Author Notes: I just want to give a special shoutout to Capt Hikimari for helping me with the beta-reading. There are some areas that I am still struggling with but I am thankful for their assistance.

Please enjoy the next chapter, as always - I appreciate all reviews and interactions in regards of this ongoing fanfiction.

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Ash, Misty, and Pikachu were currently investigating the entrance of Mt. Moon to figure out what caused the explosion.

"See or hear anything so far?" Ash asked Pikachu quietly, looking at his electric starter as Pikachu's ears twitched.

"I hear someone in there…" Pikachu muttered softly before rolling his eyes when he realized the source of the noise. "It sounds like Team Rocket. I can hear Meowth's loud mouth from here."

Ash and Misty looked at each other for a moment, they then nodded at each other silently as they let out Butterfree and Staryu.

"Keep close to us, but be ready to attack," Ash instructed Butterfree, who nodded in confirmation.

"You too, Staryu," Misty told her water-type Pokemon, whose light just blinked in response as the duo along with their Pokemon moved slowly to see what Team Rocket were up to.

They soon had a good view of a pink-haired woman, a blue-haired man, and the Scratch Cat Pokemon. The Team Rocket trio were busy chatting away, discussing their plans in greater detail.

"So when do ya think the twerps will get here?" Meowth asked, crossing his arms. "They have a lot of explaining to do."

Ash and Misty blinked as they listened to Meowth's words before looking at each other in confusion.

"Did I accidentally restore their memories when we battled them last time?" the dark-haired boy whispered quietly towards his old companion who just shrugged in response.

Ash sighed softly as he turned towards Team Rocket, shouting. "Butterfree, Use Psychic to get a hold of Team Rocket!" This alarmed Jessie, James, and Meowth as Butterfree's eyes glowed pink. It did not take long before the Team Rocket trio were covered in pink glow.

"It's the twerps!" Jessie hissed as she found herself unable to move because of Butterfree's psychic powers.

"You…" James began, glaring at the Pallet Town native. "Before you blast us off or anything like that, we have a couple of questions for you, twerp."

Ash blinked, not surprised that James was wanting to ask questions. He then spoke once again. "How do I know you're not trying to steal Pikachu?"

"We won't attack, we promise. Ya know…we just want to know what the hell happened," Meowth begged as he stared at Ash. The dark-haired boy thought about it for a minute before he finally made a decision.

"Let them go," Ash ordered. Butterfree nodded in response and did what his trainer requested, dropping the Team Rocket Trio in the process.

"Thank ya." The Scratch Cat Pokémon grinned for a moment then frowned quietly. "So, what the hell happened that we're back in the past?"

"It's a long story, you'd better get a seat." Ash sighed, then began to tell the Team Rocket trio of what happened in Paldea before everyone was sent back into the past. He did make sure to send out a confused Zubat beforehand so Ash didn't have to repeat the story to him later.

After Ash was finished, Jessie, James, and Meowth were looking at each other in thought. There was several minutes of silence before Meowth spoke up.

"Ya know… I believe da boss was interested in the development of Paldea at some point," the Scratch Cat began as he scratched his chin in thought. "I can't for the life of me remember whether he has sent out anyone from the Rockets to investigate the development." He sighed as he looked over at Ash. "However, Jessie, James, and I will keep our ears open."

Jessie and James nodded in agreement. "Yeah, basically what Meowth said," the blue-haired man muttered before asking. "Can we get your PokeNav's number so we can contact you if we hear of any development that might help you to save the world? We can't really steal Pikachu if there ain't any world for us to exist in."

Ash just laughed softly, shaking his head. "Sure, I'll give you my number. You just gotta chill out with the stealing Pikachu stuff, it was getting old."

"We can agree to chill out on stealing that Pikachu." Meowth grinned in response then coughed awkwardly. "But we do still need to deal with official Team Rocket business, so ya will still see us around. Gotta make da boss happy, ya know?"

"Right…" Ash muttered quietly before grinning. "Why don't we have a battle like the old times, then we can blast you guys off after?"

Jessie, James, and Meowth looked at each other for a moment. The pink-haired woman chuckled. "I suppose it's only fair that we do." She smirked. "But don't expect to win so easily this time."

So, Ash and Misty along with Jessie and James got into their battle stance as they prepared for a double battle.

"I choose you, Butterfree!" Ash spoke as Butterfree flew in front of his trainer since he was already out of his Pokeball.

"Misty chooses Staryu!" Misty declared as Staryu walked up to its battle position.

"Ekans, come on out!" Jessie grinned as she tossed her Pokeball, calling out her poison-type snake.

"Koffing, let's go!" James called, tossing his own Pokeball as he sent out his Koffing.

"Butterfree, use Psybeam on Ekans!" Ash shouted out towards Butterfree whose eyes began to glow.

"Help Butterfree out by using your own Psybeam on Koffing!" Misty declared. Staryu's core began to glow as both the Star Shape and Butterfly Pokemon shot their respective Psybeams towards Ekans and Koffing.

"Get out of the way!" Jessie screamed as Ekans scurried out of the way. "Use Poison Sting on Staryu!"

"You get out of the way as well!" James declared. "Use Smokescreen so the twerps can't see us!"

Koffing moved out of the way in time. He then began to exhale the dark smoke as it began to cover the battlefield, hindering both Ash and Misty from being able to see what was going on clearly.

"Use Rapid Spin to clear the smoke away, then hit the first Pokemon you see!" Misty instructed, knowing that they needed to be able to see what was going on. Staryu's core blinked as it began to spin rapidly, dodging the incoming Poison Stings before focusing on blowing away the smoke.

"Use Gust to clear the smoke away as well!" Ash commanded as his Butterfree began to blow away the remainder of the smoke by using its Gust. When the smoke cleared thanks to the Gust and Rapid Spin, the Pallet Town native was quick to speak up. "Now use it on Ekans!" Butterfree pushed his Gust forwards and struck the poison snake Pokemon. This sent Ekans flying into the cave walls.

Staryu was quick to follow up, using its Rapid Spin as it hit Koffing and sent him crashing into the pile of rocks.

"Ekans, are you okay?" Jessie asked, glancing over at Ekans who groaned but slithered back into the battlefield. He was okay with some slight damage from the Gust move.

"Koffing, you good as well?" James looked over worriedly towards the pile of rocks. He was relieved when he saw Koffing levitating upwards. While Koffing was okay, he was slightly damaged from the impact of Rapid Spin.

Though Ekans and Koffing were both okay, both Jessie and James knew that they were on the back foot.

"I got an idea," Jessie mumbled as she looked towards James. "I'll try to hold down one of the twerps' Pokemon, and you have Koffing attack it."

"Sounds like a plan to me." James smirked, liking the plan that Jessie had in mind. "You go ahead."

"Ekans, use Wrap on Staryu and hold that thing down as long as you can!" the older woman declared. Ekans slithered towards Staryu before he jumped and wrapped himself against the Star Shape Pokemon.

"Staryu!" Misty called out in alarm, having not expected for Jessie to make this move.

"Great, now that Ekans has Staryu covered, give your best Tackle!" James grinned as Koffing immediately slammed himself against Staryu, causing damage to the water-type Pokemon.

"Use Bug Bite on Ekans to get him to let go of Staryu!" Ash called out. Butterfree swiftly flew towards Ekans before biting down onto the poison-type snake. This caused Ekans to cry out in pain as he released Staryu from his grip.

"Jump out of there then use Psybeam!" Misty commanded, relieved that her Staryu was okay and free. The Star Shape Pokemon pointed towards Ekans before firing Psybeam.

"Take the Psybeam head on to protect Ekans!" James cried out as Koffing flew in front of Ekans in time, getting hit by the super-effective move. This caused Koffing to cry out from pain. He immediately dropped on the ground; it was clear that the Poison Gas Pokemon had fainted.

"Use Psybeam while Ekans recover from your Bug Bite!" Ash yelled out, taking advantage of Ekans being defenseless as James had to return Koffing.

"Poison Sting as hard as you can push the Psybeam back!" Jessie growled as she attempted to save what was left of the battle. Ekans immediately started firing his Poison Sting to push back Butterfree's Psybeam, which seemed to work slightly for a moment before the Psybeam began to push back towards Ekans.

"Alright!" Misty declared. "Staryu, help Butterfree finish it off by firing your own Psybeam!"

The Star Shape Pokemon immediately moved to be next to Butterfree before firing its own Psybeam, strengthening the Psybeams and successfully pushing back Ekans' Poison Sting. Before Jessie was able to make any further command, there was an explosion as the battlefield was covered in smoke.

Ash and Misty, along with Jessie and James watched on as the smoke slowly cleared. When it did eventually clear, Ekans was unconscious while Staryu and Butterfree came out mostly fine from the Poison Sting impact.

"Looks like we claim the victory again," Ash pointed out, letting out a chuckle as he grinned over at the defeated Team Rocket.

"We're blasting off again, are we?" Meowth muttered with a long sigh.

"Definitely." James nodded in agreement.

"Not again…" Jessie groaned.

"Pikachu, will you do the honors?" The Pallet Town native chuckled as he looked over at Pikachu. The electric mouse's cheeks began to spark as he grinned in response.

"Absolutely." Pikachu nodded as he jumped off of Ash's shoulders before firing a Thundershock, which caused another explosion as the Team Rocket were sent flying into the sky.

"We're blasting off again!" James cried as the trio was sent further into the sky before they completely disappeared.

"Well… that was interesting…" Pikachu blinked once Team Rocket was out of their way. "At least the Moon Stone is safe."

"Yeah. Speaking of the Moon Stone, where is Seymour?" Misty asked as she looked around their surroundings.

Ash blinked and began looking around as well, seeing no sight of Seymour anywhere. "Maybe he had to go home early?"

Meanwhile with Scientist Seymour…

"CAN SOMEONE HELP ME?!" The scientist cried out in fear as he ran as fast as his body would allow him, with a large horde of angry Golbat chasing after him. "HELP ME!"

Back to Ash and Misty…

"Well, nothing we can do about him then." Pikachu shrugged in response. "Though, Cerulean City is coming up. What are you going to do, Ash?"

"I mean… I could get the free badge from Misty's sisters." Ash smirked as he chuckled for a moment, but stopped when both Misty and Pikachu glared at him. "I know, I know. I was just kidding." He held up his arms before looking over at Misty. "I was actually going to ask about challenging you instead."

"Probably a better idea." Misty huffed, crossing her arms in annoyance. "My sisters just really like giving out badges like candy." She rolled her eyes as she continued. "I can accept your challenge, but on one condition."

"O...One condition?" Ash sweatdropped, not expecting the one condition comment. "I'm afraid to ask, but I need to anyway. What is that one condition?"

The red-haired girl fell silent for a moment as she hummed to herself then grinned over at Ash and Pikachu as she spoke again. "You cannot use Pikachu in any of our battles."

"WHAT?!" Ash and Pikachu exclaimed loudly, not expecting this.

"To be fair," Misty giggled with a grin, "it would be too easy if you just used Pikachu, considering that he's super effective against all of my Pokemon. Plus, I'd like to keep my gym pools free from any electricity. I'm willing to accept your Pidgeotto, Riolu, Butterfree, or anything that you might end up catching if you decide to catch something before the gym challenge."

"R..Right… Thanks for the heads up." Ash sighed as he ruffled his head. "I'll have to figure out my team, so I suppose I will do that while I train my team up."

"Don't count on winning." Misty smirked before turning around as she glanced over at the Pallet Town native. "I'll let you do your thing while I go and see what my sisters have been up to. Would you be alright by yourself until you get to the gym?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Plus I can beat you even without Pikachu" Ash grinned in response. "I don't think anything happened after Mt. Moon and getting to your gym for the battle." He thought as he looked over at Pikachu who was sitting comfortably on his shoulder. "What about you?" The electric mouse just shook his head as Ash turned to Misty once again. "We should be fine. If not, I'll send Pidgeotto over to find you."

"Alright, sounds good to me." Misty shrugged as she walked off, leaving Ash alone with his Pikachu.

"Are you sure that we will be fine?" The electric mouse asked after several moments of silence, snickering as he grinned at his trainer. "I mean… you're prone to trouble after all…"

Ash rolled his eyes with a huff as he brushed his hand across the Pokeballs that were currently resting against his belt. "Say that again, and I'll make sure that you skip a bottle of ketchup for breakfast tomorrow."

"You wouldn't dare!" Pikachu's eyes widened. "Not my precious bottle of ketchup!"

"If you want it, I suggest that you help me with this training session." Ash chuckled, ruffling his starter's fur with his free hand before retrieving the Pokeballs that he had on him. "Alright, come on out, everyone! We need a discussion!"

Riolu, Pidgeotto, Butterfree, Happy, and Zubat all emerged from their Pokeballs. Pikachu then climbed down from Ash's shoulder to stand along his current teammates.

"Alright, everyone." Ash grinned at his current team of Pokemon as he placed his hands onto his hips. "We're going to do a training session, but first we need a gameplan of how we can defeat Misty for her badge. I want to let everyone know that Pikachu is not allowed in the gym battle because Misty said no."

"I'm still not happy about it," Pikachu huffed, crossing his arms but made no further comment.

"So with Pikachu being out, this leaves the rest of you." The Pallet Town native let out a soft sigh as he turned to the remaining of his team that he could send out for the battle. "If I remember right, Misty has three Pokemon with her that she's going to use for her gym battle. It is possible that she might change it up." He looked to make sure that his team was listening before continuing. "She has Staryu, Starmie, and Goldeen as far as I know."

Pidgeotto, Butterfree, Happy, Zubat, and Riolu were quiet as they looked among each other as they thought about it. Riolu did speak up after a few minutes.

"Would the battle happen with the water battlefield?" The aura Pokemon asked, seeming to think about what they could do for Misty's battle. "Do any of her Pokemon have any additional types that we might need to be aware of?"

"Starmie is water and psychic." Pikachu answered before the raven-haired boy was able to, he then continued. "The battle happened on the water battlefield last time but it is possible that Misty's Staryu might know some psychic moves - considering that Starmie is its evolved form."

"I wouldn't be of any use in this gym then." Riolu sighed as he rubbed his chin in thought. "I'm a fighting-type so Starmie being a psychic type plus the possibility of Staryu knowing some psychic moves would only increase the risk of Ash losing the gym battle. So I'd say count me out for this one."

"So it leaves me with Pidgeotto, Happy, Butterfree, and Zubat." Ash hummed to himself before looking at Happy. "I'd guess you wouldn't be comfortable about battling Misty right now, right?"

"Yeah… Considering that I'm weaker than your Butterfree for right now, and I'm only a Metapod. My limited movements wouldn't be helpful for your battle. Even if I evolved into Butterfree, I just want to go to Oak's Ranch for a while until Ritchie shows up." Happy let out a soft sigh. "I think that Butterfree would be a better choice than me."

The raven-haired boy just smiled softly as he patted Metapod's cocoon form before looking over at his Butterfree, Pidgeotto, and Brock's Zubat. "What about you three?" He then looked over at Zubat. "I could really use your help. I know you want to eventually evolve into Golbat then Crobat, so I could help you out there before you return to Brock." This comment surprised everyone, as they hadn't expected Ash to consider using Zubat for Misty's battle.

The blind bat seemed to think about it before nodding. "I'm partially weak because I'm a poison type, but I'm sure if I boost my speed somehow… we might be able to get a victory. So count me in."

"Yeah, count me in too." The Bird Pokemon grinned. "You know I'd never turn down to kick some fishy asses."

"I'm in too." Butterfree nodded. "I think there's a way for me to figure out a game plan that we could use against Misty."

"Great." Ash grinned in response. "Thanks, you guys. This means a lot to me." He then thought about it before getting an idea. "Come on in, I got a plan that you need to hear about…" He then began going over the plan with his three volunteers.

Some time later…

After figuring out a plan for Misty's gym battle, Ash shifted his focus on training his current Pokemon team. He was able to get enough training done for Happy to finally evolve from a Metapod to a Butterfree and he was sent to Professor Oak's Ranch as promised. Pikachu was focusing on remastering Electro Ball but was struggling with it as he didn't have the strength that he used to as it kept exploding in his face much to Ash's amusement.

Riolu was focusing on relearning Double Team to help with the evasion even if he wasn't fighting in this gym battle. Luckily, the electric mouse was there to provide instructions on Double Team as he had learned the move before they time-traveled back into the past. The aura Pokemon was able to make at least one clone, but he knew there was more to work on.

Pidgeotto was teaching Zubat the move Agility so he was able to move quicker in order to avoid any Psybeams or any other psychic moves from Misty's Pokemon.

"This is annoying…" Pikachu muttered to himself after the millionth attempt at an Electro Ball that exploded into his face. "I don't know why the legendaries didn't restore our current power level."

Ash just laughed softly, shaking his head. "It wouldn't give us too much of a challenge if they did. Not to mention, we'd probably destroy every gym in existence because you'd be too strong for them."

"You say that I'm too strong for a Pikachu, could you imagine how much more destruction there would be if I evolved into a Raichu?" The electric mouse smirked in response.

"I think we would be spending more money paying the gym leaders for the destruction mess then we would have to cut back on the ketchup allowance." Riolu spoke, getting Pikachu's attention. "As much as I'd love to have my current strength as a Lucario, I feel like it'd pick up too much attention."

Pikachu sighed loudly at this, nodding quietly as he knew that Riolu had a point there. "Yeah, you're probably right. I don't think we'd want too much attention on Ash right now."

"That wouldn't be wise." The aura Pokémon hummed to himself before turning to Ash. "Speaking of evolution, I have been starting to feel the energy to do it. However, it is not sufficient enough to allow me to evolve."

"Oh, is that so?" Ash asked curiously as he looked down at Riolu.

"Yeah. I am feeling like my aura is getting stronger." Riolu explained. "We'd have to try to see how things go during the next couple of training sessions."

Ash nodded before he got the Pokeballs out. "Alright, everyone. It's time to challenge Misty for her gym battle, so return." He returned everyone with the exception of Pikachu, who simply climbed up onto his shoulders.

"Hopefully we're ready for this," Pikachu mumbled as he settled down onto Ash's shoulder, looking over at his trainer.

"We'll figure out a way if we have to." Ash grinned. "We've done this before, after all."

The electric mouse nodded at this as the duo began heading towards Cerulean City to challenge Misty for the next gym battle.