Episode 40! Yay! An even number!

 

Disclaimer: Shadow does not own pokemon. Desert Storm is my attack, however, so if you steal it, you will be flamed. Sorry, kind of personal, oh yeah, this version of Destiny is mine too.

Notes: Yes, Giovanni has magic. I already mentioned that. That’s why he can see Pika-chan and the others.

Note: ** Indicates thoughts, <> indicates telepathy, and italics indicates *long drum roll* translated poke speech!

 

Tmp – no, Ash does not get to erase Giovanni’s memories, however Giovanni will be able to deal with it and Ash could always use Hypnosis on him. The next story will be called ‘Card Captor Ashura – Dark Apprentice’

Ranma – you’ll see! *Grins* Thanx for your compliments

Mathias – 8888 – I know! Stupid Internet broke while I was uploading so I had to re-upload the chapter. Sorry about it!
Eevee99 – “Card Captor Ashura – Dark Apprentice”

John Eon – Thank you! *blushes*

SnowTiger – Yep, Giovanni’s going to think of Ash differently now! Thank you for your honest comments.

Satoshi – Ash actually can’t do much… don’t worry, I’m mental too! *Smirks* It takes one to know one!

Sapphire – Yep, Serebii picks! The next arc will be titled ‘CCA – Dark Apprentice’

J- man – Really? Okay, um… e-mail me for the address…

Pikacar/Marle – THANK YOU! *Smiles and glomps 3 pokemon, they try to flame her* Hey!

Mistress of Richard Cox – Hmm… okay, I will think about it and try to write a lemon! *Smirks as she thinks about how she can use the legendary cursed springs*

 

Sorry for not updating earlier, but I had Finals, SAT II’s, and my Internet is still broken! *Wails*

I can only go on about once a week! *Looks angry*

 

Episode 40: The deepest cuts are often the simplest.

 

            “Ash… what are these?”

            “Well, that’s Pika-chan, you already saw her. The girl with wings is Sabrina.” Ash said. Since he had to go through this, he might as well come clean.

            “I see…” Giovanni said. “Is there anything else you wish to tell me? They’re your pokémon, maybe?”

            “Well, Sabrina and Pika-chan are my guardians.” Ash said. “They’re supposed to protect me from danger.”

            “Wait.” Giovanni said. He popped two aspirin in his mouth. “I know, why don’t you start from the beginning…”

            “Okay…” Ash began his tale.

 

Two hours later… (Listen, go re-read the whole fic if you don’t know what is going on)

            “That’s amazing! Stuff out of the legends!” Giovanni said. “Does that mean you’re a pokemon too?”

            “Yeah, but not really a strong one.” Ash said. “I can’t really attack or anything.”

            “Oh.” Giovanni thought hard, and finally made a decision. He knew he might regret it, but since Ash was being honest with him, he should at least not lie and deceive the kid.

            “Ash, since you’ve been honest with me, I at least owe you the same. This may come as a shock, but I run Team Rocket as well as the Viridian City gym.”

 

            Ash didn’t look surprised. “I knew there was a reason you gave me that cell phone. But I was only ‘attacked’ me a couple of times.”

            “Well, I know. There’s a reason for that. But listen. Ash, I love your mother. I really do, with all of my heart. She already knows about Team Rocket, but she still loves me. We want to get married as soon as possible. We were going to wait until you were finished with your journey, but…”

            “Now that I’m here, you want to get married.”

            “Ash, I would love to be your father.” Giovanni said sincerely. “I know we don’t really know each other that well, and we seem like completely different people with nothing in common, but why don’t we give it a try?”

            “Sounds good to me. When’s the wedding?” Ash asked.

            “Soon. Very soon.” Giovanni said in reply. He still looked kind of dazed. Thankfully, the referee hadn’t heard any of this conversation since he had fainted out of fear earlier.

            “Well, I have to go heal my pokémon now.” Ash said, breaking the awkward silence. Sabrina and Pika-chan went into their false forms, Sabrina to Skymew and Pika-chan back into her small form, wings and all.

            Giovanni escorted him out, still rather dizzy. As Ash left, Giovanni pinned the Earth badge to the back of his shirt. He wondered how long it would take before Ash noticed. Then, he headed back to brew himself a nice pot of freshly ground Columbian coffee to settle his nerves.

 

           

            At the Viridian pokemon center…

           

            “Was it right of me to tell him?” Ash asked Pika-chan as he handed Nurse Joy his two poke balls.

            “For the millionth time, yes!” Pika-chan said. “If you hadn’t told him…”

            A time portal suddenly opened and a mallet slammed into Pika-chan’s head. Pika-chan fell over, with birds flying over her head.

            “No foretelling!” Serebii said sternly, before the portal closed.

            Ash blinked.

            “Owowowowo!” Pika-chan said. She rubbed her sore head angrily. “Darn! Oh well…”

Ash shook his head. * What in the world was that? * He thought, a bit bemused. * If Pika-chan was scared, it must be powerful, but it’s so cute! *

Another little voice whispered in his head, * Skymew is cute too, but Sabrina is deadly. *

“That’s different!” Ash snapped out loud.

Pika-chan looked at her new Master curiously. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah…” Ash said sheepishly. * Maybe I’m just freaked out. I know! I need more sleep. That’s it! Sleep deprivation is the reason why I’m acting so weird. Good, I just need to get enough sleep tonight… *

Nurse Joy came back with his poke balls. “Here you go.” She said, in her standard placid tone of voice. “Have a nice day!”

 

“Thanks, Nurse Joy.” Ash said. He wondered how she could miss Pika-chan’s talking and Serebii flying around, but that probably meant she didn’t have magic… only magic people could see Pika-chan usually, but if she wished, she could manifest herself as a normal pikachu so others could see her. It was very handy when Ash wanted to use her in pokemon battles.

“Oh, and by the way.” Nurse Joy said as Ash turned to leave, “I don’t think its wise to pin your badge on the back of your shirt. Somebody might try to steal it.” Ash slowly turned around and gasped when he saw the Earth Badge.

“Wow! I can’t believe it!” Ash said. He pulled it off. When he saw what else was attached to it, he nearly fainted. It was a check for sixty thousand dollars.

“Wow…” Ash said. * Let’s see, you can’t buy that much pokemon gear with this money, but maybe if I use it on other stuff. Pokemon equipment is expensive, so I’m usually better off trying to create it using magic. I know! I’ll go and get a wedding present for Mom and Giovanni! *

 

“But first,” Ash said out loud. “Let’s hit the Sandshrew Café!”

“Yeah!” Pika-chan cheered. Ash released all of his pokemon, even Skymew, who transformed into a Meowth again, and they left the pokemon center, quite ready and willing to devour their upcoming meal.

When they got there, Ash ordered a hearty meal for all of them. Pika-chan got the Potato Platter – potato pancakes with syrup, butter, and jam, mashed potatoes and gravy, French fries with ketchup and sweet sauce for dipping, fresh potato salad, a baked potato, Irish nachos, and sweet potato casserole with marshmallows. Dessert was sweet potato pudding and/or potato based ice cream, while the whole thing came with a delicious Yam shake.

Ash sweatdropped. “Well, what does everyone else want?” He asked, hoping that this wouldn’t drain his funds. But considering the money he had gotten from Giovanni… it didn’t seem likely yet.

I’ll take the Salad bar! Oddish said.

Me too! Butterfree said. They have eleven types of salad here! And I want to try all of them!

Sunny shrugged. I can’t decide, so I’ll just go check out the buffet. It saves money too! Plus, I can get anything I want! She said optimistically.

Storm thought hard. Um, I’ll take the broiled salmon, the seafood platter (fried calamari, steamed crab, lobster with mushrooms, various sashimi, and a salmon filet), and an order of Blueberries and Cream ice cream.

Skymew shrugged. Same thing as Storm, but switch the broiled salmon for a tuna salad sandwich, and I want bubble gum ice cream too!

Pidgey also wanted the buffet. They did serve various bugs there, for those who enjoyed them. Plus, there was a section dedicated entirely to fruit!

Ponyta couldn’t decide. Finally, she made her choice. I’ll take the salad bar, plus an order of super-spicy stuffed jalapeno peppers, and some red-hot magma chili!

“Cool!” Ash said. He gave the impatient waitress all his orders (It took a while), before settling down to wait for the appetizers.

By the time the meal ended, a group of very happy, stuffed pokemon made their way back to the pokemon center, where they would spend the night.

Ash yawned. “I guess we’ll be flying to Saffron tomorrow.”

“Well, why not?” Pika-chan asked. “You have a pretty good team. I’m sure you can beat the gym leader!”

Ash hugged the little guardian to his chest. “Thanks for your support, Pika-chan.” He whispered.

Pika-chan patted him on the head. “Now, now. Don’t get all worked up. Let’s go to sleep.”

Ash nodded and went inside.

 

 

Sometime in the middle of the night…

 

A thin shape blurred into reality and smiled.

From its hands, dangled a marionette on strings.

“Wake up…”

 

Ash groaned as he was awakened. “What is it?” He asked. Looking around, he saw Pika-chan make shushing motions.

“Never mind.” Ash groaned as he pulled out his key. “Couldn’t they attack some other time?”

“ I guess not.” Pika-chan said.

“Key that hides the power of the stars, reveal your true form before me! Your master under the seal of contract Ashura commands you, Release!” The gold magic circle formed and his staff appeared.

“Magic to cards, cards to key!” Ash said. The star in the middle of the staff glowed for a minute, before a solid white beam formed and shot off out the window. Ash was too sleepy to notice what color the beam was.

“Let’s go.” He said, transforming and jumping out the window. Pika-chan followed.

Soon, they noticed a shadowy figure jumping from building to building.

“Must be it.” Ash said. “Well, what is it, and how can I defeat whatever it is? I can’t even catch it…”

“A being of shadows… shadows are indistinct, but there are ways to pin them down and capture them…”

 

“Thanks, Pika-chan.” Ash said dryly. “Wait! I’ve got an idea! Card created by Clow, please accept this new star power and take your new form! Your new master Ashura commands you, Release!” The wings on Ash’s staff grow bigger and touched the card, which changed to white.

“Scyther!” The praying mantis pokemon flew out, charging the figure. It eeped and tried to run, but one of Scyther’s blades pinned it to the ground, so it couldn’t move.

“Great! Now that it’s trapped, you just need to figure out how to make it disappear!” Pika-chan said. * Wow, Ash is getting better. *

“Shadows are afraid of light, right?” Ash asked. “Hmm… I don’t think there are light-type pokemon, but this will do as well. Jolteon!”

Jolteon also changed and turned to the figure, roaring out a battle cry before releasing ten thousand volts of thunder. Whatever it was shrieked and vanished.

“Great job!” Pika-chan said, clapping her paws.

“Thanks…” Ash said, before he keeled over.

 

Massive sweatdropping ensued.

Pika-chan got a little light bulb over her head. “Wait! I can teleport him back!” She smirked and they vanished in a flash of light.

 

 

End Episode 40! Woohoo! I’ve hit another multiple of ten!

 

Remember, shadowphantomness loves to eat reviews! Nice ones are great, flames will be used to create Dark, and she will shut up all of Nelvana’s employees so they can’t dub anymore! Mwahahaha!

 

THE NEXT ARC WILL BE ‘CARD CAPTOR ASHURA – DARK APPRENTICE’