POKEMON

Chapter Fourteen:

Copycat and Sabrina

Leaving the Saffron City Pokémon Center, Danny decided to train his Pokémon west of the city at Route 8. Along the way, he passed by a house that Team Rocket was once blocking the entrance to. He and his Pikachu entered the house to see if the residents inside were OK after Team Rocket's invasion…

Inside the first floor of the house were a husband and wife and their Chansey Pokémon. "You all OK after Team Rocket's invasion?" Danny asked. "Me and my brother and some friends managed to ward them away!"

"Hey, thanks!" the husband said. "We really appreciate it. By the way, my daughter likes to mimic people. Her mimicry has earned her the nickname 'Copycat' around here."

"Chaaansey!" their Chansey agreed.

"My daughter is so self-centered," the wife added. "She only has a few friends."

"I can understand her problem…" Danny said.

He and Pikachu went up the stairs and found Copycat in her bedroom with what looked like several Pokémon in there. Her door was open, and she was playing a video game. Among entering the room, Danny confronted what appeared to be a Nidoking, but it turned out to actually be a life-sized stuffed doll! He quickly realized the Artcuno and Clefable in the room were also plush dolls, and that the only real Pokémon was the Doduo walking around.

Copycat looked up from her SNES video game Mario & Wario and looked at Danny and Pikachu.

"Hi! Do you like Pokémon?" Danny asked Copycat.

Copycat managed to pull out a red cap very much like the one Danny was wearing and put it on her head. "Uh no, I just asked you," she responded, doing a somewhat decent imitation of Danny's voice. "Huh? You're strange!" she continued in her Danny impression. Then she removed her cap and said in her normal voice, "Hmm? Quick mimicking? But, that's my favorite hobby!" She giggled and went back to her game.

Once Danny and Pikachu left the house, they laughed. "Copycat is actually pretty funny," he told his Pokémon pal. "You know, I remember seeing some Pokémon dolls being sold at the Celadon Department Store, on the floor where they sold the evolution stones. Let's check them out.

And so Danny cycled to the Celadon City Department Store with his Pikachu holding on tight. Once there, they rode the elevator to the fourth floor and bought a Clefairy Poké Doll.

A boy browsing the shop overheard the purchase and told Danny, "I heard somethung useful. You can run from wild Pokémon by distracting them with a Poké Doll!"

"Interesting," Danny commented.

Then they headed back to Saffron City, to Copycat's house. There, Danny presented the Clefairy doll to the girl, saying, "Hey Copycat, remember me? I wonder if you'll accept this token of our friendship?"

"Oh wow!" Copycat exclaimed. "A Poké Doll! For me? Thank you! And it's a Clefairy!" She took the Clefairy doll and handed Danny a technical machine, saying "You can have this, then!"

"Thanks!" Danny said as he looked at the TM, numbered 31.

"TM31 contains my favorite move," Copycat explained. "Mimic! Use it on a good Pokémon!"

Danny and his Pikachu took a look at Copycat's Doduo. Both heads let out a "Giiih!", and then one head squawked, "Mirror mirror on the wall…" The other head continued, "Who is the fairest one of all? Gaah!"

Danny chuckled. "I do remember hearing how some Doduo and Dodrio can mimic human speech."

Copycat put her red Pokémon cap back on and resumed imitating Danny's voice, "Hi! Thanks for the TM 31!"

"Pardon?" Danny asked.

"Is it that fun to mimic my every move?" Copycat said, still mimicking Danny. Then she removed the cap and continued, "You bet! It's a scream! By the way, if you like this stuff, which I know you do, you should go see my older cousin Duplica. She lives and performs of the House of Imite in the outskirts of Fuschia City. She's really cool!"

"Hmm, maybe I will, after I get the Marsh Badge," Danny replied.

…

Danny then exchanged his Alakazam and Pidgeot for his Gengar and Dugtrio from Professor Oak's laboratory via the Pokémon Center PC, and trained his Gengar and Dugtrio some more outside of Saffron City. He knew that Ghost-type moves were strong against Psychic Pokémon. But since Gengar was part Poison as well, Psychic moves could take it down. It could be fighting fire with fire. But Danny also knew he had the rest of his team to help in battling Sabrina for the Marsh Badge.

He arrived at the Saffron Gym. The bouncer greeted him, "Yo! Champ in making! Sabrina's Pokémon use psychic power instead of force! Fighting Pokémon are weak agains psychic Pokémon! They get creamed before they can even aim a punch! Also, when Team Rocket attacked Saffron, Sabrina had a warp tile system installed, like the Silph Co. offices, as an extra precaution. It'll take some doing to get to her!"

Danny could see the LED display showed the winning trainers. He scrolled down, and sure enough he found the names Gary, Ash, Butt, and his brother Billy. Then he and Pikachu tried their luck with the warp tiles, and eventually after a bit they found themselves in the battlefield!

Sabrina was already there. "I had a vision of your arrival," she said. "I have had psychic powers since I was a child. I first learned to bend spoons with my mind."

"Wow…" Danny reacted.

"I dislike fighting, especially after some good times with a ghost Pokémon," Sabrina continued, "but if you wish, I will show you my powers!" She detatched a Pokéball from her belt. "Come now, Abra," she said as she held it up and used her telekenises to levitate it in the air! The ball opened, and an Abra emerged.

"Go, Gengar!" Danny said as he sent out his ghost Pokémon.

Even with Abra using its' Flash to lower Gengar's accuracy, a couple hits from the Night Shade attack was enough to knock out Abra!

"Oh my," Sabrina said. "You do seem to be a pretty good trainer so far. Now I shall choose my Kadabra." She sent out her other Psi Pokémon, an evolved Abra…

Gengar was able to significantly lower Kadabra's health with two Night Shade attacks, not letting Psywave stop it. But a blast of Kadabra's Psychic attack made Gengar faint!

"I'm not giving up," Danny told Sabrina, and he sent out his Dugtrio to take over.

And sure enough, one slash from Dugtrio knocked out Kadabra.

"Very good," Sabrina said, managing to crack a smile. "But will you be a match for my most powerful Pokémon?" She then let out her own Alakazam.

"Dugtrio, use Earthquake!" Danny commanded.

Sure enough, Dugtrio caused the whole battlefield to shake, and some cracks even formed on the floor! The earthquake managed to defeat Alakazam in one hit!

"All right!" Danny exclaimed as he pumped a fist into the air.

"Pika pika!" his Pikachu agreed, doing a little dance.

"I'm shocked!" Sabrina commented, showing a bit of concern. "But, a loss is a loss. I admit I didn't work hard enough to win, not since after the Haunter incident. You earned the Marsh Badge!" She handed the round yellowish gym badge to Danny, now smiling as she did so. "The Marsh Badge makes Pokémon up to the Marsh level obey you. Stronger Pokémon than that will become wild, ignoring your orders in battle. Just don't raise your Pokémon too much." She beamed.

Danny blushed a bit and chuckled, "Thanks, Sabrina."

"Wait, please take this TM with you!" Sabrina added, and she used her psychic power to levitate a Technical Machine numbered 46 into Danny's hands!

"TM 46 is Psywave," Sabrina explained. "It uses powerful psychic waves to inflict damage."

After he and Sabrina exchanged contact information, Danny and Pikachu made their way out of the battlefield via the warp tiles. The bouncer told them, "Psychic power, huh? If I had that, I'd make a bundle at the slots in the Celadon Game Corner! By the way, you picked a good time to battle Sabrina. Until some time ago, she was very cold and bitter, and anyone who lost to her got shrunken down into her childhood dollhouse! But then a boy, I think it was Ash, brought her a Haunter that taught her how to smile and laugh, and she's become much more fair and pleasant."

"Oh wow," Danny said. "Sabrina did seem pretty nice. I can't imagine what she was like back then…" He shuddered.

…

Danny headed back to the Pokémon Center to heal up his team. Then he went on the PC and exchanged his Gengar and Dugtrio for his Alakazam and Snorlax. In the process, Professor Oak rated Danny's Pokédex: "Hmm, 107 Pokémon seen, and 64 Pokémon captured," Oak observed. "Oh! This is getting even better! Incidentally, your brother Billy is now making his way to the Seafoam Islands, now that it's getting warmer and making for great beach weather. The Seafoam Islands are known for Articuno Pokémon to sometimes nest there, if you're interested in catching one of the legendary Pokémon."

"Great idea!" Danny said. "It'd be neat to have a powerful combination ice and flying Pokémon as part of my team. Thanks, Professor Oak. Hope to call you again soon!"

So Danny and his Pikachu left the Pokémon center and started flying on Charizard's back to Fuschia City, so they could get to the Seafoam Islands…

TO BE CONTINUED