POKEMON

Chapter Fifteen:

Meeting Ditto and Articuno

On the way from Fuschia City to the port, Danny saw a fancy-looking mansion up ahead decorated with a bunting of pennant flags and a sign reading "House of Imite."

Danny read the sign. "The House of Imite… Oh yeah, I remember Copycat mentioning this place! It's where her cousin Duplica lives. Maybe I'll pay her a visit. Does that sound good to you, Pikachu?"

Pikachu nodded and agreed, "Pika-pi."

They entered. It resembled a theater, but the seats were all off to one side. But then Danny's Pikachu suddenly stood erect and began running to a corner. Danny followed. He was surprised to see his Pikachu come face to face with another Pikachu!

"Another Pikachu?!" Danny asked in astonishment as both Pikachus did a little mirror routine for a while.

Then he heard a creaking sound and saw a figure wearing the same clothes and cap as him! But the person had green-ish hair instead of blond.

"That person looks like me," Danny said to himself. "Except that person appears to be a girl." Then he asked out loud the figure, "Who are you?"

"Tell me who you are," the girl demanded as she approached Danny, doing a decent imitation of Danny's voice.

"I'm Danny from Pallet Town," Danny introduced himself.

"I'm Duplica," the girl said in her Danny impression, before showing her big brown eyes and continuing in her normal voice, "from the House of Imite!"

Danny blushed a little. Duplica seemed kind of cute to him. "Well, hello Duplica," he said. "Your cousin Copycat told me about you, and so I thought I'd drop by to visit."

"Good idea, Danny-boy," Duplica answered teasingly.

"And I see you also have a Pikachu?" Danny asked.

Duplica winked and said, "Not quite!"

As if that were some kind of cue, the other Pikachu glowed white and changed shape into some kind of blob. When the light faded, Danny could see it was a Ditto!

"Ditto," the pink blobby Pokémon said.

"Cool!" Danny exclaimed. "I've heard of Dittos. They can transform into other Pokémon and even mimic all the attacks!"

"That's right," Duplica said with a grin.

"Do you know where I could catch one?" Danny asked excitedly.

"There used to be a bunch of them around Routes 13 to 15," Duplica explained. "That's where I caught mine. But they've since moved on and are now nesting at the abandoned Pokémon Mansion on Cinnabar Island. I was planning to check it out the next time I'm there for a public appearance."

"Hey, thanks!" Danny answered.

"Now, if you will let out one of your Pokémon," Duplica instructed, "I will show you our abilities."

Danny thought for a bit. Then he said, "Come on out, Charizard!" as he sent out his Pokéball.

The Charizard let out a ready-to-battle roar upon emerging from his Pokéball, but when he saw the small pink Ditto, he got confused.

"All right, Ditto," Duplica commanded her Pokémon, "start transforming! I'll be right back!" She dashed off into an adjacent room with a star on its door.

Ditto began to glow white again and started to change shape, growing as it did. Soon, within seconds, the Ditto had become a perfect copy of Charizard. It even imitated the roar down pat!

"Wow," Danny said as his eyes widened. His actual Charizard also looked equally astonished.

That was when Duplica emerged from the dressing room, now wearing her own Charizard costume, complete with wings and a plush flame on the tail. "So, whaddaya think?" she asked Danny as she mimicked the same expression as her Charizard-impersonating Ditto did.

Danny applauded slowly. "Very good," he said.

"And now, Ditto," Duplica ordered, "Fire Spin!"

The phony Charizard let out another roar and pulled a successful Fire Spin attack on the real Charizard! He gasped upon seeing the rings of flames around him and strained to get out.

Now Danny was worried. "Hey! You're hurting my Charizard!"

"Don't worry," Duplica assured him. "OK, Ditto, use your wing powers."

Ditto-as-Charizard nodded, turned around and began flapping its wings as if it were a real Charizard, blowing out the Fire Spin. Both Danny and his actual Charizard sighed with relief.

"How'd you know my Charizard knows Fire Spin?" Danny asked. "Do you happen to know all the attacks a Pokémon can learn?"

"You got that right, Danny Boy," Duplica replied with a wink. "I studied a lot, especially from that Official Pokémon Handbook, if you know what I'm talking about."

"Of course I do!" Danny said. "I have a copy myself." He pulled it out to show her.

Duplica beamed. "That's pretty good," she commented. "I can tell you're a pretty good trainer yourself."

"As are you," Danny said. "You trying to become a great trainer yourself?"

"Not exactly," Duplica explained. "I'm just working up to be the world's greatest Ditto master! You see, we love entertaining other trainers who come here to rest, and we sometimes tour the region for public performances." As she spoke, she removed her Charizard-horned hat and shook out her pigtailed hair, and her Ditto transformed back to normal.

"That's pretty cool," Danny commented.

Then Duplica added, "Also, it was recently discovered that Ditto can breed with any Pokémon and they'd have an egg that would hatch into the Pokémon Ditto bred with. I often have trainers ask me about that."

"Oh yeah," Danny replied. "I have heard about Pokémon breeding and eggs."

"I haven't done it myself," Duplica admitted. "But I heard there's an island somewhere with a daycare center where Pokémon can breed."

Danny smiled. "That sounds neat! Maybe I'll learn about it more on my journey. I'm on my way to the Seafoam Islands and then Cinnabar Island."

"If you're looking to catch a Ditto yourself," Duplica reminded him, "don't forget to check out the old Pokémon Mansion!"

"I will!" Danny promised. "And once I do get a Ditto, I'll swing by here again to show you."

Duplica's Ditto leaped into Danny's arms and extended some kind of pseudopod, nodding it up and down. Danny knew what that meant, and he shook Ditto's pseudopod like a hand. They both giggled.

As the Ditto made its way back to Duplica, Danny and Duplica exchanged contact information and shook hands.

…

After leaving the House of Imite, Danny and Pikachu headed to the coastline where the Surfer Dude lived. Because the waves looked pretty good, Danny had his Pikachu surf for a while as some practice before being ready to set sail for the Seafoam Islands. As Pikachu rode his surfboard, Danny sat on the back of Blastoise.

They arrived at the Seafoam Islands. Danny saw several other beachgoers there, but no sign of his brother. And the only way to continue on was explore the caverns. When Danny and his Pikachu and Blastoise stepped inside, they immediately shivered as a blast of cold air greeted them. Danny pulled on his sweatshirt as they began trekking the cavern.

"I heard this is where Articunos can be found nesting," Danny told his Pokémon partners. "So at least there's an upside of going through here. Also, I've heard the water currents in here are pretty fast, but can be slowed down by heavy objects…" He spotted a boulder next to a hole in the ground and got an idea. "Come on out, Snorlax!" he said as he sent out his sleepy Pokémon. "Snorlax, use Strength to move that boulder!"

So Snorlax pushed the boulder all the way until it went down the hole. Then Danny had the Snorlax jump after the hole, his amazing strength and weight not hurting him upon landing on the ground. Then Danny recalled his Blastoise back to its Pokéball and pulled out a climbing rope so he and Pikachu could get down to the next level. They repeated the process to get the boulder and themselves down another level. There, Danny managed to catch a wild Seel for his collection. Finally after getting the boulder down yet another hole, they saw water underneath. So Danny recalled Snorlax back to his Pokédex, got Blastoise out, and they all jumped through the hole together!

Splashing into the water, Blastoise was able to carry Danny on his back, while Pikachu rode his surfboard. But the ocean current was too fast for them to surf wherever they wanted! So they ended up carried to an even lower part of the caverns where the current wasn't as strong. After making their way all the way back to near where they started, Danny caught a wild Slowpoke and then had his Snorlax move another boulder all the way down to fix the current below them.

This time, they could surf around the third lower level of the caverns more comfortably. But there was another dangerous current on that level they needed to fix so they could explore some more. One area on the third lower level had boulders arranged haphazardly, so it took a bit of doing before they achieved their goal.

Sure enough, Danny and Blastoise and Pikachu were surfing on the lowest level. On a small northwest island, Danny was amazed when he saw a huge blue Articuno resting there!

"OK, guys," Danny announced, "let's bag ourselves an Articuno!"

The legendary bird Pokémon heard that and began to attack.

"Pikachu, use your Thunder move!" Danny ordered.

With a big "Pikaaaa-CHUUUUUUUUUUUU!" Pikachu sent a powerful bolt of lightning at the Articuno, paralyzing it in the process! But while weakened, it could still battle, and fired an ice beam at Pikachu.

While weaker, Pikachu was still capable of battling. Danny then had Pikachu use its Surf move, weakning Articuno some more but not enough to knock it out.

But with another blast of Ice Beam, Pikachu was knocked out! "CHAAAAAAAAAAA!" he shrieked as he fainted.

"Oh no!" Danny gasped. "But I think it's weak enough! Go, Ultra Ball!" He tossed the first of many Ultra Balls he bought at the giant blue avian Pokémon, but Articuno was able to dodge it as the ball smashed onto the rocky ground. After throwing a second Ultra Ball, Articuno was caught.

"Yes!" Danny jumped for joy as he high-fived Blastoise.

Then he got out his Pokédex and aimed it at the Ultra Ball, transporting it to Professor Oak's lab. As a picture of an Articuno appeared on the screen, the Pokédex stated in its robotic voice, "Articuno. One of the legendary bird Pokémon. It freezes water that is contained in winter air and makes it snow."

Then Danny used a Revive on Pikachu to make him well again. "We did it, Pikachu! We caught Articuno!" Danny told his little rodent pal.

"Pi, Pikachu!" the electric mouse Pokémon cheered as he winked and pumped a fist.

Now that Danny had his own Articuno, he and hs Pokémon could find their way out to the other side of the Seafoam Caverns. Along the way, Danny caught a Staryu, a Tentacool and a Krabby. But they managed to make it to the other side. And who did they find having fun at the beach?

"Billy! There you are!" Danny said as he pulled off his sweatshirt.

"Danny!" Billy said back. "You made it!" He was in his bathing suit and relaxing with his own Blastoise, Pikachu, Golem and Snorlax.

"Yep," Danny replied. "I caught an Articuno in the Seafoam Islands!"

"So did I!" Billy said. "We got lucky. Now let's enjoy the beach for a while!"

…

So, they did. After some fun, they packed their stuff back up and rode on their Blastoises through the sea, with Danny's Pikachu tagging along on surfboard.

After some surfing, Billy saw something. "I think I see a volcano!"

"That must be Cinnabar Island!" Danny pointed out. "We've made it!"

And with that, each of their Blastoise surfed full speed ahead, with Danny's Pikachu enjoying the waves. The brothers and their Pokémon were ready for the next leg of their journeys to become Pokémon masters.