After an encounter with Equi and his icy attacks, Ninetales finds a blue card to one of his memories, but which one... Let's see!
Memory Resting Place
The friends entered the familiar blue room with the marble archway, having the door ready to lead them to the next memory, but…
"That's odd", said Ninetales as he stopped in the middle of the room.
"What's odd", said Shaina.
"Where's ShadowMaster?"
"WHAT!?! ARE YOU CRAZY! WHY DO YOU WANT HIM HERE!?"
"First of all, don't scream! It hurts my eardrums. Second, he usually appears here before we enter the next one".
"True", said Sasha, "But remember, he gave you three cards, so we probably have three 'ShadowMaster-Free Cards'. So, let's enter that blue card first".
"Very well", said Ninetales as he approached the door. He held the blue card up, which glowed white and transported them all into another one of Ninetales' memories.
San Francisco Streets
"Were back in San Francisco", said Ninetales as he surveyed the surroundings.
"Wonder which memory this one is?" said Shaina.
"We're about to find out, look", said Colleen, pointing towards memory Ninetales, walking on the sidewalk.
"Wait", said Ninetales, watching himself walk by, "I think I remember this one…"
Memory Ninetales walked on the street when he heard a noise. He stopped and looked back, but saw no one except a few people walking past him. As he turned back, the garbage can popped opened and a little brown Pokemon popped out of it.
"Hi, Ninetalesuk!" said the Pokemon.
"AAAHHH!" yelped Ninetales, pounding on his chest.
"Now I remember", said Ninetales, looking at himself calm down, "This is when I first meet the Three Stooges".
"Funny", said Vulpix, "I thought they were dead".
Ninetales fell.
"Not the original Three Stooges! Jolteon, Vaporeon, and Flareon!"
"Oh, yeah. Don't forget Annabelle".
"She's no Stooge…"
"No, but she's about to introduce herself soon. Now be quiet and watch".
"Eevee", said memory Ninetales, "How many times do I have to tell you: NO POPPING OUT OF NOWHERE LIKE A MAGICIAN!"
"Hmm", said Eevee, "Only three hundred and twenty seven times".
"I don't need a score keeper", said Ninetales, "What are you doing here anyways?"
"Charlie sent me on a secret mission to track … oops".
"Charlie… When I get my paws on him, I'm going to flambé him!"
"Anyways, mind if I hang out with you, please"
Eevee shows off his Bambi-like eyes to Ninetales.
"Eevee, you know that won't work on me, but alright".
"YAY! Where should we go? Golden Gate Park? Or maybe the Bridge? Oh, oh, the beach is nice today, or perhaps take a tour on Alcatraz island, or…"
Boy, thought Ninetales, Eevee sure is an energetic little guy
"By the way, a pink whippet appeared in your mirror, asking for you".
"A pink whippet? In my mirror? I think it's time you started reading more books and stop watching those anime shows".
"NO! Yu-Gi-OH!'s coming to a close, and there about to premiere a new show called Naruto".
"Naru-wha?"
"Not -wha, -to. Naruto. Watch it, you'll like it. It has a reference of you in it".
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, the show's about a Ninja kid who has a demon Nine-Tailed Fox trapped inside him".
"Demon… Nine-Tailed Fox?"
"Yep. Your pretty popular in Chinese Folklore".
"Eevee, first, the Nine-Tailed Fox is in Japanese Folklore, not Chinese. Second, I'm a Ninetales, a Pokemon, not some legendary fox".
"Who knows. I mean, your white with blue tips while others are tan and brown".
"Ever heard of different colored evolutions?"
"Like pink whippets?"
"No, only some Pokemon can get a different color…"
"No, I mean the pink whippet is back!"
"What?"
"I think she wants to talk to you".
"Where?"
"Behind you", said a voice.
Ninetales turned around and saw the face of a pink whippet smiling at him from a car window.
"Hello, Ninetalesuk", said the pink whippet.
Ninetales stood spellbound to see a whippet talk to him from a car window's reflection.
"Hi, Flying Nun", said Eevee.
"Eevee", said the whippet, "That wasn't nice. My name's Annabelle, not Flying Nun. Where did you hear that from?"
"Charlie", said Eevee.
"I shouldn't have asked", said Annabelle, "Anyways, Ninetalesuk, I need you to go on a mission to find three abandoned Pokemon at an old, run-down amusement place. Think you can handle it?"
Ninetales stared for a few moments before saying, "Sure".
"Thank you. Now if you excuse me, I have a certain Guardian Angel I need to give a good talking to".
With that, Annabelle vanished, leaving Ninetales looking like he saw a ghost.
"Cool! A mission, just like James Bond, or Sherlock Holmes, or from the movies Mission Impossible, National Treasure, or…"
Hearing Eevee, Ninetales snapped out of his trance.
"Wait, Annabelle was it", shouted Ninetales to the car window, "At least put a spell on Eevee so he can be a little more calmer!"
No response. Ninetales couldn't believe he got a mission from an angel and got stuck looking after an energetic Eevee.
Meanwhile, the females, along with Vulpix, were laughing like they never laughed before.
"Ninetales, haha", said Shaina, trying to talk from her laughter, "I (haha) never knew (hahaha) you could be so (hahahahaha)…" Shaina couldn't get the rest out.
"Yeah", said Ninetales, turning red, "Laugh why don't you. It's my fault for picking this memory, out of a lot of them".
While the girls were laughing, the scene suddenly shifted to the abandoned amusement park.
Amusement Park
"Wow", said Eevee, looking at all the broken down rides, "How much is admission?"
"I don't know", said Ninetales, "Let's talk to the cashier, but oh look, there's no one here… or ANYWHERE! This place is a ghost town".
"Actually, Ghost Town is in Knott's Berry Farm"
"Knott's wha?"
"Berry Farm. It's an amusement park bigger than this one, but is down in Southern California".
"So, what about it?"
"That one has Ghost Town".
"Eevee, that's not exactly… whatever, just keep your eyes peeled for any movement".
"Okay".
"Ninetales", said Shaina, now calm and watching Ninetales and Eevee looking around, "How exactly did you meet Eevee?"
"I wish I could forget about that", said Ninetales, "But long story short, found Eevee being bullied by some Murrkrows, so I saved him. Ever since then, he kept following me everywhere. Eventually, he started living with me".
"Didn't he have a trainer?" asked Angel Sasha.
"Nope", said Ninetales, "Apparently, he was a wild Eevee. I asked him about his parents, but he couldn't remember how they looked like or what happened to them. My guess is that they were caught by trainers".
"So", said Shaina, "Eevee's named you his godparent, huh?"
"Something like that".
"Look", said Vulpix, pointing to Eevee and Ninetales, "There about to enter the Hall of Mirrors".
"Oh great. We're about to meet one of the stooges".
Eevee went ahead of Ninetales and peered inside the door of the building.
"Look at all those mirrors", said Eevee, running inside.
"Eevee!" shouted Ninetales, "Be careful in there".
Suddenly, Eevee let out a yell.
"EEVEE!" shouted Ninetales as he barged inside, "WHAT IS IT?!"
"That mirror makes me look fat", said Eevee, staring at his abnormal reflection.
Ninetales fell to the ground.
"EEVEE!" shouted Ninetales, "YOU SCARED ME THERE FOR A SECOND!"
"Sorry", said Eevee, now going to the next mirror, "But that just gave me a surprise, that's all".
Ninetales calmed down and went towards Eevee, who was dancing in front of another mirror.
"Cool", said Eevee, "This one makes my head look big".
"Isn't it already?" mumbled Ninetales.
"And this one makes me look short and squat"
"Eevee, please let's look for the Pokemon, so get back here".
"Hold on, this mirror makes me look blue and fishy".
"Huh?"
"Come here. I think this one makes you into fish".
Ninetales went where Eevee was and saw, not a reflection, but a doorway, with a Vaporeon staring back at him.
"Eevee", said Ninetales to the little brown Pokemon, "That's not your reflection"
"It isn't?" said Eevee, "Than what is it?"
"Me", said the Vaporeon.
"AAHH!" screamed Eevee, "HAUNTED MIRROR!"
"WHERE?!" said the Vaporeon.
Ninetales slapped his forehead.
"Don't tell me I found another Pokemon that's just like Eevee", mumbled Ninetales, "Okay, settle down, the two of you".
Eevee and Vaporeon stopped yelling and looked at Ninetales.
"Who are you guys?" asked the Vaporeon.
"My name is Ninetalesuk", said Ninetales, "but I prefer just Ninetales. This little guy is named Eevee…"
"Pleased to meet you, haunted reflection", said Eevee, shaking paws with the Vaporeon.
"Eevee, he's not a reflection, he's a Pokemon".
"Oh. One of the one's we needed to find?"
"Exactly. Anyways, why are you here?"
"Well, my name's just Vaporeon", said Vaporeon, "And why I'm here is because I was abandoned by my trainer. She liked me when I was like you (pointing to Eevee), but then, she used a Water Stone and made me evolve into Vaporeon. She then didn't like me because I had no more fur, just little scales that's hard to see".
"Why did your trainer give you a Water Stone?" asked Ninetales.
"Her brother was jealous of her, having a cute Eevee. So he falsely told her that a Water Stone would turn me into a blue Eevee".
"Well", said Eevee, "You're blue…"
Vaporeon began crying.
"Nice, Eevee", said Ninetales, "Real nice".
"Sorry", cried Eevee, "I'm sorry for saying that…"
While Eevee tried apologizing to Vaporeon, Shaina went to Ninetales, who had his paw on his face and shaking his head.
"Man, what a day that was", said Ninetales.
"At least now you can have a laugh about it now that it's over", said Shaina.
"True", said Ninetales, "But having them in my house is no longer a laughing matter, since all they do is watch TV and play video games".
"What's wrong with that?" asked Vulpix.
"Nothing if you want to turn your brain to mush".
"Speaking of them", said Shaina, "How exactly did you meet Charleon?"
"I don't even want to talk about that".
"Why not?"
"Let's just say it involved him, me, an ice cream truck, and a pack of hungry Poochyennas".
"You mean, you caused the ice cream panic in the park?"
"How…"
"It made front line news. Sasha kept the page, but all it said was a Ninetales and a Charmeleon were driving the ice cream truck. I never knew it was you"
Shaina began laughing again while Ninetales laid his head low.
"Why do I get stuck with such idiots?" mumbled Ninetales.
Meanwhile, Eevee and Vaporeon got along.
"Well", said Ninetales, "Now that's done with, we need to find two more Pokemon. Do you know who else is here?"
"Yeah", said Vaporeon, "You and him".
"NOT INCLUDING US! Any other ones?"
"Oh, yeah. I saw two other Pokemon, but I don't know what they are. All I know is one's in the old arcade and the other one's inside the haunted house".
"Well, at least we're getting somewhere".
Vaporeon led Eevee and Ninetales to the old arcade, where they saw row after row of broken down video games. Many had their screens broken, some had buttons or joysticks missing, and a lot of them had graffiti on them.
"I wonder how this could have been if it was still open today?" asked Shaina as she looked around the room.
"Probably full of kids trying to get money from their parents to play these games", replied Ninetales.
"You never liked video games?" asked Angel Sasha, examining the machines.
"No, why?"
"Because sometimes me and Charlie go to Bess, Itchy and Flo's house to play a round or two of one of their video games".
"How many do they have?" asked Vulpix.
"Around fifty, give or take".
"Wow! What system?"
"Hmm… If I recall, they have four: an Xbox, a Playstation 2, a Nintendo 64, and a Gamecube. They're planning to buy the new one coming out soon, the…"
"Hate to interrupt", said Ninetales, "But can we continue?"
"Sure".
Just as they ended their game talk, Eevee and Vaporeon spotted that some of the games and vending machines were on.
"Free pop", said Eevee as he pushed a button and a can of cola came out. As he opened it, Ninetales quickly grabbed it away.
"Hey! That's mine!"
"Eevee, the last thing you need in your life is caffeinated beverages", said Ninetales as he tossed the can to Vaporeon, "Stick to your regular drinks, alright".
Grumbling, Eevee agreed. Vaporeon, drinking the soda, belched.
"…excuse me…" said Vaporeon as he tossed the can into a garbage can. Just as Ninetales was about to talk to Vaporeon, he spotted Eevee playing a video game.
"Eevee", said Ninetales, "Just how did you turn this one on?"
"Beats me", said Eevee, "But these joysticks have been through enough already. Hey Ninetales, how about you call winner, huh?"
"Eevee, did you forget that we need to find two other Pokemon here, or did trying to get a high score on this old game made you forget about it?"
"Oh, well, I'm almost done beating him anyways, so hold on".
Ninetales groaned and went back to try and pull the cord off, but he noticed that the cord wasn't even plugged in.
"Eevee…" started Ninetales.
"YES!" shouted Eevee with glee, "NEW HIGH SCORE! Name: Eevee the Great… no, the Master,…no, the Best Gamer of…"
"EEVEE!"
"What?"
Ninetales shows Eevee the cord to the game.
"You did know that this one wasn't plugged in, right?"
"No…"
Eevee backed away from entering his high score, along with Vaporeon. Ninetales saw their faces, sighed, and explained to them.
"No, you two. This isn't haunted, this is the work of an electric Pokemon. Question is, where is it?"
As he asked the two frightened looking Pokemon, Ninetales caught sight of a flash at the last row of video games. Ninetales went up first, Eevee and Vaporeon tagging along from a distance. Just as Ninetales reached the last row, he heard a voice.
"Yes, take that, evil alien ships!"
Ninetales peered behind the machines to see a Jolteon sending sparks from his spiky fur and charging the machines around him. He was too busy playing that he didn't notice a Ninetales, Eevee or a Vaporeon walk up to him.
"Um", said Ninetales, "Excuse me?"
"Wait your turn", said Jolteon, "I'm trying to beat the last level".
"I call next!" said Eevee.
"No, I call next!" said Vaporeon.
"No one calls next, all right", said Ninetales as Jolteon finished the last level.
"YES! I FINALLY DEFEATED THE BOSS!" shouted Jolteon with joy.
"Ahem", said Ninetales.
Jolteon turned and saw Ninetales, Eevee, and Vaporeon staring at him. Ninetales saw that Jolteon's eyes were tired with bags under his eyes.
"Hi, friend. My name's Ninetalesuk, but everyone calls me just Ninetales. This is Eevee and Vaporeon. Who are you?"
"Me? Well, my name's Jolteon, but everyone calls me just Jolteon".
"Okay… Why are you here?"
"I was left here by my old trainer, Jeff. Used to be an Eevee like him, but…"
"Your trainer used a Thunder Stone on you and he didn't like you anymore"
"Yeah, that's it! How did you know?"
Ninetales looked at Vaporeon, "Lucky guess".
"Anyways, he used it on me and evolved me into Jolteon. He loved me when I was huggable, but since I have spiky fur, he couldn't touch me anymore. He just came by here and left me, saying he was sorry for it, and left. Been here for almost a week, doing nothing but exploring, seeing another Pokemon being left here, and playing video games".
"Another Pokemon? Where?"
"Last time I saw him, he went into that old Haunted House".
Ninetales was about to ask what the Pokemon was until…
"Have you been up all night playing this video game?" asked Ninetales.
"Of course not", said Jolteon, "Nobody stays up all night for a video game".
"Okay, then why are you tired?"
"I stayed up three nights in a row, that's why"
Ninetales, Eevee, and Vaporeon fell to the floor.
Once again, all the females started laughing again, leaving Ninetales feeling quite embarrassed.
"Okay", said Ninetales to Shaina, who was laughing the hardest, "I know that its all funny, but did you forget that I need to get a leech out of me before it can become stronger?"
"Okay (hahaha)", replied Shaina, calming down, "It's just that (hehehe), you had quite some funny times, that's all".
"Looks like your going to the Haunted House", said Vulpix, pointing to the leaving group of Pokemon.
Ninetales, Eevee, Vaporeon, and Jolteon, who was having trouble adjusting to the brightness of day, walked to a house that looked abandoned for years. The windows were boarded up, the gate was broken down, the lawn was a jungle full of tall weeds, and the front door was wide open. Ninetales began climbing the steps into the house when he noticed that he was three heads short. He looked back and saw the others looking back at him.
"Ain't you three coming?" asked Ninetales.
"No way", said Eevee, "There could be zombies, or ghosts, or vampires, or …"
"Okay, what about you?"
"Don't deal with haunted houses well", said Vaporeon, "So I'm setting this one out".
Ninetales groaned. "Chickens. What about you?"
"ZZZZZZ…" replied Jolteon. Because he was up three nights, he fell asleep on the cool grass in the warm sun.
"Never mind. Usually you come with me, Eevee".
"I'm not going in", said Eevee, "unless Buffy, Van Helsing, or a Ghostbuster is here with me".
"Eevee, this is a ride, it's fake. The only real thing in there is the last Pokemon, otherwise, it's completely fake".
"Still not going".
"Suit yourself".
Ninetales walked into the house alone, with only himself and girls coming in with him.
"You may not like this", said Ninetales as Shaina got closer to him as Vulpix got closer to Colleen as they followed the memory Ninetales down the gloomy hallway.
"I know it's just a memory, Ninetales…" said Shaina as she saw cob-webbed pictures of people and Pokemon, their eyes following her, "…but this is still scaring me".
"Me too", said Vulpix, hugging Colleen.
Colleen smiled to see Vulpix hug her like that.
"This brings back memories", said Colleen.
Just then, memory Ninetales turned a corner and shouted.
"WHOA!"
Ninetales fell through a trap door and headed down a slide, where he bumped his head with a skeleton. Ninetales brushed off the false skeleton and looked for a way out, which was another door.
"Pathetic", said Ninetales as he opened the door, "Just a plastic one. I can't believe that Eevee and the others were scared to come in here".
Ninetales walked down two hallways, opening door upon door to reveal a lot of spooky things: ghosts in sheets, skeletons playing a band, a zombie with its head missing and sparks flying out of it, a spring where a Dracula voice was heard. Ninetales saw that this place was as broken down as the last two. Just then, he heard whimpering behind a door to the right of him. Opening the door, he saw that he was in a master bedroom, with skeletons lying on the bed. He then saw a most peculiar sight: a lump covered by a sheet was trembling hard and whimpering. He walked up to the sheet and pulled it off.
"AAAHHHH!"
Ninetales came face to face with a screaming Flareon, who went crouching against the wall.
"GHOSTLY NINETALES!"
"I'm not a ghost", said Ninetales, trying to calm down the scared Flareon, "I'm a friend".
"Wh…why…are you white?" said Flareon.
"I had a different colored evolution. My names Ninetalesuk, but you can call me Ninetales".
"My name's Flareon", said Flareon.
"Pleased to meet you. Why are you here?"
"Well, I wanted to check out this house, so I decided to enter it and…"
"No, no. Why are you here, in this old theme park, in the first place?"
"Oh. Well, let's just say…"
"Your trainer abandoned you?"
"Something like that"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, that I had twin trainers. They kept fighting over me as an Eevee, then even harder when I evolved. Their parents and I couldn't stand them, so they decided to give me up to the Pokemon Center. Before I knew it, my ball was tossed out of the car and broke, releasing me and freeing me. I couldn't return home so I could be divided into two, so I walked around until I found this place".
"So, why didn't you just got out of this place?"
"Because I had no where else to go, so this park was good…"
"No, no. I meant why didn't you get out of the haunted house?"
"Oh. I was too scared to get out".
"Come on, we can do it. I'll be here besides you. Besides, I didn't get scared coming in since the house is mostly broken down".
"Not even once?"
"Well, that trap door did surprise me, otherwise, no".
As memory Ninetales got Flareon to follow him, Shaina smiled at Ninetales.
"Who knew you were so sweet to him?"
"Well", said Ninetales, "This was before Flareon met the other three. Anyways, I got him out and then, we just went home".
"Then why isn't there a doorway, like the last one?"
"That's because it isn't done yet", said Vulpix, "We better follow them out of here. This place gives me the willies, even if it is broken down".
Ninetales and the others followed memory Ninetales and Flareon out to the patio.
"So, you're not scared of anything?" said Flareon as Ninetales reached for the doorknob.
"Nope", said Ninetales as he opened the door, "I am completely unafraid…"
"Hi, Ninetales", said Eevee, popping upside down from the doorway.
"AAHHH!" shouted Ninetales and Flareon as they jumped back. Calming down from the sudden shock, Ninetales faced the upside-down Eevee.
"Eevee…" began Ninetales.
"Wait", said Eevee, "Don't tell me: stop doing that?"
"…yes…"
"And I did it again, huh?"
"And why don't you get it through your head?"
"Don't know. Sugar can really do stuff to me".
"Ugh!"
"By the way: Me Spider Man, you Mary Jane"
"True", said Flareon, "After all, you are in that sequence when Spider Man kisses…"
Ninetales glared at Flareon with the look "Don't even think about it". Then, he took Eevee down.
"Aw, Ninetales", said Eevee, "That was the good part".
"Forget it, Eevee", said Ninetales, "All I know is that this mission is over. There's the three Pokemon and now, let's get going".
"You'd do it if you were pretending to be Spider Man and Mary Jane was a girl, right?" said Flareon as Ninetales got Jolteon on his back. Ninetales stood silent.
"A girl, right", said Ninetales as he walked away, carrying the sleeping Pokemon.
"Gee", said Flareon as he, Eevee, and Vaporeon followed, "Was it something I said?"
As the friends left, the white doorway appeared before Ninetales and the others.
"Ninetales?" asked Shaina, looking into his eyes, "What happened right there, where Flareon asked you about a girl?"
"Nothing", said Ninetales, "Just self-doubt that I wouldn't find love. Well, that's in the past now".
"True", said Shaina as she kissed him again, "After all, you did find love, didn't you?"
"Yeah, you".
"Ahem", said Vulpix, "I know this is touching and all, but right now, we need to keep going".
"Um", said Shaina, "Give us a minute to talk a little more".
"Fine, sis", said Sasha, "Take your time".
As the canines and Pokemon were talking, the same cloaked figure who kidnapped Shaina appeared above them.
"Grrr", it growled, "They are beginning to be a nuisance to me, especially Ninetalesuk".
Just then, two more cloaked figures appeared: one standing on two legs while the other was on all fours. They each held blue and green cards.
"Master", said both, "We give you more of Ninetales' memories and dreams".
"Excellent work, my subjects, but right now, I have to find a way to deal with Ninetales before it's too late".
"Don't worry master", said the four legged one with a voice of a wicked familiar female, "After all, you did regenerate from his painful memories, especially the one where he was tortured".
"Unfortunately, he came and took it before I was able to become fully regenerated. Worse of all, he gave it to Ninetalesuk!"
The first figure dug his gloved claw into the building roof, giving it a new hole.
"Calm down", said the two legged one with a voice familiar to another, "After all, you still have us, creations of what Ninetales once remembered".
"Yes, but do you think you'll be able to eliminate him, unlike the others?"
"I won't fail you. I am unlike the first two. I'll strike Ninetales when the time is right".
"Excellent. Incidentally, have any of you two found him yet?"
"We are still searching", said the female, "But he's very clever at concealing his whereabouts. The only times he appears are to Ninetales".
"It doesn't matter. Right now, he and the others are heading into the next memory. The more happier Ninetales' heart gets, the more difficult it would be for me".
"Leave him to me". With that, the female figure disappeared.
"If she fails", said the other figure as he too disappeared, "I won't".
"Ninetales", said the first one. He watched as Ninetales and the others entered the doorway, "We will meet soon enough".
With that, he too disappeared.
To Be Continued...