Chapter 3: Ivysaur's Mysterious Tower

The next morning, the four teens sat in the cafeteria, discussing their plans for the coming day.

"I'm heading out to Route 6 to try and catch me a Pokemon! Today's the day, I can feel it!"

"OR you can get started on your homework. You know, the kind I bring you EVERYDAY."

"Chill out, Chloe, its Saturady. I can do it tomorrow. Not like I'll need it once I get a Pokemon of my own, anyhow."

Chloe sighed, and shook her head.

"You're hopeless. What about you two?"

"I thought I would go out and explore the city. You know, make sure I know where everything is. Didn't get a good chance to explore it the last few times I was here. Want to join me, Lillie?"

"No thanks. I need to do some shopping. I hadn't planned on staying anywhere long term like this."

"That's cool, I'll see you later."

After a quick kiss goodbye, Ash picked up his tray and left. Goh followed suit after, leaving Chloe and Lillie alone.

"What are your plans today?"

"I don't know. I already finished my homework. Maybe see if dad needs help in the lab?"

"Why don't you go shopping with me? Its better than being stuffed up inside a boring old house."

Chloe thought about it for a minute before shrugging.

"Why not? Not like there's anything else to do around here."

"Great! Come on, I think I saw a great shopping mall nearby on the ride here."

"Wait, slow down!"

A few hours later, the two of them had finished all of their shopping and were walking back to the lab. Chloe struggled to lift Lillie's numerous bags.

"Did you really need this much stuff?"

"It never hurts to be prepared!"

"Prepared for what, the apocalypse?"

"I'm just saying, it pays to-huh?"

Suddenly, Lillie stopped dead in her tracks, and Chloe walked right into her.

"Hey, what gives? A little warning would be nice!"

"Sorry, but look!"

Picking herself up off her feet, Chloe saw a strange sight indeed. A surprisingly large number of Bulbasaur and Ivysaur were making their way through the city, almost as if in a trance.

"Woah, what's with that?"

"That's something you don't see everyday."

"Guys, you seeing this?"

Ash and Goh came running up to them, out of breath.

"Why'd you guys run all the way here?"

"Well, I saw my Bulbasaur among them, and I wondered how he got here. So I called out to him, but he seemed to be hypnotized or something. So I tried to catch him, but more and more kept coming, and I lost him. So I followed the herd, and here we our."

"And let me guess. Goh tried to catch an Ivysaur?"

Goh just rubbed his head and chuckled nervously. Chloe sighed in annoyance.

"Alright, well there's only one way to figure out what's going on. Let's follow them!"

The four friends set off after the herd, keeping their distance to make sure they weren't noticed. Eventually, they came to the end of an alleyway, where the Grass Types hoisted themselves up with their vines.

"What's with all the secrecy?"

"I don't know, but I'm getting to the bottom of this."

Giving each other a boost, the four of them were up and over the fence. Following the herd, they came to a large tower under construction. They watched as the Bulbasaur and Ivysaur used their Vine Whips to climb the scaffolding.

"Come on, let's follow them!"

"Right!"

Nimbly, the quartet climbed up after them, reaching the top of the tower in no time. Ash scanned the crowd, before finding his Bulbasaur easily. Ash tried to grab him, but Bulbasaur squirmed out of his grasp.

"Bulbasaur, what's with you?"

"Saur!"

Just then, Goh noticed a sweet smelling scent in the air.

"Hey, do you guys smell that?"

"Yeah, now that you mention it, I do smell something."

"What is that?"

Curious, Goh took out his phone and scanned a nearby Ivysaur. After a minute, the Rotomphone read off an entry:

"Ivysaur, The Seed Pokemon, and the evolved form of Bulbasaur. If the bud on its back starts to smell sweet, it is evidence that the large flower will soon bloom."

"So that's why they've all been migrating here. It must be time for their flowers to bloom."

"You know, I heard somewhere that when a Bulbasaur or Ivysaur's flower blooms, its a sign that they're ready to evolve."

"Really? Is... is that why you came here Bulbasaur?"

As if to answer Ash's question, all of the gathered Ivysaur and Bulbasaur's flowers bloomed, and they began to glow. When the glow had subsided, Ash now had an Ivysaur.

"Woah, Bulbasaur evolved!"

Ash knelt down, and stroked his Pokemon lovingly.

"Is this what you want, Ivysaur?"

"Ivysaur!"

"Well, I think you look good!"

Ivysaur smiled, and jumped into Ash's arms. Later, once they had gotten back to the lab, Ash called Professor Oak.

"Thank goodness you found him. Tracey had gone out to feed the Pokemon this morning and he was just...gone. Must have traveled all throughout the night to have gotten there today."

"But why come at all? I thought Bulbasaur didn't want to evolve?"

"Perhaps I can answer that. You see, a couple of days you're Gible started doing his usually thing, and bit Lycanroc on the head. Well, Lycanroc didn't like that and they got into a huge fight. Well, naturally Bulbasaur tries to break it up, but he gets caught in the crossfire and is severely hurt. Tracey and I managed to break the two apart and heal him up, but I guess the damage to his pride had been done. Thus, he must have decided to evolve to become stronger."

"Is that true, Ivysaur?"

"Saur."

Ash remained silent for a minute before speaking up again.

"Professor, is it alright if I keep Ivysaur with me for a while? Just to make sure he's comfortable with his new form."

"Of course, Ash. Don't worry, things have been quiet over here for a while aside from that minor incident. I'm sure we'll be just fine."

"Thanks, Professor Oak! Tell Mom I said hi!"

"Will do!"

Ash hung up, then turned to his Ivysaur.

"Just like old times, huh pal?"

Ivysaur smiled, and nodded. It was good to be with him again.