A/N: Finally done. That's what happens when I send little emails to myself.

Enjoy.

The Marion City Gym

Chapter 3 – A Psychic Cutting Edge

The gym patrons sprinted through the Gym, followed quickly by the challenging-trio. The place turned out to be rather designed like a Shinto temple as they weaved through wards and closed-off rooms and a few twists and turns before coming out in the back. The gate was a wooden one, but currently in splinters, pieces spewed across the cement and the leaves that constantly coated it.

'Pika!'

But Pikachu's pointing was hardly necessary; they could all see the massive machine that had caused the damage.

And it didn't take a genius to realise what they had accomplished either.

'Where do you think you're going with those Pokémon?' Ryuu growled, looking somewhat like a feral bear (and his back, hunched from old age, helped that image bear fruit).

'Why, we'll open our own Gym of course,' a female voice replied. One that was very familiar to the trio of young trainers.

'Team Rocket.' Brock hit his forehead with the flat of his palm. 'They always show up at the wrong moments.'

'You interrupted our Gym Battle!' Ash shouted up to the two teens, peering through their glass capsule.

'So what?' Jessie asked, flicking her long hair back. 'As far as we're concerned, that's an added bonus.'

'You know them?' Koji asked coolly, although he sounded like he was toning down his choice of words.

'Let's just say they're a bunch of trouble-makers,' Misty muttered under her breath; unfortunately, Team Rocket heard the trigger word and launched into their motto.

The result was everyone had blocked their ears – even the acting Gym-leader who looked as though he didn't get fazed quite often. He simply glared daggers at the machine, removing his hands from his ears once the lips stopped moving.

'Ah, that's some tough material,' James commented, following the stare. 'And one hundred percent recycled too. Not to mention resistant to Psychic attacks.'

Koji rolled his eyes at that; the tone was like one of misguided accomplishment. 'Yeah?' he said. 'Well, I'm not a Psychic trainer.' He reached for one of his own Poke-balls, separate from the Gym ones he'd been using throughout the battle. 'Gallade-'

He never got to finish because several things interrupted. Firstly was Jessie looking at the captive group inside steel confinement. 'I wonder how many trainers we can beat with this lot.'

Then there was Misty's: 'But Gallade is a Psychic type.'

And Brock's correction: 'It's actually half-Psychic and half-'

And another voice, answering Jessie's sky-dream comment. One that didn't belong to any of them, but was none-the-less recognised by all.

'It takes more than strong Pokémon to be a Gym Leader.'

Funnily enough, Koji stiffened at the voice, before withdrawing his hand from his Poke-ball. 'Hi Koichi,' he mumbled, going a tad red as the speaker stepped into view.

Koichi either didn't hear or simply chose not to reply in lieu of the situation he had walked in on. Surprisingly though, he didn't look in the least surprised.

'Gardevior,' he ordered. A hyper-beam hit the machine within seconds.

Jessie and James looked at the hole through the hull, before glaring at Meowth.

The feline scratched his head. 'I think it's only resistant to Psychic attacks, not Pokémon,' he admitted sheepishly. 'And I guess our recycled material isn't that cut out.'

'Well, we're not losing them,' the red-head said determinantly, Wobbafet popping up behind her. 'Wobbafet, get out there!'

'Wobba?' he cried, before initiating a counter attack to block the second hyper-beam.

'Strong counter,' Ryuu mused as Ash, Misty and Brock 'eeped.

'How did Gardevior even recharge that fast?' the Pewter ex-Gym Leader asked?

'Don't worry about that now-

'Don't worry,' Koji cut off. 'That counter's not strong enough.'

He was met with three confused gazes, but Koichi's next command soon rectified that.

'Reflect.'

And the hyper-beam bounced straight back to Team Rocket.

'Where did you come from anyway?' Ash asked as a second counter failed to reflect the blast.

No-body replied.

'Let my Pokémon go,' the black-haired boy said, another Poke-ball in hand. Koji went to stand beside them, and for a moment the challenging trio were seeing double.

'So I guess he was the Gym Leader all this time,' Brock said. 'Funny how we wound up ahead of him.'

'What?' Ash asked, a little later. Somehow, the puzzle pieces clicking into place had been lost on him.

But their attention went back to Team Rocket as they simultaneously stood, Poke-balls in hand.

Koichi just cocked his head a little. Koji winced. 'They're not going to make a pretty picture when my brother's finished with them.'

When Arbok and Wheezing took the stage, they were immediately tossed into the semi-wreckage with a Psychic attack.

'I almost feel sorry for them,' Misty mused aloud. 'They never stand a chance.'

'If that's the case,' Brock pointed out. 'How do we always get to this stage?'

No-one had an answer to that.

'Let my Pokémon go,' Koichi repeated, a dangerous edge in his voice.

'No!' Meowth declared, scurrying into the half-standing machine. 'We still have a few tricks up our-'

'Psychic,' the Gym Leader interrupted, and Gardevior's eyes glowed blue.

'Psychic won't work,' Jessie said confidently, before turning to James. 'It won't, right?'

'Meowth?' the blue-haired teen asked.

'Umm…' There was the sound of scratching. 'It shouldn't, but –' Metal bits rattled somewhere inside. The Pokémon gulped. 'Uhh…'

'It's –' Ryuu began, but didn't bother finishing his comment as Koichi released the remaining Pokémon he carried; Venomoth and Starmie they all recognised but the Umbreon was foreign to them all.

They didn't even need to be told to use Psychic; they simply did so. And their combined efforts were enough to completely dismantle the tall (and now useless) machine.

'Uh oh,' James managed, before they were surrounded by a horde of semi-psychic Pokémon.

'Meowth, balloon!'

'Rog –' the feline began, before being interrupted by a vine-whip from a Bayleaf. 'Uhh…'

'Maybe we should run now,' James suggested.

A Ghastly floating up to Jessie's face solidified her agreement.

The pair of brothers (presumably twins from the identical faces) watched with identical poker expressions as Team Rocket fled.

'Is that normal?' Koichi asked finally.

'Define normal,' Koji muttered, the same time Misty commented: 'I'm surprised they didn't "blast" off.'

'I suppose even they realise that being attacked by –' Brock broke off as he counted., before blinking as the number suddenly decreased. 'Sixteen Pokémon is a little unmanageable?'

'Ghastly's hypnosis,' the Gym leader explained. 'And they know how to pull their punches.' He smiled at the Pokémon, leaning down and offering an arm to Oddish, the other to Smoochum. 'Let's head back in guys.'

'Koichi,' his grandfather reminded, and the blue eyes widened.

'Oh. Whoops.' He laughed sheepishly. 'I didn't introduce myself properly, did I? I'm Koichi Kimura, the Gym Leader of the Marion City Gym.'

'You could have told us that when we met you last time,' Ash groaned, somewhat disappointed he hadn't been able to finish his previous battle or beat Team Rocket.

'I didn't know you were heading for the Johto league,' the dark haired boy pointed out.

'I find that hard to believe,' Koji interjected.

'Oh?' The other raised an eyebrow, and somehow the action made him look rather frightening as opposed to the effect it had on his twin. 'Why is that dear little brother?'

A curious blush painted the other's cheeks. 'Don't call me that. And you train psychic Pokémon.'

'I can't read minds.'

'Except Gardevior's.'

'Except Gardevior's,' Koichi agreed, eyeing the female Pokémon as she glared at his brother. 'Go with the others.'

The Psychic woman eyed Koji once more before leaving.

Koji breathed a sigh of relief. 'I thought she was going to fry me. Not that it was my fault,' he added hurriedly.

'I shouldn't think so.' It was said easily enough.

'Sometimes I think that Gardevior of yours is a little too loyal.'

'Huh?'

The twins turned around to stare at Ash, before Koichi laughed sheepishly again. 'We're getting carried away here.' He looked at the trio, but before he could speak, Ash opened his mouth again.

'I challenge you to a battle.'

'Not right now.'

Ash blinked. That wasn't the answer he had expected.

'How come?'

Koichi waved a hand at the mess Team Rocket let behind. 'We'll have to fix this up before the kids show up –'

'Teacher!' There was a squeal next to the broken gate, and Bayleaf was suddenly bounding back to stop the child.

Koji stared at Koichi. 'I thought you said you can only read Gardevior's mind.'

Koichi shrugged. 'I'd call that instinct, not mind-reading. Besides, all I did was think about splinters.'

He waved at Gardevior's shadow by the screen.

Misty decided that she much preferred this Psychic Gym Leader to Sabrina, but they all came out rather unusual. She wondered if that was just a consequence of training the unusual type; every Psychic trainer she'd met was unusual.

'Yay, teacher's back.' The child ran back off as Bayleaf came over again.

'And teach the class,' Koichi added to his list of reasons. 'How about you guys stay for dinner and we'll battle under the moon.'

'A moonlight battle huh.' Ash looked at Pikachu, who nodded. He grinned. 'Sounds like fun.'

'It's settled then,' Ryuu said. 'You two boys get to fixing that fence with your Pokémon. Koji, you're on cooking duty.' He paused. 'Actually, I'll cook. You'll burn the kitchen down.'

Koichi stifled a laugh at Koji's red face.

'I'll cook,' Brock offered. 'I've been meaning to make dumplings but the weather just hasn't been good.'

'I guess we'll help with the fence then,' Ash said, pulling out his Pokeballs.

'Hold it young man.'

The boy almost fell over from loss of balance.

'I take it you forgot your Pokémon were just in a battle.' The old man's voice was stern.'

'Ah, no, I-'

'This way.' And he dragged the aspiring trainer away. 'Chansey, you come too.'

'Chansey?' Misty asked. 'Nurse Joy's?'

'Yes,' Koichi nodded. 'Since the Pokémon centre is being renovated, the larger Pokemon facilities have a Chansey rooming with them and the rest are with Nurse Joy on call.'

'Interesting,' Brock mused. 'I suppose it saves challengers from having to travel to the Pokémon centre.'

Surprisingly, Koichi blushed at that.

Koji grinned, ready for payback. 'He's the kindest person in the world, but he's as stubborn as hell, and if you make him lose his temper, he's as bad as a cat in –'

'Koji!' Koichi yelled, face beet red. Luckily, he managed to drown out the last word.