Hi! Episode 5 is now up! Aren’t you proud of me? I can’t believe I’ve actually managed to revise this much… if you liked the old version better, you’ll have to wait before either Gary or Giselle appears here…

Disclaimer: NOT MINE! There, two simple words. Get the picture?

Timeline: Eight months after Episode 4, near the end of the school year.

Notes: ** Are thoughts, just reminding you.

Episode 5: The rival finally appears!

“Return to your true form, pokemon card!” Ash called. The Charizard shimmered into mist, before taking card form again. Ash sighed. The cards had been getting harder and harder. Pika-chan said that it was because he was getting near the level of the legendary birds, so now the harder pokemon would test him.

The only upside to this was that his power had been steadily increasing. He wrote his name on the Charizard card, before replacing it in the book. Pika-chan floated over, from where she had been sitting and watching.

“Great job!” Pika-chan said. Ash smiled.

“Thanks, Pika-chan!” It was sort of sad, but these cards had become his obsession for the past year or so. Ever since his mom had started – and continued – dating Giovanni, she didn’t pay as much attention to him. That made him try harder to get her attention, but she didn’t really care about his grades, since he got all A’s. However, she had procured a Dratini from the pokemon center for him. He spent all his free time either training with Dratini or our practicing his magic.

That was partly why it kept getting stronger. Ash smirked as he thought about how he had experimented with spells, chants, incantations, and the various card combinations. He still couldn’t transform into pokemon yet, but he was steadily getting closer to that goal.

“Can we have a snack now?” Pika-chan asked. She sounded very cheerful. Ash grinned. “How about the ice cream stand? They’ve got a bunch of flavors!”

“Cool!” Pika-chan chirped happily. She hopped onto Ash’s shoulder and they both headed for the ice cream stand. There, Ash tested out his magic skills by producing illusionary money. It actually worked, much to his surprise.

“Wow…” Ash said, amazed. “I didn’t know my illusions were so good.”

“You seem to be very good at that area, as well as the psychic magic, but your transformations still need a lot of work, as well as the defensive spells.” Pika-chan told him.

“I know. Say, isn’t that Gary?” Ash asked, spotting a familiar figure in the crowd.

“So it is. Do you want to say hi?”

“Yeah, maybe he changed.” Ash said. Pika-chan hopped into his backpack and hid. Ash casually walked over to where Gary was.

“I wouldn’t bet on it.”

“Hi Gary! I didn’t know you were back in town already.”

Gary blinked at Ash. It wasn’t like him to be so… hyper? Odd. “I just got back yesterday night. I decided to check it out.”

“So, did you get all the badges?” Ash asked impishly, gauging Gary’s reaction.

Gary scowled. “Except Volcano and Earth. I couldn’t find Cinnabar gym, and the Earth gym leader creamed me with some kind of psychic pokemon.”

“Oh.” Ash shrugged. “Well, I guess you’re not that good of a trainer then.” He said it offhandedly, but Gary still heard the implied sneer behind the tone.

Gary decided to bluff. “Well, I’ll be a much better trainer than you’ll ever be! You don’t even have your license yet!”

“So, I’m getting it in two weeks.” Ash said smoothly.

“I bet I can beat you easily.” Gary said arrogantly. After all, he had already trained for nine months, so he was easily a much better trainer than Ash, or so he thought. “Besides, you haven’t got any pokemon anyways.”

Ash was about to snap when he realized that Gary didn’t know about his Dratini yet. He grinned impishly. “Wanna bet?”

Gary shrugged. “There’s no way you can beat me! Even if you did manage to get a starter from Gramps, you wouldn’t have had that much to train against. There’s nothing but bugs, Rattatas, and Pidgeys around here!”

“So?” Ash shrugged.

“You’re on! I’ll see you at seven, in the abandoned house.” Gary said. Their parents always wanted to keep them away from the abandoned house, claiming that it was haunted. Once, Ash’s mom had found him in there. She had grounded him for a week. He had never seen her that mad before!

“Okay!” Ash said. He waved to Gary before running home to get ready.

“Ash?” His mom called. She was dressed in a pale pink dress edged with gold. It looked new. Her hair was done up in an elegant bun on her head, and she looked breathless with anticipation.

“What is it, mom?” Ash asked.

“I have a date with Giovanni tonight, dear. We’re going to eat. Dinner’s in the oven, and please be in bed by nine-thirty!” She said.

“But it’s only four! You’re going already?” Ash asked.

“Well,” Delilah blushed. “We’re going to see a movie first, so that’s why we’re leaving so early.”

Ash pouted. He wished his mom would spend more time with him. However, if she ended up marrying this Giovanni, he would have a father again!

“I guess its okay then…” He said softly.

“There are some chocolate chip cookies in the cookie jar. I just baked them.” Delilah said, sensing how Ash felt sad.

That cheered him up instantly. “Really?”

“Yes, dear.” Delilah said. She was about to say more when she caught sight of Giovanni’s car. “I have to go now. Remember, be in bed by nine-thirty, and if any salesmen come, tell them I don’t want to buy anything!”

“Bye, mom!” Ash called. As soon as his mom was gone, he closed the door.

“Do you resent it?” Pika-chan asked.

Ash growled. “Of course! She spends most of her time with him now. I don’t know why she likes him so much, he seems like a pretty boring person to me…” He recalled the discussions between Giovanni and Delilah that he had eavesdropped upon. They had usually involved romance and financial musings. Giovanni apparently ran a very successful business of some sort.

“But if she wasn’t gone all the time, you would not have had time to develop your skills.” Pika-chan pointed out.

Ash sighed. “You know, you’re right again.” He smiled. It had been fun practicing in the woods by himself, with only Pika-chan and Storm, his Dratini, for company.

“See?” Pika-chan said, grinning cutely as she fluttered around him in circles. “By the way, I seem to smell chocolate in the air.”

Ash laughed. “Mom just baked some chocolate chip cookies. Let’s get some.” He walked towards the kitchen, pika-chan following behind happily. Sure enough, the cookie jar was full.

“Yummy!” Pika-chan shouted. She immediately attacked the cookie jar, eating six cookies in the blink of an eye.

“Pika-chan! Save some for me!” Ash scolded her. She looked chastised for a moment, but sighed resolutely and handed him the ceramic jar, which amazingly, hadn’t broken open from her assault on it.

Ash smiled and popped two of the cookies into his mouth. As he chewed, he thought about the truth behind Pika-chan’s words. It made him feel better, so by the time he was ready to go training in the woods again he was in a good mood.

But when he arrived at the clearing where he usually trained, who should he find there but Gary! Not to mention the fact that Gary was battling a wild Wartortle that looked very angry.

Gary seethed as he commanded his Magneton to use thunder on the Wartortle again. Why hadn’t it fainted yet? Thunder should have taken it out already, but since it was this powerful, he wanted to capture it.

“Come on, Magneton, keep it up!” Gary called. Finally, the Wartortle collapsed to the ground. “Great ball, go!”

The great ball sucked in the Wartortle, but only for a few seconds before it popped open again.

“What? That’s not strong enough? Okay, I’ll use an Ultra ball.” The same thing happened. Gary was getting very frustrated by now. * What the heck is going on? *

Ash and Pika-chan watched from the trees.

“Do you feel that?” Pika-chan asked.

“It’s a pokemon card, isn’t it? There shouldn’t be any wild Wartortles around here. It’s not their native habitat, unless one escaped from the reserve.” Ash asked.

“Very perceptive, Ash. The question is, how can we capture it without Gary’s attention?” Pika-chan mused.

Ash thought for a minute, before he grinned and pulled out his key. “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 now-familiar golden circle formed underneath his feet and he jumped out of the trees, clutching his wand.

Pika-chan sweatdropped. “Oh great…”

Gary stared at Ash. “Hey! What are you doing here?”

Ash smirked. “Stand aside. There’s no way you could catch that Wartortle.” With that, he focused his power on his wand and held it out in front of him as the magic circle formed again. “Return to your true form, pokemon card!” The Wartortle scowled, before shimmering back into card form. However, Ash was surprised when it flew to Gary instead of him.

“Wha?” Was the only remark he could come up with in the face of this.

Gary was as surprised as Ash was. “What is going on here?”

Pika-chan flew down. “I was afraid this would happen. Ash, you should have stunned it first or something!”

Ash blinked. “Pika-chan, what’s going on?”

Pika-chan turned to Ash. “Ash, you’re my Chosen. But that doesn’t mean you’re the only person who can use pokemon cards. Other people, if they have strong enough will and magic, can also use captured cards, if their name is written on them.”

Gary was still in shock at seeing a Pikachu talk. However, he soon got over it. “Is this what you meant, Ash? These… cards? About how you have your own pokemon?”

“Not exactly.” Ash said, but he refused to elaborate even when Gary pressed him for details, marveling at the coolness of the situation.

“Come on, tell me! I gotta learn how to do that chant thingy that you did to use this!” Gary said, waving the Wartortle excitedly.

Ash rolled his eyes. “Well, find out yourself. I’ll see you at seven for our battle, until then, see ya!” He called. He fished a card out of his pocket. “Abra! Teleport us home!” Suddenly, both Ash and Pika-chan vanished in a poof of nothingness.

Gary growled. “Hey, that’s my line!”

Back at home, Ash fixed meatloaf and green salad for both of them. They ate in silence, focusing all their attention on the food. Finally, when Ash passed out the fruit salad, he worked up his courage to ask Pika-chan a question that had been bugging him.

“But how can Gary capture pokemon cards?”

Pika-chan shrugged. “You’re the one with the key, but if he is the one who defeats the pokemon card, he’ll get it.”

“That’s not what I meant. How come he has magic? I never knew!”

“You never knew you had magic either. Your point is?”

Ash sighed. “I wanted to be special…”

“Maybe he doesn’t.” Pika-chan reasoned. “After all, if he can’t use the cards, that means he doesn’t have any.”

“Oh.” Ash said. Relieved, he dug into dessert with renewed vigor.

“Now come on! Let’s go!” Pika-chan said, pointing at the clock. “We need to get there early!”

“Right!” Ash replied. He changed into the black jeans and T-shirt his mom had gotten for him last week. He kept his hat on, but the rest provided excellent camouflage. He paused to put his poke belt on, and grabbed his league jacket as well. “Well, let’s go, Pika-chan!”

Pika-chan hopped onto Ash’s shoulder. “Ready!”

Gary, on the other hand, had eaten his dinner in a bit of shock. Even with the solid – and real – card in his pocket, his brain still refused to acknowledge the fact. His sister May noticed this inattention and commented on it.

“Hey Gary, are you okay? You seem kinda out of it.”

Gary looked up from where he was drawing patterns with the gravy on his plate. “It’s nothing, sis. I’m just not that hungry.”

May frowned. “How many cookies did you eat this afternoon? I told you they would spoil your appetite, but would you listen?”

“Now, now, May.” Professor Oak said from the head of the table. “I’m sure Gary is just too excited to eat. There is a wonderfully informational program on T.V. tonight, and he probably just wants to finish so he can watch it.”

“Right!” Gary said, grabbing the excuse. He shoveled the rest of his food into his mouth, and quickly ran upstairs.

“See?” Professor Oak said.

May shrugged. “I guess you’re right, Grandpa.”

“I am! Now, can you pass me some of that barbequed chicken?”

Gary changed into dark clothes silently, not wanting to alert his folks downstairs. He buckled on his poke belt, and filled his backpack with some more poke balls. He didn’t know how many pokemon Ash had, so he’d better bring as many as possible. He tucked his flashlight, Swiss army knife, and some extra poke balls in his backpack as well.

“It’s not fair. How did that loser get something this powerful? It’s unfair! I’m surprised he hasn’t blown anything up yet.”

Gary’s Eevee shrugged from her perch on his pillow. She didn’t know what this was all about, but it was a battle, so she prepared herself.

When Gary was done packing, he opened his window and lowered a bed sheet, before climbing down.

“Come on Eevee, let’s go!”

End Episode 5