Charizard and Pidgeot banked around in a wide circle over the port of Vermillion, there at last, and Misty pointed out the S.S. Anne. "There it is."

She sighed. "It's hard to remember now how much I used to love that ship."

"Yeah, a… lot happened on that ship," Brock agreed. "There was a Team Rocket plot, right?"

"Right, and we should probably stop it, but… I can't face it," Misty admitted. "We'll have to tell the police somehow. Isn't there a way of doing anonymous tip offs?"

"I'm sure there is," Ash called, from Charizard's back. "So, we get that sorted out, and then I go and get my third gym badge!"

"You bet!" Charizard agreed.

"I might not be using you, Charizard," Ash admitted. "I know you're really tough, but you are a Flying type… plus, using you would sort of feel like admitting he was right and that evolved Pokémon are stronger."

"Well, we… nope, not finishing that sentence too close to Pikachu," Charizard said. "Where do you want me to land?"

"Let's go for the gym!" Ash decided.

Brock shook his head, as Pidgeot banked around to follow her teammate. "Never change, Ash… I'd better sort out that tip."

"Pikachu, Riolu, Bulbasaur," Ash said, going through the list again. "Then, I guess Charizard if he insists on four or more-"

He looked up at the sound of footsteps, then caught Pidgeot's Pokéball from Misty.

"Brock's going to join us later," his friend said. "He's not sure how long it'll be, though, so he says go ahead and get started."

"Right!" Ash agreed, then went to knock on the door of the gym. The automatic door slid open before he reached it, and he looked vaguely embarrassed.

"Whoops," Pikachu said blandly.

"Huh?" Surge said, looking up, then smirked. "Oh, huh, a new challenger, right? You've got good taste in evolutionary lines… but bad taste in Pokémon."

He took a Pokéball from his belt, and sent out his Raichu. "Look at your Pikachu, kid. Now at Raichu. Back at Pikachu. Now back to Raichu. Your Pikachu isn't a Raichu, but he could be."

"Pikachu's going to surprise you, you can bet on it!" Ash retorted.

"Oh, boy, are we going to surprise him," Pikachu agreed.

"Yeah, I'll believe it when I see it," Surge snorted. "I know kids these days love to get on with their oo-so-cute Pokémon, but if you want strong Pokémon quick you push them to the limit! That's just what works, okay?"

"I disagree!" Ash replied. "I really disagree! A Pokémon can be strong for different reasons by not having evolved, and even if that weren't true it's no reason to just evolve your Pokémon straight away!"

"What do you take me for?" Surge asked. "You don't evolve your Pokémon just because, you evolve them to be strong. And my job is to make sure that the trainers who get past me know how to have strong teams… and the ones who don't have strong teams fail to make it past me."

He folded his arms. "Since you're talking big, kid, here's my challenge to you. How many badges have you got?"

"Two," Ash replied. "But they were tough battles!"

"Yeah, I'm sure," Surge said, rolling his eyes. "Listen, kid. Chu-line Pokémon is a good start, so here's my challenge for you. Three Pokémon, three separate one on one battles, you have to win them all… but win or lose, you get a Thunderstone to evolve that Pikachu. And once you realize how much stronger it'll make him, any rematch? It's just Raichu versus Raichu."

Pikachu's cheeks sparked. "He's really jumping up and down on all my buttons here."

"Mine too," Ash agreed, soothing his starter with a stroke. "But he's trying to, Pikachu, so let's keep our cool."

He raised his voice. "Sure! Let's do this!"

Surge's Raichu went bounding back to the side of the arena, and Ash sent out Bulbasaur at the same time as the Gym Leader sent out an Electrode.

Bulbasaur trotted out to his spot, rolling his neck a little to loosen up.

It had been a while since his last formal battle, so this would be interesting.

"You know what Electric-types are best at, kid?" Surge said. "Blitz! Begin!"

Electrode revved, burst into motion, and Exploded at close range to Bulbasaur.

"Right," Bulbasaur said, sliding backwards across the arena floor, then sent his vines whipping out into the section Electrode had blasted and dug them in as anchors. They went twang, halting him about halfway to the wall, and he retracted them so he wasn't pinned down. "That's right. Electrode do that."

"Electrode's still okay," Ash reported, shading his eyes.

Bulbasaur huffed. This was going to be all kinds of not fun.

"Latch onto the ceiling!" Ash said, and Bulbasaur's vines lashed out again. This time they snagged onto the girders holding the roof up, and Bulbasaur yanked himself out of the way just before Electrode tried to blow him up again.

"Not bad," Surge said, nodding slightly. "But that's not enough to save you. Shock Wave, Electrode!"

"Stay on the ceiling and charge up a Solarbeam!" Ash replied. "Sunny Day if you think you can!"

"This isn't going to end like it did in Cerulean Gym, is it?" Misty asked.

"Huh?" Surge asked, glancing up as Electrode fired out blasts of not-especially-strong but very precise electricity, each one that hit Bulbasaur making him sway with increasing violence. "What happened at Cerulean?"

"Bulbasaur, switch to Magical Leaves!" Ash called.

Bulbasaur's first response, a Solarbeam, had missed his opponent – then he began using Magical Leaf attacks instead, but Electrode blurred away from a lot of those as well and used Explosion on the rest – blasting another small hole in the flooring of Surge's gym, revealing more of the ground underneath.

"I guess I'll ask later," Surge decided. "Okay, Swift! Get that vine!"

"Retract, Bulbasaur!" Ash called.

Bulbasaur retracted his vines, which meant the Swift attack hit his body instead, and hung in the air for a moment before putting his forepaws together and going crunch into one of the sections of exposed ground.

"Okay, that is new," Surge allowed. "I didn't know Bulbasaur could learn Dig."

"It's not a common move, but mine can and did!" Ash replied. "You'd be amazed what Pokémon can pull off!"

"Geez, kid, you're acting like I'm the greenhorn here," Surge snorted. "Electrode, Shock Wave!"

The bolt just sort of hit the ground without doing anything.

"Huh, not seen that before… guess usually it's Ground types who use Dig so it never comes up. Swift!"

The Swift stars went flying into the tunnel, making them a significant improvement over Shock Wave, but nothing immediately obvious happened.

Ash closed his eyes again. "Keep it up, Bulbasaur! You're doing just what you should be!"

"What is he doing, anyway?" Pikachu asked. "Riolu could see but I can't do that just yet."

"Growth," Ash replied. "A lot, actually."

He stepped back a bit, and Misty did the same. "Actually, maybe we should-"

"FRENZY PLANT!"

There was a kerrunch, and a knobbly mass of wooden vines and branches burst out of the gym floor. One part of the mass hit Electrode head-on and launched them into the air, then three other sections rose up and slammed together on Electrode from several directions at once.

While Electrode had been doing damage to the gym floor, which was what had let his opponent dive underground in the first place, the Frenzy Plant did a lot more than that. Then Electrode made everything worse by Exploding again, sending a cloud of splinters scattering across most of the floor.

Vermillion Gym was not having a good day.

The cloud of splinters hadn't reached any of the humans, and Surge lowered his arm as he looked towards the centre of the arena.

"Electrode, watch out for-" he began, then a clawed foot kicked Electrode into the air and knocked them out.

Ash ran over to help Bulbasaur out, only to discover that it was impossible on account of said Pokémon being Ivysaur instead.

"Are you okay, Ivysaur?" he asked. "Did you mean to evolve?"

"I think I overdid it on Growth," Ivysaur replied, sounding quite out of it. "And then Frenzy Plant. Ooh, I've got fronds. That's weird."

The Grass-type waved them. "And petals, trippy…"

"Well," Surge said. "That's one, but he had to evolve to win."

"He didn't have to, he just did it by accident," Ash replied.

"And that's not an appropriate three badge challenge Pokémon," Misty pointed out, folding her arms. "I don't think I'm going to tell you what happened at Cerulean now."

Ash recalled Ivysaur, with another word of praise for a job well done, then swapped him out for Riolu just as Surge responded with a Magneton.

"Wow, another titchy Pokémon?" Surge asked. "What is it with you and these little Pokémon? Is this one going to evolve too?"

"I'd be honoured to evolve, but in this battle I'd rather not," Riolu said. "Mostly to make a point."

He adjusted his stance, and Pikachu smirked slightly.

"I guess hiding Riolu worked out after all," he said. "Hey, wait, isn't Magneton not fully evolved?"

"Pikachu's got a point!" Ash agreed. "Your Magneton isn't fully evolved!"

"Hey, kid, I have to make some concessions towards your badge number," Surge shot back. "Just take the Magneton before I swap it out with a Magnezone just to make a point, okay?"

Riolu's paws lit up slightly, but as they did, Pikachu noticed that Surge's Raichu was making a series of gestures at him.

In aggregate, they claimed that Pikachu was… a total softy and rather untalented. They also contrived to insult an entire herd of Kangaskhan, though Raichu probably didn't specifically intend that.

"Okay, it's on," Pikachu declared.

Meanwhile, in the battle that was actually going on, Surge called to start and Magneton's magnets whirred as it used Magnet Rise.

Riolu cricked his neck, then crouched, and sprang into the air. He slammed a Force Palm into Magneton, knocking the Steel-type backwards with a clang that sent blue sparks fizzing over its body, and Surge waved his arm.

"Higher!" he called. "Then use Flash!"

Magneton lit up like an arc-lamp, prompting Riolu to close his eyes and navigate through Aura, and Ash did the same.

"Riolu, use the nearest wall as a spring-off point!" he said, and Riolu sprinted to the wall.

"Lock On!" Surge retorted. "Then Zap Cannon!"

Riolu reached the wall just as the Lock On activated, and Ash overrode his instructions. "Shadow Claw instead – and – now!"

Both sets of Shadow Claws flashed, and Riolu burst the incoming Zap Cannon attack just before it reached him. It still sent a blast of electrical energy fizzing over him, arcing from his wrists and along his tail, but Riolu shook it off with a shudder and an effort of will.

He'd been training with Pikachu for several weeks now.

"The corner!" Ash called. "Bounce up it!"

Riolu turned to the corner, running again, and jumped up from one wall to the other to get more height. Each jump was accompanied by a flash of blue aura as he kicked off, giving him more impetus than he'd have had otherwise, and he reached the ceiling by the time Magneton had used the second Lock On.

"Zap Cannon!" Surge instructed again, and Ash thought for a moment – then signalled.

"Drop!" he called. "Let's try something else!"

Riolu waited a moment longer, until the Zap Cannon was just about to fire, then dropped all the way from the ceiling to the floor. It was a long drop, at least thirty feet, but he absorbed it with a faint oof before lashing out with a Force Palm and smashing the Zap Cannon.

"Got to admit, that's one more than I was expecting such a small Pokémon to handle," Surge said.

"Okay, Riolu, Aura Sphere!" Ash said.

Surge snorted. "Yeah, I recognize that. Nice bluff."

Ash and Pikachu glanced at one another, mystified, then Ash said what they were all thinking. "Bluff?"

"It's a close range attack, right?" Surge said. "I've seen it on that anime series, the one with the kid and the Ninetales or something."

Riolu threw the Aura Sphere, deliberately aiming high, and it curved down to slam into Magneton from above. The impact was enough to seriously impact Magneton by itself, disrupting the Steel-type's third Lock On, and Riolu sprinted across the splinter-strewn arena floor in a blur of blue Aura to slam a one-two Force Palm combination into Magneton as well.

"What?" Surge asked, then winced as Riolu finished with a final wind-up and a Force Palm strike that knocked Magneton through the wall.

"Don't believe everything you see on TV, I guess?" Ash shrugged, then gathered up Riolu in both arms as the Fighting-type joined him. "Great work, Riolu!"

"I'm glad I actually won that one," Riolu admitted. "Starmie was embarrassing."

"Well, I guess," Surge replied, then whistled.

Two Magnemite floated out of a small side door and got to work on the hole Magneton had left, one of them using their magnets to lift the broken-off section of wall back into place and the other starting to do some kind of electric arc-welding.

"It'll do for now," Surge decided. "Now, kid. There's three parts to the Electric-type philosophy I have here. Speed, precision, power. It's time for power. Raichu!"

"Pikachu!" Ash called.

Pikachu's cheeks sparked, then he tamped down on them deliberately.

This wouldn't be a battle of electricity.

Surge apparently disagreed, as he clapped his hands for them to begin. "Thunder!"

Raichu immediately blasted Pikachu with Thunder, which ran down into his voltage wells and made his cheeks glow red with extra electricity.

"Mega Punch!" Surge added. "Lightningrod Pikachu, huh?"

Raichu lashed out with Mega Punch, and Pikachu used Agility to dart to the side away from the blow.

That was Raichu's style, he knew. Hammerblows, heavy hits, using his greater mass and strength to beat other Pokémon in a straight fight.

But Ash and Pikachu had worked out the trick. Together.

"Left!" Ash called. "Now he's on your right – spin and Iron Tail!"

Pikachu spun around, his tail glowing with Iron Tail, and parried Raichu's Take Down attack. The impact had enough force to knock him into the air, even diverted like that, but Pikachu rolled over twice before braking himself enough to regain control and he was off again.

"Thundershock!" Ash added.

Just a test, but Pikachu used Thundershock anyway. The way it curved told him – both of them – that Raichu had Lightningrod as well, which meant there wasn't going to be a chance for an unpleasant Volt Crash surprise for Pikachu's opponent… but it had been worth checking.

"Tail sweep him!" Surge called suddenly, and Pikachu jumped just in time as Raichu's tail – his Iron Tail – swept across in front of him with a speed that might have knocked Pikachu over.

"Focus Blast!"

"Stay on the move, Pikachu!" Ash called. "Spin up the start of a Volt Crash and short it!"

Pikachu did just that, producing a massive cloud of sparks as the three rings formed and immediately detonated, and the Focus Blast went whizzing past him before smashing another hole in the wall.

"Keep moving," Ash instructed. "Left – right!"

Surge's Raichu tried another Take Down, then turned it into an Iron Tail sweep as he went past, and Pikachu evaded that one as well. He renewed his Agility, making sure he'd stay fast enough to keep several steps ahead of Raichu – then amended it to just a couple of steps ahead, as Raichu tried another Mega Punch and smashed the floor behind him.

"Lead the target, Raichu!" Surge called. "Don't act like you're going to hit him, just hit him!"

"He's really fast, it's annoying!" Raichu shot back. "Still, if all he can do is run then he's going to get tired sooner or later!"

Surge hadn't understood, but he was considering anyway. "Show them a Signal Beam!"

"Straight, straight, straight," Ash began reciting. "Left! Right!"

Pikachu jinked left and right, Ash giving just the right amount of lead time on the instructions to let Pikachu react right, then the Electric-type glanced at his trainer. "Think we're ready?"

"I think so!" Ash replied. "Let's see a Volt Crash!"

"Volt Crash?" Surge repeated, then leaned forwards as a web of lightning spread over Pikachu's fur – first forming a Counter Shield, then breaking up into three rings which began to spin. "You said that before, but – what the hell's that? I've never seen that attack before…"

"You wouldn't have," Ash said.

"Cheeky brat," Surge said, but it didn't have the force of his earlier comments. "How's that… okay, I've got no idea how the hell that's working, but Raichu can match it if you want to play! Raichu, Charge, then Thunder!"

Raichu charged up, building up his potential, then Ash swiped his hand. "Now!"

Pikachu changed course suddenly, then fired.

So did Raichu.

Their attacks collided between them with a wham, producing a massive cloud of sparks and electrical energy… one which left both Pokémon unable to see quite what was going on on the other side.

But, unlike Raichu, Pikachu had known what was going on.

He blurred through the cloud of electrical scatter, suddenly changing tactics from avoidance to direct combat, and hammered Raichu with a completely unexpected Force Palm.

"What the-?!" Surge gasped, then took a step back. "Raichu, he's in close! Brick Break!"

Pikachu got there first, using Iron Tail to hit Raichu, then finally slamming the Electric-type with another Force Palm and knocking him back into the floor.

"Raichu are inherently stronger and tougher, my tail," Pikachu said, panting.

He felt great. Covered in splinters, but great.

"Okay, kid, I give," Surge said, recalling his Raichu. "That's a hell of a Pikachu you've got there. You'll really go places."

Ash picked up Pikachu, brushing his fur to get the splinters off, then looked up as Surge whistled sharply. "Huh?"

"Make yourself the best damn Raichu in Kanto," Surge said, then tossed two things at Ash. One was the Thunder Badge, which Ash caught with his free hand automatically, and the other he caught with the arm that was holding Pikachu.

It was a Thunder Stone.

Pikachu yelped in shock as the evolution stone made contact, yellow and strange red lightning fizzing over him and blue-yellow Aura flashing up in response, and suddenly Ash's focus wasn't remotely on the battle he'd just won.

"Riolu, help!" he said. "I think he's trying to reject it – or something – I need you to help out!"

The Electric-type felt hazy, detached. He knew something had happened, but… it wasn't clear.

There'd been a lot of pain. Everything still ached, all over, and it took a long moment for him to start to put together what had happened.

There'd been a battle. Vermillon Gym, again. A battle against Surge's Raichu… and he'd won, but then there'd been a mistake.

A stupid mistake. It could have happened to anyone… and now it had happened to him.

He really hadn't wanted to evolve. But… if it had happened… he was going to have to accept it.

Ash hadn't meant it, so it wouldn't be right to be mean to Ash about it. And that was the main person that would suffer if he didn't deal with it.

He could deal with it. He would.

Ash's starter tried to curl his tail up, but it felt stiff. Wrong. Or, not how he was expecting.

"Are you all right, Pikachu?"

Riolu was there the moment after Ash called for him. "What do you need me to do?"

"Contain the energy," Ash said, pulling his gloves on one hand at a time. "Get it back into the stone – I'm guessing here, but I think we can do it!"

"The hell's going on-" Surge demanded, then stopped speaking as Misty glared at him.

It was an extremely forceful glare.

"I know how to move energy around but I can't do this myself," Ash added, sinking to the ground for a better platform, and closed his eyes for better focus.

Remembering a long-ago (future) desperate situation, in Rota, and Ash and Lucario pouring their hearts and souls and life into a failing crystal tree.

This wasn't the same. But it mattered, all the same.

Riolu's paws touched his hands, and the Thunder Stone, keeping it separate from Pikachu but close enough to use, and Ash felt grateful all over again for his gallant little friend.

Then all his focus was on their work.

Teasing out the parts of the aura signature that was Pikachu, and the parts that were foreign. Gently separating them out. Passing them one by one to Riolu, who poured them back into the Thunder Stone, which glowed brighter and brighter with every moment.

The red lightning and the energy it represented, the violent reaction to first contact, slowly drained away. The Thunder Stone's power, as well, moving moment by moment from Pikachu into the chain of hands and paws and then back to where it had started.

It felt like it took only moments.

Or days.

But eventually there was only a tiny bit left – then a sudden shockwave of lightning flashed through Pikachu as Ash tried to get the last little bit out, with red lightning flickering over Pikachu's fur one last time and then going silent.

"Is that all of it?" Riolu asked.

"I don't know," Ash replied, opening his eyes again, almost a shock after the long focused trance. "Something weird happened…"

He turned Pikachu over, brushing splinters off his fur, then stopped as Pikachu began to stir.

"So… I am still a Pikachu?" Pikachu checked, having a little trouble believing it.

"Yeah, or… I think almost completely?" Ash replied. "Something weird happened at the end of the process. Uh, Dexter?"

He held up the Pokédex, who took a photo, then flipped him over and showed Pikachu the picture.

"My cheeks," Pikachu realized straight away. "That is a different colour, right?"

They were still red, but they were an angry red – the same colour as the red lightning that had fizzed around him during the process.

"They sort of itch," Pikachu added, reaching up with his paws to feel them. "Is something wrong with me?"

"I don't know," Ash said helplessly. "I don't know what happened there, either, Pikachu – and sorry about-"

"Ash, it was a mistake, and an honest one," Pikachu interrupted. "I don't blame you for it. I couldn't. It'd be like blaming myself… or you blaming me."

Ash couldn't think of what to say to that.

"There's something else." Riolu looked up, showing them what was in his paws.

He'd been cradling the Thunderstone, all through the process, but what he held up wasn't a Thunderstone any more.

"Wait, is that…" Surge asked, stepping forwards. "I've seen a picture, once. I think that's a Light Ball."

He snorted. "I didn't think they existed, but I guess they do. They don't work for Raichu, or any other Pokémon for that matter… just Pikachu."

Riolu held it up, and Pikachu touched it. The moment he did, it vanished, draining into his body like the whole object was being sucked in by Lightning Rod, and Ash blinked.

"Pikachu, your cheeks changed again…"

"My electricity changed, I can tell you that," Pikachu said. "I've got… it's more power, or more control, or maybe both? Or more like… something else? It's like having an assistant or something, I can do something with the Light Ball power while doing something else with the rest."

His ears twitched. "Wait, what's happened to my cheeks now?"

Ash shifted, checking Dexter again, then flicked one step along on the evolutionary diagram.

"They're sort of… Raichu fur coloured?" he said. "Orange, but I don't know if it's the exact shade or not."

"Weird," Pikachu summarized. "I… guess I'll see how I feel about it later? Bulb – Ivysaur's probably going to want to do the same."

"Yeah, good point," Ash agreed. "I'll have to chat to you two about it this evening."

The gym door opened.

"Am I late?" Brock asked. "The floor's all beaten up, so… probably, I guess."

Once they'd gone to the Pokémon Centre, the friends discussed their next plans.

Mostly that ended up being going down the list of things that were going to happen next, and deciding if they wanted to do them.

Which was a quick process.

"The S.S. Anne…" Ash said. "Well, we got the police tipped off, but I don't really have a good reason to go there."

"Yeah, it was mostly Pokémon trading, right?" Pikachu replied. "That Raticate was technically your Pokémon for about five or ten minutes, but I doubt that's a good enough connection to bother… and I don't think Butterfree would appreciate it, either."

"Right," Ash agreed.

Dexter flashed up the next image on screen. Porta Vista.

"Misty, you want your Horsea, right?" Ash checked.

"Absolutely!" Misty agreed. "And we probably should do something about that mayor who made all those Tentacruel attack."

"Maybe I should have dropped off more tips with Officer Jenny!" Brock said. "It'd have let me spend more time talking to her!"

"Suddenly I know why Brock was late," Misty grumbled.

Another image. The Butterfree swarm.

"I'd like to go," Butterfree said, sending himself out. "But… I've missed this, Ash. I'd like the ability to come back if it's an option."

"I think we can get that worked out," Ash replied, thinking. "There's the uplink Dexter has now, it could be the same thing for you… Dexter, can you ask Professor Oak?"

On it, the sapient Pokédex agreed. Next is Saffron Gym.

Ash sighed. "I… well, we know getting that Haunter from Lavender Town would work, but last time it didn't get interested until we got a chandelier dropped on us and turned into ghosts."

Brock did a double-take. "Into what? We thought that had just knocked you out!"

"Yeah, that was a thing," Pikachu agreed.

"I think there's something else that might work," Ash frowned. "I'll need to check Sir Aaron's notes. There's something about a way of purifying Shadow Pokémon, I need to check the details but it might work…"

AN:

This chapter has been edited in significant ways. The Vermillion Gym is an effectively complete redo, especially Pikachu's part in it.

The partial evolution was also tweaked for thematic purposes, plus the now-Anime-canon detail that Ash's Pikachu has the Gigantamax Factor. This is one of the few times in the rewrite I use anything that was not already known information at the time of the original chapter's publication - or, at most, near the end of Gen 5.