Welcome to my first fic on this site! This is not Beta-read and English is not my first language. I did my best, but you know... sorry in advance for any weird phrases and such.

Okay, so some things to know about:

- This is an alternative timeline to the XY(&Z) -series: "What if Ash didn't meet Bonnie and Clemont in Lumiose City?" Because of that, Ash has gone through Kalos at a much quicker pace and with less distractions.

- The speech of Pokémon will be translated in cursive, but the human characters will only hear gibberish. Of course some people are better at understanding their Pokémon friends than others.

- This is pretty light on the amourshipping and mostly focuses on Ash and Pikachu's recovery.

It had started just like any other Team Rocket scheme.

Ash had been travelling in the Kalos region for a while now, mostly alone, since no one he had met and befriended during his journey had been able to leave their homes or jobs to come along with him. Next on his gym list was Lumiose City which he was finally allowed to challenge after managing to win four gym badges in other towns. He was walking along a forest path towards the city, no longer than a days' worth of travel ahead of him, when suddenly Pikachu's ears went rigid and his tiny nails prickled Ash's shoulder through the fabric of his shirt.

"What is it Pikachu?" Ash asked, stopping to look around the quiet forest. "Did you hear something?"

'I did, and I don't like it. Sounded like those three idiots', Pikachu answered, though of course Ash only heard his Pokémon language. Ash was still able to understand that something was bothering his friend. He turned around in a slow circle, staring into the darkening forest and trying his hardest to hear anything that might have alerted Pikachu. And as to be expected, it wasn't long before a large shadow rose above the treetops behind him and Pikachu shouted in alarm, leaping off his shoulder.

"Pikachu!" Ash shouted, whipping his body around looking for the threat, but instead getting face full of net that quickly expanded and captured him in a neat bag. "Hey! Who-"

The answer came without asking. "Prepare for trouble!"

"And make it double!"

"Please not again", Ash said, but it was no use. Ash sighed, listening to the mantra and looking up to the hot air balloon where Team Rocket was standing, performing their ridiculous poem. Meanwhile Pikachu was trying his hardest to scratch, bite and cut through the rope of the net around him, but to no avail. 'Pikapi!' he exclaimed, worried. It was supposed to be him in the net, not Ash. Team Rocket realized this too, after a while of unnecessary babbling.

"Hey!" said James. "We got the wrong twerp."

"I can see that", said Meowth.

"This was supposed to be easy, him being finally all alone and everything", Jessie said, angrily. "Just launch another net already."

Ash was fuming, but the net was binding him in a tight sitting position and he wasn't able to do much of anything. "Dodge it, Pikachu!" he shouted, when a new net was flying towards them. This was an easy job for the experienced Pokémon, and he jumped towards Ash, cheeks sparkling with electricity. Jessie and James quickly accepted this wasn't going to go smoothly, so they released their own Pokémon, calling them to attack.

It was two against one, not counting Wobbuffet's counterstrike and all of Team Rocket's various capturing gadgets. Ash knew it would end badly, for Pikachu. He gritted his teeth, tried one more time to break free and said then to the creature beside him launching attacks up to the offenders: "Pikachu, you need to go! They want you, not me. Please run and get help!"

Pikachu stopped his thunderbolt attacks only for a moment to shout: 'Are you stupid, Pikapi? They would most likely catch me anyway, you just said a few hours ago that there is still a long way to the nearest Pokémon Center. I am not leaving you alone anyway, got it?'

Unfortunately shouting all of this to the clueless ears of his best friend left Pikachu vulnerable to Pumpkaboo's shadow ball, and he got blown backwards. Ash was shouting his name, struggling in his binds. "Please, Pikachu! I'll be fine, please go!" he cried, desperate, but Pikachu wasn't listening to any of it. He got back up, assuming his position in front of Ash, but was already visibly tired from the unbalanced battle.

"Such a touching relationship", James said, not touched at all. "Inkay, let's finish this. Psybeam! Give it all you got!"

With a massive sound, Pikachu's and Inkay's attacks collided in midair and Ash had to close his eyes for a moment against the blinding lightshow. Pikachu was still screaming his attack beside him, but stopped suddenly, sounding surprised. Ash opened his eyes to see the familiar blue-white light of evolution shining from the direction of the hot air balloon. Even Team Rocket's voices had quieted, everyone staring shocked at the evolving Inkay.

"No way", Ash gasped.

'We are finished', said Pikachu.

"What do you know", Jessie said, triumphant. "We have a Malamar now."

'We are so finished now.'

"Pikachu, please." Ash was begging now, worried out of his mind. "That's a hypnotic Pokémon. Run!"

Pikachu too was starting to realize the extent of their troubles. Sadly it was way too late. Malamar had floated down, facing the terrified Pikachu.

"Malamar, make Pikachu take care of that twerp", James commanded.