Episode 23! Oh yeah! J

Disclaimer: Shadow does not own pokemon. Shadow only owns Charlotte, Destiny, new pokemon, the card/key spells and chants…

Note: Technically, as the authoress, I could keep the weather as spring/summer all the time, since most of the episodes take place in those environments, but summer is going to end soon.

Ranma – yes, I know! I’m still trying to figure out whom to cast as Eriol. As a result, he should not appear for a while. And yes, I meant Skymew. Oops! Anyways, thank you! You’re the only one who caught that! *Wink*

Thunder mouse pikachu – Hmm… well, I can’t give away the plot, can I? But it could be either one… yes, Ash freaks out when very bizarre things happen. That’s part of the charm!

Dawn the Espeon – Hi! Glad you reviewed! And I think your CCS fic is pretty good right now, the way it is.

Ihire – wow, I can’t believe you caught that! Stupid Microsoft word spell check… anyways, thanx for reviewing!

Seishikitty – I’ll try! Thanx for reviewing!

Episode 23: Revolutions and Revelations

Pika-chan was hopping on the bed, but Ash was not paying much attention to this fact. * Yes! I can get out of bed! * Ash thought happily. Nurse Joy was giving him instructions, but Ash was tuning her out. He was too excited.

“And remember not to overstress yourself.” Joy finished. “Your mom sent you these clothes, since you only packed summer clothes and it is going to start getting colder soon.” Ash was given a package wrapped in sky-blue paper.

“Thanks, Nurse Joy.” Ash said. “Do you have a video phone downstairs? I have to call Professor Oak.”

“Of course.” Joy said, smiling pleasantly as she led him downstairs. Ash nodded his thanks.

“Ring, ring!”

“Who is it?” Professor Oak asked as he picked up his phone. “Ah, Ash, its you! You haven’t called much.”

“Hi, Professor.” Ash said. He held out his vest. “Look, I have 3 badges already!”

Professor Oak sipped his tea and nodded. “Good, that means you’re still ahead of the other two trainers. But you haven’t sent me any pokemon at all!”

“I’m trying to catch them, but it is hard!” Ash admitted.

“Well, work harder! How am I supposed to complete the pokédex at this rate?” Oak complained.

Ash nervously fingered a poke ball in his pocket. “How about if I just transfer them to you now?”

“Very well, go to that computer over there in the corner of the pokemon center. You can store pokemon there, and I want you to send me the pokemon you’re not going to carry with you. I’ll be expecting them.”

“Okay.” Ash said. “Bye!” He turned off the radio and headed to the machine. He turned to the two pokemon.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” He asked in a soft voice. The two pokemon cards; Vaporeon and Pidgeot, respectively, nodded their heads nervously.

< Don’t worry about us. If there’s any danger, we can teleport out. >

“All right then.” Ash placed his poke balls in the machine, pressed the button, and watched them vanish. He sighed. There really was no evidence that Professor Oak was a bad scientist, or mad, or possibly deranged, but he just didn’t feel like handing over his pokemon to Oak. So he decided to try a test run first. If there were no problems, he would transfer some of his other pokémon over.

When Ash finished, he went back to his room to pick up his supplies and Todd, who was currently glued to the T.V. screen.

“Are you sure its okay?” Pika-chan asked for what seemed to Ash like the thousandth time.

“Pika-chan, they volunteered for this job, knowing that it was potentially dangerous. I would hope that if they got into trouble, they would be able to escape.” Ash said patiently.

“I know, but still… what if he tries to kill them?”

“Pika-chan! Don’t be so morbid! I’m sure they’ll be fine.” Ash said in a falsely cheerful voice. Then, he continued in a lower tone. “And they’re quite powerful cards, remember? They could easily take him on.”

Pika-chan sighed and smoothed her ruffled fur. * Maybe it’s just my nerves… but Ash doesn’t trust him either. It’s so confusing! *

Ash finished packing and turned to his photographer.

“Hey, Todd, are you ready?!”

“Coming!” Todd said, running over. “I went shopping and got some more blank tapes and stuff.”

“I still need to get food.” Ash reminded him. “So lets hit the general store.”

“Sounds good to me.” Todd seconded. “We need to stock up on canned food. It’s a pretty long walk to Celadon. Usually, most trainers just go through Cerulean and then through Rock Tunnel, but that involves passing through Lavender Town and you know that the place is infested with ghost-type pokemon. Or, we could just go to Fuchsia and take the bike path to Celadon-.”

“Todd, I don’t have a bike.” Ash reminded him.

“Right! So we’ll just take the mountain trails then! It will take longer, but we’ll have time to admire all the scenery.”

“And catch more pokemon!” Pika-chan said cheerfully.

“Right! Let’s go!” The three of them headed off towards the mountains.

Professor Oak’s laboratory…

Oak gleefully rubbed his hands in anticipation. * I wonder what pokemon Ash has caught. Probably only some Rattatas or something like that, but at least they can be used for basic experiments. Something more exotic I could use to test the Aquaflorin virus, see how it affects water-types as opposed to normal or bug… *

When the machine pinged, announcing that the cargo had arrived, Oak was surprised to see only two poke balls lying there at the bottom of the machine.

“Well, this is a setback, but I can probably breed them against Ditto. Wonder what they are?”

Two minutes later…

“A Pidgeot and a Vaporeon! At least the kid hasn’t been slacking off! All right then, Giovanni will want to know about this, I had to keep him informed on the doings of the Ketchum kid, maybe he’s thinking adoption? Oh well, the Vaporeon will do for the Aquaflorin, and I’ll use the Pidgeot to breed with the one Gary sent in.”

(Note: No, Giovanni is not evil. But Oak is. Confused? It will be explained later. After all, Giovanni is not authorizing Oak’s illegal experiments.)

If Pidgeot could have blanched, she would have. Instead, she settled for looking at Oak reproachfully. Of course, he being on an ego high, did not even notice. He had run off to prepare the injection for Vaporeon. * I’m so lucky! Hahahaha! Soon, all will bow before the great Professor Oak! *

Pidgeot turned to her fellow pokemon card. < Do you think he suspects anything out of the ordinary at all? >

Vaporeon shrugged, her tinkling laughter filling Pidgeot’s head. < He is foolish. Most of them that walk this earth are. Master is a rare exception, wouldn’t you say? At least he uses his mind. >

< At least he isn’t controlled by his feelings, you mean? > Pidgeot retorted. < But it doesn’t seem right. Even our former mistress had feelings. >

< My dear Pidgeot, you forget one thing. Remember how our mistress planned this out? There is something special about him. We’ll figure it out soon enough, don’t worry about it. >

Pidgeot sighed. < Perhaps I am just too practical. >

< You should know him better, anyways. You’re one of his favorites! > Vulpix said. < Don’t worry about it! >

< I know. *Sigh* >

Further conversation was put on hold when Oak reappeared, carrying a half-filled vial of a blue-greenish, murky liquid as well as a syringe. He pressed the release button on Vaporeon’s poke ball, and injected her in the tail before she had time to relax, then she was immediately turned to red light and sucked into the poke ball. After he had finished this operation, he turned to Pidgeot.

“Come with me.” It was not a question. Pidgeot followed. Soon, she found herself alone in a room with several other Pidgeots, who all eyed her curiously. There were also many Pidgeys and Pidgeottos.

New flock member, eh? One asked.

The leader, who was slightly larger than most Pidgeots, nodded its head.

Pretty one, too. Where are you from?

Pidgeot decided to lie, since she couldn’t tell them that she was a card. Around Viridian Forest, why?

Sometimes, family members come here. But none of us are from Viridian Forest. Most of us were bred here, or we are from the Southern Islands.

Oh. Pidgeot settled down next to another Pidgeot, who eyed her appreciatively. * She looks strong, so she’ll probably make a good mother. * With that thought in mind, he began putting the moves on her, so to speak.

Pidgeot largely ignored him. She would leave soon anyways, so it was no use getting involved.

The trio of Ash, Pika-chan, and Todd rode through the mountains. Ash was on Ponyta’s back, while Todd’s Kangaskhan didn’t mind carrying him. They had taken an abandoned trail to the mountains, so they hadn’t run into any trainers yet.

< I don’t think there are any trainers out here, Ash. > Sunny told him.

< I do not think so either. > Skymew seconded. She had perched herself on Ash’s head and was now trying to get comfortable.

“Too bad, I was hoping for someone to battle.” Ash said. He turned to Todd. “Hey, do you want to stop for lunch yet?”

“No, I am not hungry yet.” Todd said. “Do you really believe there are wild pokémon out here, Ash? The area seems to have been cleansed of wildlife completely. There are not even any birds or insects…”

“Tired yet, girl?” Ash asked Ponyta.

No way! This is just a little jaunt! If I got tired this easily, we would never have made it to Viridian city in one piece! Ponyta replied.

Ash laughed. “Just wondering, that’s all.”

“Okay, let’s see.” Todd pulled out his binoculars to see if he could spot any pokemon. After half an hour, he was getting discouraged, when he suddenly glimpsed a dust cloud approaching in their direction. Upon closer inspection, the dust cloud was revealed to be a group of running primate pokemon.

“Ash! Look! Some Mankeys and Primeapes are heading this way!” Todd said excitedly.

Ash grinned. “Not only that, Todd. One of them is the Primeape card.” He held his key out to begin the spell, but Todd had jumped at the mention of a card.

“Why didn’t you say so earlier?” Todd asked, as he dragged Ash behind a tree. Soon, the card captor was dressed in khakis and a white shirt, with a straw safari hat atop his head, and brown boots. He was still wearing his dark blue fingerless gloves though. They clashed with his outfit hideously.

“Key that hides the power of the elements, reveal your true from before me! Your master Ashura under the seal of contract commands you, Release!” Instantly, the key responded to his frantic summons and changed into the wand.

Ash was about to send out the Pidgeot card when he remembered that she had been sent to Professor Oak’s for testing.

“Darn. Forgot about that. Oh well, in that case, I’ll use Kadabra!” The psychic pokemon blinked as it materialized.

“Kadabra, use Confusion against the Primeape card!” Kadabra nodded his head, and a dark blue glow surrounded one of the Primeapes, lifting it up into the air. This was followed by a Psywave attack, which was enough to knock the Primeape out cold.

“Great job, Kadabra!” Ash said proudly. “Return to your true form, pokémon card!”

Primeape didn’t even have enough energy left to struggle before it was sucked into a blue card. Pika-chan tossed Ash the pen, which he used to write his name on the card with.

“Well, that went well.” Todd remarked as he shut his video camera. “You know, Ash, I never noticed this before, but the khaki color brings out the highlights in your hair.”

Ash shrugged. He didn’t mind this outfit that much, so he simply re-mounted Ponyta. Then, they began riding off towards the next city.

“Seriously! You look good in khaki!”

“But I don’t like khaki.” Ash said patiently, as if he were talking to a three-year old that needed instruction.

Todd got all teary-eyed. “You don’t like my costume? I labored over it for so long!”

Pika-chan sighed a mushroom cloud.

Ash decided not to say anything else. He nudged Ponyta and she shot off like a rocket.

“Hey! Wait for me!” Todd called as he urged his Kangaskhan to follow

End Episode 23! Comments and Constructive Criticism are nectar and ambrosia to an authoress, while flames will be donated to freezing people in Antarctica.

I need 6 reviews before I post the next chapter! This will be standard for the rest of the chapters too!