Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon and am in no way affiliated with Nintendo or Gamefreak, or other companies that write or produce pokemon. Now that that legal stuff is out of the way, on to the story!

Pokemon Legends: Kanto Saga

Chapter Eleven

Thats No Hat

"Well here goes nothing I guess..." Ashley took a deep breath and removed a pokeball from her belt, the pokebakk containing the Charizard she retrieved from Yang several days ago. She had decided it was finally time to confront Charizard and explain the situation to it.

"Don't worry! We've got you covered if something goes wrong!" Rina assured Ashley. Pippi and Berg were both standing at the ready next to her. Rina was hoping Berg might be able to talk to Charizard, since they were both enslaved. Bulbasaur was standing next to Ashley as well, also ready to lend a hand. Or rather, vine.

Ashley said nothing as she held up Charizard's pokeball and pressed the button on the front. She aimed a good distance away from herself, and Charizard emerged halfway between Ashley and Rina as a result. The two girls and their pokemon had Charizard fenced in between them.

"-Well its about time...-" Charizard grumbled, stretching his wings and arms. "-Feels like I've been in that ball forever. Its about time you released me. Filthy human...-"

"-You're not being released.-" Berg said to Charizard.

"-What?! What do you mean I'm not being released?-" Charizard snorted angrily in response, steam shooting out of the fire pokemon's nose.

"-We need to stay with the humans if we're going to get better.-" Berg explained to Charizard. Rina had taken the time to explain it to Berg already. "-We need to reach a point where we can evolve again to restore the damage caused by the hunters.-"

"-Then I'll evolve on my OWN! Without humans!-" Charizard shot back, growling angrily.

"Pokemon don't often evolve in the wild though..." Rina chimed in. "Your chances of evolving are better if you stick with Ashley."

"-I ain't staying with you filthy humans another second!-" Charizard growled, spreading his wings and getting ready to take off. A pair of vines wrapped around them, though, preventing Charizard from gaining any lift.

"-Look, pal, I understand completely where you're coming from on this whole 'I don't like humans' thing.-" Bulbasaur began, making an attempt of his own to neogitate with Charizard. "-Unfortunately, they're right. Your best chance at getting better is to stay with them!-"

"-It was humans who did this in the first place, I won't stand for their solutions!-" Charizard roared furiously. He turned to attack Bulbasaur with an Ember attack, but a sudden blast of water squirted Charizard in the face first. His attack was doused before he could even launch it, and he was briefly blinded by the water in his eyes.

"-You're going to PAY for that!-" Charizard growled, shaking his head to clear out the water from his eyes. When he could finally see again, he thought nothing of the small, rounded water pokemon that stood before him. The pokemon had a blue body with no distinct head or neck, just eyes and a mouth. On its stomach it had a black and white swirl pattern.

"Where did that come from?" Ashley wondered, noticing the pokemon standing next to her for the first time.

"-Yeah, who the hell ARE you?!-" Bulbasaur asked it increduously. The pokemon had snuck up next to Bulbasaur without him even noticing as well. The pokemon turned to Bulbasaur and smiled innocent, tilting its head to the side.

"-Hat!-" The pokemon replied simply. "-Me want hat!-"

"-You'll get your hat...-" Charizard growled. The water pokemon turned to face him again. "-Cause I'm about to turn you into one!-" Charizard raised his claws, ready to take a swipe at the strange pokemon. It'd never get the chance, however. Charizard stopped suddenly as the pattern on the pokemon's stomach seemed to spin. The spinning motion hypnotized Charizard, and soon the fire pokemon fell over and was fast asleep.

"-Look, you!-" Bulbasaur growled at the pokemon. "-I don't know who you think you are but we were trying to negotiate with that guy! Kinda hard to do that when he's ASLEEP!-" While Bulbasaur was yelling at the pokemon, Rina, Berg, and Pippi were approaching the group to see what was going on. Ashley took out her pokedex to scan it as well.

"Poliwag, the Tadpole Pokemon." The pokdex read. "Its newly grown legs prevent it from walking well. It appears to prefer swimming over walking."

"Hey! You're getting in our way!" Rina called out to Poliwag as she finally reached Ashley. Poliwag quickly glanced at the two pokemon to arrive with her, Berg and Pippi, and took off running away from them.

"-No hat today!-" Poliwag called back as it ran from them. For supposedly not being able to walk well, it was running at quite the pace.

"Rina, did you happen to catch anything that little troublemaker was saying?" Ashley asked Rina, watching Poliwag run away and noting mentally that the pokedex seems to have been wrong.

"It just kept mentioning something about a hat so far as I could tell..." Rina replied, blinking in confusion and scratching the back of her head.

"-If he comes back I'll hat him...-" Bulbasaur grumbled.

"-He looked younger than me though...-" Pippi noted curiously. "-I don't think that's very nice, Bulbasaur...-"

"-Since when do I care about nice?-" Bulbasaur growled in response. "I don't care if he's a hatchling, I'm whipping him the next time I see him!"

"Well, we can try again inside Mount Moon I guess, I doubt we'll run into that Poliwag in there" Ashley said quietly, disappointed that their attempt to negotiate with Charizard was foiled by the young pokemon. She held up Charizard's pokeball and recalled the sleeping pokemon. "Lets stop by the pokecenter first though..."

"Didn't seem like negotiations were going that well anyway..." Berg thought, shaking his head sadly. "That Charizard is as stubborn and hot headed as they come..."


Rina and Ashley recalled their pokemon and headed off towards the pokecenter just outside Mount Moon. They handed their pokemon over to be healed, but couldn't find a place to sit down and wait. The pokecenter was crowded with trainers, whose conversations were drowning each other out. You could barely hear a thing in the pokecenter.

"Rina, this pokecenter wasn't this crowded last time we were here, was it?" Ashley asked, blinking in disbelief as she looked through the waiting room. There was barely even room to stand, let alone a chair to sit in. Rina just shook her head in response, not taking her eyes off the crowd.

"Excuse me!" Ashley called out as she approached the closest girl to her. Most of the trainers gathered were girls. "Could you tell me whats going on here?"

"You mean, you haven't heard?" The girl asked increduously. Ashley shook her head in response. "Someone released a Poliwag near here recently. Its been causing a lot of trouble so there's a bounty on it. 1000 to anyone who manages to catch it alive."

"Don't get any ideas, the bounty is as good as mine." A gruff, male voice stated. The individual was standing just behind the girl Ashley had been talking to. His features were hard to make out. He was wearing some sort of green cardboard costume that looked almost like it was supposed to be armor. He even had a helmet with an orange t-shaped visor made from plastic. It almost looked like something out of a movie.

"And who do you think you are?" Ashley asked, raising an eyebrow at the figure in the cardboard armor. Despite sounding rather gruff, he didn't seem to be any older than Ashley was.

"The name's Noda Thrett, and I'm the best there is." The boy replied.

"Yeah, well we'll see about that!" Ashley shot back. "It takes more than a cardboard suit to catch a pokemon!"

"Whatever you say..." The boy shrugged and walked past Ashley towards the door. He stopped for a moment before leaving and looked back at Ashley, quickly looking her over. "Say what you want about my armor...but you're far worse off." He chuckled to himself and then left the pokecenter.

"So...what did this Poliwag do exactly to get a bounty on him?" Rina asked the girl Ashley had been speaking with. "I don't know much about bounties but they never seem like anything good on tv..."

The girl was about to reply, but at that particular moment the nurse signalled Ashley that their pokemon were restored. Ashley grabbed the pokeballs from the nurse and then took Rina's hand roughly, dragging her out of the pokecenter.

"Come on, Rina! We're going after that Poliwag!" Ashley declared. Rina pulled her hand free by the time Ashley reached the door.

"Ashley! Don't you think we should at least find out what the Poliwag did to deserve a bounty on it?!" Rina asked Ashley, sounding both surprised and outraged that Ashley was just going to rush off and catch it.

"Why? Its not like we're causing it any harm!" Ashley shot back in response. "They want it captured alive, so I'll just catch it in a pokeball and that'll be it."

"I guess you have a point..." Rina replied with a sigh. Ashley started out the door, with Rina following behind her.

"Wait! You don't know what you're getting yourself into!" The other girl called out after them, but her plea fell on deaf ears. "Well, I guess they'll find out soon enough then."


"Ok, now I'm REALLY sure this is a bad idea!" Rina shouted frantically as Ashley reached for Charizard's pokeball. She hadn't even released Bulbasaur yet. Rina had released Pippi only moments before, the small electric pokemon's cheeks were already sparking in preparation to attack if Charizard turns hostile again.

"You worry too much..." Ashley replied, waving her free hand dismissively and holding the pokeball in the other. "Besides, I have this all figured out!"

"Y-you do?" Rina stuttered out in response. Though Ashley sounded sure of herself, the notion was making Rina feel very uncomfortable.

"Yep!" Ashley said with an affirmative nod. "Charizard might not like us, but I bet he's furious with that Poliwag now." Ashley explained while casually tossing the pokeball up and down in her hand. "Poliwag didn't run away when Charizard tried to attack either, so obviously he's not afraid of a fire pokemon."

"Well when you put it that way...maybe it does make a bit of sense..." Rina said thoughtfully.

"-I don't trust that Charizard!-" Pippi growled quietly. "-He's so silly! Thinking all humans are the same as the hunters! Rina's been nothing but nice to me and Ashley's not a bad person either!-"

"I don't think thats what Charizard thinks..." Rina said quietly to Pippi, bending down to talk to her. Pippi calmed down, slightly, and looked up at Rina curiously. "If Charizard really thought all humans were like that, he'd probably be a lot more hostile. He just doesn't trust humans..."

"-But still...that isn't fair!-" Pippi whined.

"Thats just how some people, and pokemon, are..." Rina replied with a shrug. She stood back up again to address Ashley. "By the way, even if Charizard will listen to you, how do you expect to find Poliwag?"

"Thats easy." Ashley replied, grinning and looking over her shoulder at Rina. "Poliwag came out of nowhere and attacked Charizard last time, so maybe he'll do it again."

"I don't think that will work..." Rina said to Ashley, shaking her head. "I doubt Poliwag would attack Charizard a second time..."

"We won't know if we don't try!" Ashley pressed the button on the front of Charizard's pokeball, finally releasing it. Charizard appeared several feet out in front of Ashley, spreading his wings and bellowing loudly in a rage.

"-WHERE IS THAT WATER BRAT?!-" Charizard shouted as he bellowed again, seething with rage. "-That kid will PAY for making a fool out of me!-"

"-See, he isn't very nice at all...-" Pippi whispered timidly to Rina. Rina nodded in agreement, staring wide-eyed at Charizard in response to his threats against Poliwag.

"I bet you're pretty upset about that Poliwag, huh?" Ashley said to Charizard. Charizard quickly turned around to face her with an enraged look in his eyes.

"-OF COURSE I'M UPSET!-" Charizard raised his head to the sky and roared loudly. "-That Poliwag made a fool out of me by defeating me so easily! I will NOT stand for this!-" Ashley looked to Rina for an explanation. Rina nodded affirmatively to confirm Charizard's response.

"Well what do you say we work together on this one?" Ashley suggested to Charizard. Charizard looked back at her intently. "If you stick around, that Poliwag might drop by again. I have my own reasons for wanting to catch it anyway..."

Charizard paused for a moment and thought over Ashley's proposal. His left eye twitched angrily as he considered it. Despite not liking the idea of working with a human again, he eventually nodded to Ashley in response.

"Great! I knew I could count on you!" Ashley replied with a grin. "Just you wait, Charizard. I'll show you how a real trainer battles!"

"There's no deterring that attitude of her's..." Rina thought, smiling lightly.

"Now all I need is a pokeball. Rina?" Ashley looked at Rina expectantly, and Rina stared back blankly. After a moment, Ashley got the message.

"Right, sorry...old habit..." Ashley reached into her bag, hanging at her side, and pulled out a pokeball. Rina was carrying her own bag now, which was a lot smaller. Brock had managed to talk Rina into carrying fewer supplies.

With Charizard willing to co-operate, and a pokeball in hand, all that was left was to wait and see if Poliwag would take the bait. Fortunately, they didn't have to wait long. Poliwag crept up from behind Charizard, who was still facing Ashley and Rina and also blocking Poliwag from view. When he was only a few feet away, Poliwag jumped up and blasted Charizard in the back of the head with a Water Gun attack.

"-DAMN IT!-" Charizard growled in a rage, quickly turning to stare down Poliwag. Steam rose from the back of his head and neck, where Poliwag had hit him with the Water Gun. "-I'm getting tired of your games, boy!-"

"-This time, hat!-" Poliwag replied with a cheerful smile.

"Charizard, quick! Cover yourself in a Smokescreen!" Ashley called out without missing a beat. "That should protect you from Poliwag's sleep attack!" Charizard opened his mouth and spewed out a thick, black cloud of smoke. The smoke quickly surrounded both itself and Poliwag, making it difficult for them to see each other.

"-Why it dark?-" Poliwag wondered aloud, trying to peer through the black smoke surrounding it.

"-I hope Ashley takes it easy on him...-" Pippi said to Rina with a small frown. "-He's just a child...-"

"You're right...it hardly seems to know what its doing at all..." Rina noted, nodding in agreement.

"Good, looks like thats worked so far." Ashley said to herself. "Ok, Charizard! Attack with Iron Tail!" Charizard's tail gained a metallic coating as he lifted off the ground. While Poliwag was still confused by the cloud of smoke, Charizard quickly swung around and smacked Poliwag hard with his tail. Poliwag was sent rolling back from the impact, rolling to a stop just outside the smokescreen.

"-Owie...-" Poliwag mumbled. Hopping back onto his feet he peered through the smoke, but couldn't see Charizard. Looking around it, however, he could still see Ashley. "-She making this hurt...I make her take nap!-" Poliwag nodded to himself and skirted around the edge of the smokescreen, moving towards Ashley.

"Maybe this girl isn't so bad for a human..." Charizard thought with a grin. He was taking just a bit too much enjoyment in beating up the little Poliwag. "-Alright, so whats next?-" Charizard peered back through the smoke, looking to Ashley for his next attack. Ashley, however, seemed to be quite out of it.

"-Hey, you alive in there?-" Charizard asked her, raising an eyebrow. When he saw Poliwag standing in front of her, his jaw dropped.

"-WHAT?! You little brat!-" Charizard raised his claws to strike down Poliwag. By then, the smokescreen was quickly dispersing and left Charizard quite visible Poliwag turned to face him, the pattern on his belly already spinning. With no defense against the sleep attack, Charizard slowly fell into a deep sleep. His claws came a few inches short of striking Poliwag.

"That Poliwag outsmarted them again..." Rina said, blinking in disbelief. "Ok, Pippi! Get in there and bring Poliwag down with a Thunder Wave, we don't want to hurt him."

"-Ok! I'll get him for sure!-" Pippi announced before charging towards Poliwag. Unfortunately for Pippi, Ashley was in the way and unable to move. Pippi had to go around to get into range to attack. By that time, Poliwag was ready for Pippi with the spiral on his stomach spinning. Before Pippi could attack she felt her eyes grow heavy and fell forward onto the ground, fast asleep.

"Pippi...not you too!" Rina groaned in frustration. She reached for a pokeball but paused and thought carefully over which pokemon to send out with her gaze fixated on her belt. She eventually settled on Clyde, realizing he could use Sing to put Poliwag to sleep. Rina took the pokeball in her hand and turned back towards Poliwag in time to see he had snuck up on her. The last thing Rina remembered as seeing Poliwag's spral spinning...

"-Now I'll get hat!-" Poliwag smiled widely and walked back towards Ashley.


"Ugh...how long was I out for?" Ashley wondered aloud, slowly sitting up with her knees bent under her. She couldn't help but feel she was missing something once she was sitting, and a cold breeze soon confirmed it. She froze in fear when she heard a yawn behind her.

"That Poliwag got me too?" Rina mumbled as she sat up. Pichu and Charizard were starting to stir as well. As Rina sat up she noticed Ashley's face was beet red. "Ashley...umm...are you ok? Your face is looking kinda red...that Hypnosis could have had a bad side effect on you or something..."

"I'm...I'm fine..." Ashley stuttered in response, slowly standing up while keeping holding her skirt tightly against her. "E-excuse me...I have to go do something...alone..." Ashley walked, rather awkwardly, to some bushes at the base of a steep hill and ducked behind them. It didn't take Rina long to figure out what Ashley's problem was.

"This all could have been avoided." Rina said to herself, shaking her head sadly. "Given Poliwag's height, it would have been able to see them under her skirt...she should at least wear shorts. And I bet this has to do with Poliwag's bounty..."

"-What was that about a bounty?-" Pippi asked in a tired voice, sitting up and rubbing her eyes with the back of her paws.

"Someone is willing to pay for that Poliwag's live capture." Rina explained for Pippi, who hadn't been present in the pokecenter to hear that.

"-So thats why Ashley wants to catch it?-" Charizard growled as he rose from lying on the ground to his full height standing up. "-Damn humans...that sounds exactly like something the hunters would do. Just when I thought I might be able to tolerate you two...to an extent.-"

"H-hey! Thats not it at all!" Rina replied quickly, holding up her hands defensively. "Ashley's trying to catch that Poliwag legitimately, and if they just want it caught because its being a nusiance then I bet she might even keep it. I can understand Poliwag so I know what its after, and I'm sure you know how annoying it is yourself!"

"-That is true enough...-" Charizard responded with a low growl. He clenched his clawed hand into a fist. "-I will inflict as much pain on that Poliwag as I can for making me suffer through this humiliation...-"

Rina heard rustling in the bushes where Ashley had gone off and looked over to see her getting out from behind them, sighing to herself in relief and no longer taking measures to keep her skirt down. "Had a spare pair?" Rina asked her, giggling amusedly.

"Yes, I always keep a pair incase some pokemon suddenly decides to snatch one..." Ashley replied sarcastically. "What would a pokemon want with a girl's panties anyway?!"

"A hat?" Rina suggested with a light shrug. "Maybe it has the wrong idea for a hat, and used Hypnosis to get you to...well...you know..."

"Well I don't care what he wanted them for, I want them BACK!" Ashley shouted back, stomping her foot against the ground.

"-Someone want to fill me in here?-" Charizard asked, confused by the antics of the two girls.

"-I'm not sure either...-" Pippi replied with a light shrug.

"Where do we start this time, though?" Rina wondered aloud. "Poliwag's not going to be interested in us anymore I don't think. How are we even going to catch something so sneaky and prone to using Hypnosis?"

"I've already got a plan for catching it..." Ashley replied with a nod. "All we have to do is find it, and we have at least three perfectly good scouts anyway." Ashley removed two pokeballs from her belt and held them up to release the pokemon inside them. "Pidgeotto! Beedrill! Come on out!" Ashley called out, releasing both winged pokemon into the air.

"Oh! I see what you're talking about now!" Rina took a pokeball from her belt as well. "Ok, Berry! You help too!" Rina held up the pokeball and released her pokeball, sending Berry out with Pidgeotto and Beedrill. Berry smiled happily, but shrank back when she saw Beedrill.

"-I don't like that guy, master...-" Berry whispered to Rina. "-He's giving me that look again...-" The 'look' Berry was referring to was a quiet, unassuming stare.

"He doesn't mean anything by it...I think..." Rina replied, trying to comfort Berry although unsure of herself. "And I told you before, don't call me master!"

"Ok, you three! Split up and search for Poliwag! Report back here in ten minutes, or sooner if you find it!" The three pokemon nodded and flew off in separate directions to search for the rogue Poliwag. Charizard watched them take off and thought to himself quietly for a moment before spreading his wings and taking off into the air as well, flying off in another direction.

"Is Charizard helping too?" Ashley wondered aloud. "I wasn't going to ask him because I didn't think he'd bother..."

"Charizard doesn't like that Poliwag much either, he probably wants to find it himself..." Rina explained to Ashley. Ashley nodded in agreement and both of them waited for their pokemon to return from their search.

It was close to ten minutes when the first of their pokemon, Butterfree, returned from an unsuccessful search. Beedrill returned next, followed by Pidgeotto. Neither pokemon had found Poliwag either.

"This is hopeless..." Ashley said, heaving a defeated sigh. "I wonder if Charizard had any better luck than they did..."

"-I highly doubt that dragon's eyes are nearly as fine tuned as mine. I can spot a Caterpie on a tree from half a kilometer away!-" Pidgeotto proudly boasted, beating his wing against his chest.

"-HEY! Look out below!-" Everyone looked up as they heard Charizard roaring above them. In his hands he was carrying a small blue pokemon. Charizard dropped the pokemon, sending it plummeting towards the ground. It hit the ground hard only a few meters away from the group, leaving it dazed for a moment. It was Poliwag, and it was wearing a white pair of panties on its head.

"GIVE THOSE BACK!" Ashley angrily demanded of the dazed Poliwag as she reached for a pokeball. "Mankey, go! Get that Poliwag's hat!" Ashley held up the pokeball and released Mankey from it as Poliwag was getting back onto his feet. Mankey hit the ground running as he emerged from the ball.

"-NO! No take hat!-" Poliwag frowned and began using its Hypnosis technique to stop the charging Mankey. Unfortunately for Poliwag, Ashley had chosen to use Mankey specifically because it was immune to sleep attacks. Mankey tackled Poliwag to the ground and pulled the panties from his head, then ran back to Ashley and handed the garment to her.

"Thank you..." Ashley mumbled quietly, taking them Mankey and quickly stuffing them into her bag. Having lost his hat, and running into a pokemon that his Hypnosis wouldn't work on, Poliwag turned and tried to flee. Charizard quickly dropped down from the sky in front of him with a heavy thud, blocking Poliwag's only escape route. Poliwag was cowering in fear now before the fire pokemon that towered over him.

"Ashley, take it easy on the little guy..." Rina whispered to Ashley. "He doesn't know what he's doing is wrong..."

"Fine..." Ashley muttered, reaching for yet another pokeball. "Bulbasaur, your turn now!" Ashley held up Bulbasaur's pokeball and pressed the button. The ball opened up and Bulbasaur emerged, materializing on the ground in front of Ashley.

"-Wow, I think thats the longest I've ever been kept in a pokeball.-" Bulbasaur noted quietly and then took a quick look around, noticing every one of Ashley's pokemon were also out of their pokeballs. "-Last to get out too, go figure...and I see we've found that Poliwag again...-"

"Bulbasaur, time to give that Poliwag a taste of his own medicine! Sleep Powder!" Bulbasaur nodded, a wide grin spreading across his face. Bulbasaur ran out towards Poliwag, stopping when he was about ten feet away and releasing a burst of green powder. Poliwag turned around and blinked in confusion as the powder fell around him.

"-Green snow?-" Poliwag stated in bewilderment. As the powder came into contact with Poliwag's skin, he began to feel tired. His eyes closed over and he fell onto his stomach, fast asleep.

"I doubt it'll put up much of a fight now..." Ashley quickly bent down and scooped up a pokeball off the ground, having dropped it when Poliwag put her to sleep earlier. She tossed the pokeball at the sleeping Poliwag, and it opened up and pulled Poliwag inside when it hit. The pokeball closed around it and began to roll around as Poliwag struggled against it, but after a few moments it closed tightly and sealed Poliwag inside.

"Alright! Good job, everyone! We caught the Poliwag!" Berry, Rina, and Pippi cheered ecstatically for Ashley and her pokemon. Ashley's pokemon didn't seem overly impressed by what seemed like, to everyone but Charizard and Bulbasaur, a rather simple task that they had little part in. Ashley ran forward to pick up Poliwag's pokeball, the sixth pokemon she had caught now.

"-So, you still plan to go off on your own?-" Bulbasaur asked Charizard.

"-I'll tolerate the human girl until I get this 'natural evolution' thing taken care of.-" Charizard replied with a snort. "-After that, we'll see...-"

"Well now that thats over with, lets head back to the pokecenter." Ashley announced, placing Poliwag's pokeball on her belt. "Charizard, everyone, thanks for your help." Ashley held up each pokemon's pokeball and recalled them one by one, until only Bulbasaur remained. Rina recalled Berry as well, the only pokemon she had out of its pokeball.

"So what now?" Rina asked Ashley. "I mean, what do you think will happen to that Poliwag once you take it in for the bounty?"

"If they just wanted it captured and aren't actually interested in the Poliwag itself, I'll keep it." Ashley replied. Rina stared in disbelief. "What? If I get it a real hat I'm sure he'll behave himself!"

"Well I guess thats true..." Rina replied, lightly rubbing the back of her head.

Ashley, Rina, and their two pokemon started back towards the pokecenter. They didn't get very far before a Growlithe suddenly jumped out of the tall grass and blocked their path. Everyone stopped in their tracks as the Growlithe growled menacingly and barked at them.

"-Ok, should I take this one or do you want to have a go?-" Bulbasaur asked Pippi, loudly enough for Growlithe to hear Bulbasaur mocking it.

"A Growlithe? Is this another pokemon released by a trainer?" Ashley wondered, blinking in disbelief.

"Not quite..." A male voice answered as a cardboard-armored figure rose from the grass and took his place behind Growlithe. "I've been waiting for you to catch that Poliwag for me. Now, hand it over, and we won't have any trouble..."

"You want Poliwag?" Ashley took the pokeball from her belt containing the recently caught pokemon. "You'll have to fight it first." Ashley released the pokemon, sending it out a few feet in front of her. Poliwag blinked and looked around in confusion.

"Ashley are you sure this is such a good idea?" Rina asked Ashley, who ignored her and kneeled down next to Poliwag.

"Poliwag, here's the deal..." Ashley began, getting the Poliwag's attention. "If you'll behave yourself, and do exactly what I tell you to do, I'll buy you your own hat. Deal?" Poliwag blinked at Ashley for a moment and gave an enthusiastic nod. Ashley smiled and stood up again to face the 'bounty hunter', Noda Thrett.

"What are you hoping to accomplish with that, girl?" Noda asked her in a mocking tone. "That Poliwag couldn't hope to match Growlithe in a straight up fight."

"We'll see then, won't we?" Ashley replied, glaring back at him. "Poliwag, attack Growlithe with Water Gun!" Poliwag opened its small mouth and sprayed a quick blast of water. Growlithe yelped in surprise and reeled back as the water hit it. As Growlithe shook it off, Ashley noticed the fire pokemon already looking a fair bit weakened by the attack.

"That Growlithe doesn't look that tough..." Ashley thought to herself. "I bet this guy is all talk." Ashley smirked to herself, a rather mean plan of action coming to mind.

"Growlithe, don't let that Poliwag push you around. Ember!" Growlithe quickly shot out a small fireball that struck Poliwag almost instantly. Even after what it had been through that day, though, Poliwag managed to shrug off the attack and blinked in disbelief at how little it actually hurt.

"Poliwag, Water Gun again! Aim for the trainer this time!" Rina's eyes went wide with shock as Ashley ordered an attack on the trainer. Poliwag followed through without hesitation, jumping up and firing a Water Gun attack at Noda. Noda staggered back as he was hit square in the chest, the water becoming absorbed rather quickly by the cardboard.

"What the hell?! You crazy..." The boy began to say as he sat up, but he noticed the movement was shredding his cardboard suit. He stared at the rip that formed in the wet spot for a moment before it finally began to sink in.

"You...you broke my costume..." The boy stated in disbelief, sounding almost on the verge of tears. "You...you witch! You'll regret this!" The boy cried out in a high-pitched, whiny voice. He suddenly recalled Growlithe and ran off, not wanting to confront Ashley further and risk more damage to his costume.

"Ashley...that was mean..." Rina mumbled quietly.

"Hehe...yeah...it was..." Ashley admitted, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. "Anyway, you did good there, Poliwag! Once we get to Cerulean we'll get you your hat."

"-I get hat!-" Poliwag cheered excitedly.

With the would-be rival out of the way, the group continued on their way back to the pokecenter.

"-You know, I could have handled that easily...-" Bulbasaur mumbled quietly as they went on their way.


Ashley and rival soon arrived at the Mount Moon pokecenter. They turned over their pokemon to be healed, but not before Ashley showed the Poliwag to the nurse. After running a few checks to confirm its identity, Ashley was given the reward for its capture and was allowed to keep Poliwag. Some of the girls in the pokecenter began whispering about why Ashley might want to keep it, but neither she nor Rina paid them any attention.

Once their pokemon were healed, the two girls stepped outside and Ashley took a pokeball from her belt. She held up the pokeball and released Charizard again. The fire pokemon looked around in confusion, not finding itself in a confrontation like it had expected by now, and focused his gaze on Ashley.

"So, Charizard, now that we're on good terms, think you could fly us past Mount Moon?" Ashley asked her pokemon with a pleading look. "Please? Its just over the mountain, you can drop us off on the other side..."

"-Fine...-" Charizard grumbled in response. "-Don't expect me to make a habit of this though.-" Charizard nodded and turned his back to her, moving his flame-tipped tail to the side so it wouldn't be in her way.

"That was...kinda easy..." Rina blinked in disbelief.

"Even pokemon can't resist a girl's charms!" Ashley boasted proudly before climbing onto Charizard's back.

"Right...once I evolve, I'm out of here..." Charizard thought to himself with a low growl. Once Ashley and Rina were both on Charizard's back and holding on tightly, the fire pokemon began flapping its wings. The relatively weak evolved pokemon took a moment to gain enough momentum for takeoff, but soon it was taking into the air and flying low around Mount Moon to take the girls towards Cerulean City.


Author's Notes: Originally this chapter was going to involve a Jigglypuff, but one of Ashley's pokemon made it rather redundant. So I used a similar idea for the plot, a mischevious wild pokemon that has a bounty on it and steals Ashley's panties, with Poliwag. Poliwag seemed to fit the role well enough anyway.

Next week's chapter might end up a bit late, depending on how things go, as I am going to be away for the weekend and might not be able to work on it towards the end of the week.

Also, I've been running into a lot of random Star Wars references lately. Does it show?