Episode 28! Pant, pant. Boy, I’m tired. Well, it is hard writing this!

Disclaimer: I’ll buy pokemon, how much is it? $2,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,009?! I’m not that rich! Darn. Guess I don’t own pokemon after all.

If you want to buy Destiny it costs 10 x 999^{100000000000000000000000000000000000} dollars. Okay? Okay. Good, that’s settled.

Charlotte is mine also. She’s not for sale, even though she’s a minor character right now.

Timeline: Two weeks after Episode 27.

Ranma – I see. Well, some people are afraid of it… Thanx for reviewing ‘Dragon’s love’!

Dawn the Espeon – Thanx, Dawn! :) I love your reviews!

Love4884 – well, maybe. But I’m not sure I’ll be doing romance after all.

The Eevee Master – well, Ponyta and Storm haven’t evolved yet because they’re already so magically tuned that they don’t’ need to! Remember, how Ash spent about 8 months practicing magic with Storm between parts 4 and 5? And Ponyta’s a special case, don’t worry, she’ll probably evolve soon!

Tmp – okay. Answers to all your questions, are… Sunny evolved into a magic-type pokemon like Pidgey, Oddish, and Butterfree already did. Ash got Pidgeot and Vaporeon back from Oak, remember? Yeah, Ash is kind of paranoid. Todd’s not in this chapter either! Yes, I feel kind of sorry for the biker too… Hehehe. Sorry, but I’m not doing pokeshippy unless I’m desperate.

Bellossom Boy – wow, so many nice reviews! I’m really glad you liked my fic! Yep, Todd is a Tomoyo clone. Pika-chan acts like Kero-chan because she is Kero-chan in this version.

The Plot Bunny Whisperer – you want Ash/Sabrina? I’ll think about it.

The Pokemon Reader – of course I’ll continue! *Smiles*

Episode 28: hidden within the Heart

Gary sighed. According to Ash (he had sent Sapphire to spy on them last night), there were only 5 pokemon cards left. Zapdos, Moltres, Mewtwo (gasp!) and the Secret cards…

“This is crazy.” He muttered. “How am I supposed to capture a legendary pokemon without attracting attention?”

“I don’t know.” Ruby said, from her position on the couch.

“Neither do I.” Emerald seconded.

“Well, why don’t we take a break today? Let’s go see that new film, ‘Sleeping Beauty – pokemon style’.”

“Sounds good to me.” Sapphire said.

“Well, that’s it girls, let’s go!”

Ash and Pika-chan were finishing up some cheese sandwiches and bananas kindly provided by the magical fruit basket. Pika-chan sighed and leaned against the bed.

“This sure gives out great food.”

“It should.” Ash said, “Or else why would I use it?”

“I don’t know.” Pika-chan shrugged. “But why didn’t you eat lunch at the Italian restaurant? Dinner there last night was good.”

“I know.” Ash thought back to the pizza. It had been so crispy, and the pepperoni and mushrooms had been superb. He sighed.

“Well?” Pika-chan asked. “Tell me or else I’ll eat your caramel delight chocolate bar!”

Ash protectively grabbed his candy. “Because Gary was there with his cheerleaders! I don’t want to share a restaurant with his odious presence.”

“Ah.” Pika-chan said wisely. “I see.” Then, she turned her puppy-eyes on him. “But can I have some candy, please?”

Ash sighed and broke off a fourth for her. Pika-chan grinned infectiously and began chomping.

Skymew floated in, carrying a bag. < Hi! >

“Where were you, Skymew?” Ash asked.

< Oh, I was on the balcony, watching people. Then, I went to the bathroom and practiced transforming into people. It worked okay. >

“Nice.” Ash said. He chewed his candy meditatively. Suddenly, he had an idea. “Hey, do you guys want to go to the movies? They’re showing a new film there!”

“Really?” Pika-chan perked up.

< What’s it about? > Skymew asked.

“It’s some type of love story, but the cast is all pokemon. It sounds good. Why don’t we spend the afternoon there?”

< YAY! > Skymew said. She hopped onto Ash’s head and transformed into a Meowth. Pika-chan scampered onto Ash’s shoulder. Ash went downstairs and collected the rest of his pokemon, who were enjoying the free buffet.

“Let’s go to the movies.”

< Okay! > Sunny said.

Sounds fun! Oddish said.

Why not? What’s a movie anyways? Pidgey inquired.

Can I stay here with Dragonair? Storm asked. Ash nodded his assent and released the Dragonair card.

I want to go! Butterfree said, waving his antennae.

Me too! Ponyta said.

“Okay, let’s go!” Ash said. The group quickly headed to the movie theater.

“I would like one human ticket and seven pokemon tickets.” Ash told the cashier.

“Here you go.” The nice lady with the purple hair told them. “The movie begins in about fifteen minutes.”

“Thank you!” Ash said. Then, he headed to the snack counter.

< Can we have popcorn? > Sunny asked.

“Sure. Do the rest of you want anything else? Soda might not be too good for you though.”

I want the peach rings! Pika-chan said in poke speech as not to attract attention.

< May I have some jellybeans? > Skymew asked politely. Ash nodded.

I don’t want anything. Oddish told him.

Me neither. Ponyta said. There’s no grass here. She looked sorely disappointed and Ash patted her neck reassuringly.

< Can I have some apple rings? > Sunny wanted to know.

I want the bit ‘o honey bar. Butterfree spoke up, his antennae twitching excitedly.

“Okay.” Ash told the guy at the counter, “I want eight small popcorns with butter on the side, one order of peach rings, one order of apple rings, a bit ‘o honey bar, and one Sprite please.”

“That will be twenty-six dollars and seventeen cents.”

Ash handed over his money, distributed the snacks, and led the pokemon into the darkened theatre.

Meanwhile, Gary and his cheerleaders were all laughing noisily in their seats. But when the theatre darkened, they fell silent.

Unfortunately, both Ash and Gary were so absorbed in the movie that neither noticed the presence of the pokemon card.

MissingNo hissed angrily. He couldn’t believe how this entire group of people (and pokemon), were so taken in by that screen that they were unaware of his presence. It was dastardly! He finally decided to do something about it.

Slowly, people started disappearing one by one. First, the poor souls who had been crammed into the farthest reached of the theatre and cleverly hidden in the shadows, as there were no more available seats. Then, the rows, slowly but surely emptying without a trace of motion, and finally, the entire back half of the room were gone. But that was not enough. He was so angered that he began closing in…

Pika-chan suddenly stiffened. “Ash! It’s a-!” Was all she managed to say before she was sucked away. In a blink, all of the others vanished also. Ash and Gary were the only ones left.

Well, that wasn’t exactly correct. Pika-chan was still there, just not with Ash. In fact, she would up in an empty ‘room’ which was… empty.

“Ash! Where are you?”

But alas, her pleas did not reach him.

Finally, Pika-chan gave up. “You’ll have to do this on your own.” She said simply, before biting into a cookie.

Ponyta and the rest of the gang looked at her worriedly.

“He’ll be all right.”

Ash looked around. He knew what Pika-chan had meant to say. So he turned his back on Gary and pulled out his key.

“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!” Instantly, the key once again obligingly took on wand form.

Meanwhile, Gary was not standing idle either. He had whipped out his bronze mirror and was now impatiently scanning for the pokemon card.

Ash saw the mirror and blinked. * This could be bad. * But out loud he said nothing for a few minutes as he tried to figure out which card it was.

Gary shrugged and decided to try out his idea. “Golbat, go! Use your Supersonic to find a way out of this place!” The Golbat came out in a wisp of smoke, before sending supersonic waves all over the place. Its aiming was terrible. Ash winced and put up a psychic barrier to protect him from being hit in the face.

But it really wasn’t much help. Try as it might, Golbat was unable to find an exit. So it was with impatience that Gary recalled the card.

Ash decided to try something else. He twirled his wand in a circle before focusing his chi on Pidgeot’s eye. “Magic to cards, cards to key!” He cried. But instead of a beam of blue light, what appeared was a glowing orb that surrounded both of them before it vanished.

“That means it must be all around us…” Ash said softly.

“Eh?” Gary asked. “Well, I’m just going to blast my way out then! Scyther, SLASH!” Scyther also appeared in a wisp of smoke, but its attack was unsuccessful. Ash closed his eyes and thought hard.

“Wait a minute… everybody else disappeared into the darkness, so why aren’t we disappearing?”

Gary shrugged. “Who gives?”

Ash rolled his eyes, before he suddenly figured it out. “Light! We’re glowing, see?” He pointed down, and Gary was astonished to see that they were both glowing like glow-worms, or flashlights.

Or rather, Ash was glowing and Gary was sort of bathed in it as well.

But this didn’t last for long. Soon, the glow began dying down Gary cried out in shock as he was suddenly sucked away.

Ash gripped his wand tighter. * I’ve got to think quickly or I’ll disappear as well! Let’s see, it’s afraid of light! But I know light isn’t a pokemon card! But what is… *

“Come on, Ash, you can do it!” Pika-chan said from where she could see the action. Skymew was fluttering around nervously.

“Growlithe? Arcanine? Ninetails? Raichu?”

Suddenly, something hit him.

“Fire and Lightning… Zapdos and Moltres!” He cried.

“He got it!” Pika-chan cheered.

Two glowing orbs appeared in front of his chest, glowing respectively reddish and yellowish.

When they solidified, Ash saw Zapdos and Moltres floating there, arm-in-arm, I mean, wing-in-wing.

“Kirei…” Ash gasped.

They smiled at him, before turning to the darkness together.

“MissingNo! We know you are out there! Reveal yourself!”

The shadows began to gather and took a blocky, cubic form.

MissingNo hissed at them, but there was nothing it could do.

“You must seal us all together. The light will balance the darkness.” Moltres said in human speech. That didn’t register in Ash’s head until later.

“Return to your true form, pokemon card!” Ash cried. The blue glow surrounded the three forms, transforming them into the cards.

“Wait! Before you go, tell me about the final judgment!”

The judge is close to you. Moltres said.

She is right beside you. She has always been there… Zapdos told him.

MissingNo glared balefully, but added his line. Beware, Ash… she will come in a way you do not expect.

Then, they solidified and nothing more was said.

When the movie came back on, Pika-chan noticed Ash clutching the new cards to his chest with a preoccupied expression.

She looked down. * He’ll have to face her when the time comes, and it will not be easy… *

End Episode 28!

Cliffhanger, Hehehe! Review or I won’t post the next chapter! Eight reviews needed! Oh yeah, and please go and check out ‘Dragon’s love’. Please? *Big puppy eyes* Don’t worry, it’s not shonen ai!