Well, it's about time I did something. This idea has been stewing in my mind for literal years, and has been written, scrapped and rewritten at least three times. It's fun being a perfectionist with 24/7 writer's block.

But this time, I don't care if it's not perfect or if it's flawed or anything like that. I'm just going to go with my gut, put the fingers to the keyboard and pour out all the ideas I've been saving up for longer than I'm happy about. As soon as a chapter's written and edited, it's going up- no matter how I feel about it.

I would say this is my first story, but that would be a blatant lie. This is just the first one I'm forcing myself to put online. Well, enough stalling. Let's go.

Obligatory disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. If I did, this would be an actual episode, and Ash would've gone back for Pidgeot and gone to get Charizard for the battle with Tobias and a lot of other things I would probably change. Also, the cover art is made by Sushiba on Tumblr, used with permission.

"You know, as a type it's everywhere, but as a concept, I'm not so sure normal exists. Everyone has their own quirks that make them different from one another, things that make them better at one thing and worse at another."

"Like a gust of wind!"

Pikachu raced out of the bush he had been in, a white glowing trail accenting his path. Sure, he was naturally fast, and could probably outrun anyone here anyway, but using Quick Attack just made him feel more secure. It was a promise to himself, that nobody would be able to catch him. And it wasn't one he intended on breaking.

He heard the footsteps behind him- sounding more like earthquakes- and smirked a little to himself. So he was the one challenging him now? Pikachu was fine with that. Lunging forward, he pushed himself off the ground and twisted in midair. It was Mamoswine, as he had figured.

"Pikachu!" the mammoth shouted. "Your tyrannical reign ends here!"

"Tyrannical reign?" he called back, chuckling. "It can hardly be called that!" Landing, he fired off a Thunderbolt at Mamoswine before running off again. It didn't do much of anything, but at the very least it made him feel a little better.

Mamoswine fired an Ice Shard from his snout, shaking off the slightly tingling sensation as the electricity rolled off him, and roared triumphantly. "Ever since this cycle started, you've been ruling over us with a steel tail! Never once have you granted unto us a chance at freedom from you! I shall not allow you to continue down this path of hope and despair!" He shot off an Ancientpower to replace the Ice Shard that had shattered against the ground, and grimaced when it sailed over his target's head. "As the Dragon of the Rising Sun's Command, I swear your evil actions will be put to a stop, so that this world may finally rest!"

"Really?" was Pikachu's response. "You're getting way too into this." He turned back to look at the over-enthusiastic Pokémon, and shook his head. "You're not even a Dragon-type! You're an Ice-type, that's about as far removed from Dragon as you can get!"

"Irrelevant!" The ground's trembles increased as Mamoswine began charging forward in a vicious Take Down. "You'll pay for your crimes, Pikachu! I, like my father before me, and his father before him, dating back generations upon generations, will see to it that the dark days you brought upon us will finally end!"

Still looking back at Mamoswine, Pikachu sighed to himself. "That makes no sense," he muttered. "Wouldn't that mean all your fathers and grandfathers fought me specifically?" Pushing a little more power into his Quick Attack, he turned forward to see where he was going.

And immediately crashed into a tree.

Stars suddenly exploded into his eyes, uninvited. In truth, it wasn't much worse than most of the attacks he was used to, but he really didn't see that one coming.

Pikachu pushed himself up on wobbly legs, shaking his head slightly. He hadn't expected there to be a tree there. I probably deserve that for not watching where I was going, he thought to himself, before looking around. Wasn't there something he was forgetting…? The thumping had stopped, both in his head and in real life, so…

Ah, yes. Mamoswine must have stopped.

…

MAMOSWINE MUST HAVE STOPPED.

He quickly looked back, and his ears flattened. Mamoswine was right there, standing over him. In the back of his mind, Pikachu noted that Mamoswine was directly between himself and the sun, so a large shadow was being cast over him. But the main thing on Pikachu's mind was how imposing Mamoswine looked, standing over him with a satisfied look in his eyes.

Pikachu crouched down, his tail and ears parallel to the ground, and turned his head away. The giant lifted his leg, and Pikachu tightly squeezed his eyes shut in a grimace. Mamoswine brought it down…

And gently tapped Pikachu's head.

"Tag," Mamoswine rumbled cheerfully. "You're it."

"Ahh, dangit," Pikachu grumbled good-naturedly, breathing out. He stood up and stretched, his ears flicking back to their normal positions. "First time today, too. There goes my streak. I blame the tree. Whose idea was it to place a tree there?"

Mamoswine chuckled softly. "I know it doesn't really count as knocking you down, but it might as well. You seemed scared for a moment- like, actually scared."

Pikachu shrugged. "Reflexes and instincts," he said. "The one Pokémon who has a type advantage against me, standing over me like a titan. I panicked."

"I guess I can understand that. A titan, though... you flatter me." With that, Mamoswine lumbered off. Nobody would come after him for a while, he figured, so he was free to go off on his own.

Pikachu looked around, at all the Pokémon watching him. He basically had his pick of whoever he wanted to tag next, at this point. But just anyone wouldn't do, he wanted a challenge.

Happiny… No. She was strong, sure, but not that agile. He would beat her in a heartbeat. And probably feel pretty guilty about it too.

Buneary… That might work. She was fast, and pretty strong. It would be- Piplup just tagged her. Well, she was one of the four Its now. She's chasing Grotle, though, so she'll probably be available pretty soon. His Rock Climb wouldn't last long enough- yeah, she just caught Grotle. He should probably go over to her and- wait, Ambipom just snuck up on her. She's probably going to be busy for a while.

Croagunk… Why had he even considered Croagunk? There was no way he'd be able to find him anyway…

"Ah, Pikachu!" a boisterous voice called from above him. "I had witnessed your scuffle with our substantially sized friend! It would appear you are one of the current targets of interest! Who, pray tell, might you be willing to target now that it is your time to shine, as it were?"

Pikachu smiled to himself. Of course, it was obvious! Staraptor was the perfect choice. The gentlemonly bird was fast and- even better- airborne, so it would be quite the challenge. Plus, he had just recently evolved, so it would be a great chance for him to see what Staraptor could do as well.

"Pikachu, my galvanic friend?" Staraptor asked, now mildly worried. "Is there any particular reason your gaze is directed upon me? My feathers are not ruffled, are they?"

A quick spark of electricity between cheeks and a growing smile was Pikachu's only response.

"…Oh, good origins above!" Staraptor cried. "Now I see what your plan is! Well, I shall not fall without a fight!" The bird took to the skies, and swooped down at Pikachu. "I do enjoy a good windicuffs, friend! Have at you! Brave Bird!"

"The storm rages on!" Pikachu yelled in return, charging forward in a Volt Tackle. Mouse and eagle clashed together, and there was a very loud explosion.

Pikachu nibbled on the Chesto Berry in his paws, a small sigh escaping his mouth. He never would get tired of them, he figured. They were kind of simple, kind of subtle, but he liked them that way. Not everything had to be a burst of flavor.

He looked over at the rest of his friends. Pachirisu was running in circles around a large berry almost as big as she was for no discernible reason. Sudowoodo was standing and talking to a very happy Happiny perched on his head, with both occasionally taking a bite of a berry they were holding. Gliscor wasn't eating at all, and was instead trying to balance on his tail for as long as he could.

Everyone was there, except for their trainers. They had all gone off to a bazaar they had seen on their way to Snowpoint City. Pikachu had wanted to come with them, but Ash convinced him to stay when Ash told him he was getting a gift, and he wanted it to be a surprise. Dawn had done the same for Piplup, saying it was a new Pokéball seal for their next contest, whenever it came up. In case of a Team Rocket attack, the plan was basically "attack them until they fly away." Quoted from Ash himself.

Looking around, he frowned slightly. Buizel, Buneary, Chimchar and Mamoswine were nowhere to be found. With Buizel, it wasn't that bad. He tended to stick to himself a lot, so him being hard to find was normal. He was actually gone for most of the day anyway. Mamoswine not being around was to be expected too; he was prone to talking Dawn's Pokédex and going off on his own, and Dawn had left her Pokédex behind, so it was safe to assume that's what happened.

He wasn't worried about Buneary being gone either. It normally meant the affectionate bunny was sneaking around somewhere behind his back, getting ready to glomp him. Trying to look for her would just make her hide until his back was turned again, so it was better to let her come to him and hug him.

For the sake of finding her, you see.

As for Chimchar, she was a little more difficult. As a Pokémon rescued- and really, that was the only word Pikachu found fitting- from Paul, she was rather timid and convinced she wasn't good enough for Ash. Too often she was found away from the group, training when she should be eating or resting. It was both admirable and rather upsetting.

Pikachu sighed. Sometimes it felt like she was getting better and moving past it, and sometimes it felt like no progress was being made at all. Just last week Ash had woken up to find her training in the middle of the night, denying herself sleep and rest. Pikachu had decided not to comment when Ash returned to his sleeping bag, a half-asleep Chimchar clinging to his shoulder.

His train of thought was suddenly cut off by a pair of warm, fluffy arms wrapping around his body and a head leaning against his shoulder. "Hi, Buneary," he said without missing a beat. "Want a Chesto Berry?"

The figure up against him shifted a bit. "No, I'm fine. Nice of you to ask, though." Buneary let go and sat down beside him, pouting slightly. "You never get surprised when I do that anymore."

"It's because you do it too much for it to be a surprise anymore. If you did it to somebody else, maybe you'd get the reaction you want. Why is it always me you choose?"

"Ehh…" Buneary decided not to answer, and instead picked up one of the berries next to her. It was a pink berry with two bulges, that was about as long as she would be laid on the ground. She took it and turned to Pikachu. "It kinda looks like a Weezing!" she giggled.

Pikachu sighed. "And now I can never eat Payapa Berries ever again, thanks for that." Buneary's giggling increased in volume, and Pikachu smiled slightly, amused at her antics.

"It's hot out," Buneary commented, breathing a light Ice Beam onto her paws. "Which is really weird, aren't we supposed to be close to Snowpoint City?"

Pikachu looked at the ice she produced enviously for a moment, and then replied. "Yep, we are. Taiyohara must be hunting today."

"Who?"

"Oh, right," Pikachu facepawed. "You probably don't know. Taiyohara is an Arcanine from this legend my pop used to tell me. According to the legend, he and Furaitsuki- she's a Golbat- fly back and forth across the sky, following the sun and the moon. When someone says 'Taiyohara is hunting,' it means the sun is stronger than usual. Pop actually told me a lot of stories like that, about things that had no legendaries. He really liked the ones about the moon."

"What about Cresselia? Or Lunala?"

"First, I grew up in Kanto, so pop probably didn't know who Cresselia is. And second, who?"

"Lunala," Buneary repeated, idly rubbing her face with icy paws. "It's apparently the legendary of the moon from a far away region. I don't know if it actually exists, though."

"You said the same thing about Giratina," Pikachu reminded her, "and they were real. You have no proof that this Lunala doesn't exist."

"Fair enough. But you have no proof that it does."

"Well, if they're real, I'll probably meet up with them at some point in some later region knowing Ash's track record with legendaries."

"Mmm."

The two sat there for a moment, just looking up at the sky. It was a clear blue, with a few wispy clouds managing to survive in the sun's glare. The silence was occasionally punctuated by an audible snap as Pikachu bit into his berry.

"You did pretty great, you know," Buneary said after a few minutes. Pikachu's ear twitched, and she elaborated. "Against Staraptor. You probably could've shocked him out of the sky like snap-" Buneary clapped her ears for emphasis- "but you kept yourself to Iron Tail and Quick Attack for most of it. I think that super-awesome Volt Tackle and Brave Bird clash was the only Electric attack you used."

"It wasn't that..." Pikachu began, then shook his head. "Okay, yeah, it was pretty awesome. Did you see that part where I jumped off the tree?"

"And Staraptor almost crashed into it, but swerved up-"

"Right into my Iron Tail, and ended up hitting the tree anyway!"

"See, you're acknowledging it now!" Buneary puffed her chest out with satisfaction. "You're admitting that what you do is awesome!"

Pikachu shook his head, smiling. "It wasn't all great," he reminded her. "I missed my jump and hit the ground a few times, and he caught me with a nasty Close Combat. Plus it took me forever to actually tag him."

"But you fell with style," Buneary argued, "with sheer grace and agility! And sure, you got hit a few times- but you got right back up! It was almost as cool as when you-"

"When I caught that potato?"

Buneary opened her mouth, held it open for a moment, then closed it and huffed.

"Doesn't sound as cool when you put it that way..." she muttered with faux annoyance.

Pikachu gave her a look.

"It was cooler when I saw it!" she defended. "It wasn't just catching a potato, it was this series of flips and spins and twirls and you still managed to land on your feet!"

"It was catching a potato," Pikachu deadpanned. "We've been over this already."

"And then you just offered it back to Brock like it was nothing, like you hadn't just defied gravity itself for like ten seconds!"

"I caught a potato, Buneary."

"You didn't even ask for extra portions or anything after it, because you're-"

"A potato."

There was a pause.

"You're a potato," Buneary said. "That might be the worst timing you've ever had, and the best I've ever heard."

"I didn't intend for it to be added to your sentence," Pikachu replied. "Just like I didn't intent for catching a potato to be cool. If I meant for it to be cool. I'd have unleashed one of my battle cries before I caught it."

"Ehhh... Honestly, that would've lessened it," Buneary told him.

Pikachu gave her another look. "Are you calling my battle cries lame?"

"Yes," Buneary said bluntly.

"Well," he told her, "I'm sorry you had to be told this, because it says nothing good about your taste, but my battle cries are magnificent. They're magnifique. Certainly better than just shouting what it is you're doing."

"Yeah, but-"

Pikachu stood up and turned to her. "Stand up!" he cried dramatically. "Step forward!" he declared, stepping a foot forward.

"That's not how it-" Buneary cut herself off, giggling.

"Dramatically shout move names!" he shouted, starting to laugh himself. "Y-you see? It's like that, you're literally just shouting what you're doing!"

Buneary slowly rose, still giggling. "Like a gust of wind!" she yelled, unable to take herself seriously anymore. "Extreme ninja finale punch!"

"I-I have never in my life said anything like extreme ninja finale punch," Pikachu spluttered.

"Hey, what was with that one thing you said?" Buneary managed to get out. "Magnifique? I didn't know you were Kalosian!"

"I'm not! That's a thing said all around the world!"

"Having fun?"

Pikachu and Buneary both stopped, and looked up at the figure standing above them. There was an short pause that nobody dared break.

Pikachu broke the silence. "Hi, Buizel."

"How've you been?" Buneary tried awkwardly.

"I've been," Buizel said, and shrugged, before offering his paw for Pikachu to get up. Pikachu accepted it, but chose to ignore the raised eyebrow and amused smirk. He also chose to not turn around, knowing he'd find everyone's gazes if he did.

The two stood up, with Buneary pushing herself up by her ears, and turned to Buizel. "Where've you been?" Buneary asked. "We haven't seen you alllllll day! You missed Pikachu's awesome battle with Staraptor!"

Buizel shrugged again. "Training, mostly with Chimchar. She's getting a lot better now, you know? She's starting to see she's in a Paul-free zone. I came to see you since, well... It's pretty hard to not notice what was going on."

"Aww, that's nice," Buneary said, focusing on the first part. "I was hoping she'd get better soon. Mean trainers suck." She stomped her foot a few times, crossing her arms. "They really do."

"I'm glad as well," Buizel said. "It warms my cold, dead heart."

"Yeah, yeah, we get it," Pikachu said, letting out a long-suffering sigh while Buneary laughed. "You're cool and edgy."

Buizel opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off by an explosion in the distance. "Wha-" He turned toward the sound, guard raised. "That came from the main group..."

"What was it?" Buneary asked, a little worried. "That sounded like more than just training!"

Pikachu just sighed, and began counting down. "Three, two, one."

On his cue, a very familiar trio of laughs rang out, and both Buneary and Buizel stiffened. "Team Rocket!" they yelled.

"Not sure why you're so surprised," Pikachu told them honestly. "I'd have figured you'd be used to it after, what, maybe a hundred times? Around that?"

Buneary and Buizel looked at each other, then back at Pikachu. "That's a fair point," the Water-type said, "but it's still surprising."

"Well," Buneary said. She bounced to her feet, shifting her posture back and forth. "Prepared for trouble? Let's go fight and save the day!"

"Better make it double," Pikachu chuckled. "Attack them until they fly away!"

"Ooh, nice one!" With that, the two Pokémon rushed off to fight Team Rocket.

"Why do they always leave me behind…" Buizel muttered, before running off after them. "Buizel, that's right…"

And there we go! That took far longer than I'm proud of. Hopefully I'll have the nerve to upload this and maybe keep it up…

Well, looks like our heroes are away, so their Pokémon are here to fight off Team Rocket in their stead! It shouldn't be too much trouble, but I needed somewhere tense to end the chapter…

Anyways, hope you enjoyed and, with luck, I'll see you fairly soon for another chapter! In the meantime, memes.

Pikachu stood up and turned to her. "Stand up!" he cried dramatically. "For what is right!" he declared, stepping a foot forward.

"Be brave-" Buneary cut herself off, giggling.

"Get ready to fight!" he shouted, starting to laugh himself. "Hold on, we're friends for life!"

Buneary slowly rose, still giggling. "And if we come," she yelled, unable to take herself seriously anymore. "Together as one!"

"Complete the quest we've begun," Pikachu spluttered.

"We will win the battle?" Buneary managed to get out. "Galactic Battles!"

"POKÉMON!"

"Having fun?"

Pikachu and Buneary both stopped, and looked up at the figure standing above them. There was an short pause that nobody dared break.

Pikachu broke the silence. "Hi, Buizel."

"How've you been?" Buneary tried awkwardly.

"You freaking dorks," Buizel said.