Registering for the Silver Conference presented Ash with certain difficulties.

"Next!" the woman at the desk asked, then smiled at Brock. "Hello, sir. Do you have your badges?"

"I've got a boulder badge for you, it's Rock-type-" Brock began, then went oof as Misty clonked him on the head with the nearest throwable object.

This turned out to be Psyduck's Pokéball.

"What's going on?" Psyduck asked, coming out of his Pokéball and looking confused. "Where are we?"

"Brock's not the one registering for the Silver Conference, I am!" Ash corrected. "I'm Ash Ketchum, and I've got all eight Johto Badges!"

He looked down. "Psyduck, there's nothing to worry about at the moment, okay?"

"Who said that?" Psyduck asked, looking at Ash, then tilted his head slowly sideways. "...you seem to be bigger than I remember."

"Are you sure you're a trainer?" the woman at the desk asked. "I don't think registering a Pokémon as a trainer is even an option. How did you…?"

"Oh, uh… hang on a moment," Ash requested. "Can I get my trainer cards, Pokédex and badge case?"

Since they were indoors, Pikachu was the one to get them out of Ash's saddlebags. They came out one at a time, and Ash turned sideways so that Pikachu could climb up his ring and put them on the counter.

"That's my original trainer card," Ash supplied helpfully. "And that one's the one that I got after I got turned into a Pokémon! The numbers match, except the day they were issued for, I guess the reason's obvious. And there's my badges – Zephyr, Hive, Plain, Fog, Storm, Mineral, Glacier, and Rising!"

"Well, that does check out," the woman admitted.

"And I've got… what was it, Pikachu?" Ash asked. "Professor Oak used a specific word."

"Accommodations," Pikachu provided.

"...I've got a house?" Ash asked, confused. "Are you sure that's the right word?"

"What word?" the woman asked.

"Pikachu says the word is accommodations," Ash explained. "But that's like a word for where you stay, isn't it? In the Indigo League we all had places to stay so I was assuming everyone would have places to stay here too."

"Accommodations…" the woman repeated. "What kind of thing do you think Professor Oak meant when he talked to you?"

"Oh, it was things like how I have some Pokémon who help me pick things up," Ash explained. "So, Pikachu, Noctowl, Pokémon like that. They're not necessarily part of my Pokémon team in a battle, but I need them to do the Pokémon battling, and I'd always have Pikachu with me anyway."

"I see," the woman realized. "I'll have to confirm that but, yes, the right word is accommodations. It means we let you do things a different way because it's either impossible or much more difficult for you to do things the normal way. In this case, you would have to confirm which six Pokémon you could use in battle before entering the arena."

"That makes a lot of sense, thanks!" Ash smiled. "Is there anything else I need to sort out?"

"Well, you'll have to come back here later to get your accommodations confirmed, then I'll provide you with a card you can show if anyone complains," the woman said. "That might take a few hours, so come back this evening."

"I will!" Ash agreed. "Thanks!"

As he was trotting away from the counter, though, Ash turned his head a little to speak to Pikachu.

"I'm glad that went like it did, Pikachu," he said. "Thanks for helping. And… I don't know, part of me was really worried that they'd say no for some reason."

"You didn't mention that before, Ash," Pikachu pointed out, clambering up Ash's neck and sitting just behind the rear of his cap. "You could have said."

"Yeah, maybe I should have," Ash admitted. "But it would just have worried you guys too, it's not like there's anything you could have done about it. Professor Oak said everything we needed to get done got done, so there wasn't anything else left to do…"

His saddlebags bumped slightly. "It's just nice to know that being able to speak to you didn't mean giving up the Pokémon League. If that had been the trade and I'd have known, I… well, I guess I'd have asked you, but I'd probably have done it anyway."

The Silver Town Pokémon Centre doors opened, and Ash spotted someone coming the other way just in time to skitter hurriedly to one side.

"What kind of Pokémon is that?" a familiar voice asked. "Wait. Hat, Pikachu… Ash?"

"Gary?" Ash replied. "Oh, hey, you made it to Silver Town too!"

"That is Ash, right?" Gary asked Brock and Misty.

Misty nodded.

"This I've got to hear," Gary decided.

"I really wonder why gramps didn't tell me about this," Gary admitted. "It's actually kind of amazing. You got turned into a Pokémon?"

"Actually, according to the witch I always was a Pokémon, and I was just human until a couple of months ago," Ash corrected. "Which, I guess that's different somehow? Maybe the difference is that it doesn't wear off."

Misty shook her head. "I'm still not giving it a go."

Gary frowned, clearly thinking hard.

"So, how are you getting on with it?" he said. "It must be weird being in a completely different body like that… I know you had a couple of months to get used to it, but still."

"The funny thing is, it's actually been okay," Ash replied. "Most days I just keep going because that's what I'd be doing anyway! But sometimes it is hard… especially because I need help from my friends to do things that were so easy before. It feels like…"

Ash shrugged. "I don't know? Maybe like I'm imposing on them? Even when they volunteered. But I guess once I'm done with the Silver Conference I'll be able to spend a bit of time training myself as well, and then I can connect with my Pokémon more closely."

"Training yourself – right," Gary realized. "You can do moves now, right?"

"Recover, Foresight, and something else," Ash confirmed. "Though it doesn't show up when Pikachu scans me with my Pokédex, so maybe I don't have proper control of it yet… who knows."

"Well," Gary said. "It's good to hear that you're on top of your game, Ash."

He smirked. "I'd hate for you to have an excuse when I beat you like a Belly Drum!"

Ash shook his head. "No way, I'm going to win when we battle in the League, Gary! Don't count wins you haven't even had yet!"

"Last time, didn't Gary get knocked out before having a chance to battle Ash?" Misty asked Brock, pitching her voice low to avoid being heard by the rivals.

"I think if they did battle it would have been the final anyway, and they both went out before then," Brock replied.

Weirdly enough, a bit of banter with Gary lifted Ash's mood no end, and within the hour he was told that the whole registration had been processed – including the accommodations.

Confusingly, it was straight after that that Ash was told where to go to to the competitor's village, and Latias stifled her giggles as best she could as Ash asked for clarification on whether he was being told to go to his accommodation or his accommodations.

Eventually, Ash decided that they should really use a different word for it.

Then it was on to the Silver Conference itself, which was fought in a three-state round system. First came a set of screening one-on-one battles, where you had to show battle skill and could advance even if you lost one, then a set of three-a-side round-robin battles with three competitors – only one of whom would advance – and finally the last sixteen competitors would fight a Victory Tournament on a straight knockout format and with six Pokémon on a side.

"This is really different to the Indigo League," Ash admitted, in his room in the competitor's village. "Still, I guess it's not as different as the Orange League."

"What was the Orange League like?" Latias asked.

"Oh, I don't think I ever had this explained myself," Bayleef said.

Totodile came out of his Pokéball too. "Bulbasaur told me about it! But I forgot some of the details."

"Want to help me explain, Pikachu?" Ash asked. "Let me know if I forget anything."

"Of course!" Pikachu agreed brightly.

"So, the Orange League had only four gyms, not eight, and they were all different kinds of challenges," Ash said. "They were about working with your Pokémon. I… guess I'd probably be better at that now, but I'm not sure I'd do so well at the mountain climbing bit."

Totodile inspected Ash's hooves. "I think you'd do just as well?" he said. "You can stick to things and climb that way!"

"I guess, yeah," Ash agreed. "But, anyway, there wasn't a Conference or anything, there was just one trainer. Drake, the Orange Islands Champion. But he was a… really strong trainer."

Pikachu flopped sort of bonelessly off Ash's back. "I remember that Dragonite at night sometimes," he said. "It was just… utterly ridiculous."

Ash nodded, nudging Pikachu upright with a knee. "I wasn't on the battlefield, but just commanding you guys was enough. And we won."

"Congratulations!" Latias cheered.

"If you've already won one League, then let's try and make it two!" Bayleef nodded.

"People keep saying Orange doesn't count," Ash grumbled, then smiled. "But thanks, guys. Let's see how far we can go, okay?"

"Wait, seriously?" asked Ash's first opponent, Salvador. "Where's the trainer? Am I fighting the Pokémon?"

He shaded his eyes. "Which Pokémon? There's, like, three of them there."

"The opponent is Ash Ketchum," the referee told him. "Yes, I was surprised too, but he's got an up to date trainer card, so he's a legitimate opponent."

"...so, which one is he?" Salvador demanded. "The Pikachu, the Noctowl, or the I-don't-even-know-what-the-heck."

Ash waved.

"The one in the hat," the referee told him. "Salvador, send out your Pokémon first. Ash will then have an opportunity to select an appropriate counter."

"I hate random chance and stuff," Salvador grumbled, then sent out his Furret.

Ash replied not by ordering forward the Pikachu on his hat, nor the Noctowl perched on the weird golden ring around his waist.

Instead, he didn't actually seem to do anything at first.

"Ash Ketchum, please send out your Pokémon," the referee asked.

"Sorry!" Ash called back. "It's taking a moment, after I made my decision Noctowl had to give me the right Pokéball… anyway, I'm ready! Out you come, Unown!"

He kicked his leg up, and a Pokéball came flying off before sending out a G-Unown.

"...really?" Salvador replied. "I've heard of those, but I've never heard of them being any good in battle. Actually, I think you might be the first person I've seen who bothered catching one?"

"Begin," the referee said.

"Swift!" Salvador called, and his Furret sent a cloud of Swift stars flying towards Unown.

"Alphabetize!" Ash called.

Salvador blinked. "Huh?"

Dozens more Unown appeared from out of thin air as the Swift attack crashed into place, and when the flashes and smoke of the Swift attack was gone there was now a kind of swirling cloud of Unown there instead of a single one.

"Hold!" the referee said. "Ash Ketchum, is that a single Pokémon?"

"I think so?" Ash replied. "Misty says it's like Wishiwashi, where they all combine into a different form but it still counts as one Pokémon. Or like Dugtrio?"

He glanced down at his hooves. "Where did… there. Is it okay if I return Unown to prove it?"

The referee agreed that that would be okay, and Ash returned the whole Alphabet at once before sending them out again.

"Weird," Salvador summarized. "Never seen that before."

The referee called to resume, and Salvador nodded to himself sharply. "Double Team!"

"Hidden Power!" Ash called.

"U~nown….." his Unown chanted in unison.

"Hidden Power Fighting!" Ash clarified, and the Alphabet sent out a pulse of typed energy that hit Furret (and all Furret's duplicates) and sent them rolling across the grassy field.

"Okay, Dig!" Salvador said. "Dig underground and then use Swift from underground!"

"Hidden Power Ground!" Ash ordered.

"Is that how that move even works?" Misty asked.

Brock shrugged. "If literally any move worked in an unusual way it would be the one called Hidden Power."

"Watching these battles is amazing," Latias informed Ash. "I've never really realized before just how far I have to go in learning to battle… I'm blessed with being a naturally strong Pokémon, but Latios and I never really did anything with it. While these Pokémon are so much more able to choose plans, and do them, and their trainers think so fast!"

"That's mostly experience," Ash replied. "You get to know your options better, you get to know how to do them more quickly, and you get used to how to think of the right answer quickly too. You'll get there."

"It seems like such a long way to go right now," Latias drooped. "But, I'm sure you're right."

"Well, tomorrow is my first of the round-robin matches, and I think I know who I'm going to use," Ash told her. "But how about you think about who you think I should use? I'll make it easier and say it's just from the Pokémon I've already got ready to go, so you can have a look at them yourself."

"Right!" Latias agreed, interested, and took the Pokéballs out of Ash's saddlebags.

"Not yours, and not mine," Ash clarified. "And I'm not planning on using Pikachu either."

"I'd complain but I know you're saving me for the later rounds," Pikachu said.

One by one, Latias sent out all six of the Pokémon Ash had on hand. Bayleef, Cyndaquil, one of his Tauros, his Kingler, Phanpy and Totodile.

"So there's two Water types," Latias began. "Um. Are you battling someone who has trouble with Water type Pokémon?"

"Good thought," Ash said. "That's right, but it's important not to go too far with that."

"I actually haven't met two of these Pokémon," Latias admitted. "So I don't know which of them is the best-"

Latias was interrupted by Pikachu. "Ash, I just spotted your opponent!"

All six Pokémon went back into their Pokéballs, and Ash turned. "Hi! Uh, I'm trying to plan who to use in my next battle… which is against you…"

"It'll be a marvellous battle, whatever happens," Macy replied. "I'm sure of it!"

"Wow, take a hint, girl," Pikachu said.

Latias folded her arms, invisible as she was, and huffed. "Rude!"

There was a sudden whirring, grinding noise, and a twenty foot tall mechanical Charjabug tank smashed down a nearby tree.

"Team Rocket!" Ash gasped.

"What, them again?" Latias said. "Wow, you do run into them a lot."

Jessie and James took up places on top of the tank's roof, and Jessie sent out her Arbok with a flourish. "To protect ourselves from devastation!"

James sent out Weezing. "To unite our purpose in consecration!"

The two of them swept white cloaks around their shoulders. "To denounce the absence of Hisui light!"

"To give the right kind of tricky fight!" James declared.

"Jessie!" Jessie introduced herself.

"James!" James clarified.

Jessie picked up a book. "Everyone's welcome to attend our mass."

James raised a staff. "But if you're Celebi, don't talk about our past!"

"Alas!" Meowth concurred.

"What?" Macy said, completely baffled. "Why would you expect a Celebi to show up?"

"Ah, you must be new!" Jessie told her. "Welcome to the congregation!"

"What's a congregation?" Ash wondered.

"I think it's a word for having lots of people in the same place?" Pikachu asked.

The Charjabug's engines made a rumbling sound, and Ash sent out Tauros. "Okay, let's deal with these guys, Tauros! Begin with Fissure!"

Several crowded minutes later, Jessie, James and Meowth picked themselves out of a field of exploded Charjabug tank.

"Well, I think it worked!" James said. "We're unsmited!"

"An' we've done dat, uh, communion service thing," Meowth nodded smugly.

"That's how we're atoning for our crimes," was Jessie's pious statement. "Communion service!"

"Perhaps we'll have to put out a collection plate," James wondered.

"Which Pokémon do you want next?" Latias asked. "Noctowl looks like she's in trouble."

"Fly higher, Noctowl!" Ash called. "Steelix can't hit you if you're high enough up!"

He turned to look at Latias for a moment, then returned his focus to the battle, but since Noctowl seemed to be doing okay he began explaining. "If Noctowl doesn't make it through, I'm going to use Snorlax."

"But you've got Charizard and Bayleef still able to battle," Latias said, with a frown. "Wouldn't Charizard be a lot better? That's a Steel type and he's a Fire type."

"That's true," Ash agreed. "But it's more than that. Harrison already knows about Snorlax but he doesn't know Snorlax has Ice Punch… and he doesn't know about Bayleef or Charizard being on my shortlist yet."

"Wow," Latias said. "I didn't think about that. Is that why you pulled Snorlax back?"

"That's right," Ash agreed. "If I send him out a second time it's probably going to be for the long term, but if Noctowl can't handle this I'm confident Snorlax can. He's tough."

"I'd quite like to still be able to go out, but…" Pikachu winced. "Ouch."

"Yeah, you did really well to beat that Kecleon," Ash assured Pikachu. "Noctowl, Whirlwind away the sand!"

"Rock Throw!" Harrison ordered immediately, and Ash winced.

"Oops…"

Latias blinked, confused, then saw what Ash had realized before it happened – albeit too late to do anything about it.

Using Whirlwind had meant Noctowl had slowed herself down, simply because she'd sent a powerful gust of wind forwards and the recoil had almost halted her in place, and that had made her a good target for Steelix's Rock Throw before she'd been able to set up an illusion to hide her position.

Ash held up Noctowl's Pokéball in a hoof, returning her as she fell towards the ground, then dropped it and sent out Snorlax instead. Latias put Noctowl's Pokéball back in Ash's bags, next to Totodile's Lure Ball, then turned back to the match to watch what was going to happen next.

Brock and Misty met up with Ash, after the match was over.

"Are you okay, Ash?" Misty checked.

"I'm a bit disappointed," Ash admitted. "I was really hoping we could go all the way, and I feel kind of… like I could have made better choices? But a lot of that is because Harrison made good choices as well."

He flicked his head to the side, where Latias was – not that either Gym Leader could see her. "I was talking to Latias during the battle about how I was hiding that I had Bayleef and Charizard, and I guess Harrison was doing the same thing with his Blaziken. That was a really strong Pokémon, and it knew better how to handle Charizard than Charizard knew how to handle it."

Ash stamped a hoof. "But that won't happen next time!"

"And you did better than you did in the Indigo Conference," Brock pointed out helpfully. "After the Orange Islands it can feel like a step down, but you genuinely did do better this time, Ash."

"Thanks," Ash smiled. "That… that helps."

"It should," Misty told him. "Now, come on, let's watch the rest of the Conference!"

Ash looked a bit uncertain, and Misty amended what she was saying. "Unless you want to head off early?"

"I don't know," Ash replied. "I… yeah, maybe it would help to watch the rest. See what happens."

"And you can tell me what's going on," Latias pointed out. "Without being too busy trying to decide what to do yourself."

"That's a good point, Latias," Ash agreed. "Then let's go and find some seats!"

He looked down at his legs. "Or, the closest thing that would fit?"

The Silver Conference and Silver Town behind them, the trio of friends – and their Pokémon, counting Latias as one of those but not counting Ash as one of his own – headed east, towards Kanto.

A little way north of Tohjo Falls, at a crossroads on the Kanto road, was when Misty broached a topic that had been sort of hanging overhead for a while.

"So… what happens now?" she asked. "My sisters want me to come back to help them in the Cerulean Gym."

The Water-specialist sighed. "It's weird, I don't know what to think. Back when we visited on Ash's first gym circuit they didn't even think I could do it, and now they want me to take over the battle side of things so they have more time to focus on the water shows?"

"Hmm," Ash frowned. "Well…"

He shook himself. "Misty, our time together has been great. You taught me a lot. But I guess now it's whether what's best for you is to continue travelling with us or not."

Misty snorted. "It'd help if I knew which of the things I could do was best for me in the first place!"

She sighed. "I guess you have a point, Ash. A good point too. If this had happened before we met it would be the best thing ever, and… maybe it still is?"

"The thing is, I think I need to go back home for a bit," Brock admitted. "So we might not be travelling together any more at all."

"I'll miss both of you," Ash said, bending down and using his knee to swipe at his eyes. "But I know we'll meet again no matter how long we spend apart! And I'll be sure to tell you guys when I find out what I am!"

"Now that's what I call a journey of self discovery," Pikachu sniggered. "Speaking of which, where is that journey taking us?"

He glanced up at where he thought Latias was, but got the direction wrong. "Are you coming with us?"

"I want to!" Latias answered, giggling as Pikachu tried not to look embarrassed. "I might go back to Alto Mare some day, but it's only been a couple of months now and I'd like to learn more about the rest of the world. Latios says nothing much interesting has happened, and that's more how he likes it than how I like it I think."

Ash had been thinking about Pikachu's question.

"What about Hoenn?" he said. "That's where Harrison got that cool Kecleon and his Blaziken, and it's not like I can think of anywhere better!"

"Hoenn," Brock repeated. "Well, I'm sure you'll enjoy it there, Ash."

"Thanks!" Ash replied. "I guess I'll be heading south to Pallet Town to say hi to Mom, and then go to Hoenn from there."

"We're both heading east, so… goodbye until we meet again, Ash," Misty said.

She gave Ash a hug, then Brock did the same, and Ash waited at the crossroads until they were out of sight before turning south.

"I'm going to miss them," Pikachu sighed. "And not just because of Brock's food."

Then they all heard a kind of squawk noise.

"What was that?" Latias asked.

A Pokémon with wings that shone in red and green and white, tail-feathers of finest gold, and with a golden trail behind it that lit up the evening sky, came swooping low over a hill at high speed before flaring his wings and landing with a thump in front of Ash.

"What," he said.

"Oh, you're that Pokémon I saw on my first day!" Ash realized. "Pikachu, did you see him too? I don't remember if you were still awake at that point."

"Hi!" Latias said, shimmering into visibility. "Who are you? I don't recognize you."

"Why are you a Pokémon?" the rainbow phoenix asked, then refocused. A bit. "That is. Ah. I am Ho-Oh. And… well, to be honest, the last time I had news of you you were human."

"I thought that's what you were!" Ash said. "I recognized you from a carving in the Burned Tower, but Morty didn't believe me so I thought maybe I'd got it wrong."

"Ash took a magic potion and it turns out he always was a Pokémon," Pikachu provided. "Do you actually know what he is?"

"No," Ho-Oh replied. "Which is deeply troubling to me, because I thought I knew all the Pokémon there were in the world. I could certainly be mistaken on that, and apparently I am, but I'm quite sure I know all the Pokémon that aren't Legendary Pokémon and even a lot of those."

"Oh, so that must mean I'm a Legendary Pokémon," Ash decided. "I wondered but I wasn't sure. So my dad was probably one too… it's a pity that you don't know, but it's still nice to meet you in person!"

"Why did you turn up on Ash's first day?" Pikachu checked.

"There's prophecies about the Chosen One," Ho-Oh answered. "I did not expect them to be anything like this literal. Perhaps I should have had Suicune, Entei or Raikou check in on you more recently. Then I would not have been so surprised that my attempt at a dramatic fly-by nearly turned into a high speed crash and impromptu test of my regenerative abilities."

"Do you know Recover?" Ash asked. "Because I know Recover but I've never used it deliberately… I've not been hurt badly enough since finding that out."

"This is a lot more confusing than I was expecting the day to be," Ho-Oh sighed.

Omake - The Gospel of Oops 2

"They're going to take mama away like they took me away," Larvitar said in a thin voice, and Ash tensed.

"What do you guys think you're doing!?" he demanded. "Stealing Pokémon like that, it's cruel! And taking an egg is even worse!"

"Hey, what's that? Pokémon in a hat," one of the poachers replied, through a megaphone on the crane. "You're thinking funny, it's all about money!"

"You're terrible!" Ash judged.

An orange meteorite shower came blazing out of the heavens, and obliterated the entire crane.

Little bits of shrapnel, puddles of briefly-molten metal, flaming upholstery, and three seriously freaked out Pokémon Poacher Brothers landed all over the mountainside, the latter dangling from emergency parachutes, and Ash blinked.

Looked at his hoof.

"...did I do that?" he asked, turning back to Brock and Misty.

AN:

See the hat, either it's been stolen or that's Ash. See Pikachu not blasting… some come to the correct conclusion quicker than others.