Name: Makin' My Way (Any Way That I Can) NOTE! This is NOT a songfic.

Rating: T for violence, swearing, and various things young minds should not be exposed to…yet.

Genre: Humor/Romance/Action/Whatever.

Plot Summary: Chaki Takashi is just your normal teenager…who loves Pokemon! (But who doesn't?) Her life is turned upside down when she meets up with Ash Ketchum (Satoshi), May (Haruka), Max (Masato), and Brock (Takashi), along with some new friends! Will they survive the journey to becoming a Pokemon master, or will their dreams disappear in a puff of smoke?

Hello and welcome to the next chapter! Thanks to everybody who commented! (You'll get replies at the end of the chapter )


"Can I open my eyes yet?"

"Not yet."

"How about now?"

"Nope."

"Now?"

"Sorry."

Chaki mumbled something under her breath, upset that she couldn't see a thing. When Steven and her left, he gave her a blindfold so she couldn't see where they were going. Chaki didn't say anything at first, but the blindfold was slowing getting on her nerves.

Thump.

Looks like we've landed… Chaki thought to herself as she tried to get off of the Skarmory. She was grateful when her foot touched solid ground.

"Ok, you can take it off." Steven said as he guided her off of the large metal bird. Chaki reached behind her head and untied the blindfold and removed it from her blue eyes. She had to blind a couple of times to adjust to the light.

"SURPRISE!" Chaki almost stumbled backwards in amazement. She obviously knew about Steven being the champion of the Elite Four, however she never expected to see the entire Elite Four in front of her, holding a huge banner that said "Congratulations on graduating!" signed by all of them.

"What the…?" Chaki said, confused. "What's going on?"

"When we heard about what happened and how you'd be spending tonight alone, we thought that you could come celebrate with us!" A girl stepped forwards from the group, smiling. Chaki thought that she looked like she had just arrived from Hawaii, even though none of them knew what it was: she had flowers everywhere, on her skirt, on her ankles, and in her hair, along with a bikini top. Chaki instantly recognized her as Phoebe, the second member of the Elite Four.

"And besides, it's better than spending the night alone." Another girl said bluntly. She had short, curly blonde hair and was dressed as if she was from the 1930's.

"Sheesh…you're in a great mood today aren't you Glacia." A boy with red hair stated, he also looked a little dated but not as much as Grace did, especially since he had a red Mohawk sticking right out of his head. Chaki recognized him as Sidney, the first member of the Elite Four.

"Yea, yea, whatever." Glacia stated bluntly. "As long as I get back in time to watch Desperate Housewives I don't care." Glacia made a fake coughing sound as if to end the conversation.

"Wait…" Chaki said, looking over the group. "Isn't there someone missing? Yea…" Chaki counted silently to herself. "Four. Isn't there supposed to be five?"

"Um…" Phoebe started to say, sounding a little embarrassed. "You see…"

"Drake's out sailing. On his boat." Glacia butted in, a triumphant smirk on her face. "Apparently he thought he was too good for us or something."

"Glacia!" Phoebe said sternly. "You know it's not that! After all Steven told us just last night, really!"

"Sure, whatever you say…" Glacia rolled her eyes.

"You know," Sidney said slyly. "The only reason you're like this is because…"

"Shut up!" Glacia shouted, slamming her hand over his mouth and muffling out the rest of the sentence. Sidney managed to break free of her grasp, and started to try and finish his sentence, but as soon as he broke free she would just grab him yet again.

"Um…" Chaki felt a little lost in midst of all of the chaos. The fighting had gone on for several minutes now and didn't really feel like watching it continue for much longer. "Maybe we should go get something to eat?"


"Mmmm…!" Phoebe said as they all emerged from the burger stand where they had eaten. Phoebe stretched her arms and yawned, a sign that she was probably full. "That was great!"

"So…what now?" Chaki asked. She had eaten a bacon burger and had split some fries with Steven. It's not like it bothered her or anything, but for some reason it had sent Phoebe in to a fit of giggles from time to time.

"Well…" Phoebe began to say, as she stopped Chaki right in her tracks and started to stare hard at her.

"Uh…" Chaki said, as she slowly started to inch away.

"Phoebe! What are you doing!" Steven shouted, stepping in front of Chaki and matching Phoebe's stare with one of his own.

"Jeez Steven you don't have to act so personal about it!" Phoebe put her hands on her hips. "I was just trying to think of something else she could wear!"

"Something else I could wear…?" Chaki asked, a little confused.

"Well…" Phoebe said slowly, looking Chaki over one more time. "…it looks like you've lived in school all of your life."

"So!" Steven butted in again. "I think she look great in it!" Chaki was speechless. She had never seen someone stand up for her like that, and she kind of liked it. In a weird way.

"Oh-ho," Grace said slyly. "Is Steven falling for yet another girl?"

"What!" Steven started to blush, speechless.

"Yup. It seems like our Steven is always falling for somebody," Grace continued. "I can remember just last year he…"

"Stop it would'ja?" Steven shouted, his face bright red now.

"Is there something I'm missing here…?" Chaki asked, confused for the second time that night.

"No, no." Phoebe put her arm around Chaki's shoulder and slowly pulled her away from where Grace and Steven were bickering. "They always do this. I think it's because they have a thing for each other, but neither will admit it." When she heard Phoebe say this, Chaki couldn't help but feel a little depressed, however she didn't know why. "Anyways, I really think you should get some new clothes, no offence but those wouldn't last a day out there." Phoebe smiled. "Come on. I know the perfect place." Phoebe started to run off to a large shopping complex, dragging Chaki along with her.


"Ok, I'm ready." Chaki called from inside the changing stall. For the past hour they had run throughout the complex, Phoebe making Chaki try on all sorts of shirts, pants, and shoes. Chaki was starting to get bored with all of this shopping; however Phoebe kept insisting that Chaki give it "one more try." It had been ten "one more tries" since then.

"So, what are you waiting for?" Phoebe said from outside. "Show us!" Chaki took a deep breath and stepped outside. Steven gasped. Glacia rolled her eyes. Sidney nodded in approval. And Phoebe started in another fit of giggles.

"It's perfect!" Phoebe said happily.

"You think so?" Chaki asked. She wasn't really sure about it personally, I mean she liked the appearance of it, but for some reason it didn't really fit.

"Of course!" Steven smiled. "Well, if you think that it does."

"Yea," Chaki smiled back at Steven, "I do."

"Come on!" Phoebe grabbed Chaki's arm and tugged her towards the viewing mirrors. "Take a look!"

Chaki took a big breath and opened her eyes. She was wearing a light blue shirt, a light blue skort, and a pair of matching sneakers. The shirt was somewhat tight, but not too tight, the neck was reasonable and the sleeves were short, but not too short. Her skort was cleverly designed to look like a real skirt; however it "was guaranteed to prevent any unwanted traveler's eyes." Finally, the sneakers were light blue as well, and (like the skirt) were also guaranteed to last the "everlasting toil of traveling."

"Wow…" Chaki said under her breath, stunned. "This looks…great!"

"You like it?" Phoebe asked, happy to hear that Chaki was pleased.

"Definitely!" Chaki smiled, giving Phoebe the thumbs up sign.

"Well…I hate to ruin this party…" Sidney began to say.

"You always ruin the party." Glacia said slyly as Sidney glared back.

"It's getting late." Sidney peered at his watch. "To be precise it's almost ten."

"Oh, it's almost ten…" Phoebe said mockingly. "Is the widdle baby getting tired?"

"Considering we have that huge batch of trainers coming through tomorrow…" Sidney began to say, as Phoebe's face slowly started to reveal her stupidity.

"Heheh…" Phoebe laughed nervously. "Well….we better get going. I completely forgot!"

"No duh." Glacia said as she headed out of the room and towards the door.

"Wait!" Chaki felt a jolt of panic hit her heart. I can't pay for all of this! Chaki thought nervously as she totaled up the sum of her new outfit in her mind. "Who's going to pay for this…I mean…" Chaki stopped halfway through her thought, suddenly feeling like a brat. Crap. She thought, her face turning pink.

"Oh, don't worry about that." Steven walked up to her and put his arm around her. "We get a discount around here. I guess it's because we're treated like royalty." Steven sighed as he heard a swarm of giggles coming from a hiding group of fan-girls.

"You sure? I mean…I feel guilty making you buy all this for me." Chaki still sounded a little worried. "Especially since I won't be able to pay you back for awhile, maybe not until I get a job."

"I'm sure you'll be able to pay us back." Steven smiled. "All we want in return is a good battle, right guys?"

"You got that right." Phoebe said.

"All we get now are trainers that don't know the difference between a Crawdaunt and a crocodile…or that's what I think they're called..." Glacia sighed.

"Are you sure?" Chaki asked, still feeling a little embarrassed about the whole thing.

"Positive." Steven said. By now they were outside in the square, the same place where they had arrived a couple hours before. "Well, its best we get going." Steven threw his pokeball in the air and Skarmory happily popped out and tucked its head under Chaki's arm, wanting to be pet.

"Well," Chaki began to say slowly, not wanting the night to end. "I guess this is goodbye."

"Don't say that!" Phoebe smiled, winking at Chaki. "I'm sure we'll meet again very soon."

"Ok." Chaki bowed politely to Glacia, Sidney and Phoebe before she got on Skarmory with Steven. "See you!" Chaki shouted as the couple took of into the midnight sky.


Darkness. An endless hallway. A twisted shout in the darkness. Are you here? I wonder as I walk around. I feel your pain, the pain of a loss to be felt throughout the ages. I open doors. Are you here? I ask. All I hear is the echo in the darkness.

"I…will always…"

The echo from a far off memory scorches through my mind. Where are you? I ask, but only to be answered by darkness again.

"…love…"

Love…I think. Such a hallow word.

"…you…"

Pain. The pain of a thousand flames tears through my heart, my mind, my soul. Where are you? I ask one more time, as I fade away, while the darkness laughs at my limitations.

Chaki awoke with a start. She gasped for air, sweat dripping down her brow. She looked at the clock.

1:44

"Not again…" Chaki sighed to herself as she slowly lifted herself off the bed and towards the bathroom. She clicked on the lights and began to wash her face with water.

"…love…"

Chaki gasped yet again, the pain ripping through her heart. She put her hands on the sink, trying to use to it as a support to keep her from falling; gasping for air. Chaki slowly stood up, and walked into the kitchen.

Why is this happening?

Chaki thought as she heated up a cup of tea in the microwave. She prepared it her special way, the way her mom had taught her what felt like eons ago.

"We'll always be here…"

Chaki gasped again, but this time able to deal with the pain. Why must I suffer? Chaki thought. She slowly felt herself fading this time, but only to another world: the world of the haunting memory.

I was only four at the time. My parents and I lived in the middle of the woods. I remember it perfectly…I would attend school, then my dad would come and pick me up and we'd go home to a nice dinner with my mom. Then, in the everlasting twilight, we'd play. Anything. As long as I was with them…I felt, nothing would go wrong. I didn't know how much I was wrong…

That day was normal. Everything was perfect until I was playing outside one day.

"Remember Chaki…" My dad had said to me just before, "I will always love you. And we'll always be here supporting you, no matter what." I just smiled, happy for the affection. Suddenly a black car, black as the darkness itself, drove up into the driveway.

"Hide." My dad had said. I didn't know why, but I had always hidden when this car drove up. I thought it was a game of hide-and-seek, and after the man failed to find me we'd go and have ice cream inside. There was no ice cream today.

"Where is it?" The man demanded. I never saw his face, just heard his demonic voice.

"I don't know." My dad replied coolly.

"Tell me!"

"No."

"Well…then I guess I'll just have to find it myself!" The man stormed inside our house. I waited, not sure of the result. An explosion. A laugh. The shouts of the two I loved most being devoured by flame.

"Well…that was easy enough." The man emerged from the flame, unharmed. He had a demon dog at his side. "The orb is mine!" The man laughed as he pulled out of the driveway laughing. I wanted to run, to chase him. But I couldn't. I was paralyzed by fear. By the time I could move…it was too late.

Chaki woke several hours later, sprawled out on the ground. The microwave was beeping to signal that the tea was ready, but by now it had already cooled. Chaki just sighed, got in her bed and went back to sleep.


Done! Sorry it took so long. School, you know, the usual. Now to respond to my precious comments:

MonnieMe – Yea, if you haven't figured it out yet, this story is written in third person, meaning that I can read Chaki's thoughts (Chaki: NO YOU CAN'T!), so she was just retelling the story to herself, but we could hear her anyways. That will turn up again in this chapter, just a heads up.

Alphamech – Glad you like it!

ItWASn'tMe – Also glad you like it! You should know what happened to Chaki's parents by now…but just in case you missed it I'll say it again: they passed away in a large fire having to do with a mysterious fire type trainer when Chaki was a little girl, after said trainer asked for some mysterious artifact. What that is, you'll find out later

HannaH - Yea…the principal is our principal…well you have to admit she does talk…a lot… Glad you liked it, and I'll explain this chapter too if you need it

Anyways, as usual I'm open to suggestions, comments, flames, rants, etc. So come and comment today!

Preview: Next time on Makin' My Way! Chaki's finally off on her adventure, but what's on Steven's mind that's so urgent that he visits Chaki…at six am? And who's this Pikachu kid, and why is his Pikachu overcharged? Find out next!

Help? Yea, I was wondering if any artists out there would be willing to draw a group picture I can use to promote this story. I'd prefer if you're used to drawing with the Pokemon style, and had something you could show me. Email me if you're interested! (I'll write a one-shot about whatever to the person who agrees to do this for me.)