Episode 56: Pokémon Paparazzi
Several days have passed since Team Rocket have gotten arrested. In the meantime, Sora and Kairi continued with their training. Unknown to them, a camera is aimed right at Pikachu and he snapped some pictures.
"Okay, guys! Go!" Sora ordered. Pikachu, Pidgeot, Venusaur, Charizard, Blastoise, Kabuto, Growlithe, Ekans, Koffing, Voltorb, Electabuzz, and Magmar launched their attacks. "Great work!" Ekans, Koffing, Voltorb started to evolve much to the surprise of Sora, Kairi, and the other Pokémon. They have each become an Arbok, Weezing, and Electrode. "Wow, you evolved."
"Pika, Pika!" Pikachu said.
"Eevee, vee!" Angel said.
"Cha-bok!" Arbok hissed.
"Weezing," Weezing said.
"Electrode," Electrode said.
A little later, Sora sent Pidgeot, Growlithe, Electabuzz, Magmar, and Kabuto over to Professor Oak's lab and exchanged them for Porygon, Dratini, Lickitung, Drowzee, and Exeggcute. Sora took out a Leaf Stone and he placed it next to Exeggcute, making Exeggcute evolve into an Exeggutor.
"Okay, Exeggutor! Use Egg Bomb!" Sora ordered. The newly evolved Exeggutor fired his attack in the air. The egg-shaped projectiles came down as the boy with brown curly hair wearing a red and purple striped shirt, blue shorts, black fingerless gloves and brown shoes. He rolls out of the way before it could land a hit on him.
"That was close," the boy said. "Now, back to work." He aims his camera at Pikachu again, taking some more pictures.
A little later, Sora decided to make some lunch for Kairi, so he made some nachos for the both of them.
"Wow, this is great, Sora," Kairi said, taking a bite of his nachos.
"Well, grilled cheese isn't my only specialty. I'm an ace when it comes down to nachos," Sora said. "I mean when life gives you cheese and tortilla chips, make nachos."
"Pika, Pika!" Pikachu said. The boy still watches them. The camera reflects off of the sun. Pikachu quickly notices. Pikachu began to fear it was a sniper, targeting them out of random. Pikachu then gave Angel a push on the group. He does the same with Kairi and Togepi.
"Pikachu, what's wrong with you?" Kairi asked. Pikachu gave Sora a push down, making Sora accidentally push the nachos down the river.
"No! My nachos! Adios amigos," Sora said with a stream of tears flowing down his cheeks. He then switched to a stern look on his face. "Pikachu, what's gotten into you?" Togepi then starts crying. Kairi tried to calm Togepi down.
"It's okay, Togepi. Don't cry," Kairi said. "Look at what Pikachu did, Sora. He made Togepi cry."
"And pushed our lunch down the river," Sora added.
"Pika, Pikachu, chu, chu, Pikachu, Pi, Pika, Pika, Pikachu!" Pikachu said, pointing towards the shrubs. Sora and Kairi turned to where Pikachu is pointing at.
"You're telling us someone is over there?" Sora asked.
"Pika!" Pikachu firmly said.
"Making up stories isn't going to get you out of the trouble you're in, Pika-" Sora was cut off when he saw a flash in the grass and he got a closer look. He slowly took out a Pokéball and then threw it. "Blastoise! Go!" Blastoise emerged from inside the Pokéball. "Hydro Pump in the grass!" Blastoise fired Hydro Pump, getting the boy wet. Sora saw who it was. "Cease fire, Blastoise! Cease fire!" Blastoise stops.
"Are you okay?" Kairi asked.
"My camera's okay. It's waterproof," the boy said.
"Not the camera! You!" Kairi corrected him.
"Eevee," Angel said.
"But this camera is my life!" The boy said holding his camera.
"Why were you spying on us just now?" Sora asked.
"I wasn't SPYING on you. My name is Todd Snap; and I love to take pictures! And you didn't have to sic your Blastoise on me like that!" Todd said.
"Okay, it's technically spying when you're just following us for no reason. Also, people can press charges on you for that kind of thing," Sora said.
"He's actually right. It'll make some kind of misunderstanding," Kairi added.
"Pikachu," Pikachu said.
"Eevee," Angel said.
"Look, I'm sorry for scaring all of you like that. But I was trying take a picture of that Pikachu," Todd said.
"Wait a minute. You mean this whole misunderstanding was caused just because you were going to snap a picture of my Pikachu?" Sora asked, raising a brow. "You couldn't ask us for persmission first?"
"Asking for permission defeats the purpose because I didn't want it to know I was there," Todd reasoned. "I never liked them to looked posed. For you see..." Todd paused before he took his pose. "I am the number one Pokémon Photo Master!"
"Pokémon Photo Master?" Sora and Kairi questioned.
"That's right!" Todd said.
"Well, my name is Sora. Sora Ketchum. And this is my girlfriend Kairi," Sora said.
"Hello," Kairi greeted.
"How about we come to my house. I can offer you some tea," Todd offered.
"Okay," the couple said.
With that said, Sora, Kairi, Pikachu, Angel, and Togepi went to his house. Todd offered his guests some tea.
"You may not know my name, but I'm sure you heard of the photographer who has taken the only known photo of the prehistoric Pokémon Aerodactyl," Todd said proudly as he saw his guests confused. "You mean you never heard of me?"
"No," Sora and Kairi both said at once.
Todd did an anime-style fall on the fall being not able to believe what he just heard.
"You mean you never really heard of me?!" Todd exclaimed.
"Sorry," Kairi said.
"But you just said you took a picture of an actual Aerodactyl, right?" Sora asked.
"That's right. I'll show you!" Todd ruses over and grabs a magazine and opens it up to show them. "And here it is! Exhibit A!" The photo shows an Aerodactyl flying in the air, but with something in its claws.
"Wow, you really are famous, Todd," Sora said.
"I'll say," Kairi agreed.
"Eevee," Angel said.
Sora then started to think there was something familiar in the picture he was looking at. He then got a closer look and his eyes went wide.
"Hey, wait a minute! That's me!" Sora said. Todd looked at him confused.
"What are you talking about? That's Aerodactyl, the prehistoric Pokémon," Todd said.
"Yeah, but look at what it has! That's me it's carrying!" Sora said, pointing to himself on the photo.
"I remember that experience! That was the same Aerodactyl Sora caught in Grampa Canyon!" Kairi said.
Todd was pretty skeptical about this claim so he zoomed in on the photo and he sees Sora being carried, confirming the claim.
"Wow! That puny thing really is you!" Todd said, looking at the image.
"Oh, gee. Thanks," Sora said, sarcastically.
"I find it ironic how two people can brought together just because of a single photograph. It's pretty funny when you think about it! I didn't even noticed it was even you! Nobody knows who you are and I take it and I get world famous!" Todd said.
"Oh, I'm rolling with laughter," Sora said with even more sarcasm. "Why don't we all just have a laugh about it and we can all have some tea while we're floating on the ceiling?"
"Look, I'm sorry about earlier. How about I make it up to you with some pancakes? Won't that make it better?" Todd asked.
"I guess," Sora said. "What's the catch?"
"No catch. I could just take a few pictures while your Pikachu eats the pancakes," Todd said.
"Um, okay," Sora said.
Sora, Kairi, Pikachu, Angel, and Togepi started to eat the pancakes provided to them by Todd, while he readies his camera. Todd aims his camera at Pikachu, but Pikachu looked at him, feeling nervous.
"Okay, Pikachu. Keep on eating," Todd said. "Just act natural. Pretend that I'm not even in the room." The flash of the camera goes off, making Pikachu shock him. Todd screams from the shocks.
"Telling Pikachu to pretend that you're not here wouldn't do it," Sora said. "So you can show us some other pictures you took as soon as we're done eating?"
"Okay. Sure," Todd said, dazed. As soon as they're done eating, they have a look in the room to see photos of Pokémon naturally in the wild. Sora whistled a bit.
There were some of Happiny, Chansey, and Blissey in one. There was one with a couple of Eevee in another. There was one of Snorlax sleeping peacefully. There is also one of Seel along with a pinniped Pokémon with a snowy white, furry body. Its fur renders it virtually invisible in snowy conditions. Its face has two black eyes, a black nose, and two tusks extending from its upper jaw. It has a streamlined body with two front flippers and a long flowing tail. This Pokémon is known as Dewgong. There are some of Goldeen and a primarily orange-and-white, fishlike Pokémon. It has round, dark eyes, prominent pink lips, two small fangs, and a cream-colored horn in the center of its forehead. Most of its body is orange with a patch of white under its mouth and along its underside. There are several black markings on its body: two thick lines under each eye, a large wavy patch on its back, and several speckles near its tail. It has billowing pectoral fins and a pair of tail fins shaped like butterfly wings, all of which are white speckled with black. However, its dorsal fin is pure white and rigid. This Pokémon is known as Seaking. There were some of Dugtrio, Kangaskhan, Ponyta, and Rapidash. There is also one of Horsea and two other Pokémon with it. It is a light blue, seahorse-like Pokémon with a cream-colored belly covered in rough scales. It has a long, tubular mouth, narrow, black eyes, a fin-like ridge above each eye, and spiny pectoral fins. It also has a large, coiled tail. It has a pair of dorsal fins with sharp, cream-colored tips. This Pokémon is known as Seadra. The other Pokémon is a large, seahorse-like Pokémon with a tightly curled tail. It is covered in blue scales except for its yellow, compact belly scales. There are thin spines with a single branch atop its head and thin, white fins under its cheeks. Its thin snout is powerful, allowing squirts of water jets with devastating power to be fired. Two-pronged fins extend slightly past its cheeks. On its back is a white fin supported by thin, blue spines similar to the ones on its head. This Pokémon is known as a Kingra.
"Quite a gallery," Sora said.
"It's all amazing," Kairi said.
"Eevee," Angel said.
"This is what I want the world to see. Pokémon in their own natural habits," Tood said.
"So, why my Pikachu?" Sora asked.
"I'm sorry, but I can't tell you," Todd said.
"Why not?" Sora asked.
"We have plenty of Pokémon for you to take pictures, if you want," Kairi said. "Maybe you can take one of Angel and Togepi."
"That's great and all, but I only want to take a picture of Pikachu," Todd said.
"Oh, come on. It just sounds like you don't have a reason to do so," Sora said.
"I do have a reason. I just can't say," Todd said.
After they had their lunch, they left Todd's house and continued on their way. Todd is still following them like a shadow holding his camera.
"Gotta admit that was good. But didn't he seemed rather obsessed with taking a picture of Pikachu?" Sora asked.
"He did. But it looked like he had a reason to do that," Kairi said.
"Yeah, but if he just told us his reason, I would have said yes," Sora said.
"That makes sense," Kairi said.
"Pikachu," Pikachu said.
"Eevee," Angel said.
Todd held his camera remembering his promise he made.
(Flashback, not too long ago)
It takes place in a nursing home with an elderly couple with a Meowth.
"Please, we need your help," the old woman said.
"Help us, please," the old man said.
"Of course. How can I help you two?" Todd asked.
"There's a Pikachu we desire so eagerly," the old woman said taking out some photos. "Here it is." She shown the young photographer some photos of Sora's Pikachu.
"These photos rot," Todd said. "These were taken by a complete amateur."
"Please. Grant this old lady one last wish before I pass away," the old woman pleaded as her husband and Meowth cried.
"This Pikachu is very important to her," the old man said.
"They must have had a Pikachu just like this one. I'll get a very good picture of Pikachu even if it kills me," Todd said in his thoughts.
"I'll take the job," Todd said.
"You will?!" The old woman asked.
"Sure. You can count on me!" Todd nodded.
"Oh, thank you so very much! We would appreciate that you don't tell anyone who has hired you for the job," the old man said.
"Don't worry. Your identity is as good as safe. I would never reveal the identities of my clients," Todd said.
(Back to the present)
"I have to keep my promise. I have to make her dream come true," Todd said in his thoughts.
Meanwhile over in International police hq, Looker and Officer Jenny conducts a secret meeting.
"You think there are corrupt cops working with Team Rocket?" Officer Jenny asked.
"That's what an informant told me," Looker said. "I honestly didn't want to believe it, but there's no way around it."
"We should bring this matter to the higher-ups about this," Officer Jenny said.
"We don't know how widespread it is. And we don't have any evidence that supports it," Looker said. "Until we do, we will have to put a tight lid on it."
Officer Jenny said nothing else. She didn't want to believe that corrupt police would be members of Team Rocket.
Meanwhile in Domino City, not too far away, several Team Rocket grunts step out of a truck. With them are two Team Rocket agents. One of them is a woman who has purple eyes and gold hair worn in pigtails. She also wears a pair of triangular pink earrings. Her Team Rocket uniform takes the form of a black short-sleeved minidress with the team's red R logo on the front, plus white gloves that reach the sleeves and have a red stripe near that area, and white thigh high boots with the same stripe near the tops and a small heel. The other is a man who has brown eyes, which are more of a maroon in his most recent appearances, and short green hair with M-shaped bangs.
Stepping out of a building is a large man with his hair spiked in front. He wore a black suit and a pair of sunglasses.
"Kemo," the man said with a raspy voice.
"Cassidy, Butch. Good of you to come," Kemo said.
"Is everything ready?" Cassidy asked.
"Everything's ready. We'll set up the meeting first thing tomorrow," Kemo said.
"Excellent," Cassidy said.
"Tell your superiors we're looking forward to it," Butch said. Kemo nodded and returned to the building as Cassidy, Butch, and the Team Rocket grunts returned to the truck.
One of the female grunts took out her smarrphone and typed something down.
The meeting's taking place tomorrow. Most likely, we will be meeting with secret members.
Meanwhile right over to the retirement home, it turns out to be Team Rocket in disguise. And they still wore their disguises.
"Alright, Meowth, where'd you find this Todd kid? Can he get Pikachu?" Jessie asked while eating.
"It says in the 'Pokémon Times' magazine that this kid's the best at capturing Pokémon," Meowth said.
"He did show us that huge photo album of all the Pokémon with all the Pokémon he has taken," James said.
"He said something about taking a shot with Pikachu or something like that," Meowth said.
"Who cares? As long as he captures Pikachu, we can take all the credit when we present it to the boss!" Jessie stated.
"And we finally get that big promotion we rightfully deserve!" James added.
Their forks were paced at the same piece of steak. They begin to fight over it.
"Give it here! It's mine!" Jessie argued.
"I need protein!" James argued. Jessie overpowered him and took the steak. "You're not acting like a nice old lady, are you?"
"Well, I'm not nice or old," Jessie said. She took off her disguise.
"Time to lose this guy's disguise," James said, taking his disguise off.
"Surprise, surprise!" Jessie and James both said at once.
"No, not really," Meowth said.
A little later, Sora and Pikachu are washing their faces. Water sparkles after Pikachu took a successful wash. Suddenly, Todd came rushing out of the shrubs.
"SMILE!" Todd exclaimed. Pikachu gets behind Sora. "What the?!"
"You're going have to be faster than that," Sora said.
A little later, they continued on, but Todd is upside-down, holding his camera.
"Hold it right there," Todd said. He snaps again, but hid behind Sora again.
"No prize for you," Sora said. Todd growled.
"I'm going to get the perfect picture of Pikachu even if it kills me!" Todd exclaimed.
Over to Team Rocket up ahead, they dig their pitfall trap.
"Remember when we dug a hole like this, like the last time?" James asked.
"It'll be great if it works this time and not like last time," Meowth said.
"How about you do more digging and less talking! The twerps will be making their way any min-!" Jessie said as a lump of mud hits her face.
James and Meowth kept on digging and his shovel hits something metal.
"Huh? I think I found something," James said.
"James, Meowth, cover it up!" Jessie called out.
"Roger!" James said.
Team Rocket quickly covers the hole with forest debris. Meowth turned around and saw Todd coming.
"Guys! That Todd kid is coming! Disguises on! Quickly!" Meowth exclaimed. Team Rocket quickly got their disguises on, each wore the wrong disguises. "You got mixed up with the disguises!" Jessie and James saw they wore the wrong disguises and switched disguises. Todd ran up to them.
"I still haven't gotten Pikachu yet, ma'am," Todd said.
"I'm sure you'll get it sooner or later," Jessie said.
"To add the insurance, we even dug this tra-" James said before Jessie covered his mouth and backed away slowly. Todd placed his foot forward at the trap.
"The dirt is soft," Todd said, observing the trap. "It's perfect!" He sets up his camera. He does a quick inspection of his camera and saw it was perfect. "Done! And perfect timing!" He sees Sora, Kairi, Pikachu, Angel, and Togepi coming his way. Pikachu looks around for any signs of Todd and his camera.
"Todd is sure determined to take a picture of Pikachu," Kairi said.
"Yeah. I think he's a great photographer, but he should at least think about the feelings of the Pokémon he's taking pictures of," Sora said. Todd paused for a moment.
"I don't think about the feelings of Pokémon?" Todd asked in his thoughts. He did realize he didn't consider Pikachu being afraid of cameras even once since he met them.
Just when the couple were close to the hole, Sora stopped in his tracks. Kairi did the same thing.
"What's the matter, Sora?" Kairi asked.
"Something's not right," Sora said. He summoned his Keyblade, much to Todd's surprise. Sora tapped the soft dirt, making the trap tear open. "Man, Team Rocket can be annoying to be repeating themselves by digging pit traps!"
"Annoying? How dare he say that!" Jessie growled in anger.
"Don't give away your position, Jessie. We stick with the plan," James said.
"Yeah, we watch and learn from the master," Meowth said. Todd came out of his hiding place.
"Sora," Todd said, slowly walking up to the couple. He has his eye on the Keyblade. "Where did you get that thing?"
"How long have you been there?" Sora asked.
"Uh," Todd could only said. Sora dismissed his Keyblade.
"Okay, I'll explain later. Right now, you need to get it right here and now! I don't care how bad you want it! You should ask people for permission to take their pictures! I think you'll find that people won't be so forgiving if you go and take pictures for no apparent reason!" Sora scolded.
Team Rocket blinked twice when Sora said take pictures.
"Did he say take pictures?" Jessie asked.
"I heard it right, too," James said. He and Jessie looked at the Scratch Cat Pokémon with sour looks on their faces.
"Meowth," Jessie and James both said.
"I did my research on this kid. He really does catch Pokémon," Meowth said, scrolling through the magazine. He gasped when he saw the whole sentence. "He catches Pokémon on film!" He chuckled nervously as Jessie and James were getting really peeved. "Well, did I bet on the wrong Ponyta. I don't know how I could have missed it." He chuckled nervously again. "My mistake."
"You're the mistake!" Jessie and James said in unison.
"I mean seriously! And now you digging this hole where me and Kairi almost fell in just so you can snap a picture is low even for you!" Sora said, still chewing out Todd.
"I didn't dig this hole, I swear. Also, I'm sorry, Sora. I wanted to say, I'm sorry. I never meant for you to be hurt, but I-" Todd said before he was cut off.
"You did a great job, Todd," Jessie said in her old lady disguise. Todd turned to the "elderly couple" as much as Sora and Kairi.
"Prepare for trouble!"
"Make it double!"
"To protect the world from devastation!"
"To unite all peoples within our nation!"
"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"
"To extend our reach to the stars above!"
"Jessie!"
"James!"
"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"
"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"
"Meowth! That's right!"
"Mime, Mime, Mime!"
"Not you morons again!" Sora said in an annoyed tone.
"Pika," Pikachu said.
"What? You tricked me!" Todd exclaimed.
"You tricked us first, you little shutterbug!" Jessie said. "We wanted you to actually capture Pikachu, not capture its picture!"
"Now, we're gonna catch ourselves a Pikachu!" Meowth said, taking out a rubber net. He sends at him, but quickly remembering his training, Pikachu quickly dodges the net. "Hey, that's not in the damn script!" He tried again, but Pikachu easily dodges again. "Hold still!" Meowth tried to catch Pikachu in the net, but Meowth was getting frustrated. "You ain't supposed to move around like a flea on a hot brick!"
"Meowth, capture Pikachu!" Jessie snapped.
"I'm trying! But Pikachu is making it so damn hard!" Meowth said. Taking advantage of the situation, Kairi turned to Angel and nodded. Angel nodded back.
"Angel! Swift on Meowth!" Kairi ordered. Angel fired Swift. She lands a hit onto Meowth. "Use Quick Attack!" Angel dashed at Team Rocket, landing a hit on them both. Jessie growled in anger again.
"Why you little fuzzball!" Jessie roared. Sora took out two of his Pokéballs and threw them.
"Venusaur! Charizard! Blastoise! Go!" Sora called out. His three Pokémon came right out to battle Team Rocket. "Venusaur! Use Razor Leaf! Charizard! Use Flamethrower! Blastoise! Use Hydro Pump!" Sora ordered. Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise launched their attacks, making Team Rocket yelp in pain. "Pikachu! Use Iron Tail!"
"You use Iron Tail too!" Kairi ordered. Pikachu and Angel swung their tails at Team Rocket, making them go flying. An explosion occured.
"We blew it again. No pun intended," James said.
"At least we went out with a bang," Meowth said.
They make a landing down a flowing river. They sigh when they make a splash (pun intended).
"Now things are looking up for us," Jessie said. But it turns out not to be true when they saw they were heading for a waterfall.
"A waterfall!" Team Rocket exclaimed in unison. They freeze as they reach the edge.
"Before we go over. A poem. We go flowing, down a stream. AND NOW WE SCREAM!" Jessie recited her poem and they go falling down the waterfall.
Over to Sora, Kairi, the Pokémon, and Todd, he looked at his feet with regret.
"Sora, Kairi, I want you to know, I would never have taken the job if I knew Team Rocket hired me to do their dirty work," Todd said.
"It's okay, Todd. It's not your fault," Kairi said.
"Yeah. Those three just had it coming. And it's a good thing we trained for something like this," Sora said.
"Pikachu," Pikachu said.
"Eevee," Angel said.
"Toge, Toge," Togepi chirped.
"Thanks for understanding," Todd said, feeling relieved that he was forgiven. He sets up his camera to take a picture. "Normally, I don't take a picture of humans, but with you two, I'll make an exception. I want to remember my new friends forever."
"How about we take a sec to get ready," Sora said, placing his arm around his girlfriend's shoulder. "Okay." Todd sets the timer and he got in position. The camera goes off. Also, Pikachu isn't afraid of the camera anymore since Todd apologized and Sora assuring him that it's okay.
The camera goes off, taking the picture. It's worth a thousand words, but a new friend is priceless.