Journey Of The Chosen One

Chapter 14

"So that's how you change the number." Brock remarked.

"Ashy, Can we please look inside the tent? I only saw a bit." Arielle whined, tugging his arm.

Ash looked at AJ with a questioning gaze. Understanding the hidden question, he grinned.
"Sure let's head in!"

The group followed AJ into his tent.

"How in the world do you have so many Pokemon!?" Gary spluttered.

The exterior did not do justice to the size the tent actually was. In fact, Ash believes that it is twice as big. From what he can see, there were 4 sections.

"Most of them are wild Pokemon that were intrigued with my training regiment. Let me show you around."

One was a flat surface where the Pokemon were training their endurance, strength and other physical stats; One was a pool of water where avians and bug-type Pokemon were swimming; One had extreme temperature to increase heat and cold resistance and the last had an engine that blew Pokemon into the air.

"It's so cool here! But aren't the whips and guns too much?" Gary asked.

"It's for motivation and they said that they don't mind it." Replied AJ.

"Alright, but please make sure that the whips don't hit them. That thing hurts like a bitch."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Hm?"

"...How do you know that?"

"Gary's grandfather's friend owned a ranch horse racing Pokemon and he also had whips. Gary and I were playing around and he accidentally used the whip on me." Ash lied smoothly.

Gary gave Ash a look. 'Seriously?'

"Oh well okay then."

Out of the blue, AJ asked everyone in the group:

"Are you interested in taking care of Pokemon eggs?"

"No we don't mind but why are you asking?"

AJ lead them into a closed-up space from the rest of the tent.

"Well, earlier this week, some Pokemon gave me these eggs that I am not familiar with." He pointed at a table with eggs with unique markings on the top. "I've raised quite a few eggs but none of the species I worked with had those markings. So, I was wondering if you would like to take care of them."

"Well if you're offering, sure!"

They approached the table and each grabbed an egg, including Arielle after a bit of whining.

Arielle's egg had a pink floral pattern, Brock's was white with red and blue swirls, Gary's had a cream-ish colour with white at the top and Ash chose an simple lavender egg.

"We need to get incubators at the next village."

The rest collectively nodded.

"Well, we should probably get going now."

"Alright then, I hope we will meet again." AJ said as he shook everyone's hands.

And with that, the group parted from their new friend who they might see one day. As the morning was still young, they continued heading to the nearest village. All of them had their eggs in their arms except Arielle who handed it to Brock for safe keeping as she ran ahead with Queen (Gary's Beedrill), who kept an eye on her, and her cleffa I'm her arms, still full of energy.

"Ari! Come back, we're taking a lunch break!" Ash yelled to the blond girl.

"Coming!" She yelled back.

Suddenly, under Arielle's next steps, the leaves and grass collapsed revealing a ditch. She screamed as she fell into it. Queen dove in and caught her and Cleffa before they hit the ground.

By the time Queen let them off on the solid ground, Arielle was crying and using one arm to cling onto the beedrill holding them, while the cleffa shrilled with delight, clapping her small paws. Because of her young age, she probably didn't understand the amount of danger she was in.

Ash rushed over.
"Pumpkin! Oh Arceus, are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?" He fretted.

Arielle, still crying, pointed at her left leg without speaking.

Ash looked down to see a long scrape going from her knee to her foot. It was surrounded by other small scrapes. Arielle had cut her leg on a rock when falling.

He took out a medical kit that he bought early in his journey and his water bottle. He dumped some water on her wounds to clean them and put rubbing alcohol on some cotton.

"Pumpkin, I will now disinfect your cuts. It will sting but please bear with me." Ash said.

Arielle looked at the raven-haired teen and nodded.

Ash took the cotton ball and dabbed her wounds. The blond girl cringed in pain. To comfort her, Anahita slithered around her neck and nuzzled her cheek, which seemed to be working. He then bandaged her leg to prevent an infection.

"Wow, you're like a pro." Brock complimented. "How did you learn."

"It's self-taught and I had to... Gary wouldn't stop getting hurt." He responded with a break in the middle. Brock didn't seem to notice it.

"And...done! You did so well darling." Ash kissed Arielle's forehead. To which she beamed, wiping away her tears. "Ari, try not to run or stretch your legs. We want it to crust over without it breaking to prevent scarring."

"Okay, I will be careful."

"Now," Ash stood up. "With that out of the way, who in their right mind would dig this hole!?"

"And it seems that it isn't the only one." Gary said as he came back from scouting the area. "From what I could see, there's still like 10 more holes. I've marked them with branches." He pointed ahead where multiple branches were sticking vertically out of the ground.

"Are they perhaps protecting something?" Brock questioned.

"Maybe, but whatever the case we will not be getting involved. Come out Haldis, use gust! Anahita, twister!"

The moves blew away the loose leaves and grass from the other ditches. There were a few more that Gary had anticipated but now there was a clear path to follow.

"Well, let's eat lunch a little later." Ash said as he handed Gary his egg and picked up Arielle on his back.

The group walked for around ten minutes before they deemed it safe enough to settle down.

While they were eating, a plump blue Pokemon approached them. Gary and Brock identified it as an Oddish.

"Do you want some?" Arielle offered the berry she was currently eating.

Dish~ The Oddish accepted.

Before it could move, however, two vines lashed out of the surrounding forest one wrapped around Oddish and the other went to hit the toddler. But just before, having noticed them, Brock scooped Arielle out of the way.

"Hey! What's your problem!?" Brock's Geodude and Zubat were ready to fight and so were the other Pokemons that are out.

Bulbasaur!~

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