Ash's Story (Part 6: Unova)

Chapter 10: Forest Bonds

The exterior of Pinwheel Forest felt different from every road before it. Route 3 had been open, Nacrene had been old brick and bones, but the forest ahead breathed like something alive enough to listen back.

Cilan stood beside me with Pansage and Dwebble, describing the trees as having an earthy aroma. Iris rolled her eyes, though Axew seemed fascinated by the way his words made the place sound edible. Golly checked the map, and Eve watched the shade between the trunks with Purrloin at her heel.

Alice walked beside me with the Pokémon Egg secure in its carrier. The Egg had been quiet since Nacrene, but every time the path dipped or a branch snapped, Alice's hand moved toward it before mine could. She never made the protection dramatic. She simply checked, adjusted, and kept walking.

Pikachu sat on my shoulder, ears twitching toward the forest. His meaning came thoughtful. "Something is waiting, but it does not feel like an ambush."

A wooden beam swung from the trees and landed across the path.

Oshawott lifted his scalchop immediately. Snivy stepped forward with cool attention. Then a Timburr hopped down from the rocks, holding the beam as if it weighed nothing. It did not attack. It planted the lumber between us and the forest like a gate.

Near the stream beside the path, ripples spread in circles. A Tympole surfaced, cheeks vibrating in a rhythm too soft for normal ears but clear enough for my heart to remember.

I stopped breathing for a second.

Timburr stared at me with narrowed eyes, then shifted the beam to one shoulder. Tympole's sound waves pulsed again, and the rhythm carried a memory from two years ago: a hidden boy beside a stream, listening to Pokémon because humans had made too much noise.

"Timburr," I said softly. "Tympole."

Alice heard the change in my voice. Golly did too. Iris and Cilan only heard old affection they could not place.

Timburr's meaning struck like a steady knock against wood. "Same listener. Taller body. Heavier sorrow."

Tympole's meaning followed in rippling beats. "Quiet friend returned. Water remembered."

I crouched near the stream, keeping my voice careful. "I am sorry I took this long."

Iris leaned toward Cilan and whispered badly. "How many Pokémon in Unova waited for him?"

Cilan answered gently. "More than coincidence can season."

Golly looked over her shoulder. "Some work from two years ago involved helping Pokémon without capturing them. That is the safe answer."

It was not the whole answer, but it was true enough to stand in public. I was grateful for that kind of truth. A lie would have made the moment dirtier, and a full confession would have broken doors that were not ready to open.

Timburr stepped closer. I did not reach for a Poké Ball first. That mattered with old friends. A capture could not be a shortcut around asking whether they wanted the road.

"Do you want to travel with us now?" I asked.

Timburr looked at Tympole, then planted its beam beside me with a firm thud. Tympole hopped from the water and landed near my shoe, cheeks vibrating with a brighter rhythm.

The sound built into a rolling pulse that echoed against the trees. Other wild Tympole answered from the stream, and the rhythm strengthened as each voice joined. The forest seemed to hum with them, not loudly, but with a shared beat that made every small sound part of one song.

Move Dex Updated — Ash and Alice's Shared Unova Record

Round — Normal Type. The user attacks with a song or sound wave, and the move grows stronger when allies use it together in the same rhythm.