Hey again, guys. Just thought I'd come at ya all with another random idea I had. This one I actually discussed for a while at dinner with my little bro, and he thought it'd be cool. I decided I'd put up a trial chapter to see how well it does. If you like it enough, I'll keep going. So, to that end, I'll be basing my continuation of this endeavor, if I manage to get ten good reviews it, I'll continue, and at least half of them should be signed. ^_^ anyway, here it is: Ash Ketchum, the wandering Pokémon Trainer, has been there and seen it all, having collected data on every Pokemon from Kanto to Sinnoh. However, having seen it all has left his life devoid of purpose; to rectify this issue, he has started his journey over, with only a small handful of his treasured Pokemon on his person, the clothes on his back, a cheery outlook, and a drive to help people and make a difference. What will happen when, as he passes through an innocent-looking town, he bears witness to the accidental release of an ancient evil? And what will he do when one approaches him with strange powers to protect those around him? Read on to find out! HYAZUU!
*PS (Before any questions come up, all major anime characters will make an appearance. Brock, Misty, Dawn, May, and many others will make cameo appearances across the chapters, but only if this continues! ^_^ Also, as a warning, the plotline will only be SIMILAR, not the exact same. Just so you're warned. ^_^)
A Kamen Rider OOO x Pokemon X-Over~!
POKEMON OOO EDITION!
EPISODE 0: PokéMaster, Red Medal, Floating Arm!
It had only been a few weeks, but the boy had only just set out from his small shack on the outskirts of Pallet Town, his belt of tiny red-and-white balls hanging loosely from between the straps of his ragged, worn, and patched backpack. He stopped along the path to Pewter City for a moment, having noticed a mirror along the side of the road. Some movers must have dropped it along their trek, because it was cracked from the bottom up. He strode over to examine his apparel, and realized the even if he did manage to find some of his old friends, they probably wouldn't recognize him now.
His old clothes had been put away in storage, now replaced by an outfit his old girl friends had referred to as his "Nomad" look: a rather flamboyantly tie-died work-out shirt, with matching robe and bland, faded blue jeans, along with worn black sneakers. On his hands were sun-damaged black leather fingerless gloves, with chains connected from his higher knuckles on the back of each to the bottoms. On his head sat a worn ball cap with a Pokéball symbol on it, and a pair of polarized shades sat on his nose, covering the upper half of his head. He smirked when he saw himself.
His last girl friend, Dawn, had once told him that this outfit made him look more bad-ass, given his recently awarded title of "PokéMaster", a title he'd earned not through battling the Pokémon Champion in any given region, but instead by managing to compile a complete Pokédex, and collect at least two of each Pokémon from around the known Pokémon universe. For his part in helping Professor Oak to understand the mysteries of Pokémon evolution, he'd been awarded his title, but that had left him feeling empty for weeks after. No matter who'd come in to see him, he'd maintained the same stoic look until finally, just three weeks ago to this day, he'd decided to set out on another journey: instead of battling or collecting, this time, he decided he would travel around and search out EVERY last person in need of help in their lives.
As he arrived, he noticed something was slightly off: for one thing, he didn't remember there being so many vending machines scattered around the city, nor was he able to recall the presence of a large skyscraper EVER being in the center of the city. His curiosity peaked, but he stopped for a moment. He considered the ramifications of walking in uninvited, and instead decided to keep walking. He sought out the old Museum building, which, to his surprise, had been … seemingly torn down to make way for a much larger one.
The boy's eyebrows twitched behind his shades. He slowly walked up to the building and opened the door. Inside it was quiet, save for a few mild snorts of glee. He looked around, then grabbed the ball for his best friend Pikachu, who had had willingly gone into his Pokéball and hadn't been out since the boy started his journey. He started around a box, noticing a pair of men hurriedly and joyfully picking up ancient relics and moving them onto a large wooden cart. He knew what was up: this was a museum robbing!
He pressed the button on the ball and dropped it, allowing it to pop open upon contact with the ground, freeing the small yellow mouse in a stream of red laser light. He whispered a quick command to Pikachu, who immediately nodded and snuck around the nearby crates. Seconds later, the boy watched intently as his small friend ran to the top of a large stone casket and jumped, landing square on the face of one of the robbers, startling him as the man stumbled around. His partner told him not to be so loud, but soon found himself being smacked repeatedly by an electrified, thunder-bolt-shaped tail until the overload caused him to fall back on the floor. Sending his friend a quick signal, the boy ran up and punched the man in the stomach, allowing his little friend to jump off and stand at the ready, his tiny red cheek pouches crackling madly.
The man got his bearings, and then sent out a larger Pokémon, a Seviper, which was quickly ordered to use Iron Tail. The boy, using the strategic mind he'd developed and honed so well with all the battling he'd done in his past, had his Pikachu jump high and use Thunderbolt. A second later, the large snake was lying on the ground, every muscle in its body twitching from the sudden heavy shock, and was quickly recalled. The thief had little time to call another before he was nailed in the face with a powerful haymaker, and busted in the gut two seconds later by a blast of Thunderbolt.
While the two males were occupied, a strange thing happened. A pile of metal coins behind the stone casket began moving, forming a small hand that climbed up the side of the casket to grab the odd-looking handle on top. Turning it and pulling it off, the hand sat back, absorbing the block of stone as it vanished.
Not too far away, both males were still scuffling. The boy managed to land a powerful hammer punch to the back of the thief's neck, dropping him, and HARD, just as a large blast of intense light flooded the room. In less than three seconds, the lid of the stone casket opened, allowing several million metallic silver coins fly into the air, as though a Psychic Pokémon was controlling them. However, what astounded the boy was what happened next.
Without warning, the coins began to combine into four different bodies: one, electric in appearance with a subtle feline undertone, colored a striking shade of yellow; One gray and covered in turf with traces of heavy Pokémon in him; another covered in lush green grasses with small hints of bug Pokémon, colored a vivid shade of green; the last, more feminine than the others, covered in fountains that spouted water everywhere and a minor fish motif, colored a deep shade of blue. The four bodies regarded the boy for a moment before the yellow one stepped forward.
The yellow monster was about to talk when the boy pulled a ball out of his pocket and tossed it, releasing a large gray mass of stone with brown hands, feet, and a head bearing a nasty smile.
"Let's go, Golem! Magnitude 9!" the boy shouted, and soon the large mass of rock nodded, roaring its own name loudly as the earth under it began to shake, whole chunks of it cracking. The cracks spread, aiming straight for the Yellow being, when the grey one stepped out in front and slammed both of its massive arms on the ground, creating a second quake that cancelled out the boy's Golem's. The boy made an annoyed sound and recalled Golem to its ball, then tossed out another. This one released a well-sized being the seemed to be made out of a large abundance of roses, with one hand colored red, the other blue, and a face that seemed covered in a mask.
"Alright, let's do this Roserade! Use GigaDrain!" he shouted, and the rose Pokemon was only too happy to oblige, initiating an attack that drained energy from the gray monster before it. However, at the last second, the green being stepped forward and took the attack, barely even flinching, and chuckled a bit.
The boy, now thoroughly and visibly angered, switched out Roserade for another of his pokemon, this one a monkey with a burning tail and stylized armor, saying, "LET'S KICK BUTT, INFERNAPE! LAVA PLUME!" the monkey was only too happy to oblige, punching the ground and then swinging upward to unleash a constant stream of flaming rock and cement. Once again, the attack's target was saved, this time by the blue monster, who set up a large wall of water that stopped the attack cold.
With a flourish and an angry roar, the boy now called back his Infernape and called out for his Pikachu, angrily commanding it to use Thunder. The small yellow mouse did as told, crackling with insane amounts of electric energy before unleashing it on the blue monster. However, as before, she was saved, by the first to have been attacked, the yellow one, who stood in front of her and took the attack head-on to absorb the whole thing. The four monsters then tilted their heads in confusion. The boy backed up a space; he knew these THINGS weren't pokemon… no group of wild pokemon, no matter how many there were or how diverse the group was in Type, would ever be smart enough to cover for each other by exploiting type weaknesses!
He turned tail and ran, ducking behind a crate just in time to avoid being blown into the air. He turned and ran again, but stopped and ducked behind another crate when he saw something on the ground. He leaned down and picked up a small red coin that had a weird picture of … a Cyndaquil? Not thinking twice about it, the boy pocketed the coin and took off, leaving the four monsters to themselves.
The yellow monster turned to its fellows and, in a childish, yet intelligent voice, said, "Well, it would seem that our little attacker learned his lesson, huh? I'm feeling a bit weak though… Wait, where's Ankh?"
The green one grabbed an expensive looking vase and smashed it, yelling, "TORI-YARO! That damn bastard stole my Core Medals! I thought that energy siphon attack that brat used stun a little! DAMN IT!"
The gray being sat down on an ancient-looking porcelain dish and jumped as the shards pierced its rear, shouting, "OW! HURTS! IT HURTS! MEZURU, PLEASE MAKE IT STOP HURTING!"
The blue creature stepped over to the grey one and sat him down on her lap and, with a motherly tone in her voice, said, "It's alright, Gameru, it's alright. It's going to be fine… We just have to hunt down Ankh and make him fork over the Cores he has… So, Cazari, how are we going to go about this?" Mezuru asked, patting Gameru on the head while looking at the yellow one, who nodded at his name.
"Well, I say that, for now at least, we let Uva have a little fun with him. After all, who else is as brutish and impatient for some good action as Uva?"
The green one, stepping up at the name "Uva", grunted and said, "Give me five minutes. I'll have him writhing in agony!" With a small hand motion, Uva turned into a mass of coins and vanished, soaring off to parts unknown.
"Cazari, why don't you help Gameru and I find a place for us all to hide while we hunt down our medals?" Mezuru asked with the motherly tone in her voice still present. Cazari simply twitched his head and walked over, nodding his approval of the idea.
~ELSEWHERE…~
The boy stopped inside a nearby Pokémon center and caught his breath. He staggered over to a chair and sat down, his thoughts now catching up with him.
'What the hell were those things?' he thought to himself, 'No matter what I threw at them, they either used the Type that was strong against my Pokemon, or just outright blocked the attack with the same Type. What the hell is going on? Are those things even POKEMON?" He was brought from his thoughts when he heard a soft thud across from him. Looking up, he saw a young girl lying in the plush chair across the ways from him, completely worn out and, by the looks of her, about to fall asleep. As he moved, the inevitable happened, and the girl fell asleep.
However, what the boy found shocking was not only the way she was dressed, but also the way she'd passed out. Her long, athletic legs, covered no more than about two inches above her pelvis by low-cut cut-off denim shorts, were haphazardly splayed, while her chest, as covered off by her white tee-shirt and black vest as it was, hung on her torso proudly, and was an impressive size for a girl who looked no older than about sixteen. Her left hand rested right underneath her breasts, while the other rested behind her long, curly brown hair, which cascaded out from beneath her white/pink Pokemon ball cap. The innocent look on her face, coupled with the appearance of a slight blush, was alluring to the boy, but as he had so often done before, he held himself back.
Instead of waking the girl, he did the gentlemanly thing: he walked around to her side and moved slowly, picking her up in his arms, making sure that her arms didn't dangle. He went over to Nurse Joy and asked for a room, ensuring the nurse that there would be no funny business after getting the room key. Once he arrived at the room, he expertly knelt down to unlock the door without dropping the girl in his arms, then opened the door, stepped inside, and let the door swing closed quietly as he walked over and laid his passenger gently on the bed. Making sure to cover her with the sheet, he smiled to himself as she rolled onto her side with a small smile and pulled the sheet's edge higher around her neck. The boy backed up a few spaces and sat down in a chair, falling asleep soon after.
~MEANWHILE…~
Elsewhere in Pewter City, people went about their daily business, completely oblivious to the oddity lurking in the shadows. Off in an alleyway, in the darkness behind a dumpster, a creature floated, lost in its thoughts.
"Damn it," the creature thought, "What do I do? I only have one of my own Cores… I managed to get away with two of Uva's and one of Cazari's… I need a host to recover my strength… Wait…" the creature perked a bit, moving to the other side of the dumpster's shadow and beginning to twitch.
"THAT'S IT! ONE OF MY CORES IS NEAR!" The creature said as it shot out from behind the dumpster and took off flying toward the source of its apparent elation, revealing itself to be a small, red, winged arm wreathed in red, hot fire.
~ELSEWHERE~
A young man in blue walked along the streets of Pewter City. He looked around, trying his best to look for something… or someone. Finally deciding to try the Pokemon center, he walked over and went inside.
~STILL ELSEWHERE…~
Uva touched down in front of a small store, shifting from a cloud of coins into a human body. Stepping out of the store's darkest shadows, he marveled at how much attention he was now getting from the younger females. Apparently if you dressed a tall, semi-muscular-looking man in a black dragon tee-shirt, green vest, black jeans and a spiked belt, and combine that with a "bad-boy" face, cropped blonde hair and a pissed off expression, you'd be hounded for life! He ignored the gaggle of girls, training his senses for the perfect person. Finally, he found it: a young woman, walking down the street, with expensive jewelry on her hand, with bags filled with boxes full of more.
"PERFECT…" he said, stepping out of the throng of adolescent girls to approach the woman. When she stopped to check her phone, Uva stepped behind her and held his hand to the back of her head, creating a coin-slot. Pulling a small, cross-marked coin form his pocket, he inserted it into the woman's head, stopping her in mid-action as she began to convulse. Mere seconds later, reality seemed to distort on the woman's body as a large creature, black and covered in many white bandages, forced its way out of her body with a sickening groan.
Everyone screamed in terror as the blonde boy became a grass-coated bug monster. The bandaged creature grabbed the hand of the woman he'd come from and shoved her fingers it its mouth, devouring her jewelry in less than a second. It began to twitch and mutate, shedding its bandages and becoming an entirely different creature: a humanoid praying mantis, with upper arms, legs, and a chest covered in thick, sprawling grass.
Uva stepped away from his creation and smirked to himself before saying, "I deem you the KusaKamakiri Yummy. Hunt down and destroy Ankh and reclaim our Core Medals!" Uva commanded, and the creature nodded in response, taking off to begin its search.
~ELSEWHERE…~
A soft moan echoed in a small room. A pair of long, ivory-white arms stretched out with a groan. A pair of full, red lips opened to draw in a yawning breath before closing into a small smile. A white sheet moved to drape over a pair of fully developed breasts that sat upon a young woman's torso proudly as the young woman's body moved from the bed to the bathroom, dragging the sheet behind her. A couple minutes later, the young woman exited the facilities with another stretch, groaning as slightly sore muscled expanded and returned to normal. The young woman yawned once more before opening her eyes. Her face went from a look of contentment to a look of shock; she remembered passing out in a chair in a Pokemon center lobby… how did she wind up in one of the private rooms? And, more importantly… Why was there w weird looking boy in her room? She gathered her wits about her, her face gaining a look of intense anger and outrage.
"WHO ARE YOU, AND WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, IN THE ROOM WITH A SLEEPING GIRL YOU DON'T KNOW, YOU PERV?" She shouted, before realizing the boy was unconscious. Deciding she'd rather get this all over with quickly, she reared back… and slammed the boy in the face with a punch, full force, to the cheek bone, sending him flying across the room to smash a hole in the wall. The boy slid off with a groan and landed on his back, holding his face as if it would fall off. He looked up to find the culprit, only to find an outraged and angry female face hanging over him… with what seemed like two well-sized watermelons hanging dangerously close to his face.
"Ummm…" The boy began, "May I help you? And did you see who punched me? I want to give them hell." The girl's face twisted with yet more anger and she wound up for another strike. She threw her second punch, only to first find her fist caught in the boy's outstretched hand. Next thing she knew, she felt herself flying; before she knew it, she was back on the bed with a thud. She groaned a second later as the boy's left knee lined itself up with the bottoms of her ribs and his hands grabbed hers to hold them over her head as he leaned in close.
"WHAT THE HELL? I DECIDE TO SHOW A LITTLE CHIVALRY AND GET YOU A BED TO SLEEP COMFORTABLY ON, AND YOU REPAY ME BY TRYING TO PUNCH MY LIGHTS OUT? What the heck kind of kindness is that?" He said, just that moment realizing how close to her face he'd gotten: every word he spoke had placed his face less than an inch closer to hers, and now, his nose was just skewed off the side of hers, his mouth no more than half an inch away from those luscious red lips of hers… 'That's odd…' he thought, 'I didn't notice how good she looks until now… how was I always so thick when it comes to girls?"
The girl was blushing madly as she leaned up to his ear and whispered, "And what is it you intend to do with me, Mr. Chivalry? Are you going to take advantage of me? Or maybe steal a kiss?" the boy started blushing, but the girl couldn't see because if his shades. Soon he let go of her hands, and, as if to tease him, she reached one hand up. Gently, slowly, she ran her hand down his face, tucking a loose strand of hair behind his ear and breathing a gentle breath of warm air on his neck. He leaned down, but suddenly threw her back.
"What are you doing?" she asked, sitting enticingly on the bed, motioning for him to join her. He shook his head and sat back down in his chair. She pouted and sat on her knees.
"Why'd you stop? I was having fun!" she complained, looking sincere. The boy shook his head again.
"I don't think I'm ready for something like that. I need some time," he said. She got up and walked over to him and, giving him a weird grin, sat on his lap.
"Well, unfortunately for you," she said, her grin turning into a seductive smile, "At this point, I'm not giving you a choice. I want to get close. So, let's get REALLY close!" She leaned In to kiss him. However, she didn't plan on first being picked up in his arms, then being dropped on the bed. She looked in his direction as he turned to go to the door and asked him what his problem with girls was about.
"I don't have a problem with girls," he said, "I'm just not like most people. If I'm going to be in a serious relationship, I want it to start off slow. After a while, I'll take the initiative to start off intimacy. After that, if things work, great, if not, well… I tried. But this is going WAY too fast for me. I don't even know your name, and you're trying to get me in bed with you. With me, it doesn't work that way. So, I'm sorry, but I have to go now." He turned to leave and put his hand on the doorknob.
"Touko…"
"Excuse me?" the boy asked.
The girl stood slowly, smiling innocently. "My name is Touko. I'm a Pokemon Trainer form the far-off Isshu Region who was called here by one Professor Oak to help with his research on Pokemon evolution… I wasn't ready when he asked, so I took a few months to finish my own journey. I literally breezed through the Gym battles, blazed through the Elite Four, but against the Champion… I fell rather short. Now I'm here, and by the looks of things, I may be a bit late. Would you please help me find Professor Oak's lab? I was told it was in a place called… it was a Town, I know that much… maybe it was called Mallet Town?"
The boy chuckled and shook his head. He looked at the girl and said, "Sure, I'll help you find him, but just so long as you don't jump me again. And, for the record, my home town, where Professor Oak lives too, is called "PALLET" town, with a "P", not an "M"."
Touko gave the boy a solid stare, then squealed in joy, saying, "OH MY GOD! Arigatou Gozaimasu!" The boy stared at her blankly before requesting a repeat… that he could understand. The gorl gave him a stunned look.
"Are you serious?" she asked, before slapping her forehead and continuing, "Oh, wait, that's right… Our region is so remote that we never had to learn the language of the mainland… I'm so sorry. What I said was the equivalent of "Thank you very much". I'm still quite new to the Kanto Region… I thought brushing up on my Mainlander language skills would help… apparently not so much. Old teachings are hard to break!" She gave the boy a big bear hug.
Unfortunately for the boy, her hugs forced her ample bosom to squash against his chest, and he blushed redder than blood. When she pulled away she smiled and set about finding her gear. Finding it in a corner, she collected everything and slung her pack over her back, walking for the door. The boy followed, passing the room key back to Nurse Joy as he went. The two left the building and walked a bit before Touko remembered something.
"I forgot! I have to go get some supplies from the Pokemart! I'll be back in five minutes, alright?" She said, turning in the direction of the blue-roofed building. She turned slowly and waved to him, before a wave of realization hit her.
"Wait! I completely forgot… I'm supposed to be meeting the Mainland's PokeMaster … an Ash Ketchum? Would you know where I can find him? I have a multitude of questions for him," she asked, and Ash smiled.
"I'm not exactly sure where he is, but I have a feeling he's closer than you'd think," The boy said, smiling.
Touko smiled and ran off, headed for the Pokemart for supplies. The boy thought this was strange… mainly because Pallet Town was back the way he'd come, and was a short trek. As his hand rested at his side, his fingers traced the edge of the strange red coin he found earlier that day and, removing it from his pocket, the boy began to look at it more carefully.
He noticed that the lines that comprised the coins' Cyndaquil design seemed very similar to ancient hieroglyphics from some of the old ruins he'd been to across his journeys, but this… This was something special in its own right. The small coin had the Pokemon's visage perfectly done in thin, intersecting lines, with one left stray on the head to represent the eye. Only thing was, this one was slanted heavily toward the snout, indicating it was angry. This made the boy curious. It was very rare to see a Pokemon depicted with an angry expression.
"OI! GIVE THAT BACK, YOU THIEF!" Came an angry voice from nowhere, and as the boy turned, he was … sort of tackled to the ground by what appeared to be a flying arm. 'A red, flaming arm that flies… OH SHIT!' Ash thought as he wrestled the thing off him and finishing his thought aloud, "DID THOSE WEIRD THINGS IN THE MUSEUM SEND YOU TO TAKE ME BACK?"
The red arm floated off to a short distance away and said, "Weird things? Oh, you mean the other Greeed? Yeah, they're probably going to be coming after me sooner or later…" the thing said, shifting around as if it were trying to think. Ash looked at the thing for two seconds. Suddenly, a powerful breeze blew past. Strangely, though, the red arm flew backwards screaming. Ash watched this happen as another gust of wind blew past… But as Ash soon noticed, it was colored green, shaped like a ringed blade… and littered with grass clippings? 'DAMN IT!' Ash thought as he dove into the wind-wave's path, grabbing the hand and pulling it to safety.
Ash looked up to find the attack's source, and soon found it: A human-like mantis covered in grass, with curved, bladed forearms that were setting up for another attack.
"THERE YOU ARE! Finally, I've found you!" The boy looked across the street to see his long time rival, Gary Oak, walking his way, that gloating grin and idiotic blue track suit on. 'DOESN'T HE SEE THAT THING?" the boy thought, reaching his hand out to try and make get Gary to duck.
"GARY! MOVE! GET OUT OF THE WAY!" The boy shouted, screaming as he watched his long-time rival get slammed in the side by another wind wave. Gary screamed in pain as his body was forced off to the side and into a brick wall, making a large indent, and then slid off the wall to the ground. Ash lost it. Holding the red arm tightly, he ran over to Gary, avoiding multiple wind waves as he went.
When he got to Gary's side, he saw a small stream of blood coming from the boy's mouth, and Ash lost it. He'd never really been fond of Gary, but seeing his self-proclaimed, and, truth-be-told, highly overblown, eternal rival laying on the ground with a large gash in his side, he lost it. He stood slowly, waiting for the beast to attack again, while preparing a Pokeball. As soon as the beast unleashed an attack, he dropped the ball and prepared for battle.
"INFERNAPE, USE FLAMETHROWER!" The boy shouted, and as the flame-tailed monkey Pokemon emerged from its ball, it took in a deep breath and exhaled, releasing a large burst of all-burning flame that cut through the monster's attack like a hot knife through butter. He put Infernape away and tackled the beast to the ground, holding it down under his knees as he mercilessly attacked the monster, bruising his knuckles as he relentlessly pounded the monster's hard-flashed face.
When he finally stood up and backed off, the monster jumped up and slashed downward with its blades, but was stopped when the boy caught it at the bases of the blades, and pulled up, lifting the beast off his feet before slamming it back on the ground, head first. The beast tried to swing up with one blade, but the boy stopped it cold. He grabbed the monster's arm at the elbow and pulled, spinning the beast in circles before releasing him. The monster screamed in pain as it smashed into, and then through the brick wall behind it.
The small red arm, having witnessed all of this, floated over and asked, "Hey, kid, how are you that strong, anyway? You're only human. And from what I gather, neither you nor that boy that was attacked like each other very much. So why go berserk over him being attacked?"
The red arm swayed gently as the boy gathered a deep breath and said, "I did it because it's who I am. I can't sit back and let an innocent person get hurt or be taken advantage of, regardless of what past I may or may not have with them. That would be wrong. Gary and I may not have been on the best of terms, but being rivals makes us ALMOST friends. And the way I see it, friends help friends no matter what. That's why, when that sickle-armed loser gets up again, I'm going to continue to beat him until he turned to dust!" the boy stood ready, waiting for the monster's return. The arm seemed to stare at the boy with an air of intrigue; this lad had just piqued the arm's interest.
"Hey kid, you won't be able to beat that guy unless I help you; he'll just keep getting back up and coming at you. Eventually, you'll get tired, and he'll kill you. I have the power you need to send him packing to hell. The only question left is: will you take it?" the arm asked, arranging its fingers into a pointing gesture. The boy looked at the arm through his shades, and smiled.
"How do I know I can trust you?" the boy asked, and the arm twitched. It reached down and tapped the boy's left hip pocket, making a clinking sound as it hit the coin.
"That coin thing in your pocket is one piece of my being; one of my Core Medals. Using it will grant you power beyond your imagination, but you need something ELSE from me first. The power I'd give you comes from three sources, and you only have one source. I have three more, and the medium with which you can channel it. So again, the question becomes: Will you take this power and protect, or fight until you die and fail?" The boy thought it over for a moment.
"I'll take it. There are so many people out there… I'd never forgive myself if I couldn't help as many as possible!" he said, and the arm seemed to nod in approval. That is, it looked like it was nodding, for as much as a disembodied floating arm could. It moved to hover over the boy's waist, and soon, from its palm came a well-sized rectangular object encased in stone. The arm placed the stone rectangle on the boy's waist, and as soon as contact was made, the rock crumbled off to reveal a high-tech-looking belt with three open holes on the buckle, a small round holder on the right side, and a large disc-shaped device on the left.
The arm then shook, allowing two more small coins to fall out. The boy marveled at these new coins: one was yellow and had a design of a small yellow mouse on it, while the other was green and bore an image of a small leaf-headed turtle. The boy looked at the two new coins, and the one he'd just pulled from his pocket. He moved his hands to the buckle and slid the medals in: red on the left and green on the right, with the yellow in the middle. When he slid the yellow medal in, the buckle tilted down to the right, and gleamed. The arm floated over to the boy's left side and pulled the disc off the belt, then handed it to the boy.
"Use that," the arm said, and the boy nodded, taking his shades off and sliding them into the small pocket on the inside of his cloak. He looked to the wall where the monster emerged, and smirked when the monster twitched in fright.
"Don't use that! Bad things will happen if you do!" The beast threatened. The boy juggled the disc back and forth between his hands in thought before looking the beast dead in the eyes.
"So? Do I look like I care anymore? You've injured my longtime rival, and plan on harming more people. I won't stand for that. If I've learned one thing in my travels, it's this: No matter where you are," he said, getting into a tiger stance and bending his arm in preparation for his next action, "Helping people is always difficult. HENSHIN!" The boy moved, lightly tossing the disc into the air before catching it and sliding it along the buckle, starting with the red one and finishing with the green while standing on one leg, his other hand thrown above his head with two fingers pointed skyward. As he settled back into a tiger stance, he lowered the hand holding the disc to hold it over his heart, while the other lowered to rest just in front of his face. Suddenly, a large array of different colored medals popped up around him, spinning in varying directions as a voice rang out:
"CYNDAQUIL, PICHU, TURTWIG! DA CHU TU! DACHUTU DA CHU TU!" the voice sang, before sound of coins shaking rang out over it and the arrays of medals stopped, settling on three that soon shot toward his chest, forming a three-part crest with cut-shots of each medal's image in each of the three sections of the crest. Suddenly, the boy's body was covered in a skin-tight black body suit. From the lower third of the crest, vines extended down his legs to his feet, where they wrapped around his feet and formed boots with shell-covered plates on top and soles and small leaf decorations on his ankles.
From the center of the crest, bolts of thunder extended outward along his arms, twisting and contorting into lightning-shaped shoulder guards and a glove on each hand with electrified, thunder-shaped claws on hinges attached to the backs of his hands. From the top third, red flames erupted, travelling up to wrap around his head, forming a large, wicked-looking flame that burned bright from around a pair of green lenses flashed into being. The arm floated back a bit and seemingly stared at what was before him.
~ELSEWHERE~
On the top floor of a large building in the center of the city, a pair of young women, both in sharp suits, sat back on a couch idly eating cake. Across the room, a large man, somewhat stocky in appearance, stood in a gray suit, covered at the front with a white apron. The man walked around his office, holding a large bowl and a blender, carefully blending what appeared to be batter.
One of the two girls stood, standing at about five feet three inches tall with long, straight black hair that was pulled to wrap around the sides of her head and tied in a loose braid in the back. She walked over to a small, old-style record player and placed a record on the base, and then moved the needle onto the record. Mere moments later, the record player began playing an operatic rendition of a song known to everyone in the world.
The other girl stood, reaching to about four feet-eleven-and-a-half inches tall, and pulled a pair of pins out of the two buns in her brown hair, allowing them to unfurl into a pair of long bangs that avoided her face, and instead framed it about two inches from the skin. The two girls placed their plates of cake on the table and took each other's hands and began to ballroom dance across the office as the man poured the batter into a pan and placed it in an oven built into his desk. The music played:
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!"
~SCENE BREAK!~
The monster charged at the boy with a downward slash that was blocked by the thunder claws on his wrist. The boy pushed back, forcing the monster away. He concentrated, forcing energy into his arms. Seconds later, his claws flashed thrice, and flipped over, granting him the use of the claws. He grinned behind his helmet as he brought the claws crashing into the monster's stomach repeatedly.
However, as the monster next attacked, the boy did something the arm had never seen before: the boy's claws danced. The boy would swing in one direction, and then suddenly change direction and strike under the beast's defenses. After a few minutes of this, the monster was slightly weakened, but came back with three powerful slashes that forced the boy back. As the boy staggered, he noticed the yellow portion of his armor beginning to flash and fade to gray.
"What's going on?" he said aloud. He looked at the arm, how had produced another coin, this one green with an image of a Chikorita on it.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!"
"KID! CATCH THIS! SWAP FOR THE MIDDLE ONE!" The arm shouted, half-tossing the new medal at the boy. The boy caught it in one hand and did as instructed, removing the yellow medals and slipping the new green one in. Tilting the buckle down again, the boy grabbed the disc object and slid it along the buckle, then held it over his heart again.
"CYNDAQUIL, CHIKORITA, TURTWIG! CYNDACHITU!" the buckle announced in its singsong voice as the array of medals once more arose around him, settling on a similar trio as before. Now, however, in place of his yellow center, the Pichu design was replaced by one of a small creature that, much like the Turtwig design, had a leaf on its head. Small streams of grass flowed out of the crest, covering his arms and changing his armor: his shoulder guards became slightly more oval-shaped and green, while his gauntlets were re-worked entirely. They became green, lengthened downward a bit, and grew long blades underneath. The blades shot out for a second on a hinge, showing a slight bit of a mantis theme.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!"
The monster attacked again with a wind shockwave, but the boy charged energy into his legs and jumped, dodging it in time and with enough forward momentum to mount a counter attack consisting of three powerful side-kicks to the head, sending the monster rolling. When it stood, the boy readied himself. The monster charged, swinging its arms spastically and with wild abandon, trying to land even a single hit on the boy.
The boy charged energy into his arms, swinging upward and to the side, slashing the beast across the chest and stopping his attack. However, when next the beast rose, he found a horrifying sight before him. The blades on the boy's wrists had switched around from their initial reverse grip, now resting square in his hands, and had split into sections. The boy now wielded twin whip blades. The boy lifted his arms and cracked his whip blades, creating a storm of leaves and petals that scattered around the area. The beast came back for more.
~ELSEWHERE~
Back in the office building, the two girls finished their dance and sat back down to eat some more cake. The man pulled a cake out of the oven and placed it on his desk to cool, taking out a piping bag full of white icing. Working carefully, the man applied decorative layers of icing to the cake, before placing the piping bag aside and reaching for a second in a different color. In a cursive style, the man spelled a series of seven letters on the cake as the song reached a repeat of the refrain:
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY…"
"GREEED," the man spoke cryptically, a somber expression on his face as he stepped from behind his desk and held his arms out to complete the song, in tune with the record:
"HAPPY BIRTDAY TO YOU!"
~BATTLE SCENE~
The monster rolled, having just been bull-whipped with the boy's weapons. His body had large gashes in it that were leaking small, silver coins. The boy stood a ways away, admiring his handiwork as the blades returned to reverse grip, but remained whip blades. He squatted, energy surging into his legs and arms. He leapt straight for the beast.
"OOOOAH!" the boy shouted as he sailed through the air, following up moments later with "SEIYAAA!" as he swung the blades around, causing the weapons to fly out and strike the beast several times before taking solid form for one final cross-strike slash upon the boy's landing that sent the beast flying, screaming through the air. With one final scream of pain, the monster exploded violently in midair, causing hundreds, if not thousands, of the small grey coins to rain down. The boy stood, watching the coins rain down around him, thankful that his armor kept him from feeling the small metal objects pelting his skull.
As soon as he felt sure they had stopped, he reached for the buckle and tilted it up, reversing his transformation and returning to his normal form. He walked over to Gary's body slowly, not even flinching as a massive flock of what appeared to be mechanical birds flew over and picked up all the coins, and then flew away. The boy bent over his friend's body after finding a very weak pulse, sure that his friend was more than likely not going to be alive much longer. The arm floated over.
"Well, I was hoping I wouldn't have to resort to taking a host, but as far as they go, this kid won't be half-bad." The boy stood back as he watched the arm attach itself to Gary's left arm. In a moment, Gary's eyes opened and he floated into the air. As he set himself back on his feet, Gary's features changed: His blue track suit vanished, soon replaced by an open, red leather vest with a white T-shirt inside, paired with fringed red leather pants and black sneaker.
Beads of all shapes, sizes, and colors adorned his entire attire, but that wasn't the most prominent feature. For some reason, Gary's brown hair had been swept off to one side and up, and had turned an almost bleached blonde. His eyes, now suspicious and calculating, looked up and down the boy's features as the boy remained glued to his spot, surveying the changes to his rival.
The boy, finally getting his bearings back, shook his head and, cautiously, asked, "Gary? Is that you?" The man before him simply smirked and scoffed.
"Gary? Gary's not home right now. You should be glad I did you this favor. He was ten minutes from dying. As it is, I'm acting as a sort of life support for him right now, keeping his body alive, but just barely. If you're going to call me anything, call me Ankh, the Red Greeed of Flame,' Ankh said, smiling at the boy's angry expression.
~ELSEWHERE~
The two girls in the office had gotten up and started dancing again, giggling a bit. The man, on the other hands, had just finished tying the finishing ribbon on the last cake he'd made and was pulling another out of his desk-oven. Placing the cake on his desk, he grabbed a small pin with three letter "O"s on it, and placed it squarely in the center of the cake, just below a cursive scrawl of "Happy Birthday". Once again, he stepped from the back of his desk smiled.
"OOO*," he said aloud, not even flinching as a piece of cake hit him square in the back of the head. If he hadn't been the adult of the situation, he'd have turned, pried the cake off his head, and started a cake fight, but he was above that. Instead, he simply turned around, smiled, and returned to his desk.
~MEANWHILE~
Touko left the store with a smile and ran to find her friend. She seriously hoped he'd lighten up and at least indulge her once or twice with a little play. While her left arm held the bag of supplies she'd bought, she raised her right hand to grab her left arm close to the shoulder and squeeze hard.
"It's going to be harder than I thought… I was hoping this PokeMaster would be a girl… That way self-control wouldn't be an issue… But if the Master is a boy, I don't know if I'll be able to control myself…" she said to herself, a small frown crawling across her face as she stopped in mid-step, turned, and leaned against a nearby wall. Her leaning posture soon turned into a slump, and then into a sitting position with legs cross and head in her hands.
She'd felt the stirrings when she woke up to find that boy in the room with her back at the Center, and had hoped he'd at least go far enough to get her a little satiated… but he'd stopped. At least there were SOME good men left in the world. Her frown turned into a confident smile and, as she picked up the bag and rounded the corner, she smiled wider.
"HEY, I GOT THE STUFF! WHEN CAN… we- get… Oh, am I interrupting something?" she said as her eyes fell on the boy and a slightly older looking youth with weird-looking blonde hair. The boy turned back to her and shook his head with a smile that was mostly hidden behind his ever-present shades.
"No, you weren't interrupting anything at all. In fact, I was just about to introduce you to my old acquaintance Ankh," the boy said, motioning to Ankh. Touko smiled at Ankh and waved, but got little more than a shake of his head in response, which made her smile curl back to a straight line. She looked back to see her friend and smiled again.
"I just remembered! I introduced myself, but ran off before you could do the same. So, what's your name?" she asked, smiling back as the boy removed his shades and smiled at her.
"Heh… My name is…"
~OVER AND OUT, FOR NOW!~
And that's that! Left on a cliffhanger for those who don't know Pokemon! ^_^ And for those wondering, the Rider's name has multiple spellings, due in part to translation issues. It can be read as I wrote it, or spelled as either "Os" or "Ozu", but, no matter where it comes up, it's always pronounced as "Ozu". ^_^ For those of you who want to see OOO… good luck, as Veoh and Youtube have all but taken them down. If you have something that can play those files, however, good for you, and I hope you enjoy watching OOO! ^_^ Later on!
