Ash Ketchum and any characters, creatures, or locations mentioned are owned by Nintendo/Gamefreak and Cartoon Network
Animaniacs characters are owned by Warner Brothers.
Chapter 2
Introductions…and maybe more
"Here we go again: another hectic day." Plotz said with great misery in his tone as he entered his office. Thaddeus lounged in his big comfy chair thinking of what kind of hectic those three: the Warner siblings will do today. The head of the WB studios then thought of the boy that appeared just yesterday. 'I guess it is best if the others were to know of Ash.' The short man thought and then walked out of his office to talk to his secretary. The talk was dubbed down to get all of the others to get to the auditorium.
"Oh man, that had to have been one of the best sleeps I have ever had." Ash said as he got up to stretch. He looked around to try to find his friends and creatures only to come up empty. Reality hit the trainer suddenly as he remembered that he had been transported to an unknown location. 'That's right; I'm in a studio on a different world.' The Pallet Town protector thought before looking around his apartment which was pretty sweet. "This place is great!" He exclaimed to the walls. When the hero was about to check out the kitchen the phone rang and on the second ring he was able to answered it. "Hello?" He questioned and readied for an reply on the other end.
"Ash, Mr. Plotz requests your arrival in the Warner Brothers Auditorium in one hour." The secretary said in a polite tone and hung up before Ash could ask any questions.
'How am I supposed to know where that is?' He thought before glancing around for something to help him out. After looking around for about fifteen minutes he came up with nothing. "So much for a map, but those really didn't help me during my adventure so I doubt they'd help now." The boy said before heading for the door. The problem was that as soon as he had his hand on the doorknob his stomach growled. "I'll eat after this meeting."said the starving savior, hoping that what he said will stall his stomach before heading out the door and out of the hotel.
"Where in blazes could he be?" The CEO of Warner Brothers questioned while pacing behind a curtain, hidden from the few people beyond it. He looked at the clock which read – 9:30 and the secretary called him at – 8:00. The studio psychiatrist was in the back with him: watching him pace and the bald man knew that this was one main way that he didn't lose his temper.
"Did you remember to give this person a map of the studio?" The one with glasses asked him in a nervous fashion. The short man glared over at his old friend before yelling at him.
"Of course I did: I gave him an address to the studio hotel." He then added, "Besides I have the map right here." He pulled the said map out from his back pocket, and that is when reality struck him. "Oh dear, I forgot to give this to him: who knows what kind of property damage he is doing." He said with a worried expression and several out of character images involving Ash popped into his head. In reality the trainer was just wondering around the studio having no idea where he was.
"I wonder where the Auditorium is." Ash thought aloud as he looked around at studio numbers: 26 and 27. On his way he ran into several actors and actresses – Jim Carey, Mell Gibson, Kirsten Dunst, Nicolas Cage, Eva Menades, Tommy Lee Jones, Jason David Frank, and Will Smith. They were nice even though for the trainer he did not know when Jim was serious or funny, but still a nice guy. Back at his end point Plotz was now REALLY getting nervous.
"Who do we have here, Doctor Scratchansniff?" The short man asked before peeking through the curtains. The two men looked at the small group of people there. There were three in particular that began waving at them, but the two ignored them.
"Maybe we could use one of the Goodfeathers?" The psychiatrist questioned his boss after the two of them pulled their heads back on the other side of the curtain. The shorter one began pacing again and after a few moments he said aloud.
"Hey why don't we use one of the Goodfeathers to get the boy here?" He questioned while looking at the bald man.
"Isn't that what I just said?" The shrink questioned but the CEO was not listening to him one bit.
"Now which one should I use?" The short one said and began to think of which of them would be best. It only took him a moment to find the right pigeon for this minor job. "Squit, I have a job for you." He said after leaving the curtain and headed to the group of seven.
"Me?" The nervous pigeon questioned the human that approached him and his team. "What is it that you want from me?" He questioned after seeing the CEO nod at his first question.
"I want you to get a human over here, and don't worry you'll know him when you see him." Plotz said with an unusually calm tone. The bird was about to ask a simple question, but the gray haired one grabbed the fowl and threw him to a spot he believed to be a window. Out of sheer luck the man guessed right and the flier was off.
'Mr. Plotz didn't have to be so rude about my question.' The flier thought before looking down. 'He said I'll know the guy I'm looking for, but I doubt it. I mean there are a lot of people at a studio and almost all of them use the big name ones, and I'm sure this guy is no exception.' Squit added that thought with his head pointed down. After an hour of searching the brown feathered one saw a human with a strange baseball cap and talking to one with a helmet. 'That must be the guy.' He thought, but decided to stay out of sight and do the circling routine.
"Thank you for the board, Tony, and good luck with that live-action movie." Ash said to the boarder. He then put the skateboard on the ground and was about to give it a test run when he was something strange in the air. "Only time I saw a bird act like that was when one of my flying Pokemon found something that I needed back home." the youth muttered after seeing it making circle patterns. 'I hope this works.' He thought and shouted up to it, "Hey, Bird I hope you can keep up." He then skated on down the lot.
"Gee, I guess he saw me." Squit said before following and then sped up a little before the boy. Ash saw that he was in front of him, but that was alright.
'I was right, he did want me to follow, but to where?' Ash thought while still on the move. After using moves that not even he knew he had in him by using objects like stage equipment; the two made it to a building named, 'Auditorium'. "Thanks, my friend." The monster tamer shouted to the pigeon, and watched as he saw it fly into an open window, the same window that he was thrown out of.
"Hey, uh, Ash, over here." A voice said and when the person in question followed the noise he saw that it was the security guard from yesterday. The young man decided to take him up on that on use the backstage door. When Ash got inside he saw Mr. Plotz and a tall, skinny, bald man.
"Hi, Mr. Plotz, sorry I'm late." Ash said in an embarrassed fashion. As always the tall one thought that his boss was going to blow a gasket like almost always, but he was a bit shocked over the tone that came out of the man's mouth.
"It's really my fault Ash; I should have given you this map before you left." He said in a calm fashion before handing him the item that he spoke of. After the one sided exchange the man added, "There are a few people on the other side of this curtain that you should meet. Let me introduce you first." He then went on the other side where the more insane creatures of the studio were sitting. "Now if I may have…" The CEO stopped when he realized that they were deep into whatever loud mouth conversation so he tried louder, "QUIET!" He shouted and just like that they shut up, even the most rambunctious members stopped. "Like I was saying we have a temporary employee for Warner Brother studios." He said before motioning for Ash to come into view, which the youth did. "This is Ash Ketchum; he will be staying here until we can get him home." The creatures looked at the skinny boy and saw his outfit: decent sneakers, blue jeans, blue and white jacket, black shirt under it, green/black fingerless gloves, red/black/green hat.
"Hi, like he said, my name is Ash Ketchum, and you guys are?" The boy questioned once he got to the podium, and looked at the people for an answer. Three creatures came to him first, and in his opinion their bodies reminded him of Unknown and Lucario as one.
"Hi there pal: I'm Yakko." The tallest one of the three, who only wore white gloves and brown baggy pants, shook Ash's hand vigorously. The second one: similar in appearance landed on top of the taller one and started his own handshake.
"I'm Wakko." He said while shaking. Wakko wore a light blue shirt, white gloves, and a red backward hat. The trainer just smiled and slowly separated from the second Warner. The third one, female with a pink skirt, yellow flower in ear, and white gloves jumped into the mix.
"And I'm…" She had stopped after jumping into his arms and stared into his eyes. In turn he held her and did not pressure the young one into continuing although when she finished he was a little caught off guard when she continued, "In love." The Warner Sister held a big blush on her white face. In the small crowd there were other females that did not like where this was going; even though they did not know why.
"Dot, keep going." Wakko whispered to his sister. The stomach of the trio wanted her to give him her name so they could move on since he left a recording of the history of Don Knotts running in the Water Tower. That whisper almost completely knocked her back to reality.
"I'm Princess Angelina Contessa Louisa Francesca Banana Fanna Bo Besca the Third, but my friends call me Dot." She said while still loving that he was holding her close. She examined the man and was growing more fan-girl by this stranger. "Normally I would add: if you call me Dotty and you die, but you can call me Dotty if you like." She said before grabbing the sides of his face and planted a BIG kiss right on his lips.
"Um, thanks…" Ash said after he was able to part from her. Then two animals stopped to his right.
"My name's Runt. You seem like a nice guy, definitely, definitely a nice guy." A big brown dog said to him. The monster tamer knelt down, but with the young one still in his left arm he used his right hand to shake his paw.
"And I'm Rita." A slender gray and white cat, who was on the dog's head, said to him; he looked up at her, right into her green eyes. Ash let go of the dog's paw and began to scratch her chin with his index finger. 'This feels so nice.' The feline thought after a moment or two with this type attention. When she did not feel his touch the singer saw that his hand was moving away. The stray did not know where this came from, but she leaped onto his arm and onto his shoulder.
'That was strange.' Ash thought when he saw it, but then added, 'Luckily I'm used to having creatures climb up on me.' He then felt fur on his right cheek. When he looked on that side of his face he saw that Rita was snuggling up to his face. Thanks to Pikachu he was used to that sign of affection too. Unknown to Ash was the fact that Rita's actions were angering the girls around him.
"Let me fill you in on the three that are…shy." Plotz said to the trainer, wanting to speed this up a tad since time was money. Ash stood at full height with Dot still in his left arm and Rita still on his shoulder.
"Go ahead, Mr. Plotz." The boy said to him. The raven haired man scanned for himself, but could not determine which ones he was talking about until the elderly man spoke up.
"Those three over there are the ones I speak of. The first is Chicken Boo." Plotz pointed to one that was as tall as Dodrio in Ash's opinion.
"Buk-ha." The fowl said while trying to memorize the exact detail of Ash's outfit for any future adventures.
"The one to his left is Mime." The CEO man continued pointing to a black haired man with a red and black outfit. The creature, living true to his title, said nothing just waved. Ash, not wanting to seem rude returned the gesture with his free hand. In the trainer's left arm his passenger was becoming angry.
'Gotta get Rita off of her perch so Ash can pay more attention to me.' Dot thought as Thaddeus was still talking about the silent characters in their group.
"The one to the left of Mime is Mr. Skullhead." He said pointed to a skeleton in a skeleton wearing a light blue suit with a light blue derby. Just as the last the skeleton waved to the trainer and also like last time he returned it. "Now let me show you to…" Plotz was about to add another person until the two heard a sharp yowl. The yowl was that of Rita who had been flung into the air.
'That should do the trick.' Dot thought as she recalled the arm she stretched around the Poke`mon user's back. The youngest Warner's plan hit a snag when she felt herself being placed on the ground.
"Don't worry, I got her." Ash said to them before leaping after her. The trainer grabbed a hold of her, but since he didn't have a complete plan he turned to where his back was to the ground, and landed hard on the ground with his arms securing Rita for the impact. "You okay?" He questioned with strain in his voice after crash landing.
"I should be asking you that." She said back to him while trying not to think of how close she was to him. 'Why am I acting this way? I'll just chalk it up to what Runt said yesterday.' The voice thought before feeling some movement. When she looked around the gray furred cutie could see that Ash was getting back on his feet. When he stood, there were two blonds in front of him.
"I can't really remember my name, but the Warner Brothers call my Hello Nurse, so you can too." The human looking one said to the boy. Ash, understood that 'nurse' part because she was sporting the same hat as the Nurse Joy's from his home world. He then turned his attention to the other blond, and this one was a bit different.
"Name's Minerva Mink, maybe I'll ask for your help sometime." The white furred woman said while cupping her hand to the side of his face. This interaction was something that bothered the feline in his arms, because when she parted from his face the minx could see Rita giving her a death stare. 'Try it sister.' The one in white thought before adding, 'What am I doing? I am not a total fan-girl like Dot...then why am I close to the bugged out level of seeing him.'
"As I was saying this is another person you may work with, Ash." The CEO man said motioning for the trainer to come back to the stage which he did with Rita still in his arms. The feline gave off a raspberry to the two blondes as he was walking. When the trainer got back to stage he saw the same bald man from before standing beside the shorter boss. "This is Doctor Otto Scratchansniff, the studio's psychiatrist." The black haired youth could tell that the man with glasses was timid for some reason or another so he decided to try first.
"It's nice to meet you. I have to tell you, back home I don't think that is a career choice. Maybe someday you can tell me what it does." Ash said as he gave his hand out for a handshake, and after hearing that statement the shrink accepted his hand gesture.
"Ja, maybe someday." The doctor answered back. After the hand shake was over a somewhat annoying voice was heard from behind the boy.
"HEY! What are we: three month old bagels, how about some attention: huh!?" The voice as far as the boy could tell came from a purple bird and white bird that sort of had the same vocabulary as Meowth: one of the most redundant enemies ever.
"Sorry. I guess I lost track of who was next when I had to rescue Rita." Ash said back while looking down at the gray feline who looked back up at him. This meeting did not last long because the same pigeon had to open his beak.
"You kiddin me: she probably did it to get yous attention." This comment easily angered the green eyed cat who had her own answer.
"That's it! I'm gonna have me some freshly roasted pigeons." She said and was about to do so, but Ash had other ideas. He moved one of his arms out of cradling form and held an index finger to the cat-eared one.
"Easy Rita, I'm sure he did not mean to insult you like that." Rita, who was still angry at the bird wanted to yell about his comment but she was only mutter something after an angered huff.
"You take all the fun out of threaten co-stars." The boy turned his attention to the fliers with both arms back around the female feline.
"Name's Bobby, that's Pesto: don't worry about his temper." A bird with light blue and white feathers said while thumbing over to the purple one with his right wing.
"You sayin I got a problem with my temper is that what your sayin." Pesto said to his friend in his usual short temper fashion. Before he could go any further with it Bobby interrupted him.
"Yeah, I did, that a problem with you?" Bobby questioned back which made the big-beak one nervous.
"Problem? No, I got no problem with that." He answered back with sweat appearing on his feathers. The third pigeon spoke to the boy, and Ash could tell that it was the same bird he met earlier.
"Nice to meet you, Ash, my name is Squit." The brown feathered one said with an extended wing to the trainer. Out of instinct he thought Ash was going to insult his name, but instead the boy gently took his wing with his right index finger and thumb.
"Nice to meet you Squit, and thanks for the wing of finding this place." He said to the bird with a smile. After the shake he saw that there was a fourth male pigeon with them. "Who is that?" He questioned and the creature known as Bobby answered him.
"That is the godpigeon." The round bird slowly walked toward the boy, and Ash had to resist laughing since he sort of looked like those fat pidgeys he met on a various island. The big bird stopped and he saw that the three bowed to him, so he did the same while cradling the gray furred cat in his right arm. The monster tamer did not see the foot kissing since his head was down, but he raised it when the creature began to talk.
"What did he just say?" The hero of Pallet Town questioned to the three once the elder was done talking.
"Short version, Ash, he says he likes ya." Bobby said to the boy.
"Thank you for the compliment, godpigeon." He said to the leader of the three with another bow. With his body still knelt and with his head bowed down he saw that Rita was glaring at someone, so he rose his head to see who it was.
"Name's Lana and these are my girls: Sasha and Kiki." A female pigeon said while pointing to the female pigeons to either side of her. Ash got up, and decided to say something to them as well.
"Nice to meet you ladies too." He saw and heard the one named Kiki giggle, but he did not know why.
"Back off you three. This…owner already has a pet." The gray furball shouted, and that REALLY confused the boy.
"Yeah right, alley-cat, I'm sure this guy would prefer a pet that has special skills." Sasha said with plenty of anger in her voice. The trainer decided to intervene before things got too wild.
"I may not know what, exactly, you guys are talking about, but could you calm down." He said to them, and with that suggestion the two calmed down to the point of silent threats. As the black haired youth watched them, making sure that they were alright, he did not notice another gray creature behind him, or a green purse. "Ow." He said while rubbing the back of his head.
"Kid, I'm making this short and sweet: name's Slappy Squirrel and this is my nephew: Skippy." An elderly squirrel said to him and pointed to a hoping brown fuzz-ball.
"Hi." Skippy said with a wave. In the corner of his eye Ash saw a small blonde haired child about to take a tumble in order to see the squirrels better from the fourth set of seats, and that instant his hero mind set in. The traveler ran over and before the little girl could start her stairs cartwheeling he caught her, and gently set the little one back on the floor.
'Wow, just wow!' Minerva along with the others thought after seeing how fast he got from the bottom to the fourth set. Ash did not notice the others staring at him, he only looked at the little girl.
"You need to be more careful." He started and added, "By the way what's your name?"
"Mindy." She answered back with a big smile which caused him to smile and continue the conversation.
"My name is Ash. Don't suppose you could say my name?" He questioned even though there were a few girls about her size that could.
"Ash." Mindy answered back which caught all of them off guard. The boy on the other hand simply rubbed his hand in her hair.
"Good work." He then saw another brown dog, only in slightly better shape, out of breath behind her. He walked over to it and surmized, "I bet you are put in charge to keep that little girl safe." The dog nodded at the comment, but he was surprised at what he heard next. "Your doing a good job, keep it up." The dog raised his head - revealing his collar. "Buttons, good name." He said and heard a different voice, different from the other voices.
"That was fun Brain, Zort!" An energetic male voice said. After taking a quick look around his surroundings Ash saw that the pieces of white fur on the dog's head was actually two mice: tall and skinny and another that was short and big head.
Yes, Pinky, especially when Buttons decided to slid under that dumpster." The big headed one said sarcastically, while rubbing his noggin. The two saw the out of town boy looking at them, and it was Brain who directed a serious question at him. "I take it your: Ash?"
"That would be me. And you two might be?" He questioned and the skinny one answered him.
"My name is Pinky - Troz, and this is my best pal: Brain. He will soon be ruler of the earth." The tall one said and then laughed for a bit. "Too bad we had to get here in a hurry; I wanted you to meet Pharfingnewton." He said with a semi-sad expression on his face. The last sentence through Ash off guard and the traveler was about to ask what was up until the building began to shake.
"I didn't know that you guys had Earthquakes here, too." The hero of Pallet Town said to them and received a dull toned answer from the Aunt of Skippy.
"Something like that." She said and then pointed to the stage, knowing that is where they were going to show up at. Out of a huge explosion of sorts two hippos stood there. Ash may not have seen hippos before, but their colors reminded him of both Nidoran genders.
"Excuse us for being late, but my darling Maria and I did not feel like walking down all these steps." The blue hippo said to the small human with a bit of a Spanish twang in his voice. "Now, where is this 'Ash' that we are to meet." He said while looking around.
"That would be me." A hat wearing boy said while walking over to them. He was on his guard since their girth matched if not surpassed that of Snorlax, and he had no way to defend if they lost their balance. "Who are you two?" He questioned the two new comers.
"My apologies, Senior Ash. My name is: Flavio and this delicate ruby rose is my darling: Maria." The one now known as Flavio said to the boy and saw that the woman made a bow to the youth.
"Now that I now your names, even though there are probably more people to come I do have a question to ask…" Ash said, but stalled as he saw them all lean in closer to him. The guest was about to finish what he began, but was interrupted by a deafening roar. Every one of the others covered their ears and one of them was able to shout at the new comer.
"Ash, what's with the noise?" The comment came from Slappy, who seriously was having a hard time to contain a coming migraine.
"My stomach's growling." He answered simply, which the others could not understand.
'If that's a growl I hate to find out what a roar sounds like.' Plotz thought before hearing one of the Warner's speak up.
"This calls for one thing: BREAKFAST BUFFET." Wakko shouted and pulled the trainer along. The others followed the two while trying NOT to go deaf.
'I know I have to get home, but I think I might like it here…for now.' Ash thought while also thinking of what to do for Breakfast.
