opened it and took out a bottle, and handed it to Ash.

"That's a..."

'Max Repel?'

"Why would you smell it now? We haven't used it."

'I think that a trainer has used a Max Repel and is staying there. They might be the cause of unrest in the forest. They might also tell us how to get out of the forest. They might also be dangerous. Proceed with caution, Ash.'

"We are going to walk in that direction. There might be a trainer who is staying here. Let's check it out, Pikachu."

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The rest of the walk was uneventful, but there was a tense silence in the forest.

The forest was quiet. Too quiet.

There were no Pokémon nearby. The Max Repel must have kept them away. There were no sounds of any Pokémon either.

The ground was littered with roots and thick shrubs. As if the very forest was trying to keep them away and hide something precious.

The feeling was also getting weaker, but it was still there.

Nearer.

Closer.

Pikachu was pressing the handkerchief to his nose and was on his shoulder.

Both of them smelled it.

A stench of something.

Looking at each other, they sped up but kept a vigilant eye out for anything.

The leaves stirred, not from wind, but breath. Pikachu twitched on his shoulder, the handkerchief damp. The scent was stronger now.

Sour, earthy.

Alive.

Ash reached forward, fingers brushing bristles.

The shrub parted.

And the world stopped.

'What the...'

In the middle of the clearing on the forest floor, with a dug hole at one side, a little distance away in the dark...

As if trying to protect and shield something, the canopy had cast a shadow at a specific spot as if still trying to hide it...

Was an unconscious and possibly injured girl lying on the forest floor with her back resting on the tree trunk.