Valencia Island

Ash and the gang soon reached Valencia Island.

"Wow look at that." Misty said, staring out the blimp's window. "It's like a tropical island."

"It did say in the brochure that the Orange Islands are a series of islands." Brock informed them.

The blimp descended to the ground and Ash and the gang got off it.

"Say Ash." Misty called out. "How do we get to Prof. Ivy's lab?"

"I couldn't tell you." Ash replied. "We need to ask someone."

They found a Pokemon Center with a Nurse Joy inside.

"Do you know where Prof. Ivy's lab is?" They asked.

"You'll find the lab at the back of the island next to the beach." She answered.

Thanks to Nurse Joy's directions, it didn't take them long to find the beach. Ash knocked on the door and three girls answered.

"Hi I'm Charity." One said.

"I'm Faith." Another added.

"I'm Hope." The third finished. "And we're Prof. Ivy's assistants."

"Well I'm Ash." Ash introduced himself. "Me and my friends would like to see Prof. Ivy please."

"Of course." Charity said.

"Prof. Ivy is working with the Pokemon." Faith explained.

"We'll take you to her." Hope offered.

The three girls led Ash and the gang to a beach. Just then a Gyarados emerged from underwater, surprising the gang.

"You do very well Gyarados." A voice said.

The voice belonged to a purple-haired woman and she was swimming with the Gyarados, a Cloyster and Poliwhirl.

"You three get stronger everyday." The woman said.

When she saw Ash and the gang, she got out of the ocean to greet them.

"Welcome." She said, putting a lab coat on. "I am Prof. Ivy."

"I'm Ash, this is my younger brother Tomo and these are my friends Brock and Misty."

"Prof. Oak said you have something for him." Ash said.

"Yes I do. Please follow me." Prof. Ivy motioned for the gang to follow.

Prof. Ivy led the gang back to her lab. In the corner of the room was a Poke Ball on a transporter. This Poke Ball was a gold and while Poke Ball, with the letters G and S on it.

"This is what we call the GS Ball." Prof. Ivy explained. "We call it that because of the letters G and S on it. As for why I want you to deliver it to Prof. Oak. We can't seem transfer it or open it."

"That's right." Faith nodded. "We tried everything."

"We used hammers, crowbars, flamethrowers, screwdrivers, even dynamite but nothing worked." Hope said.

"How about throwing it like a ordinary Poke Ball?" Ash asked.

"We did." Charity replied. "But that didn't work either."

Ash took a good look at the GS Ball.

*'Something about this ball feels weird.'* He thought. *'What though?'*

"So." Prof. Ivy said. "I entrust you with delivering this to Prof. Oak safely."

She picked the ball up and gave to Ash who proceeded to place it inside his backpack.

Next Prof. Ivy and her assistants showed Ash and the gang the forest in the back, where all the Pokemon lived. Misty spotted some Vileplume.

Ash looked at Vileplume on the Pokedex.

"Vileplume, the Flower Pokemon and the final evolved form of Oddish. The larger it's petals, the more toxic pollen it contains. It's big head is heavy and hard to hold up."

"These Vileplume look like they're colored differently than standard Vileplume." Ash said.

Other Pokemon that lived at Prof. Ivy's lab was also a different color. There was a Raticate with dark brown fur, a Nidoran couple with a darker version of their normal color, some Paras with a lighter color and a Weepinbell with a golden tan body.

"How come these Pokemon are colored differently?" Misty asked.

"Well you see." Prof. Ivy said. "The tropical climates of this island and the other Orange Islands are different from the climates in Kanto. Naturally the different environment creates differences in the Pokemon we raised here. I'm now collecting data and studying how environment causes variations in all our Pokemon."

Brock was impressed with all this. Charity, Faith and Hope were giving the Pokemon lunch.

"Professor, we have a problem." Hope said. "This Butterfree still isn't eating."

The Butterfree was colored differently. It had beige colored wings with a red spot on them.

"That Butterfree hasn't eaten anything in days." Prof. Ivy sighed. "And we've tried all sorts of nutrients."

Brock sampled the food.

"I know what the problem is." He said. He removed some sweet berries from his backpack, crushed them and sprinkled them onto Butterfree's food. Butterfree smelled the food, flew over to it and began to eat it.

"That's amazing." Prof. Ivy said. "What did you put on that food?"

"Some crushed sweet berries." Brock explained. "Some bug type Pokemon like Butterfree, like their food sweet. And your food wasn't that sweet which is why the Butterfree wouldn't eat."

Prof. Ivy and her assistants were impressed with Brock's knowledge about Pokemon.

"That's Brock for you." Ash said.

"Brock wants to become a great Pokemon doctor." He explained.

Prof. Ivy invited the gang over to her house. When they reached the house, it was not a pleasant sight. There was a pile of dirty dishes in the sink, rubbish to be thrown away, boxes full of books and papers, floors that needed mopping and clothes to be washed.

"I'm afraid we haven't been able to clean up lately." Charity admitted.

"So this place has become our little dump." Faith said.

Brock had a sparkle in his eyes and then he put on some rubber gloves to begin tidying up.

"Brock has a lot of younger brothers and sisters." Ash explained. "Cooking and cleaning is his specialty."

"That Brock is one helpful person." Prof. Ivy smiled. Her assistants agreed with her.

That evening when Ash, Misty, Togepi, Tomo and Growlithe had gone to bed, Prof. Ivy, her assistants and Brock were still awake. The Vileplume were spreading their pollen around and Brock and Prof. Ivy wanted to watch them do it. But there would soon be a problem. A Raticate was walking around where the Vileplume spread the pollen.

"Oh no." Prof. Ivy said, worried. "Vileplume's pollen is poisonous to both people and Pokemon."

She ran over to Raticate to get it to safety, but was sprayed by the poisonous pollen as well. Brock covered his mouth with a handkerchief and carried Prof. Ivy and Raticate out of there. Prof. Ivy's assistants immediately contacted the Pokemon Center.

Soon Prof. Ivy and the Raticate arrived to the Pokemon Center and Nurse Joy restored them to full health.

"Please be careful next time." Nurse Joy told Prof. Ivy.

"I will." She thanked Nurse Joy as well as Brock.

Brock, Charity, Faith and Hope were relieved she was okay.

The next day Ash, Misty, Tomo and their Pokemon were getting ready to leave.

Brock informed them of last night's events and they were glad everything was okay now. Brock was helping the assistants fix up the house and the lab with his Pokemon.

"Hey Brock." Ash said. "We're getting ready to leave."

Brock turned to the group.

"I've decided to stay here with Prof. Ivy." He said. "I could really learn a lot about Pokemon here."

"Yes." Prof. Ivy said. "And he would be great help to us."

"Yeah." The assistants agreed with her.

Ash, Misty and Tomo understood where he was coming from; after all Brock does want to become a great Pokemon doctor.

"Bye Brock." They bid farewell to him.

"Good luck in the Orange League." Brock told Ash.

Shortly after that Ash, Misty and Tomo walked out of Prof. Ivy's lab, leaving Brock behind.

"It sure is going to be weird without Brock around." Misty said.

"Yeah." Ash nodded. "But this will help him become a Pokemon doctor. And anyway you never know, we might gain a new travel companion."

"So what should we do now?" Tomo asked.

"Well I need to sign up for the Orange League before I start obtaining the badges." Ash said. "And to do that, we need to get to Tangelo Island."

"So are we going to take the blimp?" Misty asked.

"Yep." Ash replied.

So the gang went back to the airport and rode a blimp to Tangelo Island.

"Orange League here I come." Ash said.