Chikorita

The gang was still heading towards Violet City when they came to a hillside with a snowy mountain nearby.

"Brr, it's getting cold already." Brock shivered.

"Yes and there's snow on that mountain." Misty said. "It will probably snow here soon as well."

Just then Ash stopped walking.

"Take a look over there." He said, pointing to a grassy area.

A Chikorita was resting in the sun.

"Hey, a Chikorita." Tomo said.

Misty could smell the sweet scent coming off Chikorita.

"I'm going to catch it." Ash said, eager to catch one of Johto's starter Pokemon for himself.

Chikorita heard Ash approaching and swung it's leaf around, ready to fight.

"This Chikorita looks feisty." Brock said.

"I thought Chikorita were supposed to be sweet." Misty said.

"Remember Misty." Ash pointed out. "Even cute Pokemon can be tough. Just as tough Pokemon can be cute."

He released Heracross to battle Chikorita.

"Be careful Heracross, this Chikorita looks tough."

Chikorita charged at Heracross to tackle it.

"Fight back with Horn Attack." Ash commanded.

Heracross charged back at Chikorita with his horn and hit it. Chikorita was thrown back, but that didn't stop it from attacking. Chikorita used Razor Leaf.

"Harden Heracross." Ash commanded.

Heracross tensed up his body and shined a bit and when Chikorita's leaves hit him they bounced off.

"Heracross is doing well even though he was captured not that long ago." Misty said.

"He sure is." Brock added.

"Okay Heracross." Ash said. "Aerial Ace."

Heracross flew into the air, did a loop and then charged at Chikorita. As Aerial Ace was a flying type move, Chikorita took a lot of damage.

Tomo and Growlithe started to cheer for Ash and Heracross. Ash threw a Poke Ball at Chikorita to catch it, but Chikorita used Vine Whip to toss it away.

"Wow." Ash said. "This Chikorita is tougher than I thought. Okay Heracross, Aerial Ace one more time."

Chikorita used it's Vine Whip to attack Heracross, but he easily dodged it with Aerial Ace and charged into Chikorita.

"Chikorita is starting to feel more pain now." Brock said.

"Ash should finish this now." Misty added.

Ash threw a Poke Ball and this time it was successful.

"Wow." Ash said. "I'm glad to have caught Chikorita, but seriously this was a tough capture."

"I suggest we get Chikorita to a Pokemon Center." Brock advised. "After all he did put up a good fight against Heracross."

As soon as they reached a Pokemon Center Ash gave Chikorita to Nurse Joy right away. He explained to her about his capture of Chikorita.

"I'm telling you Nurse Joy." Ash said. "Chikorita kept putting up a fight even though it was up against a bug type Pokemon."

"This Chikorita is not the only one like that." Nurse Joy said. "All wild Chikorita around here are stubborn and they keep on battling opponents that are bigger and stronger than them. They battle and battle until finally they can't battle any more."

"I admire it's spirit though." Ash said.

Chikorita slept in the treatment room for hours to recover until at last it woke up. Ash had stayed by Chikorita's side the whole time and was relieved when it had recovered.

"How are you feeling?" He asked.

When Chikorita saw Ash, it remembered him battling it and capturing it. Then it tackled Ash really hard and ran out of the Pokemon Center as fast as it could.

"Geez." Ash muttered. "Why did Chikorita do that?"

"I have a pretty good idea." Brock said, witnessing everything. "Chikorita might be mad at you because you captured it. Sometimes wild Pokemon don't want to be captured."

Ash got up and headed to the Pokemon Center doors.

"I'm going after Chikorita." He said.

Ash looked for Chikorita over the grassy area.

"Chikorita, where did you go?" Ash called out. "Hey Chikorita! Finding Chikorita is going to be hard."

Then he got an idea; he released his Heracross to search for Chikorita in the air. Heracross flew all over to search for Chikorita until he finally found her; it was in an area in the snowy mountain. Heracross flew back to Ash and showed him where Chikorita was. When Ash and Heracross found Chikorita; it was shivering, being a grass type, the cold weather was not good for it.

"We've finally found you Chikorita." Ash smiled.

Chikorita was surprised to see Ash and jumped into his arms.

"Okay." Ash said. "Now that we found you, it's time for us to make our way back to the Pokemon Center."

At that moment it began to snow and it was getting late too.

"Hmm, we would find shelter and wait until tomorrow to rejoin the others." Ash said.

Luckily there was a cabin not far away from where they were standing. Ash opened the cabin door, returned Heracross, started a fire in the fireplace and held Chikorita in his arms.

"We'll sleep here tonight." He said. Chikorita agreed.

Chikorita started to like Ash and fell asleep in his arms, feeling safe and happy.

The next day, when the sun was shining and the snow stopped, Ash and Chikorita got out of the cabin to try and get back to the Pokemon Center. Just then Nurse Joy, Misty, Tomo and Brock ran up.

"Big brother!" Tomo shouted, running into Ash's arms.

"Thank goodness you're okay." Misty said.

"Yeah Chikorita and I are okay." Ash replied.

They all went back to the Pokemon Center and got ready to continue their journey.

"I'm relieved to see that Chikorita has accepted you as it's trainer Ash." Nurse Joy said.

Chikoria was in Ash's arms and rubbing it's cheek against his chest.

"Yeah." Ash said. "And it will be a great Pokemon for my team."

So with Chikorita in tow, the gang continued on their journey to Violet City.