After a short rest, the three of them continued their journey.
Ash had wanted to go to the Viridian Gym to witness Giovanni's charisma, but Misty told him that the Gym was temporarily closed for repairs, so he had to give up.
In Ash's opinion, Giovanni was a top-tier villain. He might have had some childish moments in the anime, but in the manga, he was a fleshed-out and charismatic character.
To nearly destroy the world just to find his son, that's something only Giovanni could do.
The most impressive part was how he was shouting about world domination while actually saving the world, all because he believed that the world had to be safe for him to rule it better.
It was almost a perfect reflection of Jessie and James's opening line: "To protect the world from devastation, to unite all peoples within our nation."
No wonder the generals of Team Rocket were so loyal to him, even after they had enslaved Arceus.
This kind of boss is hard not to admire.
Of course, since this world was a combination of different versions, Ash wasn't sure about the state of the Legendary Pokémon. Considering how they could destroy the world in the movies, they probably wouldn't be easily caught.
While he was thinking, the three of them had already left Viridian City and entered Viridian Forest.
It was a dark and dense place. It was almost noon, and scattered sunlight filtered through the thick leaves, creating spots of light on the grass. The scent of the forest filled the air.
Ayumi took a deep breath: "Mmm... this is a great place for camping!"
"No... no, please... I think it's better to leave as soon as possible..."
The rustling of the bushes made Misty very nervous. She was practically glued to Ash.
But this couldn't save her from her special ability to attract bugs.
A Caterpie crawled out of the grass and jumped right onto Misty's leg.
"Ahhhh!" A scream echoed through the forest.
Misty clung to Ash like an octopus: "Ash, do something!"
The lightly dressed Misty didn't notice that her long legs were wrapped around Ash's waist and her fair arms were around his neck.
Ash naturally wrapped one arm around her waist and used the other to support her butt, holding her in his arms. The position looked very similar to a special kind of "posture."
"Pika?" Pikachu tilted its head. It felt like it had seen this position somewhere before. Every time it thought about it, it got a headache.
The girl felt pretty good. Ash didn't put her down. He used his spiritual vision to look at the Caterpie on the ground:
Caterpie Lv. 7 (Beginner)
Description: A Caterpie on the verge of evolving. It dreams of becoming a beautiful Butterfree and has an excellent talent for silk-based skills.
It looked like this was the first pioneer of Ash's "Release Them All" Master path from the original series.
However, Caterpie's potential was limited. Even with Dynamaxing, it was still just average.
After thinking about it, Ash took out some universal Pokémon food and put it in front of the Caterpie: "Are you hungry, little guy? You can eat this. This is Misty's leg, not a bamboo shoot~"
"Cater~" Caterpie sniffed the food and started eating. When it looked up again, the three of them were gone.
Ayumi: "Why didn't you catch it? That Caterpie was so cute."
"Because I had to take someone's feelings into account..." Ash said with a faint smile, squeezing the small, upturned butt in his hands.
Misty's face immediately flushed red: "A-alright, put me down!"
Just as Ash was about to say something, a flurry of footsteps could be heard from a distance: "Hurry up! We have to catch it today!"
"It's Team Rocket!" Ayumi immediately recognized the "R" on their chests.
"Let's hide," Ash said, pulling the two girls into the bushes. From a distance, they could see a group of grunts in black uniforms searching for something.
Just then, a terrifying pressure suddenly appeared. Ash immediately shielded the two girls with his body. The three of their heads were so close that they could feel each other's warm breath.
"Wh- what... mmm?" Ayumi was about to ask but was stopped by Ash's hand over her mouth.
He could feel the massive mental power sweeping across the area. Even with his soul power that had fused with the Soul Crystal Core, he was no match for it.
Ash pinned the two girls under him. His left hand was over Ayumi's mouth, and his right hand was under Misty. The three of them lay in this special position.
"Minister, you've arrived!" The leader of the grunts bowed respectfully.
"Mmm... have you found it?" A cold and slow voice sounded, a domineering tone like that of a queen.
The grunt leader's forehead was dripping with cold sweat: "N-not yet..."
"Useless!" A wave of mental energy spread out, and a powerful psychic ability directly pushed the grunt to his knees.
Ash immediately shielded the two girls. His heart was in turmoil. Although the person was covered in a loose black cloak, her enchanting figure was still faintly visible when the wind blew.
If he wasn't mistaken, the person in front of him was the Gym Leader of Saffron City, the Psychic Queen Sabrina.
As a veteran Pokémon fan, Ash knew that Sabrina had multiple identities in different versions. It seemed that in this world, she was a Gym Leader on the surface but one of Team Rocket's three executives behind the scenes.
As he was thinking, a Weedle slowly lowered itself from a tree with its silk. It happened to land right next to Misty's face.
The girl's pupils immediately shrank. Her throat moved, and she was about to scream.
The next moment, a large mouth covered her cherry-like one. Their noses touched, and their eyes met. Misty's eyes widened.
"He... kissed... me?" A thought slowly rose in her mind. Misty no longer cared about the Weedle. Her face was flushed, and her body went soft.
Ayumi, on the other hand, pouted. She felt a little sour... as if something that belonged to her had been taken away.
But Ash was in no mood to pay attention to any of that. His focus was on Sabrina.
After a while, seeing that Sabrina wasn't paying attention to them, Ash slowly relaxed his body.
Only then did he realize their current situation. The soft, moist, and fragrant feeling on his mouth made Ash want to suck on it again.
He felt Misty's body go even softer. As Ash held her lips in his, she unconsciously stuck out her little tongue.
As he sucked on it, all the air in her chest was sucked out. Her mind felt foggy, as if she had given her heart to him. Her eyes became a little dazed, and she etched Ash's face deeply into her mind.
In the clearing, Sabrina closed her eyes and sensed her surroundings. A psychic wave instantly covered the entire area.
After a moment, she opened her eerie pupils: "It's over there. Follow me."
With that, she led the grunts away.
"Smooch!" Seeing them leave, Ash let go of Misty. Looking at her slightly open lips and flushed face, he couldn't help but feel a little nostalgic.
He was happy inside, but he still put on a serious face: "Sorry... if you had screamed, we would have been in big trouble..."
His warm breath was on Misty's face. She opened her mouth and her face turned crimson. She turned her head away and said shyly: "Yeah, I know..."
Ayumi looked at Misty and couldn't help but be curious: "Misty, was it yummy?"
"..." Misty rolled her eyes. Who asks that?
Seeing that she wasn't talking, Ayumi said something even more shocking: "Did your heart beat faster, and did you get wet down there?"
"???" Misty was stunned. A red blush immediately spread from her face to her neck.
She then scrambled to her feet in a panic: "We... we should leave as soon as possible. It's not safe here..."
With that, she went on her way, though her wobbly legs looked a little unnatural.
Ayumi giggled and then pouted at Ash: "I want to try it too..."
Her pampered look made Ash want to pinch her nose: "You want to try it? No~ Hahaha!"
Ash jumped up and ran off. Ayumi pouted and followed him: "Wait for me...!"