"I don't really know where to begin with that one," Misty said, after Professor Oak had finished with his request. "You want Ash to go to the Orange Islands and pick up a valuable, one-of-a-kind Pokéball?"

"Hey, what's wrong with that?" Ash asked.

"Well, the Pokéball is indestructible," Professor Oak said. "As far as my colleague Professor Ivy can tell, anyway. She's done all the tests she can, and none of them have come close to opening the ball."

He shrugged. "Besides, I actually want Ash to carry the Pokéball. Sooner or later, something will happen that means either it opens, or we find out that it's not indestructible. Either way, that's technically science."

Ash thought about that.

"Sounds good," he said. "So, how do we get to the Orange Islands?"

"Hmm," Professor Oak said. "I don't suppose any of your Dragonair evolved, did they?"

Ash shook his head. "Dragonair did pretty well against Booster, but when Booster evolved to Salamence it was a bit too much for her."

"Well, I suppose you'll have to take a blimp, then," Professor Oak advised. "It's a bit too far to swim."

Several eventful hours later, Ash waved out the front of the blimp's control car.

"Okay, just a bit closer!" he called. "Down a bit… there!"

Two of the big Machamp working at the airfield took the station-keeping ropes, and they and a Venusaur began pulling the blimp towards the hangar.

"Phew," Charizard said, letting go of the tow rope with a sigh of relief. "Those things don't look hard to pull, but then you try and you realize it's really heavy. And it's like a massive sail."

He glanced back at his tail flame. "At least they don't use flammable gas."

"And we could tow from a long way away from the main balloon," Zapdos added. "I wouldn't want to cause a puncture in something this fragile…"

As the Flying-types commiserated with one another, Ash began climbing down the rope ladder.

"That was kind of awkward, but we're here!" he announced. "Valencia Island!"

"The air already feels lovely," Misty agreed. "It's lovely and warm, but it's not too hot. I can see why people come here on holiday!"

"What I want to know is whether people here do Pokémon battles," Ash said, as he reached the bottom of the ladder and Pikachu jumped onto his shoulder.

Brock laughed. "I don't think there's anywhere in the world where people don't do Pokémon battles," he said. "People and Pokémon just love it too much!"

"Well, maybe that Pokémon Professor will know?" Ash suggested. "We've got a job to do anyway, so the sooner we do it the sooner we can have a battle!"

Once Ash had the GS Ball, he frowned at it for a bit before crouching down.

"Any of you guys have any ideas?" he asked, sending out most of the Pokémon he had on hand.

Professor Ivy's assistants gasped.

"You've got a Raikou?" one of them asked. "How did that even happen?"

"The Safari Zone," Misty told her. "I was there and it still confuses me a bit…"

Smiling slightly, Raikou turned her attention to the GS ball, and sniffed it.

Then licked it.

"It isn't tasty," she reported, sticking her tongue out. "That is the extent of my knowledge."

"Don't look at me," Shaymintwo said. "I'm too busy learning Power Gem to try and work out this mystery."

Clefairy considered it, very carefully.

"Je pense que c'est l'une de ces choses qui pourraient être abandonnées à l'avenir," she declared.

For his part, Zorua pounced on the GS Ball and then turned into a perfect replica of it.

"Guess which one's the real one!" he said.

"I think it's the one that's not giggling, Zorua," Pikachu told him, picking the ball in question up. It went poof, and Zorua was pouting.

"Aww…"

As they left, Brock told them all that he was going to stay on Valencia Island for a few months as Professor Ivy's assistant.

He said it was 'to decompress', and 'he'd always wanted to do it', and 'if I mention that I want to pick up chicks then Bulbasaur will mrfle mufle murf".

"Well, I'm going to miss you, Brock!" Ash replied. "...and your cooking, too, but you first!"

"I'm going to miss not being outnumbered by Ash," Misty contributed. "And yes, I know there's only one of him and there's one of me, but…"

She waved her hands. "That can be surprisingly hard to remember…"

Giovanni's phone rang.

"Yes?" he asked, picking it up.

"Boss!" Meowth said, down the phone. "We tried the blimp thing again, like ya recommended, but, uh, I think there's something not quite right with the steerin' system."

Someone said something in the background, probably Jessie, and Meowth turned away from the phone. "Quiet, I'm tellin' him!"

"Really?" Giovanni asked. "What a terrible and unforeseen circumstance. And after I had some of my best men specially check it out just before you took off."

"Yeah, well, they ain't much good as mechanics, are they?" Meowth asked. "Meanin' no disrespect to you, boss, it's all about those men what screwed up checkin' the steering."

"I'll have a word with them," Giovanni said. "In the meantime, try to crash onto an island that doesn't have ferry services to the mainland."

He hung up.

Tracey Sketchitt frowned as the group of Butterfree he'd been sketching suddenly fluttered off. "Hey, what's wrong? I didn't scare them off, did... I...?"

He trailed off as he turned around to see the large form of Ho-oh flying just overhead behind him, close enough that he could see the rainbow sparks flashing off its wings. He bit back a yelp, fumbling and almost dropping his sketchbook before frantically flipping to an empty page and looking up again, hoping the Legendary hadn't suddenly disappeared.

Ho-oh slightly turned its head and their eyes met, the phoenix Pokémon angling its wings and turning into an even more impressive pose, spreading its wings and sending wisps of rainbow fire out around itself.

Then the cabin of a blimp going quite a bit faster than blimps are meant to go hit it across the head, the deflating hull tangling in its wings and both of them going down to disappear behind a nearby hill with a massive crash.

"I don't think I want to take a blimp ever again," Misty declared. "Unless it's got more than three crew… or I check to make sure none of the crew is a Meowth."

She looked back at the crashed remains of their second Team-Rocket-crewed blimp in two days, and sighed. "Well… what do you think? Deserted tropical island?"

"I think Zapdos should go up and have a look," Ash suggested. "That way we'll know where to go!"

He sent the Flying-type out with a flash.

Zapdos promptly flew into the sky, stopped about fifty feet up, and flew back down.

"...just so you know, I think I've made it into someone's holiday photographs, or something," she informed them. "There's someone that way, maybe five minutes' walk."

Ash and Misty exchanged glances.

"...you realize I don't know what she said?" Misty asked. "I'm waiting for you to translate."

"Oh, right," Ash remembered. "Well, apparently there's tourists just over that way. It's kind of lucky we've got Zapdos and Charizard along, because I was planning on going that way."

"Yeah, that's just got miles of jungle," Zapdos told him. "You'd have been going all day."

Tracey stared, face pale and mouth hanging open as he tried to follow what had just happened.

Then the Ho-oh flew up again, presumably to smite whoever had just tried to knock it out… except now it was a Zapdos.

What.

The Zapdos, apparently realizing its mistake, flew back down again.

A few moments later the actual Ho-Oh rose into the air again, slightly less majestic as it wobbled a bit, flew off one way, then apparently thought better of it and flew the other way instead. Then it flew a few circles before landing and picking up a small rock, inspecting first the spot the rock had been before looking underneath the rock itself.

None of those things helped Tracey's worries that the focal point of his region's main religion had a concussion.

"Hey, uh…" someone said, nearly making Tracey jump. "Have you seen a Ghost Pokémon around here called Marshadow?"

The boy who'd asked shrugged. "Ho-Oh can't remember where he left him, and Suicune says Marshadow can take care of himself, but Ho-Oh wants to do this whole thing with a feather and… it's important?"

"Sorry," Tracey replied, deciding to just answer the question in the hopes he'd get to ask one himself. "No idea…"

While Tracey hadn't been looking, Ho-Oh had taken off again, and was now inspecting the branches of a tree.

"You can understand what Ho-Oh says?" Tracey added.

"Yeah, it's not as hard as everyone makes it out," Ash said. "You just need to listen properly. That's what Mew told me and it works!"

"What a bunch of jerks," Misty huffed. "Trying to get such a poor young Water type Pokémon to do what you want! What were you thinking?"

"It's the Mikan Gym," one of the punks replied. "I tried entering with Hitmonchan, but she said you need a Pokémon with a water attack, and my first water Pokémon went really badly."

"Yeah!" his friend agreed. "See, we read that Shellder evolve into Cloyster, and that Cloyster like eating Slowpoke tails. So we battled this chick with a Slowpoke, and at the end of it she had a Slowbro. Total bummer."

Misty just stared at him for several seconds.

"I've never seen anyone less suited to having a Water-type," she decided, then put them out of her mind. "Hey, Lapras? You normally travel in pods, right?"

"Yes, that is a thing we do," Lapras agreed, nodding.

"Do you want to come with us until we find your pod?" Ash suggested. "We… might not be heading straight there, but we'll get there eventually. And you'd learn to defend yourself along the way, too!"

"That sounds like a good idea," Lapras said.

Ash expanded a Pokéball out, and held it for Lapras. The Water-type leaned in and tapped it, and there was a flash of red light as he was caught.

Then the Pokéball dematerialized.

"Oh, hold on," Ash said. "Pikachu, Clefairy, Shaymintwo, Charizard, Zapdos, and whoever's in the Safari Ball today. I guess that's six!"

"I'm sure the Dratini and Dragonair will make him welcome," Pikachu decided.

"Good point," Ash agreed. "Anyway, where's the first Gym?"

Professor Oak looked outside, then picked up a large chart of Pokémon.

With a precise pen stroke, he crossed another rare Pokémon off.

"At least it wasn't the whole pod," he admitted. "I'd need a bigger lake."

As it turned out, and to Ash's distinct interest, the Orange League wasn't really about battling. Or, rather, it wasn't not about battling, it just had a wider focus.

"It's kind of like if the extra challenges from Kanto gyms were the whole thing, then," Ash said, listening to the Mikan gym leader. "So… the first one's about accuracy with Water Gun… does it have to be a Water type?"

"Usually only Water types know Water Gun," Gym Leader Cissy said. "But you can use another Pokémon if you want!"

"Just checking," Ash explained. "I'm not really sure who I've got with me at the moment… let's find out!"

He held out a Safari Ball, and Suicune emerged from it.

"...what," Cissy blinked.

"Oh, great!" Ash brightened. "I like your brother and sister, but I don't think either of them know Water moves. This gym's got an accuracy test!"

"...ah," Suicune winced. "That… may not play to my strengths. How big are the targets?"

"Good question," Ash admitted. "How big are the targets?"

"They're drinks cans, really," Senta told him. "Sis goes through loads of them."

"Senta!" Cissy protested. "I don't!"

Senta smirked. "You shoot dozens of them every time there's a challenger, though!"

"...brat," Cissy said.

"That might be a bit small, I guess…" Ash was frowning. "Your Water Pulse is really quick, but it's not great for accuracy. Not for something that small."

"And I did pick up Hydro Pump, but that's much worse," Suicune contributed.

"Really?" Ash said. "Huh. How come?"

She demonstrated.

An explosion of water blasted out in all directions from the Water-type, hitting Ash hard enough to knock him back several steps, and Pikachu ducked behind his trainer's head to avoid the worst of the blast. Everyone else got soaked as well, and a wide stream of water ran down to the sea nearby for several seconds afterwards.

"...huh," Misty said, brushing water off her clothes, and stuck her tongue out for a moment. "This tastes kind of bitter… did you get the ultrapure water working? That's great!"

"Thank you," Suicune replied, nodding. "For the idea, as well, though I haven't tested it against my sister yet."

"Then I guess I'll use Shaymintwo," Ash decided. "He knows Water Gun!"

"...what am I letting into my gym," Cissy said, mostly to herself.

"Okay, here we go!" Cissy said, a minute or so later. "What you have to do is hit the cans as fast and as accurately as possible."

Over two dozen Flamethrowers hissed past, smashing every single one of the cans at once.

"She means my trainer and his Pokémon!" Pikachu called up, waving at the kaleidoscope of Butterfree who'd come in through the open windows. "Not any random Pokémon!"

"Our mistake, sorry," one of the Butterfree admitted. "Come on, girls."

"What just happened?" Senta asked. "Those were Butterfree. Since when do Butterfree learn Flamethrower?"

"I met someone with a Butterfree that could use Flamethrower back in the Kanto League," Ash said. "I didn't realize he'd caught it wild though."

To Ash's delight – and Shaymintwo's quiet satisfaction – the little Grass-type turned out to be on par for accuracy and firing speed with Cissy's Seadra, a Pokémon who did this all the time.

"Hmph," he said, shaking his turf. "Perfect."

"Yeah, that was great!" Ash agreed. "Does that mean we win the Badge? Or is there a battle as well?"

"No, there's not a battle," Cissy said. "But when it's close enough, like then, I have people do a race out to the flag in the bay and back, as a…"

The words 'tie break' dissolved on her tongue, as she looked at the Suicune who'd been watching the whole thing with interest.

"...never mind," she decided. "Congratulations, you've won the Coral-Eye Badge!"

"So, what do you think, Ash?" Misty asked, as they sailed across the sea on Lapras' back. "Is travelling by Water-type something you could get used to?"

"It is kind of neat," Ash admitted. "I guess Lapras is a bit slower than Zapdos or Charizard, or the Beasts, but we're all travelling on the same Pokémon so we have the time to have a conversation."

"I'm appreciating having a chance to sketch," Tracey said, leaning his sketchbook on his knees and drawing in a few sharp lines on his picture of Zapdos. "And it's kind of weird to think about travelling with someone who's riding a Pokémon that doesn't technically exist."

"Hey, Zorua does exist," Ash replied. "People are kind of weirded out by whatever it is he's doing today, but I don't think anyone's ever asked if Zorua's real."

"I mean how he's shaped like a Zapdos, but the actual Zorua is… a lot smaller," Tracey tried, then shrugged and went back to his sketch.

"What about you guys?" Pikachu asked, leaning over Lapras' side to speak to the Water Pokémon – Goldeen and Horsea particularly. "A lot of us have a chance to travel alongside so much of the time, it's easy to forget you don't so much."

"It is nice," Horsea admitted. "I do sometimes feel like a bit of a burden on the team when everyone needs moves to create instant ponds, and it's mostly for my benefit and Goldeen's benefit. Still, it's good to stretch my fins."

"Hey, something just occurred to me," Ash said. "Is there any reason a Lapras couldn't learn Agility?"

"Especially when it might not be a chance that lasts all that long," Goldeen bubbled.

Ash and the others arrived at their next destination at about eighty knots, and they were halfway up a beach by the time Lapras was able to skid to a halt.

"Well, that worked!" Ash said. "We just need to work on stopping!"

"You certainly got your wish, Ash," Misty told him. "Also, Lapras?"

Lapras looked at her.

"Don't use that move while carrying passengers."

Lapras seemed convinced.

AN:

Welcome to the Orange Islands! AKA "Alola 0.2" and "Yes, more than 151 Pokémon exist. Like, 155 or so."