"Hey Brendan, do you ever get the feeling that we're being followed?" Ash asked.
"Not really, why?" Brendan asked.
"Must just be my imagination." Ash said.
The two were currently in the thickest portion of the Petalburg Woods, on their way to Rustboro City.
"Tree!" A voice cried out.
"Where?!" Brendan exclaimed, only to be knocked off of his feet.
"Treecko." A green lizard said, standing in front of Ash and Brendan.
"Who's that Pokemon?" Ash asked pulling out his Pokédex.
'Treecko the wood gecko Pokemon, a grass type.' The Pokédex informed.
"That's one of the rare Pokémon my dads been researching!" Brendan said. "I'm gonna catch it!"
"Hold on." Ash said, holding out his arm. "I think he's hurt." Ash said, kneeling down. "Are you okay?"
"Treecko!" Treecko exclaimed slapping Ash with his tail before running off again.
"He doesn't seem hurt to me." Brendan said.
"Maybe, but why would he attack and then run off?" Ash said, rubbing his cheek. "It doesn't add up."
"What's there not to get, you got close, it attacked you and then ran off, both likely out of fear." Brendan said.
"Then why attack you, or stop in the first place?" Ash questioned. "I think it wants us to follow."
"Yes, because that makes sense." Brendan said, following quickly behind Ash.
"Alright, with these pests out of the way we can finally begin the harvesting." A woman's voice said.
"Commander Courtney, I regret to inform you that one of the Treecko got away." A man's voice said.
"It matters little, one Treecko cannot stop us from gathering the energy from the tree." Courtney said.
Ash looked over the ridge to see a truck full of cages with Treeckos in them.
"We have to do something." Ash decided.
"Like what?" Brendan asked.
"You work on freeing the Treecko, I'll stop them from attacking the tree." Ash said.
"We're splitting up?!" Brendan exclaimed, but Ash was already long gone. "Great."
Ash and Pikachu ran through the forest, following the sound of trucks, soon approaching a ginormous tree.
"Whoa." Ash said in shock.
"Alright, start tapping into it, the power from this tree will help further our goals." Courtney ordered.
"Yes commander!" A group of people in matching red and black uniforms said with a salute.
"We have to get down there and stop them Pikachu." Ash said.
"Not happening squirt." A man's voice said.
Ash turned around to see a large man in one of the red uniforms standing right behind him.
"Would you believe how lost I am, I'm looking for Ekruteak City, can you help?" Ash asked.
"Sure, it's right this way." The man said, swinging a fist at Ash, punching him in the gut.
"Gahhhhh!" Ash screamed as he fell from the cliff. Ash flailed his arms about hoping to grab onto something, when suddenly a green beam shot from his arm, and attached to a branch of the tree. Ash swung around, seeing the tree now covered in a similar energy.
"Stop him!" Courtney exclaimed. "He's accessing the trees power!"
"I'm not really sure how I did that, but I'm going to have to ask you all to stop." Ash said as he landed.
"Five against one kid, you ain't gonna win." One of the trainers said.
"Come on out Numel!" All five exclaimed.
"Surskit let's go!"
"Numel use Rock Throw!"
"Surskit dodge with Quick Attack!"
While Surskit wasn't as fast as they were when on water, they were plenty fast enough to outmaneuver the rocks.
"Surskit use Bubble!"
"Numel use Ember!"
Surskit's bubbles held off the ember attacks, but it was clear they were outmatched.
"Tree. Cko!" The Treecko from earlier said, slamming his tail into one of the Numel, toppling it into its side.
"Treecko! Man am I glad to see you." Ash said.
"PIKA!" Pikachu said, slamming into the other side of the ground of Numel.
"Alright, the gangs all here. Pikachu use Thunder! Surskit use Bubble!"
Pikachu's electricity did nothing to bother the Numel as they stood there unfazed by the attack before being hit by the bubbles.
"Numel use Magnitude!"
Ash, Pikachu, Surskit, and Treecko were knocked off of their feet and onto their backs as the ground beneath them shook.
"Looks like you could use some backup." Brendan said, having finally caught up.
"You're the backup?" One of the grunts laughed.
"No, they are." Brendan said, pointing up to hundreds of Treecko.
The Treecko flew down from the tree, swarming the grunts and their Pokémon, angered from having been imprisoned.
"Nice of you to join the party." Ash said with a smirk.
"Sorry, all those cages took some time." Brendan countered.
"We need to retreat!" A voice called out.
Slowly the Treecko stopped swarming as the trucks drove away from the tree, which thanks to their efforts was still standing.
"So what happened?" Brendan asked, helping Ash up.
"I was right, they did need our help, but that isn't the weird part." Ash said. "I'm not sure what it was, or how I even did it, but I swung from a branch with what felt like a rope."
"Are you sure, how could you have swung from that high up, and where'd you even get a rope?" Brendan asked.
"I think it came from me." Ash admitted.
"And I think you're delusional from not eating enough." Brendan said. "What you're describing is impossible, now come on, let's get going."
"Right, right." Ash said.
Later, elsewhere
"You better be coming to me with good news Courtney." A man in a red suit said.
"Your information was correct, the Treecko home was right where you said it was." Courtney said.
"And." The man said angrily.
"We ran into trouble, some trainers interfered, they released the Treecko, and stopped us from fully harvesting the tree." Courtney said. "I was able to get this though." Courtney said, holding out a glowing green vial. "One of them was able to activate the tree's ancient and mystical powers. I present to you a vial of enhanced aura tree sap."
"Good, this will do wonderfully." The man said, holding up the vial, his glasses reflecting the glow. "You are dismissed."
"Yes Master Maxie." Courtney said with a bow before leaving.
Authors Note
So, it's been a while since I'be used an aura tree, would you guys like to see more scattered about, or keep them far and few between?
