Despite Brock's sudden urge to head back immediately, even he had to admit it was far too late to be traveling that day. Better for them all to get a good night sleep, and start off in the morning.
Not to mention that it would give them some time to deal with the other wrinkle the change brought about - that the pokeballs no longer worked on Ash's altered friends. Whatever they had become... the balls no longer even recognized them as pokemon. Which meant that there was no way to easily hide most the changes that had happened. Instead of just having to deal with disguising Pikachu, they'd have to find a way to disguise all of them.
Unfortunantly, even a night's sleep didn't give any of them insight in how to do that.
Finally, Brock just shook his head. "Let's just head to the next town. When we get there, I'll go to the Pokemon center and contact Professor Oak. Maybe he'll know a way to get us back to Pallet with a minimum of fuss. Or, if nothing else, he can come here."
"Yeah... that sounds best..." it was hard not to notice that Ash sounded a bit depressed by this all. Misty looked at him worriedly.
Later, as they were breaking camp, Misty found Ash looking over the four Johto badges he'd managed to win - the Zephyr, Hive, Fog, and Plains badges.
"Hey, it's okay Ash. I'm sure Professor Oak can bring your other Pokemon with him. That'll give you nearly a full team again... you could still keep competing."
Of course, even as she said it, she knew that wasn't true. Of Ash's other pokemon, only Heracross, Kingler, and Snorlax had any real experience, and of those, Snorlax was iffy at best, with its tendency to hibernate at inopportune times. Muk and Tauros were willing, but not very seasoned. And beyond that, Ash had never planned on having to give up all his main team in a single go. It would take quite some time before he'd be ready to challenge gyms with his second string pokemon.
Not to mention that, if they did go back to Pallet - even if they went by plane - the chances of Ash getting back to the Johto League with enough time to win four more badges was very slim.
Ash knew that too... but was grateful Misty tried, at least. "No, they need me right now. Their more than just pokemon to me, their my friends, and I won't abandon them. Besides... there's always next year, right?" Ash replied while forcing a smile.
Misty politely didn't point out how Ash's eyes were watering.
_-=^=-_
However, that conversation was overheard, by someone who also saw Ash's eyes.
"nooo..." Bayleef felt, if possible, even lower, now. Somehow, she'd never quite connected that, if they weren't pokemon anymore, that they, and thus Ash, couldn't compete in the Johto - or any other - League.
And it was all HER fault.
She turned, ready to bolt again. How could she ever face him again, after this?
However, before she could take more than two steps, something wrapped around her waist, stopping her.
"Oh, no." Bulbasaur walked over, his own vine whip holding her. He'd finally managed to learn how to properly stand and walk without using his vines. "The last time you took off, this happened to us. You're not going anywhere."
"B-but..."
Bulbasaur's eye's softened. "Do you really think running away is going to change anything?"
"N-no, but..."
"All it would mean was that Ash would be driven to distraction worrying about you - AGAIN!" He shook his head. "You didn't mean for this to happen, right?"
"No!"
"Then stop fretting about it. Ash forgave Charizard, who deliberately cost him his shot at the Indigo championship. If he can do that, he probably never even blamed you."
"But it's still my fault..."
Bulbasaur shrugged. "Then apologize again, if you feel you must. But stop trying to run from things." He grinned suddenly, "I can assure you, the rest of us will feel better for that."
Bayleef couldn't help but giggle at the normally serious Bulbasaur cracking a joke.
"Feeling better now?"
"Y-yeah. I guess."
Bulbasaur nodded, and unwrapped his vine. "Good. Then I think we're nearly ready to get going."
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(Posted Sat, 19 Jul 2003 00:53)
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