I'M STILL ALIVE!

And back with another chapter, but before that, let's get to the reviews first.

Konowhut69: Glad you don't mind me having the four move limit, also, yeah, tha typo was pretty funny.

Hopefully this chapter will be free of typos (although, knowing my luck, that probably won't be the case). As for the fact that there aren't many battles so far, well, that's mainly due to the fact that all of the characters are still rookies and haven't found as may opportunities to test their might outside of the Gyms. But hopefully in the future there will be more battles for you guys to ennjoy. As for your recomendations on those stories, I might check them out when I have the time. Currently, the only stories in which I'm currently invested in are Ash's Just Reward by The Warmongers of Simora, Who am I by Lightning99 and Pokémon Sun and Moon: The Legend of the Hero by Ember29 (Or as it known in spanish, since it's a story in spanish Pokémon Sol y Luna: La Leyenda del Héroe) which just last chapter crossed the 1,000,000 word. Being the longest spanish Pokémon story on this site. But, I'll still try to check those stories and if/when that happens, I'll tell you how things went.

One of the guest ask if the Johto Dex Holders will make an early appearance like Lyra: To answer that part of the question, well, Lyra appeared early because she doesn't have a Pokémon special couterpart, but she does have an anime counnterpart (just like the rest of the Johto Dex holder whom also have a direct couterpart in the anime), and because I liked her in the four episode she was on, I decided to include her here and make up her story from what the anime showed us. Hopefully that answered that part of the question and if it didn't, then here's a more direct answer to the second part of the question. Khoury already made his appereance on Lyra's one shot. He was the one that gave Lyra the pokeball that she used to catch Marill. As for Vincent/Jackson, I will use him, but as of right now, I'm still trying to figure him out. But if you want to see the other Dex Holders early, some of them have already made cameos in the story (including the one shot), there are four of them if I remember correctly and they're prettyeasy to find. Hopefully that is a more fulfilling. Also, glad that you seem to enjoy the story so far.

Ashpool: You'll have to wait till the time comes to find out the answer, sorry.

Yet aother guest: More or less the same thing, sorry.

The guest that writes the long reviews: Glad you liked it, this chapter is also a bit slow, but next chapter will have a bit more action, promise. Glas you like the dynamic of the group and the roles they have. Also, glad that you seem to enjoy the world building, I certainly had fun writting those parts, as well as the part in which Ash and Lyra talked things out. Probably my favorite part of the chapter. Hopefully this chapter is up to your liking.

Well, with that taken care off, ONWARDS!

Chapter 10: Battle for the Hidden Village part 2!

The sun had just risen in the Kanto region. A swift rejuvenating and refreshing spring breeze crossed the entirety of the region as the Dodrio and many other bird Pokémon sang their morning song.

Across the region many people started to wake up for various reasons. Some to prepare breakfast, whether for themselves or their love ones. Others were reading themselves to leave for work, so that they can arrive on time and provide for themselves and their families. Others were getting ready for what was left of school, since in about a month or so will mark the beginning of summer break.

Somewhere on a forest of the vast land of Kanto, stood a village hidden to the rest of the region. The sun brightly illuminating the village, showing the foundation that has managed to prevail for over forty years. Its inhabitants had yet to wake up, yet the moment they do, a large amount of tasks lay ahead of them. For it was their self-appointed duty to ensure the safety of every Pokémon that resided on the forest.

As for the time being, only two people and seven Pokémon were awake. One of them, was currently finishing preparing breakfast for his two sleepy friends.

"Hey guys, could you do me a favor and wake the two of them up?" – asked Bock to the two rodent Pokémon in front of him.

"Pi, Pikachu!"

"Marill Ma!"

They replied.

Brock had woken up some time ago and he was soon followed by the Pokémon of the two rookies. It wasn't the calmest way of waking up thou.

Marill found himself in-between the fauces of Houndour that morning. That understandably freaked out the blue fairy and even thou the dark canine Pokémon assured his friend that he wouldn't dare to eat him, he couldn't deny the fact that he tasted quite nice.

Pikachu on the other hand slept like a Pichu, he remembered to back when he used to sleep inside the pouch of his adoptive mother alongside his brother. That silk bed was really, really comfortable, even if he had a little bit of trouble getting off of it due to how sticky it was. Which is why Spinarak told him that next time he would try to make his silk less adhesive for him.

The two mouses soon arrived next to their respective trainers, ready to wake them up. While some other Pokémon may try to wake their trainers as gently as possible, Marill and Pikachu were of another mentality. Which is why the others weren't surprised when they saw sparks of electricity coming out of the cheeks of the yellow mouse and water filling the cheeks of the blue mouse.

In the blink of an eye, Marill doused Lyra with a water gun as Pikachu used thunderbolt on Ash. The rest of the Pokémon saw the event with a comedically large sweat running through their foreheads at how they woke the two kids up.

"Not how I thought they would do it, but hey, whatever gets them up is a good thing... I think." – said Brock. – "Did you guys slept well?"

"Well, I did, that was until a certain someone shot water at my face!" – said Lyra while glaring daggers at Marill, whom seemed unfazed by her expression.

"Well, breakfast is ready, so why don't you guys come here and have some. Try to eat as much as you can, after all, we won't change the way Melanie's grandmother thinks of us with an empty stomach." – said Brock, smiling at the two kids.

Both Ash and Lyra were somewhat taken back by his statement, but their look of confusion quickly changed into a smile. It seemed to be that they weren't as silent as they thought they were.

They quickly went to have breakfast alongside everyone else. The meal was a simple one, but it was also quite enjoyable. Neither the Pallet town boy, nor the New Bark town girl would say it aloud, but having a nice breakfast surrounded by someone that was there to accompany them and enjoy said company was a great experience for them. It was something that they could certainly get used to.

As for the Pokémon, Houndour and Spinarak were trying to tell Pikachu that maybe having Ketchup for breakfast was not a good idea. However, both Butterfree and Piedgotto told them not to bother, seeing as how they have tried that many times before and fail every time. With that in mind, they also decided not to do anything when they saw Marill sneaking his way to Lyra's bag to retrieve another ridiculously large candy bar. Once he did, he went to sit next to Lyra and the Pokémon egg that she had. Just like his trainer (and probably everyone else) he too was excited, and impatience to see what kind of Pokémon will hatch from the egg.

Once they were done with breakfast and clean up, the three humans and the six Pokémon (or seven including the egg) were off to see in what way they could help. Maybe they could collect some berries and medical herbs. Just as they were leaving the barn, they saw a certain blunette accompanied by the Kanto grass starter. So, they decided to greet her and ask in what way they could help. Although Brock quickly noticed that it seemed as if she was trying to sneak away.

"Hey Melanie, is everything ok?" – asked Brock, startling the girl.

"What no I- umm what spikes I saw no spikes we were uhh- jogging, that's right we were jogging." – said Melanie, trying to come up with an excuse.

"Wow Melanie, calm down it's just us, don't worry." –said Brock, trying to calm her down.

Upon seeing that it was indeed just them, Melanie's breathing calmed down, sighing in relieve. – "Thank Arceus, you know, I love my grandma with all of my heart. But she can sometimes be... well... I guess you already know." –she said.

"Yeah, don't worry." – said Brock.

"By the way, what are you guys doing so early in the morning?" – she asked.

"Funny thing, I was going to ask the same to you." – said Lyra, curious as to where she was heading.

The blue-haired girl looked nervous at her questioned and decided to avert eye contact with the 10-year-old girl – "I was, umm jogging?" – she said with a not very convincing tone. One of Lyra's eyebrows rose up, something that Melanie noticed. – "Well... I asked first." – she said, trying to change the subject.

"We were going to go see in what way we could help out." – said Brock.

"Oh, but you don't-"

"We would like to help, so don't worry." – said Ash with Pikachu and the rest of his Pokémon all nodding in agreement.

"Oh, well, I think that collecting a couple more medical herbs wouldn't do us any harm." – she said.

"Then I guess that's what we're going to do." – said Brock.

"If you want to, I could accompany you. There's something that I have to do anyway." – replied Melanie.

"Then please, lead the way." – said Brock and with that, the two teenagers, the rookie trainers and the seven Pokémon all started to walk towards the forest. Both Brock and Melanie were leading the way, with both Ash and Lyra on the back alongside the other Pokémon (excluding Bulbasaur, whom was walking next to Melanie).

"Hey Ash, did she said something about some spikes?" – asked the Johto native girl.

"I think, what do you think she was talking about?" – said Ash.

"Beats me." – she replied.

While the two kids were having their conversation, Melanie was rather nervously, with only one thing on her mind. – "I hope no one had fall to the pit with the spikes... or set the boulder trap."

"Houbdour, Houn." – called the dark type canine.

"What is it Houndour, found something?" – asked Lyra to his Pokémon.

"Dour, Houndour Houn." – he replied while pointing to the ground.

Right in front of a big oak tree, was a hole, must likely dug by Hounndour. But what was more important than the hole itself, was what was inside of it. In it, some sort of root laid there. Lyra wasn't sure what she was looking at, so she did what she thought was the smart move.

"Hey guys, Houndour found something!" – she shouted, calling for her friends.

Ash was rather quick to arrive, followed by Pikachu and the rest of their Pokémon. She didn't saw neither Brock nor Melanie (or even Bulbasaur for that matter), but she decided not to pay that much attention. They decided to split into two to cover more ground, so it was likely that they were on another part of the forest.

"What did you guys found?" – asked Ash.

"Well, Houndour dug this out, but I'm not really sure what it is. How about you, do you know anything about it?" – asked Lyra, while taking the object and showing it to her friend.

"Mmmm, not really. Wait, I got it!" – he said.

"You know what it is?!"

"No clue!"

With that statement, she, alongside nearly everybody else, fell flat on their face.

"Then why did you said 'I got it'?" – asked the brunette, picking herself up.

"Because I have, this!" – he said while pulling something out of his backpack.

That something turned out to be a book titled: Kanto's 149 Wonders for Trainers.

"Where did you get that?" – she asked.

"A friend of mind gave it to me before leaving Pallet town. She said that it was to help me out, look." – he said while opening the book and showing her a page detailing information about a Spearow.

"Hey that's pretty neat!" – she replied. – "What else does it have?"

"Well, when I was at the Pokémon Center of Viridian City, I was browsing through the book and I found something that said, 'Guide to Berries and Natural Medicine' or something like that." – said Ash as he started to change the page, looking for that specific part.

"Do you think it has something that could help?" – she asked.

"Don't- wait, I found it!" – he shouted.

"You did?"

Ash nodded before showing her the page of the book. – "Look, that root looks like this one."

Lyra took the book and started to read out loud the content inside of it.

"It says here that this is an energy root. It's apparently capable of restoring the health of a Pokémon and it can even be used on humans too. Wait what?" – she said doble checking if she didn't misread what the book said.

"It can do that?" – asked Ash, not believing what his friend said.

"Y-yeah, it says it right here. It also says that back in the day, people used to prepare them in the shape of small round energy pills. Although they apparently taste really, really bitter." – said the Johto girl.

Pikachu, Marill and the rest of the Pokémon all tried to imagine being fed that in order to heal up. They all shivered at the thought of that idea and shook their heads to try and get rid of that image. The on that seemed to dislike the image the most was without a doubt the sweet gloton fairy.

"Well, Daisy always said that the best medicine is always the most bitter one, or something like that." – said Ash, much to the horror of the group of Pokémon, whom all turned their heads towards the raven-haired kid.

"Yeah, I think Kouhry's dad also used to say something like that too." – said Lyra. With that statement, they all turned towards Lyra, their eyes as wide as possible and filled with dread.

"Then again, I never really liked the taste of that kind of medicine." – said Lyra.

"Yeah, me neither, let's keep looking, we may be able to find some berries or something like that."

"Sure, the forest is really big, we may find something better than this energy root." – replied Lyra once more.

With that said, the Pokémon all sighed in relieve.

"But maybe we should take the energy root with us. You know, just in case we can't find anything else." – said Lyra much to the shock of the group of Pokémon.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." – relied Ash, again, shocking (and scaring) the Pokémon even further.

They saw how Ash took the root and placed it inside of his backpack. With that image in mind a wave of newly founded determination washed over the Pokémon. A determination to look for any other kind of berries and/or medical herbs. Not just to help the Hidden Village, but also to make sure that no one, Pokémon or human (but more specifically, them) have to suffer that fate.

"I guess I should go look somewhere else." – said Brock.

It's been a couple of hours since they decided to split up to look for any kind of herbs and berries. So far, he has been able to find a couple of Salveyo weed near a river (which was surprising given how they tend to only grow on clear lake bottoms), Remeyo weed (which again, surprised him, since they too, tend to grow on places even deeper than the previous weed), revival herbs, a couple of Pecha berries and even a few Leppa berries.

Right now, it seemed as if there were no more berries around, so he decided to look somewhere else. Maybe if he's lucky, he could find a few Oran or Citrus berries.

It was kind of difficult to navigate the unknown forest by himself, but he decided to do so regardless. Melanie had something that she had to take care of herself and he didn't want to interfere. Not like Bulbasaur would let him.

However, it wasn't long until he heard a familiar voice from not that far off.

"Come on, why won't you come off!" – he heard.

Brock decided to go in the direction of the voice and soon enough, he found a rope tied around a tree. The rope that was attached to was going straight into what looked like a pit. When he took a look to the pit, he found out that Melanie, with a shovel and a pickaxe, was digging up... wait a minute...

WERE THOSE SPIKES?!

"Why did I put these things here?" – she asked herself, trying to remove one of the spikes. So far, she has removed about three or four spikes and still had about eight. – "A normal pit would have done just fine, but noooooo, I had to go overboard and put spikes on them! Why did I thought that was a good idea? Better question, how did I put these things here in the first place?!"

As she was struggling trying to dig one of the spikes out, Melanie huffed and drop the shovel in her hand. She decided to sit down and look to the sky. She was expecting to gaze at the clouds above. What she was not expecting thou, was to see Brock looking down on her from above the pit.

"Umm... Hi Brock... How long have you been there?" – she asked, a little blush going through her face.

"Oh, umm... Not that long, just got here... Sooooo... need a hand.?" – he asked.

Melanie sighed before looking at him with pleading eyes. – "Yes please."

With that, Brock descended down the pit and next to Melanie, picked up the pickaxe and started working. – "You know, I thought you were joking when you mentioned the spikes." – he said.

Melanie faint pink blushed soon developed into a crimson red glow of embarrassment. – "Yeah, sorry about that. Guess I was going a bit overkill when I made these detours."

"Well, you were trying to keep your home save, so I guess it is understandable." – said Brock, as he took a swing at the spike in front of him in an attempt to dig it out.

"Still, this was simply going to the extreme. What if someone; Pokémon or human, got seriously hurt?" – she asked.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I'm sure your traps would have protected the village just fine."

"Still, if grandma of all people says that this is too much, then this is too much."

"Is she really that overprotective? Like, I know that she wants to keep the village and everyone safe, but-"

"It's not just that. I just... I wanted to show her that... Well, that I could protect everyone just as she and great grandpa did. I wanted to make her job less stressful."

"Well, she is the leader of an entire village, that is a pretty big responsibility I guess." – said Brock, pulling another spike from the ground.

"It's more than just a feeling of responsibility, it's more like... How do I put it? Mmmm... I guess it's more like fear, like she's afraid that something bad could happen to the village... or me..." – she said as she tried to pull another spike herself.

Brock stopped for a moment and stared at Melanie for a moment. There was something in the way she said that. He decided that he wouldn't meddle where he wasn't call. But Melanie was quick to notice Brock's expression, sighing and resting her shovel on the wall of the pit.

"You're curious, aren't you?" – she asked.

"Oh, umm... You don't have to if it makes you feel uncomfortable." – said Brock.

"It's ok, something about you makes me feel better to talk about this kind of things. Like, you're a really good listener and I guess this could be almost therapeutic to me." – she said. – "You see, grandma's life isn't exactly easy. She already told you of what happened when she was just a kid. Well, things didn't stop there."

"A-are you sure it's ok for you to tell me this?" – asked Brock, he didn't want her to force herself to talk if she didn't felt comfortable doing so.

"Don't worry Brock, like I said, you're a very good listener. Anyway, where was I?" – asked the blunette."

"Something about how things were bad and how they didn't stop."

"Oh yeah, thanks Brock. Well, as I said, things didn't get easier for her. I always heard that great grandpa was always looking out for everyone. That he hardly got some rest and that if something bad happened, he would always blame himself for letting it happen. I that there was a storm one day, it made a number on the village. Some lost their house, some... got hurt. For what I was told, no one held him responsible for what happened, but him, he did nothing but blame himself for what happened. Believing that he could have and should have plan for something like that. The guilt was literally eating him from the inside."

"Wow... that's... I, w-well... I... wow." – said Brock, at a lost for words.

"I know right? Some... some say that the reason he, you know... was because at the end of the day, he overworked himself. Despite what many would have you believe; I'm sure grandma took it harder than she let out. Then, there's what happened latter on." – she said before taking a deep breath to continue.

"Are you sure you want to continue with this?" – asked the former Gym Leader.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine Brock, thanks for worrying thou." – she said before continuing. – "You see, a couple of years afterwards, grandpa had to leave to do some work outside the village. You know, not everything that we need grows on trees."

"Where did he go?" – asked Brock.

"I don't know the details, which considering the fac that I wasn't even born yet, should be obvious. But apparently, he left to do some work on Mount Silver all the way on the Johto region. There was an incident and, well, I think you could connect the dots." – she said.

Brock thought about it for a moment, he remembered reading about an incident many years ago on Mount Silver. While he doesn't remember the detail with 100% accuracy. He did remember that there were apparently a lot of injured people... and descent amount that couldn't make it.

"Yeah, not the best time to have for anyone."

"Umm, Melanie, I don't want to jump to conclusions just yet but... what about your parents?"

"Oh... I was... just about to get there." – she said, taking another deep breath before continuing. Only unlike the previous times, this time she was obviously repressing something that she was feeling. – "Apparently my birth... was... complicated... and my mom... mom-"

"It's ok, you don't have to finish that sentence." – said Brock, placing a hand on Melanie's shoulder.

The blunette rose her crystalized watery eyes to the rock type specialist and smiled.

"A couple of months after, dad got sick and he... sigh... sometimes, I think that outside of the village, I'm everything that's left for grandma. She's always been there for me you know; nagging me, feeding me, staying late for me, playing with me. She's kind of overprotective, but she also used to spoil me every now and then." – she said, a nostalgic smile on her face.

"She... sounds to me like she was an amazing grandma." – said Brock.

"The best. But... remembered how she said that she wouldn't go seek help from the league or the government after becoming village leader?" – she asked, Brock nodding in respond. – "Well, that's not entirely true. I was around twelve I think, I got sick really bad. My fever was so bad, I think you could cook an omelet on top of my head. I remember my head feeling like it was about to explode, my throat hurt like you had no idea. I was a mess."

"That, I'm sorry you had to go thru that."

"It's ok, as you can see, I got better." – she said, before continuing with her story. – "Anyway, I don't remember this part clearly, but the parts that I do remember, was weaking up in the middle of the night talking to someone. I heard another voice to; it wasn't someone that I knew I can tell you that. She... was pleading to the other person for him to help us. I think he was a trainer."

"A trainer?" – asked Brock, but it wasn't until a few seconds after he said it that it finally clicked on him. – "Of course!"

"Do you know what that could have been?" – asked Melanie.

"Well, if a trainer grows into, well, I guess the best way I can describe it is this way. Let's say you are a trainer, like, really good. So good that you're being referred as an elite trainer. Then, you could voice your opinion to the Pokémon league and they would listen to you."

"I... I still don't get it."

"Well, in a simpler way, I think that trainer somehow found himself here and your grandma saw an opportunity to ask him to endorse the Hidden Village." – said Brock.

"Th-they can do that?!" – asked Melanie with surprise.

Brock nodded. – "That's actually how some natural reserves came to be, because a trainer basically vouched for them. – he said.

"I... I didn't knew that."

"Yeah, if the guy had accepted to do that and made it far in the Indigo League Conference or any other competition, then the league and the government would have listen to him if he were to mention the Hidden Village. That way, they could have supported you guys with funding, medical equipment for both Pokémon and humans alike and on top of that, catching Pokémon here would be outlawed." – explained Brock.

"Wait, go back a bit. Did you say medical equipment for humans?" – asked the blunette.

"Yeah, for cases of emergencies or for the staff of the reserve, or in this case, the people of the Hidden Village." – he said.

Then, they realized it, if the Hidden Village had been made into a legal sanctuary, then they would receive medical care. And seeing how she was badly sick back then, then her grandmother was probably making one las ditch effort to have access to the means to properly treat her granddaughter...

To not lose someone else.

Upon realizing that, the two teenagers remained in silence. They remained like that until they dug every spike out of the pit. Once they were done, they got out of the pit. It wasn't until they were finally out that Brock broke the silence by noticing something.

"Hey Melanie, where's Bulbasaur?"

"Oh, he's probably scouting the forest." –she replied.

"What for?"

"Either injured Pokémon or to try and scare off any trainers nearby." – she explained.

"You must have train him well if he can do that by himself."

"Oh I didn't train him." – she said while untying the rope off the tree."

"Wait, really?"

"Really, he's actually a wild Pokémon."

"But, I saw him acting all defensive when I umm, well, you know. Besides, by the way he acted with you, your grandmother and the village itself, well. He didn't act like a wild Pokémon."

"Yeah, I can see why you would think that. But truth is, he's just a wild Bulbasaur." – she said.

"Well, could have fooled me. Especially considering how he acted with you specifically." – said Brock.

"Believe it or not, he wasn't always like that. When he first came here, he couldn't stand the sight of anyone in the village, including me and grandma."

"Is that so?" – he asked with Melanie nodding. – "How come?"

"I have no idea. He just came here one day with a few scraps here and there, so one of the villagers tried to helped him. And let me tell you, no one was expecting to see a 70 cm Pokémon throw a full-grown man around as if he was some ragdoll." – she said giggling a bit remembering how they had to bring a ladder to help said man down a tree.

"Wow, that's quite a temper." – commented Brock.

"That's exactly what grandma said. It took the help of a Paras' spore to put him to sleep so that we could treat him. He was still somewhat sore when he woke up, so he reluctantly had to stay put for a couple of days." – said Melanie.

"So, I guess that in the meantime he had to learn to get along with you guys."

"More like, he learned to tolerate us. But overtime, his animosity towards us started to diminish to the point that people felt safe walking pass him without worrying that he would fling them to the cup of the nearest tree."

"But he seems to have grown attached to you the most thou." – said Brock.

"I mean, kinda. He's still pretty distant towards us, like, whenever it's time to eat, he's usually pretty secluded even among other Pokémon. And when nightfall comes, he would refuse to sleep inside either one of the houses with another one of the villagers or one of the two shelters we've build. The farthest I've seen him is the porch of my house." – explained Melanie.

"Sounds to me like one stubborn Pokémon."

"You have no idea. Which is why I can tell that you are good people." – she said, with Brock not getting the how. – "Even though he seems to be more at ease with us, Bulbasaur would have never vouched for anyone, especially trainers. So the fact that you guys managed to do that, is a feat in it of itself."

"Really, what made him do that thou?" – asked Brock.

"Mmm, if I had to guess, it was probably when you mentioned how your friends stood up for their Pokémon. Which would probably explain why he wanted to have a chat with the rest of their Pokémon." –said the bluenette. – "You know, those kids are lucky to have you looking out for them."

With that, Brock smiled and after helping cover the detour with leaves and branches, they decided to head for another one of Melanie's less than safe detours to deal with. Once they have finished with all of them, they would go search for more berries. After which, they would reunite with Ash, Lyra, Bulbasaur and the others before heading back to the village.

Boring.

That was Green's mood.

Just, boring.

Ever since he left Cerulean city, Green felt nothing but boredom.

Maybe he could have stick around a little bit more, but doing so mean handing Red the upper hand int their competition. Considering how he had him beaten by one Gym badge, he had to grow stronger. So far, the Gym's weren't giving the impression he was expecting. The first Gym turned out to be a complete walk in the park and the second one was apparently run by some fashion divas or something like that.

He knew he was a criminal, but the more Gym's he visits, the more he started to agree with that Rocke guy. The Vermillion city Gym leader better be an actual challenge, because if he's not, then he might as well go back to Pallet town. If he's going to waste his time, might as well do so from the comfort of his bead.

Wait, he still had to catch Pokémon for his grandpa...

Ok, maybe not return home, but still.

Just as he was thinking that, he saw someone on a clear nearby. He was a boy about the same age as him, he had green hair and a black and red shirt. With him were three Rattata, a Beedrill, a Butterfree and a Sanshrew. He noticed that they were all wearing some sort of harness and right now, he seemed to be in the middle of a sparring session.

"Alright Beedrill fury attack! Butterfree dodge them and the moment ya see an opening counter with razor wind!" –shouted the kid.

Their Pokémon did as they were told, with Beedrill attacking left and right with no signs of stopping. Butterfree managed to dodge a couple of them but the Butterfly Pokémon was soon overwhelmed by the amount of attacks and then he was hit a total of four times before landing a fifth one, sending it to the ground.

"Nice job Beedrill, Butterfree, ya have to work on ya speed! If we aim to win this year's Indigo Conference then we have to be at peek condition, got it?" – said the boy, with all of his Pokémon (including the defeated Butterfree whom just got up) giving him the equivalent of a battle cry.

Green saw that as his cue to leave, but then one of the boys Rattata's spotted him and nearly instantaneously notified his trainer. The boy turned and saw Green about to walk away. However, the boy decided to call for him before he did.

"Hey there, what's up?" – he asked as he approached the Pallet town boy.

Green sighed before turning to face the other boy. – "Not much, I was just heading towards Vermillion city before I saw you practicing with your Pokémon. By the way, what's up with those harnesses that they have?" – asked Green.

"Oh, they're to help ma Pokémon grow stronger. Best way I kind describe it is for ya to imagine ya head and arms being pulled towards ya're stomach." – replied the boy.

"Isn't that somewhat excessive?" – asked Green. Even he knew that that was a bit too much.

"Well, can't reach da top if ya ain't serious. As the old saying goes, no pain no gain." – replied the boy with the rest of his Pokémon all giving a cry of agreement. – "By da way, whatcha doing going to Vermillion city?"

"I'm panning to challenge the Gym leader there. And he or she better be up to the task because so far, they've been nothing but a bunch of disappointments." – replied Green.

"Really? I heard that they were as tough as ya can get."

"So did I and so far, it seems that we've heard wrong."

"So if ya're challenging da Gym guys, then I assume ya planning to participate in this year's Indigo Conference, right?" – asked the kid.

"Yeah, what about you?"

"I am, although, I ain't taking on no Gym folks. I rather train at ma own pace at ma own place. The preliminaries be dam, we plan on going all-out or not at all. By the way, name's A.J." – he said as he offered him a handshake.

"Green." – he replied shaking his hand.

"I can tell ya ain't much of a talker."

"Oh really, gee, what gave it away?" – asked Green as dryly and as sarcastic as he could.

"I see ya have quite da attitude. I like folks like ya."

"Good to know... I guess."

"Say, since we talking about da Pokémon League, what about a match?" – asked A.J.

"Why, do you really feel like losing right now?" – asked Green, as cocky as ever.

"More like I want to see what to expect at da battlefield."

"Sure, why not, does a one-on-one sound good to you?" – asked Green.

"It'll be more than enough, right gang?" – he asked with all of his Pokémon giving him yet another battle cry.

With that said, the two trainers went back to the clearing to prepare for the match. The two of them were at opposite sides of the makeshift battlefield. Green had a pokeball at hand, ready for the match. A.J on the other hand was talking with his full team. Even though he was whispering to them, the young Oak managed to hear something about paying close attention to the match. When he was done, almost all of his Pokémon went to the side of the clearing with only Sanshrew remaining by his side.

Green couldn't help but to smile. He had this one in the bag.

"Pidgey, come on out!" – shouted Green as he threw the capsule into the air.

The capsule opened and from it, the small bird Pokémon came out.

"A Pidgey, eh? Ya really ain't messing around." – said A.J.

"What can I say? It's just like you said, it's either going all-out or not at all." – quoted Green.

"Alrighty then, I'll have the first move, thank ya very much. Sandshrew, let's start with fury swipe! – commanded A.J.

"Dodge and use air cutter!" – countered Green.

Just as Sandshrew jumped to try and connect his fury swipe, Pidgey moved slightly to his left. Dodging the attack completely and preparing his own. Sandshrew was completely wide open, Green knew that and there was nothing that A.J could do to change that.

Or so he thought.

"Sandshrew, defense curl!" – ordered the green haired boy.

On that very moment, Sandshrew curled himself into a ball. He may not be able to stop the attack, but he could at least diminish the damage that he would normally take. As Pidgey flapped his wings, creating crescent shaped blades with a celestial blue glow on them that flew straight towards Sandshrew (whom was now a yellow ball for all intends). The attack connected and a small explosion launched the ground type straight towards the ground and rising dust into the air.

When the dust cleared out of the way, it revealed Sandshrew still in his ball form and seemingly without a single scratch. Green was rather surprised to see that the attack of his Pokémon did barely any damage to the mouse Pokémon whom was uncurling himself.

When he did, a faint light flashed over his body, indicating the increase in the ground type's defense.

"Not bad, but we ain't no slouches." – said A.J with a cocky smile.

"Alright, I'll give you that one, but you're still not on my level. Pidgey, tackle now!" – shouted Green.

Pidgey nodded and then flew towards Sandshrew at high speeds. Quickly reacting, A.J gave his command to his Pokémon. – "Dig now!"

Sandshrew upon hearing what A.J said, quickly stared to dig into the ground. Pidgey saw this and then doubled his speed to try and reach him, but it was already too late. Sandshrew had disappeared before his eyes. Pidgey then stopped dead on his tracks, avoiding crashing beak first into the ground.

"Alright Pidgey, eyes on the battlefield! We don't know where Sandshrew could come out of!" – warned Green to his Pokémon.

Seeing the wisdom behind his trainer's words, the bird Pokémon decided to hover the battlefield. Paying close attention to were his opponent could appear. What followed, were without a doubt some of the most stressful five minutes of the young Oak's life. Before he knew it...

CRACK

He suddenly heard the sound of the earth cracking open. Both he and Pidgey started to look around the battlefield, searching from where the sound originated from. Their frantically search for the sound made them think unclear and because of that, they forgot to look for the obvious place.

Sandshrew emerged from behind his opponent and just as Green was about to warn the small bird, A.J gave his command first.

"Alright Sandshrew, fury swipe!"

With that, Sandshrew started to swing at Pidgey. Hitting him five times before being send straight to the ground by a sixth one. More than a loud thud, Pidgey landed with a loud CRASH. Sandshrew landed a couple of meters in front of him, suffice it to say, that certainly did a lot of damage.

"Pidgey, can you continue?" – asked Green.

Pidgey got up and faintly nodded, although his physical state said otherwise. He was having a hard time breathing and had his fair share of scratches in his body.

"He has spirit I'll give him that. But he ain't going to last much longer. Sure you want to keep going?" – asked A.J.

Green gritted his teeth, he looked at his Pokémon and sure enough he looked as if a simple breeze could put the small bird out of commission. He could just call it quits; he knew of at least one knucklehead that would do just that.

Which is precisely why he won't.

Because there's a clear difference between the two of them.

And that difference is that he is a winner.

And nothing will change that.

"Pidgey! Wing attack now!" – he shouted.

With that, Pidgey took flight, his wings having a faint white light around them.

"Oh no ya won't! Sandshrew, dig again!" – shouted A.J.

Just like before, Sanshrew disappeared underground, but unlike last time, Green had a plan.

"Air cutter straight to that hole!"

"What?!" – asked a confused A.J.

Pidgey stopped just as he was above the hole in the ground in which Sandshrew escaped and then he started to unleash his attack with all of his might. The force of the attack was so much that it caused an underground explosion. And from just a few meters from the whole, another hole form. On from where a damaged Sandshrew cam form straight into the air.

"Now Pidgey! Tackle and then follow it up with a wing attack!" – shouted Green.

"Sandshrew, defense curl!" – said A.J.

But before his Pokémon could ably, the flying type launched himself straight into the ground type's chest, sending him even higher into the air. Yet again before he could react, Pidgey flew straight at him with his wings glowing white. Smacking him to the ground with enough force to knock out most Pokémon. But Green didn't stop there.

"Finish the match with air cutter!"

Some may say that this was overkill. But to the young Oak, he was simply being precautious.

The small flying type flapped his wings unleashing all of his might yet again straight into his opponent and causing yet another explosion. With that, Pidgey descended to the ground, he was breathing heavily, but it was all worth it. Because when the dust cleared out of the way, it revealed the unconscious body of Sandshrew laying on the ground.

"Holy... Milktank." – said A.J, shocked to see his strongest Pokémon defeated.

He then started to approach his fallen Pokémon with the other members of his team following soon enough. Green did the same and after applying a potion to his Pokémon, he stared at him. He remained like that for a few seconds before speaking.

"Still not sure about you thou." – he said before being approached by A.J.

"Guess ya weren't all talk. Ya whooped our butts like no one else." – said A.J offering him a handshake. – "Guess that's da end of our streak."

"I'll give credit where credit's due, you're strong. You've been by far the most challenging trainer I've faced so far." – said Green, accepting the handshake.

"Thanks." – said A.J.

Before any of the humans could say another word, all of the Pokémon's stomachs started to growl. The two trainers looked at all of them before Green finally spoked.

"Seems like you guys are hungry and the rest of my team is most likely on the same boat."

"Hey Green, I have an idea. Why don't ya and yar team join us for lunch?" – asked A.J.

"It won't be necessary, I have-"

"Nonsense, come on ma place ain't that far from here. It would be like ya reward for beating me." – insisted A.J.

Green was going to refuse the offer, but then he thought about it. He was being offered free food, which meant that he could save his supplies for another time.

"Alright then, lead the way." – said Green.

A.J nodded and after recalling their Pokémon A.J started to guide Green towards his house.

"By da way, where ya from?" – asked A.J.

"Pallet town, you?"

"Saku town, probably never heard of it, it's a really small town to be honest." – said A.J.

"Pallet town is most of the same to be honest." – said Green as they kept on walking.

"Well, look who finally decided to show up."

"Good to see you too grandma." – said Melanie.

After spending most of the day collecting berries and medical herbs (on top of dealing with Melanie's detours), the group of adventurers, and the group of Pokémon returned to the Hidden Village once more.

"Would you please be so kindly as to explain what in Arceus name were you doing in the forest by yourself with them?" – asked the elderly woman to her granddaughter.

"It's ok grandma, I had something to do in the forest and Brock and his friends decided to collect medical herbs that we could use for later." – explained Melanie.

"Is that so?" – she asked, with the travelers nodding. – "And what is it that you found?"

"Well, I found some Oran, Pecha Leppa and Citrus berries as well as both Salveyo and Remeyo weed." –said Brock showing her the fruits of his search.

"Ash and I found most of the same, although not as much as Brock"

"But we did found a bunch of energy roots."

"Energy roots you say?" – asked the elder, the two rookies nodded and showed her that their bags were indeed mainly filled with energy roots. Then, something that none of them expected happened. – "HA! Well, would you look at that, you actually did!" – she exclaimed with a grin on her face.

"How did you found all of those energy roots?" – asked Brock to the two rookies.

"It was mainly thanks to Houndour. We were actually hoping to find more berries and what not, but we found these most of the time." – explained Lyra.

"Hope they can be of help." – said Ash.

"Of help? Kid, I've been going crazy over the lack of energy roots for who know how long! With these, I'll be able to treat the people's illness better!" – said the woman with a smile plastered on her face.

While the two rookies felt happy that they could help out, their Pokémon didn't feel the same way. But upon seeing Melanie's grim expression, their fears grew exponentially.

"Hey Melanie, are you feeling ok?" – asked Brock.

"R-remember when I told you about how I was really sick?" – asked Melanie with Brock nodding. – "Well... I got better thanks to grandma somehow managed to made a medicine with energy root as the main base... Unfortunately for me, the taste was..."

She was unable to finish her sentence as a shiver went through her whole body, remembering the taste of her grandma's medicine. As if they weren't terrified already, the Pokémon watched in horror the way Melanie reacted and immediately shivered as well.

"Maybe she could teach me how she made that medicine." –muttered Brock, draining all of the color of the Pokémon of his two companions.

"Please no." – said Melanie.

"Oh, don't be such a crybaby, that medicine fixed you up pretty good, didn't it?" – said the elder woman with Melanie sighing. She then turned towards Brock. – "As for your request, that's a family recipe so that's a no."

The Pokémon sighed in relief when they heard that. Maybe they were exaggerating, but they really didn't want to find out if it was really as bad as tha book made it out to be.

"Well, let's get these treasures of yours to the warehouse. After that, we can go and have something to eat. Don't know about you brats, but I'm starving." – said the village leader.

With a nod, the three travelers (and the pale looking Pokémon) followed the lead of the village leader into the warehouse. Melanie was about to follow as well, but she stopped when she saw two villagers approaching her.

"Hey Melanie, where were you? Haven't seen you all day kid." –said one of the villagers.

"Oh, hi Mr. Shin, sorry about that. I was on the forest doing some... maintenance on the detours. After that, I helped our guest in searching for some things that could help out. Did I miss anything?" – asked Melanie.

"Not much. Today was a pretty calmed day all things consider." – answered the other villager.

"Well... all but the part in which Mr. Shudo and I treated a Meowth. Would you believe it if I were to tell you that that Meowth was talking." – said Mr. Shin.

"... Are you trying to pull my leg?" – asked Melanie skeptic of the statement the two men just said.

"No we mean it, that Meowth was totally talking!" – said Mr. Shudo.

"Riiiiight, and where exactly is the talking Mewoth? – asked Melanie.

"Well, he just thanked us after we patched him up. Said something about meeting up with some acquaintances of his and took off." – explained Mr. Shin.

"He also mentioned something about a boulder rolling down on him and his peers. Not sure what he meant by that."

Melanie's eyes widen when she heard Mr. Shudo mentioning the boulder. – "GOD DAMIT, I FORGOT ABOUT THAT ONE!" – screamed Melanie inside her mind.

"Hey Melanie, you still with us?" – asked Mr. Shin.

"What?! What boulder?! I didn't see any boulder- I mean..." – rambled Melanie until she saw the two adults looking at her weirdly. – "Well, would you look at the time, pretty late huh? I wouldn't want to take more of your time, so I'll be heading off now... Bye." – she said before rushing her way out of there, leaving the two adults completely confuse.

"... What was that about?" – asked Mr. Shudo.

"Beats me." – replied Mr. Shin.

"You know, I never expected for a Meowth to have an accent." – commented Mr. Shudo.

"Neither did I." – replied Mr. Shin.

And with that, the two of them left. Wondering if they'll ever meet up with the talking Pokémon ever again.

Ash and the gang were currently having lunch alongside Melanie, her grandmother and the rest of the villagers. They were eating at a big table in the middle of the town. They were currently eating Brock's world renounce stew, which was so good, everyone weren't asking for doubles. No, no, no, they were asking for triples already.

To her surprise (and the rest of the villagers present), Brock turned out to be a great Cheff.

The Pokémon were also enjoying their own meal. Both, the wild Pokémon, as well as the Pokémon of the three travelers. Which included Brock's team. They were all together, chatting about anything that came up to mind... Well, mostly everyone.

There was a certain grass and poison type that was currently eating away from them. Ash saw that, and after excusing himself from the table, he went to serve himself another bowl and went to sit next to the seed Pokémon. His Pokémon saw it and decided to follow him. The rest of the gang saw it as well and decided to let him do what he thought was the right thing to do.

"Hey, is this place free?" – asked the raven-haired boy.

Bulbasaur rose his gaze, meeting with the trainer's brown eyes and the rest of his team. The grass type glared at the human, so Ash quickly rose his hands to show that he wasn't a threat.

"Wow, calm down buddy, we just want to eat that's all. Right guys?" –asked ash with his team nodding in agreement.

Bulbasaur merely scoffed and decided to continue eating his meal. While all of this was going down, a certain elderly was looking carefully at what was going on. Wondering what would happen after.

That's todays chapter, sorry for the delay, I just finished my exams some time ago and so far I haven't screw anything up, so that's good.

This chapter was also a bit slow, but next chapter will be the conclusion of the Hidden Village part of this arc, I'll try to update faster for that part.

Also, Happy delayedd Halloween!

Hopefully you guys found ways to enjoy yourselves. I'm curious as to what you guys did; did you marathoned a bunch of horror movies?, put on costumes?, ate an intoxicating amount of candy? Let me know if you'll like to share.

Also saw both episode 42 and 43 of Journeys and so far I've enjoy it, what about you guys?

Well, I think it's about time I wrap this up, besides, I have two days to eat with some dead relatives (guess what I'll be celebrating).

Enjoy and have a good day... Or night.