Episode 9: Black Jack Vs Ash Ketchum

Chapter 1

It was nighttime. John was sitting in one of the audience member seats looking down on the field. Black Jack walked in and spotted his brother there, he then walked over to him to start a conversation.

“John.”
John turned around to see his brother. “Jack.”
“It has been a long time.”
“Far too long if you asked me. It has been fifteen since you last called me.”
“Sorry. But I have been a bit busy.”
“So, what’s happening with you lately?”

Black Jack sat down next to his brother and began his life story…

Meanwhile, Ash’s pokemon (Pikachu, Bayleef, Charizard, Swellow, Snorlax, and Tauros) and Black Jack’s pokemon were sitting around a campfire, warming themselves up from the cold night air. Nidoking remembered that Tyranitar wasn’t shocked earlier about the fact John was Black Jack’s brother.

(Author’s note: The pokemon will be talking in this part, so I decided to do a little bit of translation.)

“I noticed that you were not surprised, when Black Jack said that John’s his brother,” Pikachu said.
“I’m Jack’s first pokemon, I’ve been with him since I was a baby Larvitar,” Tyranitar replied. “He wouldn’t keep any secrets from me.”
“Well then,” Feraligatr said. “If you were a baby when you first met Jack, where were you at birth?”

Tyranitar looked down in sadness. “I also suffered the same loss that Jack did…”

“My mom was giving birth to me and my brother. After she gave birth, she passed away, leaving my dad to take care of us. We never got to know our mom, since we were only eggs.

“At one point, we hatched out of our eggs. Our dad loved us so much and we loved him back. We ate together, we bathed together, we watched the stars together, we did everything together.

“Everything was great until a lot of poachers wanted to capture us. Our dad told us to run for our lives because he didn’t want to see us captured. We ran deep into the forest until heard a gunshot. We felt that we need to run back to find out what happened. We saw our answer… our own dad shot dead… we had no one to protect us but ourselves…

“Somehow we walked into a city nearby. It was full of humans, who were strangers to us. We were hoping someone would help us out but it was no good, nobody wanted to help us, until Jack and John came…

-Flashback-

Two Larvitar were very tired and hungry as they walked round in a park. They sat down next to a tree, thinking that no one would be there to help them. But to their relief, two little boys, who were a few inches taller than them, came round holding some cookies and sweets. They were both identical twins as they wore stripped jumpers and overalls; they also had brown eyes and brown hair.

They offered the two hungry Larvitar some of their goodies and they quickly and happily accepted. They ate the food so quick that began to choke, much to the amusement of the twins, yet they helped them to choke out the food.

-End Flashback-

“We played each other all day that day. After learning that we were lost, Jack and his brother took us in. I had a feeling that Jack saw me more than a pet, he saw me more as a friend.

“Jack likes to wander about all the time, his life’s ambition was to travel. His parents agreed to let him do so when he reached the age of ten. But Jack’s happy life didn’t last forever. We discovered that both his parents died of murder. Jack wanted to find the murderer, but John wouldn’t let him.

“The next day, his dream came when they gave him his trainer card, certifying him that he’s a pokemon trainer. And I went along with him. The saddest part was when I had to leave my brother behind. If I can talk human language, I would’ve told Jack about it.”

Feraligatr’s head leaned against a nearby tree and started crying. “That’s the saddest story I’ve ever heard,” he sobbed.

Tyranitar smiled at Feraligatr’s sympathy. He got up and patted him on the back. “It’s all right,” he replied. “I’m the one who was supposed to be crying, not you.”
Feraligatr immediately stopped crying and smiled. “Oh yeah,” he replied in a low realised tone.

“So that’s why he’s never in a good mood, even when something good turns up,” Pikachu said as Tyranitar and Feraligatr sat back down.
“There’s more to it then that,” Blaziken replied. “He used to be a Team Rocket agent.”
“TEAM ROCKET!?” all of Ash’s pokemon cried in shock.
“Yep,” Tyranitar replied. “But he was forced into it, just to protect us from harm.”
“Yeah,” Nidoking replied. “They had guns aiming at us.”
“So,” Tyranitar continued, ignoring Nidoking’s remark. “Jack worked for them for so long, he became a bad guy himself, earning himself the nickname Black Jack. Having enough of treating pokemon badly he quitted and helped us destroy one of the Team Rocket bases.”

“Wow!” Bayleef commented. “Must’ve taken a lot of guts to get out of there. Isn’t that right, Snorlax?”

She turned to Snorlax for a reply, but he was already asleep. She then had a small anime sweat drop at the back of her head.

“Well, that’s my story,” Tyranitar said. “Anyone want to share something?”

“I have a question for you guys,” Salamence said. “Do you make friends with a trainer first or does he have to face you first?”
“Usually, Ash make friends first before battling them,” Tauros answered. “I guess having a great bond with us made us stronger than just our usual training.”
“I second that,” Pikachu replied. “But we all have other reasons that goes along with that and I got another reason why.

“I don’t battle for Ash, I battle with him. Outside of battle, we spend a lot of time together, and have fun together. When I get in danger, Ash is always there to help me out. When I get hurt and there’s no pokemon center nearby, he’ll heal me up and help me recover. But… we also had our bad times as well. One time, despite my fear, he wanted me to face a gym leader in Vermilion City. When I did, I figured out why the other pokemon had to visit the emergency rooms.”

Pikachu looked at Charizard. “Hey, Charizard. You had some bad times with Ash as well right?”
“Yeah,” Charizard replied. “When I was a Charmander, I became Ash’s pokemon after I heard that creep, Darryl, abandoned me. Called me a weakling he did. After some time, I evolved into Charmeleon. Ever since that time, I felt the need to battle worthy opponents without Ash’s guidance.

“At some level, we were at one of the Orange Islands and a trainer and his Poliwrath challenged us. Ash ordered me what attacks to use, but as usual I fought this battle my way and it caused nothing but trouble as Poliwrath’s Ice Beam attack froze me. If it wasn’t for Ash that cared for me that time, I would’ve been hurt for the rest of my life, or worst. While I was being unfroze I noticed that Ash really cared about me. Ever since then, I became stronger because of him.

“At some point, we were on the Johto region and I had to make a choice whether to stay with Ash or stay at the Charizard village to become stronger. Ash made the choice easier for me, he realised how much I wanted to stay at that place. I was happy on the outside, but seeing Ash running away and leaving me behind I couldn’t stand it.

“It’s a good thing I came back to save his butt a couple of times. And I also became part of the Johto League Championship, where I had to face a Blaziken. It was one of the toughest battle I have ever faced, let me tell ya.”

Charizard and Blaziken stared at each other with determination, knowing that they might be facing each other tomorrow.

“I wonder if it’s fate that gets us along with our human pals,” Nidoking said. “If my fate was to stay with Black Jack forever, then I’m thankful for it. I mean, just look at Feraligatr and me. When we were Nidoran and Totodile, our dream was to become the toughest pokemon in the entire world. If it wasn’t for Jack we wouldn’t be so tough.”

“Ahh, sweet memories,” Feraligatr said in a relaxed tone as he looked at the stars. “We remember the time when we first met Tyranitar, well, when he was a Larvitar. He had a difficult time trying to get an apple of a tree. Me and Nidoking, I mean Nidoran, tried to help out to grab the apple but we were too short to reach them. Luckily, Jack came by and helped us out by grabbing a bunch of apples for us. That was then we found out that Larvitar was Jack’s pokemon. Not wanting to see our friend go away, we decided to tag along.”

There was a moment of silence. Each pokemon were remembering the time they’ve first met their trainers.

Blaziken stood up. “Well, that’s enough talk about the past,” he said. “We got a big day tomorrow.”
“Yeah!” Pikachu replied as he stood up with determination in his eyes. “You guys have been strong in your previous battles. But tomorrow, we all must do our best, because everything is at stake.”
“We must do our best tomorrow!” Charizard yelled. “For everybody!”
“YEAH!” everyone cried as they stood up and raised their paws in a triumphant manner, except Snorlax, who was still sleeping.

Back at the stadium, Black Jack had just finished off his story.

“So you were a member of Team Rocket?” John asked.
“Yeah, I felt so bad, I never had the guts to call you anymore,” Black Jack replied.
“That doesn’t matter, what matter is that blood is thicker than water.”
“Hey?”
“No matter what you do, you’re still my brother.”

Black Jack smiled at that remark. “Thanks, bro. So what’s been happening with you lately?”
“Oh, my family’s been captured… but you already knew that didn’t you?”
“I know that, but why? What does Mane want with you?”
“I was told that he wanted to get hold of all of my work at Burg Corp. He gave me a choice, either I give my work to him or I give up my family. It was a difficult decision for me to choose, but then he gave me a third choice, he said that if I battle against him and win, he would release my family and I would never hear from him again. I chose the third option and well… you know the rest.”

John buried his face in his hands as he went into tears, thinking of what it would be like without his wife and daughter. Seeing that, Black Jack wasn’t going to let Mane get away with it.

“Don’t worry, Johnny,” said Black Jack. “I’ll battle and defeat Ketchum and Mane, not for the championship, but for your family.”
John lifted his face from his hands. “Do you promise?”
“I swear it.”

Black Jack got up from his seat and began to walk away. “Jack,” John called.
“What?” Black Jack asked as he turned around.
“You’re family as well.”

Black Jack smiled. “Thanks, bro.”

Elsewhere in the arena, Ash was at an entranceway underneath the audience stands. He listened to both Black Jack and John’s story. “I got to do everything I can to help Black Jack,” he said to himself.

He turned round to see a green ninja who was standing behind him. “I can give a suggestion,” the ninja said.
“Who are you?” Ash asked.
“I am Seed, a friend of Black Jack.”

Ash looked up and down on Seed, felt nothing but suspicious about this man. “What can you do to help?” he asked.

“The only thing you can do to help him is to battle him in the finals,” Seed replied.
“So you secretly watched the match between John and Mane, huh?” Ash asked.
“Correct, Mane has been using some underhanded technology to command the pokemon. A bad omen to this world.”
“I realised that. But why that suggestion?”
“It’ll help you two to get stronger and to also find out which one of you two would battle Mane.”

Ash looked down in doubt. What if he defeats Black Jack? Then Black Jack will never see his family. What if Black Jack defeats him? Then Mane would use the powerful pokemon for any sick purpose. Then again…

He rose his head and said, “Seed, I… huh?”

Seed had already disappeared. Ash became puzzled, but he then showed his face of determination. “I will get stronger… Black Jack will get stronger… Mane will be sorry that he ever messed with us!”
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