Episode 19 has come! Wow, can’t believe there’s this many…

 

Disclaimer: Shadow does not own pokemon or CCS. I offered them five dollars and a battered copy of Fushigi Yuugi volume 4, but they refused. I even threw in a package of Kleenex and a blue gel pen, but no deal. *Sobs*

 

Note: You know I’m not giving the timeline! It’s only a couple of days after A.J.’s gym, anyways…

 

Note: As always, ** indicates thoughts, <> indicates telepathic communication, while italics indicates translated poke speech.

 

Note: Remember, Destiny belongs to me.

 

HALLOW Shadows and TIMBER phoenix: Glad you like it! J Thanx for reviewing!

 

Ranma Natsuba – Yeah, that’s what I meant. Sorry for the unclearness. Anyways, I just don’t do shonen ai in pokemon stories… Do you mind if I just refer to you as Ranma, like before you changed your name? Because it’s a lot more convenient for me…

 

Tmp – Pika-chan doesn’t find out that Ash is Destiny yet, I’m waiting for her shocked look during the Final Judgment, Hehehe. The ‘house’ reference is sort of foreshadowing for the future, wow, somebody caught it!

 

 

 

 

Episode 19: Meetings and more

 

            Ash happily reclaimed his pokemon from Nurse Joy. Now, all of them were healed. He greeted Storm, Sunny, Pidgey, Oddish, Butterfree, and Ponyta happily. Then, he turned to Pika-chan again.

 

            “Pika-chan… I have six now. Are you sure you don’t know any spells?”

 

            “I’m sure. Let’s check that bookstore.” Pika-chan suggested.

 

            “I’ll show you where it is.” Todd said. He led them through the busy streets of Vermillion City.

 

            Soon, they reached the bookstore. It had a mystical quality to it, because of the crystals suspended in the windows, as well as some statues. Ash blinked. “Is this a bookstore?”

 

            “Well, it was here…” Todd said. “We might as well go in and check.” He remembered that it had looked different…

 

            They walked into the store. As soon as they entered, the lights went on, bathing them in soft white radiance. Ash looked around. Sure enough, there were shelves full of books. However, there were also carvings, old-style poke balls, rare pokémon items, and a counter of… snacks?

 

            “Welcome. How may I help you?” A voice asked. They spun around and found themselves face-to-face with a young woman. She had black wavy hair that fell to her waist, and big blue eyes. On her shoulder sat a Vulpix.

 

            “Um, I don’t know how to say this, but do you have any magic books?” Ash asked.

 

            “All of these are magic books, or pokemon related. And if you want to buy anything else, just ask me what it does.”

 

            “Okay…” Todd whispered. “This is scary.”

 

            “Okay.” Ash said. He moved to the bookshelves and began browsing. “Pika-chan, are these all real magic books?”

 

            “I think so.” Pika-chan said. “There’s an overwhelmingly strong aura of power coming from them.”

 

            “Help me find something, then.” Ash said. Soon, Pika-chan had an armful of books.

 

            “These will all help. They’re the most complete spell books I could find. I still can’t figure out how the shopkeeper got these, though…”

 

            Todd was busy looking at the statues. He found several made out of clear crystal that he wanted to buy, so he called the owner over.

 

            “Yes?” She asked pleasantly.

 

            “How much are these?”

 

            “Well, they’re seven fifty each, so if you get four, that’ll be thirty dollars.”

 

            Todd handed over the money and pocketed them. They were really cool!

 

            After a while, Ash approached the counter. He had sixteen spell books, eight crystals, some pokemon items, and an armful of snacks.

 

            “Will that be all?” She asked.

 

            “Yes.” Inwardly, Ash cringed at the thought of the price.

 

            “They’re free, if you’ll take this.” She said, handing him a black-and-white poke ball.

 

            “What?!” Ash’s jaw dropped. So did Pika-chan’s. Suddenly, Pika-chan noticed something.

 

            “Wait a minute…” She turned to the Vulpix sitting on the girl’s shoulder. “Vulpix-chan, is that you?”

 

            The Vulpix giggled, as a pair of little golden wings sprouted out of its back. “Yep! I knew I wouldn’t be able to fool you!”

 

            “No way!” Ash said in disbelief. “That means you’re the Sun pokemon master, aren’t you!”

 

            “Charlotte!” Pika-chan said. “What are you doing here?”

 

            Charlotte shrugged as she wrapped Ash’s packages. “Angel told me to come,” she said, referring to the second guardian in the sun card set, a white cat pokemon with wings. “He said to wait for you, since you would need some of the stuff that couldn’t be obtained from this dimension.”

 

            “You traveled cross-dimensions just to give us this stuff? Then it must really be important!”

 

            “Of course its important!” Vulpix-chan said. She wagged her six tails. “Nice to see you again, Pika-chan.” *wink, wink*

            Pika-chan sighed. Meanwhile, Todd was very confused.

 

            “Am I missing something?”

 

            “Not really.” Charlotte said, handing Ash his packages, before dropping some more stuff into his backpack, which he didn’t notice. “Well, I gotta go now. My task is complete and I shouldn’t linger here too long, before reality starts to tear. See you!”

 

            A staff appeared in one of her hands.

 

“Mew! Teleport!” Then, she vanished in a flash of golden light. The shop’s appearance returned to what Todd had remembered, nothing but rows and rows of books. But when he checked his bag, he found that the crystals were still there.

 

            Ash was still dazed and confused. He decided to ask Pika-chan about it later. After a few minutes, he turned to the poke ball.

 

            “I wonder what’s in here…”

 

            Pika-chan shrugged. “Why don’t you open it?”

 

            “Maybe I should.” Ash said. He called out Storm for protection just in case whatever came out decided to attack him, before pressing the release button on the poke ball. Out popped a pokemon none of them had ever seen before.

 

            It resembled the mews Ash had seen in carvings, but with some subtle differences. It was pale blue in color, with white-tipped paws and a little corkscrew tail. On its back were patterns of clouds in a darker shade of blue, while it had big green eyes.

 

            “Skymew!” It chirped playfully, before bouncing around the room.

 

            “Skymew?” Ash asked. “Is that what it’s called?”

 

            Pika-chan rubbed her eyes and peered again. “I’ve never seen this pokemon before. It must be from Charlotte’s dimension. But it seems to be pretty common in her dimension.”

 

            “It’s so pretty!” Ash said, hugging the little pokemon. It chirped quietly and settled on his head. Todd took several pictures, babbling excitedly all the while.

 

            “You’re so lucky!” Todd said enviously. “Nobody’s ever given me a pokemon before…”

 

            “Well, that’s because you’re a photographer, not a pokemon trainer.” Pika-chan said matter-of-factly. “Now then, do you want to go challenge the gym leader for a badge?”

 

            “Well, I am trying to be a pokemon master you know.” Ash whipped out Dexter and pointed it at Skymew.

 

            “No data recorded.” Dexter beeped.

 

            < Of course there isn’t any data! After all, she is for another dimension. > Sunny pointed out. < Besides, the pokédex only has information on 150 pokemon right now. There are a lot of undiscovered pokemon still out there. >

 

            “Thanks for telling me.” Ash said. “Okay, Dexter. Analyze, please.”

 

            Dexter beeped a few times, before starting to talk again. “Skymew. The weather pokemon. These pokemon can cause pleasant weather or sudden storms, depending on their mood. They usually travel in family groups of five or more.”

           

            < Hi! > Skymew said, also telepathically. < I’m very pleased to meet you face-to-face at last! >

 

            “What do you mean ‘at last’?” Pika-chan asked, feeling a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

 

            < Vulpix-chan wired one of the interdimensional mirrors to spy on you. I’ve been watching your adventures. > Skymew said, matter-of-factly. < After all, I am supposed to be acquainted with my new master, no? >

 

            Ash’s jaw dropped. Pika-chan nearly toppled out of the air, while Todd was too shocked to react.

 

            “WHAT?!”

 

            < It’s true! > Skymew protested. < Do you think I would lie? > She looked so cute and innocent that Ash felt his resolve begin to melt away.

           

            Pika-chan began muttering under her breath. Ash took several deep breaths to calm down. * I can deal with this! It’s not like she’s going to tell anybody, right? Still, it’s kind of embarrassing. *

           

            Skymew stretched.

 

            Sunny hid her surprise very well. She began to trace little patterns in the dust with her paws.

 

            Storm floated in the air, admiring the beautiful sunset.

 

            Todd took pictures.

 

            Finally, Ash and Pika-chan regained their senses.

 

            “It’s okay, I guess…”

 

            “Yeah. So, do you want that badge or not?” Pika-chan asked her Chosen, teasing him.

 

            “Of course!” Ash said. “Let’s go!”

 

            And so, the now enlarged group headed for the Vermillion city gym. Ash still wondered which pokemon he would use, but he could deal with that later.

           

 

Another Gary bit!

 

            Gary reached out to touch the pink book that was floating in midair, but there was a force field in the way and he could only stare at the elaborate item.

 

            “Don’t bother.” The priest told him. “Nobody can touch that, not even me. Just leave it alone. When the new owner comes, we’ll know.”

 

            “Thanks for the mirror.” Gary said.

 

            “No problem. Remember, you can use it to sense pokemon cards. If the mirror glows yellow, that means there is one nearby”

 

            “All right.” Gary said. He headed into the tall grass.

 

            Soon, the mirror began to glow. Gary looked around for the pokemon card.

 

            “Come on, where is it?”

 

            Gary tried to find the card for an hour, before he remembered what the priest had told him.

 

            “Oh yeah. He said I could activate pokemon cards with this mirror. Okay. Here goes!” Gary pulled the Flareon card (with his name scrawled at the bottom in blue ink) out of his pocket and shone the mirror on it.

 

            “Flareon card, find whatever your opponent is and beat it up!” Gary commanded.

 

            The Flareon’s eyes glowed silver for a second, before it bolted off into the grass. In a few minutes it returned with something hanging limp from its mouth.

 

            “All right! Good girl!” Gary said. He brandished the mirror at Flareon, and soon, he had a new card.

 

            “There was a Golbat card?” He asked nobody in particular.

 

            There was no reply, but Gary wasn’t expecting one. He shrugged, pulled out a blue pen, and scribbled his name on the bottom of the card, marking it as his own. Then, he pulled out a mirror and began to re-spike his hair.

 

            “Ash, you may have more experience, but there is no way you will ever beat Gary Oak! I swear on my pokédex!”

 

 

 

            Ash sneezed.

 

            Pika-chan looked concerned. “Are you coming down with a cold or something?”

 

            Ash shook his head. “No. But I could have sworn that I heard someone talking about me…”

 

            “I didn’t say a word!” Todd said. He was busy trying to talk Ash into wearing a costume for the upcoming gym battle.

 

            “No!” Ash said. “I don’t mind costumes if I’m off catching cards, but this is a public battle! I’ll never show my face again!”

 

            “Touchy.” Pika-chan remarked.

 

            Pika-chan! You’re not siding with him, are you?”

 

            “Maybe.” Pika-chan said, darting out of the way. Ash growled, but refrained from smacking her. After all, she was his guardian, and he was supposed to take care of her, even though it was supposed to be the other way around.

 

            < Are they always like this? > Starmew inquired.

 

            Todd shrugged. “Yep. You get used to it after a while.”

 

            Sunny trotted next to Ash. She was there for moral support, because she wasn’t sure that she could be of much use in an electric pokemon gym.

 

            And they continued walking down the street, bickering all the while.

 

 

End Episode 19! Please review or I refuse to post the next part! Flames will be used to make steak kabobs.