Episode 25! Woohoo! Thanks to those who did review! I can’t believe I got this far!

Disclaimer: Alas, Nintendo is not going to relinquish pokemon to my possession. Oh well… I still have Destiny, Charlotte, Pika-chan and Vulpix-chan; so don’t steal anything that’s mine!

Notes: ** thoughts, <> telepathy, and italics is poke speech.

 

Episode 25: In which Oak’s evil plans are revealed

 

            “Are we there yet?” Pika-chan asked.

 

            Ash sweatdropped. “No, Pika-chan, we have not reached Celadon yet, so we cannot replenish your supply of candy at the moment, so please bear with me.”

 

            “But I haven’t had any candy for four days!” Pika-chan whined. Lack of sugar was making her edgy.

 

            “Sorry.” Ash said unrepentantly. Todd was busy taking picture of a Bellsprout with a small pink dot on its head he had discovered by the roadside.

 

            Pika-chan sighed and plopped back onto Ponyta’s back.

 

            Is it that bad? Ponyta asked. Pika-chan’s eyes went all big and teary.

 

            “Of course its bad.” She said sadly.

 

            “Is there any other route to Celadon that might possibly be faster?” Ash asked Todd.

 

            “I don’t know. Riding Ponyta is already a very fast mode of transportation.” Todd stated.

 

            “Oh well.” Ash sighed. “I wonder if there are any wild pokemon out here…” He closed his eyes and began searching. As his magic was stronger now, it only took two minutes to locate the energy signature of a pokemon card.

 

            “Hey Pika-chan! Did you sense that?”

 

            Pika-chan sat upright, ears twitching. “Yes. I think its Snorlax. The card is currently inactive at the moment. Probably sleeping off its most recent meal.”

 

            Ash blanched when he remembered how much a Snorlax could eat. “I see…”

 

            “Why don’t you use this opportunity to train your real pokemon?” Pika-chan suggested. “I’m sure it would help them.”

 

            “Okay! I’ll train Oddish!” Ash said, sending out the little walking grass pokemon. Oddish blinked cutely up at its trainer.

 

            “Hi, Oddish. Have you been bored inside the poke ball?”

 

            It wasn’t that bad. Oddish told him.

 

            “That’s good. Do you want to train?”

 

            That is fine with me. Oddish said. I do wish to strengthen myself.

 

            “Great! Let’s go find that Snorlax card!” Ash said. He was about to dash off when Todd stopped him.

 

            “Costume!”

 

            Pika-chan sighed at the expression on her Chosen’s face. He looked horrified.

 

            “Well?” Todd said hopefully, holding on up. Ash sighed and succumbed to the excited photographer’s request.

 

            When Ash emerged from a bush a few minutes later, he was wearing dark red silk pants and a dark blue silk blowsy shirt. Around his waist was a black leather belt with silver-rimmed white gems studded on it. He also had black boots, black elbow-length gloves, and a silver circlet with a dark blue gem in the center.

 

            “Can I go now?” Ash pleaded.

 

            “Lead the way!” Todd said cheerfully, taking no notice of the poor card captor’s discomfort.

 

“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. Ash smiled at the familiar weight of the wand within his hands.

 

“Oddish, are you ready?”

 

Oddish gave Ash a nod with its leaves. Ash grinned. “Okay, now let’s do this the easy way. Magic to cards, cards to key!” A blue beam shot out of his staff and into the surrounding leafy canopy. Ash immediately jumped onto Fearow’s back and began flying through the trees, carrying Oddish with him.

 

Since Todd had no way of following them, he was unable to videotape until Ash reappeared. He slowly hacked his way through the thorny vines until he finally located the clearing where Snorlax was… snoring.

 

Ash landed a few moments later, carrying Oddish. The Snorlax was still off in dreamland.

 

“Well, Oddish. You know what to do.” Ash told him.

 

Oddish waddled over and sprayed Snorlax with a heavy dose of poisonpowder. It didn’t even stir.

 

Pika-chan blinked. “Well, Snorlax is a very heavy sleeper. Perhaps it does not wish to battle you.”

 

“Maybe.” Ash said, not sounding convinced. “Well, if its not going to fight us, we can take care of it, can’t we? Solarbeam, Oddish.”

 

Oddish charged, but Snorlax still didn’t awaken. Two Solarbeams later, Snorlax finally yawned and opened its eyes.

 

“Now!” Pika-chan said.

 

“Return to your true form, pokémon card!” Ash commanded. Snorlax simply fell backwards and reverted to card form before its massive bulk hit the ground.

 

“Well, that was easy.” Todd said from the rock he was videotaping on. He would have said more; only Oddish began to glow brightly.

 

“Yay! It’s evolving!” Ash said happily. When the light cleared, Oddish was still Oddish, but like Pidgey, it had unusual markings. There were purple abstract designs on its leaves.

 

Ash ran over and hugged Oddish. “I’m so proud of you!”

 

Oddish purred happily. I evolved to magic type too!

 

Pidgey waved to Oddish. Yippee! I’m so happy for you! Now we won’t have to worry about dying!

Yep! Oddish replied.

 

            Ponyta whinnied her congratulations. Ash patted her on the head. “Come on, girl. Let’s head for Celadon!”

 

            While Ash rode, he thought. * I wonder why Ponyta, Sunny, Butterfree, and Storm haven’t evolved to magic-type yet. I’ve had them longer. Hmm… *

 

            “Butterfree already evolved.” Pika-chan said. Ash jumped.

 

            “What did you say?”

 

            “Butterfree evolved early on, when he was merged with the card. But his markings are rainbow colored and cancel each other out with strategically placed colored bands, so you can only see them if you look very carefully.”

 

            “Oh.” Ash said. Then, a thought occurred to him. “Wait! You’re reading my mind!”

 

            Pika-chan shrugged. “Our bond has gotten stronger. Did you not notice?” Ash looked sheepish.

 

            “I’m afraid not.” Ash said. To cheer his guardian up, he fed her a box of apricot flavored cookies. Pika-chan loved them and immediately dropped her grudge.

 

            Todd was trying to figure out what Ash was supposed to wear for the ‘Final Judgment’ they kept referring to. The problem was that he had a ton of ideas and Ash could only wear one costume. Todd sighed. Ash began setting out lunch for the pokemon.

 

           

Back at the Oak labs…

 

            Vaporeon was a rather patient pokemon, but she was getting sick of being poked and prodded with needles every day. Feeling annoyed, she reverted to energy form and dashed off to find Pidgeot.

 

            She found Pidgeot sitting huffily in a corner of the aviary by herself.

 

            < Hey Pidgeot, are you ready to blow this place? >

 

            < Oh yeah! > Pidgeot said excitedly. < We can leave now? >

 

            < Well, Ash never told us how long we had to say. I’ve had enough of this fruitcake scientist and his crazy experiments. >

 

            < You’re on! > Pidgeot said excitedly. They both reverted to energy form and streaked towards where Ash was.

 

            Ash was moderately surprised when two pokemon landed in his lap.

 

            “Did you two find out anything?” Ash inquired.

 

            < We actually found out lots! > Pidgeot said gravely. < And I’d advise you not to send any pokemon to Oak, unless you’re signing their death warrant. He’s running illegal drug testing and pokemon breeding there. >

 

            Ash gasped. “You’re serious?”

 

            < Would we lie to you? > Vaporeon asked. < Do you actually think that we would betray you? >

 

            “N-no.” Ash confessed. “I trust you. It’s just that I can’t believe that I didn’t know about this!”

 

            Neither did I. Ponyta said. Of course, I arrived only a day before your journey began.

           

            I’m glad we didn’t get sent there. Sunny said in poke speech, which was odd, since she usually used telepathy.

 

            < Right! > Skymew said, bounding around. Ash fed them all, before making himself a tuna salad sandwich. Todd had a roasted hot dog (with the help of his Growlithe) with mayonnaise.

 

            Ash was still shell-shocked. He decided to tell his mom. With a sigh, he pulled out his cell phone, flipped open the mirror, and dialed his phone number.

 

           

            “Ring, Ring!” The phone called. Delilah looked up from her lunch with surprise. It wasn’t Giovanni, since he was having lunch with her.

 

            “Must be Ash.” Giovanni said.

 

            Delilah’s eyes lit up and she practically flew over to the phone. “Hello? Ketchum residence.”

 

            “Mom, it’s me.” Ash said.

 

            “Hello, honey. Where are you?”

 

            “I’m heading towards Celadon city. I really miss your cooking though.” Ash said truthfully.

 

            Delilah laughed. * That’s my boy, the walking stomach. * Out loud she asked him how he was doing.

 

            “Fine, actually. Mom, the reason I’m calling is that I can’t send any more pokemon to Professor Oak. He’s doing experiments on them!”

 

            “What?” Delilah looked shocked. Giovanni walked over and put an arm on her shoulder.

 

            “I’m not kidding! He almost killed my Pidgeot, but she managed to escape and come find me!”

 

            “May I talk to him?” Giovanni asked.

 

            “O-oh. Okay.” Delilah handed Giovanni the phone.

 

            “Ash? May I make a suggestion?”

 

            Ash blinked. Why was Giovanni on the phone? But he decided to be polite. “Okay.”

            “I run a gym. I was wondering if you would like me to keep your pokémon for you. Perhaps that would be more to your taste?”

 

            Ash looked unsure. He didn’t want to send anyone to Professor Oak, but he wasn’t sure he could trust Giovanni either.

 

            < What do you think? > He asked Pika-chan in thought speak.

 

            < He seems like a trustworthy human. > Pika-chan said.

 

Seeing Ash’s hesitation, Giovanni sweetened the pot. “How about this? I’ll take good care of them, plus I’ll give you a special poke belt that holds eighteen poke balls. And on top of that, I’ll even let you train at my gym with me.”

 

Ash exchanged a quick glance at Pika-chan, who nodded.

 

“All right.” Ash said. “Then I’ll see you soon!” He hung up.

 

 

“You’re so sweet, Giovanni.” Delilah said. Giovanni looked modest.

 

“Nonsense. If I’m going to marry you, I’d better get to know your son, right?”

 

Delilah smiled. “Well, shall we continue our lunch?” Giovanni nodded and the two of them headed over to the table.

 

 

“Okay, who wants to go this time?” Ash asked his pokemon. “I’ll just send one.”

 

One of the pokemon cards lit up bluely. Ash nodded and picked it up. “Vulpix?”

 

Vulpix wagged her six tails. < I’ll test the water for the others. >

 

“All right, girl.” Ash said, petting her on the head. “Let’s wait until we get to Celadon.”

 

< Right! > Vulpix said. The others quickly finished their lunch and took off. Soon, they were at the city limits.

 

 

End Episode 25! C&CC are great. Flames will be used to weld Chichiri’s shakujo. J WAIII! I’m a Fushigi Yuugi fan freak too!