Me: (is busy putting the pinishing touches on new chapter) Ok, that looks good... (looks towards the people watching) Oh, I didn't expect everyone to be watching so soon. Oh well, I just got done finishing the new chapter. Just give me a minute to get it ready. (continues to work)

Zane: (is setting up the projector) I wonder why everyone's here so soon? The people out there always give me the time I need to set everything up.

Servo: People are always wanting new updates of their favorite fanfics, and some tend to be rather impatient.

Me: Ok Zane, here's the reel.

Zane: (begins setting up the reel into the projector) Ok, it's in.

Mallow: (sits down alongside Ace, Crow, MMSB, and has a bag of popcorn in his hands) Could someone get the lights?

MMSB: Got ya covered. (turns off lights)

Me: Ok, this chapter has another idea Gantz gave me for this story. Before anyone asks, yes Gantz Gun gives me a lot of ideas, but we're friends so that's all that matters. Besides, I've taken an effort to try to even the score a bit to help Zane along with his story, Paper Mario: Legend of the Star Rod. Anyway, enjoy!

Chapter 25: Parent Trapping

The group was now relaxing on the beach of Olivine City, enjoying a rare free moment in their busy schedual to try to keep their spirits up. Clay was busy telling a story to Max, May, James, and Lucy about some of the things from the Mushroom World. During the coversation, James said to Clay, "Wait a minute, you saying that this Donkey Kong person was the one who hid that treasure!?! What was in the barrel they found?" Clay let out a smug smile, and said, "He's a gorrila, so what else would be in it besides bananas?" May had a look of disgust on her face, then said, "And they've been hidden since he was a kid!?! YUCK!!!!"

Max and Meowth began giggling, wondering how things turned out from there. Clay continued saying, "But here's the funny part. K. Rool had enough trouble for one day and decided to sit down to relax from this waste of time, and took Cranky's bottle of banana soda. Little did he know that Cranky had taken a bee hive and coaxed some bees into the bottle. Guess what happened when K. Rool took a sip of that banana soda."

Everyone began laughing hysterically, as they pictured King K. Rool being stung from inside of his mouth by a swarm of angry bees. When May caught her breath, she asked, "Why did Crankey put bees inside a bottle of soda anyway?" Clay then said, "I'm not entirely sure myself. I guess people were bothering him over the banana soda he had, and he put the bees inside the bottle to spite anyone who was foolish enough to drink it." Meowth then said, "Wow, he certainly deserves his nickname, doesn't he?"

Over to where Crow, Servo, and Cambot were, they were talking about how things were back in the Mushroom Kingdom with the rest of their friends. "I hope that loser, Bowser hasn't been causing trouble since we came here." Servo said with a concerned tone of voice." Crow then said, "Yeah, or that idiot K. Rool, or even Scurvy for that matter. That old hag Gruntilda, although a ghost now, could still be dangerous to everyone back home." Cambot was busy taking pictures with his poloroid camera, seeing as he has no acess to his special robot abilities in his human form. He then said to his two friends, "I'm sure they're fine guys." Crow shook off what doubt he had, and said, "Yeah, your right Cambot." Crow then noticed a small food stand, and then said, "I'm gonna go get some food. I'll be back in a minute or two."

Zane was paying careful attention to the egg he found at Mt. Moon back in Kanto. Thanks to some advice from Brock, the egg was being kept warm by the sand on the beach itself so it could hopefully hatch sooner. Ash's Pidgeot was also there to help Zane with the egg as caring for eggs is instinctive to most birds. Zane then asked Brock, "So how long does this usually take?" Brock then said, "Well we've had it for a few weeks now, so I'me sure it might be close to hatching. If it starts to glow, that meansit should hatch very soon."

No sooner that Brock had finished his sentance, the blue and black egg began to glow brilliantly. Zane yelled out to everyone, "Guy's the egg looks like it's about to hatch!" Everyone rushed in to see the egg hatch. Crow's hands were busy holding three hotdogs and two cheeseburgers when he ran up. The dumb-bot could barely hold all of that food in his arms, and was close to dropping everything if Yoshi hadn't quickly eaten everything. Even though Yoshi was human at the moment, his appitite hadn't vanished.

The egg stopped glowing leaving everyone crestfallen. Zane then said, "False alarm, I guess?" Brock then said, "Yeah, it seems so. But with this in mind, it should still hatch sometime today. Let's get to our hotel room so we can let whatever's inside see you guys for who you really are so it wont be freaked out when it sees you change from your human forms to your true selves."

With that in mind, everyone went to the hotel room they booked the previous night. Upon getting comfortable in their large suite, they kept an eye on the egg so they could see it hatch. It began glowing again, even more brilliantly than before, as the egg changed it's shape. Servo commented by saying, "Pokemon eggs hatch funny, don't they?" Everyone shushed the red robot as the egg changed into the shape of what seemed like a puppy of some kind.

When the light died away, the pokemon was revealed to be a dog-like pokemon with blue and black fur. It also had a long tail in proportion to the rest of it's body. When it opend it's eyes, everyone saw it's eyes were red. The first two people out of the whole group the small pokemon saw was Zane and Meriee. When Zane noticed this, he remembered what his friends said about baby pokemon: The first two people a newborn pokemon sees are imedeately thought to be it's parents.

Zane blushed a little bit at this as he also remembered what he had told Brock and Crow about Meriee prior to obtaining the pokemon egg. The small pokemon walked over to it's 'parents', and curled up in front of the two and fell asleep. Ash then said, "What pokemon is that?" He pulled up his pokedex, which then said in it's computerized voice, "Riolu, the Emanation pokemon. The aura that emanates from its body intensifies to alert others if it's afraid or sad. Because of this, it can sense the emotions of other creatures which helps it determines whom it can trust. Riolu is one of several pokemon that evolve when it shares a strong bond with it's trainer, thus connecting with it on an emotional level boosts it's chances of evolving quickly."

Brock then said, "Wow, Riolu's an extremely rare species of pokemon, Zane! How'd you get this egg anyway?" Zane thought this over for a minute, as he recalled the night he was given the egg by a mysterious old man. He figured it would be ok to tell them, since the old guy didn't tell him otherwise. Besides, from what the man said, the Dentes Rhohos were after the egg, so this pokemon had to be particularly special in that regard.

Zane then said, "Well, that night at Mt. Moon prior to Servo's nightmare about that Timmy character and the attack by that DR Scyther," Servo quivered in fear at the mention of Timmy, but no one noticed. Zane then continued by saying, "I was about to go to sleep when I heard someone skulking about our campsite. It turned out to be an old man who had a pokemon egg. At first, I thought he was a thief, but his story proved otherwise."

Curious about what Zane had ment by the old man's story, Kooper asked, "What did the old man say?" Zane then explained who the old guy was, as well as his story in regards to his old friend, Lucario. Those words rang in Ash's head like a bell. The same thing happened to Jessie, James, Meowth, Brock, May, and Max. Ash then said, "Wait a minute Zane, I know all about that event!" Zane looked at Ash, who then explained how he knew about Lucario, and the old man's story. He had visited the town that the castle was located at for a festival, where he won a tournament and was given the priviledge to live in the castle for a day. One thing lead to another, and he actually met Lucario and got involved in the crisis that Zane mentioned before that claimed Lucario's life.

Zane then said, "Well, if you think this is interesting, wait until you hear this: Apparently, the old man somehow heard about us through a friend of his, whom I guess may have been a psychic or something, and gave me this egg to protect it from the Dentes Rhohos!" The robots shook their heads in disbelief, and Servo said, "Wait a minute, what would a tiny pup like this do to rattle those demonic dinos cages?" Crow then said, "Yeah, that sounds a bit farfetched to me." Cambot then said, "At this point, I'll believe anything."

Goombario then said, "I have to agree with Crow and Servo here Zane, why would this Riolu be of any intrest to those freaks?"

Zane then said, "The old man said the Dentes Rhohos were afraid of it, and wanted it destroyed. Something about this little guy scares the shit outta them." Meriee shot Zane a glare for his choice of words. Zane imedeately apologized. Clay then said, "Well, this guy can sense emotions, perhaps that's what scares them?"

Brock then said, "I doubt it. While although that ability is helpful to us, I don't think that would make the Dentes Rhohos panic." Crow then said, "Right, this is all very fascinating, but I think we should get going. The sooner we find this 'help' that fortune teller told us about, the sooner we can find a way to stop the Dentes Rhohos, and then find a way home."

Clay then used his magic wand to trn his friends human once more. Zane took an empty pokeball and captured Riolu with it. They then left the hotel to head towards the next city, Ecruteak, where they were told they'd find their help to free the DR pokemon. They however didn't see a certainDR Zangoose hiding just outside their hotel room's window. Branz said to himself, "Ah, that magic wand gives me an idea! Why didn't I think of it sooner?" Branz disappered into a nearby alley as he silently followed the team.

After a few hours of walking after leaving Olivine, the group decided to stop for lunch, and let their pokemon roam around to stretch their legs. Branz watched from a nearby bush as he looked at his enemies enjoying their soon-to-be last moment of freedom. Using some of his dark powers, he levitated Clay's magic wand to his waiting paw. Once he had it in hand, he jumped out of the bushes, starteling the group. Branz then said, "Ok children, your time has come!"

Meowth then said, "I thought I was the only talkin' pokemon!!!" Zane still had his memory of the attack at Vermilion that was wiped from the memory of everyone involved, so he recognized Branz. However, to retain his dignity, he didn't say anything. The fact no one seemed to recognize Branz irked him a little bit, but he bit back his tounge as he was sure he'd be in trouble with Haze, his master's master. Braz then said, "I am Branz, the fututre ruler of the Dentes Rhohos!" Clay then interuppted the Zangoose and said, "That's all very good, but that doesn't explain why your holding MY magic wand."

Branz frowned as he looked back at Clay. Branz then said, "I've had enough out of you, so you're the first to go!!!!" He then used Clay's own wand against him. Clay's friends watched in horror as they saw the young plumber being transformed into whatever Branz had in mind for him. As one would expect, Luigi was terrified, but instead of running away, he quickly blasted Branz with a Thunder Bolt, stunning him and stopping his spell.

When everyone ooked back at Clay, they saw what seemed to be a crocodile-like creature with a large set of jaws, and piercing eyes. But that wasn't what scared them the most, as Clay had the same markings on his body as the Dentes Rhohos and the DR pokemon. Vivian was about to cry, but she then yelled, "How could you do this!?" Yoshi then said, "Yeah that's low, even for an idiot like you!"

Clay stirred, and then finally got up on his feet. What suprised everyone, including Branz, was that Clay said, "Owww, what the hell happened?" Everyone gave Clay blank stares, which resulted in Clay asking, "What's wrong?" Misty shakily took out a mirror from her bag, and when Clay saw his reflection, he yelled, "AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT THE FUCKING HELL HAPPENED!?!"

Ash then said, "This Branz guy tried to turn you into a DR pokemon with your own magic wand! A DR Croconaw to be exact!" As Clay continued to let this information soak into his mind, Branz zapped everyone with the wand, including Clay again, to bring them all under his control. Everyone's pokemon got away from the blast in time, but were forced to watch the nightmare unfold. When the spells were done, Branz looked over everyone's new forms.

Branz then turned to the other pokemon, who stepped back in fear of what was coming next. Branz then said to the new DR pokemon, "Now hear me my servents, restrain those other pokemon and bring them along as we head back to headquarters!" Branz was in for a rude awakening when Crow, who was turned into a DR Murkrow, yelled out, "You have got to be kidding me!" Then Servo, who was now a DR Magnemite, said, "Yeah, talk about demands that can't be met! Geeze, was this idiot born yesterday?"

Branz's eyes shrank until the were the size of peas when he realized something wrong had happened with his plan. Clay then began yelling in Italian, which he only does when he's seriously angry. Branz then said to no one in particular, "What did he say?" Luigi, having been turned into a DR Bayleef, then said to Branz, "I'd rather not say... There are kids present, and some of the things Clay said are a little... graphic... Anyway, you'd better change us back right now and give us back that wand. Clay's about to let you have it if you don't."

Branz scoffed, and said, "What's the worst he can do-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" He was answered by Clay delivering a powerful bite to his right arm. Branz tried to shake the plumber turned pokemon off, but he only made it worse for himself since a Croconaw's teeth prevents it's victim from escaping once they're caught in it's mouth.

Branz smacked him with a Crush Claw attack, which knocked the wind out of Clay allowing Branz to get out of Clay's mouth. The other pokemon, now seeing that their friends retained their humanity no longer hd any reason to worry about being captured by their own friends. They then began cheering their friends on, which due to the transformation of their trainers allowed them to understand what the pokemon said.

Jame's Cacturn said to the other pokemon, "I think we should let them handle this on their own." May's Eevee was about to object to Cacturn's idea, but May's Blaziken said, "I know you're worried about them right now, but they can handle this themselves." Eevee sat down, worried if things wouldn't go exactly as everyone would hope.

Zane, who was now a DR Hitmontop, jumped in with his Triple Kick, which he learned not too long ago was also an attack that pokemon could use. He sent Branz into a nearby boulder with the assault, then Jessie, who was a DR Houndour, rushed in and began biting Branz furiously. Branz knocked her back and tried to choke her. The others rushed to her aid, but were blocked by some sort of force field. Jessie panicked wondering how she'd get out of this. Suddenly, a voice in her head told her to gulp in air. She wasn't sure how she'd be able to, but she did. The result was that there was an orange glow coming from her mouth. Then she launched a perfectly executed Falmethrower into Branz's face.

The force field dropped, and Branz was too busy putting out the flames on his face to notice the others getting aquainted with skills that normally pokemon would be able to do. Ash used the power he gained as a result of becoming a DR Pikachu, and blasted Branz with a Thunder Bolt, followed up by a Drill Peck from Crow.

Branz then lashed at everyone with a Fury Cutter, most of the hits being concentrated on Clay and Zane, causing them to feel a great amount of pain since Fury Cutter constantly gains power when used consecutively. However, Branz exhausted himself with this assault, and after seeing an open spot Max, who was now a DR Ralts, used a Psychic attack to blow Branz over the horizon. However, much to Clay's dismay, the wad was also blasted off with Branz.

Clay then yelled, "Oh great!!!!!! Now we have to get that wand back more than ever now!" Misty, who was now a DR Octillery, then said, "Wait a minute, I'm confused. How is it we were turned into DR Pokemon, and were able to avoide being manipulated by Branz?" Luigi then said, "You see, the magic wands that each ruler of the seven lands of the Mushroom Kingdom use can only be used to transform people and objects into other things. This was done as a saftey procedure to protect the kings if an assassin tries to bump them off. Of course, the wands can be used by anyone, even though they are to be only used by royalty themselves, which has caused a few problems in the past... The wands lack the ability to do any mind control tricks, which is why we're safe."

Max then said, "But why was Clay so upset about that wand being sent away? It was just an accident after all." Clay then said with a fearful look on his now scaley face, "The reason I'm upset is that if we don't get back to our normal forms within three days, were stuck like this for the rest of our lives! To make matters worse, if word gets out to the general public about the Dentes Rhohos, then the authorities will be forced to capture any DR Pokemon on site, which at the moment includes us."

With this new info having been revealed, everyone now knew they had to find that wand, and fast. With their saftey on the line, so was the well being of both the worlds of Pokemon, and the Mushroom Kingdom.

To be continued...

Ace: How did Gantz come up with this idea?

Me Which idea? The Riolu, or Branz transforming the heroes into DR pokemon using Clay's own magic wand?

Ace: Well, I guess I'd like to know about both those things...

Me: Ok, the Riolu's apperance was totally inspired by the movie Lucario and the Mystery of Mew. As many pokemon fans know, Riolu is the pre-evolved form of Lucario, and both pokemon are quite impressive in one way or another. Riolu for starters learns some fairly strong attacks such as Quick Attack and Reversal very early on. The reason Gantz wanted a Riolu to be part of the story is because Lucario's Aura Sphere attack looks a lot like Zane T.'s Bombs Away move, which as everyone knows, was one of the moves he learned from the Mostro Town Dojo sensei, Jinx. I myself saw the move in question being used when I took on the champion of the Pokemon League in my Diamond Version, so I can see connection here.

Crow: What about the reason behind the Dentes Rhohos's fear of the little puppy pokemon?

Me: I don't know. Even if I did, I wouldn't say anything. Oh, before I forget. Gantz, don't worry about Riolu right now. He'll have a bigger part in the future chapters. Especially in DR pokemon showdowns.

Ace: Ok, what about the wand being stolen?

Me: Gantz came up with the idea while playing Pokemon Mystery Dungeon on his DS. This new little addition to my story will help the heroes grow a stronger bond with their pokemon, as they'll do whatever they can to restore their friends' true forms before it's too late.

MMSB: That makes sense.

Mallow: Crow was turned into a Murkrow? Kinda redundant if you ask me.

Me: Well, I wanted to have him become a Doduo originally, so that hs extra head would argue with him as much as possible. But I then thought that despite how hilarious that would be, it would be too much work on my part. Anyway, R&R!