Episode 12! Yes, I know I promised to post CCM, but I have to finish Card Captor Ashura first! Please be patient!

Disclaimer: Pokemon belongs to Game Freak, Nintendo, 4Kids, etc. I am just a poor fanfic writer. However, if you want to use anything, ASK FIRST! It’s amazing how many people like to steal my ideas…

Note: Yes, Ash HAS ditched Todd! Todd has flown to Pewter to wait for our hero.

Episode 12: Challenge of the Samurai!

Note: Yes, I know I stole a title. Sorry, 4Kids!

Ash was walking through Viridian forest. He was in a slightly better mood, since he had actually managed to catch a Butterfree. However, he was running short on food, and that made him cranky.

“Spam again?” Pika-chan asked in disgust. “But we’ve had that for the past three nights!”

“Well, the store was having a sale on it.” Ash replied. “Besides, I don’t think you’d like the creamed corn?”

Pika-chan blanched. “Not cold! I wouldn’t mind a nice bowl of hot, steaming corn soup though…”

Ash looked thoughtful. “Well, if we could find some water, we could make corn soup.”

“Cool! I’m going to look for a stream!” Pika-chan said. Then, she flew off.

Ash shrugged. He released Storm, who nudged his head affectionately. Then, they both started searching for wild pokemon.

Finally, Storm found a flock of Pidgey. Admittedly, she had startled them when she had crashed into a tree, but now the air was full of flying pokemon.

“Storm, Thunder!” Ash called. Storm nodded as electric waves shot from her horn. Several birds dropped to the ground.

“Poke ball, go!” Ash said. The ball glowed, before sucking in the bird pokemon. Ash spun around and did his ‘V’ for victory pose. “Yeah! I caught Pidgey!”

Storm nodded her head up and down. Ash hugged her. “Thanks, Storm! I’ll give you a rare candy with lunch today.”

Storm keened happily.

After half an hour, Pika-chan still hadn’t returned. Ash began to get worried, so he went off to look for her.

Samurai grinned. Now he would have a challenger!

He stepped out, pointing his sword at Ash’s nose.

“Halt! Are you the trainer from Pallet?” Samurai asked.

Ash blinked. “Uh… yes?”

“We must battle!” Samurai lowered his sword. Ash just stared at him very oddly. “It shall be a two on two battle.”

“Bring it on!” Ash said. He grinned.

“Pinser, go!” Samurai called.

Ash blinked. Then, he pulled out his pokédex. It was rare for him to encounter an unknown pokemon, after all the T.V. and studying he had done, but he had no clue what this was.

Dexter beeped. “Pinser. The Stag beetle pokemon. When the temperature drops at night, it sleeps on treetops or among roots where it is well hidden.”

“Oh. A bug!” Ash grinned cockily. “Well, then, I choose Ponyta!”

“Pinser, Clamp it down!” Samurai called.

“Ponyta, Agility!” Ash called. Ponyta’s movements suddenly became a blur as it zipped around the Pinser in circles. The Pinser blinked in confusion.

“Great, now use Flamethrower!” Ponyta reared back and spat out flames, torching the unfortunate bug pokemon.

“Amazing!” Samurai said. He thought quickly. * I can’t use my Metapod. It would die instantly. I know! I shall use my Vulpix! *

“Vulpix, go!”

Ash blinked. “So now its fire vs. fire. Ponyta, Agility again!”

“Vulpix, counter with your own agility!” The two pokemon ran around each other, but Ponyta finally got tired, giving Vulpix the opening to use Confuse Ray.

“Ponyta, Return! Storm, I choose you!” Storm yawned as she popped out. She shook herself before floating in front of the Vulpix.

“A dragonair?!” Samurai asked in shock.

“Yep. Storm, use Bubblebeam!” Storm nodded and sent a concentrated beam of bubbles at the poor Vulpix, which was spun around like a top for a few minutes before it finally fainted.

“Wow…” Samurai said. He grudgingly looked at Ash. “I have lost. But it is nothing more than I would have expected from a trainer from pallet.”

Ash perked up. “Wait a minute… have there been other trainers?”

“There were three fantastic battles!” Samurai proclaimed, as he drifted into memory. “I lost every time. But I vowed to train harder! Alas, all my efforts have come to naught, for I have been beaten again.”

Ash decided that this poor kid probably wasn’t a hotshot trainer. “Oh well. See you.” He said.

“Wait!” Samurai snapped out of his trance. “I can show you the way out of this forest.”

“You can?” Ash asked in obvious relief. “That’s good. I’ve been lost for days!”

“Here. Follow me.” Samurai said.

“Well, not yet. First I have to find my Pikachu. She went off to search for water.” Ash reported.

Samurai shook his head. “Oh unfortunate one! I am afraid you will never see your Pikachu again, for that stream lies beside the hives of the Beedrills.”

Ash paled. “Oh no! Well, that means I have to save her!” He was about to run off, when Samurai stopped him.

“I will show you the way, but I am afraid it will be too late to save your poor pokemon.” He said.

“It will be faster if we ride.” Ash said. He released Ponyta. Then, he ran healing chi over its body, like he had done to Storm before. Ponyta brightened up almost immediately.

“Show me the way!” Ash called, as he heaved the startled Samurai onto Ponyta.

“Very well!” Samurai began giving directions to Ponyta. Ponyta galloped towards the stream at a very fast rate. When they got there, they saw Pika-chan zapping Beedrills away from herself.

“About time you got here!” Pika-chan shrieked as she zapped another Beedrill. “These bugs are awfully territorial! I didn’t even go near the nests!”

“Ponyta, use Flamethrower!” Ash shouted. Ponyta nodded, and flame broiled several of the unfortunate flying bugs. Pika-chan took advantage of the momentary lull in the battle to rush back to Ash’s side.

Samurai helped out by commanding his Parasect to use Stun Spore on the bugs.

However, more Beedrills kept coming. Ash narrowed his eyes.

“Samurai, are there supposed to be this many?”

Samurai shook his head. “I have lived in this forest for a long time, but I can safely assure you that the Kakunas are evolving abnormally fast at this time. Otherwise, there would be far less Beedrills.”

“Oh.” Ash jumped off Ponyta and ran back a few feet, so he would be out of earshot. Then, he whispered to Pika-chan. “Pika-chan, is there a pokemon that can control time?”

“Not in this deck, there isn’t.” Pika-chan whispered back.

“Well, then what else could it be?” Ash inquired.

“Maybe its not real pokemon. Some of the pokémon cards have the power to create illusions, like Jynx or Mr. Mime.”

“Aha!” Ash said. “Well, in that case… 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 golden magic circle formed under Ash’s feet as the key around Ash’s neck glowed and changed into the wand.

“Haunter, go!” Ash shouted. Haunter slowly floated towards the Beedrills, searching for the source of power. When it pinpointed the exact location, it fired off a Nightshade attack.

Ash and Pika-chan both watched anxiously, expecting a psychic pokemon to jump out. However, nothing happened.

“Haunter, try again!” Ash called. Meanwhile, Ponyta (with Samurai still clinging to her back) was getting tired. Samurai was getting nervous, since the bugs were still coming and attacking with fury.

“Parasect, Spore!” He called, trying to put the Beedrills to sleep. Some of the bugs immediately dropped to the ground, asleep, but others kept coming. Samurai gulped.

“What do we do?” He yelled. Ash shrugged his shoulders.

“Just keep attacking!” He yelled back. “Haunter, use Confuse Ray instead!”

This time, the illusion shuddered for a moment, before steadying again.

“It is a pokemon card! But I don’t think it’s a psychic type!” Pika-chan observed.

“Haunter, come back!” Ash said. Haunter looked miffed, but returned to card form. Ash pulled out another card.

“I guess it’s a normal type then… normal is weak to fighting… go Machop!”

The Machop blinked as it materialized.

“Your enemy’s over there.” Ash said, pointing. Machop nodded and slowly walked over, before launching a powerful Karate Chop against the invisible entity.

With a cry, the illusion vanished. Samurai blinked. “Where did all the Beedrills go?”

“It’s the Clefairy card! It was using Metronome!” Pika-chan said.

“Great! Return to your true form, pokemon card!” Ash said. Clefairy actually winked at him before it resumed card form and floated into his hand.

Pika-chan shrugged. “Clefairy was always a joker.”

“Oh.” Ash sweatdropped.

Samurai nudged Ponyta back towards Ash. Ash quickly zapped his wand back to key form.

“How did you do it?” He asked in awe.

“Something was controlling the Beedrills.” Ash said.

“Ah. Well, I shall escort you out of the forest now.” Samurai said. Ash nodded and filled several bottles with water from the stream, before following the kid out towards the exit.

Now what has Todd been doing?

Right now, Todd was still in Viridian city. He hadn’t decided to leave yet. He was going to hang around and wait until Ash went for the Earth badge.

So what has Gary been doing?

Hmm…. I don’t know! Okay, okay, I’ll write something!

“Come on, Squirtle! You have to beat that Growlithe!” He called. Another trainer in the hotel, by the name of Katherine if anyone is interested, had challenged him to a battle. Of course, due to his ego, he hadn’t refused.

“Growlithe, ROAR!” Kathy called.

Squirtle eeped and dived back into its poke ball, as Gary groaned.

“Okay. Fine. You asked for it. Rhyhorn, go! Use your Stomp attack!” Rhyhorn poofed out in a bright flash of scarlet and stomped on the poor, unfortunate Growlithe, which yelped and went still.

“Oh no! Growlithe, come back!” Kathy said. She sighed. “I guess you win.”

“Gary, Gary, he’s the best! We know he’s better than the rest!” Gary’s cheerleaders called.

“That’s right, girls!” Gary said. “Nobody can beat Gary Oak!”

Gary returned to his room to shower. He didn’t expect to run into another pokemon card.

“Aw, well. It’s just a Raticate. That’s easy.” Gary said. He simply slapped an ofuda on its head. The Raticate was too startled to react, so it quickly reverted back into card form.

“Hah, no challenge at all.” Gary said confidently. He grinned at his reflection in the mirror and went to shower.

End Episode 12!

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