Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Chapter 19 Start

The group were sitting on a large wooden platform that was set up on four metal barrels, one under each corner. They were still wet from their swim in the ocean, but they sat there, feeling relieved they got out of that alive. They had returned their Pokémon, so they had space on their platform.

Avoline wrung her shirt as she looked at Ash, asking. "You're sure you're ok?"

Ash nodded as he flicked his hat. "Yeah. You know how good I am at holding my breath."

Avoline let out a sigh as she grabbed the hem of her shirt and shook it. "Swimming in a lake is much different than swimming out of a sunken ship deep in the ocean."

Ash blinked a few times before shrugging.

Misty was getting water out of her bag as she looked behind her. "We got out of one problem, but we still have another one."

Brock nodded as he took his bag off and placed it in front of him. "We might have gotten out of the boat safely, but we are still in the middle of the ocean. We have to figure out where we need to go in order to find land."

Ash stood up as he turned to face the ocean. "Well, nothing but ocean in every direction, and I don't see anything that could tell us where to go."

Misty looked at Team Rocket, who were sitting together in one corner. "Don't you three have a phone or something that can get us out of this?"

James pulled off his boot as he turned it over to let out a small stream of water out of it. "If we had such a thing, wouldn't we have already used it by now? We aren't miracle workers."

Avoline let out a sigh as she pulled off her pack and started looking through it. "Asking them for help just feels wrong. With all the trouble they cause us, we should let them have their own raft away from us."

Ash looked at Avoline with surprise. "That's a little mean."

Avoline sighed as she nodded. "I might be acting a little petty. But it is their fault."

Jessie grumbled as she crossed her arms. "Let that go already."

"No."

Brock pulled out a bag of food that he had for when they camped outside. "Ok, I have some food we can ration. What about you guys?"

Ash looked around and saw that the others were pulling out what food they had in their packs. 'Oh!' He took off his own bag and started rummaging through it.

Misty pulled out some rations bars along with a few sweets that she pocketed while she was on the St Ann. She grumbled as she layed them out on the ground. "If I'd known we would end up like this, I would have stuffed more in my bag while we were on the cruise!"

Avoline pulled out a few bags of berries, nutrition packs, and some bags of additives that she adds to dishes for Ash. She pulled out two packs of nutrition bars along with some water bottles. "In terms of food, I'm a bit lacking." She turned to Team Rocket and asked. "Do you have anything to offer?"

Jessie and James shifted to sit on their knees as they shoved their hands in their pockets and rummaged through. After a few seconds, they pulled the inside of their pockets out to show that they had lint.

Our heroes sweatdropped at how they didn't have anything on their person that would be of any use right now.

Getting back on task, Brock had the most in terms of food as he pulled out several packages of meat, vegetables, pastry mix, and the tools to make them.

Avoline blinked at the assortment of foodstuffs as she asked. "How are you able to carry all that and keep them from going bad?"

Brock smiled as he patted his pack. "This bag has several pockets, one of which is lined with insulation meant to keep things close to refrigerated. It's perfect for long travels. Not only that, the inside remains dry even if dropped in water."

Avoline looked at the bag in awe. "How come I haven't heard of it before?"

Brock chuckled as he opened the side pocket and pulled out some Pokémon food. "I got the bag at the Pokémon League committee meeting. It isn't really for the public as it's still in the early stages of development. I was given it as a test drive when I had to do some training for taking over the gym, and I got to keep it."

Avoline hummed as she thought that the bag was really useful. She would have to see if there was a way she could get one through the committee. Her connections are close to non-existent, but she knew a third cousin who is part of the League medical team and a seventh cousin who is a judge. She could ask them next time they meet.

Ash pulled out a clear bag that had some berries in it, but they were crushed and were more juice than berries. He winced as this was no good now. He put it back in his bag before trying to think of a way to help. "Hmm, well, we should try to find out if there is any land we can find." He smiled as she snapped his fingers. "I got an idea!"

Everyone looked toward Ash as he got up and threw two Poké Balls in the air.

"Pidgeotto, Butterfree, I choose you!"

The two Pokémon came out of their Poké Balls before noticing they were in the middle of the ocean.

Butterfree looked to Ash and asked. "Ash, where are we?"

Ash looked up to them as he explained the situation. "We're stuck in the middle of the ocean. I want you two to fly off and see if there is anything that can tell us were to go. Land in the distance or something.

Pidgeotto nodded. "We're on it."

Brock stepped up and brought up something that concerned him. "But don't go too far. With there being nothing around us to tell us where we are, we don't want you two to get lost as well."

The two Pokémon nodded as Pedgietto turned around and flew off, while Butterfree flew in another direction.

Ash watched them leave as he spoke. "We're counting on you."

Avoline nodded before looking at Ash. "Hey, Ash, why don't you let Pikachu, Eevee, and Meowzie know you're ok?"

Ash realized that he had left those three in their balls and immediately pulled them out and released them.

Pikachu, Eevee, and Meowzie slowly blinked as they were released from their Poké Balls. They looked around at their new surroundings until they saw Ash looking at them. "ASH!"

Ash found himself tackled by his Pokémon, causing the whole raft to sway and his hat to fall off, but he laughed at having his Pokémon check on him.

Pikachu was in his face as she looked for any sort of injury. She was glad to see that he was still breathing and that he wasn't hurt by anything, but she then scowled at him. Using her paws, she squeezed his face as she stared into his eyes. "Next time you put me in the ball while you do something stupid, I'm zapping you until you can't walk!"

Eevee had his hat on her head as she was on him, pressing her ear on his chest. "He's still breathing!" She shoved her face into his chest as she muffled a bundle of words that no one understood. But her tail wagging frantically showed that she was happy to see him alive.

Mowzie was pawing his hair. She scowled before she lifted up her torso to press her paws on his forehead as she looked at him upside down. "What were you going to do if I lost one of my favorite spots to lay?" She unseathed her claws and used them to poke his head. She made sure not to cut, but he sure felt them. Pouting, she turned her head. "And I'm glad you made it."

Meowth saw Meowzie, and he smiled as he walked over to them. Raising a paw, he happily said. "I'm ok too, Meowzie!"

Two sets of three claw slashes slid up Meowth's face.

Meowth held his face as he rolled around on the ground.

Meowzie huffed as she turned away from him and went back to Ash.

Ash smiled as he sat up, getting his hat back from Eevee, and his three Pokémon took their spot on him.

Meowth finally stopped rolling and held his face as he stood up to reveal the scratch marks that she left on him.

Jessie and James patted Meowth's head, with James speaking. "There, there, you still have a chance. Maybe you just have to show her how amazing you are."

Jessie thought about her own love life and cried at the horrible memories.

Misty sighed as she looked out into the sea. "Wonder how long it will take for them to come back."

About twenty minutes later, they saw Butterfree returning.

Ash stood up and held out his arm for Butterfree to land on. "Did you find anything?" He was hoping for some good news, but he was a bit disappointed at what his Pokémon had to tell him.

Butterfree shook his head. "Sorry, Ash, I couldn't see anything. It was all just ocean."

Ash nodded as he looked in the direction that his Pokémon came from. "Well, we can try again in another direction. For now, take a break while we wait for Pidgeotto."

Butterfree nodded before flying off his arm and landing on the ground.

Ash sat down next to his Pokémon as he looked up in the direction Pidgeotto had left. The rest of the group idled around as they were waiting for Ash's Pokémon to come back, hopefully with good news group sat down, waiting for the bird Pokémon to return.

Pidgeotto was gone for another thirty minutes before they saw the bird Pokémon flying in their direction. He was off course and wasn't heading directly at them, but they were able to call him over.

The news they got was the same as that from Butterfree. He had been flying for so long, but there were no signs of any landmarks.

Ash looked at the others and spoke up. "After they rest a little longer, I'm gonna send them out in the other directions. Maybe they will have better luck that time."

Brock crossed his arms as he looked out onto the ocean. "There is a problem with that." He turned back to the others and saw how they were confused about what he was talking about. He pointed at Pidgeotto as he explained. "When Pidgeotto was coming back, he was a little off course, and we had to call out to him in order for him to find us. If we send them out again, they might not be able to find us again. We're most likely drifting, so we need something that would be easy to see."

Everyone looked around, looking at the debris that is floating around them for anything they could use.

James saw a large red fabric and pointed it out. "What about using that?"

Everyone looked at what he was pointing at, and they figured it was the best they could do.

Pidgeotto was able to grab it with his talons and drag it over. Once it was close enough, the men of the group pulled it out and saw that it was a red carpet with some gold embroidery. The group agreed that this was a good way to make them stand out, so they were able to grab two wooden bedposts that were floating nearby, and they used them to make a makeshift wall on one side of the raft. It didn't serve as anything else since the carpet was too heavy to catch wind, it wasn't held up very high, barely chest height, but it would make them visible to anyone at sea.

Once that was done, the two flying Pokémon were sent out in hopes of better luck.

The mood of the group wasn't good.

The result was the same as the last time they sent out the flying Pokémon.

Nothing.

It was stated that they should try to send out the Pokémon further away, but it was a big risk. If Pidgeotto or Butterfree stay away longer, they could lose sight of the boat, which would mean the humans lose the ability to send out scouts, and the Pokémon lose the ability to find a place to reast.

Butterfree would be able to fly for a good while, but he would need to land in order to take a break since he was a bug type, not a flying type. If he needed to rest, he would have nowhere to rest.

Ash made a mental note to train Butterfree's stamina in staying up in the air.

If Pidgeotto flew off, he could last much longer, but he can't stay in the air forever. If he were to get lost or the boat drifts too far away, it would be the same as Butterfree.

Team Rocket sat in one corner of the raft, keeping their distance from the twerps.

Meowth was actually hiding behind James, out of sight from the Twerps' group as there was an unnerving aura coming from them. Mainly the main twerp.

Ash's group was sitting close to the other side, but they were more relaxed about it.

Ash was sitting on the edge, staring out at the horizon at a large cloud.

Misty was leaning on his back, looking up at the sky with her arms crossed.

Pikachu was in his lap, enjoying the slow pets that she was getting from Ash.

Eevee was taking a nap on its right leg.

Meowzie was sitting on top of Ash's head, looking for anything out at sea.

Brock was leaning back on his bag as if it were a headrest and his arms behind his head.

Avoline was lying on the ground with her hands behind her head and her leg crossed on her propped-up knee.

Misty asked out loud. "Any ideas?"

Ash shook his head. "Nope."

Brock lifted his hand. "Nothing."

Avoline sighed out her response. "Nada."

"Why don't you send out some of your water Pokémon?" Came Jessie's complaint since flying wasn't working.

Misty countered this. "If I send out any water Pokémon, they could be lost in an underwater current or potentially lose track of their direction. I never trained my current Pokémon to swim through the ocean."

James gestured to the water. "Well, why not have your Pokémon ask for directions. Meowth could translate for us so we won't have any problem there.

Misty blinked before she realized it was a good idea and grumbled. "Can't believe we are getting help from Team Rocket."

Ash laughed as he looked over his shoulder at her. "Right now, we are all in the same boat."

Brock dryly continued. "Literally."

The kids had a laugh at that before Misty got up and pulled out her Poké Balls. "Staryu, Starmie, Goldeen, Milotic, Tirtouga, come one out!"

All of her Pokémon came out of the Poké Balls and looked around to see that they were still in the ocean.

Misty looked at her Pokémon and ordered. "Ask any Pokémon around if they know about any land we can sail to. The closest one would be best!"

Misty's Pokémon nodded before they dove underwater to find any Pokémon they could.

Misty sighed as she moved back to plop down behind Ash and leaned against him again.

Ash looked behind him at her and asked. "You ok?"

Misty grumbled at the question. "No!"

Eevee awoke with a start as Misty shouted.

Pikachu lifted her head as she listened in to what Misty was saying.

Meowzie looked over her shoulder before turning around to watch Misty as she complained.

"We went from being on the ST. Ann to this little platform that has no bed, no room service, no shops, and no steering wheel!" Once she was done, she slumped as she put more weight on Ash.

Meowzie nodded as she had the same thoughts. "I'm reminded of the time I went from luxury to drivelry."

Pikachu looked up at Meowzie as she turned around and layed on her back as Ash rubbed her belly. "Is that even a word?"

"It is now."

Ash had to stifle his laughter before he looked back out at the sea.

Avoline tilted her head back to look at Ash and asked. "See anything, Ash? You've been staring out at the ocean for a while now."

Ash shrugged. "No, just looking at the clouds."

"Well, that's helpful, can't you twerps do something productive that can get us out of this?" Came from Jessie as she was sitting cross-legged in the corner.

Brock turned to give them a hard stare. "Don't complain. We're still blaming you for this problem, and if you haven't forgotten, we are the ones with the food."

James slumped with a gloomy aura as he stated. "You guys are evil for using food as a hostage."

The water Pokémon came up to the surface and had to give them the bad news.

The water Pokémon that were around don't travel far enough to know if there is any sort of land. Migration usually happens in packs, and sea currents take them to where they need to go.

The gang lost a good amount of hope as things were looking dire for them.

Ash, on the other hand, was staying optimistic. "Well, we don't know where to go, but maybe someone from the boat will realize that we are missing from the cruise list and send someone out to get us. We're still here in the area of stuff that floated out of the ship, so we still have a chance."

Our heroes felt a little more optimistic at this thought, hoping that he was right.

Team Rocket, on the other hand, huddled together as they whispered to each other.

Jessie asked. "Did we have someone taking care of the guest list?"

James nodded. "Yeah, we had one of our guys take the list and destroy it. That way, everyone would have trouble believing them that their Pokémon would be stolen on the St Ann."

If anyone said they had their Pokémon stolen on the ship, it would be hard to prove since there was no roster that had their name on it."

Meowth winced as they were now completely screwed. "Let's keep dat to ourselves."

The other two nodded as they jumped back to their position.

Night had fallen, and the group were sitting around Charmander's tail to keep themselves warm. It went as Avoline, Ash, Misty, Brock, James, Jessie, and Meowth.

Ash's Pokémon were piled in his lap, with Meowzie in the center, Pikachu on the left, and Eevee on the right.

They had all eaten some of their rations, so they were able to get by the day with no real issue.

But there was a problem for one of them.

Avoline was worried.

Since they were on a raft, there was no way to hide the Ash's nature from the others. She thought about whether it would be fine to let their friends know about it, but Team Rocket was here, and they should absolutely not find out. She stared into Charmander's tail flame as she thought about what she could do. Her eyes looked up to the flame at Team Rocket as she lowered her hand to her belt, rubbing her finger on her Poké Balls. She had options.

Use Gardevior to use Hypnosis on everyone to knock them out.

Or use Chansey to sing them all to sleep.

Either choice worked for her. She said that she was going to give him a little more freedom, but this was still something she would not argue about. She thought about the best option, and she was going to use Gardevior to knock Team Rocket out.

But before she could do it….

Ash stood up and stretched his arms over his head as he yawned. "Alright. I'm heading to bed."

Avoline looked up at Ash in shock. 'What?'

Misty looked up at Ash. "What, already?"

Ash shrugged his shoulders. "What else are we gonna do? We can't really do much else other than wait. Maybe tomorrow we can come up with something that could help us."

Brock nodded in agreement. "A good night's rest will help us out." He looked at ASh as he asked. "Do you think we should let Charmander stay out here for some heat?"

Ash looked at his Pokémon, waiting for an answer.

Charmander nodded as he didn't mind. "I don't mind, and it will keep everyone warm."

Ash smiled before he looked at Brock. "Looks like he is up for it."

Avoline was even more worried now. If Ash fell asleep first, then she had no choice but to use her Pokémon.

The gang pulled out their sleeping bags, deciding to follow up with Ash's idea.

Team Rocket watched them as they grumbled to themselves. They didn't have any sleeping bags with them, so they weren't gonna be able to sleep within something.

James raised his hand. "Do you have any spares?"

Avoline looked at them and raised an eyebrow before she stood up from her sitting position. She shrugged at them, sort of apologetically, before she pulled off her bag. "Sorry, we don't have any spares. And even if we did, it would be too small for either of you."

Jessie and James grumbled as they mumbled how inconsiderate the twerps were being.

Meowth got up and looked over to Ash. "Well, are we Pokémon sleepin' next to the fire?" His eyes focused on Meowzie, almost hoping for a response.

Meowzie noticed what he was doing before she huffed and jumped off Ash's head and sat down facing away from Meowth.

Eevee saw this and mumbled. "I'm starting to feel bad for Meowth."

Pikachu walked up next to her as she waited for Ash to lie down. "I'm not." She looked up at Ash as she then thought. 'Ok, how do we keep this secret from them?'

Ash layed his sleeping bag on the floor before he lowered himself to lie on top of it. He put his hands behind his head and lowered his hat to cover his eyes. "Well, here's hoping we have better luck tomorrow."

Avoline's worry started to ebb away as she lowered her hand away from her pokeball. She stared at Ash as he layed there, and Pikachu jumped on top of him.

Ash patted Pikachu before he slowly moved her to lie at his side. He then adjusted his hat to look from underneath and called out to his Charmander. "Thanks for staying out here. If you need to get back, you can go back into your Poké Ball." He unclipped one of them from his belt and placed it on the ground closer to the fire type.

Charmander nodded. "Thanks, Ash." He layed his head down to get some sleep himself. He would stay out in order to make sure that everyone has at least some heat.

Pikachu looked back at Ash and raised an eyebrow as there was something up, but she didn't put much thought into it. Eevee walked up to her and layed down, with Meowzie doing the same, and the three were now lying in a pile, keeping themselves warm.

Brock entered his sleeping bag and used his bag as a pillow. "Goodnight, guys.

Misty did the same. "Good night, everyone."

Ash raised his hand as he called out. "Goodnight, guys. Goodnight, Team Rocket."

Team Rocket were comforting Meowth before they all layed on the ground, huddled together as James spoke. "Goodnight, twerps."

Ash chuckled at that before he adjusted his hands and fell asleep.

Avoline watched Ash go to sleep for a moment before her lips thinned and she pulled out her sleeping bag and entered it as she would join them. "Goodnight."

With that, everyone called it a day and fell asleep, each hoping for something that would save them.

It was deep into the night as everyone slept on their platform, the sound of waves around them and the moonlight lighting up the waters.

Well, everyone but one was asleep.

Ash slowly lifted his hat to look at the others to make sure they were asleep.

Misty and Brock were gently snoring, Team Rocket were a little louder, his Pokémon were resting peacefully with Pikachu on her back and kicking her foot every few seconds, and Avoline was silently sleeping.

Ash looked at everyone for a moment, making sure they were all asleep. He smiled before he wormed his body away from his Pokémon and slowly brought himself up to a knee. He kept looking at everyone before he slowly took off his jacket and hat, placing them on the ground. He then reached into his bag and pulled out some of his Poké Balls. He put three in his jeans' pocket and nodded before he slowly made his way to the edge. Whispering to himself, he looked at the water. "Just a few minutes. I probably won't get a chance like this again." Looking back at his friends, he slipped into the water before he swam down.

He swam down, looking back, so he could keep the raft within sight. He continued descending and looked around.

He saw so many different types of water Pokémon. He swam over to a reef and peeked through to see some fish Pokémon scattering. He moved over to another part of the reef and looked into a small pit to find some Clamperl. Another pit had Shellders. He smiled as he looked up to see other Pokémon just floating about. He swam up to get a better view of what there were.

Cloysters

Seadras

Magikarp.

Goldeen

There were even some Barboach, Carvanha, and Luvdisc

Ash swam over to a group of Pokémon to interact with them

As he swam around, two Pokémon were watching him from behind a rock.

Ash moved over to a group of Horsea and waved at them in a friendly manner, making sure he didn't come off as threatening.

The Horsea stared at him before they swam around him in a twirl, before they scattered.

Ash watched them leave before he swam over to a Cloyster that was swimming by, and he gripped one of its horns as they flowed through the water. The speed of the Pokémon was fast, and he was enjoying seeing how Pokémon lived in the water.

Closter didn't seem to mind as he swam faster and deeper.

From behind the speeding Pokémon, the two who were watching them from before were following.

Ash let go of the horn and swam over to some Luvdisc that swam up to him. He smiled before he held the Pokémon in his outstretched hand, then let it go. He swam down to look into a hole in case there were any Pokémon inside, but he was surprised when something bumped into his back. He spun around and saw a white Pokémon floating in front of him.

It was a Seel.

"What are you?" He waved his fin

Ash linked at the sudden question before he looked down at himself. He couldn't really answer him, so he just gestured to himself.

Seel swam around Ash, looking him over before he landed on the ground. "Never seen a Pokémon like you before."

Ash chuckled before he covered his mouth to keep from letting out any air. Looking back at Seel, he brought up his Poké Ball and mimicked the action of throwing the Poké Ball to tell the Pokémon that he was a trainer.

Hiding from around a cove, the Pokémon that was watching from before watched as Ash did silly gestures. A giggle was heard as the Pokémon came out from behind the cove and snuck closer, staying low to be unnoticed.

Seel focused on the ball and tilted his head. "What is that?"

Ash held the ball in his hand and tried to think of how he would explain that he was a Pokémon trainer. He had met Pokémon that never knew what a trainer was, but he usually explained it to them. This wasn't something he could do right now since he couldn't open his mouth. 'How do I explain this?'

Seel swam over to the ball and looked at it in curiosity. He wasn't sure why, but he felt like playing with the ball, bouncing it back and forth in his fins. Getting closer to the ball, he tapped it with his nose to see if he could get it.

As he did, he accidentally activated it, causing the ball to pop open and getting Ash's attention.

Ash looked down at his hand as the ball, almost dropping the ball as it opened, and he watched as the Seel was absorbed into his pokeball.

"Huh?"

Seel was absorbed into the ball, and it shimmied once before pinging.

Ash went wide-eyed as he ran his hand over the ball to try and find a way to cancel it, but before he could do much, the ball telaported away. '...oops.' He wasn't trying to catch Seel. Sure, he came down here with a few pokeballs, but he was gonna ask if any Pokémon would want to join him. Though now that he was down here, he realized he wouldn't be able to ask any Pokémon, as he couldn't open his mouth. All he could do was give an apology to Seel, who was caught at random."

"Hi!"

Another voice was heard, and Ash suddenly found bright blue eyes in his. He swam back in shock and saw it was two other water Pokémon.

It was a Mantyke and a Popplio

Ash was surprised by these two as he had no idea what they were.

Mantyke swam around him as she asked. "Wow, are you a human?"

Popplio swam up to his face as she narrowed her eyes. "Are you sure this is a human?"

Mantyke nodded as she swam back in front and spoke to Popplio. "Yeah, I saw one before migration. The human was wimmin garound far in the waters. But he had something over his head covering his fur." She swam up to Ash's head and looked at his hair. "But this one doesn't have anything on his head."

Poppilo frowned before swimming up to Ash's face. "Are you really human?"

Ash nodded as he watched the Pokémon swim around him. He looked at the one that looked like it could be a Mantine pre-evolution, but he had no idea, since he had never heard of it.

Popplio stared right into his eyes before she flipped backwards. "That is so amazing~!"

Ash watched as the two swam around him in glee.

Popplio stopped in front of him before speaking. "I heard that humans take Pokémon with them to go around the world and see all kinds of things." She turned around and looked at Mantyke. "Do you think we can go with this human?"

Mantyke smiled brightly at the suggestion. "Yeah, we should go with this human." She swam around him in excitement before she stopped and wondered out loud. "But how? Are we supposed to follow him everywhere?"

Popplio twirled her body until she was upside down and thought about it. "I don't know. Maybe it has to do with that ball thing that the Seel went into." She turned right-side up and looked at the human. "Is that how we go with you, human?"

Ash felt like this conversation was happening without him. He watched as they swam around him, but he couldn't get a word in, even if he could. Hearing the question, he hesitantly nodded as he grabbed two Poké Balls and enlarged them.

The two Pokémon looked at them before swimming closer. Before they were able to touch them, Ash pulled the balls back, and the two Pokémon looked up at him in confusion.

Ash held them away from them before he gave them a serious look. 'Don't go in, unless you really want to.'

Unknown to Ash, he wasn't only giving them a serious look, but also sending out a psychic pulse that attracted all the Pokémon that were in the area.

Ash lowered the Poké Balls again and held them out for them to make their choice.

Understanding what he was telling them, both consciously and subconsciously, they looked at each other before they smiled and tapped their corresponding ball.

Ash watched as the poke balls shimmied in his hand

The one holding Mantyek shimmied two times before pining.

The one holding Popplio shimmied three times before pinging.

Once it was done, the two teleported away.

Ash crossed his arms as he had caught three Pokémon in quick succession. One by accident, and the last two because they wanted to go out exploring. He would be happy about it, but he didn't really put in his two cents about it. And he didn't know what they were. He would have to talk about this with Avoline.

"aVoline!" He remembered that he was out in the water far longer than he wanted to, and he needed to get back to the raft before anyone noticed. He was about to swim upward, but he noticed that a lot of Pokémon were surrounding him, staring at him. He blinked at the odd behavior before he waved at them in uncertainty.

The wave caused them to snap out of what caused them to stare, and they swam back to what they were doing.

Once they left, Ash swam back up toward the surface.

Far away, a pair of glowing eyes opened up, bubbles floating over them before the Pokémon turned its head in a direction. It then moved up before heading through the waters and toward the direction it is turned.

A pair of eyes opened as it felt a call. Something familiar, something close.

Figures seen through the muggy water before the eyes narrowed.

'Soon. I have to….. Soon.'

Ash burst through the surface, taking a breath and wiping his face free of the water. Whispering to himself, he spoke up. "Ok, I just gotta get onto the raft and-" His words died as he looked around and didn't see any sign of the raft. He spun around in the water, again and again, but he couldn't see any sign of the raft. Not even the orange of Charmander's tail to tell him where to go. "Oh, no, oh no. Not good. Where?"

This was a bad situation, one that he didn't need at the moment. He reached for his belt, but he realized that he had left it back at the raft. "Ok, Ash, don't panic, all you have to do is swim around and look for the raft. Easy."

But like most things in life, it's easier said than done.

Ash swam in a large circle in an attempt to find the raft, but he couldn't see any sign of it. He didn't want to go far since he didn't know if he would get closer or farther. He stopped swimming and was starting to panic even more as he had become lost even more than the others. "Ok, what to do? In the ocean, no Pokémon on me, and I don't have any way to get back." He thought about what he could do to find the others until he remembered something his meema told him before. "Ok, I need to calm down and take a deep breath."

Ash closed his eyes and leaned back as he floated there in the water. He calmed down and tried to clear his mind. As he floated there, his mind cleared out, and he almost felt like the world was his to know.

A pulse of psychic power was sent out with him at its epicenter. The water rippled with the pulse, and the ocean started to ease.

Ash floated there, and it almost felt like he was trying to get an idea of where to go. He just needed to continue to focus more.

"Are you ok?"

Ash's eyes opened up, and he saw a Pokémon looking down at him. This one, he knew of. "Uh, yeah." He shifted to float, and he looked up at the blue Pokémon that had a shell on her back.

A Lapras had found him.

He smiled at the Pokémon as he spoke with her. "I just kinda got lost and need to get back to my friends." Thinking that it wouldn't hurt to at least ask, he looked at her. "Speaking of, have you seen any other humans floating on a raft near here?" 'Please say yes, I really need to get back to my friends.' To his delight, Lapras nodded.

Lapras turned her head to her right and spoke. "I saw a raft with a fire on it, not that far from here. With the light, I was able to see people on it."

Ash threw his arms in the air. "Great, can you take me there?"

Labras nodded before she reached down and picked him up by his shirt, before she placed him on her back. "It won't take long. Hang on." With that, she swam off toward the raft.

After a couple of minutes, Ash was able to see the Raft coming in closer. "Great! Now all I have to do is… get….on…." His good mood dropped as he saw that someone was awake. A very, very angry someone.

A very angry nurse with three angry Pokémon next to her.

Ash shrank in on himself as he saw the scowl they had on their faces. "Oh, boy."

Lapras looked back at Ash as she asked. "Is something the matter?"

Ash nodded as they approached. "Yeah, I'm in trouble." Once he got closer, he waved at them to try to placate the group, and when he was close enough, he whispered. "Hey."

Avoline narrowed her eyes at him as she whispered back. "Mind telling me what you were thinking, going out in the ocean when we are on a raft that is drifting!"

Pikachu, Eevee, and Meowzie let Avoline do the talking, but they were not going to let Ash forget this.

Ash sweatdropped as he didn't want to anger them more. "I know it was risky, but I wanted to check out some of the water Pokémon out here." Trying to smile to show nothing was wrong, he brought up his catch. "I met a lot of Pokémon down there, and it was really fun. I even found three Pokémon that joined me. They were sent to the professor's lab."

Avoline was still mad, but she should have known that this was Ash's plan. When she saw him "go to sleep", she knew he was faking it since Ash usually put his hands behind his head and lowered his hat to fake sleep. She would have stopped him, but he slipped into the water before she even realized it. Not stopping him was on her, not telling her was on him, but Ash was here and all fine. 'Is it too late to go home and lock him in his room?' She let out a sigh before she waited for him to get on the raft.

Ash saw that she had calmed down and figured that it was safe for him now. Lapras moved to the side to allow him to come off her shell and walk onto the raft, but the second that he did, his ear was in her grasp. "Ow, ow, sorry."

Avoline pulled on his ear as she glared at him. "Next time you plan on doing something like this, you are to tell me so that I know where you are. And you should have tied a rope around you so you don't lose track of where the raft is. I can tell that the Lapras was able to bring you back, and you were lost. So don't do that again. Got it?"

Ash's hands were waving around as he said. "Ok, ok, I got it!"

Avoline held his ear for another few seconds before she let go.

Ash held his ear for a moment until he felt an electric shock go through his body.

Pikachu placed her tail on his leg and shocked him. She was mad, Eevee was mad, MEwozie was mad; they were not going to let this go easily. Looking at Eevee, she let out another shock for Eevee.

Meowzie jumped onto his back and used her claws to prick him.

Ash did his best to stay silent as the others were still asleep

Lapras watched this and thought they were having a fun time. It was a very excitable group, and she was intrigued. She decided to stick around as this human was rather amusing and had an aura around him that just drew her in.

After a few minutes of punishment, the four females let him go, and they forced him to lie on his sleeping bag.

Avoline let out a sigh as she knew that she was going to have to keep an eye on him. But this might have helped her unintentionally. She walked over to the Lapras and gestured for the Pokémon to move to the corner where Ash was going to sleep. She instructed Lapras to lie its head down next to Ash and block the view of Ash from the others. It was a crude way of keeping the secret and not really efficient, but it was something. And now, all she had to do was wake up before everyone and wake Ash up so that he could change shape.

And he was going to listen to her when waking up. He has no choice in this.

"Day…. I don't know. We've been drifting on this raft for so many days that I lost track. The group is slowly falling apart, and I don't know how long we can last. Rations are shrinking, and we might run out of food soon. The stress on the mind is unbelievable. If I continue like this, I will shrivel up into a small raisin. I have suffered for so long, and I will soon fade from this world unless I eat something. Perhaps I must go into the instincts of humans from long ago and eat what I find. De-evolve into the demi-human and eat the Pokémon around me."

"If you eat me, I swear on Mew that I will shock you until your fur matches Eevee's tail!"

Ash, who was sitting in the corner, wrote down the words he spoke in a notebook that Avoline gave him.

Pikachu turned her head to glare at her trainer as she was sitting next to Misty, as the water pokemon trainer was using her rod to fish.

Misty had put on her shorts over her bathing suit but kept her jacket on, so she was wearing her swimsuit, jacket, and her usual shorts, as her hair was still not tied up.

Meowzie was playing with her pokeball, bouncing it around since she had nothing much else to do.

Eevee was sitting on Top of Lapras' head, enjoying being so high.

It was a shock to the rest of the group when they woke up to see a Lapras here, but when they heard that Ash found her during the night, they weren't that surprised.

Apart from Team Rocket.

Meowth was watching Meowzie from a distance as he didn't want to bother her. He still pined for her, but he needed to find another chance to try to get her attention.

When they all fully woke up, they all thought they could use Lapras to move across the ocean instead of floating around. The problem was that there were too many people, and she wouldn't be able to carry them since she was still young and hadn't been trained. They then tried to have her drag the raft, but a similar issue occurred, with too much weight. But they did get some movement from her dragging them, so they could do that and let her rest.

It wasn't efficient, but it was something.

Avoline rolled her eyes as she looked at him. "Ash, it's only day two we were out here."

Ash shrugged as he did it more for fun than anything else. He put the notebook down and stood up, letting out a sigh, looking out at the ocean before he put his hands in his jacket pockets. He blinked in surprise when he felt something in one of them and pulled it out to find the "gold" pokeball that he got from James. "Oh, right, I took this from him."

Brock was using Charmander's flame to heat a frying pan so they could have some lunch when he heard Ash. He saw the ball and remembered that it was the ball that James had before Ash took it. "That's the Magikarp that you got from James. What are you gonna do with it?"

Ash turned the ball in his fingers as he thought about it. He figured he could keep it and have a double team of Gyarados, but maybe he should do something else. He hummed in thought at it before his head turned to Misty and figured that the best option would be to give it to her. "Hey, Misty!"

Misty turned around and saw Ash walk over to her. "What's up, Ash?" She blinked when he held out the golden ball to her.

Ash smiled as he said. "I think you should have this Pokémon. You are a water Pokémon trainer, so it would fit your team."

James, who was sitting next to Jessie as he was watching how his female team member helped with cooking, looked up and saw the ball. "Hey, that's mine!"

Misty gave him a very big, dark glare as she remembered what he did. "You don't get to complain after what you did."

Jessie looked up and saw the ball as she also had a complaint. "Hey! We paid for that!"

Misty's eyes shifted to Jessie. "Heeeh?"

Jessie shivered in fear as she immediately went back to the stove, mumbling. "Maybe we should add some paprika to this."

Misty looked back at Ash with a normal expression before she took it. "Thanks, Ash. This journey is getting really beneficial for me. You already got me several Pokémon."

Ash smiled as he cheekily asked. "Enough for you to forgive me for the bike?"

Misty gave him a flat look. "Don't push your luck, Kethchum." She put her rod down and stood up before she looked the ball over. "I'm gonna have to clean this later." She held the ball out and released the Magikarp.

Magikarp came out of the ball and looked around to see that he was out in the ocean. Looking up, he saw a girl looking down at him before kneeling to get closer.

Misty smiled as she explained. "Hi, I'm your new trainer. Your last trainer is…. Didn't want you anymore-" She looked over her shoulder to glare at James, getting him to flinch, before looking back. "So, I am going to be your trainer from now on."

Magikarp smiled as she came off as much nicer, especially since he remembered that his last trainer was going to kick him. "Glad to meet you." He eye smiled at having a nice trainer.

Misty could tell that her new Pokémon was happy with the arrangement. To her surprise, she heard another pokeball open up, and she saw Ash's Magikarp appear next to hers. She turned around and saw Ash standing there with his Poké Ball in his hand.

Ash put his Poké Ball back in his pocket as he offered. "Maybe we can train our Magikarp together. Not much else we can do right now."

Misty smiled as she liked the idea. She stood up and asked. "You've got the odd training methods, got any ideas?"

Ash thought about it for a second before he despondently shrugged. "Honestly, the best we can do is just have our Pokémon use Tackle on each other. Magikarp don't have much to them - No offense." He looked at the two water Pokémon who shook their heads, saying they didn't mind. "We can improve the speed of their tackles so they have something going for them."

Misty shrugged as that was the best they could do. "Alright. A simple battle between each other then."

Ash nodded.

Brock spoke up to them as he pointed to his frying pan. "Well, you've got some time. This will still take about fifteen minutes until it's ready. Just try not to make too much of a splash."

Charmander looked up at his trainer as he added to it. "I would not like to get wet, please!"

Ash chuckled nervously as he nodded. "Got it." He turned back to them as he was ready to start training.

Pikachu crossed her paws and walked away from the two. She was still mad at Ash for what he did yesterday. Got her worried when she woke up, and he was gone. In the middle of the ocean, and he was gone. She is not going to let this go for a while.

The group went about doing what they could until lunch was ready. It wasn't much, some sandwiches with some cooked meat in them, but it was enough.

After lunch, Misty and Ash went about training their Magikarp, which was just them using tackle on each other, resting, having Lapras tug them for as long as she could, and then back to training.

Ash clapped his hands and called it. "Alright, break time!"

Both Magikarp nodded as they swam closer to the raft and floated at its edge.

Misty pulled out two potions and sprayed them to make sure they were alright.

Ash layed on his stomach and hung his arm off the edge, letting his hand touch the water. "Haaah, I wanna go swimming." The next thing he felt was three Pokémon jumping on his back, and he looked back to see his three Pokémon, their heads in darkness and eyes lighting up, glaring at him.

"You are not going out anymore, GOT IT!" Came from all three, as they were not going to let him do anything that would get them worried

Ash gave a dry chuckle as he was under house arrest. He turned his head to look up at Misty and asked. "Wanna keep going? I think we are close to it by now."

Misty nodded as she shifted to sit down and slipped off her jacket. She hung her feet off the edge and gestured to her Magikarp. "Ready to go a few more times? I think once we are done, we can call it a day."

The Magikarp nodded as they moved off to start their tackle training again.

James couldn't help but make a comment. "I still don't see the point of training those useless fish."

Brock couldn't help but smirk as it was clear that James didn't know what Magikarp evolves into.

Ash's Magikarp used Tackle while Misty's used the same.

When the two impacted each other, they bounced off out of the water before splashing back in. When they surfaced, they shook themselves clear of the stars and were ready to try again.

That is, until they both started to glow white.

Ash saw this, and he jumped up to his feet and cheered. "ALRIGHT!"

Pikachu, Meowzie, and Eevee were hanging on Ash's back, kicking their feet as they were not expecting the sudden movement.

Everyone stopped what they were doing to join Ash and Misty in watching the two Pokémon evolve.

James spoke up. "I didn't know Magikarp evolved!"

Ash watched in excitement. "Come on, come on!" He was so excited to see his Pokémon evolve. This was the first Pokémon evolution of one of his Pokémon, and he could not wait to see it.

A swirl of pink was seen in his eyes as he focused on his Pokémon.

Pikachu, Eevee, and Meowzie let out a shiver. They weren't sure, but it almost felt like it came into their paws, making them think that it might have come from Ash.

The two Magikarp reshaped, growing in size, until they towered over the raft, with one being bigger than the other.

The white light burst off the two, and they roared into the sky.

The two evolved into Gyarados, Misty's being the standard blue with blue whiskers, while Ash's was red with white whiskers. Not only that, but Ash's Gyarados was bigger.

Ash had stars in his eyes. "Look at them! They're awesome!"

James saw the Pokémon and couldn't help but make an attempt. He stopped forward with a look of confidence and placed a hand on his chest. "I'm James, your master. Obey me."

The blue one glared at him before roaring at him,

James covered his head as he huddled on the ground.

Ash and Misty looked at the man before shaking their head and looking back up at their Pokémon.

Misty was a little nervous as Gyarados were known to be the hardest water Pokémon to deal with. She looked at Ash and asked. "Are you sure this is gonna be ok?"

In response to her question, the two water Pokémon charged their heads at them, and everyone on the raft screamed in fear, covering themselves as they got closer.

Lapras even dived under the water to avoid any attack

After a few seconds of nothing happening, Brock lowered his arms to see what had happened. He couldn't help but smile as he saw the two water Pokémon nuzzling their trainers.

Ash laughed as his Gyarados nuzzled him so much that he fell onto his butt.

Misty nervously rubbed her Pokémon as it seemed that, despite how angry it looked, it was like a big softy. "Ok, ok, we're happy for you too."

Ash grabbed onto his Gyrados' mouth as the Pokémon picked him up. "Wow, look at you. You're huge."

Ash's Gyarados eye smiled. "It is thanks to you."

Ash stopped back, with his Pokémon pulling themselves up to be in their spots, before he gestured to Misty and her Gyarados. "It's thanks to them, too."

Brock crossed his arms as he looked at the two new additions. He turned to his left and asked. "Any idea why Ash's Pokémon is bigger than Misty's? As far as I know, alternate color Pokémon aren't that much different."

Avoline shook her head. "I'm not sure. There might be an internal reason for the size difference between the shiny Pokémon and the normal ones."

Brock couldn't argue since he didn't know such info

Ash looked back at his friends before he noticed that Lapras was gone. He looked around for her until he dropped down and leaned over the water. Unfortunately, the water was too far, and he slipped and fell halfway in as his feet hooked the raft. He saw that Lapras was hiding udnderneatha nd he waved his arms to get her attention

Lapras noticed the movement and looked up to see Ash getting her attention, and the two tails of the Gyarados. She didn't want to go up since she was afraid the two would cause problems, but the smile Ash was giving her made her feel better. She hesitantly nodded before she swam backwards and surfaced.

Ash smiled as he saw her go back up, but he was suddenly picked up and brought back to the raft.

Brock and Misty pulled him up so he wouldn't drown.

Brock chuckled as he patted Ash on the shoulder. "Easy, we don't want you to get lost at sea."

Ash smiled as he felt several glares on the back of his head. It was then that he got an idea. He looked up at the two large water Pokémon and smiled. "I think we just got a way to get us out of here?"

Lapras felt nervous. She was positioned between the two angry water Pokémon as the three of them had ropes tied to them.

Brock nodded as he tugged on the rope to make sure it was secure. "We're all good."

Misty smiled as she patted her Gyarados's head as she sat on top. "This is a really good idea, Ash. We might be able to get to land now."

Ash smiled as he stood on top of his Gyradaos's head. "I didn't think about it until now, but yeah."

Pikachu, Eevee, and Meowzie were on the raft, so they didn't fall off of ASh. Charmander was returned to his ball, so there was no risk of him falling into the water.

He looked down at his Pokémon and asked. "Are you ready?"

His red Gyarados nodded her head. "All ready."

Ash looked at Lapras. "You ok?"

Lapras looked up and nervously nodded. It seemed these Gyarados were ok and weren't as angry as she had seen others act.

Misty looked down at hers. "Are you?"

Her Gyarados nodded his head. "At your word."

Ash nodded as he pointed forward. "Then, let's go!"

The two Gyarados roared before they started moving with Lapras

The ones on the raft nearly fell over as the speed was faster than they thought.

Ash actually fell back on Gyarados' head but laughed. Sitting up, he saw they were now moving much faster. He looked back at the group and called out. "Looks like we won't be stuck on the ocean for much longer."

The others on the raft cheered as they were on their way back to civilization.

Avoline stood up and placed her hand on her head to keep her hair from being undone. "Thank Mew for that."

Our heroes were making their way; they didn't know where, but they knew it would be on land.

Night had fallen once again, and our heroes were still out at sea.

However, their spirits were much higher than before.

Ash was hugging his Gyarados's face. "Ooh, you got us so far!" He let go of Gyarados's face before he moved to hug Lapras's neck. "We owe you guys so much!"

Lapras laughed before she shoved her nose on Ash's head.

Ash laughed as he playfully swatted at her as she tried to take his hat.

Mist was petting her Gyarados's head as she watched Ash. "We may not have gotten to land yet, but with the speed we are going, we might be able to find it tomorrow."

Brock nodded as he was pulling out his bag. "Yeah. But next time we take a cruise, let's make sure we are closer to land."

Our heroes had laughed while Team Rocket were grumbling to each other.

Jessie had a vein on her head as she was glaring at the water Pokémon trainer. "That Gyarados should be ours! If they hadn't taken it from us, we would have had it." She turned to glare at James. "Why did you want to get rid of it?"

James was drawing circles in the ground. "I didn't know that it could turn into that."

Jessie ruffled her hair frantically before she angrily grit out. "Next time we get a Pokémon for ourselves, we keep it!" She looked at their third member and saw that he was still moping. He had been moping for a while now, since Meowzie shunned him several times on this trip. "Now's not the time for your hopeless love life."

Meowth sighed before turning around and joining his team.

Team Rocket grabbed the carpet that they had used before and were using it as a bed and blanket. Since they weren't using it for anything else now, it was theirs to use.

As everyone started to get ready to go to sleep, Ash sat on the edge, looking up at the moon.

He stared at the full moon that shone brightly.

"What's up, Ash?"

Ash looked up to see Avoline standing over him. "Hey, nothing much. Just thinking how this journey was a lot different than the one I thought I would go on."

Avoline sat down next to him as she asked. "Don't tell me that you are getting cold feet?"

Ash shook his head. "No way, I just didn't think I would be stranded out in the middle of the ocean with my friends. I thought I would be on the road all the time, camping out, seeing a lot of Pokémon on the land. But here we are, in the ocean, a few new friends joining us, and even after all this, I still find it fun."

"You make it sound like your journey is coming to an end." Brock came up from behind and sat at Ash's left and patted his shoulder.

Ash laughed. "Nah, just having one of those moments you see on TV."

Misty stood over him as she bent down over him. "Don't think you can get out of this journey. We've got a lot more than we thought we would, and you still owe me for the bike."

Ash smiled before he looked up at Avoline. "I am kinda surprised you're not trying to get me to head home after this."

Avoline sighed as she sat down at his right and hung her legs off the raft. "I've known you all our lives, and if I've learned anything, I've learned that you always seem to attract trouble and can find weird ways of getting out of it. Not to mention that when you set your mind on something, you end up chasing it. Or should I remind you of the time you ran after an Arcanine through the forest for hours because you wanted to get a look at it?"

Ash grumbled as he retorted. "That is completely different."

Avoline giggled. "Is it? Remember, you went on this journey more to find as many Pokémon as you can, and the incident with the Arcanine was because you saw its tail and wanted to meet the Pokémon."

The group laughed as Ash grumbled, but he smiled, as this was a moment with his friends.

"Hey, what's dat?"

Everyone turned around to look at Meowth, who was pointing out at sea. They all got up to see what he was pointing at, hoping they could see land. It was to their glee that they saw the silhouette of a landmass, and they all started to get the ropes around their Pokémon to start healing in that direction.

Ash threw a rope to Misty as he started to climb up on Gyarados's head. He threw the rope around the Pokémon's head and her headcrest. "All good?"

Gyarados nodded as she was ready to get moving again.

Jessie was tying the other end of the rope to the raft and tugged it to make sure it was solid.

James was doing the same with the other end while Misty was setting the rope on her Gyarados.

Brock would have been helping, but he stared at the land mass. There was something odd about it, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

Ash finished tying the rope on Lapras before he turned around and saw Brock looking at the island. "Hey, Brock, something up?" He put the rope down and walked over to the rock gym leader.

Brock crossed his arms as he pointed with his right hand at the island. "It feels like something is off about it."

Ash looked out at the island and tried to figure out what Brock was talking about. "What do you mean?" As he continued to look, he was getting the feeling that there was something that was off about it. He narrowed his eyes and focused on it. "Wait…. I think…"

The others joined them as they were looking at the island. When they looked at it, they were getting the same feeling.

James started. "Is it just me… or….?"

Jessie continued. "It looks like…."

Meowth finished up. "It's getting bigger."

The silhouette was finally close enough to be seen in the moonlight, and it was shown to be a massive wave of water heading directly for them.

They all screamed before they spun around and shouted at the three water Pokémon. "SWIM!"

The raft was pulled at great speeds as the mass of water continued to head in their direction.

Jessie, James, Brock, and Ash were using poles that they had for holding the carpet up as paddles to get them moving.

"Heave ho! Heave Ho! Heave Ho!"

Misty held her hair out of her face as she turned around. "It's getting closer!"

Avoline looked at the mass of water. "We're not going to get away from it!"

The ones paddling tried to put more strength into the paddling as they were so close to getting to land, and now they are trying to outrun a wave of water that would probably drown them.

Ash looked back at the mass of water and put more strength into getting the raft to move.

For the next few moments, they tried to get away, hoping that something would happen that could get them out of this.

Suddenly, the mass of water rose higher, before it started to lower all the way to level out with the rest of the ocean

The group started to slow down as they saw that the wave of water had dissipated.

Jessie and James hugged each other as they shouted. "WE MADE IT~!"

Ash fell on his butt as he smiled at outrunning a wave of water the size of buildings. His Pokémon jumped into his arms, and he hugged them in glee.

Avoline pressed her hand over her heart as she tried to calm down. "I think that is enough excitement for a lifetime.

Misty nodded. "Yeah, I can agree to that."

Brock let out a sigh as he sat cross-legged. "This is another reason I prefer land. I'm a rock Pokémon trainer."

They had a laugh at his little quip as they all felt like they should stick to land for a while.

Suddenly, the three water Pokémon looked down, and they backed up as the water in front of them started to rise.

Everyone on the raft looked up as a massive pillar of water shot out into the sky right in front of them. A shower of water fell onto all of them as some of them tried to cover themselves.

Ash got to his feet as he stared up at it. As he stared, he saw the water start to fall off something, revealing what was within the water.

Pikachu climbed up onto his shoulder. "Is that-?"

Eevee and Meowzie climbed up and stared up at it.

Ash nodded as he answered. "I think it is."

Melodic wailing was heard, and the Pokémon within looked down at them.

Our heroes recognized the sound and realized what it was.

The Pokémon wailed once more before lowering to look at the group.

Ash smiled as he called out. "It's Dragonite!"

End of chapter

Author's notes

I honestly did not think this chapter would be so long. I thought I wouldn't be able to think of much to fill in the time they spent at sea, but there was more than I thought.

The original plan, in the early chapters, I thought about Ash having James' Gyarados, but I got him a shiny one instead. Misty gets the water Pokémon.

It was one thing that got to me, how there are so many Pokémon they could have gotten, but never did.

I said this in response to a review, but I won't be going too far into the Pokémon generations. Sinnoh was as far as I thought about going with a few outliers here and there.

In case it wasn't made clear, cause I tend to be vague at times, Ash accidentally summoned Dragonite to him. It was implied when all the Pokémon surrounded him in the water.

Lapras was a Pokémon I planned on for later in the fic, but I could not help myself. I love the water Pokémon, and I just wanted to have her on the team.

In case some forgot, the reason Gyarados has not been telaported yet was that Ash did not "catch" her. She was given to Ash through a third party and has not been registered as his yet. She will be soon.

Avoline's overprotective nature is gradually being removed. She is still going to do what she can in order to keep this secret, but she won't be all over Ash like before. She has a duty, but smothering Ash is doing them no good. She will become a more independent character. (That and I know the bit has massively overstayed its welcome. Not because others told me, but because I got tired of it.)

As for Dragonite, yes.

Confession, I wanted this fic to be far more serious than what it has become. I wanted it to be closer to "Dragonfall", a fic where Ash was a Latios. A more serious fic. But it turned out to be more lighthearted. Most likely, I will gradually move it in that direction, but for now, I shall enjoy this fic as it is.

This fic was one of March's releases. The second one will be out on the 2nd, and the 3rd and 4th soon after.

The fics meant for this month will be worked on and released throughout the month

Also, I know a lot of my fics are super long, but I am thinking that I should make the minimum of words for a chapter to be no less than 5k. It can be longer, as many of my stories are as such, but I think the 5k mark might help me release chapters more often. Sure, the arc of the chapter might split into several but... I don't know. long chapters take a lot of time. just me thinking out loud