Chapter 40, everyone! In which we wrap up the Safari Zone….I actually made sure to finish this chapter and the last together before posting so I didn't post a short chapter (sorry for the delay, life got in the way), and I kept laughing all through writing this chapter. Not because it was funny, but because I kept picturing what everyone's reaction would be. Needless to say, you did not disappoint—and needless to say, formal apologies for this chapter. ^^;
The song Ash sings is a Pokémon version of Rolf Harris' 1957 song "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport"—I recommend giving it a listen, as it's an entertaining song. :)
Jakeroo123, thanks for the review! This is true. This is also true, and was my reaction throughout watching the episode. Because even a two-year-old is going to question falling out of a helicopter without one and somehow surviving, that's why! Yes, I and at least one other person on DeviantArt question that. Actually, come to think of it, the only three I've ever seen on the show with some capacity for cooking has been Brock, Ash's mom, and Cilian—the girls can cook Poké-treats, but both the games and anime waffle on whether or not humans can eat that. I suppose the good news is, Giovanni leaves a lot of blanks for fanfic writers to fill in….
ThatGuyDan, thanks for the review! Glad you like it, and I hope to continue to please! :D
XT3100, thanks for the review! We'll see….
Maidengarnet, thanks for the review! That was my feeling too when I watched that episode—apparently, there's no such thing as child services in the Pokémon world. And I do question the reasoning of just about EVERYONE in that episode. We shall see….
Deant33, thanks for the review! That would be nice….
11JJ11, thanks for the review! That seems like an accurate assessment. Agreed. And agreed—going to be spotty going for a bit, but progress is still progressing. :)
Matemeo3, thanks for the review! I'm going to have to ask which MJ there. Yeah, that was a bit much—mostly because I hadn't updated in six months. If it happens again I might just switch over to summarizing answers to reviews instead of individual responses. Hope it continues to please! :D
Dragonkeeper10, thanks for the review! Oh dear. That would be nice….
Thor94, thanks for the review! Yes, yes, and yes—and of course I'll have a JP quote, love that trilogy. :D We'll see….
ChanglingRin, thanks for the review! I did not know that, but I went and looked it up—and I can't say that I disagree with him there. Yes, Dratini!
ThisBadge, thanks for the review! I've missed it too. We'll see….
Greatazuredragon, thanks for the review! Yes…we can assess from the anime that Pokémon are generally possessing of an intelligence equal to humans, just without human sensibilities—as far as they're concerned, they're busy keeping the hatchling that got kicked out of the nest safe (kind of like how we take care of stray animals). Glad you like it! :D
Ardtornismyname, thanks for the review! Yes, FINALLY! Now to keep from having six months as the usual gap…yes….
Garm88, thanks for the review! That would be entertaining—and yeah, I know. If it happens again I'll switch to overall responses instead of individual.
R3nlock, thanks for the review! Yay! That…might actually be good…I swear, watching the original series, I have no idea how it got off the ground—everyone's personalities in the beginning were inconsistent and mostly toxic. We'll see….
Blitza, thanks for the review! Of course! Big awesome dragon versus kid that's probably bones by now? No contest.
Davidtheumbreon, thanks for the review! Glad you like it! :D And Ash's priorities.
Sand Soldier, thanks for the review! Oh yeah….
MagicWarriorDragon, thanks for the review! You…might actually like this chapter then….
Renee Sarah, thanks for the review, and glad you like it! :D
IceDragonGirl36, thanks for the review! More of a general Pokémon thing—they don't understand the reasoning of sending a hatchling out in the wilderness with mostly negligible amounts of training, so they view it the same way we view taking care of kittens the mother cat has abandoned. That'd be a fair assessment.
Thanks for the reviews, Guest! Agreed on all counts.
Thanks for the review, Anonymous Person! Glad you like the banter—love writing that. :D
Thanks for the review, Zaralann! Glad you like it! :D
DixieChicrules123, thanks for the reviews! Considering Yu-Gi-Oh! is my main jam, I had to reference it at one point. ;) And glad you liked the humor and snark enough to add it to your favorites! As for Sinnoh—I have concepts, but nothing solid yet (and we have quite a ways to go until then, so…we'll see ;)).
Heaven's Archer, thanks for the review! Glad you love it! :D
InkayInks, thanks for the reviews, and welcome back! Of course—Frenzy is the best. ;) Well, let's be honest, there's a difference between being asked to find a kid that's been missing a few hours and a kid that's been missing for five years—you'll keep an eye out, yeah, but the urgency isn't there. We'll see….
Anime Nightwing39, thanks for the review! Glad you love it enough to reread it! Ha, I never found a fanfic that really hit all the notes I was looking for, so I went and wrote one up—glad others are enjoying it! Those would actually be pretty good, since we don't see them very often…oh I'm definitely finishing the Kanto arc—I may take a while, but I never post a fic I don't finish.
Hunter Redflame, thanks for the review! That's okay, it's been far too long since I updated *bricked* You may not be disappointed by this chapter then….Misty might have a fit at another bug, to be fair. Good to know! :D
Pokémon © Game Freak; Nintendo
And now, for something completely different:
In other news, theaters are releasing the remastered version of Jurassic Park. Get your tickets now to see these ancient Pokémon on the big screen. This message has been brought to you by Fangdango—where the sight of a Raticate is a good thing!
Darkrai skimmed along, looking back and forth for signs of the particular Pokémon he was looking for. Ask this group, and depending on the answer, that would be that.
Now it just bore asking why he was doing this.
You're doing it because it's the right thing to do. Something out of the goodness of your heart, maybe.
Darkrai snorted at that memory—ha, no, he didn't think so. Maybe to give whoever some warning—don't invest in kids, they latch onto you and never leave you alone after that. But it just fed into his opinion that most humans were absolutely worthless and…hmm?
He followed the sound of younglings playing, found a bunch of Kangaskhan babies play-fighting and growling and occasionally throwing berries at each other. Their mothers were probably lurking nearby, eating and keeping an eye and ear on them—the only reason he wasn't currently made was because he was downwind and his fur naturally tended towards camouflage in shadow.
And if he wasn't mistaken, there was a kid roughhousing with the rest of them.
"Well, one of these things is not like the other," Darkrai mused—alerted to the fact that he had mused out loud when they all screamed and ran, prompting several adult Kangaskhan to burst out of the nearby foliage, scooping them up and scanning the brush with bared teeth.
Figuring there was nothing for it, Darkrai drifted slightly out into the open, one paw raised. "Yo."
"Waah! Momma! It's scary!" one of the baby Kangaskhan yelled, jumping in a pouch. Which was the general opinion of most of the little Kangaskhan, except for one, which had a paw around the wrist of the little kid in what looked like part of a Tauros' ruff.
"It's okay, Momma's going to knock that thing clear to the moon," it was telling the kid, before looking at the adult Kangaskhan partially blocking them from a lunge on Darkrai's part. "Right, Momma?"
The adult Kangaskhan seemed to be more interested in evaluating Darkrai, having noted that he had in fact not attacked or fled or anything, which gave him hope as far as having a civil discussion was concerned.
"Nice kids," Darkrai opted to say, before pointing at the human child. "Let me guess, that one takes after his father."
"Sasha, just torch it and let's go," one of the other Kangaskhan said.
The one he had been addressing, however, maneuvered so she was properly blocking him from the kids. "Who wants to know?" she demanded.
"Chill, I'm just here giving you some useful information," Darkrai said, picking up and examining a still-intact berry to help give off the I'm not interested in eating your kids vibe. "You wouldn't happen to be willing to share where you got the one kid, are you? Or are you waiting until he's older to have that conversation?"
"This isn't bashing," the kid said, peering around the Kangaskhan—ah, but of course, he'd have grown up hearing nothing but Pokénese.
"I think this leads up to the bashing," the actual baby Kangaskhan said, leaning around her other side. "Like, trash-talk or something."
"Shoo," the Kangaskhan said, putting massive paws on both their heads. "Momma is having a discussion. Those don't always end in fighting."
"They should," the Kangaskhan baby said, sulking.
"Free advice kid: the ones that don't end in fighting are the ones you want to have," Darkrai said, flicking the berry away.
The Kangaskhan looked back at him sharply, the other adult behind lifting her head higher to make herself look more intimidating, paws positioned to both protect her pouch and swing up into an attack if necessary. "You were saying your piece and leaving."
"I was. Humans are coming, and they want the kid. I'm sure you know which one I'm talking about."
He had backed up with that declaration, and a good thing too—the Kangaskhan flew into a rage, only the two kids by her side keeping her from actually going into a raging stomping fit.
"No, no, NO! they can't have him!" she roared. "We waited! We stayed around where we found him for years, even though the Nidos kept trying to chase us off! We stayed for ages and no one came! They gave up any right they had to him LONG ago!"
"What's a human?" the kid asked the Kangaskhan baby, from behind the raging mother.
"They're like trainers—they're no good," the Kangaskhan baby said.
"I guess you haven't told him he was adopted yet," Darkrai observed drily.
The Kangaskhan snapped back to glaring at him. "What do you want?"
"I'm just letting you know. As a Pokémon, do you think I think that humans are capable of raising their own? And depending on what you tell the knucklehead heading this way," he added, hearing said knucklehead coming up behind. "Will depend on who comes after you later."
"Is that a threat?" she snarled.
"A warning—you can tell the difference, can't you?"
One of the other Kangaskhan lifted its head, having heard the yutz coming as well. "There's a human coming."
Another Kangaskhan looked to the one Darkrai had been chatting with. "We can take care of it—accidents happen in this area every day, the humans say. They won't think twice about another one, especially if we get rid of it."
The lead Kangaskhan seemed sorely tempted.
"Yeah," Darkrai said flatly. "You see this nice, quiet, calm conversation we're having? That will change."
Suspicious eyes locked on him. "A trained 'mon?"
"This one isn't mine," Darkrai said—and he was glad of that, considering it sounded very much like the yutz was absently singing 'Tie me Kangaskhan Down, Sport' as he went—look—yes, he was, poking where he was going to walk with a long stick he had found to make sure he didn't step on anything untoward.
"'Take me Marowak back, Jack, take me Marowak back,'" he sang, before spotting them in the clearing. "Oh wow, Kangaskhan! Hi!"
"What is that?" the kid asked.
"That's a trainer," the baby Kangaskhan said. "Don't worry, Momma will rough him up."
"You must be Tommy," the yutz continued, before looking at Darkrai. "I mean, I'm guessing but…I'm pretty sure there isn't a bunch of kids living out here."
"That must have taxed that one brain cell, figuring that out," Darkrai said flatly.
"My name is Tomo! Not Tommy! What kind of weird name is that?" the kid yelled, flailing behind the adult Kangaskhan.
Said adult was watching carefully, apparently debating on whether or not remaining civil was a viable option.
"Anyway," the yutz said, looking back at the Kangaskhan. "Tommy's parents are looking for them, and I kind of said I'd keep an eye out for them. They seem pretty worried."
"he can understand you?" she asked Darkrai; he nodded. "Then tell him they should have thought about that before leaving him here."
Darkrai did so.
"That's about Brock's opinion," the yutz told her. "But he'll be surprised—he figured something big and meat-eating found him first. But…you'd want to know if your kid was okay, right? If he went missing?"
She looked down her snout at him. "I would not have left the issue this long."
Darkrai translated.
"That's what Brock said too," the yutz said.
"Is Brock a Kangaskhan?" one of the Kangaskhan asked Darkrai.
"We're about ninety percent sure he's a gym leader," Darkrai told them.
One of the Kangaskhan sniffed at that, as though that were not quite a satisfactory answer.
"What's a gym leader?" the human kid asked.
"It's like a trainer, but like its evolved form," the baby Kangaskhan that had thus far refused to leave its side said.
"So…Tommy's okay though, right?" the yutz asked. "Been real taken care of and everything?"
"My name is TOMO, idiot human!" the kid said, obviously missing the nuances of the insult.
"Of course," the lead Kangaskhan sniffed.
Darkrai translated.
"Okay, so it's not a problem," the yutz said, beaming. "We tell them he's alive and well and living happily with the Kangaskhan and…I guess you're not supposed to move a kid in his formative years, right?"
"And since when were you a child psychologist?" Darkrai asked, arms crossed.
"I'm all for not lingering here much longer anyway," the yellow rat said, having eyed the various Kangaskhan during the whole affair. They weren't attacking, yes, and they had loosened up a little bit, but they were still in a position to attack them and destroy them should they choose.
"But this is great, problem solved, where's the Dratini nest from here?" the yutz continued, still grinning like an idiot.
A few of the Kangaskhan blinked and exchanged glances. The lead one shuffled a bit, making sure it stayed between them and the younglings, obviously not trusting this change of tack.
"You do what?" she asked.
"Well, I'm kinda wanting to catch a Dratini, and I don't know how far it is to their nest or how long it's going to take when I get there and—"
"Hold it," the lead Kangaskhan interrupted, making short cutting motions with its foreclaws. "You're not going to try to take Tomo?"
"No," the yutz replied, once Darkrai had translated. "I never said we were going to take Tommy—Tomo, I guess—back to those people. I said we would look. Looking is not the same as delivering."
The yellow rat was quiet for a long moment as it digested this. "That's right, you did say that," it said finally, before pointing at Darkrai. "You. You're a terrible influence."
"Who, me?" Darkrai asked, feigning aghast.
"Yes, you."
"So that means we're safe?" the kid asked.
"I guess so," the baby Kangaskhan said.
They nodded at each other, were shortly on either side of the yutz and poking him.
"So this is a trainer—they smell funny," the kid opined.
"They're all like that, but this one never seems to bathe on a regular basis," Darkai opined.
"Hey," the yutz protested.
"No, we do not poke trainers, that's what gets you caught in a Pokéball," the lead Kangaskhan said, picking up the kid and the baby Kangaskhan by the scruffs of their necks; she took a moment to sniff at the yutz. "And I suppose, in exchange for you not taking my son, we can lead you to the Dratini nest—mostly so we can keep an eye on you while you're here."
"You don't have to worry about that," the yutz said when Darkrai translated. "I said we were only looking for him, not that we were going to take him away."
"Am I to understand you mercilessly manipulated your wording to wriggle your way out of delivering a child to his parents, just so this doesn't cut into your safari time?" Darkrai asked, eye ridge raised as he eyed the yutz.
"Well, when you say it like that…."
Darkrai considered this, nodded once. "Good. I approve."
Dodging the yellow rat's Thunder Wave wasn't much of an effort.
"So what's it like, working for a trainer?"
Oi. "Much like the last thirty times you asked, about as life-threatening as migrating," Pikachu sighed, wondering if it would be better if he went back to Ash's shoulder. At least then he wouldn't be peppered by questions on both sides. "And you," he added, looking at Tommy, Tomo, whatever his name was. "You should be asking Ash—you're both human, he can answer your questions."
The kid shook his head. "Nuh-uh! I'ma Kangaskhan!"
"Let me guess, that hasn't come up in conversation yet."
"Tomo, Jojo, maybe you should ride in the pouch for a while, hmm?" the mama Kangaskhan said. "Give them some peace and quiet?"
"But I wanna know more about training!" the baby Kangaskhan wailed. "Like how does it work? We don't go around fighting the other troops—why do humans go around fighting each other?"
"So they can evolve into gym leaders?" the kid guessed.
"Oi, tell me I wasn't this deluded," Pikachu moaned; sure, fine, he had a few misconceptions about humans as well before he was captured, but this was bordering on ridiculous.
"Hey, Pikachu, need a lift?" Ash offered, and at this point Pikachu was more than willing to take him up on that offer.
"Save me from inquisitive kids," Pikachu said, nuzzling his cheek.
"I wonder how Misty and Brock are doing," Ash mused.
Misty and Brock were doing just fine, to tell the truth. Except for the minor issue of the Scyther.
"I've never seen anyone pull that off," Brock said, once they were gone. "I mean, most people would be intimidated by a five-foot insect with sharp blades."
"I wasn't intimidated," Misty groused, stomping her way through the field. "I was downright terrified. What idiot thought that letting people out here without Pokémon to protect them was a good idea?"
"Maybe they knew about your arm."
"I—that's not funny, Brock."
"It's a little funny," Brock said, smirking. "Especially when—Pinsir."
The identified Pokémon went down quickly to a mallet to the head.
It was getting late, and Ash kept checking the wrist device to see how much time they had left.
"Boy, if it takes this long to get to the Dratini nest, no wonder no one catches them," he muttered.
"Hmm. You wouldn't happen to be leading us into a trap, would you?" Darkrai asked of the Kangaskhan. The lead one, which now had the baby Kangaskhan and Tommy/Tomo/Whoever in its pouch, turned to snort at that before continuing on, holding a branch up so they could pass through.
"Kangas-ka," it said, pointing across a clearing.
Ash looked, gave a squeak of excitement at the sight—a lake, with a big pile of boulders in the middle, and sunning on the banks and the boulders were several long blue ribbons of scales. Dratini!
"Hey thanks!" he said to the Kangaskhan, waving as he dashed across the clearing and to the nearest boulder on this side, trying to get some Poké-bait while simultaneously trying not to fall in any burrows along the way. Finally succeed, skid to a halt and bump against the boulder—
The Dratini looked down at the sound, spotted him, and dove into the lake with a squeak.
"Hey wait—" Ash started, only to hear several other splashes—the Dratini diving into the lake and out of sight. "Oi."
"Ah well, you tried," Darkrai said, floating up next to him.
"Yeah, but I think there's something else I can try," Ash said, releasing more Poké-bait and throwing it into the middle of the lake. It took about three times before something came up from under and snatched some of the food. A few more nibbled, and Ash started tossing some closer.
"You do know you're probably feeding Magikarp, right?" Darkrai asked.
"Let a guy hope, alright?"
Darkrai sighed and drifted off, Pikachu following him after a few moments. Ash resumed tossing food in with the hopes of attracting a Pokémon over—
And then something snatched some food near him, and he could see that it belonged to something blue.
"Ha-ha," Ash noised triumphantly, tossing some food closer to him. And closer, and closer, until the number of heads dwindled down to just a few, and then just to one, consistently going for the food, even when Ash dropped it right in his own reflection. He waited a moment, was rewarded when the Dratini head bobbed up in expectation, gingerly held out a piece of food for it, not daring to breathe.
This close, as it gingerly rose out of the water to sniff at his hand, Ash could appreciate the raw power and beauty of a Dragon type. Glittering little scales reflected every faint source of light, from the setting sun to the rippling reflection off the water, with coils of muscle beneath—and Dratini was just the start of the line! From what he could see, this one was as long as Brock was tall, sky blue upper scales blending in with the water, paler belly scales moving slightly as it breathed, snorting a puff of air out of the nostrils on top of its rounded white snout. The bud of a white horn was starting between its deep calculating eyes, and its ears were showing the beginnings of the white feathers that would bloom out when it became a Dragonair. It was wild, it was obviously willful, and Ash was starting to get dizzy from holding his breath and just mentally begging that it would go with him please let it come he wouldn't ask for anything again just let him get this Dratini—
It sniffed at his hand again, eyed his face, sniffed again before lifting out of the water some more and taking the food. Ash let out a breath, trying to keep it to a controlled and quiet hiss, got a little more food out to hold out to it—not as much hesitation this time. Okay, good…just…one more time, and then Pokéball….
It took that bit, watched him carefully, now expecting food from him—bumped his hand to punctuate this point and oh wow it touched me yes it wants to come with me BALL NOW!
It took everything he had to carefully, carefully reach for the wrist device, feeling it to find the right button, not taking his eyes off the Dratini for one second because if he did it would be gone—almost—there—
BEEEbibibibibibibibi—
The Dratini dove back into the water, Ash fell backwards in alarm before jumping up—
"Aw, no! Come on!" he wailed, grasping at his hair as the ripples faded before finally locating the source of the noise—the wrist device flashing 0:00. Try to get the buttons working—nothing. Time was up.
"Aw, man," Ash moaned, hanging his head.
Great.
The safari rangers came and picked Misty and Brock up, their collective Pokéballs hidden within Brock's vest and carefully smoothed down so nothing showed. It was a nice ride, sitting in the back as the sun continued to disappear behind the mountains and various Pokémon called to each other.
"Remember that movie, Jurassic Park?" Misty asked.
"Yes," Brock said. "I have at least three brothers who want a Tyrantrum."
"Probably not a good thing."
"Probably."
"And these vehicles are allowed why?" Misty asked one of the rangers. "Not that I'm complaining, but I heard that they weren't allowed."
"Outside vehicles aren't," one ranger said. "We had to do a lot of work on this one so it's low-impact to the environment."
"Ah."
They picked up Ash before it got full dark—Darkrai had probably already left with his Pokémon.
"So, how'd it go?" Misty asked as he sat down.
"I was this close," Ash said, holding two fingers together and squinting. "This close, and then this stupid wrist-thing had to go off."
"Bummer. But at least you got to see a Dratini instead of a bunch of bugs."
"There is that," Ash sighed, resting his head in his hands.
Brock let them ride in silence for a minute before posing the pertinent question.
"Did you find him?"
Ash looked up at Brock blankly before what he asked apparently sank in. "Yeah—Tommy—well, he's calling himself Tomo—he's living with the Kangaskhan."
Brock looked a little more than mildly surprised. "You weren't expecting that," Misty observed.
"It…wasn't very likely," Brock admitted, scratching the back of his head. "That kid's pretty lucky."
"Yeah. So now what? We tell his parents and go on our merry way?"
"Oi, them," Ash moaned, burying his face in his hands again.
"Why do I get the feeling he's being better taken care of with a bunch of Kangaskhan than he was with them?" Brock asked.
"Because the Kangaskhan didn't drop him from a helicopter?" Misty guessed.
"That might be it."
"I guess we do have to tell them," Ash said, as the jeep came to a stop next to the gate. "I mean, it's kind of a courtesy thing, right? Hey, your kid's alive, good for you?"
"Good for you is better than what I was thinking," Brock said, standing and jumping over the side. Misty accepted his help getting down, stretched a bit as he helped Ash down too. "So, let's go break it to them."
Misty followed them in, squinted at the sudden burning of the bright fluorescent lights after having been used to the night—
"There they are!"
She blinked a few times to clear her eyes, saw the two parents standing there eagerly.
"So? Did you find him?" the father asked.
"Uh, yeah, we did," Ash said.
"You did? You did! Where is he?" the mother asked, looking them all over like they had the kid hidden away in their pockets.
"Uh, well, here's the thing, he's with the Kangaskhan—"
"Kangaskhan?" the mother asked, looking horrified.
"Yeah, but they're all doing great, so maybe if you went and…visited? Be all hi, thanks so much for taking care of my kid, you guys are great, maybe we can all hang?"
"But…but they're just…."
"They took very good care of Tommy," Ash said. "It's just he doesn't speak anything but Pokémon-talk, since that's the only language they know."
"Well we can fix that," the father said. "Get Tommy back from those animals and raise him up like a proper human being—shouldn't take much, they're just a bunch of brainless Pokémon."
Misty could very clearly see Ash shut down at that comment, going from open and mostly bemused to completely closed-faced.
"So where are they?" the father demanded. "We need to get our son back."
Ash worked his jaw a little, closemouthed, and Misty thought she could see a little bit of Darkrai's mannerisms there.
And then he pointed off in a direction that they hadn't come from.
"Waaaaay over there—like, way far in the northwest corner there, opposite direction of the Dratini nest. Dratini eat Kangaskhan, so they avoid them and hang with the Nidoran," Ash said. "Because Kangaskhan and Nidoran are buddies, don't you know."
The parents both nodded, making Misty wonder if they had ever been around Pokémon at all in their lives. "Well we can hire you to take us there—" the father began—
"Ooh, sorry, can't, on a tight schedule and all—plus it doesn't matter if I go in with you, I'm not allowed Pokémon in there," Ash said, before checking his wrist. "And oh look at that, it's past my bedtime. Gotta go."
"What do you mean, past your bedtime? You're a trainer!"
Ash paused in his maneuvering around them to glare back at the guy. "I'm ten," he said, leaning forward for emphasis. "All the professionals handy, and you want a ten-year-old to escort you? You don't even know if I know the difference between a Kangaskhan, a Rhydon, and a Nidoqueen! Oi."
And with that, Ash plunked the wrist device on the counter and stalked out.
The parents looked at Misty and Brock.
"Can't," Brock said, putting his own wrist device on the counter. "Got a full-time job keeping after him."
Misty put her wrist device on the counter, trying to avoid the now desperate looks the parents were giving her. Finally, she took a deep breath, turned to face them.
"Stay out of the long grass near the middle of the safari—it has Scyther," she told them.
And then she, too, was out the door, picking up her pace as soon as she was outside to catch up with Ash and Brock.
"We should feel bad about that, kinda," she told them.
"We should," Brock agreed. "But I have a hard time doing that with a pair as irresponsible as that."
"I was all for helping them until they insulted the Kangaskhan," Ash said, not looking back.
"I noticed," Misty said.
"I mean, Darkrai said that they said that they waited around for ages for someone to come and find Tommy, that they fought off a bunch of Nidos to stay in the right place—they're taking really good care of him, and those two act like he's living like some sort of—of—I don't know!"
"Like Tarzan, only filthy?" Brock guessed.
"Yeah."
Misty shrugged. "Well, it's over now—and don't even think about it."
"And what was I going to do?" Darkrai asked, coming around her from behind.
"Scare the life out of me."
"Pish," Darkrai said, waving her off before floating over to Ash. "So? How'd it go?"
"We decided that Tommy was better off with the Kangaskhan," Ash said, as Pikachu hopped over from Darkrai's back to his shoulder.
"I could have told you that."
And that, Misty thought, was why Tommy was still with the Pokémon. Whether or not she thought he was better off was another story, but it gave her some insight into Ash's reasoning.
Now it was just a question of whether or not that was a good thing.