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Chapter 40: Three Blaines?

"Finally. On our way to Cinnabar Island." Ash sighed on the ferry still exhausted from the Princess Festival a week earlier.

"Are you sure there is a gym there?" Vincent asked.

"Yeah. I always heard it was a tourist area." Marina agreed.

"There is a gym." Aaron assured them even more exhausted than Ash because he had to carry twice as much.

It was easy for the rest of the gang during the Princess Festival. Marina had Jimmy and Vincent and Misty had Ash and Brock. Marie only had Aaron to carry her things.

"Good. You can lead the way." Ash told him.

"ME!"

"You were here last."

"I hate it when you make a good point."

Ash smirked as the ferry pulled into the harbor.

0000

"Sheesh. Why is this place such a tourist attraction?" Jimmy asked

"I have the answer." A hippie showed up. Ash, Brock, Misty, Aaron, and Marie smiled knowingly.

"What is it?" Marina asked.

"What do tourists think is hot and cool?"

The trio who actually came for badges facefaulted.

"Hot springs." The others answered.

"No fair. You've heard these." The hippie said recognizing the fivesome.

"At least we aren't telling who you are sir." Misty said.

"Good point."

"Anyways. Where is the gym?" Vincent asked impatiently.

"Where do you put your glasses?"

Facefaulted again.

"He needs to come up with new riddles." Ash told Misty.

"Are these the same ones he told you?" Aaron asked overhearing his brother.

"Oh yeah."

"Right in front of your eyes!" Marina figured out the answer.

"Correct." The man said pointing to a burnt building.

"WHAT?"

"Don't worry." Aaron reassured his friends. "Blaine built a new gym 'where firefighters can never win'".

"Not you too Aaron." Jimmy groaned.

"That's just what he told me." Aaron said winking at the hippie.

"Should I expect you eight at the Riddle Me Inn tonight?"

"Of course. It's where 'If you look near the swing, you'll see my hands, or at least my face.' Right?" Misty asked.

"Good thing Andy isn't here. He'd be going crazy." Brock pointed out.

The hippie just grinned.

0000

The next day at the gym,

"How was I supposed to know it was the Volcano?" Jimmy asked.

"Don't worry. Ash didn't know either." Misty told him

"Neither did Aaron." Marie pointed out.

"In fact, I solved all the riddles."

"Same here." Marie said.

"Ok girls. You don't have to rub it in." Ash said.

Just then, the hippie came out, but he looked different.

"Did you shrink Blaine?" Aaron asked.

"BLAINE!"

"Not quite" a female's voice came from behind the chibi Blaine. It was another mini Blaine.

As everybody's mouths dropped,

CLICK

FLASH

"I can't wait till I get these pictures developed."

"Todd? Then,"

"That's right." The female Blaine took off her disguise.

"DUPLICA?"

"That's right. Todd and I were in the neighborhood, and…"

"Duplica." Todd told her to be quiet.

"To face the real Blaine," the chibi Blaine told our heroes. "You have to face me."

"Fine by us." Ash, Aaron, Jimmy, Marina, and Vincent said as they grabbed a pokeball.

"One-on-one, no time limit. Who's my first victim?" the chibi Blaine asked.

"I am. Jimmy from New Bark. Typhlosion! Go!"

"Charizard!" the chibi Blaine called his Pokemon

After a really close battle, Jimmy won it.

"That was close."

"Growlithe" the Blaine wannabe called.

"My turn! Feraligatr!" Marina called her first Pokemon.

Feraligatr won by a landslide.

"Flareon"

"Go Azumarill!" Vincent called

Azumarill won.

Aaron was recognizing the Pokemon, but he couldn't place them.

"I know I have seen them somewhere before."

"Aaron?"

"Yeah bro?"

"Do you want me up first or do you want the honors?"

"Be my guest."

"Go! Dratini!"

"Ponyta!"

Because of the levels of the Pokemon, the battle was a little bit more intense. Ash won it, but not before the Ponyta evolved into Rapidash.

"Wow! I have a Rapidash!" the smaller Blaine struggled to keep in a cheer that would have given his true identity away when his Pokemon evolved.

Aaron, who finally put two and two together and got them to equal four, realized it was his turn. He grinned when he realized who he was battling.

"I'll let him know after the battle." Aaron said to himself.

"Typholosion! Go!"

"Ok. His first ever. Croconaw! I choose you!"

For a while, the chibi Blaine looked confused at how Aaron knew that Typholosion was his first. Then it dawned on him. Aaron knew.

0000

After the battle, which Aaron won and Croconaw evolved, Aaron walked up to the smaller than normal Blaine.

"You figured me out. Didn't you?" the Blaine asked Aaron.

"Yeah. You had me fooled for a while. Did Duplica help with the outfit?"

"Yeah. What gave it away?"

"I recognized your Pokemon. And your reaction when Ponyta evolved. You had been wanting that thing to evolve since you got it in Mt. Silver"

"Can't fool you can I?"

"We've been traveling together for four years! It's just like Brock trying to pull one over on Ash."

"Not going to happen." Ash said looking at Brock. Ash had figured it out by the way his brother was acting.

"That was an interesting battle." The real Blaine showed up still in the hippie outfit.

"If Andy were here, he'd be going "No more Blaines."" Marie mimicked Andy.

"Actually Marie, I probably would." The chibi Blaine took off the costume.

"ANDY?" Marie, Misty, and Brock exclaimed as Jimmy, Marina, and Vincent's mouths went wide and Ash and Aaron laughed.

CLICK

FLASH

"Excuse me. I HAVE to get these pictures developed." Todd said as he and Duplica ran out of the volcano.

"What are you doing here?" Marie asked her friend.

"I said that I'd make it back before the Indigo League."

"Good point."

"You guys can have a reunion later. I suggest we get your pokemon healed and have a real gym battle." The real Blaine said.

"Are you really the real Blaine?" Vincent asked.

"Yes."

"But I heard that Blaine was bald." Marina said.

"It's not a hat, but it keeps your head dry. If you wear it, it's because you lost it."

"Uh."

"A WIG!" Practically everyone in the volcano yelled at the younger trio.

0000

After the five really battled Blaine, Vincent and Jimmy lost theirs, and Marina won hers.Ash and Aaron, who had been training longer, won. Marina decided to help her friends train.

"Are you guys sure you don't want us to wait for you?" Aaron asked his childhood friends.

"We're sure. You guys go on and train. We'll meet you at the Pokemon League." Jimmy told them.

"Ok."

0000

On the ferry out,

"How did you know it was me Ash? I understand Aaron." Andy asked Ash.

"Like we've been telling you guys, Aaron and I are on the same wavelength. I can read him just as easily as he can read you. Also, that traveled for four years kinda gave it away."

"So Andy, tell us what happened." Marie bade him.

"Well."

Flashback

Andy had just come into Cinnabar Island.

"Ok. Now to find Blaine."

"ANDY!"

"TODD! DUPLICA!"

Andy ran to the two younger people.

"What are you two doing here?"

"Just taking pictures of fire Pokemon in the area. Is Ash with you?" Todd asked.

"No." And he relayed his story to the photographer and Ditto Trainer.

"And now I want to ask Blaine if he had seen them." He finished.

"Hmmm. We can take you to him." Duplica told him

0000

At the Riddle Me Inn,

"And that's what happened Blaine." Andy finished his long story of the switch.

"Interesting. No Andy. Ash and Aaron had not been by here yet."

"Great! I haven't missed them."

"I can't wait to see their faces when they see you again." Todd told him.

"I have a better idea." Duplica said with a hint of mischief in her eyes.

End Flashback

"That's why Blaine wasn't surprised about the look alike." Ash realized.

"So Duplica dressed you up as Blaine?" Aaron asked.

Andy nodded.

"Please tell me you left poor Officer Jenny alone." Marie groaned.

"OH MY GOSH! I FORGOT ABOUT HER!"

TBC.

Preview (Sorry about the lack of preview from before):

"OUCH!"

"Duck tape. The glue to the world." Misty said.

"Um. Was it really necessary to duck tape Andy's mouth?" Ash asked.

"Yes. I was NOT about to listen to another round of that song." Marie answered.

"Ok."