"Think about it?" Jessie said. "If we steal the twerp's egg, we could be the ones it imprints on! That way, we could have ourselves whatever's in the egg!"

"And that would be worthwhile anyway," James agreed, as they looked at the high-altitude recon imagery. "But knowing the Twerps, it's going to be a Legendary Pokémon!"

Porygon's image appeared on one of the screens. "Observation: designate Twerp has many Pokémon that are not Legendary."

"Yeah, but you gotta admit, he's way outside da norm on that one," Meowth pointed out. "What do ya think it is?"

He jumped up on one of the Hikokyu's computer seats, and began paging through lists of Pokémon. "Articuno? Suicune? Latios? Kyogre? Metagross?"

"Do Suicune eggs exist?" James asked. "I always thought they were created by magic."

"Well, it could be an Azelf," Meowth protested. "Or if it's a foreign one, it could be a young one of dose Zacians. Even a Dratini would be worth it!"

"Puncturing observation," Porygon declared. "It is a Phanpy."

"Yeah, like you know dat!" Meowth replied.

"Smug statement: observe camera two," Porygon said.

They looked at the take from camera two.

"...already hatched, huh," James said.

Jessie sighed. "Oh well. Back to the planning board."

"It's nice to meet you, Phanpy," Ash said, crouching down to the just-hatched Ground-type. "My name's Ash Ketchum."

"And I'm Zorua!" said the Zacian next to him.

She crossed her eyes, then went back to actually looking like Zorua. "Sorry. I'm Zorua!"

"You're funny," Phanpy declared. "You looked like one Pokémon but you're actually another Pokémon."

Zorua looked at her, then at Ash, then over at Misty and Togepi.

"Okay, is there something wrong with Togepi?" he asked. "I wondered if it was me or Togepi who was unusual, but now Phanpy's proving that obviously I'm the normal one."

Pikachu sniggered.

"I think some Pokémon need to do more growing up than others after they hatch," Ash said. "Speaking of which…"

He unfolded his Pokedex, which beeped.

Phanpy, the Long Nose Pokémon.

"So…. probably not Mew, then," Misty guessed.

"Ooh, speaking of Mew, I wonder what moves they're going to teach you!" Zorua said brightly. "The obvious ones would be the ones about spinning around, so I bet it's something else."

"Moves… moves…" Phanpy said, shifting from foot to foot, then jumped forwards and used Rollout.

Zorua yelped, jumping out of the way just in time, and Phanpy giggled before stopping and coming back the other way.

"Hold on, there," Ash told her, picking the Ground-type up. "That's not polite, okay? If you're going to use an attack on someone, make sure you know they're ready for it – like if it's in a battle."

Phanpy uncurled, and her ears flicked. "Aww… are you sure? It was fun!"

"It's because you can surprise or hurt Pokémon – or humans – if you hit them when they're not expecting it," Ash explained. "But there are other things you can do for fun which would be better."

He let Phanpy down, and she sniffed a bit before bounding over towards a bush.

"Well, I see Phanpy's full of energy," Brock laughed. "I wonder what's in that bush?"

"Look!" Phanpy said, holding it up with her trunk. "It's a shiny stone!"

"Really?" Zorua asked. "I think I heard of those, they let some Pokémon evolve."

Phanpy started waving it around, trying to make it activate, and as Ash got closer he laughed. "No, that only works for some Pokémon, like… uh, I think Togetic and Roselia? And a couple of others too… wait, that's not a Shiny Stone."

"It's not?" Phanpy asked, holding it so she could look at it properly. "It's shiny, though. Is it not a stone?"

"I think that's a Mega Stone," Ash told her. "Can I have a look?"

Phanpy placed it carefully in his hand, and Ash held it up.

"This isn't one I recognize," he admitted. "Red and black with a brown outside… maybe Gary will have an idea the next time we run into him. Good find, Phanpy!"

Phanpy bounced on her hooves, clearly happy with her work.

"There has got to be a better route to Mahogany Town," Misty grumbled. "One that doesn't get absolutely plastered in snow whenever there's a blizzard."

"Hey, it's not that bad," Ash protested. "Not with Vulpix melting the worst of the snow on the trail – and especially Articuno overhead making sure the snow doesn't get us!"

"That's why it's only bad," Misty replied. "But you get what I mean, right?"

"Yeah, there probably is a better route," Ash agreed. "It's just… better for people trying to travel on it, not people trying to go on a Pokémon journey!"

Zygarde's core made a displeased noise from Ash's backpack. "Climate functioning as designed. To my irritation."

"You okay in there?" Ash asked, swinging his backpack off so he could open it if he had to. "I know you don't get on with the cold very well."

"It's warm in here with Zorua and Zygarde and Scorbunny!" Phanpy said. "I've not met Scorbunny before. She giggles a lot."

"Ash," Misty said, slowly. "Why is Phanpy in your backpack rather than in her Pokéball?"

"It's to keep Zygarde company!" Ash replied, putting the backpack back on his shoulders. "And then Zorua is in there too, and I think Mew's currently a Scorbunny to help keep them warm."

Misty eyed Ash's backpack. "That's the one your mom got you, right? Where did she get it from? Because there's four Pokémon in there and one of them's a Phanpy… I've almost given up being impressed at your weight tolerance, but that backpack is really holding up well."

"Not sure, really," Ash shrugged. "How's it looking, Brock?"

"Vulpix is still holding up," Brock replied. "She's a real trooper today."

"A fine performance, indeed," Zacian said. "Though please do not overstrain yourself, Vulpix; I can act as a snowplough should your strength begin to falter."

"I'm quite all right for now, thanks," Vulpix told her, glancing back. "Thank you for the offer, though, certainly."

Then some of the path gave way underneath Ash, and he slid down a slope before rolling to a stop.

"Ow," he winced. "I was sure that wasn't a snow bit."

"Honestly, with what's in your backpack, it probably wasn't," Pikachu observed. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I think so," Ash replied, standing back up.

"My word," a voice said.

Ash looked up, and saw a woman with a Ninetales by her side coming out of the snow and into Articuno's area of clear weather.

"Perhaps you should wait out the snow storm," she invited. "Are there more of you?"

"Yeah, my friends are back up there," Ash said, waving his hand – and looking up, to see that Brock was descending the slope with Geodude for a handhold and Misty was getting assistance from Zacian. "Is there somewhere nearby?"

"Fairly nearby," the woman told him. "My name is Lokoko – I'll be glad to have you around."

Her Ninetales gave an elegant bow.

"This mansion is owned by my master," Lokoko explained. "He's away at the moment, but he wouldn't begrudge your visit – I can assure you of that."

"That's nice of him," Ash replied. "So is he a Pokémon trainer?"

Misty sniggered. "Who isn't a Pokémon trainer?"

"He has a few," Lokoko said. "But I would not mean to insult anyone who did not have Pokémon, for whatever reason."

She turned to Brock. "Though I have to ask – your Vulpix looks wonderfully well raised. Is that all your own work?"

"I got her from a woman called Suzie," Brock said. "But, ah, she has no place in my heart compared to you!"

There was a disorganized sound from Ash's backpack, and then a Pichu clambered out.

Pikachu's ears went flat. "Oh, no, not them."

"Who are you talking to?" Pichu demanded. "I keep hearing half of a conversation!"

"We're talking to Lokoko," Ash said, pointing. "What do you mean?"

Pichu looked.

"Is that the Ninetales?" he asked. "Because I'm pretty sure I heard Brock doing it too."

"Ahh," Zacian said, and suddenly her whole posture changed – going in an instant from a polite guest into the Heroine of Many Battles. "That makes a great deal of sense of some things that had puzzled me before. My trainer, it appears we are caught in an illusion."

"Yeah!" Pichu agreed, then went bamf and turned into Zorua. "It must be a psychic one! I bet the Ninetales did it!"

For the next few minutes, there was a battle taking place but nobody had the least idea what was going on.

"And so, you have my story," Lokoko said, with a sigh. "The Ninetales who waited, unstintingly, for her trainer… and who could not accept the truth, that either he had abandoned her or that he simply could not return."

She shook her head. "I confess… I had hoped that Brock was someone who was my trainer again, or who I could force to be my trainer… but I was maddened by grief. And now, I think, I am sane again."

"Lokoko…" Ash said, crouching down next to the shattered fragments of her old glass Pokéball. "I don't know if we have the right words for whether it's your fault or not. It's not right to leave someone alone for decades, and it's… not surprising that that happened. That doesn't mean it was right, it means I understand."

"And understanding is sometimes the cruellest punishment of all," Lokoko said.

She looked around the dilapidated mansion. "I do not think I should stay here. Too many memories, and while they were good at the time I think they have served their purpose."

"Then you could come with us," Ash suggested. "Make new memories, meet new people-"

"Oh, you absolutely should!" Zorua interrupted. "Specifically – Ash, we need her on your team!"

The little Dark-type's tail was twitching up a storm. "I can already see the brilliant strategy! Someone launches an attack at Suicune except it turns out that it's hit Zacian, who's actually me, who's really Lokoko and on the other side of the arena, only it was Noctowl all along!"

Lokoko stared. "What?"

One of her tails came up to brush away her tears. "I'm sorry, but… what?"

"I guess that way she could stay at the Oak Ranch, too," Ash said, musing. "There's plenty of Pokémon around there… maybe even the Crystal Onix, I'm not sure if she moved back to the Orange Islands yet."

"I have no frame of reference for what you're talking about," Lokoko confessed. "What is the Oak Ranch?"

"It's great!" Zorua told her. "It's where all our trainers' Pokémon go when they're not in their active teams, except the ones who are busy somewhere else. It's great, half the time Mew comes around asking for suggestions on what move to teach someone next."

Lokoko thought about it for a long moment.

"If it helps," Articuno said, leaning in through one of the windows. "Mrs. Ketchum is pretty good about letting us use Ash's TV if we ask nicely."

"What is a TV?" the Ninetales inquired.

"Okay, we need to get you there ASAP!" Zorua declared. "And someone tell Silver to show her something cool!"

"A Ninetales?" Professor Oak said, looking at the notes. "That's… actually more normal than most of the Pokémon Ash gets these days, it seems."

He opened the newly arrived Pokéball. "So there's a set of rules that-"

"-I have already heard," the Ninetales interrupted him. "Though I believe I was told that you might appreciate my help in translation, so I thought I would make it clear that I could do that."

"And there we go," Professor Oak chuckled to himself. "I should have known."

Dealing with Lokoko's strange combination of cabin fever and being actively cursed by an early form of Pokéball had been a difficult, confusing thing to fix, and Ash made an extra effort to keep in touch with her about what she wanted – just so she could internalize the idea that she was now free to choose.

On the other hand, some things didn't need nearly so much careful thought.

"So, you want training?" Zacian said, inspecting the Tyrogue. "You may be in luck, young one."

She paced around in a circle. "Just one question. Do you have a sword?"

"A sword?" Tyrogue repeated. "I… don't, because that's not what my evolutionary line does as a rule. It's punch, or kick, or both."

"Clearly you need a sword," Zacian mused. "Hmm…"

While she was thinking, Articuno landed next to Tyrogue as well.

"Just so you know?" she said. "The fact that your original trainer abandoned you? It means he's a tosser. There's a Charizard my trainer raised who was abandoned by his original trainer as a Charmander… and that means the original bloke was terrible, not that all humans are."

"Oh, fine, do the moral of the story first," Zacian said, shaking her head. "But seriously, she's got a good point. And so would I if I had my sword."

Tyrogue hesitantly raised a hand.

"Am I getting personal therapy from two foreign Legendary Pokémon?"

"Yes," Zacian said. "Next question?"

The doorbell rang at Oak Labs.

Tracey opened it. "Yes?"

"I'm here to pick up my first Pokémon," the boy at the door said. "I'm John, I was told to turn up today?"

"Ah, yes," Tracey replied. "Just a minute, I'll go and let Professor Oak know."

John nodded, then leaned against the wall of the lab as he waited.

He whistled to himself for a bit, then looked out over the fields.

And stared.

There was a Dragonite, and four Dragonair, flying around in formation – dodging left and right and away from enormous Pokémon. Fearow and Butterfree, what John thought was a Staraptor, and even a Moltres, and whenever one of the Dragon-types hit one of their attackers it vanished like mist and another replaced it.

Then a high-pitched yelp sounded, and the Dragonite stopped in mid-air as a green blur jumped up to meet it. It grabbed the green blur, hurled it high into the air, and two of the Flying-type attackers were hit at once by sudden flickering movements as the green blur decided to flat out ignore its prior trajectory.

"You can come in, now," Tracey said.

John pointed. "...what?"

"Oh, that's Ash's Pokémon in training," Tracey replied. "I think that's probably the Dragons and Shaymintwo working with Lokoko… yes, she's over there, it must be. Unless Zacian is here as well and I can't see her."

He gestured for John to come in. "Come on. Do you have an idea which starter Pokémon you want to get?"

"I was, uh… thinking maybe Charmander?" John said, blinking a few times.

"In that case, you're in luck," Tracey told him. "We've got three in at the moment, so you can see who fits you best."

AN:

Lokoko's story is kind of sad, and it kind of explains her plan to basically shanghai Brock into replacing her old master.

It doesn't excuse it, but she's very sorry.

Still, she kind of fits in well on Ash's team.