"Guys!" Ash called, from behind the others. "Dracovish learned Water Gun!"
"Water Gun," Misty repeated, thinking. "That sounds like they might be a Water-type."
She glanced at Brock. "Admittedly I'd already assumed that they were a Dragon-type, but I guess they could be Water-type as well. About the only clue we've got at this point is the name and how they look."
"Huh, I guess that makes sense," Ash said. "Watch! Dracovish, Water Gun!"
The cheerful Pokémon jumped up and down. "Dracoooo-vish!" they declared, then spat out a jet of water, and knocked a branch off a tree.
"...that was surprisingly powerful," Misty said. "It's almost a pity the Vermillion City gym is Electric-type… though, actually, Dracovish wouldn't be all that bad a choice if you didn't have Phanpy and Dragonair and Latias."
She sighed. "You have such a weird team."
Ash patted Dracovish on the head, and the Dragon-type (?) made a cooing noise.
"I think it's great that they're so strong!" he said. "I know we've still got to work on a good fighting style, though. Like how Phanpy uses his speed and Dragonair loves hugs!"
"I can't deny it, it's a good point," Brock nodded. "That's part of becoming a good Pokémon trainer, and it's good that you've learned it so quickly, Ash."
"I guess with a Latias he didn't have much choice," Misty said. "Especially with the moves she knows."
Latias decloaked for long enough to put her hands about where her hips were and huff, which drew a laugh from Ash.
"I think she was being polite, Latias!" he reassured her. "...you were being polite, right?"
"I was being polite to her," Misty said.
Latias giggled, and Ash frowned.
"...hey!" he complained, after a moment of thinking. "Okay, so what should I work on with Dracovish, then?"
Misty slowed, turning to look at the Water-type, and Latias quietly vanished in another shimmer of blue light.
"I guess… physical moves? They look like they're strong," she said. "Water Gun can be powerful, don't get me wrong, but being able to physically hit an opponent is sometimes more important. It's more tricky for fish-like Water-type Pokémon because they need to build up momentum underwater, but Goldeen's got some moves that do that…"
She frowned, thinking about the question seriously, then they turned a corner and Brock stopped.
"Look," he said, distracting both his friends, and they looked. Ahead of them was a large rock, about eight feet high, and there was a strange lizard Pokémon on top of it.
"What Pokémon is that?" Ash asked, raising his Pokédex.
"Not a Water-type," Misty said. "That's the extent of my knowledge."
"I don't think it's from around here," Brock volunteered.
Scraggy, the Pokédex provided. The Shedding Pokémon. The lower half of Scraggy's body is covered by a tough rubbery skin, and when someone makes eye contact it responds with-
Scraggy launched himself off the rock, hitting Ash in the chest, then backflipped up to the rock.
-Headbutt, the Pokédex finished.
"Scraggy are from Unova," Brock said, thoughtfully, as Latias helped Ash up again. "I wonder what one's doing here?"
Misty coughed, waving in Ash's general direction.
"...Scraggy are usually found in Unova," Brock amended.
"So what's this one doing here?" Ash asked. "Are you lost?"
Scraggy huffed, looking away and closing his eyes.
"Latias?" Ash asked. "Does Scraggy seem like he needs help?"
Latias made a curious noise, then floated up and asked. "Tiii-as?"
"Scra!" Scraggy insisted. "Gy-ggy-scraggy!"
"Tii-la-tias," Latias provided, shrugging.
"I guess not, then," Ash decided.
Ash's attitude lasted roughly until they reached a Pokémon Centre, and the friends overheard someone bragging about his imported Pokémon.
"...thing is, what they don't tell you about some of these Pokémon is that they're difficult," he said. "Like, there was this Scraggy who kept hitting me in the chest whenever I looked at him!"
He laughed. "Well, I just left him on a rock and told him that I'd be back. Little brat's probably wandered off now, and good riddance-"
"Hey!" Ash protested. "What's the big idea?"
"What?" the trainer replied, glancing over. "What is it, squirt?"
"You mean you abandoned Scraggy and told him you'd be back for him?" Ash asked, loudly enough that the Nurse Joy started paying attention. "What kind of trainer are you?"
The older boy snorted.
"Shut up, kid," he said. "I'm a way better trainer than you are. What have you got, anyway?"
Latias, knowing a good cue when she heard one, promptly unstealthed.
Dragonair came out of her Pokéball, mostly just to glare crossly, then Nurse Joy came out from behind the counter.
"Is what he said correct?" she asked, looking sternly at the older boy. "You abandoned a Pokémon?"
"No," the boy replied. "This kid's just trying to get me in trouble."
Ash clenched his fist, then glanced at his two flying dragons.
"We'll have to bring Scraggy over here so he can explain!" he said. "Come on!"
"Ash-" Misty began, but Ash was already charging out the door. Latias followed, zipping through the door before it closed, and Dragonair pointed her tail at her own eyes, then at the other boy, before following Ash.
"...I was going to say the weather forecast predicted rain," Misty went on, then turned to the Joy. "But yes, I overheard him saying it."
"She's lying as well," the boy replied. "I don't even have a Scraggy."
"All right, can I see your trainer card?" Joy requested.
The boy looked suddenly less sure of himself. "Uh…"
By the time Ash got back the next morning, wet and bedraggled but triumphant, Damian had already been arrested.
But Ash got a new team member out of it, so that was all right then.
"So!" Ash said, the next day, as they continued down the road. "I know you're great at headbutts-"
"Scrag!" Scraggy said, bouncing up and down, then tried to demonstrate.
Ash caught him out of the air, and laughed.
"Yeah, like that!" he agreed, putting the Fighting-type down again. "You hit hard, which is great! But I'm trying to think about… you know, how you can battle better! And what fits with the way you already do things."
"...ggy, scragg?" Scraggy asked, sounding like he was definitely listening.
"The first thing I thought of was… how to defend yourself," Ash explained. "Sometimes you won't be able to hit someone so hard you win in one blow, after all."
Scraggy puffed himself up, and muttered something that sounded like he could too do that, thank you very much.
"How much is this like how you train Pokémon at your gym?" Misty asked, curious.
"Well, normally I'm focused on durability, because Pewter is a Rock gym," Brock answered. "Though admittedly Zubat is a bit of a departure from that… but, anyway, where I come from is a position of endurance first. That's always seemed to me like it's more tactical, because it gives you more time to think – if your Pokémon goes down in the first hit, you have to come up with an answer and do it before you even get hit."
Misty nodded.
"And Ash?" she pressed.
"I'm not sure normal procedure really applies, with Ash," Brock said. "But he's starting from the other side of things – he has a Pokémon who's already good at attacking, and he's thinking about how to give them more options. That's actually different from Latias, who's very defensive, for example – she's a bit more like what I'd normally do."
"What about dodging?" Ash asked. "Latias knows Psywave, and you're a Dark-type! So it's safe to practice dodging that way… how does that sound?"
Latias squeaked an agreement, and Scraggy looked interested.
"I guess that's good news!" Ash said, pleased. "Okay, let's try it!"
Scraggy ran ahead, turned around, and bounced up and down with excitement.
"Okay, uh… I guess I should be telling Scraggy to dodge, not Latias to fire, right?" Ash checked. "Because Scraggy is who I'd be working with… Latias, can you appear, okay?"
Latias decloaked, then used Psywave, and Ash pointed.
"Dodge left!"
Things got a bit more complicated when Dracovish got involved as well, since they weren't immune to Psywave, but they didn't seem to mind being hit anyway. It quickly turned into a game, with Ash trying to spot which of his other Pokémon Latias was aiming for and getting them to dodge out of the way as soon as he realized, while Latias tried to disguise which Pokémon she was actually going to aim at.
Then the ground gave way, and all three humans fell in a hole.
"Ow," Misty mumbled. "What is it with pit traps around here?"
Latias hovered over the hole, looking worried, and Scraggy and Dracovish peered over the edge as well. Then there was a noise as Ash picked himself up, and Latias hurriedly stealthed herself again.
"Viiish!" Dracovish said, waving cheerfully, and Scraggy puffed himself up.
"Scra! Ggy!" he said, launching himself across the pit, and hit something with a hollow thump before bouncing off. Ash caught him, then looked up out of the pit, and a whole collection of weird Pokémon lined up at the place Scraggy had bounced off from.
"What Pokémon are those?" Ash asked.
"Well, they're from Unova, just like Scraggy," Brock replied. "They're Roggenrola, which are kind of like Geodude? But I have no idea what they're doing here."
"Ro!" one of them said, loudly, and the others backed her with a chant of "-genROLA!"
"You have no idea what they're doing, huh?" Misty asked. "Personally I'm starting to think all those school lessons on what Pokémon lived where were just wrong."
"Did you dig this pit?" Ash asked the Roggenrola, and got a response that amounted to chuckling. "Well, why?"
"Gen!" the lead Roggenrola said, bouncing up and down. "Ro-ggen-rola! A!"
"...uh," Ash admitted. "I was kind of hoping to work out why from the way they said it…"
Then the Rock-types all scattered, and an Officer Jenny appeared at the edge of the hole.
"Are you guys okay?" she called.
"I am now that an angel's come to rescue-" Brock began, then got headbutted by Scraggy.
"Ignore him," Misty advised. "Ash, can one of your Pokémon get us out? I don't think we need help with getting out of the hole, but we could use some information on what's going on with those Roggenrola."
Dracovish eventually pulled them out, once Latias had explained the concept, and then Jenny gave them an explanation of what had happened.
Brock was right, and the Roggenrola weren't native to the area. They'd been brought in because of a fad, then abandoned when the fad wore off, and now they were just going around causing trouble and playing pranks on everyone.
"...I wonder why they're playing pranks on everyone?" Ash said, thinking out loud. "If they weren't happy, you'd think they'd try to get help, right? But if they didn't like people, then maybe they wouldn't try and get help, but if they don't like people then they could just live in the wild, huh?"
He glanced at the others, and at his Pokémon. "Is that making sense?"
Latias shrugged slightly.
"Phaaaan?" Phanpy asked, scratching his head with his trunk.
Dragonair made a twisting motion, curling herself into a question mark, then giggled.
"Ggy!" Scraggy said, hands on hips. "Scra-ggy!"
Dracovish was just happy to be here.
"So, what does that mean?" Brock asked. "Are you going to try and sort this out?"
"Yeah!" Ash agreed. "I'm going to go and talk to them!"
"How?" Misty asked. "They ran off, and if these… what did you call them?"
"Rowdy Rocks," Jenny provided.
Misty nodded her thanks. "If these Rowdy Rocks are causing trouble, wouldn't the locals have stopped them if they knew where to find them?"
"Maybe!" Ash replied. "But I'm going to try anyway!"
"How?" Misty repeated.
"I'm just going to wander around until I find another pit trap!" Ash said, setting off.
Jenny blinked at him, then at the two Gym Leaders.
"...is that normal?" she asked.
"No, it's Ash," Brock replied.
Twelve minutes later, Ash was in another hole.
"...what I'm asking is, is this what you guys want?" he asked. "Because… look, I know that people haven't treated you well. But not all humans are the same! Not all Pokémon are the same, either, most Pokémon don't dig pit traps."
"Viiish!" Dracovish provided.
"Yeah, Dracovish does, but Phanpy doesn't!" Ash agreed. "I think. You don't dig pits, right Phanpy?"
Phanpy shook his head, giggling.
The Roggenrola exchanged glances, having a muttered conversation.
"Gen!" the leader said, eventually. "Rog-gen-rola?"
"Well, why not get help from Officer Jenny?" Ash suggested. "She sounded really upset about what happened to you… and abandoning Pokémon isn't really something that should happen, but if it does happen then the important thing is making sure the Pokémon is okay. They shouldn't be hurt by anything like this."
He shrugged. "I guess I just want to know… is this what you want to do? To play pranks? Or do you… want something else?"
"Somehow, I'm not surprised," Misty muttered, as they left town again. "Ash, are any of your Pokémon going to be normal?"
"Maybe?" Ash said, frowning. "I don't know? I guess if I got a Pidgey or something…"
He beamed. "But now I have six Pokémon! And it seems like the town and Roggenrola both learned a lesson – that's great, right?"
"Yeah, that's right," Brock said, thoughtfully. "Though I think the lesson was mostly about how useful Sturdy was, as an ability…"
He shrugged. "Well, at least it worked out okay. And that's a powerful Pokémon you've got there, Ash."
"You're not proud that she's a Rock-type, right?" Misty asked.
"I'm trying not to be visibly jealous," Brock replied. "Though I really need to find out if Onix or Geodude can learn Flash Cannon…"
"...all I'm saying, Ash, is that you really need to catch a Pokémon in the normal way," Misty said. "Just to prove you can do it."
"The normal way," Ash repeated, thinking. "What is the normal way, anyway?"
He pointed at Brock. "Brock caught Zubat by throwing a Pokéball, does that count?"
"I-" Misty began, then looked extremely concerned. "...hold on, I need to work out what answer is best for my argument."
She began muttering under her breath. "Uh… so… if Ash catches several Pokémon that way and Brock catches… then…"
Ash frowned, then glanced at Latias and Brock. "What do you two think?"
Latias giggled.
"I've got an answer!" Misty declared. "If you actually throw the Pokéball, or have a battle, that counts as the normal way! Because otherwise one of you would tell me that I was the only one who'd ever caught a Pokémon the normal way."
"Which ones did you catch that way?" Ash asked, curious.
"...shut up," Misty replied.
"Okay," Ash replied. "But I still think it counts if I catch the Pokémon one of those ways you don't think counts."
"Of course you'd think that," Misty grumbled.
Ash was already looking around for a Pokémon, and Brock chuckled.
"I wonder if he'll find one before we reach Bill's lighthouse?" he asked.
Then blinked.
"Wait, hang on, we're talking about Ash. At this point I wouldn't be surprised if he discovered another new Pokémon."
"Hey, there's one!" Ash said, throwing a Pokéball at a Pokémon in the bushes.
The Pokéball sailed right over the head of the bush he'd aimed at, and all three humans stared.
Latias materialized, and stared too.
"...so, uh… did you actually practice throwing a Pokéball, before you set out?" Brock asked.
"That's something to practice?" Ash said.
"It's an important skill," Misty told him. "Something you should remember, Ash!"
"Hey, cut me some slack!" Ash protested, then a brown-and-grey canine Pokémon came bounding up to them and dropped Ash's Pokéball at his feet.
The Pokémon raised a paw, panting. "R-uff!"
"What Pokémon is that?" Ash asked, holding up his Pokédex, and picked up the Pokéball.
Rockruff, his Pokédex declared. The Puppy Pokémon. A Rock-type, Rockruff have lived with humans since ancient times.
Ash listened to the explanation, then Latias waved. "Tiii-as, Lat-!"
"Huh?" Ash asked, looking at her, then down at Rockruff. The Rock-type was prancing back and forth, staring at Ash's Pokéball, and Ash frowned for a moment before realizing.
"Oh, I get it!" he said, and threw the Pokéball again. Rockruff immediately went bounding off to catch the ball, paws throwing up little specks of dust and sand, then Ash glanced at Brock.
"So what's the difference between the two kinds of Lycanroc that the Pokédex mentioned?" he asked. "They sound like Rock-types, do you know?"
"One of them has four legs, the other has two," Brock summarized, as Rockruff brought the Pokéball back again and Ash picked it up. "That's the biggest difference, but there's others."
Ash's third throw went up, and Rockruff ran off again – looking up, tracking the ball on the ground, then springing into the air to snag the ball out of the air.
It bounced off her nose, and she vanished into it.
A moment later, the Pokéball vanished.
Ash blinked, then grinned.
"I did catch a Pokémon the right way!" he said. "Right, Misty?"
"I…" Misty said, mouth open, then shook her head. "I just… I don't have the words. I don't have time to…"
She groaned. "All right, Ash. I walked into that one, but… I have to give you that, at least…"
Once they reached Vermillion, Ash talked to Professor Oak, then sent him Dracovish in return for Rockruff to get to know her.
Professor Oak just sort of stared at Dracovish for a few seconds, then shook his head, and the call ended.
"So, Ash, have you decided how you're going to handle the Vermillion Gym?" Brock asked.
"Not really," Ash replied. "I've got some ideas, but I don't really know much about the Gym Leader."
He glanced at Latias. "He was, uh… Surge, right?"
Latias shrugged.
"Oh, yeah," Ash admitted. "Sorry, Latias!"
Then the doors of the Pokémon Centre opened, and someone ran in.
"Nurse, can you help?" a young trainer asked, handing over their Nidoran, and Nurse Joy took the lapine Pokémon.
"Not another one…" the Joy sighed, putting them down to scan, and the trainer did a kind of push-up on the counter to watch.
"Another what?" Brock said.
"It's Lt. Surge," Joy answered, absently. "So many trainers with young Pokémon come in with them being injured, these days…"
"That is not how a gym leader should do things!" Misty said, shocked. "Nurse, please tell me I'm not understanding right – are you telling me that Lt. Surge is doing this?"
Joy nodded, slowly, as her Chansey got to work.
"You should be complaining about this-" Misty began.
"That's awful!" Ash interrupted. "Why is he doing it?"
Latias made a distressed noise, and Joy glanced up.
"Oh, you have a Latias?" she asked. "That's… actually sort of relevant, my cousin Joy is a Gym Inspector but I haven't been able to get in touch with her. She's got a Latias as well… but the last time Surge was inspected, he didn't have any problems."
The nurse looked thoughtful, while Latias squeaked.
"Ti-aas?" she asked. "Lati-tii-as?"
"It is kind of cool that your cousin has a Latias," Ash said. "But how come he didn't have any problems? What's a Gym Leader supposed to be like?"
"What I think is going on is that… Surge doesn't like Pokémon who haven't evolved," Joy clarified. "He insists on evolving his Pokémon as soon as possible – his signature Pokémon is a Raichu."
"Then…" Ash began. "Uh… do you know what moves his Raichu has?"
"He's strong," the young trainer said. "He punched Nidoran across the room…"
Ash looked down at his belt, then sent out Rockruff. The Rock-type immediately jumped up at him, yipping, and Ash patted her.
"I've got an idea, and you might help," he said. "But you're probably not going to go first, okay?"
Rockruff yipped, sounding okay with that, and her tail wagged back and forth eagerly.
Ash reached up, adjusting his cap and turning it backwards. "I'll show this Surge guy what Pokémon that haven't evolved can do!"
"Really?" Misty asked. "I guess… it would be a great thing to watch, actually, but how?"
"...I'm kind of working on that," Ash admitted. "Actually, can you guys give me some help? I want to be sure I'm ready…"
"I'm challenging you!" Ash said, after the appropriate amount of prep work, pointing dramatically at Lt. Surge.
"What, really?" Surge asked, stifling a laugh. "A baby trainer with a baby Pokémon?"
Latias made a cross squeaking noise, and Rockruff's eager tail-wagging turned into a growl.
"What does it matter if a Pokémon is little or not?" Ash asked. "They're a Pokémon anyway!"
"Sure, sure, but I'm a Gym Leader!" Surge insisted. "My job is to beat people whose Pokémon aren't strong enough, and show them how much stronger they need to get. And I hope you realize that my best attacks are going to work just fine on a Rock-type, because you need a Ground-type to resist electric attacks!"
"You haven't even checked how many badges Ash has," Brock pointed out. "You're supposed to give an appropriate challenge, not try to put all the unevolved Pokémon you face in the hospital!"
"Yeah, whatever, kid," Surge said, with a snort. "You're not at your gym any more, don't try and tell me how to run mine!"
"I really hope this works," Misty muttered.
"So what's the challenge?" Ash asked. "I'm going to earn a Thunder badge from you!"
"Don't say it before it happens, pipsqueak," Surge snorted. "One on one. You beat my Raichu, and I'll give you the badge… but when you lose, you'd better accept that you need an evolved Pokémon to deal with me."
"Normal rules, apart from that?" Brock asked.
"Yeah, whatever," Surge said. "Of course it is, that's why it's called normal rules – they're what you normally do!"
Surge sent out his Raichu, and Rockruff glanced at Ash.
Ash crouched down for a moment, whispering to her and giving her a pat… then returned her, and sent out Roggenrola instead.
"...huh," Surge frowned. "I actually don't know that one."
He shrugged. "Whatever. It looks like a Rock-type… Raichu, hit it with Iron Tail!"
"Sandstorm!" Ash replied, and a whirl of sand immediately filled the air. "And Stone Edge!"
"Sand – faugh!" Surge coughed. "Just aim your tail wherever, you'll hit it sooner or later!"
The Electric-type lumbered forwards, tail glowing, and they could hear swishing sounds as the tail swished through the air. After almost twenty seconds, there was the sudden whack as Raichu finally found his target and slammed into Roggenrola with an Iron Tail attack. The sound of the blow was immensely powerful, hitting Roggenrola in the side with a smack – but Ash grinned.
"Now!" he said, suddenly. "Stone Edge!"
"Rog!" Roggenrola shouted. Then there was a crash, and Raichu went flying up into the air, out of the sandstorm itself, and flipped over before starting to fall.
"Keep it up!" Ash said. "Flash Cannon!"
"Uh – Thunderbolt!" Surge called.
Raichu used Thunderbolt, but Roggenrola had – sensibly enough – moved out of the way, and Raichu couldn't see where she was. Instead, the Thunderbolt gave her a great target for her own Flash Cannon, then another Stone Edge attack.
"And knock him out the door!" Ash said, finally, as the slightly dazed Raichu fell back into the sandstorm.
"What?" Surge demanded, then Raichu emerged from the sandstorm cloud once more. He went sailing past Latias and right out the Gym doors, bouncing once and rolling to a stop outside.
"Raichu has left the field!" Brock said, as the sandstorm dissipated.
"You little punk!" Surge snapped, then paused.
Took a deep breath.
"All right," he said, slowly. "I guess… maybe you've got a point. I sure underestimated your little Pokémon."
"Does that mean you're going to stop trying to hurt other Pokémon?" Ash demanded. "Is it really that important to you?"
"Roggg-enrola!" Roggenrola added, firmly, then did the I'm-watching-you gesture.
It was really a very impressive bit of gesturing for a Pokémon with one eye and no arms.
Raichu came stomping back in, complaining, then Surge raised his voice. "Raichu, attention!"
The Electric-type stood upright, looking confused but attentive, and Surge recalled him.
"Yeah, maybe," the Gym Leader added. "But… still-"
Latias decloaked, and waved.
"-oh crud she's not here, is she?" Surge asked, looking around nervously.
"Latias is one of my Pokémon," Ash said.
"But if you were so worried about having a Pokémon League inspector show up, that means you know you're doing something wrong," Misty pointed out.
"How do you know that?" Ash asked, curious.
"We've got siblings," Brock and Misty chorused.
"That's great!" Ash said, as Rockruff came loping back over and dropped the ball. "Great work, both of you!"
Phanpy blew his trumpet, and Rockruff yipped companionably at him before sitting on her haunches and tilting her head to the side. "Roo-ck? Rockruff?"
She gestured at the ball, then at Phanpy, asking if Ash was going to roll the ball again for Phanpy to hit and her to fetch.
"I… don't think so," Ash replied, a bit awkwardly. "The next Gym we're going to is the Grass-type gym, and you'd both have trouble there."
"Phaan," Phanpy sighed, then perked up. "Py?"
"I'm still thinking about who to use," Ash admitted. "But I don't want to make the same mistake I did at Saffron."
"Yeah, that was weird," Misty admitted. "Well, not the bit where you didn't pick the right Pokémon at first. That's kind of understandable."
Rockruff whined slightly, and Ash put his hands on his hips.
"What's that meant to mean, Misty?" he asked. "Rockruff did okay!"
"She did," Misty said, gentling her criticism slightly. "And then she lost, and we got turned into dolls until Latias helped out!"
Latias squeaked.
"Yeah, what I should have done is sent out Scraggy the first time," Ash conceded. "But still!"
"But still what?" Misty replied. "You had a Dark-type and you forgot him when battling a Psychic gym!"
"Only the first time," Ash protested.
"I think what Misty's trying to say, Ash, is that you sometimes do well with Pokémon in… unusual situations," Brock tried, delicately. "And that sometimes you forget which Pokémon types are effective against one another."
"That's not all I was saying," Misty muttered.
"Okay, then what else are you saying?" Ash asked.
"I still don't think you're a very… normal… trainer," Misty said. "And sure, sometimes that really works out for you, but sometimes it doesn't! I mean, look at your Pokémon!"
Ash looked at them.
Dragonair was coiled up, snoozing, and Scraggy was leaning against her coils with his eyes closed. Roggenrola, for her part, had just looked up (or… listened up) from where she was discussing something with Geodude, and Latias tilted her head in confusion.
"Aas?" she asked.
Rockruff barked.
"I don't get it," Ash replied. "What's the problem?"
"There isn't a problem with your Pokémon," Misty said. "They're all nice, if… odd. But you don't have any Pokémon from Kanto!"
Ash looked at her in confusion.
"Yeah, they are," he replied. "I met them all here in Kanto! I guess maybe Scraggy came from somewhere else, but…"
"I mean they're not-" Misty began, then shook her head.
"Does it matter?" Brock asked.
"Well, maybe not, but… it's weird, right?" Misty resumed. "You don't think maybe that's why that Team Rocket keeps turning up?"
"I guess it's possible," Ash admitted. "So what do I do, then?"
"I don't know!" Misty said. "I just think it's weird!"
"Are you sure this is a good idea, Misty?" Brock warned.
"...why wouldn't it be?" Misty replied.
"I guess…" Ash said, thoughtfully.
Rockruff perked up, suddenly, then barked. "R-uff!"
"Huh?" Ash said, looking down.
"Rooock-ruff!" Rockruff said, pointing, and Ash followed her paw.
There was a Pikachu peering at them over a rock.
"...huh!" Ash said, taking out a Pokéball, then paused. "Hey, Misty, is that a Pokémon from Kanto?"
"...uh," Mist began. "Because, I wouldn't normally see them in this part of Kanto, but… yeah, that is a Pokémon from Kanto."
"Great!" Ash declared.
"Ka?" the Pikachu asked, then Ash threw a Pokéball at him. He yelped, ducking behind the rock, then sprang up again and hit the ball right back at Ash's face.
"Wha-!" Ash began, then got hit by the Pokéball. He staggered backwards and fell over, and his hat fell off.
"Rock!" Rockruff barked.
"Ti-aas!" Latias said, zipping down to Ash, then the Pikachu came darting over and snagged Ash's hat.
"Huh – hey!" Ash protested, shaking his head. "Give that back!"
"Pika-chuuu, Pikapi!" the Pikachu replied, sticking his tongue out, then dodged away from Ash's swipe. "Chuu!"
"...okay, this is going badly," Misty admitted. "Wow. How did you know, Brock?"
"I didn't," Brock replied.
Ash got out his Pokédex. "So, uh… what's this Pokémon, again? Maybe I'm not doing this right…"
The Pokédex beeped.
This Pokémon is wearing its Trainer's cap, it said. Since the cap's not the right size, the fit is a bit loose. The cap is a precious symbol of a fateful encounter.
Ash blinked.
"...huh," he said. "Wait, that makes it sound like I'm your trainer?"
Pikachu's ears flicked, and he held onto the cap with one paw as he nodded. "Pi-kaaa, Pikapi!"
"I don't believe this," Misty said.
Ash got out the Pokéball, and promptly got electrocuted.
"Ti-aaas!" Latias squeaked. "Lati-ti-tias!"
"Chuu," Pikachu replied, sticking his tongue out.
"...okay, no Pokéball then," Ash decided, coughing. "...I… might need to ask Professor Oak about that…"
Fortunately, Professor Oak said it was quite possible to register Pikachu as one of Ash's Pokémon without actually using a Pokéball, if Pikachu was so opposed to them, but not having a Pokéball did mean that it wouldn't be possible to transfer Pikachu by the Pokémon Transfer System.
Pikachu shrugged. "Chuu!"
"I guess that's fine," Ash agreed. "If Pikachu doesn't mind, anyway."
"Ruff-rockruff!" Rockruff said.
Pikachu shrugged again. "Kaa-chu."
That seemed to be all that needed to be said on that front. Though Ash was wondering if maybe he should get a second hat.
AN:
Some more of this Pokémon Shuffle story.
Oh, hey, it's Pikachu!