Chapter 155: Turtwig and Budew
The next morning, Will and Sprigatito were getting ready to leave. "Milo, the action taker," as Will now thought of him, had already packed his things and was ready to go.
"I didn't expect you to be a man of action."
"Of course. I was afraid if I stayed any longer, I'd back out," Milo grinned. He knew himself well. The desire to find his Mr. Mime had been suddenly ignited, and he didn't want to wait for that fire to go out.
"What about your house?"
"I'll leave it. When I bring Mr. Mime back, I'll let her see it. You two can stay here as long as you like," Milo said. He then found a book from his pile and tossed it to Will. It was the biography of Queen Liz. "I saw you were interested in her. The book's yours. I've already read it two or three times. A lot of it is probably made up, but it's an interesting story."
Milo walked to the door, took a deep breath of the morning air, and for the first time, his eyes were bright. Although the future had become a mystery, at least his world now had a ray of hope.
"I'm off! I'll be traveling with Mr. Mime in the future. I hope I'll hear stories about you two then," Milo said, turning to look at Will and the still-sleeping Meowscarada before heading toward the southern mountains.
"May your journey be a safe one," Will said with a smile, watching the young man's figure disappear. In a daze, he remembered that before coming to this world, he too had been an energetic young man. But now... he turned and looked at the big cat, who was just starting to wake up, and shook his head. He was already a father.
"Meow~" Meowscarada sat up, stretched, and said good morning.
"Get up. We're leaving."
"Meow?"
"Of course we're leaving. There's nothing to do here. We might as well travel and see the sights," Will said.
"Meow~" Meowscarada pounced on him, rubbing her head against him.
"Alright, how long do you want to stay?" Will couldn't handle her. He put her on the ground, took off her mask, and began to comb her fur with the brush from his pack. Meowscarada was a messy sleeper, and the fur on her head was always a mess in the morning. And she was too proud to be seen looking disheveled. So, the job of brushing her fell to Will.
"Meow~" Meowscarada held up her paws, her little legs swinging. She held up six fingers in total. Six days.
"Fine," Will sighed. He could see it now. She never wanted to live in the wild again. She wanted to stay where there were people, where things were lively and interesting.
"Meow-meow~" Seeing that he agreed, Meowscarada started singing happily, her short tail wagging back and forth, a sweet floral scent wafting from her.
"Don't move! Don't blame me if I pull your hair."
"Meow~ Meow~"
...
Six days passed. The people of Sandgem Camp had finally noticed them. They had thought Milo's house was empty, only to find two wild Pokémon had moved in. But by the time they realized it, Will and Meowscarada had already shouldered their packs and were on the road again.
"The road ahead should be very flat," Will said, recalling the map in his head. The path from Sandgem to Jubilife was a flat grassland with almost nothing to obstruct the view. In the past, in the era of Hisui, this area was called the Obsidian Fieldlands, a wide-open space perfect for travel. But after that... the road would become more difficult.
"Meow?" Meowscarada asked if he would carry her.
"No. I'm tired. Let's just walk. It's not far."
Will had no desire to run all the way to Jubilife. There was no need. They weren't in a hurry. He and Liz had once promised to travel the world together, mainly to see its sights. If he just buried his head and rushed, wouldn't that defeat the purpose? The scenery of the Obsidian Fieldlands was beautiful. It was better to just take it slow.
Just then, he saw the phantom of Liz, also strolling slowly across the plains, taking in the sights.
"The scenery really is quite nice..."
BONK!
Just as Will was stretching and admiring the view, something hard hit him in the tail from behind. He swished his tail and found that the thing seemed to be stuck. He turned his head, and a question mark appeared above it.
A turtle with a sapling growing out of its head had bitten down on his tail and was holding on, looking furious. It was the future Grass-type starter of the Sinnoh region, Turtwig.
Turtwig was no small fry. With the status of a starter, its fame was guaranteed. What's more, Ash's Turtwig had made a spectacular debut, its early performance far outshining the later-to-be-star, Chimchar. But it had been ruined by Ash's training.
Yes, in Ash's hands, Turtwig had become what fans called "cannon fodder," and it was 1000% Ash's fault. It was a clear sign of his incompetence as a trainer at the time. Many fans of that generation said that Paul was absolutely right to call Ash useless. The reason was this: the Turtwig line are Pokémon that abandon speed for tankiness. They are counter-attackers who absorb a hit and then strike back. Ash's Turtwig, when it debuted, was indeed a tough little tank. But Ash had forced it to learn his "Dodge it!" style, turning it into a speed-based fighter.
As a result, after it evolved into Grotle and Torterra, it completely forgot how to fight. Even after Paul's Torterra tried to teach it, it couldn't learn. And Ash, the blockhead, seeing that his Grotle could barely walk or jump, still insisted on having it use moves like "dodge" or "Bite" that relied on speed. As a result, the Turtwig line's performance in the anime was terrible, its popularity plummeted, and it was relegated to being a background character, its spotlight completely stolen by Infernape.
But that was just Ash's style. He couldn't handle slow tanks. Even his Snorlax was already strong when he caught it and was mostly raised by Professor Oak. If Ash had raised it, he probably would have ruined another one.
"Turt! Wig!" the Turtwig hanging from Will's tail yelled, refusing to let go no matter how much he shook it.
"What do you want?" Will asked, a question mark over his head. He was just passing through. Why was it biting him? And besides, Meowscarada was walking in front of him. If it was going to bite someone, it should have bitten her.
"Meow?" Meowscarada walked back and tapped the Turtwig on its shell.
"Turt! Wig!"
"Huh?" Will tilted his head, confused. The Turtwig was saying he had stolen its friend. But he hadn't touched any other Pokémon.
"Budew~"
Just then, Will heard a cry from his own tail. He looked closely. Stuck in the large leaves of his tail was a Budew.
"Turtwig!" You still say you didn't!
The Turtwig angrily continued to use Bite on Will's tail. But its level was clearly not high, because Will couldn't feel a thing.
"A misunderstanding. Meowscarada, get the Budew out of there," Will said, scratching his head in embarrassment. He had been in a good mood and had been swishing his tail back and forth. He hadn't noticed he had swept up the little thing. No wonder the Turtwig was so angry.
The main problem was that the Budew was just too small. It was probably a newborn, only 10 centimeters tall. The leaves on his own tail were longer than that.
"Meow-meow..." Meowscarada couldn't stop laughing. She reached out and gently plucked the little Budew from his tail.
The Turtwig finally let go and rushed to its friend's side.
"Budew," the Budew ran to the Turtwig and nuzzled him with its head.
"Turtwig," the Turtwig said, comforting it.
In this small patch of grassland, the four Grass-type Pokémon gathered together was a rare sight. After all, three of them were future starters from regions that were very far apart.
"Sorry, I didn't notice," Will said, bending down to pat the Budew's head. He then took out a bright red Tangleberry from his backpack and offered it to the little one.
"Dew~" The Budew came forward and took a small bite. It thought it was delicious, and its gaze towards Will immediately became much friendlier. All the unpleasantness from before vanished under the magic of a single berry.
"Meow," Meowscarada took out another one and placed it on the grass in front of the Turtwig.
"Turtwig," the Turtwig didn't stand on ceremony and ate it in a few bites. Since Will had already apologized properly, it had no intention of holding a grudge.
"Turtwig?"
"Yes, we're heading to the next city, Jubilife. Do you live around here?"
"Turtwig," the Turtwig shook its head. It and Budew both had a trainer. Their trainer was just having a barbecue by the river nearby, and they were playing in the grass.
"You walked here? That must have taken several days."
"Turtwig," the Turtwig nodded. But they were just traveling around the Jubilife area for fun, so it didn't matter.
While Will was chatting with the Turtwig, Budew and Meowscarada were getting along very well.
"Dew~"
"Meow~"
Meowscarada held the tiny Budew. She sniffed its flower bud, and the Budew sniffed her flower bomb. They were both girls, and they both had organs that could emit a floral scent, so they had a natural affinity.
"Turtwig," the Turtwig chatted with Will and found that this old bro was pretty cool. And most importantly, he looked very strong. Its own Tackle and Bite had done no damage to him.
"Huh? Your trainer will be scared?" Will paused. The Turtwig was inviting him and Meowscarada to have some barbecue with them and then travel to Jubilife City together.
"Turtwig!" the Turtwig shook its head vigorously, telling him not to be polite. It knew what its trainer was like. The moment he saw a strong Pokémon, he would be rooted to the spot. It could already predict its trainer's reaction.
"Hmm, what does Meowscarada think?" Will looked at her. He didn't mind traveling with a human. It might be a good way to learn about the situation in Jubilife.
"Meow!" Meowscarada gave the Budew a kiss, indicating her decision.
"Then we might have to trouble your trainer for a while. If you can, I'd like to ask him to help us find a place to stay. As payment, I can teach you a few moves and make you stronger," Will offered.
"Turt! Wig!" Hearing this, the Turtwig immediately nodded.
Like trainer, like Pokémon. The trainer was obsessed with strong Pokémon, and so was the Turtwig. With a super-strong Grass-type senior like Will to guide it, it would surely get stronger quickly. For that alone, its trainer would not refuse.
"Turtwig!" the Turtwig bobbed its head, signaling for them to follow.
The four Pokémon headed towards the river together.
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