Chapter 17: Bulbasaur
Brock's group of four humans and two Pokémon walked into a sparsely populated forest. Where exactly were they? To be precise, Brock and the others were lost again.
As they walked, they saw an Oddish drinking water from a small pond. Ash, walking at the front, saw the Oddish, took out his Pokédex, pointed it at the Oddish, and excitedly exclaimed, "That's—"
Then a voice came from the Pokédex: "Oddish, also known as the Weed Pokémon. It walks around scattering pollen."
After hearing the Pokédex entry, Ash took out a Poké Ball and declared, "Alright! I'm gonna catch it!"
"Wait a minute!" Misty said, walking up beside Ash. "I'm the one who's going to catch that Pokémon!"
"But I'm the one who found it!" Ash retorted competitively.
"Ash, Misty, can you two please stop arguing?" Brock and Daisy said together, walking over beside Ash. Brock glanced at the Oddish and said to Ash and Misty, "It's just an Oddish, what's there to fight about?" As he spoke, Brock casually took out a Poké Ball and tossed it while Ash and Misty weren't paying close attention.
Just as the Poké Ball was about to hit the Oddish, a Bulbasaur suddenly appeared and knocked the Poké Ball back. Brock caught the returned Poké Ball, thinking, Almost got to test if I could catch a Pokémon without battling... If I caught it, evolving it into a Bellossom seems like a nice idea. Damn this Bulbasaur! Wait a minute... why does it look so familiar? I remember now! Isn't this the Bulbasaur Ash is supposed to catch according to the plot from my previous life? If that's the case, doesn't it refuse to evolve? Well then, I'll just have Ash force it to evolve later. A sinister smile spread across Brock's face as he thought this.
Misty saw Brock's Poké Ball get knocked back and noticed his smirk. She said angrily, "Brock! How could you do that?! Tossing a Poké Ball while we weren't looking! Ash and I clearly found it first! We should get the first chance to catch it! Ash, aren't I right?"
"Misty, you're right," Ash replied, his eyes fixed intently on the Bulbasaur. At the same time, Ash thought excitedly, Isn't this the Bulbasaur I've always dreamed of having?!
Hearing Ash's agreement, Misty turned to Brock reasonably and said, "See, Brock? Even Ash agrees! You can't do that next time. Did you hear me?"
"I heard you. Won't happen again," Brock replied dismissively.
Just then, the Bulbasaur and Oddish quickly ran off into the nearby bushes. Seeing this, Daisy pointed towards the bushes and exclaimed, "Misty! Brock! Ash! The Bulbasaur and Oddish ran off that way!"
Hearing Daisy, Ash immediately dashed off towards the bushes.
Seeing Ash run off, Brock said to Misty, "Let's stop arguing and follow Ash!" With that, Brock followed Ash.
Misty and Daisy saw Brock following and went after him as well. The group arrived at a suspension bridge made of ropes and wooden planks. Ash walked across first, Misty and Daisy followed in the middle, and Brock brought up the rear.
Just as Ash, Misty, and Daisy were about to reach the other side, the ropes snapped! Brock, who was still on the bridge, fell into the river below. Ash and the others had just made it safely across the moment the ropes broke. (Pikachu and Meowth had been recalled into their Poké Balls as they were afraid of crossing the suspension bridge).
I don't know how to swim! What do I do?! Am I going to die?! Brock thought in panic as he fell into the river. After hitting the water, he desperately thought, Does the Points System have something that can instantly teach someone how to swim? That's how it always works in those novels from my past life! Finishing this thought, he entered his mindscape, saw Bell resting there, and asked urgently, "Bell! I'm about to drown! Do you have anything here, something you can eat, that lets a person learn how to swim instantly?!"
Bell replied apologetically, "Sorry Host, this system doesn't have anything like that. I can't help you."
"How can you not have it?! Don't the systems in those novels always have whatever the host needs?!"
"I'm very sorry, Host."
Hearing Bell's reply, Brock exited his mindscape. The river current was very strong and quickly swept Brock away.
Seeing Brock being swept away by the river, Ash, Misty, and Daisy immediately started running downstream along the riverbank. Meanwhile, our protagonist Brock was being carried by the current, swallowing some river water while yelling, "Help! Help!"
After being swept an unknown distance, a girl, appearing to be around 16 years old with short light-blue hair, wearing pink clothes under work overalls, reached out and grabbed Brock's hand, pulling him out of the river.
After being pulled ashore, Brock collapsed on the ground, patting his chest and gasping, "Saved... I thought I was going to die... Next time, I definitely have to learn how to swim!"
"Excuse me, Sir, are you alright?" the young woman asked, looking down at Brock.
Hearing her voice, Brock turned around to look at her. "I'm fine, thank you, Miss! My name is Brock. What's yours?" Brock said, getting to his feet.
"My name is Melanie. Mr. Brock, why did you fall into the river?"
Brock explained, "Well, it's like this..." and told Melanie what had happened.
"Oh, I see! That suspension bridge hasn't been maintained in a long time, so the ropes broke. Mr. Brock, why don't you come to my place to rest for a bit? You can wait for your friends there too," Melanie suggested to Brock.
Hearing Melanie's invitation, Brock said, "Miss Melanie, please just call me Brock! And thank you, I'd appreciate the trouble of going to your place." At the same time, blushing slightly, he thought narcissistically, Going to a girl's house right after meeting? Things move a bit fast! Is this world really that open? I like it though! Or maybe... she was captivated by my handsome face!
"Brock, why is your face red? Did you catch a cold from falling into the river and staying in wet clothes?" Melanie asked, reaching out to touch Brock's forehead as she spoke.
Startled out of his thoughts by Melanie's words and touch, Brock gently moved her hand away from his forehead, saying, "Miss Melanie, I'm fine, really."
"Brock, please just call me Melanie! And Brock, if you're really okay, then follow me back to my house to wait for your friends!" Melanie said, then started walking down a path. Brock followed her.
Meanwhile, Ash and the others were still running downstream. Elsewhere nearby, a man and a woman, both wearing clothes with a large 'R' on them, were looking through binoculars towards Brock's location.
"There are lots of Pokémon here! We can finish this month's quota easily!"
"Yeah! This place is paradise for us!" the two people in 'R'-marked clothes chatted back and forth.
Brock followed Melanie back to the entrance of her home. He saw a small wooden cabin built from planks; this was Melanie's house. Outside the cabin was a small pond filled with many Pokémon: Magikarp, Goldeen, Staryu, etc. And naturally, there were Pokémon on land too, such as Rattata, Oddish, and others.
"Melanie, are all these Pokémon yours?" Brock asked, looking around at the various Pokémon.
"Brock, these Pokémon aren't mine," Melanie replied.
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