A gift?

Ashley's night was uneventful. Brock had tried another few passes at her, but this time she wasn't only protected by Chimchar, but also by Shaymin.

Shaymin had felt threatened when Chimchar had taken over his position of guardian knight, so he had been even more strict with Brock than Chimchar and Croagunk had been. If Brock stepped even a little bit out of line, he would be retaliated with an Energy ball or if he got really out of line, a powerful Seed flare.

Brock seemed to have learned his lesson, if only a bit, as he learned to avoid stepping out of line whenever Shaymin was in sight.

Ashley had spend her evenning talking to Dawn. Dawn was really intent on following her dream of being a top coördinator. As Dawn was talking about herself, she suddenly asked her a question out of nowhere, like she stopped midsentence and asked the question, taking Ashley completely off-guard.

"What are you going to do? Are you continuing doing contests or are you going to do gym battles?" Dawn asked, curious what Ashley would choose.

"Well, the contest was fun, but I think me and my Pokémon like battling a lot more than doing contests." Ashley said with an apologetic smile on her face. She now had a ribbon she didn't even need.

Dawn didn't seem bothered by it, as she just said, "Now you have something to remember contests by."

Ashley nodded as what Dawn said was true. She could spot Sylveon admire the ribbon every now and then, obviously very proud of her victory.

"You're right." was all Ashley said, as she didn't know what else to say. Dawn however wasn't done speaking and continued her questions.

"Then what is your dream leading you to start this journey? You know mine, but you never told me yours." Dawn said, intent on getting an answer, her eyes shimmering in curiosity.

"Well...probably getting stronger I guess. I want to find out who my parents are and where I came from. As you know I don't originally came from this region. So I first need to get stronger to protect myself, after that is my quest to find out who I am." Ashley said, having thought deeply of what and what not to tell. She decided to leave out the unnecessary part, as they weren't that familiar with each other yet.

"Wow, that's incredible while also sad. Incredible in the way that you know what you want to do, while sad because you don't know who your parents are and where you come from. I'm sure you'll find out one day." Dawn said full of optimism.

"I hope so." Ashley replied as she dug deeper beneath her quilt, hugging Shaymin closely to her chest as Sylveon and Chimchar lay at her feet, already dozing off in dreamland.

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The next day Ashley had decided to depart early, leaving Dawn and the rest behind. She'd already told them about her plans and had already said her goodbyes when she went to bed.

As she walked down the road, Ashley decided to roam through the forest more, as she wanted to learn more about the Pokémon around here and their habitat. Who knows, she might even catch herself a new friend.

She was on her way to Floaroma town, a town dedeicated to flowers, so is wasn't a far strech to describe the forest near it to be filled with flowers. In the areas she was walking there were many flower paths and many bug-type Pokémon.

The Pokémon around her seemed just as curious as the Pokémon from the route before this. They were a lot less shy though and openly greeted her when she came close. A whole group of Bidoof even invited her towards their home.

It was facinating to see how the group of Bidoof had build up their home. Ashley grabbed her sketchbook and immediately started drawing the scene. Some Bidoof found it interesting as the sat down in her lap and watched her draw. Sylveon and Shaymin didn't seem to mind as they stayed quietly besides her.

Shaymin even took this time to learn better to control his grass energy, as he felt threatened by Chimchar's process. Ashley glanced at Shaymin once, a gentle smile on her face as she was proud her arrogant Shaymin had mellowed down a bit.

As Ashley continued to draw, more Pokémon came to look what she was doing, some pulling om her hair, as other climbed on her head as they played with her hat.

They even made it a game who could get on top of her head the fastest. Ashley didn't mind as she loved the cozy atmosphere they created. Her drawing hand was quite steady too so she quickly finished her drawing, leaving a completed drawing of the Bidoof family behind for them to look at.

The leader of the group seemed especially happy with it as it immediately decorated his home with the drawing. All the little Bidoof gathered around its home to look at it.

When Ashley prepared to go, she saw the shimmering eyes of the other Pokémon that had played on her head. Ashley sighed as she sat down again.

"Only this once, now group together." The Pokémon listened intenly to her words as many different kinds of Pokémon grouped together. She could see Buneary, Silcoon, Cascoon, Shinx, Budew, Roselia and even a few of the previous budew.

"I'm only drawing one, so you have to pick a nice place to put it, okay?" The Pokémon nodded as they all looked at the home of the Bidoof leader. The leader seemed quite happy as he and all the other Bidoof joined too, making it a big group picture.

Ashley couldn't help but smile at the bundle of adorableness of this little group. Her hand moved swiftly across the paper, drawing Pokémon after Pokémon until the drawing was complete.

Unlike what she said before, she drew the drawing again and kept it inside her sketchbook. The Pokémon looked at the drawing and they were all quite happy.

"Alright, one more thing." Ashley grabbed a brush and made a green herbal mixture. She dipped the brush in it and drew her name at the back. Lastly she made all the Pokémon she'd draw put a green paw print of their own hand or feet on the drawings so they knew they were drawn on it.

The Pokémon seemed even more happy as it showed the drawing was from all of them.

A Roselia quickly left and came back with a pale pink oval object, carefully carying it towards Ashley. Ashley looked in shock as she'd never seen such a pretty Pokémon egg before. The shape was perfect, the surface smooth yet soft, while the colour was even everywhere. Not even a single pattern or uneven colour was to be found.

"Is this for me?" Ashley said as Roselia pushed the egg in her arms. Roselia happily nodded as the Pokémon all began to cuddle with her, happy to have been given such a pretty drawing.