Chapter 12
Samantha came to the guardhouse to the south of Cerulean City. Like every single building in all of Kanto, this one had a sigh high above it:
"Welcome to Saffron City!"Samantha never knew that she could reach Saffron so easily. This was where she was supposed to meet her family…but not for good while.
"I don't know Bobby…" Samantha said looking down to her Bulbasaur, "Should we go to Saffron NOW, or just go around it to Vermillion City?"
"Bulba!" Bobby responded.
"Okay it's settled then! Saffron can wait for now!" she exclaimed as she hoisted her Pokémon up into the air, then hugging him. "Let's go beat that Lt. Surge! The underground path is a few miles away…let's go!"
The path wasn't too far off. Maybe an hour, two hours…it depended on how fast you were walking. Samantha had to keep an eye on Bobby. Bobby loved being out of his Poké Ball. Samantha had decided a little while ago, that she wouldn't make Bobby stay in his ball all the time. He was to only return to his confines, if he were hurt in battle. As far as his last battle, Bobby handled the loss very well. He just went on as if it had never happened. An ICE BEAM was his demise…a chilly lesson he'd sooner forget.
After about 20 minutes into the walk, Samantha and Bobby came up to a theater-like building. As she wondered what kind of shows went on there daily, a young girl leapt out of the bushes in front of the building. She wore exactly what Samantha wore, and stood in the same stance, facing the young trainer from Pallet.
"Who are you?" Samantha demanded.
"Who are you?" the girl replied.
"Well I am Samantha of Pallet Town!" Samantha said definitively.
"Well I am Samantha from Pallet Town!" the girl responded.
"Stop copying me!"
"Stop copying me!"
"Knock it off!"
"Knock it off!"
"KNOCK IT OFF!" another voice called out from behind the real Samantha.
"Aw, I was just playing around Duplinca!" the fake Samantha protested.
"You know better than to do that OUTSIDE of your house or this theatre! You can't be scaring away my customers!" Duplinca said firmly.
Duplinca looked up at Samantha, who was freaked out to say the very least.
"Oh you are a Pokémon trainer, huh?" Duplinca inquired.
"Well yes I am but I…"
"What do you say to a match? One on One!" Duplinca said cutting Samantha off.
"Well I guess…" Samantha shrugged. "So what Pokémon will you use?"
"ALL of them." Duplinca declared abruptly.
"ALL of them?" Samantha asked with one eyebrow raised.
"Go and show her Ditto!" Duplinca shouted tossing a Poké Ball to the ground.
"Ditto!" Ditto squealed.
Samantha looked over the pink blob. It looked like a giant piece of bubble gum to Samantha, but to her PokéDex, it was something else:
"Ditto. The transforming Pokémon.
Ditto has one attack, TRANSFORM…
Which allows it to copy the DNA of any Pokémon"
"What a neat Pokémon!" Samantha exclaimed. "OK then—I choose you…Lianne!"
"Wigglytuff!" Lianne shouted in happiness after coming out of her Poké Ball.
Samantha knew she had to take care. After all, it was Lianne's first battle against another trainer.
"OK Ditto! TRANSFORM!" Duplinca commanded.
Ditto did as its trainer instructed. It transformed into an exact copy of Samantha's Wigglytuff.
"WOW! That's perfect! Right down to Lianne's nice eyes…" Samantha said in awe.
"Tuff? Wigglytuff?" Lianne asked the Ditto in confusion.
"Wigglytuff!" Ditto yelled back.
"Enough talk! Ditto, DOUBLE-EDGE!"
"Lianne…it's not the real thing! Show that Ditto a real DOUBLE-EDGE!"
The two Pokémon collided at the same time. The force of the impact rocked the ground on which the two trainers stood.
"Hang in there Lianne!"
"You too Ditto! Give it a BODY SLAM!" Duplinca said.
"No way! Counter that with a POUND attack!" Samantha retorted.
While Ditto tried to crash all its weight down, Lianne smacked it right in the gut, sending it to the ground in pain.
"That's it Ditto! Now it's time to use SING!"
"Lianne, SING before that faker does!"
Both Pokémon began to sing at the same time. Samantha, the fake Samantha, and Duplinca knew better, so they covered their ears to block out the melody. Bobby did not know any better, and was quickly fast asleep. As the singing went on, both Wigglytuffs got groggy and sleepy. It was a matter of time before both were fast asleep on the ground.
"Well that was a disappointing end result…" Duplinca shrugged.
"I don't believe there is any better way for battles to end, than that!" Samantha said with wisdom. "Hey that TRANSFORM was cool!"
"Thanks. It isn't easy to train a Ditto." Duplinca replied picking the sleeping Ditto up into her arms.
"Yeah—but wouldn't you have to know every attack, that every Pokémon can possibly know, to actually be a Ditto trainer?" Samantha asked.
"Actually, that's half the fun of being a Ditto master." Duplinca said with a big smile.
"Hey can I battle her Duplinca? I can take her! You know I can!" the younger girl shouted out.
"You know something little sis, I'm getting tired of your behavior. How's this? If you win, I'll lay off of you copying…but if you lose, you have to go back home to Saffron City!" Duplinca said to her sister.
The little girl nodded. "I, Samantha of Pallet, challenge this look alike to a Battle!"
"Ha!" the real Samantha yelled, "You aren't better than I am…I am the real deal here!"
"Oh yeah?!" the young girl said, "I choose you DODRIO!"
The triple headed bird came out of its Poké Ball in a flash of bright light. With Bobby asleep, Samantha had two options…her new Pokémon…or Julie. Hmmm…the choice was obvious!
"Go get that bird brain Julie!" Samantha said tossing her Poké Ball into the air.
"Julie—SWIFT ATTACK!"
Julie reached back behind her and lunged forward very quickly shooting several little stars at the Dodrio.
"Oh yeah!" Samantha's look alike shouted out, "Use MIRROR MOVE Dodrio!"
Dodrio tilted all three of its heads back, then forward quickly, launching the same exact stars as Julie had. Julie took the hit, but got quickly back up to her feet as any born fighter would.
"Julie QUICK ATTACK!"
Before the Dodrio could react, Julie slammed into it at lightning speed, sending it to the ground.
"THUNDERBOLT!" Samantha yelled out.
Julie's cheeks started to sizzle reddened with rage…
"Peeee…kaaaaa…choooooo!" Julie screamed.
The electric attack fried the Dodrio, just as any Flying-type would have met the same fate.
"OH NO!" the girl screamed.
"Great job Julie" Samantha said. Julie immediately started to do her "victory dance" again.
The younger girl had a tear in her eye as her older sister scolded her…
"I told you not to mess with talented trainers. Don't you know you couldn't win! I look over my opponents carefully—look at her satchel! See those 2 badges pinned to it? She didn't buy them you know! Now you lost the bet—time to send you home." Duplinca said.
"Aw but Duplinca…" she began to protest.
"No Back-talk young lady! Boy for a 13 year old, you sure are a handful! You may be my sister, but I can tell you when you have to leave MY Imitae House! You're taking the next bus to Saffron! Mom, Dad, and Blissey must be worried about you anyway!"
Samantha watched the 2 sisters go at it. She recalled Bobby and Julie. She started to remember how her sister used to be so difficult.
"Hey Duplinca!" Samantha finally said.
"What's up?"
"You know, I'm heading to Saffron myself…so if your little sister is THAT interested about Pokémon…"
"You'll take her with you? How great! She wants to be a Ditto master too…and she needs to watch a good trainer fight battles." Duplinca said.
"Well…Ok why not! It'll be fun to have someone I can actually talk to that doesn't reply by saying their name." Samantha laughed. "But I hardly consider myself a great trainer Duplinca…"
"Oh don't be silly! You kicked her butt!"
"Hey!" the faker shouted.
"Hay is for horses!" Duplinca said. "Now properly introduce yourselves.
"I am Samantha of Pallet Town" Samantha said.
"My name is Kathryn and I live in Saffron City! You can call me Kat…I like that better. Everyone in Saffron calls me 'Copycat'." Kat said.
"I can see why" Samantha laughed again.
"Ok Kat you listen up young lady! You are NOT to imitate anyone on this Pokémon journey, got it?! You are only going with Samantha to LEARN!"
"Ok, ok! Duplinca I'm not a child anymore—I'm a teenager...I can be mature!" Kat said.
Kat's bags were quickly packed. Samantha started to head towards the Underground Path, with Kat following close behind.
"Good bye Kat! Behave yourself! I'll call Daddy and tell him you'll be home in a few months!"
Kat turned around and waved back…as the two young and beautiful girls walked into the sunset.
