"Whoa..." Dodging another attack, Ash suddenly stops.
"Huff... wh-what's wrong?" Ayumi almost bumps into his back, panting heavily.
"I think we ran in the wrong direction..." Ash narrows his eyes. In front of them is another wave of Team Rocket grunts searching the area!
"Ah?! We can't be this unlucky..."
"This won't work..." Ash says, looking around the environment. A plan forms in his mind.
He grabs Ayumi's hand and runs to the side: "Follow me!"
"Mew?" Mew tilts its head, looking in the direction they left, then vanishes from its spot.
"Hurry and keep up! They went that way!" The next moment, the Team Rocket grunts catch up. Having lost sight of Mew, they subconsciously chase after Ash and Ayumi...
Without Mew's interference, Ash's speed gradually increases. He runs like the wind, crossing over ten meters in just a few steps.
This is torture for Ayumi. The girl doesn't have that kind of athletic ability. She's just a dead weight hanging onto Ash, being dragged along.
In no time, her shirt is soaked in sweat. Her long hair, once tied in a ponytail, is now loose and stuck to her sweaty neck. Her face is flushed from the intense exercise...
Just as Ayumi is about to run out of breath, Ash stops: "We're here. This is it."
"Huff... huff..." Ayumi pants heavily, looking at the forest full of insect eggs.
"This is...?"
"Pika?" Pikachu tilts its head too. This place looks a little familiar.
"This is the Beedrill hive!" Ash rubs its head. It was here, five years ago, that he protected the mischievous Pichu.
"So you're not going to..."
"That's right. Let's use these Beedrill to punish Team Rocket~"
Ash winks at her, then makes a shushing gesture. The two of them, with one in front of the other, sneak over to the biggest beehive.
"Don't let them get away! Mew was just with those two kids!"
"Yes, sir!"
Before long, the grunts catch up. Ash and Ayumi, who are already hiding, exchange a knowing look. Each of them throws a rock at the beehive above the grunts' heads.
"Pikachu, it's time to wake up the Beedrill!"
"Pika~" The little mouse shows that it's an expert at this kind of thing!
A bolt of lightning strikes, hitting a spot where a group of Beedrill and Kakuna are gathered...
The next moment, a storm of buzzing sounds surrounds the bewildered grunts...
"It's Beedrill! Run!"
"What are you scared of? There are so many of us..." He can't finish his sentence as he's stunned by the sheer number of Beedrill in front of him: "Let's run..."
"Ah, help!"
"Don't sting my butt, you idiot!"
A massive swarm of Beedrill relentlessly attacks. The grunts gradually retreat farther and farther away...
From the bushes, Ash and Ayumi exchange a look, both seeing the schadenfreude on the other's face.
But perhaps because of the tense excitement, when they turn to look at each other, they realize their faces are less than a fist's distance apart.
Ash and Ayumi stare at each other without speaking. For a moment, the atmosphere is a little charged.
"Grumble..." A stomach growls at an inconvenient time. Ayumi's smile freezes, and a blush appears on her face: "I-I'm hungry..."
"Hehe..." Ash stands up and pulls her up: "Let's go, we need to get back quickly."
"Rumble..." The moment he says this, a roll of thunder echoes in the sky.
The weather in the mountains is like that, changing on a dime. In just a moment, a torrential rain pours down.
Helplessly, the two of them find a spacious hollow in a tree to rest.
"Achoo!" Ayumi sneezes, her body trembling slightly.
Even in the middle of summer, the mountains are chilly after the rain. With her clothes soaked in a mix of rain and sweat, a cold is almost inevitable.
Ash glances at her: "Take them off."
"Huh? What?"
"I said, take off your clothes..."
Now Ayumi looks at him differently, like he's a pervert.
"You, you're not going to do something weird here, are you?" She glances at Ash's face, her own turning red.
"..." Ash is speechless: "You'll get sick if you don't take them off."
He says this and takes a spicy Tamato Berry out of his pocket. It's a spicy berry: "Eat this. You should feel warmer."
The berries they gathered on the way were already lost. Luckily, Ash had some in his system inventory.
"Oh..." Ayumi takes the berry, but then she sees Ash getting up and quickly asks: "Where are you going?"
"I'm going to find some dry wood. If we make a fire, you won't be cold."
With that, Ash and Pikachu disappear into the rain. Ayumi holds the vibrant Tamato Berry and gives a sweet smile.
After a while, Ash returns. Besides dry wood, he brings a few Oran Berries and some MooMoo Milk.
Actually, he had stored these in his system inventory. He only went out to make their origins seem more plausible.
He's about to explain where the milk came from, but he stops cold as soon as he enters. Ayumi is curled up on the dry leaves in the tree hollow, shivering.
"Are you okay?" Putting the things down, Ash touches her forehead. It's burning hot.
Clearly, Ayumi's situation is a bit serious.
It makes sense. She exhausted her energy from the long run, was starving, got caught in a heavy rain, and has been wearing wet clothes for so long...
"Mmm... Ash, you're back... I feel so cold..."
The girl's voice is weak and fading.
"Don't talk. I'll start a fire first. You need to warm up quickly."
"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt on that pile of wood!"
"Pika!"
Soon, a fire is lit, and the small tree hollow gradually warms up.
After some thought, Ash gets a few large leaves from outside and uses them with some long branches and weeds to block the entrance of the hollow to reduce heat loss.
But Ayumi is still burning up and shaking uncontrollably.
"You should really take them off... Don't worry, I won't look."
"Mmm..." Ayumi's head is a little fuzzy. Her face is bright red from either embarrassment or the fever.
"I don't have the strength... Can you... help me... take them off...?" The girl purses her lips, looking embarrassed.
Then, she forces out a fierce expression: "Don't you dare look! Or I'll bite you to death..."
Ash raises an eyebrow and doesn't answer, already beginning to "peel" off her clothes.
He says "peel" because the wet clothes are stuck to the girl's body, making them hard to remove.
Soon, her pearly white waist and abdomen are exposed to the air. Next are her small breasts, a delicate collarbone, and her neck...
Her shirt is tossed to the side, and Ash's breathing quickens. Who would have thought that this girl was so well-developed? Or perhaps, because she doesn't like being restricted, she's a lot more advanced than her peers?
That's right. Ayumi isn't wearing anything underneath...
Even the small pink "beans" and the pores that are trembling from tension are visible.
"Mmm..." Ayumi turns slightly to the side, her arms wrapped in front of her. She can't bear to look at Ash anymore.
Then she feels two large hands covering her perky butt: "Wha-what are you doing?"
Her voice is thick with a cry, clearly she's extremely embarrassed.
"Taking off your shorts. What else?" Ash says as if it's the most natural thing in the world...
With a tug, he pulls her short shorts down to her knees...
Unlike her chest, the girl's butt is especially perky. This single action makes it ripple like a wave.
And because they're soaked, her little panties are also pulled down halfway, and Ash can't help but take another look...