Ash and his companions wandered into the forest, letting the oddish shout as they went. Ash wondered what the bulbasaur that she called her brother was like. And if he was her brother by blood or adoption. And if that even mattered in the end.
The sun ascended to its highest position and then began to fall as they traveled. Ash made sure to remember the direction that they had come from, so it would be easier to find their way back after they had dropped Oddish off. The forest was quiet, with barely any birds or flying types. The pokémon trainers started to grow tense.
On previous days, when they had been travelling through this forest, it had been lively with flying types and small pokémon. Now they were gone. Ash wished that he could find a local wild pokémon and grab a few minutes alone with it, to ask it about what had happened.
They started travelling into some highlands. Roots and branches impeded their way as the forest grew thicker. Once Brock thought he saw some burns on a tree, but lost sight of it and couldn't find it again to confirm what he had seen.
Eventually they reached the top of a hill and what they saw there made them stop.
"What happened here?" Misty asked, immediately grabbing her pokéballs.
"A battle," Brock said, grabbing his own pokémon.
Ash looked around. There was a small collection of smashed buildings, surrounded by scorch marks and gouges in the ground. Leaves lay scattered all about. Ash tried to pick one up and yelped in surprise when he cut his finger.
"These are Razor Leaves," Brock said, crouching down to examine the foliage. "This was definitely a battle."
The bad people came, Oddish said in a small voice from by Ash's ear. Big brother and the others fought them. I got scared and ran away.
"Go Pidgeotto! Go Butterfree!" White light blazed and Ash's other pokémon were hovering by his sides. "Pidgeotto, go keep an eye out!"
"Good thinking Aaron," Brock said with a nod. "Go Geodude! Be ready to defend us." More white light blazed and Geodude stood at the ready.
"Right, Starmie, Staryu, get ready to blast away," Misty said, sending out her pokémon.
"Is this where your human lived?" Misty asked Oddish, who hopped down off of Ash's shoulder.
Yes, Oddish said with a rock of her body or a nod of her head. Melanie! Where are you? Bulbasaur! Where are you, big brother?
"We need to search for bodies," Brock told his human companions. The three humans began to search the wreckage, looking for bodies. They found domestic items, such as pots and pans. They found packets of dried plants and medicine. They found crushed food and medical implements. They found clothing thrown to the wind and dirtied. They found rakes and other gardening equipment trampled and broken. They found knickknacks and decorations scattered and shattered.
But there were no bodies. No dead people or pokémon. They found bloodstains, some human, and some pokémon according to Ash's pokédex, but no bodies. Brock and Misty looked somewhat relieved when the three of them came to that conclusion, but Ash grew pale.
If there were no bodies, Ash realized, then the inhabitants could have been captured. Stolen away by hunters…...
"Well, it looks like your human got away," Brock said, kneeling down to look at Oddish. "Do you know where they might have gone?"
Oddish indicated that she did not. Brock sighed.
"This will take a while," he said.
They searched for another half-hour, looking for any clues as to what had happened, or where the participants of the battle had gone. They found more wreckage and signs of battle, but nothing about the people.
Pidgeotto, who had been circling overhead while they searched, gave a sudden squawk of alarm and dove down.
We've got incoming, she shouted, landing next to Ash. She gestured out into the forest. They're coming from over there!
"Geodude up front," Brock commanded, pointing in the direction that Pidgeotto had indicated. Geodude leapt in front of the group, growling in anticipation.
"Get ready to shield," Misty told her pokémon as they took a position behind geodude.
"Aaron, get Pidgeotto to tell you if there were any water, grass, or fighting types." Brock said. "Everyone get ready." The humans and their pokémon moved forward, forming a wall in front of Oddish.
There were, Pidgeotto said instantly.
Make sure to nod! Pikachu told her. He's not supposed to be able to understand you, remember?
Right, Pidgeotto said and nodded.
"There are," Ash told Brock.
"Grass or water?" Misty asked.
Both, Pidgeotto said with another nod.
"I think both," Ash said.
"Aaron, try to stay behind us," Brock told the youngest human in the group. "Misty-"
Before Ash could protest, or Brock could finish giving out commands, pressurized jets of water blasted out from the trees around the battle site. Ash tried to duck, remembering how deadly water type attacks could be.
Ice creaked and roared as Starmie and Staryu erected a half-dome in front of the group. The water attacks hit the curved surface and splashed over it as if they were no more than streams from a gardening hose.
Incoming! Pikachu shouted, electricity buzzing. Tendrils of yellow power reached out to either side of the group. Ash saw small green shapes be caught up in Pikachu's attack and incinerated.
Given what they had seen earlier, it was probably a Razor Leaf attack.
"Geodude, use Dig. Hit the biggest pokémon they've got and then get back here." Brock ordered quietly. The rock type dived into the ground and burrowed down under the ice dome. "They'll probably try and flank us, so get ready." Brock spoke again, this time to his human companions.
"Got it," Ash nodded. "I'll take the left side."
Brock grimaced, but he nodded anyway.
"Fine," Brock nodded. "I'll save Onix as a surprise if they rush us on the right."
"Butterfree, Pidgeotto," Ash said quietly. "Get ready to use Sleep Tornado." Sleep Tornado was combination of Gust and Sleep Powder that Ash had made his pokémon practice. High winds were a suboptimal method of delivery for the slumber inducing dust, but it did allow said dust to get places it couldn't before.
More leaves cut through the air, curving around Misty's ice dome. Pikachu intercepted them again, buzzing electric power burning them out of the air. Ash caught a glimpse of something blue moving in the forest on their left side.
"Now!" He shouted. Pidgeotto and Butterfree flapped their wings in unison, unleashing a sparkling Sleep Powder attack into the winds of a Gust attack. The sparkling windstorm in miniature raced into the tree line leaving a trail of glittering Sleep Powder over grass and leaves.
Squirtle Squad scatter! Ash heard some pokémon shout from the forest. He caught more glimpses of blue shapes moving, racing out of the way of the attack. He couldn't tell if the attack had gotten any of them.
Our turn! A pokémon shouted from their right side. Razor sharp leaves and jets of water came out of the trees again.
"Again!" Misty cried out. And once more her pokémon erected a half dome of ice to intercept and deflect the water attacks.
There was more commotion from within the trees. It was probably Geodude making himself known. Two blue shapes came flying out of the forest, squirtles, and from the looks on their faces, their flight wasn't by choice.
"Go Onix!" Brock shouted, releasing his pokémon to attack the squirtles.
And then Geodude came flying out of the forest, with a shocked expression on his face. Rocky fingers dug into the ground as Geodude arrested his momentum and come to a stop in front of Brock. The squirtles fell to either side of him. They stirred weakly, but didn't get up.
Onix reared up, ready to lunge forward at Brock's command and crush the exposed squirtles. Pikachu stepped in front of Ash, cheeks sparking. Misty and her pokémon watched everyone's back. Everything was still and Ash could feel a tension in the air as everyone waited for the next move.
"Stop this now!" A woman's voice shouted from the forest. "Everyone quit fighting!"
What-
Hey now-
Melanie it's not safe-
A blue haired woman in red-overalls, with bandages on her face and arms, strode out of the forest. Her face was drawn up in a scowl and her fists were at her sides. A bulbasaur ran out of the forest after her, it's expression in the middle of switching from anger to surprise and settling on exasperation. A squirtle in angular sunglasses followed close behind.
Melanie! Big brother Bulbasaur! Oddish shouted, running out from the middle of Ash's group to meet the woman.
"Oddish!" Melanie said, her expression softening as she knelt down to sweep the grass type up in a hug. "You're safe!" She looked over at Ash and his friends, who had cautiously crept around the edge of Misty's ice dome. "Thank you so much for finding Oddish!"
"I'd say 'you're welcome'," Misty said. "But who are you and why did you attack us?"
"I didn't attack you," Melanie said, giving a reproachful look at the bulbasaur and squirtle who had followed her, "Certain hotheaded pokémon attacked you."
More squirtles filtered out of the forest to stand by her. They all were wearing sunglasses like the first, but their eyewear was rounded instead of angular. The sheepishly filed behind the squirtle with angular sunglasses.
They had Oddish and they were poking around here, the bulbasaur said. Why would they be doing that unless they're the people who attacked us?
And they could've used Oddish as a hostage unless we took them by surprise… which I guess we failed at because of that pidgeotto, the squirtle added.
"You two both know that I can't understand you and even if I could, I wouldn't want to hear your excuses right now," the woman scolded. "We'll talk about this later." She turned back to Ash and his friends and bowed. "My name is Melanie. I run- ran, a sanctuary for wounded and abandoned pokémon."
"I'm Misty," Misty introduced herself, returning the bow.
"I'm Aaron," Ash said, following Misty's example.
"I'm-I'm Brock," Brock followed suit, face turning red. "It's good to meet you." Ash wondered what was going on with him.
Melanie looked over Oddish carefully, looking at her scrapes at cuts.
"Already healing- Did you use a potion on her?" Melanie asked.
"Yes," Brock answered, speaking quickly for some reason. "Is that an issue? Is she on any medications? Do you need the specific details of the potion- "
"No, it's fine, don't worry about it," Melanie said, waving away his concerns. "How much did it cost? I can pay you back-"
"It's fine. I just wanted to help the pokémon." Brock said, growing redder. "It was nothing."
"No, I insist. It wasn't your pokémon and did your best to take care of it." Melanie replied. "The least I can do is pay you back."
"No, no" Brock and Melanie got into a gentle argument about whether or not Brock should be compensated for the potion he used on Oddish. Misty looked at Brock's face, which was steadily growing redder, and smirked. She caught Ash's eye, pointed at Brock, then Melanie, and then made a heart shape with her fingers.
Ash titled his head in confusion. Was she trying to say that Brock was having cardiovascular (Ash didn't know the human word) issues? Or that Melanie was having those issues?
When she saw Ash's expression, Misty rolled her eyes and sighed in disgust. The two humans returned their attention to the argument.
"And you did your best to bring Oddish back," Melanie was saying. "I can at least pay you back for the time and effort."
"We were just helping a pokémon in trouble," Brock replied, face very red. "Basic human decency shouldn't have a price tag."
"I know how you can pay us back," Misty interjected. "Can you tell us what happened here?" She gestured at the wreckage and the signs of battle.
"There was an… accident," Melanie said.
"Right….." Misty drawled, looking around again at the damage. "An accident that required a lot of Razor Leaves?"
"Well, as you've seen today, Bulbasaur is quite quick with those leaves," Melanie said, smiling in a way that struck Ash as odd.
"And the burns?" Misty asked.
"I was cooking something at the time," Melanie replied, smile growing tighter. "When the accident happened, everyone panicked. Things got out of control."
"I'll say," Brock commented, face no longer red. "Maybe we could help you rebuild? Or we can at least help you salvage what you can from here."
"That's quite alright," Melanie said. "I think you've done enough already."
Can we just beat them up already? The squirtle in angular sunglasses asked.
Or we can take them captive, just to be safe, Bulbasaur suggested. Come on they won't be expecting it.
I can hear every word you're saying you know, Pikachu told them.
Oh, yeah, and what are you gonna do about it? The squirtle wearing angular sunglasses asked. If you get angry with us your trainer will probably think you're still mad about the battle.
And do you really want to try and fight us? Onix asked in his deep rumbling voice.
Bring it on rock-face, Squirtle shouted. You might think that you're too big and tough for type-advantage to matter, but we'll get through eventually.
You're not the only water types here, Starmie said. Or did you forget about us?
What it said! Staryu added.
I'll deal with you two if it comes down to that, Bulbasaur growled.
And I'll deal with you! Pidgeotto growled right back.
Umm…. I don't think our trainers want us to fight…. Butterfree hesitantly said.
Melanie's not our trainer! Squirtle shouted.
She's a nice human who takes care of us! Another squirtle cried out. Trainers are worthless jerks who throw away pokémon! You'll learn that soon enough!
While our idiot has and will do many stupid things, he'll never throw us away, Pikachu said in a low voice. Sparks began to cascade from his cheeks. And I don't like your tone.
"What's gotten into them?" Brock asked, observing the pokémon snarling and growling at each other.
"Uh," Ash said. "I'm guessing that the squirtles and bulbasaur were talking about what to do to us and our pokémon got mad about whatever they were saying. I mean I can't think of any other reason my pokémon would get so mad. Can you?"
"There are probably several other reasons why our pokémon might-"Brock began but Melanie was already moving, turning around and stalking over to the water types and grass type to give a glare to the squirtles and bulbasaur.
"Is that true?" She asked them. "Were you planning to do something to these nice people?"
Yes, but, Bulbasaur began, but wilted under her glare. Sorry Melanie.
I think we're in trouble, the squirtle in angular sunglasses whispered to him.
"We're going to have to talk about this, Bulbsaur, Squirtle," Melanie continued, before turning back to Ash, Brock, and Misty. "I would like to thank you again for taking care of Oddish. But there's nothing else you can help me with here."
"We found bloodstains while we were investigating what happened here," Misty said. "And we were able to confirm that some of them were human. If our pokégears were working, we would have already called the police."
"If that was honestly what you were going to do, then I wish you could have done it," Melanie said, drawing back and looking grave. "I think that you are good people. Your treatment of Oddish speaks to that. But that is not enough for me to trust you. I have more than myself to worry about."
"What if you had a hostage?" Brock suggested. "Do you have any person or pokémon who's wounded? I'm not a doctor, but I've got some medical training-
"As do I," Melanie interrupted, face neutral.
"And I've got some supplies that you might not have," Brock said. "If I leave my pokémon here, you could take me to where your wounded are and I can help-"
"And what would stop you from revealing the location of these hypothetical wounded once you're done?" Melanie asked. "Or do you intend to be a permanent hostage?"
"No," Brock answered, turning red again.
"Damn romantics," Misty angrily muttered under her breath. "As soon as they see a pretty person of their preference, all sense goes right out the window. If I wanted to deal with this shit I woulda stayed home."
"I'm pretty sure you were attacked, sometime last night I'd guess," Brock said, face growing less red again. "Do you think that we're with the people who attacked you?"
"No, I do not," Melanie replied. "But that doesn't mean that I can afford to trust, given the burdens I have, either."
"Do you know why you were attacked?" Brock asked. "Can you tell us that at least?"
Melanie hesitated for a moment before speaking. "It wasn't us who were attacked exactly. There was a man who quite literally stumbled across us. He was being pursued by the people who then proceeded to attack us. Bulbasaur and the Squirtle Squad managed to fight them off long enough for me and the other pokémon to escape."
"I'm guessing that the other pokémon are why you don't trust us?" Brock asked.
"Correct," Melanie nodded. "Though I am curious as to why you're so insistent on helping me."
"Well, I-"And there was Brock growing red again. Ash found it really confusing.
"He was with the Pewter City gym and I'm with the Cerulean gym," Misty said, coming to Brock's rescue. "Things like this used to be our actual jobs."
"Are you a gym trainer?" Melanie asked. "You seem awfully young."
"What are you implying?" Misty asked with a scowl.
"Nothing," Melanie said holding a hand up. "My apologies, I meant no offense. I was just surprised. What about, Aaron, was it? Are you with a gym as well?"
"No," Ash replied. "I'm just a trainer."
"Why do you want to help?"
"Because I don't want anyone to be hunted." Ash told her. "But I don't think there's any way you're going to let us help you."
Ash knew that she couldn't afford to trust them, just as Poison Lance and Pocket Watch had decided that they couldn't afford to trust any humans when they had decided to raise him themsevles. Even if the course they had chosen wasn't the best, even if it made things harder for everyone involved, the risk was simply too great to trust anyone else. For Poison Lance, Pocket Watch, and Flygirl in the past and for Melanie in the present.
"I'm afraid that you're correct Aaron," Melanie said with a sad smile. "Again, I thank you for helping Oddish. But I'm afraid we're going to have to go now."
"I'm sorry that we couldn't help you more," Brock said. Melanie nodded and then turned and left. Bulbasaur and the Squirtle Squad followed.
Nobody said anything for a moment and then Brock sighed.
"Pretty, determined, brave, and principled," he breathed, clasping his hands together in front of his chest. "My poor heart can't take it."
"Neither can your poor brain," Misty said, giving Brock a sidelong glance. "Offering yourself up as hostage? Really? Or were you hoping that it would be the sexy sort of 'hostage'?"
"Shut up you," Brock looking at the ground and his face growing redder yet again. Ash wondered how his face kept it up. "I was trying to think of some way to get her to trust us so that we could help her. That was all."
"Sure, it was," Misty drawled.
"I didn't see you doing anything to help," Brock shot back.
"Yeah, well," Misty frowned. "I couldn't think of anything that would've helped."
"Nothing would have made her, uh," Ash, rubbed the back of his head with one hand, trying to think of the best way to phrase what he was thinking, "want to take our help, I guess? Even if she's in trouble now, if she trusted us and we did something wrong, well, then there's no hope."
"You're right," Brock sighed. "Well, now what do we do?"
"Well, even if she won't accept our help, we can stick around in case we can still find some way to help her," Ash said.
"That's a good idea, except for the 'we' part," Brock said. "Did we ever figure out which pokémon center was the closest?"
"There's the Yi-Lin Memorial Pokémon Center, some days from here," Misty said. "Why?"
"I need you to take Aaron there and call for backup," Brock told her. "I'll stay here and-"
"No way!" Ash shouted.
And here we go, Pikachu said rolling his eyes.
Oh, are Ash and Misty going to argue about who gets to go into danger again? Pidgeotto asked.
But this time Brock's getting in on it! Butterfree trilled. I want to see if this changes anything.
I'm not sure what this is about, Onix rumbled to Geodude, and I'm not sure I want to know either.
Well, hopefully this time he'll just run away instead of running back, Starmie said to Staryu.
"We have evidence of a violent battle here and there's a high probability of another violent battle in the near future," Brock turned around so that he was facing Ash. "You need to get to safety!"
"I've already been in violent battles," Ash protested. "And I'm going to try and help that lady."
"I'll admit you did good in those other fights," Brock admitted. "But you also got very lucky."
"Good nothing, he was an idiot!" Misty shouted, glaring, fists at her sides.
She agrees with me! Pikachu cheered.
"You were the idiot first!" Ash shouted, turning to face Misty.
"Listen here you shrimp-"
"That's all beside the point," Brock interrupted. "Aaron, you haven't been trained for this. You haven't trained your pokémon for this. You need to get to the nearest pokémon center where it's safe-"
"Oh, now you're wearing Misty's bossypants," Ash shot back. "All you gym people are McBossypantses."
"I don't even know what-"Brock began.
"And you're a stupid shrimp!" Misty growled at Ash, getting in the shorter boy's face, fists clenched. "If you weren't so stupid, you wouldn't need people telling you what to do."
"No, you McBossypantses just like telling people what to do!" Ash shouted back, leaning forward to meet Misty's glare. "Besides, Oak asked you to uh-company me on my journey and I think I'll stick around here. I'll look for some pokémon that want to come with me. It might take a while!"
"You can be an absolute brat; did you know that?" Brock asked. Ash just stuck his tongue out at the former gym leader.
"Can you think of any way to force him to go?" Misty asked, rubbing her forehead. "Because I can't. I can't get away with freezing him to Starmie again, not that it worked so well the first time."
"No, I can't," Brock grumbled. He sighed. "Fine Aaron you win. You're going to get the chance to get into another dangerous situation."
A half yellow, half black pokémon, with two bulbous horns, and a tail that looked like a second head, a girafarig, sniffed along the forest floor as the sun began to set. Accompanying it was a man with shoulder length black hair, and brown eyes. Next to him walked a scarred woman and her raticate.
"This is all my fault," the man sighed.
"You're too hard on yourself Dave," the scarred woman replied. "If anything, this is my fault for not being able to crush that bulbasaur and those squirtles last night."
"Aki, the only reason you encountered them is because I didn't manage to poison the right person," Dave said. "I got the target's lover instead of the target."
"Because the target's lover decided to randomly switch mugs that day!" Aki shot back. "You couldn't have seen that coming. It was a perfect operation in all other respects. Even though the bosses moved up the deadline you still made it look like natural causes-"
"Not for very long, given that the target fled after a couple of days," Dave replied bitterly.
"The target was the only one in the village who could've figured out it was poison in the first place!" Aki shot back. "And it's not your fault that they decided to swap mugs that day."
"I should have had a backup plan," Dave muttered.
Aki rolled her eyes. "You perfectionists. Fine torture yourself. What do I care?" She asked with a shrug.
They continued on in silence for several more minutes, following the girafarig. Eventually they came to the edge of the forest, just before the edge of the canyon.
It's over there, the girafarig said, pawing the ground and pointing across the canyon with her nose.
"Girafarig, is this the end of the trail?" Dave asked.
No, Girafarig shook its head.
"Does it continue over the canyon?"
Yes, Girafarig nodded.
"Good job Girafarig," Dave said, taking out a pokéball. "Now return."
With Girafarig recalled the two humans crept up to the edge of the canyon and peered at the other side.
"Odor Sleuth's good, but not good enough to smell them over a canyon unless they're by the edge," Dave said, eyes scanning the other side. "Even with the lucky winds we've been getting."
"So, they should be somewhere nearby, got it," Aki said, also looking over at the other side of the canyon. "Raticate do you see anything?" Her pokémon shook his head.
"If they've got any brains then it's not going to be obvious," Dave said.
"Depends," Aki said, pointing. "That switchback. It looks like it leads to a cave. I'm betting they choose defensible over hidden."
"Stupid of them," Dave said. "But I guess we might not be dealing with experts here."
"It's too bad that our target stumbled over them," Aki sighed. "We would have probably had to kill his lover eventually. Maybe even arrange an accident for their whole village, depending on what the psychics we have coming pick up. But this woman and her pokémon were completely uninvolved."
"Still," Dave replied, "the boss doesn't want the information the target has getting out."
"According to the briefing the target hadn't been spreading the information in the first place," Aki explained. "But now that he's on the run who knows what's going on in his head."
"It's too bad," Dave sighed again. "Well, at least we'll get some useful pokémon out of this."
I'm actually surprised that you're doing this, Pikachu said.
It was evening and the sun was vanishing behind the horizon. Ash and his companions had set up camp for the night in a clearing on another hill where they could keep an eye on much of the surrounding forest. They would be keeping watch throughout the upcoming night to see if Melanie and her pokémon got into another fight.
Ash and Pikachu lay by the edge of the clearing while Brock tended to the fire and Misty tended to her pokémon.
The sun had just begun to set, painting the sky in orange and red, and casting long shadows everywhere. Night's chill had begun to creep in and Ash half-heartedly wished he had a blanket with him. Everything was silent as the sun sunk away.
Why? Ash asked, rolling over to look at his pokémon.
I remember your reaction to what happened with Team Rocket in the Viridian Forest, Pikachu said. I thought you would be trying to get everyone to run away first instead of trying to stick around and fight.
What? Do you think I'm some sort of coward? Ash asked with clenched teeth and a glare.
I think you have an issue with being hunted, Pikachu calmly replied.
Ash closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
Even now Ash was haunted by thoughts of his hunters, imaginings from his subconscious from a time he couldn't recall. They were humanoid and yet had inhuman monstrous shapes. They were tall and they were always reaching, grasping, seeking him with clawed hands and long arms. They were veiled in darkness and Ash thought that he could always feel their shadow falling over him, no matter what he did or where he tried to hide.
But even as the distorted recollections chilled him, even as his oldest fears crawled up his spine, Ash felt something else stir within him. It was a sensation that made him want to clench his fists and stand up straight. An urge to never stop no matter the shadows or the monsters. An urge to fight back tooth and nail.
And an urge that stirred him to action when he saw things like the situation of Melanie and her pokémon.
You're not wrong, Ash said finally. But that's why I want to help. I don't want to let anyone be hunted, person or pokémon. I'll do my best to make sure that other people don't have to worry like I do.
Awwwww, Pikachu cooed. That's so brave and adorable. Too bad it's absolutely stupid.
Hey!
Pokémon hunt pokémon all the time all over the world, Pikachu told his human. You can't put a stop to that.
I know, Ash replied, looking at the ground. But I can at least help the pokémon around me for a little bit. And I know I can help the people even more.
Well, as the pokémon who has to keep you safe, I absolutely hate this! Pikachu said in a higher-pitched voice than his usual tone, smiling. But I can't say I hate the qualities that drive you to do this, the yellow pokémon sighed, voice normal again.
That's nice to hear, Ash said, resting his head on the grass and looking up at the sky.
You do realize by doing this you'll risk having more things hunting you? Pikachu asked. If we stop whoever is hunting that lady, they might want revenge.
Well, I don't think they're as dangerous as my hunters, Ash replied. But even if they are, I need to get strong enough to deal my hunters anyway. Besides, don't you think you're awesome enough to handle whoever's out there?
Of course, I am! Pikachu replied. But I just know you'll do something idiotic.
AN:
I'd like to thank BlackCatSpecialist92G10 for beta reading.
Couple of things:
1.) When I say that Aoba's not an OC, but might as well be one, I meant that I grabbed a scientist NPC trainer, and then used their name, their appearance, and the fact that they're a scientist as a base for Aoba. Everything else I pulled out of my butt. Some of ya'll had some pretty good ideas about him, sorry to disappoint you.
2.) Technically the Electric Tale of Pikachu manga beat me to the idea of having all the starters at Melanie's village. I don't know if I took the idea from there (I read the manga years before starting Symbiosis, and only recently re-read it, so it might have put the idea in my subconscious) or whether I took the idea from the same source the manga might have, namely that the Kanto starters in the anime had shared themes centered around awful trainers. Bulbasaur guards a sanctuary meant for pokemon who had awful trainers to heal, while Charmander had a trainer who was the worst in the anime, and the Squirtle Squad was formed by pokemon where most of them had been abandoned by their trainers.
3.) I might move my release window from Wednesday to Tuesday night or Wednesday. We'll see how things turn out.
Anyway, that's all I had to say.
Don't forget to review.