"It's kind of wild to see so many whirlpools on a ship route," Ash said, leaning out over the side. "It seems… I don't know, maybe dangerous? I sort of wonder why the ships don't go around the whirlpools."

Misty shrugged. "It's probably safe," she said. "And even if the whirlpools did start to cause a problem, Whirlpool is a move lots of Pokémon know. I've got, um… Horsea, Goldeen, Poliwhirl, Wartortle, Staryu, Starmie… six Pokémon I'm sure know it, plus Psyduck who might know it depending on what your crazy Mew crammed into his head."

"I guess so," Ash agreed. "Still, it's kind of weird… you've got the tides underwater and the way the land is shaped, and that just… makes whirlpools."

He sighed. "You kind of wonder what's out there, under the water, that we haven't found yet."

As he spoke, Ash caught sight of a faint shadow in the water.

Ripples eddied the water's surface, showing that something big was moving down there, and a snatch of haunting song echoed.

Hi Mom! Silver called, bursting out of his Pokéball. That is you, right? It sounds like you!

The young Psychic-type flew alongside the cruise liner, dipping down to water level, then folded in his fins and plunged into the waves with a splash.

Someone, who was possibly panicking but who had admirable instincts all things considered, threw a life preserver.

Then Silver came back out of the sea, water cascading off his wings as his fins opened again, and a much larger Lugia head followed.

That's my trainer, mom! Silver said. I told you we'd visit eventually!

Ash waved. "Good afternoon, Mrs. Lugia!"

You're polite, Lugia said. I approve. And has my son been behaving for you?

Mom, Silver groaned.

"Well, my mom says he's very well behaved, so yes!" Ash said. "He's really eager to learn, too… we both kind of want to see what happens if he Dynamaxes!"

Ash liked the sound of the Whirl Cup, and so did Misty – which was sort of understandable given that water was, more or less, her thing – but there were still a few weeks until the cup was meant to begin, and so the friends decided to journey around the Whirl Islands a bit first.

The first place they visited was called Pudgey Pidgey Isle, which Ash felt answered a question he'd had for a while.

"So that's why I haven't seen many Pidgey!" he said. "They all live on islands and they mostly can't fly. Right?"

One of the Pidgey glared at him.

"I'll have you know that this is a lifestyle choice," she said. "Namely, epicurianism."

"Epica-what?" Ash asked. "What does that mean?"

"It means I get to enjoy myself," the Pidgey said, furling her wings with a flap. "But we don't think much of the Pidgey from the rest of the world. We could do better than them if we just applied ourselves."

"Are you sure?" Noctowl said, inspecting them. "You seem quite… well, I wouldn't want to use the word fat, but… I think the island's name is appropriate, put it that way."

He took off, and did a roll – switching to the illusory shape of one of the local Pidgey with a flash of Hypnosis. "Hmm… it could be a useful ruse?"

"You want to see something impressive, look at Orville," the Pidgey told him. "I'm off for a nap."

If the other Pidgey on the island had been unimpressive – if happy – Orville was completely in the other direction.

He was feisty, enough that he challenged Ash to a battle – one which caught his trainer Wilbur by surprise, but once it was actually explained that that was what Orville wanted Wilbur was happy to oblige.

"Okay, let's show them how your training has gone, Orville!" Wilbur said, as Ash sent out Articuno. "Let's let this trainer see what a Pidgey can do!"

"Right!" Orville agreed, flying up into the air, then there was a crack as he darted forwards.

He hit Articuno's psionic shield hard enough to break it into a thousand pieces, and while the impact did send Orville bouncing off backwards he was only stunned for a moment – then he darted forwards again, weaving around Articuno's wing to hit her with an Extremely Quick Attack.

"Extrasensory!" Ash called, and Articuno's Extrasensory pulsed out. Her first attack missed, but her second one hit Orville as he was coming in for another attack, and the impact knocked the Pokémon off course.

"Okay, time out, time out!" Misty called, waving her hands as Orville did a flip and prepared for a Gust. "What the heck just happened? That's… I mean, I know that Pokémon can do amazing things if they're trained for them, but that's a Pidgey!"

"To be fair, Misty, none of us have seen what a Pidgey can do in a couple of years," Brock said. "Since we started travelling with Ash, oddly enough."

"I know, I know," Misty said. "At the same time… huh?"

"Oh, well, Orville's dream was originally to fly, and he did it by practice!" Wilbur said. "His parents have never flown once, but he learned it with devotion – and now he wants to fly into space!"

The trainer shrugged. "We couldn't practice battling much, so instead we just practised the same moves over and over again – to get them perfect, or as close to perfect as possible."

"That's a great way to train!" Ash said. "But, huh… hold on. I just thought… isn't it a problem for flying really high that there isn't any air? That's a problem for breathing and a problem for flying, because there's nothing to push against."

"I know that, but I'm going to take air with me," Orville said, landing on Wilbur's arm now that it looked like there wasn't going to be any further battling in the immediate future. "That's why I learned Gust."

"You're all right, you know that?" Articuno asked, furling her wings and floating in mid-air. "I can respect a proper mint Pidgey."

Orville tilted his head. "A what?"

As Professor Oak was just sitting down at his desk, the computer beeped.

"Oh, dear…" the Pokémon Professor said, getting right back up from his desk. "What's it going to be this time? Kyogre? One of the Guardian Deities? Another Shiny Pokémon?"

Just as he reached the transfer machine, though, a Lure Ball finished materializing and the Pokémon inside it popped out.

"Corsola," it said, sounding a little confused.

Professor Oak checked the notes.

"Ah!" he smiled. "You're one of Misty's. Yes, she's got her registration set to come back here, I'm not sure why. You might want to hang around in the lab for a few minutes to see if she wants you transferred right back. If not, then the rules are…"

He picked up a typed sheet with some hand written additions. "There are designated areas for working on new moves and training your existing ones. Please only train inside those areas and be mindful of the other Pokémon doing the same. Food is normally three times a day, and if you need regular hydration then it's your choice whether you do that in the river, the pond, or the tap. If a Mew wants to train you in moves and you do not want to be trained in them, tell one of the Legendary Pokémon. There's usually one around."

Professor Oak flipped the sheet over. "And, ah, the Dragonite wearing a paper crown just wants to give you a hug, but he does understand it if you don't like them. You just have to tell him."

After a missed ferry connection from Ogi Island to Red Rock Island, the friends ended up drafted in to help out with investigating a shipwreck.

Which turned out to be quite easy.

"I wouldn't want to do this without emergency breathing gear," Luka said, as they reached fifty feet underwater. "But this is much more convenient than swimming down!"

"Thanks!" Silver replied, sending the message telepathically as well because it was only good manners. The inside of the air bubble rippled slightly, but Silver had a good hold on it and it didn't destabilize.

"Plus, it means we can talk without going back to the surface," Misty said. "I know that's always a problem when using breathing gear normally."

She pointed. "Oh, look, that's a Mantine!"

"Hi!" Ash said, waving. "We're here to look at what's in that ship – I hope that's okay?"

"Some of what's in that ship is my friend's young," Mantine repeated. "You'd better not be here to catch a Remoraid!"

"It's kind of a rule for us not to catch Pokémon unless they want to be caught," Ash told the Flying-type. "So if one of the Remoraid does want to come with us, I guess you'd need to talk about that yourselves, but otherwise we're just looking for something Luka's great grandfather lost when the ship sank."

Mantine swam a slow loop around them, and a half-dozen Remoraid followed.

"We're keeping an eye on you," one of the Remoraid insisted, looking at Silver. "What move is that, anyway?"

"It's Dive," Silver told her. "Seems simple enough to me, we're going diving after all."

Up on the surface, Brock scanned the water.

"I'm pretty sure that if things go wrong there's going to be a massive surge of swirling water," he said. "Or, possibly, they'll all teleport on deck or something."

Geodude shrugged.

"...in retrospect, I should probably have Bulbasaur out," Brock added. "He works better at pulling people out of the water."

Ash had to send out Noctowl as well to help with the investigation, as the other Flying-type was small enough to fit in the air bubble and could use Extrasensory, and after several minutes of slow, careful work they had a sizable sea-chest unearthed.

"Do you want us to open it down here, or take it up to the surface?" Ash asked, looking at the nearest Remoraid.

That Water-type swam off to confer with the others, then came back a minute or so later with the answer.

"You can open it underwater," he said. "Honestly, some of us are curious what's in there as well."

Luka opened the chest, using a key from her great-grandfather's old belongings, then – as everyone craned or swam closer to look – took out a smaller box, one marked with a moon-and-star emblem.

Reverently, she opened the box, and revealed a glittering feather with a Y-shaped split.

"Oh!" Silver said. "That's a Lugia feather! It looks a bit bigger than mine though."

Luka blinked, looking at Silver, then into the box.

"I… guess the mystery's… solved?" she asked, sort of baffled.

"And it means your great grandfather must have been well trusted!" Silver told her. "Do you think the recording you were taking is going to be enough? Oh, wait, my telepathy won't show up on video… I'll give you a feather myself! On camera so it's proof!"

"...huh," Ash said. "That's… kind of a problem."

He crouched down. "Thanks for letting me know, Entei. I know it's nobody's fault, these things just happen."

"What is?" Misty said. "Is something wrong?"

"I guess I'm not going to be able to compete in the Whirl Cup," Ash explained. "Suicune's busy, there was some kind of volcanic eruption and lakes which are normally used for drinking water got mud in, so they're unusable. She's on it, but she'll be busy for the next few days at least."

"Well, you've still got Totodile," Misty said. "And, uh…"

She paused.

"Wow, yeah, you only have one Water type apart from Suicune," she admitted.

"It's fine," Ash told her. "I'll just be in the audience with Zygarde and Brock, and anyone else who wants to watch."

He shrugged. "Anyway, what Pokémon do you plan to use?"

"I have been giving that a lot of thought," Misty agreed. "I thought maybe Corsola, but she's better against Bug, Grass and Steel types."

"Corsola is a: Water and Rock type?" Zacian checked.

"Yeah, Misty's Corsola is Water and Rock," Ash confirmed. "I know there are other Corsola elsewhere who are Ghosts, but that wouldn't really fit Misty's style… anyway, yeah, normally a Water and Rock type would be bad against Grass types, but Misty's Corsola knows Blaze Kick."

"I think I know who I can thank for that one," Misty muttered. "But I need to think more strategically – I know everyone I'm facing has Water types, and I know they'll know that about me too."

Ash considered that.

"So the best thing to do is going to be to use Pokémon who can do things nobody would normally expect from a Water-type," he summarized. "And who are good at the normal Water type things too."

Misty blinked a few times, then looked at Pikachu.

"Please tell me I'm not going mad," she requested. "Because I'm about to take advice from your trainer."

Pikachu's ears twitched. "You're on your own here, Misty."

"I'm going to assume that that wasn't comforting," Misty grumbled.

The first day of the tournament, Ash helped someone's Remoraid evolve into Octillery.

He then helped that trainer's other Remoraid learn that Octillery was still their friend, which took considerable effort and was eventually resolved by all the other Remoraid also evolving into Octillery.

Once that was over, though, he was in the stands watching.

"It seems like Misty's opponents are having trouble with fighting her Goldeen," Brock said. "And to be fair, I can sort of see why."

"Dodge!" Misty called, down in the stadium.

Goldeen dodged to the side, avoiding a Poison Sting from a Qwilfish, and retaliated with a Water Pulse.

"It's not every day that trainers have to deal with a flying fish," Brock added.

"Finish him off!" Misty called, and Goldeen did a flip before plunging down in a power dive.

Halfway there her horn began to crackle, and there was a gasp as Goldeen hammered the enemy Water-type with an Electric attack.

"Oh, I recognize that one," Ash said. "That's Bolt Beak. Dracozolt used it a few times."

Two rounds later, Goldeen got hit by a Smack Down and promptly Head Smashed by a Relicanth.

Misty waited a moment to see if Goldeen was still okay, then returned her.

"You beat my Goldeen," she told her opponent. "I'm impressed, and also…"

Misty sighed. "I hope you're still satisfied about that in twenty seconds."

Her opponent blinked. "Pardon?"

Misty held up a Pokéball. "Psyduck, go!"

"Psy," Psyduck announced.

"Okay, Relicanth, watch out," the other trainer said. "It might know a Grass move."

"Psyduck, Hypnosis," Misty ordered, and her Pokémon promptly fell asleep. "Now, Sleep Talk!"

Psyduck flashed, and there was a long pause.

Then a beam of brilliant light lashed down from the sky and hit Relicanth so hard it bounced off the bottom of the pool and back into the air again.

"It's kind of a pity they didn't let you keep the Mystic Water just because you're not local," Ash said.

"You've been saying that for four days," Brock pointed out.

"It's still true," Ash replied. "I get that they only have one Mystic Water pendant and it's the one they give out every year, and Misty might never come back to the Whirl Islands, but…"

He shrugged. "I don't know if there's an answer, I just think it's a pity."

"Sometimes things are like that, I guess," Misty replied. "Still, I feel a lot happier about my skills as a Water type trainer now."

Ash grinned. "That's great! And I bet Jasmine will be ready for a proper gym challenge, too, I already know who I want to use."

Pikachu rustled his bag of crisps, taking one out and crunching it down, then looked up.

"Hey, Ash," he said. "I just saw something up there. A flying Pokémon, a big one."

Ash followed the direction Pikachu was pointing, and shaded his eyes with a hand. "Uh… yeah, I can see it. That looks like a Salamence?"

The Salamence dropped down out of sight, then reappeared. This time it had a rider on it, and Ash looked more closely before smiling. "Oh, hey, that's Ritchie and Booster!"

"I wonder if they're after a rematch?" Pikachu pondered. "Hey, Zacian, interested in a dragon fight?"

"Never something to pass up," the Fairy-type declared. "What about you, Clefairy? Or might there not be enough dragons to go around?"

"I think he's only got one dragon, unless he picked up a new one," Ash replied.

"Je me contenterai de ce qui convient," Clefairy told them, raising a finger which sparkled with energy. "Peut-être le Dracaufeu?"

"Ash!" Ritchie said, jumping off Booster as the Dragon-type stopped moving. "There's trouble!"

He pointed. "Back that way – I saw some criminals, with a baby Lugia in a cage! It's been taken prisoner!"

"Silver's been taken prisoner?" Ash repeated. "But-"

"I have?" Silver asked, popping his head out of the water. "I didn't realize that! I've been trying to practice Fire Punch."

Ritchie stared at Silver for a moment.

"Huh?" he asked. "Wait, is there another baby Lugia around here?"

"I don't think so," Silver replied, taking off with a flap of his wings. "Mom would have told me if I had a little brother or little sister on the way."

"Well, I definitely saw a baby Lugia in a cage," Ritchie said. "I was going to go in and help myself, but Booster spotted you guys and I thought I'd come over to get your help."

"If they've got a Lugia in a cage, then that's bad news," Ash said. "Ready to help out, guys?"

Silver, Clefairy, Pikachu, Zacian, Cyndaquil and Chikorita all nodded firmly.

"It's the right thing to do," Zygarde said.

"We're coming too," Misty added. "Right, Brock?"

"Absolutely!" Brock agreed.

"I don't understand why this isn't working," Doctor Namba said. "The Lugia parent should be frantic with worry for its child by now."

He glared at the caged Psychic-type. "I know you understand enough of human language to know this. Call out for your parent, or you'll be punished."

The child looked scared, then called out in a long, high-pitched squeal.

There was an answering squeal from nearby.

"Good!" Doctor Namba said. "Ready the trap!"

Then a Charizard, a Tyranitar, a Salamence, a Metagross, two Pikachu, a Butterfree, three Legendary Pokémon and sundry others came over the hill all at once in something not unlike an avalanche.

Butch and Cassidy had their Raticate, Houndour, Primeape and Hitmontop out, and Doctor Namba's own Electabuzz was ready – all fitted with Rage Crowns – but none of them had any idea what to focus on and quickly found themselves dealing with overwhelming enemy force.

The imprisoned Lugia giggled. Whoopsie! Ooh, bad idea to try and set a Chikorita on fire in sunlight… my mistake, a Bayleef!

"...what?" Namba demanded, rounding on the Lugia. "Legendary brat!"

The Lugia winked, then flicked its tail across. A golden blade hacked the cage in half, and then the Lugia just outright vanished.

"No!" Namba protested.

"Congratulations for being the first of us to evolve," Cyndaquil said, once the dust had settled. "How is it?"

"A bit weird, honestly," Bayleef replied, prancing back and forth to test her weight. "I'm a lot heavier and a lot stronger… I'm not really sure how it balances out yet for things like Sunsteel Strike. But apart from that… I do feel pretty good."

"Evolving is good stuff," Booster told them. "Being a Shelgon was a bit weird, but I was one for less than a minute. And when I could fly… it felt like that was what I'd been working towards all my life."

He shrugged his wings. "Though that was a lot shorter than for other Salamence. And then there are Pokémon who don't want to evolve at all, and there's nothing wrong with that."

"I know, Brock's got two on his team," Cyndaquil told the Salamence. "Or, um, one and a half? Because Eevee wants to evolve some day, she just doesn't know what into yet and unlike a lot of Pokémon she's got an actual choice."

Bayleef giggled. "...though she does feel like she doesn't have enough choice sometimes…"

"So, how often do you run into stuff like this?" Ritchie asked, waving at where Doctor Namba's trap had been until the police arrived. "I know you've got Legendary Pokémon all the time, and I did see the news about that balloon race thing, but… I mean actual trouble."

"...uh, a few times so far?" Ash said, thinking out loud. "Maybe four or five? It depends how you count. Some of them were easy though."

"Easy ones are good," Ritchie agreed. "I guess it's okay to tell you, but usually when I run into trouble it's a weird one where I've ended up in the past or future and need to do something so that time makes sense again. Generally that's the past."

He shrugged. "Usually it doesn't involve Pokémon battles much though. Speaking of which, let's have one so I can see how you're doing?"

The island was probably less damaged than it would have been by an angry mother Lugia.

Probably.

AN:

So the main two arcs of the Whirl Islands don't work quite so well at keeping up suspense/mystery in this AU.