Hahaha! Episode 21 is now alive and well! Confused? E-mail me and I might include an explanation.

Disclaimer: Nintendo did not sell me pokemon, much to my sadness. I can only hope that one day, it will be mine. Clamp refused to sell me Card Captor Sakura either. What bad luck! It’s not fair!

Note: Takes place right after Episode 20

Note: Just in case you didn’t know, ** indicates thoughts, <> indicates telepathy, and italics indicate poke speech which has been roughly translated into English by the poor, slaving authoress.

Ranma – the card battles will be arriving soon, don’t worry! And yes, I didn’t kill Todd yet. He sort of needs to be there. Skymew will get more attention later, please wait!

Masterofwords, Dawn the Espeon, and Hollow Shadows – thanks for reviewing! I’ll keep writing, okay? *Winks*

Note: The final judgment is still a couple of chapters off, be patient!

HS : I want you to update family ties! Please!

Episode 21: Magic really comes in unlikely forms.

Ash stayed asleep for two straight days. Pika-chan spent all her time either staring at him with foreboding, or chatting with the pokemon cards anxiously. Todd took the opportunity to measure Ash again, and found that the trainer had grown half an inch, which meant he had to let out the hems on the pants he had made. Sunny tried to zap Ash awake several times, but she had no luck. So it was with happiness that everyone regarded him when Ash finally woke up.

“Uh… my head hurts…” Ash moaned. “What happened?”

“Did you forget?” Todd asked, holding up a tape excitedly. “I can show you, it looks great on film!”

“I’ll tell him.” Pika-chan said, ignoring Todd’s sad look. Todd sighed and began to polish his video camera.

She landed on Ash’s pillow next to him. “Right after your battle with Lieutenant Surge, the Articuno card attacked us. You captured it, but fighting any of the big five is always a draining experience. It was like you were fighting Articuno yourself, through the cards. Which reminds me, you haven’t learned how to transform into pokémon cards yet. That skill would be very useful if you want to defeat the Final Judgment maker. You have very little time left, so I suggest that you learn as soon as possible.”

“Does that mean practicing out in the woods?”

“You’re absolutely correct!” Pika-chan said. She flashed Ash a peace sign and did a little midair flip.

Ash sighed. Just then, Nurse Joy came in.

“Oh! You’re awake! Your mother has been very worried about you.” She said.

Ash felt a sinking motion in his stomach. “You called her?”

“Well, she wanted to know why you hadn’t called her earlier, if you were already in Vermillion.”

“I think I’m okay now.” Ash said, trying to get up. He promptly fell flat on his face.

Pika-chan giggled from the pillow. Ash shot her a dirty look and tried to get up again. Nurse Joy did not say anything as she pulled him up into a standing position and plopped him back onto the bed again.

“No you’re not! You are going to be staying in bed for at least another week! We can’t have you running around training pokemon if you’re still sick. Doctor’s orders.” Joy said sternly.

Ash groaned, but resigned himself to this fate. * Now how am I supposed to train? I have to stay in bed for a week just because I blacked out? It’s not fair! *

“Now, I’ll send one of the Chanseys up with a meal if you’re hungry. If you need to go to the bathroom, you can use those crutches over there to help.”

“A meal would be good.” Ash said, as his stomach rumbled in protest at two days without food.

“Okay.” Nurse Joy said. “Now remember to stay in bed!” She fixed him with a stern look.

Ash inwardly blanched. * Eep! What happened to the nice, caring Nurse Joy? * Just then, Sunny came in. When she saw that Ash was finally awake, she happily began licking his face. Ash tried to push her off, but he had no strength and was forced to stay put.

“Well, now would be a good time to practice your magic.” Pika-chan said. She indicated the backpack still full to the brim with magical items and spell books. Ash groaned as she tossed him the first one. It had light blue leather binding, but instead of being old and flaky, the book looked brand-new. Ash shrugged and decided to ignore it. He turned to Pika-chan.

“Say, what’s this book about anyways, Pika-chan?”

“This one’s about water and ice magic, with some air spells thrown in. They work best on water and ice pokemon, but I think you could try on Storm.” Pika-chan told him.

“What if the spell backfires?” Ash asked nervously.

“Well, it shouldn’t, because if it did, Storm would just faint and nothing bad would happen. No severe side effects, such as nausea, vomiting, headaches, or premature births.” Pika-chan reassured him. “Besides, Charlotte wouldn’t give you anything dangerous on purpose.”

“Well, that’s reassuring.” Ash muttered. “I guess I’ll try.” He flipped the book open. There was a table of contents, listing spells from easiest (level 1) to most difficult (level 100) to flat out impossible without more than six sorcerers working together (level 255).

“Let’s see, at level 1, we have Heal and Soap Bubble?” Ash blinked at the second entry. “Soap Bubble?!”

“In case you ever are stuck out in the wild and you really need to do your laundry.” Pika-chan explained.

< I’ve heard of one of those. > Sunny said, from her spot by the door where she was keeping watch for the Chanseys. < Heal is actually extremely weak. From what I’ve heard, it can’t heal more than 3 HP. However, if you’re really powerful, you can extend Heal to 100 HP. They have stronger regeneration techniques at higher levels. >

“Okay. I might as well try.” Ash said. “Do I have any dirty laundry?”

< Plenty. > A new voice said. Ash looked down to see Oddish walking around on the floor.

“When did you get out, Oddish?”

< Nurse Joy let all of us out. Dragonair and Ponyta are out in the habitat room, since they wanted to exercise, and Butterfree’s in the bathroom. Skymew’s still in her ball. Nurse Joy didn’t see that one, for obvious reasons. >

“Well, okay.” Ash said. Oddish retrieved the Laundry for him. Ash looked at the laundry and focused his chi on it. * I want them to get clean, I want them to get clean, I want them to get clean! *

A small soap bubble formed out of midair and landed on the laundry pile, before popping and drenching everything with soapy water.

“Hey, it worked!” Ash said.

“Partially.” Pika-chan said. “Now try and scrub the clothes.”

Ash closed his eyes and concentrated his energy again. * Come on; start scrubbing! I want you to scrub! Clean yourselves! *

After five minutes, Ash finally opened his eyes. He was greeted with a pile of soapy, but now clean, laundry.

“Woohoo! It worked!” Ash said.

“Yep. Now if there was a way to dry and sort them…” A calculating look began to manifest itself in Pika-chan’s eyes. Ash noticed immediately.

“Pika-chan, I’m tired.” Ash said. “I need food!”

“Well, in that case, I’ll have to do it myself.” Pika-chan said. “Don’t be surprised to find some static electricity in your clothes tomorrow. At least you managed to improve Soap bubble to level three.” Pika-chan floated down to the floor and began stacking the clothes, while Sunny used her fire breath, a trick she had learned from Jasper, to dry them without scorching the clothes.

“Thanks.” Ash said. Just as they finished, the door opened and a Chansey came in, carrying a tray of food.

This is for you. The Chansey said, putting the tray on the small table over Ash’s bed. I’ll bring up poke chow for your pokemon in a bit. She bustled downstairs to fetch more trays, while Ash stared at the food.

“It doesn’t look that good…”

“I’ll try.” Pika-chan said, spooning up some pale, watery… soup. She swallowed thoughtfully, before shaking her head.

“Not good.” She nibbled at the limp carrots, the chicken chunk, and the white bread slices also.

< How bad is it? > Sunny asked.

< Yeah! Is there a problem? > Oddish seconded.

“The food’s not so good.” Ash said, taking a few bites himself. “Boy, I wish I had some real food. Actually, forget what I said. It tastes flat-out terrible! What is this stuff? Freeze-dried poke chow dunked in water?”

Todd looked sympathetic. “I hate hospital food too, but we don’t have any canned food left.”

“Oh yeah… forgot to stop by the grocery store earlier.” Ash said mournfully.

< Is there a problem? > Skymew asked, as the black-and-white poke ball opened without warning. Ash jumped.

“Hi, Skymew. Do you know if there is a food store around here?”

< I’m sorry. I have never been to this city before and this is an unfamiliar environment. > Skymew told Ash.

“It’s okay.” Ash said. “Say, Skymew, are there any spells that are related to food? That would really come in handy right now.”

< Plenty! > Skymew reassured him. < You can also use the fruit basket in there. > She pointed to his backpack.

< What can a fruit basket do? > Sunny inquired.

< It’s a magical fruit basket! It’s not as good as a magic table or a magic tablecloth, but the basic principle is the same. All you have to do is tell the basket what you want and you’ll have it in front of you. There’s just one problem. It only provides vegetarian meals. >

“How do you know this?” Pika-chan voiced her own doubts.

< Oh, that’s easy! > Skymew said. < Char had this fruit basket, but she only used it once. She decided that she would rather risk the Cauldron of Plenty malfunctioning or something like that. She doesn’t like vegetables very much, giggle. >

“Well in that case…” Ash said. Skymew retrieved the fruit basket for him, after digging through his backpack for a few minutes. Ash put his face down next to it and said softly, “I would like three peanut butter and peach jelly sandwiches, four apples, a container of chocolate milk, and two dozen vanilla cookies.”

A small wisp of gray smoke drifted from the basket. When it vanished, everything Ash had asked for was lying on a clean blue-and-white checked tablecloth.

“Woah. Good service!” Ash said, impressed.

< See? > Skymew said. Ash was finishing his lunch when Chansey appeared again, with bowls of poke chow for the pokemon. The pokémon all ate up, but accepted the chocolate bits Ash put in their bowls. Even Skymew seemed to be enjoying her food. Todd also tried some of the poke chow, but turned green and spat it out minutes later.

“Blech! How can pokemon stand to eat this?”

“Here, Todd.” Ash said, handing him a sandwich and an apple. He tossed another apple to Pika-chan, who munched happily. “You know, this could come in handy.”

< Magic is usually handy. > Sunny said. < After all, if it weren’t useful, why would we need it? >

“Good point.” Ash said. When all of the pokemon had finished their lunches, including Dragonair and Ponyta, who had been brought to the room so they could keep their trainer company, Ash had Ponyta bring him his backpack.

“I’ve been trying to find the spell that increases the carrying capacity of a poke belt.” Ash said. “I’ve been having suspicions about Professor Oak, but before I can prove anything, I don’t want to endanger anyone by sending them to him. But Pika-chan told me that now I count as having seven poke balls because Skymew is adapting to this reality quickly.”

I’m glad you care so much about us. Butterfree said softly.

Yep! I’m glad I don’t have to leave you! Pidgey announced in her high voice. Some of the other pokemon smiled at the cute display of affection.

Maybe you should check those magic books you just got? Dragonair suggested pleasantly. It might help.

Yeah! Why not? Ponyta asked, getting excited.

Ash turned to the others, who shrugged. It was a good idea. But there were so many books! How was he supposed to find the right one?

“Try looking under ‘pokemon’.” Pika-chan suggested. Ash put down the blue leather-bound book and started rifling through his backpack. In a few moments, he had a thick, heavy book with a pink plastic cover. In elaborate gold script the words ‘pokemon myths and legends’ were written on the front.

“Okay…” Ash said, doubtfully. He flipped to the back to search the index. Soon, he discovered a ‘enlarge’ spell, as well as a ‘shrink’ spell.

“Well, the ‘shrink’ spell takes less energy, so I guess I’ll try that.” Ash said, after several particularly long moments of silence.

< Don’t worry about us! > Sunny said cheerfully as she hopped into an empty poke ball. < Go for it! >

“Okay… here goes…” Ash said. He stared at the poke balls nervously. The Shrink spell was level eighteen, and he wasn’t sure if he could do it. He locked eyes with the poke balls and began to try and force his chi through his eyeballs into the capsules. * Come on, shrink! I can’t let professor Oak have any of my pokemon. Just shrink, please! I need to do this! *

Several agonizing moments passed, as nothing happened. Just as Ash was ready to give up, a white haze surrounded the poke balls. Ash quickly covered his eyes with his left hand. When the dizzy spots finally faded from his vision, he saw that the poke balls had shrunk to the size of peas.

“No way!” Ash said.

“Yes way.” Pika-chan said, from his elbow. “I should say it worked. Quite well, in fact.”

Ash smiled triumphantly, before he fainted again.

End Episode 21!

Comments and constructive criticism are accepted (of course!) Flames will be used to make toasted marshmallows. Yum!