Author's Note: To be fair, I didn't specify which August .. heh-heh .. sorry. But I'm gonna give this story more attention from now on and hopefully not have another several month wait for the next chapter.

Disclaimer: I love Pokémon, but it doesn't belong to me.

Anima Feminam

xxx

"Morning is way too early to begin the day."

Unless there was an event worth waking up for.

Dawn repeated those words in her head every time she heard the dreaded beep of her alarm clock. She turned over in her half-conscious state and buried her face beneath her pillow, clamping her hands down over her ears to muffle any and all sounds.

Sleep .. sleep was good right now ..

"Pikaka!"

Yes .. sleep .. now .. the blissfully dark and warm embrace of unconsciousness was lulling her back with a sweet lullaby -

"Pika Pika!"

"Lup! Piplup!"

- or not. Dawn groaned into her pillow, almost letting out a wail of despair at this cruel turn of fate. She felt the soft bedding covering the flooring of her tent shift and dip in the area to her left, no doubt where an overly-eager electric mouse and a sleep deprived blue penguin were preparing to escalate their argument to physical violence.

Sighing in resignation, Dawn lifted her head and blinked wearily in the dimmed light. Sure enough, Piplup was equally as unhappy as she was about the interruption, only he was being much more verbal about it. Pikachu, on the other hand, decided raising his own voice would help matters.

Dawn felt her left eye twitch. "Would you cut it out!" she complained, her voice thick through her sleepy daze. "It's too early for this, so go back to sleep and sort this out later or take it outside. Just make up your minds now!" Her face promptly reconnected with her pillow, and her words were followed by a wonderful bout of silence.

"Pikaka!"

A short-lived bout of silence.

"Pikachu, what did I just say?" She didn't bother lifting her head to speak this time. "Outside, now!"

Unfortunately, the electric mouse was rather persistent; barely a second later Dawn felt his tiny paws nudging at her leg through the fabric of her sleeping bag. He continued to bleat her name in his pika-language until the very frustrated blunette emerged from her nest of soft pillows.

"Pikachu, that's enough! If you want breakfast, then why aren't you bothering Brock? You know I never cook." She pulled her knees up to her chest, rubbing the sleep dust from her eyes, and resisting the urge to simply fall backwards and sleep the day away. She could make up the loss of one ribbon, right?

"Pikaka!" He persisted, followed by a "Luuup!" of protest.

Dawn sighed. Why now, when it was so early? "Pikachu .. calm down," she said wearily, wrapping her arms around her legs. "Whatever's the matter, there's no need to worry so much. We can fix it."

But the electric mouse shook his head, trying to spell out his dilemma with hand motions and a mantra of "Pi, Pikapi!" until Dawn groaned heavily, her forehead slipping forward to rest upon her knees. Where was Ash when his assistance was required to translate?

.. come to think of it, it was awfuly quiet outside of the arguing Pokemon inside her tent. She lifted her head slight, eyebrows pulling together as she strained to hear .. well, anything.

It wasn't unusual for her to wake up and find that Ash was still far too deep within dream land to be alerted by a close-range Earthquake attack, but at the very least she would be able to hear Brock rummaging through his back pack for the utensils he needed, if he wasn't already past that stage, in which case the smell of breakfast cooking would replace the muffled clangs of pots and metal spoons.

Add in Pikachu's distress when he typically offered his help to Brock when he wasn't still dozing next to his trainer ..

Dawn jolted to her feet with agility to rival a Lucario, the startled yelps of an electric mouse and a blue penguin doing little to deter her as she tore open the entrance to her tent and scrambled into the sunlight and fresh air. She hardly regretted the stinging in her eyes from such an abrupt action, blinking fiercely and turning her head back and forth to scan for the anticipated signs.

Sleeping bags tossed carelessly over the ground, the fold-up table flipped upside down, random knick-knacks strewn about the torn up ground ..

.. all of which weren't registered.

Hastily wiping away the excess moisture that dripped down her cheeks, Dawn stared at the campsite she shared with her travelling companions, neither of whom were in sight, but the scene was otherwise closely identical to any other morning.

A few moments more, and her frustration began bubbling within her again. "You woke me up for this?" she grumbled under her breath, directing a half-hearted glare at Pikachu. "Did Brock put you up to this? To wake me up so I wouldn't be late to breakfast – ?"

"Pika! Pikaka, pi pikapi!" the electric mouse continued to protest, tugging the hem of her pajamas with his tiny fists.

Dawn sighed. Whatever it was that had gotten Pikachu so wound up clearly wasn't something he'd be able to share in his current state of near panic. "Pikachu, calm down, alright?" she said as calmly as she could, kneeling down to be closer to his eye-level. "Look, just tell me what's going on and we can sort it out together, but I can't make heads or tails of what you're trying to say right now."

Pikachu immediately ceased bouncing on the heels of his feet, his brow creasing as he tried to work out how he could put his explanation into words Dawn could understand.

"Morning, Dawn! I didn't think you would be up so early," came Brock's familiar voice. She jerked her head to the side in time to see Brock place a large jug of water onto the fold-up table. "Especially not when your hair .. no really, it's an attractive look on you."

Her hair? .. of Arceus, her hair!

With a squeak of embarrassment, Dawn clamped her hands over her vile bed-hair and smoothed it down as best she could. There had to be some kind of special shampoo to counter this problem. "Brock, do you know what's up with Pikachu?" she inquired; both to try and divert attention from her hair and out of genuine concern for the electric mouse.

Brock looked confused. "Pikachu?" he
repeated, staring down at said pokémon. "What's he been doing?"

"I don't know! He was so upset when he came into my tent I thought something really bad had happened, but there's nothing wrong here and – "

"Hey Dawn, do you know where Ash is?" Brock interrupted smoothly, prompting the blunette to stare at him.

"Ash? No, I assumed he was off training like he does sometimes before we reach the next gym .. " She trailed off, then stared down at Pikachu. "Is this about Ash? Did something happen to him?"

Pikachu nodded his head frantically. "Pi! Pika, chu!"

"Well, what? What happened?" She kneeled down and picked him up to meet eve-level with him. "Was it Team Rocket? Or .. wild pokémon?"

"Dawn, Pikachu, why don't you both calm down or we won't get any answers." Brock was at their sides in an instant, down on one knee to reach both their levels. "Pikachu, do you think you could explain to us what happened? Calmly, this time?"

With the aide of impressions, hand-motions, and garbled pika-speak, Pikachu used the best of his ability to get the story straight to his human friends.

xxx

"Mornings .. should be illegal .. " was the first thought in Ash's mind. "Or they should make night longer .. yeah, that would be good .. "

Turning over to press his face against his pillow, Ash sighed. It was way, way too early for this – he was too tired to get up today. Dawn's next contest wasn't for a few more days; maybe she and Brock wouldn't mind chilling for another day or two?

He groaned, feeling his nose twitch. His pillow felt weird; not itchy but it somehow tickled his face. Strange – no pillow he'd slept on had felt like this before. It was distinctly different from how he remembered falling asleep last night ..

With far too much energy given to complete the action, Ash turned his head to the side slightly and slowly opened one eye, dimly thankful his face was in the shade.

"Huh, that's weird. I don't remember falling asleep this close to the forest .. "

But indeed, the forest was all he could see.

"Must be pretty early; I don't hear Brock or smell breakfast .. must be earlier than I thought; would explain why I feel so exhausted."

Even when roughing it out and sleeping on the hard ground, he always woke up more well-rested than this. He groaned in frustration; no doubt this was a sign that today would not be a good one. No sir-ee.

"Ugh, I guess I'd better get up before Brock sends Pikachu to wake me. If it's too early at least I'll be able to go back to sleep."

With great effort, Ash pushed himself up, his eyes remaining closed and his face twisted into a tired grimace. Arceus, what was wrong with him today? Was yesterday's excitement more physically draining that he'd thought at the time? He was sat down for the most of it, so how could that make sense?

His arms giving way, Ash rolled onto his back as he fell, landing comfortably on the ground, which wasn't as hard as he'd thought. And the itchy pillow couldn't bother him anymore – result!

"Brock, are you up?" he murmured through his sleepy daze and was met with no response. "Weird .. must be really early," he mused aloud. He opened one eye, the sunlight strong behind the canopy of leaves the trees provided. "Or I rolled over in my sleep and ended up in the forest .. "

He blinked several times in quick succession. Now that he thought about it ..

Trying to sit up really fast in the first moments of consciousness was definitely not a mistake Ash intended on making ever again. Lying back down and fighting a heavy head rush, he clamped his hands over his face, groaning in discomfort. "I feel so awful," he lamented. "Maybe I'm dehydrated. Or hungry."

Well, he wasn't going to rectify the problem lying in the grass; sitting up much more slowly this time, Ash scanned his surroundings, his sleepy haze obscuring his vision like a thin film had been placed over his eyes. He continued to blink and the colourful shapes that made up his surroundings began to swim back into their correct locations, slowly but surely.

"Seriously, where am I? No way I rolled over far enough to land .. wherever I am!"

Soon everything was clear, and in every direction Ash looked he was met with the same sight – a forest that stretched further than he could see, and then some.

"Dawn?" He paused to clear his throat, his voice thick from sleep, then called out again, "Brock? Dawn? Pikachu? Are you guys there?"

No response. This wasn't looking good.

"This is no time to panic; you still have your pokémon, right?" He reached for his belt, finding it empty. "Oh yeah, they're in my bag .. which also isn't here .. damn it! Is this another of Team Rocket's plans to get Pikachu?"

He got to his feet, staggering a bit as another head rush hit him, but he managed to keep his balance.

"Ugh, this is not right," he thought, propping an arm against a nearby tree to hold himself steady, "I feel like I did that time Tracey and I fell into a Vileplume's head."

Forcing his eyes open, Ash hardened his resolve. "It doesn't matter right now; I have to get back to Brock and Dawn before something horrible really does happen, and I'm not gonna get anywhere while I'm standing around like th – "

He sentence went unfinished with good reason.

Chocolate brown eyes were wide, staring at where he'd placed his hand on the tree. Or rather, where he thought he'd placed his hand.

For in its place was something that definitely didn't belong to him last time he'd checked.

With a rush of déjà vu crashing over him like a Wailord's Waterfall attack, Ash slowly lifted what he thought was his arm away from the tree bark; the small, yellow fur-covered paw mirrored his movements exactly.

xxx

It was a wearing twenty minutes but the story Pikachu had been trying to tell had finally been stamped out.

"So what you're saying is that you woke up to find that Ash had disappeared, and his scent trails off into the forest?"

When Pikachu nodded, Dawn held her starter-pokémon closer to her chest. "Brock, I don't like this," she said. "Do you think Team Rocket is behind it?"

With a tight frown on his face, Brock slowly shook his head. "I'm not ruling it out as a possibility, but it doesn't make sense that they would kidnap Ash when they could have taken Pikachu just as easily. Not to mention the rest of our pokémon."

"Maybe they realized their plans don't work and are trying something new – maybe they want us to trade Pikachu for Ash!"

"I don't know, Dawn; none of it makes sense. I've been at the receiving end of Team Rocket's so-called plans for a long time and this isn't their style. Why would they go through the trouble of kidnapping Ash when our pokémon were there for the taking? And why just Ash; why not him and Pikachu .. it doesn't make sense!"

"Well maybe it doesn't matter right now. Pikachu said Ash's scent goes off into the forest so maybe Ash walked away on his own, to stretch his legs or something. The point is if there's a trail then we can follow it – Ash is bound to be at the end!"

"Admittedly this could be a trick; there have been times when they've outsmarted us so we could be walking right into a trap." He shook his head. "But whatever is going on here, there's no way I'm leaving Ash alone to deal with whatever he's gotten in to."

Dawn smiled. "Then count me in."

Piplup puffed out his chest and chirped his own agreement.

xxx

In the ten minutes that had passed since the abrupt end to his sentence, Ash had learnt a grand total of two things:

One; spending that much time staggering around and spluttering nonsense and denial achieved very little in figuring out his predicament.

Two; he was at least four feet shorter, was covered head to toe in yellow fur, and had sprouted a tail. A tail that he knew for certain belonged to an electric mouse who answered to "Pikachu".

Did he mention the mocking sense of déjà vu that overwhelmed him entirely?!

"I – I – wha .. ! How?!" was the most verbal sense he could make; his feet – paws? – collided with the ground then picked up immediately as though he were standing on molten lava, hopping around like a deranged Golem stuck in thick mud.

All until something fell over his eyes and cast his vision in blackness, causing his feet – or paws – to knock into what must have been an overturned tree root and send him crashing to the ground with a heavy "oomph!".

"Huh .. ?" he huffed, pushing himself up to sit and clawing at whatever was covering his face. Hands – paws – grasped at fabric; a kind that felt very familiar ..

He yanked it away from his face and instantly recognized his red and blue cap – some normality, at last!

"Didn't this happen last time .. ?" he pondered aloud, then slumped forward in defeat, face-planting the ground. "Last time .. I am never trusting magicians ever again!"

His face buried in grass, Ash mumbled a string of nonsense meant to imitate words damning magic to the fiery pits of Mt. Ember and cursing Arceus for bestowing him with such luck. Once sufficiently satisfied he pushed himself up to sit, staring glumly at the tree in front of him.

"Why me?" he lamented, then groaned in further frustration as his hat slid over his eyes again.

As much as he had mentally tried to reassure himself, there were many things Ash was already uncomfortable about with his transformed appearance; for starters, his arms were much too short for his liking, being only just long enough to reach the base of his ears, thus pushing his hat back up required more effort than he was used to. Adding to that his head was a little smaller than his hat was designed for – maybe that shred of normality wasn't the most inconvenient one.

"I wasn't even near her when she cast the spell," he mumbled to himself. "At least last time made sense! And I wasn't alone in the middle of a forest. In Sinnoh .. "

With that thought in mind, he warily looked around. The forest was about as lively as expected – a few bug pokémon scurrying around, some Staravia gliding above the canopy of leaves, and he could have sworn he saw a Misdreavus just float by in the distance. And none of them seemed interested in the ramblings of the deranged Pikachu.

Go figure.

"Well, I'm not getting anywhere standing around like I am now. I can't have gone far from where we camped, so getting bad should be easy," he told himself, remaining optimistic. "Left, right, forward, or backwards?" He spun in a full circle to stare in each direction, once again hiking his hat back up, before coming to a stand-still. "Nothing looks familiar – it's all the same forest to me. I guess I'll leave it up to chance."

Ash closed his eyes, bracing himself with a steady breath, then allowed himself to spin around on the spot. Though he regretted his course of action barely two seconds later; without completing a full circle, he stumbled over his feet – paws, whatever – and landed on the ground with an "oof!" as air was ejected from his lungs.

"Okay, bad idea."

He once again got to his feet, stumbling a little before managing to steady himself and push his hat back up to observe his surroundings. Going by the position of the tree he'd been staring at before he'd spun, Ash deduced he was now facing 'right'.

"It's a good a chance as any, isn't it?" he mused quietly, doing another full observation of his surroundings. "Well, I'll guess I'll have to take my chances."

With a deep breath and mental prayer that luck lay somewhere along his chosen path, Ash began to walk in his chosen direction.

Xx

It must have been several hours later that Ash determined "no, luck isn't waiting for me anytime soon". His feet ached as though he'd dragged them through a few miles of quick sand and he barely made it to the nearby log before he collapsed onto his front.

"Dawn?" he murmured into the ground. "Brock? Pikachu? Piplup?"

As predicted, there was no reply aside from the continued chatter of nearby pokémon.

"Give me a sign," Ash groaned, staring up at the sky. "Please?"

"'Zell!"

Like an electric jolt had sizzled up his spine, Ash jumped to his feet looking around wildly. "Who – what – ?!" He spun round entirely when a loud splash reached his ears; hoisting himself up over the log, his brown eyes fell upon a common sight.

In the nearby stream, two Buizel were gleefully immersed in a game of their design, which appeared to consist mostly of splashing water and freezing most of it.

"Buizel, huh," Ash pondered aloud. "Maybe they've seen something – " He immediately cut his sentence off. "Who am I kidding; just because I'm a Pikachu doesn't mean I can understand pokémon," he recalled, a recent memory coming to mind that had consisted of him asking directions from a resting Beautifly. He'd received a blank stare in response before the Beautifly flew away, clearly bemused. "Can't this spell wear off, already – ?"

A combination of a shriek and a chirp pierced the air, and out of pure reflex Ash's head snapped up as he called out, "Piplup?"

When the sound went off again – coming from the river, Ash quickly deduced – his eyes fell upon a Starly floating uneasily in the shallowest part of the stream.

Closing his eyes and forcing himself to remain calm, Ash nonetheless felt the muscle beneath his eye twitch. "Not exactly what I meant – help like 'actual help', not – "

Once again his sentence remained unfinished as the Starly's chirp cut him off, and in his frustration Ash opened his eyes and mouth to glare and snap back, only for his response to ease to exist as he caught on to a good indicator of what the Buizel's little "game" consisted. And anything that involved jostling a distressed Starly who very clearly could not swim, as well as directing an Icy Wind at a wing that definitely should not be bending that way to keep it half frozen and unable to flee definitely did not qualify for any kind of "game" Ash could justify rules for.

"Oh, not cool!" Outrage bubbled up within him and he'd vaulted himself over the log before he could suppress the urge to do so. "Hey, leave it alone!" he yelled, running somewhat awkwardly on his newly acquired back paws but judging by the twin reactions from the Buizel, he looked threatening enough.

Barely halfway to the stream, both Buizel abandoned their twisted "game" and scampered off upstream, while the Starly looked petrified at the addition of an electric pokémon and desperately tried to flap its unharmed wing, to no avail.

"Whoa, calm down, I'm not gonna hurt you," Ash quickly reassured, slowing his run during the last few steps in hope to appear as least threatening as he could. "Are you okay, little guy?"

His words to reassure Starly did not have the intended effect, but at the very least the little bird had stopped flapping it's unharmed wing, instead folding it protectively to its side.

"I'm not gonna hurt ya!" Ash followed up, praying to whoever heard him that the Starly would at least understand his intentions to help. "Just a concerned by-stander willing to help. Your wing isn't broken, is it?" He was no doctor but even he could see something was up with the appendage. "Looks like it's in bad shape .. "

As though to confirm or contradict him, the Starly shifted as much as it could, attempting to get back on its feet but achieving only a look of pain.

"Okay, maybe you shouldn't do that!" Ash hurriedly tried to halt the bird's movements. "Uh, why don't I take you back to your nest? .. wherever that is," he mumbled as an after-thought as he scanned the over-head view; despite the many branches and other suitable locations, there wasn't a nest in sight. He looked at Starly, hoping for an indication, but the bird just shook its head. "Okay then, on to plan B, which would be .. oh, I know! Why don't I take you with me to find my friends? I can't just leave you here in the water, and one of my friends is a Breeder so he'll be able to patch you up good as new in no time!"

Hesitance leaked from the Starly, enough to leave a bitter taste upon Ash's tongue. What else was there he could do to make the Starly understand? Mime his intentions? Maybe if he had Pikachu's skills in that area he might get somewhere, but he didn't, thus making that plan useless.

But after a long, tense moment of inner debate, the Starly seemed to relent and gave a small, nervous nod.

Although it turned out there was a slight snag in the plan – while in his real, human body the most effort it took to carry a Starly was resting it in one hand if it didn't like perching upon his shoulder, whereas in the body of a Pikachu there was just a tad more effort and general planning involved when intending to pick up someone barely smaller than yourself.

Managing to awkwardly scoop the Starly into his now stubby arms, Ash stumbled backwards at the sudden addition of mass, though managed to remain on his feet. "Ah, jeez!" he grunted quietly, his voice muffled by the feathers being pressed into his face. "I didn't think that, uh .. I'm not used to this; being so small. I'll explain later when I know you'll believe me."

Maybe he should have reconsidered his offer – carrying an injured Starly whilst in the body of a Pikachu was no simple task.

"Hey little guy, you wouldn't have happened to see two trainers in this forest, would ya? With a Piplup and a Pikachu?" It wouldn't hurt to ask .. though the rather bemused look Starly was giving him suggested otherwise. At least until his stare flickered over the rest of Ash. "No, not me! Another Pikachu – one without a hat," he hastily corrected.

Though evidently, the Starly had not, but considering it distinctly shook its head gave Ash an ounce of relief that his non-existent miming abilities would not need to be put to use.

"You can't snuff them out, or anything?" he pressed, grasping at any solution he could think of. But Starly shook its head again. "Darn it .. unless," he blew a few feathers away from his face and looked down at the stream, his reflection staring back at him, "I'm a Pikachu right now so doesn't that mean I should have the perks that go with it?" A smile broke out on his face. "Ha, this'll be easy!"

On paper it was an excellent plan, but not long after Starly had been safely set down and began observing the scene from a small rock, flaws were punctured through the very attempt. Oh, the perk of enhanced senses was a bit of truth – it was the instinctive ability to be able to distinguish the scents that proved to be the problem. After burying his face in the thick grass, standing up high as he could, even clawing himself halfway up a tree trunk to get a whiff at the air, all proved fruitless. There were smells; sweet ones, flowery ones, stale ones, and downright unpleasant ones, but Ash just couldn't put a name to most of them.

After a tedious hour that gave no results, Ash gave up and allowed himself to slide down the base of the tree. "That plan was hopeless, but," he leapt to his feet, "as long as we stay positive then we'll be back at camp and you'll be fixed up."

So it was back to chauffeuring the Starly around, only this time they were getting somewhere; alternating through walking as far as he could then taking enough rest to recharge his strength, the sky was beginning to darken by the time Ash put the bird down for what must have been the twentieth time that day.

"I don't remember the forest being so big; my legs can't take much more of this." He yawned loudly, sitting himself on the ground beside Starly. "I'm beginning to see why Pikachu and Piplup like to be carried so much."

Starly cooed in response, nestling comfortably in the grass and carefully folding its wings against its sides; though its injured wing was still very tender, Ash had been relieved to see that his initial worries of broken bones was becoming a less likely truth with each time they stopped.

"So, do you wanna stop here for a while or keep on mov – "

With a distant sound reaching them, the response was simultaneous – two heads snapped in that direction, both sets of eyes slightly widened. Through no will of his own, Ash felt his ears twitch.

"Hey little guy, did you hear that? Someone's there!" He was on his feet before an adequate pause had been given. "Stay right here, I'lll go – no wait, what if it's someone we don't wanna be near, like Team Rocket?" His ears twitched again. However vague the voice was, it certainly didn't sound remotely like the Team Rocket duo.

Should he or shouldn't he .. ?

"Well, I'm not gonna find out just standing here."

He looked over his shoulder at Starly. "You stay here and I'll go check and make sure it's all clear, okay?"

From its expression, Ash doubted Starly was mentally keeping up with the developments, but its nod was the trigger to send Ash bounding off in the correct direction.

"I'll be back real soon!"

His hurried pace didn't waver until he came to a sudden halt a mere two feet from the unknown person, remaining hidden behind an array of rocks and thus the identity of the person stayed hidden. They were no longer speaking, but sound wasn't required for he could roughly put a label on that scent – something cinnamon-y?

"I could climb these rocks but just in case it is Team Rocket then I don't want them to see me, and being on top of a ton of rocks will make me stand out."

Ash frowned, stepping back and examining his surroundings –typical forest design. The closest thing to assistance came in form of a large tree; the branches stretched several metres in every direction – a perfect look-out.

"Right, this should be easy .. "

He braced himself for a moment, before launching himself at the tree trunk, digging his acquired claws as deeply as he could into the bark. He would be lying if he said he wasn't impressed with how he didn't immediately slide down an inch or so.

"See? Easy."

The following pattern was repetitive; lift claws out, dig them in higher, hoist self up, and then repeat for about ten feet. Biting down on his lower lip with unusually sharp teeth, Ash managed to suppress any sounds of fatigue that might escape past his lips.

"C'mon Ash, almost there .. "

All but peeling a chunk of bark away, Ash managed to pull himself up to the directed branch; his arms and legs then immediately gave way beneath him as he slumped onto his front, inhaling deeply. "M-mission .. was a .. a success," he panted, forcing himself to crawl forwards to the edge of the branch; the part overlooking the area below.

Though the chances of the person spontaneously deciding to look straight up were more or less null, Ash kept himself hidden within the biggest gathering of leaves. Though it had the unfortunate side-effect of brushing his face and concealing most of his vision. Frowning, he shoved several leaves aside and leaned forward slightly, peering hard at the person below.

Or that was his intention, at least ..

'Crack!'

He froze.

" .. that doesn't sound good .. "

He didn't have enough time to attempt to back up before that dreaded sound split the air once again; this time accompanied by a sudden whoosh of air as gravity increased, and Ash quickly found that he suddenly had nothing to hold on to .. and the ground was rapidly incoming!

His scream had barely left his mouth before he collided with the ground, his tiny body sprawled out in a small crater and concealed within a cloud of dust.

"Ow .. my head .. !" he moaned into the dirt. "Is – is this what Team Rocket always feels w-when they – ?"

He'd lost count of how many of his sentences had gone unfinished that day, only this time he didn't care. Having weakly lifted his head and peering around blearily, it wasn't long until his brown eyes connected with a pair of green.

A very familiar pair of green eyes – both riddled with bemusement.

Shaking his head free of any lingering after-shock, Ash stared up what he hoped was not a vision of his former rival. "Gary! Is this for real? Whoa, I didn't think I'd run into you here – small world, huh?"

xxx

Author's Note: I promised Gary and it turns out that's all your getting .. xD I'm trying not to make these chapters jumbo-length so I ended up cutting the whole bit with Gary out to keep in the next one. But he's here, isn't he? That's what matters ~

And at least you'll know that I can't not keep my promise when I say more Gary in the next chapter. :D I have some fun things planned for both him and Ashy~