"Well, it took us longer than it probably should have done, but we're finally here!" Ash announced. "Saffron City gym!"

"It took us longer than it should have done because we got lost," Misty supplied. "Again."

"And because we went to the beach, don't forget that," Brock pointed out.

"The beach was nice," Pikachu admitted. "Even if there was that invasion of giant Tentacruel to deal with."

"Was that an invasion?" Ash said. "There was only one of them. All the others were just Tentacool."

"When it's that big, it's an invasion," Pikachu said.

Ash sniggered. "Anyway, it's time to challenge the gym!"

Mankey came out of his Pokéball with a flash. "This should be interesting."

"Uh…" Misty began. "Why is Mankey out of his Pokéball this time?"

"For Misty's information, I'm interested in seeing what a Psychic gym is like," Mankey sniffed, folding his arms. "Professional interest."

"Well," Ash said, advancing towards the gym. "Let's find out!"

"I wouldn't go in there," a man warned, coming out from around the corner. "Steer clear of Saffron Gym."

"But we already spent ages coming back here," Ash protested.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," the man shrugged, and walked off.

All five watched him go.

"Maybe the special challenge in this gym is about not being scared off?" Brock guessed. "That would be more of a Ghost thing, though…"

"Whatever!" Ash decided. "Come on, let's go!"

"Hmm," Mankey said, making notes. "Gyms have people standing around doing things related to the gym. Good to know."

"They don't all have that," Pikachu cautioned him. "The Water type gym did, but the Rock and Electric type gyms kind of… didn't."

"Well, we're here!" Ash announced, shrugging off his bag so Mankey could put his notepaper back. "Where's the gym leader?"

He frowned slightly. "Or, it's more like, who's the gym leader? I mean, there's a little girl, there, and there's someone up there… Is the gym leader a little girl?"

You assume there's more than one person here, said a psychic voice.

"Oh, huh, so you're psychic like Silver is?" Ash asked. "Then… I guess if you're talking about assuming that, that might mean there's just one of you?"

He glanced at Brock. "Do you think it's more likely the little girl's Gym Leader Sabrina, or the older one?"

"Well, I hope the little girl's the one who isn't real," Brock answered. "Such a vision of loveliness I see sitting up there couldn't possibly be faked!"

Bulbasaur sent himself out and handled Brock.

"Anyway, it's time for the battle!" Ash said. "What are the rules?"

That's not very polite, Sabrina said. But if you want to play, then we'll play. One Pokémon each.

"Okay, then!" Ash decided, pointing forwards. "Here we go!"

Mankey loped forwards, jumping into the arena and skidding slightly as he came to a halt, and an Abra emerged from a Pokéball opposite him.

Psywave, Sabrina instructed.

Abra's eyes didn't open, but it raised a paw. A pulse of multicoloured light flashed out and hit Mankey, who didn't try to dodge.

Nothing happened.

"Oh, what now?" Misty asked.

Then Mankey crossed his arms for a moment, before spreading them again with a yip. A surge of reddish-black energy washed out from the Fighting-type to reach every corner of the arena, carrying Abra along with it, and smacked the Psychic-type into a wall.

It bounced limply along the ground, then vanished back into its Pokéball.

Ash raised his hand. "Uh… I'm confused. Weren't you going to punch Abra?"

"That's what you're asking about here?" Pikachu demanded. "Not the… everything else?"

"Well, I kind of get the rest of it," Ash said. "It's just… Mankey's a Pokémon who punches things. That's about it. So that's the bit that's confusing here, because we know Mankey likes to punch things and we know Mankey was planning to punch Abra."

He waved his hand. "Usually when I'm confused about something it's about stuff people say not matching what's actually going on. Like how everyone thinks Pidgey are common but I've never seen one, and how people think seeing Ho-Oh is rare. But I have seen Mankey, and talked to him a lot. It's objective, not subjective."

"Objective and subjective – how do you even know how to use those words?" Misty asked.

"Misty has got a point," Brock admitted. "Especially because you're using them accurately."

"Oh, right," Ash said. "Miss Suicune taught me what they meant when she was telling me why Mr. Entei didn't make volcanoes erupt every time he barked."

Misty put her head in her hands. "Someday I'll learn not to ask these questions."

"But you can learn a lot by asking the right questions," Mankey said.

From behind them.

The Mankey on the battlefield snickered, then vanished with a pop and turned into a Zorua.

"Hi!" it said, bounding over to Ash and springing up into his arms. "How was that?"

"That was pretty cool!" Ash told the little kit-fox. "So you can change shape?"

"Yeah, but it's not like a Ditto does or whatever," Zorua replied, snuggling into Ash's arms like it belonged there. "I'm still the same Pokémon with the same type, just a different shape!"

"Um…" Misty began. "I know I'm going to regret asking questions again, so soon after the last time, but… where did that Pokémon come from?"

"Where Pokémon usually come from?" Zorua replied, ears twitching. "I hatched, silly!"

It made a considering noise. "Unless you mean going back further than that? Because I think it involved a Zoroark at some point."

There was a pause of a few seconds.

"So am I actually going to get an answer about where they came from?" Misty checked. "Or has everyone forgotten I don't speak Pokémon?"

"Oh, right!" Ash realized, because in this context everyone meant him. "Zorua just hatched, I guess right before the battle!"

Sabrina made a hiccuping sound.

"You just," she began, speaking out loud. "Beat my gym. By… by accident? With a newly hatched Pokémon?"

Another hiccup.

"I should be offended but that's just…"

"What do you think, Zorua?" Brock asked, putting five small bowls in front of the Dark-type. "Each of these is a berry with a specific flavour. Tell me what you like about them."

Zorua sniffed the first bowl, then reached inside it to pull out a Cheri Berry. He inspected it, then took a careful nibble.

"That's okay," he said. "Not too bad, but it's not sending me crazy either."

"What do you think?" Brock said.

"He said it's okay," Ash supplied.

He gave Zorua's fur a stroke. "So… you're the expert on raising Pokémon from an egg, Brock. I wanted to check whether what I was thinking made sense?"

"If you asked Misty, she'd say it probably wasn't," Brock chuckled. "But what were you thinking about?"

"There's kind of… if Zorua's okay with battling, there's four things we'd need to work on," Ash explained.

He began to count off on fingers. "First, there's making sure that Zorua can battle properly. You know, dodging and fighting on his own."

Zorua whined, and Ash chuckled before abandoning counting on his fingers and going back to stroking the little Dark-type. "The second thing is making sure he can take on different shapes as well as possible, and what shapes are a bad idea. If he turns into a Flying-type, can he fly, that kind of thing."

"Makes sense so far," Brock told him.

"I bet I could!" Zorua announced.

"Then, the third thing is about making his disguise believable," Ash continued. "You know, turning into Pokémon that it makes sense to pretend to be, like Zapdos, and making it so that another Pokémon can think that they are fighting Zapdos… like, using Thundershock or something like it, that kind of thing."

"You couldn't have used Pikachu as an example?" Brock said, as Zorua tested out a Rawst Berry.

"Well, if Zorua pretended to be Pikachu, it'd be obvious that I had a Zorua," Ash pointed out. "Because Pikachu never goes in his Pokéball. So I'd have to have them both out and confuse people over which one's Pikachu, which is kind of different. But the last thing is that I could have Zorua pretend to be a Pokémon I don't even have."

"That sounds fun!" Zorua opined. "Ooh, I could pretend to be a Pokémon like… like… Celebi!"

"Heh, I think you'd have trouble floating around," Ash pointed out. "Celebi usually float."

"Wow, that's a good point," Zorua admitted, seriously. "You're good at this."

"Thirty Safari Balls," Ash said, looking at the collection. "This is going to give me way more Pokémon!"

"That assumes you catch something with all of them," Misty pointed out.

Ash frowned, confused. "Why wouldn't I? Uh, is there some kind of rule you can only throw a Safari Ball once?"

Ash put the bag of Safari Balls down, and checked the pamphlet. "Uh… don't use your Pokémon on the Safari Zone Pokémon, except in self defence… don't capture the Pokémon you had to use your own Pokémon against… we're not responsible if you throw rocks at them… no, I can't see anything about only throwing the ball once."

"I guess that means Ash is going to end the day with over thirty Pokémon," Brock said. "See anything good to start with?"

"Pikachu?" Ash asked, glancing up at the Pokémon on his head. "You've got a better view."

"Honestly, I'm surprised the local Pokémon haven't run away," Pikachu said. "You've been kind of loud."

"Oh, yeah, good point," Ash admitted, lowering his voice, and headed towards a small hill. "Let's see what's on the other side of that hill…"

The other humans followed, and they were as quiet as possible as they reached the crest of the hill.

Ash looked over, then slid back down slightly.

"There's a Tauros!" he whispered. "Just ten feet away!"

Taking the top Safari Ball from the bag, he lifted himself up and threw.

A purple-yellow-and-black blur went rocketing across the plain exactly as he threw it, intersected the path of the Safari Ball with a thump, and the Tauros – along with two others nearby – all stampeded away at the bright white flash.

Ash, Misty, Brock and Pikachu all exchanged glances.

"Huh," Pikachu said. "I guess you didn't get a Tauros then."

"Yeah," Ash agreed, lifting himself up over the ridge. "But let's see what I did capture!"

He picked up the Safari Ball and opened it.

"...oh, come on," Brock said.

"Good afternoon," Raikou told Ash, and gave him a big slobbery lick. "I've not seen you in a few weeks."

"I've not seen you in a few months!" Ash replied. "How are Entei and Suicune doing?"

"Last I heard, Suicune was arguing with father again," Raikou told him. "Same as usual."

Ash nodded, twining his hands in her fur. "So, uh, sorry about that."

"I've heard it's what all the cool Electric-type Legendary Pokémon are doing these days," Raikou told him. "But I notice I haven't vanished off back to Pallet Town, so you must still have most of your Safari Zone trip to go."

"Good point," Ash agreed. "Want to go back in the Safari Ball for now?"

"Why ever not," Raikou agreed, giving Ash another quick nuzzle before vanishing.

"Okay, so that was a bit strange, but what else are you going to catch?" Misty asked, some minutes later.

"What would you catch, Misty?" Brock asked. "I know there are all kinds of rare Pokémon here, but I can't remember if there are any Water types and that's your expertise."

"I… hmm," Misty said, frowning. "Most of the Water types you can get here aren't really unique, I think…"

"Well, what matters is getting a good Pokémon, right?" Ash asked. "Oh, there's a river coming up, what might be in there?"

"Poliwag, maybe?" Misty answered, looking up as she thought. "Psyduck? Magikarp obviously, but those are kind of hard to deal with and what they evolve into is… well, scary, really."

She snapped her fingers as they crossed the bridge. "I guess there are Dratini, they're not really Water types but they do live in rivers. They're really rare, though, they're not Legendary Pokémon but it's supposed to be difficult just to see them…"

"Ash?" Brock asked. "Where'd he go?"

"Must have stopped at the river," Misty decided.

"You guys are kind of cute," Ash said, scratching the chin of a Dratini which let out a rippling squeaky purr. "Don't you think so, Pikachu?"

"Yeah, they are," Pikachu said, then gasped as another one gave him a tight squeeze. "Hey, not too tight!"

The Dratini looked momentarily downcast, then perked up and slithered over to Ash.

"What do you think?" Ash asked, holding up a Safari Ball. "Anyone want to come with me?"

The first one contemplated the ball, then slithered forwards and gave it a tap with its nose. The Safari Ball flashed, drawing Dratini in, then disappeared.

"Huh, that was kind of satisfying," Ash said.

The other Dratini exchanged glances.

A few hours later, Professor Oak knocked on the door of Delia's house.

"Mrs. Ketchum?" he began, when the door opened. "I wanted to let you know that your son's caught some Pokémon that are more than he can handle at a time."

"Oh, he has?" Delia asked. "That's good. I know you said Gary was catching dozens of Pokémon, but that Ash hadn't even got seven yet."

"He's more or less corrected that problem," Professor Oak replied. "And Dragonite and I are going to be very busy."

"Why Dragonite?" Delia said, curious. "Did he catch something big? Or powerful?"

"Not yet," Oak said. "We've just got twenty-nine Dratini to raise."

He broke into a broad grin. "It's like having young grandchildren again!"

"A Ditto, huh?" Ash said, inspecting Duplicia's Pokémon. "They can transform like Mew can, right?"

"That's right," Duplicia agreed. "But that's the main thing that Ditto can do… the only problem is, my Ditto is a sweet Pokémon but he hasn't quite got the hang of it."

"Well…" Ash began, thinking. "I wonder if-"

"Ooh, can I help?" Zorua interrupted.

"...when did you come out of your Pokéball?" Pikachu asked. "I didn't even hear you do it…"

"About an hour ago," Zorua said, sniggering. "There's these really small Pokémon called Joltik? I was under Ash's hat!"

"It's kind of weird to think about changing shape and how you end up smaller than before," Ash said. "But, uh… I saw Mew use Transform a few times, and it seemed really easy. Can you show me what it's like?"

Ditto used Transform, changing into a replica Pikachu.

"That's mostly pretty good, except for the face," Pikachu said. "That's really important for how a Pokémon looks. See, this is Charmander…"

He posed, then changed pose. "And this is Zapdos. See how they're really different?"

Zorua stared at Pikachu, eyes shining. "How did I not know about this before? That's great! Ooh, do me!"

Pikachu duly did Zorua.

Zorua, naturally, then did Pikachu.

"...that just looks weird," Misty said. "And confusing."

"But my point is," Pikachu said, relaxing and going back to looking like himself. "The face tells you a lot, and that's something you need to get the hang of I think. There's something else to test, though – can you use my moves? Ditto can do that if they copy a Pokémon, right?"

Mankey emerged from his Pokéball, which meant there was now quite a cluster of Pokémon around Ditto.

"The key is genetics," he said. "Using Transform means you have to have a way of defining what it is you're transforming into, and you can tweak it but the more details you have to remember the harder it is. The trick is that you need to focus on the genetics of your target Pokémon, and that way it'll do most of the work for you."

"Does that mean I need to think about genetics too?" Zorua asked.

"No, you're just looking like another Pokémon," Mankey replied. "Completely different. Unless, that is, you learn Transform."

"Can't only Mew and Ditto learn Transform?" Ash said.

"With the right state of zen, anything is possible," Mankey stated. "For example."

He put his palms together, flared a brilliant white, and when the light had gone Primeape was standing there instead.

Zorua gasped, then pushed his forepaws together.

Since he was both insufficiently zen and still currently in the illusory form of Pikachu, nothing happened.

"Aww…"

AN:

And now, the Safari Zone nonsense.

Honestly, you can't stop at just one snek bump.