"So, something that's been bugging me for a while," Misty said, on Pummelo Island. "We've been watching Ash do all those challenges, and while… sure, some of them he handled in really unique ways, none of them have been something that should be outright impossible for a good trainer."

"I do get what you mean," Tracey agreed, as Ash tried to work out if he should be offended. "But what's the problem?"

Misty shrugged. "How long is it since someone's won the Orange League? Years, right? Is it just that not many people try?"

Tracey considered, then shook his head. "That's beyond me," he admitted. "I'm just a Pokémon watcher. Human watching is a different subject entirely."

He turned to Ash. "Have you got your team picked out?"

"Yeah, though I do need to go to the Pokémon Centre to properly sort it out," Ash said. "And this is going to be Silver's first time going through the Pokémon Transfer System, too… I'll just remind him to behave for Professor Oak. And for Mom, too."

"Why your Mom?" Tracey said. "It's a good sentiment, but I'm not sure why her specifically. Or him specifically."

Miss Ketchum? Silver asked, an hour or so later and several hundred miles away. Is it all right if I use Ash's TV for a bit?

Delia looked distinctly baffled.

"I don't think any of the others have asked that," she admitted.

Only, Ash and I were halfway through a game when he went on his journey, Silver continued. And I'd like to see if I can remember how to do it.

He tilted his head. It's the one two down on the left side of the shelf?

After a bit of thought, Delia decided to treat Silver like she would one of Ash's (other?) childhood friends.

"Of course, come in," she said. "Do you want any hot chocolate?"

That would be great! Silver enthused, before bounding upstairs.

Then he leaned back down.

Um… can we have three mugs? There's a Latias and a Latios visiting as well…

"Six Pokémon," Ash repeated. "And I can switch out, but Drake can't…"

He looked at his collection of Pokéballs. "Okay, guys, let's see if we can do this!"

"Yeah!" Pikachu agreed, cricking his paws. "Let's finish this League!"

Ash took his first Pokéball, and threw it into the arena.

Lapras came out in a burst of white light, and opposite him Drake sent out a Ditto.

"Transform," Drake called, and Ditto focused on its opponent before morphing into a copy of Lapras.

"Stay calm, Lapras!" Ash called. "You're better at being you than it is!"

The transformed Ditto craned its neck to look back at Drake, and Drake frowned.

"...I don't know what moves that Lapras has," he pointed out.

"Knowing them doesn't help!" Ditto replied, sounding frazzled, and Ash pointed.

"Agility! Then soak the arena!"

Lapras promptly burst into motion, jumping into the pool of water in the middle of the arena, then raised his head and fired out…

...something.

It was sort of hard to tell, because it involved a dozen glowing orbs and beams of light that shot skywards.

It was definitely a Water attack, though, and it exploded into a cascade of water that hung in the air before splattering down in an instant rainstorm.

"Agility yourself!" Drake decided. "Keep on the move, and hit him with Water Gun or Hydro Pump or something!"

Ditto began sliding along the now-wet ground outside the pool, having a lot of trouble with going in the right direction simply because a Lapras wasn't great at steering, and sprayed a Hydro Pump at Lapras. The water splashed off Lapras' shell, and he waved his flippers for a moment before looking to Ash for advice.

"Do what you did on Navel!" Ash called. "In a moment… now!"

Lapras used Sheer Cold.

The freezing blast of cold air didn't actually hit Ditto directly, but instead it froze all the water around the outside of the arena… meaning that Ditto, already having trouble steering, was now trying to do it on a field covered in ice.

It crashed into the side of the arena, hard enough to leave it dizzy, and Ash grinned. "All right, now, Hyper Beam!"

Lapras' horn lit up, and he shot a Hyper Beam at Ditto. The attack hit hard, and Lapras kept it up until the transforming Pokémon sighed and collapsed back into a puddle.

"Not bad," Drake decided, returning his Pokémon. "That was quick thinking, Ash. Most trainers aren't ready to fight their own Pokémon, but you worked something out in moments."

"It's because Lapras has enough trouble using Agility himself!" Ash replied. "So a Pokémon who copied him would be worse at it!"

"That's the kind of thing I like to see," Drake said. "Speaking of quick thinking, here's my second Pokémon."

Electabuzz appeared in a flash.

"Fire Punch," Drake ordered. "Make sure those Ice attacks don't get you. Then use Discharge!"

"Soak the arena again!" Ash called.

"So, has Ash been picking up tips from you?" Tracey said. "The water's making it so that some of the Discharge can't reach Lapras, and the ice is giving him a real problem keeping his footing."

Misty nodded.

"There's downsides to it, though," she added, as Electabuzz hammered the ground around him with a Thunder before blasting another one at Lapras – one which made the Transport Pokémon yelp. "Like, if Electabuzz can get in close-"

Even as she was talking, Electabuzz broke into a run. He got up speed on the broken ice and dove forwards along the undamaged section, sliding underneath Lapras' next attack, then launched himself out into the pool and Thunderpunched his opponent.

Then Lapras detonated a massive Ice attack.

Both Pokémon went flying, Electabuzz and Lapras, and when they landed both were out for the count.

"...or that might happen," she added.

Ash sent out his Legendary Beast, next, reasoning that they'd have the least trouble with all the ice everywhere, and since it turned out to be Entei that was a good assumption. Drake meanwhile sent out Gengar, and Ash considered for a long moment.

"Start blasting!" he ordered. "Lava Plume!"

Entei barked, and the ground around him went bang. Gengar dove into solid matter, then came out for long enough to send forth a Night Shade.

"Ouch," Entei said, loping towards where Gengar had been, then barked again.

"Good!" Ash told him. "Try and catch Gengar while he's out of the ground, but get rid of the water as well!"

Entei jumped to another part of the battlefield, and blew that one up too.

"Gengar, Hypnosis!" Drake ordered suddenly.

Gengar's eyes flashed as it rose out of the ground.

Entei fell asleep.

What he didn't do, though, was stop running.

"Huh," Pikachu said. "That's a new one on me. I wonder if that's how he and his sisters get sleep?"

"At least he's staying in the arena," Ash said, as Gengar alternated between scratching their head and using Night Shade. "Hmm…"

He cupped his hands around his mouth. "Arcanine, use Sleep Talk!"

"I don't know that move!" Entei replied, snapping awake and sliding around to look at his trainer. "And I'm not an Arcanine!"

"My mistake!" Ash said, then pointed. "Extremespeed!"

Gengar just floated there as Entei whirled and launched himself at the Ghost-type.

"Lava Plume!" Ash added.

Gengar presumably stopped smiling.

Ash certainly couldn't imagine a Pokémon who'd still be smiling if a Lava Plume had gone off inside them. Even a Fire-type with Flash Fire would probably be a bit startled.

With Gengar down, Ash called Entei back, then switched to his third Pokémon of the battle.

A Dratini.

"Good choice of Pokémon, kid," Drake said. "You'll have a great Dragonite in a decade or two."

"...somehow I don't think it's going to take quite that long," Pikachu said.

For his part, Drake sent out an Onix.

"Okay, Dratini, let's go!" Ash said. "Twister!"

A crackling whirlwind of Dragon energy sprang up, and Drake pointed. "Rock Throw!"

"North!" Ash added, and Dratini snapped her tail to bounce out of the tornado northwards – neatly evading the thrown rocks. "And stay in the air – Hydro Pump!"

"I guess it's not just Dragonair and Dragonite who can fly," Tracey said, pencil flying over the paper. "Ash's Pokémon are great for inspiration!"

Onix had already been hit twice, and Drake changed tactics. "Dig underground!"

The Rock-type vanished into the ground with a grinding crunch, and Ash paused for a couple of seconds to think.

"Okay, so… right!" he decided. "Fill that tunnel with water!"

Dratini retargeted, and water blasted down at the tunnel. It also launched her higher, though, nearly out of the arena, and Ash clapped his hands.

"Now, Solarbeam!" he called, and Dratini began to glow a brilliant golden-green as she charged up.

"Come out of the ground!" Drake shouted. "That water's going to focus the light!"

Onix burst out of the ground and flicked more rocks up at Dratini, and as they were about to hit her the sunlight burst forth – smashing through two rocks, deflecting several more, and focusing down on Onix himself rather than on the tunnel.

"Rock Polish!" Drake called, and at least some of the energy was deflected away… though as the glow faded, it was clear Onix had been hurt.

And that Ash wasn't using a Dratini any more.

"...is this going to happen every time?" Misty said, then frowned. "Wait, no, he did use a Dratini at least once and he didn't evolve."

"Charge up Solarbeam again!" Ash called, as Dragonair did a figure-of-eight dance in the air. "Then use Hydro Pump when it's about to fire!"

"Head Smash!" Drake said. "Get that Dragonair before the attack goes off!"

Onix charged around in a circle of his own, building up momentum, then Dug underground before coming out at maximum speed. He reached up for the now-glowing Dragonair-

-and she spat out a Hydro Pump, which shone brilliantly as Solarbeam refracted around inside it. It caught Onix on the muzzle, where the earth from his digging marred the shiny coat from his Rock Polish, and held there for a second before blasting Onix back down into the ground with a craaash.

"I swear I heard Mew talking about a move called prismatic something or other, once," Pikachu mused. "I wonder if that was it."

"You're next," Ash called, recalling Dragonair and sending out Snorlax. "And great work, Dragonair – I guess you'll have a story for the others, right?"

He returned his attention to the battle, where Drake had sent out a Venusaur.

"Vine Whip," Drake called.

"Agility!" Ash said.

Snorlax dodged to the side in a blur, avoiding the Vine Whip attack entirely, then moved in a tight turn and used Mega Punch.

The impact was enough to knock Venusaur sliding sideways about twice her own length, and Drake seemed to take a moment to work out what to do.

"Petal Blizzard!" he decided. "Shield yourself!"

A whirling wave of petals formed around the Grass type, and Snorlax contemplated it for a moment before darting in again.

It was kind of hard to see where Snorlax actually was, but then again every time he made an attack Venusaur skidded ten feet across the floor so it wasn't that difficult.

"Toxic!" Drake said.

For Snorlax to evade the burst of poisonous smoke would have been difficult, but he didn't even try – instead he blurred straight into the cloud, then lifted Venusaur up, then slammed her down upside down.

Then lifted her up again, and slammed her down right-side up.

Then repeated that.

"Is that Thrash?" Pikachu asked. "Vital Throw?"

"It mostly looks painful," Ash replied, as Drake recalled his Venusaur.

"All right, Ash, you're doing well," the leader of the Orange Crew told him, as Snorlax coughed. "But this is my best Pokémon. Dragonite!"

Drake's Dragonite used Dragon Pulse, and a blast of energy slammed into Snorlax and drove him into the ground.

Startlingly, the Normal-type was still hale, and vaulted out of the hole before jumping straight up at Dragonite and punching him. He got in one Punch, and then Dragonite grabbed Snorlax before doing a Seismic Toss and slamming Snorlax down into what had once been the pool.

"...you know, I think I just worked out why people don't usually beat the Orange League," Misty said, as Togepi cheered the mayhem on general principle. "It's all about technical skill and connecting with your Pokémon and ice sledding, and then suddenly you have to fight a team built around that."

"Shaymintwo, your turn!" Ash decided. "Agility!"

Shaymintwo curled up as soon as he reached the field, and blurred away as Drake ordered Dragonite to use Flamethrower. The surprisingly speedy little Grass-type then uncurled, skating around with Flame Charge and building up more and more speed, then Ash pointed.

"Attack!"

"Take this!" Shaymintwo said, blurring up to just behind Dragonite and using Rollout.

Dragonite promptly spun and used Ice punch, smashing into Shayintwo and launching him halfway across the arena, and the cloned Pokémon vanished before he hit the wall – reappearing at ground level and skidding to a halt.

"Tch," he grunted.

"Watch out, Dragonite," Drake said. "He can move very fast, he might come at you from an unexpected direction. Stay on the move."

"Poisonpowder!" Ash called.

"Twister!" Drake countered. "Blow it away!"

Dragonite's wings whirred and he blew up a vortex of energy around himself, but Shaymintwo's Poisonpowder wasn't intended for Dragonite.

He exhaled a cloud of purple toxins, then got right up to speed and went through the cloud. His flowers turned black, and he glanced up at Dragonite as the Dragon-type's defensive tornado continued… then faded away.

"Look out, he's trying something!" Drake said. "Flamethrower!"

"Behind him!" Ash countered.

Shaymintwo teleported in a flash of light, then unleashed his Seed Flare.

The explosion echoed and reverberated around the arena, but when it faded Dragonite was still there.

Shaymintwo landed, panting, then had to dodge a Flamethrower and was noticeably slower.

"Come back for a rest, Shaymintwo!" Ash called. "Entei, your turn!"

"Yep," Misty declared, as Drake's Dragonite rained down Water Gun attacks on Entei before dodging away from Lava Plume and retaliating with a Hyper Beam. "Definitely the reason why people don't win the Orange League. Eesh."

"It's just too fast to get a hold of," Tracey agreed.

Even as he spoke, Entei used Extremespeed, but Dragonite met his charge with an Extremespeed attack of his own and the slam echoed around the arena. Then Dragonite threw Entei at the ground just as he'd thrown Snorlax earlier, and Entei landed much better than his teammate had but that still left cracks in the ground.

"Dragonair!" Ash said, recalling Entei. "Thunder Wave!"

Dragonite's retaliation nearly knocked Dragonair out of the sky in a single attack, even though it was a Flamethrower, but the sudden outbreak of crackling electricity along Dragonite's scales signalled that the attack had got through.

"Now, come back again! Shaymintwo, Rollout, build up speed!"

"As high as you can go," Drake commanded, and Dragonite floated right up to the roof of the stadium as Shaymintwo accelerated – switching between Flame Charge and Rollout, but always getting faster until he was just a blur.

"Now, Hyper Beam," Drake added.

"Teleport!" Ash ordered.

Shaymintwo vanished, and reappeared directly above Dragonite – slamming a Rollout into his opponent.

"And keep it up!" Ash continued. "Don't let him gain height!"

Shaymintwo hit, bounced off, and teleported away to recover his bearings for just a moment before teleporting right in and hitting again. The repeated wham-wham-wham of impacts knocked Dragonite lower and lower, and every time Dragonite's retaliation was just that little bit too slow.

"Dragon Rage!" Drake called. "All around you! Don't give him space to appear!"

Dragonite did as ordered, and Shaymintwo's attacks stopped.

The Gratitude Pokémon had vanished entirely, in fact, and Misty thought about Ash's style.

Then put her hands over her ears.

"Why-" Tracey began, and then Shaymintwo blurred in again.

He shouted something, and a second Seed Flare fired. This time, however, it took the form of a surging spear of energy which hit Dragonite and – type disadvantage or not – carried him bodily into the ground, before exploding with a crash and crumbling one side of the now-empty pool on top of him.

Pikachu stared at the result.

Then, quite deliberately, gave Ash a smack with his tail.

"Ow!" Ash yelped. "What was that for?"

"You forgot to use me, idiot!" Pikachu complained.

Pikachu was still annoyed when they did the official ceremony, though Drake managed to successfully calm him down by saying that Ash keeping a strong Pokémon in reserve just in case had been a smart move – adding that it was why he used his own Dragonite last.

Then they did a neat thing where Ash's Pokémon had their footprints (or flipper prints, or tail, where relevant) and Ash's handprints set in concrete, to go with a photo of the winning team – which Pikachu qualified for.

After that, though, they only had a few things left to do in the Orange Islands.

First, the friends met up with Brock, who'd decided that while being a lab assistant was interesting he was going to join up with Ash and adventure again.

"Translation," Misty snarked. "He got rejected."

"That's cold, Misty," Brock sighed.

Misty smirked. "Bulbasaur?"

Bulbasaur indicated, through a complicated bit of Grass-type charades, that Misty was correct.

"Anyway, enough about me!" Brock insisted. "Professor Oak heard about a strange Onix to the south, and he wants us to get some scientific data on it. It's on Sunburst Island."

"Oh, yeah, I think we missed that one," Misty frowned. "...we went past it on Lapras. Way too fast."

"Speaking of Lapras, there's supposed to be a pod not far from here," Brock added. "They should be around Tarroco Island in a few days."

"Then we should head down to Sunburst Island quick!" Ash said. "Hey, what about if Clefairy messes with gravity a bit so that there isn't the same problem with spray? Then Lapras could use Agility and we'd get down there really fast!"

Misty looked torn.

Fortunately (especially for Ash, who'd suggested it), it actually worked.

They reached Sunburst Island fairly quickly, and it didn't take much longer to track down the Onix… which, to their shock (especially Brock's) was made of crystal.

Also, not a Steelix.

"This is actually a pretty amazing scientific discovery," Tracey said, sketching away. "We've known about regional variants for a while, but finding a new regional variant is pretty amazing… especially one which isn't prevalent across a whole region. Normally it's either-or, but we've seen Rock and Ground type Onix in the Orange Islands already."

He sighed. "The only problem is how to actually do that scientific study… wait, where's Ash?"

"What do you think he's doing?" Misty said. "Just guess."

They looked up, and saw Ash was balancing on Lapras' shell while talking to the Onix.

After a long moment, Ash held out a Pokéball, and the Crystal Onix vanished into the 'ball, which then vanished in turn as the PTS transported it away.

"She said she was okay to spend a few months at Pallet Town being researched!" Ash supplied. "So long as she's brought back here afterwards!"

"...weirdly, I have missed this," Brock grinned.

The journey back north to Tarroco Island involved only one small detour, which netted Misty a Poliwag, and then Silver and Ash and Pikachu beat an entire pirate ship full of pirates between them before Silver dropped right down next to the water so he could talk to the pod.

"Thank you so much," the head of the Lapras said.

"No problem!" Ash replied. "And we brought back your son, too! He's a great battler, but you're his family so that's what's right, and he'll be safe with you."

He sent out Lapras.

The other Pokémon in the pod stared.

"…um…" one of them began. "We don't actually have any missing youngsters."

Silver tilted his head. "What?" he squeaked, confused.

Lapras began to giggle.

Then jumped out of the water and turned into Mew.

"...what?" Pikachu asked. "I mean… what?"

It was me all along! Mew announced, clutching her tummy and floating in midair and giggling fit to burst. Didn't you think it was funny I wasn't around?

"Honestly, I kind of thought you were Clefairy," Ash admitted.

I was during the League! Mew replied. But I outsourced that to an actual Clefairy who sounded interested. She's been having fun!

The Lapras began to sort of sidle away.

AN:

Yep.

Next up, Johto!