Chapter 19 - Some familiar faces

As the pink-haired girl handed me and the two pokeballs to Kash, I saw three pokemon trainers enter the PokeCentre. The one in the lead looked familiar, but I couldn't remember who it was. He took one look at Kash, Christy and Jock, and laughed.

'Well, look at that,' he said. His two friends, a girl and a boy of about the same age, smiled.

'Doesn't that bring back memories?' the boy said. 'I can still remember the day when the three of us came to Cerulean City.'

'Yeah,' said the girl. 'I was trying to convince you not to come, because I didn't want to see my sisters...'

Kash, Christy and Jock turned around. They all seemed startled at the sound of the voices.

'Not you!' they all cried at the same time. I was confused. Who were these strange people?

'You know, Kash,' said the boy at the front, 'It's amazing how much you remind me of myself. You're at Cerulean City and you've got three pokemon. One of them is a Pikachu who refuses to go in its pokeball. You're travelling with two other pokemon trainers. Who just so happen to be Jock and Christy, the brother and the sister of the two trainers I was travelling with.'

Kash stared at the boy. Finally, he spoke. 'Yeah, well I bet I'm a better trainer now than you were then, Ash!'

When I heard the name "Ash", I remembered the time when we were in Pallet Town and Kash had seen his older brother. I suddenly remembered that it was this boy, Ash, who we had seen back in Pallet Town.

Ash gestured to Kash's pokeballs.

'So, what pokemon do you have in there, Kash?' he asked. Kash picked up his two pokeballs.

'If you must know, I have Beedrill and Spearow, which I caught all by myself!' he said.

'No you didn't,' said Christy. 'That Spearow followed you. The only pokemon you've ever caught is Weedle.'

Kash tried to smile and scratched the back of his head. 'Yeah, well.... surely having a pokemon follow you is even better than catching it? It means that they actually want to come with you... and anyway, my Weedle not only evolved, it evolved twice!'

Ash smiled. 'I can't believe this. Beedrill and Spearow. At this time, I had Butterfree and Pidgeotto. Come on, Kash. Just face it. Your pokemon journey is turning out exactly the same as mine - you can't even do anything original.'

Kash glared at his brother angrily. 'That's not true! There are plenty of things that have happened to me that never happened to you! And anyway, I've only just started! I'll do lots of things that you never did!'

'He's right, Ash,' said the other trainer.

'Yeah, give the guy a break,' said the girl. Ash sighed.

'Alright Kash, I'll give you a chance,' he said. The girl who was with Ash turned to Christy.

'Christy, what are you doing with him anyway?' she asked. 'I thought you weren't interested in travelling.'

'Well I've changed my mind!' said Christy.

'Fine,' said the girl. 'Well, I suppose you'll want to see the others. And I suppose Kash will want to challenge them to a gym match. Come on, I'll take you all to the gym.'

Ash and his two friends led the way to a large buliding with a picture of a white, water pokemon on the outside. Inside the building was a large pool with two floating mats on it. I also saw three girls in swimming costumes talking at the end of the room. As I looked closely I saw that they had two pokemon next to them. One of them looked like it was half hatched from an egg, and the other one... I gasped as I realised what it was. It was a Pikachu!

'Hey, Pikachu!' I called out, running towards it. The other Pikachu saw me and smiled. It looked a lot older than me, and a lot stronger too.

'Hey, where did that other Pikachu come from?' one of the girls asked.

'I don't know, maybe it belongs to one of those kids over there,' said another girl, pointing at Kash, Christy, Jock, Ash and the two other trainers.

'Hey, that's Christy!' exclaimed the last girl.

'Wow,' said the first girl. 'I wonder what she's doing here!'

The three girls left me, the other Pikachu and the egg pokemon, and went to talk to the trainers.

'Who are you?' the Pikachu asked me.

'I'm Kash's Pikachu!' I said.

'Kash?' asked the Pikachu. 'He's my trainer's brother!'

'You're Ash's pokemon?' I asked. The Pikachu nodded.

'I was Ash's first pokemon,' it said. 'I didn't realise Kash had a Pikachu as well!'

'I was Kash's first pokemon!' I smiled. I paused. 'Do you know who those other two trainers are? I'm really confused.'

Pikachu laughed. 'They're Ash's best friends. The girl is Misty, she's one of the Cerulean City sisters. The boy is Brock, he used to be the leader of the Pewter City Gym. They travel around with Ash and me when we go training.'

'Oh,' I said. 'I think I get it now. Ash is Kash's brother, Misty is Christy's sister, and Brock is Jock's brother!'

'Exactly!' said Pikachu. 'And those other girls are Misty and Christy's other sisters. Daisy, Violet and Lilly. Oh, and this is Togepi!'

I looked at the strange looking egg pokemon.

'Hi,' it said shyly.

'Don't be shy, Togepi,' said Pikachu. 'This Pikachu is our friend. It's Kash's pokemon.'

'Pikachu!' Kash called suddenly. 'Come on, we're about to start the match!'

(-o-) PiKACHU (-o-)