Okay, how did you like the last part? Okay, now we know where Pikachu gets the majority of his money. If I named EVERYTHING that has Pikachu related stuff on it, I wouldn’t be able to finish this fic! Well, here is part 9. Ash will EVENTUALLY get to the gym in the town and the attacks that Jen, Joya, and Laura mentions will be explained more. BTW, I do not own any of these characters. There, I said it! Can’t say that I didn’t.
Ash/Cousin: 13
Misty/Todd: 14
Kenji/Jen: 17
Joya: 18
Brock: 19
Part
9: Meet Laura’s Cousin!
RP: Last time we left our heroes, they had made some new friends and now they just met Laura’s younger cousin who is the same age as Ash. Kenji has also fallen for Jen.
Ash: (Snickering) Yeah, he was slammed dead into the floor!
Kenji: Ash!
Ash: That was SO funny! He really fell for her.
RP: Ash!
Ash: Boy, either Kenji is weak or Jen's really strong, but I'm guessing she's just really strong.
Kenji: Ash!
Ash: (Still snickering) She slammed him like he was some type of a rag doll or one of those crash dummies!
RP/Kenji: ASH!
Ash: (Trying to stop snickering) Sorry, sorry!
Kenji: (Annoyed sigh) Just announce the title.
Ash Title: (Between snickers) Meet Laura’s Cousin!
RP/Kenji: (Sighs) Oh brother…
x x x x
x x x
x x x
Ash, Misty, and Brock's jaws seemed to drop at the sight of the younger girl
who had just arrived with Laura. "You're Laura's cousin?!" all three
asked, quite surprised.
Laura looked over to the three guests. "You guys know her?"
The three nodded concurrently.
"Who is she?" Kenji asked inquiringly.
The younger, petite girl with the light, aqua-marine-ish hair, tied up in two pigtails, with a large bang, wearing a close-fitting red sweater with a golden star on the front, and baggy jeans, pretty much smiled, as she ran over to Ash, Misty, and Brock, hugging them. "It's so great to see you all again!" she shrieked with joy.
"Nice seeing you again too," Ash commented after the shorter girl broke her embrace with him.
"How's it going?"
"I'm fine, Misty."
Brock stared at the girl intriguingly, as a thought came to mind. "How did you get here?"
The girl was taken aback by this question. "Huh? What?"
"How did you get here?" Brock repeated, quite serious.
"Well, how did you all get here?"
"Hey," Ash protested, "he asked first!"
"I teleported here," she stated simply. 'Too bad the planes and ships aren't running, although, thinking about it, they never seemed to run here, and that's why not too many people know of this place.'
"You have some new Pokémon now?"
She shook her head to Brock's inquiry. "No, it's the same as before." She turned to the tall and slim Misty. "Hey, I heard about what happened a while back, dealing with that Team Rocket leader and that trial. I'm sorry…"
"That's okay," Misty sighed wistfully, "at least he's getting what he deserves."
"Trial?"
Kenji nodded to Laura. "The person she's talking about murdered her parents and my Growlithe."
"That's awful," Jen gasped.
Joya looked a bit uneasy, as if trying to try her best not to offend Misty in any way. "So you're an…an orphan?"
Misty's look was somber and dull as she spoke in an almost silent voice, a few tears beginning to fall. "I guess you could say that, but I do have three older sisters, and I guess you could call them my guardians."
Ash, who wasn't really into openly displaying his affections, hugged Misty, as if she were his best friend, which to Misty, he was. "That's okay, Misty. He's being punished for what he did to you, your sisters, and Kenji."
"Thanks," she told him as she let go of him, drying her eyes.
"When did this happen?" Jen asked, quite curious as to why she didn't remember such a case, especially with the type of work she was forced into.
"Ten years ago," Brock answered. "Her parents were killed, but the bad thing is that Misty was the only witness. She was only four years old at the time, and after the whole incident, her mind blocked out the trauma. Recently, though, her memory was starting to come back to her, and she was remembering what had happened really clearly."
"She used that info," Kenji added on, "to get him put away."
"I hope I'm not prying," Jen started apprehensively, "but how were they killed?"
"I don't mind talking," Misty admitted. "I realize that it's better to talk than to keep everything in." With that, Misty explained the entire incident; well, what her mind allowed her to tell anyway.
"Poor you; and your sisters blamed you?" Laura asked, quite taken aback that they had actually accused the redhead of such a thing.
"Yeah, but I guess I don't really blame them. The only person who could get him arrested was me, and I couldn’t remember anything. I'm just glad that they got over that. I know they didn't really hate me, they were just annoyed at the situation."
"The thing I can't figure out is how her memory of that traumatic incident just came back so suddenly after being suppressed for so long."
"Well, Brock, the mind is a powerful thing," Kenji stated factually. "Like you said, after a traumatic occurrence, our minds suppress the memory as a reflex or a way to protect us, like a barrier. Maybe Misty has some kind of a sixth sense thing going on and her sub-conscious mind must've known that she was going to meet up with him again, which is why her memory was gradually coming back to her."
Brock rubbed his chin, taking in everything the Pokémon Watcher had said. He nodded slowly. "You could be right."
"At least it's all over," Ash said. The others nodded in agreement, minus Todd who was remaining unusually quiet.
"Hey," the younger girl said while looking at the other two guys in the room," who are these other two people, and what's that cute little egg-shaped Pokémon you're holding, Misty?" She then squealed. "Oh, Pikachu!" Pikachu jumped into her arms, and she hugged him. "Nice to see you again, Pikachu."
"This is Togepi." Misty held Togepi
out to the girl, after she put Pikachu down. The girl grabbed Togepi,
and hugged him. "Ash found Togepi in the
"Oh, I remember hearing about that. A lot people claimed to have seen Prehistoric Pokémon, but Officer Jenny declared that it was a Jigglypuff's song that caused the illusion or something."
"I almost got eaten!!! That was not an illusion!"
"It was Misty's idea to get Jigglypuff to sing to put the Aerodactyl to sleep that was carrying Ash, so that it wouldn't eat him," Brock explained.
"Too bad it put us to sleep in the process," Misty muttered.
"It was about to bite my head off! My short life passed before my eyes that day! I couldn't imagine my life without Misty!"
Everybody sweat dropped from Ash's overly-dramatic declaration, but Todd still remained quiet, and didn't even give a sarcastic remark.
"We ought to show that photo Todd has of Aerodactyl to Officer Jenny," Misty suggested. "She'd probably believe us then, even though I'm surprised that the theory of a Jigglypuff's song was the cause of it since it was in the Pokémon Times."
She gave Togepi back to Misty, and smirked at Ash playfully. "Poor Ashie-boy," she teased, "he almost got eaten up."
Ash groaned. "You called me that when I first met you!"
"How's your house of Imité, Duplica?" asked Misty, ignoring Ash.
"Ever since Team Rocket got Ditto to do a full transformation, business has been booming!" the girl told them excitedly. "I'm on vacation, and decided to visit my cousin." She gestured to the other unnamed members of Ash's extended group, "Who are these two again?"
"Oh, sorry about that," Brock apologized. "This is Kenji, a Pokémon Researcher/Watcher and Artist, and the one beside him, is Toru - also known as Snap - the famous Pokémon Photographer."
"Pleased to meet you Kenji, Snap. I know I've heard those names before." She thought for a moment. "I know now! I have some paintings in my House of Imité by Kenji, and almost every issue of the Pokémon Times has some type of a rare Pokémon that Snap has taken a photo of. It's an honor to meet the both of you!" She bowed to them. 'They're both cute, especially Todd. He's a lot cuter in person, though. I saw his photo in the Pokémon Times as being awarded as the best photographer of the year.'
"Nice to meet you too, Duplica," Kenji greeted back politely.
Todd just stood there, not knowing what to say to this girl. He didn't understand why he was feeling the way that he was, either. It was strange.
"Hi, Duplica," Todd addressed in a somewhat squeaky, strangled voice.
Duplica looked over at Todd, an eyebrow raised. "Is something wrong?"
He calmed down slightly. "No, no, I'm fine," he insisted as he took out his camera. "May I get a photo of you and the Ditto you mentioned having?" he asked coolly.
"Wow, it would be an honor to have such a skilled photographer take a photo of a Pokémon of mine!" She pulled out a Pokéball, and tossed it. Out popped a pink, blobby, shapeless Pokémon, who chanted out "Ditto".
"I could probably get a better shot if you held the Ditto."
"Okay." She held Ditto in her right arm, while putting up the "V" for victory pose with the other. "Is this okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, fine," he said quickly. He wasn’t sure what he was doing; he just
really wanted to capture the girl's beauty on film.
x x x x
x x x
x x x
Misty stared at her friend in slight suspicion.
"Strange," she murmured in complexity.
"What's strange?" Ash asked.
She lowered her voice before answering. "Since when does Todd take pictures of Pokémon other than when they are out in the wild doing, whatever it is they do, naturally? Remember when we first met him? He didn't want to take a photo of Pikachu unless he was unaware of it, so that he could catch whatever Pikachu does naturally."
"Maybe he just really likes Duplica's Ditto
and just haven't seen many of them, or
something."
x x x x
x x x
x x x
"Alright, got it."
Duplica recalled Ditto and walked over to Todd. "Cool, when can I see it?"
Todd started to sweat profusely, and pulled at his collar. "See it?"
"Yes, 'see it'."
"Um, um, I guess, whenever I get the chance to develop the film."
"Isn't that a digital camera, though, Todd?"
Todd felt his face growing hot, and red. He knew Misty was right. He had brought along a digital camera to avoid the hassle of having to develop film.
"Um…what do you know," he pulled something from off of the camera, "it's broken!"
Everyone just stared at the photographer, curious if he was sick or what. Todd was staring at the floor, feeling the eyes of everyone burrowing into him, probably wanting some answers. His face felt as if it were literally sizzling. He couldn't take it, and rushed away from the group. He had to get away. He rushed to the first room he could find, which just happened to be the bathroom.
'I can't believe I embarrassed myself like that!' the boy thought in sheer disgust, while staring at himself in the mirror. 'I'm worse than Brock and Kenji put together. Could I be falling for another girl?' He shook his head, it couldn't be possible. 'I said after Misty, that I wasn't going to.'
He sighed as he went to the sink, splashing some of the cool water on his hot face.
'I guess I should've been more honest with Ash. I liked Misty from the first time I met them. After my adventure with them, and we split up, I didn't really want to, but I had a job to do.
'When I saw her with Ash, when running into them on the way to Viridian, I was jealous. I wanted Misty to be with me, but I finally got over her, thank goodness; at least I think I have. I hope so. I guess I have to.'
Todd dried off his face, and stared into the mirror sullenly feeling quite inadequate and pathetic.
'I don't want to get rejected again, although Misty didn't really reject me directly. At least when you're in the mountains, you don't have to worry about girls turning you down. I ought to just go back to the mountains, but I've gotten used of hanging around people.' Todd continued to stare at his reflection. He felt as if his reflection was pretty much reflecting what he currently felt, and what he was thinking. 'Do not fall for this girl, Todd. Fight it. You might end up feeling terrible again, just like what happened with Misty.
'I'm just glad no one seemed to notice how I was acting after Ash and Misty got together. Acting like you don't care is very difficult, when you actually do, and having to be reminded of how you lost the girl, you could never officially fight for day in and day out….'
His face was now back to its original color, which meant that it was okay for him to leave, but before he did, he grabbed a tissue. When he arrived back to the living room with the others, they all gave him urging stares. Before anyone could ask anything, Todd faked a sneeze.
"I'm fine, you guys. I-I-I just had to…sneeze, that's all." He took out the tissue he had grabbed earlier, and pretended to blow his nose. "I-I think my allergies are starting up again. I-I-I guess I'm…um…allergic to something here." He faked another sneeze, and sniffled.
"I never knew you had allergies, Todd."
Todd glared at Ash. "Well now you do!" he snapped.
Laura didn't think anymore of Todd's strange behavior, and just smiled. "I'm glad that you all know each other. It'll make your stay here even easier." She looked down at her watch, obliviously, which caused her eyes to nearly bug out. "Oh no, look at the time! I have to go! My lunch break will be ending soon!"
The young girl ran out of the living room, towards the front door, everyone following to see her off.
"Bye," everyone called to her.
"Bye, and sorry I can't hang out with you this time, Duplica."
"That's okay." She glanced towards Ash and his friends. "I have Snap and the others to hang out with, and Misty and I can catch up too."
With that, her shoes on, and her coat pulled on tight, she left the house, a frosty chill blowing in the house as she closed the front door.
After she left, the group decided to have a bit of lunch. Jen insisted on preparing them something, regardless of how they all protested on intruding. They were glad they took her up on her offer; Jen was an exquisite cook. "I learned to cook from my friend, Mako-chan," she told them as she served them some of her steamed rice and chicken curry.
While they ate, Todd kept glancing - as if he had no control over it - over at Duplica, who was talking the most with Ash and Misty. Brock spent most of his time talking about the best remedies for basic Pokémon illnesses, and the type of food he would prepare for them with Joya, and Kenji actually got enough nerve to invite Jen along to the movies with Brock and Joya, who of which agreed to join him.
Since Kenji and Brock, along with Jen and Joya, were going to be out, Ash and the others figured that they should find something to do outside of the house as well, and to sightsee a bit.
As the early evening approached them, Brock and the others left to catch their movie, leaving the four younger teens playing video games in the game room that Jen had.
"Yeah!" Duplica jumped up, dropping the controller. "I beat you again, Ashie Boy!" She was now doing a victory dance.
"No fair," Ash whined from his spot on the floor, his arms stubbornly crossed. "I'm supposed to be the one to become a Pokémon Master! I should be able to beat you in Pokémon Stadium every time!"
Duplica stopped doing her victory dance, and winked at Ash. "I guess that goes to show you, Pokémon Master, that I'm better at this than you thought. I guess you can use some more training, eh Ashie Boy?"
"Hey, qu-quit calling me that!"
"Why, cutie?"
"Cutie?!"
Misty found the entire sight amusing, and laughed as Duplica continued to tease Ash. Tood, on the other hand, just sat there quietly. He was trying to avoid any type of contact with the performer by any means necessary.
As for Pikachu and Togepi, they both were playing Pokémon Red and Blue on their Gameboy Colors. Pikachu was playing Red, and Togepi was playing Blue.
":I'm trying to get as many electric types as I can, since I want to finish up this cartridge with all electric types…minus my starter.:"
":Cool, Uncle Pika! I'm trying to get as many psychic types as I can, and finish with only psychic types:"
":Only psychic types? You'll never get anywhere with those! It's difficult to finish any of these games with just one type of Pokémon.:"
":And maybe a few grass types…:"
Pikachu sweat dropped at the small egg Pokémon's ironic statement. ":I'll finish before you!:"
":I've been practicing, so I'll beat you!:"
":After that, maybe we can trade off. Are you at the Elite 4 yet?:"
":I sure am, Uncle Pika. I can't wait to trade off.:"
Ash and Duplica continued to play video games for about another couple of hours, while Misty talked with Todd, much to the boy's relief. He needed something to keep his mind off of Duplica. After a while, a rumbling sound broke out. Ash held his stomach in embarrassment.
"Ash," Misty laughed, "we couldn't hear the game music over your stomach."
"Oh shut up!" he retorted playfully.
"Aww, wittle Ashie Boy is hungry."
"Only one person can call me 'Ashie Boy', Duplica."
"Who's that?"
"Well," his face went slightly red, "my girlfriend, that's who."
"You have a girlfriend?"
He nodded. "Yes, I have a girlfriend!"
"Cool, when are you going to take me out, and make it official?" she asked with a mischievous grin. Ash fell over from the girl's persistence. 'I know I shouldn't be flirting like this with him, but it's just so much fun!'
"Wow, it's getting dark now," Misty noted, staring out of the window. She turned back to the others. "Want to go out someplace? I wouldn't mind trying something graceful, like ice skating."
Duplica clapped her hands. "That sounds like fun!" She looked over at Todd, wishing he'd show some signs of life. "Hey, Camera Boy, what about you?"
Todd, who had gone quiet again since neither Misty nor Ash had been talking to him, broke away from his deep, confusing, thoughts. "Huh, yeah, sure."
"I guess I'll go get changed," Misty commented dryly, looking down at the baggy jeans she was wearing.
"I'll go with you," Duplica said while following behind Misty.
After the two girls left the game room, Todd spoke up. "I'm going to use the computer I saw to fix up these photos of mine."
"But I thought that you---"
Before Ash could manage to finish his sentence, Todd took off in a rush. The cap-wearing boy just shrugged at Todd's eccentric behavior.
"Well, it's just us now, Pikachu, Togepi. What do you guys want for dinner and please don't say something like pizza. I'm a bit tired of pizza." He sighed as he stared towards the window, snow still falling.
":What's wrong, daddy?:"
"I was just wondering what happened to Mewtwo. I'm starting to get a bit worried about him."
":I'm starting to worry too.:" Pikachu replied, a brooding look about his chubby face.
":Uncle Mew is in no danger, daddy.:"
"How do you know that, Togepi?"
":I don't know, I just do.:"
":Maybe Togepi knows because he's a psychic type - or part, anyway - and can sense if something is wrong with other psychic-type Pokémon he's been in contact with or have a close connection to.:
"That makes a lot of sense Pikachu. Maybe you're right, but I'll check Dexter to see what he says."
Ash pulled out his Pokédex, which gave off a sharp-ping sound.
"Some psychic-type Pokémon, especially the young ones, can sense danger within other psychic-type Pokémon. This occurs when one Psychic Pokémon is close to another Psychic Pokémon. Togepi and Mewtwo have become very good friends, and can sense things within each other whether in a physical sense or a mental one."
Ash put Dexter away, thinking for a moment.
"After we leave and go out for tonight, I'm going to go look for Mewtwo. No offense, Togepi, I believe you, but I still feel we should look
since I am still worried about
him." Ash stared back towards the
window. 'Mewtwo,
where are you?'
x x x x
x x x
x x x
Meanwhile, in Joya's room upstairs…
"Come on, Duplica; let's find a nice skating outfit, or something that would suit us to skate."
"I know that Joya has a bunch of clothes that should fit us," the girl stated as she opened up the sliding closet door. "She has skating clothes too, they're just old."
"I feel a bit weird being in here," Misty admitted uneasily. "Are you sure it's okay for us to be in here and borrowing her clothes?"
"Nope, she won't mind," the girl answered confidently. "I use them all the time, but stuff like her skates, we're not supposed to touch since she values those."
"Oh, okay," Misty said, joining Duplica at the closet, who of which, was now looking through an old trunk. "Hey, Duplica…"
"Yeah?"
"I noticed that you kept trying to make conversation with Todd."
"Well, um, wh-why wouldn't I?" the girl stammered nervously, her cheeks tinged with a slight shade of pink.
Misty smirked knowingly. "You have a thing for Todd, don't you?"
Duplica sighed. "Am I that obvious?" Misty nodded while trying to suppress a giggle. "Well, I don't know about a crush, but I do find him to be a bit cute."
"He's a very nice guy," Misty complimented, looking through the trunk of old clothing. "I even have a small confession I wouldn't mind making."
"A confession? About Camera Boy?"
"Mm-hm. When we all first met him, I sorta, kinda liked him." Her face became partially red after giving off such a personal secret.
"I always thought you liked Ash."
"Oh, sorta like how you always liked him?"
Duplica's eyes widened at the claim that was being proposed of her. "I don't really like him in that way," the girl said in defense, waving her hands. "I just like to tease him…okay, so maybe I did like him when you guys visited me, but that didn't last, and I---"
"Calm down," Misty laughed. "I was just teasing. Anyway, I guess back then, I was a bit confused. It seems like you can have five crushes at one time when you're our age, I'm guessing, and I would most definitely know. I even had a crush on Gary Oak. He seemed to be so cute, and a competent trainer unlike a certain cap-wearing boy, until I got to know him. The fact that he relies on his stupid cheerleaders for support didn't help my view on him either.
"The same thing happened when I first met Kenji and Brock. I seemed to have some kind of an attraction towards both when I first met them, but the crush wouldn't last, and I would go back to thinking about Ash, the one person I really didn't want to think about.
"When I liked Brock, it was for a short while. After we all arrived back in Cerulean where Ash battled my sisters for the badge, it had faded. The same applies to Kenji, I liked him for a while, but it didn't last long and then I'd end up thinking about that 'annoying kid who destroyed my bike'.
"Out of all of the guys I've met, Ash is the only one I never had romantic feelings towards when I first met him."
"When did you start thinking of Ash in a romantic way?"
"Hmm, I think I may have started liking him a bit before he had to battle Brock in the Pewter City Gym for the Boulder Badge, but after we all left there, and finally arrived in Cerulean, my crush on Brock faded, and my liking towards Ash seemed to…intensify! While in Cerulean, I had to battle him since my sisters didn't have any Pokémon to battle with. All three of them insisted that he was my boyfriend, but I made up an excuse as to why I came back - when I told them I would never return - and how it was Ash's idea to.
"After I battled him, and after Team Rocket busted onto the scene, they asked me again and I told them that if I didn't keep up with him, then he'd never pay me back for my bike."
"And they bought that?"
"I'm not sure, honestly, but I know I wouldn't have believed it," Misty finished up with a laugh.
"I guess the fact that you kept thinking about Ash must was some sign that you truly liked him as more than a friend."
"I guess so," Misty smiled enchantingly. "I like him a lot."
"Well, at least you're with someone that's shown an interest in you. I've never been in that situation, and when it comes to Camera Boy, it's like he's trying to avoid me. He's been like that towards me since I've been here, except for when he wanted to take that picture of me with my Ditto. It's like he's scared of me."
"I doubt it. He could just be a bit shy," Misty answered the girl absent-mindedly, finally finding something she liked. "This outfit here looks about my size, and it looks nice. I'm going to go try it on."
"Ahh, here's the outfit I usually borrow when here. I'll wear this."
"Duplica, how long have you been visiting here?"
"Since always."
"But how did you manage to teleport here? You said that you didn't have any Pokémon other than your Ditto."
"Hi-mi-tsu," the girl winked.
"A secret! No fair!" Misty's whine sounded a great deal like Ash's.
Duplica laughed in sheer amusement. "I'll share my secret with you." She pulled her Pokéball from her belt, and opened it. "Come on out, Ditto!"
"Ditto!"
"Transform into Kadabra, now!" Ditto smiled and did as it was told. After the transformation, Duplica gave another command. "Now, teleport Misty to the Cerulean City Gym and back here."
In a flash, both Misty and the transformed Kadabra
had vanished…
x x x x
x x x
x x x
Meanwhile, in Cerulean…
Violet was walking down the hallway towards the entrance of the gym, some papers in hand. It was the finances for the month, and she balanced the books. "What a headache," she grumbled, making her way towards the gym's office, that she and her two sisters shared.
Misty and Kadabra arrived right in front of the gym's doors. Misty was amazed. "I'm…home," she gaped. "I'm right in front of the gym." Kadabra nodded. "You were trained well," she complimented. "We should hurry back, okay?"
Violet had just made it to the glass front of the gym, when she saw something from the corner of her eye. She rushed to look out the door, but what she thought she had seen was already gone.
"I could've sworn I saw Misty
just now." She shrugged. "I must be working too hard," she
muttered, as she continued on…
x x x x
x x x
x x x
Back at Joya's home…
"I was right in front of my sisters' gym!"
She nodded. "Yeah, and that's how I got here so fast. I teleported." Duplica's optimistic grin turned to that of a bothered frown. "Right now, I feel a bit sorry for my cousin."
"Why is that?"
"Oh, never mind," she said quickly, smiling once again. "Let's just go find something fun to do."
"Hey, instead of going skating, how about we all go out for dinner and dancing!" Misty's eyes grew starry. "It'll be so romantic!"
'She's a hopeless romantic,' Duplica sighed in thought. "I don't know, Misty; what will Ash and Todd say about that?"
"Who cares what they think, I want to go!"
Duplica sweat dropped nervously, there was no way she was going to tell her she wasn't really interested in going out to a fancy dinner and would rather do something more so casual. 'She's scary.'
"If we go out, that means we can dress up! I love to dress up!" Misty then frowned. "Oh wait, all of my good, formal clothes, are back at the gym."
"I don't usually dress up, but I do have some things back at my House of Imité."
Misty grew giddy, as she jumped up and down, clapping her hands. "How about we make reservations at one of those fancy French restaurants? I love stuff that's French, or let's go some place fancy in general."
"Um, okay," she was still a bit hesitant, "but what about Todd and Ash?"
"I'll go tell them since I have to get Togepi anyway."
Misty walked out, and headed back to the game room, where she had last seen
the two boys and her Pokémon…
x x x x
x x x
x x x
Meanwhile, in Jen's room, filled with lots of Martial Arts equipment, sat Todd…
"Let's see, cut, paste…" he moved the mouse around, clicking, "now to get rid of Ditto in this shot." Todd smiled dreamily as he stared at the digital photo he had taken. "This is one of the best photos I've ever taken. Duplica seems like such an interesting person, and is an incredible girl!" He sighed longingly. "I'd love to visit her House of Imité to see her perform…"
Outside of the door of the room, stood both Pikachu and Togepi, whom were curious as to what had happened to Todd since he left so abruptly. After hearing what Todd had said, the two eavesdropping Pokémon snickered a bit.
":Todd seems to like Duplica. First he liked your 'mom' and now he seems to like Duplica.:"
":I'm glad mommy didn't like him back. I like daddy as my daddy.:"
Pikachu nodded. ":I knew the two were meant to become good friends after Ash caught Caterpie, even though I was a bit indifferent about him since I couldn't figure out if he liked Misty's attention or not. I did, figure though, that she must have liked his company to stick around, even after Ash told her to leave, but she still continued to follow home.
":Later on, I figured something was…different about Misty when we got to Cerulean. She said that she was never going back, but went back anyway and to the gym. If she really didn't want to, she could've hidden out like Brock did until we left, but she didn't.:"
":Daddy had a Caterpie?:" the small, egg Pokémon asked anxiously, pretty much ignoring the rest of what Pikachu had said.
":Yeah, but Caterpie evolved to its final stage, Butterfree. Ash let it go so that it could start a family.:"
":Are we going to tell daddy about Uncle Snap?:"
":No way,:" Pikachu protested. ":Let's not get involved in their lives like that.:"
Togepi nodded, as both made their way back to the
game room, to rejoin Ash.
x x x x
x x x
x x x
Back in the game room…
"Aww, no way! Why can't I beat Agatha of the Elite 4 for this game!! Pokémon Stadium should be easy but all the trainers cheat!! How can Fissure knock out my Pidgeot while using Fly!!" Ash groaned in frustration.
"Hey Ash," Misty called as she entered the room.
Ash put down the controller and stood up. "Yeah, what's up?"
"Duplica and I had a change of plans. We're going out to a restaurant for dinner and dancing and skating…maybe, at about 19:00."
"I notice how you turn everything into a date; the mushy, romantic kind."
Misty put her left hand on her hip, and, with the right, waved her finger at him threateningly. "And what is wrong with that?!"
Ash sweat dropped nervously. "Nothing, nothing, but that means that I'll have to dress up and probably pay! You'll never get a bike at this rate!"
Misty bonked Ash for his clueless ness. "Stop complaining. Don't you have anything to wear?"
"Probably," he grumbled regrettably.
"Good."
"But what about Todd?"
"Just ask him, and tell him that if he doesn't go, I'll knock him out," she smiled devishly.
Ash shuddered. "You sure want to go badly."
"Yep, let's just say I have my reasons for wanting to go."
"All right, I'll go find him, but, what reason do you have for wanting to go?"
Misty winked to him playfully. "Hi-mi-tsu."
Ash face-faulted as the girl walked off, Pikachu and Togepi meeting Misty on their way in. She picked up Togepi and went back to Joya's room, where Duplica was preparing to leave.
"Pikachu, have you seen Todd?" The small electric Pokémon nodded. He led the way to Jen's bedroom.
"Hey, Todd!"
Todd's eyes went wide as he heard Ash, minimizing the screen with the picture of Duplica he had been altering. "W-wow, hey there Ash," he replied nervously, turning towards him. "What's wrong?"
"Well, the girls want to go out to dinner and stuff, so we have to dress up. Do you have anything to wear?"
"Ash," he gave him an incredulous, disbelieving look, "with the type of job I have, I rarely ever have to dress up. I'm always out in the mountains, or exploring forests to get photos of rare, wild Pokémon."
"I guess that means you'll have to go out someplace and buy one."
"Is Duplica going?"
"Yeah."
Todd turned the chair around, to face the computer screen again. "I'll, just, um, stay here."
"You don't want to do that," Ash warned direly.
"And why not?" he turned to face him again. "I doubt a shop with formal clothes would be open now anyway."
"We can at least try; besides, you don't want to get Misty mad. This was her idea, and she'll knock you out if you don't go."
"That sounds like the Misty I know." Todd gulped slightly. "I'll go."
"Okay, now let's go buy you something to wear."
Todd gave him a look. "You seem like you actually want to go through with this."
"No way! I'm not into this type of thing at all, but I'm a bit worried about Mewtwo, and want an excuse to look for him later."
"Yeah, he did just take off." He thought back. "It's strange how he managed to bring me back to life, and because of it, I'm forever grateful to him."
"Yeah, and he killed you. Talk about irony!"
He gave Ash an annoyed look, but regained his composure and cleared his throat. "Well, since this is a request of the great Misty," Todd stood, "I better find me something decent to wear. I want to live long enough to actually see the Pokémon of this island."
Ash laughed, and clapped Todd on the back. "That's the spirit."
"But, where will I go to find myself a suit?"
"There has to be a store around here somewhere."
"I guess I could check the phone book, or pull up a map of this area through the internet and run a search on clothing stores."
"Good idea Todd, let's go!"
With that, Todd sat back down at the computer, making sure the window of Duplica remained minimized. "Hey, Ash, do you think you could go check out the address of this place?"
"Okay. Let's go, Pikachu."
"Pi Pikachu!"
'Good.' Todd maximized the picture, and printed it out. Jen had a very nice, up-to-date laser printer. The digital photo came out crystal clear. He stared at it, mesmerized, until he heard footsteps. He quickly folded up the piece of paper, and stuffed it into his pocket.
"I got the address," Ash announced, reentering the room.
"Good, good," Todd said hastily, bringing up a map of
"Well, what are we waiting for!" Ash said, feeling quite energetic. "Let's get going!"
"Yeah, yeah," Todd mumbled dully, shutting down the computer. "Let's go."
With that, both, along with Pikachu, made their
way to the clothing store, Todd had found…
x x x x
x x x
x x x
Meanwhile, in some dark, well-hidden underground laboratory on
"I have come, sir," a certain, strong Psychic-type Pokémon replied, in a trance-like manner.
"I see we managed to get Mewtwo from that dumb kid," a tall, slim man with dark hair and a British accent sneered.
"Good, I am very proud of your work, Professor," an older man, who looked to be well-groomed, said in praise, his eyes narrowed. "Now, make sure that this Pokémon's brainwaves are cast out perfectly, as I'm interested in the boy who owned this Mewtwo."
"Thank you sir," the Professor said as he went back to a huge computer. "It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would have been getting this Mewtwo here."
"The inhabitants of
"But sir, how come you summoned this one to come here? It has to be one of the most powerful Pokémon to ever walk the face of this earth."
"I have plans for this particular Pokémon," he snarled while staring at Mewtwo, who remained quiet. "Its incredible psychic abilities are an asset to us."
"How so?"
The short-haired, middle-aged man put up his hand, waving him off. "Patience, patience, Professor; I will tell you everything in due time."
"Yes, sir." The professor looked up at the large monitor in front of him. "I see a Kadabra has just injured another native of the island."
"Very good," the man
replied, a deranged ringing in his voice.
"Once I have all of the psychic types on my side, I will seek out
my revenge, and with them, the barrier will be much stronger. The stronger
the barrier, the stronger the Pokémon I can steal!"
x x x x
x x x
x x x
On Cinnibar
"Hey, do you ever regret not being in a Rocket member anymore?" a woman with long, dark-pinkish hair wearing a white halter-top and a dark blue knee-length skirt asked over her cup of tea.
The handsome man wearing a plain white t-shirt and khaki pants, who sat across from her, with the shoulder-lengthened dark-blueish hair looked up from his paper. "No," he answered firmly. "I'm glad that it's all over. I only joined the organization as a way to rebel against my parents, and because of you. My parents hated the fact that I wouldn't settle down and marry someone they felt was proper, and wanted me to become like those other snobby people." He sipped down some of his milk tea. "You were an entirely different story."
"Yeah, my family," Jessie answered regrettably. 'I was just following in my mother's footsteps.' She set her hot cup of green tea down and stared at the steam dancing from the cup. "It was also an easy way to make money."
"Well, yous two are doin' better now," a sneaky cat-like Pokémon drawled from beside Jessie, "and I'm making tons of cash now!"
"Yeah, our fast-food restaurant is making lots of money," Jessie nodded in agreement, crossing her legs, "and everyone just loves the motto!"
"Not that!" The cat held out his paw, which seemed to be filled with bottle caps with strange designs on them. "I'm talking about my Pokémon League Badges!"
"You're making fake badges?"
"Meowth," Jessie shouted, "we're trying to live the honest life!"
"At least these badges are authentic!" Both ex-Rocket members stared at their feline companion with looks of disapproval. "I can't help it! I guess there's still a little evil in me after all." He crossed his arms stubbornly. "Besides, the league competitions are coming up, and I just wanted to earn some extra dough."
James ignored Meowth as he sat back in his chair,
resting his arms behind his head.
"You know, we're long overdue for a vacation. It's been a good couple of months now. According to the books that I've been
balancing, we have enough to find a new location to add on to our fast-food
franchise aside from what we have here in Cinnibar,
the
"I didn't know that you could balance out the books for a business." Jessie was quite impressed. "I thought you had an accountant doing all of that for you."
James leaned forward, and rested his elbows on the table, his chin resting in the palm of his right hand. "Of course I know how to balance books, that's about the only useful thing my parents did teach me. Anyway, the one I had was cheating me big time. I fired him at once when I found out."
Meowth, at this point, had tears streaking down his furry face, blowing his seemingly absent nose into a handkerchief. "I never thought I'd live to see this day," he sniffled.
"That we'd be friends with Butch and Cassidy?"
"No, that you could actually use your brain!"
James punched Meowth, knocking him to the floor.
"Okay you two," James stood up from his seat at their dining room table, "let's go pack up. We shall head over to Viridian, and maybe when we see them, they'll have some suggestions as to where we should open up next."
"Viridian…" Jessie softly uttered. "I wonder how the twerps…erm, Ash and his friends are doing."
"I wonder too sometimes." He snapped his fingers. "I have an idea; since the Pokémon Leagues are coming up, why don't we go surprise him, and cheer him on at the games and, of course, set up a stand which sells our food."
"Where are they this year?"
"Well, Jessie, I think it's at Indigo Plateau like every year."
"When we get to Viridian, and meet up with Butch and Cassidy, we could ask them just to be sure since they are official gym leaders now." Jessie stood up as well. "I'm really glad that you could afford to start up your chain of restaurants."
"Correction, our chain of restaurants," James smiled to Jessie. "You helped me too, and my parents didn't object to it, much to my surprise. They even said that starting a business is a sign of maturity and responsibility."
"Even though it was to open up a chain of fast-food restaurants?"
"I didn't tell them until after I got my money from them," James admitted bashfully. "When I turned 18, the money was legally mine anyway, but I just never thought of taking it out. It's all in writing, and since I am 'of age', there isn't anything they can do about it."
Meowth, who had finally recovered from the hit to the head, climbed back onto the table. "And how much do you have now?"
"That's none of your business, Meowth."
"Meeeeeeeowth, I just wanted to know what my cut is!"
"You ought to be grateful that we still take care of you!" Jessie pointed out. "Besides, you sell all of your stuff and you never tell us how much you make."
"Meowth, I guess you're right," he timidly laughed.
"I'll go make the call so that we can leave for Viridian."
"How are we going to travel?" Meowth asked.
"We're going to head to
With that, James left the room to go make the arrangements.
"Now I know I've seen everything. James is taking charge."
"Oh, shut up Meowth. I kinda like him this way. He has more confidence in himself, and that's a good thing."
"Gag me! All dis romance stuff is too mushy."
Jessie punched Meowth hard, sending him flying. "Don't interfere with my romance! Erm, I'm starting to sound like that redheaded brat…I mean, Misty."
"Itete,"
Meowth groaned after landing back to the floor with a
loud thump.
x x x x
x x x
x x x
RP: That simply means "ouch".
x x x x x x x x x x
The Viridian City Gym, late morning…
"Ahh, Butch," a woman wearing a short, tight-black dress, with long, blonde haired groaned tiredly as she entered the Viridian Gym Office, where the gym-leaders stayed between matches, "I'm taking a break." She slumped down behind her desk, lying her head down on the desktop.
The dark, green-haired man wearing blue-jeans, and a black t-shirt, by the name of Butch, who had been reading up on Pokémon exercises looked up. "Okay, if you'd like, Cassidy. I'll take over the afternoon battlers."
She picked her head up off of her desk, smiling gratefully. "Thank you." She stretched. "I sometimes miss the benefits of us being Rocket members. It seems that everyone is trying to become the world's best Pokémon Trainer. This work is exhausting! Just think, we have to pay up every time a trainer wins."
"At least we don't lose all of the time."
"Yeah, I guess. We do win about 95 percent of the matches challenged to us." Cassidy stood up and walked over to the vending machine located on the opposite side of the office. "I wonder how Jessie and James are doing; we really haven't talked to them since they opened up their fast food restaurants." She took out a few coins, and inserted them into the coin slot of the machine. "There's even one here in Viridian, and the food is great. The motto is nice too." She laughed lightly as she picked out the beverage of her choice. "I guess you can't get rid of the entire Team Rocket once you've been apart of it for so long." She picked her juice from out of the slot, and popped the top of the can.
Butch put down his book, a bit amused. "What was the motto for it again? I don't remember how it started."
"First, it would go, 'Jessie!'"
"Yeah, and then it would go, 'James!'"
"Want a burger and fries without trouble?"
"If you're really hungry, make it double!"
"To protect the world from hunger and thirst!"
"Our food isn't bad, at least not the worst!"
"The J & J Restaurant blasting for a bite!"
"We stay open all day, we stay open all night!" the two finished up together.
"Lucky for them, they're not getting sued," Butch replied plainly. "Hey, did you hear about the boss, I mean, Giovanni; another habit I still have, calling Giovanni boss."
"Yeah, I read in the paper about his being in some mental institution and they won't reveal where it is. I think he said something about being haunted."
"Why do you think they're not letting people know where he is?"
"Well, Butch, they're probably not telling anyone because it would endanger his life. Do you know how many people would want to go after him knowing he's incredibly vulnerable now?"
Butch nodded. "I know that Ash's girlfriend probably would. She looked as if she was about to strangle him during the trial. If looks could kill, Giovanni would've died right there in the court room."
Cassidy tried her best to stifle back a yawn. "Why don't we close up early today? These brats can wait another day for their badges. I'm extremely tired today."
"Yeah, why not."
With the decision set, Butch and Cassidy both closed up the gym to get some well-deserved rest, although it was only late morning…
RP: So it looks like our pal Duplica has joined the gang and what is up with all of these attacks? What is this guy up to and why are all the psychic Pokémon attacking? Tune in next time for Part 10 of this fic!
Before I get into much of anything, "himitsu" means "secret". With the way the context was, I figured you all would've figured that out on your own. Now, I guess it’s pretty obvious what ep all that stuff is from. My fav league ep, Fourth Round Rumble. TR was cool in that ep. This was my main reason for not wanting to write a sequel because of the Rocket Members. In my last fic, as you all know, they all became good. What good is a fic without them plotting or something? I’m trying my best here and I really don’t want them to become bad again. Did that make any sense? Well, just tell me what you think. My address is pikato8270 at aol .com or you can send it to SSJupiter at aol .com.