It's okay. I'll explain everything,"

"Follow me," he whispered as he turned around to walk off. Both followed him.

While they were walking through the forest, Brock related his experience to the group. "After I fell into the water, I was carried rapidly down the stream. The current was moving so fast that I was unable to swim at all. I thought I was a goner. Luckily, I was close to the edge of the river and was able to grab onto some rocks I saw in the distance. It was then that the most beautiful girl in the world saw my predicament and rescued me."

"A beautiful girl rescued you? Are you sure you didn't see her first and then acted to drown?" Misty didn't believe him as she knew his habit.

"I was not dreaming. It happened, I didn't have the chance to use Pokemon" Brock defended.

"Fine" Misty didn't quite believe him.

"After she rescued me from the river, she could see I had various cuts and bruises. She then led me to a small clearing in the forest to her home and treated me there. It's then that I decided to search for you guys. While I was walking through the forest, I heard you guys scream. I followed the noise, and the rest is what you see."

"I see. Well, you are lucky," Ash said as they followed Brock.

"But who would live in such a place separated from civilization," Misty asked.

"I'm leading you to the hidden place in the forest where I was rescued. This is a secret place to most people, especially trainers. I don't want to compromise its location as many Pokemon gather over there and the Bulbasaur you tried to capture is also from there, he is the protector here."

The group nodded. It was then that saw a break in the trees ahead. They went through the trees and entered into a small but sufficient clearing which consisted of a pond and log cabin. The group spotted a teenage girl roughly the same age as Brock tending to some Pokemon. Upon hearing the footsteps behind her, she turned around and smiled once she saw Brock.

"Hello, Brock. Welcome back," she said pleasantly.

The group took in her appearance. She was thin and had long blue hair that was tied into a ponytail and held by a large yellow bow. She also wore a red headband on her head and had blue eyes. Brock was right. This girl was relatively pretty.

"Thank you," Brock replied as he and the rest of the group stopped a short distance from the girl. "Melanie, I'd like you to meet my friends. This is Ash and Misty."

"So your Brock's friends! He told me all about you," Melanie smiled.

"That's great!" Misty replied. She then noticed the dozen or so small Pokemon that were gathered around the area. "So do all of these Pokemon belong to you?"

"Oh, no," Melanie said. "This is a place where Pokemon can come anytime they need rest."

"So is it like a camp?" Ash asked.

"Not exactly," Brock decided to respond this time.

"Whenever Pokemon become injured or abandoned, they can come here and Melanie takes care of them. Then they leave when they feel better."

"I see," Misty said. "So this is like a Pokemon Center and Melanie's a Pokemon doctor?"

"Oh, no," Melanie giggled. "I don't have the qualifications to be a Pokemon doctor. I just take care of the Pokemon that come here." She then went over to pet some of the Pokemon with her back to the group.

"Melanie collects plants and fruits around the village to use for medicine," Brock told them.

"She knows all about what type of plants can help which Pokemon."

"It seems like you both love taking care of Pokemon," Ash commented.

"We sure do," Brock agreed. He then gave a somewhat longing expression at Melanie while she wasn't looking.

Misty noticed this and got a sly look on her face. "You like her, don't you Brock?" she asked deviously.

Brock blushed and put both his hands over her mouth.

"Quiet! She might hear you!" he whispered harshly.

Ash suddenly realized something. "So was that net that captured us earlier set by you, Melanie?" he asked, but not in an accusing way.

Melanie turned around and got an apologetic look on her face. "Yes. It was me. You see, I have to protect the Pokemon here so I must capture trainers before they enter the village and there is no trainer in the village to protect them." she confirmed.

"Yeah. I made a promise to Melanie that we wouldn't try to capture any Pokemon while we are here," Brock told them.

"That's no problem. I can keep that promise," Ash said.

Misty too nodded

Unfortunately, they didn't know that the location of the village was already compromised, the hunters in Vermillion City have got the news of the Village and Pokemon here.

Brock "By way Ash, you could also come with us so that you could learn some easy medicine that can help you."

"Okay"

As Ash and Brock went with Melanie into her cabin so he could show them the various types of plants she used for medicine, Pikachu and Misty were left to their doings. Misty looked around and noticed how tranquil this place seemed to be and how happy all of the Pokemon were. She then noticed a Pokemon that particularly stuck out to her who was eyeing her curiously. It was a Poliwag.

Poliwag approached the Pokemon and knelt to be more eye level with it. Poliwag seemed to back away slowly as if it was afraid of her. Misty then realized that this must be a Pokemon who must be hurt by someone. No wonder he was afraid of her.

"Hi, Poliwag," Misty said to it.

The Poliwag didn't say anything and continued to watch Misty closely, wondering if she was going to do anything.

"Here I have some Water type Pokemon food." Misty smiled and took out the food she prepared for water pokemon

Poliwag looked at it curious glance and moved a little closer to her and started to eat with relish

"It sure is a great place here. I can see why all of the Pokemon seem so relaxed," Misty said as she looked around

"Polii" Poliwag replied to her.

Suddenly Bulbasaur attacked her out of nowhere, and Misty dodged using her instincts. Bulbauar then took Poliwag to his side and Pikachu jumped in front of Misty and sparks started to flow around him.

Ash, Brock, and Melanie came out to see the commotion

"Please wait!" Melanie cried. "Bulbasaur was only trying to protect Poliwag!"

Misty "Pikachu stop."

Pikachu took back the lightning around him but still, his gaze was locked on Bulbasaur.

"This Bulbasaur has been here a while. It's volunteered to be the protector of this village" Melanie explained. This is a very reliable Bulbasaur. It is always willing to help out any Pokemon in need. Unfortunately, it seems Bulbasaur does too good of a job sometimes. Pokemon feel so safe here because of it that some of them don't go back into the wild."

"I see," Ash said. He then felt pushing and looked down to see Bulbasaur pushing against his leg trying to nudge him out of the village.

"Despite all of Bulbasaur's great strengths, it is very distrustful of Pokemon trainers" Melanie continued sadly.

"Then I'm just going to have to earn its trust!"' Ash told her. I am sure when Bulbasaur sees that we mean no harm, it will warm up to us.

"I hope so. In the meantime, would you like to continue where we left off with the medicine? Melanie asked.

"Yeah, Ash nodded. He then turned to Misty. You should come in as well. I think this

stuff will be pretty useful for our journey."

Misty nodded and followed the rest back into the cabin. Bulbasaur even decided to follow, if not to at least keep an eye on the humans.

It turned out that the group was learning a lot from Melanie. She had shown them the various types of plants and fruits that she uses and what each one does. She even did a few demonstrations of how she turns the plants and fruits into medicine for the Pokemon. She then let the group try it out themselves. The group was learning a lot and figured this would be very useful in case there were no Pokemon Centers close by and they needed to heal their Pokemon quickly.

As Bulbasaur watched the group, it couldn't help but be curious about these humans. They were unlike any trainers it had met before. Melanie had been the only human it trusted for a long time, but maybe these weren't so bad, either.

Pikachu seemed to notice Bulbasaur's stare and hopped down from its position on Ash's shoulder to converse with it. Bulbasaur was especially surprised when Pikachu told it that Ash wasn't angry at all. Pikachu then went on to tell its journey and meet Ash and his friends. Because of him, it was now a lot more accepting of humans. In a way, Pikachu and Bulbasaur were a lot alike. Bulbasaur then looked at Ash again and decided to test out Pikachu's claim. It went over and decided to help Ash by using its vines to hand him different ingredients that he needed while taking the medicine.

"Oh, thank you, Bulbasaur!" Ash said gratefully as he accepted the things Bulbasaur was handing him.

"Bulba"

Bulbasaur smiled as it watched Ash and the rest of the group make the medicine. Once they were done, Melanie asked Bulbasaur if it would like to be the tester, as he had good poison resistance and no poisonous substances were used to which it happily agreed. It turned out they had done the medicine pretty well.

After a few more tries, the group was tired and decided to take a day off here.

But today's night was not going to be peaceful as they think.

..........................................

TBC