"Alright, the tasks have been assigned. Everyone, train hard!"
Ash gave the morning training assignments to the six Pokémon in front of him: the two birds (one large, one small), a majestic and cool green mantis, a mischievous monkey, a relatively well-behaved little green turtle, and a very focused yellow mouse.
"Pidgeot!"
"Pika~"
...
Each Pokémon responded and then scattered in four different directions.
Leading the charge was the raptor Pidgeot, who continued its flight training with its little brother, Starly. Even though Starly's speed had improved, daily flight training was essential; it was the foundation of everything.
Scyther's task was a given: find wild Pokémon to battle. This was not only to collect the necessary gold coins for a Metal Coat but also for the Scizor Mega Stone after it evolved. As a Pokémon caught in Viridian Forest, the gold coins for the Scizor Mega Stone still had to be collected by Scyther itself. After all, the initial 20,000 gold coins had already been exchanged for five Mega Stones and a Mega Evolution Key.
Pikachu also went to find wild Pokémon to level up, get familiar with the new moves it had learned recently, and improve its combat power. This was to avoid a future where it couldn't even defeat a beginner Pokémon. Although that incident was influenced by the Legendary Pokémon Zekrom, it should have won based on its level alone. It was truly speechless that its level seemed to have been reset to zero.
As for Turtwig and Aipom, the two of them were practicing throwing and dodging under Ash's watchful eye. From his last battle with Paul, Ash saw that this method of dodging still had a lot of room for improvement. By having Turtwig get more comfortable with this style of dodging, it would have an easier time once it evolved. Aipom's throwing skills had also become very proficient. Its tail, which had a hand at the end, could skillfully change its posture to throw incredibly fast stones.
All in all, the strength of all six Pokémon was steadily improving.
"Ah! This is terrible!"
As Ash was with his Pokémon for their morning training, a loud shriek came from Dawn's girlishly pink tent. The scream caught the attention of Ash and Pikachu, who both rushed over, confused. Brock, who was peeling a potato, was also startled and accidentally dropped it on the ground.
"What happened?"
Ash walked to the side of the tent and heard Dawn muttering.
"This is awful. My beautiful hair is a total bird's nest..."
At this, he finally understood why the girl had screamed so loudly. This was a common struggle for many girls when they wake up. No one wants to wake up to find their carefully maintained hair has become a bird's nest. And Dawn was a girl who cared a lot about her appearance.
"Dawn, are you okay?"
"Ah! Don't come any closer!"
Hearing Ash's voice outside the tent, Dawn panicked and shouted. She didn't want the boy outside to see her in such a disheveled state.
"Uh..."
Ash was a bit speechless at her reaction, but he didn't pay it too much mind. He just stood outside the tent and offered some advice to Dawn inside.
"Dawn, don't worry. I've had that happen before, too. Just use some water to smooth it out, and it'll be back to normal!"
"Water?"
Inside the tent, Dawn, who was holding her messy blue hair, heard Ash's words and frantically looked for water. But she found that besides the drinking water in her cup, there wasn't enough water for her hair.
"Piplup!"
Just then, Piplup, who was laughing its head off, caught Dawn's attention.
Hehe!
Looking at the little blue penguin mocking her, Dawn's lips curled up slightly as she reached out her hands and slowly advanced toward Piplup.
"Piplup, come here. Let me see!"
"Piplup~ (No!)"
Piplup's laughter came to a screeching halt. It put its two little blue arms in front of its chest, trembling as it resisted its trainer, who had a rather evil look on her face.
"Piplup, Bubble Beam!"
After a while, a strange command came from inside the tent, accompanied by some strange sounds.
"Is it really okay to use Bubble Beam inside the tent?" Brock, who was peeling potatoes, wondered.
"Don't worry, Dawn must have thought of a solution," Ash said, walking over with Pikachu and reassuring a worried Brock.
"I hope so!" Brock smiled and then turned to the potato on the ground. "Croagunk, would you mind picking that potato up for me?"
"Croagunk! (⊙o⊙)~"
Croagunk just stared with its two big eyes, motionless, at Brock's request.
"Please, Croagunk!"
It wasn't until Brock asked again that Croagunk finally moved. It picked up the potato, but then gave Brock a knowing smile. It lightly tossed the half-peeled potato high into the air, and it sailed right past Brock.
Seeing this, Ash smiled. This "third successor" Croagunk was indeed Brock's nemesis. Their way of getting along was truly unique. When he saw the potato flying towards him, Ash didn't hesitate to follow its trajectory, reaching out to catch it.
As he stepped back, he accidentally bumped into Dawn's tent.
"Everyone, let me show you my..."
Dawn was triumphantly about to show off her accomplishment, but she didn't expect to run into Ash's body the moment she stepped out, blocking her path.
Thump! The two collided and lost their balance.
"Ah!"
Dawn, about to fall, cried out.
"Whoa~"
Below her, Ash quickly adjusted his body and wrapped his arms around the girl's slender waist, using his super-human physique to act as a cushion for her. With another thud, they landed safely.
"Huh?"
When Dawn realized she wasn't falling, she opened her blue eyes and looked at the soft cushion below her. She was filled with gratitude for Ash acting as her buffer. She propped herself up with her hands and thanked him. "That was close. Thank you, Ash!" Her face was slightly red as she smoothed her freshly cleaned indigo hair and thanked him in a soft voice.
But their position was very strange. The boy was lying on the ground acting as a human mattress, while the girl, completely unharmed, was propped up, her legs parted, straddling the boy's center.
"Dawn, maybe you should stand up first?"
Feeling the weight of the person straddling him, Ash discreetly used one hand to pat the girl's bottom. If she didn't get off him soon, he might lose his temper.
"Ah!"
More than the light pat, Dawn's attention was fully on their strange position. Her posture was so awkward, straddling him like that. If it weren't for her skirt, it would have been...
Thinking of this, the girl's face turned beet red. A sudden burst of strength came to her, and she quickly scrambled away from Ash. Ash took the opportunity to release her waist and slowly got up once she was off him.
"Phew~"
He brushed the dust off himself. With his super-human physique, a small fall like that was nothing. But from the feel of it, the girl's weight was not light. She was only about eleven or twelve, but she weighed as much as the sixteen-year-old girls in his past life. "Maybe that's just a special characteristic of humans in the Pokémon world!" There were all kinds of supernatural things, so why not slightly more mature children?
He didn't think too much of it and attributed it to the special nature of the Pokémon world. Besides, it was better for him anyway.