"Report," Giovanni said, looking up from his desk.

"Yes, boss!" Meowth said, saluting.

Jessie and James saluted as well.

A moment later, Giovanni raised an eyebrow, and James began to speak.

"We went after the Viridian Pokemon Centre," he explained. "There'd been a storm, so we thought we could get some of the wild Pokemon which had been brought in because of being injured."

Giovanni nodded. "And how did it go?"

"Not too bad," Jessie said. "We cut off power to the centre, so they couldn't transfer anything out - that didn't really work, they had a lot of Pikachu in there which they used to power the transfer gear."

"We'll have to try that somewhere else," the Boss said. "It's a good plan."

All three Rockets glowed under the praise.

"But if you didn't get any of the Pokemon, what did you get?"

"Dat's da thing!" Meowth said. "Sure, dey transferred out a load a' Pokemon, but all dose Pikachu were wild - so they didn't have Pokeballs!"

Giovanni glanced down at his desk. "That explains why you airlifted a crate of fifty of the Electric-types into one of our hidden bases. Well, I suppose with that many Pikachu we'll have to find something to do with them."

"Can't you just use one as a pet or something?" Jessie asked.

"Why would I let an uncontrolled wild Pokemon with no reason to trust me within attack range?" Giovanni frowned. "No, I think we'll keep these new acquisitions at arm's length."

He shrugged. "We do, however, have a nice line in providing custom starters. And there's quite a lot of little girls and boys around Kanto and Johto who would just love to have a Pikachu... not to mention one rather prominent businessman who wants a Raichu for his eldest daughter."

"So... we did good?" James checked.

"Not bad, certainly," Giovanni confirmed. "Keep it up."

He paused, long enough for the three Rockets to let out sighs of relief. "Anything else?"

"Yeah, we did see a couple of trainers leavin'," Meowth said with a frown. "Some kid with a Pikachu, and someone who looked kinda familiar... seen her on the news somewhere."

"So we waited until they were out of town," Jessie filled in.

"Hm," Giovanni said, non-committally. "Very well. You may go."

Persian let out a low growl, speeding them on their way.


"Geodude, Rock Throw!"

"Left, Spearow!" Ash called quickly.

His Flying-type did a left roll, avoiding the thrown rock by the width of a feather, and charged forwards as Geodude readied his next attack.

Beak glowing, he hammered home a Fury Attack which knocked off a few chips.

Then Geodude grabbed him and threw him at the ceiling.

"Spearow, use-" Ash began, and then a rock smacked into Spearow and knocked him out.

Wincing, the young trainer looked at his team.

Beedrill was still out of it – his stingers hadn't taken trying to damage Onix well – and Pikachu seemed kind of loopy after the second rock to the forehead.

"Right!" Ash said, taking a step forwards.

Then Misty tackled him.

"Ow!" Ash protested.

"Ash Ketchum, you'd better not be about to do what I think you're about to do!" Misty hissed. "Now just accept the loss and come back later!"

Ash drooped. "But Misty..."

"Sorry, kid," said the gym leader, Brock. "If you don't have a Pokemon able to fight, you can't continue the match."

Ash sighed, and got up as Misty released him. "Fine... return, Spearow."

Red light flashed out, and Spearow vanished back into his Pokeball.

"That wasn't bad, Ash," Brock added. "Train your Pokemon to handle type matchups, and you should be on the road to victory pretty soon!"

"Sure," Ash said, with a sigh.


"Why'd you stop me, Misty?" Ash asked, as they walked out of Pewter to get some training in.

"Because you're an idiot," Misty replied bluntly. "I bet you were about to turn into... a Floatzel, or a Feraligatr or something, and try to win the battle yourself!"

Ash looked down.

"I'm right, aren't I?" Misty pressed.

"...not quite," Ash muttered.

"Fine, then, what were you going to turn into?"

"Kyogre," Ash said.

Misty did a double take. "You were - but - okay, how..."

The Water-type trainer shook her head. "Okay! From now on, you don't transform in front of anyone who isn't me, or your mom, or Professor Oak!"

"Misty..." Ash whined.

"Ash, she's got a point," Spearow said. "A really good point."

"I guess..." the disguised Mew agreed.

"So, what's the plan?" Beedrill asked, buzzing alongside. "How are we going to be able to beat Brock?"

He touched the tip of one stinger. "I'm still kind of tender..."

"Easy!" Ash said. "I'll just teach you Leaf Blade!"

For a few seconds, the only sounds were the tramp of shoes and the buzz and flap of wings.

"Ash..." Pikachu began, hesitantly. "Not all Pokemon can learn every move in the world."

"That sounds boring."


"Okay!" Ash said, sitting down with Beedrill. "Ready to learn a new move?"

"Sure," Beedrill replied, looking slightly up at his trainer. "What move is it?"

"Well..." Ash shrugged. "I was thinking - it'd be best if you got a Grass type move, and I know just the one! Needle Arm!"

Beedrill blinked. "Are you... sure I can learn that?"

"Why wouldn't you be able to?" Ash asked, tilting his head slightly. "I mean... you have needles for arms."

The Bug-type examined his arm, frowning. "I... guess I do have needle arms, yes."

"There you are!" Ash said. "Okay, Needle Arm is... hm, maybe it'd be easiest to demonstrate."

He took a breath, paused, and looked up at Spearow. "Oh, yeah - is anyone nearby?"

Spearow did a circuit. "No, no humans nearby."

"Great!" Ash said, enthused, and promptly turned into a Cacnea.

"This is still so bizarre..." Beedrill buzzed, gaining height slightly.

"Okay, watch this!" Ash called, and punched a tree.

"Right..."


Misty panted as she climbed the hill.

She had only herself to blame, she knew. She'd insisted on their camping out of town a bit, so that Ash's sometimes-flighty sense of his need to keep to one shape didn't end up accidentally revealing his true form... so they were on the far side of a hill.

"Hey, Ash!" she called. "It's me - I'm back from the Pokemart!"

Spearow flew past, not too close, and waved before doing a wingover and diving back towards a tree. There were several scratches in it, and as she watched his wings made another long, shallow cut along the bark.

"Hi, Misty!" Ash called back, waving. "I've been teaching Beedrill a new move!"

"What new move's that?" Misty asked, getting out the move guide. "I thought you might need help, so I got out a move-learning guide..."

"Oh, I taught him Needle Arm!" Ash explained.

Misty looked up from the Beedrill page, at the Bug-type waving his left needle at her, and shuddered.

Then she looked back down at the page.

Up at Beedrill.

"How?" she asked, weakly. "The book says the only Grass-type moves a Beedrill can learn are Solarbeam, Mega Drain and Giga Drain..."

"Those sound good too, actually," Ash admitted. "But it's time to train Pikachu, so I'll do that first!"

Misty sat down on the soft grass and groaned.

"I'm probably going to try to strangle him someday..."


"What's Spearow doing, anyway?" Misty asked, carefully keeping on the other side of Ash from his Beedrill, as they walked through the woods.

"Oh, he's training Steel Wing," Ash replied. "I showed him how."

"Of course you did," Misty sighed. "What did you turn into?"

Ash looked puzzled. "Turn into? I didn't need to, I know it like I normally am."

Misty blinked. "What? But... Mew don't have... wings?"

Ash shrugged off the paradox. "Anyway - here we are!"

Misty, Beedrill and Pikachu looked down the slope at a small waterwheel.

"I don't get it," Misty admitted.

"Same here," Beedrill buzzed.

"It's a water powered power station!" Ash explained. "I had a look inside earlier - it's got these huge cables! They're all unplugged now, but I think I could use them to charge Pikachu up!"

Misty considered that for a moment.

"Are you sure that's-"

"Come on!" Ash interrupted, scooping up Pikachu and running down the slope.

Misty glanced at Beedrill, who shrugged, and they shared a moment of silent understanding before Misty remembered he was a Bug-type.

"I'll just... follow him," she said. "You can stay out here."

The Bug-type shrugged, flipped onto his back, crossed his needles behind his head, and hovered there watching Spearow brutalize some innocent foliage.


"This seems unlikely to work," Pikachu said, as Ash attached two large leads to the main generator.

"It'll be fine!" Ash replied with a shrug, as he fitted the final cable. "I'm almost sure you've got Lightningrod - hey, let's check!"

There was a flicker, and Ash was now a Pikachu in a hat.

Grabbing his Pokeballs as they bounced on the floor, Ash put his hat to one side and frowned. "Hmmm... that's funny."

"What?" Pikachu asked, worried.

Ash replied by sending a little burst of electricity at Pikachu, who instinctively grabbed it with Lightningrod and absorbed it.

"Thought so," Ash said. One of his ears raised, and the other drooped. "But there's something else..."

"Are you sure it's not Static?" Misty asked.

"No, I can feel that too," Ash said. "Kind of, anyway... but there's a thing here I've not really met before."

He shrugged. "Anyway - let's go!"

Jumping from floor to chair to chair-back, Ash hit the switch.

There was a creak as the reservoir opened, and then water flowed over the wheel.

Pikachu gasped as the electricity began to generate, and flowed down the cables and across into his fur before coming to rest in his cheeks. "That feels... really strange."

Ash grinned, bouncing back to the floor. "I bet it feels great!"

"Actually I feel kind of... full," Pikachu said, rubbing his cheeks. "Bloated."

"Bloated?" Ash repeated.

Misty exited the building at speed.

"Yeah, I-" Pikachu broke off, frowning, and a fat spark jumped from his tail to the floor. Then another, and then one hit the light switch instead.

The lights came on, brightened and exploded in an instant.

Then one of the bolts hit Ash - still a Pikachu - and his Transformed version of Lightningrod drank it down.

"Whoa, what a buzz!" Ash said, enthusiastic, and headed towards Pikachu. "Did you feel that?"

"DON'T-!" Pikachu yelped, not quite in time.

Ash reached a close enough distance that the electricity surging through Pikachu could jump to him, and then back to Pikachu again.

The resultant feedback loop lasted for about a second, and then things got very loud and very bright.


Misty dove behind a tree, pulled up her knees, and stayed there until the noise stopped.


"Are you okay?" Spearow asked, hovering over the power station.

The walls were still there, at least. There was an unpleasant smell from the generators, but they didn't look too broken, and the waterwheel hung limply in the current.

Then something moved, pushing aside a piece of heavy roof tile.

"Ow..." Ash said, back to his natural form, and used his telekinesis to lift Pikachu out of the rubble. "I think things didn't go quite like I hoped..."

"What was your first clue?" Pikachu managed to get out.

"The explosion," Ash answered promptly. "No, maybe it was when everything got all bright..."


AN:


Moving along at speed...

First point – yes, the Rockets have done well. Please don't panic.

Secondly – without Misty, Ash would be in serious trouble by now.

And thirdly... yeah, Ash's team is a bit different.