"So, I was kind of wondering," Onix rumbled. "What's it like, being a Pokémon who's already a strong battler and who then gets a trainer?"

He slapped the ground with his tail, making the whole clearing jump, then frowned. "Hmm. That didn't quite work."

"Remember, you need to make it flex the ground," Brock instructed. "If you hit it wrong it'll just compress down, but you're trying to loosen something."

The Rock-type nodded, and shifted over a little before slapping the ground again.

Zapdos watched, for now – her role in proceedings being one that was going to start in a minute. "Well, I'm not sure what you'd say about it, really. I think I was a strong battler, but… even as a Legendary Pokémon, you just sort of run into battles when they happen, and often they're very one sided one way or the other. But just blasting things with electricity was workable for me, and when it wasn't… not many Pokémon can catch up to a Zapdos."

She tilted her head. "What about you, then? How did you get on when you were a wild Pokémon?"

"I never was," Onix told her. "Pewter City born and raised."

"That one looks good," Brock said.

"So it does," Onix agreed. "Okay, here we go."

He wiggled his tail under the rock, then flicked it at Zapdos.

She dodged to the side, and it went whizzing up into the air.

"...actually, I wasn't meant to do that, was I?" she winced. "Sorry. Force of habit."

"It's a good habit to have," Onix allowed. "It is going to make it hard for me to practice Smack Down, though."

Zapdos flew off to catch the rock, so it wouldn't hit anything important, and Onix turned a sorrowful expression on his trainer.

"I know it wasn't your fault, Onix," Brock assured him.

"I still feel kind of bad about throwing rocks at Zapdos," Onix confessed. "Even if she did say it was okay."

He rolled his rocks around, sliding to the side a little without having to slither anywhere. "Maybe I can make it up to her somehow…"

"Rock's back," Zapdos informed him, setting it down with a whud. "And, if you're offering, I could do with some weight lifting practice…"

Todd Snap lowered his camera. "And there's… another thing I never thought I'd see, let alone get pictures of."

He shook his head. "I just… don't have words for what it's been like so far. Two days, and I've got photos of four Legendary Pokémon. Zapdos, Suicune, Keldeo, and Entei… and then there's what some of the Legendary Pokémon are doing. Don't you think so?"

"Entei is kind of cute, isn't he?" Ash asked, as the big Fire-type chased after Zorua.

His muscles bunched and he jumped into the air, paws coming down on either side of Zorua just far enough away to avoid hurting him, and Zorua giggled before changing shape into a Linoone.

He didn't quite get his paws sorted out, though, and tripped before rolling over and over and sliding to a halt.

Entei padded over, and touched the dizzy Zorua.

"Tag," he said. "You're it."

"Right!" Zorua said, rolling upright. "Then I'll get you back!"

"I was thinking more about the way Zapdos is taking turns dead-lifting Brock's Onix with your Charizard," Todd said. "But you're right, he is kind of cute."

He looked down at the camera. "I'd almost think nobody would believe me, but I have photographic evidence."

Entei thundered past, followed by Zorua, and Ash watched them go before turning his attention to Pikachu and Dratini.

"Mind showing me your Iron Tail?" he asked.

"Okay," Dratini said, and coiled around. He swung his tail across, and there was a bit of a glow but it didn't quite turn into the proper silver light of an Iron Tail.

"That's getting on pretty well," Ash said. "But let's stop swinging it for a bit, and just practice the iron part, okay?"

He glanced at Pikachu. "How does that sound?"

"Pretty good," Pikachu allowed. "Okay, so you need to focus on feeling a kind of cool feeling. That's because Iron Tail uses Steel-type energy, and while it's not Ice-type it does handle heat a bit differently."

Dratini listened attentively, and his tail slowly took on a silver shimmer – then lost it, as he noticed the change and twitched to look too quickly.

"That's okay," Ash assured him, with a quick scratch. "You're doing better already!"

In the Pokémon League Admissions Center, Ash frowned at his score.

"Excuse me?" he said. "I'm… pretty sure that this is too low."

"A lot of people think they should have done better," the examiner replied. "Why do you think you're right?"

"Because I said that the first one could have been a Mew," Ash explained. "It was a flaming tail, and Mew can turn into something with a flaming tail."

He counted off on his fingers. "And I said the second one could have been a Mew, because it was a spiral pattern, and Mew can turn into something with a spiral pattern."

The examiner rubbed his temples. "We're trying to test practical Pokémon knowledge, not your ability to come up with a way to just answer every question the same."

"I didn't answer every question the same," Ash retorted. "The third one was a sphere, and I said that it could be a Zorua, because they can turn into a sphere shaped Pokémon like a Voltorb."

"...please move on to the next part of the test," the examiner requested.

An eventful afternoon later, Ash crossed his arms.

"Well, I didn't want their qualification anyway," he said. "Still, it's not like I did anything wrong."

"You taught one of their Pokémon Explosion," Brock replied. "How did you even get the Pokémon you were battling to listen to you, anyway?"

"I was trying to teach Weezing," Ash explained. "I don't know why Flareon decided to do it."

"I think I might have to go off and do research away from you guys in a few days," Todd said. "Otherwise it might be quite dangerous to my health…"

Not far from Fuchsia City, a sinister Team Rocket plan was unfolding.

"Okay, hold still," Jessie said. "Where's his Pokéball?"

James made a muffled sound from underneath a very affectionate Muk.

Arbok took a deep breath, then slithered underneath Muk. Her tail flicked back and forth as she rummaged around, then Muk vanished in a swirl of red light.

"Phew," James groaned. "I wouldn't mind so much if he knew Sweet Scent…"

"Can Muk even learn dat move?" Meowth asked. "I mean, ain't it kinda da anti-the-sis of their whole design, an' stuff?"

"It's not like that stops anyone these days," Jessie grumbled.

James and Meowth fell silent.

"We really ain't equipped for dis whole thing, are we?" Meowth mused. "I mean, what do we got? A few Poison-types, an' don't get me wrong, they're good Poison-types, but it's Weezing, Arbok an' Muk. Den there's Lickitung, an' Porygon, and dat's it."

"You forgot yourself," James said.

"Nah, I'm countin' Pokémon I'd send against one of them Legendaries," Meowth explained. "And I ain't one of 'em."

"Observation," Porygon declared. "That is consistent with cowardice."

"Yeah, yeah, but are you tellin' me it ain't also consistent with basic tactics?" Meowth asked.

"Statement: you are correct," the virtual Pokémon conceded.

Jessie huffed. "Well! In that case, since we're the plucky underdogs trying to steal Legendary Pokémon with a normal team, we should have the advantage."

"Hey!" Meowth yowled. "I'm a plucky undercat, Jessie!"

"And think of how well the Boss will reward us when we finally succeed!" James beamed. "He could have an Entei to keep his feet warm! Or a Suicune to refill his drink!"

"Or a Zapdos to…" Jessie began, then paused. "Uh… win all his Gym battles?"

"Steady on, there," Meowth cautioned. "If he did that then he'd get told off for usin' the wrong gym type. Stick to somethin' realistic."

"Kind of annoying that the ferry to Cinnabar isn't available for a few days," Ash said. "Why don't they run it every day?"

"Probably because there's not enough people for it," Brock replied. "Otherwise they probably would."

He shrugged. "Still, it's not like we're wasting the time, is it? We're picking up more ingredients for when we next go camping, there's plenty of shopping to do..."

"There's no gym here, though," Ash replied. "So we can't train there."

"Since when do we need anywhere other than a nice open field to train?" Pikachu asked. "It's not that far to walk."

"I guess," Ash agreed.

An advert caught his attention, and he looked up.

A smartly dressed woman on a screen announced that there was a Pokémon Daycare having a grand opening.

"The effects of raising a Pokémon with qualified professionals can be amazing," she said, with a flourish. "This Charmander evolved into a Charmeleon, and then a Charizard, in just a few days!"

"Wow," Brock said. "That's really impressive."

He rubbed his chin. "I'd have thought it was impossible, before I met you, Ash."

"Yeah, Charizard did evolve really quickly," Ash agreed. "But it kind of sounds unlikely that you could evolve a Pokémon that way… what kind of thing do Pokémon daycares do? Is it lots of battling?"

Pikachu looked moderately interested, then twitched his ears. "I'd rather stay with Ash."

"That's just it," Brock replied. "Pokémon Daycares work by not battling Pokémon. They're all about proper care, grooming, exercise and attention. It can work pretty well, but you need a lot of attention for each Pokémon."

"Okay, yeah, that sounds boring, no thanks," Pikachu stuck his tongue out. "Bleah. And that's before considering Pokémon like Bulbasaur, who don't even want to evolve."

Misty winced. "That'd be terrible, as a Pokémon…"

She sighed. "That's one thing I'm grateful for, Ash, being with you. You actually, uh, do that listening thing, however that works, and you can tell us what our Pokémon think."

"I kind of think of it more that most people don't ask the right questions," Ash shrugged. "You can always ask yes or no, right? And then narrow it down a bit more?"

"You have a really sideways way of looking at the world," Brock laughed. "It makes us think about if we're actually doing the right thing. It's great!"

Then something went beep.

"Oh!" Misty gasped. "That must be the egg!"

"Zorua's didn't do that," Pikachu observed, as Misty got the egg out of her bag.

"Yeah, I think it must have been set to silent or something," Ash agreed. "Misty made sure this one wasn't."

The shell cracked, then glowed, and all three trainers got to watch the miracle of birth as the egg transformed into an egg with patterns on it.

"Uh…" Ash began, until the egg turned out to actually be a Pokémon.

"Hiiii!" she said, waving.

"That's a Togepi, right?" Brock said. "Fairy type, I think."

Zorua leapt out of his Pokéball and clambered up Ash's leg, then sniffed at Togepi.

"Hi!" he said. "You're newly hatched, which means I'm not the baby of the group any more!"

Togepi looked at him.

"Funny!" she announced, giggling. "Funny, funny!"

Zorua blinked, then looked at Ash. "Is she broken?"

"I have been thinking about this," Dratini announced. "And I think I've worked out a way to hug her!"

"That sounds great," Ash said. "You'll be careful?"

Dratini nodded, then slithered forwards and coiled around Togepi.

Togepi's mouth went open, and she patted Dratini on the head. "Blue!"

"It's kind of amazing to see such rare Pokémon in here," Nurse Joy told them.

Misty started coughing for no apparent reason.

"Something wrong?" the Nurse asked.

"No, it's fine," Misty gasped. "Sorry, I just wasn't expecting to hear something like that…"

The bell at the front desk rang, and Nurse Joy smiled. "Oh, it sounds like I'm needed."

She went off around the counter, and Brock sighed.

"It's always a shame when Nurse Joy's needed elsewhere."

Bulbasaur emerged from his Pokéball and looked at Brock menacingly.

"I'll be good," Brock promised, hand on his heart.

"Wait, is that Brock?" a voice asked.

Someone they'd met in Celadon leaned around the corner. "It is you!"

"Aah!" Brock gasped. "Suzy! I remember you, and you remember me! It must be destiny mrrrph-"

"Is something up?" Ash asked, as Bulbasaur wrapped Brock in vines. "It's kind of funny to see you so far from Celadon City. How's your Vulpix doing?"

The Pokémon Breeder looked downcast. "It's actually Vulpix I wanted to talk about. You see… I'm not sure if you saw them, but there were adverts for a new Pokémon Daycare here."

"Oh, yes, we saw them," Misty agreed. "The ones with the Charizard?"

"That's right!" Suzy agreed. "You see, I'm no good at training Pokémon to battle, none of mine are any good. Sylveon's a darling, but she trips over her own ribbons if you ask her to battle, and Furfrou would faint if you asked him to do anything so exciting. Vulpix is actually the closest I've got, and I know she wants to fight at least a bit, but…"

She sighed. "I thought the Daycare would help out, but there was something about it that was a bit strange. And I had second thoughts, but when I went back there it was closed for the night."

"It's not that late, is it?" Ash asked. "It's barely even sunset…"

"I know it's probably nothing," Suzy said. "But I'm worried.

Brock made a questioning sound, and Bulbasaur unwrapped his vines.

"Watching you," he said, pointing a vine at his eyes before flicking it at Brock.

His trainer gulped, then reached for a Pokéball on his belt.

"Where's this day care?" he asked. "I know just who can help us out here."

"Hey, get out of here!" Cassidy said, grabbing a broom, and waved it at the Zubat fluttering around the rafters. "Go on, get!"

The Zubat fluttered out of the way, but only as far as the ceiling, where it snagged onto a rafter and hung upside down.

"Raticate!" Cassidy ordered, but Butch shook his head.

"He couldn't reach anyway," he pointed out. "It'll leave eventually. And if it doesn't, bonus Zubat!"

"Like the Boss is going to want a Zubat after getting this many better Pokémon," Cassidy snorted, but waved her hand. "Whatever. Now, do we want to keep the daycare open a second day, or just take what we've got?"

"How many people are going to take their Pokémon back after just one day?" Butch asked, shrugging. "I say we give it the second one."

"But sooner or later they city's going to send around inspectors," Cassidy said. "I say we take them and run. Just after midnight."

Butch tutted. "That's a good point."

He smirked. "All those trainers left their Pokémon for a spa experience, but they'll be getting a full-length holiday!"

Zubat fluttered back down from the rafters, used Supersonic on the Raticate, then flew through the door into the Pokémon storage room.

"What the-" Cassidy demanded. "Get that Zubat!"

Raticate shook himself out, then scampered through the same door.

There was a whump, a whizz, a snarl and a ping, then Raticate whining, and Butch leaned out the door to see what was going on.

Raticate was dangling from the ceiling by a pair of vines… and the Zubat was perched on top of his swaying victim.

Then the Poison-type swiped his wing, producing a puff of smoke, and a barrage of Zubat-shaped Razor Leaves came out of the smokescreen.

Half the locks on the cages fell off.

Several angry Pokémon came out.

"Son of a Butch!" Cassidy swore.

"I actually meant for you to come and get help," Brock admitted, as Zubat settled onto his arm (upside down, naturally). "But good work."

Zubat chirped.

"I still think it's silly that the one who's blind isn't called Zubatman," he said. "But Mankey was right, those are good moves."

"Is Vulpix okay?" Ash asked, as Brock returned Zubat to his Pokéball for a rest. "Is she scared?"

"She seems to be all right," Suzy said. "I'd have been very scared by all this, but it seems like she's tougher than I'd be!"

Vulpix yipped proudly, and Suzy stroked her. "You were a brave girl, weren't you?"

Misty smiled. "That's nice to see."

"She deserves it," Suzy said, then sighed. "But… Vulpix really does need to learn to battle, and she needs to learn from someone who can teach a Pokémon to do that without sacrificing their condition."

After a moment's thought, she smiled at Brock. "I don't suppose you'd be able to help out?"

"I'd love to do a favour for such a beautiful lady!" Brock said, patting Vulpix on the head.

Pikachu and Bulbasaur exchanged glances.

"He gets that one for free," Bulbasaur decided.

"We've found most of the trainers for the Pokémon who were in the daycare," Officer Jenny said, coming over to the friends. "But we're still looking for a few… and there's one which is confusing us a bit, because they had a Psyduck without a trainer in their database."

"It wasn't a mistake, was it?" Ash said. "The Pokémon wasn't really a Psyduck but impersonating something else when it was registered? Or, uh, im-Poké-sonating?"

"I'd say it could be Mew, except I'm pretty sure I know who's Mew and it's not that one," Pikachu noted.

Officer Jenny sighed. "That's the strange thing. We counted off all the Pokémon in the database, and we know who the last three belong to, we just haven't found the trainers yet. But this one's… there isn't anything in the database."

"It could have just wandered in and been grabbed," Misty suggested. "Looking for water, or something. Where is it now?"

"Looking in your bag, I think," Ash pointed.

Misty looked around.

At almost that exact same moment, Psyduck vanished in a flash of white light.

"...oh, great," Misty groaned. "I caught Psyduck."

"Didn't you catch Togepi, earlier?" Brock said. "Which would mean you already had six."

Psyduck's Pokéball dematerialized.

Misty stared, twitching.

"I need to phone my sisters," she decided.

Twenty minutes later, Misty was still annoyed.

"Not there," she repeated. "Hmph!"

"Well, Psyduck went somewhere," Brock said, distractedly, most of his attention on Vulpix' paperwork. "And if it didn't go to Cerulean Gym, maybe the Pokémon Transfer System knows you're going around with Ash?"

Dracozolt looked at Psyduck.

Psyduck looked at the sky.

"Clouds?" he asked. "My head hurts."

Dracozolt giggled, then coughed into their hand and cackled instead.

"A challenge, I see," they said. "Excellent!"

AN:

Further nonsense. Mostly a chance to look in on some Pokémon.