Disclaimer: Pokemon belongs to Nintendo and Shogakukan Comics. This non-profit, non-copyright infringing fanfiction belongs to me under international copyright laws and taking it is plagiarism. Thank you. *Phantomness bows*

Notes: <> for telepathy, ** for thoughts, italics if a pokemon talks

Chapter 3

 

            Lance waited until they were gone before he snapped his fingers and watched as his partner walked out, shadows peeling away from him. Ash looked no more than ten years old, but that was a cover for his spy role.

            “Well?”

            “Definitely a special one. She may even be a Chobit.” Ash said. “I also retrieved the data from Charlotte.” He handed over a disk.

            Lance nodded. Charlotte had been the persocom he had sent to find information about the legendary Chobits, but she had been taken apart from within thanks to the Trojan Horse they had protected their system with, and Ash had barely managed to escape with her data. She had been a good model, but not good enough…

            No use lamenting on the past. He could create a dozen more like her if he wished, and already, Charlotte 2.0 was in the works, waiting to be finished. He turned to Ash with a smile.

            “You did well.”

            “That puppy – the Growlithe type computer you gave him…”

            “It’s tracking everything.” Lance said matter-of-factly. “Sure, it was a free gift, but everything has strings attached these days, isn’t that right… Ashura?”

            Ash smiled back, although it was no longer a sweet, childish smile. “Hai, Lance-chan. I understand.”

            “I knew you would. You always do.”

            “Can I switch back now?”

            “Go for it.” Ash began to spin, and as it stopped, he had gained almost a foot in height and was thinner, childish shorts and red t-shirt changed into tight-fitting black silk and gold metal.

            “That’s much better.”

            “You know that’s it is only for infiltration purposes that I make you take it.”

            “So?” Ash grinned, “You didn’t think I was kawaii?”

            “You are more than cute now,” Lance smirked back. “Let’s go see her.”

            “All right.”

 

            Her eyes were closed and she was dressed in a simple red leotard, the long wavy hair her first incarnation had had was now clipped into a short, sensible black bob. Her eyes were closed, but even as Ash held out the disk and Lance inserted it into her neck, she stirred and her eyes opened.

            They were a dark blue tinted with flecks of gold. She blinked again and looked at Lance with an expression akin to terror.

            “I failed…”

            “It’s all right, Charlotte. Even our technology is a futile match against the Chobits firewall. I’m glad enough of you remained to salvage, but I’m afraid that your body has been changed.”

            The persocom shrugged. “As long as I am alive… if this is life, tis enough.”

            “Don’t worry aneki,” Ash patted her on the head, “We’ll find a way to bring down their dark organization together.”

            “What of Gary’s new acquisition?”

            Ash’s smile was feral. “Then if she gets in the way, we’ll just have to destroy her. It’s only a machine after all. It doesn’t have feelings.”

            “Careful,” Lance warned, “You’re crossing lines that are not yet defined.”

            “I’ll be careful, I promise! I should meet with Gary though, he won’t take the Growlithe everywhere and you can use an extra pair of eyes, right?”

            “You have a plan in mind?” Lance asked, amusement in his voice.

            “If you approve, of course. I’ll take Charlotte and enroll in his cram school.”

            “And what if this… Misty recognizes her?”

            “Well… I do not think she will, because Charlotte is now in a different shell. Besides, I’m good at deceiving people.”

            “I suppose the six week crash course was useful.”

            “You have no idea how.” Ash kissed Lance on the cheek as he smiled and his clothes shifted into a dingy sweatshirt and jeans. “Isn’t it convenient, that no one believes in magic in this age of futuristic technology?”

            “Of course…”

 

            The next day, a new student named Ash Ketchum added himself to Gary’s class. Brock noticed that he had a persocom, though not a very attractive one, with him, but several people brought their persocoms to school so it was nothing out of the ordinary. And if it had a name, so what? Everyone else’s did too.

            He was in cram school for physics and math, apparently, and after seeing his test accidentally on the second day, Brock decided that it was a fair assessment. He’d gotten more than half of the test wrong!

           

            “So, Ash, do you have a job, or are your parents paying for this?”

            “Mm, my mom is.” Ash smiled. “Hey, want to do our homework together?”

            “Sure, your place or mine?”

            “Can you cook?”

            “Heh, my place then. You’re about to taste the wonders of Brock’s cooking!” True to his word, after they had studied for two or three hours, Brock whipped up a fabulous stew, full of warmth that they enjoyed together. Gary dropped by not long after for a free meal and they did what teenage boys did, begin discussing girls!

 

            “Don’t you wish persocoms were real?” Brock sighed as he lay down on a cushion. “It would be wonderful if Suzie were real…” He began to daydream as Gary sweatdropped.

            “Does he do this often?” Ash asked quietly.

            “You have no idea. He’s head over heels in love with his computer. It’s kind of scary.”

            “I see.” Ash eyed Gary for a second. “I thought you had a persocom. Why didn’t you bring her with you?”

            “Oh, Misty’s in the shower.” Gary said dismissively. Ash blinked.

            “Shower? Won’t she rust?”

            “Yours does?”

            “I give Charlotte baths in oil once in a while, but yes, she rusts. There’s something wrong with her outer casing.”

            “I see.” Gary eyed the persocom that was sitting quietly next to Ash, eyes closed. She must be in screensaver mode. “Well, I don’t know why, but Misty is special. I don’t know why though.”

            “What can she do?”

            “That’s the problem. She really can’t do anything… I mean the reason I have a puppy laptop is because she doesn’t work. All she says is Misty. Sometimes I wonder if I should have left her there in the trash…” But even as he spoke, Gary felt a small tightening in his chest.

            No, it had to be fate that led him to Misty. He’d fix her eventually, or someone would be smart enough to…

 

            “I see.” Ash said, as Brock finally snapped out of his reverie and got up, pouring more tea for everyone. “It’s getting late. I should go home.”

            “It’s pouring rain outside.” Brock observed after a glance out the window. “That won’t be good for you or your persocom.”

            Ash eyed Charlotte, who was wearing slacks and a white shirt. “Oh no! And I don’t have any umbrella with me!”

            “You can stay here tonight. Don’t worry about it, I’ll grab a sleeping bag for you.” He was already rising as he spoke.

            “Really?”

            “My little brothers and sisters come up to visit me almost every week, so I’m prepared for visitors any time. It won’t be any trouble.”

            Ash smiled. “Thank you.”

                       

 

End Chapter

Completed 12/18/05

YATTA! WINTER BREAK~!

Lance: Charlotte’s a persocom?

Phantomness: Yep, even though she used to be human.

Ash: Weird, but kind of interesting