Chapter 6, everybody! In which Team Rocket makes their first appearance and Darkrai references The Dean Martin Variety Show—to explain it, one of Dean Martin's nicknames was "Dino Martini," due to the drinks he nursed during the show (it was actually apple juice, for those who wonder). Dino = Deino.

Jakeroo123, thanks for the review! Iron Tail is the obvious choice, yes—oh, I forgot about the surfing Pikachu! (the new Raichu surfs how did I forget that…). This is true—rewatching the episode, I love how Brock's father, who ran the gym before, told Ash that giving Pikachu more electricity would work (then again, maybe he didn't want his son to lose). No—I can already tell you how that conversation would go: "Rock types completely no-sell Electric types—what's wrong with you?" I know—it's one of those thing where humans in the Pokémon world are really resilient, or maybe there's some unspoken Pokémon rule where they're not allowed to kill humans. Either way, Ash should be an extra-concentrated ghost by now, honestly….

Hunter Redflame, thanks for the review! Fun fact: several of these chapters were originally broken up into shorter chapters; I put them together when I started checking the word count and realized they were coming up mighty short (which may be why the scene changes might translate as a little jarring—I'll work on that). I'll try to keep that in mind. Thank you, I'll keep polishing. And don't worry—I made it a point to state right away that I will not be putting Ash in any romantic relationships, as he's probably not even remotely interested in girls at this point. Darkrai's just going to take the opportunity to tease him about it whenever he can, just to get a reaction.

Pokeevee57, thanks for the review! Ah, me too…although I'm not getting Sun/Moon until Christmas, I don't think. Thank you, I hope to continue to please!

Aegorm, thanks for the review! Thank you, I'm glad you like it! Ash does need someone who knows what he's doing around….

Bayesianheishi, thanks for the review! And thank you, I'm glad you like it! And glad you find it unique—I've noticed that, and I kind of wanted to do my own take on what's been done before and add to the Darkrai thread (we need more Darkrai). Glad you saw fit to make an exception, and I hope to continue to please! :D

Vismur, thanks for the review! Darkrai wanted me to pass this on: "Never…." Yes, it's nice to see Ash listening to something approaching reason—and that feeling may be entirely justified. As is that one. Good question—definitely a few not usually used, I hope. Keep an eye on that 'karp….

Deant33, thanks for the review! Thank you, glad you think so—I love writing for Darkrai. :D It will—hopefully it works….

Pokémon © Game Freak; Nintendo

Dean Martin belongs to himself

Twinkies belong to Hostess

And now, for something completely different:

Regional Professors from all over are pleased to announce a new miniseries on the Pokémon Planet Network: "Fantastic Pokémon and Where to Find Them." This miniseries dramatizes the youthful ventures of such famous Pokémon professors such as Professor Oak and Professor Elm as they travel about, documenting the strange and fantastic Pokémon they encounter and striving to remove the perpetuating misconceptions of such fantastic beasts. Tune in this Wednesday at nine PM Kanto Central Time for the first episode of this dramatic documentary.

Ash picked up his Pokémon before sitting in the phone booth and making his calls. His conversation with his mother went precisely as Darkrai had predicted, albeit with some added cooing over how cute Lenny was. The Magikarp was distinctly happier after the call.

Next up was Professor Oak.

"Oh, Ash, hi!" Professor Oak said, appearing on the video phone and looking and sounding pleasantly surprised. "I honestly wasn't expecting you to reach Viridian City this quickly—how are things going?"

"Pretty good," Ash said. "Pikachu and I are getting along much better now, right Pikachu?"

"Chu," Pikachu said from his perch on Ash's head. Ash could see Pikachu's reflection in the video screen—he was making a waffling motion with one of his paws.

"Anything is an improvement from earlier," Professor Oak said. "Oh, hey—Gary called earlier on his way to Pewter City—"

"Gary's already heading for Pewter City?" Ash asked, wincing as he heard thunder. "In this weather?"

"You know how it is—he gets an idea in his head and you can't do a thing with him. Kind of like you, actually. Anyway, he made a bet with me that you wouldn't catch any Pokémon before you got to Viridian City. I bet him a hundred Poke he was wrong!"

"You'd win that bet," Ash said, grinning. He held up Lenny. "Say hello to Lenny!"

"You were that hung up on getting a Magikarp."

"He'll get better—all he needs is a little training. And better yet, I'm travelling with a gym leader for a while—"

"Oh really? Which one?"

"The Cerulean City gym leader—her name's Misty."

"She'd be a good one to learn from," Professor Oak mused. "I haven't heard much positive news about the Cerulean City gym leaders, but Misty's showing potential. Just be careful—I hear she has a temper. Oop—my pizza's here. Got to go!"

And with that, Professor Oak was gone.

"I didn't think she had a temper, did you?" Ash asked his Pokémon.

"Pika pi," Pikachu said, shrugging.

"Karp," Lenny agreed.

Another boom of thunder, practically on top of their heads, and then the power cut out. "Oh…kay…that's probably not a good thing," Ash decided.

Lenny seemed to accuse Pikachu of something, which Pikachu vehemently denied. Attracting the storm, maybe?

"Does anyone have an electric Pokémon?" Nurse Joy asked, bringing a flashlight to the counter. "Our backup generator has run dry."

"What do you think, Pikachu?" Ash asked. "You up for it?"

"Pika!" Pikachu declared, flexing.

It took until the afternoon before the rain let up enough to go out. Once it did, Ash and Misty borrowed some umbrellas and followed Nurse Joy's directions to the Pokémart.

"Are you ever going to put Lenny in his Pokéball?" Misty asked.

"Maybe," Ash said. "But the rain's good for him, right?"

"Karp," Lenny agreed.

Misty made a face that Ash usually associated with Darkrai: mildly amused at his stupidity, is what Darkrai called it. At least he was mildly amusing.

"I just have to figure out how to train him if all he knows is Splash," Ash mused.

"You know, Pokémon gain experience just by participating in a battle," Misty said. "You can throw him out first thing and then switch over to Pikachu right away."

"That'd work—hey, since you said you wouldn't battle me until Cerulean, d'you think we could travel together until then?"

"What, so I can help a rookie trainer?" Misty asked.

"Lenny wanted you to come."

"Lenny did?"

"Karp!" Lenny said happily, flapping his fish tail.

"I suppose I can't argue with that," Misty sighed.

Darkrai, meanwhile, had finished his examination of Ash's Pokedex.

He was not impressed.

After that, he rooted through Ash's backpack. Figured the kid didn't bring his Gameboy. Or Twinkies—he would have thought he'd have at least brought that. At least the kid had enough common sense to lock the door behind him on his way out—nothing worse than housekeeping barging in on you when you were rooting through someone else's stuff.

Well, this was going nowhere.

Darkrai squeezed back out the window and pulled it halfway shut behind him. He wasn't a fan of wet, but it had slowed down to an annoying drizzle—and it sure beat the Cottonee out of sitting in a room bored out of his skull.

Boom.

"I thought it stopped that earlier," Darkrai noised—wait. That came from much closer.

Darkrai came around to the front of the Pokémon Center. Wow, what a hole. He drifted near it just in time to hear the last of what sounded like a well-rehearsed motto.

"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight fight fight!"

"Meowth! That's right!"

Oh…kay….That was going on his list of oddest things he had ever heard. And this—this in front of him was definitely up there with Mr. Mime and the Old Chateau of Sinnoh as far as oddest things he had ever seen—two humans, striking a pose on some sort of machine, with a Meowth standing between them and striking a pose as well. What was this, amateur hour on the Deino Martini Variety Show?

"What are you doing?" the nurse demanded. "What do you want?"

Oh goody, he wasn't the only one who thought this was far out to left field.

"We want all the Pokémon, that's what!" the Meowth declared.

They don't speak Pokémon, you idiot—wait, they wanted what?

"You might get a lot of twerp trainers here," the male of the pair announced.

"But you also get a lot of trainers with strong Pokémon heading for the Indigo Plateau!" the female of the pair finished.

"So we'll take them all and sort out the wheat from the chaff!"

Okay, he had heard enough. These people were driving him insane.

A tidily aimed Dark Pulse followed up with Ominous Wind shot the trio out of town while still giving him enough cover to dart away before anyone saw him. Ah, humans—more often than not, they didn't employ the sense they were born with.

"I can't believe you didn't know about Giovanni."

"It doesn't make sense," Ash countered. Lenny was finally in his Pokéball, as Ash had to carry both an umbrella and a bag of items he had bought from the Pokémart. "Why would he have a gym in the city right next to Pallet Town and yet only accept trainers who have seven badges?"

"Because of over there, silly," Misty said, pointing off to the west, where mountains loomed. "The Indigo Plateau—where the Elite Four and the Pokémon League are. Viridian City completes a circuit around Kanto and leads into Route 22—Giovanni's gym policy makes sense to me."

Ash wasn't entirely sure, but at least it took one problem off his table for the time being. "So I guess right now I have to worry about the Pewter City Gym leader."

"Brock," Misty supplied. "And how are you going to challenge him with a Magikarp and a Pikachu?"

"I'll figure something out." With the help of Darkrai, he silently added. "And I plan on catching another Pokémon before challenging the gym—there are fighting types around Pewter City, right?"

"I think—wow."

"Wow," Ash agreed. "What happened?"

Officer Jenny was taking a statement from Nurse Joy, in front of a big hole where the front of the Pokémon Center used to be.

"Oh—pardon our mess," Nurse Joy said, recognizing them. "Some people calling themselves Team Rocket tore through the front and tried to steal all the Pokémon."

"'Team Rocket'?" Ash asked, eyebrows going up.

"'Tried'?" Misty echoed.

"Why is it that you two come into town and then suddenly something goes sideways?" Officer Jenny asked, pointing her pen at them.

"Bad luck, worse timing?" Ash guessed, employing another Darkrai special.

"We have an alibi," Misty pointed out, holding up her Pokémart bag.

"Whoever they were, they didn't stay long," Nurse Joy pointed out. "And they'd be worse for wear by now—they were hit by some powerful Pokémon attacks."

"What kind?" Misty asked.

"A sort of black orb and some purple wind—I've never seen moves like them, to be honest."

Ash had—from the sound of it, that was Darkrai's Dark Pulse and Ominous Wind. Good to see he was keeping himself entertained.

"And you're sure you didn't come to any harm during the event?" Officer Jenny asked.

"Is this because of the talking Meowth?" Nurse Joy asked, affronted.

"It does strain credibility."

"Wait, a talking Meowth?" Misty asked. "Like it says more than Meowth sort of talks?"

"Yes, just like that," Nurse Joy said, nodding.

"On the plus side, they'd be easy to spot," Ash pointed out. "Not many people have a talking Pokémon." He did, sort of, but Darkrai wasn't his, so he didn't exactly count. He made a mental note to ask him about talking Meowth the next time he saw him.

"Well, wherever they are, they're wanted fugitives now," Officer Jenny declared, snapping her notebook shut with an air of finality.

In the forests of Route One, Team Rocket crashed to the ground after a few painful minutes of falling through very unforgiving branches.

"Meowch! What gives?" Meowth asked, rubbing his injured parts—which was all but his ears, he felt.

Jessie sat up, combing leaves and twigs out of her long pink hair. "Whose idea was that, anyway?" she asked.

"Mine," James said, lying where he had fallen. Meowth had the feeling he wasn't in any hurry to get up—rather, the purple-haired young man was puzzling out where his carefully-laid plan had gone awry.

To be honest, Meowth was of the opinion that James' plan had had a lot of holes to begin with. It had depended on catching everyone in the room at one time, while their Pokémon were all in their Pokéballs. It had been risky at best.

That didn't bother Meowth so much—the potential payoff was worth the risk.

What did bother him was the fact that the attacks that had sent them blasting off were attacks that he had never seen nor heard of before.

Okay, think Meowth, he said to himself, watching his cohorts argue. Trainers come from all over to challenge the Indigo League—what kind of moves were those?

One had the sort of musty smell Ghost moves had, that was for certain. But the other wasn't like anything he had ever seen or felt or smelt before. Something was off.

He started as he spotted a Spearow peeking around a tree at them. Uh-oh—not good.

"Hey, guys, cool it!" Meowth hissed, waving a paw at Jessie and James while keeping a wary eye on the fierce-faced bird. "There's Spearow around! Ya don't want to rile them up!"

Jessie and James took it down a few decibels, spotting the singular one and glancing around for the rest of the Spearow flock. Funny—now that he looked around, there weren't any other Spearow to be seen.

He hopped up on his hind legs, claws at the ready. "Oright, you," he said to the Spearow. "I know how Spearow work—yer keeping us distracted while yer flock readies an ambush, right?"

"No," the Spearow said. "I'm checking to see if it was the black Pokémon again."

"Black Pokémon?" Meowth echoed. Jessie and James quieted down, noting his tone. "What, a shiny?"

"No," the Spearow said. "I don't know what it was, but it was big and black with white hair and it scared every last 'mon clear off of Route One."

That didn't describe any Pokémon that Meowth was familiar with, and he was fairly certain he knew about most of the Pokémon in and around Kanto. "Explain it to me."

"Big and black and scary."

"No, I mean what'd it look like? Give me details."

The Spearow began scratching in the dirt, prompting Meowth to come over and look at the design. Spearow art wasn't that good to begin with, but he could just make out something wispy with big claws.

"I've never seen a Pokémon like that before," Jessie said, alerting Meowth to the fact that she and James were looking over his shoulders.

"Neither have I," Meowth said, turning to them. "From the sounds of it, it's a rare Pokémon from outside of Kanto—you see a lot of odd Pokémon, being this close to Route 22, right?" he added to the Spearow.

"Yes," it said. "Who are you people, anyway?"

"We're Team Rocket!" Meowth declared proudly, hands on his hips and chest puffed out. "We're dedicated to capturing rare and exotic Pokémon! Like this thing you described to us here!"

"If it's not Kantoan, that means it being here is really rare!" Jessie mused.

"And if we catch it, the boss will be so pleased!" James added.

"And it's powerful—"

"And it uses rare moves—"

"The boss will promote us for sure!"

"You mean you're going to capture this thing?" the Spearow asked.

"Sure are!" Meowth said—careful, he chided himself—the Spearow might get mad, and then—

The Spearow was anything but mad.

"My heroes!" it declared happily. "Listen, let me go tell everyone—we'll tell you all about it. Route One will praise the name of Team Rocket!" it added, ecstatic as it flew off.

"Wow," Meowth noised. "That was unexpected."

"What?" James asked.

"That Spearow said we were heroes for going after this thing!"

"It's about time Team Rocket got some appreciation," Jessie said, crossing her arms and nodding.

"Okay, planning time!" James declared, grabbing a stick and sitting cross-legged. "We've already established that this thing is powerful enough to take out a machine designed to withstand League-level Pokémon—Meowth, what moves were those?"

"One was definitely a Ghost type," Meowth said. "The other one, I don't know."

"But you're the Pokémon expert!" Jessie pointed out.

"For Kanto Pokémon—we've established this thing is foreign."

"Excuse me," something said, prompting Meowth to turn—it was another Spearow peeking around a tree, exhibiting that same uncharacteristic timidness the other had. "Are you the Team Rocket guys Lily said was going to get rid of that black thing?"

"Sure are!" Meowth said.

"Oh good," the Spearow said, walking out into the open. It was followed by a couple of Rattata and a Pidgey.

"You handle that while we work on a plan," James said, already knee-deep in a new design.

"We need a 360-degree view," Jessie said, pointing at one of James' scribbles.

As more and more Pokémon came forward, some even expressing a desire to join such a team that was so selfless as to tackle this monster, Meowth couldn't help but be cheered.

This was actually turning out to be a pretty good day for Team Rocket.