The Thistles of Passage

Chapter One

Kendra was riding her bike through the Kanto Region when she saw a Voltorb and a Kingler battling. She got off her bike to watch, when a Typhlosion ran up and charcoaled her bike.

A trainer came forward, breathless.

"Is this your Typhlosion?" Kendra asked him.

"Yes."

"It just destroyed my bike."

"I know—but—"

"Cut!" the director said. "You are breathless. You cannot speak."

"I'm doing the best I can," the boy said.

"We have thirty-three takes to get this right. How Ash Met Misty is going to be a highly popular movie, but only if you do it well."

"I could do it better if I had a Pikachu," the boy said.

"This isn't supposed to be an exact biopic. It's a surprise biopic. No one expects Ash to have a Typhlosion…it's well known that his Quilava never evolved. And burning a bike is a lot less damaging to film equipment than electrifying it is. So you work with what we've got."

Kendra waited for the next take to begin. She was fifteen. Her character would be fifteen too, even though Ash had met Misty in real life when they were ten. Kanto's rules a hundred years before had permitted Trainers to obtain their licenses at ten years old, but later they altered it so that one had to wait until they were fourteen at the very least. The peremise of this film would be that Misty had had her license for a year but Ash would be delayed because he didn't make it to Professor Oak's laboratory on time the year before. He didn't make it this time, either, but Professor Oak took pity on him and gave him a fully evolved starter from the Johto region that had been abandoned by its trainer and wouldn't listen to Ash.

She was ready for the take again, riding a new bike (the studio had purchased fifty-two bicycles just so that this scene could be perfected). She went through a town, turned a corner, and began watching the Voltorb send waves of electricity at Kingler, who dodged it and brought its hammered claw down on the electric creature that almost resmbled a Pokeball with eyes.

She stopped her bike and Tryphlosion came up, scorching it again.

Rodney, the boy playing Ash, appeared, breathless.

"Is this your Typhlosion?"

"Yes, babe, it most definitely is."

"Cut!"

The director began giving Rodney a lecture about what it meant to be breathless. And that the word "babe" should definitely not be used when one meets a girl for the first time.

It took seventeen more takes before the director was satisfied. Actually, the director was never satisfied, but the assistant director told him that they could make it work with what they had. The director reluctantly agreed and went to a doughnut shop. He wouldn't be seen again for four days, most likely.

Kendra then went home toward Floccacy Ranch, where she was to tend the Poochyena and protect them from the evil Ampharos…

Well, she could write movie scripts herself. She had some odd inkling that she had done something like that in the past. Not protect Poochyena exactly, but that there was some evil she had to face, and she had done so. She shook her head. That was just something she thought about.

Here she was at the Pinwheel Forest. She ducked around a Wurple that shot a string of thread at her. The Wurple was followed by a Swaddle. She leaped over it and entered the Gravitube building which would take her home to Floccacy.

The place was built to resemble the interior of a volcano. Kendra saw lava bubbling beneath her and a wall lined with firery rocks and crags. It was thirty-two miles from the filmmaking studios in Nimbasa to Kendra's home. Half an hour's drive is three hours of walking. Of course, no one used cars in the Gravitube. No one could drive Kendra around, anyway. But walking three miles a day was worth it…to be an actress,w hich was her dream.

Her legs were sore when she entered the house she shared with her brother. She sank down on the couch and was ready to conk out. Only Seth had the TV on.

"Turn it off, would you?"

"I've got to watch this. It's The Pokepeople of Unova."

"I thought that show was on the back-burner," Kendra said, yawning.

"Who cares? It's a great show. Doesn't matter if no one else thinks so."

"I like it too, Seth. But after all, it is only a TV show."

"Only a TV show? Kendra, it is life, it is breath, it is everything."

"if you say so," Kendra said, shrugging. She shut her eyes but opened them again when Seth gave a shout.

"What?"

"They switched it with Gurney the Squirtle! The Pokepeople of Unova doesn't come on for another hour."

"You'll live."

"No, I won't. Gurney is a show about Water Pokemon blowing bubbles. They had a whole episode about a Magikarp using Splash one time."

"There's a simple solution to that. Turn the television off."

"I can't do that!" Seth said, looking horrified. "A new commercial for Miltank buisuits is supposed to premiere today and I can't miss it!"

"You can always watch it on the Victreebell Queem."

"I was kicked off the Victreebell Queen after I said that Gardevoir wold be cooler if she had a Ghost Typing in addition to her Psychic Typing."

"Seth, you know those people love their Gardevoir. That's like walking into a Pokemon fan club and shouting that you loathe Pikachu."

"I'm just going to have to sit through this pathetic show," Seth said.

"Suit yourself," Kendra said. She yawned once more and fell into the hands of Morpheus.

She woke up an hour later to watch a girl on the screen turn into an Eevee.

"Not Tanya again," Kendra said. "Can't they feature an episode without her?"

"They include what will induce people to watch," Seth said. "In general the public loves Tanya, so she must remain."

"Whatever," Kendra said. She got up to get a glass of water, when the house shook. She stumbled to her knees.

"What was that?"

"Oh, a guy just turned into Dugtrio on the show. Nothing to worry about."

"Seth, the whole house was shaking. The TV can't do that."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Seth said. "Oh boy! They brought Seymour the Tornadus-guy back! You've got to see this, Kendra!"

She went into the kitchen, ignoring Seth. Once she poured some water from a pitcher, she started to sit on a chair when she realized a Trubbish was already in the seat. "Seth, your Pokemon is taking up room here!"

"You're missing a Wailord-guy flood the city!" Seth shouted.

Kendra sighed and picked up the Trubbish. Now she had gunk on her hands which needed to be washed off. She went toward the sink when she looked back at the refrigerator. Instead of seeing the white icebox she was used to, there was a Rotom there.

"Not him again," Kendra said. There was a boy who kept trying to woo her, and the fact that his Rotom was here meant that he had been as well.

"Shoo, Rotom. Shoo."

"It's not going anywhere," said a voice.

Kendra whirled around to see Gilusk there. "You!" she shouted.

"I figured out a way to make you love me."

"Sure, you did. Now get out of my home."

Gilusk opened his mouth to speak, when a gust of wind blew threw the house. And suddenly Kendra was lifted off her feet. And a Swellow appeared. This Pokemon also belonged to Gilusk. It flapped its wings, moving Kendra toward the living room. It kept flapping them till was at the TV. And her foot went through the television. She expected to hear the sound of it cracking, but strangely, she did not. And she felt her leg freezing up. The Swellow beat its wings again, then thrust them in her face, taking its talons and scratching across her neck. Her body sank down, not to the floor of the house, as she had expected, but to soft grass.

And then she blew at the Flying Pokemon and a burst of ice emerged from her mouth. She didn't know how it happened. And the Swellow backed off…

She didn't see Swellow anymore. Instead she saw trees and a calm sky. But when she stood up, she found that her body had shrunk or something, for she was only two feet high.