Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.
Summary: The trio arrive in a town known for its population of telekinetics. There's even a school just for them. But when Ash gets mixed up into their system thanks to a mischievous look-a-like, Misty, Brock, and Pikachu find themselves in a race against time to get him out - before it's too late.
A/N: This is something of an experiment to help me with another Pokemon fic I'm planning. And if you don't like mind torture (although that might be putting it a bit strongly), as hinted by the title, don't read.
Also, I know Pikachu is a male, but I like writing him as a female...don't know why.
Enjoy...
Chapter One
I have to get out of here I have to get out of here I have to get out of here I have to get out of here I have to get out of here I have to get out of here I have to get out of here I have to get out of here I have to get out of here I have to get out of here I have to get out of here I have to get out of here I have to get out of here I have to get out of here I have to get out of here I have to get out of here -
...I can't stand it...
"Ash, please don't tell me we're lost again!" Misty groaned, too tired to berate her traveling companion thoroughly. Instead, she plopped herself down onto the grass bordering the walking path and gave an irritated sigh. "Why do we not learn? Why?" She looked up and asked the sky.
"Uh, learn what, Misty?" Ash asked sheepishly, eager to jump onto a different topic that might distract the redhead from his usual fumble in directions. Which he would never admit aloud, by the way.
Unfortunately, he couldn't be so lucky. "Why do we not learn to never listen to you when it comes to directions? No, don't answer that, the question wasn't for you. Brock? Can you answer me that?"
The dark skinned teen shrugged good-naturedly, a small smile tugging at his lips at his two friends' antics. They weren't really lost, he usually knew where they were, but sometimes it was just fun to watch Ash try and lead their small group. Plus, it often enough led them to interesting adventures. Maybe when it came to Pokemon battles the boy could best them, but definitely not when it came to reading maps successfully. "If you stopped wallowing in the pits of total despair, you'd notice there's a town up ahead. I'd say that means we're not lost." The laughter in his voice was evident.
"Really? A town?" Misty perked up, the exhausted look on her face immediately vanishing. "Alright, let's go!"
Pikachu yelped and gripped tightly onto her red and white perch as she was nearly whipped off by the force with which Misty began dragging her master.
Once the small group had reached the small town, they couldn't help but stare in awe. The architecture looked like nothing they had seen before, with the twisting style of the buildings that made their balance look quite precarious indeed. One particular mini-skyscraper was so sharply tilted, it was hard to believe it hadn't succumbed to gravity's force long ago.
"Wow, what is this place?" Ash marveled, his neck beginning to hurt from constantly swiveling his head around to take everything in. "Why's everything look so weird?"
Brock winced, hoping none of the locals heard Ash's question. "It's just different, that's all. This town is a little far out from others, so its no surprise they might develop a more unique culture. According to the map, this is..." His already permanently frowning eyebrows deepened even more, "...Sienna Town. And wow, it really is small, if this map is to scale."
"Cool, I bet if they have unique buildings, they must have interesting and unique souveniers to buy!" Misty clapped her hands in delight. "Let's go shopping!"
"What? No way, I want to eat first!" Ash immediately argued, falling into their usual routine of disagreement. "And I'm sure my Pokemon could do with some rest too, that last trainer on the road was pretty tough to beat-"
"Oh come on Ash, the only things on your mind all the time are food and Pokemon. Let's do something different for a change."
"Hey, you're the one traveling with me, why do I have to do what you want-"
"Quit being selfish, it wouldn't hurt to just look around! We always go straight through every town without even exploring it at all-"
"What's the point in staying in one that doesn't even have a Gym?"
"Have you been listening to what I've been saying - OOF!" Misty yelped as she felt something forcefully ram into her from behind. She and the weight on top of her groaned simultaneously.
"Whoa, are you guys alright?" Brock immediately rushed forward, pulling the boy off his friend. He gave both of them a quick assessment and was satisfied that neither seemed seriously hurt.
"Geez, watch where you're going, would you?" Misty growled as she faced the boy. Her eyes widened and a shriek escaped her mouth. "What the-"
"Misty what's- whoa, that is...strange."
"Huh? What's strange?"
Both Misty and Brock felt their skin crawl as both Ash and the boy piped up at the same time. But it wasn't their timing that warranted attention.
"Ash, look at him. He looks...just like you."
"What?" Ash wrinkled his nose in confusion, facing the equally confused looking boy. "No he doesn't, why would you say that? For one thing, his eyes look closer together than mine."
Said eyes narrowed in offense. "Well, your nose is uglier than mine!"
"Hey!"
"Okay, okay, that's enough." Brock quickly intervened, sensing the argument was about to get heated. "Let's not act like five year olds, please. What's your name, kid?"
"Well, it's not kid, that's for sure." Was the snarky reply. "My name's Sam. Sam A. Marveledo, but my friends call me Ledo for short. I guess you guys can call me that too, there are too many Sams in this town anyway, it can get pretty confusing. Who are you guys, Shorty, Squinty, and Angry?" The boy laughed at his own joke, completely unfazed that he was the only one finding it funny.
"Who're you calling short! You're no taller than me!" Ash piped up angrily, only too eager to resume the argument they were previously denied. While the two began to bicker, Misty - for once didn't react to the insult at her temper - took the opportunity to observe. When there was no one else intervening, she realized Brock was doing the same thing.
It was definitely unnerving, how similar Ash and Ledo looked, from the baseball cap struggling to disguise eternal bed-hair, the fingerless gloves, even the style of their clothing was similar. Ash wore an open collar shirt over a black tee, Ledo wore an open, baggy dress shirt over a white tee. They both wore jeans and sneakers. Watching them argue however, the two observers did notice a few differences.
For one, Ledo had lighter hair, more of a dark brown color to Ash's pitch black. He also had a more...extensive language than Ash, that was for sure. Looking really closely, when the two stopped their animated movements for just a second, they could also see that Ledo was slightly taller by maybe a centimeter or two (or his hair was just poofier under his cap), rendering Ash's previous exclamation useless. His face looked a little thinner too - or as Misty would gleefully put it, Ash was just fatter. And of course, he lacked a certain, exasperated electrical mouse clinging to his head.
Having had their fill of Ash and Ledo-watching, Brock decided maybe it was time to step in - Pikachu looked about ready to jolt her master to his senses. Literally.
"Alright let's break it up, come on now!" Brock said firmly, roughly pushing the two boys away from each other. He watched in amusement as they simultaneously stuck their tongues out at the other (or was it at him for interrupting their fight?) and hmphed. Now that the shock of running into an Ash-look-alike was over, it was beginning to get entertaining. "I'm surprised you haven't settled this by a Pokemon match by now."
Ledo scoffed, turning around and already forgetting his resolve to give the other boy a ruthless cold shoulder. "I don't waste my time with a useless dream like becoming a Pokemon master." He said mockingly. That raised eyebrows from both Brock and Misty - well, there was another major difference between him and Ash.
Of course, it only served to make Ash angrier. "What? What's that supposed to mean?" He growled, already beginning to get fired up again.
"What's the point, when the Pokemon can't even beat me?"
Misty cocked her head, confused at the statement. "Well, that just means you're a good trainer, doesn't it? That is one of the criteria for becoming a Pokemon Master - to be undefeated."
"No, stupid, I mean me. Not my Pokemon, they can't beat me."
Brock and Ash gulped and automatically took a step back as the angry tick mark on Misty's head began to grow. "Did...you just call me stupid?" She said slowly, looking like she would start breathing fire at any moment.
In attempt to stall yet another argument (geez, this kid was going to set a record with their little group, pissing off each and every one of its members in less than an hour), Brock quickly jumped in. "Uhh, ah, wait so you mean you personally battle the Pokemon? Are you a martial artist?"
Ledo gave him a disbelieving look. "You guys are definitely not from around here."
Now Brock was curious, and even Ash and Misty seemed to have calmed down enough to pique their interests as well. "Why do you say that?"
"Sienna Town is nicknamed the Psychic Town. We have so many telekinetics gathered here, we don't have just one psychic school, we have two. Well, more like one school that just happens to take place in two different buildings. The principal's the same, the senile old fool. Anyway, did you notice the weird architecture? That's the work of psychic architects, its something of an unsaid competition to build the most unstable looking, but actually stable building."
Pikachu lightly dodged out of the way as Ash scratched his head. "What's the point in that?"
Ledo shrugged, putting his hands behind his head in a casual manner. "Well, you gotta have some sort of challenge when you don't have to worry about construction costs like cranes to lift things and stuff."
Ash cocked his head, still confused.
Misty sighed and resisted the urge to hit her friend upside the head, only because Pikachu would get caught in the crossfire. "Telekinetics, Ash. They can lift things with their minds. Remember Sabrina?"
"...ohhh yeah!"
Brock inwardly shivered. No matter how much that girl had changed for the better thanks to Haunter, it still spooked him out to remember his brief time as a doll. He changed the topic. "So do a lot of people in this town have the same view as you about being a Pokemon trainer?"
Ash perked up at the direction the conversation was going in. "Yeah, yeah! Are there any Pokemon trainers around here that I can battle?"
Ledo shrugged again. "How should I know? I'm not their keeper." Suddenly, he turned his head as if he heard something, although the traveling trio heard nothing at all besides the usual bustle of a modest town. "Whelp, gotta get going before the old man catches me out of school again. See ya!" Before the three could reply, the boy had given a cheeky wave and sprinted off down the path.
"...Well, he certainly doesn't act like you, Ash." Misty finally said after a moment of silence. For one thing, he seemed a lot less ignorant and oblivious. Probably because he didn't have a one track mind set on Pokemon all the time.
"And he doesn't look like me either! I'm nothing like him! He doesn't even like Pokemon, how can someone not like Pokemon?" Ash muttered grumpily, somehow feeling cheated out of properly settling the argument between them. Probably because he usually settled disagreements with Pokemon battles.
Brock chuckled and was about to consult his guide book for a place to stay when something on the ground caught his eye. "Hey, what's that?"
"What's...what?" Misty questioned, watching her older friend pick something up. "Looks like a necklace."
"Or some kind of tag." Brock wondered, turning the thing over in his hands. It was a strange looking item, just an empty strip of laminated paper hanging from a leather cord. "No writing on it, just blank."
"Huh. Ledo must have dropped it. Guess we'll have to find him again." Misty didn't sound too thrilled at the prospect, and for once, Ash wholeheartedly agreed.
Misty sighed as they entered the Pokemon Center, preparing herself to come down on Brock for hitting on Nurse Joy again. It seemed he was preparing himself too, inflating himself with ready compliments for the pretty nurse -
-only to immediately deflate as they realized it wasn't the usual woman who staffed the front desk. Ash snickered at the obvious dismay on Brock's face.
"Welcome to the Pokemon Center, how may I help you?" The pink haired man piped up cheerfully.
Brock immediately leaned over the desk, eyeing the man suspiciously. "Who are you? Where's Nurse Joy?" He demanded.
"Oh, she's on vacation, I'm just filling in for her while she's gone. I'm Tommy, her nephew. So before you ask like everyone else does, yes, my hair color is natural. Runs in the family." He answered with a wink. "It also doesn't automatically mean I'm gay, although that doesn't rule out the possibility that I might be." he shot a flashy smile in the face of Brock's confusion.
Putting aside the complete shock of a male version of Joy hitting on Brock, Misty was amused to realize she was actually surprised to learn there were other people besides Nurse Joys in their family. Of course it shouldn't have come as a shock, there had to be men in their relations somewhere! Figures even they became Pokemon nurses.
Well, Ash certainly didn't seem to care (or notice). "Can you heal my Pokemon, please? They're pretty tired from all the battles I've been winning." He gently deposited his Pikachu and pokeballs on the counter.
Misty rolled her eyes. Geez, he bragged even when he didn't mean to.
"Of course, young man! Meanwhile, why don't you three see the sights? It seems you're not from around here, and Sienna Town is definitely an interesting place to explore if you haven't visited before." Tommy suggested, organizing Ash's Pokeballs on a tray. "I'd suggest visiting one of the psychic schools, visitors always find it fascinating to see some of the students practice and if you're lucky, one of the teachers might let you watch."
"Hmm, that actually doesn't sound like a bad idea." Brock mused. It'd be nice to see what telekinetic powers could do when they weren't directed at you, trying to turn you into play dolls. "What do you say, guys?"
Ash sighed. "I guess...there's nothing else to do anyway since there doesn't seem to be any Pokemon trainers around here."
"Oh, there's certainly a few from here, but no doubt they're out of town somewhere. Most trainers are the non-Psychics, and non-Psychics don't stay here for long. By the way, if you'll excuse my frankness, but you look remarkably like someone I know..."
"Ledo, right?" Misty interrupted, feeling her good mood somewhat dissipate at the memory of the boy. "Yeah, we met him. Seems like a real jerk. Not just a stupid jerk like Ash, but a real one."
"Yeah...wait, hey!"
Brock sighed. Sometimes it was a disadvantage to be the oldest and most mature of the group. It came in the form of a headache.
Tommy laughed. "Well, he has his moments. I would say he's really not that bad once you get to know him, but I doubt you three will be here that long. Anyway, enjoy yourselves!"
"Thanks! Pikachu, behave yourself, we'll be back soon, okay?" The three waved to the friendly nurse and Pikachu as they exited.
Having been reminded of the Ash lookalike, the three let out a collective sigh as they realized they'd have to meet him again in order to return the mysterious tag. Misty was sorely tempted to just leave it lying around somewhere, but it could actually be important...although how a completely blank piece of paper could be important was hard to imagine.
"Well, he did imply he went to one of the psychic schools, so maybe we'll see him there."
"Yeah, hopefully he got caught playing hooky and is being thoroughly punished right now." Misty grinned evilly at the thought, making Ash and Brock subconsciously back away.
After a few polite inquiries and a lot of pointing, the three friends found themselves standing in front of the main school, an impressive looking structure. At first glance, one wouldn't think it was a building, but a huge sculpture of art. Blades of mirror glass wound around each other in an intricate pattern, giving the impression of a tornado frozen in ice and time. Somehow, they were angled in such a way that at any time the sun was in the sky, only one blade directly reflected the sunlight in a visible stream of light down to the front entrance of the building.
"Wow. It's like a welcome mat made of sunlight." Brock marveled, shielding his eyes to observe the sunlight's structured path. "And if I were to take a wild guess, I'd say whichever blade is reflecting the sunlight tells the hour. Like a giant sundial."
"Why do you say that?" Ash asked curiously. He looked up too; all he saw was a pretty array of glass, nothing like a clock.
"There's twelve blades, and as complicated as their arrangement is, they're evenly space apart."
"Correct, my observant friend." A voice from behind prompted the three to whirl around. They found themselves staring up at an extremely tall, stern looking old man with a clean cut business suit that said no one dared argue with the likes of him. "It's good Ledo has decided to associate with intelligent people, but that doesn't change the fact that he abandoned his studies to do so." The man continued, his neatly trimmed mustache twitching slightly.
"Uh but sir, Ledo's not our friend."
"Oh, is that right? Well I apologize for the mistake, I only assumed so because of your close proximity to him."
The three friends glanced at each other in confusion. Before they could ask anything further however, the stranger reached down and deftly plucked the blank tag out of Brock's hands. "Hey!"
A disapproving tsk escaped the man's lips as he stared at the tag. "Yet another offense to add to the long list. Ledo, you know you are to never remove your identification tag during school hours. That warrants an additional punishment to the one you will automatically recieve for leaving the building unauthorized."
For once, understanding dawned on Ash's face first. "Hey wait, you're making a mistake I'm not-"
"Come along now. If these two are not your friends, then you must be harassing them in your usual manner, and we cannot have that." Before any of the three could properly react, the man had firmly grabbed ahold of Ash's arm and dragged him through the opened, automatic doors into the building. Without so much as a 'good day,' the reflective doors closed to leave Misty and Brock gaping at their own reflections.
A/N: ...I'm sorry. I couldn't resist. Gay Pokemon nurse - it just came to me. Besides, this mostly won't turn into a yaoi fic as much as I want it to, (pairings would create more complications than necessary for an experimental fic) so I have to have some gay characters in there somewhere, lol.
Please review and tell me what you think! (Pleeeeeeaaase, CONSTRUCTIVE stuff to say, I'm BEGGING YOU)