"Hey, I recognize you!"

Damian turned, interested, and saw a kid with a Pikachu on his shoulder walking his way down the path.

"You do?" he asked. "Who do you think I am, then? I hope you don't think I'm the Champion… yet!"

One of the other guys who was on the road with him chuckled.

The kid shook his head. "No, I think you're… Damian, right? I heard about you."

"Cool," Damian decided. "I guess you heard about all my cool Pokémon, then."

"That's right," the kid agreed. "And I heard about how you make sure you only have strong Pokémon, right?"

There were a couple of other people coming up the path behind the Pikachu kid, but the kid stopped – it seemed like he wanted a chat, and it wasn't like Damian had anywhere he was going in a hurry.

"Well, yeah," Damian agreed. "Basic Pokémon training, right? You catch Pokémon, see if they're strong, then get rid of them if they're not. Then you use them to catch stronger Pokémon and get rid of the last ones."

He sniggered. "Mind you, sometimes you really have to try hard, some Pokémon just do not want to know."

"I'm still kind of a new trainer," the kid said. "That's a problem?"

"Yeah, there's Pokémon where you try to tell them to leave, and you really have to tell them more than once." Damian snorted, remembering this Pidgey… "One of them kept flying up until I had Machoke beat it up, then it left. I think it got the message."

"Does that happen often?" asked the girl who'd come along the path with the kid.

Something about her looked vaguely familiar, for a moment, but Damian couldn't place it, and it wasn't like it was likely he'd met her before.

"Yeah, occasionally," he said. "Well, it depends how often you catch them, right? But some Pokémon, they're just complete crybabies. There was this one Charmander I got, yeah?"

The kid seemed really interested, now. "Yeah? Wild, or from a lab? Aren't wild Charmander rare?"

"Around here, yeah," Damian said. "It just shows how good I am as a Pokémon tracker that I found one at all! But, problem is, it just wasn't as strong as they're meant to be. Guess it's why that one didn't have a trainer… you know, it couldn't even beat a Poliwag?"

"Poliwag," the kid repeated, and – huh, was that a Pokédex? "Water type, right? And Charmander is… Fire type?"

"Hey, it's not like Charmander was ever going to be a strong Pokémon if it couldn't beat type disadvantage, right?" Damian laughed. "But yeah, that was fun. I released Charmander, then told it to wait on a rock for me to come back. If it waited long enough then it'd prove it was strong enough for me to bother with."

He sniggered. "Yeah, like I was going to do that. It rained last night, right? Probably finished it off, unless it was smart enough to leave."

The kid reached up to stroke his Pikachu, which, really. Pampering a Pokémon like that… why bother?

Damian guessed this kid was, what, ten years old? He looked about that. But that wasn't going to stop him laughing if the kid did it again.

"Do you think that's enough?" the Pikachu kid said, turning to speak to his friends.

"I think that's enough, Ash," the older one said.

Damian frowned, because, actually, that guy seemed sort of familiar. More familiar than the girl, anyway.

"So, I did a lot of reading last night," Ash said, glancing between Damian and his Pokédex again. "I found what I was looking for."

"Like what?" Damian asked, getting kind of bored of this now. "What are you on about, kid? It was kind of fun talking Pokémon training but what's this about?"

"There's this old law from hundreds of years ago," Ash explained. "It's still a law, and it says that, um… to assume loyalty is false is no excuse. And, then there's lots of details, but basically, if you tell someone who works for you to do something and they get hurt, then it's your fault."

Damian had no idea what the kid was going on about.

"And there's an even older one from, um, about a thousand years ago, where a Pokémon retainer is counted as a human retainer for the purposes of damages," Ash said. "And retainer is, the same thing as having a Pokémon, when it's updated."

"So?" Damian asked. "Oh, is this about that Charmander?"

He shugged. "Yeah, that wasn't my Pokémon any more. So, what do you care?"

"Then there's a law that says that you're responsible for releasing Pokémon in a safe situation," Ash went on. "It's newer, it's from about… three hundred years ago I think, means that if your Pokémon gets hurt not long after releasing them then it's as if they were still your Pokémon. So if it's something the Pokémon does when you're not there and you couldn't have known it would happen, it doesn't count, but if you knew about it it does count."

He glanced back at one of his friends. "Is that right, Misty?"

"That's right, Ash," Misty agreed. "So if you released a Pokémon like my Goldeen on land, you'd be responsible because she couldn't get to the water in time."

"This is all nonsense," Damian said. "Who do you think anyone's going to believe, anyway? It's my word against yours, and Charmander isn't even registered as mine any more. I broke his Pokéball once I was out of sight and threw it away, so it's not like there's any proof."

Ash looked up at him, and there was something weird going on with his eyes for a moment. "There… sort of is, actually," the kid said. "It's not really all that well known now, but Gym Leaders were supposed to keep order in the areas they lived and worked before we had a modern police system. And some of the laws around that never got changed either, so Gym Leaders' testimony counts extra."

"Misty Waterflower, Gym Leader of Cerulean City," Misty introduced herself, holding out a Cascade Badge, and Damian was starting to feel like he'd been the victim of some kind of trap.

"Brock Slate, Gym Leader of Pewter City," the older guy said, holding out a Boulder Badge.

"You set me up, you little-!" Damian said, fists clenching. "Fine, whatever."

His hand went to his belt. "I've got some tough Pokémon, I'll sort you all out! There's no way you'll be able to tell anyone what I did when my Pokémon have flattened you!"

Ash reached for a Pokéball on his own belt. "Charizard, come on out!"

As it turned out, the kid had a really big Charizard.

One who loomed over the Machoke and Electabuzz Damian had just sent out, and who cracked his knuckles with a smirk.

"You know, Charizard," Ash said, an hour or so later. "I'm really proud of you."

"Ash," Charizard began.

"No, really," Ash insisted. "I want to make sure you know that. What you did to Damian… you showed how much stronger than him you really were."

"What, you mean how I beat his Electabuzz?" Charizard asked. "With his Machoke? Those weren't very strong Pokémon, Ash."

Ash waved his hand. "I mean… that's because Damian doesn't train his Pokémon. But I mean what you did to Damian himself."

"I blew him over with a snort," Charizard replied. "Then I picked him up and carried him to Cerulean Police Station."

"And you carried me, too," Ash pointed out. "But… I'm not saying this right… it's more what you didn't do."

"What I didn't do…" Charizard pondered. "No, I don't get it."

Ash smiled. "Yeah. And the fact you didn't try and get revenge is what I mean."

"Oh, right," Charizard realized. "Yeah, I guess that's a good point."

He nodded. "That's… thanks, Ash. That was something you taught me. Though, speaking of… since you can understand me now, I want to show you something later."

"Well, we'll be in Cerulean a while," Ash admitted. "A couple of days at least for all the police stuff, and making sure Misty's got her Gyarados back… is that going to be okay?"

"It'll be fine."

Brock and Misty came back to Cerulean by Pidgeot, not long after Ash and Charizard had arrived, and for the rest of the day they were caught up with the legal stuff with testimony and everything else to make sure that Damian wouldn't hurt any more Pokémon. Even the ones on his team which he'd considered strong enough to keep.

That evening, Ash made enough time to go to the still-battered Cerulean Gym with Misty – specifically, for long enough to find the right Magikarp, explain what was going to happen, get his agreement, and then restore Misty's Gyarados – then, at Charizard's request, they slipped out of Cerulean to the north.

Charizard flew to the nearest stretch of coastline, looking for something, then dropped down and landed.

"Ash," he began. "What moves do I know?"

"Uh," Ash replied, thinking. "Fly, I guess… Flamethrower, Leer, Rage, Skull Bash… do you still have Ember?"

A nod.

"Then, Fire Spin, Submission and Seismic Toss… I don't think I ever found out if you'd actually got the hang of Mega Punch… Dragon Rage, Take Down, Tackle technically… Dragon Breath and Overheat, that was a good battle…"

Charizard nodded. "Nearly there."

"I'm just glad I remember them all," Ash answered. "Steel Wing, Wing Attack, Slash and Dragon Tail. I think that's all of them."

"And one more," Charizard said. "Blast Burn."

"I don't think I've seen that one before," Ash admitted.

"I'd be surprised if you had," Charizard replied. "Or, I don't know, maybe there's other versions of it that aren't like this. But the one I know is a really, really powerful Fire typed attack. It's like Hyper Beam, I think, but it's fire typed."

"Wow," Ash said. "I wouldn't have recognized it, right? You said you'd be surprised, so… did you not show me?"

"I couldn't. It's something that's a Charicific Valley secret, I was taught by-"

Charizard shook his head. "By Charla," he explained, then kept going over Ash's attempt to say sorry. "And now I'm not sure if… anyway. It's powerful, and on top of that, it's a move I cannot use by myself. No Charizard of the Charicific Valley is able to use it unless someone else tells them to, and that someone has to be someone they respect. Look up to."

"Like a trainer, right?" Ash asked. "Why is that?"

"Well, you'll see," Charizard replied. "I brought us here to show you what it's like, Ash… that cliff section looks good. Any Pokémon in the way?"

Ash checked with his Aura Sight, then pointed.

"None nearby, Charizard – Blast Burn!"

Charizard inhaled, his Aura shifting and roiling, then used Blast Burn.

It was totally different from Flamethrower or Overheat or Inferno. They were roaring blasts of flame which spread out and engulfed the target, but this was more like the opposite. It was like a jet of blue light or gas or something more intense, faintly glowing and which smashed the air aside with a thunderclap, and then after a fraction of a second the jet exploded all at once as it realized what had happened.

And it was a spike, actually getting narrower from Charizard's muzzle to the point it was practically a single point at the target – the target which both crumbled away from the impact and melted and detonated from the heat.

Shattered rock and flowing lava dribbled out of the hole, then part of the cliff collapsed in a roaring avalanche of rock, and Ash winced.

"Yeah, that's… powerful," he admitted. "What was it?"

"It's a plasma spike," Charizard answered, panting a bit. "Focused directly on the target, and hot enough that it's plasma not anything else."

"And you can only use it when I tell you to?" Ash frowned. "Why is that?"

Charizard gave him a look. "Charicific Valley, Ash. Full of Charizard. If we could all use this move when we were angry it'd be the Charicific Crater… or possibly volcano."

"Oh," Ash admitted. "Right. Yeah, that's a good point…"

"Be careful with that move, Ash," Charizard said, wings flaring as he shook himself. "It deserves respect…"

He furled them again. "Don't forget that move, Ash. It could be needed."

"Yeah, I get what you mean," Ash nodded. "Thanks for telling me, Charizard…"

"I recognize that tone in your voice, Ash," Charizard said, torn between worry and interest. "Does it mean what I think it means?"

"I'm wondering about how to use that idea some other way," Ash admitted. "So… does it have to be a single plasma spike?"

Charizard's rumbling chuckle suggested that he'd correctly assumed what Ash meant.

"So, uh…" Meowth said, checking his notes. "They went west, then south, then north, then east, then south I think? An' now they're back in Cerulean again, right back where they started."

He frowned. "I think I missed a direction or two there, unless it's that they did… sometimes it's not worth getting out of bed, huh?"

"Maybe not," Growlie said, as Meowth leaned against his flank. "At least you aren't trying to get me to write any more."

"Yeah, 'cause you're terrible at writin' and I ain't stealing a typewriter for you," Meowth replied. "Not that I think those paws would be any kind of good at touch typin', anyway. Don't suppose you're a receptionist?"

Growlie shook his head. "I'm already carrying you around, don't push your luck."

"Yeah, I got it, I got it," Meowth said, shrugging. "We got some kinda truce going on here, with us cats and dogs and stuff. You know, I try not to insult you, and you tell me off when I do…"

He frowned. "Come to think of it, when we supposed to meet Jessie and James again?"

"James said tonight," Growlie frowned. "You don't think they're late?"

"I'm thinkin' that someone didn't think all this through," Meowth answered. "I ain't got a clue where to meet 'em tonight."

bink

Two humans, a serpent, a floating industrial disaster, a small dinosaur with a skull and a levitating fox all materialized in an instant.

The two humans promptly fell over, mostly but not entirely because they'd materialized at a forty-five degree angle to the ground.

"Ow," James moaned. "I think I broke my fashion sense."

"You wait, or I'll break your funny bone," Jessie replied, rolling over, then pointed at Abra. "And you. Was that really necessary?"

Yes, it was. Well, amusing, but same thing.

"Growlie?" James focused on his Fire-type, brightening. "Meowth? Then we did get back to wherever it is we are now!"

He clapped his hands. "Do you realize what this means, Jessie? We'll never have to use Rock Tunnel again!"

"You're right!" Jessie agreed. "What a great day!"

She turned to Meowth herself. "Now, report!"

"Well, uh… they got that Charizard and Bulbasaur again," Meowth said, checking his notes. "And… oh, yeah, Ash blew the roof off Cerulean Gym."

Jessie and James shared astonished glances.

"You mean it happens even we're not around?"

"Maybe that's our luck!" James said. "It's not just us, it's not even us! It's them! They're the ones who have the weird luck, and we're just close enough to be caught in the blast radius!"

"Then maybe if we stay away from them for more of the time, we'd get our own luck back?" Jessie asked.

Meowth folded up his notes. "Hey, now that's a good idea! It'll protect us from devastation, too! And if this Abra guy can teleport us around, we can catch up whenever the twerps need to do something."

Jessie tapped her foot. "That would work… the only problem is what we'd do while they were getting lost a long way away from us."

"Challenging gyms?" Arbok suggested. "They seem to enjoy it."

Jessie looked blank.

So did James, at least until Meowth passed on what he'd said.

"Well, I'll give anything a try once," James announced grandly.

"I've seen your wardrobe," Jessie concurred. "Didn't we have a guidebook somewhere?"

"Yep, here it is!" Meowth passed it to James. "It's the really deluxe super long one, you know, by that Prima guy."

"Prima's a guy?" Jessie scratched her head. "I thought it was a company."

James was already flicking through. "I thought Prima was a girl… Rock? No… Electric, no, they're going there next… isn't Sabrina still crazy?"

"Last I heard," Meowth confirmed.

"Water, nope, that one's broken… hmm, Grass is a possibility… aha! Koga's gym is Poison type, we've got a Ground type, a Psychic type, and two Poison types, plus he also uses Bug types. So Growlie has things to do as well!"

Jessie rubbed her hands. "That's settled, then!"

"Hey!" Meowth complained. "Whaddabout me?"

Jessie thought. "… nope, I've got nothing. You really need better moves."

Meowth grumbled about getting the Prima guide for that next time they were in a major city.

"Then let's go!" James said.

Abra's Pokéball snored.

"...tomorrow," he amended.

"When did he even go in?" Jessie asked. "I didn't see that."

Cubone had been silent for the whole of the conversation so far, but after the decision was made she put her bone down.

"If we're going to battle tomorrow, I would like to stay out," she asked.

"Huh?" Meowth blinked. "Sure, I guess… ain't like any of us are gonna stop you if you want to sleep outside. Just don't complain if you get rained on, I guess."

"I would not," Cubone stated.

And she did not, that night, not even when rainclouds did roll in after sunset.

Cubone, as it transpired, was quite dedicated to the idea that she wouldn't fulfil the reputation of her species twice.

Once was more than enough for anyone.

"So, what do you say?" Ash asked, reaching out his hand.

"I say…" Squirtle began, then reached out and took Ash's hand.

And struck a pose.

"Um," Pikachu began. "This is new."

Squirtle lit up in a flare of blue Aura for a moment. "The reputation of the Squirtle Squad echoes far and wide! When people talk about their badass leader, they're talking about me!"

"What's he saying?" Misty asked. "And why do I suddenly not want to know the answer to that question?"

"Of course I'm coming with you, Ash!" Squirtle added. "I came last time because I wanted to! As a symbolic combining of our manly spirits! That's just not going to change, no matter how much time and dimensions try to force us apart!"

"I don't remember you being like this, Squirtle," Pikachu frowned. "What kind of firefighting did you learn to do? Smothering it with raw ham?"

"Should I ask?" Riolu whispered.

Pikachu shrugged.

"Well, it's great that you're coming with me again!" Ash said. "Great to have you back, Squirtle!"

He reached for Dexter. "So, uh… where are we going next?"

Best you travel by air, Dexter answered. You next need to get to Cerulean Cape.

Misty raised her hand, one finger up. "Um. But we're south of Cerulean. Cerulean Cape is northeast. Are we going in the direct opposite direction of Vermillion? Again?"

Don't blame me, blame the fact that none of you could read a map.

"Hey, I can read maps," Brock protested.

Overwhelming evidence suggests otherwise.

Not wanting to let an argument take over, Ash sent out Charizard and Pidgeot. "Hi, guys, looks like it's another trip through the air for us."

As he formed, Charizard stretched his wings until they popped. "Aaaaah, that hits the spot. Gotcha, Ash – oh, hey, Squirtle!"

Fire-type examined Water-type.

"You've been training too, I see," Charizard said, with a nod of respect.

"Of course I have!" Squirtle announced, adjusting his shades with an audible ting of light off one of the peaked tips. "We move beyond the people we were a minute before, each revolution of the Earth driving us to improve more than the last!"

"Wait, something about that seems familiar," Charizard rumbled. "Did you get into anime?"

"I got into different anime!" Squirtle countered. "Better anime! The best anime!"

"You recognize what he's talking about, Charizard?" Ash asked.

"Yeah, I saw it on Liza's TV once," Charizard confirmed. "Something about giant robots. I kind of got the idea, but it was a while ago and I don't remember exactly or anything."

Squirtle seemed vaguely scandalized that someone would have just not been interested, then snorted. "Well, I'll just have to make sure you're familiar with the drill!"

Brock put his hand on his chin, then shrugged. "With the way Ash keeps wincing, I'm not sure I've got motivation to keep going with learning how to understand Pokémon. But, then I remember Geodude, Crobat and Steelix and it all comes back again."

At about the same time, some way to the southwest, a new challenger was at the entrance to Fuchsia Gym.

"Welcome," the Gym Leader said, with a nod. "I am Koga, and I will be your opponent. Before the gym battle, there will be a challenge."

Jessie, James, and their Pokémon listened intently, not wanting to screw this up.

They were wearing tops with J on them instead of R for Rocket, which was… about the only disguise they'd put on.

"Though… I have to ask," Koga added. "What does the J stand for?"

"It's for Team J!" Jessie said quickly. "Which stands for… Jato!"

Koga's lips twitched. "I see," he said. "And what is a Jato?"

Jessie nudged James. "You explain!"

"Jato," James began, slowly. "Is a word. Which begins with J. And which…"

His expression began to look faintly hunted. "I will explain. In this sentence. But in order to do so. I would. Have to think… of… what I was… going to say. At the end. Of the. Sentence, which. Has not yet… arrived… despite…"

It's like a rocket, but jet, Abra transmitted.

"That!" James agreed. "It's like a rocket, but it's jet instead."

While most of the team were transitioning from their battle-of-wits with Koga to their pre-battle challenge, however – which would, hopefully, be followed with an actual gym battle and then an emergency exit via Abra in lieu of being Blasted Off – there was one part of the Rocket Cell which was less interested than the rest.

"Jessie's right," Meowth sighed, wandering into the back rooms of the gym. He kicked the floor, then jumped back as a spring loaded knife launcher fired off and sank two kunai into the floor next to his paw. "Ah! Uh, dat is… yeah… anyway, she's right, I ain't no use in a gym battle."

He picked up one of the kunai, and contemplated it. "I ain't human enough, I ain't good enough at battlin'… about all I'm good for is translatin' stuff."

Meowth threw the kunai into the air, realized it was going to come down again, then dove out of the way just before it came back down at him.

Ring first, but still.

"Perhaps I can help?"

"Huh?" Meowth asked. "Who said dat? Is there another Meowth in here?"

"Why yes, yes there is." A female Scratch Cat appeared from nowhere, a headband with a stylized heart design on her brow.

Meowth, in his time as part of Team Rocket, had been hit with nearly every attack in the book and some that hadn't been added yet, and he knew what that had been. It was like the first half of a Faint Attack, or Feint Attack, or whatever it was they were calling it these days.

The one where you sneakily vanished from sight, then reappeared hitting the enemy. It was one she'd done quite well, he thought.

Not that he was paying close attention or anything.

"Uh," he said, shaking his head. "That is, you said something about help?"

"Of course," the other Meowth confirmed. "You're depressed, despite your unique skills. I can… remedy that quite easily. Come with me."

Meowth nodded, but looked back. "What about the others?"

"They're going to the far end of the maze," the other Meowth said. "We can meet them there. I know a short cut, come on."

Her tail flicked out. "You don't think we have to run the obstacle course every time we need a pint of milk, do you?"

"I guess that would be a lot of times," Meowth admitted.

"You will have thirty minutes to complete the course," Koga said. "If you complete it within that time, you may compete against me in battle. If you do not you will have to try again later."

Koga made a shape with his hands, and vanished in a puff of smoke.

Tch, Abra said. Showoff.

"Huh?" James said. "Excuse you, but I aimed dowdy today!"

"You're wearing the same outfit as me!" Jessie protested.

"That's-" James began, then sheer self preservation hotwired his brain and stopped him from saying the words 'the point'.

That was a hidden Koffing making the smoke, Abra explained, while James tried to recover from the mental equivalent of going for a snap gear change and discovering you'd accidentally hit the button that made all the wheels fall off. He ran off while he was hidden. Sure, he's good, but he can't teleport.

Abra raised his arms and steepled his fingers together. Speaking of which…

Koga came out of his high speed body-flicker in the main battle chamber of the Fuchsia Gym.

It was now time to wait.

There were many ways that a Gym Leader could organize their gym. Some went with a simple approach of a battle chamber forming the main and only room of the gym. Others treated the battle chamber as an afterthought, and most of the building was for other purposes.

Blaine made even finding the gym itself a difficult part of the challenge, while if Koga recalled correctly the more difficult part of battling Giovanni was finding a time he was available. And then there was Surge, who seemed to just treat it as a test to see who could handle his full-force power.

Koga preferred to test the mettle of his challengers by making them go through an obstacle course, which was partly because it was a good way to see their creativity and partly because the CCTV footage was often extremely entertaining.

Then there was a sort of bink noise, and 'Team Jato' appeared in the middle of the battle chamber.

For some reason the humans were upside down.

"Gah!" Jessie yelped, after landing. "Provide a better landing surface next time, James!"

"But I need those bones to hold me up," James protested.

"Impressive speed, challengers," Koga evaluated, which reminded them that he was standing right there. "You can rest assured that it will not be permissible to complete the course this way in future."

Abra rolled his eyes. Brilliant.

"It sort of is," Growlie said. "Anyone can beat an obstacle course."

He looked at Jessie and James, and tried more quietly. "Well, most people can. Eventually. But not anyone can get themselves added to the rule book."

"The battle will be three Pokémon a side," Koga said, not having followed the byplay but willing to wait until they were finished anyway. "Send forward your first Pokémon."

He sent out a Grimer, and Jessie's Cubone walked forwards in reply.

"I was going to use-" James protested, then stopped.

"Cu-bone," Cubone insisted firmly. "Bone!"

Jessie waited, then looked confused. "What did she say? Meowth?"

"Where did Meowth go?" James asked. "Did he fall into a trap or something?"

I didn't teleport him, Abra stated. She's asking for all three at once."

"Bone-bone-cu!" Cubone insisted.

And any other Pokémon you have on hand, Abra added.

"I have five total with me," Koga said. "But your team has no badges. The Pokémon I have with me include much more formidable Pokémon than you would be expected to battle at this stage."

"Cu-BONE!" Cubone demanded.

"She hasn't changed her mind, has she?" Koga asked, getting a head-shake, then sighed. "Very well."

He sent out Venonat, Golbat, Ariados and Skuntank in addition to Grimer. "On your own head be it."

"So, which Pokémon would we get normally?" James wondered.

"We'd get all of them and then our robot would get blown up," Jessie replied automatically. "Oh, you mean… hmm. Venonat and Golbat?"

"Begin," Koga instructed. "Toxic!"

All five of his Pokémon used the move at once, and Cubone dropped her club. "Cubone," she said, and a different bone appeared in both paws with a flash of light. It looked like the shell of a Carracosta, and the Toxic attacks splashed off it without penetrating.

Casting it aside, she picked up her Thick Club again, then threw it directly at Grimer. The impact made the Poision-type go splat quite thoroughly, and Koga frowned.

"Giga Drain, Ariados!" he said, then continued listing off attacks. "Gunk Shot. Psychic. Poison Fang."

Each move was unique to one of the remaining Pokémon, and the combination of attacks should have overwhelmed Cubone.

Should have.

Instead, she stamped a foot on the ground. "Cu-cu-bone!"

A cylinder of bones rose up out of the floor with a sudden crunch, blocking the attacks, then fragmented, and Cubone grabbed one of the individual bones before hurling it at Venonat. The Bug-type was bowled over backwards, then Cubone vaulted into the air using another one of the disintegrating bones and snagged her Thick Club on the rebound.

"Wow," Jessie said, watching. "She's strong."

Hmm, Abra mused. It's not just that she's strong. It's actually interesting. I think there's something else going on here… I don't think those moves usually work like that.

James looked puzzled. "They don't?"

Forming specific bones for shields? Abra asked, pointing as Cubone warded off a Flamethrower with a skull that looked like it was made of ice. Not normal. Bone Rush makes generic bones. Forming them out of the ground like that? Not normal.

Cubone threw a spray of small bones that knocked Skuntank out of the battle, despite his attempt to set the floor on fire with Flamethrower.

Nor is that, Abra went on. It's reminding me of an old story I once heard from an Alakazam. Something about Pokémon that could become vastly more powerful than others of their species.

He flicked his tail. It's something to do with… marbles, I think. But I can't remember the specifics.

"Well, marble or not, it's working," Jessie said. "How's she going to deal with Golbat, though?"

Cubone answered this question by picking up her Thick Club and using Fling.

"...well, there you go, then…"

"Well," Koga said, once the dust had cleared. "I must say, I'm not entirely sure you remembered that this was supposed to be your first gym challenge."

"She surprised us as well," Jessie said. "But we're not complaining. And we'll still take the badge!"

"Of course," Koga replied. "It's already in your pocket."

Showoff, Abra grumbled, as James rummaged around in his pocket and found a Soul Badge.

"We'd better get Cubone to the Pokémon Centre, just to make sure she didn't strain something," he said. "Can you get bone ache?"

"That's a good point," Jessie admitted. "Only problem is, we'd need to bring Meowth. Where is Meowth, anyway?"

"I haven't seen him since before the battle started," James frowned, then checked his other pocket. "Where could he be?"

"Here, Meowth!" Jessie said.

"You seem to be having trouble with one of your Pokémon," Koga observed.

James shook his head. "Common mistake, but no, he's not one of our Pokémon. He's an associated Pokémon who's part of the same team and who's just going in the same direction as us on an administrative level, not a Pokémon who's been caught by either human member of the team."

"It's very different," Jessie agreed. "And for some reason it means he doesn't actually have to fight most of the time."

"We don't have to fight most of the time, Jessie," James said. "And I wouldn't be good at it. I'm not the right kind of unbalanced."

"Is that supposed to imply that I'm unbalanced?" Jessie demanded.

"No, that's just a coincidence," James defended himself hastily, waving his hands. "I would never describe you as unbalanced within earshot! Why would I do that? Either you're not unbalanced and it's false, or you are unbalanced and with how you're already prone to violence it's a major danger to my life and limb!"

"And don't you forget it," Jessie said, apparently mollified by that argument. "What were we doing again?"

Something about looking for Meowth, I think, Abra provided helpfully. Mind you, you were looking in exactly the way I prefer to look for things, which is to do it without moving.

"Do you know where he is?" James said, turning to Koga. "We'd be lost without him!"

"We're usually lost with him," Jessie countered.

"And why should he avoid the misery?" James demanded.

Koga made a mysterious gesture with both hands in front of his face.

Mobile phone in his right hand, Abra announced blandly.

Then there was a clunk, and a panel opened in the ceiling.

A Meowth wearing a ninja headband dropped out, flawlessly flipping over to land on all four paws at once before rising to a crouch.

The familiar Team Rocket Meowth also fell out of the panel, tangled up in several lengths of nearly-invisible wire and with an array of pamphlets fluttering to the floor around him, and stopped about halfway down to bounce around on the end of a length of rope.

"Oh, hi, guys!" he said, waving, then something overhead went snap and he fell the rest of the way to the floor. "Ow."

Rolling over, he got up. "So, I met this other Meowth and got a great one-stop crash course on some stuff that's been a real mystery my whole life so far! It's been amazing, I feel like I can finally call myself a tom!"

"What's a tom?" Jessie asked, leaning towards James.

"Not sure, I think it means he gets chased around by a mouse," James replied.

Meowth untangled himself from the mess of ninja wire, wound up, and threw three coins at the wall. One bounced off and one missed, but it was still a big moment.

"Was that Pay Day?" Jessie asked.

"And it didn't involve my bottle caps?" James added.

"Yeah!" Meowth agreed. "So now I can call myself a Meowth without feelin' like I'm askin' for trouble!"

James nodded in understanding. "We do usually make it double if there's any trouble around."

"Now all I gotta do is make sure I learn the rest of this basic guide to ninja-ing," Meowth said, gathering up all the fallen pamphlets and tying them together with some of the ninja wire. "I'll be a proper member of the team eventually!"

James crouched down and picked Meowth up, startling him.

"You ran away from your past to become part of a criminal organization," he said. "You already are a proper member of the team, Meowth."

"Criminal?" Koga asked, amused.

"Abra!" Jessie snapped, and they all vanished. Along with the pamphlets.

"Well," Koga added. "That was interesting. Well done keeping that one amused, Meowzie."

The next morning, Ash, Brock and Misty were leaving the lighthouse on Cerulean Cape.

"Well!" Ash said, trying to put a bright spin on what had just happened. "At least we know, now. It was kind of bugging me not knowing, before."

He waved vaguely in the direction of Pallet Town. "And I got Kingler, too!"

"I'd have been happier not knowing about that," Brock said. "It's a shame that even Pokémon can't avoid that kind of thing."

"Honestly, I want to know how it happened," Pikachu admitted. "But, at the same time, I really don't."

"Pikachu's unable to decide if he wants or doesn't want to know how it happened," Ash supplied. "How does it happen with humans? I only really know what Mom told me about those kinds of people."

"What did she tell you?" Misty asked.

Ash put a hand on his chin, thinking. "I think the exact way she put it was… don't."

"That's about right," Brock nodded. "Okay. So, have you ever heard of a pyramid scheme, Ash?"

Ash thought about that.

"Is that the way Brandon's pyramid flies around?"

"No," Misty sighed.

"A pyramid scheme is when you have a company that doesn't actually do anything real," Brock explained. "Instead, it mostly makes money by people joining it and paying money, and then the way the people in the company make money is by selling things to other people. Or by convincing other people to join the company, there's different kinds but they're mostly like that in different ways."

He waved his hand at where the events of the last foggy night had happened. "And once Pikachu translated what that massive Dragonite was saying, and you translated Pikachu, I knew two very important things. One, even some Pokémon get convinced. Two… there was no way we were going to sign up."

"What if that's how the Pokémon got so big?" Ash asked, curiously.

"Don't even think about it, Ash," Misty insisted. "Remember what your Mom said about it."

"I guess," Ash agreed. "So, uh… I think we've done everything we needed to do… let's go to Vermillion, at last!"

Far to the north, in an airship hovering over Verity Lakefront, a silver-haired woman smirked.

"Interesting," she said. "A job in the Kanto region… well, the starting offer isn't much, but the second payout on completion of the job is interesting."

None of her crew interrupted her.

"And capture the Arcanine," she added. "No specifications on what happens to it afterwards… I'm sure I can find a buyer."

She considered a moment more, before coming to a decision.

Venturing in range of the skies protected by the Blackthorn clan would be… unpleasant, but she was confident her array of near-lost and cutting-edge technologies would let her succeed.

"Helm. Change course, head south. Exec. All hands commence combat drills and switch to loadout D on the outer cannons. Remain in cloak until we are over the water."

"Yes, sir," the helmsman concurred. "Turning south, preparing for cruising speed."

"Loadout D, confirmed," the executive officer agreed.

Hunter J closed her eyes, for a moment, and let the raw power at her disposal just wash over her.

Perhaps she'd try to find one of the Birds of Kanto or the Beasts of Johto while she was down there. Capturing Pokémon on spec was rarely something she was interested in, but… legendaries would never lack a buyer.

AN:

Cubone is based in several important ways off Archer from the Fate/Stay Night series. It's a great game/anime series, and I would recommend it.

I essentially couldn't resist an "I am the bone of my club" joke, and from there on the entire Reality Marble thing fell into place. One of the rewrite changes, however, was to delay the point at which Cubone uses this to its fullest extent.

I also changed details of Meowth in Fuchsia Gym, much of the confrontation with Damien, and the specific Giant Dragonite joke.

Hunter J, on the other hand, is a marvelously competent and - above all - vicious adversary. She wasn't changed much.