Foreword: Well, I've gone back over the last episode and realized something -- this season is going fast. In fact, we're fast approaching the season finale, which is a mere two episodes away, according to my plans. Now, my point? I'm just saying that I fear that it might go a bit FASTER than I've intended, leaving you, the readers, disappointed. (And myself, as well. Hey, I do this because I'm bored and without a life, after all!) And hopefully, I do no such thing. But hey, if I ever do, just whack me with a fish, and I'll try to make it better. ^_^;;;

Anywho, there's my pre-episode blurb of the week. Now enjoy the episode! ^_^

***
Episode 08--
Compromise

Loki sat at his desk in his office, reclined in his chair and tapping on his desk with his index finger (as his hand remained slightly curved, but still lying on the surface). He suffered a good many random shifts since he became a shifter, all of which didn't take him any closer to dismantling Project Warp and gaining the power he promised to Giovanni. He never shifted into a rare Pokémon, and he couldn't stay inside whatever Pokémon that could be remotely useful. It was this failure that made him fear contacting his superior.

His mind thought back to what Ziggy had unintentionally told him when he was in Bill's body.

"You have control over when you shift out, right?"

This phrase echoed in Loki's mind. Control. Ziggy's memory, too, had something about control, but it had been erased halfway through the process Crocus used to copy the files from her bank on McKenzie's laptop to Antiwarp's computer. Now it only had something about meditation, but it didn't say for how long or what else to do...

Loki balled his hand into a fist and pounded his desk in thought.

'Control,' he thought. 'How did McKenzie do it!?'

Oracle appeared and sat at the edge of Loki's desk. He looked at her with a glare.

"What?" he growled.

"Someone's in a bad mood today," she commented as she examined her fingernails. "Penny for your thoughts?"

There was a silence.

"Oracle, when we copied the Zigurat Alpha program to create you, did you by any chance inherit her memory banks?"

Oracle ran her thumb over her fingernails. "Sorry, sir. In the customization process, all of Zigurat's personality traits and memory banks were deleted so fresh ones could be programmed to fit me."

Loki continued to tap on the desk. "I guess the only other option is to find our little friends at Warp and ask them personally..."

Loki reached over to press the button on the intercom to send a message to his secretary when he suddenly stiffened. He began to scream and shake, just as a red light washed over him and shot into the air, disappearing into the ceiling.

Oracle sighed. "Here we go again..."

~~~

Bill paced in the cellar, deep in thought. Over and over again, he thought about what would have happened if Loki had gotten his hands on the files. If Loki knew everything Bill knew about shifting. Though this wouldn't help Loki because shifting was a game of chance at this point (you could only HOPE you shifted into a useful body), it still didn't mean that Bill shouldn't worry about it. After all, if he and Loki had a level playing field, then either would be in danger. And if Loki had control of when he shifted, and he shifted into, say, a well-trained Jolteon while Bill went into a recently-caught Squirtle, then Bill would certainly be in trouble... unless of course he shifted out first. But what if Loki fired an attack before that?

What I mean to say is, the more Bill thought about it, the less a pretty picture it became. And he couldn't take his mind off of this.

"You know, I'm pretty sure they make a medicine for your kind of problems..."

Bill sighed and rolled his eyes. "Hello, Ziggy."

On the computer (which had been turned on so that Bill could erase the data on the discs), Ziggy's program box appeared, complete with her smiling face.

"Hey, Bill! ...Er, PENNY for your thoughts?" She grinned triumphantly, knowing that she had gotten the saying right this time.

He continued to pace, no longer acknowledging her presence. "Hmm..."

Ziggy blinked. "Um... Bill?"

"Hmm..."

Ziggy grew irritated, annoyed that she was being ignored. "Bill?"

"Hmm..."

She smirked and tested him. "You're a loser who looks like he stole a costume from Austin Powers, only you'd be lucky to get a femmebot!"

He turned his head toward her, eyes flashing in slight anger at the insult. "What was that?"

"Nothing."

"For your information," Bill said with a cold tone, "I was just thinking about what would have happened if Loki had succeeded in stealing information about Warp."

"Well, you ARE the idiot who wrote all that stuff down," Ziggy replied.

"Hey, I wrote this down for a reason!"

"Oh really? And it is...?"

Bill sighed. "Sometimes, if I write down what I know, I can begin to figure out what I DON'T know."

"Dressing up in Pokémon costumes and writing down confidential information you don't want people to see, all to help you 'figure things out,'" Ziggy recalled. "Are all humans insane and stupid, or are you the only one?"

"I'd like to think I'm the only one," Bill joked with a smile. "I prefer to be unique."

"No wonder you live alone."

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean!?"

"Oh, nothing..."

Bill opened his mouth to reply, but at that moment, Ziggy interrupted.

"Hey! Saved by the shift!" Ziggy said happily. "Ready, Bill?"

"When am I ever?" he inquired.

"I don't know," Ziggy answered as she cocked her head. "When ARE you ever?"

"When I get back, remind me to teach you about rhetorical questions."*1*

With that, Bill shifted out.

"Hey! Wait!" Ziggy cried. "You didn't answer my question!!"

~~~

Bill shifted in, blinked, and realized that he was riding on someone's shoulder. With a loud yelp, he tumbled off his perch and onto the dirt road. The boy he was riding on stopped and turned around, along with rest of the party, including a red-headed girl and a squinty-eyed boy.

"What's wrong, Pikachu?" the boy asked.

Immediately, Bill recognized who this party was. The leader, Ash Ketchum, had come to his lighthouse with this girl, Misty, and this older boy, Brock, over three years ago. The shifter realized he must have been inside that Pikachu of Ash's which refused to enter a PokéBall.

He shook his head and sat up.

{I'm alright,} he muttered, though he knew Ash couldn't understand him.

"Ash, maybe we should take Pikachu to a Pokémon Center," Misty suggested.

"Why? He's fine!" Ash replied. "Aren't you, Pikachu?"

Bill jumped to his feet (or hind paws, if you prefer) and gave a cheerful cry to show all was okay.

"See?" Ash said triumphantly. "No problem! He*2* probably just saw a weird Pokémon in the bushes!"

"Oh... I hope it's not a bug Pokémon," Misty whispered to Brock.

Ash knelt down and reached out to allow Bill to climb onto his shoulder. Uncomfortable with riding on a human's shoulder (though Pikachu are typically light enough to do so), Bill shook his head.

"Huh?" Ash blinked.

"Maybe he just wants to get some exercise," Brock supposed. "I mean, riding on your shoulder all day must leave him restless."

"Oh." Ash stood up with a proud smile as he began walking in the direction he was originally headed. "Alright! We've got a lot of miles to cover if we wanna reach New Bark Town*3* in this lifetime!"

~~~

It was because of this journey that Bill couldn't stop and speak with Ziggy right away. Instead, he waited until sundown when Misty insisted that the group would stop and pitch camp beside a stream. Brock busied himself with setting up the campsite as Misty gathered water with Togepi nearby. This left Ash to gather firewood and Bill to follow his charge. As Ash gathered twigs and branches with a bored expression on his face, Bill slipped away without Ash's notice to find a place where he could finally contact Ziggy.

{Ziggy? Ziggy!}

The hologram appeared, knelt down, and cooed. "Oh! How cuuuuute!"

{Er... Thanks, Ziggy.}

"Oh!" She jumped up, startled. "Hey, Bill! I didn't know..."

If Bill at that point had an eyebrow, he would have raised it then.

"Okay, I lied. I knew you were in there. Give me a break! There's nothing much I can do with a male Pikachu, save for how popular you are with the ladies, but that's not really an insult, so..."

{Ziggy?}

"Alright! Alright!" She sighed and clapped her hands together. "Alright. Do you know this shift's charges?"

{How could I not? Ash... He saved my life.}

"Pardon?"

Bill smiled. {Ash saved my life. More than once, actually. The first time... Well, I'd rather not say. It's one of my more embarrassing moments.}*4*

'Seems like your entire life was an embarrassing moment,' Ziggy said mentally, refraining from speaking the insult outloud.

Bill sighed and continued. {The second time happened the next night. The Pokémon I had been waiting for, a legendary Dragonite supposedly stronger and larger than any other in the world, had come. To this day, I'm not sure what shot at it and caused it to become enraged, but something did. In its anger, it smashed the beacon of my lighthouse as all of us stood on the tower. If Ash hadn't pushed me out of the way and freed me from my shock, I most likely would have been crushed under the debris.}*5*

{I'm in great debt to Ash Ketchum,} Bill concluded. {Ziggy, I want to do everything in my power to help him. Tell me what I have to do.}

"Interesting choice of words there," Ziggy commented. "And don't worry. You WILL be doing everything in your POWER to help him..."

She winked as Bill ignored the pun.

"Anyways, your mission this time around is pretty simple," Ziggy informed him. "See, Ash is destined to be a Pokémon master. Actually, scratch that. THE Pokémon master. And that cute little mouse you're sitting inside of is his ticket to getting to that goal. Unfortunately, that Pikachu's going to disappear on him sometime tonight. If Ash's Pika pal goes AWOL, then Ash is going to get a serious depression streak bad enough to make him drop Pokémon training all together. Just stay in Pikachu long enough to prevent him from disappearing or, if that's not possible, bring him back to Ash. Simple enough for you?"

{Sounds like fun,} Bill replied with a smirk.

"Good! Then Ash's coming back your way! I'll be seeing you later..." Ziggy winked and waved. "Ciao!"

Ziggy disappeared just as Bill heard Ash call for Pikachu. There was a rustle in the bushes beside him, not long after which Ash stumbled through with an armload of wood.

"There you are, Pikachu!" Ash said with relief. "Don't go wandering off like that! Team Rocket might be around with another one of their stupid plans to catch you!"

As Ash began walking back toward the campsite, Bill paused for a moment.

{Team Rocket?} He muttered with a gasp. {Oh boy...}

~~~

Night had fallen, and Ash, Misty (with Togepi in her arms like a teddy bear), and Brock were in their respective sleeping bags, getting some sleep. Bill, however, remained on his back, next to Ash, staring at the starry sky as he went over his mission several times in his head.

How would Pikachu disappear? How could Bill possibly protect Pikachu inside when he didn't even know what to expect?

Then again, he NEVER knew what to expect on a shift, so it probably didn't matter.

Weary due to time, he began to close his eyes... until he heard a rustle among some nearby brush. Still alert, he sat up and stared at the brush for awhile.

All was still and quiet.

'Get a grip on yourself, Bill,' he throught as he slipped back into his position on his back. 'You're in the middle of a forest. It was most likely just a wild Hoothoot.'

His eyelids wouldn't lower this time. He remained still, listening for something and nothing in particular.*6*

There it was again! A rustling... And whispers. He couldn't make out what was being said, but he was positive there were three voices. Two male, one female.

Suddenly, a cloud of blue dust sprayed over the campsite. Bill jumped up upon realizing what it was.

{Sleep Powder!} he cried as he attempted to wake up the trainers and get away before the dust fell.

Unfortunately, he was a moment too late. The dust settled and was inhaled by all except the Pikachu, causing the humans and the Togepi to fall into a deeper sleep. Bill, who was covered with the blue powder, attempted to hold his breath until he could shake off, wipe off, or do SOMETHING to get rid of the Sleep Powder.

As if the Pokémon knew it hadn't gotten a specific target, it sprayed another cloud of blue powder, covering the Pikachu in yet another coat.

Unable to hold his breath any longer, Bill gave in, inhaling a bit of the powder. Within moments, he too was on the ground, fast asleep.

A blue-haired boy carrying a cage, a red-headed girl, a talking Meowth, and a Victreebell immerged from the bushes. As they snuck around the campsite, they began to recite an old little rhyme.

"Prepare for trouble; they're out like a light!"

"And make it double, and say nighty night!"

"To protect the world from devistation!"

"To unite all peoples within our nation!"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

The red-head stopped and posed. "Jessie!"

And so did the boy with the cage. "James!"

"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"

A Wobbuffet sprang up and saluted. "Wobbu--"

The Meowth, however, didn't appreciate this and promptly shoved the blue blob out of the way before finishing the motto. "Meowth! Dat's right!"

Jessie picked the Pikachu up and put him in the cage that James was holding. She then closed the cage door and locked it with a heavy lock before crying out in victory.

"That was easy!" she said with a smile.

"I told you our old Sleep Powder trick would work!" James responded. "It would have worked in the Orange Islands if we hadn't tried to take that Snorelax!"*7*

James patted Victreebell triumphantly before Victreebell decided to consume its master's head. Jessie attempted to lend a hand by whacking both Victreebell and James numerous times with a giant paper fan.*8*

"Why do I even bother wit a team like you?" Meowth muttered as he took the cage from James's twitching hand.

~~~

As the sun rose and threw its beams of light in through the window of the cabin, the Sleep Powder wore off. With a relieved sigh, Bill slowly opened his eyes. It took him awhile to become fully aware of his surroundings.

{WHAT'S GOING ON!?}

Cages. He hated them. Pokémon inside them had always looked so sad, so abused, so alone...

He wrapped his forepaws around the bars and looked at the structure of the cage. His eyes fell on the pad lock, securing him inside. He touched it.

'Trapped... I've got to get out of here!'

He stood back and used one of Pikachu's electric attacks, Thunder. He finished, opened his eyes, and touched the bars. None of them were even warm.

{Shock-proof,} he muttered. {Well, there's more than one way to skin a cat!}

He backed up and ran forward, using Quick Attack on the wall of the cage. It fell on its side, then off the table it was on, striking the floor with a clatter. Its occupant hit the wood floor with a thud.

He looked at the cage's structure and still found no damages.

He growled. {I've got to get out of here! But how!?}

{Don't bother. You're not going anywhere.}

Bill looked up to see Wobbuffet standing nearby with its goofy grin. But it was its voice that got to Bill.

{Loki!}

Bill dropped to all fours, mimicking the defensive posture he knew Pikachu usually used. His ears were bent back, his tail stood straight up, and sparks were flying from his cheeks as he stood on the tips of his digits.

{Wouldn't it be funny if my lackeys managed to take you back to headquarters?} Loki inquired.

{I see no humor in this,} Bill replied coldly. {Let me out of here.}

{And why would I do that?} Loki asked with a sadistic smile.

{Unlike you, I shift for a reason,} Bill snapped. {For example, I'm in Pikachu's body to help a young man reach his destiny!}

{Oh blah, blah, blah...} Loki rolled his eyes with absolutely no enthusiasm. {You really ARE a goody-two-shoes. I mean, can you get any closer to a Sailormoon episode than that? Next you'll be telling me that good always prevails over evil...}

{It does.}

{I didn't ask you.}

Bill sighed. {I don't have time for this!}

{Hmm... I'll tell you what,} Loki finally said. {I'll let you out.}

Bill was caught off guard by this and remained silent.

{On one condition,} Loki added.

{Oh boy, here we go...} Bill curled up at the bottom of the cage and listened to Loki.

{I'll let you out... If you teach me how to control shifting.}

Bill looked up sharply, startled and flustered. {I... I... Surely there is something else you want!}

{I'll let you out... If you teach me how to control shifting,} Loki repeated slowly.

{Alright,} Bill responded as he sat up. {But I have my own condition. I'll teach you how to control your shifts, if you let me out AND allow me to complete my mission without any further interference from your lackeys.}

{For control, I'll agree to your terms,} Loki said as he extended one blue limb. {Now, we have a deal, right?}

Bill reached through the bars of the cage and grasped what would have been Loki's hand. {Yes.}

Loki smiled and put the cage upright, so that the lock faced him. He then went to dig through "his" teammates' possessions (luckily, they were busy having a victory breakfast outside) until he found a set of keys. He tested each one in the pad lock until it opened with a click. The cage door swung open, freeing Bill.

{I can't believe I'm saying this right now, but thank you,} he said with a bow.

{Don't thank me until you keep up your end of the bargain,} Loki reminded him.

{Right. Follow me.}

Dropping to all fours once again, Bill made his way to the front door... before realizing he was too short to reach the knob.

{Allow me...} Loki reached up, turned the knob, and pushed the door open.

The two snuck around the partying Rockets and into the forest.

~~~

{Well...?}

Bill and Loki had entered a clearing, far from the Rockets. The Pikachu stopped, sat, and sighed.

{I'm a man of my word, Loki,} Bill said. {I'll teach you here.}

He turned around to face the Wobbuffet.

{Close your eyes.}

{That's a stupid thing to say, McKenzie!} Loki snapped as he pointed to his Wobbuffet face with nearly closed eyes.

{Just shut up and do what I say,} Bill instructed with a streak of irritation. He didn't want to do this, but he wasn't one to break a promise, no matter who it was to.

There was a period of silence.

{Concentrate on preventing yourself from shifting...}

{What?}

{Loki!}

{Alright!}

Bill sighed again and waited.

An hour passed before either of them spoke.

{McKenzie, how will I know if this works?} Loki finally inquired.

{You'll know.}

{But I... Oh god!}

Loki groaned as a red light surrounded him. It increased and decreased in brightness as he screamed and clutched his chest. Bill watched calmly and silently until the red light died about twenty minutes later. Loki gasped for breath for a few moments before speaking.

{What the hell...?} Loki muttered.

{Congradulations,} Bill said with a slightly melancholy tone. {You now control when you shift out. If you ever want to, simply concentrate on leaving your body, and it should happen.}

{What about where I shift to?} Loki inquired, suspicious as he thought that Bill was leaving something out.

{I don't... quite know how to do that yet,} Bill answered.

{I think that's bullshit.}

Bill didn't reply to this. Instead, he simply said, {Now, about the other half of your part...}

{I haven't forgotten,} Loki assured him as he began walking out of the clearing.

~~~

"What the hell were you THINKING!?" Ziggy snapped.

Bill didn't answer. Instead, he wove around trees, hoping he'd find Ash and the party (or at least the road) as Ziggy passed through the same trees, following him as she blew off steam.

"Weren't you worried about Loki NOT finding out about this!?"

{I couldn't just break my promise to him,} Bill replied softly. {I needed to get out of that cage, but he only wanted the information I knew. So, I gave it to him.}

"After all he did to you, you're STILL an honest little bastard..." Ziggy shook her head. "You're a MAJOR idiot, Bill."

{It had to be done.}

"No, it didn't!"

{I had to get free somehow.}

"You're a smart guy! Why didn't you think of another way!?"

{As a hologram, you don't understand the limit of options I had while being trapped inside that cage. If you were in my situation, but still a hologram, you would simply pass through the bars to solve the problem, am I correct?}

"Well... Yes..."

{My point exactly.}

"But what now? Loki knows what you know, and now all your stupid little fears involving Team Rocket will come true."

{It would have happened sooner or later anyways.}

Ziggy growled. "Humans are impossible!"

Bill shrugged. Ziggy growled.

"You're going to be the end of the both of us..."

{You're starting to sound a bit like my father.}

Ziggy growled. "I'm really not in the mood for this."

Bill stopped. {Then go.}

Ziggy stared at him for awhile before growling again and vanishing.

{I'll never understand her,} Bill commented under his breath.

~~~

He continued to walk partially aimlessly until, finally, he heard a voice in the distance.

"Pikachu! Hey! Where are you!?"

"Ash, that's not helping!"

Bill was relieved upon hearing Ash and Misty's voices. He ran through the forest, following the sounds of their bickering until at last he managed to spot them as well as Brock and Togepi. He let out a cry to tell Ash he was there.

"Pikachu!" Ash cried with delight, noticing the yellow rodent.

Bill continued forward without worry... until a net caught him and suspended him in midair. He and the others looked up to see a Meowth hot air balloon floating in the sky, just above the trees.

As they rode in the basket, Jessie and James began the motto.

"Prepare for trouble!"

"And make it double!"

"Dey know da rest!" Meowth interrupted.

"This time, we caught your little Pikachu in a electricity-absorbing net!" James announced. "Let's see what you do about that!"

"Wobbuffet!" The patient Pokémon added and saluted.

{Loki!} Bill shouted. {How dare you break your promise to me!}

"Hey Pikachu? Who're you talking to?" Meowth inquired.

"Wobbu! Wobbu!"

It was at that moment that Bill realized Loki was no longer in Wobbuffet.

"Bayleef! Cut the net with your Razor Leaf!"

At Ash's command, the fragrant Pokémon appeared from the PokéBall Ash threw, gave an enthusiastic cry, and threw a flurry of leaves into the air, aiming at the net which held the Pikachu. The net was shredded, but the rodent didn't fall.

With quick actions, Bill grabbed onto and climbed up the rope which had previously suspended the net. There was a hole in the bottom of the basket where the rope came through, and through this hole was a powerstrip in which a fan and a radio were plugged in and hooked up to a panel which was supposed to receive electricity from the wire-like ropes which previously held him.

Bill reached up, touched this powerstrip, and released as much electrical energy as he could possibly give. The appliances turned on for awhile, sparked, and began to smoke just as Bill ran out of energy and dropped from the balloon. Ash caught him in time to see a large cloud of black smoke billowing out of the basket and a large explosion following.

Team Rocket flew into the air, charred and shocked (excuse the pun).

Just before they disappeared into a spot of light on the horizon, they cried to each other, "Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!"

"I kinda feel sorry for them," Misty commented.

"Kinda," Brock and Ash agreed in unison. "But not quite."

Bill smirked, sighed, and closed his eyes before shifting out.

~~~

"You know, if you haven't given away all that information about shifting, this wouldn't be such a bad shift."

"Hold on, Ziggy. Let me wake up first..."

Bill groaned, opened his eyes, and forced himself to sit up.

"Using up Pikachu's energy took a bit of mine as well," Bill informed her as he held his head with his right hand.

"Aww... Poor little shifter," Ziggy commented with false sympathy.

He stood up slowly and began to walk away.

"Wait! What are you going to do now?" Ziggy asked from the computer.

Bill paused before replying. "I don't know. I just need some time to think about this."

"What if..." Ziggy's gaze fell downward. "What if we don't have time?"

Bill thought for a moment. "I'll deal with whatever Team Rocket tries to throw at me. So should you."

"But..."

Bill shook his head and proceeded up the cellar steps in silence. There was a brief pause just after he left.

"Hey!" Ziggy put her hands on her hips. "He forgot to teach me about rhetorical questions!"

~~~

Loki made his way through the halls, followed closely behind by Oracle. He reached the laboratory in which Antiwarp was managed. He opened the door to find, once again, chaos. He took a few steps inside, but it wasn't long before Crocus had joined him.

"Good afternoon, Loki, sir," she greeted. "How may I help you?"

Loki glanced at his lackey and replied, "Crocus, I've found something that will take us a step closer to getting what we want out of this project."

"Really, sir? What is it?"

Loki grinned. "Control."

***

End episode 8*9*

---
Footnotes:

*1*: I know Ziggy is part of a computer and should have been programmed to know this, but when Bill first programmed her, he was only looking for a friend and found no reason to give her an understanding of certain aspects of human life and speech, such as (as mentioned above) rhetorical questions (or of "human sayings", for that matter). However, he DID program her to understand and be able to use sarcasm, but that was just an accidental piece of coding he planned on deleting in the beta version.

*2*: I'm sorta varied on Pikachu's gender. Mostly, I concider it to be a "he" because of a panel in "You Gotta Have Friends" (in Toshihiro-sama's Pikachu Shocks Back from the Dengeki Pikachuu series) in which Pikachu hugs a female Pikachu. (Or at least it LOOKS female -- but then again, males can wear flowers too, right?) Though sometimes I concider Pikachu to be a "she" due to some occurances in the anime which make it seem female... and my support of krazyshipping. (Krazyshipping. Pikachu and Meowth Love. *loves the episode "Bound for Trouble"* CUUUUTE! =D) But I guess krazyshipping could be shounen ai as well... ^_^

*3*: Though the story is supposed to be set during Satoshi and Haruka's journey through Houen, I'm not familiar with the places, Pokémon (or at least ALL of them), or moves used in the Ruby/Sapphire games. So, instead, right here I'm saying that Ash is travelling to New Bark Town, headed for the Indigo Plateau to compete in the Johto League competitions.

*4*: He's referring to the incident involving the Kabuto costume. Technically, Ash DID save Bill that time. I mean, think of it this way -- if the cook (who seems to be one of the few people who would have a reason to come up to a place as isolated as Bill's lighthouse) were gone for a longer period of time, and if Bill would be left alone for awhile longer after Ash came to his lighthouse, then well, could you live without food or water in a cramped space for who knows how long? Yeah, that's what I thought...

*5*: Several notes on this. First off, there's no way Bill could have seen Team Rocket shoot at the mystery Pokémon. Second, some people think it was a Dragonite; others don't. (I myself vary. Jokingly, I say it was Godzilla or Barney; seriously, I say that it's either Dragonite or Missingno.) However, I refer to the silhouetted Pokémon at the end of the episode as a Dragonite, only because if I said otherwise, SOMEONE'S going to comment on Bill's intelligence. Which will then make me break out my Mallet of Doom. -_- Thirdly, yes, Ash DID do this. Watch "Mystery at the Lighthouse" again to see. ^_-

*6*: Sorry about this confusing bit. It means that he was listening for something, but he didn't know what.

*7*: This is a reference to "A Way Off Day Off". Team Rocket used James's Victreebell to put Tracey, Misty, and the Pokémon to sleep before they attempted to steal all of the Pokémon with suction cups attached to cables. Simple, but effective.

*8*: Ah... The Paper Fan of Doom... *sighs with nostalgia* Whatever happened to Musashi and Kasumi's old arsenal? Paper fans, frying pans, mallets, shoes, hair 'dos... Man! Back in the first season, Musashi and Kasumi were wicked cool! And then... something happened... ^_^;

*9*: Okie dokie! Yet another end to yet another episode! Hmm... A bit short, though. Only one page more than the currently shortest episode, Damsel in Distress. And, I dunno what to say about this one. =/ Sure, it was fun to type up (exactly half of this episode WAS typed up last night because I couldn't stop typing), but I'm sure Ash-tachi fans became a bit disappointed that I hadn't focused more on Ash, Misty, and/or Brock, rather than mostly on Pikachu and Bill. But hey, if you feel that way, then according to my plans, you'll cheer up when I do season three... ^_- (Yes, I've gotten up to season three planned as of episodes, but as of story arcs, I've got four seasons in mind. Just remember, Mai-chan doesn't believe in that thing called "a life." -_-)