Well, I was pleasantly surprised. This wasn't even up for an hour and someone had already favorited it. I am flattered.

Pokémon isn't mine. If it was, Ash would be fourteen at least! I mean, come on…

DO THEY REALLY EXPECT US TO BELIEVE HE MANAGED TO TREK ACROSS FOUR COUNTRIES AND CHALLENGE FOUR YEARLY TOURNAMENTS IN LESS THAN A YEAR?

But anyway, yeah.

Share and enjoy. Comment. You know the drill.

(? POV)

"Blaze? Come in Blaze?"

I scowled and pull the phone from my hoodie pocket. Walkie-talkie. Whatever.

"Yeah, I read you Presto. What's up?"

"Circuit found Ash. He's in pursuit."

"Okay."

There was silence for a while.

"Blaze?"

"What?"

"You've forgotten what you're supposed to be doing, haven't you?"

"What would make you say that?"

"You haven't moved in thirty minutes. I can see you on monitors. Why aren't you doing anything?"

I stuck my tongue out at the device. Just because he's a genius with eidetic memory doesn't mean he's always right.

"I saw that, you ingrate."

"What are you, my stalker? Back off-"

A rock jumped off the ground and threw itself at me. Blasted telekinesis.

"Come again?" he said innocently from his end.

"Remind me how you do that when you're not even on the same dimensional plane as I am?"

"I can't. In order to remind you, you must first have known it in the first place."

I gave up. You can't argue with a genius like him. Smart-aleck. "Okay, wise guy. For your information, I'm waiting."

"For what?"

"My target. Listen, you told me to find Misty. She is-was the Gym Leader of Cerulean City. It only makes sense to wait at the Gym, right? I don't tell you how to do your job, you don't tell me how to do mine."

"Blaze."

"What?" I respond, exasperated.

"Telling you what to do is my job."

I threw the thing over my shoulder. Semantics. He's right, but whatever.

So there I am, sitting in the gym. Waiting. The lights aren't on, but I like the dark. I hope Sarge is alright. Ha! As though anything could stop him.

The lights flick on overhead. I duck into the shadows.

A woman with pink hair in a strange style was standing at one end of the pool. She had on pink and blue clothes. Her movements were a little stiff, but still managed to be graceful.

I looked at the picture Presto gave me. A girl with blue short shorts, a tiny yellow shirt and red suspenders. Orange spiky hair, cut short. This was not the woman by the pool.

Oh well. I hadn't expected her to be. After all, that was the whole gimmick here, wasn't it? All the humans, most of the Pokémon, and they all-

Since when do Psyduck drown?

Seriously. He can breathe underwater. Why is he floundering like that? The woman sighs as an angry-looking Azumarill hauls him out and starts shouting at him.

"Why did you jump in the pool? You always jump in the pool! And what happens, every single time?"

"I… uh… huh?" the Psyduck slurs. I knew Psyduck suffered from migraines, but this guy had it really bad. Yeesh.

"You drown! That's what! You know you can't swim, so why do you keep throwing yourself in the water?"

"I… don't… know," he answers. I wince in sympathy. This won't end well…

*BONK*

…yup. I wasn't aware Azumarill were able to access hammerspace. She pulled a mallet from somewhere and smacked the poor waterfowl on the head. He fell backwards with those little swirls in his eyes.

Well, I thought, guess I've found her.

I got up to leave-I'd catch her again when she left-when I tripped. Curse my ridiculously long legs. I tripped on the bleachers and fell down the stands onto the battle area.

"A Blaziken?" a voice asked, startled.

Oops.

I looked up and saw the Azumarill and the woman looking at me. I guess they don't see Blaziken too often. Didn't I mention I was one of those?

I got up and dusted myself off. The Azumarill walked over and glared at me.

"Now Misty, be careful-"

"Who are you and why are you here?" she asked. Ah, so she was Misty.

"That's classified, sorry."

"A talking Blaziken?" the poor woman yelled, shocked.

"Can it, Coral!" Misty spat.

"Whoa. Can you say, 'anger issues?'" I mutter.

"What was that?"

"Geez, calm down, miss. Name's Blaze. More than that, can't tell you."

"And why not?"

"Why is the sky pickle-colored?"

"It's not-what?" she cuts herself off mid-rant.

"Sorry, my mistake. If you must know why I'm here, I suppose I can tell you I'm here to watch over and protect you and, uh, Miss Coral over there. You'll have to put up with me, I'm afraid."

Coral walks over, carefully treading around Misty. "Protect us from what?"

"Not sure. I'll know it when I see it, I suppose." I pulled a yo-yo from my pocket. I like yo-yos. They're a fun distraction and a good weapon.

"Is there anything we can help you with?"

"Coral! How do you know we can trust him? We only-"

"Yes, actually. What can you tell me about a guy named Ash?"

(Ash's POV)

We could see Saffron City. We still had a ways to go, but I couldn't wait. I can be impatient at times.

"Well, Ash, looks like we'll get to sleep in a bed tonight," Peter said, grinning.

"I sure hope so. Maybe we can-"

Hold the phone. There's a Pikachu in the road. Standing in the middle of the road.

Peter saw him too. He stopped and stared at the Pikachu.

The Pikachu had his back to us, and he wasn't moving; I think I could just barely see him breathing. He had a white hat on.

"Huh," Peter whispered, "A Pikachu with a fedora. Weird." He looked at me. "Something's wrong, I can tell that much. Can you go take a look?"

"Sure, Pika!" I hopped to the ground and walked over.

He was staring straight ahead, a look of horror on his face. His cheeks were white like his hat. So were the stripes on his back, and the base of his tail.

I waved a paw in front of his eyes. He didn't even blink.

"Hello? Anyone home?" His eye twitched. The hat was covering his ears, maybe he couldn't hear me too well. I carefully lifted the hat up-

-Or tried to. His paw shot up and grabbed my arm the second I touched his hat. His lips twitched, and he whispered, "The horror…"

"Sorry?" I asked, trying to pull from his grip.

He turned to look at me, and grinned. When I say 'grinned,' I mean he gave a smile that would give a Sableye nightmares.

He said, "Please ask your doctor if Rare Candy is right for you."

"Huh?" What was he-

"DO A BARREL ROLL! Ha! Ha, ha hahahaha HA!"

He jumped. Like, five feet in the air. He landed on my head, and he wasn't heavy at all. I barely felt him.

"What do you-"

"Hey! Guess what?" He leaned down and looked me in the eye, upside down.

"Uh, what?"

"I DON'T KNOW and I'm okay with that."

"You-"

"By Arceus! Quick! What does the scouter say about his power level?"

He backflipped off my head. I turned around. He'd somehow managed to land on Peter's shoulder, fifteen feet away. He dug in Peter's pack and pulled out his Pokédex, which he aimed at me.

"It's… it's over 9000!"

I blinked and he was next to me again. He'd left the Pokédex, which hadn't even started falling. Peter caught it quickly.

"Over 9000? But that's IMPOSSIBLE!"

I was getting really confused, and a little worried. "Hey, are you alright?"

He turned to me and frowned sadly and said, very calmly, "Why did you drop a brick on my head?"

"I-what?" I did no such thing!

"I'm comin' Elizabeth!"

After that outburst he fell over, swirls in his eyes.

Peter and I just stared. After a few seconds, I couldn't take anymore.

"WHAT THE HECK JUST HAPPENED?"

Peter walked over and picked the Pikachu up by his tail. Despite being upside down, his hat never fell off. Weird.

"I don't know what just happened, Ash, but I think this guy needs a Pokémon Center, and fast."

I jumped onto his shoulder. "Right. Maybe he was just Confused. I hope."

Peter broke into run towards the city. I really hoped someone would eventually tell me what was going on.

(? POV)

That ain't good. Warp went stark, ravin' loony. I knew space-time was goin' all crazy, but I didn't know it was that bad.

I broke into a run to keep up with the boy. The change in form didn't change hie physique, it seems.

I saw the Pikachu's ear twitch. His head turned to me. I just barely threw myself behind a tree in time.

Did he see me? I hope not. I'm a professional, I can't be caught by an amateur!

Boy, I'm too old fer this. A hundred and twenty years, I worked this job. Figures that once I retired, trouble would just decide to follow me 'round instead of the other way around.

Oh well. Can't complain. Still, what was Arceus thinkin'? Must be off his rocker.

I peeked out from behind my tree. They're gone. Dang.

I started runnin'. Gotta catch up.

Can't let 'em outta my sight.

(Ash's POV)

I heard a twig snap behind us and turned to see what it was. I knew from experience that Team Rocket was always following us, but all I saw was a flash of yellow and silver.

That can't be good.

Whatever it was, it was big.

Great. What now?