The day after they saw Casey, the gang started moving again, led by Ash since before he could even get to the first Gym, there were 2 Pokemon he was going after, the current target, Heracross.
Now, from what he knows from his other side, he knows that Jesse, James, and Meowth are on a ship on their way to Johto, so he can't use that to abuse it, He's probably going to have to do it the old-fashioned way.
Speaking of which, as he was walking, he thought about them: Jesse, James, and Meowth. It always made him wonder why they kept trying to be Pokemon thieves when they were so bad at it; it was even revealed that they don't actually enjoy being bad like that.
Jesse wanted to be a nurse, and James wanted to be literally anything as long as he made that choice himself, and Meowth just wanted love. We knew that from the anime and even some data books, they were doing this because they have nothing else, but they aren't bad people, let's be honest.
Especially in the new seasons when they are just making money by selling food or doing other stuff, but even back during the beginning, sure, sometimes they try to steal Pokemon, but most of the time, they just try to legally catch wild Pokemon, but Ash ends up stopping them.
The thing is, they are horrible criminals, but they are good at almost everything else they do, they were great battlers and at raising Pokemon since they were always able to keep up with Ash more or less, and sometimes they even get the upper hand on him.
And then there was the random stuff they were great miners, actors, cooks, cleaners, hackers, builders, gardeners, infiltrators, and probably a lot more he can't remember.
And there was probably the most impressive thing they were great mechanics since it has been said that they build all their own robots, they don't buy them, with what money would they? The fact they can make fully functioning robots that can do everything they do it is a miracle that they aren't millionaires just on that.
The point is, it makes you wonder why they don't get the confidence to do their own thing, he doesn't really know, but it's not like he can do anything for them right now, but maybe later.
As Ash was thinking, they kept walking, and they got to the part of the forest Ash recognized the part that was supposed to be sucked dry, but unsurprisingly it was completely normal, and looking at some of the small trees, young Heracross and Pinsir were eating in harmony.
They were young enough so that they didn't do anything harmful to the environment like adults would, and they were too young to care about anything else, even though Heracross and Pinsir are natural enemies, these ones haven't been filled with hatred yet.
Of course, Ash started scanning all of them just to see if there was one that caught his interest. But of course, there were a few, but none that made him drop everything and go take it, so he kept walking.
All the while, Misty was pale in the face seeing so many bug Pokemon she was too scared to even speak, if it wasn't for Ash quite literally pushing her, they would have stopped.
Brock and Yellow were much more relaxed seeing the baby bugs. Brock looked them over, checking all of them and taking notes for later use, and Yellow just liked bug Pokemon.
As they kept walking, they eventually got to a bridge, in the anime, this one was destroyed because Team Rocket came, but now they weren't here yet, so it was fine. However, it didn't look stable nor where they were over the last time they tried crossing a bridge.
And as soon as they got there, a familiar voice yelled out, "Yo, Ash, I wouldn't if I were you,"
Looking back, it was Gary who walked up to them, behind him his Blastoise was carrying a log that was broken off a tree, "Sup,"
Ash smiled and walked up to him, giving each other their usual handshake, "Gary, you got a lot of nerve showing your face round here, what are you doing,"
Gary shrugged with a smile on his face, "What else, exploring, same as you, trying to build a new team and all that, and filling up the Pokedex for gramps,"
"You would, you researcher," Ash teased, getting a punch to the arm from Gary.
"Shut up, you anyway, that bridge looks older than Gramps, so I wouldn't that why I went over and got this tree," Gary said as Blastoise flexed by picking it up and taking it over the ledge and making a makeshift bridge, then shooting an [Ice beam] at the base to 1 make some makeshift steps and 2 to make sure the log doesn't roll while they're walking on it.
"All aboard," Gary said as he started walking, "You can follow me if you want, but I don't know if the so-called number 1 wants to follow the number 2," Gary teased back.
Ash chuckled and rolled his eyes as he also climbed up, "Keep telling yourself that I just wanted to give you some small victories when I inevitably beat you again,"
All the while, Brock, Misty, and Yellow looked at each other as the two bantered, but they were pretty used to this dynamic by now and followed behind, some more scared than others, but they did make it across.
Once they got to the other side, Gary joined them as a temporary companion, and they made their way deeper into the forest, Misty was still scared, but by this point, she knew that asking to go back wouldn't do anything and as much as she was scared of bugs, she was scared of being alone with bugs more, so she followed beyond keeping her head low.
As they walked, Gary looked over at Ash, "So tell me the truth, why are you really around here, this isn't exactly a well-known spot,"
"I could ask you the same thing, this place isn't exactly put on a map, you'd have to know, especially since we're going so deep in their territory," Ash said, putting his hands beyond his head.
"I asked first, but if you must know, I am actually here to look at the clan. The Rangers contacted me, and Gramps asked me to check this place out to make sure none of the Pinsir or Heracross are taking too much territory." Gary said, impressing everyone.
Ash chuckled, "Classic Gary, only a true Professor in training would think of that," he said, getting another punch in the arm, this one slightly harder, "But my goal isn't as noble. I'm bored, and I wanted a new Pokemon, so why not,"
That got a chuckle out of Gary, "Why am I not surprised? I swear sometimes I forget out of all of us, you're the strongest for now; I also forget that you're even capable of being serious,"
"I don't know what you mean. I'm always super serious," Ash said purposefully, acting as childish as he could, getting a sigh out of everyone.
As they kept going, they entered a clearing and that was really open other than two large trees that were each covered by Heracross and Pinsir, respectively.
"What's going on?" Brock asked, taking a better look, "I thought the adults hated each other, why are they so calm here,"
"Isn't it obvious this place is neutral ground," Gary said, continuing to walk,
They all looked confused, so Misty asked, "What do you mean by that,"
This time, Ash spoke up, "They must have some kind of agreement so that as long as they keep their tree with sap, the other gets their's, as long as the other doesn't do anything, the others won't retaliate, it's like a case of will they won't they."
Yellow looked at all of them, "So then why don't they live together if they're doing just fine like that, shouldn't that mean that they can live in harmony?"
"Not how it works, they can't really help it, Heracross and Pinsir just naturally don't like each other," Ash said, "It isn't evil, nor is it personal, just the way they are you can't really blame them,"
But seeing Yellow's face turn onto a frown, Ash continued, "But that doesn't mean they are enemies or that they can't be friends, it just means that they have a bad impression of one another,"
Yellow nodded her smile slightly, coming back with a little hope, as she did, they got closer, and observing this, they suddenly heard 2 Pokemon crys
"Herooo!"
"Pinsss!"
In the center, a single Heracross and Pinsir, while most of the ones eating the sap were normal, these were obviously warrior versions.
They glared at each other and started arguing before they ran in and head-butted each other, trying to take the other one down in the tree. Some of them were yelling to break up the fight, some were cheering on their respective warrior, and some were just watching.
Over with everyone, they were watching from a safe distance, wondering why they started fighting even though this place was supposedly neutral ground.
"What's going on," Misty asked, seeing two big bugs starting to be aggressive as she hid behind a tree.
Gary clicked his tongue, "This is what the Rangers told me about, every now and then, sometimes, there is one that wants to take over these trees,"
"Wait, but didn't you say they had an understanding?" Brock asked
"Yeah, the same as with me and Ash. We have a vague deal going on, but we aren't actively punishing each other if we break it," Gary said as he looked around, checking the tree in case anyone else was going to start fighting
Ash was already ahead of it, "None of those look like they are going to jump in yet, but if those two keep fighting, then that might change,"
"Right, we need to stop those big guys," Gary said as he smirked and looked at Ash, "You thinking what I'm thinking?"
Ash smiled back, "I call the Heracross," Pikachu got a shocked expression looking up at Ash but then was immediately reminded that this was Ash, so he jumped down over to Yellow and Chuchu.
Ash and Gary got up and started walking forward as they gave each other a fistbump and ran in opposing directions, leaving the other three sitting there confused and shocked.
As the warrior Heracross and the warrior Pinsir continued battling, sending a [Megahorn] and [X-Scissor] respectively at the other, the battle continued on, showing no signs of wanting to give up.
Just as they were knocked back and sled into the dirt, they fixed themselves to reposition and where started charging again, just as they were about to meet each other, suddenly, a voice called out.
"Venusaur [Grass Knot]!"
From the ground, vines extended that wrapped around the two bug types' legs and stopped them in their place as the vines extended, catching their arms, then another voice yelled out.
"Electivire [Dual Chop]!"
From the side, Electivire ran up with his two arms glowing purple The two couldn't run, so Electivire hit them with a close line and knocked them back.
As they went flying, the vines were still on their legs, so Ash and Gary continued,
"Venusaur [Power Whip]!"
"Electivire [Thunder Punch]!"
As Venusaur still had their feet stuck in vines, he pulled back, slamming them onto the ground then, as he came up, he brought them up and threw them back, only to be met by a [Thunder Punch] from Electivire.
Heracross and Pinsir took heavy damage as they got thrown off the vines and fell to the floor, all the other Heracross and Pinsir were watching from the trees.
Heracross and Pinsir struggled to get up as they faced the two new opponents, for a moment, they looked at each other, agreeing on something: they would postpone this match for the moment.
Venusaur and Electivire stood strong as they walked circles around the two bug types, and Heracross and Pinsir were now back to back, seeing a much more dangerous threat.
Heracross and Pinsir shot a [Rock Blast] and a [Rock Slide], respectively, sending stones flying at the 2 Pokemon.
Ash called out, "Venusaur"
Venusaur stomped on the ground as two walls of vines rose from the ground, backing both him and Electivire, and as soon as the attacks crashed against the vines, Electivire jumped out from behind and clapped his hands together, causing static to charge between it.
Gary pointed at the two and snapped his fingers, "[Thunderbolt]"
From Electivire's clasped hands, a blast of electricity was shot out and covered the two bug types with bright electricity, leaving them both barely even standing.
Ash and Gary smiled as they stood across from each other and each threw a Pokeball, Heracross and Pinsir saw the Pokeballs, so they moved their heads, dodging the ball.
However, as the balls kept going, they hit each other and bounced off, going back and hitting the Heracross and Pinsir in the back of the head, making them go inside.
1 Roll, 2 Roll, 3 Roll, Ding
Ash and Gary caught Heracross and Pinsir, meaning that the mission was a success.
Ash and Gary walked up and grabbed their respective new catches they gave each other a fist bump as now they stood in the center of the clearing between the two large trees.
"Nice work, my dude, I didn't think you had it in you," Ash said, teasing Gary.
Gary rolled his eyes, "Please, let's be honest, Electivire would today beat your Venusaur,"
Ash didn't give him the satisfaction, "You're probably right; you've been training, and Venusaur went on a break,"
As they laughed, Brock and Yellow walked up with Misty slightly further back, "So, is it over?"
"Yeah, with these two gone, the Heracross and Pinsir won't have people that want to try to take over the territories," Gary said, looking at the trees with all the bugs looking at them, none of them looked particularly keen on trying to fight them.
Ash shook his head, "Yeah, it'll probably be fine for a few months until another rando gets strong enough. Honestly, the fact that there were two at the same time is genuinely wild to me, knowing the nature of these guys,"
"Yeah, might need to go talk to some Rangers about that just to make sure there isn't anything pushing these guys, probably going to increase surveillance on this area," Gary agreed.
As Ash was looking at the trees, a glint was caught in his eye at the base of the trees, one on each, "Yo, Gary, you see that?"
Gary wasn't as naturally perceptive as Ash, so he had to take a few steps forward, but he eventually saw it shine, "I dunno,"
Their curiosity peaked, and Ash went to the Heracross tree and Gary to the Pinsir tree to look at what it was. And looking at it, embedded in the tree were Mega stones, it didn't take a genius to know what they were for
Ash took the one in the tree. None of the Bugs did anything other than watch him, and it was the same on Gary's side.
Then they walked back to meet with each other, it was a Heracronite and a Pinsirite, they looked at it in awe, everyone did, other than Ash no one knew this is how Mega stones were found or if they even looked like that when they were found.
This time, it was Ash's turn as he looked at Gary, "Hey, you thinking what I'm thinking,"
Gary gave a knowing smile, "Bet I can make this Pinsir stronger than you can make that Heracross before the Silver Conference!"
"You're on!" Ash said back, accepting the challenge
Everyone, including Pikachu, looked at each other and sighed helplessly, but at the same time, they were also used to it by this point.