Hiya people! Episode 8 has arrived!

Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon. I own Destiny, and no, he’s not a main part of the story yet!

Timeline: This takes place the day after Episode 7

Note: I’ve decided to make another fic, ‘Destiny’s early life’, take place before this fic. Technically, it can prequel to any of my fanfics but it works best for this one, so I’m going with the flow here!

Episode 8: I don’t need a freaking fan club!

Ash was riding Ponyta. To his surprise, no wild pokemon had attacked them yet. Ash supposed that it was because of Pika-chan’s presence. She was pretty darn powerful, as evidenced when she had beaten up Gary’s Arcanine a few weeks ago. And she hadn’t even been at full power yet! Maybe there was a reason why she was called the ‘Eternal Winged Pikachu of Greatness’.

“Daydreaming?” Pika-chan asked from his shoulder. At the moment, she was eating the potato chips he had been trying to save, and the crunching was very audible. Ash considered telling her to shut up, but decided it would be useless.

“How can I daydream when you’re eating potato chips next to my ear?” Ash asked, slightly sarcastically. Okay, so he wasn’t in a very good mood, but the reason would soon be revealed.

Pika-chan looked hurt. “Well…”

“I guess I’m just surprised that no wild pokemon have apprehended us yet.” Ash told her. “So, do you see any?”

Pika-chan flew up and looked around for a few minutes. “Nope. It seems like they’re trying to avoid you.” She said.

“Well, that sucks.” Ash muttered. “How am I supposed to complete the pokédex if wild pokemon won’t appear?”

“I have no clue. Are you using Repel?” Pika-chan asked.

Ash glared. “I can barely afford it, so no.”

Ponyta, sensing her rider’s distress, decided to try and lighten up the situation. This involved galloping faster and faster while doing midair flips. By the time Ponyta stopped, both Ash and Pika-chan looked ready to hurl, but at least they weren’t at each other’s throats anymore. Ash noted with surprise that they were almost at ‘Trainer’s Test Forest’. The forest was named that, because most beginning trainers had to pass through it before reaching Viridian City. It was a stupid name though…

“Thanks, Ponyta. I needed that.” Ash told her, as he fed her a grass-flavored poke treat. He was standing, since he had been thrown off by the last flip. Amazing that he managed to survive the earlier ones. Ponyta crunched the treat and whinnied happily, glad that her passengers weren’t cranky anymore.

Pika-chan shrugged and floated off to examine a poster on the side of the road that had caught her attention.

“Oh look! Trainer tip! It says to look for items on the forest floor.” Pika-chan said exultantly.

Ash sweatdropped. “Pika-chan…” How could she be so genki all the time? If it wasn’t for the times he had actually seen her serious about something, he would have put her in the same category as some airheads which went to his school.

“Well, let’s go!” The guardian said joyfully. Ponyta looked up from where she was grazing and nickered softly. She was hungry!

“Just a minute. Ponyta’s still hungry, and I think I sensed something.” Ash looked around, his senses on alert. Pika-chan stopped goofing off and focused her magic.

* There must be a pokemon card here… *

Ash looked around carefully, scanning for any suspicious-looking pokemon. However, he didn’t find anything worth noticing. “Maybe it’s just my nerves?” He asked Pika-chan.

“Either that or you’re afraid of the dark forest ahead of you.” Pika-chan said seriously. “Is there something you’re not telling me, Ash?”

“Aw, Pika-chan!”

Pika-chan scampered out of his reach before he could whack her. “Just kidding! Now let’s see. Did you bring your flashlight?”

Ash dug into his voluminous backpack. After a few minutes, he emerged, flashlight in hand. “Yep! What’s it for?”

“This might be the Gengar card. It doesn’t like light, so I was thinking, if you shone your flashlight around, maybe that would get its attention!”

“Great idea, Pika-chan!” Ash said. He summoned his staff forth and began shining the flashlight beam in a circle around his body. Soon, he hit something.

“Butterfree, go!” Ash called, the card transforming into the elegant butterfly pokémon. “Use sleep powder!”

Butterfree nodded its head and fired off a little tornado of sleep powder in the direction Ash had indicated. However, something prevented the impact and reflected it back into Butterfree’s face, putting it to sleep.

“Butterfree!” Ash said, running over. Butterfree blinked tiredly before resuming card form. Ash narrowed his eyes. “Hmm…”

“Well, I don’t think its Gengar, then.” Pika-chan said.

“You’re right. I’ll use something different. Eevee, go! Sand-Attack!” Eevee appeared, wagging his tail perkily as he sent a blinding wave of sand in the direction of the shadowy form. Some coughing ensued. Ash blinked.

A minute later, a young boy carrying a camera stumbled out. “What do you think you’re doing?!”

Ash quickly stuck his wand behind his back and shrunk it back into the key. “Why were you hiding out in the woods, anyways?”

“I was trying to get some pictures of wild pokemon!”

“Well, who are you?” Ash asked, not as hostile this time.

The boy rubbed his eyes, trying to get the rest of the sand out. “My name’s Todd, but you can call me Snap. I’m a pokemon photographer.”

“Oh. Well, I’m Ash Ketchum. I’m going to become the world’s greatest pokemon master!” Ash said. Pika-chan sweatdropped.

“Nice to meet you.” Todd said. The two of them shook hands. Then, Todd brought up the subject, which had been plaguing him.

“Say, how do you do that nifty trick?” He asked.

“What?” Ash asked innocently.

“You know, when you hit a card and a pokémon comes out. That’s just so cool!”

Ash sweatdropped. * Oh Shoot! How the heck am I going to explain this? *

Providentially, he was saved from answering when the real pokemon card appeared. The blur resolved itself to be a deadly prehistoric pokemon. Aerodactyl.

“Okay, how do I do this?” Ash muttered, as he tried to think of something that wouldn’t involve his pokemon cards.

“Use Dragonair. She might have a chance. After all, you’ve been practicing your spells to increase speed and strength on her.” Pika-chan whispered into his ear. Todd hadn’t noticed her wings yet, and she had quickly zapped them out of existence. Without them, she resembled a normal pikachu, albeit a bit smaller.

“Storm, go!” Ash called. Dragonair charged out of her great ball, her danger senses on alert. Ash grinned, he still couldn’t remember how he and Storm had bonded, but it seemed like they had known each other before Delilah had brought her home from the pokemon center. When she spotted the Aerodactyl she immediately called down a storm. That stunned the rock pokémon, just in time for Todd to get a few shots with his camera. Then, while he was still busy focusing the long-distance lens on his camera, Ash whispered the incantation and pulled out his wand.

Dragonair now had Aerodactyl bound tightly with her body. I’ve got him! She told Ash in pokespeech. They were so close that Ash could understand what she said perfectly.

Ash smiled. “Return to your true form, pokemon card!” Aerodactyl shuddered, before succumbing to the seal and changing back into a blue card that floated into Ash’s hand.

Todd blinked as his subject suddenly vanished from view. “How did that happen?” he asked no one in particular.

Ash quickly wrote his name on the card and sent it into the pokemon book. By the time Todd finished puzzling and turned around, all evidence of Ash’s magic powers was gone.

“Storm, return. I’ll give you extra tuna for dinner tonight.” Ash called. He recalled her to the Great Ball and turned to leave, but Todd stopped him.

“Wait! Can I travel with you?” He asked eagerly.

* Can it get any worse? * Ash asked himself mentally. He could feel Pika-chan’s obvious distaste at the idea, but he couldn’t just ditch the guy out in the wilderness by himself. Ash sighed. * Someday, my better nature is going to kill me. *

“Fine.” Ash muttered.

“Cool! Speaking of which, can I make you a costume? After all, if you’re going to go around being a capturing those card thingies, you need to look cool!” Todd said.

“I am so dead…” Ash muttered.

Todd had begun doodling in his sketchbook. Ash resigned himself to his fate as he rode Ponyta slowly into the waiting darkness of Trainer’s Test forest. Compared to Todd’s chatter, the silence seemed much more welcoming.

“So, I guess somebody knows your secret now.” Pika-chan said.

“It’s not like I have a choice here! I’ve heard of him – this guy’s a famous photographer! If I don’t take him with me, who knows what rumors he’s going to spread? Or for that matter, what photographs are going to appear in Pokemon Pal?”

“You have a point there…” Pika-chan thought about the future as she floated along. Who knew how long Todd would tag along with them? And until Ash caught Mewtwo, if he ever managed to, there was no way to erase his memory. Gary was also a problem, but that could wait until later.

Todd hummed a pleasant tune as he walked along. He was sure that he would have plenty of chances to find rare pokemon. From what he had seen, Ash was rather experienced for a novice trainer. Maybe he could learn something from him.

The next day, Todd presented Ash with the costume he had made. Ash’s initial reaction was shock, than disbelief, and finally anger.

“No! I won’t wear it! I’ll look like a glorified picture boy!” Ash cried. Pika-chan winced and covered her ears. Ash had good lungs, and could scream very loudly when he really wanted to.

“But it would look good on you!” Todd protested. He couldn’t understand why Ash didn’t like his creation. It consisted of a pair of dark blue pants that flared out past his ankles, a dark blue vest with a huge letter ‘C’ on it, over a white frilly shirt. The ensemble was completed with baby-blue boots with little wings attached to the ankles and a white cape.

“That?!” Pika-chan could certainly understand her chosen’s objections. He would resemble a peacock in that getup.

“Can you at least try it on?” Todd pleaded.

Ash huffed and considered. “Fine. But I’m never going to wear it again.” He proceeded to grab the garments and pop behind a neighboring bush. When he emerged five minutes later, Pika-chan nearly fell over laughing. His face was as red as a tomato, and he looked ready to kill Todd.

Todd didn’t seem to notice. He clapped his hands excitedly. “It looks great on you! Just wait a minute!” He grabbed his camera and snapped several pictures before Ash could cover his face.

Ash fled. As soon as he was out of sight, he tore off the offending pieces of cloth and stomped them into the ground. Honestly! If Todd thought he was really going to wear that, the guy was off his rocker. Way off.

Pika-chan floated by a minute later, carrying a set of his spare clothes and his dark blue and red. “Here you go.” She said gently.

“Thanks, Pika-chan. You are my only friend.” Ash murmured.

Pika-chan shrugged in midair. “I guess I’ll just break the news to Todd gently.”

“Yes! I don’t need a ‘Ash Ketchum is a card captor’ fan club, thank you very much!”

“Well, it does sound intriguing…”

“Oh Pika-chan!” The guardian took off, her Chosen chasing close behind. Their laughter echoed through the forest.

End Episode 8. Please leave a review! One-word reviews are fine. Comments and Constructive criticism accepted. Flames will be used to roast marshmallows, over the burning embers of Nelvana’s evil empire.