Hi! If you reviewed, thank you so much! You don’t know how much it means to me! And if you didn’t, shame on you!

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN POKEMON. I own Destiny though, but that won’t be revealed until later.

Yes, this is revised from the original version. This is a friendlier version; with more plot twists in it.

Episode 2: Secrets of the hidden spring

It had been three days since Ash had released the pokemon cards. In that time, no new cards had appeared. Ash was in the woods, trying to find wild mushrooms for tonight’s special dinner. Apparently his mom was inviting a date to their house! That was amazing! Ash had never seen his mom so nervous before. She acted strange, always looking at herself in the mirror and checking her makeup.

“Have you found any yet?” Pika-chan asked. She was flitting around in the trees, trying to spot mushrooms. This was helpful, but only so much, since Pika-chan had already gotten stuck in the lower branches twice.

“Nope.” Ash said, looking around. “I know there are supposed to be some around her, but I can’t find any.”

He sounded frustrated. Pika-chan shrugged. “What color are they, again?”

Ash sighed. “Pika-chan, for the last time, they’re orange with purple polka dots.”

Pika-chan’s eyebrows shot up. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah! Mom showed me the picture out of her cookbook. Why?” Ash asked. He had only had them once, on his seventh birthday. They had tasted so good, simmering in gravy along with bacon bits and potatoes. His mouth started to water as he thought back to how good they had tasted.

Pika-chan stared at her now-dreaming Chosen. “Well, those are the mushrooms that wild Paras plant.”

“So?” Ash was still on cloud nine, and wasn’t paying much attention to her. Pika-chan decided to get his attention, so she lightly shocked him.

“Ow! Pika-chan, what did you do that for?”

“I’m telling you to be careful. Wild Paras usually plant these mushrooms, so they may be poisonous! I don’t want a dead card captor on my hands!” Pika-chan told him sternly.

Ash gulped, his thoughts of food forgotten. “Are you sure?”

“Yes! So be careful!” Pika-chan told him. “Too bad you aren’t wearing gloves. They’d help protect your hands.”

“I’ll be okay.” Ash said. They continued walking. After a while, they finally found a few at the base of a large tree.

“Finally!” Ash said, taking a shovel out of his backpack. He began digging them up. After a while, the patch was bare, but the bag was only about a quarter full of mushrooms. He still needed more.

Pika-chan stayed in an oak tree while Ash dug. The acorns were still ripe, since it was autumn and school had only been in session for a few weeks. Some of Ash’s classmates had already left on their journeys, but Ash’s mom didn’t want him to go until he was twelve. Today was a weekend; otherwise Ash would have been cooped up inside a classroom, with Pika-chan inside his backpack.

“Do you see any more, Pika-chan?” Ash asked hopefully. “We still need more mushrooms.”

“No. I guess we’ll have to go deeper into the woods.” Pika-chan said. She didn’t really want to venture off the path, but they needed those mushrooms.

“It’s so dark…” Ash said. He stared at the gloom surrounding the trees further in. Finally, he sighed. “I guess we have to go. I should have brought a flashlight.”

Pika-chan shrugged. She felt bad, since she still lacked most of her powers, due to the fact that Ash hadn’t captured most of the cards yet.

The pair bravely began walking into the gloom. Ash shivered. The air here felt so cold…

Almost as soon as they were completely in, Pika-chan realized how shadowed it was, and how futile it would be to try and find mushrooms in this enveloping fog.

“Ash? I think maybe we should leave.” She whispered. “I have a bad feeling about this.”

“Me too.” Ash said. “Can’t you Flash or something? It’s so dark!”

“I can try…” Pika-chan focused her energy. For a minute, the area lit up with a bright layer of golden light, but soon it disapperated.

“Darn!” Ash said. Then, he brightened. “Wait, Pika-chan. When you flashed, I saw some mushrooms at the base of that tree over there. He pointed to a beech tree about fifteen yards away.

“Well, the sooner we get the mushrooms, the sooner we can get out of here.” Pika-chan reasoned. They both hurried over to the tree. Sure enough, clustered around the base were the bright orange and purple mushrooms they had been searching for. There were enough to fill the bag, so Ash and Pika-chan both busied themselves. Soon, the bag was full and the two were ready to leave.

“Ready?” Ash asked. He had already packed the shovel and the bag of mushrooms in his backpack and was more than ready to go. This area gave him the creeps.

“Yep! But remember, you owe me for this!” Pika-chan said, as she focused her energy and flashed again. The two of them spotted what looked like the exit and quickly ran towards it before the darkness returned.

When they were finally out of the shady grove of trees, Ash looked around and frowned. “Um, Pika-chan?”

“What?” Pika-chan flew onto Ash’s shoulder and perched there.

Ash pointed to the spring in front of them. “Somehow, I think we’re lost.”

Pika-chan sweatdropped. “We are lost! Oh well, we can get home with Pidgeot if we have to.” She said confidently. “But right now I’m really tired, and a dip would be just the thing.” With that, she plunged into the spring.

Ash sweatdropped also, but he realized the truth behind her words. He could use the key Pika-chan had give him to get home, because it would react to the magic in the pokemon book which was currently in his sock drawer. With that thought, and since he was very tired and sweaty, Ash stripped off his shirt, shoes, and socks, and jumped in, wearing only his blue shorts.

The water was pleasantly warm, not hot at all. Ash sighed. “You know, I never knew there was a hot spring here.”

“Me neither.” Pika-chan said. The water seemed to erase all their fears and tiredness away from them.

Soon, the two of them got out. It was nice to stay there, but they really had to get home.

“Okay. Here goes!” Ash said, taking out his key. “Magic to cards, cards to key!” It was a very simple chant. The key instantly lit up and a thin beam of blue light shot out-

And pointed at the spring.

Ash blinked. “I don’t live in a spring!” However, Pika-chan knew what was happening.

“There must be a pokemon card in that spring. Since it didn’t attack us, it must be a peaceful one.”

“Oh!” Ash said, the truth dawning on him. “So what do I do?”

“I think that the simple chant to just capture it would work.” Pika-chan said.

Ash shrugged. It was strange, but he wasn’t experienced yet and he didn’t want to argue with Pika-chan. He summoned his wand in a snap. “Return to your true form, pokemon card!”

Strands of shimmery blue light surrounded the spring, before forming into two blue cards in Ash’s hand. Pika-chan hopped onto his shoulder.

“So, which card is it?”

Ash was still wonderstruck, amazed that he had actually caught two cards at once. He wordlessly held them out to show her.

“Aha! No wonder we felt better afterwards.” Pika-chan told him.

“Huh?” Ash asked, still stunned.

“Chansey is a healing card. Lapras is a peaceful card. Together, they are very good for cheering people up.” Pika-chan said.

“Oh.” Ash didn’t know what else to say.

“Well, let’s get home now. We don’t want to be late for dinner, do we?” Pika-chan asked playfully.

“Of course not!” Ash said, his enthusiasm returning almost instantly at the mention of food. “Let’s go!”

Pika-chan sweatdropped. “Wait! Shouldn’t we figure out which direction to head in first?”

Ash blushed. “Oops.” He said in a small voice. “Well then, lets see. Magic to cards, cards to key! Send us where we want to be!” He called. He had forgotten the second line the first time he had said the chant, which might have been part of the reason why it had targeted the pool. The same thin beam of blue light shot out of the key.

“Great! Key that hides the power of the elements, reveal your true form before me! Your master under the seal of contract Ashura commands you, Release!” The same golden circle formed as the Pidgeot wand appeared. Ash grinned and pulled the pidgeot card out. It hovered in midair before he struck it with the head of his wand. “Pidgeot!”

The bird pokemon materialized before looking around, confused, seeing now enemies.

“Pidgeot, could you fly me home?” Ash asked. Pidgeot nodded its head and landed on the ground. Ash and Pika-chan climbed on. As they took off, pika-chan asked Ash something that had been bugging her for a while.

“Ash, how are going to explain to your mom that you’re an hour late?”

Ash sweatdropped. “Um, I’ll just say I got lost I guess.”

But when he saw the look on Delilah’s face after they landed in his front yard, he realized that he had a lot of explaining to do.

End of Episode 2!

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