Sharing half of the original life force, that was Ash's purpose for coming this time.
If it were Team Rocket or even an ordinary person coming here, and if they had the power, they would definitely take all the special power from this tree.
In that case, the Incredible Garden would cease to exist, and no Bulbasaur would mysteriously evolve again here.
This is also what Venusaur has always been worried about. The Source of Life within the big tree was discovered by it first, but it does not belong to it.
It cannot take it away, nor can it put it away, it can only let it disperse its power like this.
The only thing Venusaur can do is use the power of the Source of Life, combined with its own toxicity, to cause people or Pokemon around the Incredible Garden to fall into a state of illusion, trying to avoid being discovered as much as possible.
But unfortunately, the Incredible Garden was eventually discovered by humans, and as expected, this human came for the Source of Life.
However, there is some not-so-bad news, that is, this human said they would only take away half of the Source of Life, and the remaining Source of Life would recover in just five years.
Five years isn't too long for the Bulbasaur family, and it could even be considered a very short time.
Yet who can guarantee that the Source of Life will recover after five years? Can human words truly be trusted?
But from Ash, Venusaur sensed a powerful threat, although it's somewhat unscientific, if they were to fight, it might not be a match for this human.
That's right, not a match for the human, not just not a match for his Pokemon.
This situation is quite strange; humans should be very weak creatures, possessing only the ability to train Pokemon, inherently lacking any supernatural power.
However, the threat Venusaur felt from Ash was real, which is why it did not immediately refuse Ash.
In the wild, everything is dictated by strength. The other party has this strength yet hasn't simply snatched the thing away directly—this is already quite reasonable.
After a moment of silence, Venusaur finally spoke.
"Bana!" Let your Bulbasaur have a match with me. Win, and the Seed of Life is yours.
Upon hearing that, both Ash and Bulbasaur were taken aback. They hadn't expected Venusaur to propose such a condition, to have a battle with Bulbasaur... isn't this purely bullying the frog?
Bulbasaur's strength might be at the Elite Advanced Level, but it hasn't evolved yet, and its opponent is at the Professional Peak!
The other party is a whole grade ahead of Bulbasaur, making this a request for battle that is quite bullying on the surface.
In fact, Venusaur was using this as an excuse to virtually refuse Ash.
It didn't want to hand over the Seed of Life, but outright refusal... Ash's unknown strength was also a huge concern.
So Venusaur proposed this reasonable yet somewhat absurd condition.
If they want the Seed of Life, then let a fellow kind have a match against it! Only a fellow kind!
A fight for the Seed of Life within the same family is indeed reasonable, but when considering Bulbasaur's level, it seems a bit ridiculous, and that's the open strategy Venusaur used.
Such 'strategy' is useless against a sinister person; such a person wouldn't bother negotiating and would just snatch it.
But Venusaur saw Ash's disposition, so this straightforward approach was very effective on Ash.
As long as it defeats Ash's Bulbasaur, it can rightfully keep the Seed of Life here.
But it underestimated one thing, which is Bulbasaur's strength...
"Okay, let's do it as you said. Here okay?" Ash snapped his fingers, agreeing to Venusaur's suggestion.
His crisp and decisive demeanor left Venusaur baffled, as it re-checked Bulbasaur's strength... Hmm, indeed an outstanding, even top-tier existence among Bulbasaur.
None of the Ivysaur present were stronger than this Bulbasaur, but its strength compared to Venusaur was still far lacking, not to mention it hadn't evolved yet.
Even if not at the same level, Bulbasaur's chance of winning was less than thirty percent, let alone with such a level gap.
Since the human before it wants to chase that elusive hope, it might as well grant that for this human.
"Bana!" With Venusaur's roar, the surrounding Ivysaur slowly moved back, soon creating a large clearing in the middle, even larger than the arena inside a Gym.
Ash handed his backpack to Misty, asking her to take care of it.
In the backpack was a Togepi Poke Egg, and if in battle it gets jostled accidentally, it could be a problem.
"Bulbasaur, ready?"
"Dani Dana!" Bulbasaur leaped in front of Ash, showing a face full of determination—this might be its last battle as a Bulbasaur. It not only had to win but win beautifully!
"Pika Pika!!" Pikachu cheered vigorously for Bulbasaur at Misty's feet, while Bulbasaur extended a Vine Whip, gesturing with a thumbs up—it wouldn't lose!