99 bottles of Moomoo Milk on the wall, 99 bottles of Moomoo Milk…
Pajama boy (his name was Mikey) was nice enough to let them stay for breakfast.
He was still a little confused though.
"So you guys came out of a cave deep under our house, through a temple and then a tunnel, and ended up in our basement?" Mikey summarized after they explained their story at the breakfast table.
It was still dark out but was also technically morning and he didn't seem keen on going back to sleep after finding a bunch of strangers in his house.
Ash felt a little bad about that.
"That's skipping over quite a few things." Karen pointed out waving a spoon at him.
"I'm just really confused." He shrugged. "I always thought the boarded-up door in the basement was just an old ice store back when you needed that kind of thing."
"Don't believe us?" Ash quirked an eyebrow. "Feel free to go and look. Long tunnel, then big stone doorway and stair that goes down and down and down. You can't miss it."
Mikey stared at him. "I think I could miss it. If I didn't go down there. Ever again."
"Fair," Ash munched his cereal, glancing at the box and Pix waving at him; thanks, big sis.
Next to him, Misty was shoveling food into her mouth like nothing else mattered. While Brock was a bit more polite about it, he was clearly eating more than his usual fill as well.
"Honestly I'm not sure we should tell people to go down there." Brock pointed out. "Ever again."
"Why not?" Misty quirked an eyebrow and spoke with her mouth full. "The most dangerous thing down there is strapped to my back right now."
"It is?" Mikey looked rather alarmed.
Karen winced, "probably shouldn't have mentioned that."
"Don't worry!" Ash waved his hands, trying to calm the poor kid down. "We'll be out of your hair before you know it!"
"I mean…" Mikey looked at odds with himself. "This is pretty interesting."
"I'll say." Ash spared a glance for Mikey's Eevee. The other Pokemon was staring around at all of them with wonder in his eyes.
"Interesting?" Art sounded offended. "Just interesting? This was amazing! Spectacular! Adventure extraordinaire!"
"You know out of our adventures this has probably been the biggest." Storm contemplated. "So far."
"The fact you needed to add that worries me," Ash's Eevee admitted. "And the fact I'm not disputing it worries me more."
"Hey, um, are your parents going to be alright with us being here?" Karen brought up the Donphan in the room, "Or should we get lost before they wake up?"
"Oh, don't worry about that." Mikey shrugged. "I don't have parents. Well, not anymore. Just my brothers. They'll probably be confused and then try to convince you to evolve your Pokemon."
"Uh," Brock stared at Mikey. "Why would they do that? And are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Eevee and I look after each other." Mikey rubbed Eevee's head and he nuzzled into the human's hand. "But my brothers are kind of obsessed with evolution and stuff. I'd call it a cult but that makes it sound worse than it actually is. They throw parties though."
"Why?" Ash blinked. "Like, I guess evolving is exciting but like, a whole party for it?"
"More reason not to evolve." Pikachu nodded resolutely.
"Actually if I had a party waiting for me when I evolved I might be more excited about it." Sunny pawed at his Everstone, possibly without even noticing.
Ash glanced at Selene and they shared a single wordless thought that they would make sure Sunny had a party if he ever decided he was ready to evolve.
"So it's just you and your brothers." Misty summarized and then began to theorize. "Who I'm guessing don't treat you well, are kinda jerks, and leave you to look after yourself a lot?"
"Yes?" The young boy seemed more confused than impressed by her accurate deduction skills.
Misty stood up and grabbed him by the shoulders. "I have never related to another human being more in my life."
"Hey, Misty, maybe you should explain why you relate to him, instead of just telling him?" Karen suggested with a wry smile.
"Oh right." Misty began to detail parts of her relationship with her sisters and Mikey latched onto every word like rungs on a ladder.
The disguised Zorua in the room took the chance to talk to his team a bit while the one who wasn't in the know was distracted. "I don't know if this town has a Pokemon Center, but we should still call home to check in on Pidgeotto and let Professor Oak know about all that."
He wasn't quite so broken up about it this time. Not now that they'd already been through it once. Just a bit of time without one friend and then they came back. It had been a bit silly thinking back on it with hindsight.
"Your Pokegear still works right?" Eevee checked.
"Yeah, we'll find a place to make the call. But depending on how it goes, Pidgeotto is going to be coming back…"
"Which means one of us needs to switch with her." Storm finished.
"That would be me." Selene raised an arm.
"Are you sure?" Sunny sounded saddened by her choice.
"Well, Pidgeotto went first, and she was caught first. If you don't count Pikachu, who won't go back unless we drop him off in person. Which means if we go in order of catch then I go next." Selene explained her reasoning.
"We don't have to go in order." Storm pointed out but Selene shrugged.
"It just makes the most sense to me this way. Besides, it's not like I'll be gone for long. Just a week or so right?" She glanced at Ash and he nodded at her.
"As soon as we get to a place where we can switch you and Pidgeotto."
"I guess that covers that." Pikachu nodded. "Now, where the heck are we, and how do we get to Fuchsia gym?"
These were both very good questions that Ash resolved to figure out. After he was done eating.
What? He was hungry too.
They finished breakfast not long after that. But before Ash had a chance to go hunting for a Pokemon Center or some other method of transferring Pokemon, Mikey's brothers made their appearance.
They were significantly more standoffish than Mikey had been upon discovering strangers in their house.
"It's fine really!" Mikey tried insisting when they started threatening the travelers.
"What, you come up from a tunnel in the basement and just happen to find yourselves in our house?" The yellow one's voice was filled with disbelief. "A likely story."
"You want us to show it to you?" Karen suggested, not appearing threatened in the least. Considering she could probably wipe the floor with all three of them by herself with one Pokemon, this made sense.
"I saw it, they came through the old boarded-up storage down there." Mikey defended them. "Which isn't storage at all actually."
"Oh, so you just want us to follow you into a dark room with no way out and put ourselves at your mercy?" The blue one scoffed. "We should just call the police now and be done with it."
"Do they ignore you a lot?" Ash asked Mikey who had a look of resignation on his face.
"All the time," he sighed and Misty patted his shoulder.
"If you're worried, how about just one of us goes down without our Pokemon, while one of you and your Pokemon come down to make sure we're telling the truth." Brock tried to take the approach of reason.
The older brothers had a quick huddle and whispered. Mikey took this opportunity to point out their names for the others. The yellow one was Sparky, the blue one was Rainer, and the red one was Pyro.
"Wait your parents named them that and then named you Mikey?" Misty double-checked sounding a bit incredulous.
"They might have changed their names at some point. I don't remember them being called anything else at least," the boy shrugged.
"Alright, no sudden moves!" his brothers finished their discussion and Pyro spoke up. "I'll go down with one of you to check it out. As long as it isn't that one." He jabbed a thumb at Misty.
"Hey!" She crossed her arms. "What's the big idea singling me out?"
"What's the big idea with having a sword?" Rainer demanded in return. She just huffed and leaned back in her seat.
It was a bit awkward as Brock went downstairs with Pyro and his Flareon. The conversation had dried up a little for obvious reasons. Ash was pondering what his Trainer-Mom would say if they were arrested again. Well, they were just detained last time but she still hadn't been happy about it.
Also, he didn't want to make a habit out of it.
After fifteen minutes Sparky and Rainer started getting twitchy. Thankfully that was around the point that Brock and Pyro returned from the basement, the red-haired sibling appeared somewhat mollified.
"There's a tunnel down there alright," Pyro confirmed. "I made him lead me down a little bit and it definitely goes deep. They didn't make it recently that's for sure."
"So their story isn't complete nonsense then." Rainer nodded.
"I told you," Mikey grumbled.
"If you ever want to explore down there, get some professional diggers," Brock suggested. "Some of the things that happened down there probably made things a bit unstable."
"Did we get August's phone number?" Misty suggested, "he'd probably be interested if he decided to start spelunking again."
"Already inviting more people?" Rainer prodded them.
"We'll be gone before you know it," Karen spoke up. "Might need directions to the nearest Pokemon Center though."
"Nonsense!" Sparky had done a complete 180 on his treatment of them. "You're guests from a strange and mysterious place! That means we need to have a party!"
"Not again." Mikey groaned and put his face in his hands.
"I like parties," Ash admitted he had been to a few but not too many. He hadn't had traditional birthdays after all.
Mikey shot him a look that spoke of betrayal. Misty just looked confused. "Why are we having a party?"
"Well, we were going to have one anyway. It's tradition!"
"It's only a tradition because you guys keep having parties to get Pokemon to evolve," Mikey complained. "Even if they don't want to, or there are no Pokemon around who can!"
"Eevee still can!" Pyro reminded him, "Just got to grab a Fire Stone and make it happen!"
Ash's eyes went a bit wide and he glanced at his teammates who could evolve with the help of a stone. Were these guys seriously about to try and force his friends to evolve?
Suddenly he understood why Mikey wasn't looking forward to this party.
Eyes narrowed, he spoke up. "What if the Pokemon doesn't want to evolve, are you going to try and force them?"
"What Pokemon wouldn't want to evolve?" Sparky looked confused at the question. "Are you stupid or something?"
"One who isn't ready to evolve yet!" Ash snapped at him. "Why do you get to decide how they live their lives? What if they're happy the way they are? If they want to evolve that's their decision, not yours!"
Mikey was staring at him with wonder now but Karen looked a bit nervous. "Ash calm down a bit. I'm sure he didn't mean it like that."
"How did he mean it then?" Ash grumbled but sat back down. He hadn't even really noticed he stood up. "Don't you dare try to evolve my Pokemon without asking them first," he glared at them.
"Maybe we shouldn't invite that one to the party." He heard one of the brothers whisper not quietly enough.
That was fine, Ash didn't think he wanted to go now. "Thanks for the breakfast, Mikey." He thanked their host. "Is there a Pokemon Center around here?"
"Down the road and to the left." Mikey pointed him toward the door. "Can't miss it."
"I think I'll come too." Misty decided. "Don't want you getting lost."
"I wouldn't get lost." Ash defended himself as they made their way out of the Eevee Brothers' house.
They talked about a few things on the way to the Center. A bit about Mikey's brothers and their similarities to Misty's own older siblings.
"Rude, uncaring of other's feelings, ignoring their younger sibling and making them rely on themselves." Misty ticked off the similarities on her fingers.
"Jerks." Ash nodded.
"I'm confused." Art claimed. "I thought most Pokemon did want to evolve? I do!"
"Not everyone does." Storm reminded him. "And some want to do it a certain way. I'd prefer to do it in the midst of battle. Sunny wants to wait until he feels ready, Eevee wants to make sure she doesn't make a rash choice." She listed a few examples among their teammates.
"I want to do the traditional ritual back at Mount Moon," Selene added in. "Pidgeotto will probably go for it as soon as she gets a chance. And Pikachu doesn't want to at all!"
"That about covers it." Pikachu nodded.
"No one is evolving if they don't want to if I can help it." Ash declared to his friends.
"I'm guessing you're going to pick up Pidgeotto at the Pokemon Center right?" Misty checked with him.
"Selene volunteered to go back next. I also want to call Professor Oak and tell him about what happened." Ash nodded.
"Speaking of what happened." Misty shot a glance at the metallic discs strapped to her back. "What the heck do we do with this thing?"
"Why are you asking me?" Ash wondered.
"You were the one who brought it with you!" She reminded him.
"We couldn't just leave it there!" He defended his decision.
She rolled her eyes. "Of course not! But I don't want to just wander around with it strapped to my back. Where can we put it that's safe?"
"I don't know…" Ash trailed off and looked to his team for help. "Any ideas guys?"
"I'd say bury it but that seems like a bad idea…" Sunny looked down.
"Yeah, the ground seems vulnerable to more ground types." Eevee nodded.
"I'd say send it to Professor Oak and let him science it or something." Pikachu scratched his head. "But we don't want to break loose in Pallet Town, especially since we sent Diglett there too."
"Shoot, that's a good point." Ash winced and Misty looked at him for clarification. "We want to keep the shield and Diglett far away from each other, so we can't send it to Pallet Town."
"Oh right him." Misty shot him a look. "Speaking of, are you sure catching that Diglett was a good idea?"
"Nope!" Ash admitted. "But I couldn't think of any other way to deal with him. And Professor Oak has enough strong Pokemon around to try and keep him under control."
"Not so worried about the morals around Pokeballs now?" She quirked an eyebrow.
"I am." Ash frowned. "I don't know. It's complicated. I don't want him following and attacking us randomly. So if he wants to follow me anyway I might as well catch him so I can at least keep an eye on him?"
"I guess that almost makes sense." She agreed, "Ah, there's the Pokemon Center. Let's get everyone looked at."
As their teams were looked after Ash and Misty sat down and started figuring a few things out. Misty's Pokegear was still broken so she needed to find a place to repair it, or more extremely to replace it. Hopefully, they would have the money to manage that.
Ash let her borrow his Pokegear and he used one of the Center's phones to make his calls back home. He checked in with his Trainer-Mom first and gave her a bit of a rundown of their adventure through the underground.
She was a bit alarmed about all the things that they had gone through but was glad they were okay now. He wanted to talk for a bit longer but he needed to talk to Professor Oak. He needed to warn the old man about Diglett and also work out when he could get Pidgeotto transferred back to him.
"I am suddenly very glad I did not get around to inspecting your latest catch." The Pokemon Professor breathed as Ash finished his explanation. "I have a few ways of dealing with rowdy Pokemon but this seems like it will be a special case."
"Sorry for the trouble." Ash apologized. "I didn't know what else to do with him."
"There are certain authorities you can contact, but I'm not sure you want to deal with all the red tape involved." Oak rubbed his chin on the video call. "I'll keep an eye on him for now but you should try and figure out a more permanent solution."
"I'll think of something," Ash promised and blinked. "Oh! That reminds me, do you have any ideas for what we could do with the shield thing?"
"Maybe…" Professor Oak hummed as he thought about it. "I might know someone who would both be interested in the discovery and able to deal with what's trapped inside should the situation arise. I'll need to make a few calls but I might have a solution for you."
"Thank you." Ash felt a bit relieved. "I'll check in with you about it soon, and can you get Pidgeotto ready to go? I talked it out with my team and Selene is going to be going to the lab for a bit next."
"Very good then." Oak nodded. "I'm a bit interested in studying a Clefairy here, I don't see them very often."
"As long as she's okay with it," Ash confirmed and said his goodbyes.
Not long after that, both he and Misty were able to retrieve their teams from the Nurse. Ash and his team said their goodbyes to Selene and began the transfer. Moments later Selene's Moon Ball had been swapped for Pidgeotto's familiar Pokeball.
As soon as Ash had retrieved her ball from the machine she emerged with it. "Ah good to be back! How's it going, Uncle Ash?"
"Welcome- what?" Ash began welcoming his friend back but her words completely through him for a loop.
"What?" She tilted her head in apparent confusion but the look in her eye spoke of the amusement she was getting out of this. "Something wrong dear Uncle?"
"Did I miss something?" Pikachu asked feeling just as confused as Ash.
"Oi!" Art came up to Pidgeotto. "I remember you! You were the bird! Nice to meet you again! I'm Arthalothadamesh!" He tried to shake her wing.
"I remember you too." She allowed the gesture. "Quite the name you picked out. Still haven't figured out what I want mine to be yet."
"Names are hard." he agreed. "You gotta be careful. You never know what you might get a bad one!"
"Can we bring it back to the "Uncle Ash" comment please?" Storm requested.
Pidgeotto looked at Ash for a moment and nodded. "Alright, I got the expression I wanted. I learned a few things back in Pallet Town!"
"Like how much being hit with a Hydro Pump hurts?" Sunny suggested, remembering their brief moment of watching her training in the Tomb.
"Well, that yes." She shifted a bit awkwardly. "But more about my family history. Remember how I told you that my father lived around the Oak Ranch?"
"Vaguely." Pikachu nodded and then seemed to hit upon something. "Wait a second."
"Hang on, didn't you say Shelldon made some comments about your feather pattern?" Ash remembered one of his calls with her.
"Turns out that Delia's Pidgeot, Arnold, is my father." Pidgeotto raised her head high. "Which if we're still counting the rest of her team as your "siblings," makes you my uncle!"
His team started snickering and Ash worked things together in his head. Trying to remember what he knew about Arnold. "I've never even met Arnold in person." He protested slightly.
"I know. And he knows who you are by the way." Pidgeotto mentioned. "I got to talk to him a bit. Kind of full of himself, but he seemed pleased with my progress. He never felt like talking to you, but apparently, that's normal. Shelldon said he has to go looking for him if he wants to talk. He has kept an eye on you though."
Ash still was working out what he thought of this new information when Sunny spoke up with a question of his own.
"Wait, if the other Pokemon his Mom has are Ash's siblings, and we're Ash's team does that make us siblings?" The Charmander asked.
"Wouldn't that make Ash our Trainer-Dad?" Art wondered.
"I'm not calling him that," Pikachu announced right off the bat.
"Eh, we can be a family of some sort." Eevee shrugged.
"I'm the cool older brother." Art decided. "Who wants to be the mean older sister?"
"Aren't you the youngest?" Eevee double-checked with him. "Doesn't that mean you're the goofy younger brother?"
"Thanks for volunteering meanie!" Art stuck his tongue out at her and she rolled her eyes, looking slightly amused.
"Well, I guess you guys are my family now." Ash decided with a faint smile. "But we don't need to put specific sibling roles into things."
"This is not where I expected this reunion to go." Pikachu mused. "Who wants to tell Selene about it? You know she'll get really into it."
"Oh, one hundred percent." Pidgeotto nodded, "now then, what have I missed?"
Storm laughed. "Where do we even start?"
"Free!" James gasped as he took in the sunlight and breathed the fresh air. He dragged himself out of the hole and heaved the sack he was carrying out with him.
"Still not entirely sure how we got out of there." Meowth groaned and pulled himself out of the cave and curled up next to James. "But I'm not gonna question a good thing."
"I think we're all agreed for once." Jessie decided and laid down next to them. "Who knew Golem tunnels were such convenient escape routes?"
"Well, the Golem for one. That's why they dug 'em!" Meowth pointed out. "I don't even want to think about what the thing was…" He shuddered.
"Let's never go underground ever again." James decided. "Agreed?"
"Agreed." The other two spoke together. "What do we do now though?" Jessie wondered and looked up at the sky. One of the passing clouds seemed to take the shape of a Pikachu, and the one next to it, a Vulpix.
"Now we take a catnap," Meowth muttered and began drifting into sleep. "Then we count our booty and figure out how to frame this for the Boss."
"I never knew so many evolution stones even existed in one place." James managed to sit up and pulled the sack off his back, looking at the glimmering treasure deep inside. "If it weren't for the mind-numbing terror, I'd say we go back down and grab some more!"
"Maybe we can say we swapped them for fakes or something?" Jessie wondered. "But Meowth is right, it's a tomorrow problem."
"True that." James tied the sack shut and clutched it like a teddy bear. "Where are we anyway?"
"The woods." Jessie pointed at a tree, then another tree, and lastly a third tree.
"Oh yeah, thanks." James nodded his head and then nodded off to dreamland.
Soon the small patch of forest was filled with the sound of snoring criminals.
Ash and his friends managed to get out of Stone Town without any unplanned evolutions.
He still wasn't the biggest fan of the older Eevee Brothers, but something he said might have gotten through to them. Mikey said they hadn't brought up evolving Eevee during their party at least.
They said their goodbyes to the kind boy who had given them breakfast and not called the police on them, and continued on their way, this time aiming for Vermillion City.
"Let's see if we can find it on purpose this time." Misty mused as she looked over the map.
"Hopefully." Ash nodded and glanced at it, failing to comprehend any of it except that the green parts were either grass or forest. "We need to meet Professor Oak's friend there!"
"Are we sure we can trust him with that thing?" Karen checked and nodded at the shield prison.
"Professor Oak seems to trust him, he's an archeologist and a powerful trainer. The professor said if anyone should be the one to keep an eye on that, it would be him." Ash explained.
"I feel a bit bad we won't be able to put it in a museum," Brock admitted. "It seems like the kind of thing people should learn about, a part of our history that is so forgotten it only exists in scattered legends!"
"We still don't know the truth." Misty reminded him. "How much of the legend is true? How much was forgotten? How the heck did the giants even become giants?"
"It was way different from that giant Dragonite we saw," Ash remembered with a hum. "That one felt old and sad, all this one did was scream and destroy things."
"I leave for two weeks and you guys nearly unleash the apocalypse." Pidgeotto bemoaned. "I'm never leaving again."
"You could have come with us." Eevee reminded her. "We were going to pick you back up in Pewter remember? Then you decided you didn't want to be in a cave!"
"I didn't know it was going to be a huge cave that's basically an outside underground!" She protested but didn't press her point.
"Maybe this friend of Professor Oak's will be able to figure out some of the history. Maybe this will be a missing piece he needed to put things together." Karen shrugged. "We can question him when we meet him. I'd like a few normal days of travel first."
"Two days of travel," Misty claimed and handed the map off to Brock so he could double-check. "Then we're in Vermillion and we can chart a ship to take us to Fuchsia, or at least close enough."
"Got some errands to run in Vermillion too." Brock acknowledged. "Restocking on supplies, Misty needs to fix her Pokegear…"
"And we can do training on the way." Karen breathed a sigh of relief. "Time to just be normal trainers for a bit. The only weirdness is the fact one of us is a Pokemon."
"Which is only weird if you let it be." Misty declared and nudged Ash with an elbow. "Course he's still pretty weird too."
"I prefer confusing over weird." Ash fixed his cap with a grin.
"It is fun confusing people." Pidgeotto agreed, "I see your point, Uncle Ash."
He sighed, "That's not going away anytime soon is it?"
"Nope!"
The first day of travel was pretty normal, training, meals, relaxation, and a little bit of goofing off. Pidgeotto got to know Art a little bit more and show off some of the flying maneuvers she had been working on while in Pallet Town.
The next day thought Karen woke up with a splitting headache.
She didn't complain about it at first, but the rest of the group noticed she was far more irritable than she normally was. According to Misty, this was an impressive achievement, which did nothing to help Karen's mood.
"I know I shouldn't be snapping at people." She ground out and gulped down another couple of aspirin pills. "But I also do not care right now."
"Good thing you've cut down on the proposals," Ash whispered to Brock.
"I'm not sure if that's helping or hurting things right now." He admitted and his words proved prophetic when Karen started railing into him about how he had not once made a scene calling her beautiful today.
"Well, I think I've been overdoing it," Brock explained himself. "I know it's something I shouldn't be doing but you are a very pretty girl and I kept feeling like I needed to tell you that. But well, you know you're a pretty girl and I don't want to keep disrupting things. Also Misty keeps telling me it's annoying."
"Just because it's annoying doesn't mean I don't like it!" Karen stomped a foot petulantly. "Ugh, I hate this. No training for me today, I'm just gonna lie down for a while."
"Psst," Squirtle whispered to Absol as the others carried on their business and let the dark-type specialist rest. "Any idea if that's a disaster?"
"Not really," Absol admitted. "It's a migraine, not sure what's causing it but I'm not picking up on any long-term effects. She'll probably feel better by tomorrow."
"Your powers should come with a manual," Pidgeotto told her and Absol snorted.
"Tell me about it. Did they tell you all the stuff that happened with them down in the caves? Because I'd like to file a complaint to the department of Danger Sense if it exists."
Despite Karen's headache (or perhaps because of it) they made good time and reached the borders of Vermillion City that night, not long after sunset. As they traveled through the city, Karen's disposition seemed to improve.
"Feeling better?" Ash checked with her.
"A bit." She admitted with narrow eyes. "Still got a pounding behind my eyes but it's more bearable now."
"Maybe it was your sinuses acting up?" Brock suggested with a hum. "Do you have any allergies?"
"None that I can think of." She claimed. "Still can't wait to lay down in a proper bed."
"Just checking, we're not swapping Selene back in yet, right?" Sunny checked as they walked.
"Wasn't planning on it, didn't we decide on waiting a week for everyone if we could help it?" Ash recalled.
"Good, that's… good." Sunny seemed relieved and it occurred to Ash that if they were going in catch order he would be the next to go back to Professor Oak's ranch. He frowned and resolved to talk to the fire-type and make sure he was okay. He wasn't going to force him to go back if he didn't want to, but it seemed like they needed to talk about it at least.
Little did the traveling companions know as they reached the Pokemon Center, their arrival in Vermillion City had drawn a few unexpected eyes, for better and for worse.
After the trainers had entered their destination, an unseen black-clad figure rounded a corner near the Pokemon Center and ducked down a dark alleyway. They pulled a radio device from their belt and began speaking into it.
"Targets sighted entering the Pokemon Center, identities confirmed as the ones from the base in Celadon."
"Confirmed agent. Maintain observation, and await further instructions. Do not act without my express permission."
"Yes Executive Archer."
"Hey, you guys smelled it too right?"
"He was kind of funny smelling, like a lot of smells mixed into one."
"He didn't look out of the ordinary either!"
"That just means he doing a good job! And did you see him talk to that Charmander? He must be one of us!"
"Where'd he come from then?"
"I don't know, but if no one else is going to grab him, we gotta!"
Karen awoke with a bit of a pickle the next morning.
Although it was not entirely clear what exactly the problem was.
When she woke up in her bed, she was relieved to find herself migraine free and lay there for a moment, basking in the joy of not feeling like spikes were being jabbed into her skull.
After that, she prepared for her morning and went down to meet the others for breakfast. When she reached the cafeteria though, she felt a faint stinging in her head. Nothing like the pain she'd felt yesterday but still noticeable.
It did manage to kill her good mood though.
"Stupid head." She groaned. "I was fine a minute ago."
"Maybe you should talk to Nurse Joy about it?" Ash suggested with a concerned look. "I know she's more of a Pokemon Caretaker than a human one but she might have some suggestions."
"Might be worth a try," Karen mumbled. "It's not as bad as it was yesterday but I'm still annoyed by it."
"Well, my lovely indigo rose, any expression is welcome to grace your features!" Brock claimed and then went back to eating like nothing happened. "How was that?" He glanced up and she got the impression he was winking at her.
"Not bad loverboy." She managed a smirk. "You do that one on purpose?"
"You did ask yesterday." He reminded her as their younger counterparts started making gagging noises.
That was a bonus, messing with the kids was fun.
"Bleck, any idea when that friend of Professor Oak's is going to get here?" Misty asked Ash and Karen gave her attention to the subject.
"I don't know. I'll give him a call and let him know we're here. Besides, even if we're not swapping yet I want to check in on Selene." Ash explained and Karen frowned.
She hadn't done much teammate-swapping while on this journey. Maybe she should be. Something she could worry about after this headache stopped.
Speaking of which as they left the cafeteria after breakfast she noticed it dipped back down to near nothing again. For a moment she was willing to just be grateful and enjoy the relief but something made her pause.
The trainer stepped back again and it returned to the stinging sensation she'd dealt with during breakfast. A step forward and it became barely a tingle. She repeated this a few more times before her friends noticed something was up.
"I mean it's a weird time to practice step dancing but I guess it works," Ash commented and she shot him a glare.
"This headache is not normal." She claimed. "It got stronger when I was in the cafeteria, and as soon as I came in here it weakened."
"Well, where is it weakest?" Brock asked and she frowned again.
"Good question." She began experimenting and wandering around the lobby.
The seating was fairly weak, the staircase was about as bad as the cafeteria, the door was stronger than either, and the front desk it was back to almost nothing.
She started looking around the counter and underneath it, which got the attention of Nurse Joy.
"Excuse me? Can I help you with something?" The woman appeared confused and Karen leaned on the counter and fixed her with a look of interrogation.
"Are you keeping something that causes headaches when people get farther away from it?" She demanded.
"...what?" the confusion on Joy's face just got worse.
"Sorry." Ash apologized for Karen, he didn't need to do that. "My friend has had a headache for the last day and it got better last night but she noticed that it seems to get worse in certain spots and better in others."
"You four came in last night right?" Nurse Joy checked and hummed. "Where would you say the headache was weakest?"
"In my room," Karen claimed. "Barely felt it at all."
"Interesting." Nurse Joy checked something on her computer. "Room 447, that's right above…" Something seemed to occur to her and her head snapped back to Karen. "Can you come with me for a moment, please? I need to check something."
Now it was Karen's turn to be confused but she followed along anyway. The others came with her but Joy didn't call them out for it.
They walked past a few rooms and machines before they found themselves in what could only be called an incubation room. Machines with glass covers dotted the room, Pokemon Eggs inside of them.
One egg, in particular, was sitting on a countertop with a few measurement devices attached via wire. "Can you please tell me how your head feels when you're right next to that egg?" Nurse Joy asked Karen.
As soon as she got within a few feet of the egg her headache vanished, nothing but a painful memory. "Gone, I feel fine."
"Incredible." Nurse Joy shook her head.
"Uh, what does any of this mean?" Brock asked.
"That egg was left with us a week ago. We don't know what Pokemon it belongs to, but it wouldn't be the first time we cared for unwanted eggs. We put it in with the others and began caring for it like normal. Then yesterday it started shaking and well, behaving for lack of a better word."
"So I separated it from the others and started trying to get some readings. Then last night they all but stopped. I had a few irregular energy readings this morning but now…" She tapped a screen displaying wavelengths. "Completely normal."
"Which means?" Karen cocked an eyebrow.
"Which means I think this egg belongs to you now." Nurse Joy decided on the spot. "There are a few details to go over of course but…" She made a slight bow. "Please take good care of it!"
Karen wasn't quite sure how it happened but the next thing she knew she was back in the lobby holding an incubator with the egg inside of it.
"Not quite how I expected going to the Nurse about your headache to go…" Misty admitted.
"It's been a long time since I saw an egg up close," Ash admitted, looking at the egg with something akin to wonder in his eyes. "Sometimes Professor Oak would have them at his lab but he always kept them away from us other Pokemon, not including their parents at least."
"That makes sense. Eggs are fragile and important, you don't want to take any unnecessary risks, like with human babies."
"The only human baby I know is Molly." Ash stepped back. "And she's not a baby anymore."
"Who's Molly?" Misty asked.
"My Mom has a friend named Spencer, he used to work for Professor Oak, and sometimes he visits, Molly is his daughter," Ash explained and Pikachu said something.
The Zorua looked at his friend with a lidded stare. "We both know you would have hated being around a human baby. Especially back then."
Karen couldn't help but notice no one had asked her opinion about taking this egg. At least her headache was gone.
Also as she looked at it, she felt like anyone or anything that would want to harm this precious thing needed to be eradicated.
Eh, that was probably just the lingering effects of her day-long migraine.
Karen stayed behind at the Pokemon Center with Brock, something about getting settled and reading up on how to take care of a Pokemon Egg. That made sense to Ash, but Misty still needed to get her Pokegear looked at and Eevee reminded him of something.
"Remember that Pokemon Lab that was supposed to open around here?" She asked him. "I want to see if it's up and running yet!"
"Oh yeah, I think I remember that." Pidgeotto nodded. "Wasn't that around the time Absol and Karen started stalking Uncle Ash?"
His eye twitched at the nickname but Eevee nodded. "Yeah, I want to know if it's open yet!"
Ash brought it up to Misty and she frowned as she checked her map. "We might have to wait until later or tomorrow. That's the old haunted house, right? It's on the other side of town from the electronics repair shop."
"Darn." Eevee drooped.
"We can still check it out tomorrow." Sunny comforted her.
Even as he did so, Art latched onto something else. "They made a haunted house into a science lab?" The very prospect seemed to excite him. "Maybe they're mad scientists!"
"Or maybe they're studying ghosts." Storm took the side of reason and logic.
"And they're angry about it!" Art insisted and Ash chuckled before whipping his head to the side.
"What's up?" Misty checked with him.
"I thought I saw something in the shadows over there…" He mumbled and Pikachu growled.
"Again? What is it with this city and things chasing us in the shadows?" he demanded.
"They're more chasing Ash than the rest of us." Pidgeotto pointed out and thus was not paying attention when the small gray object hit the ground right in front of them and then exploded.
Now, Ash was not in the habit of planning things out in depth. Oh, he certainly had ideas for how to do things but he wouldn't sit down and plan every detail out carefully. New moves and strategies in battles were the closest thing to an exception.
But despite this, he felt reasonably safe to say, being hit by what could only be called a smoke bomb and then dragged away while he was still relearning up from down, went against every plan he could have imagined.
It wasn't long before he recovered from his momentary bewilderment and quickly made himself a nuisance to his would-be kidnappers. He got his arm free of whatever was dragging it and smacked something.
"Oi! Watch it!" the voice was from a Pokemon.
"Ah! He's a fighter!" That one too actually.
"Darn right!" He growled and managed to extract himself fully and take stock of his surroundings now that the smoke was beginning to fade away.
What he found was a little bit confusing.
Two human children, who were fairly scruffy looking, a black and tan Rattata, and a Voltorb.
"Uh." Truth be told he had been expecting Team Rocket or some similar nefarious group.
"Does this mean the element of surprise is gone?" One of the apparently human children asked, not sounding human at all.
"Voltorb." Sometime about the way the Voltorb spoke tugged at an old memory in the back of Ash's head.
"I told you that's not how it works." The Alolan (he thought it was Alolan at least) Rattata told the Voltorb.
"Then how does it work!" Voltorb complained, not sounding like a Voltorb.
"Ask one of the chaperones." The other human (this one a girl) shrugged.
In fact, Ash was something of an expert on the different sounds Pokemon could make. He had experimented quite a bit over his life. He could say for certain that all four of the people in front of him sounded like Pokemon, but three of them sounded like the same Pokemon.
One he was intimately familiar with.
"You're…" he slowly pointed at them. "Are you?"
Excitement started bubbling up in him like never before. At least, it was a different sort of excitement.
The boy put a hand on his chin. "I don't know what you're trying to imply."
The girl mirrored him. "Maybe you should elaborate a bit."
"I don't know, you guys were the ones to kidnap me." Ash stopped speaking like a human with a rather foxlike grin.
"Think our cover might be blown." Rattata pointed out.
"Also we're making a bit of a scene." Voltorb looked around and some humans and Pokemon were starting to gather around the edges of the smoke to see what happened.
"Yeah, time to go." The boy nodded and turned to run.
The others followed but the girl looked at Ash. "Are you coming, new guy?"
"Ash!" He heard Pikachu call behind him as Pidgeotto beat her wings to clear the smoke. "Where'd you go?"
"I'm alright!" He called back, "Just gotta check something real quick, stay with Misty and call my Pokegear if you get worried! Pikachu, you're in charge!"
"Ha!"
"What did he say?" He heard Misty ask.
It would probably be better if he stuck around to explain in detail, but well, he really wanted to talk to these four.
He'd never met other Zorua before.
Zoroark looked at the five Zorua who returned from the group of four that had gone out, "Was that one always here?"
"What?" Zoroark looked at the five, "I dunno. Maybe?"
The last of their number sighed, "Wouldn't be the first time we picked up a new one."
"This is ours now!" Zorua declared and jumped on top of the new Zorua.
"We found him!" Her brother joined her. "Which means we're adopting him! We're naming him Zorua!"
"My name is Ash actually." The squished Zorua complained. "Also, AHHHH I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS!"
He pushed the other two little ones off of him with ease and practically bounced up to the Zoroark. "Oh, you're really a Zoroark! And not just an illusion!" He squealed for delight as he poked at Zoroark's leg to check if she was an illusion.
"Ash huh?" She picked up the little guy and gave him a good look. "Never heard of a Pokemon named Ash before, your parents some of the weirdos who nickname everyone?"
"I am not a weirdo." Midnight the Zoroark complained.
"Well, she does." He wiggled his legs a bit. "But I guess you mean Zoroark naming their kids right? I don't know about that, my Mom is a human."
"Oh shoot, we got a live one," Zoroark muttered next to her.
"You were raised by humans!?" The Zorua who refused to turn into anything not spherical started rolling around as a Voltorb again. "That's cool! Rattata was raised by Raticate!"
"Sure, go tell everyone my family secrets." Rattata the Zorua complained.
"One human! She's my trainer!" Ash explained.
Huh, this one had a trainer? Uh oh, she might come looking then, might be a problem. "We should probably get you back to her before she notices you're gone." Zoroark started, trying to be tactful.
Ash brushed off the concern though, "No need for that. She's waayyy in Pallet Town right now. I'm on my own journey!"
"You're a trainer!" One of the other Zorua noticed the commotion and came over. "My cousin is a trainer too!"
"Other Zorua do it too?!" He sounded excited but then looked thoughtful. "Huh, I guess I can't claim to be original then."
"How did a Zorua get to Kanto without help?" Zoroark's counterpart Zoroark asked. "Did your trainer catch you in another region or something?"
"Well, my first trainer did." Ash started. "But he didn't know how to raise me so he sent me to Mom who took care of me here in Kanto! Do you guys live here? I always thought I was the only Zorua in Kanto!"
"You certainly aren't for the moment little guy." Midnight chuckled. "Although none of us are native to Kanto."
"Welcome!" One of the Zorua who found him declared and Zoroark set him down so he could hear the spiel. "Welcome to your first Bamboozle of Zorua!"
Ash blinked. "Is that what a group of Zorua is called?"
"Duh!" She snickered. "But every few months a bunch of Zorua get together with a few chaperones to travel somewhere! Normally a human city, and then go crazy with pranks and tricks and just have fun!"
"The best part is no one knows we're Zorua!" Another Zorua jumped in, "They just think it's a spell of bad luck or a curse or something!"
"Cool!" Ash looked interested. "Uh, so now what?"
"We were just scouting!" The Voltorb Zorua told him. "Looking for good prank targets! Then we saw you and spent like, half an hour trying to figure out if you were a Zorua or not."
"And you were!" Rattata confirmed.
"Come on!" The Sister Zorua started nudging him toward the others. "Let's introduce you to the others! We have so much to plan!"
"I should probably tell my team where I am…" Ash was a bit hesitant.
"Tell them tonight, the Bamboozle starts tomorrow and we need to plan!"
Midnight scratched his head as the Zorua badgered the new kid with questions. "So uh, who wants to take the new guy?"
"He's got a name, that makes him one of yours by default," Zoroark told him, rolling his eyes.
"She picked him up first." Midnight nodded at Zoroark.
"I think his trainer might protest." Zoroark groaned and sighed. "We are not adopting another Zorua permanently. Just let him enjoy the Bamboozle with the other kids."
"We have a habit of it though, how many lone Zorua have we found now? A dozen?"
"Too many." She admitted quietly. "This one seems to have found a good home like Rattata did at least."
"Hm," Midnight hummed thoughtfully then blinked. "Wait, he decided to become a trainer on his own, right?"
"That's what it sounded like." Zoroark nodded.
"Does that mean he actually waited until he was ten years old?"
The other two Zoroark blinked at him. "That would make him older than me." The male of the two muttered, somewhat shocked.
"Ha!" She barked a laugh. "Seniority rule. If he is ten then I'll tell him he can take your place as a chaperone."
"That is objectively not how this works!"
"And just what sort of time do you call this young man?" Eevee prodded when Ash stumbled into their room at the Pokemon Center well after midnight.
"I have had the coolest day." He announced and collapsed, illusion dispersing as he did so. "And discovered several things about myself and my species."
"Where were you?" Sunny asked him, looking concerned for his trainer.
"And what happened?" Art asked him, prodding Ash with his stick.
"I was at the Bamboozle." Ash announced. "And I may have been befriended, adopted, apprenticed, knighted, and possibly received a marriage proposal but it was worded kind of weirdly."
"Does this mean I'm not in charge anymore?" Pikachu checked.
Ash glanced at Pidgeotto. "You knew you were secretly in charge right?"
"I figured." She nodded at him and Pikachu huffed.
"I'd like to know when you vanish, why you're vanishing for the record." Pikachu grumbled at him.
He shot his friend a sheepish smile. "Sorry, the ones who through the smoke bomb started running as soon as Pidgeotto cleared the smoke and I didn't want to lose them."
"What was the Bamboozle?" Storm asked him.
He was pretty tired at this point but some of his energy returned to him so he could explain. "What do you call a group of Zorua?" He asked with a small grin.
Pikachu caught on almost immediately. "You didn't."
"A group of Zorua is called a Bamboozle." Eevee recited dutifully.
"There is a Bamboozle of Zorua passing through!" Ash announced. "And they spotted me and decided I was going to join. Pretty sure I could have avoided it if I wanted to but…"
"No, I get it." Pikachu nodded. "What happened? Are they still here? Why are they here?"
"Wait does this mean other Zorua live in Kanto?" Sunny asked him.
Their trainer began explaining what had happened over the course of the day, and that it would probably be for the best if all of them stayed inside for the next day. Unless they wanted to leave themselves open to unexpected mostly harmless pranks.
"So, you met a bunch of other Zorua for the first time?" Pidgeotto prodded. "What were they like."
"There were also a few Zoroark there to keep an eye on things," Ash mentioned. "Also, have you ever been in a Zoroark's mane before? Shockingly comfy." Surrounded by warmth and fluffy? Ten out of ten.
"Why would we have been in a Zoroark mane before?" Pikachu poked at his cheek. "Are you planning to evolve anytime soon? Let us give it a shot?"
"Eh." Ash shrugged. "I'm good for now. If it comes up we'll figure it out then. Although I might be something of a 'late-bloomer.'" He added as an afterthought.
"How would you even bloom?" Art looked confused. "You're not a plant. Unless you can become a plant type? Or, well, grass-type I guess. Is that a thing Eevee? Can Pokemon become other types?" Art looked at her.
"Not unless it happens through evolution." She told him and turned to Ash. "What do you mean late-bloomer?"
"One of the Zoroark is younger than me." Ash elaborated a bit. "And one of the others evolved when they were younger than me."
"Maybe you need to battle more." Storm suggested, "strength through combat and all that."
"That's probably it," Eevee confirmed.
He thought for a moment. "Oh, and I'm not the first Zorua trainer in the world. And most of the others just made themselves look ten and then did it."
Pikachu snorted.
"I feel robbed." Ash declared. "But I'm glad I started when I did."
"Why's that?"
"Well, I probably wouldn't have you guys on my team." Ash pointed out. "And that would suck."
"That would suck." Pidgeotto agreed. "I would never have met you, Uncle Ash!"
"Please stop calling me that." He begged her. "Like, what do I need to do?"
"You could bring us to the Bamboozle to meet your distant cousins." She suggested with mischief.
"I want to meet Ash's cousins!" Art immediately hopped on the train.
Eevee sighed. "I'm fairly certain that not all Zorua are related."
"I mean maybe we are? Distantly?" Ash guessed with a shrug. "Not like I ever knew my first parents. Maybe I have siblings or cousins or something."
Storm chuckled. "Wouldn't that be a surprise, 'Hi there! I'm your sister, this is your brother, and here's our Mom who is also your Mom!'"
"What would you do?" Sunny asked Ash after Storm finished and the others giggled.
"About what?" Ash was a bit confused.
"If you met your original parents." Sunny clarified and Ash frowned. He hadn't thought about them in years. Not seriously at least. They'd barely been a thought since he'd become Delia's Pokemon.
"I don't think I'd see them as my parents." He admitted. "But I would want to know why. Was it something they didn't have a choice in? Did they just not want me? I want an answer to that if nothing else."
"Yeah." Sunny nodded. "I think that's right." The fire-type yawned. "I'm sleepy."
"It is pretty late." Pidgeotto reminded the group.
"Alright, let's hit the bed." Pikachu jumped on and flopped face-first onto it.
"Ugh." Ash held out a leg in faux reaching. "So far away."
"Lazy furball." Storm bugged him and gave him a playful shove.
"Sounds like a good job about now." Eevee curled up for a nap and soon the others joined her and Pikachu in sleep.
Misty had gotten her Pokegear fixed despite Ash's sudden disappearance. She'd messaged him as soon as she had and said, put simply, "What the actual heck?"
His answer? "Met some long lost relatives, be back later."
So she was well within her rights when she banged on his door the next morning to demand additional answers.
What she got was an excited Zorua basically rambling to her about all the cool things he'd learned the previous day.
A few things stuck out to her, the first of which was, "A group of Zorua is called a Bamboozle?"
"In all fairness, that is an apt term." Staryu pointed out and she had to agree.
"I know right?" Ash nodded excitedly. "I'm gonna go meet up with them again today! I'm taking my team too this time! I hope that's okay. Also, tell Brock and Karen to stay inside today alright?"
"Ash are you about to wreak havoc on this innocent city?" Misty asked with not a small amount of concern.
Art said something and Ash tilted his head. "Maybe a little."
That left the former gym leader trying to figure out the exact moment she had signed up for this. "Be careful and don't hurt anyone." She pleaded and Ash looked a bit offended.
"Of course not!" he exclaimed. "Pranks for supposed to be fun! Not hurtful! Mild annoyance at worst!"
She was slightly surprised to see Pikachu nodding in agreement but considering they had grown up together that wasn't too surprising. "Okay, just be careful."
"Hey, uh, hate to be a buzzkill but what do we tell Karen?" Squirtle looked between the trainers.
The Zorua opened his mouth, closed it, and his look of excitement became concerned. "I forgot about that."
"I feel like there's a certain irony that if she just waited a month or two a Bamboozle of Zorua would have wandered right into her hands." Misty snickered as she caught up.
Ash frowned a bit. "I don't think any of the other Zorua want to be caught… they all sound like they're just here for a bit of fun before moving on. I'll bring it up and see if anyone is interested though."
"That's fair." Misty nodded. "You get to be the one to tell her that though."
"Fine." He drooped a bit and Misty remembered something else.
"Oh yeah, did you remember to call Professor Oak about his friend?"
His eyes went comically wide. "Shoot forgot about that! I'll do it right now!" He bolted down the hall and Misty stared after him and then looked at her Pokemon and Ash's team.
"Did he forget he wasn't using his illusion?" She checked with them.
Pikachu squinted a bit and waved his paw in a so-so gesture. Could have forgotten, maybe he just didn't care.
Whatever the case they followed the Zorua to the lobby and found him staring at the video call machine on the wall. He looked at Misty as she walked up beside him. "You forgot you weren't using your illusion didn't you?"
"I was busy yesterday." He shook his head in a way that his hat covered his eyes.
"I'll make the call, now jump up here." She tapped the countertop and punched in the digits.
The call went perfectly, a little too perfectly for Misty's tastes. Professor Oak's friend was named Brandon and he was quite the Pokemon Trainer in his own right, but his passion was researching ancient civilizations.
He would meet them at Cerise Laboratory in two days, which just so happened to be the new lab that Eevee had wanted to investigate both on their first visit and again now.
Not to mention since it was two days away, that meant Ash had plenty of time to go play with the visiting Zorua.
Maybe it was her adventures with Ash bringing out the pessimist in her, but things were never this easy.
As they ended the call and went looking for Brock and Karen, she supposed that maybe the universe was finally giving them a break.
We're out of the cave and back on the road! Sort of!
Originally this was just going to be a quick stop in Vermillion City and then I realized a few plot ideas could intersect for a truly wild ride!
Also yes, it was unilaterally decided (by my discord) that a group of Zorua is called a Bamboozle.
That actually led to us brainstorming other ideas for groups of Pokemon, like a Miasma of Gastly, a Forge of Tinkaton, a Sleepover of Snorlax, a Race of Cyclizar…
I could go on but you get the idea. Probably gonna bring it up in BattleNET.
Speaking of that fic. Jeez. The main Pokemon Forum: BattleNET fic on ao3 is at 84k and on the Orange Islands and Beyond BattleNET is at 10k. In like a month. No idea how I did that! I do encourage you guys to check it out, it's a lot of fun.
And VERY IMPORTANT: I went back and made a couple edits to last chapter, one is something I forgot to do until too late and the other was requested by some of the people who read it and wanted more context. They do not change how it plays out or affect this chapter much but they do exist.
Anyway, Misty's worried over nothing, everything is going to go just fine next chapter, let's check in on the reviews in the meantime!
Vulpixtales: Ash has plenty of time to regret catching Diglett!
Summerotter: …moving on.
Shaonics6: You'd be surprised how much I set up in advance and what comes out of literally nowhere. It surprises me as well. Speaking of, Brock and Karen and what they have going on. Yeah I think it's gonna go down that road.
Dracoog101: Happy to hear that!
PenguindBandit523: Oak is cackling at all the things he's learning. Also patting himself on the back for letting Ash go on his journey. And I'm glad you like the comedy amidst the chaos.
Shadobladez: I'm happy you liked the chapter! Glad it didn't feel completely disconnected from things, I did set it up quite awhile ago now.
LEGOBRICK13: I should thank you for reminding me of something I completely forgot about. As I said above, go back and double check the last chapter. Yeah, thankfully Ash was able to call Professor Oak before Diglett started going on a rampage. It's actually kind of interesting he's going to get to know all of Ash's Team pretty well while he's there.
Ozymandius42: The anime has a bad habit of throwing wild world-building at us and then never using it again. I aimed to correct that a bit.
Strike Wyvern: Use it as a free space!
Oblivionknight7: Theoretically at least!
The one who reads and writes: glad you found the chapter interesting! I'm glad how Sunny and Art have worked out together. And of course magic exists! Remember that time they met an actual Witch in Johto? As for the orbs, unfortunately they were a bit too big to carry easily. Also, you might have missed it but they brought the prison holding the giant with them.
PokeDan: Part of it was area zero, amongst other inspirations. Bit and pieces and a bit of my own imaginings. Glad you're looking forward for more!
Lonelyboi69: sometimes insanity is a good thing!
Talesfanjmf: I've been planning it for awhile. I sat back and though, "Oh that's good." And I'm glad you liked everything being resolved in one go!
KvAT: Welcome aboard! And I'm glad you've picked up on a few things. Ash processing him emotions differently for one, not many others comment on that. As well as the fact it was hard for me to have Misty lose. It was a weird case of needing her to and not wanting her to. I made sure to give her a good showing if nothing else.
That's all for this chapter folks! I hope to get the next one out a bit sooner. Been going a bit wild with posting recently. Started two other fics and working on the prologue for a third… oops. Idk I just want more Pokemon fics.
Speaking of which, we do brainstorming on my discord if anyone is interested in mad rambling that sometimes produces fics.
Discord: discord . gg / kESdTfhAwG
TVTropes: tvtropes pmwiki / pmwiki . php / Fanfic / ZoruaTrainer
See you guys next chapter!
~FriTik
R&R