Some days later, Ash woke up one morning and staggered towards the dining room to fix himself a cup of coffee. Misty also followed him, wearing a loose T-shirt, and a big smile on her face.

Brock and Cilan were up and about, cooking breakfast, waiting for the others to wake. Brock noticed his oldest friends, "Morning, you two! So, how did things go yesterday, Ash? Did you, Misty and Lana succeed in helping you get used to Greninja's transformation?"

Ash shot him a shaky smile, "Yep! Got it down pat! Think we did too good of a job, cause Misty and Lana decided to 'reward' me last night."

Brock raised an eyebrow, before the implication hit him, "Oh? Oh! I see! Well! Welcome to the club, man! Hope you used protection!"

Ash flushed a brilliant shade of red, and Misty was also blushing, though she did have a proud smirk. She hip-checked her boyfriend, "Best night of my life! This guy's an Arcanine in bed!"

Cilan shook his head with a teasing smile, "TMI, both of you!"

Soon afterwards, everyone trickled in, one-by-one and settled down for breakfast. About an hour later, the professor noticed some activity on a nearby mountain. Apparently, he discovered that there was an outbreak of Pikachu and he wanted to study the family dynamics. Naturally, Goh expressed his desire to catch a Pikachu.

After a while, Ash, Goh, Horace, Meowth, Bonnie and Risa were trekking through the mountain, while everyone else had assignments elsewhere. About three-quarters of the way to their destination, and Goh and Horace were already sweating buckets. Horace wheezed, "How the heck are you guys not exhausted?"

Ash shrugged nonchalantly, "I've been travelling around different regions for eight years. Guess that's built up my stamina. Bonnie's also travelled with me through Kalos."

Risa also spoke, "Well, I was an athlete, back in school. This is pretty easy for me. You two are going to have to get used to it."

Eventually, they all arrived at the location, and it was pretty much a Pikachu Paradise. There were hundreds, if not thousands of Pikachu, gambolling about, and there were handfuls of Pichu and Raichu as well. Ash could even swear that he spotted an Alolan Raichu floating around. Goh caught a Pichu easily enough, but Pikachu was a bit of a challenge. His first toss missed, and the second throw was batted back in his face. On the positive side, another Pikachu bounded up to him and began fussing over him. It didn't take long before that same Pikachu became his newest Pokémon.

Just then, Bonnie tugged on Ash's glove, "Hey Ash! I think that Raichu is looking pretty lonely."

He looked and spotted a forlorn-looking Raichu, sitting on a ledge and seemingly staring at nothing. Pikachu hopped off Ash's shoulder, and Bonnie's Dedenne also bounded towards the lonely Raichu. Meowth followed at a more sedate pace. When they returned, Meowth had a sad frown on his feline face.

He grumbled, "Boy! Kids can be cruel! Turns out, that Raichu got abandoned by his trainer. Apparently, she caught him as a Pikachu, because she liked cutesy Pokémon. Then one day, they were wandering around in a cave, when Pikachu accidentally stepped on a half-buried Thunder Stone."

Ash and Bonnie winced, guessing what happened next. Meowth continued, "That twerp of a trainer threw a massive hissy fit because her Pokémon dared to evolve. She then released him because she didn't consider Raichu cute, and she didn't want a non-cute Pokémon on her team."

Ash growled, "That's messed up. I mean, it was an accident!"

He gently scritched Pikachu behind his long ears, earning a coo, "I'll admit, I always wondered what it would be like to have a Raichu on my team, but I respect Pikachu's wishes to not evolve, far too much. Plus, I don't want to hurt his feelings."

Meowth got a glint in his eyes, "Hey, why don't you catch Raichu. That way, he'll finally feel like he is wanted, you get a chance to catch and train a Raichu, and Pikachu doesn't have to evolve. Everyone wins!"

Upon hearing that, Pikachu bounded off and communicated with Raichu with his electricity. He came running back, while Raichu ambled up to the group. Ash crouched to be at eye level with the final evolved form and pet it. He softly spoke, "Hey, for what it's worth, your trainer didn't deserve you. Trust me, I know a thing or two about abandoned Pokémon, because a few of my current Pokémon were abandoned by their trainers. Don't worry, you'll fit right in!"

He dug out a Pokeball from his backpack and held it out. With watery eyes and a wavy smile, Raichu tapped the Pokeball and got sucked in. The ball shook once before dinging, confirming the capture. Ash grabbed the ball and struck a pose, "Alright! I just caught a Raichu!"

Pikachu also cheered from his shoulder. Then Ash dug out his Rotom Phone to check Raichu's move set. He hummed and Bonnie also craned her neck to see. Ash spoke, "So Raichu knows Thunder Wave, Thunder Punch, Light Screen… HOLY ARCEUS! YOU know VOLT TACKLE! Man! Your former trainer is either a moron or not serious about battling!"

On the journey back, he stopped off at a local Pokémon Centre and checked the trade machine. Sure enough, he got a request where a trainer wanted Tauros and was sending a Carvanha the other way. He even battled a few trainers with Pikachu and Riolu, beating them and gaining valuable experience.

Some days later, Ash decided to start training his newer Pokémon. Currently, he was jogging around Cerise Park, running alongside him were Riolu, Tyranitar, his three Paldean Tauros, Growlithe, Absol, Houndoom, Thwackey, Nidoran, Mienfoo, Mimey and Raichu. Keeping pace in the air, were Fearow, Honedge, Gengar and Misdreavus. They stopped at a small pond, and then Ash stripped off his T-shirt and dove in, swimming laps with Carvanha.

This carried on for a while, before he nodded towards Pikachu and Ivysaur. The latter then fired a weak Solar Beam in the air, to summon the rest of his Pokémon. Ash elected to take a breather, and then gathered all his Pokémon. He separated the newcomers from his older Pokémon, then an idea struck him, "Hey, Ivysaur! Why don't you, Blastoise, Meganium, Typhlosion, Floatzel, Gabite, Emboar, Servine, Annihilape, Dewott and Croconaw, work on getting used to your new bodies and focus on the moves that you've learned!"

Ash turned to the rest of his team, "As for the rest of you, I need your help to train the newbies! Let's see… Pikachu! You can work with Raichu and his electric moves!"

Pikachu flexed his arms, and he bounded off, with his final evolution following him. Raichu didn't quite have the speed that Pikachu had, thanks to his bigger mass, but Ash figured that he would work on that later. He looked at the new Pokémon, "Alright! The rest of you will be grouped together by typing! So, Boldore, you're with Tyranitar! Torterra, you're working with Thwackey! Hawlucha, you're in charge of training Riolu, Mienfoo, Farfetch'd and the Combat Tauros. Pidgeot, Staraptor, Swellow, Noctowl, Unfezant and Talonflame, you guys are sparring with Fearow. If he starts acting up, you know what to do. Goodra, you are with Dragonite. Butterfree, you're the only one I know who knows Psychic moves, so you're working with Mimey. Charizard, Infernape, Torkoal and Incineroar, you lot are working with the Blaze Tauros, Growlithe and Houndoom. Kingler, Lapras, Corphish and Palpitoad go work with Carvanha and the Aqua Tauros. Naganadel, you will be with Nidoran."

He bit his lip as he racked his brains, "Still need to think about Absol, Misdreavus, Gengar and Honedge... Wait… Melmetal! You go and spar with Honedge! Greninja, I need you with Absol. Oh darn… I don't have any Ghost Type, aside from Annihilape, and he's still getting used to his new body. Fine, I guess Misdreavus and Gengar will train with me."

All of his Pokémon cheered before they split off and did some serious training. Three days later, he was hunched over a table and making notes. Ash murmured to himself, "Okay, Burgh is next, and he's a Bug Type. Last time, he had Leavanny, Dwebble and Whirlipede. Those last two would have evolved into Crustle and Scolipede by now. Leavanny is weak to Flying Types, as well as Poison, Rock, Bug, Fire and Ice. Talonflame might be a good idea. Crustle is weak to Rock, Steel and Water, so maybe Honedge. Then Scolipede is weak to Flying, Rock, Fire and Psychic. So I'll take Tyranitar."

Once again, he flew to Unova and met with Iris again. As they travelled to Castelia City, a thought struck Ash, "You know what? How about we stick together throughout the Gym run. It's getting a bit annoying, having to fly back and forth, and it's a waste of money. Once we finish challenging Drayden, then only I'll fly back to Kanto."

She shrugged, "Works for me! It can get a bit lonely on the road. I've run into Georgia a few times, and she's annoyed the hell out of me. Hope you can help calm me down or otherwise I might just claw her face off."

Soon enough, they entered Castelia City and checked into the Pokémon Centre. As they settled into their room, Iris asked, "So, who have you decided on?"

He replied, "I'm going to play it more tactical, this time. Last time, I used Tepig, Sewaddle and Pikachu. This time, I'm taking Talonflame, Honedge and Tyranitar. Yeah, I know they have the Type advantage, but I'm not leaving things to chance."

Iris snuggled into his chest, "I'll stick with Fraxure, like usual, then I'll used Excadrill and my Dragonite."

With that, the couple fell asleep, with Iris in Ash's arms. They hung around for a few days before trekking to the Bug Type Gym. Ash elected to have Iris tackle the Gym first, and he would come back the next day. Fraxure had evidently not been slacking, because he made short work of Leavanny. He fell at the hands of Crustle, but Excadrill finished him off. However, he met his match with Scolipede, though Iris countered with Dragonite and eventually won.

The next day, Ash was facing off against Burgh. The Gym Leader kicked things off with his Crustle, and Ash responded with Honedge. His first move was to order a Metal Sound, lowering Crustle's Defence. In retaliation, Burgh ordered a Dig, and Crustle burrowed into the earth quickly. Honedge began looking around frantically, but Ash yelled, "Honedge! Calm Down! Remember our training! Just stop and listen for Crustle!"

The Sword Pokémon paused and floated stock still. Then, it heard some rumbling near it, and Ash yelled, "Float up and dodge it!"

Sure enough, Crustle's attack missed Honedge by inches. Then, Burgh ordered an X-Scissor, which hit its target, but didn't do much damage. Ash promptly countered with Fury Cutter. Crustle was met with a series of rapid-fire slashes from Honedge, earning a chunk of damage. There was a series of exchanges, that included Crustle's X-Scissor, Dig, Protect and Rock Wrecker, as well as Honedge using Night Slash and Fury Cutter. Then Ash finished off Crustle with Night Slash.

Burgh smiled, "You've gotten stronger Ash. I'll give you that. Now, Scolipede! It's your turn!"

The Megapede Pokémon appeared on the battlefield and cried out a challenge. Ash hollered out, "Honedge! Are you okay to continue?"

The Sword Pokémon cried out in assent and Ash reluctantly allowed it to stay on. As Burgh made his move, Ash had to admit that Honedge was a trooper, but he went down after two hits. Returning him, he tossed out another Pokeball, revealing Tyranitar.

The Armor Pokémon roared out a battle cry as it took to the field. Scolipede then fired off a Poison Sting, which Tyranitar tanked. Then he fired off Hidden Power, scoring a direct hit. From there, the battle raged on, until both were panting, but refused to go down. Then, Ash elected to go for a Hail Mary move. He yelled, "Tyranitar! Used Earthquake!"

The Pokémon roared before stomping on the ground, and causing the Gym to shake uncontrollably. The attack was enough to unbalance Scolipede, and flying debris pummelled it until it fainted. Now completely spent, Tyranitar also fainted, leaving Ash and Burgh to their final Pokémon. He brought out Leavanny, while Ash sent out his Talonflame.

A barrage of Razor Wind attacks, missed, thanks to Leavanny's flexibility and dodging. Ash grit his teeth, because Talonflame got a face full of Hyper Beam. Fortunately, Talonflame shook it off, and countered with a series of Flame Charge attacks. All of them missed or were stopped by Protect, but Ash wasn't aiming to attack. A Steel Wing and Brave Bird combination, boosted by the increased speed, caught Leavanny off guard. Finally, one final Brave Bird felled Leavanny, handing Ash the win.

The boy pumped a fist in the air, and in the stands, Iris began cheering. He thanked Burgh before thanking his own Pokémon for their efforts. With the Castelia Gym done and dusted, Ash and Iris returned to the Pokémon Centre for some rest for a day or two. From there, they would head to Nimbasa City to face Elesa.

Author's Note: If you are wondering about that beginning scene, I am NOT good at writing smut. So any kind of activity between Ash and the girls, is going to be heavily implied, but that's it