Hiya! Thanks to all of you who bothered to review. And to those who didn’t, its bad karma! So you’d better leave a review or else!

Date: 9/10/02

Disclaimer: Do not own pokemon or CCS. PKMN goes to Nintendo, 4Kids, Game Freak, Shogakukan comics, etc. CCS belongs to Clamp and Kodansha.

Wow! I can’t believe I actually wrote this many episodes. There were only supposed to be 5 extra, can you believe it? And now I’m up to this many! *Sighs* Amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it.

Note: It seems to me that Ash should (and could be) catching a lot more pokémon, but he isn’t because A.), he’s trying to catch all the pokemon cards, and B.), he doesn’t trust Professor Oak enough to leave them with that old man.

Note: Yes, we will be seeing the dark side to Oak soon. Watch for it!

Note: Read ‘Destiny’s early life’ to find out who Sunny is!

Another Note: Italics is translated poke speech, and ** is thoughts. <> Will be used to indicate telepathy.

Hallow Shadows – Yep, I updated! *Cheers*

Tmp – you will see the number of pokemon cards later, I can’t just give the plot away! There are only supposed to be 150 in all, but… Nobody but Ash, Gary, and Todd can hear Pika-chan talk because she’s magic, remember? Todd can videotape because he has magic in his blood too, but anyone else watching would just see blank scenery. Ash is getting used to Todd’s costume and it’s not that bad, plus it makes the episodes more fun for me.

Ranma Natsuda – No, I am not pursuing canon CCS relationships. Sorry, but shonen ai isn’t my thing.

Usal-lover888 – The costumes? Well, I can’t give away my secrets, but it’s usually tied in to the pokemon in the episode. Watch for that!

The Plot Bunny Whisperer – Did you read the earlier chapters? If you did, there’s an eight-month time period before Gary appears. During that time, Ash gets about 80 pokemon cards. You’ll notice some of them popping up. So technically, Ash does have quite a lot more than Gary does…

Episode 18: A.J. and the mysterious gym. Return of an old friend!

Ash peered around. “So… how far until we hit Vermillion City?”

“Yeah, how far?” Pika-chan asked. “Yuck. Now I’m sick of creamed corn. Who knew something so good could taste so revolting after six nights of corn in a row?”

Todd blinked. “Er, I think only one more day of traveling.”

“Yes! That means we can sleep in a real bed tomorrow!” Ash said.

“And tomorrow’s Sunday, so we won’t miss the all-you-can-eat buffet at the pokemon center!” Pika-chan chimed in. She sighed happily, thinking of all the great food served there. Her Chosen also looked happier, since they had free human food on Saturdays too!

“Say, aren’t there any trainers out here?” Ash finally asked. He scanned the surrounding area, but he didn’t see anyone.

“Probably not. It’s too dark in this part of the forest. Maybe up ahead…” Todd said, looking around. * That’s odd. Last time I was here, this place was crawling with kids. Where did they all go? *

“Can I have a snack?” Pika-chan asked hopefully. Ash tossed her a couple of milk caramels, before thinking about the situation.

“Right!” Ash said. He fingered his poke balls nervously. * I wish my belt could hold more poke balls… I can only catch one more before they get sent to Oak. I really don’t trust him. I mean, he was nice to me, and all that, but there’s that huge room in the back of his lab that’s giving out bad vibes… *

“What’s bothering you, Ash?” Pika-chan asked suddenly. She could feel her Chosen’s… reluctance, and it was odd.

“Do you know any spells that I can use so I can carry more than six pokemon? I don’t really trust Professor Oak that much.” Ash said. “After all, he is Gary’s grandfather…”

“Hmm… did you bring any magic books with you?” Pika-chan queried.

“Pika-chan! You know I don’t have any! I only know the spells that you taught me.” Ash said. * I wouldn’t mind getting my hands on some of them, though… * He couldn’t remember his past at all, so he was unaware that somewhere, there was a house ready-prepared for him with all the magic items and conveniences he would ever need.

“There is an used bookstore in Vermillion.” Todd broke in. “Maybe you could find something useful there.”

“Maybe…” Ash said thoughtfully. Just then, he saw a trainer run by in tears. She was so distraught that she crashed into Todd, knocking him down. Todd landed on his rear with an oof.

“Sorry!” The girl said. She had short honey-blonde hair and green eyes. “I didn’t expect there to be anyone out here.”

“Why not? Is this private property?” Ash asked. Pika-chan settled on Ponyta’s head to watch.

“No. It’s just that since A.J. came, nobody wants to fight pokemon battles out here anymore.”

“Why?” Todd asked. “Who is A.J., anyways? And how is he preventing you from battling?”

The girl wiped her eyes. “If you’re going in that direction, you’re going to have to fight him. I’ll tell you on the way there. I have to go to the pokemon center anyways.”

“My name’s Cecilia.” She said, as they walked along. “Me and my friends Jon and Andy used to train in this forest, along with a bunch of other kids. We’d challenge all the hotshot trainers that came through on their way to Vermillion. Sometimes we lost and sometimes we won, but it wasn’t a bad arrangement. Then, A.J. came.”

“Was he a good trainer?” Todd wanted to know.

“He was a freakishly good trainer! I don’t know what kind of training method he used, but when he passed through, he completely creamed all of us! We thought that he would just continue to Vermillion, get the badge, and leave, but we were wrong. He did get the badge, but afterwards, he built a gym here!”

“Isn’t that illegal?” Ash asked.

“Well, his ‘gym’ isn’t sanctioned by the pokemon league, but nobody really cares about it, since he isn’t a champion or anything like that. The problem is that he started pushing us out of the forest, said that we couldn’t train here anymore. He’s only got a couple of pokémon, but they’re incredible strong! Even Charlene, our leader, lost to him, and she’s got a Raichu, plus a Pidgeot, a Vileplume, and a Poliwhirl!” Cecelia said. She sniffled softly, before continuing the story.

“Anyways, we finally got fed up and challenged him. He beat all of us! I was one of the last trainers, and I saw him cream all my friends! There’s no way anybody can beat him! He’s got almost a hundred wins and no losses!”

“That’s incredible!” Ash said.

Cecilia gave him a glare. “I know he’s good, but we have a right to use the forest too! Say, if you do beat him, can you reclaim it for us?”

“Sure. If I beat him.” Ash said. He wasn’t feeling too well, as butterflies started to start up in his stomach. He wasn’t a bad trainer, but this guy sounded deadly!

Soon, with Cecilia leading the way, they reached a gym entirely built out of wooden planks. Above the entrance was a large, black-and-white, flashing signboard, which said, quite clearly. “ Wins, 98. Losses, 0.”

Ash gulped.

Pika-chan reassuringly patted her Chosen on the head. Ash was about to enter when something pounced on him.

Pika-chan blinked. It was a Jolteon, certainly, but it was a female. The Jolteon put her paws on Ash’s chest and licked his face, tail wagging excitedly.

Ash blinked for a few seconds, before recognition flashed in his eyes at last. “Sunny?”

The Jolteon nodded her head energetically.

Todd put down his sketchbook. “Ash, you know this wild pokemon?” His amazement was clearly displayed.

“Actually, I do. I found her in the woods outside of Pallet after my Dratini got kidnapped.” Ash said. “We were friends, but after a year, she mysteriously disappeared. I still can’t figure out why, but I’m glad to see her again.” He sat up and put his arms around Sunny happily.

Sunny did a little flip in the air for joy. It had taken her weeks to find him! She had gone to Pallet first, only to discover that he had already left on his journey. It was lucky that Mew and Mewtwo had let her go back to find him.

Pika-chan looked carefully. This Jolteon wasn’t a normal Jolteon. It was from the Eevee valley.

“Hi!” She said to Sunny.

Sunny held out a paw and shook with Pika-chan. < Nice to meet you. >

Pika-chan nearly fell out of the air in shock. < You’re a telepathic? >

< All the legendaries are, as are the eevees born in Eevee valley. >

< Oh. By the way, how do you know Ash? >

< I was his ‘sister’ for five years. He lived in Eevee valley for five years, before the legendaries, namely Mew, sent him into the human world. He lost his memories then, but after Storm was kidnapped, I was sent to comfort him. I was his guardian for a year, before my term was up and I returned to Eevee valley to be with my relatives. However, Mew informed me that I had done a good job as a guardian, so I could be one of his pokemon. >

< So Ash knew Storm too? >

< Storm was Lugia’s companion. She was supposed to stay with Ash, but then TR kidnapped her. Fortunately, she wound up at the Viridian poke center, and then Ash’s mom brought her home. >

< This is so out of this world! > Pika-chan said. < Ash is a very special person, isn’t he? >

< Yep! > Sunny said.

Ash peered at Sunny and Pika-chan. They were probably communicating in their own language. He focused his attention on the gym ahead and picked up Storm’s great ball.

“I wonder what type of pokemon A.J. has…”

“He has a Sandshrew. It’s deadly.” Cecilia said.

“A Sandshrew is deadly?” Ash was sure that his confusion was clearly stamped on his face.

“You’d better believe it.”

Todd looked nervous. “Maybe you shouldn’t challenge him, Ash.”

“I’m already nervous!” Ash said. “No need to make me even more flustered.” He squared his shoulders and marched in, his hands sweating in his dark blue gloves.

“Well, I’m videotaping this battle, so you’d better change!” Todd said, shoving a bag into Ash’s arms.

Ash sweatdropped and quickly went behind a tree.

Cecilia blinked. “What’s going on?”

“If he’s going to fight A.J., he’d better be prepared.” Todd said. He looked over to where Ponyta was grazing without a care in the world, while Pika-chan and Sunny were playing tag in the grass.

“O-kay…” Cecilia said.

Ash came out from behind the tree a few moments later. Sunny’s eyes lit up when she saw it. He wore a shirt of sky-blue silk, with wide bands of silver embroidery at the sleeves, over dark blue silk pants. The shirt fell to his knees, and was belted at the waist with a sash of black silk. He had dark blue wristbands with this outfit, as well as dark blue boots. Ash idly wondered how Todd could afford this.

“Kawaii!” Pika-chan said, with little hearts in her eyes. “Blue is a really good color for you!”

< Yep! > Sunny said, directly into Ash’s head. < You should wear it more often! > Ash blushed at the praise.

“Go on!” Todd said, following six steps behind Ash with his camera. When Ash walked in, he saw an arena on the dirt floor. There was a boy with spiky green hair training his Sandshrew there.

“Are you A.J.?” Ash asked.

A.J. looked up. “That’s me. Ya wanna battle or something?”

“Okay!” Ash said.

“In that case, I choose Sandshrew!” A.J. said. The small rodent popped out of the ground and blinked cutely at the assembled audience.

Ash pondered. * Should I use Pidgey? She beat the Sandshrew card, but she was awfully tired afterwards… Sunny is an electric type… Oddish isn’t good enough yet… and I’m not sure about Butterfree… *

“Oh well. Storm, I choose you! Use Bubblebeam!” Storm flew out of her ball gracefully and immediately launched Bubblebeam against the Sandshrew. Sandshrew spun around for a while but regained its bearings and retaliated with earthquake.

Ash winced. Storm could fly, yes, but Earthquake was still very damaging. He needed to take the Sandshrew out now. He locked eyes with Storm and nodded.

“Tri-combination now!” Storm started off with Bubblebeam, and then launched Thunderbolt while the pokemon was still soaked, before finishing off with Hyper Beam. It was a good thing that she had high speed. Ash sighed in relief when Sandshrew fell over with swirls for eyes.

“Amazing!” A.J. said, incredulously. “You actually beat my Sandshrew! How?”

“Your downfall was the fact that you only had one single strong pokémon. But that’s not what I came to talk about.” Ash said. He turned to A.J. “Is it true that you took over this forest so other trainers couldn’t battle here?”

A.J. looked sheepish. “Well…”

“Just because you were better didn’t give you the right to chase them out.” Ash said. “You may be better than all of them at the moment, but that doesn’t mean you’re invincible.”

“Yeah!” Cecilia chimed in. “And since you lost also, I’m speaking for our group here, we want the forest back!”

“Okay, okay!” A.J. said. “I’ll let you train here too.” He was still in shock from being beaten.

After they left, Ash could still see Cecilia and some of her friends waving at him. Sunny trotted along behind Ponyta, as Ash lazily leaned against her neck. Pika-chan turned to Ash, worried.

“You looked tired. What happened?”

“I used Pain Split on Storm, so she would be able to survive Sandshrew’s earthquake attack. That’s why I’m tired.” Ash admitted.

“Well, it’s lucky that the Vermillion is straight ahead!” Pika-chan said.

Ash looked up. They were almost at the city limits.

“All right! We’re sleeping in a real bed tonight!”

“And tomorrow’s the all-you-can-eat-buffet!” Pika-chan said happily.

With those thoughts in mind, Ponyta was urged to a gallop and they rode through the gates, into the city of Vermillion.

End Episode 18!