The next morning, Ash and Misty packed up their belongings to head to Viridian Forest. Ash handed Nurse Joy the key to their room and met Misty outside. They walked in silence for a couple of minutes until Ash broke the silence.
"Misty, are you sure that you are going to be okay in a forest full of Bug types?" Ash asked while giving her a concerned look.
"I know I can do this," Misty said with determination in her voice.
Ash nodded his head while smiling at Misty. They arrived at the forest shortly afterwards and just continued without stopping until Misty turned around to see a Caterpie being attacked by some Beedrills.
"Hey! Leave Caterpie alone!" Misty yelled gaining the Beedrills attention. "Misty calls Starmie!"
Starmie appeared out of its Pokeball and the Beedrills began to fly towards Starmie while their big stingers began to glow.
"That is Twin Needle Misty," Ash said.
"Psychic!" Misty called to Starmie.
A blue light appeared around the Beedrills stopping them in place and then they were launched backwards. As soon as they recovered, they took off to get away from Misty and Starmie.
"That was awesome Misty!" Ash exclaimed.
"Thank you Ash," Misty replied while returning Starmie. "Let's check on Caterpie."
Ash followed Misty over to Caterpie to see it was badly injured and a purple aura around it showing that Caterpie was poisoned. Ash quickly took off his backpack to pull an Antidote out, which he handed to Misty. She healed Caterpie's injuries and cured the poisoning. They both sighed in relief when they saw Caterpie getting healthy again. Caterpie then crawled up Misty's arm to rub its head against her cheek to show its appreciation.
"Hey Caterpie, can you tell my friend why those Beedrills were attacking you?" Misty asked. "He can understand Pokemon."
'I can do that,' Caterpie replied. 'Those Beedrills attacked me because I accidentally trespassed into their nest just as they were evolving from Kakuna.'
"Apparently Caterpie stumbled into their nest just as they were evolving from Kakuna," Ash translated. "Also, my name is Ash and the one who saved you is Misty. The Pikachu sitting on my shoulder is named Raiden."
'My name is Bella,' Caterpie said. 'Can you please tell Misty that I would like to join her team?'
"Misty, Caterpie's name is Bella and she want me to tell you that she would like to join your team," Ash informed her.
Misty just smiled and held a Pokeball up to Bella, who tapped the button causing it to suck her in. Then, the Pokeball dinged to show a successful capture and Misty let Bella back out saying she wanted to spend time with Bella, who was more than willing to spend time with Misty. Ash and Misty then continued walking for an hour when they spotted another Caterpie with a Weedle.
'We need to find Bella so you can apologize to her,' Caterpie said.
'You have been saying that for the last couple of minutes Angel,' Weedle replied in exasperation.
'Don't get annoyed at me Wesp,' Angel snapped. 'You said those mean things to her which caused her to run away.'
'Boys!' Bella called gaining Angel and Wesp's attention. 'I am okay now thanks to my new trainer, Misty. The boy standing next to her is Ash and his Pikachu named Raiden.'
'I see that you found the right trainer for you,' Angel said. 'What do you mean you are okay now?'
'I was attacked by several Beedrills that had just evolved from Kakunas cause I stumbled upon the nest,' Bella truthfully replied.
Wesp hung his head and said, 'I am really sorry Bella for all those awful things I said to you.'
'Apology accepted,' Bella told him.
Ash quickly translated what they had said to Misty while Angel and Wesp looked at Ash in bewilderment when they realized he could understand them.
'Hey you two should join Ash's team if he is okay with it,' Bella suddenly said.
"I would love to have them on the team, but I won't force them to join," Ash cut in before they could say anything.
'We would love to join your team,' Angel spoke for both of them.
Ash set a Pokeball down in front of Angel and in front of Wesp. At the same time, they both touched the Pokeballs and were sucked in. The Pokeballs dinged for Angel and Wesp didn't try to break free. Ash then let them back out so he could scan them with Dexter.
Caterpie the Worm Pokemon. Its short feet are tipped with suction pads that enable it to tirelessly climb slopes and walls. This Caterpie is male and has the ability Shield Dust. This Caterpie knows the moves Tackle, String Shot, and Bug Bite.
Weedle the Hairy Bug Pokemon. Often found in forests, eating leaves. It has a sharp venomous stinger on its head. This Weedle is male and has the ability Shield Dust. It knows the moves Poison Sting, String Shot, and Bug Bite.
"You both have excellent moves," Ash commented causing both of them to puff out their chests in pride. He then scanned Bella before Misty could ask. "Bella has the same moves as Angel, but she has the ability Run Away meaning when she is a Butterfree she will have the ability Tinted Lens while Angel will have Compound Eyes."
"Thanks for looking that up about Bella," Misty said with a smile.
"No problem," Ash responded while returning Angel and Wesp. "Lets find a clearing or somewhere to make camp for lunch and a place to train."
'There is a clearing through the trees on your left Ash,' Bella spoke up.
"Thank you Bella," Ash replied.
"What?" Misty asked.
"Bella said that there is a clearing through the trees on my left," Ash said.
They both turned to Ash's left and began to walk through the trees to see a beautiful clearing with wild flowers throughout the tree line and a crystal clear river flowing through it. Both of them walked over to the river and let their Water Pokemon out. Ash then let out his other Pokemon and introduced everyone to Angel and Wesp while Misty introduced her Pokemon to Bella. Once the introductions were over with, Ash and Misty began to train their Pokemon with laps or swimming for some of the Pokemon, agility, strength, the power of their moves, and building resistance to their type disadvantages. During the training, Aurora learned the move Ice Shard with everyone congratulating her causing her to become embarrassed from all the attention. Also, Angel and Wesp evolved into Metapod and Kakuna causing everyone to congratulate them. After they were done training, Ash and Misty set up camp while their Pokemon were eating lunch. Ash then made stew for lunch for Misty and him while telling her that it wasn't as good as his mother's cooking. Misty found to her delight that Ash's cooking was delicious and she gave his cooking many compliments causing Ash to blush. They then began to clean up everything while letting their Pokemon to have a little fun while they broke up camp when Ash decided he needed to talk to Raiden about something in private. Once they both disappeared through the tree line, Misty continued to pack up everything when she suddenly found a sword at her neck causing Bella to tackle the boy holding the sword.
"Ow! Learn to control your Pokemon, novice," the boy said.
"Then you should learn not to put a sword against someone's neck while their Pokemon are out especially their friend's Pokemon," Misty shot back. The boy turned to see that there were indeed a lot of Pokemon out and they were all glaring at him.
"I just want to know if you're a Pokemon trainer from Pallet Town," the boy said with a gulp.
"No," Misty replied while turning her back to him.
"Drat," he muttered. "Then my quest continues."
The boy left and took Misty a couple of seconds to realize that he was looking for Ash.
"Ash!" Misty exclaimed while returning both of their Pokemon back into their Pokeballs.
Once Ash made sure that they were out of hearing range from Misty and the others, he let Raiden jump down so that they could talk.
"Raiden the reason I wanted to talk to you is because I wanted to know if we ever found the group of Pikachus you were separated from, if you would like to be able to join them once again," Ash said.
'As much as I would like to Ash, I don't think it would work out for I would be too powerful for the other Pikachus and Pichus. Would I miss being with everyone I knew and loved? The answer would be yes, but I am fine with being your Pokemon and being part of your family that is still growing,' Raiden replied. 'Also, I should tell you that I do not want to become a Raichu.'
"That's okay Raiden," Ash responded with a smile.
Suddenly, Ash saw a sword appear out of the corner of his eye swinging down at him and Raiden reacted by using Quick Attack to knock the boy back, who grimaced in pain.
"Why were you swinging a sword at me?" Ash asked in anger. "You could have seriously injured me or could have killed me."
"That is how a Samurai issues a challenge," the boy replied. "Now, are you the trainer from Pallet Town?"
"Why does that matter?" Ash said with a scowl.
"Because I am challenging you to a Pokemon battle."
"Ash!" Misty said while appearing out of nowhere and she stopped when she saw the same boy from earlier. "I see that he has already found you. Here are all of your Pokemon."
"Yes and thank you Misty," Ash said without taking his eyes off the boy. Misty nodded her head and stood off to the side while looking between the two of them. Raiden quickly joined her side to make sure no Pokemon would try to attack her.
"So are you going to accept my challenge, novice?" the boy tried to goad him.
"I will accept the challenge," Ash calmly stated.
"Go Pinsir!" the boy said while throwing Pinsir's Pokeball, which showed a big brown Pokemon with two pincers on its head.
"I choose you Raiden. Let's show this trainer that he shouldn't mess with us," Ash said with Raiden running from Misty's side to the battlefield.
"Pinsir use Tackle."
"Raiden dodge with Quick Attack followed by Thunderbolt!" Ash called.
Just as Pinsir was in front of Raiden, he disappeared in a blur and before the boy could call for Pinsir to do something, a lightning bolt slammed into Pinsir causing it to faint with swirls in its eyes. The boy returned Pinsir with a scowl that someone from Pallet Town that should be a novice trainer had defeated his Pinsir with one move.
"This is my strongest Pokemon," the boy said with a gloating tone. "Go Metapod!"
A green cocoon appeared and both Misty and Ash sweat dropped wondering how in the world Metapod was his strongest Pokemon.
"Raiden come back," Ash recalled him with Raiden running back over to Misty. "I choose you Wesp."
"You really are a novice if you think that little weakling can beat my Metapod," the boy said while laughing his head off. Both Ash and Wesp scowled at the insult.
"Metapod use Harden," the boy said through his laughter.
"Quick Wesp, use String Shot on Metapod and swing him into a tree."
Wesp shot a white string onto Metapod who was just starting to Harden when it was slammed into a tree causing it to faint. This sobered up the boy quickly when he realized that he had underestimated his opponent and he handed Ash the prize money. He then ran away saying that he would make Ash pay for what he had done.
"That boy was strange," Misty muttered. Ash snorted causing Misty to look at him.
"You can say that again," he replied.
Ash then returned Wesp after telling him that he did a great job. Ash and Misty then continued to walk through Viridian Forest and after ten minutes arrived at the exit. They were careful of a man and his products that he was apparently selling, which they had no interest in buying. They safely arrived at Pewter City and they stopped at the Pokemon Center to heal their Pokemon, which Nurse Joy was happy to do for them. Once they were done being healed, they both realized how late it was and booked two rooms for the night. Ash and Misty went to the pool to let their Water Pokemon out so they could feed them dinner and of course their other Pokemon. They then returned them all, except for Raiden, and went to eat their own dinner. Misty was the first one to trudge upstairs to her room to crash for the night while Ash decided to make sure Aurora and Raiden were ready for their battle tomorrow. After that was done, Ash went to his room and fell asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow.