113. It's Over Before It Begins

Bonus chapter for terrance smith for becoming a member of Gale force

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"Wonderful, wow!!!"

At that moment, a green figure rushed out from the nearby grass, charging directly toward Misty.

"Misty! Be careful!" Ash shouted instinctively. Misty looked up just in time to see a figure rushing aggressively toward her, causing her to back away in surprise.

But as she moved, her legs gave out, and she fell to the ground. Before she could react, the figure was about to collide with her.

"Stop, Bulbasaur!" Melanie shouted urgently.

The figure halted, and Misty, still shaken, looked up to see that it was the Bulbasaur they had encountered earlier that morning.

Bulbasaur obeyed Melanie's command but continued to eye Ash and his friends with hostility, ready to attack at any moment. Seeing this, Ash quickly reached out and helped Misty to her feet.

"Is this Bulbasaur also one of the Pokémon here?" Misty asked, her voice still trembling with fear. She recalled how easily it had defeated her Starmie earlier.

"Yes! This little one is actually the bodyguard here," Melanie explained, glancing fondly at Bulbasaur.

"Bodyguard?"

"That's right! Ever since Bulbasaur came here and learned about the situation with the Pokémon, it decided to stay and protect them from outsiders."

"Because of what happened to the Pokémon here, Bulbasaur doesn't trust outsiders easily. But he's not a bad Pokémon!" Melanie reassured them, explaining Bulbasaur's protective behavior.

"I see. That explains why it rushed out to stop me when I tried to catch that Oddish this morning," Misty said, finally understanding the situation after hearing Melanie's explanation.

"Wonderful, wow!!!"

At this point, Bulbasaur approached them slowly, and Misty, still nervous, moved behind Ash. Ash stood his ground as Bulbasaur pressed its head against his leg, pushing firmly.

"Bulbasaur, don't act like that!" Melanie said, recognizing Bulbasaur's behavior. She knew Ash and his friends weren't bad people, especially since they had helped her gather so many medicinal herbs. But Bulbasaur, seemingly ignoring her, continued pushing against Ash's leg.

"It doesn't look like we're very welcome here. What do you think, Brock?" Ash asked, looking down at Bulbasaur, then at Misty, and finally at Brock. Misty clearly wanted to leave, but Brock seemed unsure.

After a brief moment of thought, Brock glanced at Melanie. He recalled how, earlier, when they fell, Ash and Misty had followed him without hesitation. After a moment of silence, he made his decision.

"Then let's go."

Ash was a bit surprised by Brock's response. If he remembered correctly, in the anime, Brock had originally planned to stay. However, since Melanie had refused his offer, they had all continued on their journey together.

It wasn't just because Ash had chased after Brock earlier. He also remembered how he had convinced his father, Flint, to return home when they were in Pewter City. He encouraged him to follow his dreams. If Brock stayed here to take care of Pokémon, how would that be any different from staying in Pewter City to take care of his younger siblings?

"Then let's go!" Ash said, stepping back. Bulbasaur paused for a moment. Ash glanced at it without saying a word, then picked up his backpack and turned to leave.

Seeing this, Misty and Brock said their goodbyes to Melanie and followed Ash. Melanie watched them go, feeling helpless. Her face showed an apology, but she couldn't blame Bulbasaur.

"You little rascal..."

After Ash and the others had left, Brock looked a bit downhearted. To him, a potential relationship had ended before it even began, and it left him feeling slightly uncomfortable.

"Brock! You don't look too happy. But didn't you say you didn't like Melanie?" Misty teased, unable to resist.

"What are you talking about?! Stop it! Don't say nonsense!" Brock's face turned red as he angrily covered Misty's mouth, trying to shut her up.

"Actually, you know, if you really wanted to stay, you didn't have to force yourself to come along," Ash said, not thinking much of it. He wasn't insisting Brock had to follow them. Everyone had their own path to walk.

Eventually, there would come a time when they'd have to part ways. Better to go separate paths when the bond wasn't too deep yet.

"It's fine. Melanie doesn't really need me. Besides, my goal is to become a Pokémon Breeder, and there's still so much I need to learn. Staying here would be no different from staying in Pewter City to care for my siblings," Brock said, putting away his gloomy expression as he looked up at the sky, his dream still burning bright within him. For him, his dreams were more important.

"Giving up love for your dreams! How touching," Misty said, playfully adding fuel to the fire.

"Didn't I tell you to stop saying that?! Don't you have someone you like?" Brock retorted, his face turning red again as he shouted at Misty.

"I… I'm going to become the strongest Water-type Pokémon Trainer in the world! I don't have time for silly emotional things!" Misty blurted out, caught off guard by Brock's question. She glanced nervously at Ash next to her, hoping he hadn't noticed.

Ash, seemingly oblivious, hadn't responded, so Misty quickly turned away and tried to play it off.

"What about you, Ash?" Brock asked, not giving the conversation much thought as he turned toward him.

"Huh? Me?" Ash didn't expect to get pulled into this conversation. He paused, slightly surprised.

Misty suddenly tensed up, pretending to be casual but listening intently, eager to hear how Ash would respond.

As the two stared at him, Ash's mind drifted to the straw-hat-wearing Stephanie who used to cry a lot back in the day.

"For now… no," he replied simply, not saying anything more.

Brock didn't doubt it. After all, Ash was always focused on Pokémon, so it made sense he hadn't thought much about romance.