Part 3!

 

Ranma – well… *laughs* you’ll have to wait a few chapters for that.

Xaero – actually, Misty is possibly worse than TR.

Thunderstorm2 – another Misty hater

Melissa – the prophecy is actually quite complicated and it does make sense but you have to look for hidden meanings. It ties in to most of my fics. But, just to make things a bit clearer, ‘Fire’s child’ is Charlotte, ‘Ice’s child’ is Lance, and ‘Thunder’s Child’ is Ash himself.

Millennium mutant – why thank you. Prophecy took a long time to write…

SS2 Megami-sama – I hate Tea too! ^_^ . What do you mean am I going to kill Misty in this one too? *Blinks*

Takuya – hai, hai

Caspian Raider – ok

Crimson Hawk – Dratini is unique. ^_^

Clara200 – you know, you’re probably right

B0B – thank you!

Miroku004 – Pidgeotto is kind of small, but, *shrugs* I couldn’t very well give Ash a pidgeot yet. Me likes Dratini too

 

Episode 3: Too close for comfort

 

            Nurse Joy was startled as a boy burst in. “What’s the matter?”

            “My Dratini is hurt!”

            Joy quickly put the pokemon in the rejuvenator. “Don’t worry, she’ll be healed soon. What happened?”

            “My ‘friend’ gave her a shot with liquid ice in it!”

            “What?!”

            Ash nodded. “Is she going to be okay, Nurse Joy?”

            Joy looked serious. “If that’s what’s wrong, it will take more than rejuvenation to cure her.” She called her Chanseys over and they conversed swiftly, before making a decision.

            “We’re going to give her fire medicine to try and stop the damage.” Joy said. “Please wait outside.” She and the Chanseys took Dratini into the operating room.

            Ash looked worried.

            Pikapi?

            “I can’t believe Misty did that.” Ash said.

            What’s wrong?

            “What if Crystal dies?!”

            Pikachu patted him on the head. Nurse Joy healed me, and Bulbasaur, and Charmander! Don’t worry!

            Ash sighed and nervously began twisting his hair. “But still! Crystal never did anything…”

 

            Three hours later…

            “Done.”

            Ash hugged Dratini tightly. “Poor Crystal…”

            Misty and Brock showed up in the Center at that very moment.

 

            “Get away from it, Ash!” Misty shouted.

            Brock grabbed her arm. “Calm down, Misty.”

            “I will not!”

            “Misty, what you did to Dratini was wrong. I can understand why you’re upset, but you must calm down.”

            Misty seethed and managed to break free of Brock. “Get away from him!”

            Dratini opened her blue eyes. You!

            Ash held her tightly. “Misty, first you try to kill my pokemon, and now you say it’s evil. I’ve had enough of this!”

            “It’s true! I’m just trying to protect you Ash!”

            “I don’t need your protection.” Ash said angrily.

            Misty growled. “Oh yeah?”

            “I’m not being controlled by Dratini! Get it through your head!”

            Misty malleted him in a fit of anger while growling under her breathe.

            Ash slowly got up. “Besides, you’re the one acting irrational.”

            Misty seethed and lunged for Dratini, but Pikachu shocked her quickly. I don’t know what’s going on, but hurting an innocent Dratini reflects badly on the trainer! And you have no proof she is from Team Rocket.

            Ash turned. “That’s it! Your jealousy is just too much! I’m going to Cinnabar right now!”

            Misty scowled. “I’m coming with you.”

            “Misty, calm down.” Brock said. * There is no proof yet. And we shouldn’t automatically assume Ash is in danger. *

            Misty’s eyes flashed, but she did not say anything else.

 

            Late that night, Dratini and Ash were training when a shadowed, winged figure landed in the clearing.

            “Welcome, Thunder’s Child.”

            Ash blinked. “Me?”

            “Yes. You will one day become the guardian pokemon who controls the world.”

            Pikachu looked interested. Really?

            “There is a prophecy. But until that day, Ice protects thunder, and fire uses her limited powers to keep the world stable.”

            “Are you?”

            “Ice? Oh no.” The figure laughed. “I’m the child of fire.”

            “But then?” Ash felt very confused.

            “Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll figure it out. Until then, stay away from darkened Waterflower.”

            “Misty? She tried to kill Crystal!”

            “I know.”

            “Why?”

            “That you must figure out on your own. But I leave you this. Red, Blue, and Yellow balance the earth, yet what do you get when you combine the three?”

            And with that, the figure vanished in a swirl of red light.

 

            Ash blinked and hugged Dratini. “Maybe Misty just doesn’t like dragon pokemon?”

            Dratini shrugged.

            “Or maybe it’s because you’re a different color.” Ash said. “But it’s mean to dislike pokemon just because they’re different.”

            I think Misty is just going through PMS. Pikachu said.

            Ash blinked. “Maybe… but she acts mean and cranky all the time.”

            You haven’t answered the riddle yet.

            “Black…”

            “But what does Black have to do with anything?” Ash asked nobody in particular.

            Dratini spoke up. “Red stands for fire, Blue for ice and water and dragon, Yellow for electric and flying. But Black, stands for destruction or darkness.”

            “How did you know, Crystal?”

            “It’s a pokemon legend.”

            “Oh.”

 

            Ash stayed away from Misty for the rest of the week until they reached Cinnabar. There, they found Blaine’s gym and entered.

 

            It was a close match. Squirtle had defeated ninetails, but Pidgeotto had lost to Rhydon. Now, it was down to a one-on-one battle.

            Ash thought fast. * Squirtle’s still tired, let’s see… can’t use Pikachu against magmar because the smokescreen protects it from electric attacks, Charizard won’t obey, and Bulbasaur would lose in an instant… I have to use Crystal. *

            “Crystal, you’re up!”

            Crystal jumped off Ash’s head and landed on the lava platform.

           

            “Magmar, use Fire Blast now!”

            Not so fast! Dratini said. Ice Shield!

            A shield made out of ice formed around Dratini, and the Fire Blast turned into steam and water.

            “What?” Blaine asked. “Okay, try a Flamethrower then.”

            “Crystal, Bubblebeam now!”

            Crystal nodded and a torrent of bubbles headed for Magmar, canceling out the Flamethrower.

            “Stubborn, aren’t you? Fire blast again!”

            Ash gasped. * Crystal can’t do the ice shield trick twice in a row! * “Crystal, Surf Now!”

            Crystal quickly created a wave of water, which she leapt on, before slamming into Magmar. Magmar fell back into the lava.

           

            Blaine laughed. “Thank you for healing my Magmar back up to full health.”

            “Eep!” Ash said. * What do I do now?! *

            However, Crystal had other ideas. The jewel on her forehead began to glow brightly. Finally, she opened her mouth and shot a gigantic beam of yellow energy at magmar – cutting right through its Fire Blast and knocking it out instantly.

            “Hyper Beam?!” Misty gasped.

 

            Ash dashed over to Crystal. “Are you all right, Crystal?”

            Crystal nodded. Ash hugged his little Dratini tightly.

            “Congratulations.” Blaine said. “I confer on you the Volcanobadge.”

            Ash smiled as he pinned the badge on his shirt. “You were great, Crystal!”

            Wow! That was powerful! Pikachu said.

           

            And it was at this moment that TR chose to show up. With their ice guns, they quickly destroyed the volcano, sending our heroes scrambling for the exit.

           

            “We have to hurry!” Brock said.

            They were running along, when Ash suddenly tripped. He tumbled down towards the lava below.

            “Oh no!” Blaine said. “Magmar, try to catch him!”

            Magmar tried, but it was not close enough. Just then, a blue-white light surrounded Ash. The others averted their eyes, since it was too blinding for them to see. A few minutes later, something or someone set Ash down on the volcano. Then, the strange glow vanished.

            Misty and Brock ran over. All they saw was Pikachu and Crystal perched on his chest with big eyes.

 

End Part 3!

Completed 10/10/03