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Ten minutes later, the group finally emerged from the jungle. Unlike the narrow view they had before, stepping out of the jungle gave everyone a feeling of sudden enlightenment!
Before them was a huge clearing!
On the clearing, there were countless Bulbasaurs!
Even more new Bulbasaurs were constantly walking into the clearing.
"How spectacular..."
Misty looked at the countless Bulbasaurs gathered in the clearing and couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.
Such a sight of countless Bulbasaurs gathered together was not common; in fact, it was practically unseen.
As one of the Starter Pokémon of Kanto, Bulbasaur is quite rare in the wild. These Bulbasaurs here were probably all the Bulbasaurs that could exist in the surrounding wild.
Besides Bulbasaurs, there were only Bulbasaurs in the clearing, with no Ivysaurs or Venusaurs. It seemed that while this place guided the Bulbasaur Family, it only guided them in their Bulbasaur form; evolved forms could not enter.
This might also be why Champion Ash told him not to evolve his Bulbasaur. If it evolved, let alone gaining Xerneas's power here, he wouldn't even have the ticket to enter.
Ash's Bulbasaur had also begun to join the main group. After arriving at this place, Bulbasaur's chaotic eyes returned to normal. He looked around warily, as if unsure why he suddenly appeared in this place.
Where had his Trainer gone?
'Don't worry, Bulbasaur, I'm behind you. You go with them for now, and I'll appear if anything happens.'
Ash's voice appeared in Bulbasaur's mind, making Bulbasaur's hanging heart settle down.
He truly was his Trainer; even the mind-confusing tricks on the way had no effect on his Trainer.
Since his Trainer was here, he could also stay here with peace of mind.
After reassuring Bulbasaur, Ash also began to observe the appearance of this Mysterious Garden.
Although called a garden, it was actually just a large clearing. In the middle of this clearing was a withered tree, completely unrelated to the word 'garden'.
The so-called garden was likely just an outside person's conjecture, as they had never seen the true Mysterious Garden, only inferring its existence from the wildly growing plants around it.
They were the first to see the true face of the Mysterious Garden.
As time passed, the number of arriving Bulbasaurs gradually decreased until no new Bulbasaurs came. The withered large tree in the clearing began to transform.
The withered tree slowly began to grow, and countless beautiful flowers bloomed on the giant tree. In a moment, the withered large tree had completely revived!
This was simply a miraculous existence!
Then, from inside the large tree, a giant, majestic figure walked out.
When the figure was fully revealed, he let out a mighty roar to the sky!
Green skin, strong limbs, a huge flower bud, the final evolution of Bulbasaur — Venusaur!
That miraculous display just now seemed to be the doing of this Venusaur!
"Bana!!"
The Venusaur that stepped out roared, and all the Bulbasaurs also responded with sounds. Looking down from above, Ash and his companions felt this scene was indeed incredibly magnificent!
All the Bulbasaurs were responding to Venusaur, and as the number of responses increased, the seeds on their backs also slowly began to glow!
This was a sign of imminent evolution!
It was just as Nurse Joy said, there was a miraculous power here that could make Bulbasaurs evolve. Any Bulbasaur that came to the Mysterious Garden could evolve into Ivysaur, and this evolution brought them quite extraordinary benefits.
While all the Bulbasaurs' backs were glowing, Ash's Bulbasaur, like an anomaly, firmly suppressed his evolutionary instinct.
Because he kept Ash's words in mind, that he would help him achieve a perfect evolution, even though he had a premonition that this evolution would bring more benefits than a natural Growth evolution, Bulbasaur still firmly suppressed this power.
I will absolutely not evolve until my Trainer arrives! Bulbasaur thought with a fierce expression.
On the other side, when the large tree in the field began to bloom, Ash had already opened his Aura and was closely observing the energy movements within it.
The anomaly of that large tree was not caused by Venusaur. Venusaur had always existed within that large tree, and only came out when the tree bloomed, making it seem as if he caused the effect.
In reality, the tree itself stored a vast amount of life force, and its quality was even superior to his Aura.
That level of power was, without a doubt, God-Tier power!
Is this Xerneas's life force?
With Venusaur's appearance, waves of vigorous life force were infused from the blooming giant tree into the bodies of all the Bulbasaurs, including his Bulbasaur.
With the infusion of life force, all the Bulbasaurs began to show signs of evolving. Moreover, this life force was not just for evolution, but also changed the fundamental power within all the Bulbasaurs' bodies, which is their natural talent.
This was the same principle as when the rainbow wing enhanced Charmander's talent to a higher level.
Ash couldn't help but sigh, truly worthy of a deity's power. Even if it wasn't the deity itself, its power was extremely significant for ordinary Pokémon.
The ceremony proceeded very smoothly, and all the Bulbasaurs eventually evolved into Ivysaurs, but there was one exception… "Bana!" Venusaur shouted, and all the Ivysaurs immediately made way, presenting the only unevolved Bulbasaur before Venusaur.
As the only unevolved existence in the group, Bulbasaur stood out like a sore thumb and was naturally immediately noticed by Venusaur.
Now, Venusaur was unhappy. Everyone was celebrating, and all the Bulbasaurs except you had evolved. Why haven't you evolved?
In previous years, all the celebrations went smoothly. Why is there a problem with you?!
Venusaur's angry rebuke just now was to ask why Bulbasaur wasn't evolving.
"Dane Dana!" I will only evolve when my Trainer comes!
"Bana? Bana!!" Trainer? Humans can't enter this place.
"Who said humans can't enter?" Ash slid down from the high ground, while Brock and Misty were brought down from the high ground by Gardevoir using Teleport.
After Ash landed, he immediately stood beside Bulbasaur, confronting Venusaur.
Misty, Brock, and Gardevoir also instantly teleported behind Ash.
"Bulba!!" Human, how did you get in!
Venusaur's face clearly showed surprise upon seeing Ash's presence. For so many years, no humans had appeared in the Mysterious Garden, precisely because of the garden's perfect protective mechanism.
How did a stray fish get in today?
"There's no need to explain how I got in; no one can replicate it anyway. And I promise, I won't reveal the existence of the Mysterious Garden," Ash said, making a swearing gesture to assure Venusaur.
But this Venusaur's intelligence was clearly extraordinary. Even though Ash said this, his wary gaze towards Ash did not diminish in the slightest.
He knew how magical the ability in the Mysterious Garden was that allowed Bulbasaurs to evolve.
Initially, he alone discovered the wonders within the Mysterious Garden and gained power from it.
Otherwise, as a wild Bulbasaur, how could he have evolved into Venusaur in just a few years and achieved a Professional Level peak rank?
For wild Pokémon to raise their level, it's either through a long period of accumulation or some kind of fortuitous encounter. As for relying on their own talent to reach Professional Level or Gym Level in just a few months or years, that's basically impossible.
Many Pokémon in the world today, after being defeated by humans, willingly serve under humans because humans possess the ability to unleash the potential within their Pokémon.
This has basically become common knowledge throughout the entire Pokémon World.
Otherwise, after being defeated and caught in a Poké Ball, then healed and released, why would they listen to humans? Poké Balls don't have a brainwashing function.
It's because being defeated and captured by humans, then submitting to humans and having humans unleash their potential, has already become an unwritten rule in their Pokémon World.
As long as the Trainer isn't particularly useless or treats them exceptionally poorly, Pokémon will not betray them.
And this wild Venusaur, without human help, reached Professional Level in less than five years, and the power within the blooming large tree was instrumental in that achievement.
After succeeding, his first thought was to help his own kind. So, he researched and mobilized the power within the large tree, using it to attract the surrounding Bulbasaurs, and set up numerous obstacles to prevent humans from arriving.
Human greed was deeply ingrained in Venusaur's mind. If such a miraculous place were discovered by humans, he, a Professional Level Venusaur, would not be able to protect it.
Professional Level Pokémon can thrive in the wild, but in front of those top human Trainers, they are simply no match.
Over the years, although there were rumors of the Mysterious Garden outside, no humans had ever discovered it.
But today, for the first time in history, it was discovered by humans. As the saying goes, if you walk by the river often, your shoes will eventually get wet. He had been gathering the surrounding Bulbasaurs like this, and even with adequate protection, this place would eventually be discovered by humans.
"Bana!" Human, what is your purpose in coming here!
"My Bulbasaur followed in, so of course I had to come in too… But actually, I've known about the Mysterious Garden for a long time. My reasons for coming in were, one, to see what kind of miraculous power could make Bulbasaurs evolve, and two, to help my Bulbasaur maximize its power acquisition."
Ash said, squatting down and rubbing Bulbasaur's head. Bulbasaur also showed a very contented expression.
Seeing this, Venusaur's wariness slightly decreased. Regardless, a human who could get along so harmoniously with his Pokémon should not be a bad person.
However, what the other party said still prevented him from fully letting down his guard.
"Bana?" What do you mean by helping Bulbasaur maximize its power acquisition?
"It's exactly what it sounds like. While you can utilize a portion of the life force from this tree, with your power, you actually can't fully unleash its complete effects."
Ash said, standing up and looking past Venusaur to the large blooming tree behind him.
"That tree behind you is normally withered, but on this day every year, it blooms, and you then disperse the accumulated vigorous life force within it to all the Bulbasaurs who come here."
"If you were to enjoy that life force alone, your current strength would definitely be far greater than it is now. Venusaur, you truly are selfless!" Ash exclaimed sincerely.
Pokémon are actually such creatures; they will selflessly help even those they don't know, for no reason or rationale, purely out of their nature.
If it were humans, it would probably be the complete opposite.
"However, by distributing the power this way, you actually waste a large amount of the tree's life force. It appears many Bulbasaurs have evolved into Ivysaurs, but at least more than half of the life force was wasted in the process."
Venusaur was actually aware of the shortcomings Ash pointed out, but this was already the limit of what he could do.
Even if he were to enjoy this life force alone, he couldn't fully absorb it; absorbing thirty percent was already his limit.
That's why he thought of distributing this power to his own kind, so the utilization rate could at least be a bit higher.
And ever since he started distributing the life force to his own kind, the life force Venusaur could absorb had already dropped to less than ten percent.
This is also why Ash said that if Venusaur monopolized the life force, he would definitely be much stronger than he is now.
"Bana?" So what do you want to do?
Venusaur hadn't forgotten that Ash said he wanted to help Bulbasaur gain the maximum power.
The life force had already been mostly dispersed. Although this large tree was still in bloom, it would wither soon. Its current appearance was merely superficial.
So where would Ash get the energy from?
Hearing this, Ash's gaze remained fixed on the large tree. Then he said, word by word: "I hope you can give me half of the tree's fundamental power, that is, the root life force of this tree. However, doing so might mean it will take a very, very long time for this tree to accumulate such life force again."