*~*

Ash stretched back and yawned; his cuddly sidekick, Pikachu, mimicing
him. "Are we there *yet*?"

Misty turned to glare at him. "Does it *look* like we're in Tokyo?"

The young Pokemon trainer glanced around at the field they were
currently resting in. "Well, no-"

Brock shook his head at the both of them as he sat down on a handy
boulder and pulled out a canteen. "Why don't we just take a break for
a while?" he asked, rummaging in his pockets. He pulled out a Pokeball
and tossed it to the ground. "Besides, it wouldn't hurt to let our
Pokemon out for a little while. We might find some new ones, who
knows?"

Ash and Misty nodded, glad for a reprieve from the tiring walk. Soon,
the three kids were tossing food pellets to their hungry pets while
gathering up their own lunches.

Misty leaned over Ash's shoulder as he pulled out his pokedex. "What
are you doing?" she asked through a mouthful of rice.

"Nothing much. I just wanted to check on Bulbasaur's level before-
hey, what was that?"

Something rustled in a nearby treetop. The trio turned to look for it;
Ash aimed his Pokedex at the disturbance and pushed a few buttons.
"Pokemon located," the computer's voice droned.

"Yeah, but what kind?" Brock asked, tossing a Pokeball in his hands.

Ash glared at him. "Classification is unknown," the computer went on.
"Pokemon seems to be of either the grass or electric variety."

"But those types are completely different," Misty pointed out. "It has
to be one or the other."

"Doesn't matter what it is," and Ash grabbed an empty Pokeball, "I'm
going to catch it. Pikachu, GO!"

The electric mouse raced up to the base of the tree and began to
climb. "Pikachu, use Thundershock to get it out," Ash commanded,
hungrily awaiting the battle.

"Pii-" It's cheeks began to glow. "Ka-" Electricity began to crackle
around the critter's form. "CHUUU!!!"

The massive wave of electricity raced up the treeand blasted the
unknown Pokemon in the apple tree. Its smoking body, a lot larger than
any of them had expected, tumbled from the tree. "Great!" Ash reared
back his arm and threw the Pokeball as hard as he could at the Pokemon-

-and the ball simply bounced off its head. "Ow! Dammit!" it cursed,
throwing the ball back.

Brock opened his eyes and blinked. "It talks," he said. "I thought the
only Pokemon who could do that-"

A large figure stood up from under the tree. At a hulking six feet
tall, it marched up to the kids, cursing up a storm with each step.
Finally, it stopped right in front of them and shouted, "Dammit, I'm
NOT a freakin' Pokemon! Now leave me the hell alone!"

They looked up at the humanoid's glaring eyes and nodded hesitantly.
"Good. Now get out of here, will ya?" it grumbled, waving them off.

Ash picked up his Pokeball and looked speculatively at Bulbasaur, who
shook its head. "Don't even think about it, Ash," Misty said, grabbing
him by the arm. "Let's just get out of here, okay?"

The figure turned to watch them go, then strolled back to a small
clearing adjacent to the field. A young woman sitting on a blanket
glanced up at him with a grin. "What is this, the third time today?
You're a very popular little Pokemon, you know."

Kusanagi sat down and glared at her out of the corner of his eye. "Not
funny, Momiji."

*~*