No excuses for how late this is. I was lazy, I was unmotivated, I ran into a block. Take your pick, all of them fit. Anyway, it's here now, so enjoy.

"It's something I've always tried to remember, ever since my own father told it to me. You're not like any other Pokémon, just like how no other Pokémon is like you, or each other."

"Hrrgggg… Hnnngggg!"

Pachirisu pushed against the bars as hard as she could, cheeks bulging out in exertion. Eventually she slid down, sighing. "No use. They still don't make the gaps Pachi sized."

"You gave it your best effort," Piplup offered her from her left. "Not even I could do better than that. Say what you will about them, but they sure know how to make metal cages." He tapped them a few times with his beak, nodding at the slight ringing sound it made. "See? Not even Happiny can break them."

"I'm better at lifting things," Happiny admitted dejectedly. "I can't get any good angels to help me."

"Angles."

"Yeah, those."

Mamoswine shifted in his place, and the whole cage shifted with him. All the Pokémon yelled out in panic. "Careful!" Ambipom told him. "If you tip over, the whole cage is going down, and we could be seriously hurt!"

"Sorry," Mamoswine winced. "It's not easy holding this much raw power within my soul, much less my entire body."

"I understand," Pachirisu assured him. "It's just a far way to the ground for some of us, and if we land on a hard cage and then have the broken parts of a hard cage land on us, it won't be pretty."

"Again," Piplup said, "they make their cages well. Just falling off from up here probably won't even break it."

Meowth shook his head. "You're givin' us too much credit," he waved off. "We just buy da boxes from wherever we can get 'em. It's de mechs you oughta be impressed by. Like dis one." He pointed down at the Bastiodon-stylized robot they were all on, which was currently resting on its four legs.

"But those break in, like, four attacks," Pachirisu retorted. "How are we supposed to be impressed by them?"

"Jimmy here makes 'em by hand," he answered, pointing at James nearby with his thumb. "He's a wiz with dis techno robot stuff."

"I'll take that as a compliment," James decided. "I'm rather proud of the paint job of this one, to be honest- seeing one in the last city really gave me the inspiration I needed. What are you talking about, anyway? It must be nice, speaking in both languages."

"Something about boxes," Jessie noted, not looking up from her magazine. "Boxes and machines. Maybe they were talking about the cage."

Piplup snapped his flipper to indicate Jessie was right, an action that nobody really paid any attention to despite its improbability.

"Why are we still here anyway?" Meowth asked, ignoring James's question. "We got de Poké's, an' dat's what we're here for, right?"

Jessie scoffed, putting her magazine away. "We're here for the Pikachu, not all of them!" She gestured grandly to the giant metal cage attached on the Bastiodon bot's shield head. "The boss has no need for these! Or if he does, it's a very small amount of need! The twerp's Pikachu is why we're here. They're just fringe benefits."

"I'm not sure he's going to show up," James said sceptically.

"He always shows up, we have his friends in a cage! He always appears when we do that!"

"It's true," Grotle stated. "He does tend to come through for us right when it matters most."

"Exactly!" James said, nodding at Grotle. "It's like he said, the twerps and Pikachu are probably out training by themselves right now, working on a surprise new strategy for their next gym!"

"Do you have to put up with this all the time?" Grotle asked Wobbuffet.

"Wobbuffet!"

"Okay, just checking."

Jessie sighed, irritated. "Now you're making me worried," she grumbled. "Where are the twerps anyway? They're usually here by now, wearing out our names."

"We should charge rent on our names," James suggested. "That way they'd have to pay us every time they say them."

"Except they'd be payin' us in special Pika-dollahs," Meowth added, "and once we get enough we can trade 'em in for a shiny new Pikachu!"

"It's perfect!" Jessie declared, flipping her hair. "A perfect plan they won't get past!"

"The twerps we'll have surpassed, and Pikachu will be ours at last!" James shouted, trying to flip his hair like Jessie did. It was a bit too short, and he gave up after a few attempts.

"And on top of dat, I'll finally be de Top Ca- MEOWCH!" Meowth yowled, having accidentally tweaked one of his whiskers while trying to flip the fur on top of his head.

Gliscor sighed. "How did we get captured by these guys?" he asked plaintively.

"Ey!" Meowth called, though it still sounded like he was in pain. "We snuck up on youse fair and square!"

"Seriously, though," James said. "Where are they? I'm starting to wonder if we should just cut our losses and come back for Pikachu some other time…"

"That might be our only option," Jessie agreed. "Plus, we don't even have them all. That Buneary's not in there."

"Nor the Buizel."

"Or de Pikachu!"

"We already knew about the Pikachu, whiskers-for-brains!"

"Yikes, just pointin' it out… touchy subject or somethin'?"

"Wobbuffet!"

"Ya know, I'm startin' to agree wid you, pal."

Piplup opened his beak to say something, but paused, listening closely. Meowth, Wobbuffet and all the other Pokémon did the same, before they all started staring in one direction, near a hill.

Jessie and James looked at each other blankly. "Why are they doing that?" Jessie asked James.

"I hear somethin," Meowth said slowly. "I tink de Pikachu's comin'! And he's got some other Pokés with him! No twerps, dough."

"We don't hear anything," James said in confusion.

"Well, dat's cause you're humans, and humans hearing really sucks," Meowth replied. All the Pokémon in the cage made varying sounds of agreement.

They all watched to the right of the bot, as the faint- but unmistakable- sound of Pikachu bounding grew louder and louder. They held their breath.

Then a Water Pulse came flying from the direction, which caught all of them off guard. It soared over the bot's head, detonating in the air and startling a few Starly out of a tree.

"Not really sure what you expected dat to do!" Meowth called out. "Unless you wanted it to go over our heads!"

"Thanks for telling me to aim lower!" Buizel's voice called, and another Water Pulse came from the same direction. This time, Wobbuffet jumped in front of it and took the attack himself, deflecting it to the side. A few seconds after, he jumped to the left to put himself between the bot and an Ice Beam.

"Alright," Meowth commented. "We saw de Buizel and de Buneary's attacks, now where's de Pikachu?"

"Like a gust of wind!"

"Ah, dere's de Pikachu," Meowth answered.

Pikachu ran in, the white aura of Quick Attack trailing behind him, as he crashed himself into Wobbuffet with full force. Not able to switch to Counter in time, Wobbuffet got knocked backwards and hit the side of the giant metal Bastiodon.

Buneary quickly hopped up the hill and stood beside Pikachu, Buizel following her. "Team Rocket!" Pikachu, Buneary and Buizel cried, almost in unison.

Jessie looked down at them, before turning to James. "Should we do it now?" she asked him.

"I don't think the twerps are going to show up at all," James decided. "We might as well, otherwise we won't get to."

"Alright," Meowth said. "Ready when you are."

The three took a deep breath, before laughing all together.

"Is that the sound of Pokémon chatter I hear?" Jessie recited.

"It's calling to me, loud and clear," James said, smirking.

"Aaand here we go," Buneary deadpanned. "Time for the Team Rocket Show. Hey, why don't we just attack them while they're distracted here?"

"Eh, it's kind of this unspoken agreement we have," Pikachu answered, waving a paw vaguely. "We don't attack them during their motto, they don't attack us during gym battles or league battles and stuff."

"And you trust them?" Buizel asked.

"I once had a gym battle against them, back in Kanto," Pikachu replied. "We can trust them to not turn on us in major events, as long as we give them this simple pleasure. Besides, if I'm telling the truth, it's pretty fun to watch."

"...Alright," Buneary decided. "I mean, it's not like we're going to be able to attack them in the motto anyway. Looks like they're finished."

"Wobbuffet!"

"Ta-dah-daaaaaaahh!"

"Ooh!" Pachirisu called down. "That was actually a pretty nice high note!"

Mime Jr. beamed at the praise.

"Alright, Team Rocket," Pikachu shouted. "You've had your fun- now hand over our friends!"

"Sure, we'll be willing to do that," Jessie drawled. "If-"

"Meowth, tell her if she says to let myself be captured, I'm Thunderbolting her."

Meowth told her.

"…I wasn't going to say it anyway," she sulked.

Buneary looked up at the machine, before squinting. "This entire robot… It all conducts electricity."

"Wait, really?" Pikachu asked, his cheeks sparking.

"Yeah," Buneary confirmed. "It's all metal. Even the part they're sitting on, I think… Hard to tell with the paint, it looks just like a real Bastiodon."

James beamed at the praise.

Pikachu chuckled. "Well, that makes things easier, I guess! Bolt of light and-"

"Hold it!" Meowth called, pointing. "Sure, dis ting conducts electricity like nobody's beeswax, but dat's on poipose! After all…" Meowth gave a grin, dark and predatory. "Ya don't wanna electrocute all your little friends in de cage, do ya?"

"Wait, WHAT?" Piplup screeched. "I didn't sign up for that! Let me out of here! Let me OUT!" The penguin hammed against the bars uselessly.

Pikachu cringed, his cheeks reabsorbing their electrical energy. "I really can't do anything about that," he admitted. "I'm limited to Iron Tail and Quick Attack, and who knows how good those will be against that…"

"Hyah!" Buizel cried, firing another Water Pulse. Wobbuffet slid in the way of the attack-

"I got it!" Mime Jr gestured, and the Water Pulse was dispelled into droplets with a carefully controlled Confusion.

Wobbuffet gave Mime Jr. a slightly insulted look, and Mime Jr. shrugged in a not-really-apologetic way.

Ignoring both of them, Buneary fired an Ice Beam at the machine. It hit the side, creating a cloud of white smoke that cleared to reveal absolutely no damage.

"Nya hahahahaha!" Meowth laughed, crossing his arms. "You see now? Dis machine is unbreakable! We've taken dis machine's one weakness and turned it against yours! Nyahaha!"

"…I'm confused," Buneary admitted. "What's our one weakness again?"

"Your compassion for your friends," Meowth elaborated, patting the cage beside him. "You can only beat us by zappin' us, and if you zap us you zap 'em. So our weakness is electricity, an' yours is you can't use your electricity without hurting your friends."

"I thought it was obvious," Piplup stated. "I suppose it must be an intellectuals-only joke."

"Hmm…" Buneary hummed, pausing for a moment and putting her paw to her chin. "How do we go about this…"

"Looks like we've got you," Jessie taunted. "Right-where-we-want-you!"

"Now are you willing to accept that surrender offer?" James said smoothly. "If you want to see all your friends again, it might just be the only option…"

Pikachu glared at him, then at Jessie, then at the cage. His cheeks sparked dangerously… before falling silent.

"If I come with you," he said quietly, "you will let them go, right?"

"Of course!" Meowth replied. He extended a claw and drew it over his heart. "I swear on de grave of my momma."

"You never knew your mother," Pikachu growled.

Meowth sighed. "I musta used dat one before," he muttered, before lowering his claw and turning back to Pikachu. "It's still your only option, ya know. Unless you want to say goodbye to all your Poképals…"

"Don't do it!" Chimchar yelled. "You're more important than us, you're what they're after!"

Pikachu was silent for a long while. He glanced at the cage, then at Team Rocket. Then at Buneary, and back to the cage.

"He's gonna do it," Jessie whispered delightedly. "He's totally gonna do it!"

James puffed his chest our proudly. "It was the paint job," he declared. "He must've been intimidated by the amazing paint job."

"Or my stupendous plan," Meowth countered. "You need a plan, Meowth's your mon!"

"I'm fairly certain that's not how it goes," Jessie muttered, watching him from the corner of her eye.

"Wobbuffet!"

The trio went awkwardly silent for a few seconds, before looking down at Pikachu. "Hey," Meowth called. "We're waiting for an answer here. Come on, we can't make jokes forever."

Pikachu looked back at Team Rocket for a few seconds, and then turned to Buneary. "I don't think I can do any more," he told her quietly. "If I wait any longer, they'll realize I'm stalling for time. You got a plan yet?"

"I think so." Buneary nodded, before looking at the mecha nervously. "I really don't know if it'll work though…"

Buizel shrugged. "Whatever it is, it's worth a shot. Unless it could go horribly wrong."

"It involves Pikachu potentially shocking all our friends."

"That, uh," Pikachu began. "That definitely falls into the 'could go horribly wrong' category."

"There's just one thing I need to check." Buneary turned back to the Bastiodon bot. "Is it all conductive? Like, if it's shocked, we know it'll electrocute the cage, but will it also electrocute Team Rocket?"

"Doubtful," Buizel scoffed. "Do you really trust them to keep their word?"

Pikachu looked back at the robot. At Jessie, James and Meowth watching them, some more patiently than others. At all of his friends in the cage atop the robot's head.

"Honestly?" Pikachu said. "Yeah. James likes a fair fight. Jessie and Meowth, not so much, but James is the one that actually made the robot."

Buneary smiled. "I think it'll work then," she decided.

"Uh oh…" Meowth turned to his partners anxiously. "I'm worried, you guys. You see dat smile? She only smiles like dat when she's got a plan…"

"Oh, don't worry about it," Jessie dismissed. "What could she possibly do to stop us? We've got them pinned against a wall!"

"Yeah, but de cornered rat often bites de cat…"

Buneary turned to the robot. She took a deep breath, raised her arms and paws to her mouth… and shouted.

"EVERYBODY HUG THE MAMOSWINE!"

"Wha- YES!" Mamoswine cried, realizing what she was getting at. "Hug me, my brothers and sisters! Let me be your shield!"

"Aw, no! No no no no- don't hug de Mamoswine!" Meowth cried, trying to reach into the cage. "You stop dat! Stay away from de Mamoswine, ya hear me?!"

Buizel turned to look at Buneary. "Ground type?" he asked.

"Ground type," she answered, a fair amount of smugness on her face. "I just wanted to make sure it would actually hit those three anyway." They turned to watch the cage, and all the voices coming from it.

"Alright, I'm on top of the Mamoswine's head. That counts, right?"

"Hey Croagunk, you wanna hug Mamoswine? It'll probably make it hurt less."

"Gliscor, if I may be so bold as to ask, why are you hugging our fine groundbound friend? You possess the same natural immunities that he does!"

"Well, yeah, but if I don't then I'll be the only one not hugging him and then I'll feel awkward…"

"Seriously, Croagunk, are you coming or not?"

"Get away from da Mamoswine! Shoo, shoo! Aw, I knew dis was too good ta be true…"

"And now it's got Meowth feeling all blue," Pikachu finished. "Hey, Buneary."

"Hmm?" Buneary turned to look at Pikachu.

"Nice plan." He flashed her a quick grin. "Don't know how I would've gotten out of this one, to be honest."

"Eh, heh heh…" Buneary let out a nervous giggle, caught off-guard by his sudden praise. "You know, I couldn't just do nothing, so… It really wasn't much…"

Pikachu's smile grew softer. "It was to me."

Buneary gave a smile of her own, matching his. "Well… You're welcome, I guess." She looked back at him, doing her best not to blush.

The mood was abruptly shattered by Buizel's annoyed groan. "Seriously, you two?" He put a hand on each of their shoulders. "A: this is neither the time nor the place. And B: either kiss, or don't. Stop hanging out in this gray area you're always hanging out in."

"You know what, Buizel?" Pikachu asked, stepping back and not losing his smile. "I'm in too good a mood for your teasing to get to me. She just saved me, I'm allowed to be happy."

Buizel looked at him for a moment, noticing how he had seemingly snapped out of it. Then he turned to look at Buneary, whose face seemed to be doing its best impression of a Fire-type. Not that it was easy to tell, with how she was hiding it. At least I got one of them, he thought with a mental chuckle.

"Hey, Pikachu!" Mamoswine called down. "Every friend is in hug position! You're free to fire whenever you're ready!"

"Alright!" Pikachu replied, getting into position. His cheeks flashed once, twice, then started to crackle.

James gulped. "I think this is the end of this run…" he muttered.

"We had a good chance," Jessie sighed. "Maybe next time, keep that pig in a different cage."

"Guys," Meowth said. "Whatever happens here, just know that I love ya."

Pikachu smirked. This was always his favorite part.

"Bolt of light and break of sky!"

The lightning arced towards the robot, eventually reaching it and lighting it up brighter than the sun. For Mamoswine and all his friends hugging him, all they felt was a slight tingle, like a feather brushing against them, before the charge reached Mamoswine and dissipated.

For Team Rocket, it was… worse. There was an explosion, and they went sailing off.

"My paint job," James whined, tears flowing from his face. "I spent hours on that, and now it's all char and rust…"

"It was such a good plan, too," Jessie lamented. "But they left us in the dust."

"What a bust," Meowth shrugged. "Ah well, next time we go for Pika Dollahs."

"I didn't even get to do any ramming in it…" James sniffed.

"TEAM ROCKET'S BLASTING OFF AGAAAIIIiiiiiinnnn!" There was a twinkle in the sky, and then they were gone.

Ah, Team Rocket. Some of the most entertaining characters to write. I'll be honest, it was mostly them that made me get up and do this.

Anyway, you can hopefully expect the next part sooner than this. See ya! …Oh, and here's your obligatory spicy meme.

Pikachu smirked. This was always his favorite part.

"Bolt of light and break of sky!"

The lightning arced towards the robot, eventually reaching it and lighting it up brighter than the sun. For Mamoswine and all his friends hugging him, all they felt was an intense burning sensation as the electricity coursed through their bodies. Everyone let out simultaneous screams of agony as the pain stabbed them from all directions. Piplup, being especially weak to this, was the first to fall as his heart stopped beating. One after another, the others followed him as they passed into another life. Though he took no physical pain, Mamoswine too fell, his soul having shattered from the knowledge that he failed to protect his friends.

"Huh," Buneary said. "I thought that'd work."

"Buneary," Pikachu said seriously. "You're dead to me."

"No u," Buneary replied eloquently. Pikachu had a heart attack and died and went straight to heck.