"Brock, looks like you're here too!"
It was Brock who came over from among the trees. "I saw the amazing lightning when I was just about to come inside of the Petalburg Woods. I thought it might be the two you! Long time no see, Pikachu!"
"Pika pika!"
Ash shook hands with Brock, "Brock, what happened when you went home?"
"I went home because dad injured himself, but I couldn't stay at home for too long so I asked Professor Oak about you, then I came here under his instructions. I happened to hear Professor Birch say that you were heading to Rustboro City when I was at his Lab, so I chased you here as fast as I could!"
"By the way, Professor Oak asked me to bring you this!" With that said, Brock took out another Pokémon Egg from the backpack behind him and handed it over to Ash.
"What? Another Pokémon Egg?" Max's eyes suddenly went wide.
At this time, Brock noticed that there was already a Pokémon Egg in Ash's arms that he was keeping warm.
The Pokémon Egg he gave was a fiery red, so it must be a Fire-type Pokémon or something along the line.
"I don't know the specific details, but Professor Oak said this is your reward!" Brock explained, "He heard that I was getting bored without doing anything, so he asked me to bring you this Pokémon Egg."
The Professor said before that the reward was on its way, but it turned out that it really was on its way by Brock.
"Professor Oak said that he knows that you are not lacking any other items, but Pokémon is something you want, so he has been looking everywhere for good Pokémon for you!"
Hearing this, Ash just knew how much effort Professor Oak put into preparing this reward for him.
But Ash had really contributed a lot this time. After all, he did catch all three of the Legendary Beasts. Now they are left in the backyard of his Laboratory, allowing him to study them as he wants while they train their power along with help their younger team members to get stronger!
While sometimes any three of them could go outside or come to Ash when they needed to do their duty as Ho-Oh's messengers.
Especially Suicune, who needed to occasionally come to him to purify some water bodies.
"I'm so envious, Ash, you now have two different Pokémon Eggs while I doesn't even have one!" Max came over and looked at the two Pokémon Eggs Ahs was holding onto, his eyes shining like stars.
Ash pushed him away and introduced them to the new Brock, "This is May who is traveling with me, and this is her younger brother, Max!"
"This is Brock, my former traveling companion, who wants to become a world-class Pokémon Breeder in the future! The food he cooks is one of the best that you will ever taste!" Ash introduced Brock quite grandly.
When she heard that the food cooked by Brock was very delicious, May suddenly became happy, "That's great. If we travel together from now on, we won't have to worry about running out of delicious food!"
May seems to take food very seriously, even more than her Torchic.
(Chopper)
"Brock here is also the former or more like part time Gym Leader of the Pewter City Gym!" Ash added this without much thinking behind it.
Sure enough, when the two siblings heard that Brock was a Gym Leader, they looked at Brock with admiration on their faces, "Really? Then he is the same as our dad!"
"May's and Max's father here is the Gym Leader of the Petalburg City Gym! He specializes in Normal-type Pokémon's."
After hearing Ash's introduction, Brock took it for granted, "So they all want to become Gym Leaders like their father?"
"I don't know what I want to become just yet!" May said with a smile, she wasn't really in a hurry to decide her future trajectory.
"Me too, I don't even have a Pokémon yet!" Max still struggled with the fact that he was under aged, but in fact, in Ash's view, it was not his age that was the problem, his knowledge and awareness were not enough.
Ash wasn't talikingbabout book knowledge, he was taking about common sense, which Max lacked a lot of.
Brock knelt down a little and patted his shoulder to encourage him, "My brother also doesn't have Pokémon like you, but he wants to become a Gym Leader like me and my dad!!
Unlike Ash, who is a single child to a very nice mother, Brock has several younger brothers and sisters at home with their mother not being in their life by much. So he is obviously much more patient with Max then either Ash or May.
"Also, I left my Onix and the others in the Gym to train with Forest, and now I only have Forretress with me!"
Brock's current Forretress was the same one that was caught by him in Azalea Town, Johto Region. It was very compatible with him form the beginning, and his current Bond Value is also very high.
In this way, Ash and his party are all here.
With the addition of Brock, Ash no longer needed to make his own lunch boxes. The four of them shared the last two lunch boxes and also ate some fruits form the trees. After finishing their food and drinks, Ash held his two Pokémon Eggs and continued on his way.
Petalburg Woods is really a big maze, and there are a lot of Trainers coming and going from here everyday.
For many new Trainers, the moment their eyes meet, a battle begins!
"Taillow, use Wing Attack!"
The newly caught Taillow has been mostly treated for injuries by Ash, and was sent out by Ash to challenge the opponents Beedrill.
Ash saw that his Taillow's speed was much faster than the Beedrill. In the blink of an eye, it flew over Beedrill's head, flapped its wings and slapped him over his body a couple of times.
Taillow's Flying-type suppressed the primary Bug-type Beedrill, and Beedrill was immediately beaten to the point of losing his fighting ability.
Ash had asked his Taillow to stand on his shoulder and walked over with two Pokémon Eggs in his arms, "Is your Beedrill okay?"
The other side supported his Beedrill, "It's okay, thanks to you, we have gained a good amount of combat experience!"
After the battle, they shared a handshake.
Brock on the side was really excited about the battle as he saw Ash battle again, "It feels so youthful to be able to shake hands warmly after the battle!"
"Building friendship while fighting, that is the real value of a Pokémon Battle!" Ash took back his Taillow to rest, who had not fully recovered from his injuries, "May, do you like the feeling of watching a battle?"
"Ash, you are so awesome!" Max was busy flattering Ash.
"Pika!" Ash was about to walk out of here to a different part of the Petalburg Woods but his Pikachu seemed to have discovered something along the way.
They saw the bushes in front of me were all rustling, and a huge Zigzagoon jumped out from them.
"Awesome, I never thought a wild Zigzagoons could be so big!" Max suddenly became excited.
Ash just smiled, "Of course you haven't seen such a big one before, that's a person disguised as a Zigzagoon!"
"What, how did you know that?"
Ash ignored it, and Brock explained it to them, "You see Ash her has quite a few special abilities, so he sees the world differently that how we see it!"
"That's it, I'm so envious!"
Sure enough, the "Big Zigzagoon" approached several wild Zigzagoons in disguise, and suddenly took off his disguise, "Zigzagoon, come on, come and have a battle with me! Go, Mudkip!"
It turns out that this guy was trying to catch one of the Zigzagoon's!
Ash nodded, it was a very fair and open battle, this boy in shorts has some knowledge!
He caught the Zigzagoon that he wished for, turned around and saw that Ash and his party were looking at him, "Thank you for not disturbing my catching batte!"
After getting to know each other, everyone knew that this bit was called Nicholai the Knickerbocker, Ash just called the boy Youngster Joey, and he was also planning to challenge the Petalburg City Gym!
After learning that May and Max were the child of the Petalburg City Gym Leader, Nicholai immediately proposed to have a battle against May, "You are the children of the Gym Leader. You must have gone through very strict training from an young age. I want to experience it myself and see how it feels to battle against strong opponents!"
"Okay, Sis, let's have a with him!" May was still hesitant, but Max instantly agreed for her. Ash also nodded a bit. The strength that Nicholai had shown so far in indeded very suitable for May's first time in a battle.
"Go, Mudkip!" Nicholai was obviously very familiar with this area, and he quickly found a suitable large enough place to have their battel. His Pokémon was none other than one of the Hoenn Region Royal Starter, the Water-type Mudkip!
Not only that, he also disguised himself as a large Mudkip. According to him, this way he can understand Mudkip's thoughts better.
Although the method is strange, the idea is worthy of some recognition.
Ash thought this was similar to what did Bill from the anime with his research.
He only remembered Bill because of the famous Giant Dragonite from the Lighthouse episode.
"Please, Torchic!" May's fighting spirit was also very good for her first time. Infected by Ash's knowledge, she is preparing for a memorable first battle!
Although she was at a disadvantageous place from the type perspective, May only has this Pokémon now so she doesn't have much of a choice.
"Torchic, use Ember!"
The opposite Nicholai did not release water because he was stronger in type restraint, and immediately let his Mudkip use a Water Gun. Mudkip's Water Gun defeated Torchic's Ember, hit Torchic, and defeated it with just one single move.
"I didn't expect that the child of a Gym Leader only has this little strength. It seems like it's going to be easy for me to get the Badge from the Petalburg City Gym!" After easily defeating May, Nicholai became ecstatic.
Of course Max couldn't accept this, "What did you just say?"
He was about to argue, but was stopped by Ash, "Nicholai, I have challenged Mr. Norman, but the battle ended in a tie. If you want to know Mr. Norman's strength, why not have a fight with me!"
"Big Bro!" Max was moved to tears when he saw Ash standing up for them.
"I see, then let's move on to the next battle!" Nicholai readily accepted Ash's challenge.
"Stand by for battle, Taillow!" Ash still sent out his Taillow to fight. Of using his Dratini was considered bullying, then using his Pikachu was considered a first degree murder.
And Nicholai's Pokémon is of course his trusted Mudkip.
"Taillow, Quick Attack!" Taillow instantly turned into a flags and flew towards Mudkip.
"Quickly avoid the attack!" Nicholai used his magical dodge skill, but Ash's attack was not that simple. Taillow circled around and hit him again, this time knocking Mudkip away.
"Use Water Gun!" Nicholai couldn't adapt to such a fast pace as he was still a rookie Trainer, so he could only use Water Gun to continue to attack.
But Taillow still easily avoided the Water Guns, and a Wing Attack sent Mudkip several meters away.
"Mudkip!" Nicholai had no chance to give any of his orders. Mudkip had been beaten to the point of where it could barely still fight.
He looked at Ash and felt Ash's strength firsthand, "Is the Gym Leader from the Petalburg City Gym really that strong?"
"Of course, my dad is very powerful!" Max siad very proudly, but Ash just hit him in the head before he could go on ranting.
Nicholai also understood what he had just said, "May, Max, I apologize to you two. I will challenge the Petalburg City Gym again after a good training session in the Petalburg Woods!"