Feeling like he had trained enough, for the time being, Ash entered Viridian forest, only to hear a scream. Ash ran as hard as he could, coming to a clearing where a young red-haired girl was crouched as low to the ground as she could get, shielding her head with her arms as a group of Beedrill buzzed angrily around her.

"Thunderbolt Mimikyu!"

Ash captured one of the Beedrill as it hit the ground twitching, and then quickly grabbed the girl's hand and dragged her out of the clearing. When they were far enough away that he figured that they were safe from the Beedrill he took a good look at her, "Hey, you're that girl that was running from the Spearow! That's twice now you seem to have pissed off the wrong Pokemon."

"Oh, you're that kid I ran into. I'm sorry about that, first with the Spearow, I was fishing, how was I supposed to know that I'd catch a Spearow just as it was trying to eat a Magikarp? Now with the Beedrill, well I really hate bug Pokemon, and I was trying not to run into any, but then when I was running from a Caterpie I somehow managed to stumble into the Beedrill's hive. It's a good thing you came along when you did. Thanks for the save kid."

"Why were you going through Viridian forest if you are afraid of bugs? That seems strange."

"Well, it's the only way to get to Pewter and then to Cerulean."

As Ash looked at her again, a bulb lit up in his head, "Hey, you're the Cerulean Gym leader, Misty right? What were you doing all the way out by Pallet?"

"I was trying to get to the Seafoam islands, there's supposed to be a lot of rare water and ice types there, but the only way to get there is by surfing, and I don't have any Pokemon that are big enough for that, but I didn't want to go home empty-handed so I decided that I'd try fishing around Pallet, all I managed to catch was a Magikarp and that Spearow though."

"I have to go through Viridian forest to get to Pewter as well, how about we travel together and I'll keep the bugs away?"

Before she could answer though a strange boy came barrelling out of the bushes, sword coming right for Ash's face, "Are you from Pallet?"

"What the heck was that for! You could have hurt someone!"

"I am a Samurai, this is how I challenge people."

"Well, I don't accept your challenge!"

"Ah, then I was wrong about those from Pallet being strong, honorable trainers."

"What are you on about?"

"Three other trainers from Pallet all passed through here, I challenged them all and was beaten easily. The last, a young man by the name of Gary as I recall said that there would be another from Pallet passing through here, a young man with black hair. He said you wouldn't battle. He didn't say you were a coward."

"All right, I accept your challenge, Misty can be the referee, call your first Pokemon!"

"Pinsir! I choose you!"

"Charmander, show them your power!"

Charmander easily won all three battles, and the two boys parted on good terms, even if Ash was still a little annoyed with the Samurai for how he had issued the challenge, then he showed them the path to the exit. Hours later, they finally came out of the forest with Ash having captured a Pidgeotto and a Caterpie just before they came to the end of the path.

"The next time we have to travel through the forest, I'm calling a cab." Misty groaned as she sat on one of the large rocks scattered around the landscape. Ash sat down as well, it had been a long walk through that forest.

"Excuse me!"

Ash nearly fell off of the rock he had been sitting on as a man came out of nowhere, "Yes?" Ash asked

"That will be 20 Pokedollars for resting on my rocks."

Ash looked around, curious, was there something special about these rocks? Then he spotted one that had promise, the very one Misty was sitting on. Just by Misty's leg, he could see a bone. It wasn't very clear, but he was pretty sure it was a fossil.

"How much to buy one?"

"40 Pokedollars."

"Deal." Ash counted out the money, already dreaming of the future team member he'd have when he could get to Cinnebar Island to have the fossil revived.

"Hey, you're not planning to use that Pikachu of yours to battle Brock are you?"

"Maybe, why?"

"Brock trains rock types genius. That Pikachu of yours doesn't stand a chance."

"We'll see."

"It's your funeral kid."

It didn't take them long to find the Pokecenter, and then from there, they headed straight for the gym. As he thought, Brock sent out his Geodude first. Ash had a crazy plan though.

"Pidgeotto, I choose you!"

"What are you doing Ash? Pidgeotto is at a disadvantage!"

Ash ignored Misty yelling from the spectator stands, he had a plan.

"Geodude, Rock throw!"

It was exactly what Ash had been waiting for. "Gust on the stones Pidgeotto!" Ash smiled as the stones were blown back by Pidgeotto's strong gust, "Now while it's on guard tackle it!"

Pidgeotto quickly slammed into Geodude, but instead of just tackling it and flying away, it grabbed onto Geodude with its strong talons. pushing it down with its own weight until both Pokémon slammed into the ground.

Brock just stared, unbelieving as when the smoke from the crater they had just made was clear, Pidgeotto was standing atop Geodude triumphantly.

"Well, I wasn't expecting that. Geodude, return. Onix, you're up!"

"Pidgeotto, return! Beedrill, come out!"

Brock's eyebrow raised, clearly, his challenger liked to use unconventional tactics in his battles. But how was he going to use the Beedrill to defeat Onix?

"Beedrill, Focus energy, then poison sting!"

"Dig!"

The one thing about Onix was that although it was a defensive tank for Brock's team, it was slow, so it couldn't avoid getting hit by the poison sting. Now brock knew that Onix wasn't going to be hurt much by the poison sting, but the poison itself was the problem. He could have Onix wait underground where Beedrill couldn't hit it, but eventually, the poison would take Onix out. It was a pretty good strategy.

"Rock throw now!"

Ash didn't even try to have Beedrill dodge, which Brock found unusual. He merely returned Beedrill when it fell, and released a shiny Rattata.

"Quick attack!"

"Dig!"

"Don't let it escape! Dig!"

Brock almost felt like laughing as he watched the small Rattata dig after Onix. Even if the Rattata connected it's attack, it wasn't going to hurt Onix enough. Brock watched as Onix popped up through a hole, Rattata limply lying on its head. Ash merely smiled however as he returned Rattata, making Brock wonder what he was up to.

"Pikachu, let's finish this!"

"Bind it Onix!"

Onix tried to catch the Pikachu only for something strange to happen, the Pikachu flickered into its own shadow, and when Brock looked again, there it was on Onix's back. How had it done that? Then the Pikachu's tail seemed to become wooden as it smacked down on Onix's head. Brock was speechless as he watched his Onix fall.

"Well I don't know how that happened, but that's not important. Here is your badge."

"I can't believe you won," Misty said, coming down from the stands, "That was a very unusual battle."

"I don't know how that happened either," Ash confessed," He's one strange Pikachu. But I wouldn't trade him for the world."

As Brock got close enough to Ash, he couldn't help noticing how strange the Pikachu looked up close, frowning he looked again, "Ash, are you sure he's a Pikachu?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well I could be wrong, but I've always wanted to be a Pokémon breeder, and a Pokémon breeder has to know things about the Pokémon they are going to be breeding. Now I admit I'm not the expert in Pikachu, but he isn't a Pikachu."

"Then what is he?" Misty asked

"I'm not sure. Did you try asking Nurse Joy?"

"The one in Viridian treated him like a Pikachu," Ash said

"I know! Come with me!"

Brock lead Ash and Misty back behind the gym, where a large house stood. As Brock opened the door, he was piled on by a bunch of kids, "BROCK! did ya win? huh did ya?"

Brock ruffled the hair of the oldest boy in the pile, "No, I didn't. But it was a fun battle and now I have a mystery."

"What mystery Brock."

"Well Forrest, look carefully at that young man's Pikachu. Does it look unusual to you?"

Forrest squinted as he looked at Ash's Pikachu, riding on his shoulder now.

"I've never seen one like that before. Why does it look like the face is doodled on?"

Brock looked again at the Pikachu on Ash's shoulder as he stood up from the kid pile, leaning in close, "You're right. I didn't notice that from so far back. How unusual. Well, I've got books on Pokemon from every region here due to my interest in being a breeder. I bet we can figure out this mystery."

Ash shrugged, he supposed it would be nice to know more about his Pokémon.

"So do you live here all alone?" Misty asked

"Yeah, my mom and dad both disappeared a while back, leaving me to care for my siblings."

"That must have been hard."

"It isn't what I wanted to do with my life, but we make do with the income we get from me being a gym leader and having this house helped. But enough about that, let's take a look through the books."

An hour later, they finally found the book they needed, a book about unusual Pokémon from the Alola Region.

"A Mimikyu huh? It says here it's a ghost and fairy type, " Ash sighed, "Well I know about ghost types, but what is a fairy type, and how is Mimikyu able to use Thunderbolt?"

"It says here that Mimikyu hides its true appearance under a costume. (I know the Pokedex entry says rag) As for it knowing Thunderbolt, perhaps it wanted so much to be a Pikachu that it learned that move?"

"Well, I don't care! He's mine now. although I have to wonder about those attacks he used."

"The book doesn't have anything about attacks."

"Well, I guess I'll just have to let him do most of the work until I figure it out."

"Not that this wasn't fun Ash, but we should be going. It's getting dark." Misty said

"Thank you for your help, Brock. I just wish we could do something for you." Ash said as they headed for the door.

"I may not want to be a gym leader, but my siblings need me and that's good enough for me."

"BUT NOT FOR ME!"

Brock jumped as the strange man that had charged Ash for the rock came out of nowhere.

"Brock, I'm so sorry..."

"DAD?" Brock looked up with bleary eyes, "Is it really you?"

"I...Brock...I should never have left. I just couldn't deal with your mother leaving and then when I went off to become stronger, I didn't realize how much I was hurting you, can you ever forgive me?"

Brock looked at his dad for a moment and then clocked him with a punch, "That's for leaving," Brock hauled his father to his feet and hugged him, "And that's for coming back. Welcome home."

"I guess I deserved that."

End chapter

So big chapter. Ash finally learns that he has a Mimikyu from Brock and Brock's dad comes home, allowing Brock to travel.

Ash's team after this chapter:

Charmander: Metal claw (not unlocked), Ember, Rage, Dragon Rage (not unlocked), flamethrower (egg move, not unlocked)

Shiny Rattata: Dig, Quick Attack, Bite, Focus Energy

Mimikyu: Thunderbolt, Shadow Ball, Shadow Sneak (he doesn't know the name of this attack yet), Copycat, Wood hammer (he doesn't know the name of this attack yet)

Caterpie (caught this chapter): bug bite (egg move, not unlocked), tackle, string shot

Pikachu (given by Nurse Joy in second chapter): Thunderbolt, Quick attack, Double team, Iron tail (learning it), Thunder wave

Pidgeotto (caught this chapter): Wing attack, Twister (not unlocked), Quick Attack, Steel Wing (learning it), Gust, Sand-Attack

Pokemon he can use:

Beedrill (caught last chapter): Rage, Twin Needle, Focus Energy, Poison Sting, Pursuit (not unlocked)

Spearow x5: Steel wing (not unlocked, learning), Peck, Growl, Fury Attack, Pursuit

Fearow: Steel wing (not unlocked, learning). Peck, Drill Run, Pursuit, Aerial Ace

Goldeen: Tailwhip, Water pulse (egg move, not unlocked), Waterfall (egg move, not unlocked), Fury Attack, Horn Attack, Supersonic

Magikarp: Bounce (egg move, not unlocked), tackle, flail, splash

Horsea: Dragon Dance (egg move, not unlocked), Twister, Smokescreen, Bubblebeam, Agility