Chapter 13, everybody! Which is a little sedate, but…then I checked the word count for this chapter and the next—so what was two chapters is now one. Good progress.
Chermayne, thanks for the review! Glad you like it, and hope to continue to please!
Pokeevee57, thanks for the review! "Ah, good." Moving on—glad Frenzy made an impact. :) Haha, yes….I read something to that effect somewhere on FanFiction a while back, and it stuck with me. :)
Dragonkeeper10, thanks for the review! Yes, this will be interesting to watch….
Hunter Redflame, thanks for the review! Yes, most definitely….Hey, it has potential—and could have a nice Librarians reference as a self-fulfilling prophecy. :) Yes, these will be good…I already figured how Sabrina will react to Ash. ;) Yes, that'll be interesting…I need to rewatch that movie….Thank you, I hope to continue to please!
Jakeroo123, thanks for the review! Yes, this is true…it may be that Frenzy is odd even by Paras standards—reactions to him will be interesting, to say the least. ;)
Gryphonsson, thanks for the review! Yes, definitely….
Thanks for the review, guest! Yes indeedy….
Anonymous Person, thanks for the review! I know, right? That is a gross misrepresentation. It may be true, but it's still a gross misrepresentation.
Yana5, thanks for the review! Right back at you! :D
Vismur, thanks for the review! Oh wow, glad it was that entertaining! :D Mwaha, yes…and Paras loves you too (and I have to see that shirt at some point). No problem! I did….
Johnny Spectre, thanks for the reviews! Don't sweat the shipping, as there isn't going to be any of that in this (there will be some teasing, but no shipping—except for the chapters that actually involve ships. Of the floating kind). Probably….
Prototron MJ Tornada, thanks for the review! Yes…he'll come to grips with it eventually, I'm sure….
Pokémon © Game Freak; Nintendo
Skulduggery Pleasant © 2007 Derek Landy ("Lots of clever little things" comes from this series)
And now, for something completely different:
In other news, there are reports in Unova of a sentient cloud. Witnesses claim that the cloud has descended to ground level on multiple occasions and assaulted random passerby. Authorities recommend staying inside. Do not engage the sentient cloud.
They travelled on, meandering down the mountain towards Cerulean City. Misty was dragging her heels—Ash wondered what was so bad about her sisters.
He wasn't complaining, however—the extra time gave him the opportunity to train some more. All his Pokémon were up a few levels now, but he wasn't sure if it was enough. Darkrai's warning from—was it seriously last week?—came back to him. Misty would know all his tricks by the time their gym battle rolled around. He needed time to plan a good strategy and ensure it worked.
He was seriously starting to regret travelling with company.
Worse, rolling over in his sleeping bag that night, travelling with company meant he couldn't talk to his best friend.
"Pika," Pikachu muttered, looking at him bleary-eyed.
"Sorry," Ash whispered. "Can't sleep."
Pikachu shook his head slightly, standing; he squirmed into the sleeping bag and turned around so he was under Ash's arm, head under his chin.
Ash hugged him a little. "Thanks, bud."
"Pikachu," Pikachu murmured, drifting back off.
Ash finally managed to drift off as well. Maybe having other friends was a good thing after all….
"It's about time you fell asleep."
"Darkrai!" Ash exclaimed, thrilled to see the pitch-black Pokémon again. He glanced around to make sure they were—
"Where are we?" Ash asked. "Pallet Town? It doesn't look right."
"You're dreaming," Darkrai explained airily. "To be honest, this isn't the weirdest one you've had."
That would explain why the trees were purple and blurry and why Professor Oak's Arcanine was wearing his lab coat. "What was my weirdest one?"
"Trust me on this—you don't want to know."
"Well, at least we can talk again—listen, I need your help—"
"That's no surprise," Darkrai said, pointing. "You'd wander off a cliff if someone wasn't keeping an eye on you."
"Um, about—"
"Nuh-uh—you're not getting out of this that easy. You want my help so bad, you make time for it when you're awake. And don't think I'm letting you off easy now."
With that, Darkrai vanished.
"Hey, Ashy-boy! Nice undies!"
Ash looked up to see that he was back in Pallet Town's classroom, in front of a full class, in nothing but his Porygon-pattern undies.
"I'm gonna get him for this," Ash muttered.
"You've been awfully quiet today."
"Hmm?" Ash noised. "Sorry—I was thinking."
"About?" Misty asked.
"Lots of clever little things." Another Darkrai special.
He could understand Darkrai's attitude—he had been his friend since he was five, and now he was completely neglecting him. To quote Darkrai—what a bum.
"So at the rate we're going, we should come up on Cerulean City tomorrow morning," Brock said, consulting his travel guide. He looked to Misty. "You can have your gym battle then, as soon as you get a badge to award."
Misty looked distinctly uncomfortable. "I'll be able to handle it," she muttered.
Ash wasn't sure if he was cut out for having more than one friend—he wanted to worry about Darkrai, yes, but now he was worried about Misty, too.
Man, real life was tougher than it looked on TV.
Darkrai skimmed above a nearby lake, enjoying the night air. He reached the center, executed a perfect spin, and launched himself into the air, performing a backflip for good measure.
It didn't help.
Normally, such feats of acrobatic prowess did wonders to bolster his spirits—it was the job description for the move Sword Dance, one he had been quite fortunate to learn from a technical machine one year.
But nooo, that stupid Clefable had to go and ruin it.
You bring disaster.
Murderer.
Your actions are destroying the world!
Common misconception—he blamed not having as good a PR man as his goody-no-shoes counterpart Cresselia. And besides, she had pink to her—pink Pokémon were always liked better. It was an unfortunate truth—and a little embarrassing, to be honest.
He settled on a rock poking above the surface of the lake to think. Say he entertained that stupid pink puff's opinion for a moment—what sort of yutz would mold the world's destiny around a village idiot? The kid may have some good moments, but at the end of the day he wasn't winning any intelligence contests.
And what made them think that he was screwing the whole thing up?
It was imbecilic at best.
At worst, he had a small inclination to believe them.
He blamed his youth, when he practically destroyed everything he touched. But he was better now, right?
Darkrai snorted and drifted back into the air.
That's what he got when he listened to fairies.
"We're here!" Brock declared as they crested a hill. "Cerulean City!"
"Wow," Ash noised. "It looks…wet."
"That's the lake, you ninny," Misty scolded.
"Oh."
"'Cerulean City,'" Brock read off a nearby sign. "Huh—someone wrote on this. "
"Aren't signs supposed to have writing?" Ash asked, before spotting the graffiti.
He saw red upon reading it.
"'Gary Oak was here, Ash is a loser!'?" Ash read. "That—that jerk!"
"Who's Gary?" Misty asked.
"He's a jerk," Ash explained. "Like the jerkiest of jerks. He makes other jerks look nice."
"That's pretty jerky," Brock said, smirking.
"Well, there are some other names too, but I'm not allowed to say them."
"What did he ever do to you?" Misty asked.
"Well, start off with name-calling, then tripping—and the glorious moment when he shoved me in one of his grandfather's lockers, where I remained for the rest of the day until Professor Oak needed something from that locker. That was not fun."
"Jerk."
"See?"
"Don't give him the satisfaction," Brock said, waving it off. "You'll encounter people like that every day. The sooner you can turn them into water off a Psyduck's back, the better."
"And how does that work?" Ash called after him, as the rock-type trainer began heading down the hill.
"Easy," Brock called back. "You find out that their opinion doesn't really matter. It's what you think of yourself that counts."
Ash and Misty exchanged glances, digesting that statement for a minute before hastening after Brock.
"It looks less wet up close," Ash observed, glancing at Misty. "So do I have time to go to the Pokémon Center real quick?"
"Sure," Misty said, rubbing her arms. "This is going to take me a while, anyway."
"Why?"
Misty fidgeted a bit more before finally answering. "My sisters."
Ash exchanged glances with Brock, who shrugged. "I don't follow," Ash told her—and he didn't, being an only child.
"Imagine having three Garys as older siblings."
"I definitely follow," Ash said. "My sympathies."
"So!" Misty declared. "I'm going to wait until they have one of their water shows and then duck in and get a few badges. It'll take a few hours before one starts, so you'd better be ready by the time I get back."
And with that, she ran off.
"I have to ask," Ash said, turning to Brock. "Are siblings all really like that, or should I be glad I was born an only child?"
"It depends on the family," Brock told him. "I love my siblings to death, but I'm glad I got the opportunity to get away from them for a bit."
Ash digested that for a moment. "So what are you going to do? While we wait for Misty, I mean."
"I'm going shopping for supplies," Brock said, turning towards the familiar blue roof of a Pokémart. "Think you can stay out of trouble in the meantime?"
"Sure," Ash said, heading for the Pokémon Center. "Just so long as trouble doesn't make it a point to find me."
Ash was out and exploring the moment Nurse Joy gave his Pokémon a clean bill of health.
He had a few hours to kill, and he intended to spend that time exploring. And, perhaps, finding an isolated spot so he could talk to Darkrai.
As he wended through town, he couldn't help but worry a bit about Frenzy. He had asked Nurse Joy specifically about the Paras, and while she did say his behavior was a little odd, it was pretty average for the Paras line, and he was perfectly healthy, so….
"Well well well! If it isn't Ashy-boy!"
Ash looked up sharply. "Gary?" he squawked. "What are you doing here?"
Gary waved him off, looking decidedly smug. "None of your business. Hey—you should head over to the gym here. I hear they're giving away badges, and that's the only way someone like you could get any."
Seriously? No wonder Misty wasn't so hot on it. "I'll have you know I already have a badge," Ash shot. "And I've got another gym battle lined up—I'll have earned my Cerulean badge."
Gary started laughing.
Ash gritted his teeth—water off a Psyduck's back, he reminded himself.
"Good joke, Ashy-boy," Gary said, beginning to walk around him.
"If you don't believe me, why don't we have a battle and prove it?" Ash asked. Pikachu agreed sharply, cheeks sparking.
Gary laughed again. "Please—I just cleaned out Nugget Bridge. Battling you would be a waste of time."
"Nugget Bridge?"
"You beat five trainers, you get a gold nugget," Gary said, fishing one out of his pocket. "Of course, knowing you, you couldn't even get past one."
"If I win that, then will you battle me?"
Gary's sides had to be getting sore by now. "Sure," Gary said. "You bring me a gold nugget you won on the bridge—and trust me, I'll be able to tell—then I'll give you the honor of playing the mop."
"Playing the mop?"
"Because I'll wipe the floor with you," Gary said, flicking him in the nose. "Smell you later, Ashy-boy!"
Ugh, Ash thought, rubbing his nose. What a jerk.
But five trainers in a row—could you say experience, friend?
It didn't take long for Ash to find Nugget Bridge—there was a big sign advertising it.
He ran up and onto the bridge, taking a big breath as he did so.
"My name is Ash Ketchum!" he bellowed. "And I'm here to challenge the Bridge!"
Five trainers down the length looked up.
The nearest stood and stepped forward.
"You'd better give it your best, then," the trainer said, steeling himself.
Ash spun his baseball cap around as Pikachu leapt off his shoulder.
"I'm ready," Ash declared.