The Young Master's Quest Ch. 22: The Week-long Wait
Monday…
There was a lot of cheering as many floats made their way past the Platinum City gym. On a platform sat the royal family, Ash, Misty, and Brock. Soon the parade stopped & Prince Israel, in his gym leader outfit, made his way to the podium, which was stationed in the middle of the platform.
"Ladies & gentlemen, it's my honor as gym leader to officially reopen the Platinum City gym!" He said. The whole crowd applauded. Israel silenced them with a wave of his hand.
"Now then, I don't know how long the gym will stay open. So if ya plan on challenging me, you may want to do it as soon as possible. And I hope you'll come to my belated birthday party on Saturday. It's black tie!" The crowd applauded as Prince Israel made his way back to his seat & King Israel walked to the podium to deliver a few words.
"So Israel, when are ya gonna tell me what I have to do as your apprentice?" Ash asked.
"Patience. I'll tell ya after my dad gives his speech." The prince replied.
After the king's LONG speech, the crowd left and the group of four entered the gym. The music for all of Johto's gyms was playing throughout the front room. Brenda was sitting at a desk by the door to the field.
"Hello sir. Would you like anything?" She asked.
"No, thanks. I'm just showing my guests around." Israel replied as he entered the field, followed by everyone else.
In the field, everybody except for Israel got an eyeful of the decor.
"Ash, your duty as my apprentice is to battle challengers that come to the gym. If you beat the challenger, he or she will leave the gym crying. If you get beaten, then the challenger will face me, quite possibly only to be destroyed by my pokémon." Israel explained.
"You're confident, huh?" Ash said sarcastically.
"=D Yep." Israel replied, missing the sarcasm completely.
"Why not just battle me now instead of waiting for Sunday?"
"This is mainly a test to see if you're capable of fighting me like at Turquoise City."
"That battle was a test?"
"Yeah. I wanted to see for myself if you're worth my time."
"And…?" Ash asked, looking somewhat insulted.
"You passed the test. Otherwise, you wouldn't be standing here today." Israel replied. "So just treat this as time to train and prepare as well as your final test."
"I feel like I'm back at school."
"Nonsense! School isn't half as much fun. Anyway, come. We must prepare for our first challenger of the day." Israel made his way to the office with Ash right behind.
"What about us?" Misty asked.
"You guys can walk around the city. Unless you'd rather stay."
"Nah. Come on Brock." Misty replied & she dragged Brock by the arm out of the gym. The two remaining people & their pokémon went to the office.
"So, what do we do now?" Ash asked as they entered the office. Israel went to his desk & pulled out two decks of cards.
"We wait for a challenger. So what do you want to play? Go Fish, Blackjack, or Uno?"
"How long can it take?" Ash asked as he sat on the other side of the desk. Israel shrugged.
"It can take minutes, maybe even hours. I even went through a whole week without a single battle one time." Ash sweatdropped.
"In that case, Go Fish." Israel handed out the cards & the game began.
A few hours later…
"Got any threes?" Ash asked.
"Go fish." Israel replied, bored out of his mind. It's now 2PM and not a single challenge came up.
"Israel, sir." Brenda called on the intercom on the desk. Israel pressed a button on the intercom.
"Yes?"
"There is a challenger here to see you."
"Finally! Tell him or her that I'll be down shortly and show him or her to the field."
"Yes sir." Brenda replied.
"Well, you heard her. Let's go Ash." Israel replied as he put down his hand face up & headed out the door.
"Ok—Hey!"
"What?"
"You had three threes!" Ash replied & showed Israel his hand.
"Oops."
"Cheater!"
"I didn't cheat!" And the two argued all the way to the field, where there was a boy waiting for them.
"Ahh! You must be the challenger. I'm the leader of this gym." Israel said and he shook hands with the kid.
"Hi. I'm Dave. So are we gonna battle or what?" The kid asked.
"In due time, IF you defeat my apprentice." Israel said. Ash then stepped forward. He & Dave shook hands. "This battle shall be conducted as a three-on-three match. Understood?" Israel said.
"Yah." Dave replied.
"I'll be the judge of the match. Get to your positions." Israel said as he made his way to his throne. The two trainers then went to opposite ends of the field. Ash was under the throne and Dave was close to the door.
A few minutes later...
"Begin!"
The two trainers tossed their poké balls. Dave sent out a rhyhorn & Ash sent out Totodile.
"Rhyhorn! Double Edge!" Dave ordered. Rhyhorn charged at Totodile.
"Totodile! Water Gun!" Ash said. Totodile fired the water gun at Rhyhorn. It connected, but Rhyhorn wasn't affected.
'Hmmm… The rhyhorn's well trained.' Israel thought.
Rhyhorn crashed into Totodile & sent it flying towards the edge of the ring.
"Totodile! Use Water Gun to keep yourself from going out!" Ash commanded. Totodile fired its attack at the ground and flew up to the chandelier above the stadium.
"Hey! That totodile's out of bounds!" Dave protested.
"No, it's not. In order for Totodile to be considered out, it has to touch the ground outside the field. The chandelier is fair ground. But none of you better destroy it or its repair cost is coming out of your pockets!" Israel said. The two combatants sweatdropped.
"Ummm… Totodile, jump down from there, won't you?" Ash said. Totodile jumped down.
"Rhyhorn! Jump up & bash that totodile good!" Dave ordered. Rhyhorn now did the opposite thing Totodile just did and the two pokémon were on a collision course. Ash got into a thinking pose.
"Aha! Totodile! Shoot your Water Gun at its face!"
Totodile shot the… you-know at Rhyhorn. The force of Rhyhorn's jump was enabling it to push back the Water Gun a little bit. But because rock types are weak against water (regardless the level), Totodile's attack was getting to Rhyhorn, so it plummeted to the floor & had a dazed expression in its eyes.
"Totodile wins!" Israel yelled. Dave called back Rhyhorn.
"Go! Oddish!"
'Oddish? Why use such a weak pokémon besides having the type advantage?' Israel thought as the grass type appeared.
"Use Stun Spore!" Dave's oddish shot out the familiar yellow substance at Totodile and in seconds, it had the same expression that Rhyhorn had just a few moments ago & collapsed.
"Wow! Nice comeback. Oddish wins!" Israel said.
Ash called back Totodile & sent out Noctowl.
"Sleep Powder, my dear Oddish! Sleep powder!" Dave ordered rather suggestively. Everybody but Dave sweatdropped. After that period of… oddness, Oddish (Oooh! So many odds this sentence!) shot out that all-too-familiar blue star dust at Noctowl.
"Noctowl! Whirlwind!" Ash ordered. Noctowl flapped its wings hard and blew the powder back at Oddish, sending it on a trip to Dream Land (No! Not the place where Kirby lives!).
"I guess that takes care of Oddish. So ya got one last chance, Dave. Got something that can take care of Ash's noctowl & whatever his last pokémon is?" Israel asked.
"Oh yeah! Onix! Deal with this pest!" Dave said, but… he didn't throw a poké ball?
"Well!? Where is your onix?" Ash asked, growing impatient.
"Yeah! And aren't ya gonna toss its poké ball?" Israel asked. Dave gave a heart chilling laugh.
"I would, but you see, it's not in its poké ball."
"Then where is it?" Israel asked. Just then, the ground shook. "Oh crap."
"Oh crap" Is right, for Dave's onix broke through the floor of the gym. It was ready to battle, but there was one problem…
"Ash wins the battle!"
"WHAT!?!" Dave demanded.
"Ash wins because your onix is out of the field." Israel said calmly. The hole Onix made was indeed out of the field. It was between the field & the door. "Oh, and you have to give Ash half of your money, plus you owe me for the damages done to the gym."
"Grrrrrrr… NO WAY!!! I DEMAND MY MATCH WITH YOU NOW OR ONIX'LL DESTROY THIS WHOLE PLACE!!!!!" Dave roared. And to make his point clear, his onix went after the chandelier.
Israel's eyes went red.
"I told you not to touch MY CHANDELIER! GO! ICE MASTER!" He tossed a gold master ball & his articuno appeared. "Blizzard this sucka!!!"
Ice Master blew a huge amount (like, oh say, fifty feet) of snow at Onix and Dave. Due to the cold, Onix went back to its poké ball & Dave was blown out of the gym.
"And the bill will come in the mail!" Israel yelled after Dave. He then went back inside the gym.
"Nice one." Ash said dumbfoundedly.
"Pika." Pikachu said with the same tone. Israel walked past them.
"Blast! Now I have to call the contractors to get this place fixed up pronto!" He cursed. "We gotta go home now. There's no way we can hold anymore battles today."
"Hey! I know what we can do!" Ash said.
A little while later…
"Let's see how Ash is doing." Misty said as she, Brock, and Togepi approached the gym.
"What's this?" Brock asked. There was a sign posted on the gym doors.
"It's says 'The gym is closed for repairs because of some brat & his onix. Come to the castle if you want to battle. Signed, the management.'" Misty read.
At the castle…
"More lemonade dear?" Queen Maureen asked.
"Yes please." Israel replied. They were at the outdoor arena watching Ash battle a challenger. The queen poured Israel another cup. "Ya know, this was such a good idea." Ash defeated another challenger as the basic cartoon "black out" occurred.
Tuesday…
"Have the invitations been sent out yet?" Prince Israel asked a random butler.
"Yes sir. The invitations have been sent, as planned." The butler replied.
"Excellent." Israel said, acting like Mr. Burns from The Simpsons.
At the entrance to the Violet City gym…
"What's this?" Falkner asked as he pulled out an envelope from a mailbox shaped like a pidgey. It was gold and it was sealed with a sticker bearing the royal seal of Johto, so you know this is important! Falkner opened it & took out the paper. It read as follows:
Dear Falkner,
You are invited to my birthday party this Saturday at 8PM sharp at Platinum Castle. You'll be staying until the following afternoon to see a gym battle between me & Ash Ketchum of Kanto. Hope to see ya there! By the way, it's black tie, so no kimono!
Sincerely,
Prince Israel III
"No kimono, huh? Bah!" Falkner scoffed as he went inside his gym to prepare for today's battles.
Every other Johto gym leader got pretty much the same letter (minus the kimono part). The only one who got anything different was Jasmine.
At Olivine City…
"Hmmmm…?" Jasmine hummed as she took her envelope out of a steelix-shaped mailbox. She noticed a fragrance emitting from the letter.
"Smells like Cool Water. I know who this is from!!!" She giggled excitedly as she took out the letter & proceeded to read it.
(A/N: In case you don't know, Cool Water is the name of a kind of cologne.)
Here's what the letter said:
Dear Jasmine,
Hey baby! Why don't you bring yo pretty little butt over to my crib this Saturday at eight for a birthday party? It'll be fun! Don't forget to bring a dress! Hope to see ya then!
Love,
Prince Israel III
PS: I'm battling Ash Ketchum the next day in a gym battle, so you can watch as I take his pokémon downtown!
At the castle at that exact moment…
"Are you sure I should've wrote that to her?" Israel III asked Misty nervously.
"Yeah. You gotta show her that you like her." Misty replied.
"I don't know. Jasmine's a nice, sophisticated girl who wouldn't want to get involved with someone who talks like that. I bet she'll slap me the moment she walks in the door."
(A/N: No offense to anybody in that last line.)
Back at Olivine City…
"Eeeeeee!!!! I'm going to go to Israel's birthday party! Weeeeee!!!" Jasmine said, still giggling madly as she ran inside her gym.
Back at the castle…
"Anyway, Ash & I have to get to the gym. See ya later!" Israel said as he left the room he & Misty were at.
Later that week…
Ash has fought battle after battle at the gym for a few days now. He's never lost a battle in the effort to pass Israel's final test. He's made the gym tons of moolah. ("Cha ching! $.$" Israel said.)
At home, Kalani has been trying night & day to show Israel whatever it was he was trying to show his brother since Saturday night when Israel arrived home. But every time he tried, someone would interrupt him or something would happen to prevent him from doing what he wanted to do. ("Yeah!!!" Kalani cried.)
And strangely, Team Rocket hasn't even tried to attack Prince Israel for his pokémon. ("Well duh! We'd get arrested!" Jessie yelled. "Yeah! Dumb author." Meowth butted in.)
::Snap::
A bolt of lightning hits Jessie & Meowth. ("Ouch…" Jessie groaned in pain. "Hey! What about Jim!?" Meowth asked.)
Oh yeah!
::Snap::
A slice of pizza materializes in front of James. ("Yum! =)" James said as he ate.)
Anyway, it's now Thursday, two days before the party. Let's check in on our villains at a local caterer's place???
"Well that's it for the tour." A fat guy said as he was addressing three people. Actually, it was two people & a meowth. They were all wearing uniforms that read "Happy Face Catering" on the hat. The shirt was blue. The trio was also wearing pins that said "Trainee" on them.
"Start preparing the food for the prince's birthday party. Come see me if ya got any questions."
"Yes sir!" The trio said as they saluted their boss and got to cooking.
"Ok. So what's the plan Jess?" James asked.
"Here's what we'll do. At the twerp's party, we'll wait for the perfect moment to strike. During that time, James & I'll act as caterers for the party while Meowth will be waiting in the balloon. When I give the signal, Meowth will blow a hole in the wall. We'll then capture all of the gym leaders in our special net and make the king & queen give us all of the twerp prince's pokémon and make us the rulers of Johto!" Jessie whispered all of that to her co-workers. They went back to their duties.
Unknown to them, however, two people were watching the trio hatch their scheme. Of course, they didn't hear Jessie. The two went to the basement. The female, who had blonde hair, pressed a button. A big screen lowered itself from the ceiling. The male, who had green hair, pressed a button on the TV. An image of Giovanni, the infamous boss of Team Rocket and former leader of the Viridian City gym, appeared on the screen.
"What do you two want?!" Giovanni's voice boomed.
"Sir, please keep your voice down. We're in a public place." The male said. He had a voice that made him sound like he was suffering from a sore throat… or has a frog in his throat.
"Hmph! Very well then. What do you two want, anyway?"
"We are currently in Platinum City, preparing our plan to capture the pokémon that belongs to the prince of Johto." The female said.
"Excellent. Well don't let me keep you from your crime then." Giovanni replied, getting ready to end the transmission.
"One more thing sir." the male said.
"Yes?"
"Well, it's Jessie, James, and Meowth sir. They're working in this restaurant as well. They may ruin the plan."
"Pay them no mind."
"But sir." The woman said.
"Look. Butch, Cassidy. Those three have recently sent me a pokémon. A porygon. As far as I'm concerned, that puts them a step ahead of you two. Also, you have been failing me a lot lately. Leave them alone and do your own plan. Or else, I'll be forced to fire you two."
"F-fire?" The duo stuttered.
"Right. Now good bye!!!" The screen went blank. The two Rockets were shuddering for quite sometime afterwards. They soon got up.
"Ugh… Jessie." Cassidy growled.
"James…" Butch growled as well.
"Meowth…" they both growled.
"They'll pay for actually getting on the boss's good side."
(A/N: Is that the correct possessive form of "boss" or is it supposed to be "boss'?")
Umm… Let's just skip to Friday morning, shall we?
At the outdoor stadium, Misty was looking at the morning sky when she heard someone crying. She walked behind the left bleachers & saw someone huddled over. She walked over to the person & saw that it was Prince Kalani in his PJs.
(Audience: Awwwww! ::Takes pictures::
Me: o.O;;;)
"Hey. Are you alright?" Misty asked. Kalani looked up & anger overtook him.
"You! Stay away! You're the reason why I can't talk to my brother!"
"Huh? Why?"
"You know why! Every time I try to show my brother my ultra-cool thing, you, Mom, Dad, everybody always come and interrupt me! You're all against me! I know it!" Kalani yelled, foaming at the mouth.
"o.O We're not against you! Everybody's busy preparing for the party. What is it that you wanted to show Israel, anyway?"
"I guess I might as well show SOMEBODY!" Kalani replied rudely. He took a poké ball out of his pocket. He tossed it & in a flash, a squirtle appeared. Kalani kneeled down & picked up his pokémon.
"This is what I wanted to show my brother. I became a pokémon trainer while he was gone these past few months. I wanted him to be proud of me, but you guys kept stopping me from showing him."
"I'm sure he'll be real proud of you. Now come on, we'll go get dressed, then we'll go and get your brother some gifts for his birthday." Misty said.
"Ok." And they went inside the castle.
Too…mushy…must change scene! ::Vomits:: Ok. Now that that's taken care of, let's skip to Friday afternoon at the gym.
"So bored from watching all those battles…" Israel said to himself. "Ash, let's have one more challenger battle us then we'll quit for the day."
"Alright." Ash replied with a yawn.
"Ya know, I think that could be the name of a new attack."
"What? The yawn?"
"Yeah. Maybe a pokémon can yawn & then it would make the opposing pokémon go to sleep on the next turn." Silence then overtook the two trainers.
"Nah!!!" They both said.
(A/N: Obvious reference. I thought it would be funny.)
The next challenger arrived. The presence of this person made them both gasp.
"LANCE!?!?!"
"Yep." The trainer nodded.
"Oh my God! It's Lance, the Elite Four trainer and pokémon G-man! What are you doing here in my gym?" Israel asked excitedly.
"Well, I heard that Ash here is your temporary apprentice." Lance replied.
"Yep. In fact, today's his last day as apprentice." Lance nodded.
"So I see. Anyway, I'd like to challenge you for your badge."
"Oh sure. Anything for the famous Lance." Israel said with admiration. "Of course, ya gotta beat Ash first."
"Of course." Both trainers then went to opposite ends of the field. Like on Monday, Ash was under the throne and Lance was by the door.
"This match will be a three-on-three battle!" The gym's referee said. "Now begin the match!"
"Go! Totodile!" Ash said as he tossed his lure ball.
"Go! Aerodactyl!" Lance tossed his poké ball. Both pokémon appeared.
"Water Gun, Totodile!" Ash ordered.
"Hyper Beam!" Lance ordered. Both pokémon fired the attacks. The attacks collided… and the Hyper Beam broke through! It hit Totodile & sent it flying towards the wall. The battle was over for the gator.
"Aerodactyl wins!" The ref yelled. Ash called back Totodile & sent out Pikachu.
"Pikachu! Thunder!" Ash ordered. Long story short, Pikachu had some fried dactyl.
(Izzy: Lazy!
Me: Nope. Just bored.)
"Pikachu wins!" The ref yelled. Lance called Aerodactyl back & sent out his charizard.
"Aww weak! I don't even have my charizard!" Ash said.
"Well?" Lance said impatiently.
"Pikachu?" Ash asked. Long story short, again.
"Pikachu wins!" The ref yelled. Lance called back Charizard.
"That's alright. Time for some fun. Dragonite! Go!" he tossed the poké ball & the big guy appeared.
"Hypa Beam that sucka!" Lance said in a gangsta voice.
(Izzy & I: o.O;;;;)
Uhhh… Yeah… Anyway, long story short goes the opposite way for Ash & Pikachu.
"Dragonite wins!" The ref said.
"Uhhh Lance?" Israel called.
"Yes?" Lance asked.
"Don't do that again."
"Gotcha."
Ash picked up Pikachu & sent out Phanpy. Moderately long story REALLY short.
"Lance wins this match!" The ref said. Israel walked down to the field, clapping.
"Congrats Lance. Please heal your pokémon & we'll battle."
"Sure." Lance replied.
A minute or so later…
"Because it's so late, this match will be a three-on-three match as well. Begin!" The ref said.
"Go! Dragonite!" Lance did his pokémon-releasing thing.
"Go! Aqua King!" Ditto for Israel.
(Ash: A ditto!? Where!?
Me: - -'')
"Dragonite! Hyper Beam!"
"Aqua King! Ice Beam!" Both pokémon launched their attacks at each other. Aqua King's Ice Beam quickly froze the Hyper Beam. The suicune then set his sights on the dragon type.
"o.O;;;;" Went the dragonite.
"Ice Beam him!" Israel ordered. Aqua King fired it and Dragonite was frozen solid.
"Aqua King wins!" Yelled the ever-loud ref.
"Go! Gyarados!" Lance said while tossing another poké ball. Out came his red gyarados.
"Wow! You got a red gyarados too! Sweet!" Israel said in amazement.
(Me: I wasn't exactly thrilled when I saw him catch that red gyarados at the Lake of Rage.
Izzy: Yeah! Only I'm supposed to have a red gyarados! ME!
Me: o.O;;;;; Simmer down.)
'Too bad it's going down.' Israel thought as he called back Aqua King.
"Go! Zap Master!" His zapdos then came out of its master ball. Long story short because of double weakness & level.
(Izzy: You need to stop doing that.
Me: No way! I got one more coming!)
"Zap Master wins!" The ref yelled. Lance called back Gyarados and sent out Aerodactyl.
"Return! Zap Master!" Israel said, holding out the master ball.
'Now to show that I got the master plan. For I am the Eggman! That's what I am! I am the Eggman! I got the masta plan.' Israel thought/sang.
"Go! Ice Master!" He sent out his articuno. Long story short for same reasons as Zap Master VS. Gyarados.
"Prince Israel wins the match!"
"Good match." Lance said as he called back the frozen aerodactyl. "I believe I owe you half my money." He handed Israel half of his money, which was $200,000.
(Izzy: Cha ching! $.$)
"See ya around." Lance said. Israel was too busy counting the money to reply decently.
"Yah, yah. Bye!" See what I mean?
Israel went to put cash away in the vault. Ash followed.
"Israel. Sorry I couldn't beat Lance. He was just too strong."
"Don't worry about it. I'll still battle ya on Sunday."
"Really?! Whoohoo!" Ash replied, acting like Homer Simpson.
Later that night at the castle…
Everybody went to sleep for the night. Let's take a peek at Prince Israel's dream.
::::Israel's dream::::
"Where am I?" Israel was in a dark place in his normal clothes. (i.e.: The same clothes he had on in the last chapter.)
He walked up a little further. Suddenly, two big pictures revealed themselves to Israel. On his left was a picture of Misty and on his right was a picture of Jasmine. Then, all seventeen of Israel's badges flew from him. They split up into two groups. His Kanto badges circled around the portrait of Misty. Israel then saw a figure walk to the portrait.
"Ash?"
Indeed, the person who walked up to the picture was Ash. The eight badges then stopped circling the portrait and started to circle in front of Ash. At least, seven of them did. The Cascade Badge floated above the circle Suddenly, a gush of water flew up within the circle. When the water subsided, Misty was standing where the badges were. The badges then fell to ground. Misty & Ash held hands. The couple then pointed to Israel's right.
Israel looked and noticed his Johto badges circling around the portrait of Jasmine. The difference this time was that nobody walked up to the picture. Two of the badges then separated from the circle and just floated in front of each other. The two badges were the Jeweled Crown Badge & the Mineral Badge. The other seven badges circled under the Jeweled Crown Badge. In a cluster of stars, a figure appeared. Israel couldn't believe who it was.
"It's me."
The person that appeared was himself, but Israel was standing a few feet from the area! The Jeweled Crown Badge fell to the ground as the other badges circled under the Mineral Badge. In the same cluster of stars, Jasmine appeared. The other Israel & Jasmine kissed and the two couples started to walk away from the fallen badges.
"Hey wait!" The real Israel yelled as he started to run. He suddenly felt air underneath his feet. He started to fall. He fell for quite a long distance until…
"Ahhh!!!!!" Israel yelled as he woke up. He was sweating & panting for air.
"Oh. Just a dream, but what did it mean? I have to go back to sleep so that I'll be in good sprits for tomorrow night." When he caught his breath, he went back to sleep.
-------------------------------
End of Chapter 22