Hello, Internet. SUMMER! Yes. Hopefully, I'll have time to write whatever I want.

Pokémon doesn't belong to me. No sue.

Share and Enjoy. Comment, please.

Oh, this is just ducky. Lovely. One minute I'm minding my own business, next minute… well, how was I supposed to know he was from Team Rocket?

And now I'm in some Mew-forsaken forest. Really. Now what?

Agh, these ears. Twitching all around. Really gets on your nerves-wait. Sounds… smells… it smells… excited? How does that make any sense? Probably just a fluke, or-

"Wow! Never thought I'd see one of you! Go, Pokéball!"

…Lovely. Huh. I've wondered what that feels-

…

…

…

*Click!*

"Come on Ash, let me see the map."

"Er… I don't think you want the map, Brock."

"What? Come, on, we're lost. I need the map so we can get to the next town."

"Yeah, I know what a map is for."

Pikachu sighed. "Oh, boy…"

"Just… give it!" Brock pulled the map out of Ash's hands. He stared at it for a second. "Ash?"

"Yeah, I know."

"This isn't a map of Sinnoh."

"Yeah."

"This is a map of the Orange Islands."

Pikachu sweatdropped.

"Dawn, you got the wrong map!" Ash shouted.

"It's not, my fault! Someone had put it with the Sinnoh maps, and I couldn't see it all rolled up like that!"

Pikachu jumped to the ground. "Well, this might take a while." He sat against a rock, next to Piplup. Piplup jerked awake.

"Uh, er… Ah! What? What's happening?"

"We're lost."

Piplup waved a flipper dismissively. "Again?"

The humans were arguing now. They had camped in a clearing, and now there were four different paths. There was only one signpost, and all the paint had worn off it.

"Look, it's simple," Dawn offered. "Ohmtown is a busy city, right? We'll just wait until someone else comes by and see if they know how to get there."

Ash and Brock shuddered. Pikachu rolled his eyes. Asking directions was annoying, but it beat wandering aimlessly.

"Hey, are you Ash Ketchum?"

The group turned around. A thin guy with brown hair was running towards them from the path by the sign.

"…Yes?"

The boy came to a stop in front of them and bent nearly double, wheezing. Ash sweatdropped. "You okay?"

"Yeah…yeah, I'm…fine."

"How'd you know my name?" Pikachu pricked up his ears.

"Well, I just got my badge from Crasher Wake, and he said I was the second trainer he'd seen with such an 'unusual battle style,' he said. Then he said you used a Pikachu, too, and…" He took a breath. "Uh… Can we battle?"

Ash smiled. "I'm always up for a battle! What's your name?"

A look of horror came over his face. "Oh, where are my manners? A thousand pardons, sir, I hope I didn't offend!" He stuck out a hand and smiled nervously. "My name is Walter, and I'm from Veilstone City. How do you do?"

Ash shook the offered hand. "So, you use a Pikachu too, huh? Pikachu! Come say hi!"

Pikachu jumped and ran over. "Pi pikachu!"

Walter grinned. "Wow! The sheen on that coat!" His smile faded. "Mine doesn't look nearly so healthy."

Brock frowned. "How so?"

"Well… let me show you."

"This will be a one-on-one battle. The winner will be decided when one side is unable to battle," Brock recited. They had cleared a space and taken their places (with Brock judging, natch).

"You ready Pikachu?" Ash asked.

"Let's go!" he said, getting in position.

Walter pulled an Ultra Ball from his belt and glanced at it worriedly before throwing it. "Thunder, up an' at 'em!"

There was the usual white light, and then there was the most dour-looking Pikachu Ash had ever seen.

It wasn't ugly, or anything like that. It just looked… severe. It stood up unnaturally straight on its hind legs, arms folded behind its back, and it had it its ears flat behind it, looking rather like someone with their hair slicked back. And the expression on its face gave the impression that everything it saw was a personal insult. It was an expression that looked absolutely ridiculous on a Pikachu, but Ash felt, in an uncharacteristic flash of self-preservation, that pointing this out would result in quite a lot of pain.

Thunder glared at Pikachu (Ash's) and scowled.

"Are you ready to go, Thunder?"

Thunder ignored him.

Ash shook himself. "Pikachu, start it off with Quick Attack!"

"Right!" Pikachu leaped forward, moving so fast that he was a blur. Thunder observed him with a bemused look on his face.

"Thunder! Dodge it!"

Thunder rolled his eyes and stood still. Then, just as Pikachu reached him, he stepped smartly aside. Pikachu ran right past him, then felt a tug on his tail.

Thunder had grabbed Pikachu's tail as he ran past, then used Pikachu's momentum to throw the mouse Pokémon into a rock.

"Pika!" Pikachu gasped.

Dawn gaped. The move had only taken half a second, and she wasn't sure what had happened.

Thunder raised an eyebrow as Pikachu stood up shakily, rubbing his head.

"Painful?"

Pikachu shot a look at him. "What do you think?"

"I think you should be concerned that I did that without even using a move."

"Pikachu! Are you okay?"

"Pika!"

Walter frowned worriedly. "Thunder! Use…use Thunderbolt!"

Thunder turned and scowled at his trainer. Walter flinched. "And just how am I supposed to do that?"

"You can't use Thunderbolt?" Pikachu asked, incredulous.

"Who told you that? Not me. I just don't know how. Moron."

Pikachu growled.

"Pikachu, use Iron Tail!"

Pikachu's tail glowed and he swung. Thunder calmly ducked and weaved around the swings, not missing a beat. He even looked bored. He led Pikachu to a tree, causing his tail to get stuck in the trunk.

Pikachu struggled to pull free, while Thunder turned his attention elsewhere. He poked around and selected a long stick slightly taller than him and about the width of his arm. He weighed it, tested its strength, and, with a satisfied nod, swung it at Pikachu's head with a sharp CRACK.

There was a moment's silence. Then: "Ash's Pikachu is unable to battle! The winner is Walter!"

"What did he do?" Thunder muttered.

Ash ran over and picked up Pikachu. "Are you alright?"

"Ash? Which one of you said that?" Pikachu said, slurring slightly.

Thunder dusted himself and dropped the now-broken stick. "Well, that was boring. Ack!" This last part was said as he dodged the beam of red light as Walter tried to return him. "No! Never again!"

"C'mon, get in the ball," Walter said hopelessly.

Ash coughed. "He doesn't have to get in the ball, y'know. Pikachu hates his Pokéball, so I never keep him in it."

"Yes, well… Thunder can be a nit difficult."

"Yeah, difficult. Idiot."

Dawn remembered something. "Oh! I almost forgot. Walter?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you know the way to Ohmtown? We're a bit lost, and-"

"Ohmtown?"

Thunder got a pained look on his face. "3, 2, 1..."

"Believe it or not, I live in Ohmtown! Sure, I can get you there!"

Thunder face-palmed. "Natch."

Thunder refused to ride on Walter's shoulder, opting instead to walk. He managed to keep up despite the short legs, walking a ways in front of the others.

"Your Pikachu doesn't seem to like you very much," Brock whispered.

"I noticed," Walter said miserably. "I don't think it's my fault, though. He doesn't like anyone, really. Well, he liked Bertha, when we met her, but he really hated Wake." Walter frowned. "I don't know why."

Ash glanced at Pikachu. "Maybe you could find something out, right buddy?"

Pikachu smiled. "I can try." He jumped down and run beside Thunder.

"Hi there!"

Thunder grunted.

"You're a good battler! I can't imagine how strong you'd be if you could use Electric attacks…" He trailed off.

Thunder sighed.

"So, Thunder-"

"My name is Martin."

"Martin? Then why does Walter call you-"

"He doesn't know, of course. How would I tell him?"

"Oh. Well, where did he catch you?"

"I don't know. I was lost."

"Lost?"

"I had just escaped from a Team Rocket research facility."

Pikachu jerked and looked at him. Thunder had not stopped looking ahead. He didn't sound like he was lying.

"Team Rocket?"

"Oh, yes."

Pikachu rubbed his neck. "You didn't see a talking Meowth, did you?"

There was a pause. Finally Thunder turned his head with a pained expression. "What."

"Just this Team Rocket trio I keep running into."

"Ah. No, the two in charge here were new. Their first mission was to set up a headquarters in Sinnoh. Henry and Morgan. And the resident 'scientist,'" he said, pouring on the sarcasm, "Dr. Kidd. They're experimenting with, oh, some sort of genetic whatevers."

Pikachu tilted his head. "How do you know all that?"

"Ha! Are you kidding? They wouldn't shut up. Seriously, I've never encountered hammier people in my life, and that includes Crasher Wake. Hate that guy."

Something wasn't quite right. "So why were you there?"

"Hmm?"

"Why were you at their base?"

"Oh, I ran into Morgan in the street, and she was rude. I was rude back, and she's got a hair-trigger temper." He laugh humorlessly. "Ha! A word to the wise: don't insult the angry girl with access to all sorts of gene-splicing gizmos. I think I was lucky to get away with what I did."

Pikachu frowned as his mind caught up. "Wait. How'd you insult her? How'd she understand you?"

"Ah, that's the question, isn't it."

"What do you mean?"

"You wanna know why I don't know how to use electricity?"

"Why?" Pikachu asked, thrown by the change in subject.

"Because I'm not a Pikachu. I am…well, I was human."

Hi, this is my fourth story. Seriously though. Comment.