Nighlight Zone
Characters:
Ash, Misty, Brock, Tracey, Gary, Mewtwo, Richie, Casey, Todd, Duplica, Jeannette, Throttle, Bandit, Mrs. Ketchum, Pikachu, Togepi, Beyonder, Orcus, The Vile 13
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, I wish I did, but I don't, I do own the Vile 13, Orcus however, is not mine, he is from Dungeons & Dragons, it took and enormous bribe and a pudgey maid of honor to convince the Black Prince to help with my fic by being the villian, the Raven is me, and the Beyonder is my loyal servant, don't use him, or Bandit or Throttle, either. They are mine
Chapter 1:
It was a quite day in Pallet Town, although it wouldn't be soon, in less than an hour in fact. Inside a particular house there were 4 "PIKA!" "TOGI!" sorry, 6 residents, heh-heh, 4 shared one bedroom, Ash Ketchum, Pallet Town's finest trainer, Misty Waterflower, Ash's best human friend, born in Cerulean City, Pikachu, Ash's first Pokemon and his best friend, Togepi, a baby egg Pokemon who believes Misty is it's mother
At the moment, Misty was peering down from the top bunk, giving Ash the same fond, loving look she had given him every morning before he woke up, they had known each other for 3 years, and although it had been rocky at first, they had after about a month, become friends, Misty had some time after that developed feelings for Ash, feelings she never admitted to anyone except Togepi, Misty's routine was the same, give Ash a fond look, swing down from her bed, touch Ash's cheek, wake him up. This morning would be different.
Misty swung her feet over the side of the bed, unaware that Ash had just woken up. "Hey! Get your dopey feet out of my face!" Furious, Misty pulled her feet back up and leaned down until her face was an inch from Ash's "My feet are NOT dopey, and they're NOT in your face!" Ash was madder than before. "Get your dopey face out of my face!" Ash was certainly cranky this morning. "Ooh, just for that Ash Ketchum!" Misty snapped, she grabbed her towel and dashed to the bathroom, Ash was on her heels. "GET BACK HERE MISTY, I'M NOT THROUGH WITH YOU YET!!" Misty ducked into the bathroom and slammed the door, Ash slammed his face into the door, that hurt. "MISTY!!" Ash yelled, grabbing the doorknob. "OPEN THIS DOOR OR THEY'LL NEVER FIND YOUR REMAINS!!" "Catch me!" Misty taunted as she began her morning preening, which Ash knew would take awhile, to say the least
"Scrawny!"
"Twerp!"
"Perfume Breath!"
"Peabrain!"
Downstairs in the kitchen, Brock was pouring Mrs. Delia Ketchum, Ash's very loving mother, a cup of coffee, her room was on the top floor, Ash & Misty's in the middle, Brock's on the ground floor. Mrs. Ketchum looked up at the ceiling as she heard Ash & Misty screaming at each other, Brock grinned, "Ash & Misty are awake" he observed. Mrs. Ketchum looked worried "Doesn't it worry you when they fight like that?" she asked, Brock shook his head "They do this all the time, it's their way of showing deep, intimate friendship, despite their bickering, they are best friends." Mrs. Ketchum sighed, she knew not to press the issue, last time she had begged Brock to stop the fighting and he simply replied "That'd be like trying to stop the tide, just let them fight it out, they'll run out of insults soon."
Meanwhile, back upstairs...
Ash was muttering several words under his breath that he never would have dared to say in front of his mother, Pikachu & Togepi, awakened by the fighting, headed to the bathroom where Ash was wrestling with the doorknob, on the other side, they could hear Misty singing, this only seemed to enrage Ash further, Pikachu was startled when he heard what Ash was saying (Remember, he's got GREAT hearing) ::Ash! You should be a gentlemen and let the lady go first!:: Pikachu scolded. "I'm no gentlemen, and Misty's no lady!" Ash retorted, he turned around and started to slam his shoulder into the door, but at that moment, Misty opened it, Ash fell to the floor and Misty, in her bathrobe, stepped over him. "Hi, Pikachu, good morning Togepi!" ::Morning Misty!/Mommy!:: Pikachu and Togepi said respectively. "Bathroom's all yours, Ash! By the way, good morning!" Misty said, sounding cheerful, Ash looked up to retort, than paused, Misty had her hair down, he loved it when she did that, it was her personality he was in love with, but that only seemed to enhance her outer beauty. "Morning Misty." Ash said, and stepped into the bathroom. Misty headed back to the room she and Ash shared to change, Pikachu and Togepi went downstairs, where Brock was making pancakes, sausages, eggs, and bacon, Pikachu naturally had all of his smothered in ketchup.
In the bathroom, Ash combed his hair and took care of some other business, as he sat there, he thought "I suppose I overreacted earlier, I oughtta apologize to Misty." He further devined his feelings. "God, how can I ever admit to Misty how I really feel about her? Why does love have such a strong hold on people? Why can't I ever keep my temper with Misty? Why am I talking to myself in the bathroom?" He left the bathroom and casually headed downstairs to the kitchen where he found the others enjoying breakfast, although Pikachu seemed completely absorbed in his bottle of ketchup. "Morning, honey, did you sleep well?" "I slept fine, than I woke up to Misty's feet in my face, speaking of which, sorry I yelled like that Misty, I was surprised and trying to save face." Misty shook her head. "You couldn't save THAT face if your life depended on it" Ash frowned and thought of something really mean to say, than decided not to say it, Misty had saved his life before, you cut a person a lot of slack when they've saved your life. Instead he decided upon. "I'm in too good a mood to get worked up now, maybe later, huh?" "Hows 1:30?" "Sounds good." "Cool, now that we're through being made at each other for the morning, have some egg- oh, Pikachu ate them all." ::I got the recipe from Mimi Tachigawa from Digimon:: Pikachu said. (Ash sweatdrops and translates the message, everybody else sweatdrops except Togepi)
The peaceful morning was again interrupted as a man came dashing into the kitchen, he was burly, 6.6 at the least, and had to weigh 260 at least, he was followed closely by a smaller man, this one was about 6 feet, and didn't look to weigh more than 210, the smaller guy slammed into the larger guy, knocked him to the floor, and put him in a painful looking arm drag. Two other guys charged into the room, both carrying plasma rifles, they quickly apprehended the larger man, putting him in powerful looking restraints. The big guy unleashed a flurry of cuss words, his smaller assailant cuffed him, somewhat gently, in the mouth and said. "Watch the language, there are children present." He smiled in greeting at Ash and his company and the two plasma rifle carriers marched out the captive, informing him of his rights. "Morning everyone!" The dude was dressed in black from neck to toe, a black sleeveless turtleneck under a black duster coat, black sweatpants, a Black Martial Arts belt, and black boots, complete with black gloves and a black headband. "Hey Bandit!" Ash, Misty, & Brock said together, "Good morning, Robert!" Mrs. Ketchum said, smiling. ::Wassup!:: Pikachu and Togepi said together. (Misty sweatdrops) "Togepi, where did you learn to talk like that!?" Misty demanded. ::From Uncle Pika!:: (Pikachu puts his paw behind his head) ::Heh-Heh::
"Join us! There's plenty!" Brock invited, waving his hand at the table, Bandit smiled "Love to, but I've got this craving for ketchup, and I don't think Pikachu would approve." ::Nobody touches my ketchup but me!:: Pikachu agreed
"At least talk to us!" Ash pleaded "We haven't seen you since you cracked that Pokemon smuggling ring!" Bandit sat down and explained. "We're just picking up some stragglers, That's the 5th one today, the 16th this week! The Leader of Team Rocket sure was unhappy!" Everyone laughed, Bandit was the second in command officer of the Dark Network, a mysterious Law Enforcement agency, everyone agreed they had strange methods, but also agreed Bandit had done more for the company than any other member, he was also the world's best known Pokemon Grand Master, having already made mincemeat out of the Elite 4 and also having won every known league.
"So, did you break your record?" Misty asked, sipping her coffee. Bandit shook his head. "No, that one was a fast runner, took me 5 minutes." "5 times more than your record, that Kanob guy only took a minute." Ash said as he wrestled Pikachu for the ketchup, which proved to be a mistake. Bandit nodded "He was the only one who stood to fight, everyone else ran." Misty grinned slyly and added "The fact that Bandit sliced Kanob's hand off with that Katana of his may have had something to do with Kanob's surrender, and that no one wants to fight." Bandit took a drink from a Mountain Dew no one had seen him produce and replied "That was an accident, he threw sand in my face, I only meant to disarm him."
"You DID disarm him, or should I say, de-handed him!" Ash joked. Bandit glared at him playfully. "Don't be a smart aleck, Ash, it's not good for your health." Ash laughed "Don't I know it, I get that all the time from Misty, (Misty smacks him) Ow!" "Children, children, no violence at the breakfast table." Mrs. Ketchum said calmly, she was used to this, Misty had done it before, but neither she nor Ash ever indicated a dent in their friendship, in fact, according to Brock, this was their way of being affectionate.
"All the same, that seemed to intimidate the rest of them into running," Brock said "knowing their fiercest warrior was so easily "disarmed" hurt their moral." Bandit sighed and said "I'm never going to hear the end of this, am I? I told you, I was swinging the blade toward his plasma rifle, intending to knock it out of his hand, when he threw that fistful of sand in my eyes, I managed to dodge the sand, but that threw my aim off, and unfortunately, not my momentum."
Ash and his motley crew finished breakfast, Bandit did the dishes, showing off his excellent athletic ability. Misty decided to try to make Ash jealous, she whispered, so Ash could hear. "He's good! And cute." Ash frowned but pretended not to hear her, Bandit, whose suburb hearing had caught the remark, smiled thinking. "Misty tries so hard to flirt with Ash, but he's clueless. Hmm maybe I can use my "connections" to get myself invited to a dinner where I can bring 3 guests, Ash, Misty, and Aeris. We can leave them alone in a romantic atmosphere, Ash can be a baka but he's not insensitive, and, maybe I'll admit to Aeris about my feelings for her." Bandit suddenly felt weak at the thought of his trusty assistant, a girl he had known since her birth when he turned 2, their birthdays were on the same day and their families always celebrated together. He had thought of Aeris as a sister since he was 4, loved her since he was 13, and unable to think of anything else since he was 17. He knew he was as passionate about Aeris as Ash was about Misty, maybe just not as deserving. "Although peaceful by nature, I'm more willing to resort to violence, I've cut people's hands off, I've pulled the trigger on my plasma rifle, then there is the famous "Trollman Incident", some pacifist I am, I am a warrior, what could a gentle person like Aeris see in me?" Bandit sighed and pulled out his family ring, for the past 5 generations, the Mcgee men had used it to propose to their lovers, Bandit's own father, Thomas, had used it to propose to Bandit's mother, Linda, and he, Bandit, was hoping someday to propose to Aeris with it.
"Nice ring!" Came Misty's voice, she was peering around his bicep, since he was too tall for her to look over his shoulder. Bandit snapped the case shut, blushing, and slipped the case back into his pocket. Thanks, family heirloom." Misty smiled "Ya gonna propose to someone? It was in a case like they always are when a guy proposes." "Great" thought Bandit, more embarrassed than before "Trust a romantic to know THAT." Thinking quickly, Bandit replied "Actually I was thinking of giving it to Ash so he could propose to you." Misty's face turned the color of her hair, pressing his advantage, Bandit continued to tease the redhead. "C'mon, Misty, everyone thinks you two would make a perfect couple." Misty turned even redder and said "One more word, Mcgee, third times the charm..." "Maybe I should propose for him." before Misty could object, Bandit got down on one knee, held out the once again open ring container and said "Misty Waterflower, will you marry Ash Ketchum?" In her mind Misty thought "Yes! Yes I will!" outside she indicated her obvious anger, furious she brought out her mallet and swung it, with reflexes born of the Martial Arts, Bandit whipped out his Katana, and pressing the flat side against his arm, blocked the attack. "Where does she keep that thing, anyway?" glancing suspiciously at Misty's pockets he thought "Those pockets must be much deeper than they look." Outloud he grinned at Misty's amazed expression and said "Reflexes born of the Martial Arts." Misty shook her head in disgust.
"What's going on?" Ash walked in, looking curious. "Nothing Ash, I'm just teasing Misty." Bandit said, standing up. Ash noticed the ring. "Hey, man, what's with the ring?" Bandit grinned "I was thinking of giving it to you so you could propose to Misty." Ash blushed and lowered his head. "He's joking Ash, that ring is a family heirloom." Misty said quickly, putting away her mallet Bandit laughed and tucked away the ring and his Katana, Shadowblade, then he realized Misty had put away her mallet, and he watched to see where she kept it hidden for future warning that she was pulling it out, this was as big a Mystery as Brock's eyes, if he has any at all. (Brock looks irritated) Don't mess with me Brock, I am the Writer, don't make me use my powers on you. (Brock stops looking irritated)
Mrs. Ketchum came into the kitchen. "Oh, Robert and Ash, there you are, there are a couple of strange looking people who want to see you two outside." "Thanks, Delia, c'mon, Ash, let's see what's up." Ash & Bandit walked out of the room. "I'd better see what these people want with Satoshi-chan." Misty said, uncommonly using Ash's Japanese name. She and Mrs. Ketchum followed Ash & Bandit as they went outside to find a couple of piratey looking people, one of them was that looser Ash beat in Pokemon the First Movie, the other one was a female, she was wearing the same pants as her comrade, but was wearing a silk shirt, but had the same bandanna and an eyepatch.
"There you are, Mcgee, and you must be Ketchum." said the female pirate. "Yeah, that's Ash Ketchum, sis." said the male pirate, whom Ash recognized. "My brother, Thorn, wants a rematch with you, Ketchum, and I've been looking forward to a match with you Mcgee." Thorn, if that was his name, sweatdropped. "Felicia, I can challenge for a rematch myself." "Chill, Thorn, they are the enemy, so do you guys accept or yield?" Ash grinned "all right, I'll beat ya one more time but that's it." Bandit smiled and added "Felicia, I accept your challenge that is no challenge." Bandit had heard about how easily Ash had taken down the pirate guy last time, but had no intention of underestimating either one, no matter how confident he sounded. "So who starts?" Thorn asked, to which Bandit replied "You should be a gentlemen and let the lady go first." Thorn replied "But I'm not a gentlemen, and Felicia's not a lady." as he stepped forward. "Hey!" said Felicia. Ignoring Felicia, Thorn threw a Pokeball, out popped a Donphan, Ash responded by summoning Bulbasaur. Donphan started with a rollout attack, remembering that Donphan is a ground type, Ash called for a Razor Leaf, badly weakened by the attack, Donphan picked itself up and was immediately taken out by a Solar Beam. "Wow, Bulbasaur charged that Solar Beam up fast! Ash must have been training him!" Misty exclaimed, Ash grinned "Misty, I don't goof off in ALL my spare time, ya know." "No, I didn't know that, Ash." Misty joked, Ash smiled mysteriously "There are a few things about me even YOU don't know, Misty." Misty blinked, wondering what Ash meant by that, wondering and hoping...
Ash's attention was diverted back to the match as Thorn called out his Machamp, having already recalled Donphan, Ash, trusting Bulbasaur but not wanting to push him, called "Bulbasaur! Can you handle another fight?" ::No problem, Ash!:: Bulbasaur said, grinning confidently. Machamp charged as Thorn called out "Machamp! Karate Chop!" Machamp unleashed his Karate Chop attack, but Ash, once more a step ahead of his inferior adversary, called "Bulbasaur! grab Machamp's hands with your Vine Whip!" Bulbasaur's vines snaked out and grabbed Machamp's wrists, holding him in place, Machamp struggled, but surprisingly couldn't break free, and was too far away to use his free hands. "Bulbasaur, go for another Solar Beam!" Point Blank, Machamp couldn't stay conscious in the midst of the Solar Beam,, Thorn was very red in the face as he recalled Machamp. "Way to go, Ash!" Mrs. Ketchum and Misty cheered together, Bandit smiled proudly. "Ash has trained well, someday he shall replace me as the World's Supreme Pokemon Grand Master."
Thorn, now looking extremely angry, chose his next Pokemon, a Golem. Ash responded by recalling Bulbasaur and sending out Cyndiquil. "A fire type against a rock type!?" demanded Felicia. "I hope Ash knows what he's doing." Mrs. Ketchum said worriedly, Misty's smile became broader and she said. "He does, I know Ash, whenever he gets that look he's got right now, it means he's got something up his sleeve." Ash did, Cyndiquil used her suburb agility to dodge Golem's clumsy attacks, then powered up a tremendous flamethrower that set Golem on fire, after a minute of more clumsy attacks, Golem simply passed out from the heat.
Writer's Note: I don't know if Cyndiquil is male or female, I have Cyndiquil as a female because in the Anime, it SOUNDS female, but I could be wrong
Thorn recalled Golem and without thinking, sent out a Venomoth "Moth!" cried the Venomoth in terror, it tried a Stun Spore, but Cyndiquil fried the attack AND Venomoth. Ash recalled Cyndiquil and sent out Heracross to deal with Pinsir, the two got into a grappling match, which Heracross won easily, and finished the match with a Horn Flip, with Pinsir out cold, Heracross jumped on a tree and started sucking on the sap (Ash sweatdrops) "Okay, in that case, I'll just use another Pokemon, take a break Heracross!" Ash said "Cross!" Heracross replied. Thorn now sent out a Chikorita, so Ash countered with his own Chikorita, who immediately jumped into Ash's arms for a hug. "What's with Chikorita?" Mrs. Ketchum wondered, Misty explained "Chikorita, for some odd reason, has a crush on Ash." "Huh?" Mrs. Ketchum wondered, she looked back over at Ash, who was talking to Chikorita. "Chikorita, I know you can beat that other Chikorita, I have faith in you, just do your best, all right?" "Chika!" Chikorita agreed, happily, she jumped to the ground, and faced off against the other Chikorita, at superior levels, with better training, and higher loyalty, Ash's Chikorita won easily.
"Thorn has no more Pokemon, victory to Ash!" Bandit announced, Thorn recalled his beaten Chikorita and stomped over to a rock where he huffily sat down. "Okay, Mcgee, it's you and me now!" Felicia announced as Chikorita jumped back into Ash's arms for a hug, Ash grinned sheepishly and stepped turned to watch Bandit vs Felicia. "For my first Pokemon, I choose Gyarados!" Felicia unleashed her Gyarados, who was covered with scars and looked extremely mean. "Okay, Ninetails, go!" Bandit's Ninetails was undoubtedly the most beautiful in the world, and the most powerful. "Gyarados! Use your Hydro Pump!" A powerful cascade of water shot from Gyarados straight at Ninetails. "Ninetails! Reflect now!" The Hydro Pump shattered before it touch Ninetails. Flustered, Felicia yelled "Gyarados! Use Dragon Rage!" One step ahead of her, Bandit responded "Ninetails! Confuse Ray Now!" Gyarados suddenly looked confused, it spun itself into a Dragon Rage, sailed through the air, and crashed to the ground and lay there, stunned. "Ninetails, time to surround Gyarados with a Fire Spin."
Ninetail's Fire Spin surrounded Gyarados, even being part water and with his steel like scales, Gyarados couldn't stay conscious from the intense heat from the Fire Spin of Bandit Mcgee's Ninetails. Felicia recalled her now unconscious Gyarados and sent out a Golem, Bandit responded by recalling Ninetails and sending out his Persian. "Golem! Tackle Attack!" Felicia called "Persian! Fury Swipes!" Golem charged, but was no match for this particular Persian's super sharp claws, weakened, Golem was caught off guard by a Water Gun/Thunderbolt attack that left him unconscious. "Wow, and I thought Ash ended his match fast!" Misty exclaimed. "This fight isn't over yet! Hitmonchan, go!" Bandit responded this time with Exeggutor. "Grass types are weak against fire, Hitmonchan, Fire Punch!" To Felicia's surprise, Exeggutor was not even fazed by the attack. "A low level Hitmonchan, no point in dragging this out, Exeggutor, focus a Psybeam!" A strange glowing burst of energy shot from Exeggutor's eyes and knocked Hitmonchan flat, the dazed fighting type struggled to it's feet. "Not bad, especially since that attack did double damage, okay Exeggutor, finish it with a stomp!" faster than anyone believed and Exeggutor could move, Exeggutor jumped forward and stomped on Hitmonchan's head, knocking him out. Felicia recalled Hitmonchan and Bandit recalled Exeggutor. "Why does Bandit switch Pokemon after every round like that?" Misty wondered. "It's his style of exercising all his Pokemon." Ash explained as he tried to ignore Chikorita's snuggling. Bandit sent out his Mr. Mime as Felicia this time summoned a Beedrill. "Bandit has type's advantage," Misty observed "He'll win real fast this time." Ash shook his head. "He'll drag this out before a really dramatic finish, I almost feel sorry for that Beedrill, but Bandit won't hurt it TOO much." "Beedrill! Against a Psychic type use your Pin Missiles!" "Mime! block those missiles with your Double Slap now!" Mr. Mime easily blocked the Pin Missiles, flustered, Felicia ordered a Twin Needle, Bandit responded by calling for a Substitute, the clone easily dodged the attack while the real Mime, at Bandit's command, shocked (sorry :) ) everybody by hitting Beedrill with a Thunderbolt. "I didn't know that Mimes could use electric attacks!" Misty and Ash said together, what FELICIA said cannot be repeated here. Dazed, Beedrill floated aimlessly, and was unable to dodge the upcoming Mega Punch, which caused it to faint.
Clearly enraged and obviously not concentrating, Felicia choose Flareon to battle next, Bandit recalled Mr. Mime and grinned at Felicia. "I have just the Pokemon to battle here, (Throws a Pokeball) Kabutops! I choose you!" "Kabutops!" announced Bandit's Kabutops, glaring at Flareon. "Dodge this, mantis-head! Flareon! Flamethrower now!" Kabutops calmly stood there in the face of the Flamethrower and didn't even flinch. Once the attack finished, Bandit called "We'll give you another free turn, go ahead." Felicia thought and called for a Fire Blast, which didn't effect Kabutops at all. "Okay, that's two, we'll give you one more free shot, and then Flareon goes down." Felicia decided that a Poison Smog would be the best attack, but as the smog filled the area, Bandit said "Strike three, Flareon is out, Kabutops! Skull Bash Attack!" Kabutops charged through the Poison Smog, apparently unaffected, and slammed Flareon backwards, then followed up with a Sword Dance to clear the smog. "I think you should know that Kabutops here is a part Rock/Water hybrid, he's immune to fire and highly resistant to poison." to everybody's surprise, Flareon stood up, bruised, but still standing. "I trained Flareon to be highly resistant to any type of physical attack, even ground and rock attacks! What are ya gonna do?" Bandit grinned and said 4 words: "Improvise, Kabutops! Hydro Pump!" Needless to say, Flareon was out of the fight after that.
Felicia's final Pokemon was Blastoise, Bandit chose to go with: "Charizard! I choose you!" Bandit's Charizard was impressive, 6 feet tall and with numerous battle scars and firm muscles, the tail flame was a bit larger than the average Charizard. "Blastoise! Take Down attack!" was Felicia's plan of attack, Bandit responded. "Show your strength Charizard!" Charizard reached up and caught both of Blastoise's claws in his own, Blastoise couldn't break free! "Charizard, hmmm, use Mega Punch." Charizard's Mega Punch sent Blastoise sailing, when he returned, he didn't look like he could take another attack. "Blastoise! Hang in there! Use Body Slam!" Blastoise charged, albeit a bit sluggishly, but Bandit knew what to do. "Charizard, Mega Kick." Bandit's Charizard's Mega Kick was a flying drop-kick that sent Blastoise through a nearby tree.
Writer's Note: I was going to send Blastoise through the wall of a nearby house, but I didn't want to get Bandit involved with property damage, the Dark Network could pay for it, but I have other things for Bandit to do
Bandit: Like what?
Writer: Umm, like, ummm, training Ash before lunch!
Bandit: Oh, okay, cool (Says it like Donkey)
"All 6 of Felicia's Pokemon have fainted, victory to Bandit!" Ash announced, Felicia recalled her beaten Blastoise and the two pirates stomped off. "Congratulations, both of you!" Mrs. Ketchum said, Misty added "Yet another victory for you, Bandit, Ash you were fantastic!" Ash suddenly had a warm glow. Bandit stepped forward and spoke briefly to Ash, Ash nodded and said. "Bandit and I are going off for a while, we'll be back in time for lunch." The two trekked off into the woods, Misty started off after them but Bandit waved her back. Misty returned to the house, disappointed. Inside she glanced at the clock, 9:00, it was nearing 11:30 when Misty decided to look for Ash & Bandit. She trekked through the woods for 10 minutes before she heard voices. "Oof! Ow!" that sounded like Ash. "Ash, give it up, you're no weakling, but you're still no where near strong enough to take me down." "Who says I'm trying to take you down?" Misty hurried in the direction of the apparent scuffle, when on a nearby log she noticed a Pokemon League Hat and a pair of green knuckle gloves, curious, she picked them up, they were Ash's, she also noticed Bandit's duster coat on a nearby tree, she didn't touch that, she instead peered around the corner of the outcropping of a huge rock. Bulbasaur and Squirtle were engaged in some sort of head butting match, Heracross was sneaking up on Bulbasaur as Cyndiquil trained with Totodile. But what startled Misty the most was that Ash, shirtless and without his jacket has hid arms around Bandit's waist and with a lot of frustrated yelling, was apparently trying to wrestle Bandit to the ground, and not having any luck, finally Ash stepped back, the sight of his chest making Misty blush, and said "You're just toying with me, aren't you?" Bandit smiled and replied "I just want you to feel you're doing well." Then he stepped forward and gave Ash a shove that from Bandit's perspective was light, but from Ash's perspective was like getting tackled by a football lineman, he crashed to the ground, winded, Misty felt a brief surge of anger, then Bandit said: "Ash, your opponent could use a surprise attack like than at any time, you've can't let your guard down." "A valuable lesson, albeit a painful one." Ash replied as he climbed to his feet. Bandit darted forward with what looked like a punch, Ash flinched back but it was only a feint. "A fake out, Ash, some trainers use that, ya gotta be ready." "I will be." Ash replied confidently. Misty decided it was time to take them back for lunch. "Ash? Bandit?" She lowered her voice to make it sound like she was farther away, she heard Ash say: "Yipes! Misty's coming! Where's my shirt!?" Misty didn't catch Bandit's reply, she rounded the corner as Ash was putting on his jacket, Misty blushed when she saw that Ash had his jacket but not his shirt, despite her embarrassment, she noticed Bandit, who wasn't wearing his Duster Coat, had his hands behind his back and a sinister smirk on his face. "Uh, hi, Misty, what's up?" Ash asked, trying to sound casual, though he clearly was embarrassed. "Uh, it's almost lunchtime." Misty said, Ash sighed and said. "I'll go just as soon as I find my shirt." Suddenly Bandit pulled his hands out from behind his back, in his hands was Ash's shirt. "Will you look at that! I had it the whole time!" he said, with feigned innocence. "You did that on purpose so Misty would see me like this!!" Ash fumed. Bandit's grin became larger. "Ain't I a stinker?" he said as Ash put his shirt on, then remembered his was still wearing his jacket, flustered he rearranged his shirt and jacket, then accepted his gloves and hat from Misty, whose face was as red as Ash's. Ash recalled his Pokemon, Bandit retrieved his coat, and the three hiked back to the house, where Chinese food was waiting. Misty was deeply engrossed in her's, and enjoying the chopsticks, when she noticed Ash was deep in concentration as he fiddled with his chopsticks, they kept squirting out from between his fingers, and he would catch them, it was almost like he was trying to flip a quarter between his knuckles. "Still haven't mastered those chopsticks, huh Ash?" Misty asked, she was hoping to help him learn, by holding his hand (with her own) to position it correctly. Ash looked up at Misty with one eyebrow raised, a trick Misty had never mastered, and said. "Mastered? No." Misty was about to offer her help when Ash suddenly pulled out the chopsticks in an impossible position between his fingers, with all of the food from the container between them in a neat stack and added "Perfected? Yes." "Wow! Nobody can do that!" cried Misty as she turned to Bandit, who glanced at Ash and, grinning, said "That's ma boy! Taught him everything he know!" Bandit then pulled the same trick that Ash had just pulled off, Misty's jaw hit the floor. Ash & Bandit laughed, along with Brock & Mrs. Ketchum
Writer's Note: (Through a mouthful of Moo Moo Gai Pan) I know, I know, Brock usually cooks, but he took the afternoon off so I could amaze Misty with Ash's chopsticks skills, (swallows and reaches for the soy sauce) check out what happens next...(Eyes fortune cookie)
Misty felt jealous, Ash could tell so he walked over and guided Misty's fingers, naturally Misty was paying more attention to Ash's fingers wrapped around her own, but after 10 minutes, she "perfected" the chopsticks, when they were done, they opened their fortune cookies. Ash's said "You are about to embark on an incredible journey" Misty's read "Act soon, or your love life could be in jeopardy" Bandit's read "You have impressive leadership abilities, use them wisely" Mrs. Ketchum's read "There is a gardening show, coming soon, enter it!" Pikachu's read "Let up on the Ketchup, you never know when you won't be able to get any" (Pikachu sweatdrops) Brock's read "Change your style, or you'll never get a girlfriend."
The crew puzzled over their fortunes, unaware of the tall figure staring through the window. "Poor mortals" the figure thought "They have no idea of the suffering they are about to go through." The figure's unseen eyes looked up at the darkening sky, darkening at 1:00 in the afternoon...
Well, that's part one! How do you like it so far? I'm setting up the characters, so please be patient with me! The other characters will show up soon enough, so please give me feedback!
Characters:
Ash, Misty, Brock, Tracey, Gary, Mewtwo, Richie, Casey, Todd, Duplica, Jeannette, Throttle, Bandit, Mrs. Ketchum, Pikachu, Togepi, Beyonder, Orcus, The Vile 13
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, I wish I did, but I don't, I do own the Vile 13, Orcus however, is not mine, he is from Dungeons & Dragons, it took and enormous bribe and a pudgey maid of honor to convince the Black Prince to help with my fic by being the villian, the Raven is me, and the Beyonder is my loyal servant, don't use him, or Bandit or Throttle, either. They are mine
Chapter 1:
It was a quite day in Pallet Town, although it wouldn't be soon, in less than an hour in fact. Inside a particular house there were 4 "PIKA!" "TOGI!" sorry, 6 residents, heh-heh, 4 shared one bedroom, Ash Ketchum, Pallet Town's finest trainer, Misty Waterflower, Ash's best human friend, born in Cerulean City, Pikachu, Ash's first Pokemon and his best friend, Togepi, a baby egg Pokemon who believes Misty is it's mother
At the moment, Misty was peering down from the top bunk, giving Ash the same fond, loving look she had given him every morning before he woke up, they had known each other for 3 years, and although it had been rocky at first, they had after about a month, become friends, Misty had some time after that developed feelings for Ash, feelings she never admitted to anyone except Togepi, Misty's routine was the same, give Ash a fond look, swing down from her bed, touch Ash's cheek, wake him up. This morning would be different.
Misty swung her feet over the side of the bed, unaware that Ash had just woken up. "Hey! Get your dopey feet out of my face!" Furious, Misty pulled her feet back up and leaned down until her face was an inch from Ash's "My feet are NOT dopey, and they're NOT in your face!" Ash was madder than before. "Get your dopey face out of my face!" Ash was certainly cranky this morning. "Ooh, just for that Ash Ketchum!" Misty snapped, she grabbed her towel and dashed to the bathroom, Ash was on her heels. "GET BACK HERE MISTY, I'M NOT THROUGH WITH YOU YET!!" Misty ducked into the bathroom and slammed the door, Ash slammed his face into the door, that hurt. "MISTY!!" Ash yelled, grabbing the doorknob. "OPEN THIS DOOR OR THEY'LL NEVER FIND YOUR REMAINS!!" "Catch me!" Misty taunted as she began her morning preening, which Ash knew would take awhile, to say the least
"Scrawny!"
"Twerp!"
"Perfume Breath!"
"Peabrain!"
Downstairs in the kitchen, Brock was pouring Mrs. Delia Ketchum, Ash's very loving mother, a cup of coffee, her room was on the top floor, Ash & Misty's in the middle, Brock's on the ground floor. Mrs. Ketchum looked up at the ceiling as she heard Ash & Misty screaming at each other, Brock grinned, "Ash & Misty are awake" he observed. Mrs. Ketchum looked worried "Doesn't it worry you when they fight like that?" she asked, Brock shook his head "They do this all the time, it's their way of showing deep, intimate friendship, despite their bickering, they are best friends." Mrs. Ketchum sighed, she knew not to press the issue, last time she had begged Brock to stop the fighting and he simply replied "That'd be like trying to stop the tide, just let them fight it out, they'll run out of insults soon."
Meanwhile, back upstairs...
Ash was muttering several words under his breath that he never would have dared to say in front of his mother, Pikachu & Togepi, awakened by the fighting, headed to the bathroom where Ash was wrestling with the doorknob, on the other side, they could hear Misty singing, this only seemed to enrage Ash further, Pikachu was startled when he heard what Ash was saying (Remember, he's got GREAT hearing) ::Ash! You should be a gentlemen and let the lady go first!:: Pikachu scolded. "I'm no gentlemen, and Misty's no lady!" Ash retorted, he turned around and started to slam his shoulder into the door, but at that moment, Misty opened it, Ash fell to the floor and Misty, in her bathrobe, stepped over him. "Hi, Pikachu, good morning Togepi!" ::Morning Misty!/Mommy!:: Pikachu and Togepi said respectively. "Bathroom's all yours, Ash! By the way, good morning!" Misty said, sounding cheerful, Ash looked up to retort, than paused, Misty had her hair down, he loved it when she did that, it was her personality he was in love with, but that only seemed to enhance her outer beauty. "Morning Misty." Ash said, and stepped into the bathroom. Misty headed back to the room she and Ash shared to change, Pikachu and Togepi went downstairs, where Brock was making pancakes, sausages, eggs, and bacon, Pikachu naturally had all of his smothered in ketchup.
In the bathroom, Ash combed his hair and took care of some other business, as he sat there, he thought "I suppose I overreacted earlier, I oughtta apologize to Misty." He further devined his feelings. "God, how can I ever admit to Misty how I really feel about her? Why does love have such a strong hold on people? Why can't I ever keep my temper with Misty? Why am I talking to myself in the bathroom?" He left the bathroom and casually headed downstairs to the kitchen where he found the others enjoying breakfast, although Pikachu seemed completely absorbed in his bottle of ketchup. "Morning, honey, did you sleep well?" "I slept fine, than I woke up to Misty's feet in my face, speaking of which, sorry I yelled like that Misty, I was surprised and trying to save face." Misty shook her head. "You couldn't save THAT face if your life depended on it" Ash frowned and thought of something really mean to say, than decided not to say it, Misty had saved his life before, you cut a person a lot of slack when they've saved your life. Instead he decided upon. "I'm in too good a mood to get worked up now, maybe later, huh?" "Hows 1:30?" "Sounds good." "Cool, now that we're through being made at each other for the morning, have some egg- oh, Pikachu ate them all." ::I got the recipe from Mimi Tachigawa from Digimon:: Pikachu said. (Ash sweatdrops and translates the message, everybody else sweatdrops except Togepi)
The peaceful morning was again interrupted as a man came dashing into the kitchen, he was burly, 6.6 at the least, and had to weigh 260 at least, he was followed closely by a smaller man, this one was about 6 feet, and didn't look to weigh more than 210, the smaller guy slammed into the larger guy, knocked him to the floor, and put him in a painful looking arm drag. Two other guys charged into the room, both carrying plasma rifles, they quickly apprehended the larger man, putting him in powerful looking restraints. The big guy unleashed a flurry of cuss words, his smaller assailant cuffed him, somewhat gently, in the mouth and said. "Watch the language, there are children present." He smiled in greeting at Ash and his company and the two plasma rifle carriers marched out the captive, informing him of his rights. "Morning everyone!" The dude was dressed in black from neck to toe, a black sleeveless turtleneck under a black duster coat, black sweatpants, a Black Martial Arts belt, and black boots, complete with black gloves and a black headband. "Hey Bandit!" Ash, Misty, & Brock said together, "Good morning, Robert!" Mrs. Ketchum said, smiling. ::Wassup!:: Pikachu and Togepi said together. (Misty sweatdrops) "Togepi, where did you learn to talk like that!?" Misty demanded. ::From Uncle Pika!:: (Pikachu puts his paw behind his head) ::Heh-Heh::
"Join us! There's plenty!" Brock invited, waving his hand at the table, Bandit smiled "Love to, but I've got this craving for ketchup, and I don't think Pikachu would approve." ::Nobody touches my ketchup but me!:: Pikachu agreed
"At least talk to us!" Ash pleaded "We haven't seen you since you cracked that Pokemon smuggling ring!" Bandit sat down and explained. "We're just picking up some stragglers, That's the 5th one today, the 16th this week! The Leader of Team Rocket sure was unhappy!" Everyone laughed, Bandit was the second in command officer of the Dark Network, a mysterious Law Enforcement agency, everyone agreed they had strange methods, but also agreed Bandit had done more for the company than any other member, he was also the world's best known Pokemon Grand Master, having already made mincemeat out of the Elite 4 and also having won every known league.
"So, did you break your record?" Misty asked, sipping her coffee. Bandit shook his head. "No, that one was a fast runner, took me 5 minutes." "5 times more than your record, that Kanob guy only took a minute." Ash said as he wrestled Pikachu for the ketchup, which proved to be a mistake. Bandit nodded "He was the only one who stood to fight, everyone else ran." Misty grinned slyly and added "The fact that Bandit sliced Kanob's hand off with that Katana of his may have had something to do with Kanob's surrender, and that no one wants to fight." Bandit took a drink from a Mountain Dew no one had seen him produce and replied "That was an accident, he threw sand in my face, I only meant to disarm him."
"You DID disarm him, or should I say, de-handed him!" Ash joked. Bandit glared at him playfully. "Don't be a smart aleck, Ash, it's not good for your health." Ash laughed "Don't I know it, I get that all the time from Misty, (Misty smacks him) Ow!" "Children, children, no violence at the breakfast table." Mrs. Ketchum said calmly, she was used to this, Misty had done it before, but neither she nor Ash ever indicated a dent in their friendship, in fact, according to Brock, this was their way of being affectionate.
"All the same, that seemed to intimidate the rest of them into running," Brock said "knowing their fiercest warrior was so easily "disarmed" hurt their moral." Bandit sighed and said "I'm never going to hear the end of this, am I? I told you, I was swinging the blade toward his plasma rifle, intending to knock it out of his hand, when he threw that fistful of sand in my eyes, I managed to dodge the sand, but that threw my aim off, and unfortunately, not my momentum."
Ash and his motley crew finished breakfast, Bandit did the dishes, showing off his excellent athletic ability. Misty decided to try to make Ash jealous, she whispered, so Ash could hear. "He's good! And cute." Ash frowned but pretended not to hear her, Bandit, whose suburb hearing had caught the remark, smiled thinking. "Misty tries so hard to flirt with Ash, but he's clueless. Hmm maybe I can use my "connections" to get myself invited to a dinner where I can bring 3 guests, Ash, Misty, and Aeris. We can leave them alone in a romantic atmosphere, Ash can be a baka but he's not insensitive, and, maybe I'll admit to Aeris about my feelings for her." Bandit suddenly felt weak at the thought of his trusty assistant, a girl he had known since her birth when he turned 2, their birthdays were on the same day and their families always celebrated together. He had thought of Aeris as a sister since he was 4, loved her since he was 13, and unable to think of anything else since he was 17. He knew he was as passionate about Aeris as Ash was about Misty, maybe just not as deserving. "Although peaceful by nature, I'm more willing to resort to violence, I've cut people's hands off, I've pulled the trigger on my plasma rifle, then there is the famous "Trollman Incident", some pacifist I am, I am a warrior, what could a gentle person like Aeris see in me?" Bandit sighed and pulled out his family ring, for the past 5 generations, the Mcgee men had used it to propose to their lovers, Bandit's own father, Thomas, had used it to propose to Bandit's mother, Linda, and he, Bandit, was hoping someday to propose to Aeris with it.
"Nice ring!" Came Misty's voice, she was peering around his bicep, since he was too tall for her to look over his shoulder. Bandit snapped the case shut, blushing, and slipped the case back into his pocket. Thanks, family heirloom." Misty smiled "Ya gonna propose to someone? It was in a case like they always are when a guy proposes." "Great" thought Bandit, more embarrassed than before "Trust a romantic to know THAT." Thinking quickly, Bandit replied "Actually I was thinking of giving it to Ash so he could propose to you." Misty's face turned the color of her hair, pressing his advantage, Bandit continued to tease the redhead. "C'mon, Misty, everyone thinks you two would make a perfect couple." Misty turned even redder and said "One more word, Mcgee, third times the charm..." "Maybe I should propose for him." before Misty could object, Bandit got down on one knee, held out the once again open ring container and said "Misty Waterflower, will you marry Ash Ketchum?" In her mind Misty thought "Yes! Yes I will!" outside she indicated her obvious anger, furious she brought out her mallet and swung it, with reflexes born of the Martial Arts, Bandit whipped out his Katana, and pressing the flat side against his arm, blocked the attack. "Where does she keep that thing, anyway?" glancing suspiciously at Misty's pockets he thought "Those pockets must be much deeper than they look." Outloud he grinned at Misty's amazed expression and said "Reflexes born of the Martial Arts." Misty shook her head in disgust.
"What's going on?" Ash walked in, looking curious. "Nothing Ash, I'm just teasing Misty." Bandit said, standing up. Ash noticed the ring. "Hey, man, what's with the ring?" Bandit grinned "I was thinking of giving it to you so you could propose to Misty." Ash blushed and lowered his head. "He's joking Ash, that ring is a family heirloom." Misty said quickly, putting away her mallet Bandit laughed and tucked away the ring and his Katana, Shadowblade, then he realized Misty had put away her mallet, and he watched to see where she kept it hidden for future warning that she was pulling it out, this was as big a Mystery as Brock's eyes, if he has any at all. (Brock looks irritated) Don't mess with me Brock, I am the Writer, don't make me use my powers on you. (Brock stops looking irritated)
Mrs. Ketchum came into the kitchen. "Oh, Robert and Ash, there you are, there are a couple of strange looking people who want to see you two outside." "Thanks, Delia, c'mon, Ash, let's see what's up." Ash & Bandit walked out of the room. "I'd better see what these people want with Satoshi-chan." Misty said, uncommonly using Ash's Japanese name. She and Mrs. Ketchum followed Ash & Bandit as they went outside to find a couple of piratey looking people, one of them was that looser Ash beat in Pokemon the First Movie, the other one was a female, she was wearing the same pants as her comrade, but was wearing a silk shirt, but had the same bandanna and an eyepatch.
"There you are, Mcgee, and you must be Ketchum." said the female pirate. "Yeah, that's Ash Ketchum, sis." said the male pirate, whom Ash recognized. "My brother, Thorn, wants a rematch with you, Ketchum, and I've been looking forward to a match with you Mcgee." Thorn, if that was his name, sweatdropped. "Felicia, I can challenge for a rematch myself." "Chill, Thorn, they are the enemy, so do you guys accept or yield?" Ash grinned "all right, I'll beat ya one more time but that's it." Bandit smiled and added "Felicia, I accept your challenge that is no challenge." Bandit had heard about how easily Ash had taken down the pirate guy last time, but had no intention of underestimating either one, no matter how confident he sounded. "So who starts?" Thorn asked, to which Bandit replied "You should be a gentlemen and let the lady go first." Thorn replied "But I'm not a gentlemen, and Felicia's not a lady." as he stepped forward. "Hey!" said Felicia. Ignoring Felicia, Thorn threw a Pokeball, out popped a Donphan, Ash responded by summoning Bulbasaur. Donphan started with a rollout attack, remembering that Donphan is a ground type, Ash called for a Razor Leaf, badly weakened by the attack, Donphan picked itself up and was immediately taken out by a Solar Beam. "Wow, Bulbasaur charged that Solar Beam up fast! Ash must have been training him!" Misty exclaimed, Ash grinned "Misty, I don't goof off in ALL my spare time, ya know." "No, I didn't know that, Ash." Misty joked, Ash smiled mysteriously "There are a few things about me even YOU don't know, Misty." Misty blinked, wondering what Ash meant by that, wondering and hoping...
Ash's attention was diverted back to the match as Thorn called out his Machamp, having already recalled Donphan, Ash, trusting Bulbasaur but not wanting to push him, called "Bulbasaur! Can you handle another fight?" ::No problem, Ash!:: Bulbasaur said, grinning confidently. Machamp charged as Thorn called out "Machamp! Karate Chop!" Machamp unleashed his Karate Chop attack, but Ash, once more a step ahead of his inferior adversary, called "Bulbasaur! grab Machamp's hands with your Vine Whip!" Bulbasaur's vines snaked out and grabbed Machamp's wrists, holding him in place, Machamp struggled, but surprisingly couldn't break free, and was too far away to use his free hands. "Bulbasaur, go for another Solar Beam!" Point Blank, Machamp couldn't stay conscious in the midst of the Solar Beam,, Thorn was very red in the face as he recalled Machamp. "Way to go, Ash!" Mrs. Ketchum and Misty cheered together, Bandit smiled proudly. "Ash has trained well, someday he shall replace me as the World's Supreme Pokemon Grand Master."
Thorn, now looking extremely angry, chose his next Pokemon, a Golem. Ash responded by recalling Bulbasaur and sending out Cyndiquil. "A fire type against a rock type!?" demanded Felicia. "I hope Ash knows what he's doing." Mrs. Ketchum said worriedly, Misty's smile became broader and she said. "He does, I know Ash, whenever he gets that look he's got right now, it means he's got something up his sleeve." Ash did, Cyndiquil used her suburb agility to dodge Golem's clumsy attacks, then powered up a tremendous flamethrower that set Golem on fire, after a minute of more clumsy attacks, Golem simply passed out from the heat.
Writer's Note: I don't know if Cyndiquil is male or female, I have Cyndiquil as a female because in the Anime, it SOUNDS female, but I could be wrong
Thorn recalled Golem and without thinking, sent out a Venomoth "Moth!" cried the Venomoth in terror, it tried a Stun Spore, but Cyndiquil fried the attack AND Venomoth. Ash recalled Cyndiquil and sent out Heracross to deal with Pinsir, the two got into a grappling match, which Heracross won easily, and finished the match with a Horn Flip, with Pinsir out cold, Heracross jumped on a tree and started sucking on the sap (Ash sweatdrops) "Okay, in that case, I'll just use another Pokemon, take a break Heracross!" Ash said "Cross!" Heracross replied. Thorn now sent out a Chikorita, so Ash countered with his own Chikorita, who immediately jumped into Ash's arms for a hug. "What's with Chikorita?" Mrs. Ketchum wondered, Misty explained "Chikorita, for some odd reason, has a crush on Ash." "Huh?" Mrs. Ketchum wondered, she looked back over at Ash, who was talking to Chikorita. "Chikorita, I know you can beat that other Chikorita, I have faith in you, just do your best, all right?" "Chika!" Chikorita agreed, happily, she jumped to the ground, and faced off against the other Chikorita, at superior levels, with better training, and higher loyalty, Ash's Chikorita won easily.
"Thorn has no more Pokemon, victory to Ash!" Bandit announced, Thorn recalled his beaten Chikorita and stomped over to a rock where he huffily sat down. "Okay, Mcgee, it's you and me now!" Felicia announced as Chikorita jumped back into Ash's arms for a hug, Ash grinned sheepishly and stepped turned to watch Bandit vs Felicia. "For my first Pokemon, I choose Gyarados!" Felicia unleashed her Gyarados, who was covered with scars and looked extremely mean. "Okay, Ninetails, go!" Bandit's Ninetails was undoubtedly the most beautiful in the world, and the most powerful. "Gyarados! Use your Hydro Pump!" A powerful cascade of water shot from Gyarados straight at Ninetails. "Ninetails! Reflect now!" The Hydro Pump shattered before it touch Ninetails. Flustered, Felicia yelled "Gyarados! Use Dragon Rage!" One step ahead of her, Bandit responded "Ninetails! Confuse Ray Now!" Gyarados suddenly looked confused, it spun itself into a Dragon Rage, sailed through the air, and crashed to the ground and lay there, stunned. "Ninetails, time to surround Gyarados with a Fire Spin."
Ninetail's Fire Spin surrounded Gyarados, even being part water and with his steel like scales, Gyarados couldn't stay conscious from the intense heat from the Fire Spin of Bandit Mcgee's Ninetails. Felicia recalled her now unconscious Gyarados and sent out a Golem, Bandit responded by recalling Ninetails and sending out his Persian. "Golem! Tackle Attack!" Felicia called "Persian! Fury Swipes!" Golem charged, but was no match for this particular Persian's super sharp claws, weakened, Golem was caught off guard by a Water Gun/Thunderbolt attack that left him unconscious. "Wow, and I thought Ash ended his match fast!" Misty exclaimed. "This fight isn't over yet! Hitmonchan, go!" Bandit responded this time with Exeggutor. "Grass types are weak against fire, Hitmonchan, Fire Punch!" To Felicia's surprise, Exeggutor was not even fazed by the attack. "A low level Hitmonchan, no point in dragging this out, Exeggutor, focus a Psybeam!" A strange glowing burst of energy shot from Exeggutor's eyes and knocked Hitmonchan flat, the dazed fighting type struggled to it's feet. "Not bad, especially since that attack did double damage, okay Exeggutor, finish it with a stomp!" faster than anyone believed and Exeggutor could move, Exeggutor jumped forward and stomped on Hitmonchan's head, knocking him out. Felicia recalled Hitmonchan and Bandit recalled Exeggutor. "Why does Bandit switch Pokemon after every round like that?" Misty wondered. "It's his style of exercising all his Pokemon." Ash explained as he tried to ignore Chikorita's snuggling. Bandit sent out his Mr. Mime as Felicia this time summoned a Beedrill. "Bandit has type's advantage," Misty observed "He'll win real fast this time." Ash shook his head. "He'll drag this out before a really dramatic finish, I almost feel sorry for that Beedrill, but Bandit won't hurt it TOO much." "Beedrill! Against a Psychic type use your Pin Missiles!" "Mime! block those missiles with your Double Slap now!" Mr. Mime easily blocked the Pin Missiles, flustered, Felicia ordered a Twin Needle, Bandit responded by calling for a Substitute, the clone easily dodged the attack while the real Mime, at Bandit's command, shocked (sorry :) ) everybody by hitting Beedrill with a Thunderbolt. "I didn't know that Mimes could use electric attacks!" Misty and Ash said together, what FELICIA said cannot be repeated here. Dazed, Beedrill floated aimlessly, and was unable to dodge the upcoming Mega Punch, which caused it to faint.
Clearly enraged and obviously not concentrating, Felicia choose Flareon to battle next, Bandit recalled Mr. Mime and grinned at Felicia. "I have just the Pokemon to battle here, (Throws a Pokeball) Kabutops! I choose you!" "Kabutops!" announced Bandit's Kabutops, glaring at Flareon. "Dodge this, mantis-head! Flareon! Flamethrower now!" Kabutops calmly stood there in the face of the Flamethrower and didn't even flinch. Once the attack finished, Bandit called "We'll give you another free turn, go ahead." Felicia thought and called for a Fire Blast, which didn't effect Kabutops at all. "Okay, that's two, we'll give you one more free shot, and then Flareon goes down." Felicia decided that a Poison Smog would be the best attack, but as the smog filled the area, Bandit said "Strike three, Flareon is out, Kabutops! Skull Bash Attack!" Kabutops charged through the Poison Smog, apparently unaffected, and slammed Flareon backwards, then followed up with a Sword Dance to clear the smog. "I think you should know that Kabutops here is a part Rock/Water hybrid, he's immune to fire and highly resistant to poison." to everybody's surprise, Flareon stood up, bruised, but still standing. "I trained Flareon to be highly resistant to any type of physical attack, even ground and rock attacks! What are ya gonna do?" Bandit grinned and said 4 words: "Improvise, Kabutops! Hydro Pump!" Needless to say, Flareon was out of the fight after that.
Felicia's final Pokemon was Blastoise, Bandit chose to go with: "Charizard! I choose you!" Bandit's Charizard was impressive, 6 feet tall and with numerous battle scars and firm muscles, the tail flame was a bit larger than the average Charizard. "Blastoise! Take Down attack!" was Felicia's plan of attack, Bandit responded. "Show your strength Charizard!" Charizard reached up and caught both of Blastoise's claws in his own, Blastoise couldn't break free! "Charizard, hmmm, use Mega Punch." Charizard's Mega Punch sent Blastoise sailing, when he returned, he didn't look like he could take another attack. "Blastoise! Hang in there! Use Body Slam!" Blastoise charged, albeit a bit sluggishly, but Bandit knew what to do. "Charizard, Mega Kick." Bandit's Charizard's Mega Kick was a flying drop-kick that sent Blastoise through a nearby tree.
Writer's Note: I was going to send Blastoise through the wall of a nearby house, but I didn't want to get Bandit involved with property damage, the Dark Network could pay for it, but I have other things for Bandit to do
Bandit: Like what?
Writer: Umm, like, ummm, training Ash before lunch!
Bandit: Oh, okay, cool (Says it like Donkey)
"All 6 of Felicia's Pokemon have fainted, victory to Bandit!" Ash announced, Felicia recalled her beaten Blastoise and the two pirates stomped off. "Congratulations, both of you!" Mrs. Ketchum said, Misty added "Yet another victory for you, Bandit, Ash you were fantastic!" Ash suddenly had a warm glow. Bandit stepped forward and spoke briefly to Ash, Ash nodded and said. "Bandit and I are going off for a while, we'll be back in time for lunch." The two trekked off into the woods, Misty started off after them but Bandit waved her back. Misty returned to the house, disappointed. Inside she glanced at the clock, 9:00, it was nearing 11:30 when Misty decided to look for Ash & Bandit. She trekked through the woods for 10 minutes before she heard voices. "Oof! Ow!" that sounded like Ash. "Ash, give it up, you're no weakling, but you're still no where near strong enough to take me down." "Who says I'm trying to take you down?" Misty hurried in the direction of the apparent scuffle, when on a nearby log she noticed a Pokemon League Hat and a pair of green knuckle gloves, curious, she picked them up, they were Ash's, she also noticed Bandit's duster coat on a nearby tree, she didn't touch that, she instead peered around the corner of the outcropping of a huge rock. Bulbasaur and Squirtle were engaged in some sort of head butting match, Heracross was sneaking up on Bulbasaur as Cyndiquil trained with Totodile. But what startled Misty the most was that Ash, shirtless and without his jacket has hid arms around Bandit's waist and with a lot of frustrated yelling, was apparently trying to wrestle Bandit to the ground, and not having any luck, finally Ash stepped back, the sight of his chest making Misty blush, and said "You're just toying with me, aren't you?" Bandit smiled and replied "I just want you to feel you're doing well." Then he stepped forward and gave Ash a shove that from Bandit's perspective was light, but from Ash's perspective was like getting tackled by a football lineman, he crashed to the ground, winded, Misty felt a brief surge of anger, then Bandit said: "Ash, your opponent could use a surprise attack like than at any time, you've can't let your guard down." "A valuable lesson, albeit a painful one." Ash replied as he climbed to his feet. Bandit darted forward with what looked like a punch, Ash flinched back but it was only a feint. "A fake out, Ash, some trainers use that, ya gotta be ready." "I will be." Ash replied confidently. Misty decided it was time to take them back for lunch. "Ash? Bandit?" She lowered her voice to make it sound like she was farther away, she heard Ash say: "Yipes! Misty's coming! Where's my shirt!?" Misty didn't catch Bandit's reply, she rounded the corner as Ash was putting on his jacket, Misty blushed when she saw that Ash had his jacket but not his shirt, despite her embarrassment, she noticed Bandit, who wasn't wearing his Duster Coat, had his hands behind his back and a sinister smirk on his face. "Uh, hi, Misty, what's up?" Ash asked, trying to sound casual, though he clearly was embarrassed. "Uh, it's almost lunchtime." Misty said, Ash sighed and said. "I'll go just as soon as I find my shirt." Suddenly Bandit pulled his hands out from behind his back, in his hands was Ash's shirt. "Will you look at that! I had it the whole time!" he said, with feigned innocence. "You did that on purpose so Misty would see me like this!!" Ash fumed. Bandit's grin became larger. "Ain't I a stinker?" he said as Ash put his shirt on, then remembered his was still wearing his jacket, flustered he rearranged his shirt and jacket, then accepted his gloves and hat from Misty, whose face was as red as Ash's. Ash recalled his Pokemon, Bandit retrieved his coat, and the three hiked back to the house, where Chinese food was waiting. Misty was deeply engrossed in her's, and enjoying the chopsticks, when she noticed Ash was deep in concentration as he fiddled with his chopsticks, they kept squirting out from between his fingers, and he would catch them, it was almost like he was trying to flip a quarter between his knuckles. "Still haven't mastered those chopsticks, huh Ash?" Misty asked, she was hoping to help him learn, by holding his hand (with her own) to position it correctly. Ash looked up at Misty with one eyebrow raised, a trick Misty had never mastered, and said. "Mastered? No." Misty was about to offer her help when Ash suddenly pulled out the chopsticks in an impossible position between his fingers, with all of the food from the container between them in a neat stack and added "Perfected? Yes." "Wow! Nobody can do that!" cried Misty as she turned to Bandit, who glanced at Ash and, grinning, said "That's ma boy! Taught him everything he know!" Bandit then pulled the same trick that Ash had just pulled off, Misty's jaw hit the floor. Ash & Bandit laughed, along with Brock & Mrs. Ketchum
Writer's Note: (Through a mouthful of Moo Moo Gai Pan) I know, I know, Brock usually cooks, but he took the afternoon off so I could amaze Misty with Ash's chopsticks skills, (swallows and reaches for the soy sauce) check out what happens next...(Eyes fortune cookie)
Misty felt jealous, Ash could tell so he walked over and guided Misty's fingers, naturally Misty was paying more attention to Ash's fingers wrapped around her own, but after 10 minutes, she "perfected" the chopsticks, when they were done, they opened their fortune cookies. Ash's said "You are about to embark on an incredible journey" Misty's read "Act soon, or your love life could be in jeopardy" Bandit's read "You have impressive leadership abilities, use them wisely" Mrs. Ketchum's read "There is a gardening show, coming soon, enter it!" Pikachu's read "Let up on the Ketchup, you never know when you won't be able to get any" (Pikachu sweatdrops) Brock's read "Change your style, or you'll never get a girlfriend."
The crew puzzled over their fortunes, unaware of the tall figure staring through the window. "Poor mortals" the figure thought "They have no idea of the suffering they are about to go through." The figure's unseen eyes looked up at the darkening sky, darkening at 1:00 in the afternoon...
Well, that's part one! How do you like it so far? I'm setting up the characters, so please be patient with me! The other characters will show up soon enough, so please give me feedback!
