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 Nineteen

Vs. Aqua

Using stolen bikes they found at the abandoned broadcast station, Ashley and Rina were able to make it to Fuschia City in no time. Upon arriving in the city they were more than happy to hand over the bikes to local authorities and point them in the direction of the broadcast station. Though the Kanto Federation had already taken off there was still the chance of finding clues.

After handing over the bikes, and getting a stern scolding for 'contaminating the evidence' but otherwise getting off rather easily, the two girls went to the usual stop for trainers upon arriving in town. The pokecenter. They went inside and handed over their pokemon to the nurse, then sat down in the waiting room and discussed what to do next while watching the tv.

"So...I take it you want to challenge the gym leader first?" Rina asked Ashley. Ashley hummed thoughtfully, though she seemed a bit more preoccupied with the tv.

There was a battle being displayed on the tv between two top trainers, one from Johto and one from Kanto. It was a three on three battle with the Johto trainer leading two to one. The Kanto trainer's final pokemon was a rocky rhino-like pokemon, Rhyhorn, and the Johto trainer was using a pokemon that looked like a round owl, HootHoot.

"I just got another badge just yesterday, so I'm not in a big rush." Ashley said to Rina, pulling herself away from the tv long enough to face her. "So why don't we check out the local sights first? The Safari Zone would be a fun place to visit I think..."

"Thats the place where you catch pokemon without using your own, right?" Rina asked. Ashley nodded in response. "Yeah, that could be fun then! I think catching a pokemon without actually battling it would make a stronger bond right from the start!"

"And there's plenty of rare pokemon!" Ashley added with a grin. "And I'll catch them all...on film!"

"SHHH!" The crowd of trainers in the waiting room shushed Ashley and Rina. They were watching the battle rather intently, which now had that same Rhyhorn from before facing the Johto trainer's final pokemon, a green skinned frog-like pokemon known as Politoed.

"He's just going to lose anyway..." Ashley muttered under her breath.

"You know, you've been forgetting about your camera lately. Ever since the whole Entei thing..." Rina whispered quietly to Ashley.

"I just get caught up in the moment and forget." Ashley replied. "That stops now though. I'll try to get some good pictures from the Safari Zone and find some nature magazine or something to submit them to. The Kanto Times is only going to accept something that has a story with it anyway..."

"Yeah, thats true." Rina said to Ashley, agreeing with her. "But you did have a story with Entei at least."

"I can't count on having stories though, which is why I'll have to try getting pictures of rare pokemon!" Ashley stood up from her seat, clenching a fist. "I'll get as many pictures as I can in the Safari Zone and make up for forgetting so many times!"

"And I'll catch a new pokemon without having to battle it!" Rina added with equal enthusiasm. The two trainers went to the front desk to retrieve their pokemon, only having to wait another minute. They ended up missing the end of the pokemon battle though. The Kanto trainer's Rhyhorn managed to defeat Politoed with a lucky Horn Drill attack and emerged victorious.

Once they retrieved their pokemon, Ashley and Rina left the pokecenter and headed straight to the Safari Zone in the north end of Fuschia. They didn't bother to release Bulbasaur or Pippi as they wouldn't be able to use their own pokemon in the Safari Zone as it was. The two girls entered the main building of the Safari Zone and were greeted by one of the attendants.

"Two trainer passes into the Safari Zone?" The attendant asked them.

"Thats right." Ashley replied. She and Rina each paid for their own tickets and were then lead to the rear exit of the building, leading into the Safari Zone.

"Here are your safari balls, ladies." The attendant handed each of them a small pouch containing six safari balls. "I wish you both of luck!" The attendant turned and went back into the building, leaving Rina and Ashley on their own in the park.

"Oh...wow..." Rina gasped in amazement as she looked out at the park. "Its so...big! It seems like it goes on forever!"

"Well of course, what were you expecting?" Ashley asked her. "It covers a very large area spanning between Cycling Road and Silence Bridge. I don't think we'd even cover half the park if we split up..."

"Well lets do that then!" Rina suggested, excitedly nodding to herself. "If we split up we should see twice as many different pokemon."

"I guess you're right there." Ashley replied, nodding in agreement. "Ok then, meet back here in an hour?" Rina nodded and the two of them set off. Rina headed northeast while Ashley headed northwest. Neither trainer had any particular pokemon in mind. Ashley intended to take pictures of many pokemon and Rina was simply looking to catch whatever pokemon she could find.

The park itself was exactly what one might expect for a nature reserve. There were sparse trees throughout the park with a thick wall of trees near the outer edges and forming natural walls in some areas of the park. There were hills and plateau's spread about as well as several small ponds where some rare water pokemon resided. After about five minutes of walking through this park, Ashley and Rina lost sight of each other.


"Now hold still..." Ashley focused her camera on a group of pokemon which hadn't taken notice of her. There were spiny, rodent-like and rhino-like pokemon gathered in a group. The pokemon came in shades of blue and purple, signifying the different species. The pokemon were Nidorans, both female and male, and a few Nidorinos and Nidorinas. Ashley quickly snapped a picture of the group.

"There's lots of pokemon here...but I can't seem to find any of the rarer ones." Ashley said to herself with a sigh. "Where are all the Tauros? The Kangaskhan? The Chanseys? The Scythers and Pinsirs?"

Ashley took the picture in hand once it printed out from the camera. The pokemon were all gathered into a sort of family or herd, which made it a good picture opportunity. Ashley decided she liked the picture and put it away, then continued on through the park while keeping an eye out for rare pokemon.

"Maybe I'd see something from up there?" Ashley thought, spotting a hill in the distance. She ran over to the hill and climbed up to the top, which was a flat plateau. The hill itself was no more than a dozen feet high at the most, but it was still a better vantage point than she had before. She moved to the edge of the hill opposite the side she climbed up and scanned the terrain in the distance.

"Plenty of Nidoran families...looks like a bunch of flying bug pokemon over there...Venomoth?" Ashley continued to scan as far off as she could see, eventually spotting a group of brownish quadrapeds off in the distance nearby a humanoid figure. "Ah! That looks like a herd of Tauros! I'll get a picture of those!" Ashley slid down the side of the hill and took off running towards where she saw the Tauros.

"There's probably a lot of pictures of Tauros herds out there..." Ashley thought as she made her way further north. "So I'll get as close as I can and take some really close up photos. Since they were standing around, they're probably grazing anyway." She couldn't actually see the group now that she was on lower ground as there were too many high grasses and trees in her way.

After running for several hundred meters and rounding a small pond, scaring off a pair of male Nidorans as she ran by, she came to the line of trees that had been obscuring her sight. Rounding the trees, she saw the Tauros all standing facing away from her at about two hundred feet or so away.

"Perfect!" Ashley took her camera in hand and lined up a shot on the wild Tauros. She zoomed in on individual Tauros, trying to find a good one to get a picture of, however she soon realized it was all pointless.

"A picture of a Tauros' butt won't get me anywhere though..." Ashley muttered, lowering her camera. "I'll have to move around without startling them to..." Before Ashley could finish, the entire herd of Tauros, twelve pokemon in total, turned to face her simultaneously. Their movement was as if they were trained soldiers responding to a command from a superior.

"That was...odd..." Ashley thought. She then noticed the metal collars around their necks and let out a surprised gasp. "Slave collars?! But that means..."

"We meet again, girl." Ashley heard a familiar voice saying but couldn't see where it was coming from. A blue haired woman emerged from the herd of Tauros, the same woman she met in the Rock Tunnel. She had a rather bulky device looking like some sort of gun on her arm and a microphone on the collar of her jacket. A collared Vaporeon followed behind her.

"You!" Ashley cried out in surprise. "You're that one from the Rock Tunnel! Aqua!"

"Yes, and it seems the time has come for you to learn why no one gets in our way and lives." Aqua replied. She made a wide gesture to the herd of Tauros behind her. "As you can see...I have nice little army backing me up this time. These Tauros will fetch us quite the price. Feel free to send out all of your pokemon, I will crush them all and take them for myself." Aqua patted the gun on her arm. "I still have plenty of slave collars left."

"So that fires slave collars? I'll have to be careful with my pokemon then..." Ashley thought, reaching down to her belt with both hands and taking two pokeballs in each. "You might have numbers on your side, but my pokemon are still plenty strong! Bulbasaur! Charizard! Poliwag! Beedrill! Go!" Ashley called out her pokemon's names as she released all four of them and then quickly returned their empty pokeballs to her belt and grabbed the remaining two.

"Pidgeotto! Jolteon! You too!" Ashley held one pokeball in each hand and released Pidgeotto and Jolteon to stand alongside her other pokemon. All six of her pokemon now stood before her and took up fighting stances, realizing what was about to occur. Bulbasaur grinned to himself, looking forward to an all-out brawl.

"Yang's Charizard and Shocks' Jolteon...I will soon be reclaiming them." Aqua said to Ashley. Jolteon and Charizard weren't at all happy to hear that, both growled at her. Sparks of electricity bristled along Jolteon's fur and smoke seeped from the corner of Charizard's mouth from a fire contained in his throat. Aqua smirked to herself, finding amusement in their reactions.

"Tauros...charge! Horn attack!" The herd of Tauros began stampeding toward Ashley's pokemon, lowering their horns to attack.

"Pidgeotto, slow them down with Whirlwind! Bulbasaur, Jolteon! Paralyze as many as you can with Stun Spore and Thunder Wave!" Ashley called out while running off to the side to get out of the line of fire.

"-Got it!-" Pidgeotto began flapping his wings rapidly, kicking up powerful gusts of wind. A wide tornado formed in front of Pidgeotto and then moved across the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust as it moved towards the herd. The Tauros were stopped in their tracks, forced to brace themselves against the tornedo or get blown back.

"-Huh. This plan of her's might actually work.-" Bulbasaur commented, firing a burst of spores in the direction of the Tauros. The spores were sucked up by the tornado and spread out. Only two Tauros near the front of the herd were paralyzed, though. The rest of the spores were sucked upwards. "-Then again, maybe not...-"

"-I'll stop them myself!-" Jolteon growled. The electricity coursing through his fur fired off in a pulse, striking one of the remaining two lead Tauros. The pokemon was knocked to the ground as its muscles became paralyzed, no longer able to stand against the wind. The two Tauros that had been paralyzed by Bulbasaur's attack likewise fell over. The wind began to die down, but the Tauros already had an obstacle blocking their way.

"Bad lady?" Poliwag wondered. "Me stop her!" The herd tried to blindly charge past their fallen brethren but just ended up tripping over each other. After a six Tauros pileup, Aqua was forced to call them off and rethink her strategy. Meanwhile, a little blue pokemon went unnoticed as it wound its way through the herd.

"Clever trick, girl." Aqua said, sounding unamused. "However, you will have to do better than that. Tauros, attack with Horn Attack! Vaporeon, attack Bulbasaur and Jolteon with Ice Beam!"

"Beedrill, get their attention and confuse them with Double Team! Charizard, use Smokescreen to block their view!" Beedrill flew out in front of the group and split off into six separate images. The Tauros were confused for a moment as they reconsidered their targets. Charizard then added to this confusion by breathing out a cloud of

One Tauros ended up going towards each image of Beedrill, including Beedrill himself, while the rest continued on. One of the Tauros hit the real Beedrill, gouging him with its horn. Beedrill staggered back but quickly shook it off and stood his ground, ready to fight back if ordered to. The fake duplicates it had created each disappeared after an attack from a Tauros as well.

Vaporeon, meanwhile, had made its way past the Tauros and fired an Ice Beam attack into the smoke at the location it had last seen Bulbasaur. The smoke froze and dispersed as Vaporeon's beam pierced through it. Although Vaporeon missed its target in the end, hitting the ground next to Bulbasaur instead, the remaining Tauros could all see their targets now and went on the attack again.

Bulbasaur, Charizard, Pidgeotto, and Jolteon were each attacked by the remaining Tauros. Bulbasaur and Jolteon each took a strong blow as a Tauros rammed into them with its horns. Two Tauros rammed into Charizard, knocking the fire pokemon onto its back. Pidgeotto was able to evade one of the Tauros that tried to attack him, flying up and to the side to evade, but a second Tauros blindsided him and knocked him back to the ground.

"I have to admit, she isn't half bad. I can see how the others could have underestimated her." Aqua thought to herself. "I won't make that same mistake. Its over for her now. At that range, her pokemon are denied the opportunity to deal with the Tauros as a group rather than individually. Their numbers will overwhelm her."

Aqua took her microphone in hand, adjusting it as she prepared to issue another command to her pokemon. Just then, she felt something tapping against her leg and looked down to see Poliwag standing at her feet. Poliwag stepped back once he had her attention and looked up at her.

"Get out of my..." Aqua began, but stopped cold when she realized the pattern on Poliwag's stomach was spinning. She felt drawn to it, and began to feel drowsy as Hypnosis began to set in. "No..." She mumbled. "Vaporeon...get over here and...stop this Poliwag..." Aqua barely managed to get the command out before collapsing to the ground, falling fast asleep.

With Aqua asleep and not issuing anymore commands, the herd of Tauros stopped their attack and stepped back. Though they remained focused on their respective targets they made no attempt to attack, instead waiting for further orders that would never come. Vaporeon, meanwhile, bounded off back to Aqua.

"They stopped?" Ashley blinked in disbelief. She looked over to where Aqua was and saw the hunter fast asleep on the ground, next to Poliwag. "Alright! Good one, Poliwag!" Ashley called out to him. Poliwag nodded to Ashley and smiled happily. The moment was cut short, however, as Poliwag was blasted by a Shadow Ball attack and sent rolling back. Vaporeon quickly took up a defensive position between Poliwag and Aqua.

"-Ow...-" Poliwag mumbled. He hopped back onto his feet and looked at Vaporeon curiously. "-Why you do that?-" Poliwag asked Vaporeon. Vaporeon didn't respond and instead opened its mouth and blasted Poliwag with a quick spray of water. The water had no effect on Poliwag, however. It was simply absorbed by Poliwag's body.

"-You not nice...me put you sleep too.-" Poliwag focused on Vaporeon, drawing the pokemon's attention as Poliwag sent out hypnotic waves from his chest. Vaporeon's eyes slowly began to close as it became drowsy. It knelt down on the ground and rested its head as it fell fast asleep. It wouldn't be waking up either with Aqua unable to activate its collar.

"-That...brat just singlehandedly took down the hunter!-" Charizard growled in disbelief.

"-I wouldn't quite say singlehandedly.-" Jolteon added with a shrug. "-We did provide a distraction...-"

"I didn't even think to use sleep attacks...I just assumed they'd be completely useless because Aqua could command her pokemon to wake up." Ashley thought, passing by the herd of Tauros as she walked towards the sleeping Aqua. "I never thought of trying to put Aqua to sleep. I'm glad Poliwag did though..."

"Well way to go, Poliwag! You stopped Aqua in her tracks!" Ashley congratulated Poliwag and knelt down next to Aqua. "Now...I wonder if this collar-shooting thing has a release button..." Ashley set to examining the gun on Aqua's arm, checking it over for a button that might release the collars on the herd of Tauros.

"-I feel funny now...-" Poliwag mumbled, blinking in confusion. Suddenly, a white glow surrounded his body. His body began to expand and a pair of arms sprouted from his sides, forming a pair of strong looking hands at the end. Poliwag's eyes moved up his face, forming two little bumps on the top of his body. The light soon faded, revealing Poliwag's evolved form as Poliwhirl.

"Wow...you evolved too..." Ashley said, blinking in disbelief. She smiled at the newly evolved Poliwhirl, his white hat now resting on top of his head. "Well congratulations, Poliwag...I mean Poliwhirl!" Ashley then turned her attention back to the gun, holding up Aqua's arm to get a better look at it.

"-You know, I could evolve any time I want to now.-" Bulbasaur muttered quietly.

"-Then why don't you?-" Charizard asked him. "-If I could evolve I'd have done it already!-"

"-Eh...saving it for an emergency, or maybe just the right time.-" Bulbasaur replied with a shrug.

"Aha! Here we go!" Ashley pressed two buttons, one on the bottom of the gun and one on top. Pressing the two simultaneously triggered the release mechanism. The collars on each of the Tauros and the Vaporeon clicked as they released and fell off their respective pokemon. The Tauros looked around in confusion and then took off running when they spotted Ashley and Aqua.

"Well I guess all thats left to do now is to drag Aqua out of here." Ashley stood up and thought over how to go about taking the unconscious Aqua with her. She didn't have to think long before a jeep with two park rangers inside rode into view.

"Huh?" Ashley blinked in disbelief. "Oh right, they have this place under tight security to make sure trainers don't try to use their pokemon to battle the pokemon in the safari zone." She thought. The jeep pulled up to her and the two rangers hopped out.

"We saw the whole thing. We'll be taking it from here." One of the two rangers said to her.

"You could have showed up sooner, you know." Ashley replied flatly, crossing her arms over her chest.

"We were trying to put together a squad to go after her. We don't even have our own pokemon, so we'd have been no match for her." The ranger replied. "You saved us the trouble, fortunately."

"How can they even do their job without pokemon?" Ashley wondered. The two rangers lifted Aqua up, one holding her by the head and arms and the other holding her legs. They then carefully put her in the back of the jeep and took out a pair of handcuffs, binding her wrists and ankles together and taking her smoke ball from her. With Aqua secured, they jumped into the front seats and started up the engine again.

"Wait! What about the Vaporeon?" Ashley called out to them.

"You girls usually keep them anyway, don't you?" One of the rangers replied, shooting Ashley a glare. The two drove off, pulling a u-turn to drive by Ashley and go back the way they came.

"Yeah, I guess we do..." Ashley said quietly, looking sadly at Vaporeon.

"-Ashley...bad?-" Poliwhirl gazed at Ashley curiously, the ranger's comments stirring a bit of distrust and confusion in him.


Meanwhile, elsewhere in the park...

"ARGH! Stop it already!" A frustrated park ranger, looking to be in his late teens and likely new to the job, cried out in frustration. Ahead of him, a Tangela was running around and chasing a Nidoran male and female.

"Huh? Whats going on here?" Rina wondered, watching the Tangela running around from behind the ranger.

"-We're going to be friends forever and ever and ever!-" Rina could hear the Tangela saying to the two Nidoran.

"-WE DON'T WANT TO BE YOUR FRIENDS!-" The two called back, though their complaint went unnoticed by the Tangela which continued to relentlessly pursue them.

"You know...I don't have a grass pokemon yet..." Rina said to herself. She opened up her safari pouch and looked through it. "Three safari balls left...too bad I wasted the other three on that Chansey..." Rina sighed and took one of her remaining safari balls out of her pouch.

"Its not a safari pokemon!" The frustrated ranger, overhearing Rina, said to her. "I don't know how it got in here but its just causing trouble! ARGH!" The male ranger shoved his fingers through his hair roughly, messing it up and knocking off his green hat. The hat went along with the rest of his uniform, consisting of a green vest over a brown shirt and matching green khaki shorts.

"Isn't the Safari Zone open to wild pokemon though?" Rina asked curiously.

"It is...but this one just snuck in somehow!" The ranger replied. "New additions to the park need to be trained first! This one is just making a nuisance of itself and I haven't been able to catch it!"

"You don't mind if I try to catch it then?" Rina asked him.

"Go right ahead and try! Heck, use your pokemon if you want!" He replied. "Like I said, its not a native pokemon."

"No...I'm going to try to catch this one without battling it." Rina clutched her safari ball in hand and began walking towards the Tangela. "Lets see if just throwing a safari ball will work..." Rina raised her arm back and threw the safari ball at Tangela, catching it while it was chasing the Nidoran towards a small pond.

The safari ball bounced off Tangela, causing the grass pokemon to stop in its tracks and try to look around before it was pulled into the ball. The Nidoran chanced a look back and, seeing Tangela trapped in the ball, took the chance to flee the scene. The ball shook twice with Tangela inside but then shattered and broke open, freeing it.

"-Huh?-" Tangela blinked in confusion and looked around. Spotting Rina, she smiled widely under the mass of vines. "-Friend!-" Tangela ran toward Rina while she was trying to pull another safari ball out of her pouch. The grass pokemon wrapped its vines around Rina, pinning her arms to her side and tackling her to the ground.

"Ack!" Rina let out a surprised yelp as Tangela tackled her. She struggled to get another safari ball out, but Tangela had her arms pinned at her sides. Rina was left completely helpless.

"-Friend! Me going to hug you lots and lots!-" Tangela squealed happily, rubbing her 'face' against Rina.

"H-hey! Do you need any help there?" The ranger asked her.

"No! I can handle this!" Rina called back, determined to catch this pokemon on her own. "Ok, think! This Tangela doesn't seem very bright...so I can probably talk her into letting me go and then try another safari ball on her."

"Well...if we're friends...then I think it'd be nice of you to let me go so I can hug you back!" Rina said to Tangela, smiling sheepishly. "I mean, I can't hug you if my arms are pinned, right?"

"Whoa! This chick can understand pokemon?!" The ranger thought in disbelief.

"-Oh! Kay! I'd like to be hugged too!-" Tangela happily released Rina from her grasp and stood back. Rina quickly lobbed another safari ball at Tangela, making another desparate attempt to catch it. The ball bounced off Tangela's body and pulled the pokemon inside.

"I feel kinda bad for tricking her like this..." Rina thought, getting back on her feet while the safari ball rolled around on the ground. Rina thought for sure she had it this time, but the ball broke again and released Tangela much to Rina's dismay.

"-Owie! Why do you keep throwing those at me?-" Tangela asked Rina.

"Well...umm..." Rina tried to think of an answer, it wasn't something she was expecting to be asked. She was able to come up with one rather quickly though. "Well, you see that meanie behind me?" Rina whispered to Tangela. Tangela looked past Rina, at the park ranger, and nodded.

"Well, he doesn't want us to be friends!" Rina whispered to her. "So I need to get you out of this park, and the best way to do that is to hide you in this little ball!"

"-Oh! So I should just stay in the ball?-" Tangela asked her. Rina nodded and took her last safari ball from her pouch.

"Thats the idea!" Rina replied. "So here, get inside so we can go!" Rina gave the safari ball a light toss, hitting Tangela with it again. This time there was no shaking or rolling when Tangela was pulled inside. The safari ball locked tight and then vanished in a white light, sending Tangela off to storage. Rina breathed a sigh of relief.

"I wish catching a Pikachu without having my own pokemon had been that easy..." Rina mumbled quietly.

"Geez...you make this look easy. Ever consider work as a pokemon ranger?" The ranger asked Rina, grinning sheepishly.

"Not interested." Rina replied, smiling lightly. "Not at all...cause someday I plan to be a pokemon researcher, but until then I'm just travelling around Kanto."

"Well, I kinda owe you for your help either way. My jeep's nearby, need a ride out of the park?" He asked her.

"Well...guess there's not much point staying now that I'm out of safari balls." Rina replied, nodding to him. She followed the ranger back to his jeep, getting a quick ride out of the park.


By the time Rina arrived at the park entrance, Ashley was already there waiting. Both girls had decided to leave before their time was up, though for different reasons. The Vaporeon, which had belonged to Aqua, was awake now and standing next to Ashley alongside Bulbasaur.

"Ashley? Where did you find that Vaporeon?" Rina asked her, quickly hopping down out of the side of the jeep.

"I ran into another of those hunters..." Ashley replied, sounding a bit forlorn and looking down at Vaporeon. "Rina, how about finding out where this Vaporeon came from before Aqua, the hunter, had it?"

"Umm...sure..." Rina replied, blinking in surprise.

"-Ah, you must be the one who can understand pokemon speech!-" Vaporeon said to her, smiling brightly. "-A pleasure to meet you. To answer the lady's question, I don't recall exact details. I know I didn't have a trainer though. All I can really remember is from when I was an Eevee. I believe I lived in a garden of sorts, playing in the tall grass with other wild pokemon...-"

"He was a wild pokemon before Aqua caught him." Rina translated for Ashley.

"Well that takes a load off my conscience..." Ashley replied, breathing a sigh of relief. She opened up her pouch and took out a safari ball. She still had all six of them and saw no reason not to use one on Vaporeon since she hadn't used any at all.

"You have a conscience?" Rina thought.

"-Rather convenient that the hunter's pokemon either lack trainers or never had any.-" Bulbasaur said quietly. "-It wouldn't bother me as much if it didn't seem like it was providing Ashley here with pokemon without her having the need to actually catch them...-"

"-Well, lets be fair here. She did take on quite the small army to free me.-" Vaporeon said to Bulbasaur. "-For doing so I promise I will do my best to help others. It may help to put my own conscience at rest after some of the atrocities I have been forced to do by Aqua...-"

"Ok, Vaporeon, welcome to the team. Ready to go into a pokeball?" Vaporeon nodded to Ashley, prompting her to activate the safari ball in her hand. The ball opened up and fired a beam at Vaporeon, pulling him inside. The ball then shut tight in Ashley's hand and disappeared, locking Vaporeon inside and whisking it off to storage.

"So, Ashley, you plan to challenge Koga now?" Rina asked her.

"No, I think I'll wait until tomorrow." Ashley replied.

"Huh?" Rina blinked in disbelief and quickly checked her watch. "But we still have two hours before the gym closes!"

"True...but I'd rather go check out the beach and spend the rest of the day just relaxing." Ashley replied, smiling brightly. "What do you say?"

"Its been years since I've been to the beach. Yeah, lets do that!" Rina replied, nodding enthusiastically.

With one new pokemon caught each, the two girls left the Safari Zone and got ready to spend the rest of the day at the beach.


Author's Notes: Well, thats another hunter down. Next chapter will be, obviously, a 'beach episode'. Thing about a 'beach episode' in a written story is its a lot less fanservicey and a lot more 'excuse for a plot'. There's actually a very specific reason I wanted to do a beach scene near Fuschia, which you will hopefully find out about next weekend. I've got a lot of assignments due this week, so I'm not making any promises other than holding to Monday at the latest if I miss a Sunday update.

On an unrelated/related note...ever notice the sheer amount of sci-fi themes in Pokemon? In the games alone you've got items/pokemon being supposedly stored as data, a whole bunch of techy gadgets not the least of which are pokeballs, teleporting devices everywhere. There's also alien pokemon, though pokemon themselves fit the role of most 'soft' sci-fi aliens as such aliens often off mystical or psionic powers or are just better than us physically in some way. We've also got gene splicing and cloning in there.

Despite the sci-fi elements, though, the best they do for spaceships is a rocket...