DarkFoxKit: Remember how we said the anime was gonna take a back-seat? … Weeeeeell, in these next few… arcs, they'll be more… focused on.
Key2DestNE: Mainly because we're going in three mini phases- anime, manga, and games, depending on what would suit our needs. And right now, it fits us to follow the anime! ...For once.
DarkFoxKit: And we have a few ideas for these episodes in particular and didn't want to leave it alone, so this will be the racing arc.
Key2DestNE: We hope you enjoy, everybody! Oooh, I'm getting so excited now~! *begins bouncing up and down*
DarkFoxKit: Let's hope the readers will find it just as exciting! Okay, disclaimer time! *looks at Key2DestNE*
Key2DestNE: ...Oh fine, fine- we don't own Pokemon, that's Nintendo and GameFreak's job! We just write the story about their games!
Chapter 18: The Pokemon Reserve Ranch
It's been a long journey and about several days had passed since Ash and Blue left the Fuchsia Gym and were on their way to the Safari Zone. The two boys decided to take a break in a nice looking field as Storm had fallen asleep already and Nya… Well, Ash never really knows what's going through his Memma's head.
"I hope we get to a town soon, we're running out of food." Ash frowned as he munched on a granola bar.
Blue nodded, taking a sip from a bottle of water. "That or a Pokemon Center, at least…" He sighed, glancing around. "I was sure the entrance to the Safari Zone was around here…"
"Where is here anyway?" Ash asked, leaning against a tree with a small frown. "This place doesn't look familiar and is it even on the map?"
"Well…" Blue began to say as he pulled out a guidebook and was about to try and pinpoint their current location, when suddenly the ground began trembling as a huge dust cloud was coming in their direction! Blue's eyes widened, and he quickly put it away. "Looks like a stampede of Tauros coming this way!"
"Oh crap!" Ash quickly grabbed his backpack as he and Blue quickly ran out of the way. "Tauros? Why are there so many in a place like this?"
The brown-haired boy pulled out his guidebook once more and pointed to the Safari Zone. "I think we're in a part of the Safari Zone already, Ash- there aren't any real signs as to where areas of the zone start, so we could have been in it for the past half hour and not even realized it."
"WHAT!?" Ash looked at him, startled. "But didn't you say there's a guide or something that you have to pay to get Safari Balls or something to catch Pokemon here with?!"
Blue nodded, flipping to a description of the Safari Zone. "Yeah, there is, but that's the area of the Safari Zone where you can catch Pokemon- there's also the tour guide area, where you're guided along by two Pidgey robots, there's the Pokemon preservation area, where wild Pokemon can't be battled or captured… The capturing Safari Zone is the only place you can catch wild Pokemon here, so it's also the only place you need to pay for Safari Balls."
Ash sighed and frowned, crossing his arms. "I see… so this place doesn't look like a guide or a place where you can capture Pokemon, so it must be a preservation area… But aren't there people here that raise wild Pokemon? Where are they?"
All of a sudden, a Growlithe came running over them, barking, "Trainers! Trainers! I see Trainers!"
"Wah!?" Both of the boys yelped, falling back in shock. Ash was the first to scramble back to his feet, and he frowned in confusion. "What the heck? A Growlithe? Out here?"
Storm grumbled from Ash's arm, yawning sleepily. "Hey… can you keep it down? Can't a Pikachu get a decent nap?"
"Storm, we-" Ash was about to say something when he heard a female's voice.
"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE YOU TWO!" And suddenly a horse-like creature neighed loudly right above Ash, it startled the boy so much he yelped as he fell on his butt. "What do ya think you're doing!?"
As soon as Ash fell back, the creature came back down and the boy immediately recognized it as the fire horse Pokemon Ponyta, and on Ponyta's back was a young woman with blue hair.
Blue frowned, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow. "What are we doing? The question is, what are YOU doing, scaring my friend like that? We were doing nothing wrong!"
Ash groaned as he began rubbing his now sore butt after falling on it, Storm frowned a bit as if confused as to what just happened. Nya was still in the backpack, but Ash could feel some of her aura and psychic energy spiked up a little bit, meaning she would've protected him if it was a real threat.
"Growlithe warned me that two uninvited Trainers were wanderin' 'round here." She frowned, looking at them angrily.
"So that gave you the excuse to scare the living daylights out of me?" Ash grumbled.
"Yes, yes it does!" the girl snapped, pointing in a seemingly random direction. "Now get outta here, we don't let uninvited Trainers in this area!"
"Well excuse us then." Blue didn't like her attitude, and he made that as clear as he could. "But it's not like we meant to come here, we were looking for the Safari Zone where we can capture Pokemon!"
Ash then stood up and looked at the Ponyta, giving a small smile. "Hey, this is my first time seeing a Ponyta up close- how are the flames not burning you?" This made the girl blink at the sudden change in subject.
"That's all ya have to say?" she asked, cautiously raising an eyebrow. "Nothin' 'bout why you're bein' kicked out or anythin'?"
"Well I'm curious, and we weren't going to capture any Pokemon here if that's what you were worried about." Ash said, shrugging. "We understand."
The blue-haired girl was clearly confused, but she finally shrugged. "...If a Ponyta trusts someone, they will 'llow that person to ride them, and the flames will feel like regular fur- they won't even set your clothes on fire."
"Wow, that's pretty cool." Ash smiled, his eyes practically shining with stars.
Ponyta was looking at Ash and at Blue before saying slowly, "You two… are you…?"
Ash and Blue blinked before looking at each other, but Ponyta wouldn't elaborate on what it meant.
The girl, not being able to understand Pokemon, just smiled as she thought they were just being curious about her Ponyta, so she could tell they were actually trustworthy. "My name is Laura and this is the Laramie Ranch, a Pokemon Reserve where people help the wild Pokemon grow up in their natural habitat."
Blue raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms. "I knew about Pokemon Reserves, but yours has an actual name? What, is it run by your whole family?"
"Of course- this place was founded by us and it's still relatively new, but the ranch itself existed for years and generations, this is the first time we've set up in Kanto." Laura smiled as she patted Ponyta, making the fiery horse neigh happily.
"Sounds pretty boring to me." The Pikachu yawned, laying back lazily. "If you're just gonna make a reserve to keep people from capturing or hunting wild Pokemon, why do you have to raise them too? Wouldn't it be better to let the wild Pokemon, oh I don't know, survive on their own? They're not technically WILD Pokemon if you take CARE of them, more like a herd of pets."
"Oh Stormy~" Nya giggled, startling both Ash and the Pikachu himself at how she popped up like that. "You're such a silly little Pikachu- you see, they don't MAKE the Pokemon stay here, they're more like a Pokemon Center for the wild Pokemon out there. They take care of them, and when the wild Pokemon want to leave, they can- don't make such silly accusations like that, I know what I'm doing~!"
"Well then, I wish the same could've been said for me when the Chu Clan left me to fend for myself as a Pichu…" Storm grumbled, crossing his arms.
Blue noticed Ponyta kept looking at him and Ash, making the boy a little uneasy, and he stepped back. "I think your Ponyta has some kind of obsession or something with us…"
Laura blinked, noticing this herself. "Huh… I wonder why that is- did either of you ever train any horse Pokemon? Ponyta usually seems to enjoy the company of those who train other horses…"
Blue looked a little nervous here and Ash took notice, why would Blue seem nervous about that? Ash was sure that maybe Blue caught like a Ponyta himself and raised one when he was a Trainer, but why would the brown-haired boy be worried about that?
The brown-haired boy coughed, shaking his head a bit. "N-no, no, not really… I guess he smelled my grandfather's Ponyta on me or something- but can you keep it away? It really looks too interested in me for comfort- sheesh…"
Ash almost laughed at this, this was unusual but pretty funny to see. Blue looked uncomfortable, but it was funny to see the usual cool, calm and collective Blue being nervous and uncomfortable. I wonder why Ponyta keeps looking at us though, does it know something?
Laura just smiled, shrugging. "Hey, if Ponyta likes you, then there's no reason to worry."
Blue huffed and looked away, muttering bitterly, "Whatever."
Ash was about to say something, but then the ground shook and another dust cloud ran past them, it was so fast Ash almost missed the Pokemon that ran, but he got a glimpse of brown and three heads.
"Howdy Laura." A voice spoke up and when Ash turned, he saw a Dodrio with a young man riding on it. "What's takin' ya so long? Ya should'a been back to the ranch by now! What, these here varmints givin' ya too much trouble?"
"They're just friends that I'm showing around, including for the festival tonight." Laura frowned at him, clearly irritated.
The young man just gave a smirk, shrugging. "Well whatever, are ya lookin' forward to the race tomorrow? Because I sure am!"
"A race?" Blue raised an eyebrow, quickly perking up at that. This should be interesting.
Laura was still glaring at the young man, but she nodded. "Yeah- we're havin' a race tomorrow with another ranch hand, Dario here." She glared at the man, who looked… oddly like Ash. "He's sayin' Ponyta here is slower than his Dodrio, which frankly ain't true!"
"Well Dodrio are technically very fast and hard to keep up with…" Blue said, shrugging. "It depends on how much training you've put into your Pokemon that shows the results though."
"So what's this race for?" Ash asked, raising an eyebrow..
Dario just smirked, shrugging. "Let's just say that this race will determin' who becomes a true Laramie member or not, and if the ranch stays this way forever! Let's go, Dodrio!" and the three-headed bird took off. "Yee-haw!"
When the bird Pokemon ran off, it left behind it a cloud of dust, causing all six humans and Pokemon there to cough loudly. Laura cleared her throat, recovering the quickest as she growled. "Anyways, I gotta go round those Tauros back in, gimme a minute and then I can show you around the festival we're having right now!"
"Thanks Laura, that'll be nice." Ash said as Laura got Ponyta to move to the herd of Tauros.
Nya popped out of the backpack and smiled a bit, clearly excited. "Well, this'll be an interesting turn of events, wouldn't you say, Ashy?"
"So they're going to have a big race on who will be in charge?" Storm asked, twitching his ears.
Ash shrugged, frowning a bit. "I guess, but he also said something about becoming a true Laramie member… What do you think that means, Blue?"
Blue sighed a bit as he leaned against the wooden fence, shrugging. "Basically it means he'll take over the ranch, him and his family would take it and probably even rename it. It's sort of like gaining an extra territory, and more territory means more power for them."
"W-what!?" Ash's eyes widened, shocked. "Why the heck would he do that? Seriously, he clearly does well as a ranch hand, and if he loses this race, he'd probably be fired because of his plotting to take over!"
Blue shrugged again, clearly not as worried as Ash about this. "The rules and regulations don't apply as much out in the open field as they do in the cities, Ash. It's not entirely illegal what he's doing, that's why they have races, to see who gets to keep the ranch and who gets to expand on their ranches, you'd be surprised how many places have such different cultures and rules compared to what you're probably used to."
"B-but I- that's…" Ash trailed off, still upset about this. "...H-hey Blue, do you think any of our Pokemon could enter the contest as well? If there's one more member of the race, there's one less chance the ranch is taken away from the people who bought it!"
"WHAT!? We're going to race too!?" Storm was pretty surprised about this, and his cheeks sparked to show his displeasure.
"Of course we are, Storm! We can't just let something like this happen!" Ash frowned, a fire burning in his eyes. "Not when we can do something about it."
The Pikachu groaned, rolling his eyes "Sure, and the next thing you're going to do is make us go on some fossil hunt, or maybe get kidnapped by some ancient Areodactyl- or maybe even enter me in some Fighting Pokemon tournament…"
Ash sweatdropped at this, protesting sheepishly. "H-hey, it's not completely crazy! It's only a simple race!"
Blue chuckled, shaking his head in amusement. "Something like this isn't a simple race, not when it has such a big prize on the line, like an entire land. But I'm game, it's been a while since I had any fun with events like this."
"But… you only have three Pokemon and none of them can carry you." Ash frowned at this, raising an eyebrow. "Unless… you're planning to use some of your older ones?"
"..." Blue hesitated as he opened his Pokedex before closing it. "I have a better a idea. I'll just watch. I don't really have any Pokemon that I can race with right now anyway, I'll just keep an eye on you."
"Uh… okay then." Ash blinked, frowning at his sudden change of mind.
Blue then sighed and said to Ash, shrugging. "What Pokemon are you going to use? They don't allow Pokemon that can fly or levitate, though it's kind of strange they'd let someone race on a Dodrio since it can technically fly."
Ash gave a sigh. "Well… I guess I could use Nidosaur if needed- he'd have a bit of trouble, but it wouldn't be too bad. Maybe I could-" He then paused, noticing the Taurus raising up again. "Huh? What's with the Taurus?"
"I don't know, but we shouldn't get involved, otherwise the people here will accuse us for upsetting them since we're outsiders and Trainers." Blue said, frowning a bit.
"I guess you're right… Maybe we should find Lara." Ash suggested. "She said something about a festival tonight?"
The brown-haired Trainer nodded. "Yeah, that's ri-" Suddenly, a scream rang out through the field, catching both of them off-guard! "W-what the!? Was that… Lara!?"
The two boys hurried to the field, and Storm pointed out, in the middle of the Taurus group, "Over there!"
Ash and Blue saw Ponyta whinnying while reared up and Lara on the ground, clutching to her arm. "Gah…" She hissed in pain, slowly sitting up.
Blue and Ash hurried to them, and Ash grabbed Ponyta's reign to get it to calm down while Blue checked Lara's arm. "Calm down Ponyta! Easy there girl! Easy!"
Ponyta soon stopped whinnying and looked down at Ash, blinking in surprise. "It's you…? And that boy… Something came out… something fast, came right out… and spooked me."
"Huh? Something fast…?" Ash frowned, looking up into the fiery horse's eyes. "What was it? Can you remember, girl?"
"I couldn't tell, it was too fast, but it scared me." Ponyta neighed, shuffling back and forth.
Eventually Blue sighed, looking up at his friend. "Laura's fine, but she broke her elbow- she won't be moving it for a while."
The ranch girl growled in irritation, even though a few tears were in her eyes. "N-no… I can't believe it! I-I put so much dedication in… and yet due to a stupid broken elbow…"
Ash and Blue frowned at this, why did this happen? Ash looked at Ponyta and at Laura, surely there's something they could do… "Lara… what if one of us won that race? Would it be against the rules if you had a replacement rider?"
Laura blinked before she slowly shook her head. "W-well, no, it isn't… but…" She frowned, giving him an incredulous look. "...Why would you both do that? I don't understand- I told you to leave, so…"
"Let's just say we have a bit of a hero complex, or at least I do." Ash chuckled a bit, shrugging. "I want to help, even if you were rude to me like that."
"Aww, that's my little Ashy, always helping people even if he doesn't know them very well." Nya purred from his shoulder, rubbing his cheek happily.
"But Ponyta won't just trust anyone." Blue spoke up, crossing his arms. "How are you going to ride her if she'll just fry your butt off?"
"I can try to get her to trust me, it's only going to be for one race." Ash said, looking at Ponyta. "I won't get on you right away, don't worry- we can try to communicate with each other first if it'll make you feel better."
"..." Ponyta frowned, clearly still a bit nervous, but she tilted her head. "I wonder… could you possibly be…?" She then sniffed Ash's hair, confusing the boy.
Nya was chuckling at the fire horse's way of studying the boy. Ash shivered a bit, and he stammered out, "W-what is it?"
Even Laura was confused, Ponyta wouldn't willingly get so close to a stranger like that. "I'm not sure, Ponyta doesn't usually go up to strangers willingly…"
Blue was trying to keep from laughing as he put a hand on his mouth. At least now he knows how it feels…
The Fire type Pokemon neighed slightly, still examining Ash. "...It's possible… Alright then, we'll try a trial- if you can work well with me… I'll allow you to ride me for the race."
"...A trial?" Storm asked, blinking.
"Uh sure… what do you want me to do?" Ash asked, shrugging.
"What?" Lara blinked, growing more confused.. "Are you asking me?"
"Oh uh… well I'm just wondering what Ponyta would want me to do to gain her trust." Ash said sheepishly.
The horse neighed again, before running off! "If you want to ride me, first you'll have to catch me!"
Ash stumbled and yelped, startled. "H-hey! I'm only human! How do you expect me to catch you!?"
Blue blinked, caught off-guard as well. "What the… did it just run off? …I suppose it wants to test your abilities… Specifically, your intellect."
"Well better get to it, Ashy!" Nya said as she and Storm jumped off his shoulders, the cat grinning mischievously.
Ash frowned, but he wasn't sure if he could catch a fire horse with a human body, and he's not allowed to use things like nets or traps, so how is he supposed to catch her? … He looked at Storm, could he use his own Pokemon? "Hmmm…."
The Pikachu blinked, backing up a bit. "Whoa whoa whoa, what're you looking at ME for, Ash? I am NOT going after a horse that would set me on fire the instant I touch it- are you nuts?!"
"Oh relax Storm, I'm not going to throw you at Ponyta or something, but I'm going to need your help to catch her." Ash said to him, rolling his eyes. "Just follow me, come on!" And with that the boy hurried after the fire horse. The Pikachu sighed but ran after his Trainer.
"I've never seen Ponyta trying to do this with someone before…" Lara said in shock as Blue began tying a bit of gauze around her elbow to keep it steady. "Why… what is she doing? This doesn't make any sense!"
"I'd say this is pretty interesting." Blue said, smiling a bit.
Ash and Storm stopped when they saw Ponyta, she looked like she slowed down as if wondering if Ash was coming for her. "Get down." he whispered to Storm as the two quickly got down into the grass, trying to keep hidden. The Pikachu just followed Ash as the two began crawling towards the fire horse, trying to get closer without alerting her.
Ponyta frowned, looking around a bit more before she bent her neck down and began cautiously munching on some hay set down on the nearby ground. "..."
Ash and Storm were close now, "Just a little more…" he whispered, but he knew if he just jumped at the Ponyta she'd burn him out of shock and surprise. "Now. Storm, use Thunder Wave to keep Ponyta from running."
Storm blinked before nodding, "Smart." The Pikachu suddenly jumped, surprising Ponyta, but she didn't have time to react as Storm show out a wave of electricity that paralyzed her! "You're not going anywhere!"
"W-what the!?" The fire horse yelped, nearly falling over due to the paralysis. "How did you- but- but I had my guard up! When did you get so close!?"
Ash just walked over to her and bent down, giving a small smile. "... Well, looks like I win. Memma taught me how to stalk some Pokemon before, so I knew how to sneak up on a Ponyta- but you did catch me by surprise when you suddenly challenged me."
"..." The fire horse blinked, staring the raven-haired boy in the eyes. "...I… you… you really… are him, aren't you?"
"Eh? Him?" Ash blinked, surprised. "What, did I make a reputation for myself or something?"
"The Child of Mew…" Ponyta kept on staring at him as if she had seen a ghost, making the boy feel a bit uncomfortable. "...Alright- you can ride me for this race."
Ash nodded, smiling. "Thank you, Ponyta." He then handed her a Cheri Berry. "Here, eat this, it'll cure the paralysis. But how did you know I was Mew's child?"
The fire horse munched on the berry, whinnying slightly. "It's been well-known that she's had a child for a few years or more… but no Pokemon knew just who it was. Seeing you, though… I just knew somehow…"
"Heh… B-but you know… Mew only raised me… I can't say I'm really her child since I'm still human." Ash said, feeling a little jealous of the other hybrids.
"Well if you ask me, I think it's better she waited." Storm said, crossing his arms.
"Why is that, Storm?" Ash asked him as he sat down on the grass.
The Pikachu shrugged, leaning back. "From what Mew told us, the other Legendary Pokemon pretty much spoiled THEIR kids, so they didn't learn responsibility- and look at where some of them are now! They're in Team Rocket, TEAM ROCKET! A criminal organization that steals Pokemon and sells them for MONEY! I think Mew just didn't want you to fall in the same way…"
"...Huh…" The boy blinked, clearly surprised by this. "I… guess you have a point- but she still could have taught me if I was a Mew, right? It… doesn't seem THAT weird, does it?"
"Well there's a difference between teaching and learning from experience. She probably wanted you to experience being human before being Pokemon. I've noticed the hybrids seems to not really know how to be human, haven't you noticed how they acted? They acted all high and mighty like they're too good for anyone who's just human." Storm said, it seems the Pikachu has been memorizing the hybrids they've met so far.
"Huh?" Ash blinked before thinking about it. Well… I can see that with Dustin… but Tyra wasn't that bad, was she? ...Well, she acted like she was smarter than everybody else around her- and Sam acted like his information HAD to be correct without any possible mistakes…
Storm then spoke up again, shrugging. "And I guess Mew had seen this in all the hybrids, which is why she was so hesitant to have a child of her own, especially since Mew can alter and bend reality how they please."
"You seem pretty wise all of a sudden Storm, why the sudden defense for Memma?" Ash asked, raising an eyebrow.
The Pikachu sighed, shrugging. "I don't know… I guess maybe after a while, I've really gotten to know her… and her son- I still don't like her Mew Games, but at least I understand her."
"I've heard that some Pokemon lost their trust in Mew." Ponyta said, frowning a bit in concern. "Is it true?"
Ash frowned but nodded, sighing. "Yeah… a lot of them no longer believe Memma has what it takes to be Earth's Guardian anymore. But no matter what, I believe in her, and so does my team!" Then he paused, hearing somebody crying on top of his head. "...Wha?"
He recognized the voice to be Nya's, and she kept crying as she hopped off his head and glomped him! "O-oh Ashy… That's the best news I've ever heaaaard!"
"Wah!? Memma! Did you teleport on my head!?" Ash yelped as Nya kept hugging him and licking his cheeks. Ash could hear Ponyta and Storm laughing. "M-Memma! S-s-stop, you're embarrassing me!"
The Meowth kept crying, hugging him tightly as she nuzzled his cheek before licking away the tears that were transferred to his face. "I… I was so worried nobody believed in me anymore… b-but you… you…! WAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
"C-c-c-come on Memma! Y-you know that we always believed in you!" Ash was still embarrassed with the laughing Pokemon by him.
"Yeah… but I wanted to hear it for myself. Thank you Ashy, you have no idea how much I wanted to hear that." Nya said softly, squeezing him one last time before she reluctantly let go.
Storm chuckled, nudging his Trainer's side. "Well well well, look who's been whipped by the cat! Man, you really can be put in the strangest situations, 'Ashy'~ Hahahaha!" Then to the Pikachu's shock, Nya began hugging HIM now! "H-hey! What!? G-get off!"
"And thank you, little Pikachu! You seem to understand me more than anyone else." Nya said softly to him, licking his cheek.
Storm huffed, blushing in embarrassment himself as Ash chuckled. "Oh shut up…" he growled, his cheeks sparking warningly.
"Well we better get back, I'm sure Lara and that Blue kid are waiting for us." Ponyta said as she stood up, the Cheri Berry curing her paralysis.
"Right, let's hurry and get back. I'll let Laura know the good news." Ash said. "But… I've never really rode on a Pokemon before, so… we may need to practice before the race first."
The fire horse nodded, easily seeing his point. "Agreed- even if just to get us to know each other's abilities, it'd be better to know now rather than later."
When Ash, Ponyta, Storm and Nya met up with Blue and Lara, Blue spoke up, putting all his weight on one leg and crossing his arms. "So how did it go?"
"Ponyta agreed to let me ride her for the race." Ash said with a smile. "But Laura, you're going to have to help me get the basics down since I've never rode a Pokemon before."
Laura nodded, but she smiled, "I'll do my best- and thank you Ash. I guess I owe ya'll for this one."
The Trainer shook his head, grinning. "Hey, it's no trouble- we can start training after we see the festival. C'mon, let's get going!"
DarkFoxKit: Oooh snap, Ponyta gave Ash a trial and is going to let him ride her!
Key2DestNE: Admit it, you all like that this trial was much cooler than the original reason that Ponyta gave Ash permission to ride!
DarkFoxKit: And it seems Ponyta really liked Blue… how odd… maybe she knows something Ash doesn't about our mystery boy?
Key2DestNE: Perhaps, perhaps~ Now onto reviews! Awsomeness, yeah, Team Rocket isn't popping up as often, but they are still there- just… more like anti heroes. I don't know if we missed the episode Pikachu Good Bye- I wasn't there then. Fox?
DarkFoxKit: No, we haven't gotten to that episode- not sure if we would since in the canon, Ash wanted Pikachu to be happy with the other Pikachus. But here, that wouldn't make much sense unless Pikachu himself tells Ash he wants to stay with the wild Pikachus, but then that would mean he wouldn't follow Ash anymore.
Key2DestNE: Well… there ya go! And I'm glad to hear that you enjoy chapters filled with background knowledge- I'm the same way, you need a good storyline to appreciate the real plot of the game. ...Oooh, I think someone has a fanboy, Fox~ *smirks at her*
DarkFoxKit: … Uh, well… *blushes* Thanks… And as for your other review, Awsomeness, that question is not going to be revealed for quite some time, and we wouldn't want to spoil it, so we're not going to answer it here.
Key2DestNE: Elizabeth0058, that's… actually a good point. *blink, blink* I didn't even think of that, and I doubt Fox did either. Still, we certainly didn't mean to make so many parallels with Percy Jackson… so yeah, sorry about that! ^_^'
DarkFoxKit: I don't even know a Percy Jackson, so anything related to that is purely coincidence. thor94, well Mew has her reasons to keep Ash as a full human- a lot of things Mew does is beyond normal reasoning. But it's good to know our fans want Ash to be a hybrid and not see him as a Gary Stu. And his team isn't that weak, it's just everyone else is OP at the moment.
Key2DestNE: Oracion de las Extreme- er, Estrellas, first off, that's a LOONG name… *sweatdrops* Plus, the reason I'm on Vi's side is because she's my favorite Legendary ever. YEAAAAH! *cheers, fist pumping* And… no, I don't think we have a child for Xerneas yet.
DarkFoxKit: Seems we're already getting submissions for OC Children of Legendaries. *chuckles.* Mark, hey- we actually did a quick recap in the beginning of Shadows of Kanto, and I don't think the rest of the fans would want to see a sudden recap of everything in the middle of the story.
Key2DestNE: Annie Matsukaze… aww, you're with Mew? IS NOBODY WITH VI APART FROM ME!? ...You know, aside from Guest. Well, first off, no- Ash won't be traveling with Jirachi's child, for… certain reasons. Like we said before, we're not revealing when Ash will be a hybrid, if he ever will be! Fox, you got the last two questions.
DarkFoxKit: No, Mew would hardly take ONE child, let alone more. There's a reason why she's known as the rarest of all Pokemon. And as for the Kalos and Unova Legendaries… um… hello? Victini? Isn't that a Unova Legendary?
Key2DestNE: In other words, yes, yes there are. :3 Zenog… that's… actually a really cool idea. *slowly swivels to stare at Fox* …...You know what we must do, riiiight~?
DarkFoxKit: … MARRIAGE!? Uh… well… in the manga they got married, I know that, but I don't know if we should incorporate that here… But, I do like the idea, and I have plans for that episode.
Key2DestNE: *stares at Fox more* … O_O You. Must. Make. Them. MARRY! I AM A JESSIE/JAMES SHIPPER, AND YOU SHALL OBEY THE SHIIIIIP! *tackles her*
DarkFoxKit: Ow! Get off me! Crazy shippers... *grumbles* And depressing backstory gives more flavor to the story itself.
Key2DestNE: No kidding! Aegis Dragon, hmm… well, I suppose you MIGHT be able to do a single chapter with us- or at least join in with the Author's Notes! What do you think, Fox?
DarkFoxKit: *looks back at the past collabs I did* …. Uhhhhh…. hehehe… uhhh. We'll get back to you on that. ^^'
Key2DestNE: ….Foooooox? …. *sigh* I guess that's most likely a no- I'll keep ya posted, though! Guest, no, you're not allowed to submit OC's for the unstable Child of Jirachi. We already have someone in mind for that~
DarkFoxKit: *falls to the floor in exhaustion* Ugh… FINALLY… we got through… the questions… from the last chapter.
Key2DestNE: Oh cheer up, it wasn't that bad! *pokes the fox's exhausted body*
DarkFoxKit: I don't understand how YOU could be so full of energy! … Anyways, this AN's gone on long enough… it's time to wrap it up.
Key2DestNE: Right! *glomps Fox* THUS YOU MUST MAKE JESSIE/JAMES CANON IN THIS STORY! YOU HEAR ME!? CANOOOOOON!
DarkFoxKit: SHUT UP AND GET OFF ME! Uuuugh! I am DarkFoxKit, this crazy shipper is Key2DestNE! And we look forward to hearing from you! … Until then… I'm taking a nap. X_X
Key2DestNE: *shakes her some more* NOT UNTIL YOU SHIP JESSIE AND JAMES, FOX! WAKE UUUUP! ...Aww… *pouts* Well… bye, guys! Seeya next time!