Yatta! Yay! Pixy stick all around! Chapter 146!

Sorry, Shadow’s just hyper. But just in case nobody knew – DISCLAIMER: I DON’T OWN POKEMON. BUT DESTINY IS MINE.

Notes: <> = telepathy, ** = thoughts, italics = Pokémon speech.

Lance is a girl, Crystal.

Timeline: 4 weeks later, Charlotte is gone.

#1 fan – hello. From the game I find that Moomoo milk costs $100, but as always, I tweak the prices in my fics.

Xaero – it’s also the most work…

Demented Yami – new reader, yay! ^-^ Option 1, hmm, as soon as I get a few chapters written…

Aragorn the Ranger – actually, I see Luna as being on perpetual PMS…

Ranma – hi! Well, Ash can be oblivious at just the right times.

Ihire – hi! *Waves* I haven’t seen you for a long time! And I love championshippy ^_~

Link Masters – yep! Final judgment will be here soon. One-shots I work on when they just pop into my mind.

SS2 Megami-sama – I already have plotbunnies dancing in my head…

Incomplete13 – sometimes one-shot are easier to write than series, sometimes not

Air Sylph – thank you! *beams*

Mallory – Celestial spirits will naturally go up as soon as the current arc is finished.

Psychic Sabrina – hi… sorry, but my policy is ‘imitation is not the sincerest form of flattery, it is junk’, which is why I try not to imitate. Sorry, there is no Houen set. And Kanto and Johto together are one set. I don’t know, I couldn’t put Mew/Mewtwo or the Houen legendaries in the prophecy n’ that can get problematic later. And Ash is feeling tired because… not telling! *winks*

Episode 148: Healing comes in many forms

“So… tired…”

Lance caught Ash as he toppled over.

“Poor Ash. First the Magcargo card, then the Girafarig card, then the Sudowoodo card, and now the Steelix card! No wonder you’re tired out.”

“Not to mention the Umbreon card yesterday, and the Bayleef card the day before.”

Lance bent over Ash and began initiating chi transference, but Luna stopped her.

“Oh no you don’t! I know how much magic energy you’ve already given him recently, and if you give anymore, you’ll black out!”

“And especially since it was just the new moon and your magic barely restores itself at this time!” Dragonair-chan added. She rustled indignantly.

“I guess you two know best.” Lance sighed.

The two guardians nodded.

Pika-chan applied the wand of the water guardian to rectify the situation. Ash’s health was starting to debilitate, and he was weakening. That was very problematic. She wished she could stop the problem at its source, but she was unable to prevent the pokemon cards from appearing. The best she could do was to heal Ash after every battle so he would not enervate further.

In any case, the situation was not improving.

“I wish I could do something.” Lance said.

Pika-chan sighed. “But there is nothing we can do. On the bright side, Giselle hasn’t appeared once.”

“Of course. I sent Erase to efface her memory.” Lance said quite proudly.

“No wonder!”

“Of course, she’s forgotten all about the Johto cards. And I also sealed Geodude, so he cannot appear until the final judgment.”

“But Giselle still has her cards.” Luna said.

“So she’ll still have to face the Final Judgment.”

“This one is different from Sun, Kanto, or Moon.” Pika-chan said. “Instead of facing one guardian, you have to defeat an army of pokemon.”

“Then I hope Ash is refreshed by the time he captures the last card.”

“Me too.”

Ash awakened around noon. He saw Pika-chan bending over him.

“You’re finally awake! I was afraid that I’d have to use Gengar to wake you up.”

“I’m fine.” Ash said. He yawned. “Did I become so anemic that I fainted?”

“Ding ding ding! You are absolutely correct!” Pika-chan said, ringing a bell.

Ash grabbed his spare outfit and headed to the lake. “I’m going to go take a bath. I’ll be back in a while, Pika-chan.”

“OK!”

Ash quickly stripped out of his clothes, and dived into the water. About twenty minutes later, he emerged, only to discover that his clothes had mysteriously vanished.

Ash blushed. * I cannot go back to camp like this! *

He quickly formed a tunic and pants out of star energy (they were white) and dashed back to camp. On the way, though, he spotted something.

He smiled. * Aha! So there’s the culprit. *

The pokemon card was arranging Ash’s shiny clothes with a mess of bottle caps, jewelry, tinfoil, and other odds and ends.

< Sneasal. > Ash said to himself. * Weak to fighting. *

He quickly snuck behind a nearby tree, and pulled out his star key.

“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 whisper was so soft that the cat’s sensitive ears didn’t pick it up.

Ash snuck towards Sneasal. A card appeared in his hand. < All right, Mankey. Use Karate Chop! >

The little pig monkey pokemon karate chopped Sneasal. Sneasal immediately ran off.

“Come back here!” Ash said. “Umbreon, go! Use Mean Look!”

Umbreon stared at Sneasal, and it froze.

“Now, Mankey, use Low Kick!”

The fighting pokemon nodded and kicked Sneasal in the stomach. Sneasal fell over, growling.

“Under a new seal of contract, your master commands you, return to your true form, pokemon card!”

*POOF*

Ash grinned, as the Sneasal card appeared in his hand. “Cool!”

He quickly gathered up his lost clothes, dressed, and headed back to camp.

Lance was meditating, cross-legged, eyes closed and a ball of blue energy flickering in her hands. Ash wisely kept a ways from her.

< Maybe you should meditate too, Ash. >

< But what good does it do? >

< Well, you can put yourself in a healing trance, like Crystal is doing right now. >

< Healing trance? >

< It works a lot like Morning Sun and Moonlight. >

< Really? >

< Yes. But the drawback is that you are completely unaware of your surroundings during that time. >

Ash considered. He did need more magic energy…

< Can you and Luna keep an eye out then? >

< Yes sir! >

< Okay then… > Ash said. He closed his eyes and began drifting into the realm of dreams.

Pika-chan opened his backpack and retrieved a box of almond cookies. “Want some?”

Luna shook her head.

“More for me, then!” And without further ado, Pika-chan began her rapid consumption of the sweets. Within ten minutes, the entire box was bereft of crumbs.

Luna sweatdropped.

< How long are they going to be in the trance? >

< Who knows? >

Ash walked around, looking. Everything was misty and unclear, but the surroundings reminded him of a pastel sunset. * Nice... *

Soon, he spied Lance leaning against a tree.

“Hi, Crystal.”

Lance looked up. “Hi, Ash. I didn’t know that you knew how to do the healing trance.”

“Actually, I don’t.”

Lance blinked. “Then how can you be here?”

‘I mean, I tried to go into a trance, but I’m not sure how to get back into the real world.”

Lance looked thunderstruck. * What?! *

“Well, the trance part obviously worked. Are you feeling any better?”

Ash nodded.

“Then the healing is probably working also.”

“But how do I get out?”

“You just use your willpower to leave. But it’s hard to do. That’s why most people don’t use the healing trance. It’s so peaceful in the ethereal realm that nobody wants to leave.”

“I see.”

The two chatted for a while, but mostly just lounged on the soft green carpet of grass.

Ash fell asleep after a while. He couldn’t help it.

“He’s so cute when he’s asleep.” Lance said to herself. A thought crossed her head. “I wonder…”

She poked Ash. He didn’t even stir… he was out like a light.

Lance leaned over him and pressed her lips to his softly, with only the barest of touches. This time, Ash stirred, but only slightly.

Lance backed away to see if he would wake. He did.

“Yawn.”

“Did you sleep well, Ash?”

Ash nodded. He flopped back down onto the grass and stared up at the sky, with multicolored clouds floating about in it.

After a while, Lance looked up. “We should leave now.”

Ash nodded. He put his forefingers together, focused his chi, and muttered something under his breath. A door of limestone, inlaid with lapis lazuli, appeared.

“Impressive.” Lance said.

Ash winked and grinned. “Well, now that my magic is regenerated, I should be fine.”

It swung open the two stepped out, reentering the real world.

Pika-chan was still eating.

“Pika-chan! How much have you eaten?”

Pika-chan, startled, dropped her chocolate ice cream bar. “Eep!”

“Oh, only about sixteen boxes of food.” Luna commented.

Smoke started coming out of Ash’s ears. “PIKA-CHAN! How could you? Did you put me in the healing trance so you could eat all of my snacks?”

“Er…”

Seeing the tension brewing between the two, Dragonair-chan quickly whipped out a magic tablecloth and replaced Ash’s food.

Satisfied, Ash packed it in his backpack, but he still cast a few withering glares at Pika-chan.

Pika-chan didn’t meet his gaze.

The quiet group continued on their melancholy way.

Luna muttered to herself as they continued on.

< What’s wrong? > Sabrina asked. < Your mood is affecting everyone! >

< It’s just that, I’m afraid of Ash. >

< You’re a bundle of nerves. >
< SHUT UP! >

Sabrina tsked. < You should be more patient, Decision Maker. >

< Grr… >

There was a flash of light and then Sabrina vanished.

Luna shook herself, trying to get any unpleasant thoughts out of her head. It worked somewhat.

Pika-chan continued to eat.

Dragonair-chan just gaped at the amount of food her fellow guardian was inhaling. * I don’t want to know. I don’t want to know. I don’t want to know. *

And the travelers continued on.

End Episode 148! Hehehe! This is one of the more championshippy episodes. Didn’t I warn you?

*Grins adorably* Leave a message! Flames will be used to make a firestone!