I love my reviewers! *Ahem.* Here is Episode 11!

Disclaimer: I only own Destiny, Pika-chan, the cards and everything associated with this fanfic. Please note that Pokemon belongs to Game Freak, Nintendo, etc.

Note: I am not writing yaoi! Just telling you ahead of time. Since Misty’s not here yet, there is no AAMRN either. Yet. ** Indicates thoughts, Italics indicates translated poke speech…

Tmp – thanks for reviewing! Ofudas are wards used to seal or control demons/elemental creatures, and yes, Gary does have a magic aura! No, I don’t do Palletshippy, which means no Ash/Gary pairing. First reviewer for this chapter!

I didn’t get any more, so… no more little reviewer notes!

Episode 11: Competition comes in very unlikely forms.

Much to Ash’s disgust, Todd had followed him out of Viridian City and now they were trekking through Viridian Forest together.

Todd’s chatter was, fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your point of view, keeping all the wild pokémon away.

Ash was in a bad mood since Todd stuck to him like a burr. He would just not go away! His eyebrows were already visibly twitching at supersonic speed, but Todd was oblivious to that fact.

Pika-chan floated ahead, setting her sights out for any possible pokemon. Ash hadn’t caught any yet, and he wasn’t feeling too happy about that fact. * Maybe I should tell him that he can use his pokemon cards if he passes the test of Mastery, * Pika-chan thought. She cast another look at her Chosen, who was now beginning to tic with irritability.

Ash was incoherently grumbling under his breath. “Stupid Todd. Why won’t he leave me alone?”

Todd suddenly squealed in excitement. “Look, Ash, it’s a Gloom!”

“Eh?” Ash turned to look. His face brightened almost immediately. “It’s a pokemon card!” He whipped out his staff with a shortened version of the incantation and turned to face the wild pokemon. However, Todd stopped him.

“Wait, you have to change first!” He said. He dragged Ash behind a bush. A few minutes later, Ash emerged, dressed in a new costume. His face was beet red. This costume was specially cued towards the hope that the pokémon would be a grass type. It consisted of a dark green tunic festooned with small white flowers and curly vines that were a lighter shade of green, over pants, boots, and a long-sleeved shirt. The shirt was white with bunches of lace at the cuffs and throats, fastened with small yellow flowers. The plants were dark grey and covered with Ash leaves, which unfortunately, were fluorescent green. The boots were okay though, they were dark brown and made out of leather. Ash decided that it was comfortable, but he wished it wasn’t so… green.

“Can I start now?” Ash pleaded. The aura of the enemy pokemon was making his nerves tingle with a feeling akin to excitement, and it was exceedingly difficult to stay still.

“I’m all ready!” Todd said, whipping out his video camera. He spoke into it for a few minutes, giving the date, time, and recording title.

“Pidgeot, go!” Ash sent out his favorite pokemon card, knowing that it would probably be a quick capture.

Pidgeot nodded and cawed. She glowed as she powered up her Sky Attack, feathers gleaming brightly in the sunlight.

The Gloom knew it was in danger, so it instantly began to release a bad smell.

Ash clamped his hands over his nose. “Oh shoot. I forgot about that!”

Pika-chan quickly flew over to help.

“What do I do?” Ash asked. It sounded garbled, since he was trying not to breathe. Pidgeot was having the same problem, but she valiantly tried to attack. Unfortunately, the Gloom released a particularly strong burst of scent as Pidgeot came close. Pidgeot fell over, coughing.

The Gloom then extended its legs and booted Pidgeot into the air. Pidgeot, beaten, although unconventionally, fell to the ground in card form.

Todd was now recording with zest and zeal. “I’ll call this one – Attack of the wild Gloom!”

“You’ll do no such thing!” Ash yelled back, as his hands clenched at his sides. If the costumes weren’t bad enough, this guy insisted on calling him a superhero. That was a mistake, as it left him wide open to Gloom’s next burst of odor. Ash fell over, cross-eyed. Pika-chan hurried to revive him. She raised her eyebrows at the costume, but didn’t comment on it.

Todd thought. “Hmm… Glooms stop smelling bad when they feel like they’re not in danger anymore. I can help.” He handed his video camera to his Kangaskhan and rushed over to the Gloom’s side.

“Now, now, I won’t hurt you.” Todd said reassuringly. The Gloom glanced at him suspiciously, but sensing no anger in his aura, relaxed.

“Great!” Todd said. He turned to Ash, who was propped up using his wand. He still looked dazed.

“Don’t worry, Gloom. I promise he won’t hurt you either.” Todd reassured the smelly pokémon. Gloom frowned.

I don’t trust him. But I will go with you. It said in pokespeech.

Pika-chan flew over to Todd. “Well, I think Ash is still out. I could use some help here!”

Todd ignored her.

Pika-chan turned red. She began to spark angrily. Gloom noticed and jumped in front of Todd.

“Oh no.” Pika-chan muttered. “It seems to be attached to him.”

Todd smiled at the Gloom, who timidly smiled back.

Pika-chan gritted her teeth. * This is not good! Ash already has Gary as competition, and now this idiot wants to join the hunt as well?! *

Todd finally noticed that Ash was still out. He immediately dumped some cold water on the stunned card captor.

Ash shook himself as he revived. “Pika-chan? What happened?” He quickly looked around for any harbingers of danger. Finding none, he felt safe enough to stand enough and ready his wand.

Pika-chan fluttered over. “You got so annoyed that you left yourself open for Gloom’s attack. Haven’t I taught you to be more careful?”

Ash blushed in shame. “Sorry, Pika-chan.” Then, he looked around. “So, where’s the Gloom. Did it run off?”

“No.” Pika-chan pointed to Gloom, who was now firmly attached to Todd’s arm.

Ash groaned as he saw the look of love and adoration in the weed Pokémon’s eyes. “This is not good.”

“I know.” Pika-chan whispered. “But now that it is off its guard, you can capture it!”

Those words galvanized him into action. Ash nodded and focused his energy on his staff. “Return to your true form, Pokémon card!”

Gloom shrieked as it was captured. Todd stared as the pokemon went into card form. However, it flew to him.

Ash dropped his staff in frustration. “Great! Just Great!” He said. “And I thought Gary was bad! Why me?” He was near tears by now. Pika-chan patted him on the head with a paw sympathetically.

Todd looked curiously at the card he now held in his hand. The Gloom seemed to be winking at him.

“Well, I guess I’ll take this one.” Todd said.

“But!” Ash was about to say something else, when Pika-chan shushed him.

It was too late. Todd turned to Ash. “Did you say you would do anything for them?”

Ash gulped.

Todd grinned triumphantly. “Okay, let’s make a deal. I’ll let you have this one if you wear my costumes!”

Ash groaned. Pika-chan shook her head. “Why can’t you think before you speak?”

Ash paled. “Um… But I already wore a costume! So there!”

“Well?” Todd started thinking of all the costumes he would make. Then, his mind caught up with his ears. “Oh darn.”

Ash sweatdropped. “Sorry, but no deal!” He said. * I am not going to wear any of those frilly things! *

Todd pouted. “Kay, then I’m keeping this.” He fished a black pen out of his pocket and wrote his name on the bottom in bold letters.

Ash sighed. “Well, it can’t get any worse, right?”

Pika-chan looked at him. “Are you sure?”

“Never mind! I’ll just shut up now!” Ash said. “Ponyta, go!” He released the fire horse and jumped onto its back. Ponyta took off like a bolt of light.

Pika-chan managed to grab hold of Ponyta’s tail. Ash hoisted her up. The two rode off as fast as they could.

Todd frowned. “Aw, they’re no fun at all!” He lamented.

His Kangaskhan shrugged and handed back the video camera. Todd turned it off and began to mope again.

Let’s see what Gary’s been doing…

Gary and his cheerleaders were floating in the hotel pool. His pokemon were running laps around the indoor track.

“Keep up the work, guys!” Gary called.

Ruby suddenly splashed him with a wave of water. Gary spluttered and glared, before dunking her.

“Water fight!” Emerald called. She began throwing smaller waves at the other cheerleaders. An all-out water fight ensued.

Gary grinned as he pulled a shrunken poke ball out from underneath his necklace. This would be for payback.

“Squirtle, go.” He whispered. Squirtle nodded and began using Bubble on the poor cheerleaders.

“Hey, Gary! That’s not fair!” Ruby protested as a stream of bubbles hit her.

“All’s fair in water fights!” Gary called, splashing Emerald, who had gotten too close to him.

Emerald squawked before she pulled her goggles on and doused him with a huge wave of water.

They played around for a while. Finally, Gary got out of the pool.

“Come on, girls! Let’s not miss dinner!” He called. “I’m going back up to my room to change!”

Gary changed into his purple t-shirt and black jeans, after a long, luxurious shower. He was going to leave, when he noticed the water was still running.

“What? I thought I turned it off!” Gary tried to close the faucet, but it was already shut.

Just then, there was a twinge along his feeble, but still existent, magic aura.

“It must be a pokemon card!” He said, coming to the logical conclusion. He looked around, and finally spotted something in the shower stall.

“Squirtle, chase it out!” Gary called, as he slammed the bathroom door, trying to prevent the escape of the mysterious pokémon.

Squirtle nodded and jumped into the shower. The sound of scuffling was heard. Finally, Squirtle dragged a Seaking out by the tail.

“Great!” Gary said. Then, he realized that he had left his ofudas in his backpack. He quickly raced out the door to get them.

When he got back, Seaking had managed to knock Squirtle out with a well-aimed horn attack.

Gary growled and slapped an Ofuda onto its tail, that being the safest part. The pokemon writhed around, trying to escape, but it finally melted into a blue card.

“All right! I got Seaking!” Gary cheered. He quickly wrote his name on it in a highlighter he just happened to have.

Then, Gary went off to dinner, feeling content and happy.

Ash, on the other hand, was drowning in a sea of misery. He had finally managed to free himself from Todd’s elaborate costume, and now he was feeling down. Still, there was one good point. Todd was still raring to video tape him. If only he could stop Todd from participating…

“What’s wrong?” Pika-chan asked.

“Did you feel that? Gary just caught another pokemon card.”

“How do you know its Gary?”

“Because I don’t think Todd has any magical items he can use to catch them.” Ash replied.

“Oh.” Pika-chan looked at her disconsolate Chosen and sighed. “Ash, don’t worry. I chose you, not them. They shouldn’t even be catching the cards, because without the wand, it is nearly impossible to pass the Test.”

“The Test?”

“You have to pass a test to become master or mistress of the pokemon cards.” Pika-chan replied.

Ash looked slightly happier. “So I have a pretty good chance?”

“As long as you do not use a Psychic or normal pokemon. The judge controls those aspects.” Pika-chan replied.

“Thanks, Pika-chan.” Ash said, hugging the guardian to his body. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Pika-chan accepted the hug. Then, she turned to Ash with a twinkle in her eye. “Got any snacks?”

“Oh, Pika-chan!” Ash sighed. He produced some honey cookies from his backpack.

“Yum!” Pika-chan said. Then, she dove into the cookies. Ash smiled as he looked at his guardian. She was so cute!

“Well, come on. Why should we waste time loitering around? Without Todd around, there’s lots of pokemon to catch!”

“You’re right!” Ash said. And with that thought, both of them charged into the surrounding woods.

End Episode 11!

I bet you didn’t expect Todd to become Ash’s rival, did you? Don’t worry; he won’t be Ash’s rival for long. Oh well. Please leave a review! Comments and Constructive Criticism are good; Flames will be used to weld a staff for the authoress. Yep, I want one too!

*_*.