I've finally graduated from school, and am now working, so updates will be slow. Finally done with school though, hell yeah!

"Hello:" Normal Speech

'Hello:' Telepathy

Hello: Thoughts

"Hello:" Flashback

("Hello"): Poke-Speech/Poke-Speech to Ash

"We made it~!" Ritchie, Misty, and Serena cheered.

Ash's shoulders slumped in absolute relief, "Never again...we are never again going to ride another blimp."

"Pika pikachu (I agree with that sentiment)." Pikachu slumps against the boy's shoulder.

"I'm tired..." Molly sighed.

"Me, too…" Tomo also sighs.

"At least we made it here in one piece." Brock said, sounding the most positive out of everyone in the group.

It was more of a miracle than anything that nothing else bad happened to them on their way here. Next time they'll take a plane here or something.

"Okay...where should we start looking for Professor Ivy?" Ash questioned Brock.

"Good question, I don't see anything here that could look like her lab." Brock said, looking around.

Pikachu spots something and points to it, "Pikapi, pika (Ash, look)!"

"Hm?" Ash looks in the direction where Pikachu was pointing at and spotted a Pokemon Center, "Maybe we can ask the Nurse Joy there for directions."

At hearing the woman's name, Brock stand straight before taking off, "I'm coming, Nurse Joy!"

"Brock?!" Serena exclaims.

"Fenne (Why'd he run off like that)?" Fennekin questions, confused.

A tick mark appears on Misty's head, "We just got here and already and he's already acting like this."

"Did you really expect Brock not to do that?" Ritchie gives her a dry look.

At that, Misty had no words.

"Let's go make sure Brock doesn't do something he might regret." Ash smiles nervously.

Valencia Island—Pokemon Center

As expected, Brock went into full on Nurse Joy mode, prompting Misty to yank him by the ear and drag him as far away from her as possible. Serena was taken aback by Brock's weird behavior, but Ash explained that this was normal among them.

"Yes, I do indeed know how to get to Professor Ivy's lab." Nurse Joy says to them with a pleasant smile on her face.

"If you could point us in the direction of where it is we'll be very grateful." Ash says to her.

"Of course." Nurse Joy gladly gave them the directions and they were off.

Professor Ivy's Lab

"Here we are." Ash said, knocking on the door but got no answer.

"Maybe no one's home?" Misty guessed.

"Hello? Is anyone home?" Ash calls out.

Suddenly, the door opens and they are met with three girls, all who were wearing round glasses.

"Welcome, who might you all be?!" The three spoke in unison.

Blinking a couple of time, Ash slowly responded, "Um, we're here to see Professor Ivy."

"She's here—" One of the girls answered.

"—Right now she's outside—" The one to the left responds.

"—Looking after the pokemon." The one to the right finished.

The three girls let them inside, where they lead them to the beach. What instantly caught their attention when they got there the first thing they saw was a Gyarados coming out of the sea. Misty was about to freak out until they saw a woman petting the water pokemon.

"Looking good today, Gyarados." The woman says with a smile as the pokemon gives her a low growl in approval.

Her action has everyone stunned and amazed.

"That's amazing…" Misty stares.

"The way she's petting it without any fear at all…" Serena stares.

"She's very skilled." Brock comments.

Gyarados are known to be temperamental pokemon, but there are some people out there who are able to train them, be they a trainer, professor, or gym leader.

The Gyarados takes the woman to shore as one of the girls tosses her a lab coat, the woman takes it before jumping off Gyarados.

"Greetings, my name is Professor Ivy." Ivy introduces herself to the group.

"Ah! It hit me, the arrow of love~!" Brock says dramatically.

Misty rubs her forehead, "Unbelievable…"

"Brock's quite the ladies man, isn't he?" Serena smiles nervously.

"If you could call it that." Ash comments.

Unaffected by Brock's antics, Ivy smiles at them, "Let me see…" she looks them over before her eyes landed on Ash, "You must be Ash Ketchum."

"Yes ma'am. Professor Oak sent me to pick up the mysterious pokeball you have." Ash said.

Professor Ivy nods, "I have it in my lab, please follow me."

They follow her inside and head to the lab, once there she picks up a golden pokeball with the initials "GS" on it.

"Here it is, the infamous pokeball that has given us many headaches. The infamous GS ball." Professor Ivy shows them.

"The GS ball?" Misty questioned.

"That's what we decided to call it because of the initials that are engraved on it." Professor Ivy tells them, "We've tried everything to get it to open, but…"

"Teleporting it was a no go."

"Trying to pry open was also no good."

Ritchie sweat-dropped, "So you tried to pry it open with tools?" Just goes to show how desperate they were to find out what was inside.

Professor Ivy gives the pokeball over to Ash, "I'm entrusting this to you Ash, if anyone can figure out a way to open it, Professor Oak might just be the one."

Ash takes the pokeball from her, the instant he did, Mewtwo's pokeball began a glow a little, alerting Ash.

'Mewtwo?'

Who's That Pokémon?

Its...Lapras!

"Lapras!"

With the GS ball placed safely in Ash's backpack, the gang are led outside by Professor Ivy, who shows them her outdoor environment. It was kind of like Professor Oak's outdoor environment, only this one was very much different.

Misty was looking around in awe before sniffing the air, "That smells nice, like flowers." As soon as she said that, a Vileplume comes out from the bushes, startling her, "Oh, its just a Vileplume."

Ash notices something about the Vileplume, "Hey, I could be wrong, but this Vileplume has different colored petals."

"You're right, it does." Brock agrees, observing the petals on the Vileplume, "I wonder why that is."

Luckily, Professor Ivy explains the reason why to them, "That's because I've bred and raised all of the pokémon here," as she said this, her assistants bring out some pokémon food on a cart, "They form an invaluable part of my research into the effect of the tropical climate's effects on pokémon."

"I see, so that explains why this Vileplume's petals are different colors." Ash said.

"Pika (It sounds fascinating)." Pikachu said.

"Professor, we have a problem." One of the assistants tells her.

"What is it?" Ivy questioned.

"This Butterfree hasn't eaten anything in anything in days, despite us using different combinations with its pokémon food." She explains.

"Hmmm, that's not good." Professor Ivy hums, "I wonder what's wrong?"

Brock eyes the pokémon food before sampling it, "Excuse me." He runs off inside the house after saying that before coming back out minutes later smashing some berries, "Taste is always important." After smashing them, he then sprinkles the solution onto the food, attracting the Butterfree.

"That's impressive, Brock." Professor Ivy says, clearly impressed.

Blushing at the compliment, he rubs the back of his head bashfully, "Well, I'm aiming to become a pokémon breeder, so I need to know everything about pokémon."

Ash sees the look in Brock's eyes and smiles.

When they went back inside the house though...it was a mess.

Actually, calling it a mess was being too generous. The place was a complete pigsty.

'This places looks worse than that one time Professor Oak got so into his research that he forgot to clean his lab!' Ash thinks.

"If Aunt Delia were here she'd be in full on clean mode." Ritchie comments.

"Or she'd make Professor Ivy do it." Ash said.

"How can you stand all this mess?" Misty had to know how they could stand such living conditions.

Professor Ivy rubs the back of her head, "Sorry for the mess…"

Brock paled before snapping out of it and going into full now clean mode. Not wasting any time, he got to work on cleaning up the mess, amazing the professor and her assistants.

"Amazing…" Professor Ivy watches Brock move around and clean everything up with ease, and very quickly.

"Brock's amazing in his own way, this is just one of those amazing things he can do." Ash tells her.

"Done!" Brock announces.

"Already?!" Professor Ivy's assistants exclaimed in shock.

"Wow, Brock you just keep getting more amazing." Professor Ivy smiles.

Brock's whole face became red.

Ash gives Pikachu a look, "I think Brock wants to stay here."

"Pika (I think he does, too)." Pikachu said.

After they all had dinner, everyone was tucked in bed, but Brock and Ash were still awake. Brock said he had something he wanted to discuss with Ash.

"Ash, I—" Brock began to say.

"You want to stay here, don't you?" Ash says, cutting him off.

Brock looks surprised for a moment, but it doesn't last long, "Yeah, I feel like I'll learn a lot more about pokémon if I stay here."

Ash gives him a knowing smile, "You've also taken a liking to Professor Ivy, too."

Brock grumbles, but says nothing to deny it.

"Brock, to be honest I believe Professor Ivy could use your help here. I mean, you saw how dirty the place was earlier, right? She could use your help in making sure it doesn't get like that again. There's also your knowledge on pokémon that not even she knows that could be valuable." Ash tells him.

Brock turns to face him, "Ash…"

At his expression, Ash laughs a little, "Don't look like that. We'll see each other again."

Smiling, Brock nods, "Yeah."

After watching his friend fall asleep, Brock gets up to see what Professor Ivy and her assistants are up to. Once he finds them, he sees that they are in the middle of watching Vileplume mark the area with its pollen. Wanting to help in some way, he decides to offer them some food.

"Would you like some rice balls?" Brock offers.

"Ah, thank you, Brock." Professor Ivy thanks as she takes a bite.

Brock decides to stay and observe with them since he was already here. As he sat there watching the screen, he thought about how Ash approved of him wanting to stay here with Professor Ivy. A part of him wanted to keep traveling with his friend, but Ash insisted he do what he felt was best for him.

"Oh no! A Raticate's entered the powder cloud!" One of the assistants noticed.

"I'll go get it to safety!" Professor Ivy jumps up before rushing out the door.

"No wait, its too dangerous!" Brock yells, running after her.

She didn't seem to hear his words as she ran at the Raticate before pulling the Raticate to safety. Only by doing this, it exposed her to the pollen, and thus weakening her.

"Professor Ivy!" Brock calls out to her as he sees the states she's in, "Quick, call Nurse Joy!" He tells one of the assistants.

"Yes!" The girl ran off.

Brock stays with Professor Ivy in the meantime, "Don't worry, you're going to be okay. I'll stay with you."

Pokemon Center

Nurse Joy wasn't happy with Professor Ivy at the moment, and it showed on her face.

"Honestly, what were you thinking Professor Ivy? Had your assistant not called me when she did, you'd be in much worse shape than you are now." Nurse Joy scolded the woman.

Professor Ivy gave Nurse Joy a sheepish look, "I know. How's the Raticate?"

Nurse Joy smiles, "Raticate is perfectly fine. It wasn't hit by the pollen, you were the only one that got all of it. You got it out of the way just in time."

"Good…" Hearing this made Professor Ivy sigh with relief.

While her assistants were openly showing their concern, Brock was showing something else. Admiration. He was impressed with how she jumped in to save Raticate at the expense of her own safety.

'She really is amazing. It's decided then, I've made my decision.' Brock thinks.

The next day, the gang was wide awake and ready to go, all except for one person.

"Hey, where's Brock?" Misty questioned.

"Yeah, where'd he run off to?" Ritchie looks around, trying to find him.

"Pika (Is he still asleep)?" Sparky wonders.

Their questions were finally answered when they spotted Brock on the roof, fixing it with his pokémon.

"Why is he up on Professor Ivy's roof?" Serena curiously asks.

Professor Ivy answered, "Because says he wants to stay here."

This came as a shock to the others, but not Ash.

Brock gets down from the roof to explain, "I've talked about it with Ash last night and Professor Ivy this morning. Staying here will allow me to learn more about pokémon."

Molly looked sad, "Are you really staying here, Brock?"

"Ursa (Are you)?" Teddiursa also looked sad.

Brock rubs both her and Tomo's heads, "Yeah, but don't be sad. We'll definitely see each other again."

"You promise?" Tomo said.

"Promise."

Misty, Serena, and Ritchie said their own goodbyes.

Ash and Brock hug out their goodbye, "See you again."

"Definitely." Brock promises.

Professor Ivy then tells Ash to head to Tangelo Island. She tells him that the island is good for trainers to relax and have fun. Ash agreed to go and plans to send the pokeball via transport to Professor Oak.

"Bye, Brock! See you again someday!" Misty waves as they walk away from the lab.

"See you guys, and good luck!" Brock waves back.

Ash felt a little sad Brock was staying behind, but knew that this is what his friend truly wanted and respected him for it.

"There's no need to feel sad because we will see each other again someday, right?" Ash says to Pikachu.

"Pika (We will)!" Pikachu agrees with a smile.

Having said goodbye to their friend Brock, Ash and his friends are not sad about it for they know someday they will meet again. Stay tuned as the journey continues.

"Well we're here." Ash said.

They arrived safely at Tangelo Island, having taken a much safer blimp. Ash had his doubts, as did the others, but the man was so nice to them that they couldn't help but get on and take a ride on it. Thankfully it was a safe ride.

"So what should we do?" Ritchie turns to Ash.

"Head to the Pokemon Center and call Professor Oak and tell him we have the GS ball." Ash answered.

"Let's get going then." Misty said.

With their goal in mind, they stroll along the city's waterfront. Suddenly, Pikachu notices something on the beach and gets the attention of the others.

"Pikapi, pika (Ash, look)!" Pikachu points down at the beach.

Ash and the others look over and see it was a Lapras, "A Lapras all the way out here, alone?"

"Is that unusual?" Serena questioned.

"It is, Lapras usually travel in pods, but this one is all alone." Ash explains.

Ritchie notices something else, "Hey, look down there!" Looking back down, they see three guys verbally and physically abusing the poor Lapras.

Seeing this made Ash see red and before they could stop him, he was already down there running towards them. When he was close enough, he yanked the guy in the middle by his collar backwards, punched the other in the face, and kicking the last one away.

Pikachu jumps down from Ash's shoulder so he could check on Lapras, "Pika pikachu pi (Are you okay)?"

Lapra whimpers, "Lapras (I'm scared...)"

Pikachu's heart broke when he realized this Lapras was just a baby, and these three jerks were picking on it.

"Pikapi, pikachu (Ash, he's just a baby)!" Pikachu tells his trainer.

Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, Ash approaches the baby Lapras, his heart aching when the baby flinched as he approached. He slowly gets into a crouch before stretching his hand out slowly, placing it on top of the baby's head.

"So young and far away from home," Ash says softly, "And then to have this done to you." Yellow's face appeared, "You did nothing to deserve this…"

The baby Lapras opens its eyes, staring at him and no longer feeling afraid.

"Hey man, what gives?!"

"Yeah, we were planning on using that pokémon to challenge the Orange Crew!"

"Yeah!"

Misty and the others soon come down to the beach, "So what? That's no excuse to treat Lapras that way!"

"You meanies don't deserve to challenge the Orange Crew!" Molly said.

"Bullying a pokémon is wrong!" Tomo yelled.

"What's wrong with you, jerks?!" Serena frowned.

"Creeps like you don't even deserve to have pokémon!" Ritchie said.

"Shut up! We're taking that Lapras so we can challenge the Orange Crew!" The leader of the three said.

Angered by their callous and cruel nature Ash stands up, "You three morons better do yourselves a favor and get out of my sight before I make you."

The gang flinched at Ash's harsh tone, including Pikachu.

"Pikapi (Ash...)" Pikachu said, worried about his trainer.

"What did you just you—!" The leader flinched and took several steps back when Ash turned to face them, looking positively angry.

Slowly, he approaches the three, "You wanna challenge someone? Then try me. Pikachu, get ready."

Pikachu gets in front of his trainer, "Pika (I'll teach these three a lesson)!"

"W-We're not scared of you!" The trio cried, sending out their pokémon. They called out their Spearow, Hitmonchan, and Beedrill.

"Don't bother holding back Pikachu." Ash tells his partner.

"Pika (You got it)!" Pikachu got ready to battle when suddenly they were interrupted.

"Stop!"

Surprised, they all turn to see a young man with short black hair, brown eyes, wearing a bandana around his forehead. He was also sporting a green shirt, and red shorts.

"Who is that?" Serena wonders.

"I'm not sure." Misty said.

The boy comes down to the beach and observe the three jerks pokémon before giving his examination.

"This Spearow is vitamin-deficient," then turns to Beedrill, "The coloring on this Beedrill is poor," and finally he evaluates Hitmonchan, "And this Hitmonchan is lacking exercise. Such poor care, underdeveloped actually." When he was done with them, he then evaluates Pikachu, "This Pikachu however is a different story. Its coat is shiny, and looks very healthy."

"Um, thank you…?" Ash slowly says, unsure of how else to respond.

Irritated, the trio decided to attack, but Ash wasn't having any of it.

"Thunderbolt!"

Pikachu sends a powerful Thunderbolt to the three pokémon, knocking them out instantly.

"That's impossible!"

"He knocked them all out?! Who is this guy?!"

"Huh, wait a minute! I've seen him somewhere before...crap—its him! Ash Ketchum, the guy who won the Indigo League!"

"Seriously?!"

"Let's get out of here!"

Terrified, they return their pokémon and flee the area with their tails between their legs. Serves them right.

"You better run!" Misty yells at them.

"Can't believe there are jerks like them out in the world." Serena said.

"Yeah, but there are." Ritchie sighs.

Ash was already back over to the baby Lapras, touching its head again, "I have some medicine with me, will you take it?" He didn't want to force the little one to take it if it didn't want to.

Lapras looks him right in the eye and having sensed no ill intent it nods its head weakly in acceptance. Satisfied, Ash takes some medicine out of his backpack before giving it to Lapras, "We need to get you to a Pokemon Center."

"Oh, I'll go get Nurse Joy!" The boy goes off to get the kind nurse while the others wait.

"Seriously, who is that guy?" Ritchie said.

"Again, I don't know." Misty responds.

The guy may be a bit odd, but at least he's nice.

Who's That Pokemon?

Its...Ninetails!

"Ninetails!"

Pokemon Center

"Sorry for the late introduction, my name is Tracey Sketchit, and I'm a Pokémon Watcher." Tracey introduces himself.

"Pokémon Watcher, what's that?" Molly asks.

"A Pokémon Watcher is someone is a person who studies Pokémon, observing them under the ownership of a pokémon trainer and their natural habitat." Tracey explained.

"That actually sounds really interesting." Misty compliments.

Tracey nodded his head, "Yes, I wasn't expecting much when coming here to this Island, but imagine my surprise when Ash Ketchum shows up here as well."

"Didn't think that Ash would be so popular already." Ritchie comments.

"Are you kidding? He's the very first trainer to win the Indigo League at the age of ten! No one has ever won it at that age!" Tracey said.

"I bet." Serena looks over at Ash, who was busy talking to Nurse Joy about something before coming over to them.

"Nurse Joy says that Lapras is sleeping right now, but should wake up soon." Ash reports to them.

"That's good to hear." Misty smiles.

Ash then turns his attention to Tracey, "Those three clowns mentioned something about the Orange Crew?"

"Right, trainers have to challenge the Orange Crew before they can compete in the Orange League." Tracey explains.

"Kind of like the Indigo League then, huh?" Ritchie comments.

"In a way." Tracey said.

Just then, Ritchie gets an idea, "Ash, you should enter!"

"What?" Ash said.

Ritchie stands up, "There's no doubt in my mind that you'll do amazing when you enter!"

"I hate to rain on your parade, but you forget that we need to get the GS ball to Professor Oak." Misty reminds him.

Tracey opens his mouth slightly, "Professor Oak…?"

"Speaking of which, I need to give him a call." Ash walks over to the phones to call the man.

Trace stands up quickly, "You guys personally know Professor Oak?!"

Misty gives him a look, "Y-Yeah...he lives in Pallet Town with Ash, his siblings, and mother. In fact, Ash learned everything he knows from Professor Oak."

"Wow…" Tracey stares at Ash in awe.

Ash meanwhile was on the phone with Professor Oak, "I've got the GS ball."

"[Excellent! I knew I could count on you, Ash!]"

"Once we find out more about Lapras's condition we'll head back to Pallet Town." Ash tells him.

"[Oh, you found an injured Lapras?]"

Ash nods, "The Lapras is just a baby, and it was being abused by three morons, but I took care of them. They were going on about needing to challenged the Orange Crew to enter the Orange League."

"[I see...and I've heard about the Orange League before. Ash, my boy?]"

"Yes?"

"[Why don't you enter it?]"

"Eh, even you now? Ritchie was just telling me he thinks I should enter." Ash said as Professor Oak laughs.

"[For once I agree with Ritchie. You might as well enter since you're already there.]"

"But the GS ball…"

"[I can wait on it, don't worry. I have faith you'll take good care of it before giving it to me.]"

Seeing there was no point in arguing with the man, he simply agrees, "Okay, you win."

Tracey then appears out of nowhere, "Hi there, Professor Oak! My names Tracey Sketchit, and I've been a fan of yours for years!"

Sweat-dropping, Professor Oak smiles nervously at the boy, "[I-I see...well its nice to meet you Tracey. Are you a new traveling companion of Ash's?]"

"I am!" Tracey answers.

"Don't make that decision on your own!" Misty yells at him from behind.

"Anyway, I'll talk to you later, Professor." Ash says, hanging up the phone.

"What a day…" Ash sighs.

"Pikachu (Yeah…)." Pikachu sounded just as exhausted.

Nurse Joy comes walking towards them with a smile, "I'm happy to report that Lapras is doing just fine."

"That's good to hear." Misty said.

"But, there is a problem." Nurse Joy continues.

"What do you mean?" Ash asks.

"You see, we're trying to load Lapras onto a truck so we can take it back to sea, but it doesn't want to move." Nurse Joy said, sadly.

"That Lapras is still just a baby, not to mention it was viciously attacked by those three fools, so it probably doesn't trust humans right now. Makes me wish I'd dealt with them before they ran off." Ash said.

Tracey blinks before looking at Misty, "He's joking, right…?"

Misty shook her head in the negative.

"Maybe you could help us?" Nurse Joy gives them a pleading look.

"We could try." Ash tells her.

And try they did.

But the baby Lapras wouldn't budge for any of them, well, except Ash that is. Since he gave the Lapras medicine and was the first human that wasn't being mean to it, the water type would only allow him near it.

Tracey was sketching Ash and the baby Lapras, fascinated by what he was seeing.

"This is amazing, Lapras seems to be very comfortable around him and isn't afraid at all." Tracey observes.

"That's because pokémon feel comfortable around him." Misty said.

"Comfortable?"

"Ash has been taking care of pokémon since he was a kid, so he knows how to take care of them both physically and emotionally." Misty explains.

"Wow, he really is something else, isn't he?" Tracey says, looking back at Ash and Lapras.

Ash was giving the baby Lapras space as it swam in the pool Nurse Joy provided for it. The Lapras may not be all that scared of him, but he didn't want to push his luck. Best to give it some space. Pikachu was speaking to Lapras and Ash decides to leave it to his buddy.

"Pika, pikachu pi pika (Don't worry, we'll get you back home)." Pikachu promises.

Lapras looks at Pikachu, then at Ash, "Lap Lapras La (How come he's so nice)?"

"Pikapi pikachu pi (Ash is always nice)!" Pikachu smiles.

"Lapras (Really)?" Lapras was still on guard.

Pikachu nodded, "Pikachu pi pika pika pikachu. Pikachu pika, pika pi pikachu (He hates seeing a pokémon in pain or treated badly. Before I met him, he was already taking care of pokémon since he was small)."

Lapras was surprised to hear this.

"Pikachu pi pikachu (He'll find a way to get you back home)." Pikachu repeats. Lapras felt small hope, hearing that. Looking back at Ash, the water type swims towards him.

Ash saw the pokémon coming and sat very still, allowing it to approach. When Lapras was close enough, the little lowered its head a little. Seeing this, Ash brings up his hand and pets the small Lapras.

"We'll help you find your way home, okay?" Ash says softly.

Lapras cooed in response, not sensing any ill intent.

This was a rare tender moment, but of course it didn't last long as Team Rocket reared their annoying heads once again. Lapras was scared and shied away from them. Ash took a protective stance in front of Lapras as Ritchie came outside.

"Should've known you three losers would show up again." Ritchie frowns.

"That's just rude!" James said.

"We'll make you eat your words, twerp! Go Arbok!" Jessie calls out her pokémon.

"You get in there, too Weezing!" James sends out his pokémon.

Meowth brings out a giant robot, "This'll nab that Lapras!"

Ash brings out a pokeball, "Like I'd let that happen! Charizard, let's go!"

Charizard comes out roaring and ready to go, "Roar (You clowns are going down)!"

"Oh yeah? Well eat this!" Meowth presses a button on the remote, making the robot move.

"Charizard, destroy that robot with your Dragon Breath attack!" Ash commands.

Charizard opens his mouth, releasing a green and yellow beam from its mouth at the robots, destroying it.

"Whoa! Good move!" Tracey compliments as he sketched what he was seeing.

"Ash's Charizard is seriously amazing." Serena stares at the pokémon in awe.

"Weezing, use Tackle!" James commanded.

"Counter that with Quick Attack, Sparky!" Ritchie commands.

Weezing comes charging at the electric type, and Sparky responds in kind, Sparky was stronger than Weezing and knocked it back into James.

"Arbok, use Poison Sting!" Jessie commands.

Arbok's opens its mouth, sending a torrent of needles at Pikachu.

"Knock them back with Iron Tail!" Ash counters.

Pikachu's tail glows metallic before he knocks the needles back at Arbok, wounding it.

"My poor baby!" Jessie cried.

"Pikachu—"

"Sparky—"

"Thunderbolt!"

Pikachu and Sparky send Team Rocket packing with a powerful thunderbolt attack.

"We're blasting off again!"

"Those Team Rocket guys really are...odd?" Serena doesn't really know what else to say.

"More like annoying." Misty comments.

Ash returned Charizard and was surprised when Lapras nuzzles his cheek affectionately, "You're welcome." He smiles.

"Looks like Lapras likes Ash a lot more now." Tracey said.

"That's because Ash defended it from Team Rocket." Misty said.

The gang along with their new companion Tracey say goodbye to Nurse Joy and head off.

"Mikan Island?" Molly said.

"That's right, it's the home of the four gym leaders of the Orange Crew, so that's where we should go." Tracey explained.

"Then that's where we'll go!" Ritchie said.

"Mikan Island here we come." Ash smiles.

"Pika (Here we come)!" Pikachu cheers.

And so, with a new traveling companion joining them, our heroes are on their way to Mikan Island where Ash will challenge the Orange Crew in order to enter the Orange League. Stay tuned as the journey continues.

Next Time: First Challenge on Mikan Island!