My friend Pika-girl!
Part 3
Pikachu! I choose you!
Ash stood on the edge of town with his friends as they finally reached
Varidian city. "Wow, not much has changed since we left."
"What do you mean Ash? The Pokemon center had to be completely rebuilt
since we left!" Misty hit him on the back of the head and grumbled. He
frowned as Pikachu let out a slight snicker.
"Quit complaining you two, lets just get a room or something while we're
in town, it took three days to get here and I'm tired." Brock pulled the
pair apart and frowned.
"Hey! Who are you! You look suspicious!" cried a familiar voice as a
police bike stopped in front of them.
"Officer Jenny?" said Ash in surprise. "Not again, we went through this
last year!"
"Oh! I remember you two, you came here when those evil Rockets where in
town a while back." the woman stopped and smiled as she recognised them
and scratched the back of her head.
Ash looked relieved for a moment until she spoke again. "It's funny
that you should come back at the same time as those Rockets come back and
start causing trouble again!"
"Hey! We helped you stop them remember!?" retorted Ash angrily.
"Well, I still think it's suspicious." the woman looked them up and down
and frowned. "I trust you have an ID for all those pokemon on your belt?"
Ash grumbled and pulled out the pokedex, "Here."
The officer watched the screen as it gave a biography of Ash Ketchum and
frowned again. "Say, didn't you have a Pikachu with you the last time you
came here?"
"Uhhh." Ash wasn't sure what to say.
"Pikachu isn't feeling well, we left him with Professor Oak in Pallet
town!" said Misty as she pulled the two boys back.
"I don't remember you two." said the woman as she noticed Pikachu and
Brock.
"I'm Brock, the head trainer at Pewter City Gym."
"And, I'm Pikako, Junior trainer under Pokemon Master Ash Ketchum!"
Pikachu stood tall and handed her Pokedex to Jenny for inspection.
"A Gym trainer and a Pokemon Master? Why didn't you just say so in the
first place." Jenny handed back the ID and scooted away.
"I still only made sixth place." Ash looked a little annoyed at his
title.
"Ash, you finally made it to your life long dream and your still
complaining about it! You seemed so happy when you finally made it!"
Misty frowned again and crossed her arms. "Why can't you just be happy!"
"I'm still not number one Misty! When I've finally made it to the number
one trainer in the world then I'll start believing I'm a pokemon master!"
Ash kicked at the dirt angrily. "I can't even use Pikachu any more! My
pokemon are great, but my whole system was based on him! It's going to be
a lot harder to do without him."
Pikachu seemed upset and tears started to form in her eyes. "I...I..."
"Pikachu! No I didn't mean to sound like it was your fault! I just have
to work harder without your help!" Ash grabbed the girl before she had a
chance to run off crying and she sniffled a little in his arms.
"I want to help you, but..." the girl was trying hard to control her
emotions and understand what was going on.
"I'm sure we'll be a great team Pikachu, I just mean that I'm missing an
important part of my pokemon team now! We'll find a way!" Ash was getting
that heroic look about him again and Misty figured he was about to go
into another one of his inspireing moments with Pikachu while looking
into the horizon; she quickly interveined.
"We have to get a room it's getting late and Team Rocket is roaming
around, let's go guys."
"Boy you sure know how to ruin a moment." said Brock from behind the
group, Misty appeared beside him and growled.
"What was that?"
"Nothing, I didn't say anything."
"Good."
Back in the bushes just outside of Varidian city two shiny glass circles
poked from the brush. "Well what do you see?" asked Jessie impatiently.
"It is them! Ash Ketchum and his insufferable band have arrived in
Varidian city!" said James angrily. "They'll thwart us for sure!"
"Oh stop bein such a pessemist! We'll get em!" comforted Meowth as he
snagged the glasses and proceded to choke James while looking at the
travelers.
"Really James, you should have more faith in our cunning evil than
that." Jessy snatched the glasses from the Cat and continued to choke
James; he was starting to turn blue.
"That's right!" said the Pokemon after turning his back on the pair to
think. "We just gotta come up with a really evil Plan."
"If it's evil enough we are sure to win! Right James?" Jessie turned to
see her partener passed out on the ground. "Who told you to sleep?! Wake
up you fool!!" she screamed and pounded on his head for a moment.
"Pipe down I got an Idea!" said Meowth. "We can get rid of those pest
for good! They'll never see it coming!"
"Good Pokemon!" said James as he instantly forgot about Jessie beating
on him and listened with interest; the female member of Team Rocket did
exactly the same.
On the other side of the same trail another pair of glasses moved in
almost perfect unison with the first pair. "What you rooking at?" asked
Mihoshi angrily.
"Dose bastard! De follow us here from China City! Boy and his Pokemon
very strong, we no have easy time with." snarled Satoshi as he pounded on
the dirt.
"Ick oog, ookc." said the small octopus like Pokemon as it reached with
it's tentacles and snagged the binoculars.
"Yes, Sushimon is right. We must have fate in ourself! No one more
dastardly dan us!" agreed Mihoshi as she snatched the glasses away and
recieved a face full of ink for her trouble.
"Ick oog ickcik snark." said the Octopus as it turned away and thought.
"Yes! Very evil plan would be very good right now! Very, very good."
Mihoshi frowned as she noticed her passed out companion. "No! Not time to
rest now!" She proceded to punch at his head violently.
"Ick oog argh, hack ick ick oogl ick ick!" cried the Octopus angrily as
it turned towards them.
"Very good Sushimon! We get dem good!" said Satoshi as he kneeled before
the octopus giving it his complete attention; Mihoshi agreed heartily
next to him.
Brock entered the hotel room and frowned. "I wonder what she meant by
Team Rocket causing trouble in town? I haven't seen any sign of them or
damage from a fight."
"He's right, the Pokemon center seemed fine too. I haven't seen any sign
of trouble since we got here!" agreed Misty as she slumped down onto one
of the beds. "Usually someone is complainging or something, this is
strange."
"Say where's Ash?" wondered Brock aloud.
"Didn't he tell you? He left at the reception desk. He and Pikachu
wanted to spend the night in Varidian forest." Misty seemed surprised
that he didn't know.
"Togapi!" agreed the small pokemon in her arms.
"Nobody told me, and anyway, isn't that dangerous?" Brock's brow
furrowed for a moment as he thought about it.
"Not really, Ash can take care of himself. Besides, we spent a few
nights out there a while back; remember?" Misty rolled herself into the
sheets on the bed and sighed. "I don't think we ever stayed in a hotel
around here when we started this, we couldn't afford it."
"Well, I hope he's alright out there, we have to be careful! Team Rocket
and Team Missle won't be happy if they find us." Brock looked
uncomfortable with the idea but smiled when he heard soft snores from the
sheets in the bed. "I guess I'll have to use the other room." he picked
up another hotel key from the small table in the room and picked up his
bag as he left. Misty muttered something in her sleep, but it was mixed
in with Togapi's cry.
Brock stopped and glanced at her, it sounded alot like "Ash" to him. "Oh
well, it's probably nothing."
In the forest Ash Ketchum gasped, he was surrounded by Pokemon. Many of
the small creatures where not happy to see him either. Pikachu smiled
cheerfully as the woods around them became alive with small yellow and
brown striped creatures. Hundreds of Pikachu and a few Raichu had swarmed
on them after about an hour in the woods. He forced himself to calm down
and looked to his friend. "Uh, is this why you wanted to come here
alone?"
"Of course! This is my family Ash!" the girl turned back to the crowd of
creatures and smiled warmly holding her hands out to the few brave enough
to move towards the familar smell.
"All of them?" said Ash in shock as he backed away almost stumbling into
a crowd behind him.
"No silly, some of them are just friends." the girl smiled and stayed
close to the ground so the Pikachu in front of her could get a good
sniff.
Instantly it jumped back in shock causing a stir and a loud chattering
amoung the creatures. "Piikkkaa!"
Ash noticed that none of them seemed to be charging up unless he moved
closer to a particular group. "What's with them? They don't seem to
friendly right now."
"Well, they do think you kiddnaped me, they also think I found a new way
to evolve." Pikachu kneeled and a group of Pokemon rushed up to her and
started to chatter exsitedly.
"PIka pika ika Pika pika chu chu pikachu pikachu pikaaa!" Ash could make
most of it out but was having a bit of trouble with the speed and amount
of chatter around him.
"No! You can't kill me!" he cried in alarm. "Pikachu is not my master!
He's my friend!"
The Pikachu in the woods scattered away from him and Pikako went into a
long exsplination to them. "Pika Pikachu Pika pika..."
A few minutes later the girl finished her story. "They don't know why
they can understand you, most of us can't understand human speech in the
wild. They also want to know why you seem to understand them. I didn't
tell them about you, just me."
"That's a good idea, we don't want to scare them.." Ash sat down on a
rock and relaxed a little, most of the angry glares where replaced by
simple uncaring stares of mild interest from the creatures. A few sparks
started as well as the electric properties of the animals started to
react.
"If we don't want to be stuck in a thunderstorm we better break this up
Pikachu." said Ash to his companion quietly.
"Right, I think I convinced him to come anyway." the girl smiled at Ash
and extended her hand to a small frowning Pikachu that hung back behind
her legs. It stuck it's tounge out at him and backed away.
"What? What are you talking about?" Ash didn't quite understand what was
going on, but he wasn't paying a whole lot of attention to her, mostly
into the menacing crowd around him.
"My little brother is coming with us Ash! It would arouse suspicion if
we keep going without a Pikachu with us, people you've met will wonder
what happened to me. Your going to have to start calling me Pikako I'm
afraid; it will keep us from getting confused."
"Hey! That's a great idea Pikac-Pikako! We'll get moving back to
Varidian city tomorrow!" Ash smiled and grabbed her by her shoulders,
only to get shocked.
He fell to the ground to find the small Pikachu laughing at him and
holding on to his older brother's leg. "Pika pika pika pikachu!"
admonished Pikako.
"What was that for?" said Ash from the ground.
"Sorry, he doesn't realise we are friends yet! He still thinks I'm a
prisoner. He's hoping to find a way to free me from you and refuses to
get into a pokeball." Pikako shrugged her shoulders and looked down at
the small yellow mouse Pokemon.
"That's good I guess, you never liked them anyway; people would get
suspicious if I had him in one." Ash frowned and took a closer look at
the creature. "Hey, he looks just like you Pikako!"
"Why do you think I wanted him to come along? He is my brother after
all."
"Oh, that makes sense I guess." Ash finally rose to his feet and looked
around to find the Pikachu and the Raichu had dispersed, it was just the
three of them at the moment and it was getting dark. "I guess we could
set up camp now, I hope I can become friends with your little brother
Pikachu...er ko."
"I don't see why not, I didn't want to be your friend when I met you."
"Pikako! Your being mean!"
"Sorry it's true!"
"Pikachu!" cried the creature as it shocked Ash again.
"Hey! Cut that out!" said his brother as he whapped the mouse pokemon on
the back of the head.
"Pika Pika!"
Misty and Brock where surprised to say the least at the anouncement,
they stood out in front of the Varidian city hotel and sat on the side of
the stairs as they conversed and planed the next leg of their voyage.
"You replaced Pikachu? I don't mean to sound sceptical Ash; but I
figured you'd never find a replacement for him." Brock was taken
completely off guard by the new volenteer to the team, even if he was a
little reluctant.
"He's not a replacement!" said Ash as the furry yellow creature stayed
pearched on Pikako's shoulder. It stuck it's tounge out at the three of
them and buried itself into the long hair that flowed down her back.
"Not too friendly is he?" said Misty as she peeked closer and was forced
to jump back from a shower of sparks. "He's worse than you ever where
Pikachu!"
"He doesn't trust you, been a bit spiteful his whole life I'm afraid. We
never really got on well. He's got a bit of a fowl mouth, a real language
problem." the blonde put a small green fruit up to her shoulder and
smiled as it vanished into the tangle of hair.
"Well he has to at least act friendly or this isn't going to work."
Brock frowned and turned away from the group with his hand under his
chin. "You and Ash are best friends, if people see Pikachu acting that
way towards Ash they'll get suspicious."
"It's just going to take a little time, it's a good walk to the next
town so we can get to know each other that way." Ash crossed his arms and
peered into the pokemon's hiding place. Misty was a little surprised when
he didn't get shocked; her unasked question was answered when the pokemon
crawled out on Pikako's shoulder and sniffed at him carefully; it
squeaked in alarm and jumped onto her head exsitedly.
"What did you do Ash?" said Brock.
"I told him he could trust me, because I'm a Pokemon too!" said Ash with
a sheepish grin. "I think I scared him, but he doesn't think Pikachu is
my prisoner any more."
"Pika pikachu pika pika chuuuu!" cried the creature as it shook slightly
on the girls head.
Pikako let out a small snort of laughter and smiled up at her brother.
"I guess that's how it is in a way."
"What did he say Ash?" Misty leaned forward and tried to make out the
Pokemon's gestures.
"He wants to know if I'm the reason Pikachu evolved this way." Ash
smiled up at the creature and nodded.
"Well, it isn't exactly true, but it's not a lie either I guess." Brock
started to walk down the steps into the street. "We'd better get going if
we want to make it to the next town before nightfall."
Halfway through town the group stopped and stood in a large park like
area. "I think this is new." said Ash as he glanced around.
"Of course it's new! There used to be houses here! They burned down when
Team Rocket attacked the pokemon center here!" Misty seemed angry at him
at the moment.
"I'm sorry, no one ever told me these houses burned down! It's not my
fault I didn't know!" Ash hung his head a little.
"You can be so insencitive sometimes Ash." muttered the girl as she
hugged Togapi a little tighter.
"Prepair for trouble!" "Prepair fo trouble!"
"Make it double!" "Make two!"
"To protect the world from devistation!" "To protect da word from
devistation!"
"To unite all peoples within our nation!" "To promote communism!"
"To denounce the evils of truth and love!" "To denounce evils Truf and
ruv!"
"To extend out reach to the stars above!" "To extend reach to star
above!"
"Jessie!" "James!" "Mihoshi!"
"Satoshi!"
"Team rocket blast off at the speed of light! Surrender now or prepair
to fight!"
"Team missle brast off speed of right! Surrender now! Prepair to
fight!"
"Dat's right!"
"Ick oog blarg!"
Two trash cans exsploded on either side of the group as both teams
emerged from clouds of purple smoke. One side leveled a bazooka at them
and the other had a large grenade launcher.
Ash shoved everyone to the ground as both sides fired at them. The
projectiles sailed over their heads and passed harmlessly by each other
as they made a bee line for the opposing teams. Simultaniously both
exsplosives went off and sent the teams high into the air and crashing
into the ground nearby. Ash and his friends stood up and dusted
themselves off, casually.
"What was that all about?" asked Misty as she coughed from the cloud of
dust that had risen from the commotion.
Officer Jenny walked over to them and sighed. "It's just the Rockets and
the Missles causing trouble again, they have violated noise ordinances
over a hundred times in the last few weeks, they keep blowing each other
up or falling into each other's identical traps."
"You mean?" asked Brock with a shocked look on his face.
"Yes, they are both equally stupid." said the woman as she mounted her
bike again.
"How diabolical." said Misty; the conversation aburptly stopped as the
two teams recovered and pulled their weapons up to aim at the group
again.
"Run for it!" cried Ash as he dashed away draging Misty and Pikachu
behind him.
"Look Ash! It's team Rocket's balloon!" cried Misty as the huge Meowth
head loomed just behind the pokemon center.
"They obviously wheren't hiding it there," said Brock as he turned with
them towards the hot air balloon. "Look Team Missle's balloon is right
behind it! Those bastards they both parked in the handicaped spaces!"
A hail of rockets and grenades sailed over the groups heads and directly
into Team missles basket, it exsploded in a ball of fire releasing the
huge air filled canvas into the sky out of control. "Ash! What do we do?
If we get into the other balloon we'll be killed!" cried Misty as she hid
behind a car.
The boy pulled her back to her feet and smiled, as he tossed her into
the balloon with Brock and Pikako following right behind. "I hope you
know what your doing." said Brock.
Ash spun around and glared at the two teams as they closed in fireing at
them madly and leaving a wake of destruction behind them; he raised his
hand as a rocket and a grenade flew straight for him in a direct path for
his friends. They bounced harmlessly off the invisible wall and did not
exsplode; both teams stopped cold and stared at him.
"How he do that?" cried Satoshi.
"Impossible! He must have a new Pokemon! Only a Psykic could do that!"
Jessie growled and stared him directly in his face as he comendeered the
balloon and rose into the sky.
"He's stealing our ride!" cried James.
"Come back with my beautiful balloon! Meeeooowwttthhh!" cried the
Pokemon angrily.
"Dis your fault! We have him till you come!" cried Mihoshi as she pulled
at Jessie's hair.
"Our fault?! We where clearly hear first! We had him!" retorted the
female rocket.
"Oh yea? You blow up our balloon! You pay for it!" screamed Satoshi as
he kicked a rock at James's boot.
"Hey! These are exspencive! Besides, it was your grenade that blew up
the balloon, pay for it yourself!" retorted James as he pulled on
Satoshi's cheek.
"Hey! Stop right there! You have to pay for these tickets for all the
noise you've been making this week!" cried Officer Jenny as she caught up
with them on her bike.
"Uh-oh, looks like team Rocket's blasting off again!" cried Jessie and
James as they vanished in a cloud of smoke.
"Team missrel brast of!" said the other team as the vanished in their
own smoke screen.
Jessie stomped his boots in anger as he walked through the woods. "Those
bastards, I'll never get this scuff out!"
"Relax James, they are distastefully tacky though. Ugh, black uniforms?
How passe' We'll just have to figure out a way to get rid of them."
Jessie combed her hair back into place as she sat on a rock nearby with
Meowth pouting at the her side.
"But how? They are devilishly clever! The seem to come up with the same
plans we do!" James pulled out a rose and smiled. "After we think of them
of course."
"Of course." agreed Jessie.
"The fool! He has ruined perfect face!" Satoshi frowned as he pushed at
his cheek in an attempt to smooth the bruise down.
"Be calm, we get rid of tastless fools soon enough. White, after Rabor
day?!" said Mihoshi as she combed at her hair while sitting on a rock by
the side of the road.
"Dey is very clever! We must come up with plan first!" agreed Satoshi as
he put the small hand mirror he had been using away.
"We always come up with plan first! The must copy our fiendish plot from
afar!" said Mihoshi as she pulled out a fan and hid her face.
"Ash where are we going?" asked Misty as she hung over the edge of the
balloon lazily.
"I'm not really sure, looks like we are passing over Celadon City now, I
guess we could land in Saffron for now and get rid of this horrible
thing." Ash glared up at the large form of Meowth and snorted.
"At least we aren't lost for once." Brock pulled his legs up to his
chest and played with a Pokeball idily between his fingers.
"It is a change for us." agreed Ash with a small laugh.
"I don't think it's funny at all that we spend most of our time lost
because of you two!" scolded Misty as she whirled around and glared at
them.
"You know, I don't recall you ever offering to lead the way Misty." said
Pikako from her place across from Brock; both of the boy's smiled at this
and Misty blushed.
"Who asked you anyway?"
"We'll be pretty far ahead of ourselves here, I guess we might shave a
week or two off this trip this way." said Brock casually.
"We might need to go back, if Pikachu doesn't have enough badges yet."
warned Ash.
"He can battle Brock and me later for a Cascade badge and a Boulder
badge." offered Misty.
"That's right, I forgot you two where gym leaders." Ash jumped up and
hugged Misty causing her to freeze in place and turn completely red.
"Thanks you guys are the best!"
"Heh heh, yea." stammered the girl as she pulled him off.
"Don't act like we are gonna give them to her Ash, she still has to earn
them just like everyone else." Brock turned to watch the scenery go by
and hung back away from the edge.
"I know, but it's still great that you guys would do that for her." Ash
stood proud and smiled. "I've got really great friends."
Pikako seemed largely uninterested in the whole conversation and gazed
out into the country side just past Celadon. Her brother sat nestled in
her hair sleeping soundly despite all the comotion from the day before.
He was getting used to Ash, and was starting to allow a little contact,
but he was still far away from completely trusting the boy; especially
since he smelled so strange. That little trick he pulled when they where
escaping the rockets helped a little, but Pikachu had never seen or heard
of humans capable of such a feat; still the world was much larger than he
had imagined according to the stories his brother had told them while
riding the huge Pokemon across the sky. He'd hate to admit it, but he was
starting to enjoy the trip; maybe this is why his brother never came
home? It was exciting and wonderous, all the new smells and sights of the
world where almost too much for him, he was a country mouse and it showed
in his rather gruff personality. Still they all seemed to get along so
well, he was starting to wonder if he could belong, the other Pokemon the
boy had seemed to have a special bond with his brother that he could not
understand. They weren't even the same species and they all understood
each other so well, he could barely make out some of the conversation;
especially with the large red fire type. They all seemed to be getting
stronger by the day, whatever the boy was doing with them at night when
everyone else was asleep was definitely working, he idily wondered if he
should be going with them or staying with her brother. Pikachu's thoughts
ran away as he drifted off to sleep and forgot the world as he dreamed of
home in Varidian forest; He found it wasn't really all that interesting.
TBC.....
I think it was a nice touch to put what the new guy thought of things as
a clever way to reveal a few important things for later on. Ash will
start to suffer the consequences of his actions soon enough and his
Pokemon will change as well, but how and in what way will remain a
mystery for now.
I'm using an idea I got from a bogus game secret I read a while back, I
won't tell you which one, but you'll find out towards the end.
Team Missle Vs. Team Rocket is turning out a little like Spy vs. Spy
with a lighter theme to it. That's better than I exspected, more of their
antics will follow.
The team will be landing in Saffron city and Pikako will try to get her
first badge from Sabrina, an incredibly difficult starting battle;
especially with only a Pikachu to earn one with, but she does have an ace
up her sleeve.
Sabrina seems to have developed an unusual interest in Ash, this ch.
clearly tells you why, but there is a bit more to it than that, as
politics and a few other problems come into things and force a strain on
Ash and Misty's friendship. Brock is currently nothing more than a foil
and I plan to change that soon he and his pokemon will have to deal with
a few problems of their own with a little help from his friends.
To answer a few questions, 1st. I know Japan Town would have been a
better name for the home of team Missle, but the world of Pokemon already
has so many Japanese quirks to it [Eating with chopsticks, building
designs, background art...etc. etc.] I wanted them to be foriegn so I
made up China Town, besides the food is better that way.
2nd. Stop telling me Pikachu is a girl. There is absolutely no proof of
this and it is an ambiguous creature, [Notice it's never refered to as
anything but Pikachu in the show. No he, she, or it.]
3rd I know sometimes the little blurbs at the bottom of a story don't
always match the next chapter, it's more of an idea box for me, a guide
line if you will. Not written in stone, especially if it takes longer
than I exspect to make a particular section of story.
4th. I like Sushimon and I'm keeping him around, he isn't from any game
or episode; I made him up as a gag character; besides you don't need to
understand him because whatever Meowth is saying is probably the same
thing he's saying. [for now anyway.]
BTW...Sushimon's 'voice' was stolen from a Calvin and Hobbes strip where
Calvin was crawling on the floor pretending to be an octopus.
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