216. Green Lodge

Standing on the hillside, looking at the large town in front of her, May took a deep breath, "It smells so good!"

"Smell? Do you smell something good?" Max still knows May the best out of the group and knows her preference for food over pretty much anything.

"No, I mean I smell the city!" It's no wonder that May is so happy. They have been traveling deep within the forest recently, but the harvest has been really good huge for them.

Ash caught his original Taillow and Treecko, and his Treecko also learned the Absorb skill and finally has a Grass-type attack, which will give it more possibilities in close combat.

Not only that, Ash is teaching Taillow a new skill, a skill that can greatly enhance its flying combat capabilities. This is the same method he has taught his Shiny Noctowl and he also upgraded this from learning a few things from his powerful Pidgeot.

Rinshin Town is the name of the town in front of them, even though it is closer to being a small city than an actual town.

"Sure enough, people like me who grew up in the city should still breathe this kind of breath occasionally!" May began to talk about what delicacies she should start with.

Brock also needs to take this opportunity to buy more supplies for their travel sessions. Brock can't rest assured that these can be done by anyone other than him from his past experiences.

But for Ash, the first place to go when he comes to town is of course the Pokémon Center. After such a long period of forest training, several of his Pokémon have accumulated a lot of fatigue and needs to be looked over.

Moreover, the first Pokémon Egg he received was supposed to hatch already from what he was told, but it hadn't happened just yet, so Ash was naturally a little concerned, so he had to go to the Pokémon Center to check it out carefully.

The four of them agreed on their own free activities. Max followed Ash to the Pokémon Center first to see what is happening, while Brock went shopping to buy supplies.

May went alone to eat the famous food from the town. (May is me with all her characteristics.)

"Dig? Dug?"

"Don't you know about it yet? This incident has been spreading throughout the whole town recently. Where have you been living, underground?"

"Dig dig dugtrio!" (Yes, yes I was.)

After eating all the 'necessary' things she needed to, May happened to overhear the conversation between a passers-by and a Dugtrio. She was immediately interested and approached her and asked, "What is this Curse you are talking about?"

"So you see, there is an old mansion called the Green Lodge that is pretty close to here. It is currently under construction there. The house and the yard will all be demolished together. The problem is that there is a Curse there!"

Upon hearing about the Curse, May's eyes brightened even more, but Brock, who May met with after she finished eating, was a little scared by that.

"Obviously no one lives in it as of yet, but something seems to be moving inside of there, and there are new footprints left recently in the front corridor! Also, workers who enter the house will suddenly feel something and fall asleep, so that house must not be a good omen!"

Brock face was already covered in sweat and he was a little afraid even though he had seen battles between Legandary Pokémon's.

"Ash, I have checked both of your Pokémon Eggs!" Nurse Joy focused on checking the condition of the first Pokémon Egg for Ash and then the second. "Don't worry, this egg is very healthy. I believe it will be soon, maybe in the next few days. A healthy Pokémon will be hatched!"

"Thank you so much for your help, Nurse Joy!"

After handing his other Pokémon's to Nurse Joy for a checkup, Max took Ash out to look for wild Pokémon's nearby. There were not many Pokémon living in the town with the people.

In the past, Max could only see most Pokémon's on magazines or on the TV. He only saw very few species at home that belonged to his dad on his greenhouse. Now that he is finally able to travel with Ash, he always thinks about seeing the many wild Pokémon on the road.

So they found one as soon as they went out of the Pokémon Center. In a small alley, Max found a Shroomish that seemed to be in a bad mood.

"I never expected to meet a Pokémon so soon after we started to look for them. I'm definitely lucky!" Max slowly approached the moody Shroomish, looking very happy.

Ash looked at it and asked, "So Max, have you realized what the problem is with this Shroomish yet?"

"What's the problem?" Max was confused by Ash's sudden question, but Ash quickly told him the reason, "You see Shroomish normally lives in the forest, how come it appears here all of a sudden? Either it is lost or abandoned." Ahs give him his explanation like a pro.

As Max heard this, he looked at the Shroomish and said, "This Shroomish seems to be angry!"

Ash shook his head, "Pokémon's expressions are different and cannot be judged based on human expressions. Shroomish here is a prime example of this. It should not be angry, but afraid!"

"Afraid? Afraid of what? Us?" Max began to observe the Shroomish carefully, and it looked more and more like what Ahs had said. "Big Bro, you really know a lot!"

Ash didn't speak. There were many things that Max had to understand by himself. No matter how much he taught him, it was best to guide him on the early stages and make him understand the later things by himself. After all, he did promise this to Norman and Caroline.

He took some Grass-type Pokémon food that Brock had made for his Treecko, and squatted gently next to the Shroomish. "It's okay, buddy. You're hungry, right? Eat these, they are tasty."

"Pika pika!"

Max was about to come over to Ash too, but was stopped by him, who explained softly, "When dealing with scared wild Pokémon, you must not rush into anything. You don't have Molly's talent of playing well with wild Pokémon. What will happen to Shroomish if he is frightened by your sudden closeness? Did you think of that?"

Max had really good knowledge about Pokémon but lacked the knowledge and experience that came with being a real experienced Trainer because of young he is. "After Shroomish senses danger, it will scatter its toxic spores from its head that can wither away plants. If you accidentally inhale the spores, every part of your body will start to hurt and spasm."

With that said, Max decided to step back and stood behind Ash, watching his every move with interest.

Ash's gentleness finally made Shroomish let go of his guard. He came closer, sniffed the Pokémon food in his hand, tried to eat some, and then started eating it in big gulps once he realized how tasty it was.

Form the way it ate, Ash knew it was hungry.

"It's eating it." Max became very happy with this.

Ash nodded, picked it up, and under its guidance, came to the Green Lodge that was apparently cursed, and happened to meet May and Brock who also came to explore here.

Entering the house, the Shroomish jumped through one of the broken glass.

"You guys!"

After exchanging information, a young man came to side of Ash and his party, "How can you break in here without permission? The trees in the garden are being cut now, which is very dangerous! What of something falls on you guys?"

"We were brought here by this Shroomish!" Max began to explain.

However, the young man shook his head in disbelief, "You must be mistaken. There should be no Shroomish in this town!"

"And why is that?" Ash asked.

The young man nodded, "My name is Alex. When I was a kid, there were a lot of Shroomish around here. I loved Shroomish the most at that time. This house was my grandfather's home. When I was a kid, I used to come here and play with the Shroomish's here all day. But as more and more buildings were built in the town, the forest gradually disappeared." He said with a melancholy expression.

"Then after my grandpa passed away, and I don't know when, but slowly all the Shroomish's here disappeared! In the end, even this place was decided to be completely demolished and a building is supposed to be built here!

"Absolutely not!" Ash said suddenly, with a very tough attitude.

"Ash?" May has never seen Ash behave like this before. It's was kind of rude, which Ash was never.

Alex also frowned, very dissatisfied with Ash's attitude.

The faint blue light on Ash's body slowly disappeared, and he breathed out softly, "I'm Ash Ketchum, an Officer of the International G-Men from the Pokémon Alliance Headquarters. Come with me, it's an order!"

Alex was a little scared of Ash but still followed him.

"Are you going on an adventure?" May suddenly became excited and followed Ash's lead towards a secluded place.

Under the leadership of Ash, the group and Alex went to the study room on the second floor of the house and found the Shroomish Ash had rescued. Not only it, but several other Shroomish's were also all present.

"It turns out there really was some still left!" Alex's expression changed immediately when he saw all the Shroomish's. He had always loved Shroomish the most.

Max walked over and saw their expressions huddled together, "Are you afraid of something?"

"No, it's not that they are scared." Ash crossed his arm on his chest, "It's more like they are sad."

"What are you sad about?" Max asked subconsciously, but he quickly figured it out, "I understand, since all the forest are gone, and now even this house has to be demolished, the Shroomish's here have no place to go!"

Ash sighed, "Ho-Oh's biggest wish is for Pokémon and humans to live together in harmony. Mr. Alex, I will let you take a look at the true face of this mansion that is being demolished with your very own eyes!"

"Real face?" May suddenly widened her eyes and looked very excited, "Ash, have you really discovered the truth about the mysterious curse?"

They saw Ash squatting down and saying to one of the Shroomish's, "Call the rest of companions out!"

After the words fell, the Shroomish let out a sharp growl, and a large group of Shroomish appeared out of nowhere in the originally empty mansion, hundreds or even maybe thousands, filling the space under everyone's feet.

If Shroomish hadn't been so cute, they would have suffered from trypophobia!

The forests were all gone, so all the Shroomish in the forest are forced to move here. The so-called Curse is because of the abundance of the Shroomish family here.

They were all forced to live in such a small crowded area with little food or spread.