" Alright, Bulbasaur are you ready?" Austin asked as he had the Pokedex out. "I'm going to scan you to see what you know before we can start on your training."

"Saur." Bulbasaur eyed the Pokedex warily.

It's been three days since the Grass Type has joined the team and Austin waited until Bulbasaur got a little comfortable with the group before he tried to use the Pokedex on him.

Bulbasaur seemed to hang around Scyther, Oddish and Pikachu the most out of everyone.

Pressing the button, the Pokedex powered up. "Bulbasaur the Seed Pokemon. It bears the seed of a plant on its back from birth, the seed slowly develops. Researchers are unsure whether or not to classify Bulbasaur as a plant or animal." The Pokedex explained to the group who were listening. "This Bulbasaur is Male and the Ability is Overgrow. Currently this Bulbasaur knows Tackle, Growl, Leech Seed, Vine Whip, Poison Powder, Stun Spore, Sleep Powder, Take Down, Razor Leaf, Grass Knot and Endure. The Age of this Bulbasaur is Three Years and Seven Months."

"Whoa, those are some good moves." Austin said as Grass Knot and Endure were a surprise and would really come in handy.

"Saur." Bulbasaur gave a nod to that.

"So Ash, what moves do you plan on teaching Bulbasaur?" Brock asked as they were taking a break from the traveling.

"I was thinking Energy Ball and Synthesis would be a good move to know, maybe a poison type move as well like Toxic?" Austin listed those three moves. "Besides that I want to see how Bulbasaur is compared to the rest of the team so I may have some mock battles with everyone."

With that done he looked at Misty.

"Hey do you have any advice for teaching Raticate Ice Beam?" He asked as she was the Water Pokemon Expert and they could learn Ice Type moves easily.

Misty looked surprised by that before she grinned. "The best way to teach her would be in a cold area where she could focus her energy into the attack, but you would have to keep her hydrated because for non water types they need to use the fluids in their body to make it work."

Austin didn't expect that, but in hindsight it made some sense.

"Sadly there aren't any cold areas around here so you might need to improvise." Misty said giving a shrug. "My Starmie knows some ice moves so she could freeze a small area to help Raticate train."

"That would be great." Austin said giving a smile. "Thank you."

"Under the condition we have a few rematches of course." Misty said with a smirk. "I do need to get stronger to take over the Gym."

"Deal." Austin said agreeing with the terms. "So Brock, how close are we to Vermillion?"

"I'd say another week if we continue down this path." Brock said with a nod. "I hope so at least, that would be just around the time for the Breeder Competition to start."

"Yeah, I'm curious to see how that would be." Austin said giving a smile. "You ready to win it?"

"I wouldn't say I will win it, it'll be my first time competing." Brock said sheepishly. "I'm more looking forward to sharing tips with other breeders."

Hearing some noises, Austin looked over and paled a bit at seeing a flock of Spearow's flying by and Pikachu shuddered, climbing onto his shoulder. "Just as long as we don't piss off any Spearow we'll be good."

"Chu." Pikachu gave a nod of agreement.

Bulbasaur eyed his new trainer in amusement at hearing that, remembering the watered down story told by Pikachu.

These last three days have been nothing but a surprise to the young Pokemon as he couldn't help but think that these humans were strange.

A light snore caused the plant Pokemon to turn and see that Yellow was asleep, leaning against the tree holding onto her Kakuna as she was most likely following her trainers example causing him to shake his head .

Very strange indeed.

"Uh Misty there's a bug right next to your-." Brock began only for Misty to scream, waking Yellow up as the redhead jumped right on Austin's back, making him stumble as he caught Pikachu who was knocked off of his shoulder by that act. "Ah it was just a piece of grass."

Let it be known that Misty's glare could've killed a hundred people at that moment as Brock was chuckling nervously before she practically roundhouse kicked him into oblivion.

"Brock?" Yellow began poking his twitching body as a footprint was on his face.

"Misty?" Austin felt his eye twitching. "Do you mind getting off of me?"

Seriously, this was beginning to hurt his back.

"Huh? Oh sorry Ash." Misty apologized getting off, looking embarrassed.

Straightening his back, Austin had a foreboding feeling ,'' Something about this just seems familiar." He muttered trying to remember when in this journey it was.

But what could it be?

"So where is the nearest path to Vermillion?" Yellow asked as she stopped poking Brock who was muttering incoherently while Austin took out the map again.

"Well that would be Route 24 which we'll be going through if we keep going straight." Austin said with a nod. "And there's a Pokemon Center on that Route as well."

"Alright, no more camping out in the woods and we can get showers." Misty said in excitement as Austin chuckled.

'Yeah, showers are a luxury in the Pokemon world.' He thought remembering how he always had a shower a day back home because the hot water felt nice.

Misty went on ahead only to stop. "Hey guys, check that out."

Looking confused as Brock finally got up, the others followed after Misty .

The thing in front of Austin drew his breath away. Right there, on the top of a single monolith, was something covered by a single Oran-berry leaf, was a tiny creature, smaller than his Clefairy even, trying to hide beneath the large leaf, and whimpering in pain as a pair of Spearows were pecking on its body ruthlessly. The little creature was trying to ignore it all, as it tried to maintain the tiny flickering flame burning on its tail end, as it slept on the rock. Austin could only stare in shock as he took in the orange form of the fire-lizard, the one pokémon that became his favourite the moment he played pokemon fire red , it squeaked and whimpered as the predatory avians kept pecking over and over again on their helpless prey.

A… Charmander.