199 Jhoto

While they waited for Brock to finish his written exam, Ash and Lucario were helping Misty meditate and connect with her inner aura. Misty knew and understood, it would not be easy, she had seen Ash struggle with his aura awakening, the way he avoided crowded areas and mostly stuck close to his already acquired Pokemon. Ash had avoided almost everyone during the first few weeks, it was only through sheer stubborn will, he entered the Cities with gyms. She would have it easier according to Lucario who pointed out she would mostly be in the middle of the ocean travelling away from population.

Ash however countered that since her aura was elemental in nature and water based she might feel the presence of water Pokemon more intensely. Misty nodded at that agreeing with that assessment as she could indeed feel her water Pokemon's presence very vividly, especially Starmie. Starmie was very pleased by that personally and stuck close to her to help her get used to his presence and aura. Ash called Professor Kukui in the meantime asking him about the neck piece Tapu Koko had gifted him last time.

Kukui, "Ah! That stone, yes, there is a mine here where you can get it. You are saying it helps with your aura?"

Ash nodded, "According to Yellow, yes, it is great help. You will have to ask her about the medical details as I don't understand it completely. All I know is that this is helpful."

Kukui, "I will look into it, it might take a few days however."

Ash, "I understand, I'm sure Misty can hold on till then."

Kukui, "Very well. How are you holding up so far?"

Ash smiled at the older man, "I'm doing well, Professor. My aura has not acted up the last few days and has almost recovered."

Kukui nodded, "Lord Tapu Koko will be happy to hear that. He has been coming around during early morning and late evening to get news on you. Your kidnapping by Lord Entei had the Tapus in a fritz, none of them were amused or happy to see it happening."

Ash looked sheepish, "That just happened, he needed help, Team Rocket wanted to capture the Unown."

Kukui, "Well, your new look certainly was a favorite among the girls and the media. It really suited you."

Ash turned pink, "Ah! Yeah, we figured it would be safer for us to travel if another persona caught Team Rocket's attention."

Kukui nodded, "Good idea. Well I will check in on the mines. Take care Ash."

Ash, "You too, Baba."

Kukui, "Wait whaaaa.. Ash!"

Ash turned the phone off, 'What did I just... '

Lucario, -So you finally did it?-

Ash, "Hard not to think of him as a father with all the worrying he does over us."

Abra, -I think it's good. I have a grand Pappy this way.-

Absol nuzzled his leg, "Sol ab absol."

Ash, "Misty, you should wake up now. Slowly, pull away from your aura slowly."

Misty did just that, earlier she had finally managed to find her aura pool inside and it had welcomed her. To her it felt like coming home as she immersed herself in her aura and her Pokemon stayed beside her making sure she was okay. Misty first started to move outside the aura pool before detaching herself from it slowly, it was hard to remove herself but she knew she had to do it. Misty soon opened her eyes and for a brief moment her eyes glowed a bright aquamarine reminding Ash of the ocean.

Ash, "How do you feel?"

Misty, "Like I can do anything."

Ash grinned, "Yup that is how it should be. Now come on, Brock and Sorrel should be done by now as well. We can join everyone for lunch."

Misty looked up surprised, "Huh? Lunch time already? It only felt like a few minutes."

Ash laughed, "Don't I know that? I used to get carried away by my own training and it was Lucario, Milotic, Charizard, Venasaur and Blastoise who would remind me to eat."

Lucario turned to Starmie, -Which means you will have to make sure she eats properly.-

Starmie nodded seriously determined to help his trainer, "Haaaa!"

As they walked towards the Pokemon centre away from the forest they noticed a few stalls by the road side. There was one that caught Ash's eyes, it was called Old Man Shuckle stall where one young Lady and a very spirited old man were selling pills. Feeling her own aura urge her Misty stepped towards the stall and asked about the pills that they were selling. The pair who turned out to be a grandfather, Yamamoto and granddaughter, Tsukki, pair explained that they specialized in making medicine that could be consumed by both Pokemon and human. Ash's eyes widened as he realized this was pretty close to Ayurvedic medicine and got interested and asked what type of medicines they sold, there were a variety of it.

They ranged from stomach ache pills to pills that could help with proper blood flow, to pills that cleared the sinuses, pills that healed cuts and bruises, etc. Seeing a good prospect and with their auras telling them this was the real deal both Ash and Misty took out their cards and asked them to pack them the pills in bottles for eleven people. One of the Shuckle seeing how enthusiastic Ash was about the pills became very curious, not to forget their loud interest attracted other curious customers as well. After the two left, the stall had become swamped with interested customers who wanted to get Ayurvedic medicine. On seeing Shuckle's longing look in the directions of the trainers, the young woman, promised to help him find that trainer again.

Tsukki, "They said they were here to cheer on their friends who were taking part in the Breeders Competition. So let's finish up and go there, okay."

Shuckle nodded, "Shuckle."

Misty meanwhile was very happy, "Pills to help menstrual cycle, pills to get rid of acne, pills to get rid of pimples. These are every woman's holy grail."

Ash chuckled, "Just remember to follow the instructions, Misty. It should be fine, remember you do not want to overwhelm your skin and body."

Misty nodded, "I'll be careful, but my favorite part are these healing and recovery pills, training in the wild will be so much easier."

Eevee, "Vui?"

Araquanid was eyeing the bottle in interest, "Idddd idd idddd."

Misty, "You are excited too, huh? Don't worry, once we are back in the ocean, we will be training extra hard. I will help you learn dive, surf, waterfall and hydro pump. These pills will take care of any injuries."

Chloe, "Misty you are back."

Serena, "How was training?"

Gou, "What are those?"

Misty grinned as Ash laid the different bottles on the table, one set of bottles for each of them, he said. She told them about what she experienced in her aura pool, how it felt like coming home and how she didn't want to leave that place. But she had too because it was already lunch time and she didn't even realize that and how while coming to meet them they came across an Ayurvedic practioner. Well according to Ash they were one and they got all these amazing pills that could help them on their journey. Brock and Sorrel joined them soon enough raising a curious eyebrow.

Sorrel, "An Ayurvedic practioner, those are very rare. Talk about great luck."

Brock smirked, "It is said people with active aura has the strangest luck."

Misty huffed, "We do not, we are just more aware of what is going on around us."

Verity, "Still this is awesome, this will definitely make training out in the wild easier."

Serenity munched on her rice balls, "Yeah, this acne removing pill, I think I'll send some for my mom too. There's a lot of pills in this, around fourty so twenty for me and twenty for my mom."

Ash, "I was planning the same. Mom is going active again, I figured these pills could come in handy."

Melody, "I'm more surprised you two got so many pills."

Casey, "Yeah, from what I know these pills are very costly."

Max nodded, "Yeah, only the rich are able to get these pills. Are you sure about giving these to me?"

Ash smiled, "Well they are pricey, we will admit but we got a discount as a thank you for the free advertising we did."

Misty, "Uh huh! It was a surprise for us but a great deal though. So it's fine, consider this a spring blossom gift."

Ash, "And as a celebration of Misty's aura awakening."

Misty, "And us supporting Brock and Sorrel."

Sorrel, "Well then, we better work hard in the next test."

Brock, "I believe it'll be a cooking test to see how well we make poke feed."

After lunch the screen lit up with the top sixteen contestants who would be going to the second round. Sorrel and Brock were in the middle of the list and the group congratulated them on clearing the theory round. Sorrel and Brock thanked them bashfully and headed to the kitchen area while they went to the sitting area outside the Pokemon centre. Their Pokemon were excited to try out the food made by the breeders and had skipped lunch, they still remembered the previous competition.

The poke food came out after half an hour and the Pokemon became excited on seeing the different poke feed. Lucario led the Pokemon to where he was sure Brock's and Sorrel's poke feed were located and had to begrudgingly share it with another group who had followed their nose. The two groups happily cleaned up the plates that Lucario was sure belonged to Sorrel and Brock, it tasted and smelled like their cooking. When the lunch was over the points were counted depending on how many plates were cleaned by the Pokemon. Only four contestants made it to the semi finals and they were Brock, Sorrel, Suzy and a person from Jhoto Nario.

Nario, "Hello, my name is Nario and I specialize in training the Wobbuffet line."

Brock, "Brock and I plan on becoming Kanto's first Pokemon Doctor."

Suzy, "Suzy and my goal is to open the largest breeder establishment in the world. I want to pass down my teachings and knowledge to as many people as possible."

Sorrel, "My name is Sorrel and just like Brock I want to become Sinnoh's Pokemon Doctor."

Nario, "It's nice to meet you all."

Announcer, "Now the finals will be decided through a good old Pokemon battle. Be prepared, dear breeders!"

Brock, "Alright!"

Announcer, "The first battle will be between Sorrel and Suzy. Participants please take the stage. This will be a one on one battle between you to decide who will move on to the final rounds."

Sorrel, "I'm ready."

Suzy, "So am I!"

Announcer, "Choose your Pokemon."

Sorrel, "Let's go Gallade."

Suzy, "Let's do this Bellossom."

Announcer, "Begin."

Sorrel, "Sword dance!"

Suzy, "Quiver dance."

The two Pokemon used the two moves to increase their speed as they attacked each other and landed hits. To the normal eye it looked like they were having a dance battle but those who knew what to look out for saw the damage that was being done. Sorrel called for disarming voice to stop Bellossom from using quiver dance and Suzy called for bullet seed. Gallade used sword dance to fight off the bullet seed before hitting Bellossom with a well placed punch.

Suzy, "Grab on to him and use giga drain."

Sorrel, "Stay calm and used brick break."

Ash and Misty winced when Gallade picked Bellossom up and slammed him to the floor using a powerful brick break. When the cloud of dust clear they saw Bellossom with swirls on her eyes, unable to get up. Gallade and Sorrel were moving on to the next round, next was Brock against Nario.

Brock, "Let's do our best."

Nario, "Yes!"

Announcer, "Choose your Pokemon."

Brock, "Let's go Steelix."

Nario, "Let's do this Wobbuffet."

Announcer, "Begin."

Brock, "Iron tail."

Nario, "Mirror coat."

The iron tail was reflected back making Steelix frown but he didn't give up instead Brock told him to dig. Steelix went underground while Nario told Wobbuffet to be ready with counter to fight back. Brock just grinned as Steelix dug underground around Wobbuffet and came out grinning. The steel type used iron tail again and Wobbuffet countered with mirror coat again only this the ground under it fell away. Wobbuffet was shocked and the mirror coat disappeared allowing Steelix a chance to hit him with a powerful iron tail knocking him out.

Announcer, "Wobbuffet is unable to battle, Brock and Steelix are moving to the next round."

Nario gaped before laughing, "Well I didn't see that coming."

Brock was grinning, "I had a great inspiration."

[A. N.: Hope you all enjoyed this chapter.

Do take care of yourselves dear readers. Eat well, drink lots of water, wear masks, stay safe.

My cat gave birth to three lovely kittens yesterday. They are so adorable. (｡'▽'｡)♡

See you next week.]