The two emerged from the cover of the trees to find Pikachu and Squirtle talking.

"So...what did he DO!?" Pikachu asked.

"He basically refused to cooperate with the team dynamic. He was always really selfish when it came to heists. Like, we broke into an apartment building one night and he-"

"Wait wait wait...You WHAT!?"

"I'm telling you, the Squirtle Squad has been around a lot longer than you think. Anyway, be did a B&E on some woman's apartment one night. We weren't going to sack the place blind or anything. Just take enough to meet our weekly quota and little enough so that what was missing wouldn't be noticed for about a day or two." Squirtle explained.

"You're talking about this like it was a business."

"Hey, I wasn't exaggerating when I said I was good at this. Anyway, this woman lived like a queen. I told the Squad to take only the usual stuff. Tall, stupid and ugly back there took it too far. He vandalized half the apartment, broke open the safe in the bedroom, and stuffed everything he could find in there in his shell. He made so much noise, the neighbors called the cops. We cheesed it, sure, but it was too close. Our locksmith got caught twenty feet from the sewers. Last we saw of him, he was being sent off to some ranch and we never heard from him again. This wasn't the first problem that Squirtle caused. We all voted him out that night. Sure, he was our Bruiser, but we got along fine without him. He wasn't paying nearly what he was worth."

"How...how have I never heard of this before?" Pikachu stammered.

"Because you never asked." Replied Squirtle, nonchalantly scratching his head. Pikachu continued to stare. Squirtle awkwardly shifted under his gaze and looked around for a way to change the subject.

"Hey! Bulbasaur!" he shouted, finding one. Ash and Bulbasaur walked forward to meet the two Pokemon.

"Hey guys." Pikachu said. He pointed to Squirtle. "Hey, did you know that Squirtle is really, really hardcore?"

"More like troublemaker." said Bulbasaur. "Every Pokemon here is going to be in a frenzy about this for weeks. I've managed to keep fights like this suppressed for a while, but you've probably doubled my workload. It'll take a week before I can crack down on the nightly fight clubs that pop up when this kind of things happens."

"But..." Squirtle scratched the back of his neck ashamedly. "I don't understand. What did I do wrong?"

"Every once in a while, a Pokemon decides that another Pokemon needs to get his face smashed in. And as we all know, human or Pokemon, crowds love to watch a fight. If one actually breaks out, it inspires others to do the same, though thankfully, they're mostly sparring matches."

"Oh come on!" Squirtle shouted. "You can't demonize me like that! I know that Wartortle! He's a bastard! Can you honestly tell me that he was a model citizen around here!?"

"No. You're right. He is a bastard and I know how stupid he is. But there are other options than stomping on his face until his teeth come flying out!" Bulbasaur said.

"You don't understand. I kept that guy under my roof for-"

"Yeah yeah yeah, I get it. You know how he works and violence is the only language he understands. Well, Squirtle, who said you ever had to go to him directly? There's easier ways around these kinds of problems."

"Not all of us are as smart as you are, Bulbasaur." Pikachu chimed in. "And I think that, every once in a while, some Pokemon just need to get their asses beat."

"You're right." said Bulbasaur. "I agree with you. Some do. I'm not enough of a pseudo-intellectual to deny that. I'm just letting you guys know to NOT do that again. Not here."

"Alright, smarty-pants. I won't." Squirtle stepped forward and started to scratch the top of Bulbasaur's head.

"Stop it!" Bulbasaur said. He shook Squirtle's hand off and backed away.

"SNEAK ATTACK!" Pikachu shouted as he tackled Bulbasaur again. Ash laughed as his Pokemon wrestled.

"Wait! Wait! Everybody! STOP!" Pikachu shouted, holding his arms out in front of him, palms facing up. "We...we shouldn't be FIGHTING like this!" He said in mock melodrama. "We...NEED...to band together...to take down..." he pointed at Ash. "HIIIIMMM!"

The Pokemon paused, then smiled devilishly. Squirtle cracked his knuckles. Pikachu sparked his cheeks. Bulbasaur took a step forward. Ash, without even thinking, made an about-face and took off to the middle of the field.

"AAATTAAAAAAACK!" Pikachu shouted. The Pokemon sped off after him. Bulbasaur wrapped his vines around Ash's feet and stopped in his tracks. Ash fell screaming to the ground and felt himself being reeled in like a fish. He clawed at the ground, trying desperately to get away. Squirtle ran up and started spraying water all over his head while Pikachu jumped on his back and started to pull at his backpack. Ash thrashed under the stream of water, but Pikachu held on tight. Amid the chaos, the backpack slipped off of Ash's shoulders.

"I got it! I got it!" Pikachu shouted. He ran off. Squirtle stopped his spray of water to follow him. Bulbasaur unwrapped his vines and left Ash lying in a puddle.

Squirtle and Bulbasaur ran up to Pikachu who was staring at the backpack.

"What do we do with it?" he asked. They paused, thinking of what to do next. "Dump out his stuff and throw it AROUUUUUND!" Pikachu finally shouted. He fumbled with the zipper before stopping suddenly, his long ears twitching. He, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur looked up at the sky. Pikachu smirked.

"Look who decided to show up."

"And late as usual." Squirtle added.

"Oh no...You guys didn't..." Bulbasaur said, tiredly. "I thought I was bad off having you two over here."

Then, Ash heard it. A low-pitched, happy roar that sounded from far away. He stood up, dripping, to see an enormous shadow pass over the sun. All the surrounding Pokemon other than Pikachu, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur snapped their heads up at the shadow in mind-numbing fear. They all turned around and sped off into the woods and to the waterfall.

Before he knew it, Charizard slammed down into the ground ten feet in front of him. He sat limply, letting his wings slowly relax. Charizard suddenly released a massive jet of flame a foot from Ash's head. The burning vortex singed the small hairs off the right side of his face and caused the skin on his entire body to flare up in alarm. Ash simply stood still and calm, letting the blaze pass. When it did, he chuckled to himself and smiled.

"Hi, Charizard."

Charizard nodded in his direction, blowing smoke from his nostrils in approval.

"CHARIZAAAAAARD!" Pikachu shouted. Ash saw him running as fast as he could toward the orange dragon towering over the other Pokemon out of the corner of his eye. Pikachu pounced on Charizard and started to repeatedly punch his right leg. Of course, it was as futile as punching a tree trunk, so Charizard simply waited patiently for him to finish. When he did, Charizard picked up Pikachu by the nape of his neck and held him to his face.

"I'll cook you alive and pick the meat from your bones." Charizard said in a deep, rumbling tone. Ash jumped at this, wondering if Pikachu was in danger. He wondered briefly if Liza had sent the wrong Charizard, but this was quickly discarded. He was a good enough Trainer to recognize his own Pokemon.

"You use that one every time! It always goes back to the eating thing!" said Pikachu, confusing Ash.

"But I like the eating thing. It's a perfect mix between unrealistically morbid and true-to-life fact." This time, Charizard's tone wasn't as rumbling, but it was still just as deep.

"I know, but you've got to mix it up some. Like...what will you do with my bones after you pick the meat off of them?"

"I'll...hmm..." Charizard thought for a moment. "I'll..."

"Go on..."

"I'll..." he suddenly snapped his fingers. "I'll use your bones to bludgeon your mate and children to death!" His voice had become menacing and evil again.

"Good!" said Pikachu excitedly "That was a good one!"

"Okay." Charizard said. "What will you do to me?"

"I'll let you eat me whole, then use Thunder to punch a hole through your stomach."

"I really could eat you, you know. Any time."

"Yes, yes, yes..." Pikachu said in a mocking tone. "We're all so impressed by how big and strong and tough you are and how you've grown into such a big boy." He reached over to pinch Charizard's cheek, who promptly dropped him.

"What..." Ash stammered, equally confused as he was afraid. "What was all that?"

"That's our running joke." Pikachu said while lying on the ground. "We always talk about the horrific ways that we're going to kill the other. See this?" Pikachu raised his hand in a thumbs-up sign. "This doesn't mean 'Good luck' or 'Good job.' It means 'this is the finger I'll use to pop out your eyeball.'" He sat up. "But not in every usage, of course."

"That's...I don't know how to feel about that."

"Sometimes, Ash," Pikachu said, wisely and without any hint of sarcasm, "you don't have to feel. Let things be the way they are. Weird, stupid, irritating and absurd as they may be. Just Let it be...by The Beatles."

Charizard was looking suspiciously from Pikachu to Ash.

"How are you two doing that?" he asked Pikachu. "Did you plan something before I got here?"

"No. Ash can really understand Pokemon now." He paused. "And if he still couldn't, how would we have been able to plan something to begin with?"

"Oh. I..uh..don't know." Charizard said. He turned to Ash. "How is that possible?"

"I have telepathy. I got it as a side effect from getting attacked by a Kadabra."

"Telepathy?"

"I can read minds."

"OH. Okay. Sorry. I didn't know what telepathy was." Charizard said, bashfully.

"Seriously?" shouted Squirtle from across the field. "We all knew what it was from the get-go! Get on the ball, man!"

"Hey! Give me a break! I've been in fighting other Charizard in the mountains for three months!" Charizard shouted back, raising his head over Ash's. "What have you been doing, anyway?"

"Me and my Squirtle Squad have been firefighters in Vermillion City!"

"Oh yeah, that's right! Listen, you try any of that shit on me and I'll stomp you flat!"

"Sure thing, smokey! But be sure to ask about what happened to the last guy who said that!" Squirtle said.

"By the way!" Pikachu shouted. "If you live in Vermillion City, doesn't that make you a...Vermin or something like that?" At this, Charizard shot out a jet of flame from his nostrils, trying to suppress laughter.

"Y'know, I'd get mad at you if that didn't sound like a cool band name!" said Squirtle. He fell into deeper thought about the matter, turning away from Pikachu to think.

Charizard turned back to Ash.

"So anyway...you can read minds now? Of everyone or just Pokemon?"

"Basically everyone."

"That could come really useful in a battle." Charizard said.

"It would, but that would also be cheating. I couldn't live with myself if I did that." Ash said. Charizard huffed at this.

"Sure, if you looked at it that way." he said, rolling his eyes. "So if you're not going to do the obvious, what are you going to do with your new superpower?"

"For now, I'm getting to know Pokemon a little better. My Pokemon, specifically." Ash said.

"Is that it? You can't think of any better use to put it toward than family bonding time?" said Charizard incredulously.

"Hey, I don't know if my power is gonna go away or not!" Ash defensively shouted. "If it does, it'll help in battles if I know more or less what my Pokemon are feeling and their personalities."

Charizard huffed again. "Well...I guess that makes a little more since. Still feels like a waste to me, though."

"WAIT!" shouted Pikachu suddenly. "I have a thing!"

"A what?"

"I have a brain-thing! An idea! A thought!"

"Oh GOD..." Charizard said, rubbing his forehead. "What is it THIS TIME?"

"Okay...Bear with me on this. What if we, as in this entire group right here, are actually aspects of the personality of some super-powerful being on some outside level of existence?" Pikachu rambled. "Like, Charizard! You're this being's representation of...of...I don't know. But Bulbasaur is the representation of the being's logic and reason. Squirtle is confidence, and I'm fun!" He pointed at Ash. "And you're the avatar of this supreme being! That's why you don't talk much!"

"I do so talk! You just talk so much that I can't ever get a word in edgewise! Besides, what does any of that have to do with anything?" Ash said.

"I dunno." Pikachu said. "Just a thought."

"In that case, maybe you should stop doing that." Charizard said.

"Talking or thinking?"

"Both." Charizard said as Squirtle walked up from behind.

"What's up, Vermin?" he said. "You guys look like you're having more fun over here. I'm gonna join in."

"Don't call us that! We're Team Shockwave, remember?" Pikachu shouted.

"That's our Pokemon team name. Vermin is our band name, remember?" Squirtle said. "And by the way," he said to everyone "I get credits for the name when we go platinum."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." Pikachu said, buffing his fingers on his chest. "We all know who the frontman of this rock band is."

"That's cool. Just make sure you know who everyone's looking at once we start playing Eruption." said Squirtle.

"Okay, so you're lead guitar and I'm singer slash frontman." Pikachu said. He pointed at Charizard. "You're our drummer."

"Hell yeah." Charizard said. "Just make sure they can take the punishment."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. We get it. You're strong. Blah, blah, blah." Pikachu scoffed with a wave of his hand. He then pointed to Bulbasaur, who was walking up to the group.

"And Bulbasaur! You can be bass."

"Wait. I'm not following." Bulbasaur said, confusedly. "What are we doing?"

"We're making a band." Pikachu said.

"Oh, alright. What does bass do?"

"You see," Squirtle explained, " the bass serves a key role in the band. His instrument serves to keep the beat of the song and..to accentuate..the-PFFT!" Squirtle burst into laughter. "I'm sorry, man! I couldn't keep a straight face! The bass player stands in the back and makes everyone else sound better."

"Okay." Bulbasaur said. "So I stay behind the scenes and make sure that you all don't make total asses of yourselves? Yeah. I'm pretty sure I can manage that." This started a shared laugh throughout the entire group.

"So that's settled. I'm vocals, Squirtle's guitar, Charizard is drums, and Bulbasaur is bass." Pikachu looked at Ash. "You can be team manager slash...keyboard. You get ten percent of the profit that you immediately have to spend getting us out of jail after we totally demolish the hotel room."

"FOR THOSE ABOUT TO ROCK!" Squirtle shouted. He shoved Pikachu on the ground as hard as he could and pumped his hands in the air, his fingers curled around metal horns. "WE SALUTE YOU!" Pikachu raised himself up, then charged Squirtle. They started to roughly shove each other and wrestle on the ground, gravitating back toward the trees.