Seishin: Alright, readers! Episode 1 part 2! WOO-HOO!

Omega: *sweat drops* Yes, because everyone wants a 30-minute episode split up like this…

Ohirume: *groan* You know the drill.

I don't own Pokémon or Ben 10

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One Yvel of a Journey (part 2):

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Ash had finally recovered from earlier and everyone moved downstairs. Delia was racing through a list of supplies for Ash's journey.

"Spare rope. Rubber gloves; heat resistant of course. Extra sets of clothing-"

Ash chuckled, "Mom, I'm fine. I packed everything before heading to the lab."

Delia sighed before smiling sadly, "I know. But you can't blame me for worrying."

Ash smiled softly and hugged her, "I know I can't."

Delia returned the hug with a sad smile still on her face, "Just promise me you'll stay safe."

"I promise." Ash responded.

Delia shifted to a sly smile, "And don't forget to change your you-know-whats every day."

Ash backed up and blushed, "MOM!"

Pikachu raised a brow in confusion, "'You-know-whats'?"

Soot snickered, "Grandma's more embarrassing way of saying underwear."

Pikachu blinked; still not getting it, 'under what?'

Delia turned to look at them, "That goes for you too, Soot. Remember to brush your fur daily."

Soot rolled her eyes with a smile, "Yeah, yeah. I know."

Delia continued, "And remember to socialize, sweetie. I'm sure you'll find a nice, strong man to-"

"GOT IT!" Soot blurted out in embarrassment.

Delia chuckled. She turned back to her son with a somber expression, "Be sure to come and visit every so often."

Ash smiled and gave a thumbs up, "Of course. We'll be back after getting all eight Badges. It won't be that long."

Delia knew she couldn't drag along the goodbye any longer and decided to get it over with.

"Well, I guess this is it then." She said somberly.

"Yeah." Ash nodded with a sad smile.

He turned towards the door and started walking. He stopped, turned back around, and pulled his mom into a hug again.

"One more time." Ash said.

Delia smiled down at her son. She returned the hug and felt something brushing up against her leg. Soot smiled up at her as she joined in the love. Pikachu just stood off to the side and watched. He started feeling awkward.

"What are you waiting for? Come on, Pikachu." His ears perked up at Delia's words.

He looked up to see everyone smiling at him. Delia had her arm outstretched and was looking at him expectantly. Pikachu smiled and bound over. He jumped onto Delia's shoulder and snuggled the group.

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*Later; Outside

Ash clenched his fist with a determined smirk, "Alright, guys! This is it!"

Soot frowned with her ears drooping, "Um, actually. Can you give me a minute to … y'know?" She looked off into the distance.

Ash followed her gaze and smiled sadly upon realizing what she meant.

He crouched down to pet her, "Go ahead. It wouldn't be right to leave without saying goodbye."

Soot smiled sadly and brushed up against Ash, "Thanks, dad." She ran off with the destination clear in her mind.

Pikachu flinched as the Dark-type left, "Hey wait! You're the only one who can tell this guy what I'm saying!"

"Leave her be, Pikachu." Ash responded casually, "Besides, you don't have to call me 'this guy.' My name is Ash."

Pikachu looked at him in shock, "SINCE WHEN CAN YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!"

Ash covered his ears, "Please stop shouting. Look, I still haven't told you everything about the watch yet. With Soot away at the moment we have some time." He sat down on the porch and patted a spot next to him, "Get comfy, there's a lot."

Pikachu complied and sat down next to Ash. The Mouse Pokémon looked up at the human curiously.

Ash took a breath before starting and held up the watch, "So, it's this feature we call Power Integration."

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*Soot

The canine ran towards her destination as fast as she could; not wanting to waste any time. Along the way, she passed a garden, snatched up a red rose, and stuck it into her fur.

She came up to her destination and barreled through the opened gate, "Hey Dave!" She shouted as she passed the guard. Unfortunately, it was the wrong guard.

"What?! Hey! Get back here!" The guard cried out in alarm. Soot didn't hear him.

He felt a pat on his shoulder and turned to see Dave. "Eh, don't worry rookie. Soot's a regular here. She won't hurt anything."

The rookie was still concerned, "You sure boss? Wouldn't a dog Pokémon try and dig something up?"

Dave's eyes narrowed, "Hey, show some respect! That dog was my son's math tutor for half a year!"

The unnamed rookie just stared at him in surprise.

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*Soot, again

The Dark-type sat down in the field while laughing, "And then dad had to show Pikachu how the watch worked. The little guy actually fainted!" She laughed again before smiling, "On the upside, I finally have someone on my side about the whole 'dad's too stubborn' thing. And to top it all off, Grandma walked in, saw dad as a pikachu and literally cuddled him into submission." Soot laughed once more before looking down with a sad smile.

"The main reason I came this time is to say: dad and I are heading out today. So, I won't be able to visit for a while." She pulled the rose out of her fur and laid it on the ground in front of her, "I promise I'll come visit as soon as we're back in town. By then, I'll have so many new stories to tell."

Soot stood up and took a deep breath to clear her head. She wiped a tear away and smiled sadly, "I'll see you later, mom."

Soot started walking in the same direction she came; leaving the graveyard.

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*Ash and Pikachu

"Wow." Pikachu exclaimed as he stared at Ash in surprise, "And I thought you were just some human with ditto powers. Although, it does explain all the fireproof stuff."

Ash chuckled, "Yeah, like I said. 'A lot'."

Ash looked back in the direction Soot went and found that she was already on her way back. He got up, walked closer, and crouched down in front of her, "You okay?"

Soot nodded with her ears drooping and a sad smile, "Yeah. I'll be fine."

Ash smiled sadly and pulled her into a hug, "It's okay. I miss her too."

Soot rested her head on Ash's shoulder and closed her eyes.

Pikachu started feeling awkward again. He wasn't sure if he should join in like last time. He decided not to chance it.

After about a minute, Ash let go and stood up again, "Alright guys, let's go." He said, trying to lighten the mood.

He paused for a minute when he felt something on his shoulder. He turned and saw Pikachu standing there, trying to keep his balance.

Ash raised a brow, "I thought you still didn't trust me."

Pikachu laughed, "What?! Why wouldn't I trust a fellow Pokémon?"

Soot looked at him with a raised brow, "Dad isn't a Pokémon right now."

Pikachu closed his eyes and held is head high, "Not according to everything he said earlier."

Soot looked up at Ash, "Power Integration?"

Ash shrugged with a smile, "Why not? He already knows about the big stuff."

The trio made their way to route 1 and by default Professor Oak's lab.

Until Ash remembered something. His eyes widened in shock, "Ah, crag! Give me a minute!"

Pikachu blinked in surprise, "Wait, wha- AHH!"

He was cut off by Ash running back into the house. The unlucky Electric-type fell to the ground at his stand suddenly leaving.

Soot snickered.

Ash reemerged a moment later with another pokéball clipped to his belt.

Soot realized it was hers, "Oh, right. We still needed to register me to your trainer account."

Ash rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "That'd be one Yvel of a mistake." He noticed Pikachu on the ground and blinked in surprise, "Woah. Are you okay, Pikachu?"

The Mouse Pokémon groaned, "This will take some getting used to." He said; voice muffled by the ground.

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*Outside Oak's lab

A crowd had built up at the professor's lab. Everyone was waiting to see off Pallet town's most promising new trainer. And, for some reason, they thought that was Gary Oak.

Gary was standing out front to take in the praise. He held his new pokéball high into the air as he prematurely announced his victory in the Indigo League. Yes, that prematurely.

As Ash, Soot, and Pikachu approached the lab, they noticed the crowd.

"Who's the human with brown hair?" Pikachu asked curiously, "Everyone seems to like him."

Ash pinched the bridge of his nose, "That would be Gary. He's one of the other trainers starting today and is also the professor's grandson."

Pikachu raised a brow, "Huh?"

Ash chuckled, "Sorry. Grandson is the human word for a hatchling's hatchling. The male version."

"Oh." Pikachu said before tilting his head, "What makes him so special?"

Soot sweat dropped, "Your guess is as good as ours."

Gary saw Ash, smirked, and walked over, "Well, well, if it isn't Ashy-boy." He said mockingly, "Sorry, but you snooze you lose. Gramps already ran out of Pokémon, and I got the last one." He held up the pokéball in an attempt to show off.

It failed.

Ash just smiled lightly, "Oh, Squirtle. Nice choice."

Gary flinched, "What?! How could you possibly know that?!"

Soot smirked, "You left the water sticker on the pokéball."

Gary looked at the ball; dumbfound. He turned around and started struggling to take the sticker off the ball.

Pikachu snickered; catching Gary's attention. He looked back at them and stared in confusion, "Why do you have that Pokémon on your shoulder?"

Ash raised a brow, "Gary, he's a pikachu. I'd expect you, of all people, to know something like that." Gary's eyes narrowed. Ash continued, "I was here earlier today and got him as my starter. The professor said there was a shipping error with the usual ones." He glanced at the ball in Gary's hand, "Though, judging by you getting one, it looks like the mailman pulled through." Ash lied; not wanting to call out Professor Oak on his bluff.

"Ah, too bad", Gary said sarcastically with a smirk, "Ashy-boy didn't get the Pokémon he wanted."

Ash didn't take the bait and shook his head, "I never said that. I just didn't get a Pokémon I expected." He smiled and started petting the Mouse Pokémon on his shoulder, "Besides, Pikachu's pretty cool. I doubt I'd try and get a different starter if I had the choice."

Pikachu stuck his tongue out at Gary.

Gary looked annoyed but shook it off. His cocky smile returned, "Ah, whatever. No matter what Pokémon you have, I'll still beat you and become a Master first."

Soot smirked, "Oh? Wanna prove it?"

Gary flinched, and laughed nervously, "Hah, yeah right. Like I'd waste my time battling you." He quickly jumped into his car -how is he old enough to have a license?- and drove off while shouting, "Later Losers."

The three of them just watched as he sped off into the distance.

"I don't like him." Pikachu said with a glare.

Soot's eye twitched, "Welcome to the club."

Ash sighed at his rival's … everything, "Don't let him get to you, guys." He started walking again, "Let's move. Route 1 awaits."

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*Route 1, Finally

Ash, Soot, and Pikachu followed the dirt road as they made their way through the tree heavy route. Various wild Pokémon were scurrying around. Including rattata, sandshrew, and mankey. The pidgey and spearow flew around overhead. Upon seeing Ash, they all ran as if there was a forest fire.

Ash noticed and sweat dropped, "Maybe I shouldn't have come here as a human." He thought out loud.

Pikachu smirked, "Eh, their probably just jealous of me and Soot. Not every mon can say they have a trainer like you."

Ash chuckled, "Thanks. Let's take a break for a bit. We can get started on training."

Soot smiled brightly, "Finally!" She crouched down into a fighting stance, "Let's do this, dad!"

Ash smiled sadly, "Sorry Soot. Pikachu's the one who needs to train. You sit back and watch."

Soot frowned, "aww."

Pikachu looked over at him in surprise, "What?! Why me?!"

Ash raised a brow at the mouse, "Pikachu, you got winded following us from Oak's lab to my house and you've been riding on my shoulder all day. Besides, we're not doing anything big. Just some target practice."

Pikachu groaned, "Fine." He then realized something, "What do we use as targets?"

Ash looked around and inspected the surrounding trees. Finding an uninhabited one, he looked back towards Pikachu with a smile, "Give me a second." He picked the Mouse up off his shoulder and put him on the ground.

Ash moved over to the tree and held his right arm out to his side. Flicking his hand once, his fingernails all elongated an extra half millimeter; the new portions were a shade of light green. Acting fast, he attacked the side of the tree and carved a full bullseye into the side; around a foot in diameter. Satisfied, his nails returned to normal and he looked back at the, once again, shocked pikachu.

Pikachu stared in shock at the tree his trainer carved with his claws, "Do I even want to know?"

"Power Integration." Soot responded matter-of-factly.

Pikachu stared at her with a deadpanned expression, "That's going to be the answer to a lot of things, isn't it?"

Soot shrugged with a smirk, "Probably."

Pikachu sighed, "Whatever. Let's get this over with."

Pikachu lazily shot a Thunder Shock at the tree and barely scratched the outermost ring. Pikachu frowned and fired again. He was closer than last time but still way off.

"What?!" Pikachu cried out in complaint.

Ash smiled down at him, "See? You need to exercise." He raised a finger, "Tell you what, my mom packed some mixed berry brownies. Hit the ring closest to the center and I'll give you one."

Pikachu raised a brow; somewhat interested, "What kind of berries?"

"Pecha." Soot's voice responded, "Mostly Pecha."

Pikachu's eyes lit up at the word, "DEAL!" He immediately got to work with his goal in mind.

Unfortunately, Ash and Pikachu weren't the only ones to hear what Soot said. An eavesdropping wild rattata peeked out from behind a tree and looked at Ash's backpack. The Mouse Pokémon made sure the trainer was distracted and scurried over. They checked again and saw Pikachu firing away at the tree and Ash watching the Electric-type closely. They managed to open the bag but, instead of the brownies, they met a pair of glowing red eyes.

Ash sighed, "Here we go."

Soot sprang out of the bag and roared at the rattata. The Pokémon screamed in fear and ran away from the laughing mightyena.

Pikachu watched the whole thing happen in surprise. He then deadpanned, "Y'know what? Not even gonna ask."

He got back to target practice.

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**Time skip**

Pikachu had been firing at the target for over an hour now. He finally managed to hit the rim of the smallest ring. He flopped on his back and panted before giving a thumbs up, "Done."

Ash applauded, "Not bad. I was kind of hoping you'd hit inside the ring." Pikachu glared at him. Ash smiled, "But you did hit the smallest ring. A deal's a deal."

Ash walked over to his bag, opened it, and pulled out a plastic container. He opened it, pulled out one of the brownies, and handed it to Pikachu. The mouse happily accepted it while drooling. He was about to take a bite when a wild spearow swooped down and stole it.

Pikachu glared at the Tiny Bird Pokémon furiously, "HEY, GIVE THAT BACK! I WORKED HARD FOR IT!"

The spearow responded by eating the brownie whole.

Ash glared at the bird, "Whatever, we still have more." He reached into the container and gave Pikachu another.

Spearow swooped in again, only to be caught by Ash.

Spearow's eyes widened in shock, "Wha-"

Ash glared at the bird in his hand, "Not happening birdbrain. One was enough." He threw the Normal/Flying-type into a nearby tree and they disappeared into the leaves.

Pikachu watched the bird before looking up at Ash in surprise, "You're just full of surprises, aren't you?" He took a bite of the brownie and smiled happily.

Ash shrugged. He heard leaves rustling and looked around. They were surrounded by angry spearow.

Ash's eyes widened in shock, "Uh oh."

Pikachu heard him in the middle of his third bite and looked around. He flinched and dropped his prize, "Um, hey."

Soot popped her head out of the bag, "What's going-" She noticed the flock too and her eyes widened, "Oh." She quickly phased out of her hiding place and smiled nervously, "Hey, uh. Look. I'm sure we can work this out."

The flock's glare deepened. The trio grimaced.

"Sooooo, run?" Pikachu asked.

Ash and Soot nodded, "Yup!"

The three of them bolted with the flock hot on their tails. In two cases, literally.

Pikachu started falling behind and immediately became the spearows' target. Ash wasn't having that. He stopped in his tracks, decked the nearest spearow, and picked up Pikachu before running again.

'Crag, we can't keep this up for long!' Ash thought. He perked up upon hearing rushing water up ahead.

Ash's eyes narrowed, "Soot, you hear it too, right?"

Soot nodded, "Yeah. Definitely a waterfall. It's not far."

Ash gulped, "I was worried about that. Prepare to jump."

Pikachu's eyes widened, "Wait, can we discuss this first?!"

"No time!" Ash called out, "Here it comes!"

Ash and Soot reached the edge of the cliff and jumped. They could see the river below them. During the fall, Ash did the dumbest thing he could think of.

Soot looked over as she felt Ash grab her foreleg. He looked at her with a sad expression and shouted "Sorry!" before twisting and throwing her into one of the trees down below.

"DAD!" Soot shouted as she disappeared into the foliage.

The flock saw this and considered going after Soot. That is, until the bird at the front felt something nick their beak. They looked back and saw Ash pointing his right hand towards the spearow with his claws out again. This time, however, the green portions from his pinky and ring finger were missing.

Ash smirked before he twisted around again and hit his watch. He became engulfed in green light right before hitting the water.

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*Somewhere down the river

A girl with orange hair sat near the edge of the river with a fishing pole in her hands. She suddenly felt a tug on the line.

The girl smiled brightly, 'Finally!' She pulled with all her might. With one final pull, she pulled out a pikachu and a … vaporeon?! That was too rare to pass up!

She quickly pulled out a pokéball, only to be hit in the face with a Water Gun. She quickly recovered and found that Vaporeon had escaped. 'CRAG!' And … wait where did he come from?

Instead of the vaporeon, there was some kid with black hair; panting heavily.

"Hey, where'd you come from?! Where's Vaporeon?!" The girl shouted angrily.

"What? Vaporeon? What are you talking about?" the boy replied in confusion.

"The vaporeon that I just fished out of the river!" She pointed at the Electric-type without looking, "The one that was holding on to that pikachu!"

The boy raised a brow, "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm the one you fished out of the water -thanks by the way- and-" The boy's eyes widened, "Oh, Crag! Pikachu!" He scurried over to the half-conscious mouse.

The girl looked at him; becoming concerned at seeing the hurt Pokémon, "Is it alright?"

The boy put a hand on the Pokémon's head and frowned, "He's burning up." He looked back at her, "Quick, which way to the nearest Pokémon Center?!"

The girl pointed at a nearby path, "That way. In Viridian City."

The boy looked at the path and was about to respond when a series of angry caws rang out in the distance.

The two humans looked up and saw a swarm of angry spearow approaching.

The boy flinched and stared at the flock in shock, "Are you kidding me?! How persistent are they?!"

Catching on, the girl pulled her bike over and shoved the handlebars into the boy's hands, "Take this. You'll get their faster."

The boy nodded, "Thanks. But you need to hide. They may be after me, but I don't think we should take that chance."

She nodded and ran behind a tree as the boy rode off on her bike with the spearow flock right behind him.

She sighed in relief when it became quiet. Her nerves immediately came back when she heard growling.

She turned around to see a pair of red and yellow eyes staring at her and approaching slowly. She grimaced and tried to back away. Only to end up tripping and falling back. Looking up, she came face-to-face with a large black and grey dog Pokémon. It stared at her with the same eyes from before and growled. She was about to cry out for help. That is, until the Pokémon started talking to her.

"trainer *huff* pikachu *huff*" it said in a feminine voice while panting.

The girl's eyes widened in shock, "W-what?"

The Pokémon spoke again with a tired look, "A trainer *huff* and a pikachu *huff* have you seen them?"

The girl pointed in the direction the boy went, "V-Viridian C-City."

The Pokémon looked in the same direction, turned back, and nodded, "Thank you."

It turned away and started walking in the same direction as the boy. Then it fainted.

The girl just sat there in a daze and stared at the Pokémon in shock, 'What the Yvel is going on today?'

She heard thunder and looked over to see a cluster of gray clouds approaching. She groaned in annoyance and stood up to try and go find shelter. She stopped for a second and looked back. The black Pokémon was still lying in the road.

The girl sighed, 'I can't just leave it there.'

She made her way over to the Pokémon and hoisted it onto her back. Luckily, it was lighter than she expected. Looking at its forelegs -slumped over her shoulders- she noticed something weird.

The Pokémon had a thin yellow zipper wrapped around its right leg; near the shoulder. Thinking again, she remembered seeing one across its spine too. Curiosity got the best of her as she pulled at the zipper on its leg. Her eyes widened in pure shock, as the entire limb fell off and landed on the ground in front of her.

The girl's massive scream rang throughout the forest and scared off ever nearby Flying-type.

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**Time Skip**

Soot finally started to wake up and found herself in a cave with a massive storm pouring outside. A fire was already set up in the middle of the cave. The redhead from before was sitting on the other side of it.

The girl noticed Soot waking up and ran over, "Hey, are you alright?"

Soot groaned, "I'm fine. Just worn out."

The girl sighed in relief and then flinched with a frightened look when she noticed Soot looking at where her leg used to be.

Soot blinked before looking outside at the storm again. She growled in anger, "Freaking, Arceus!" The girl became scared; unnoticed to Soot, "First, dad gets the 'genius' idea to ditch me during a crisis and have them chase him instead! Then, I lose my arm in a freaking STORM?!" She groaned, "Ugh, the mildew. It'll take forever to clean."

The girl became confused at the Pokémon's words, "Um", She said; catching Soot's attention, "Aren't you upset about your leg falling off?"

Soot looked at where her arm was; the yellow zipper teeth were still attached, "What? That?" She looked back at the girl with a raised brow, "That happened years ago. It zips right back on."

The girl's eyes widened in shock upon hearing that. She shook it off, "Well, um, you might like to know that it's right there." She said while pointing to the dog's limb propped up against the cave wall.

Soot looked where she was pointing and immediately shot towards it before reattaching the limb.

She sat down, held up her foreleg, and started wiggling her claws to make sure nothing happened.

Soot sighed in relief before looking back towards the girl with a smile on her face, "Thanks. Looking for this would not have been fun."

The girl just stared at the talking Pokémon in wary surprise.

Soot took notice and raised a brow, "Hey, are you alright? You seem kind of pale. Wait-" She stopped before chuckling, "it's the talking thing isn't it?"

"Among other things" The girl muttered before looking at Soot curiously, "What are you anyway?"

Soot chuckled again, "It's more of a 'who' than a 'what', miss. My name is Soot Ketchum. I'm a mightyena with banette inheritance. I was raised by humans, hence the talking. Now who might you be?"

"Um, Misty. Misty Waterflower." Misty responded, still coming to terms with the fact that she was talking to a Pokémon.

Soot moved over and shook her hand, "Nice to meet you, Misty."

Thunder crashed outside.

Soot frowned, "Geez, it's really pouring out there. I hope dad's alright."

Misty blinked in surprise, "Your dad?"

Soot looked back at her, "Yeah, he's the trainer I was looking for earlier. He raised me from an egg."

Misty smiled, "I'm sure he's fine, Soot."

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*Ash and Pikachu

He was not fine. The storm caught up fast and then the bike ended up hitting a rock; making Ash and Pikachu wipe out into the mud. Ash struggled to get back up and looked towards the bike. The chain had broken.

Ash pounded the ground in rage, "CRAG!"

He looked to Pikachu and saw him lying on the ground, motionless. Ash crawled over to his starter and shook him. "Pikachu. Come on. Wake up."

The mouse managed to open his eyes and stared at Ash with a sad smile, "Hey."

Ash sighed in relief and smiled back, "Hey."

The spearow started closing in; still not giving up in their chase. Ash glared up at them angrily. Using whatever strength he had left, he forced himself to stand up. He looked back down at Pikachu. The mouse stared up at him weakly. Ash removed Pikachu's pokéball from his belt and dropped it in front of the Electric-type.

"Pikachu," Ash started in a sorrowful tone, "I know you don't like it in your pokéball, but you have to go in. One last time."

Pikachu looked down at the ball in front of him.

Ash gulped, "Please Pikachu. When the rain stops, I'm sure Soot will come looking for us and find it. I promise you'll be safe."

Pikachu's eyes widened upon realizing what Ash was saying. He looked up at the boy in shock.

Ash glanced at his watch. It was still red from using Vaporeon earlier.

'Mom, I'm sorry. I couldn't keep my promise.' He held up his arms, 'Soot, stay safe. I promise I'll be watching over you with Yena.'

Ash glared up at the flock furiously as they dove at him, "You want Pikachu? WELL YOU'RE GONNA HAVE TO GET THROUGH ME FIRST YOU FLYING RATS!"

Ash stood there with arms wide as he prepared for the worst. Without warning, he felt something jump on and off his shoulder. Pikachu was right there, suspended in mid-air when a bolt of lightning struck him. Everything went white.

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**Time Skip**

The storm had long since cleared. Ash and Pikachu laid there on the soaked path and looked up into the clearing sky tiredly. The spearow flock surrounded them; all either unconscious or twitching from paralysis. Ash looked around and started laughing. Pikachu joined in soon after.

"I guess we made it. Huh buddy." Ash said as he looked over at Pikachu.

"Yeah." Pikachu nodded with a tired smile, "Hey, Ash, you mind helping me up? I can't feel anything."

Ash chuckled and looked back into the sky, "In a minute." Ash let out a breath, "Soot's gonna be furious."

Pikachu chuckled too, "Yeah. By the time she's done, you'll need a new tail."

Ash looked at him in mild confusion, "Pikachu, I'm still human. I don't have a tail."

Pikachu looked at him and squinted, "Huh? Oh, sorry, everything's kind of blurry."

Ash managed to get back up and picked up Pikachu. The Mouse reached up and licked Ash's cheek. He regretted it instantly.

"Ugh, you taste like dirt." He started spitting out the terrible taste.

Ash chuckled again, "That tends to happen after you fall in mud."

The two friends flinched as they heard a large caw ring out above them. They looked up hesitantly; expecting to see a giant fearow. They were close at least.

A gigantic golden bird Pokémon surrounded by a rainbow aura flew above them. The pair could only stare in awe as they flew across the sky with a huge rainbow behind them.

"Whoa." Pikachu muttered in awe.

"I-I think that's Ho-Oh." Ash said in awestruck shock, "They're a legendary who's said to bestow eternal happiness to whoever sees them."

"Whoa."

After Ho-Oh disappeared, neither of them could bring themselves to say anything else. Ash just started walking towards Viridian City.

.

Ohirume: … yeah, I got nothin'. Review at your own leisure.

Seishin: What do you mean 'nothing'?! The spearow attack, Misty, and SOOT'S MOM?! That is not nothing. Not to mention you stole 'Power Integration' from Vrains. Wait, Omega, are you … CRYING?!

Omega: *sniffle* I'm not heartless y'know. The thing with the dog's mom just struck a chord, alright?

…

Edit notes: most -if not all- of Soot's 'expressions/action descriptors' involved the word 'respond' or 'replied' instead of her actually doing something. / regular touch-ups. / 'it' was replaced by 'they', 'them', etc. wherever it seemed appropriate.