Episode 33! Hehehehe…
Notes: The Ashura cards arc begins now.
Disclaimer: As always, I DO NOT OWN POKEMON! *Giggles* I would like to though! And in case it wasn’t already clear enough, Destiny belongs to yours truly.
Disclaimer 2: I DO NOT OWN CCS! It belongs to CLAMP, Kodansha. That means Eriol, Spinel Sun, and Ruby Moon are not mine. And yes, Eriol is still alive. However… he’s not the person who is doing the testing!
The Eevee master – I’m so sorry about that! *Sobs* But my computer froze when I was doing it and I guess it wasn’t saved! I’m sorry! Really! And don’t worry about Todd! He’ll be back. But his parents forgot because he failed the final judgment, remember? How the ‘forgetting’ is the punishment. I want to add more chapters too! By the way, have a S’more!
Ranma – ah. I see. Another vote for more chapters! Hmm… thanx for the compliments on Ash’s character! *Blush* as for Eriol, I’m think Lance-chan… *Smile*
HurriCanine – Johto card arc comes after the Ashura cards arc. I know Todd is kind of annoying, but a lot of other people like him… still, it was fun killing him! *Smirk*
The Pokemon Reader – so you want me to just add chapters? Okay!
Tmp – you didn’t like me killing Todd off? Don’t worry he will return… in a different way… and no, he wasn’t supposed to die, but… yeah, I know a lot of people were on vacation, its Thanksgiving, after all!
Dawn the Espeon – yeah, well the reason it was a lot like the actual episode was because I had a copy of CCS in Chinese next to me for reference when I was writing this part. Heh. *Smiles*
Ihire – another vote for another arc! But it all depends on total… thanks for all of your encouraging reviews!
Pikacar/Marle – oh, I see. Another vote for continuing the story here… nice! I’m glad you liked it! Really! I’ll keep writing, don’t’ worry!
Trutenor – cool, you want Ash x Sabrina. You read my whole fic in one day? Wow. Todd will return, just wait! *Smirks*
Goldfox133 – I see… you just want me to add chapters? Almost everybody wants that!
Episode 33: On the road to Saffron… or not
“Pidgey, Gust!” Ash said, knocking out his opponent’s Raticate. Jill sighed and recalled her pokemon.
“Wow, you seem to have some potential. Maybe you would like to take the challenge?”
“What challenge?” Ash asked, perking up. Maybe things were looking up after all! It had been three days since the ‘Final Judgment’, and so far, all he had done was battle junior trainers. It seemed like everyone within a five-mile radius was eager to pokemon battle.
“There’s an old legend.” Jill said. “In pokemon tower, the spirit of a powerful magician is said to rest. Nobody that’s every seen it has come back. Supposedly, only the very best make it there, and they are defeated.”
“Pokemon Tower is in Lavender town, right?” Ash questioned.
“Yeah. But nobody in the right mind would go to Lavender Town. The place is crawling with ghost-type pokemon! You’d be scared out of your wits before you caught one.”
“It seems intriguing.” Ash said. “But I’ll have to ask my mom about it. Besides, isn’t a ghost-type useful in fighting a psychic gym leader?”
“You want to take on Althea?! She’s insanely powerful!”
“I need the badge, don’t I?”
“But there are other gyms here in Kanto! You could get a badge at the lesser-known gyms, after all, you only need eight to get into pokemon league.”
“What other gyms are there?” Ash asked. He had never heard about them before.
“Well, there’s one in Lavender town, called the Seismic gym. That leader uses ground-type pokemon. And then there’s the Fighting Dojo, also in Saffron. And the third is the Orange gym; it’s actually on a farm. The leader uses Doduo, Dodrio, and Tauros.”
“Well, in that case, I’ll hit Lavender Town first!” Ash said. He waved good-bye to Jill and re-mounted Ponyta.
As soon as they were out of sight, Pika-chan floated out of his backpack, carrying a bag of candied apple slices.
“Can we stop for lunch yet?”
“Pika-chan, we’ve only been walking for three hours!”
“But I’m hungry.” Pika-chan said. Her eyes went all big and shimmery, and she put on her most innocent expression.
Ash rolled his eyes. * Why am I such a softy? * Out loud, he said that they would stop in half an hour.
“YAY!” Pika-chan said, doing a few little cartwheels in the air out of pure joy. Her wings flapped excitedly.
Ash would
have said more, but then he remembered something. “Guess I have to call mom
again.”
“Ring, ring!”
“Hello, Ketchum residence.” Delilah said.
“Hi, mom!” Ash said as he pressed the heart button that turned the videophone on.
“Ash, where are you?”
“I’m on my way to Saffron.” Ash lied. * Mom will get all upset if she finds out that I’m going to Lavender Town. Wait, she’s not really my mom. But she’s raised me since I was four or five, so… *
“Be careful, Ash. Giovanni says that Althea is a tough gym leader.”
“I know.” Ash said. “I miss you. Maybe I’ll come home to visit sometime.”
The next piece of information rocked him. “Will you be back by next summer? Giovanni and I are planning to get married then.”
Ash’s jaw dropped. “Really?!” Inwardly, he couldn’t believe it. His mom had never shown much interest in men, but now…
“You need a father, Ash. And he’s really a wonderful person. I’m sure that it will all work out right.”
“Yes, mom.” Ash said obediently.
“And don’t forget to change your underwear!”
Ash sweatdropped. “Mom, I’m not a little kid anymore!”
“I know, but personal hygiene is very important, blah, blah, blah…”
After fifteen minutes of rant, Ash realized that his cell phone was running out of battery power.
“Mom, my power is almost up.”
“Oh!” Delilah cut her diatribe short. “Well then, good-bye. I love you, Ash!”
“I love you
too, mom.” Ash said. He closed his cell and turned to the others. “Well, I
guess that’s that!”
“That was long!” Pika-chan said, holding up a timer.
“Pika-chan…” Ash said. “I can’t believe you did that!”
“I was bored.”
“Well, since you’re free, can you recharge my cell phone?”
“What am I, a battery?” Pika-chan looked huffy, but she shot a couple volts of electricity into the phone. After a few seconds, it lit up, which meant that it was now fully charged.
Ash placed his pink cell phone back in his pack and hopped onto Ponyta. “Okay, let’s see if we can get to Lavender Town!”
Yeah! Ponyta said. She took off like a shot. Pika-chan fell off, but managed to catch up with them later.
< Hey Ash, that was uncalled for! >
< Sorry. > Ash replied. He petted her on the head. < Next time, you have to hang on tighter! >
Pika-chan’s cheeks sparked but to her credit, she didn’t shock him.
Meanwhile…
A pair of black eyes watched from behind glasses. Calculating looks were exchanged.
“He seems to have internalized power, Master. Are you sure it is wise to have him change the cards?”
“Yeah! I know Charlotte had to change hers, because her power is ‘sun’, not darkness, but his is starlight. Shouldn’t it work?”
“No, Ruby. This has happened before. He must change them or they will run out of energy and… fade away.”
Back to the other side…
“I’m cold.” Pika-chan burrowed deeply into Ash’s blue-and-white jacket.
“I thought you were partly a fire-type?”
“So?” Pika-chan went all puppy-eyed. Ash restrained himself from groaning and instead stroked her ears.
“Perhaps it is because we are nearing Lavender Town. The Tower seems to be… cold, in a way. Maybe we should hit the gym first?”
I’m not sure I want to go to the tower… Ponyta said.
“Don’t worry, you can stay in your poke ball.”
Okay… If she hadn’t been dedicated to Ash, Ponyta probably would not have listened at all and bolted in the opposite direction... But since she did trust him, she stayed put.
Ash was surprised when he saw the welcoming sight of a pokemon center perched near the edge of the town. He had used the Wand of the Water Guardian a lot in the past few days, to heal his pokemon after battles, but even that had its limit. And Pika-chan warned him against over-using magical items.
“I suggest we go to the pokemon center first. Maybe there will be a restaurant nearby!” Pika-chan said cheerfully.
“Good idea, Pika-chan.”
Ponyta was recalled. Ash walked the rest of the way to the pokemon center, as not to attract attention.
“Hello.” Nurse Joy said pleasantly when Ash handed her his pokemon. “Not many people come to this town. It’s sad, really, but I’m happy to see a new face.”
“I know. I heard there was a gym here.”
“Oh, you mean the Seismic Gym? That’s about five blocks away. It is a large building built out of granite, very shiny. You won’t miss it. Are your pokemon seriously hurt or do they just need to be rejuvenated?”
“No, just rejuvenation.” Ash said. “And I’ve got more than six.”
“Fine by me.” Nurse Joy said. She made two trips to the rejuvenator while Ash read a magazine. An article caught his attention.
“‘Promising pokemon photographer caught dead in rockslide?’” He said incredulously.
Pika-chan stuck her head out of his backpack. “Oh. Wait a minute! Didn’t you cremate Todd?”
“Must be someone else then.” Ash looked at the picture. It was a teenage girl with long hair. He shrugged and flipped the page.
TR HQ
“I wonder why Ash hasn’t sent me any more pokemon.” Giovanni said. Vulpix (the card) was playing in the underground grass habitat with some of the other pokemon.
“I don’t know, boss.” Amy said. “Jake and I haven’t been watching him much, since you sent us to steal all those pokemon from the Ginger mansions.”
“Well…” Giovanni rubbed his chin. His wire-tapping hadn’t helped; absolutely no useful information had been given. Had his instincts proved him wrong? He had sensed Ash was one with potential, but…
“Keep a closer eye on him from now on.”
“Yes, boss!” Amy said, saluting.
“And inform Jake of this plan. I need you there as a distraction. But the way you always lose must be remedied. I’ll tell the pokemon controllers to send you each another pokemon.”
Amy nodded as Giovanni wrote her a pass. As she walked down, she glanced at the paper to see what she was going to receive.
“Wow! I get a neo pokemon. Snubble, and Jake will get a Mankey!”
Amy skipped down to the basement with a lighter spring in her step. Ninetails poked its head out of the poke ball.
“We’re going to be getting new partners, Ninetails! Isn’t that great?”
Ninetails yawned.
Ash took back his poke balls. “Well, let’s head to the Seismic gym.” He said. Oddish perked up.
Can I battle? I’m a grass-type, after all!
“We’ll see.” Ash said. He turned to his pokemon cards. “Hmm… do any of you volunteer?”
< I’ll do it. > A voice spoke up.
< Ah, it’s Hypno. Psychic is good to fighting. > Pika-chan said.
“Very well.” Ash said. He placed all his poke bells back on the belt and headed to the Seismic Gym.
When he arrived, the area was choke-full of junior trainers.
Ash sweatdropped. “I guess this will take a while…” He sat down to wait on a bench. Finally, the door to the leader’s domain opened.
End Episode 33! *Cackles* Review nicely and I’ll post the next chapter! Flames will be used to call Firey! Then, I’ll set her loose on Nelvana’s headquarters! Mwahahah! And since most people wanted me to just add chapters, that’s what I’m going to do! *Smiles happily* Less work for moi!