Eppy 107! Hi!

Disclaimer: I have never claimed to own pokemon. But I know that I own Destiny, Charlotte, Pika-chan, etc.

Notes: <> indicates telepathy, ** indicates thoughts, italics indicates translated pokemon speech.

Lance is Crystal. Crystal is a girl!

Ash: Wait! Stop! This has gone too far!
S/P: What do you mean?
Ash: Am I going to fall in love? What’s going on? Why can’t I tell that Crystal is actually my enemy? Teresa is evil? Why do I keep getting hurt?

S/P: She’s not your enemy. She’s trying to help you. Teresa is still evil, but she has no dark magic anymore either. And you keep getting hurt because you don’t listen to Pika-chan’s advice!

Ash: By draining my energy? That’s not nice. What do you mean I’m not listening to Pika-chan’s advice?

S/P: You yourself know that you need to change all the pokemon cards. And I refuse to answer your second question.

Ash: But it’s so tiring! *Wails* You’re mean!

S/P: Well, it has to be done. Watch CCS if you think you have it bad. *Heads outside*

Ash: *Sighs* What I put up with…

Pika-chan: Hi! *Waves to her fans* Oh, look! Candy! *Dives for candy jar*

Ash: *Sighs*

Timeline: Let’s see… 3 weeks. The group has left the Safari Zone.

Notes: <> indicates telepathy, ** indicates thoughts, italics indicates translated pokemon speech!

Ranma – thank you for reading the other fic! ^_^ …Well, you have seen CCS before, right? *hint*

Xaero – maybe, maybe not. But at least Dratini got rescued, right?

Vulpix Dark Flame – well, it depends on the fic segment. More dark, angsty, or otherwise plot-building sections take days or even weeks to write for me.

Digifan1 – yes, writer’s block is evil. Evolutionary problems itself is proof of that. *Sighs*

SS2 Megami-sama – I’m so happy to finally meet you! ^_^ And I hate Mary-Sue/SI/NT with a passion as well. ^_^

I try not to write them myself, really. Hopefully Charlotte isn’t too much any of those.

Aragorn the Ranger – yes guy, I appreciate how you review.

Episode 109: Ditto’s Mysterious Mansion

“I see a house.” Teresa reported.

“Maybe we can stay there for the night.” Crystal said cheerfully. “It has to be better than camping out in the woods.”

“Sounds good to me!” Ash said cheerfully. “Let’s go!”

The group ran for the mansion, even though it was dark and forbidding…

“I’m going to be glad to get a good night’s sleep.” Ash said. He had been having the same dream for months now. He still couldn’t remember much of what happened, but he knew it involved something about the future. If only he could figure out what it was…

“Here.” Pika-chan said, handing him Lemonade. “You like tired.’

“Many thanks, Pika-chan.” Ash said, as he sipped the healing liquid. * What am I going to do? *

He sighed.

They walked inside. The whole house was filled with mirrors, but it seemed empty. It was dark inside too.

“It’s shelter at least.” Teresa said hopefully.

“I know. We should be grateful for that.”

The group split up to explore.

“Still nothing…” Lance said, as she and Charmander walked through a dusty corridor. “Maybe the owner’s not here.”

I agree. Charmander said.

“Let’s go back and find the others.”

“Nope.” Teresa said, as she peered around. “If there was anyone here, I’d be able to tell. I’m going back to find Ash. This is boring.”

Meanwhile, Ash was giving up any hope of finding anyone when he spotted a pokemon.

“Looks like a new species of pikachu.” Pika-chan said. The pikachu, if it could be called one, resembled a normal pikachu; except for one problem… it had tiny dots for eyes and an squiggly mouth.

“Weird…” Ash said, looking a tad revolted.

“I agree. Let’s just leave it alone.” Pika-chan said. “Where are the others?”

“Right here!” Crystal said, popping up next to him. “Charmander and I couldn’t find anyone either.”

“Where’s Teresa?”

“I don’t know. Didn’t she go that way?”

“Right.” Ash said. “Let’s go.” Pika-chan hopped onto his shoulder and they headed down the hallway Teresa had vanished down.

“There she is!” Pika-chan said after a few minutes.

Indeed, Teresa was perched on a chair, taking pictures of something.

“Figures she’d find something to take pictures of.” Crystal muttered under her breath.

Teresa looked up. “Hi, Ash!” She said cheerfully.

Ash stepped back in shock. “Your eyes!”
They were a red-orange color, even though they didn’t seem to be glowing.

There was a *plop* sound and then Teresa reformed into a girl with teal hair in two bouncy pigtails. “You’re good! Most people wouldn’t be able to see through my transformation.”

“Who are you?”

“I’m Duplica, the entertainer!” She introduced herself, with a little bow. “Say, where’s my Ditto?”

As if on cue, the mutated pokemon scrambled up, before changing into a pink blobby form.

Hi! It said cheerfully as it bounced up and down.

The real Teresa came running up. “I have to get a pic of that rare pokemon! Where did it go?”

“It was a Ditto, not a rare pokemon.”

Teresa drooped. “Aw…”

“Can we stay here for the night?”

“Sure!” Duplica said. “I haven’t had company for a while.”

“But if you’re an entertainer, why aren’t you performing right now?” Lance asked.

“You saw what my Ditto did when it transformed. Its face stayed the same.” Duplica said, sighing. * Nobody wants to see a partial transformation. *

They caught her unspoken thought and nodded.

“Too bad.” Ash said. “Can it battle?”

“Of course!” Duplica said, perking up. “Why don’t we have a little match, one on one?”

“Sounds good to me!” Ash said, reaching for his key.

“Cool!” Teresa said, as she pulled out a costume. Massive sweatdropping ensued.

“Are you a performer too?” Duplica asked, interested, as she pointed Ash to a room where he could change.

“I guess I’m a part-time actor…” Ash said as he walked off to change.

He emerged in a pure white robe with a dark red stripe down the tops and bottoms of the sleeve from the shoulder to the wrist. It clung to his figure quite well. The belt was a pure forest green, with lighter spots of spring green on it in five dot patterns. The collar was also dark red, with a little gold circle clasp. The ends of the robe were also outlined in red, but the bottom hem was dark green.

“Oh! How fun! But let’s get this match started!” Duplica said. “Cute costume.”

“Teresa makes them.”

Lance and Teresa turned on the lights and opened the curtains. Ash and Duplica took their places on opposite sides of the stage.

“Grimer, go!” Ash said, choosing an innocent-looking pokemon card. The grimer oozed out and sat there, waiting.

“Ditto, use Transform!” Ditto nodded and transformed into a grimer, albeit purple and with a smiling face.

“Grimer, use Acid Armor!” Grimer nodded and coated itself with a protective layer.

“Ditto, use Sludge!” Ditto nodded and threw a lot of toxic sewage waste at Grimer, but it didn’t do much.

“Fire Blast!” Ash said, smiling. Grimer nodded as it collected raw fiery energy in its body, before throwing it out in the form of a giant letter. Ditto was so surprised that it was unable to avoid the blow and got fried.

Ow! Hey, it’s not fair! Ditto wailed as it returned to its default shape.

“Wow…” Duplica said. “You’re pretty good!”

“Thank you.” Ash replied. “You’re not bad yourself. I guess using Fire Blast might have been kind of cheap, but it is possible to teach Grimer the TM.”

(True! It works in Crystal and I think G/S as well)

“I’ll remember that.” Duplica said.

“It was nice meeting you.” Ash said. Duplica nodded and bustled off to prepare dinner.

Later, after a meal of peanut butter and banana sandwiches, the new friends were chatting when the roof broke in.

“Prepare for Trouble!”

“And make it double!”

“To protect the world from devastation – Hey!”
Ditto had leapt up and transformed into a Dodrio, before kicking up a gigantic whirlwind, which sent TR scrambling for the exit.

“We didn’t get to finish!” Jake wailed.

“That’s unfair!” Amy said. She released her slowpoke. “Use Disable!”

“Again?” Ash asked blandly as he pulled out Pidgey’s poke ball. “Use Sand-Attack!” The gritty attack sent TR to coughing, so they couldn’t do much.

“Now!” Ash said. Pidgey nodded and created a whirlwind that sent TR flying.

“Great job!” Teresa said, as she put down her camera. “You rule, Ash!”

“Thanks, Teresa.”

“You did great.” Duplica told Ditto, who smiled. I’m happy too! Suddenly, its face began to change, until it resembled that of Duplica perfectly.

Then, Ditto completed the transform.

“You did it!” Duplica cheered, hugging her pokemon.

The next day, the group headed off.

Note: The reason why ditto suddenly worked will be explained later.

Please review! *Big eevee pup eyes*

Looks like you caught on, Ranma, but you’ll have to wait a bit longer for the revelation of the ‘big event’. ^_^

Note: Planning on putting in a special episode after this arc ends, to portray my feelings toward Mary-Sues. Just to let you know.