Hello everyone! Psychicshipping here to kick off another chapter that'll make your head spin. I just want to remind everyone who's reading my original story that this story contains SPOILERS!

David's POV

We were on our way to bulbasaur's hidden village but something was seriously wrong. I could sense it as soon as the sun had risen that mourning. It was almost palpable and it had a distinctly rancid smell. As usual we were lost and then Ash found that oddish that in another place I had caught and had evolved into a shiny bellosom. Just as Misty was about to catch the grass/poison type bulbasaur showed up and put a stop to it. So Ash tried to catch bublasaur and failed.

"I didn't know bulbasaur could use gust." Dust remarked and the two pokemon escaped. We walked a little while longer and then came to a very old bridge. Just then we heard a snap and we whirled around. There was a proto shadow. Extremely intelligent; proto shadows are extremely dangerous and take the form of whatever living creature it imprints on first. At first there was one and the next instant there were hundreds. I could feel my face blanch.

"Take cover now." I said in a horse whisper and they got behind some nearby rocks. I reached into my backpack and pulled out a prototype I'd been working on just a few days before I had came to this world. It looked deceptively like a star wars blaster but it was much much more deadly and was specifically designed to blast heartless. I wondered for a moment weather it would be ok to say something along the lines of 'say hello to the devil for me' but decided against it as this was a kidde show and had enough violence without heartless. Then they attacked.

"WHAT'S GOING ON?" The others shouted but I was quickly being overwhelmed by sheer force of numbers, not to mention that it takes about six or seven trinity limits just to kill one proto shadow. So I was in deep doo doo. And there was also the matter of pikablue to attend to. Sometimes I wonder if it would be easier just to keep him in his pokeball.

"GET ACROSS THE BRIDGE!" I shouted "NOW!" I told them as they tried to protest and of course just as they were crossing the wind picked up and broke the bridge. Everyone but Brock managed to get to safety, said gym leader fell into the river below. So instead of staying put like sensible people they ran off to find Brock despite what other horrors awaited. I mean if whoever after Ash is powerful enough to keep hundreds of proto shadows under his command then we are talking SERIOUS EVIL DARK POWERS! It took a solid hour and a half to take out all the heartless and at the end I felt like I had been run over at least 15 times by a semi, not to mention I looked even worse.

"Do something!" It sounds like they were up in that net trap and along came bulbasaur. I decided to rest in a tree nearby and listen to Ash go on about how Brock was washed to sea and taken by pirates.

"You have a crazy imagination!" The girls exclaimed and then Ash muttered

"And then came the storm."

"Ahoy!" Brock shouted and looking much better (Gotta love a pokemorph's regen rate. I can get my arm almost sliced off and as long as I keep it together there won't even be a scar a week later.) I made my presence known. We got them down and Brock told them what happened. He was rescued by a beautiful girl.

"Which doesn't tell us much because Brock think all girls are beautiful." Dust remarked in an undertone

[Yep, he's a regular lady killer.] I answered

"That's even better than pirates!" Ash exclaimed "Unless of course she was a pirate in disguise." That boy's head is one wierd place, almost as wierd as mine and that's saying something. So we went to meet Melanie and in my case a second time.

Dust POV:

We walked through the forest for some time and I was sure we were getting lost. Finally, we came across a log cabin and I gasped at the shear amount of pokemon in the area.

"Melanie," Brock said to a young and pretty girl, the only human I could see beside us. "These are the others I told you about."

"Hello." Ash said.

"It's nice to meet you, Melanie." I smiled wide.

"So your Brock's friend, he told me all about you." Melanie smiled.

"Do all these pokemon belong to you?" Misty asked.

"Of course not." David said. I elbowed him roughly in his ribs. He groaned and rubbed where I had hit him. I did it for Misty because trust me, she would have hit him with her mallet and that would have hurt far worst, even for the psychic.

"This is a place where pokemon are able to rest and relax." Brock explained.

"Like summer camp?" Ash asked.

"I would like to go to summer camp." I commented.

"Well, sort of, but all year long." Brock explained. "See, when pokemon get abandoned or injured, they can come here and Melanie takes care of them until they feel better. Then they leave."

"So, this is a pokemon center, and Melanie is a pokemon doctor." Misty blinked.

"Oh no, I'm not qualified to be a pokemon doctor." Melanie said.

"I bet you would be very good at it." I smiled.

"Thank you." Melanie blushed.

"This is more like a pokemon health spa." Brock said.

"Here, the pokemon don't battle with one another. They can relax and enjoy themselves until they recover." Melanie said.

"That's nice." David said.

"Melanie collects plants to use as medicine. She knows all about which plants can help a pokemon feel better or grow stronger when they're too weak." Brock explained.

"That's nice." I said. Midnight nodded beside me.

"So you and Melanie both love to take care of pokemon." Ash said.

"We do." Brock nodded.

"What's that I smell? Could it be love?" I smirked.

"There could be something else Brock might love." Misty teased with me. Brock's face went red and he ran behind the two girls, wrapping a hand over their mouths.

"Shh, she might hear you." Brock hissed.

"I wonder who put that net up in the tree." Ash wondered.

"Probably the same person who dug the hole." Misty shrugged.

"Or messed up the bridge." I said.

"I'm sorry, I'm the one who set those traps." Melanie apologized. "I wanted to catch pokemon trainers before they reached the village. Since you got caught, I guess they really work."

"But why?" Misty asked.

"There are so many injured pokemon here, I have to protect them." Melanie answered.

"I guess I could understand that." I shrugged.

"I promised Melanie that we wouldn't capture any pokemon." Brock said.

"Did you seal the promise with a kiss?" Misty teased and was rewarded with a whack on the head. "That must mean you really do love her." She got hit again.

"So, I guess I'll have to keep your promise." Ash sighed.

"Only bad guys try to capture sick pokemon." Misty said.

"Hey, it's that oddish." I said and skipped on over. "Hey oddish."

"Oddish." It said, looking up at me. Midnight walked up to me and oddish coward.

"Aw, don't worry. He won't hurt you." I smiled and hugged him before putting him down on his feet.

"Oddish." He smiled. I smiled back before walking over to the other. Oddish followed and snuggled into her leg.

"But are the traps enough for robbers, I mean you'd have to be pretty stupid to fall into one of those holes." Ash said.

"Ash, we've fallen into enough holes ourselves." I reminded him. Then Ash got in a fight with that Bulbasaur that had helped Oddish earlier.

"Please, wait, please!" Melanie begged. "Bulbasaur is only trying to protect oddish. Bulbasaur volunttered to protect our whole village. It protects all the injured pokemon whenever enemies try to attack them. Bulbasaur is the bravest, most loyal pokemon I know."

"…Deep." I said. Bulbasaur started to push at Ash's leg. "Look out now, Ash. Bulbasaur doesn't like you." Midnight started to growl. He really didn't like bulbasaur hurting out friends.

"Bulbasaur doesn't like pokemon trainers, it wants you to leave the village now." Melanie explained.

"But we're not here to capture pokemon." Misty said.

"It's true, bulbasaur. These are our friends." Melanie tried to reason with him.

"Please, everything is alright." I said, rubbing a hand over its head. To everyone's surprise, it seemed to calm down.

"It seems, that Dust has a natural instinct with pokemon." David commented behind me. It was weird, Bulbasaur wasn't fighting me although he was perfectly happy to push at Ash.

"Bulbasaur was worried about the other pokemon, so it decided to be the village body guard. Now that's what I call bravery. It would be great to have a pokemon like that." Ash said. Oddish hopped over to me and jumped into my arms as a large shadow fell over us. What could make that shadow? David tensed but calmed down with a smirk and I saw why. It was team rocket. I calmly stood as well, holding a scared oddish to my chest.

"Today only at Jesse stadium, it's the team rocket pokemon challenge." Jessie smirked from the balloon high above us.

A tube fell to the village and started to suck. It was going to suck up all the pokemon! I came to the frightful realization.

"All pokemon are invited to enter the stadium!" Jesse smirked as if expecting every pokemon to run up to the tube happily.

"Hurry, everybody get inside!" Brock yelled. The hose air started to lift me up a little and I shrieked. I knew I was light but I didn't realize I was that light.

We ran to the door when we noticed Bulbasaur was fighting against the hose. Before anyone could do anything, Ash had already ran out and pushing Bulbasaur into the house.

"Pidgey, I choose you!" I yelled as they made it to the cabin. "Peck!" My Pidgey swopped in to the balloon and before anyone could blink, there was a giant slash in it.

"Looks like team rocket's blasting off again!" team rocket yelled as they disappeared into the sky, sparkling like a diamond in the sky.

"Is everyone alright?" Melanie asked as I hugged pidgey and put her back in the pokeball. Midnight curled up with oddish at my feet.

"Is everyone alright?" Melanie asked.

"This village is well protected with bulbasaur around." Ash said.

"Ash, don't you agree bulbasaur would make a fine addition to your team?" Melanie asked.

"Oh yeah, would he ever!" Ash smiled widely.

"I think bulbasaur should go with you." Melanie insisted. "Bulbasaur stayed here to protect the weaker pokemon. But this village is too small, the bulb on its back can't grow, it needs to go out into the world. I know you'll take good care of it. Please, do me this favor, take bulbasaur with you on your journey. He'll be a good companion."

"But what will happen to the village without bulbasaur?" Misty asked. She had a point there.

"Who will protect you?" Brock asked.

"It's true that bulbasaur has done a great job, maybe too great a job. See, these pokemon shouldn't remain here forever and ever. After they recover, the pokemon are supposed to leave but it's too safe here. , none of them want to go away, they don't want to return to the outside world. But I think it's important that they return to the wild. That's where pokemon belong and hopefully, one day they'll find good trainers, like you. Of course, taking care of sick pokemon will always be my mission. Buy I know my job isn't finished until they return where they come from. So it's the day the pokemon leave that is more rewarding to me."

"Melanie, that was beautiful." I sighed.

"So you see, it's time for bulbasaur to leave here. Please take it with you, he won't be a burden. Bulbasaur still has a lot of growing to do. I want it to be in a place where I know it will grow up, strong and happy. I'm sure that place is with you, Ash. And Dust…" Melanie said. What did she want?

"Yeah, Melanie?" I asked.

"I think oddish would be happy with you." Melanie smiled.

"What?" I gasped.

"Oddish was abandoned by his trainer here long ago because his ex-trainer thought he was to weak and soft to others and so far, besides me, you're the only human it ever let itself get close to. Please, would you take him and raise him to be strong and happy."

"I…I will." I smiled with tears in my eyes as Oddish jumped into my arms happily. It was a few minutes later, we were watching a battle between Bulbasaur and Ash.

I felt something at my waist and noticed Midnight poking at my pokeball on my belt. Right, how could I forget that? I smiled at oddish reassuring and opened the pokeball, watching him be absorbed in a red light and my arms suddenly feeling lighter. I had caught oddish and had a new member and friend on my team. That was when Ash caught Bulbasaur.

"Have a safe trip." Melanie said as we got ready to leave for our next great adventure.

"I promise to take good care of bulbasaur." Ash promised.

"I promise to take good care of oddish, he's a member of the team now." I smiled.

"Um, Melanie, I've been thinking, bulbasaur is leaving, I wouldn't mind staying and helping you out." Brock said. Me and David sighed. Couldn't Brock just give it a rest already, I thought.

"That's very kind of you," Melanie smiled. "But we'll be okay. I wouldn't want to keep you from all of your wonderful adventures." Brock was clearly disappointed but understood. We waved goodbye and I hoped that someday, we would see Melanie again.

When we were out of hearing range, Misty asked a question I have been dying to know. "So, what did Melanie say when you told her you love her? Did you kiss her goodbye?"

"That's enough stupid questions." Brock cried. "Would you please stop embarrassing me already? OK, so she's cute, I understand!"

"Brock, you think every girl is cute." I teased.

"Did I miss something?" Ash said. That was Ash for you. Dense as ever. I can't help but wonder, will Ash and Misty ever get together? Will Brock actually meet someone? Would i? Well I knew one way to find out. Just keep one foot in front of the other. After all, a million mile journey started with a single step.