Episode 30 has cometh! Yatta!

 

Disclaimer: *Sobs* Shadow does not own pokemon. It belongs to Nintendo, Game FREAK, 4Kids, Shogakukan comics…

 

Note: This fic may seem out of context, but it isn’t. An explanation will be posted at the bottom of this segment. Or if you want to read that first, that’s fine too…

 

The Pokemon Reader – cute poem! *Smile* I’ll post the next chapter soon, don’t worry!

The Mistress of Richard Cox – thanks! Hmm… Ash and Pika-chan in human form is intriguing… I’ll think about it, I can only do 1 pairing though!

Tmp- yes, Ash is bonded partially to the pokemon cards by his association with them. Final judgment countdown – ONE EPISODE! Hehehehe…

Ranma – Come on; guess who (or what) the judge is! *Wink*

Hollow SHADOWS – you returned! Yay! Anyways, no, I didn’t post it earlier… oh, and go read Dragon’s Love too; it’ll help explain Dragon’s Tears… Hehehe…

????? – I’ll update, timing depends on number of reviews…

Pikacar/Marle – join me in this bonfire! And why haven’t you reviewed earlier? Oh well, thanx for reviewing! *Smiles* Since chapter 11, eh?

Vessal2000@aol.com Um, you have to do exactly 100 times… and there’s some other stuff too. But it’s a FAKE CHEAT! Ahem. Anyways, thanx for reviewing!

Dawn the Espeon – Well, not sure, but I’m pretty sure its fake… yeah, I know Gary didn’t talk 100 times but that would take WAY too long and I’d get annoyed. And I bet the readers would too. *Smile*

 

Episode 30: Ripples of time

 

            A ripple crossed the area, for a brief second. Nothingness, a flash of white, then time resumed. But all was not well…

 

            A small blocky shape flew towards the horizon and vanished.

 

 

            Ashline yawned as she woke up. Her long, silky black hair flew everywhere as she shook her head in an attempt to wake herself up. An indignant squeak came from the little lump next to her pillow.

 

            “Oh no! Did I hurt you, Jigglypuff?” She asked worriedly, reaching out in the general direction of the shape. A small balloon pokemon puffed itself up and floated out of the sheets. It nudged her hand to tell her that it was okay.

 

            Because, you see, Ashline couldn’t see at all.

 

            Jigglypuff was her ‘guide dog’, of a sort. But this particular Jigglypuff had been special. It had given her a task, to find the pokemon orbs, which had been scattered throughout Japan. This was no easy task for a blind girl, but she had help in the form of her best friend, Garina.

 

            Garina did not have the power to collect the pokemon orbs, nor the authority to do so, but she accompanied Ashline during her adventures. Garina was her pair of eyes, and almost a part of her. Without Garina, Ashline didn’t know what she would do. Garina was the person who had to chase Theo away when her choreographing got annoying, or when she got in the way.

 

            < Wake up, Ashline! It’s late! Today is a new day! > Jigglypuff said in his deep voice, which sounded thoroughly odd, coming from such a small pokemon.

 

            “I’m coming.” Ashline said in her soft voice. She slowly raised herself out of bed and felt her way over to her closet. “What should I wear today?”

           

            “I’ve got something!” Theo yelled from downstairs. Theo was Ashline’s bossy older sister, with long white-blonde hair that usually got in the way. She liked making costumes for Ashline, but she charged a hefty price. It was lucky that Garina picked up the tab. Garina always thought they were ‘cute’.

 

            “What does it look like?” Ashline called back. She knew that Theo wouldn’t lie to her. It was a comforting feeling.

 

            Theo clomped upstairs and put a pile of fabric in Ashline’s hands for her to feel. The fabric was soft and downy, and Ashline was sure that it would be beautiful.

 

            < I’ll tell you. > Jigglypuff said. He thought that these decorations were a waste of time, and therefore was not very inclined to help, but Ashline was his Chosen, so she had to be told.

 

            < There’s a dark blue knee-length skirt, with a white jacket made out of some furry material. You also have a dark blue cape with white crescent moons embroidered on it. There are two dark blue ribbons for your hair, with a crescent moon at the top of each. The shoes are dark blue boots that go up almost to your knees, with more crescent moons on them and white-trimmed tops. >

 

            “Amazing…” Ashline breathed in awe, fingering the fabric. She so wished she could see it…

           

            As if some invisible entity had granted her wish, Ashline suddenly had a split-second shot of the costume. It was even more wonderful than she had imagined, but at the same time, she felt a strange surge of irritation, as if Theo was getting in the way, as well as a spike of enmity towards Garina. But it was gone in an instant.

 

Ashline shook her head. The stress of collecting the pokémon orbs was probably going to her head. She didn’t notice Theo’ s blink of confusion, or the way Garina, who had been waiting at her door, suddenly jerked away, since she couldn’t. But Jigglypuff did see this and wonder. However, he was battling his own demons. He had suddenly had he urge to do midair flips and consume twenty pounds of rich chocolate. He decided that they probably needed a break.

 

< Ashline, you’ve been working pretty hard lately. Most of the pokémon orbs have already been collected. You deserve a day off. We shall go on a picnic today. > He told her.

 

Ashline’s eyes lit up. Quickly, she walked to the bathroom in the hall and took a quick shower, brushed her teeth, and combed out her waist-length hair. She put on her undergarments, and then Theo helped dress her in the beautiful outfit. They had a quick breakfast of cereal and milk, before they went outside to find Garina.

 

Garina smiled. “You look really nice today, Ashline.” She said in her sweet voice. Ashline blushed a bit.

 

“You really think so? I wish I could see what you were wearing…”

 

“Oh, just my usual purple tank top and black skirt.” Garina replied. “Are we going anywhere today? Did you sense any of the pokemon orbs?”

 

“Not yet.” Ashline admitted, biting back a surge of pride from… somewhere. “We’re going on a picnic!”

 

“That’s wonderful.” Garina said. “Here, we can take my car. Grandma Oakley won’t mind.” They headed over towards Garina’s light blue beetle. Both of them climbed in, Theo running in at the last minute with the picnic basket.

 

“Let’s just enjoy ourselves today.” She said pleasantly. “I packed all your favorites.”

 

“But I’m on a diet…” Ashline said, frowning.

 

“Don’t worry, I’ll eat them for you!” Garina said cheerfully. “Shall we go, or is Jigglypuff coming?”

 

< Yes I am. > Jigglypuff said, hopping onto Garina’s lap. < Let’s go! >

 

Garina started the car and drove slowly, taking care not to run over any stray pokemon. Odd, this morning when she had woken up, she had been inexplicably angry for some reason towards Ashline, but she just couldn’t remember. She brushed it off as a bad dream. Then, when she had gotten into the car, she had the urge to drive like a speed demon, but that also was quashed. Maybe she had eaten too much of Aunt Millicent’s chicken casserole last night… probably just a result of indigestion.

 

Jigglypuff tried not to stare at the picnic basket Theo held, but for some reason, he was bafflingly drawn to it. The food seemed to beckon him. What was going on? He had always had the most self-discipline of all of Mistress Madoushi’s pets…

 

Theo didn’t feel any different, really, except for a surge of creativity. Dresses weren’t all that easy to move around in. Perhaps she could design some nice pantsuits for Ashline instead.

 

Ashline held her head. She had a terrible headache, and felt nauseated. But that was impossible, she had gotten ten hours of sleep last night! And she had resisted the urge to eat six bowls of cereal at breakfast this morning. Not to mention that she kept feeling at her waist, as if she should be carrying poke balls. But she had never had any pokemon, not until she met Jigglypuff. Maybe it was just a stage she was going through, the jealousy was really getting to her…

 

It was a quiet group that finally dismounted at the meadow. Ashline was even more quiet than usual, and Garina’s bubbly personality seemed to have vanished completely.

 

Even lunch was a subdued, quiet affair. Ashline kept reaching for more sandwiches, but stopping herself just in time. Jigglypuff surprised everyone by consuming all of the extras in one gulp. Theo quit taping them abruptly and muttered something about the sunlight being in the wrong place, while Garina stared at Ashline obsessively.

 

Fortunately, something happened.

 

“I feel the presence of an orb.” Ashline said, getting up.

 

“Where is it?” Garina asked.

 

“Um, that direction.” Ashline pointed. Gary and Theo helped her walk along, while they tried to spot the orb.

 

“There it is!” Theo finally called. “It’s the Magikarp orb!”

 

“But it feels so powerful!” Ashline protested.

 

“Ashline, I don’t want to contradict you, but its got to be that gigantic Magikarp.” Garina said evenly.

 

< I am inclined to think so also. > Jigglypuff spoke. < Begin the incantation. >

 

Ashline clasped her hands in front of her chest and stood up straight. Pink light began to swirl around her in little wisps.

 

“Oh, ring of starlight, that conceals the power of myth, show yourself to me, your mistress commandeth!” She said. A silver ring set with a pink stone appeared on the third finger of her left hand, while a ring of pink energy surrounded her.

 

The stone glowed brightly, pulsing with heat. That confirmed the presence of a pokemon orb.

 

“Against water use an electric type!” Garina called, while Theo taped like a woman possessed.

 

“Yes.” Ashline said, as a sparkling yellow jewel appeared in front of her right hand. She touched it to the ring on her left hand and the light formed into a Pikachu.

 

Pikachu’s cheeks sparked, before frying the Magikarp with a thundershock. The fish flopped weakly, before collapsing in a heap.

 

“Return to your-.” Ashline stopped abruptly, that wasn’t how the speech was supposed to go! What was wrong with her? Clearing her throat, she tried again.

 

“Reveal yourself and cease to be!” She called, ignoring the budding pain in her abdomen that started to spread through the rest of her body. The Magikarp flashed, before turning into another yellow orb and flying into her ring.

 

Ashline shuddered and fell to her knees in pain. This was really too much! She was unaware that Theo and Garina were fighting their own losing battles. Her form began to shift and blur, as two timelines that had been supposed to stay separate had merged and were now trying to reform.

 

Ash managed to try and take over for a few seconds. “Key that hides-.” He gasped out, before Ashline beat down the pain and took over again.

 

“Jigglypuff! Is this a pokemon orb?” She shouted.

 

Jigglypuff was busy trying to shake off Pika-chan’s tendencies, but it wasn’t working much better. “Y-yes!” He finally managed to choke out.

 

Theo had righted her and was now taping.

 

Garina fogged up for a second, but she won. “It’s probably somewhere close! Use the ring!”

 

“R-reveal yourself and -!” Ashline stopped in mid-sentence. “Hey, whoever’s in my body, leave me alone! I need to capture this pokemon orb!”

 

“And I need to capture this pokemon card!” Ash shrieked as he claimed possession and grabbed his key. “Key that hides the power of the elements, reveal your true form before me! Your master Ashura commandeth you, RELEASE!”

 

Ashline beat him down again. “Reveal yourself and cease to be!” The orb shimmered and floated closer and closer. She was about to touch it when-

 

 

“Return to your true form, pokemon card!” Ash gasped out. The orb shifted and formed itself into a dark blue card. Ash smiled triumphantly, before he fainted.

 

When he awoke, he found Pika-chan beating her wings in his face.

 

“Hey, ease up, Pika-chan!”

 

Pika-chan perked up. “Oh, you’re awake! That’s good! I was afraid that you would be out for a while.”

“What happened?”

 

“Timeline merge. It was MQ, the glitch pokemon. It can cause glitches in the timeline.” Pika-chan explained patiently.

 

“Oh… so in an alternate timeline, I’m a blind girl, best friends with Gary, Todd is my sister, and I have to capture the pokemon orbs with a sarcastic Jigglypuff?”

“That’s about it!” Pika-chan told him.

 

Ash rolled his eyes. “Never mind. At least I caught MQ, right?”

“Right!” Pika-chan and Ash gave each other high fives. Suddenly, Ash noticed something.

 

“Say, how did Todd get here?” He asked, peering at the photographer curiously.

 

“MQ teleported him in because he needed to be here also. Gary’s still out though.” Pika-chan said.

 

“Good. We’d better leave before he wakes up.” Ash said. Todd supported him and the three quietly made their way to the pokemon center.

 

“Hey, you’re pretty cute as a girl, Ash.” Todd mentioned.

 

“Oh?” Ash blinked. “I wouldn’t know; I was blind after all.”

 

“Well, that dress was so pretty! Maybe I could modify it and make you a costume like that!” Todd started to daydream as they continued their walk.

 

 

Elsewhere…

 

A pair of eyes opened and began to gleam darkly. “The time has almost come… soon, the fate of the card captors shall be decided, once and for all.”

 

 

End Episode 30!

 

Comments and Constructive criticism accepted, the little review button at the bottom is lonely! Give it a click and tell me what you think! Flames will be used to make fried eggs. 8 reviews for next chapter, if you want it up quickly! If you don’t mind waiting, it’s the usual 1-chapter 1- week thing.