"…you know, Ash, I just had a thought," Misty mused, one evening. "Ever thought of becoming a Gym Leader?"

"Huh?" Ash replied. "I guess I do have three Electric-types, now."

Zapdos stretched her wings. "Aren't Gym Leaders supposed to give an appropriate challenge? That might be a bit difficult to keep up… for all of us, Pikachu included."

"It doesn't have to be the Electric-type, though, yeah, you do have three," Misty agreed. "You've got loads of Dragon types, though. You could have a Dragon gym, except that it would just consist of Dratinis everywhere."

Ash sniggered.

"That reminds me, though, I should probably check on Raikou," he added, reaching for the Safari Ball on his belt. "I had this idea for her training against Zapdos so that Zapdos can deal with Pokémon coming from the ground, and so Raikou can train against airborne Pokémon."

He threw the ball. "Come on out!"

A white flash announced the Safari Ball opening, and Suicune landed on the grass next to them feline grace.

"...what." Misty stated.

"Huh," Ash said, looking at the Safari Ball. "I think this is the same one… uh, Pikachu, we did catch twenty-nine Dratini, right?"

"I counted," Pikachu supplied. "Not least because I could barely believe what was going on by the end."

"How." Misty declared.

"Is something wrong?" Suicune asked, the faintest edge of a smirk playing over her muzzle. "You did want to speak to me, right?"

"Even you, Ash," Misty groaned. "How do you catch a Legendary Pokémon without even noticing?"

"I'm pretty sure this is Raikou's ball," Ash said. "Or, uh, the ball I caught Raikou in, anyway."

"Don't ask me," Suicune shrugged. "It's good to get away from Father sometimes, though."

Ash considered, then decided that it was a problem for another time. "So what moves do you know, then, Suicune? I want to see if Misty's got any ideas for filling in holes in your tactics."

"Extremespeed," Suicune answered. "Water Pulse, and Aurora Beam."

"Right," Ash said, thinking hard. "Extremespeed, Water Pulse, Aurora Beam. So… you need something to deal with Electric types, and something for Ghost types, and you're not set up great for Water or Ice types either."

Misty considered.

"There's something I've heard of but which isn't really practical for most Water-type Pokémon," she volunteered. "It's the kind of thing that takes a lot of both skill and power, but… we think of the Water type as just weak to the Electric-type, but there's a few ways to mess that up. You're Suicune so Muddy Water wouldn't work, or it'd make something go wrong somehow because it's not pure water, but if you could make either really pure water or really salty water then it could act as a shield against electrical attacks. It'd just need to be done different ways…"

A few days after that, there was a problem with the Pokémon Transfer System.

"Oh, I know what the problem is," Primeape announced, just as soon as Dr. Akihabara had finished talking about his new digital Pokémon, Porygon. "What you need to do is to teach Porygon some new moves."

He slipped both boxing gloves off, steepled his fingers, and cracked his joints. Then pulled a nearby keyboard over and started typing.

"Hey!" Dr. Akihabara complained. "What are you doing? That's a delicate bit of equipment!"

"Primeape said that he was teaching the Porygon new moves," Ash said. "And I guess that could work… what did Porygon say the problem was?"

"Excuse me?" Dr. Akihabara said. "What do you mean, what did Porygon say the problem was? Porygon's a Pokémon."

He adjusted his glasses. "Admittedly, you can apparently understand them, but I can't!"

"But Porygon is a digital Pokémon, so it thinks much quicker, right?" Ash asked. "Computers think quicker than people do, I know that much, and Pokémon can learn to speak. Hoopa does, and even though I think Hoopa's a Psychic type there's this Meowth we know as well and he's learned how to speak. So it can't be that hard."

"Ash, there's a reason we think of Team Rocket's Meowth as really weird," Brock informed him. "It's really hard for a Pokémon to learn to speak the human language."

"Do they try?" Ash checked. "Because understanding Pokémon isn't that hard, and I know Zorua can speak like other Pokémon or they'd give themselves away the moment they started to say anything… and that's not really something people talk about Zorua being able to do. But there's Chatot, they can copy sounds better… anyway, it seems like a computer Pokémon should be able to learn really easily."

"There we go," Primeape announced. "I taught Porygon a few new moves."

"That sounds like it'll help!" Ash grinned. "Like what?"

"Oh, you know," Primeape shrugged. "The usual."

"We stole loads of Pokémon," James reported. "And it was all going so well."

"Den dat Doctor guy sent another Porygon into the computer," Meowth added. "An' it used Hydro Cannon, an' Zap Cannon, and some kinda attack with ice that was also on fire, an' blew us clean out of the system."

Giovanni looked at them in silence for several seconds, then poured himself a mug of drink out of a small bottle next to his desk.

He drank the entire mug without saying a word.

"We did manage to keep the Porygon, though," Jessie said. "Though, uh… Meowth says it doesn't want to go back into a computer system now."

Misty yawned, struggling her way out of sleep, then rolled over onto Starmie.

"Ow," she said, the impact mostly waking her up. "What just… oh, really?"

Sitting up, she crossed her arms and pouted. "Stupid ungrateful Jigglypuff…"

Misty sighed, and looked around the clearing.

It looked like nobody else was up yet, except for Starmie, who had a weird frowny-face pattern drawn on its gem.

"...wait, really?" Misty asked, noticing that Brock also had something written on his face. "Starmie, can you use Reflect for me?"

A shimmer appeared in the air, and Misty scowled.

"What a jerk. And after we helped her learn to sing, too…"

Rummaging around in her bag for her towel, Misty checked to see if anyone had escaped unscathed.

It didn't look like it, because there were marker patterns drawn on Pikachu, Charmander, Eevee, Ash, Geodude, Squirtle… Brock and Starmie… Mew…

"Mew?" Misty said, suddenly not quite believing her eyes.

Huh? A telepathic voice asked. I'm up, I'm up…

The pink Mew lifted itself up into the air, rubbing at its eyes, then saw Misty looking at it.

Looked down at itself.

Back at Misty.

Um… oh crap, it said, tail twisting into a corkscrew, and vanished in a flash of light.

"Well…" Misty began, frowning. "I… guess that might explain a few things?"

"What might?" Ash said. "Hey, Misty, did you know someone drew all over your face?"

"Did you know there was a Mew travelling with us?" Misty replied.

"I kind of thought maybe?" Ash replied. "I wasn't sure, though… oh, hold on, that's actually a bit of a problem."

He returned Charmander, sent out the Pokémon from his Safari Ball (which turned out to be Entei, this time) and grabbed Pikachu. "I'll be right back, just need to take care of something!"

"Ash, wait-" Misty called, but it was too late as Ash and Entei went rocketing off to the north.

"...I'm sorry, can you repeat that?" Erika requested.

"I found out that the Mankey I used in my gym challenge was actually not a Mankey," Ash explained. "So I didn't properly do your challenge. I was wondering if I should battle you again?"

Erika's gaze went from the young trainer to the Entei inspecting a bed of lobelias.

"Under the circumstances," she said, "I'm not going to make you challenge again."

"Sorry I haven't used you yet," Ash told the Dratini in front of him, kneeling down so he was on Dratini's level. "It kind of didn't work out that way. How has it been back at Pallet Town?"

"Dragonite's pretty good! He's kind of overworked because there's so many of us, but he's always smiling, and we get to spend time outside at the ranch," Dratini replied. "There's lots of Pokémon there, but some of them are too big to hug. Actually a lot of them are too big to hug. But they mostly understand it when I try."

"I get it," Ash agreed. "It's good when people understand that what you're trying to do is make friends, huh?"

He scratched Dratini under the chin. "Think you'd be okay with learning to battle?"

"I think so," Dratini agreed, with a quick up-and-down nod. "Oh, does that mean you're going to be one of my teammates, Pikachu?"

"That's the plan," Pikachu agreed. "One of our team members turned out to be Mew and teleported away, which… is the sort of thing I'm starting to expect by now."

"One big question is what to teach Dratini," Ash said, opening his Pokedex. "Uh… you already know Wrap and Twister, that's pretty good. How's your aim on those?"

"Wrap's easy to aim," Dratini said. "It's like a hug with attitude."

He twisted around. "But Twister kind of… keeps missing."

"Then that's something we can work on!" Ash decided. "And another good thing to learn would be Iron Tail, in case you have to battle a Fairy-type."

"Oh, that's something I can work with him on," Pikachu volunteered. "Or Charmander could. It's a useful move."

"How are we going to get to Cinnabar, anyway?" Ash asked. "Isn't it, um, an island?"

"Well, yeah, that's what the word Island in Cinnabar Island usually means," Misty said.

"Then… yeah, same question," Ash said. "Because we've got, um… well, if it's Suicune today she could run across the water. So that's one. And Zapdos could carry one of us, so that's two!"

Misty winced. "I'm not sure I'd want to fly on a Zapdos – no offence, Zapdos, but I'm allergic to being electrocuted."

Brock shivered. "I think I just felt that glare, and Zapdos is inside her Pokéball right now. But I get your point, Ash. None of my Pokémon could transport anyone to Cinnabar, unless Geodude's got much better endurance than I'm expecting and I'm willing to stand on a surfboard the whole way."

"Goldeen could probably tow me the whole way, but that'd be really exhausting for me," Misty admitted. "I guess we're down to the last resort… actually taking a ferry."

"Wow," Ash said. "Kind of easy to forget that's an option, sometimes."

Pikachu rolled his eyes. "You're not the one whose first experience to human culture was less than a year ago," he said, then paused.

Thought seriously about his trainer.

"Okay, you had at least a theoretical chance to pick up on it in the first place," he amended.

"Honestly, taking a ferry is probably the better option anyway," Misty added. "If you're going to challenge a gym on Cinnabar, I mean. It's a lot more relaxing, for you and for your Pokémon."

"Ash!" someone called. "Long time no smell!"

The friends looked up, seeing Gary standing in the road in front of them.

"Uh…" Ash said. "What's with the outfit?"

"This place is great for fossils," Gary explained. "And you can't go prospecting without the right outfit. It'd be really unstylish if you just did it in your normal travel clothes."

He crossed his arms, hanging the pickaxe on his belt. "But that's just why I'm here generally. If you want a battle, I'm up for it – you'll see how I've improved in the last few months!"

"Sure!" Ash agreed. "Would you rather I didn't use Zapdos or, uh…"

He glanced down. "...whichever one of the Beasts it is today? I guess Dratini needs a workout."

"Are you two planning to have a Pokémon battle?" someone asked, coming over. "Because the whole area's officially considered unstable. If you have a big battle you might cause a collapse."

"Aww," Ash groaned. "Really?"

"We'd rather not have some of the archaeologists turned into fossils," the man said. "Your Pokémon can help dig, but they have to be careful."

"I bet Geodude can help out," Brock said. "And Misty, your Pokémon could help wash away loose soil and rock. That'd be helpful too, sometimes a fossil only shows up when you clean the rock."

Gary gave Brock a considering look.

"I didn't realize you were a fossil hunter," he admitted.

"I'm a Rock type gym leader," Brock pointed out. "Quite a lot of the Pokémon I can use as a Gym Leader are Fossils."

"Oh, and Ash?" Gary added. "No. I want you to use Zapdos. And whatever else your crazy team is now. I want to get good enough to beat your Pokémon, and to do it without you going easy on me, and to feel smug about it!"

He adjusted his hat. "Besides, I've got a few tricks of my own, Ashy-boy. We'll have a proper battle one day."

"Ash," Pikachu began, some minutes later. "I sort of think you should buy a lottery ticket, but I'm not sure if you'd win, or the whole place would explode, or both."

"Hey, it's not that unlikely, right?" Ash asked, looking at the hole in the roof.

It had been a hole in the floor when it appeared, but because it had appeared underneath Ash and Pikachu it was now a hole in the roof.

"They did say this place was unstable – whoa!"

"Ash!" Pikachu yelped, as an Aerodactyl snagged Ash by both shoulders and pulled him into the air.

"At last, something fresh!" the Aerodactyl cawed. "I've been-"

Zapdos emerged from her Pokéball.

"Ahem," she said, clearing her throat. "That's my trainer you're carrying there."

"What's a trainer?" Aerodactyl asked.

"Someone with a higher electricity tolerance than you," Zapdos answered. "Drop him. Now."

Aerodactyl hissed.

Then something tapped him on the foot.

"Excuse me," Dratini said, sitting on Ash's head. "But I think there's something you haven't considered."

"What?" Aerodactyl asked, now very annoyed.

"Twister," Dratini explained.

"Twister?" Aerodactyl repeated.

Twister, Dratini used.

The burst of Dragon-type energy sent Ash and Aerodactyl flying in different directions, even as Dratini returned himself, but unfortunately Aerodactyl went straight towards Zapdos and she couldn't see which way Ash had gone.

"Ash!" she called.

"Ash!" Pikachu shouted.

There was a flash of brilliant white light.

"It's okay, I've got you," Charizard said. "Now, uh… can we land really quickly? Because these wing things are new and if I think about them too much I'm going to realize I don't know how to work them…"

"I didn't know your Charmander had evolved into a Charizard, Ash," Gary said, after they'd landed.

Ash glanced back at the Charizard in question, who was currently getting advice from Zapdos about how wings worked. "Yeah, it was really helpful he did! I guess Zapdos would have caught me anyway, but…"

"Wait, hold on," Misty requested. "Ash, he was a Charmander last night. I didn't know he'd evolved into a Charmeleon."

"He kind of hadn't," Pikachu advised.

"Pikachu's right," Ash agreed. "He hadn't evolved into a Charmeleon yet. He just kind of… went straight to Charizard."

"Is that a new record?" Misty said. "Or does your Butterfree still count?"

She paused. "Wait a minute…"

"Yeah, I don't think that one counts," Ash agreed. "I'm pretty sure they were Mew too."

"What's a Mewtwo?" Gary said. "Is that a new Pokémon you've run into?"

"He means he thinks two of his Pokémon so far have been Mew," Misty clarified. "This is what we've been dealing with this whole time, by the way, so lucky you."

"Hey! Hey, Ash!"

Claws scrabbled on the edge of the hole Ash had fallen down a few minutes ago, and Zorua clambered back out.

"Weren't you in your Pokéball?" Ash asked.

"Yeah, but then I got out," Zorua replied. "And I'm glad I did, because there's some amazing stuff down there! More of those weird fossilized Pokémon, and there's an egg down there too!"

He tilted his head. "And one of the fossil Pokemon's really weird."

"So, you're one of those 'humans', then," the fossil said, leaning down to inspect Ash carefully.

They had to do quite a lot of leaning down. Their back half was enormous, a pair of green legs with a huge tail out behind, and the front half was a comparatively tiny wizened dinosaur with red cheeks.

"That's right!" Ash agreed. "And what Pokémon are you?"

"Eh? Pokémon?" the fossil asked. "What's one of them?"

It had quite a hoarse voice. "Is it like one of those new-fangled Fairy types?"

"A Pokémon is what we call, uh, I think one of my friends said they used to be called Maiju," Ash replied. "But, wait, no, that word's probably too new for you as well… it's basically a word for anything that's not a human? Anything that can use attacks?"

"Oh, one of those things," the fossil said. "Guess you can call me Dracozolt. I've seen a lot in my time, but I've never seen a human before."

Dracozolt leaned down towards Ash. "Seems to me like you could do me a favour showing me the world, young whippersnapper!"

"I-" Ash began, but then Misty grabbed him by the ear and dragged him around a corner.

"Ash," Misty began, with a slightly pleading tone. "You do realize how incredibly likely it is that that's Mew, right?"

"Well… I think Dracozolt might be Mew, yeah," Ash agreed. "But if that's what Mew wants to do, then I'm not going to complain, and if that isn't Mew then it'd be kind of rude to accuse a new Pokémon of being Mew in disguise. Right?"

Misty stared at him.

Then looked down at Pikachu.

"What?" Pikachu asked. "He's your species."

Over the next ten minutes, Ash found out that his new friend described themselves as 'older than the concept of gender'.

After that, and after an argument about what to do with the Pokémon egg Zorua had found (the conclusion being that they'd see what the new Pokémon thought when they hatched), Ash held out a Pokéball for Dracozolt.

"Great to have you on the team!" he said, as they touched the Pokéball.

Dracozolt vanished.

A moment later, so did the Pokéball.

"Oh, that's right," Ash realized. "I've got Pikachu, Charizard, Dratini, Zapdos, Zorua, and… whoever's in the other Safari Ball right now… so that means they were my seventh. So they went back to Oak Ranch."

He grinned. "I guess that means they'll get to meet all of your Pokémon, Gary! Now, what's for lunch?"

"Let's find out," Brock said. "Probably best to do it outside, though, or we might all end up having a pile of rock cakes."

"Well, Ash has been making up for lost time in capturing unusual Pokémon, I must say," Professor Oak said, inspecting the big Electric-Dragon type, then consulting the Pokedex.

As he'd half expected, it blandly informed him there was NO DATA.

Dracozolt waited until he was done, then stomped with a vague approximation of care out the lab door and into the field.

"I hope they get on with the Dratini," Oak mused.

Outside, Dracozolt crouched down next to a tangle of more than two dozen Dratini.

"Hey, kids!" they said. "Who wants to learn Fire Punch?"

"We don't have fists," one of the Dratini protested.

"We never let that stop us in the Mesozoic!" Dracozolt insisted.

AN:

There's a lot of nonsense between these two gyms.