I hopped off the small slope, landing in a loud crunch as the dried leaves got crushed by my boots. Dad quickly followed behind me and promptly landed two feet from my right. I looked around, the inside of Ilex forest was the same as ever; silent, peaceful, and yet somehow choking. The place had always given me an odd feeling whenever I came here and as I grew older, I can't help but feel that invisible pressure get stronger.

Dad had said something about the place being cursed by a passing legendary in the past and so, came the pressure that bore down on any trainer that goes here. I didn't know if it was true or not but if I were to take a guess then it probably had something to do with Celebi protecting the place.

Him? Her? - It was considered to be relatively weak back in the games but the fact that the pokemon can canonically time travel meant that it should be quite powerful in this reality.

I mean, Jirachi was able to summon a fake Groudon and I think, relatively speaking, those two should be at the same power level.

Or, at least I think so.

Back to my point, Celebi being a Psychic type meant that it can probably cause a forest like this to have some sort of pressure to be felt by anyone who's passing through. And weirdly enough, it can only be felt by trainers, Dad and Whitney included. Those two being able to feel it as well as, in Whitney's case, complain about it, made me chalk it up as a Pokemon's influence rather than being unique to me so I just put it at the back of my mind. Even if the pressure constantly bore down on me as I trekked.

The fact that Pokemon couldn't feel it meant that the place is protected mostly from humans, and, also, potentially so that the one who threw it here wouldn't harm themselves.

And its not like the forest wasn't special either, with the place being home to a variety of pokemon far larger than the games, Ilex Forest is considered to be a great place to train by more powerful trainers as well as an ideal spot for finding a future team member, with it being home to a large number of young pokemon and even ones like Heracross, Pinsir, Scyther, and even the occasional Ursaring in the deeper parts of the forest. Because of that, a large number of trainers go here to catch pokemon to either take as their own or to give to a sibling.

The number of Pokemon here being that many is a double edged sword that both attracts trainers, as well as prevents them from further harming the forest.

Speaking of trainers capturing pokemon, back in the anime, two of Ash's most powerful pokemon were abandoned by their old trainers. Making it quite clear that the extra "experience" boost that pokemon get when traded rightfully exists in that specific reality and from what I could tell, the same applies to the pokemon here as well.

For some reason, when someone receives a pokemon from another person, said pokemon not only works twice as hard as before, but also, that they quickly grow in strength. This still applies even when they don't work harder by the way.

One of the few examples I can think of when this happened was Whitney complaining about one of her classmates having a more powerful Flying Type. From what I could tell, said flying type was rescued by her classmate as a pidgey way, way later after Whitney got hers, and even then, it had gone from a weak, outright crippled Pidgey to a powerful Pidgeotto in the span of a few months. And Whitney had gotten her current Pidgey two years ago.

that Pidgey is probably close to evolving by now but still, the fact that it was still left behind by an injured pokemon of the same species is a - to me at least, - pretty substantial proof for that game mechanic existing.

I hopped down another slope, "where are we going by the way?" I asked my father,

He fixed the collar of his ranger outfit and sighed, "honestly Lionel?" fanning himself, he looked around with lost eyes, "I don't know myself." he said, then continued walking, I simply followed.

"you know you can't just expect to stumble on a stray pack of Oddish right?" I looked down at my foot, sighing when I saw that the trail we were following for a while now was no longer visible. "and why bring me here anyways?"

Dad veered to the right, avoiding a deep mud-pit, "you don't know how wrong that statement is, you can just stumble on a pack of wild oddish," he replied, sighing, "and as for why you're here? well, I wanted you to experience what it feels like to be a ranger,"

"if you want me to take this job in the near future, I won't," I retorted, slicking mud off my boots. I heard him sigh, "and besides, what makes you think I'd be interested in something like this anyways?"

"you sound just like Persian," he said, jumping over a log, "I think his laziness is rubbing off on you,"

"yeah, in a good way!"

...

Ranger work. Was hard. That was my initial assumption when I saw Dad come home exhausted every night and my opinion only got proof when the two of us spent an entire Saturday yesterday searching for a swarm of wild oddish we never even found. And you know what my father says after we got out of Ilex Forest both physically and mentally exhausted?

"I'll see if I can round them up tomorrow," - were the words that came out of his mouth nonchalantly. The fact that he was coated in mud and leaves when he said that didn't help convince me that he'll be successful.

"you know you've been glaring at Ilex Forest for a while now right?" Vhira says as she sat down right next to me, I turned and watched her press her chin on both of her knees. She stared at the forest beyond us, "so, what's up?"

"I don't know?" I scratched the back of my head in frustration, I met her eyes, suspicion evident in them, and got into a staring contest. I folded, "it's just that I went there with my Dad yesterday and we spent an entire day there searching for a swarm of Oddishes that came from somewhere in Route 32, and well? we couldn't even find them."

"Oddishes huh?" she smirked,

"nope, not those guys," I shook my head at her tone, "don't want em,"

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

She hummed, "why? I mean, it's been what? almost three months since Grimer fell into your lap? you don't want another party member?" I shook my head, "really now?"

"yeah," I replied, laying on the grass, which was now shorter than my fingers thanks to the rangers cutting them down last week, "do you want a new party member?" I returned the question,

She smiled then followed after me by laying down as well, "no, not really," she replies, staring at the sky, "it sure is tempting though,"

I nodded, "yeah," she chuckled, "honestly though? the progress that you've had with Nidoran these past two weeks is outright amazing," she hummed and I saw her turn her head to look at me from the corner of my eye,

"I'm serious you know?" she hummed again, "it's pretty nice, seeing everything progress and happen. I mean."

"you and Grimer aren't bad as well," she retorted, "but in my case, I would say that it's mostly all thanks to Nidoran."

"don't be like that," I said,

"and... you sound just like Whitney,"

"it's appropriate, I think?" I sat up, "your weird, little, self-deprecation episodes are quite frequent you know?"

"heh," she scoffed, "I don't honestly know what you're talking about,"

"right,"

"so, how's training?" she said, changing topics,

"it's not that bad," I messed around with Grimer's Pokeball, rolling it around my hand, "lately he's been able to use Bite but it's a new move and he's still trying to get the hang of it." I said, "he's also starting to lose his optimism, not to mention starting to act cold towards other pokemon,"

"I can see that," Vhira released a tired Nidoran, "I mean, even he's been saying something about it," the purple rabbit nuzzled into her palm when she rubbed his head, purring. "right Rein?"

"ran!" Rein nodded at me,

"I guess?" I smiled at him, "it's probably his Dark typing influencing him though," I said. Does typing actually influence personality? - I shrugged, "I don't really know though,"

"typing huh?" Vhira looked at Nidoran, "wonder why you're so competitive then, Rein?" the purple rabbit merely shrugged when she said that. She rubbed Rein's head, "guess your little rival will no longer be as loud as you huh?" she grinned when Nidoran looked away, "because Grimer's starting to act calm and relaxed."

"like a proper poison type?" I said, gazing at Nidoran who replied with a glare.

Vhira chuckled, "yep!" she said, agreeing.

Her grin turned manic before erupting into fits of laughter when Rein leaped at her, tackling her to the ground before wrestling with his trainer.

Despite him being gentle, Nidoran was still able to easily wrestle Vhira to the ground, even in their pre-evolved forms, pokemon were already able to overpower humans with relative ease. A fully evolved Nidoking would be able to do more than lift Vhira, and that's saying something given that he's not even a Pseudo legendary

Even then, my head couldn't help but drift off to a particular memory, one where my Crobat managed to somehow reduce Cynthia's garchomp down to less than half HP with a single Brave Bird and somehow, even live an attack afterwards.

"Vhira, how far do you think the nearest cave is?" I idly wondered,

"hm?" she stopped wrestling, "the nearest cave? I don't know? I guess Union Cave is nearby? you just have to cross Ilex Forest." she sat up with Rein following by jumping on her lap, "why?"

"I don't know? I was considering catching another pokemon," I said,

"oh, you mean a Zubat?" I nodded, "aren't they weak? And after you said you didn't want a new team member?"

"I was considering it after you mentioned it! And besides, Crobats are pretty strong," I retorted, "they have a pretty good move pool as well," I reasoned, "but more importantly, they're fast." I looked at her confused expression,

"Crobats don't evolve when under trainers Lionel," she said, standing up and dusting herself off. Rein, at her side, nodded simply with a loud 'Ran!' as if scolding me, "what Rein said," she offered her hand, I took it, "if you want a Crobat, you're gonna have to go to the deepest parts of Mt. Silver and take down an entire swarm of its supportive previous evolutions."

"that's probably a hint on how to evolve it right?" I said, removing a few blades of grass that clung to my clothes,

"what do you mean a hint?" she started chuckling, "what? in order for a Golbat to evolve you're gonna have to support it with every fiber of your being?"

I shrugged, "probably,"

she started laughing.

...

As we passed, two of us waved at the guard stationed on Route 34's gate and Vhira lost all of the confidence that she had the moment that we were back inside Goldenrod city, the girl had come from being calm and collected to meek and reserved. She wouldn't make eye contact with anyone that looked at her, instead, she found the sidewalk we were walking on to be interesting. If her staring at it is any indication at least.

"so, where are you going after this?" I asked her, hoping that a conversation would put her reservations at the back of her mind. And it worked, partially, since she was willing to take her eyes off the ground and focused on me instead, her not willing to look at anything else needs to be worked on though.

"what?"

"you know, where are you headed?" I asked again,

"uh..." her mind started to whir back into life and eventually, it came to a full reboot as her eyes lit up and she finally found the right words to answer, "I'm going where you're going?" she replied quizzically before looking up, "the sky is still pretty blue you know?"

I looked at my poke-watch, "it's only 2:47," I agreed, shrugging when I saw her wince, "I'm going to the Department Store after this," I added, "you sure you wanna come with?"

"yeah," she grabbed Rein's Pokeball, "can't believe we left Route 34 this early though," she placed it back on her belt, "by the way, why are you going to the department store anyway?"

"I want to buy some caving gear," I replied, "I wanna catch a Zubat," at her odd look, I added, "no, really,"

She rolled her eyes, "whatever Lionel, do what you want."

"you're gonna regret it when you see my Crobat in the near future,"

She snorted, "as if,"

"I'm serious."

"sure,"

And so, we walked. Our conversation started to lull halfway through the Department store and both of us were completely silent by the time we got there.

Cold air greeted both of us when the doors to the massive building opened, "what are you buying here again?" Vhira asked, worried eyes looking all over the place, "I mean, obviously the caving gear but you know, anything else?"

"uhm..." I tapped the side of my pants, "I guess I'm also buying a Dig TM for my Grimer," I said, "that'll solve at least half my current problems,"

"you mean that Forretress?" I nodded,

"that and uh," I looked at her worried expression, more so from the fact that we were in a Department store than anything else, "the Magnemite line," other than furrowed eyebrows, her face didn't change,

"good thing that my Nidoran knows double kick then huh?" she mused, her tone nonchalant.

I nodded, "yeah,"

We continued, with Vhira having a complete 180 on her attitude - going from meek to willing, - after the mention of Magnemite, everything went smoothly and I managed to buy all of the stuff that I needed in under an hour or so because I didn't have to slow down the pace of my walk to let her catch up.

I placed all of my stuff on the counter and the guy manning it calmly yet efficiently started sorting through all of them: a waterproof tent, a flashlight, portable kitchenware, including a stove, canned food, some pokeballs, and finally, an entire plastic bag of the cheapest repels there is.

When all is said and done, the guy manning the counter told me the price - around only 2100 Pokedollars or so, - and I paid for all of them with cash to spare. I couldn't help but think that Pokemon battling really was profitable...

"what about the TM Lionel?" Vhira asked as I sorted everything out, thanking that the tent being compressible made everything so easy.

"I'll get to it in a bit," where were TMs again? on the third floor or something right? "I just wanted to get these things sorted out first,"

"oh okay," she hummed,

The two of us continued moving again when I was finally done and after two sets of stairs, I was able to buy the Dig TM and teach it to Grimer on the spot. It was nice to finally have something that can counter Steel Types that isn't Power-up Punch but the TM's price made me thankful that Dad gave me the money to buy this thing.