Episode 17 now exists! *Smiles*

Disclaimer: Waah! I want pokemon! I want CCS! Why can’t I have anything?

** Indicates thoughts, Italics indicate translated poke speech. No telepathy yet, so I’m not going to explain the symbols.

Episode 17: Explanations are in order here

“Clow… Reed?” Gary asked in confusion, as the Priest tried to explain the situation to him.

“It would have been better if the guardian beast was here to explain it to you, but I shall try my best.” The priest said. “Sit down. This could take a while.”

Gary sat, clutching the polished mirror to his chest.

“Clow Reed was the greatest magician this world had ever known. Don’t scoff at me like that – it’s true! His father was a Western Magician, while his mother was a member of a clan of powerful eastern mages. From this union, Clow was born, and he created his own type of magic – a combination of both Eastern and Western magic. He was one of those rare mages who are born with the power and ability to achieve greatness, and achieve greatness he did.”

“If he was so great, why doesn’t anybody remember him?” Gary wanted to know.

“Because he did not want to be remembered by the world. In the end, he expended all his energy creating his maximum opus – two books, as well as four guardians to guard them.”

“What’s so special about a book?”

“Ah, young master, this is where you are wrong.” The priest told him. “The two books were the Clow book, where fifty-two elemental spirits of varying strengths were kept, guarded by the golden-eyed guardian beast Cerebus, as well as the Judgment maker, Yue. This book was discovered more than a thousand years ago by a young girl named Kinimoto Sakura, the daughter of Clow’s reincarnation.”

Gary looked impatient, but the priest ignored his glare.

“Those cards, however, were not strong enough to survive after Clow’s death on the limited amount of dark energy he left them. So Sakura began the long and arduous process of changing the cards to fit her own type of magic, that which came from the stars. She completed the cycle, changing all fifty-two cards, as well as the Void, which Clow had created to balance the others, into what were known as ‘Sakura cards’. She lived seven hundred years in all.”

Gary’s jaw dropped. “You’re kidding! Nobody can live that long!”

“Ah, but she was powerful enough to extend her life. After her death, the Sakura book was lost, and sealed by her two guardians, never to be opened again. Years later, it was found. Now, it is kept in this shrine to honor her.”

“Now, the second book is what you are probably interested in. It is actually not a single book at all, but a collaboration of four books, split by type. There are four sets of cards that form the complete book, but two sets which pair together separately, while two more can exist independent of each other. One of the card sets already belongs in the hands of a girl named Charlotte. She has become the mistress of the ‘Sun pokemon’ set. She is in the process of changing her cards now, so it would not be wise to bother her.”

“Now, the set you are trying to catch now is known as the ‘Kanto pokemon’ set. The guardian beast of this set is unknown, but we suspect it is an electric type. When Eriol, Clow Reed’s other reincarnation and Sakura worked together to create this set, they used the four elementals as their focal point. That is, Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water. I know that for the ‘Sun pokémon’ set, they chose Vulpix as the guardian beast. That takes care of fire. The guardian of water is a Staryu, so Kanto and Johto are Wind and Earth, respectively.”

“I’m still confused.”

“I am getting there, don’t rush me! The ‘Moon pokemon’ set is still sealed, as is the ‘Johto pokemon set’. It is of vital importance to capture all the pokemon cards within the ‘Kanto pokemon set’, though, as destruction will befall the world if they are left to their own devices.”

“So I’m supposed to capture the rest of the wild pokemon cards?” Gary asked.

“Yes! That is why I gave you that mirror. It is almost as powerful as the key which Sakura and Eriol created, and it was made to give power to the card captor when it was time for him or her to face the final judgment.”

Gary’s head was still spinning, but he managed to thank the priest, before he left, still very perplexed.

Meanwhile, Pika-chan had finished explaining this all to Ash and Todd.

“What is the final judgment, anyways? You keep talking about it.” Ash said.

“I’m not allowed to tell you. Sufficient to say that your opponent will have control over flying, normal, and psychic pokemon, as well as water-types.” Pika-chan stated. “Oh yeah, and if you don’t catch them all, disaster will befall this world.”

Ash groaned. “This does not look very good for me, does it?”

“It’s not that bad!” Pika-chan said cheerfully. “Now let’s go see if we can catch more pokemon cards!”

“In this tunnel?” Ash wanted to know. He was still dressed in the shimmery gold – and – black costume and didn’t look too happy.

“No, silly. In Vermillion City, of course!” Pika-chan said. “Do you think that there are more pokemon cards in here?”

“I don’t know…”

As soon as they were out of the tunnel, Ash stripped the costume off and had the Vaporeon card hose him off. Once he had toweled himself dry, he changed into black jeans and a white t-shirt depicting a dancing Oddish.

“Whew! I wish there was a card that could do my laundry.” Ash said.

“Actually, there is. When Clow created the Clow Card set, he put Bubbles in there for the express purpose of doing his laundry for him. I’m trying to remember if there’s a pokemon card that’s equivalent to that.”

“Maybe there is…” Todd said. “After all, they didn’t create these cards just for fun, did they?”

Blank stares were his answer.

“Um… did I say something wrong?”

Ash sighed. “Todd, great magicians do not create these things just for ‘fun’. There was a reason, most likely to siphon off all that magical power they possessed so they wouldn’t go insane.”

Todd looked down. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay!” Pika-chan said. Todd still looked remorseful, so she played her cuteness to her advantage. Todd ended up giving her a week’s worth of candy. Ash chuckled softly in the background.

“Now that we’re out of this underground path, how long will it take us to get to Vermillion City?” Ash asked Todd.

“About three days. We still have to pass through the forest. But it won’t be a waste of time.” Todd hastily reassured Ash, seeing the annoyed look on the card captor’s face. “There are many trainers you can face off against and stuff…”

“Well, okay.” Ash said. “But I’m not going to wear any costumes!”

“Aw…” Todd said. Even Pika-chan looked a tad disappointed. Todd’s outfitting skills had vastly improved since the first costume, that of the ‘poster boy’. Now, they were better suited to movement.

“Fine. But only if any pokemon cards show up, since I do not relish the thought of explaining to some giggling junior trainers why I’m dressed the way I am.”

“Okay!” Todd said, perking up. “You still haven’t told me your favorite color.”

“That’s because he doesn’t have one!” Pika-chan chirped. “But he likes blue, red, white, black…”

“Pika-chan!” Ash said.

“What?” She asked innocently, batting her eyelashes at him. Ash felt sweatdrops running down the back of his neck, but he wisely refrained from saying anything sarcastic. After all, she was his guardian, as well as a great friend.

“But rainbow-colored costumes don’t’ look good.” Todd protested.

“Exactly.” Ash told him. “So if you’ll excuse me, I have to feed my pokemon now.”

Todd blinked. Ash put out six bowls. Each had the name of a pokemon scratched on it. Ash dumped some poke chow in each bowl, before adding the garnish. Storm received some canned salmon, Pidgey got a cup of millet seed, Oddish received what looked suspiciously like fertilizer, Pika-chan’s was layered with a thick, gooey fudge sauce, Ponyta had some salad mix, while Butterfree’s was coated with honey and some wildflowers.

“Dig in!” Ash said, releasing his pokemon.

Yay! This is great! Butterfree said, hovering over his bowl happily. How did you get the flowers? They’re fresh!

“I picked them yesterday, and then I kept them in Ziploc bags. It really does help keep stuff fresh.” Ash said. “And the honey is from the Beedrill card. It was sort of testy when I asked for some, but the result is well worth the stings!”

“Oh.” Pika-chan said, briefly looking up from the mound of chocolate covered goo in front of her. “You know, Ash, maybe you should become a chef.”

Ash looked modest. “Well, when you live with my mom, you pick up some cooking talent, I guess.”

“Yeah! Your mom’s food is so good!” Pika-chan said. “I wish she could have come along…”

“I’d better call mom and tell her I’m okay.” Ash said. “I haven’t called her for a while.”

You haven’t called the Professor, either. Ponyta reminded him. Maybe you should.

“Well, but I was deliberately trying to put that off.” Ash said, sighing. “I don’t want to know how far ahead of me the other trainers are.”

Ash removed the shocking pink cell phone from his backpack, wondering what had possessed Giovanni to buy one in this revolting shade. He quickly punched in his phone number and waited.

“Ring, ring!”

“Coming!” Delilah said, running towards the videophone. “I hope its Ash! He hasn’t called in over a week.”

“Hi, mom!” Ash said. “Guess what, I got the Boulder and Cascade badges! And I caught an Oddish too!”

“That’s great, honey!” Ash’s mom said, smiling brightly at her son, even though he couldn’t see her face.

“I really miss your cooking.” Ash said. “But don’t worry, I’ll come home soon! Maybe I’ll drop by after I get the earth badge.”

“Say, Giovanni runs that gym. He told me a few days ago. I didn’t know that that was part of his job.” Delilah said.

‘Really? I never knew that! That’s so cool!” Ash said. Then, he noticed a little heart-shaped button near the bottom of the cell phone. “Say, I wonder what this does…” And without further ado, he pushed the button.

A small panel slid out of the phone. It looked like a mirror, but when Ash looked in, he saw his mom’s face.

“Wow! I didn’t know that the phone could do this! Now I can talk to you face-to-face!” Ash said excitedly.

“So it does! Did you remember to change your underwear? And did you remember to brush your teeth twice a day?”

“Yes, mom.” Ash said. He wasn’t a little kid anymore! His mom didn’t have to treat him like one!

“Good. Well, have fun. I hope you come home soon!” Delilah said. Then, she hung up. She didn’t tell Ash about the surprise she had planned for his birthday.

Todd looked up from his sketchbook of costume designs. He shrugged, seeing no danger, and began to sketch again.

Ash was getting bored when he spotted something out of the corner of his eye. It wasn’t a trainer, so it must be a pokemon!

“I think it’s a bug pokemon. Pidgey, go! Use your Gust attack!” Ash called. The gust hit the poor, unsuspecting Sandshrew right between the eyes. Sandshrew squeaked indignantly. However, it pulled itself upright again and charged Pidgey.

“Pidgey, Whirlwind!” Ash said, hoping that the attack would slow down the determined Sandshrew.

Pidgey nodded her head and sent the energy at the pokemon, which finally squealed and fell over, after five minutes. Pidgey looked exhausted. However, just as Ash was about to recall her, she began to glow.

“What?” Ash asked. This couldn’t be happening! No pokemon evolved this early!

“I think it is evolving!” Todd said excitedly, pulling out his camera and snapping pictures.

But when the glow died down, Ash saw that Pidgey hadn’t changed at all. The only change was that it now had dark golden stripes along its wings.

“It evolved to a magic-type!” Pika-chan said excitedly.

“Eh?” Pika-chan rolled her eyes at her Chosen’s ignorance.

“Sometimes, pokemon are strong enough to transcend barriers between magic and normality. Pidgey was one of them, but I think that Storm and Ponyta will probably evolve to magic-type too. There isn’t really any visible difference, except that the markings on the pokemon’s bodies are a bit different. However, they will be able to learn magical attacks as well as regular pokemon attacks.”

“Wow.” Ash said, impressed.

“It usually occurs when a magician takes in and cares for a pokemon. A long time ago, there were many more magicians, and hence these pokemon were almost as common as normal pokemon. However, magicians aren’t immortal, and they slowly died out as technology and training took over, so no new pokemon were created. Now, only one in about 50 pokemon is a magic-type. The thing about magic-types is that some are immortal, while others have unnaturally long lifetimes, which makes them hard to catch, because they usually refuse to bond with a trainer who will die on them. Too much heartbreak involved. They are more common in Johto, and are referred to usually as ‘Shining’ pokemon.”

“Wow…” Ash said. He hugged Pidgey tightly before he had another thought.

“But why did it just happen?”

Pika-chan sweatdropped. “Ash, get out your wand. That’s the Sandshrew card!”

“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 his staff appeared. He quickly spun it around to face the fallen Sandshrew.

“Return to your true form, pokemon card!” Ash said.

Sandshrew wailed before resuming card form. Ash deftly caught it in his left hand as he spun to face Todd and did a ‘V’ for victory. Todd smiled back, before turning off his video camera.

“Say, how long is my catching period now, Pika-chan?”

“You still have a year. Don’t worry about it!” Pika-chan reassured him. “And I bet you’ll be finished with the league by the time the final judgment comes, so don’t worry about it!”

“You sound like my mom.” Ash said.

Pika-chan shrugged. “So? By the way, do you have any snacks?” She dove into Ash’s backpack and returned a minute later, clutching a lemon chocolate bar.

“Hey! I was saving that!”

“Too bad!” Pika-chan said, flitting out of Ash’s reach as she crunched the treat. “Yum!”

“Pika-chan!” And so, the irate Chosen chased his guardian, while Todd just sat there and laughed.

End of Episode 17!

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