Eppy 178! Heck yeah! If I update slowly its because of AP test preparation. *coughs and glares*

Disclaimer: See another part.

Roses are red, violets are stone, I don’t own pokemon, so leave me alone.

Anyways, Destiny n’ Charlotte n’ Angel are mine, along with all the other new stuff. You know the drill.

Notes: <> for telepathy, ** for thoughts, italics for pokemon speech, nothing for moths.

Ranma – true… flamers are annoying POS

Skitty 2004 – I assumed Luna did not want to deal with the desert.

Aragorn the Ranger – I see

SS2 Megami-sama – well, I like shonen-ai, yaoi is usually defined as more PWP but that’s off-topic. Did you check out my website yet?

Zapdos Articuno – Lance will stay away for as long as it takes… no, Ash is creating the new cards, not catching them, so no guardians.

Psychic Sabrina – glad you checked out the site! Hope you like the fics there. Um… I like leaving some things unknown, who else would miss Ash? What else do I have to say… at least the desert got fixed!

Episode 178: Trust not your eyes…

Ash stared reverently at the delicate, sky-blue glass flute that the workshop master had presented him with. “It’s beautiful…”
“Yes,” The old man smiled. “In battle it will awaken sleeping pokemon, but it is rumored to awaken sleeping feelings too…”

Charlotte hid a smile as Ash flushed slightly. * No, I can’t think about her, otherwise my heart will start hurting… *

Ash handed the man the ashes he had collected, and the old man smiled, before bidding them farewell.

“Ash.” Pika-chan said. “I have something important to tell you.”

“What is it, Pika-chan?”

“You know that your magic level has been steadily increasing, right?”

“Yes.” Ash said. “I didn’t feel too tired after I created the last two Ash cards. But is something wrong?”

“Ash… when your magic reaches a certain level, you must take the test of guardianship. I’d say you have about two months to prepare.”

Ash did a credible imitation of a floundering goldfish for a few minutes. “But-but, I’m not ready yet!”

“That’s why we have to train like crazy.” Charlotte said. “And why you have to create more Ash cards.”

“I can’t move onto the elementals until I finish the pokemon.”

“Correct.”

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s get started!”

Ash and Charlotte headed off to a deserted section of the volcano near Fallarbor town and then dressed in their respective training gear. Ash in dark blue pants and a jacket, and Charlotte in red of the same, as Pika-chan wove in the defensive spells.

“All ready! Okay, guys, start!”

“Kadabra!” Charlotte said, calling out her psychic type. “Use Psywave to disorient him!”

Ash managed to survive the battering for a few minutes before his eyes glowed and a card activated itself.

Umbreon grinned, before using Confuse Ray, causing Charlotte and Kadabra to crash into each other for about a minute, before Charlotte managed to recall Kadabra and swap for one of her non pokemon spirit cards.

“Wood!”

The female wood nymph spirit tied up Ash and Umbreon in its leafy branches. Ash was about to use Cyndaquil to break out, but decided on a more intelligent method. * Let’s see, Wood just wants to grow in peace, so… it needs light! *

“Espeon, you’re up! Morning Sun!”

As light flooded the area, Wood spread its branches to gather the sunlight and allowed Ash to escape. Umbreon returned to card form and vanished.

“Not bad at all.” Charlotte said. “But how about… Illusion!”

Suddenly, the world around Ash vanished.

Ash found himself in a surreal, dark forest, full of bright purple flowers. Being curious, he picked one, but was startled when it turned into a poisonous snake and bit him, sinking its teeth into his wrist.

“Ow!”

The snake dropped off and turned into stone. Ash gasped as he himself began to turn into stone, the magic crawling up his arm.

“ASH!” Pika-chan yelled. “Don’t’ panic! What’s good against both poison and rock? Think!”

Ash’s mind ran frantically through all the pokemon he knew, before a solution presented itself. “Steel types!”

“Yes! You’ve got it!”

“Aggron!” Ash gasped out, entering the spirit of the pokemon and gaining its heavy armor. Instantly, the feelings of rock and poison disappeared. At the same time, some knowledge flooded into his head.

“Light of the sky, grant me your energy, recreate fallen spirits, noble and free, the sun and moon, magic and mystery, light and darkness now shadow, I summon thee!”

Magic swirled into two more cards.

“Aron and Lairon, eh?” Vulpix-chan said, peering in. “Two more steel/rock types.”

“Good for him.” Charlotte said, smiling. “Let’s see if he can escape my illusion world.”

Inside the illusion, Ash felt the passing of a day and slept, with Pika-chan next to him. The next ‘day’, they continued deeper into the forest, taking care to avoid all purple flowers.

“HELP ME!” A voice shrieked.

Ash saw a monster that resembled a heap of smelly gray glue carrying off a child in very fancy white clothing, being chased by a man in full armor.

“The Prince! Come back you evil villain! I shall fell thee!” Shrieked the knight.

Ash blinked. And blinked again. * No way… *

“Let’s help them! If they give us reward money we can buy more food!” Pika-chan proclaimed, as joyous expectation revealed itself written plainly on her face.

“Yes, let’s.” Ash said. * I don’t know where we are, so we need this place’s currency… *

“Stantler, I choose you!”

Ash mounted the fleet-footed deer, grabbed Pika-chan, and took off running after the monster.

The monster began choking the prince.

“Villain!” The knight shrieked. “Come back and fight like a man!”

“Excuse me”, Ash said, catching up to him. “But do you need help?”

“What country lout are you? Of course I need help! We must free the little prince from the foul sorcerer Moline!”

“Okay then.” Ash said. “Let’s go!” He grabbed the knight, and Stantler took off, and soon, they had caught up to the monster.

The knight charged and chopped at the goo, but naught happened except his huge sword being coated in gunk.

“Stantler, Psychic!” Ash said. * I hope this is a poison type… *

Stantler nodded, but nothing happened to the monster.

“Is this even a pokemon?” Pika-chan demanded.

“Arcanine, use Flamethrower!” Ash said, summoning another card. The flames just bounced off the monster’s rubbery, slimy body.

“Maybe it’s a pokemon!”

“But my AIPL doesn’t show anything past Johto pokemon.” Ash said.

“Well, Scan it with your pokédex!”

“But it’s in my backpack, and I’m not wearing that…”

“Darn.”

“Hold on.” Ash said. He drew out a pokemon card. “Pidgeot, I choose you! Tell me everything you know about this pokemon. Pidgeot is the messenger, right?”

“Right!”

Pidgeot appeared in bird form, a rare occurrence, and spoke.

“This is Swalot. This pokemon is a poison type and swallows its prey, after trapping it in its sticky ooze.”

“Guess I’ll use the ‘stealing chant’ then.” Ash said. He whirled his staff once and pointed it at Swalot.

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

“Like Johto, smart!” Pika-chan approved.

Swalot moaned and was finally captured.

“A magician!” Gasped the knight as he rushed over to the prince. “How can I thank you!”

Ash thought quickly. “Take me to see the king. I need some questions answered.”

“Very well.” Said the knight. “My name is Guy. Follow me.”

Ash summoned his cloak of starlight energy and followed.

“This seems to be working out quite well.” Charlotte said, smiling.

“I hope everything goes well.” Vulpix-chan said.

“He’ll be fine, if it gets bad I’ll break the illusion. The other benefit of this illusion is that it’s timeless.”

“That was smart.”

“Exactly. No time lost, but cards gained.”

“You are devious.” Sabrina said, appearing out of thin air. Ash hadn’t taken his poke balls since he had been card training.

“Why thank you, Judgment maker.” Charlotte said, sketching a little bow.

“You claim to be light, yet you hide darkness within.”

“Well, what is darkness without light? And darkness shines light,” Was Charlotte’s slightly cryptic reply as she began making lunch for the group of pokemon.
Sabrina shook her head. * So riddles, riddling… yes, all of this is just a game to the legendaries, but we will play it. *

Including, me…

“I know you can’t drink tea, so I made you some moonglow potion instead.”

Sabrina carefully checked the drink suspiciously, before she downed it. * Well… it does help reduce strain… but Ash needs to become a guardian to finally finish his role, as for me… I wonder… *

Slitted blue eyes watched.

End Episode 178!

*Grins* don’t review, and I’ll set Shadow (the card, not my yami) on you!

Started 7/17/03

Completed 8/12/03

See? It takes time to write these!