Disclaimer (since I'm pretty sure that I keep on forgetting it…): I don't own Pokemon. At all. Nope! Not I! Original Characters Mine. Pokemon Stuff Whoever owns Pokemon. Other stuff Whoever can legally claim it…;
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Echo hummed playfully as she walked through the store, glancing at all the items for sale with interest. She stopped at a group of belts, raising an inquiring eyebrow to her favorite accessory, but remembered the paper in her hand and walked away.
Suddenly, she laughed silently, recognizing her unusual behavior. What Ninetales would act as she had? When was the last time she was able to act like this? After being a Ninetales for so long, human interests (such as belts!) were left behind, but were suddenly rushing back.
Poor Will, she thought. He must think I've gone insane!
Echo stopped.
"Will…" she whispered in realization. Team Aqua would undoubtedly be after them now and they would stop at nothing to find her.
"Mightyena, use Odor Sleuth!"
Mightyena sniffed the air, catching Echo's scent with his sensitive nose. He growled victoriously.
"You're one of them, aren't you? Neither human or Pokemon!"
Uh-oh…Echo growled back. "What are you talking about?"
"Was that fear I saw? Fear of your secret being let out?"
"I have no secret!" Echo hissed, tensing up.
"Either way, we'll be after you…you and your master."
"Crap…" muttered Echo, banging her head against a nearby column in frustration. Why did Will have to get involved…
"Can I help you, miss?"
Echo composed herself and spun around to come face to face with a tall man. His clothes and coat were both a dark shade of blue, nearly black, and he had light blue hair standing like a royal crown. Behind small glasses, he stared at Echo with mahogany brown eyes and a small smile.
Echo blushed slightly and remembered the paper in her hand, which she held up to the man. "I'm, uh…looking for the Contest Sign-ups. You wouldn't happen to know where it is, would you?"
The man smiled and pushed his glasses up a bit. "Of course." He pointed towards a hallway just beyond the Pokemon Dolls. "Down that hall you'll find signs leading to the sign-up and the dressing rooms. It might help if you didn't stop to bang your head against poles on the way…" He laughed lightly.
"Err, right…thanks!" Echo took back the paper and walked to the hall slowly, watching over her shoulder as the man went about his own business as well in a hurried fashion. She stopped briefly, but only to release the breath she had been holding.
She walked on.
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"Here's your entry form. Be sure to turn it in at least 10 minutes before the contest begins"
"Got it." Echo took the sheet and a pencil and began to scribble down the general information such as her name and the Pokemon she would be 'dressed up' as later, muttering quietly as she filled out the form.
Suddenly, another form was beside hers, being filled out as well. Echo stole a glance at the entrant's neat handwriting.
Name: Zeffie Schuler
Pokemon: Gardevoir
The Ninetales looked up at Zeffie with a slight bit of curiosity and was stunned. She did look like Gardevoir! She had short green hair, part of it covering her left eye, and wore a silver shirt with matching pants, both articles of clothing colored the same green on the sleeves and below the knees. But, was the resemblance real, or not?
"You're entering as Gardevoir?" the lady handing out the entry forms asked casually.
"Of course!" Zeffie replied happily. "Everyone always says that I bear a natural resemblance to Gardevoir."
Echo grinned inwardly. Yep.
Zeffie seemed to notice Echo's eyes on her. "Oh, hello! You're entering the contest too?"
Echo nodded. "Yeah, I'm Echo Elden, and I'm entering as a Ninetales."
"That's great. I take it that Ninetales is your favorite Pokemon?"
"Yeah, you could say that," Echo replied before feigning a thoughtful frown. "Hey, a friend of mine is thinking about raising a Psychic type Pokemon…Any suggestion?" If she is a Gardevoir, I hope she didn't see this coming...
"Hmmm, it's pretty good to teach a Psychic Pokemon the Psychic attack in general, but…I kinda like Future Sight!"
Echo and Zeffie handed in their entry forms and began to walk into the crowd.
"Future Sight, huh? Any guesses about whose going to win the contest?" Echo asked casually, waving towards the other contestants.
Zeffie shot Echo a quick look. "Well, anyone could win. The people here did a really good job with the dressing up and the make-up…" she trailed off. "I don't really have a clue about who could win."
"Oh, you sure?" Echo locked onto Zeffie's red eyes, using an ability that she normally only used in battle: Confuse Ray. Zeffie wobbled as if her sense of balance was suddenly off, but it didn't affect her totally. Instead she shook it off and stared at Echo incredulously.
"Why do you ask…?"
"People! The contest is about to begin! If you would, please take a number from the box on the table in the center of the room and line up according to your number from 1-50. Staff, please report to the back room!" A voice called over the intercom that Echo recognized as belonging to the man who had directed her to the contest.
Zeffie walked towards the table, confused, but Echo stopped her with a short sentence.
"I'm a friend!"
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Will glanced at the clock hanging on the wall. 10:45. Time to get moving. He stood up from his comfortable position on the Pokemon Center couch and walked out the door leisurely, hands hidden in pockets, brushing the tips of the grass blades with the bottom of his shoe before taking each step.
Suddenly, a small radish-like Pokemon burst from the bushes, running in front of the Pokemon center in a blind panic, as quickly as its tiny blue legs could carry it. Behind it, a Skarmory flew into the air, steel wings shining, with a cry and blasted at the ground with the whirlwinds generated by the powerful wings. The trainer gasped.
"Watch out!" he shouted, diving in front of the wild Oddish, grabbing it before it could be blown away and seriously hurt. Skarmory continued the Gust attack, trying to blow both the boy and the Oddish away, but failed. Miffed, the bird cawed and flew away.
Will smiled and looked at the Oddish, checking for any injuries. The Oddish had none. letting Will relax.
"Are you okay, Oddish?" he asked gently. The Oddish looked down, as if checking itself for injuries and shyly contemplating its answer. Its answer came quickly enough: it grinned evilly and began to melt. The blue and green plant was suddenly replaced by a pink blob. Will dropped the Ditto in shock and backed away when it began to grow.
The Ditto transformed into an exact copy of the attacking Skarmory. Will scrambled to his feet and ran, but the Skarmory-Ditto's claws rapidly latched unto his arm, dragging him into the sky.
"Hey, let me go, you insane Ditto! I just saved you!" Will yelled at the steel bird, but it ignored him. Instead, it called into the sky, signaling its owner and landed on the roof of the store.
Below, all entrances and exits of the Lilycove Department Store slammed shut, tightly locked. All entrances locked except the roof entry, which had swung open at that very moment
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"Oh, great. What's going on now..." Echo muttered, looking around in the darkened room. All of the windows and doors had suddenly closed and the lights had turned off. Several people screamed, and several "Ouch!"es and "Sorry!"s later, a fair-sized crowd could be heard banging against the doors and windows. "Zeffie! Are you in here?"
"Yeah, I'm right here!" the familiar replied, a scared tone in her voice, right next to Echo. "What's going on?"
"I have a guess..."
"Attention boys and girls!" a harsh voice shouted over the racket. "You'll all be safe as long as you do what we say, got it?"
Echo glared at the source of the voice. "Guess confirmed. Team Aqua."
In reply to the Team Aqua member's statement, a boy shouted back from the crowd, followed by murmurs of agreement. "Who are you to tell us what to do?"
A spotlight lit a ledge high above the ground, built into the wall of the room, where three figures stood. One was a man garbed in the red uniform of Team Aqua. The second was a small, pink Ditto. The third was an boy, bound and gagged...
"Will!" Echo screamed.
"You know him?" Zeffie asked.
"He's my master—err—friend!"
The man spoke again, answering the rebellious boy. "I, Mimeo Parrot, am an administrator of Team Aqua and I advise that you don't make any more bold comments, brat. Ditto! Keep an eye on them!" Ditto nodded and jumped into the air, turning into a Swellow in midair. The admin walked out of the room through a door behind him, taking the struggling Will with him.
"We have to help him!" Echo yelled, racing for a ladder that led to the door. Zeffie, however, grabbed her shoulder and turned her around.
"The door's locked. You won't be able to get there like that. Besides..." Zeffie pointed up at the Swellow circling the room. "We're being closely watched. I have a better idea. Give me your hand!"
Echo raised an eyebrow at Zeffie, but then took her hand cautiously. Instantly, the dark room faded and the roof took its place.
Echo stared at Zeffie. "What was that?" she exclaimed. Zeffie smiled sheepishly.
"Teleport," she answered.
"Then I was right about you! You are a Gardevoir!" Echo grinned.
"And you're a Ninetales, right?"
The Ninetales nodded and took on a more serious look. "But…why? Why did you help me when you could've—"
"You seem to know more about...um...people with this sort of ability than most, so...And you needed help..."
"Thank you, Zeffie. I seriously owe you one. But, where are they?"
The Gardevoir shrugged. "I don't know...I thought they would be here..."
"Hey, how did you get up here?" The Aqua admin shouted from behind them, dropping
Will in shock. Even though his mouth was covered, they could still hear a few miffed grumbles coming from his direction.
Echo chuckled and gave a look to Zeffie concerning her 'guess'. "Nice..." Zeffie grinned apologetically and shrugged.
"Ditto, go!" Mimeo shouted, throwing a Pokeball into the air. A pink Pokemon popped out of the Pokeball and oozed on the ground. The opponents stared each other down, glaring at each other for a while before the Admin relaxed from his battle stance in confusion. "Oh, come now, send out your Pokemon. I would hate to harm women without a decent fight."
Echo and Zeffie glanced at each other.
"I'll keep them distracted," Echo whispered, "and you untie Will, okay?"
"Can you handle both of them?"
"Of course I can, now go!" Echo caught fire, transforming into her Pokemon form as Zeffie silently inched towards Will, trying to not catch the Mimeo's attention. Luckily, his attention was locked on Echo the Ninetales.
"You're the PokeMorph we've been after!" he exclaimed in surprise.
Echo blinked and sat, thinking over the word. "PokeMorph...I like it! Oh, and yep, that would be me."
"Insolent little...Ditto! Transform!" The Admin commanded. Ditto shifted and grew, becoming a complete copy of Echo, even adding in the puff of fire that Echo used to mock opponents.
"Fine, let's see how well you can handle my power, little copy-cat!"
By this time, Zeffie had reached Will and had begun untying the gagging handkerchief tied around his head. She untied it after a few tries and Will spat it out quickly.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"A thanks would've been more proper, but whatever. I'm Zeffie," she replied, working on the ropes. "I'm a friend of Ninetales-Girl over there, kinda...Echo, is it? But don't worry, we're on the same side. There, done!"
Will shook off the ropes and stood, assessing the battle.
"Hmm, can I help?" Zeffie asked shyly.
"You're a Pokemon too?" Will questioned, turning to face Zeffie.
"Yeah, I'm a Gardevoir."
Will nodded slightly, observing the battle with concentration. "Yeah...If you want to!" He answered with a smirk.
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"Ready, guys?" Will called.
Echo looked back to Will thoughtfully, but replied quickly. "Always ready! What's the plan?"
A new ally stepped into the fray gracefully, barely touching the ground and with the grace of an experienced dancer. "You know your own weaknesses better than anyone, Echo. You're going to need to make a plan," the Gardevoir stated in an ethereal voice.
Ninetales gave a hopeless glance to her teammates. "Erm, know where we can get a lot of water, really quickly?"
"Ditto! Use Confuse Ray on the Gardevoir!" Mimeo suddenly commanded.
Will bit his lower lip. After the hundreds of times he had seen Echo using Confuse Ray, he knew that the trouble would start before the action even began. That is, if the Confuse Ray worked…
"Zeffie, try Calm Mind!" Echo suddenly yelled, running at an angle around the Ditto, who was currently too busy following orders. Zeffie nodded and stopped moving completely, an aura suddenly appearing and vibrating. After a tense moment, the Ditto broke its eye contact and growled.
Mimeo growled as well. "What happened!" The only one who could answer, however, wasn't exactly planning on stopping. Instead, Echo turned towards the copier and charged, ramming into the Ditto's side. The Ditto's paws left the air briefly as it flew to the side, landing on the ground with a thud and a yelp. It returned to its feet immediately, its tails burning at the tips. The flames were extinguished quickly as a look of utter surprise crossed it face. Suddenly, the Ditto flipped upside down, rose into the air, and was slammed back down.
"Owww…" Echo grimaced for the Ditto, "that's gonna hurt…"
Zeffie laughed quietly, still concentrating and her arms still in a pose for another telekinetic attack in case the Ditto had more endurance than she thought. As the dust cleared away from the attack scene, the victor was clear.
Lying on a cracked section of concrete was the pink Ditto, totally unconscious.
"YES!" Will and Zeffie cheered, Echo laughing happily.
The Team Aqua Admin growled and returned Ditto to its Pokeball before running back to the door he had entered from. "Wait!" The threesome chased after him, following him down the stairs and to a door that was abruptly shut in their faces. Screams were heard from the other side of the door with the sound of a window breaking. Will swung the door open, but the Admin had already gotten away.
Through the broken window, they could see him and the Swellow flying into the distance towards the east...
"Team Aqua's hide out…Ditto will transform into a Wailmer and they'll go in through the underwater entrance…" Zeffie said. Will and Echo stared at her and she gave them a smile. "Hey, at least my Future Sight works sometimes!"
Random Author Gibberish and Q&A
Heh, whoops! Didn't think I would actual get this chapter done for a moment there! Lots of stuff was preventing me from posting this earlier, but…I think school might be the biggest one…
Anyways, thanks for reading the third chapter of Emerald Star. I think I'm starting to realize some things about this story…First of all, I just realized that I have more back story than actual story here…You know, kind of like when a video game has more side quests than actual video game! Secondly, the slowly forming ending…Well, let's just say that there's bound to be some rotten tomatoes thrown in my general direction…I'll leave you to guess what I mean! Muahaha!
And, last but not least, thanks for the reviews! As for Nyaa-Neko's question…I actually had the whole PokeMorph thing sorted out at one point…Anyways, I think that it would sort of be like how Pokemon are in the wild. Lots of Rattata/Pidgey/other common Pokemon; not a lot of Pokemon like…say…Absol. So, you might have a lot of 'common' PokeMorphs, and not too many 'uncommon' ones. As for the evolution thing…Say that there's a Charmander PokeMorph. As a human baby or toddler, their Pokemon form would be that of a Charmander. As a kid, like…5 to 10 or something, they would be a Charmeleon. And as they reach that dreaded age, puberty, they become a Charizard. Whoa, bad example…just imagine a ten-year old kid running around with that sort of fire-breathing power…OO!
Anyways, thanks again! ;
Legends Told