Remember! Minnesota is canon to the Pokemon Anime!
Ash liked to think he was getting better at handling the curve balls this journey kept throwing at him.
From villainous organizations to abusive trainers, and even legendary Pokemon!
His current situation completely shattered this belief.
"You're acting like this came out of nowhere." Pikachu was completely unsympathetic.
"It did!" Ash hissed at him while trying to figure out how he felt about this or what he should say about it.
Like, he wasn't exactly against Sunny calling him dad. It's just he hadn't expected it! Nor did he know what a dad did! He didn't even have a dad! Not one he knew anyway, the closest things to father figures in his life were Professor Oak and Shelldon.
That said Ash wasn't about to tell Sunny he couldn't call him Dad if he wanted to.
"It really didn't." Pidgeotto agreed with Pikachu and the true depth of his teammate's betrayal was laid out before him. "I missed two weeks and it's still been obvious for a while that Sunny looks at you like the sun shines out of your face."
"Which is ironic considering his name is literally "Sunny."" Pikachu mused.
It was just the three of them talking on the deck of the ship right now. It wouldn't be the first time Ash spewed his emotions to his team but the others had managed to find their own forms of entertainment on their trip to Fuchsia.
This ship wasn't exactly large but it had enough space for everyone to move about, mostly at least. Everyone had to sleep in the same cabin that not even Misty was able to stand up straight in. Not that it was much of a problem for Ash and his team.
"Not exactly helping," Ash muttered before they could go into a tangent about the irony or lack thereof about nicknames. Odds were they would just get into a discussion about whatever named Pidgeotto had supposedly decided on but was waiting for the right moment to announce it.
"What's not helping?" Pidgeotto prodded him.
"You guys acting like it's nothing! I'm freaking out about this! I'm not a dad! I never thought about it before! How do you even be a dad?" Ash started rambling a bit.
"You're the one being dumb about this." Pikachu remained nonplussed.
Pidgeotto flapped her wings a bit. "Honestly, I have to agree with him. You're overthinking this. Sure you've never had a dad but you're doing a good enough job for Sunny."
"Huh." Ash blinked at her words. Was it really that simple?
"I feel like ever since we ran into AJ you've started overthinking things a lot." Pikachu pointed out. "More than you ever did before at least. It used to be you got an idea in your head and stuck to it no matter what. Now you second guess yourself and reconsider everything."
"I don't second guess myself all the time!" Ash protested. "It's just the world is more complicated than I thought it was!"
"But this is simple." Pidgeotto aimed a lazy Peck at him that he was easily able to avoid.
"Fine, it is." Ash crossed his arms. "It just caught me by surprise. Like, a lot."
"Proving that despite trying to think more about stuff you're still a complete dunce." Pikachu mocked and Ash swatted at his ears in protest.
"If it makes you feel better Uncle Ash, I won't be calling you "dad" anytime soon." Pidgeotto helpfully told him.
Pikachu acted out a shiver. "No way! If you were my dad I'd never be able to sleep!"
"I think one kid I'm too young for is enough." Ash tried, doing his best to ignore the flying-type calling him Uncle. Seriously, he barely even knew Arnold.
"I don't know, Art will probably pick up on it as soon as he hears Sunny doing it." Pidgeotto realized and the other two Pokemon stared at her.
"You're absolutely right." The Zorua accepted.
"I usually am."
"This is just what happens when you have Pokemon so much younger than you following you around and looking up to you." Pikachu sighed.
"It's just who we keep meeting!" Ash claimed. "I mean, I'm not against having a Pokemon older than me coming with us."
"Storm might be." Pidgeotto shrugged. "I don't think we ever asked her about it."
"Not to mention Diglett," Pikachu added. "But I don't think he counts."
"Probably not," Ash grimaced at the reminder of his latest "teammate."
Pidgeotto gave him an inquisitive look. "Do you have a plan there? You swapped me back here right after you sent him to the lab so I wasn't able to get much of a read on his personality."
"And for that, you should be eternally grateful!" Pikachu declared. "Seriously, that guy has problems."
"It feels wrong to leave him trapped." Professor Oak had been a bit vague about the exact nature of Diglett's imprisonment. "But I don't know how else we would deal with him. Even without carrying around the giant's prison, what's to stop him from trying to hurt us or start trouble to mess with us?"
"He wouldn't be the type to just run away?"
"He held a grudge for years." Pikachu reminded her. "If he ran away it would be to plot revenge."
"Or go try to track down the shield," Ash grumbled. "I think we should leave Diglett be until we all get back to Pallet Town."
"Have the whole team confront him?" Pidgeotto mused. "Could work or just create more of a problem. Then again, he's currently sitting comfy with Selene."
Pikachu and Ash shared a look and started snickering. "Oh man, I wish we could hear one of their conversations."
"It would probably turn into an "I'm right and you're wrong" fight." Ash guessed with a slight grin.
"Or perhaps a "My dad is better than your dad."" Pidgeotto innocently suggested reminding them of the original conversation.
"Alright, you guys are right about it not being something to worry about." Ash accepted. "Sunny is just calling me dad now, I guess that's how things are."
"Sunny is calling you what?" Misty's voice cut in and the three Pokemon turned back to the girl staring at them from the cabin door.
"You know it's impressive no one interrupted us sooner," Pikachu admitted as Ash prepared to explain Sunny's parting remark.
The rest of their journey was rather dull. At least in terms of adventure. There were a few interesting conversations and they managed to play a game of Go Goldeen but there were no unexpected storms or mysterious islands or surprise pirate attacks.
Art was very disappointed about the lack of excitement.
"Come on! Where are the bad guys? I'm right here! Shoot a cannon at us!" The young Ralts shouted at the open sea behind the ship as the port came into sight on the horizon ahead.
"You might want to get down from there." Eevee requested as he nearly lost his balance on the railing.
"I'm not getting down until something knocks me down!" He raged.
On cue, Storm launched herself out of the water and tackled him off the railing. After a bit of a tumble, she set the other Pokemon down and left him frozen there, mouth gaping as he processed what the heck had just hit him.
"I'm sorry but that was too good an opportunity for me to miss." She let out a somewhat uncharacteristic cackle.
Then again, she had been a part of the Squirtle Squad, perhaps this was just some of the old mischief leaking out.
Tying up the ship took a few minutes but the traveling trainers quickly found themselves disembarking. They said their goodbyes to Larry and Ash gave Sunny's Pokeball the promised three taps to let him know it was safe.
The fire-type emerged and stretched. "Dry land! None of that gross ocean water!" He cheered and physically hugged a nearby rock.
"I guess it is kind of gross compared to regular water." Eevee allowed.
Ash bit his tongue before he could say anything about Sunny's parting remark. He'd made his decision, if Sunny brought it up they could talk about it, otherwise, he'd just let the young Charmander do his thing.
The humans had been a bit amused by the situation but apart from the ribbing into Ash about it, nothing had come of it.
Misty had jokingly questioned his parenting credentials and Karen seemed to enjoy teasing him about it. Brock had asked him how he felt about it and told him that if he was uncomfortable with it he should let Sunny know.
It was nice to have people to talk to sometimes.
The port they stopped in wasn't much, a collection of docks and boathouses as well as a few houses and restaurants, nothing particularly interesting for them. Brock did stop and get a schedule of arrivals and departures for the next week or so.
"I don't know how long we'll be in Fuchsia but the next gym would be on Cinnabar Island right?" He pointed out to Ash as they began the journey to the city. "That means we'll probably need to come back here to get another ship or find some other way of getting to the island."
"I doubt we'll find many other options, not unless Pidgeotto is about to evolve." Karen glanced at the flying-type.
"I could evolve right now," Pidgeotto claimed and puffed out her chest.
"Do it," Pikachu told her with a wry grin.
"Well, I-" She started but Art cut in.
"You're about to evolve?!" He squealed. "I've never seen another Pokemon evolve before! I want to see it!"
The eagerness in his voice seemed to take the wind out of her sails a bit. "It's not that-"
"Let me guess." Eevee rolled her eyes. "You just don't want to right now."
"If any of us were about to evolve it would be either me or Eevee." Storm pointed out. "What with her magic rocks and I've been on the edge for a while."
"You are?" Ash blinked, he felt like that would have come up before.
The Squirtle glanced up at him. "I swear I mentioned it to you. Yeah, I think I just need one final push."
"I take it Pidgeotto won't be flying us one by one to Cinnabar Island?" Karen guessed as the conversation began to get off the rails.
"No, she doesn't feel like it right now."
"I wonder actually." Misty blinked. "Do you get heavier when you're in your illusion?"
"Uh." Ash stared at her. "...I don't know."
"I remember when we first met, you turned into a… Joltik," the girl shivered, "and jumped into my bike's basket. I didn't think much about it at the time but I had both you and Pikachu in the basket, that could have tipped us over but it didn't."
"I wasn't thinking about weight," Ash admitted as he thought back. "I just knew I couldn't fit in there with Pikachu."
"That's something to work on tonight then." Karen nodded. "I think we've been falling behind in the illusion training a bit, we can do some tests on whether your weight changes at all."
"Why did you bring it up?" Brock asked Misty.
"Obviously Pidgeotto couldn't carry you or really any of us." Misty gestured at Ash and then the other trainers. "At least not in your illusion, even if you were the same weight, it would be a bit awkward for her to carry your whole body and your illusion would probably burst where she dug in her claws."
"But if I were in my real shape…" Ash trailed off and glanced at Pidgeotto. "Would that work?"
"Could I carry you?" She debated it. "I'd never thought about it. We could certainly give it a try. If I could carry you that means I could carry some of the others too. If we find ourselves in another doubles battle that could be a useful technique to use."
"Instead of just fighting two of us you'd be fighting two of us working together!" Art cackled and wrung his hands together. "Oh, that could be awesome. You could fly around out of reach and I could start shooting fire at them and they'd be "Ah! Oh no, we're on fire!""
"I think that's the normal reaction when we set people on fire though." Sunny pointed out to him and Art tilted his head.
"Huh, I guess you're right. But they'd be on fire and then Pidgeotto could Peck their faces off!" Art managed to recapture his fantasy.
"Could you?" Sunny glanced at her.
She raised a brow. "Could I what?"
"Peck faces off?"
The question threw her for a bit of a loop. "...I've never tried to Peck someone's face off before."
"But could you do it?" Art asked her. "Cause then they'd be on fire and not have a face!"
"This is starting to sound like a Hallow's End monster." Eevee chuckled. "A flaming monster with no face."
"Could be a fun costume at least." Storm mused.
They were still far enough from Fuchsia that night that they needed to camp. It wasn't so bad, especially now that they weren't underground and had a good view of the stars.
Ash had never been one for stargazing himself but Eevee found the activity entertaining. She instructed them about some of the brighter stars and a few constellations.
"That one there." She pointed with her tail as the humans set up their tents. "That's Venus."
"I thought Venus was a planet?" Sunny cocked his head.
"Yep!" She confirmed. "But it's far enough away from us that it looks like a star. It's still closer than all the actual stars, except the sun at least. It's the tip of the Dragonair's Wings."
"Dragonair don't have wings." Pikachu pointed out and Ash wondered about it himself.
"That's because they were lost," Eevee claimed. "Or so the story goes anyway, supposedly Dratini used to have little nubs that turned into wings when they evolved into Dragonair. But the Dragonair were too prideful and decided the sky was too beautiful for anyone else. So they used their wings to try blocking it from view."
"That's terrible!" Art gasped and brandished his stick. "We should go beat them up!"
"Someone beat you to it!" Eevee laughed. "The Lord of the Skies didn't like the Dragonair encroaching on his territory, and he took their wings from them! He told them, "You thought the sky was too good for anyone else? Well, I think your wings are too good for you!" and he put them in the stars."
The others shared a look. "That's an interesting story," Storm told her. "Not the kind of thing I'd expect from you, to tell the truth."
"I like the stars," Eevee admitted with a shrug. "I used to try imagining my own pictures and then I found out that I wasn't the first to try that. So I read up on the different constellations and the stories behind them."
"Hmm, Dragonair with wings." Ash sat back and wondered if he could recreate that with his illusions.
"It might have been a real thing." Eevee glanced at him. "Maybe. Not the "Lord of the Sky" taking their wings from them but there have been fossils that suggest Dratini, Dragonair, and Dragonite used to develop their wings differently."
"Hmm." Pikachu hummed at the thought. "Hey, Pidgeotto, did that Dragonite have bigger wings?"
There was no question about which Dragonite he was talking about. Pidgeotto just leveled him an unamused stare. "Everything about that Dragonite was big."
"I mean proportionally!" Pikachu said.
"Wow, that's a lot of syllables." Eevee prodded him and Ash shot her a look with narrowed eyes. "Sorry, sorry."
Pidgeotto frowned. "I didn't get a good look at the wings. And I'm not going back to check any time soon."
"Fair enough." Pikachu accepted.
They didn't have much more time to talk as the humans finished setting up their own camps and the nightly training session began in earnest. Ash had a few ideas and techniques for his team to work on in regard to the Fuchsia City gym. But he needed Karen's help, or rather, he needed Gloom's help.
"So this is going to suck," Ash announced to his friends. "Gloom is going to use Poison Powder and we're all going to take turns being poisoned and fighting while poisoned."
"…I don't think you could have said something that would suck more," Pikachu told him as the rest of the team stared at Gloom with a bit of horror.
"Are you going to do it too Dad?" Sunny caught onto Ash saying "we."
Also using a certain word once more.
Now that he was expecting it, Ash felt a rush of warmth fill his chest and the good feeling danced around his mind for a moment. He couldn't dwell on it though, they had to focus! "Yeah, I might not be battling but it still seems like a skill I could use in the future, I mean, I don't want any of us to get poisoned but we're going to a poison-type gym, it's going to happen."
"Definitely." Storm sighed her agreement. "I'll go first, and heads up, this is just regular poison. If you get hit with Toxic it's going to hurt a lot more."
"Preaching to the choir." Pidgeotto agreed, having dealt with the more dangerous form herself during their battle with Erika.
"We'll work on other stuff tonight, but we're gonna go through this first." Ash clarified. "Get the worst of it out of the way, we have enough Antidotes for all of us to do it once."
"Not a lot," Eevee noted.
"I have another two in case of an emergency," Ash told her.
"Can we get this over with?" Gloom grumbled and with that, they got started.
Ash had been right.
It did suck.
It sucked way worse than Ash had expected it to.
He'd been sick before, and even been poisoned before, it sucked and when in that state he didn't want to move or do much of anything until he felt better. Coughing, burning, rashes, headaches, all awful things that ruined doing anything other than lying around waiting for the pain to sod off and die in a hole.
So actually forcing themselves to be active and fight while in that state was exhausting and taxing, physically and mentally.
By the time everyone had gone through the process of getting poisoned and battling while poisoned, no one wanted to do anything else. Nor did Ash want to force anyone to do anything else.
Not to mention he had other stuff he wanted to work on that night but that just meant they would take an extra day in Fuchsia to get some more training in.
Karen was a bit annoyed cause she wanted to do the illusion weight experiments that night but Ash definitely wasn't feeling up to it that night.
All that said, the training session had seen results. Ash and his team were able to figure out the best ways to function while in the poisoned state, although it varied a bit from Pokemon to Pokemon.
Also, Ash felt like Pikachu had been just a little spiteful during their mock battle while Ash had been the one poisoned. Not that he had it in him to blame his best friend, it had been his idea after all.
As they ate their dinner and prepared to turn in for the night, Misty nudged him with a teasing look. "So, what have we learned?"
He gave her an exhausted stare. "I hate poison."
"Get ready to hate it a lot more." Karen didn't even look up from her food.
They discovered a few things arriving in Fuchsia City.
First off, the gym was not in Fuchsia City proper.
Secondly, there wasn't much actually in the city.
Fuchsia City was old, and not the best maintained. Some of the more historic buildings had a lot of work put into maintaining them but a lot of the businesses and regular housing were fairly run-down looking.
Not exactly the best first impression.
"I expected a bit more from this place considering what I've heard of it," Misty admitted at the Pokemon Center, one of the few buildings that seemed to be in good working order.
They'd dropped off their teams for the regular checkup and as soon as they picked them up Misty would drop Ash off. Normally he'd be fine but after the poison training the previous night, he'd been forced to concede he should get a checkup as well.
"The more I look at the map, it seems like a lot of what you think about in regards to the city is outside the city," Brock explained. "The gym is a kilometer southwest, the Contest Hall is east of it, and there's the Safari Zone a couple kilometers north."
"That's what I was thinking of!" Misty snapped her fingers. "I've been looking forward to checking that place out ever since I realized we were coming here."
"Why didn't you mention it before then?" Karen quizzed her.
"Because I figured I'd bring it up when we arrived." Misty held her head in her hand and shot the older girl a look.
"I think I've heard of that." Ash frowned with thought. "Something about no battling allowed?"
"It's a bit more complicated than that," Brock told him but frowned. "Actually, it might not be, not for you at least."
"What?" Ash blinked. "What's that supposed to mean."
"Nothing bad." Karen placated him. "This time."
He pouted as she continued. "The Safari Zone is a place that enforces your go-to method of catching Pokemon, asking them to join you. You can pay to get Safari Balls you can use in the area but there's no battling involved so if the Pokemon doesn't feel like coming along there's nothing you can do about it."
That caught his attention. "That sounds amazing. Why isn't everywhere like that?"
"Because it would be nearly impossible to enforce?" Brock suggested. "Not to mention the Pokemon might not like it."
"What do you mean?" Misty asked Brock and he laced his fingers.
"Hmm, how to explain." He thought for a moment. "Ash, you know how you've been worried about Pokemon being mistreated or abused, through trainers or Pokeballs, you get the idea."
"Yeah." Ash nodded wondering where he was going.
"But not every Pokemon is going to sit back and let it happen. We've seen a few where that's the case but not every Pokemon is going to be so against it. Some Pokemon purposely go out seeking fights because they want to find a strong trainer to team up with, or they want the challenge. They might not like being forced to stay passive and might just attack anyway."
The Zorua considered Brock's point. "I think I get it. Most of my Pokemon chose to come with me, but Pidgeotto only came because we challenged her to a battle and we impressed her, and Art literally demanded a battle."
"I think it varies, and you have your heart in the right place, your whole team does, but sometimes a battle is just a battle." The former gym leader told him.
Karen snickered a bit. "You're cute when you try and sound wise."
"Funny, you're cute no matter what." And the moment was ruined by gross teenager stuff.
Thankfully they were soon able to pick up their teams and Ash was able to tag in and allow himself to be checked over, far from whatever weird stuff Brock and Karen were doing.
As the team congregated in their room that night Sunny was staring out the window. "I think there's someone on the roof over there." He pointed.
"I swear, are we being stalked again?" Pikachu groaned and pulled himself up on the ledge beside Sunny. "...yep there's someone out there."
"Is it Team Rocket?" Ash asked, feeling concerned for obvious reasons. Archer may have been arrested but they hadn't seen the dorks with the air balloon since the Crystal Caverns incident, and the team was probably bigger than just the ones they'd seen thus far.
"Can't tell." Pikachu squinted. "Just a silhouette on a rooftop. Pidgeotto, want to go check it out?"
"Might as well. It's just the one?" She checked.
"As far as I can see," Sunny claimed and Pikachu nodded his agreement. The two opened the window and the flying-type took to the skies.
After a few moments, there was an alarmed cry of fear and a series of bangs and thumps that had the team wincing a bit. Pidgeotto quickly returned looking a little bemused.
She quickly told of her experience, "Not Team Rocket. Just a girl. Maybe around Ash's age, or the disguise's age? Which I guess- never mind. She was talking to herself about being "the shadow in the night" and then I squawked at her and she shrieked and fell."
"...is she okay?" Sunny worried.
"She landed on a pile of garbage bags in an alleyway. I don't envy her nose but she pulled herself out and didn't seem to be hurt." Pidgeotto explained.
"...I'm going to make an executive decision and say that is a tomorrow problem." Pikachu decided. "Let's get to bed, we got training to do tomorrow!"
Technically Ash should be the one making executive decisions but he found himself agreeing with Pikachu in this case. With that, they all tucked in for the night and got some rest.
"Now then!" Misty spoke up at breakfast the next morning. "As per the tradition we established in Rota, while Ash trains for his badge stuff, we're going to go off exploring and have a good time."
Ash frowned. "It feels like I just got my sixth badge but it's been forever since I got it."
"I think this is the longest you've gone in between badges." Karen admitted after a moment of thought, "But considering we had to cross the entire region I think that's forgivable."
"Things did kind of get a bit messy there." Misty agreed. "With my gym, and then we were out of the way and we decided to go to Rota since we knew there would be a gym there and it sounded fun."
"I don't regret going." Ash nodded. "As long as Fuchsia and Cinnabar are both still functioning normally that means I'm all set to get the rest of my badges!"
"And with two months to go." Brock nodded. "That should give you plenty of time for training, either for the gyms or the Indigo Conference."
"Both if you're smart about it," Karen told him. "But to be honest Misty, I'm not sure how much of a "good time" we could have here. Maybe we should just join in on the training."
"Of course, we're going to do some training." Misty accepted. "But I'm going to check out the Safari Zone! With or without you!"
"I wouldn't mind checking it out," Ash admitted, chewing on his fork. "It's just we need to train…" The two sides warred inside him, one wanting to shirk training to go have some fun and the other side wanting to focus on their goal.
His resolve hardened. "Sorry, I hope you enjoy yourself Misty, but we have to get ready for the gym! I'll make sure to let you know when we go this time."
"I'd appreciate it." She nodded. "Considering you just went to the gym without even shooting us a text message first."
"You were the ones who decided to go to knight school out of nowhere." Ash pointed out.
"And it was completely worth it." Misty agreed without missing a beat.
As their friends went north Ash and his team got to work in the training yard but it wasn't long until they noticed something odd.
It wasn't the fact that there were no other trainers, that was a little weird but considering the town was fairly run down and the gym was outside of the Fuchsia proper that wasn't too surprising.
No, the odd thing was the person hiding behind a tarp painted the same color as the rest of the wall.
"Dad, someone is hiding here." Sunny pointed at their hidden viewer.
Ash shared a confused look with Pidgeotto and paused their training. Good thing he hadn't swapped out of his illusion yet. He walked over with the flying-type resting on his shoulder.
"Thanks, Sunny," he pulled the tarp down without missing a beat, tearing it from the hands of a girl around his age with her black hair in a short ponytail.
He gave her a quick once over. No sign of the now familiar Team Rocket "R" anywhere on her outfit. But she was wearing black, with a violet sash around her waist, and a matching cape on her back.
To be honest, she kind of reminded Ash of a ninja.
"...what are you doing?" Ash stared at her while her eyes darted side to side, clearly looking for an escape from this awkward situation.
"That's the girl from the roof last night," Pidgeotto informed him.
"Uhhhhhh… SMOKE BOMB!" She threw a pellet at the ground and Ash covered his face and coughed as the object exploded into a gray cloud.
Pidgeotto beat her wings and the smoke cleared, Ash scooped up the still-coughing Sunny and looked around for the girl.
"She climbed up the wall and over the roof." Art informed them, pointing with his stick and Ash looked over the path she must have taken.
"You alright Sunny?" He let the mystery girl be for a moment as he checked in.
"I'm okay Dad." He rubbed his eyes. "Also… uh… never mind."
"You want to talk about it yet?" Ash guessed what Sunny had decided to hold off on. They hadn't discussed the Dad thing yet and there had been a few times where Sunny had stared at him intently but the fire-type had yet to bring it up.
He obviously hadn't stopped using the word yet though.
Sunny frowned. "...not yet. But… thanks."
Ash smiled, "Come on, let's get back to work then, she doesn't seem to be causing trouble other than being a weirdo. You ready for this Pidgeotto?"
"You just want to try flying." She correctly guessed Ash's desire.
"Duh."
"I think this training session has taught all of us a few things." Pikachu declared, utterly failing to keep the grin off his face.
A scuffed-up Ash and Pidgeotto shot him looks lacking any and all amusement.
The good news was that Pidgeotto could fly around with Ash on her back while he was in his true shape. Unfortunately, either of them trying to use moves while in that position didn't end well.
There had been a lot of falling involved, to say the least.
But Delia Ketchum didn't raise no quitter. For better or worse. By the end of it, Ash was able to fire off a Dark Pulse without hurting Pidgeotto and she was able to use Peck and Quick Attack without him falling off.
Not the greatest result but it was enough of a proof of concept.
Everyone else had been doing their own training regimes while Ash and Pidgeotto attempted their proof of concept. But they might have proven a bit of a distraction for the rest of the team if the occasional bouts of laughter and cheering were anything to go off.
"Just wait until it's your turn," Ash muttered vengefully and reapplied his illusion.
As soon as he did so a sharp gasp from the bushes caught their attention. Ash took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "She's back isn't she?"
"She came back about half an hour ago," Storm explained. "I was going to say something but it was when Pidgeotto was trying Steel Wing…"
"Right, right." Ash rubbed his arm, it was his front leg that still stung from that accident but the illusionary arm was close enough.
"I was literally about to tell you." Pikachu groaned. "Seriously, you couldn't have waited like five seconds?"
"Maybe if you had told him as soon as they stopped instead of taking the chance to tease them." Eevee glared and Pikachu shrugged.
"Alright, everyone else time to take a break." Ash decided and everyone paused their training. "Let's figure out how to deal with this." He started thinking but his partner decided to take the initiative.
Pikachu used Thundershock and the girl fell face-first out of the bush, scorched and twitching. "That wasn't so hard."
Storm pinched her brow. "Somehow I doubt that was what he meant."
Ash rubbed the back of his head. "Not really, I guess it works though." His version of the plan might have been a bit less violent but he had to admit Pikachu got results.
"Look she was literally stalking us, if she wasn't expecting to get zapped then she should have picked a different target." The electric-type crossed his arms.
"She did fall off the roof last night so she must be fairly durable." Pidgeotto acknowledged. "Want to interrogate her while we get lunch?"
Ash wondered what it said about him that he was barely phased by this development. "Yeah, let's just hope no one has too many questions…"
Nurse Joy didn't even bat an eye as Ash carried the scorched girl through the lobby to the cafeteria. Maybe she just didn't care or knew what was happening. Or maybe trainers carrying scorched ninjas through her lobby was so common that she was no longer phased by it.
Ash gently sat her down leaning against the wall while they gathered their food. She'd started recovering beyond just groans by the time they got back.
"Hi," Ash greeted her. "Why are you watching us?"
Now he could have started a bit harsher, but she hadn't done anything to hurt them yet, apart from the smoke bomb. On the other hand, they had knocked her off a roof and electrocuted her. Even if she had been stalking them. So Ash was willing to meet her on fairly even ground.
Not everyone else agreed. Before she could answer Art leaped forward and pointed his stick at her chin. "WHO ARE YOU WORKING FOR?!" He screamed without hesitation and Ash quickly picked up the other Pokemon and put him on the seat next to his.
"I'll never talk." She held her head up high.
"Okay, but do you want to eat?" Ash pushed an extra plate of food forward.
The ninja blinked. "Yes actually, thank you." She dug into her food. "What Pokemon are you?" She asked as though she was wondering about the time.
Ash chose to answer her question with a question. "What Pokemon are you?"
"I'm not a Pokemon, I'm a human!" She shot him a look.
"I mean technically there's evidence to support the fact humans might be a type of Pokemon…" Eevee started on a tangent.
That sounded super interesting but he chose to ignore her for the moment. "How do you know I'm a Pokemon?"
"Because humans can't change shapes like that!" She slapped the table. "I would know! I've tried!"
"Maybe you're not trying hard enough?" Ash suggested and she stared at him.
In the blink of an eye, she was kneeling beside him head bowed. "Teach me your secrets, great disguise master."
At this point, Ash was in too deep to turn back. "Before I can teach you anything I need to know your name and why you were watching my friends and I."
"I am Janine, daughter of Koga, heiress to the Gym Hidden in the Woods." Janine identified herself. "And I was watching you because you're going to challenge the gym."
"How'd you know I was going to challenge the gym?" Ash wondered.
Janine shot him a look. "Well, either you were here to challenge the gym or you're here to visit the Safari Zone. Since you were in the training field I knew it was for the gym."
"Ah, that makes sense." Ash nodded in understanding.
"No, it doesn't!" Eevee hissed. "Why the heck does it matter we're challenging the gym? Why would that mean you need to watch us?"
That was a good question and Ash decided to repeat it.
"It's part of my training. I am to seek out challengers and judge them and their abilities before they arrive." Janine quirked an eyebrow at him. "Did you just understand your Pokemon?"
"No." Ash lied.
"You absolutely did." The ninja girl realized. "Which means you are a Pokemon. Which means you can't teach me. Which means you still haven't answered my question about what kind of Pokemon you are!"
"Deception is a ninja's greatest weapon?" Ash tried placating her.
That made her pause. "Just because you're right doesn't mean I don't want an answer."
"I'm a Zorua." He decided to relent. Why not keep adding to the list of people who knew what he was? It wasn't like there was an evil team bent on tracking him down.
Oh, wait.
"He's not just any Zorua!" Art declared. "He's the coolest Zorua! The best Zorua that's ever bamboozled anyone!"
Janine couldn't understand the Ralts but she got the general impression. "Zorua do disguises then? And you disguised yourself as a human to be a trainer?"
He shrugged. "I disguise myself as other things too."
They stared at each other for a moment, neither of them sure where to go with the conversation now that they'd each received the answers they were looking for. "Can you show me some of your disguises?"
"They're illusions." Ash clarified. "And sure, can you show me some ninja stuff?"
"That works." Janine nodded.
"My team needs to keep training though."
She coughed and dropped her voice a few octaves. "My allies could benefit from a collaborative effort."
And just like that, Ash found himself a training partner for his time in Fuchsia City.
"It's good they gave us a map of the Safari Zone." Brock mused as they wandered the Forest Area of the region. "This place is huge."
"A lot bigger than I expected." Karen agreed as she glanced over his shoulder. "I kind of figured it would be the size of a city park, this feels like a whole city."
"If the only inhabitants were Pokemon." Misty mused and looked through her bag. She had 10 of the 30 Safari Balls inside.
They had talked about it when they arrived at the gate and decided to split the fee between them, each taking 10 of the balls you got for joining the "Safari Game" they called it.
Weird name but Misty wasn't sure what else you'd call wandering around the Safari Zone looking for Pokemon to meet.
Still, it was a bit weird that they gave you 30 Safari Balls, considering trainers almost always have teams of six or less.
Truth be told, she wasn't even planning on using all of her share, that was way too many Pokemon for her to keep track of. And without the gym to send her overflow team members to she only had the six spots she had on hand.
That was a problem she needed to figure out soon.
"I guess we get to see you use the "Ash Ketchum Method" today." Karen joked as the trees started clearing. The Savanah Area this part was called.
"Given everything we've seen I think Ash's way of doing things should be the standard." Misty decided. "I was thinking about what you said earlier Brock. And you're right about some Pokemon just wanting to battle, but if they change their minds suddenly they're far from home with no way back."
"That could apply to a Pokemon you convinced to come as well." He pointed out.
Misty nodded. "True, but in that case at least you're starting with more of an agreement and might be able to work out problems before they start."
"I think we can just say it's complicated and leave it at that." Karen interrupted and both of the other trainers frowned. It had been an interesting conversation.
The dark-type trainer must have noticed their expressions. She sighed, "I didn't mean we can't talk about it. I just don't want to get caught up in the discussion right now. I want to explore the area and see if there are any interesting Pokemon around here."
"Fair enough I guess." Misty accepted, their conversations did tend to get a bit heavy sometimes.
"Any idea what Pokemon you girls want to look for?" Brock asked as he scanned the horizon. "Oh hey, I think I see a herd of Kangaskhan over there!"
"Neat." Misty followed his line of sight. "I'd prefer a water-type of some sort. So I guess I'm going to be heading for either the Swamp Area or Lake Area."
"There's plenty of rivers flowing all over the place too." Karen pointed out, tracing a few on the map. "Could try following them."
"I think the Mountain Area might be a good place for me to start." Brock pointed at the rocky raised terrain in the distance. It wasn't a true mountain by any means but it was higher up than the rest of the area.
"Hm, wonder what dark-types would hang around here." Karen mused. "We're not allowed to battle right? But we can still let our Pokemon out?"
Brock flipped the map over and reread the rules. "You may not use your Pokemon to attack or battle any of the inhabitants of the Safari Zone." He read out loud. "It looks like letting them out is alright."
"Perfect, go Houndour!" The excitable dark-type burst from her ball and started running circles around the trio. "Sniff around! Let me know if you smell any other dark-types." She told the Pokemon.
"Hou!" She yipped and stuck her nose to the ground and started sniffing.
"There shouldn't be anything to worry about around here right?" Misty asked rhetorically. "I'm going to head toward the Lake Area, want to meet back at the gate in a couple of hours?"
"That sounds like a plan, but not quite yet." Brock pointed as Houndour started leading Karen toward the Kangaskhan. "Looks like you're heading our way."
"You mean Karen's way?" Misty pointedly noted that Houndour was heading away from the Mountain Area.
She followed along but Karen paused and knelt down to Houndour. "What's going on with you?" The girl asked her teammate.
"What's wrong?" Misty wondered.
"Houndour's less excited and more nervous," Karen claimed. "I don't think she's smelled another dark-type but she's picked up on something she wants us to know about."
"My turn then, Staryu?" She glanced down at her belt and tapped his ball; her starter burst from his ball.
"At your command!" He declared.
"Nothing interesting. Yet at least, can you just ask Houndour what she's smelling? It's making her nervous." Misty explained.
"You want me to translate the pup's words into understandable linguistics?" Staryu confirmed. "I will endeavor to please."
"Thank you!" Misty smiled as Staryu listened to Houndour's barks.
"Amongst the mother herd is a not mother." Staryu declared after a moment.
She stared at him, "What does that mean?"
"I don't know!" Staryu declared with the certainty of a child announcing two plus two equals twenty-two.
Misty explained to Brock and Karen and they both gave her bewildered looks. "Is that actually what Houndour said?"
"Maybe?" She shrugged. She could get Squirtle out and try asking him but she doubted the addition of yet more of her maniacs would help the situation.
Even without any more additions, the situation did become a bit more complicated when a small all-terrain truck pulled up next to them and Officer Jenny jumped out and started demanding answers from them.
"Why do you have your Pokemon out!" She reached for something in the back of the truck and the trainers held their hands up.
"We're not battling!" Misty protested. "The rules said we weren't allowed to battle! We just let our friends out to help."
Jenny paused. "Help?" She prodded, with a skeptical glare.
"I asked Houndour to help me find some other dark-types." Karen explained. "And then she was acting nervous so Misty sent out Staryu to help translate."
"Please don't arrest us." Brock pleaded. And as a bonus did not try hitting on Officer Jenny, that was good progress.
"Translate?" Jenny still sounded doubtful.
"Look, we weren't going to battle," Misty said. "I swear."
"Then you won't mind if I stick around." The officer crossed her arms and stared at them.
The group looked at each other and shrugged. "If you'd like. Maybe you can help us solve the mystery of Not-Mom."
Now it was her turn to be surprised. "Not-Mom?"
"I was going to say it before, but I think Houndour might mean there's a Pokemon that's not a Kangaskhan in the herd?" Brock suggested.
"That could be it, but why's she acting nervous about it then?" Karen asked.
"There's one way to find out, let's check out the Kangaskhan and see what's up. Staryu do you mind helping out a bit more?" Misty glanced at her partner.
"I am a knight of many talents. As deft with my tongue as with my sword." Staryu bowed slightly and led the way.
Misty decided not to point out that he had neither of those.
Fortunately for them, the mystery of Not-Mom was solved almost immediately upon reaching the Kangaskhan.
It led to an entirely new mystery though.
"Hi there little boy." Jenny leaned down to greet the child wearing a striped brown and yellow rag. "Where are your parents?"
"Kanga?" The boy backed away from them and brandished a boomerang at them. "Kanga kang!"
Staryu started and stared at the human child. "Misty." For once he dropped the knight act. "He's speaking… Kangaskhan."
It took her a moment to understand what that meant. "Wait you mean he's actually speaking like a Pokemon?"
"What?" Jenny looked back and the boy kicked her and ran back into the herd and the arms of a particularly large Kangaskhan.
"Khan-gas-khan!" The Pokemon shouted and some of the others moved in between the humans and her.
Jenny rubbed her knee and stepped back. "What the heck?" She muttered.
"I think we might need Staryu's help again," Karen whispered to Misty.
She nodded but Staryu was already on the case. "Greetings denizens of the Safari Zone in the Kingdom of Kanto, I am Staryu, Knight of the Sea and guardian of Misty, Lady of Water. We are curious as to the human child in your midst."
"Khanga!" One of them barked at him.
"Yes, he is a human," Staryu said.
That might have been the wrong thing to say. "Gaskhan!" They seemed to get a bit rowdier.
"I never said he was not one of you." That seemed to calm them down a bit. "Denying he is different does not change the fact he is. He can both be a part of your dynasty while still being unique unto himself."
Misty blinked, there was more wisdom to that than she expected from Staryu. A bit of pride danced in her chest.
The Kangaskhan with the boy stepped forward and looked down upon Staryu. Despite the Kangaskhan in question being significantly larger than the average and towering over the water-type he didn't even flinch. "Kangaskhan. Kanga khan."
"Kanga?" The boy looked up at her and her expression softened, with shocking tenderness she rubbed his head with a smile.
"Khan."
"I see." Staryu nodded. "In that case, you may carry on! I apologize for any momentary distress we may have caused you!"
"Misty?" Karen glanced at her and she started, oh right, even though she was only getting half the conversation, the others were getting none of it.
"One second," Misty told her as Staryu marched back over. "What's the story?"
"Fifteen moons ago," He started the tale. "A child fell from the sky, he was injured and scared, with no idea of where he came from. Kangaskhan has raised other children to adulthood and took him in, and he has long since become a member of the tribe."
"Huh, how the heck did he fall out of the sky?" Misty wondered.
"His fall was accompanied by the sound of a human flying machine," Staryu mentioned. "I assume he was unfairly cast down."
"Right, so he fell out of a plane or helicopter or something." Misty figured out. "He's lucky to be alive."
She explained things to the other humans, simplifying some things from Staryu-speech for regular comprehension.
Jenny remained doubtful she could understand her Pokemon though.
"Do we need to prove it?" Misty asked her. "I can't do it with every Pokemon, only ones I know well and practiced understanding. I got the idea from a friend of mine and the kid over there proves humans can speak Pokemon too!"
"...I suppose if you could prove it I'll be willing to accept it." Jenny admited. "But regardless of whether you're telling the truth or not, we can't just leave that child here!"
"Why not?" Karen asked as the trainers stared at Jenny.
"What do you mean why not?" The woman was bewildered. "He's a human, he shouldn't be living in the wild like this!"
"I mean, he has been." Misty pointed out. "He has a family, and he's lived with them for over a year. Not to mention if he had parents they either wrote him off as dead or abandoned him here. Also who the heck drops a little kid out of a plane?"
"More likely a helicopter." Brock pointed out. "I'm not sure it's possible to survive falling out of a plane without a parachute."
"I've heard it is," Karen claimed. "Heck, I think I've seen videos of stunt recorders jumping into the ocean."
"Yeah, but that's the ocean, not dry land." Misty disagreed.
"Why are you acting like leaving a kid to be raised by Pokemon isn't a big deal!" Officer Jenny demanded.
"...humans raise Pokemon all the time." The former Cerulean Gym Leader pointed out. She didn't mention it but she was thinking of Ash and Delia. "Heck, Karen has an egg in her bag right now. The kid's happy, the Kangaskhan are clearly protective of him, and this is probably one of the safest places in the region for Pokemon to live."
Jenny processed that. "I still need to prove you can understand your Pokemon."
She sighed. "Fine, uh, how about you and Staryu go off a bit and you tell him something then he comes back and tells me what you said?"
As the two went out of earshot Karen mused to the other trainers. "It's weird we can still get caught up in this kind of thing without Ash around."
"The world is a weird place." Misty reminded her.
Janine and her team had proven to be a good opponent for Ash and his friends to practice against.
She refused to go into details about the gym leader's techniques, but the fact she had trained there and called herself "heiress" led Ash to believe that she was either one of the best trainers there or the daughter of the leader.
Possibly both.
Regardless it was a good afternoon for both sides, Ash may have the advantage of illusions for his disguises but he still had plenty of tips for blending in and not drawing attention to himself.
Pikachu was quick to point out that he kind of sucked at the second one.
He didn't get to learn any super cool ninja tricks, but his team learned a lot about the kind of things poison-types could do and got a pretty good idea of what to watch out for in the gym.
Poison was only one part of a poison-type's arsenal. They were willing to play the long game and wait for their opponent to exhaust themselves before going in for the finishing blow.
It was a good thing Ash knew plenty of sneaky tricks and underhanded tactics already. But it was an interesting situation. A lot of his strategies involved hitting hard and fast, so it might come down to whether his team could hit hard enough before they were worn down.
"Sounds like a tricky situation," Misty told him that night as they shared their days.
She wasn't there in person, with so much to explore in the Safari Zone they had elected to camp out there. But she was on her own near the lake and wasn't sure where Karen and Brock had gone off to.
Not that she was complaining about that fact.
"I have a few ideas," Ash told her. "But now I'm kicking myself for not going. I want to meet that kid, he sounds interesting."
"It proves that humans can definitely learn to speak like Pokemon." Misty agreed. "But considering he probably has some sort of amnesia he might not even remember how to speak any other way."
"Maybe I'll try heading over after the gym." Ash wondered about it.
"We can talk about it later, but we'll probably be back by tomorrow night. I don't know what Pokemon Brock and Karen are after but there are plenty of water-types around here. I'm gonna start asking around tomorrow morning." Misty told him.
"I hope you meet a new teammate." He told her.
"So do I, there's been a thought digging in my head since I fought Joy and Latias that if I had just one more teammate I could have won," Misty admitted. "And I know, "shoulda, coulda, woulda," and all that but still."
"I get it." Ash agreed thinking of some of his own losses. "Still, sounds like you had an interesting day."
"You're one to talk." Misty pointed out. "Why is it everywhere we go someone figures out you're a Zorua?"
"Not everywhere." Ash protested. "No one found out when we went to Pokemon Tech!"
"Every city then." Misty amended her point. "Team Rocket's Koffing saw you in Viridian, Brock found out after Pewter, I know from Cerulean, Karen, Mina and the Bamboozle for Vermillion, Sabrina in Saffron, Leaf in Celadon, plenty of Pokemon found out in Rota…" Misty started running down the list.
"Koffing doesn't count!" Ash protested. "And Brock shouldn't either! That was after the second time!"
"What do you mean Koffing doesn't count?" Ash could hear her laughing at him over the phone. "He should count the most!"
"It's not like he told any of Team Rocket!" Ash claimed.
Misty paused. "...that's a good point actually, why hasn't he told them? Meowth could have translated?"
Ash thought about it. "Maybe he tried? Remember what James said about me hitting Koffing when we saw them in Mount Moon?"
"And they just never figured out that Koffing meant you turned into a Pokemon and used an attack?" Misty sighed. "Yeah, that sounds like them."
"I wonder if they're still alive." Ash was surprised at how neutral he felt about that. It wasn't like he wanted them to be dead. But if they were it was kind of their own fault and he wasn't about to beat himself up for it.
"They seem the right combination of stupid and determined to pull themselves out of the grave," Misty suggested. "I bet we'll find out sooner or later."
"Probably, I'll see you tomorrow, I'm gonna give Mom a call, I want to talk to her about some stuff," Ash told her, preparing to hang up. "Have a good night!"
"You too, I think I'll try giving Liz a call, we haven't talked since before Diglett Cave." Misty decided.
"Tell her I said hi." Ash ended the call and breath.
He did plan to call his Mom, but he was hoping to talk to Sunny first. Or rather he had hoped Sunny would have talked to him by now.
The rest of his team was pretty tired after the day and had gone to bed while Ash made his call. He'd wandered down to the lobby so he wouldn't disturb them. He made his way back to the room and checked on his sleeping team, getting his confirmation they were all out.
With that, he closed the door again and made the call.
"Hi, Ash! Getting late isn't it?" His trainer-Mom picked up within a few rings.
"I didn't wake you up did I?" Ash worried.
"Not quite, I'm still getting ready for bed. How are you? Did you make it to Fuchsia yet?" She asked.
He explained the basics of getting to Fuchsia, and as he began his story realized he hadn't actually told her about the Bamboozle during their last call. He'd been focused on the whole thing with Team Rocket.
She was thrilled that he finally had the chance to meet other Zorua, and was glad he'd had a good time, and that they'd helped deal with the villainous organization.
But eventually, he got to the thing he wanted to talk about.
"Mom," Ash paused. "What did you think when I first called you Mom? Or, I mean when you first understood me calling you Mom?"
Delia was silent for a moment, "What did I think?" She muttered to herself, thinking back.
"I was surprised and more than a little touched." She admitted after a moment. "And I realized that I had been your mother for all intents and purposes, even if that hadn't quite occurred to me until you said it. And I've never had a problem with you calling me that. Why do you ask?"
"Sunny called me Dad," Ash said simply then winced as Delia let out a squeal of excitement.
"That's so sweet!" She claimed. "What did you say?"
"Well, I didn't get a chance to say anything," Ash admitted and told her it was a parting remark before being returned and it only hit Ash after.
"It sounds like he was nervous about saying it and wanted to get it out and then duck down in case you didn't like it." His trainer concluded.
"I do like it," Ash told her. "More than I thought I would. It makes me feel… happy. But I don't know how to be a dad and I'm worried I won't do it right."
"Well, I don't know how to be a Mom!" She laughed good-naturedly. "Just, I guess raising Pokemon is different than raising humans, Pokemon mature differently and are a lot tougher than some little kids. Physically at least. You love Sunny don't you?"
"I love my whole team!" Ash declared without a second of thought.
"Exactly, you'll do fine Ash. If Sunny wants to keep doing it, let him, and just know that he loves you just as much as you love him."
Her words made him smile. "Thanks, Mom, and thanks for being my Mom."
"I love you, Ash."
"Love you too."
Ash trailed back to his room and dropped his illusion as soon as the door shut. He jumped on the bed and looked at the sleeping forms of his team.
His friends.
His… family.
Even though she wasn't with them right now he swore he saw Selene in her spot near the pillows and smiled.
He curled up next to Sunny. "I love you." He whispered not just to the Charmander, but to all of them. At first, the words felt a bit foreign and kind of sappy in his mouth. If Pikachu had been awake he'd probably would have teased him for it a bit.
But he meant it, with all his heart.
Once again, I meant to go further with this chapter.
My original plan was to lead right up to the gym like I did with Brock and have the next chapter focus on the battle for at least the first third, possibly half.
But I think this ending works better.
Ash's relationship with his team is one of the cornerstones of this fic. They aren't just disposable and swappable superpowers, they're both part of him and they're characters with their own thoughts, feelings, and goals.
If that ain't family I don't know what is.
Anyway, as sweet as Ash accepting his team is more than just his friends is, let's get to some of the goofier bits of the chapter.
Janine! A character who for a time could have been Karen.
…allow me to explain.
After I decided not to include Brock, I still felt like I needed a third member for the group. I spent quite a lot of time thinking about it. I had a few ideas, but eventually narrowed it down to Karen, Ritchie, or Janine.
I hadn't figured out what I was doing with Ritchie yet at that point so he was the first of the final three I decided against, which brought it down to Karen or Janine.
Now originally the third member would have joined in Cerulean, but I ended up deciding to hold off after I realized it would come a bit too out of nowhere.
Both girls would have been stalking Ash for different reasons and I decided Karen's reason was the one I could work with the most. She realizes he's a Zorua, she wants to catch a Zorua.
Janine makes more sense doing it as part of her ninja training closer to home. Koga would absolutely send his daughter to scout opponents and use that to develop her stealth, planning, and observation skills.
Which we saw here, except she's still kind of figuring it out and is a bit caught up in the fantasy of "Oh this is so cool I'm a real-life ninja."
Ash is just rolling with it.
Also, it lets me do something that I hope some of you might be starting to suspect.
And we have the Safari Zone! At least part of it! Seriously the Kangaskhan kid is such a weird episode. Tommy is interesting. A kid raised by Pokemon who apparently understands them and knows how to speak Pokemon.
Wild. I had to include him.
We'll dive into the gang actually catching some Pokemon there next chapter, not Ash this time though, his next teammate is picked but still a little way out.
Not much else to talk about, but I absolutely believe there are stories like the Winged Dragonair ala Ursa Major and Ursa Minor with the tailed bears.
I crave worldbuilding.
Review time!
ThePilotArchangel: You know the funny thing is I know you're not gonna read this at least until Christmas. Uh. Merry Christmas.
LEGOBRICK13: Ash wasn't the form changer, Rattata was in that case. But Ash was a spectator. Chloe… I don't know what to do with Chloe. She's an oddball. Leaf resembling Mako Mankansho was completely unintentional but now I'm perfectly fine with Mako being her unofficial official voice. Even if they're not quite the same. Giovani is gonna be so dang mad when he realizes the full extent of his team's failures.
Strike Wyvern: You're a bit wrong, the trip was fairly smooth. Much to some Pokemon's disappointment.
Shanoics6: You are 100% correct on it being cute/funny
Goldboi217: Wait Art is a Ralts not a Mew, why would Mew be calling Ash dad?
Phaleon: I'm glad you enjoyed!
Uber Ghidorah: We'll see.
ItsDaKoolaidDude: No, not particularly.
Redery: The health page remains one of my favorite jokes in this entire fic. As for AJ, as discussed in that chapter, it's complicated and Ash realized the more he thought about it AJ wasn't quite as bad as the first impression made him think but it still messed with his head.
The one who reads and writes: Oh boy, uh, hopefully I don't miss anything here. No Zorua for Karen quite yet, and Ace has (possibly) had plenty of time to find healthy and less destructive outlets for her spite. Maybe. I'm glad you like Brock and Karen's relationship. Yeah the language barrier makes things tricky, and it came up again this chapter. And like you said, Pokemon are stronger than humans and part of it is the mental thing of "I'm far from home with no way back, at least this person gives me food and hugs sometimes." and sometimes Pokemon just want to go on adventures with trainers. Like we saw, most were pretty content with their lives at Cerise Labs and didn't really want to go. Brandon is interesting because like, other than Tobias he basically is the end game trainer. I think Ash fought him three times and only won the last. He made Paul's brother quit being a trainer. He flies around in a freaking pyramid. And also he's an archeologist. Who better to give the monster prison to? More family stuff incoming.
That about covers it! I'll see you all soon! And by soon I hopefully mean this weekend.
Also, I kept spelling Kangaskhan "Kangaskhan" I think I got them all though.
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~FriTik
R&R