Chapter twelve- Hidden Pokémon Village

It was another day of travelling for our group, and once more Mason found himself irritated beyond belief. It had been two days since they had left Pokémon tech, and while it had been a productive two days, training-wise. The actual travelling aspect of their journey felt like they were going in circles.

'God, I hate filler episodes, this is precisely why I didn't want to travel with these three,' Mason thought to himself as the four of them pushed onward through waist-high tall grass in the middle of a forest, 'and here I thought tall grass was only in the video games'.

"Remind me again whose bright idea it was to take a shortcut through the forest," Mason sighed as he swatted a bug away from him making a mental note to buy some bug spray at the next city, 'no wonder they took so long to get to Vermillion City at this snail's pace.'

"Don't worry," Ash said looking back at Mason as he leads them through the grass, "I'm positive this way will take us back to the path"

"Positive hm?" Brock added from the rear of the group not sounding the least bit convinced.

"That's what you said an hour ago," Misty groaned, "I'm tired, we've been walking for ages. I told you to stick to the main road but no, you had to take a "Short cut"," She added with a sigh.

"I took the shortcut?" Ash said indignantly, "it was you who said to go this way!" Ash defended himself.

"No she didn't she said not to go this way," Mason voiced remembering a couple hours back when Ash had decided to veer off the path wanting to catch some Pokémon and they had all followed him.

"Exactly!" Misty stated pleased that Mason was agreeing with her, "If I was leading we wouldn't be lost like this!"

"Who says we're lost!" Ash yelled angrily, still refusing to admit it.

"The fact that we've been walking for hours and the road is nowhere in sight is a big clue," Mason replied as he pushed past Ash who had stopped to argue with Misty, "Now come on, lets go and find a place to rest for a bit and then when we can figure out where we are."

Brock nodded as he walked after him, "good idea, we'll all think clearer after some food and everyone's had a chance to cool off" he agreed.

Both Misty and Ash gave each other one final glare before they turned and started to walk forward again following Mason who was now leading them.

Thankfully for their feet, it only took another five minutes to get out of the tall grass and reach a clearing with some rocks for them all to sit on, and rest.

Misty quickly sat on the most comfortable rock and began to take her shoes off and rubbing her feet, "Finally, all this walking was killing my feet"

Mason sighed as he took his bag off and slumped at the side of a bolder and slid down it to rest, "your telling me, even with my padded boots my feet are still throbbing, what I wouldn't give for a warm bath, even a cold basin of water to soak my feet in would be heaven right now," he said as he rested his head back on the bolder.

Brock nodded, "Yeah now let's eat something," he said as he opened his bag and took out a small box opening it to show some rice balls that he had prepared earlier and started to hand them out, "it's important to keep our energies up when we're on the road"

"Brock if I had a hat I'd take it off to you, that's the smartest thing I think I've ever heard you say" Mason joked as he took one of the offered rice balls and began to eat it grateful for the food.

Sadly Mason's little reprieve was not to last as no sooner had Ash his rice ball eaten they all heard the sound of splashing, and Ash was quickly on his feet to check out the sound to discover that it was a small Odish drinking from a small spring at another set of boulders across from the ones they were currently resting at.

"Oh wow, a Pokémon" Ash said as he quickly took out his Pokédex and pointed it at the small Oddish to check its data.

"Oddish. This Pokémon is typically found roaming the forest, scattering pollen as it walks around." the Pokédex recited from its records.

"I'll catch it" Ash announced as he put his Pokédex away and took out his Pokéball ready to battle the small grass type.

"Hold it," Misty said as she got in front of Ash, "its near water so I want to catch it."

"Ah come on misty I saw it first" Ash complained.

Mason sighed, 'here we go' he thought to himself as he moved to stand up, "Misty, Oddish isn't a water Pokémon," he said as he stood up, "it's a grass type."

Misty smirked, "I know, but it's still cute" she said taking out her Pokéball, "just because I'm a water Pokémon trainer doesn't mean I can't catch a cute Pokémon." she said before looking to see the small grass type running away, "oh no you don't, go Starmie." she said before throwing her Pokéball and calling out her Pokémon to block Oddish from escaping.

Oddish quickly began to change its route and tried to escape, not wanting to battle.

"Oh no, you don't Starmie use Water Gun!" Misty ordered and Starmie obeyed firing a powerful stream of water that sent Oddish into the air, "that's it, now finish with Rapid Spin!"

As soon as the water stopped Starmie was in the air spinning fast and catching the disorientated weed Pokémon by surprise and sending it to the ground its eyes spinning.

"Perfect," Misty said with a grin as she took out an empty Pokéball, "Pokéball go," she said as she tossed the ball at the downed grass Pokémon, only for a green blur to shoot out of the tree line and block the Pokébal before it hit its mark.

"What's that!" Ash said in shock as Misty looked disappointed that her capture had failed.

Mason smirked as he saw what had blocked the ball. Bulbasaur stood protectively in front of Oddish growling as it glared at them, "looks like a Bulbasaur to me, and it doesn't look one bit happy"

"Oh wow I can't believe it a Bulbasaur," Ash said acting starstruck seeing the rare Pokémon, and mason couldn't blame him either considering how rare the Pokémon was.

Ash quickly held up his Pokédex to get another reading, "Bulbasaur. It bears the seed of a plant on its back from birth. The seed slowly develops. Researchers are unsure whether to classify Bulbasaur as a plant or animal. Bulbasaur are extremely tough and very difficult to capture in the wild."

As soon as Ash's Pokédex finished speaking as if to prove it right, Bulbasaur sprinted forward and caught Starmie with a powerful Tackle attack, knocking the star Pokémon back before Bulbasaur let its vines shoot out and smack Starmie hard sending the water Pokémon back even further with some serious damage.

"Starmie!" Misty cried and ran to her downed Pokémon, who had taken some serious damage from the two attacks one being super effective and a critical hit.

Ash quickly stepped forward, "Now it's my turn," he said as he pulled a Pokéball from his belt, "Butterfree, go use Sleep powder!"

Butterfree appeared out of his Pokéball in the air and instantly went in as ordered. Mason couldn't help but smirk seeing it, Ash certainly was learning from him well, this had been something Mason had drilled into his head about getting the advantage quickly in none official matches and wild encounters, if you called the attack as you were calling your Pokémon out your Pokémon didn't have to wait for an order and inadvertently give the opponent a chance to attack first. Mason just counted him unlucky that this was the first time Ash put his tactics into use.

No sooner had Butterfree started to fly over and let out the glittering powder did Bulbasaur start a counter-attack by taking in a deep breath and literally blowing the powder back at Butterfree who instantly began to sag in the air as he became sleepy.

'Note to self, use Hypnosis or another sleep-inducing move that doesn't involve spores, too easily countered by smart Pokémon' Mason made the mental note inwardly smirking at Bulbasaurs creativity.

"Oh no, Butterfree hang in there…" Ash began to say, but it was too late.

As soon as Butterfree got low enough to the ground Bulbasaur went in for another tackle and sent the butterfly Pokémon flying, along with Ash's hope of catching him, before he and Oddish took off running as Ash slumped to the ground in defeat.

"Oh! The Bulbasaur!" Ash whined as he watched them runoff.

Mason sighed, "well that was something, come on let's go.." he tried to say only for Ash to cut him off.

"No, I'm not giving up!" Ash interrupted as he quickly recalled Butterfree and quickly took off running after Bulbasaur with Pikachu giving chase, "I'll catch that Bulbasaur just you wait and see!"

"Ash!" Brock called as he began to run after him.

"But we only just stopped walking!" Misty called as she went as well.

Mason slumped, "can't we just have five minutes to rest" he groaned before running back to grab his backpack and took off sprinting after them, his feet throbbing.

Scene break

"I can't believe you lost it, and to make matters worse, now we're even more lost than we were before," Misty groaned as they walked through the forest.

It had been twenty minutes since the battle with Oddish and Bulbasaur and the group of four were once again lost after following Ash deeper into the forest.

"It's not my fault, I know they went this way, they're just too fast," Ash complained as they walked.

"Oh, and who was the idiot who went running into the forest after them" Mason grumbled the throbbing in his feet had reached a new level of pain and he was getting really sick of walking and he knew it was only going to get worse.

Thankfully they seemed to reach a clearing in the forest, only for them to realise that they had reached a divide in the forest where a large chasm divided the forest with a rope bridge leading across to the other half.

"Ha, I knew it, they must have crossed over this way," Ash said as he started to cross the bridge, "I bet there are loads of Bulbasaur on this side of the forest," he said victoriously.

Mason sighed and resigned himself to his fate knowing what was going to happen as he began to cross the bridge as well, keeping one hand firmly on the right-hand side of the bridge, knowing what was coming.

"But where is this place," Misty said as she looked around as they crossed, sounding concerned.

"I can't find this bridge on my map," Brock added as he held his map out in front of him.

Mason sighed, "next chance I get I'm getting a GPS or a Pokénav, I hate being lost" he complained, only to stiffen as the wind began to blow stronger, this was it.

Suddenly the bridge began to rock violently with the wind and Mason heard the telltale snap of the rope behind and to his left, he gripped the right-hand rope hard with his right hand and reached behind him as the bridge started to go and grabbed Misty's wrist as the bridge went.

"AAAAAHHHH!!" Brock cried as he fell from the bridge as he lost what little grip he had and fell from the bridge landing in the river below.

"Brock fell into the river," Ash yelled.

"Yeah, no shit!" Mason snapped, "Worry about him later, right now start climbing or we're going to be next!" he yelled as he held onto the bridge with one hand while he held Misty by the other.

"Mason, don't let go!" Misty pleaded as she held onto his hand for dear life.

"Wasn't planning on it!" Mason groaned and was instantly thankful for the training that he had been putting himself through as he began to pull himself over to reach the ropes of the other side of the bridge to use as a kind of support to help them reach the other side.

Time skip

Those were the longest minutes of Mason's life as he climbed out of the chasm from the bridge and pulled himself and Misty over the edge, before he collapsed on his back panting hard, 'that's it, from now on I'm doubling my workout routine' he thought to himself as he tried to get his breath back, before he suddenly found his mind be taken by something else as Misty hugged him breathing hard as well, but out of fear.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Misty said rapidly as she hugged him tightly, "I thought I was a goner until you grabbed me!"

Mason was too out of breath to reply, that climb had really taken it out of him, his heart was hammering in his chest, and could only nod in response as he lay on the ground spread eagle, his arms feeling like lead weights… and his feet were still killing him.

"I'm completely wiped out!" Ash said as he rested on his hands and knees just off to the side of them.

After a moment Misty suddenly pulled herself up with a gasp, "oh no, we can't rest now, we need to find Brock"

Mason who was still getting his breath back held up a finger, "...Minute" he panted desperately needing to catch his breath but nonetheless began to slowly pull himself to his feet to get ready to start the search.

Time skip

Following the side of the chasm, they were lucky enough to find a small goat path down the side of the cliff that went in the direction that the river had carried Brock off in. Reaching the bottom they took off down the path that followed the river that seemed to be getting wider as the chasm started to lessen off and get lower.

As they were running Mason was wincing as he felt every step with how sore his feet were, he was sorely tempted to stop and let his feet cool off in the river but knew the others wouldn't really be okay with that and explaining things wasn't really an option.

As he ran Mason suddenly felt the ground began to give out from under him as he took a step, and his eyes widen, "whoa!" he cried as he suddenly felt himself falling but just barely managed to put his other foot forward in time and reach back to grab Misty yet again as she let out a cry as she began to fell and pulled her forward as well. Pulling them both out of the way just as the ground gave way revealing a large pit trap behind them.

"Wow, thanks!" Misty said as both she and Mason looked back at the hole.

"Don't mention it," Mason said back before frowning at the whole, it was a good eight-foot drop, 'that would have hurt"

"What's this doing here?" Ash asked confused as to why there was a large hole in the middle of the road.

Mason sighed, "well isn't it obvious, someone had booby-trapped this side of the forest, first the bridge just giving out like that and now this, someone clearly doesn't want visitors"

"Never mind that now," Misty said as she turned, "we'll just have to be on the lookout for more if that's the case, we need to find Brock."

Mason nodded and started walking as well but winced on the next step and stumbled slightly. "Ow!" he complained

Misty looked to him in worry, "are you okay?"

Mason shook his head, "my feet are killing me, it feels like I'm walking on hot coals with every step" he sighed as he moved to the side and sat down on a stone, wincing with every step, "you two go on ahead, I need to rest my feet for a bit, I'll catch up"

Both nodded to him and started off again as Mason sighed and tried to move his feet again only to wince, "I hate walking" Mason moaned to himself as he moved over to the river painfully and, not caring anymore dunked both his feet into the water, boots and all, letting out a relieved sigh as the cool water soaked into his socks and boots, he really needed that.

'There has got to be a better way to travel than on foot' Mason sighed to himself as he lay back on the ground his feet soaking in the water.

Time skip

Mason only rested for about half an hour before pulling himself to his feet again, his feet were still sore but his water-soaked socks and boots managed to keep them cool so the pain wasn't too bad and let him continue on for the next bit of the walk. The problem came when he didn't find Misty or Ash anywhere and groaned, "where the hell did those two get to," he said to himself as he continued to follow the river.

He knew they had to be along the bank somewhere, they couldn't have been that far ahead of him. He didn't have to wait much longer however as he finally found the pair of them sitting contently in a net hanging from a tree.

He stood there for a moment before sighing, "do I even want to know?" he asked, inwardly glad that he had stopped when he had and not got caught up as well.

"Mason!" Misty said happy to see him.

"Cut us down, we've been stuck up here for ages!" Ash complained as he began to struggle.

Mason sighed and shook his head as he moved to the rope holding the net up, "alright, hold still" he said as he began to take his bag off his back remembering he had gotten a knife as part of his supplies back in Pewter city, but paused when he heard a snap off to the left before a familiar voice spoke.

"Here you guys are!" Came Brock's voice as he came through the trees.

"Hey, Brock!" Ash yelled, just as Mason cut the rope to the net and let the net drop a few feet before he grabbed it.

Unfortunately for Ash his part of the net broke and he fell out, with Pikachu landing on top of him as a cushion, while Misty was lowered slowly to the ground and got to her feet.

"Where have you been Brock we've been searching for you for ages now," Mason said as he folded the knife up and put it away in his bag again.

"Yeah," Ash agreed as he got up, "We saw you fall into the river, then what happened?"

"Well I was being washed away in the rapids," Brock said as he began to recount his story, "when I was about to go under a hand reached out and caught mine before pulling me from the river, the girls who saved my life was incredibly beautiful"

"Beautiful girl hm?" Ash said a little bit in disbelief.

Mason snorted, "Leave it to you to fall from a cliff and end up getting saved by a beautiful girl," he said shaking his head, "isn't it meant to be the knight in shining armour that saves the princess, and not the other way around?" he joked.

"Oh Ha-Ha," Brock responded dryly, "Anyway come on and follow me, I've got something to show you all," he said as he began to lead them back in the direction he had come from.

Mason followed behind limping slightly the pain in his feet still present, 'I'm going to need to get myself a walking stick at this rate' he thought to himself.

Time skip

It took them a few minutes before the four of them finally reached a clearing with a small cabin next to a small body of water. Walking out of the treeline they caught the attention of a young woman who looked to be about Brock's age with long Blue hair held back by a yellow bow, wearing a pink shirt and red overalls.

"Oh?" the woman said in surprise seeing them.

Brock smiled, "Melanie, these are my friends that I told you about, Ash, Misty and Mason," he said as he introduced them, "Guys this is Melanie,"

"Oh so these are your friends" Melanie smiled before giving a slight bow, "so your Brocks friends, he's told me all about you"

Mason nodded before looking over to see all of the Pokémon currently eating, Weepingbell, Ratata, Oddish, Paras, Caterpie, "quite the lineup of Pokémon you have here" he said drawing the attention of others attention.

"Oh wow," Misty said finally seeing them, "do all these Pokémon belong to you?" she asked.

"Oh no," Melanie denied as Brock walked over and began to pet the Paras.

"This is a place where Pokémon can rest and relax" Brock explained for her.

"Like a summer camp?" Ash suggested

"Well sort of, but all year long" Brock corrected.

"Sounds like a spa and resort to me," Mason said as he moved from foot to foot trying to keep his weight spread out so as not to hurt too badly, "I could really do with something like that right now."

Melanie noticed that he was in pain and frowned, "Oh my are you alright?" she asked.

Mason waved her off, "I'll be fine, but do you mind if I rest by the water to cool my feet, we've been walking for a while"

Melanie smiled, "not at all, please rest all of you, you're all welcome here" she invited them.

Mason nodded and limped over to the water and sat down to rest as he took his wet boots and socks off. The bottom of his feet were a painful red and were too painful to move as he slowly rolled the bottoms of his pants up and lowered his feet into the cool water and let out a sigh of relief as the cool waters washed over his sore feet. Taking off his bag Mason lay back on the cool grass and sighed, 'Much better' he thought to himself as he closed his eyes to relax, drifting off into a light sleep now that he knew he could.

It was about fifteen minutes later that Mason was gently nudged awake by Misty who smiled down at him while holding a paper plate down for him. "Hey, have a nice nap?" she asked.

Mason gave a yawn, "yeah, I needed it" he said as he slowly sat up and took the paper plate that had three rice balls on it. Looking behind him everyone else were eating and the others had let out their Pokémon to get some fresh air and food.

'Odd, not something I remember happening in the series' Mason thought to himself but shrugged it off as he put the plate down before calling out his own team.

"Grub time guys, go ahead over to the others and get some food, we're resting here for a while," Mason told his team and they all nodded before doing just that.

Misty smiled as she sat down beside him by the water's edge, "how are your feet?" she asked.

Mason sighed, "a little better now, walking all that way was a bit more than what I'm used to," he said as he took up one of the rice balls.

"Did you not walk a lot before becoming a trainer?" Misty asked curiously.

Mason nodded, "I did, just never for hours on end like that," he said being careful of his words as he swallowed, remembering to stick to the story that he had come up with for Professor Oak about him being an orphan, "maybe one or two at max"

Misty nodded, "I remember back at the Pokémon centre in Viridian City, you said you were an orphan?" Misty asked gently, being careful.

Mason nodded, "I did, and it's okay, it's not a sensitive subject for me," he said making her relax, "I don't even remember my parents, to be honest. It's always just been me by myself."

"Must have been rough, growing up like that" Misty said sadly, feeling sorry for him, she knew what it was like not to have her dad any more, her mother had left on a cruise to get away from the memories, it had been too painful for her to stay around the gym after he passed away, and had left it to her sisters and her.

Nodding Mason finished his food, "it was a little, but I managed, I started travelling when I was young, I can't even remember where I'm originally from it was so long ago, but it doesn't matter, what matters is what I do for my future, I have my dream and that's all I need" he said trying to put an end to the topic before she asked any further questions.

Misty smiled, "I suppose," she said before sighing, "it's so peaceful here, Melanie has done a good job setting this place up"

Mason nodded, "yeah she has, I bet it was her that set up those traps we ran into, the bridge, the trap hole and net"

Misty nodded, "it was, Melanie, told us while you were resting, Brock also promised her that we wouldn't catch any Pokémon while we're here, because none of them are interested in being captured," she informed him.

Mason smirked, "Sure no worries, my team is coming along fine at the moment, I don't need to catch any Pokémon here for the time being" he brushed it off as he slowly began to take his feet out of the water and tested standing on them letting out a sigh when he didn't feel any pain, "good as new" he said before he began to go through his bag to get a dry pair of socks and his old trainers to pull on until his boots had dried out.

Misty smiled before spotting Oddish walking over for a drink, "hey Oddish," she said as the small weed Pokémon paused and looked up at her taking a step back.

"Oh no don't worry," Misty said as she got up and began to kneel down, "I'm sorry about what happened out in the forest, I shouldn't have surprised you like that" she apologised, "I bet you were scared"

Oddish gave a nod as it looked to be staying to listen.

Misty nodded, "you know Melanie told me that your old trainer got rid of you because he thought you were too weak is that true?" she asked gently.

Oddish nodded again looking down sadly.

"It's okay, some trainers can just be insensitive like that, but not all of us are mean like that" Misty explained not wanting the small Pokémon to be afraid of humans.

Mason smirked as he walked over now with his socks and trainers on, "Yeah, we're all different, and I can guarantee if Misty had caught you, you would have been happy with her,"

Oddish looked up to both of them with a look of awe on its small face.

Misty smiled as she reached out and gently began to stroke Oddish's long leafy hair, "you just need someone who understands you, anyway I just wanted to say I was sorry for what I did, I was brash and jumped in to fast, I hope you can forgive me" Misty said feeling regret for what she did.

Oddish watched Misty for a few moments as she spoke and seemed to tell that she was truly sorry for her actions and gave a nod of its head before smiling, "Oddish" it replied.

Misty smiled back and reached up to wipe away some of the tears she had begun to cry, "thank you Oddish, you're really sweet you know that. Lately, all I've been able to think about is winning, I hope I'm not becoming heartless"

Mason placed a hand on her shoulder as Oddish looked on in concern, "no Misty you're not becoming heartless, don't worry, its natural for a trainer to get competitive every once in a while and want to do better than they have been, you're a good trainer, so you have nothing to worry about," he told her as Oddish nodded in agreement, "see even Oddish agrees with me"

Misty sniffled and nodded, smiling and blushing a little bit from Mason's words, "thanks"

Mason nodded before movement caught his eye, "lookout" he said as he pushed Misty out of the way as he was hit from the side by a tackle attack to the gut and shoved to the ground with a grunt.

"Mason!" Misty said in shock, getting the attention of the others who began coming over to see Bulbasaur standing growling at Mason ready to attack again.

Mason's Pokémon instantly moved between their trainer and the attacking Pokémon ready to defend their trainer, Scyther blades at the ready, Spearow and Golbat in the air above ready to attack, the winds around them whipping up in response to Dratini who was getting ready to attack, and Poliwhirl who was in a fighting stance ready to attack. But even against multiple opponents, Bulbasaur didn't look as though he was going to back down.

"Hold on!" Mason said, his chest swelling with pride to see his team come to his defence, "Don't attack!" he ordered.

"Please wait!" Melanie said as she stepped in between the Pokémon who were ready to fight, "Bulbasaur is only trying to protect the village" she tried to explain as Mason got to his feet rubbing his gut.

"Stand down, all of you" Mason ordered his Pokémon again and they all obeyed loosening their stances as Spearow and Golbat came down from the air, and the winds died down as Dratini syphoned off the draconic energy it had been gathering.

"Well he has a funny way of showing it," Misty said as she went over to Mason, "attacking us like that."

Melanie frowned, "Please try to understand, Bulbasaur only wants to protect the village, he volunteered to be the village protector, he's fiercely protective of the village and doesn't like outside humans" she tried to explain.

"That would explain why he attacked," Mason said as he looked at Bulbasaur, "he thought that we were trying to take Oddish away from here."

Unable to get to Mason because his Pokémon were in the way, Bulbasaur turned his attention to the next closest human, the one who had attacked him earlier out in the forest when he was defending Oddish and stomped over to Ash and began to push hard on his shin.

"Now what?" Ash said in confusion as he tried to keep his balance.

"Bulbasaur wants you to leave the village. Like I said he's never liked outside humans coming into the village," Melanie explained.

"But we're not here to capture Pokémon" Misty complained, "we're here to help you."

"It's true Bulbasaur, these are our friends," Melanie said trying to convince Bulbasaur to leave them be.

But it didn't seem to convince the seed Pokémon as he just kept pushing on Ash's shin trying to force him to leave, he would deal with the others when this one was out of the way first.

Mason watched the scene rather solemnly, he had always wondered what had happened that had turned Bulbasaur so set against trainers, but then again he realised that watching his friends being captured by trainers who pass through, along with the tales of trainers who just abandon their Pokémon like trash would set anyone against the notion of trainers, it was a rather sobering thought.

But not a thought that occupied Mason's mind for long when a shadow began to overcast the entire clearing and he scowled looking up at the large floating object above them that Mason honestly didn't know what to make of. 'Honestly where do these idiots get these stupid machines, and why do they need such a huge, what is essentially, a vacuum cleaner' he thought to himself as he watched the large machine fly overhead as they could just barely make out the sounds of Jessie, James and Meowth singing the Team Rocket motto from atop it before it came crashing down on the far side of the clearing.

"Great not these idiots again" Mason sighed.

"Here we go again" Ash agreed.

"Today only at Jessie's stadium it's the Team Rocket Pokémon challenge! All Pokémon are invited to enter the stadium!" Jessie announced as she stood confidently atop the massive machine before a large hose extended out from its side and into the valley before it began to shake and pull all of the air into it.

Mason had to steady himself as the backdraft almost lifted him off his feet but he managed to steady himself and reached forward just in time to grab Dratini as the small dragon was nearly pulled away by the wind.

Spearow was almost pulled away as well but was caught by Poliwhirl, Scyther stuck his bladed arms into the ground to keep from being pulled in, and Golbat was beating her wings hard to keep from being pulled in as well.

Thinking fast Mason began recalling his Pokémon one by one to their balls while trying to keep his balance.

"They never run out of ideas do they!" Ash yelled as he jumped over to keep Staryu from getting pulled away by the suction.

"Everybody into the cabin!" Brock shouted as he wrenched open the door to the cabin and kept it steady while several of the Pokémon ran inside for shelter.

"ODDISH!" Mason heard Misty cry as the small weed Pokémon was pulled off its feet by the wind, only to be caught by Bulbasaur's vines the next moment and pulled back to safety.

Mason made his way over to Misty fighting against the winds and the two of them made their way to the cabin and helped Misty pull the door shut as Ash came in slowly helping Bulbasaur fight against the winds.

Pulling the door closed it wasn't long before they felt the cabin began to shake.

Mason frowned, "we need to do something about that hose, or this cabin is going to be pulled out of its foundations," he said as the building shook around them.

Bulbasaur taking the initiative went out the window at the side and quickly pulled himself onto the roof and using its vines began to attack the hose knocking its aim away from the cabin.

Feeling the cabin stop shaking Mason and Ash took the incentive as both burst out of the cabin Pokéballs in hand.

"Pidgeotto go, Gust attack!" Ash called as he tossed his Pokéball and Pigeotto came out her wings already beating as the winds began to move.

"Go Golbat, use Hyper Beam!" Mason Called as Golbat took to the air from her Pokéball as Pideotto's winds kept the hose and Team Rocket busy for a few seconds while she gathered the necessary energy into her mouth before the powerful beam of energy shot from her open mouth.

Mason heard the cries of team rocket as the powerful beam of energy cut through the machine like a hot knife through butter seconds before it exploded and launched the trio sky high.

Mason whistled as he watched them disappear, 'well that certainly was explosive' he thought to himself as Golbat flew down and landed on his shoulder, "nicely done" he praised his Pokémon as the others came out of the cabin.

"Is everyone okay?" Melanie asked as she began doing a headcount of all the Pokémon there.

"Well I got the wind knocked out of me," Ash joked smirking as Pidgeotto came down to land on his arm.

Mason shook his head, "too soon" he sighed as he took up his Pokéball to recall Golbat to it.

Bulbasaur looked around and gave a sigh as well relieved to see all of his charges were safe.

Ash smirked, "this village is well protected with Bulbasar here"

Melanie seemed to study Ash for a moment before nodding, "Ash, don't you agree that Bulbasaur would make an excellent addition to your team?" she asked him.

Ash rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Well yeah of course…" he stated.

Mason turned away from the scene already knowing how it would go and was curious when he looked over to see Misty talking with Oddish again and approached them as he overheard the conversation.

"Are you absolutely sure? I don't want to if you're not completely," Misty was saying in concern but the small weed Pokémon was only nodding her small head vigorously at what was she was trying to tell Misty.

"What's going on?" Mason asked as he came over.

"Oh, Mason." Misty said not looking overly sure as she looked to him, "It's Oddish, I.. I think she's trying to tell me that she wants to come with me and be on my team." she explained.

Mason arched an eyebrow at that, 'that certainly never happened in the anime' he thought to himself, "Really, that's great. So what's the problem?" he asked.

Misty frowned, "Well, I've only ever trained Water Pokémon, you know because of my dream to be a master water Pokémon trainer, and while I would love to take her with me, I'm not sure I'd know how to properly train and care for a Grass-type Pokémon." she reasoned.

Mason sighed, "I understand, but you shouldn't worry, you're a great trainer Misty, and Oddish can see that, you'll do a great job regardless of Oddish's typing, don't doubt yourself on that" he encouraged her.

"You really think so?" Misty asked looking a bit doubtful.

Mason nodded, "I do, and I'll be there to help you. Count on it." he smiled.

Misty smiled back before she looked back to Oddish who was looking up to her, determination set on her small face, a look that made Misty smile more confidently and nods, "well okay then," she said before scooping the small Pokémon up into her arms, "welcome to the team Oddish"

"Oddish!" the small weed Pokémon cheered.

Mason smiled and nodded, "congratulations."

"Indeed" Melanie's voice sounded from behind Mason making him turn to her as she walked over, "I've seen this coming for a while now," she said as she smiled at Oddish and Misty, "Little Oddish has been getting more and more bolder and traveling further and further from the village every day as her confidence came back to her, I knew it wouldn't be long before she was ready to leave for good"

"Odd" the small weed Pokémon said in sadness.

Melanie smiled and walked over to gently stroke Oddish's grass-like hair, "it's okay Oddish, we'll miss you here, but this is for the best, and you're always welcome here any time, I know that Misty will take good care of you"

Misty nodded, "count on it," she said confidently smiling as she held Oddish in her arms, making the small weed Pokémon smile and nod, confidently as well.

Mason smiled at the sight it sure had caught him off guard and he wondered just what other changes this would mean in the coming future.