Episode 97: Thinking Inside the Box

Morning has come to Opti City. Ah! What a beautiful morning! And so peaceful too! I love mornings like these. Nothing could ruin the peace and-

Ash shouts, "No, we're going to Penum City for my gym battle!"

Brenda argues, "Ash, the Pokémon Contest in Starnight City is time-sensitive! If we go to Penum City first, we'll miss the contest! Your gym battle will always be there!"

As it sounds, Ash and Brenda are arguing. Brenda holds a flyer in her hand, an advertisement for a Pokémon Contest. Brock takes a few steps back, trying to stay out of the fight.

Ash points out, "Astrid personally asked me to battle the Penum Gym! I can't just ignore her!"

"You wouldn't be ignoring her! You'd still be able to do your gym battle after my contest, which wouldn't be the case the other way around!"

Ash shouts, "Gym battle!"

Brenda shouts, "Pokémon Contest!"

A female voice asks, "Excuse me, but I couldn't help but overhear your argument. You may have a problem, but I think I may have a solution."

Ash and Brenda both turn to see a woman approaching them. She has short red hair and wears a blue and black skirt and blouse as well as glasses.

Not a second after she first speaks, and Brock is already at her side, proclaiming, "They are not the only ones with problems which you can solve, for I too have one, and only you can solve it! For, you see, one look at you, and my heart pounded with longing. I fear it will keep up like this until you tell me that you will go on a date with me. So? What do you say? Will you solve my problem too?"

Before the confused woman can respond, Meteorfight appears to attack Brock with its usual uppercut, sending him flying upwards. "Meteor." Satisfied with it job, Meteorfight ducks out from sight.

Completely ignoring what just happened, Ash asks, "Do you really think you can solve our problem?"

Brenda asks, "Yeah, how?"

Forgetting Brock, the woman grins. "I'll tell you, if one of you battle me first."

Ash does not hesitate. "I'm in!"

The group has reconvened at a battlefield behind the city's Pokémon Center. Ash and the woman prepare to battle. The woman says, "If we're going to battle, then you should know my name. I'm Marie."

Ash responds, "And I'm Ash." He looks down to Pikachu and asks, "So, you ready for a little battle, Pikachu?"

Pikachu nods. "Pik." It runs out on to the field."

Marie grins, and then takes out a Pokéball. "Go, Parabox!" From the Pokéball comes what appears to simply be a closed cardboard box.

Ash is confused. "A box? Your Pokémon is a box?"

Marie chuckles. "Not quite. Show yourself, Parabox!" The lid of the box suddenly opens up, and the actual Pokémon springs out. It's a cat-like Pokémon that has orange, black, and white fur. It has extremely long whiskers, a large head-to-body ratio. The Pokémon never leaves it box, choosing to simply rest its front legs atop the rim.

Ash says, "Oh, the Pokémon was inside the box." He quickly pulls out his Pokédex.

Of note, the Pokédex image shows the Pokémon in the box, not out of it. "Parabox, the Paradox Pokémon, and a Normal-Type. Parabox will never leave its box. While hidden inside the box, it exists in a state of fluctuation, and its form is completely uncertain. Evolves from Kittainer at level 25."

Brock raises an eyebrow. "This should be an interesting battle, if everything I've heard about this Pokémon is true."

Marie offers, "Ash, you should start this battle off."

Ash nods. "We'll do just that! Pikachu, use Quick Attack!" With a burst of speed, Pikachu rushes at the box Pokémon.

Marie counters, "Parabox, use Slash!" The Pokémon, box, and all, leaps forward at Pikachu, to slash with its claws.

"Dodge it, Pikachu!" Pikachu manages to leap up and over the Pokémon, lands behind it, turns around, and rams into it with Quick Attack. Parabox is hurled back. "Great, now follow it up with Thunderbolt!"

"Pikaaaaa chuuuuuu!"

Marie orders, "Parabox, Protect!" Parabox lowers itself into its box, closes the lid, and then erects a barrier around the box. Pikachu's Thunderbolt is blocked.

Once the barrier lowers, Ash orders, "Quick Attack, right away!" Pikachu charges in with Quick Attack again.

Marie grins slyly. "Parabox, out of the box!" Parabox emerges once more from the box, but it suddenly looks completely different. Its fur is now nearly all black, except for the bone-like patterns of white going down its back, and, perhaps most strikingly, instead of hind legs and a normal tail, its lower body trails off into wispy ghost tail. While the Pokémon now floats above the box, its ghost tail can be traced down into it, like a genie from a bottle.

Ash, Pikachu, Brenda, and Brock all gasp at this startling and sudden transformation. Pikachu keeps up its attack anyways, and leaps at the floating Pokémon to ram into it. However, Pikachu somehow passes right through the cat Pokémon. "Pika!?"

Ash demands, "What just happened!? Quick Attack worked before! And what happened to Parabox!?"

Brock shouts, "Ash, check your Pokédex again!"

Ash pulls his Pokédex back out. "Parabox, Ghost Form, the Paradox Pokémon and a Ghost-Type." He puts it back away. "So Parabox changed forms into a Ghost-Type?"

Brenda says, "That would explain why the Normal-Type Quick Attack didn't have any effect."

Marie finally explains, "You see, Parabox has three separate forms. There's its Life Form, where it's a Normal-Type, it's Ghost Form, where it's a Ghost-Type, and then, while it's in the box, it's both forms at the same time, making it both a Normal and Ghost-Type."

Ash questions, "Both forms at once? How is that possible?"

"That's the mystery of Parabox. While it's out of sight, it occupies both forms at once, only settling on a form when it is observed. That means that when it comes out of its box, it will be in a completely random form."

Ash asks, "So you just got lucky that it became a Ghost-Type when I used a Normal-Type move?"

Marie responds firmly, "You could say that, but that's not the way I look at it. I say that Parabox always ends up in the form it was meant to be in, for better or for worse." After a pause, she adds, "Now come on Ash, let's finish our battle."

Ash nods. "Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"

"Pikaaaaa chuuuuuuuu!"

"Parabox, dodge and use Shadow Claw!" The ghostly cat twists around the electricity, and then slashes at Pikachu with shadowy energy surrounding its claws.

"Pika!"

Parabox pulls itself back into its box, and Marie then says, "Alright Ash, I'll tell you what."

Ash is slightly confused. "What?"

"We'll determine what we do from here based on what form Parabox is when it emerges from the box. If it's Life Form, then we'll keep on battling, but if it's Ghost Form then I'll surrender this match to you."

Ash isn't sure what to make of this. "Okay… sure…"

She nods. "Okay, Parabox! Reveal yourself!"

Parabox pops open the lid of its box once more. It's once again in its Ghost Form. "Para!"

Marie looks slightly disappointed by the result, but quickly gets over it. "Good game, Ash! You win!" She runs across the field and forcefully shakes his hand in congratulations.

"I…do?"

"You sure do. Can't argue with fate. Parabox's random selection has spoken."

Brock and Brenda walk over to them. Brenda questions, "Random selection?"

Marie responds, "I suppose I should explain myself. I live my life by a very specific philosophy. Whenever I have a question with two possible answers, be it yes or no, left or right, stay or go, walk or bike, etcetera, I have Parabox's random form change make the choice for me. I suppose it's kind of like flipping a coin, just instead of head and tails, it's Life or Ghost."

Brock interjects, "Actually, it's better than a coin flip. From what I've read, the form change of Parabox is the most random possible event there is, much better than a coin flip. Think about it, when you flip a coin, there are things like the angle you flip it, the side it started on, and how hard you flip it that can affect the outcome of the flip, but with Parabox, it's purely random, with nothing to influence. I even read that some scientists use Parabox when they need truly random results for an experiment."

Ash says, "Wow, that's pretty cool," he turns to Marie, "but why do you leave your choices up to Parabox?"

Marie smiles with nostalgia as she recalls why. "You see, back when I first met Parabox, I was at an impasse in life."

A flashback begins, and a younger Marie walks gloomily through the streets of a city at sunset. She aimlessly kicks a can and asks herself, "What should I do?"

Present Marie explains, "You see, I had just learnt that I had a choice, and a big one. I had only recently gotten my first real job. It wasn't anything glamorous, but it was better than I had hoped for. However, only a week after starting this job, a good friend of mine made a business proposal to me. She wanted for the two of us to start our own business. It was high risk, high reward. I would have to quit my new job and dedicate all my time to this startup. If it worked, we would make more money than I ever could dream of making otherwise, and I would have fun doing it. If it failed, then I would have left for nothing and have to find a new, likely worse job. I was so torn up as to what to do."

Flashback Marie heavily sighs and then accidentally kicks the can into an alley. She runs to chase it, and finds it landed next to a cardboard box.

"That's when I met Parabox."

Flashback Marie sighs, and slumps down up against the box. She murmurs to herself, "On one hand… But on the other…"

Then the box suddenly pops open, and Parabox Life Form pops out. It happily greets, "Parabox!"

Marie turns around in surprise. "Oh! Sorry, I didn't see you there. Don't mind me…"

Parabox retreats back into its box. Moments later, it leaps back out as Ghost Form. "Box!"

Marie leaps back is surprise. "Oh, are there two of you in there?"

Parabox laughs. It then pulls back into the box and reemerges a moment later as Life Form.

Marie takes peek into the box and sees that there's no other Pokémon in it. "Oh, it's just you. Can you transform?"

Parabox happily nods. "Para."

"Wow, that's so cool." Suddenly remembering her troubles, she then falls back to the ground and sits. She sighs. "I still need to make my choice though…"

Parabox attempts to get her attention and cheer her up by randomly changing forms a few more times, but she doesn't pay it much attention. When Marie finally does look up, she sees Parabox Ghost Form pointing to itself, and then to its box.

Marie realizes, "Wait, are you saying you can help me?"

Parabox nods. "Box."

Marie realizes, "Okay, I get it. I can make the choice depending on which form you appear in." She stomps a foot down in determination. "Alright, that's it. If you stay in this form, then I'll stay with my current job. If you change back to your other form, then I'll go work with my friend. Do it!"

Parabox dives back into its box, and reemerges seconds later, in its Life Form.

The flashback ends. Marie concludes, "And the rest is history. The startup worked perfectly, and my life is so much better than it would have been if I made a different choice. Ever since then, Parabox is always there, helping me to make any choice."

Brenda grins, "Wow, that's so great."

Ash is a little skeptical. "I don't know. Don't you think you should make some choices for yourself? You can't leave everything up to fate."

Marie shakes her head. "Parabox has never let me down. I know I can trust it."

While they continue to talk, lurking nearby is Team Rocket. James observes, "What an unusual Pokémon."

Jessie scoffs, "I think that Pokémon just needs to make up its mind."

James ponders, "I wonder what it looks like while it's in the box."

Meowth answers, "You know who the perfect person to answer that question is?"

Jessie and James ask, "Who?"

"The Boss, of course."

Jessie and James question, "Of…course…?"

"Because we'll be giving that Parabox to him as a gift. It even comes in its own giftbox."

Jessie asks, "And why would we do that?"

Meowth begins a fantasy about Giovanni. In it, fantasy Giovanni focuses intensely on his computer. Meowth explains, "Imagine this, The Boss is hard at work, trying to figure out what stocks he should buy, and which ones he should sell."

James interrupts to ask, "The Boss buys and sells stocks?"

"Sure, isn't that all rich people do?"

Jessie answers, "Fair enough."

Meowth continues, "Anyways, The Boss will be so pressured by the ever-fluctuating market, that he has no clue what to do. He'll say, 'If only there was someone to tell me exactly what do and how to be most successful.' Well, that's where our special delivery will arrive." Fantasy Giovanni gets up, walks to his door, and finds a box with a stamp on his doorstep. From the box, emerges Parabox. "Now Parabox will be able to tell him what to do with each and every stock. The Boss will practically double his wealth overnight. And you know what he'll say then?" In his best Giovanni impression, Meowth and Fantasy Giovanni say, "This Parabox here is a pure, financial goldmine! Meowth and friends may not know a thing about the stock market, but this Parabox they sent me sure does. As their reward, I should give them all the money I just earned." The fantasy ends.

Jessie happily says, "I could live with that."

James questions, "But wait, Parabox selects its form entirely at random. What if it randomly makes the wrong choices?"

Meowth grins, "That's the best part. In that case, it's not our fault, it's Parabox's."

James nods. "Now that's thinking outside the box!"

Jessie adds, "It really checks off every box."

Meowth concludes, "This next one's going to be a hit at the box office!"

Who's that Pokémon!?

Despite its small body, this Pokémon's jaws are very powerful. While it may think it is just playfully nipping, its bite has enough strength to cause serious injury.

Marie is showing Ash, Brock, and Brenda through the city. Parabox in its Life Form walks with them. It does so by having its box on its side, its hind legs in the box, and walking with its front legs. Despite the fact that it's essentially dragging its box with it, it seems to do this quite efficiently.

Brenda asks, "So, Marie, didn't you say you had a solution to our problem?"

"Oh yeah, of course! You see, Parabox is the solution to your problem."

Ash isn't sure about that. "So, basically, you want use it to flip a coin."

Marie shakes her head. "No, not at all. Parabox's choices are so much more meaningful than a coin flip. I thought we were over this already."

Ash scratches the back of his head. "Still, I'm not sure how I feel about leaving such an important decision up to chance."

Brenda disagrees, "I don't know, Ash. We were at a standstill with that argument. A coin flip might be just the thing we need to decide things fairly."

Ash reluctantly agrees, "Alright, I guess you're right. I'm still not sure how I feel about this in general, though." He turns back to Marie. "Alright then, let's do it."

Before Marie can ask Parabox to perform its random selection, a voice calls from the side of the street, "You with the Parabox, over here!"

Marie quickly turns to see a stand has been set up. At it, is a woman wearing the stereotypical garb of a gypsy fortune teller. She hovers her hands around a crystal ball. Marie asks, "Yes, what is it?"

The gypsy responds in an over-exaggerated mystical voice, "I can tell from your Parabox that you are a firm believer in the hands of fate."

Marie thinks for a moment, and then nods. "Yeah, I suppose I am."

"In that case, you should allow me to read your fortune. I can reveal to you the mysteries of the universe. In fact, give me just two minutes alone with your Parabox, and I can tell you your future down to what you'll eat for breakfast in ten years."

"Hmm." Marie looks down to Parabox and asks, "How about you decide?"

Parabox nods. "Para."

"Okay, Life Form, we'll do it, Ghost Form, we won't."

The fortuneteller smirks deviously for just a moment. Parabox retreats into its box, and the moment it does, the fortune teller points into the sky and shouts, "Look, up there!" Everyone looks.

While they're distracted, James suddenly emerges from behind the table cloth draped over the fortuneteller's stand. He pulls Parabox's box under the table and replaces it with a nearly identical box.

Ash asks, "What is it? I don't see anything."

The gypsy falsely apologizes, "Sorry, I thought I saw a cloud foretelling the end of the world, but it was just a normal cloud."

Marie shrugs, and then look down to the box, not realizing that it isn't Parabox. "Okay, Parabox, come back out."

From the box springs what could only be Meowth, but wearing props and body paint to give it the appearance of Parabox Life Form. He imitates, "Parabox!"

Marie nods. "Got it." She turns to the gypsy. "Okay, we've decided to do it. You can take Parabox."

Ash cautions, "Are you sure that's the best idea? Do you really want to trust this stranger with your Pokémon?"

Marie doesn't seem to care at all. "If Parabox says we should do it, then we should do it."

"Okay…"

Not waiting any longer, the gypsy scoops up the box as she says, "Okay, I'll be right back. Don't move!" She runs into the alley behind her.

Once out of sight, she drops the box, causing Meowth to shout, "Oof!" He tumbles out and yells, "Oy! What do you think you're doing! This label clearly says 'Fragile! Handle with Care!'"

The gypsy removes her shawl, revealing that it's Jessie. "Oh, please. It should say 'Obnoxious! Handle with Annoyance!'"

Now James meets up with them, he's carrying Parabox, holding the box in such a way that it can't open its box. "Who cares about any of that, we've got what we came for, let's make like a box and ship out of here!" They all agree and run off. As they do so, Meowth and Jessie begin to peel off their costumes.

It's Totodile!

Marie is beginning to get impatient. She leans over the gypsy's stand and calls, "Um, excuse me? Are you done yet?"

Brock, looking suspicious, says, "Something's not right about this. She's taking much too long."

Ash declares, "Enough of this, let's go back there and see what's going on." He pushes the stand aside and runs into the alley. The others follow behind him.

They run all the way to the end of the alley, and find nothing but the fake Parabox box that Meowth was hiding in.

Brenda says, "There's no one here!"

Marie angrily realizes, "She took my Parabox and ran! What have I done!?"

Ash says, "You see, this is why you can't always rely on Parabox to make your decisions! This one was completely wrong."

Marie appears to be on the edge of crying.

Brock scolds, "Ash, this is no time for 'I told you so's.' We need to figure out what happened to Parabox."

Ash becomes regretful. "Yeah. Sorry, Marie. You didn't deserve that."

"No, Ash, you were right. I did deserve that. But Brock's also right. We need to figure out how to find Parabox."

Brenda exclaims, "Guys, look!" She points to Jessie's discarded shawl.

Marie realizes, "She must have dropped her costume as fled. If we can find more pieces of it, it might lead us right to them!"

Ash encourages, "What are we waiting for!? Let's go!"

They all run off, following the trail of discarded costume.

Team Rocket is hiding in another alleyway. They gather around the closed box that contains Parabox. James eagerly says, "Alright, time to open this package up and see what's inside." He reaches forward and opens the box.

Life Form Parabox pokes its head out and looks at Team Rocket with a mixture of confusion and curiosity. "Box?"

Meowth, pretending to be friendly, greets, "Hi there, pally. So glad to see you finally got out of that there box."

"Para par?"

Meowth answers, "Oh, don't worry about her. She's fine. Your trainer just told us that we could borrow your services. You know, as a random selector."

Parabox, apparently a trusting type, nods. "Para."

Jessie walks in and pushes Meowth out of the way. "Out of the way." She observes Parabox. "So, you say that no one's ever seen what Parabox looks like inside of its box? Time to change that." She quickly shuts and opens the box, revealing Ghost Form. "No, that's not what I want to see!" She repeats, showing Ghost Form again. "No!" Once more, this time in Life Form. Jessie shouts furiously, and begins to rapidly close and open the box as fast as possible, revealing Life, Ghost, Life, Life, Ghost, Ghost, Ghost, Life, Life, Ghost, Life, Ghost, Ghost, Life, Life, and Ghost in quick succession.

James whispers to Meowth, "Should we tell her that what she's trying to do is physically impossible?"

Meowth shakes his head. "She'll figure it out eventually. Hopefully…"

Jessie continues her opening and closing. Life, Ghost, Ghost, Ghost, Ghost, Life, Ghost, Ghost, Life, Life, Life, Ghost, Life, Ghost, Ghost, Wobbuffet, Life, Life, Ghost, Life, Life, Ghost, Life, Life…

Ash, Brock, Brenda, and Marie have followed the trail of clothes to a fork in the road. There is no apparent evidence of which way Team Rocket went. Brenda complains, "This is just great! Which way did they go?"

Marie looks distressed. "If Parabox where here, I could ask it which way to go…"

Ash shouts, "No, you've got to make the choice for yourself! Take fate into your own hands and make a choice!"

Marie contemplates this for a moment and takes a deep breath to gather her confidence. "Let's go left!"

Ash, Brock, and Brenda nod in agreement and they take the chosen path. Before long, the trail resumes.

Jessie is completely winded from her box opening efforts. Parabox, in Ghost Form, stares at her with curiosity.

Meowth announces, "Now that you've got that out of your system, it's time to get down to business. Time to get Parabox to read us our fortunes. Let's start asking it questions!"

Jessie suddenly gets back up and declares, "I've got the perfect question!" She pulls out a colorful piece of paper. "Okay, I've got this lottery card, I need to know all the winning numbers!"

Parabox looks at with confusion.

James shouts, "Jessie, Parabox can only answer questions with two answers! It can't pick lottery numbers!"

Jessie pouts, "You could have told me that before…"

Meowth steps forward. "Just watch me." He looks to Parabox. "Alright, Parabox, I'm going to ask you some yes or no questions. I want you to answer them with your forms. Life means yes, Ghost means no. Capisce?"

Parabox nods and dives into its box.

Meowth asks, "Will Team Rocket ever capture Pikachu?" Parabox appears as Ghost Form.

Jessie and James shout in outrage, "What!?"

Meowth nervously chuckles. "Must have asked a bad question… Let's try something else. Will Team Rocket ever defeat the Twerps?" Another Ghost Form. Meowth is getting very nervous. "Um… Will Team Rocket ever be successful at anything?" Ghost Form again. Meowth gets an idea, "Will we not capture Pikachu in the future?" Life Form. Meowth shouts in outrage, "What is this!? I see we've got a wise guy here! Fine, how about this one! Will Team Rocket never not in no way fail to lose?" Life Form. With fire in his eyes, Meowth shouts, "This Pokémon is rigged!"

Then Ash shouts, "Team Rocket! I should have guessed!"

Jessie, James, and Meowth turn around to see Ash, Brock, Brenda, and Marie running towards them. James shouts, "We've been discovered!"

As is protocol, Jessie declares, "Prepare for trouble, from out of the box!"

James continues, "Make it double, we'll knock off your socks!"

"To control all packing supplies of cardboard!"

"To find a basement to store all our horde!"

"To deliver a package of defeat!"

"To use this box as a new seat!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket boxes up twerps at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now to our superior freight!" He pronounces freight in a way that forces it to rhyme with light.

"Meowth, that's right!"

"Wobbuffet!"

"Mime, mime!"

Ash shouts, "So you disguised yourself as a fortune teller to steal Parabox!"

Jessie scoffs, "Well, duh."

James adds, "Way to state the obvious, Twerp!"

Meowth snidely states, "And they say we're the slow ones."

Marie shouts, "Give me back Parabox!"

James asks, "And why should we do that!? We went through a lot of work to steal that thing!"

Ash shouts, "Pikachu, let's get Parabox back!" Pikachu leaps in front of Ash.

Jessie throws a Pokéball and shouts, "Time for a boxing match! Go, Buzzsaw!"

James throws a Pokéball too. "I'm itching for a battle, Ivine!"

As soon as Ivine appears, it turns around and hugs James face. "Ivine!"

James shouts furiously, "That's not what I meant by itching!" He rips Ivine off his face, throw it into the battle, and furiously scratches his face.

"Pikachu, use Iron Tail!"

"Buzzsaw, use Night Slash!" The two attacks collide, and the two Pokémon continue their attacks, and attempt to overpower their foe.

Brenda throws a Pokéball. "We need to help them out, Wispirit!" Wispirit joins in the battle. "Use Pyromancy!" Wispirit directs a stream of fire at Ivine.

James, shouts, "Dodge it, and use Ivy Whip!" Ivine leaps upwards, and lashes at Wispirit with its vines, and continues to do so.

Marie, watching this fight, asks herself, Should I join in this battle? Or would I just be getting in the way? She looks up to see Parabox Life form cowering in its box, unsure of what is going on. I could ask Parabox…

Suddenly, she has a flashback to Ash asserting, "No, you've got to make the choice for yourself! Take fate into your own hands and make a choice!"

Marie nods. Ash is right. I've got to start making choices for myself! She shouts aloud, "Parabox, get in there and use Slash!"

Parabox leaps up and over Jessie and James, and then slashes at Ivine with its claws, forcing it to stop its onslaught of Ivy Whips.

James shouts, "How dare you interfere!? Ivine, use Wring Out!" Ivine throws it vines at Parabox.

"Back in the box, and out again!" Parabox dives into its box, and quickly leaps out, having transformed into Ghost Form. The Normal-Type Wring Out phases right through the now Ghost-Type Parabox. "Now use Shadow Claw!" Parabox lunges at Ivine and claws at it, knocking it out. "Now Shadow Claw on Buzzsaw!" Parabox turns to the dueling Buzzsaw and Pikachu and readies another attack.

Ash suggests, "Pikachu, leap back!" Pikachu jumps back, just as Parabox attacks Buzzsaw.

Jessie shouts, "We won't take that! Buzzsaw, use Flash Cannon!" Buzzsaw unleashes an intense beam of light from between its mandibles.

"Parabox, use Protect!" Parabox retreats into its box and protects itself from the attack. It then reemerges as Life Form. "Now, Slash!"

Jessie shouts, "Night Slash!" The two Pokémon collide, evenly matched.

"Parabox, in and out!" Parabox dives into its box, causing Buzzsaw to stumble forward. Parabox Life From leaps back out. "Now Slash again!"

Ash shouts, "Add your Iron Tail, Pikachu!" Both Pokémon attack the stumbling Buzzsaw at once, and it too falls.

With all their Pokémon defeated, Team Rocket suddenly gets very nervous. Meowth says, "Uh oh, I know what comes next…"

Ash shouts, "Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"

"Pikaaaaaa chuuuuuuuu!" Pikachu blasts Team Rocket and their Pokémon with electricity, hurling them up into the air.

As they soar through the sky, James laments, "Maybe that Parabox really can tell the future… It certainly predicted this scenario…"

Meowth shouts, "No way! That Parabox doesn't know the first thing about the future! It's just as fake a fortune teller as Jessie!"

Jessie is too busy with her lottery card to hear Meowth's comment. She declares, "I'll win this time for sure, I can feel it!"

Wobbuffet appears and declares, "Wobbuffet!"

They all shout, "Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!"

Back on the ground, Ash says to Marie, "Wow Marie, that was some great battling! If you hadn't called our battle off earlier, I'm not sure I could have won."

Marie grins. "Ash, whether or not to participate in that battle is something I normally would have asked Parabox, but because of you, I realized that I can't have Parabox make every choice for me. Sometimes I've just got to put destiny in my own hands."

Ash smiles. "That's the spirit!"

Brenda asks, "So, what about our problem?"

Ash remembers, "Oh yeah, we never decided if we were going to Str\arnight City or Penum City first."

Marie proudly declares, "I think that Parabox and I can help with that!" She looks down to Parabox. "Alright, we'll have Starnight City be Life Form, and Penum City be Ghost Form. Everyone ready?" Ash, Brenda, and Brock nod. "Do it, Parabox!" Parabox dives into its box. Moments later, it emerges in Life Form. Marie announces, "It's Starnight City!"

Brenda cheers, "Woohoo!"

Ash looks to Pikachu shrugs. "Oh well, I guess we'll just have to wait a little longer for our next gym battle then."

Left or right? Up or down? Yes or no? Life is so full of questions, that sometimes you just need to flip a coin to get the answer. And in this case, destiny has chosen that our heroes next stop in Starnight City, home of Brenda's next contest, which is sure to excite! Stay tuned!

To Be Continued…