"Speech"

'Thoughts'

"Pokéspeech/Telepathy"

Chapter 3

"What do you say we stop here for the day?" Brock recommended. "We could push into Mt. Moon tonight, but then we'd be stuck sleeping in a cave, and I speak from experience when I say that that is not fun. In the meantime I can help you with training your team if you'd like."

"That works for me, Brock," Ash agreed, glancing around the clearing the group had found themselves in.

Ash and Brock had left Pewter City that morning. The clearing they chose to camp in was located just at the base of Mt. Moon, with the entrance into the caves only a few more miles up the road. All in all, they were making decent time. If things went according to plan, they would be in Cerulean City by tomorrow afternoon.

Pikachu waited until Brock was distracted with setting up camp before getting Ash's attention. "So, how are you going to handle this? You need to tell Brock about the whole Zorua situation so we can train tonight."
Ash looked conflicted. "I don't know. I'm still pretty nervous about telling him. Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"It's for the best," Eevee spoke up. "If you don't tell him, then it will become really difficult to find time for you to train with us. Besides, I'm sure he's trustworthy. Don't Gym Leaders have to go through heavy qualification tests to be given their position? I know he wasn't the official leader, but if he is certified to take challengers while his father is away, then I'm sure he has done the same tests."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Ash said with a sigh. "I just don't want things to be awkward between the group. I know I just met the guy, but he seems like a decent guy. I don't want him thinking I'm crazy."

Pikachu scoffed. "You worry too much! It'll be fine. Now hurry up and tell him so we can start our training session. I was planning on helping you with Iron Tail while Eevee helps me with Dig. I doubt you'll be able to use Iron Tail in your Zorua form, but it will still come in handy when using a form that can."

"Fine, but I'm blaming you if he tries to put me in the madhouse," Ash said in defeat, before walking back over to Brock, who was currently stirring a stew of some kind over a fire.

Ash had to restrain himself from drooling at the heavenly smell that assaulted his nose. "Hey, Brock? Can we talk for a few minutes? It's important."

Brock smiled slightly and stood up. "Sure. The stew should be fine alone for a few minutes. What did you want to talk about?"

Ash glanced around the clearing warily as if to make sure there were no eavesdroppers before slumping. "Alright, have you ever heard of the Alakazam over in Johto that became a trainer?" He figured that would be a good place to start. Give his companion a point of reference to work from so that the bombshell didn't come entirely out of nowhere.

Brock nodded. "Of course. I was still rather young when that happened, but I remember my father talking about it. Since Kanto and Johto share a border, the Gym Leaders of each tend to know each other from meeting at Indigo Plateau, so if anything interesting happens then the news tends to spread around. Why do you bring it up?"

"Well, this is going to sound completely absurd, but what would you say if I told you that I am actually a Pokemon in disguise?" Ash asked bluntly.

To Brock's credit, he didn't immediately deny Ash's claim. While he was clearly surprised and a little skeptical, he seemed more curious than anything. "That's… quite the claim. It's not that I don't believe you, but I'm going to need more details than that."
Ash sighed. "Alright, I'll just start from the beginning…"

Twenty minutes later, Brock sat down heavily with an exhausted look on his face. "So, to sum things up, you are apparently a human who was captured by Team Rocket and turned into a Zorua through an experiment?" Brock put his face into his hands and groaned. "So much for having a normal journey…"

"You think I'm crazy, don't you?" Ash asked, frowning

"No, of course not. It's just… a lot to take in, that's all," Brock said reassuringly. "Can you show me?"

Ash smiled slightly, some of his nervousness starting to ease now that his admission was out of the way. "Sure."

He closed his eyes and allowed his illusion to fade, managing to surprise even himself at how easy it now felt to do. After glancing down at himself to confirm he was in his Zorua form, Ash looked up and gave Brock a nervous smile. "Ta-da."

Brock hummed as he examined Ash's body. "Interesting. I've heard of Zorua, but I've never seen their abilities in person before. You said that your illusions are solid?"
"Yeah, I can use the moves of any fo-" Ash cut himself off after realizing what he was doing and groaned in embarrassment. He shifted back to his human disguise and gave Brock a sheepish grin. "Sorry, I'm still getting used to language barriers. Anyways, yeah. I can use the moves and abilities of any Pokémon I shift into. I also pick up their weaknesses and resistances, although we haven't had much of a chance to actually test that yet."

"That seems rather powerful if you can manage to use it properly," Brock observed. "What are you and your team working on at the moment? I may be able to help."

"Pikachu was planning on trying to teach me Iron Tail tonight, and I think he mentioned something about him wanting to learn Dig from Eevee. You wouldn't happen to have any tips in that regard, would you?"

Brock rubbed his chin in thought. "Well, I'm not sure how much help I can be with Iron Tail, but I might be able to help Pikachu with Dig. My Onix knows it, so I'll have him help out with that." After a moment, he turned his attention back to the stew that had been pulled off the fire a few minutes prior. "Before we get to that, let's have some dinner before it gets cold."

Ash grinned. "Now you're speaking my language!"

"You know, when you told me you were a Pokemon, I wasn't expecting that to mean you'd be hitching a ride through Mt. Moon…" Brock said in an annoyed tone, although a glint in his nearly non-existent eyes showed that he was more amused than anything.

Ash shrugged as best he could from his place on Brock's shoulder, and decided to mess with the older trainer a bit, regardless of the fact that he wouldn't understand a word of it. "What can I say? I have much better night vision in this form, and having you carry me sure beats walking!"

Eevee rolled her eyes from where she was walking by Brock's side. "Come on, Ash, you can stop messing with him now."

Ash chuckled as he hopped down to fall into pace beside her. "Party pooper."

Brock sighed as he listened to the exchange. "I wish I knew what you guys were talking about."

Ash gave Brock an amused smirk, but stopped dead in his tracks as his ears twitched. "Hold on a second. Did you guys hear that?"

Pikachu frowned and nodded. "Sounds like trouble."

Shifting back to his human form, Ash held up a hand to prevent Brock from continuing down the tunnel. "There's something going on up ahead. It might be trouble. Let's proceed with caution."

Brock glanced at Ash. "Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Alright, let's go," Brock said. "Try to stay quiet until we can see what's going on."

After five minutes went by, the noise started to become more understandable, and Ash was able to pick up on someone talking. He quickly grabbed Brock and pulled him behind a boulder and out of sight.

Glancing out from his hiding spot, Ash's blood went cold. A few yards from where they were hidden, the tunnel opened up into a more spacious cavern. A pair of men dressed in full black were standing over a cowering scientist. An Ekans and a Grimer were by the men's sides. Ash could clearly see the bold red 'R' on the men's uniforms.

"Shit," Ash swore. "It's Team Rocket. It doesn't look like we'll be able to get past them without getting spotted, either."

Brock's expression hardened. "Stay here, I'll handle them. Once they're down you can sneak through unnoticed."

Ash's eyes widened. "Hell no! I'm fighting too! After what that organisation did to me, I want to help take them down. I'm helping whether you want me to or not."

"You can't. What happens if your illusion bursts? Then what? They'll be sure to recognize you, and we'll be in big trouble if that happens." Brock tried to reason, but Ash wasn't having any of it.

"I don't care. I'm not going to sit here and let them do whatever they want. They are clearly up to no good, and I'm not just going to let them." With that said, Ash handed Brock the Pokeballs from his belt and gave him a hard stare, as if daring him to argue.

Brock sighed in defeat. "Fine, but be careful. I'll release Onix into the cavern. In the confusion we'll focus on getting that scientist to safety. As soon as he's safe, try to take out any stray grunts. I can only see two of them, but I'm sure there are more. Team Rocket tends to work in groups."

Ash nodded in agreement before turning to his two remaining Pokémon. "You two got the plan?"

Both of his Pokémon nodded in agreement, so Ash returned his focus to Brock. "Alright, we'll wait for your signal."

"I highly suggest you cooperate with us, old man," sneered the grunt with the Ekans. "We know your team has been digging in the area for fossils. Now fork them over if you don't want to get hurt."

The cowering scientist gasped. "Y-you can't! I've been here for almost a month and only have two of them!"

"Do you honestly think we care about that?" The second grunt with the Grimer asked with a roll of his eyes. "Those fossils will sell for a fortune on the black market. Either you hand them over peacefully or we'll take them by force, grandpa."

"I-I already told you "

"Fine," the first grunt scoffed. "We'll do this the hard way. Ekans, use Poison Fang."
The Ekans seemed hesitant to attack a human, but moved to comply regardless. Seeing this, the scientist's eyes widened. "N-no, wait!"

Just before Ekans could attack the man, a bright flash lit up the room, and suddenly the rather spacious cavern felt cramped as two and a half tons of screeching rock serpent filled the room, barreling into the grunts and their Pokémon with a ferocious Slam attack.

The scientist looked on with a mix of shock and awe as his captors were beaten into the wall of the cavern without remorse. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Wha?!"

"Quiet..!" Ash hissed under his breath. "We're getting you out of here."

Brock nodded in silent agreement before gesturing towards the tunnel they had just come from. "There is a Pokémon Center right outside of the cave. I need you to go and get help. We'll hold them off for as long as we can."

The astonished scientist nodded rapidly, not bothering to question the morality of leaving a pair of children to take on a criminal organisation by themselves in favor of getting to safety as quickly as possible. "Y-yes! Thank you so much!"

As soon as the scientist was out of sight, Ash shifted into a Pikachu, and prepared to leap into the ensuing battle. There were indeed several more grunts in the room, and all of them were frantically trying to fend off Brock's Onix with varying levels of success.

Brock gave Ash a nod. "Be careful out there. You're still new to battling. Focus on not losing hold of your illusion."

Ash simply gave him a grin and a thumbs up before nodding to Pikachu and Eevee. With a cry, the three Pokémon leapt into the scuffle. A burst of light behind him told him that Brock had followed them out from their hiding spot, and he grinned as Pidgeotto and Butterfree immediately took to attacking Team Rocket's Pokémon alongside them.

Spotting a Zubat lunging towards him, Ash let out a Thundershock. The weak electric attack had yet to be perfected, but it did the trick. With a cry of pain, the Zubat fell out of the air and landed in a heap on the ground.

He had no time to contemplate his easy victory, however, as he noticed an Ekans lunging towards him out of the corner of his eye. Ash quickly spun around and launched himself forwards in a Quick Attack. He met the Ekans' Bite attack head on, wincing from the impact but managing to hold on to his illusion. The snake was sent into the air from the impact, where it was met with a Shadow Ball courtesy of Eevee.

Ash flashed her a quick smile before glancing around to see how the battle was going. He was admittedly surprised to see the majority of Team Rocket's Pokémon already unconscious. He had been expecting a rather brutal fight, but the grunt's Pokémon fell to only one or two attacks each. They clearly weren't in the best of shape, so Ash had to assume that Team Rocket usually tended to take advantage in overwhelming numbers over actual strength.

Luckily, Brock's Onix was an absolute powerhouse when angered, and its sheer size was enough to immediately overwhelm a majority of the enemy Pokémon. At least twenty unconscious Pokémon were scattered around the thrashing Onix, and Ash couldn't help but wince as a Rattata was hit by Onix's tail and flung into the wall of the cavern at high speed. He made a mental note not to get on the serpent's bad side.

After only two more minutes, the last of the Rockets had been knocked unconscious along with their Pokémon. Ash flopped onto his belly and let out a sigh of relief. He had only fought two of the Rocket's Pokémon, but he could already feel the strain it had on his body. 'Definitely going to be working on my endurance as soon as possible," He thought with a groan.

Getting back to his feet, he began to make his way over to Brock, who was busy tying up the grunts.

"Brick Break."

Ash's eyes widened as Onix suddenly roared out in pain and crumpled to the ground. He spun around to face the attacker with a growl, quickly sizing up the Pokémon that had dealt the massive blow. It was a bipedal frog-like Pokémon with blue skin, yellow eyes, and a bulging red throat. Black markings ran down the front of its body, and each of its hands was equipped with a large red barb. Ash noticed the light from the fighting-type technique fading from one of them.

Ash snarled as a man stepped out of the shadows. He had blue hair and wore a more professional version of the Team Rocket uniform. The man clapped slowly with an unnerving grin.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" The man asked with a sneer on his face. "I leave for fifteen minutes and my entire squad is taken down by mere children. Pathetic." The man gestured to his Pokémon. "Toxicroak, take care of these pests."

"Be careful!" Ash warned his team. "This guy looks a lot tougher than the rest of them!"

Pidgeotto let out a caw of acknowledgement and dove at the Poison-Type with a Wing Attack. Toxicroak looked unfazed at the approaching bird, however. As soon as Pidgeotto got within range, it slammed a Poison Jab directly into the bird's chest faster than her eyes could track. Pidgeotto screeched in pain as she was thrown across the room, landing with a thud on the rocks. Ash looked at her unconscious form in shock.

Toxicroak was far from done, however. With a single leap, it closed the distance between itself and Ash. Ash's eyes widened as he tried to focus on the dangerous opponent coming towards him, but he could do little more than swear as a glowing fist slammed into his face, smashing him into the ground. The last thing he heard was a loud cry of his name from Pikachu, Eevee and Butterfree.

Ash groaned as he slowly regained consciousness. He wasn't sure how long he had been out, but from the sound of the still raging battle, he guessed it had only been a few minutes at the most.

Forcing open his eyes, and momentarily ignoring the fact that he was clearly back in his Zorua form, Ash took in the state of the battle. It wasn't hard to tell that the fight wasn't going well. Pidgeotto and Onix were both still unconscious, and he noted that Eevee had also fallen at some point. Brock was still fighting, his Graveler fiercely trading blows in a losing battle against the Toxicroak. Ash blinked. 'Wait, Graveler?'

He shook his head to clear his mind. Now wasn't the time to ponder that. He glanced at his remaining two Pokémon and took in their condition. Both Butterfree and Pikachu were panting heavily, and Butterfree's flight path was visibly wavering. Ash clenched his teeth. They had to take out that Toxicroak or else they were done for.

He struggled to find his voice and issue a command to his Bug-Type. "B-Butterfree, hit it with Sleep Powder! Hurry!"

It was no use. Before Butterfree was even halfway to the dueling Toxicroak, it had already landed a finishing blow on Graveler. As soon as the Rock-Type collapsed, Toxicroak spun and fired a Dark Pulse directly into Butterfree. With one final pained cry, Butterfree's unconscious form fell to the ground with a thud.

Ash's fear rose greatly as the Poison-Type began to approach Pikachu, most likely determining that Ash was no threat in his current condition. He clenched his teeth as he attempted to force himself to his feet. After several agonizing seconds, he managed to find his footing. By this point, Toxicroak was nearly on top of Pikachu, it's barbed fist already glowing with the start of a Poison Jab.

He clenched his teeth. Was there even anything he could do at this point? He closed his eyes to avoid watching his friend fall, and was assaulted with a rush of memories.

A wild Pikachu, taking a Flamethrower head on from a Houndoom.

Being kidnapped by Team Rocket.

The prick of a needle piercing his arm.

A rush of agonizing pain.

Waking in an unfamiliar body.

Sneaking through Viridian City in the dead of night, fearful of any prying eyes.

And finally, his team single-handedly defeated one-by-one by Toxicroak.

Ash's eyes shot open as he felt pure rage course through his veins. The most hatred he had ever felt honed in directly on Team Rocket, and he snarled fiercely.

He wasn't entirely sure what happened next. He felt a rush of power surge throughout his body as it began glowing a shade of dark purple. Ash lunged forwards, enveloped in energy, and slammed a paw into Toxicroak's face.

Toxicroak screamed in pain as it was launched across the cavern. It slammed into the wall and crumpled to the ground, completely unconscious.

Ash gaped. "Wh-What was that?!"

Proton seemed similarly baffled by his Pokémon's defeat, but after a moment he scowled. "So, the little fox has some tricks up its sleeve, eh? Well, too bad for you, but you just signed your death certificate."

The blue haired man pulled an Ultra Ball from his belt, and Ash's eyes widened as a mass of purple sludge formed in front of him. Why hadn't he realized that Proton would have more than one Pokémon? He noticed Pikachu finally collapsing out of the corner of his eye, the exhaustion from the battle finally catching up with him.

Ash eyed the Muk fearfully. That last attack had taken a lot out of him, and he knew that he didn't stand a chance against the Poison-Type if it was even half as strong as the Toxicroak had been.

Proton noticed the fear on his muzzle and grinned wickedly. "Muk, Sludge Wave. Kill him… Painfully."

Ash gasped and tried to scramble to his feet in an attempt to avoid the fatal attack, but he couldn't get his muscles to work. With a wimper, he clamped his eyes shut and hunkered down, awaiting the end⎯

"Hyper Beam."

Even with his eyes closed, Ash could still see the light from the devastating beam as it shot barely a foot overhead, the shock wave alone knocking the air from his lungs. There was a massive explosion, and Ash's ears rang painfully. After a few seconds, he wearily cracked open an eye.

Stood protectively in front of him was the massive form of a Dragonite, each scale radiating with sheer power. Muk was slumped against the opposite wall, clearly unconscious.

Proton was scrambling for a pokeball. "Shit..! What the hell is the league champion doing here?!"

It was only then that ash noticed the red haired man standing next to the Dragonite. He was dressed in a flamboyant blue suit, and a cape of matching colors hung behind him. It didn't take a genius to recognize the man.

Lance took a threatening step forward. "It's over, Team Rocket Executive Proton! Give it up!"

Proton chuckled darkly, despite the fear he was feeling. "So, you've heard of me, eh? Well, too bad for you. I don't plan on surrendering." There was a flash of light, and a Kadabra appeared by the man's side.

Lance's eyes widened. "Dragonite, stop them!"

It was too late. Dragonite lunged forwards, but in a flash of light, Proton was nowhere to be seen. Lance pounded a fist against the wall in agitation. "Damn it, he got away again!"

There was another flash of light as Lance released another pair of Pokémon. One was a large purple bat-like Pokémon with massive ears. The other was a large slimy Pokémon with a pair of antenna on the top of its head. Lance wasted no time issuing commands.

"Noivern, scan the area. Make sure there are no more Team Rocket members. Report anything suspicious. Goodra, use a full powered Life Dew. We need to get these Pokémon healed quickly."

Ash gasped as he felt his energy rapidly returning. He stood up and looked down at himself, noticing with some shock that his wounds were healing rapidly. He looked around and noticed the rest of his and Brock's teams beginning to stir as well. "H-How?"

The Goodra glanced down at him and smiled gently before speaking in a feminine tone. "Life Dew. It's a healing technique my species can learn. Don't worry, you are all going to be fine."

Ash sighed in utter relief. It was over; they had won. He noticed Lance helping Brock to his feet. Ash gasped. He had completely forgotten about his companion in the heat of the moment. Quickly shifting back to his human form and ignoring Goodra's cry of surprise, he ran over to the pair.

"Brock, are you alright?!"

Brock glanced over at him and grinned weakly. "Never better."

At Ash's incredulous stare, Brock sighed. "I just took a hit to my side. Don't worry, I'll be fine. Geodude evolved to save me."

Ah, so that explained where the Graveler came from. Lance glanced at Ash in clear confusion. "Where did you come from?" After a moment, he seemed to put the pieces together. "The Zorua? That's… A new one, I admit. I didn't know your species could use such complete illusions."

Ash groaned. "It's… A long story. Way too long to tell at the moment. Let's just say I have my own reasons for wanting Team Rocket gone."

Lance nodded gravely. "I see. Well, thank you for helping to deal with them. I got a call twenty minutes ago of Team Rocket activity in the area and came as quickly as I could. Luckily, I was already nearby. I'm sorry I couldn't be here sooner. I may have been able to prevent your injuries if I was."

Ash gave him a weak smile. "Don't worry about it. Everything worked out in the end. As long as my team is safe then I'm happy."

"Your… team?" Lance repeated. He glanced at Ash's belt and noticed his Pokeballs, before giving a genuine smile. "Ah, I see! It's not every day that a Pokémon chooses to become a trainer. Are you participating in the league?"

Ash nodded, glad for the change in subject. "Yeah. I just received my first badge yesterday, actually. We're on our way to Cerulean so I can challenge my second one now."

"Congratulations," Lance said with a grin. "I hope you manage to reach the Indigo League. It would be quite interesting to have a Pokémon compete. I don't believe that has ever happened in Indigo's history."

"Thanks," Ash said with a matching grin. "I don't plan on losing, so expect a challenge from me in the future."

"I look forward to it," Lance said. After a moment, a thoughtful look crossed his face. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small blue watch. He gently handed it to Ash, who looked at the device in confusion.

"What's this?"

"That is a prototype of the X-transceiver. It's a device being developed over in Unova by Professor Cedric Juniper. Currently, they are far too expensive to mass produce for the market, so they are limited solely for league use. It acts as an all in one tool for any trainer. It has a preinstalled map, a phone, access to the internet, and plenty of other features."

Ash stared at the device with wonder, although a frown was on his face. "But… If these are only for the league, why are you giving this to me?"

Lance smiled. "I'm glad you asked. You have potential. That much is obvious from how you managed to defeat one of Proton's Pokemon despite only having a single badge. You aren't quite strong enough yet, but once you get a few more badges under your belt, I'd like to ask you to join the League's ATA."

"ATA?"

"The Ace Trainer Association. It's a group of League recruited trainers that help out whenever trouble pops up. We only allow the best of the best, and even though you only have one badge, you have something none of them do. As a Zorua, your illusion ability will become incredibly useful for infiltrating Team Rocket without them even noticing."

Ash gaped in shock at Lance's trust in him. It took him a moment to compose himself so that he could thank the Dragon Master. "T-thank you so much! I won't let you down!"

"I know you won't," Lance said with a smile, before he was interrupted by a beeping from his pocket. "Damn. I need to go and report this to the League and get a team out here to arrest these grunts. I'm sorry I have to cut this short."

Ash put out his hand. "Don't worry about it. Thank you again for saving us. I don't know how I'll ever be able to repay you."

Lance returned the handshake with a grin. "You can repay me by facing me on the opposite end of the battlefield one of these days. I've been itching for a challenge. Now, I've got to be going. I wish you all the best." With that said, he mounted his Dragonite and returned his other dragon types before taking off down the tunnel he had come from.

After nearly a minute of silence, Brock gave Ash an incredulous look. "Did… Did you seriously just get a job with the League? ...From Lance?"

Ash could only nod, feeling just as overwhelmed. "I… guess so." He paused, before shaking his head. "That's not important right now. What do you say we get out of this mountain?"

Brock shuddered dramatically. "You don't have to tell me twice."

AN: Whew! Another chapter down! Sorry this one took so long to get out. I had trouble finding time to write for a while. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this one! I had a blast writing it, especially the Team Rocket section. I would appreciate any feedback on the battle scenes, as I had some criticism of them feeling too short and anticlimactic last time and tried to adjust accordingly. I hope you all continue with the feedback as it is extremely helpful.

On another note, a big shout out goes to SilverWolf1130 for Beta Reading this chapter and giving advice where it was needed.

That's all I have for today's chapter, so until next time, stay safe!