Austin gave a yawn as they were all taking a break by a stream in the forest. It's only been two days since the incident with the Tech School and Misty seemed annoyed by them being lost, Arceus forbid if she ever found out he got lost on purpose.He sat on the rocks as he saw the others were relieved to be resting.As he watched them, Austin couldn't help but feel a sharp pang of guilt.

There were times where he wondered if he should've just gone on his own instead of travelling with them, yes they were great people and he was happy to get to know them.

But he was lying about who he was and they deserved better than that.

The sound of water caused Austin to turn to see an Oddish drinking from a stream and his eyes widened.

This was the part where Bulbasaur came into play.

"Hey it's an Oddish." Brock said in surprise. "They aren't typically found in forests like this."

" Oddish, the Weed Pokemon. During the day, Oddish usually bury themselves underground to avoid the harsh sun and grow by absorbing moonlight,"

Hearing the voice of the Pokédex , Austin's eyes shifted towards Yellow who was happily checking out the Pokédex in her hands .

Austin had a feeling that the Professor's gifts were a thank you for sending him the footage of Clefairy's dancing around the Moonstone as Yellow was given a Pokédex , he was given an Xtransceiver which he recognised from gen 5 games while Brock was given a journal of notes about Pokémon breeding and poor misty didn't get anything .

"I think Oddish is so cute! Would you mind if I tried to capture it, Misty ? " Yellow asked .

" Why would I want to catch a grass type Pokémon ? " Misty said while snorting causing Austin to sweat drop as he could clearly see Starmie's pokeball in Misty's hand .

" Go Kitty , use string shot ." Yellow joyfully exclaimed as kitty shot out a white web at oddish .

Austin briefly wondered if he should've interfered as this would cause trouble, but he decided to not do anything at this point.

Kitty's string shot was intercepted by a vine whip as another Pokemon leaped into the clearing and delivered a vine whip on kitty . Kitty was knocked to the side and glared at the Pokemon who gave it a sneak attack.

The Pokemon in question turned out to be a Bulbasaur. It glared back at Kakuna and then glared at the humans and Pikachu for daring to harm its friend.

" Wow , a Bulbasaur they are pretty rare in the wild ." Brock exclaimed

"Bulba." Bulbasaur growled a challenge with distrust in his eyes at them before running off with Oddish.

"Ash I'm surprised you didn't try to catch the Bulbasaur." Brock commented as Austin blinked before remembering that Ash did try in the show. "Didn't you say you were hoping to catch a Grass Type to balance your team?"

"Well, something about the Bulbasaur just seemed off and I was too busy thinking about that." Austin said quickly.

"I suppose so." Brock said as yellow gave a groan about missing her chance to catch the Oddish.

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They didn't stay long as it was unlikely for the Bulbasaur to come back as everyone walked through the forest area only to come to a stop at a wooden bridge.

Austin came to a complete stop as he saw that, his eyes widening.

"Wow, what bridge is this?" Yellow asked curiously as Brock had a map out.

"That's funny, I can't find it on my map." Brock said curiously when they began to walk across it.

"Well it's the only way forward." Misty pointed out before they paused as they noticed how uncharacteristically quiet that Austin was being.

Looking back, they were surprised to find Austin with his eyes closed as he was making an effort not to look down and he was still at the beginning.

"Ash what's the hold-up?" Misty called over.

"N-No h-hold-up." Austin stammered as he made the mistake of looking down. "Dear lord that's a deep drop!"

Brock frowned. "Ash, are you scared of heights?" He asked seeing how Austin was extremely hesitant to go across this bridge.

"Y-Y-Yeah I h-have a severe case of A-Acrophobia." Austin got out as Pikachu patted his head in an effort to calm him down because the shaking was starting to bother the electric mouse.

Austin gulped as the fact he knew that the bridge would break didn't help his acrophobia.

"Is there another way across?" Yellow asked Brock as she was trying to hide some surprise at seeing Austin like this.

"Not that I see." Brock commented to her. "And the only other way would be if Fearow decided to give him a lift."

Austin winced before he began to walk across. 'Please don't be like the show.' He pleaded hoping that this would be one of the changes that has happened.

He just caught up with the group when the blast of wind shook the bridge, combined with their weight, caused it to break and it was hanging lopsided with everyone trying to hold on.

Needless to say, this was not helping Austin's phobia any better.

Nearly hyperventilating, Austin saw Misty and Yellow managed to grab a hold of the top edge of the bridge but his eyes widened when he saw Brock slip.

Austin didn't even think when he quickly shot one hand out and grabbed Brock by the wrist, the force of the stop nearly caused Austin to let go by mistake as he was hanging onto the bottom part now.

"Thanks." Brock called out in relief as Austin gave a hesitant nod, trying not to look down anymore.

"Pikachu, can you get to Butterfree and Pidgeotto's Pokeball?" Austin asked, the strain of holding Brock with one hand while keeping a grip on the bridge with the other getting worse.

"Chu." Pikachu gave a nod and quickly ran down Austin's body, into the vest where his head popped out and pawed at the right Pokeballs.

In a flash of light, Butterfree and Pidgeotto appeared, both of their eyes widening at seeing their state.

"Pidgeotto fly and help Yellow to the other side." Austin ordered as she was small enough to be carried by her. "Butterfree use Confusion to help Misty. Then come back to us."

A little hesitant to leave their trainer, the two obeyed as Pidgeotto flew behind Yellow and softly used her talons to grab the back of her dress as Butterfree's eyes began to glow allowing him to pick Misty up.

"Brock do you think you can climb up?" Austin asked the strain was now more noticeable in his tone.

"Just give me a few seconds." Brock said as Pidgeotto dropped Yellow off on the edge before she flew back while Butterfree managed to make it with Misty.

Brock slowly climbed up to get a hold of the bridge to try to take the strain off of Austin without causing him to let go.

"Chu." Pikachu said from Austin's vest before everyone's eyes widened when the rope Austin was hanging onto snapped causing them to begin falling.

They only had a chance to let out a short scream when Butterfree focused to catch both of them in Confusion, but the strain of holding all of them was very noticeable in his eyes.

The bug wasn't giving up though.

Pidgeotto flew in and grabbed Austin by his backpack, allowing Butterfree to focus more on Brock to make the strain manageable.

From there on it didn't take to long for everyone to get to the other side as Butterfree and Pidgeotto collapsed from exhaustion.

"T-That was close." Misty said her heart still beating from fear.

"I'll say." Brock said shaken up from how they nearly fell.

"Ash are you alright?" Yellow called out as Austin was hugging himself his Acrophobia was stronger than before now.

"J-Just give me a few moments." Austin said before looking at his two Pokemon. "Butterfree, Pidgeotto thank you both."

"Fweh." Butterfree flew up despite the exhaustion as Pidgeotto calmly walked over, both were worried for how their trainer was acting.

"Get some rest, you both earned it." Austin said returning the two.

"How come you never said you were scared of heights?" Brock asked after Butterfree and Pidgeotto were returned.

"It never really came up." Austin answered taking a few deep breaths, as his heart was still hammering against his ribs.

That was when Austin saw a hand in front of him and he looked up to see Yellow offering to help him up.

Giving a slight smile, Austin accepted and was pulled up a bit. "Thanks." He said as Pikachu jumped back on his shoulder.

"It's no problem." Yellow said still looking worried.

' That was close.' Austin thought while remembering how Brock was the one to fall .

"Well we should get going." Austin said brushing his jeans clean of dirt.

"You sure you don't want to take a rest?" Misty asked in surprise.

"I'm fine." Austin said, most likely telling himself that rather than it being true.

Thankfully, no one disagreed, although they shot some concerned looks back at him as he was behind the group instead of leading it for once.

Brock however let the girls go ahead before he spoke up. "Ash, thanks for catching me." He said causing the boy to blink.

"I might've been afraid, but I didn't want to lose a friend by not acting." Austin said a little quietly as the truth of that statement hit him.

They were his friends and he was lying about who he was.

And what's more, if he ever found out how this happened and reversed it, Austin would be going home, never seeing them again.

"Chu." Pikachu smiled as he remembered how Austin acted when they were attacked by the Spearow flock despite him being scared.

Austin quickly looked down to have his hat hide the tears forming in his eyes as Brock continued. "Yeah but it just wasn't me you saved, my brothers and sisters would've been heartbroken if I died." He said having a solemn look. "After everything that happened when Mom passed away and Dad disappeared before he came back, I didn't want to add to their pain."

"Brock, I'm pretty sure that wouldn't have killed you." Austin said as he quickly wiped his eyes. "You just seem to be one of the types to be too stubborn to die."

"Pika Pi!" Pikachu gave a nod in agreement.

On hearing that, Brock gave a short chuckle. "Thanks." He said before pausing. "You know, you talk like you're older than you should be sometimes."