Chapter 20
Like the flow of how most days went, the day started with Ash and Gary walking through the winding path in the woods on their way to Azalea Town. So far, it was a pretty uneventful day – though it had just started. The sun was warm, the bird Pokémon were chirping in the background, and they hadn't encountered any Pokémon as of yet.
That was broken when a mysterious noise echoed throughout the forest destroyed the comfortable silence that had appeared around them. "Garrrrrr!" The cry was high-pitched, and somehow seemed to come from all directions at once. It didn't stop them from their walk, but it was loud enough to make them perk their heads up and look around.
"Did you hear that?" Gary asked.
"It sounded like a Hoothoot or something," Ash answered nonchalantly, but Gary frowned with an unconvinced face.
"That didn't sound like any Hoothoot I've ever heard."
Suddenly, Chikorita perked up on Ash's shoulder and tensed up as its head looked up at the sky. "Chika!" it warned. No sooner did it cry out, Ash and Gary heard a rummaging of leaves above them, and something black flashed past Ash's vision from treetop to treetop.
"Gligir! Gli-gigigigigir!" it cried as it darted across the path from above. It moved so quick that it was almost impossible to tell that it had made an appearance before them, and if it hadn't knocked down some loose leaves from the tree branches it leapt into, Ash wouldn't have believed his eyes.
"Did you see that thing?" Ash questioned, stopping in place and looking at the branch to see if whatever it was would make a reappearance.
"Chikah!" his Pokémon responded, a reassurance that he wasn't crazy.
"I saw it, all right," Gary reported. "It was a Gligar." The two Pallet Town Trainers stood with a now-heavy silence, waiting to see if the supposed Gligar would make a reappearance, but it did not, so they continued forward. But wanting to see what Gary saw, Ash rummaged through his pocket and looked up the Pokémon on his Pokédex.
"Gligar, the FlyScorpio Pokémon," the mechanical voice stated electronically. On its screen, an image of a pink-purple bat-like Pokémon, but unlike the common Zubat, this creature had eyes, pincer-like claws, and a long tail that ended in a point. "Gligar uses the cape-like wings on its back to fly from tree to tree quickly and quietly."
"But what the Pokédex didn't mention was that Gligar are pretty temperamental," he added, moving away from looking over Ash's shoulder. "I heard they're not very fond of humans. We should be careful if there are more around here."
"Gligar might not like humans, but I bet it'll like me!" Ash replied, flicking the Pokédex shut with a flick of his wrist. "Hey, Gligar! Where are 'ya?!"
Gary's eyebrows clashed together over his eyes, and he opened his mouth to yell at the younger boy, but suddenly, the ground gave out beneath them and their stomachs leapt into their throats. One second, they were above ground, and in a blink of an eye, Ash and Gary were tangled up around each other in a pit of loose dirt. Ash's stomach throbbed where he had landed, and the two plus Chikorita sat in silence, letting what had just occurred sink into their brains. "How'd this get here?"
"It seems I've found a couple of strays," a female voice echoed from above where the hole originated. They looked up to see a young woman dressed in all black leather peering in with a lipstick-covered smirk. She wore yellow goggles over her eyes, making her eyes look bigger than they actually were. "They say it's easier to catch Bug Pokémon with honey, but I prefer to lie in wait. It's much more satisfying..."
"Ewie!" A second head peered down at them, and they saw an Eevee with fur like dark silver moonlight.
"Who are you?!" Ash demanded as he and Gary hurriedly tried to untangle their limbs.
"Just a lowly street-cat looking for scraps through the garbage," the woman answered. Reaching behind her back, she pulled out a whip and flicked her arm. The end of the leather wrapped around Gary's bag that was lying on the ground beside him and with an experienced pull-back of the woman's arm, the bag was pulled out of the hole like a fish on a line.
"That's my bag!" Gary shouted angrily.
"Finders keepers, darling. Now, let's see if there are any diamonds in the rough." She rummaged through the bag for a bit, pulling out and tossing aside his guidebook and Pokédex, but then she froze, and she pulled her goggles up onto the leather cap on her head. "Well, look at this tasty morsel." And with gloves that had points at the end of them, she held up the GS Ball with her eyes wide as saucers. "I've never seen a Poké Ball like this before. This was worth all of the hard work we did, Isis. It was so difficult to manipulate those boys to dig this hole for us, but this turned out simply purr-fect."
"That's what you think! Chikorita, Vine Whip attack, now!" Ash commanded with a point forward. Chikorita cried out and extended a pair of vines from the buds around its neck that shot up at the woman to grab the GS Ball out of her hands.
"Isis, Reflect attack," she snapped. The silver Eevee jumped into the air and an orange barrier appeared around its body. The vines struck the barrier, and it popped, successfully repelling the attack while the Eevee landed gracefully on the ground with its brown eyes glinting with annoyance.
"That Eevee's no joke..." Gary murmured, and Ash turned his head to his rival.
"What do you mean?"
"Reflect is supposed to cut the damage of attacks in half, but that Eevee doesn't look the least bit damaged. I'm starting to think this woman's not just a common thief."
"Bad kitties! You two will need to be punished," she said with irritation in her voice, brushing a lock of dark hair that escaped from her cap away from her forehead.
"Gliiii!" The cry that had echoed through the forest just moments before now sounded back to them like an audio playback. This time, they knew they weren't hearing things, as the woman's head shot skyward, and as it did, a flash of movement – blocked out by the sun – shot across the hole. In the blink of an eye, the GS Ball was gone.
"Hey, what was that?" Ash asked rhetorically. A loud laugh boomed through the canopy as a Gligar landed on a branch with the GS Ball in its pincers, and then, as it did, a man dressed in a costume that looked similar to a Gligar appeared from around the tree trunk.
"Release them at once, Purr-loin!" he demanded, his fists resting valiantly on the hips of his blue spandex.
"Gligarman, I should have known you'd be prowling," the thief hissed.
"Gligarman?" Ash and Gary spouted at the same time.
"I am the protector of the unprotected; the defender of the undefended; the champion of the righteous, and the sworn enemy of all evil-doers everywhere! With Gligar at my side, I fight every foe of goodness. And I am known far and wide as... Gligarman!" After his speech, the man lifted his arms in the air, as well as posed on one knee, and the Gligar at his side also took the same pose.
"Gligar!"
"This guy's whack-o..." Ash murmured quietly.
"I have a feeling it's going to be a weird day all together..." his traveling companion added.
"Gligarman, I should be flattered you followed me all the way out here, but you're turning into quite a little knot in my fur," Purr-loin sneered.
"You should know by now that anywhere there is danger, I will be there," Gligarman spouted back.
"Well, he did get back the GS Ball," Gary mused, and the man smiled and peered down the hole.
"I'm glad to see that I still have fans," he replied. "What is your name, young man?"
"Uh, Gary Oak, sir."
"Well, Mr. Oak, this happens to be your lucky day," Gligarman said, and then looked down at the Pokémon by his feet. "Okay Gligar, go and dispense with that troublemaker!"
"Gligar!" the FlyScorpio Pokémon sneered, and after handing its owner the GS Ball, it leapt from the tree branch they were standing on and soared down at Purr-loin. Before she could react, Gligar hugged the woman's face, and she let out a muffled cry of surprise. She began to flail around in an attempt to get it off, but Gligar held on tight.
"Isis, help me! Get this thing off of me! Hit it with your Swift attack!" she managed to choke out. The silver Eevee jumped back to make some distance between the two, and while it did, it whipped its body around. A stream of yellow stars came shooting out of its tail from the swing, and Gligar – who had been watching over its shoulder at the other Pokémon – pushed off the thief called Purr-loin just as the stars struck her in the face. She fell onto her back with her leg in the air, and her Eevee trotted over to her with a worried look on its face.
"Gli-gar-gar!" Gligar screeched, and they both looked over to see Gligar soaring toward them once again. The woman grimaced with scratches on her face, and like an acrobat, she flipped backwards and stood back on her feet.
"We're retreating for now," she growled, before turning on her heel and running into the woods alongside her Eevee. Seeing that they were running away, Gligar pulled up and hovered in the air, its beady eyes watching carefully as they grew smaller and smaller from distance before turning around and shooting back up beside its own Trainer.
"Well Gligar, virtue is safe for another day, but we have proven once again that when Gligarman's here, criminals fear!" he chanted. "Strike the pose!" At the same time, both of them struck the pose they had done earlier, with their arms in the air and one leg up.
With the threat of the woman in leather gone, Ash and Gary hoisted themselves up and out of the pitfall trap, and Gary collected his discarded things as well as his backpack. "Hey, thanks a lot for saving that Poké Ball; it's very valuable to us," Gary said to the superhero.
"There's no need for you to thank me, young Gary," the purple-clad man stated. "Rescuing is Gligarman's business. Gligar... jump!" The man sprung from the tree branch, and Ash's lips curled into a smile of admiration as he did this. It was almost like those superhero movies he used to watch as a kid, but in real life. However, unlike those movies, Gligarman soon realized the height that he had jumped at, and began to flail as he descended. Even his Gligar had to cover its eyes as the man crashed onto the ground in a heap.
"Uh, he needs a little work on the jumping..." Gary murmured, but Gligarman quickly picked himself up and handed him the gold and silver Poké Ball in his gloves.
"For you."
"Thanks..." the auburn-haired Trainer muttered as he took the ball. Striking the Gligarman pose once again, he ran into the nearby bushes and disappeared in the foliage. Suddenly, a loud roar of an engine filled their ears, and a motorbike came jumping out from where Gligarman had disappeared to, and skidded onto the path with the purple-clad superhero on it.
"My young friends: should the forces of evil plague you ever again, all you have to do is use this, and I shall be at your side in a heartbeat!" From a storage compartment of the bike, he took out a small silver whistle from it and tossed it to the pair. Now that his hands were free after putting the GS Ball safely back in his bag, Gary caught the whistle and looked at it before looking back at the other man. "And now, if you'll excuse us, Gligar and I must help those in trouble elsewhere. Let's go, Gligar!" And as he revved the motorbike, Gligar dove from the tree and latched itself onto the man's shoulder before the two took off in a cloud of upturned dirt toward the city in the distance.
The two Trainers only stared in complete and utter awe as they watched him disappear, and now that everything had settled down, Gary looked down at the silver object. "It's a whistle," he reported, and now saw that it featured the pink-purple insignia of a Gligar's head and wings on it over a small Poké Ball.
"Chikah?" Chikorita asked rhetorically as the two humans studied the whistle.
"Hey! Hey there!" a female voice shouted. The two instantly tensed up, but realized quickly that the voice wasn't the same as the thief who had captured them before. Instead, this was coming from the path that Gligarman had just gone down, and they looked up to see a young girl pedaling a bike as hard as she could. Turning and skidding the cycle's tires to a stop in front of them, she caught her breath before looking up at them. "You didn't happen to see Gligarman around by any chance, did you?"
"Yeah, you just missed him..." Gary responded.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," the girl apologized, fixing the orange scarf around her neck. "I hope he didn't cause too much trouble!"
"No, he actually helped us from having our stuff stolen."
"Thank goodness..." the girl sighed with relief.
"You seem pretty interested in this Gligarman guy; do you know him?" Ash asked her, and her face contorted into one that was mostly unreadable.
"Well, sort of..."
"Is he really a superhero like he says he is?"
"I'm not sure there's a clear-cut answer to that question," she replied. "The only thing I can say for sure is that he sometimes believes he's a real superhero."
"Do you know Gligarman's true identity?" Ash asked excitedly.
"I'm sorry; I've probably said too much already," the young girl stated. "I really gotta go."
"Wait!" Ash cried, putting out a hand to stop her, but she had already put all her force into pedaling, and shot like a rocket down the road she had shown up from just mere moments ago. "Seems like she's hiding something..."
"I'm just astounded that I didn't dream what just happened," Gary murmured with a face frozen in disbelief.
"I don't know if that guy's a superhero or not, but he must be a super Pokémon Trainer, cause Gligar seems like a tough one to control."
o 0 o
The city that both Gligarman and the girl with the reddish-brown hair were seen going into was a place called MarvelWood. While it was a city, it didn't have a Pokémon Center for them to rest at, so initially the only plan was to stock up on their supplies, sit down for a bite to eat, and continue on their way to Azalea Town.
However, life had other plans.
Upon arriving at the center of town, they noticed a large toy-shop that featured quite a number of familiar decorations around it: the superhero that had saved the GS Ball from being robbed. Also adorning the windows and doorways were Gligar of many shapes and sizes. What drew their eyes was the giant two-story statue of Gligarman – though this version was much more muscular and younger – in front of the shop.
As they approached the shop out of curiosity, they could hear two apron-wearing employees handing out flyers to those passing by. "We got 'em all, right here!"
"All the latest Gligarman toys!"
"Buy 'em! Trade 'em! Collect 'em!"
"Ash, look," Gary said, pointing up to the tower that rose from the roof and reached for the sky. When Ash turned his attention toward it, Gary raised the whistle that he had received from Gligarman earlier that day to compare the symbols. On the front of the tower was the same symbol that was embedded on the silver whistle.
The pair exchanged confused glances, and then Ash approached one of the toy store employees wearing an apron. "Is Gligarman really such a big deal here?" the black-haired boy asked.
"The biggest!" he responded, smiling down at him. And Ash saw that he was wearing a cap that also featured the same logo on the front. One of the women nearby overheard the conversation and approached.
"If you're looking for anything Gligarman, you came to the right place!"
The pair never got a chance to reply before a third man got behind them and began to push them into the doors of the store. "C'mon, don't be shy! Step right in and beat the crowds! Start shopping!"
Once they were pushed inside, their eyes were immediately pulled in by Gligar everywhere. Action figures, stuffed toys, planes, trucks, cars, and motorcycles with Gligarman's insignia on them. They didn't even notice the doors shut behind them while they took in all their surroundings. "May I help you find something?" a familiar voice asked from the other side of the store, and they looked at the other side where the cash register and counter was, and recognized the same girl who had biked toward them after they had been saved by Gligarman. Her brown eyes fixed upon them briefly before they sparked with recognition, and a small smile curled the corners of her mouth. "Oh, nice to see you again!"
"I didn't think we'd run into you again," Gary stated as they approached the counter. Her name tag read 'Latoya'.
"Latoya, there's still a lot of things I want to know about Gligarman," Ash said.
"I'll tell you everything about Gligarman." The three all turned to their left as a man stepped out from an office. "Or almost everything." He wore a big, proud smile on his face, and half of his face was covered in shadows from the cowboy hat that blocked out the florescent lights above. Even still, the shadows didn't hinder his friendly disposition at all.
"Dad!" Latoya greeted as he walked out.
"I'm the proud owner of this toy store," he introduced. "And you're in luck, cause it just so happens that I know all there is to know about our hometown superhero Gligarman."
"Who is Gligarman?!" Ash exclaimed excitedly, jumping at the chance to learn more about the purple-clad superhero.
"Rather than tell 'ya, I'll show you." The toy store owner picked a remote control off the glass counter that had Gligar and Gligarman trading cards on display and pressed a button on the top. A TV screen descended from the ceiling panels with a low motorized hum. "This ought to give 'ya a pretty good introduction to the world of Gligarman."
The television screen lit up, and after a brief countdown, the title card of 'THE HERO' appeared on the screen. The title card then shattered away, and a much more muscular version of Gligarman – much like the statue that was seen outside – was flying through a skyscraper-lined city with his trusty Gligar at his side. "Look! Up in the sky! Is it a Pidgeotto? A Charizard? A Dragonite?" The narrator spoke in a low voice as Gligarman shot upward alongside the length of a tall building. "No! It's the crime-fighting Pokémon superhero: Gligarman!" The pair landed on top of a silver globe and struck the famous Gligarman pose that Ash and Gary had seen earlier that day.
"Chikah?" Chikorita questioned quietly in Ash's ear with a cocked head, but its Trainer looked at the screen with his mouth slightly agape.
The screen faded to black, and soon, a giant arachnid creature appeared on the screen. With a loud screech, it reared back and looked at the camera with its many red eyes. "Gligarman and Gligar, use your Gligar-Kick!" The screen flashed over to the actor portraying Gligarman and Gligar, and both of them gasped before jumping high into the air.
"Gligar...!" Gligarman shouted before both him and the Pokémon moved in perfect sync with their legs extended. They both landed a blow right on the bug's chest, and it fell backwards with a loud cry and fell down a steep cliff. When it landed off-screen, a huge explosion shook the camera, and smoke filled the screen.
"Once again, justice triumphs thanks to... Gligarman!" The camera panned upward to the same rooftop as before, and Gligarman leapt to the top of the globe, and both he and Gligar once again struck their famous pose. The scene then faded to black, and a large white 'END' concluded the short film.
While Ash and Gary stared in silence, the toy-store owner walked in front of the blank TV screen. "I guess it's pretty easy to see why Gligarman is so popular here."
"Uh, how come the Gligarman we saw in the woods didn't look like the one we saw in the movie?" Ash asked with his arms crossed, and immediately, the man cleared his throat, as if embarrassed.
"Uh, the movie was made several years ago."
"How many? Twenty?"
"Chika..."
The owner didn't answer, but instead began to pile things from around the store into Ash's arms. "Here! Have a Gligarman cookie! And a Gligarman cape! And a Gligarman mask!" With the Pokémon Trainer's arms full of stuff, the man jumped away. "There! Just like the real Gligarman!"
The two Trainers sat in silence, looking at the merchandise and then back at the man who looked back nervously. Upon observing this, Gary raised an eyebrow and looked at him with narrowed eyes. "You know, you look awful familiar. I have a funny feeling that you're the real Gligarman."
The man flinched back and his lips peeled back from his teeth, but then he quickly turned away so as to not show either of them the red glow that was slowly blossoming on his cheeks and stuck his nose in the air. "That's utterly ridiculous, Gary. How in the world would you ever get the idea that I'm Gligarman?"
"How about we start with the fact that Gligarman is the only person who knows my name here?" Gary sneered. Knowing he had been outsmarted, the man stumbled backwards, and his eyes widened.
Suddenly, Ash reached up and snatched the cowboy hat from the man's head before replacing it with the Gligarman mask that the toy store owner had given him. It was a complete match. "It really is you!" Ash said excitedly. "Hey Gligarman, do you have superpowers? And super-cool equipment? And a super-secret Gligar cave you live in?!" Ash's bombardment of questions came to a screeching halt when the toy store owner slapped his hand over the boy's mouth.
"You can't let anyone know Gligarman's true identity!" he hissed, and glanced around to see if anyone had heard him, but no one had. "Do you hear me? You must keep my secret!"
o 0 o
The two boys from Pallet drove a hard bargain: in exchange for keeping the toy store owner – Mr. Parker's – secret, he had to show them his secret hideout. It was a staple for a superhero to have his own hideout. And so, he begrudgingly agreed.
On the edge of the city, on a cliff that overlooked MarvelWood, Mr. Parker and his daughter Latoya lived in a large mansion. As impressive as it was, they didn't get to explore it much, as the man took them to a polished study room that didn't look as though it had a single speck of dust in it. Walking up to a small marble bust of a Gligar, he pulled the head back, revealing a secret button. When he pressed it, a bookcase moved, revealing a secret elevator door. "Before I show you around the Gligar Mansion, you must promise never to reveal its secrets," Mr. Parker warned as they stepped inside the elevator.
"Sure, I won't say anything," Gary stated.
"Me, either!" Ash agreed as him, Gary, Latoya, and her father walked in and the doors shut behind them.
As they started moving downward, the toy store owner donned a serious face. "Gligarman is the champion of truth and defender of the weak. That is Gligarman's reason for being here."
"But my father originally invented Gligarman for a different reason," Latoya spoke up. "Back when Papa first opened the store, he wasn't selling very many toys. So he invented Gligarman, made some action figures, and wore a Gligarman costume to advertise them. Gligarman became so popular that he made new toys and stories to go with them. And at some point, he sort of... became Gligarman."
"One day I realized that being a superhero was a lot more fulfilling than just being a businessman," Mr. Parker explained with his nose in the air proudly.
"Well maybe, but I wish you'd go back to just selling toys."
"I'll never do that, Latoya!" he spat, reacting quickly with a clenched fist. "People need a Gligarman to depend on and to look up to." The elevator pinged as they reached the floor, and his smile grew on his face once again. We've arrived at Gligarman's secret laboratory." Curiously, Ash and Gary turned around as the elevator door began to open, revealing the secrets on the other side.
The room was dimly lit, and many, many computer screens were the only source of light. It was very spacious under here, and seemed to be the size of the entire mansion itself. In the center were a handful of vehicles, but what drew Ash's eye was the motorbike that Gligarman had used in the forest to depart. With a gasp and a huge grin, Ash stepped out of the elevator and couldn't believe his eyes. It was like straight out of a movie! "Oh boy!"
"Gligar!" Gligar's voice called from the sidelines, and Ash looked up to see a large structure built that the FlyScorpio Pokémon was using as a perch, and upon their arrival, it dove off and glided to Mr. Parker's waiting arm.
"Nice Gli," Latoya cooed, and petted the Ground and Flying Pokémon's head. Gligar leaned happily into her hand.
"If I wasn't seeing it, I wouldn't believe it..." Gary muttered in awe. His eyes were as big as Ash's, but they were shimmering in astonishment.
"You must have the best job in the whole world, Gligarman, cause you get to be a superhero, you own a toy store, and you have a really cool Pokémon!" Ash complimented.
"Maybe you'd like to take the job yourself!" Latoya smiled, and the boy flinched back in shock.
"You seem smart, and you like Pokémon," her father mused. "Maybe I could train you for a few years, and you could take over when I'm gone."
"You mean me replace you?!" the Pallet Town boy exclaimed. In his mind's eye, he imagined himself in Gligarman's costume, striking the Gligar pose with his Blastoise beside him. Batting away the image in his head, he shook his head and smiled lightly. "It's really nice of you to offer, but I already have my heart set on becoming a Pokémon Master."
"Chika," Chikorita added with a nod.
"Okay..." Mr. Parker replied, his head lowering so the shadow coming off his cowboy hat covered his eyes. "It's just that... I don't really have any family to carry on the Gligar tradition." As he said this, he sheepishly threw a glance toward his daughter.
"What are you talking about?" she asked him.
"You know very well what I'm talking about! I need someone who wants Gligarman to live on after me!"
"You know how I feel about Gligarman! I think you're going to get yourself hurt!" Mr. Parker didn't argue back, and only looked away with a pout.
"I would like to learn a little more about Gligar, though," Ash stated, and held his hand out to the FlyScorpio Pokémon, but as soon as he did, Gligar leapt from its Trainer's arm so quickly that Ash flinched, and it flew back up onto its jungle gym perch. When it landed, it crossed his claws across its chest and gave Ash a dirty look through the corner of its eyes.
"Gligar! Why do you always have to be so impolite?" Latoya scolded, and Gligar only shrugged at her question.
"Gligar..?"
"Gligar may have a lot to learn in the manners department," Mr. Parker said, looking up at his Pokémon with a big smile on his face. "But it's a great Pokémon that only wants to fight for the right, and help people who are really in trouble."
"Gligar!" This time, the response was much more enthusiastic, and it posed the signature Gligarman pose.
"Believe you me, it's an honor to be Gligar's partner."
Just then, a shrill whistle sounded through the laboratory, making all of them tense up from the sudden noise. "What?" Gary cried, looking around to see the source of the noise.
"There must be some kind of trouble!" the superhero stated with alarm on his face. "Somebody's blowing the Gligar whistle!" As Mr. Parker ran over to a computer monitor, Gligar jumped from its perch and flew down before curling at the last moment and landed on its Trainer's shoulder just as he was bringing the monitor to life.
On the screen, one of the apron-wearing employees that had ushered Ash and Gary into the store was shown to be the one blowing the whistle. The screen then panned over to the inside of the toy shop Mr. Parker owned, and inside, the other employees there had been tied up and were sitting on the floor. On either side of them, a pair of floating purple Pokémon with multiple craters on its body smiled down at them. Ash recognized them as Koffing. Behind them was an overweight man dressed in a red and black striped clown costume, complete with a cone hat and sunglasses.
Standing in front of them with his arms crossed was a young man with shaggy purple hair, and a mask that covered his eyes and most of his face, but not his sinister smile. "Come out, come out, Gligarman," the young man called, almost as if he knew that the superhero was watching.
"My store is under attack!" Gligarman said, and turned to the Pokémon on his shoulder. "Gligar, they need us."
"Gligar!" the FlyScorpio Pokémon spat, and it jumped into the air as Mr. Parker turned on his heel and ran into the darkness further into the Gligar cave without a second thought.
Ash had the same attitude, and immediately turned to look at his own Pokémon. "Let's go help 'em, Chikorita."
"Chika!" the Grass Pokémon nodded, and they took off in the direction that he ran off to, leaving Gary and Latoya behind.
o 0 o
The pair arrived on the motorcycle that was stylized like a Gligar, and quickly skidded up to the front. The store had looked like it had been ransacked and a lot of the product was out of place and tossed about. The police had yet to be called, but a crowd was starting to gather, and wide eyes of admiration glittered excitedly as Gligarman, in full costume, pulled up and hurried up to the front door with Ash in tow.
"Okay, hold it right there!" he demanded, grabbing the attention of the harlequin man. "How dare you ruin this store and terrorize these innocent people!"
"Do you know who that is?" Ash questioned.
"Yes; he calls himself the Magnificent Itsuki, though there is nothing magnificent about him."
"That hurts, Gligarman," Itsuki said with his voice filled with a feign sadness. "And here I thought we were best buddies. Speaking of which, whose the boy wonder with you?"
"This boy is none of your concern, but I'll give you one chance: leave now or Gligar and I will be forced to stop you."
"Leave? After I spent all this time capturing these poor innocents to call you out here? No, I don't think I will," the harlequin stated, and raised his hand and with a flick of his wrist, a Poké Ball appeared in his palm. "Go, Xatu!" He tossed the ball into the air and in a blinding flash of light, a tall light green Pokémon with gray and black wings that covered the front of its body appeared.
"Xatu," it droned, staring blankly with its vacant black eyes.
"Gligar, I choose you!" Gligarman declared, throwing his pointer finger forward.
"Gligar!" the Ground and Flying Pokémon spat, and soared at the Xatu with its claws up and at the ready. Xatu didn't move an inch, and barely seemed to notice that it was part of a battle, and before long Gligar attached itself to Xatu's face.
"We got you now!"
"Says you," Itsuki smirked, and a blue glow appeared around Xatu's body. Gligar's face became a mask of confusion, and its eyes darted back and forth as it started to lift off the bird Pokémon's face and into the air.
"That's a Psychic Pokémon?!" Ash exclaimed with a cocked eyebrow.
"Xatu, use your Confuse Ray!" Gligar was still being held by the Psychic attack, so it could only struggle helplessly as Xatu's eyes began to glow bright blue.
"Don't look into its eyes, Gligar, or you'll become confused!" Gligarman warned, but it was too late. A dazed look appeared in Gligar's eyes, and it quickly stopped struggling and seemed to lose its motivation.
"Now that Xatu has done its job, it is time for my impressive assistant to step forth," Itsuki stated with a snap of his raised hand.
"Koffing, use your Tackle attack!" the clown behind him commanded.
"Koffing!" the pair of Pokémon stated simultaneously, and leaving their posts on either side of the tied up employees, they darted through the air and collided into Gligar one after the other. The first one knocked the wind out of Gligar before the second sent it flying backwards. It crashed into a display with a number of Gligar stuffed toys, and disappeared in them.
"And now that the first act is over, it is time for Act Two!" Itsuki said, the smile growing wider on his face, though his voice was calm.
"Koffing, use your SmokeScreen attacks!" The two Koffing spiraled up into the air, and smoke started to pour out from the craters that dotted their bodies. Before too long, the entire store was filled with a thick, black smoke that burned Ash's lungs and made them scream for clean air.
"Xatu, string them up like ornaments! Psychic attack!" Itsuki's voice declared, and seconds later, two ropes came charging out of the smoke with the quickness of a snake and coiled around Gligarman and Ash, successfully pinning their arms to the sides of their body. Chikorita – who was still on Ash's shoulder – was tied with its Trainer, and only its head was visible. The pair tried to struggle from the ropes that bound them, but it was useless.
The ropes coiled them together so they were back to back, but this still didn't stop them from trying to escape. "Hey, let us out of this!" Ash demanded, moving his shoulders back and forth. The clacking of shoes against the floor cut through the silence, and soon Itsuki came out with the black smoke caressing his black and maroon suit. He was clapping his hands slowly, and a smile was settled on his face, but the way his mask covered his eyes was unsettling.
"Your sidekick has quite the mouth, and I commend him for that, Gligarman," the harlequin said, adjusting the maroon tie and tightening it around his neck. "Fortunately for my plan, it seems he is all bark and no bite." He walked past the tied up pair and outside the opened doors of the toy store, almost as if he were assuming they were going to follow them, and much to their surprise, they did. A light feeling overcame Ash, and he felt his body defy gravity and lift into the air. That was when he saw Itsuki's Xatu come out of the smoke, and it was shuffling after its Trainer with glowing blue eyes, using its Psychic attack to make them follow as well.
Just outside was a large golden statue, and with an effeminate flick of his wrist, like he was a conductor, Itsuki silently commanded his Pokémon to hang the pair from one of the branches of the statue. "And what exactly is your plan, Itsuki?!" Gligarman spat.
"Oh, I'm glad you asked," the villain replied. The onlookers all turned and watched from a distance and with bated breath, and he seemed to be reveling in it. "My plan is... to show your true identity."
The intentions of his plan only made him and Ash struggle more. "C'mon, we just... gotta get free!" Ash struggled, moving like a Kakuna in a tree.
"Now, ladies and germs, boys and ghouls, watch as the Magnificent Itsuki brings to you his biggest reveal yet! The reveal of Gligarman!"
"We don't have much time!" Ash said quietly to the superhero, but it seemed like the older man was backed into a corner.
"Mr. Parker!" The voice came from the shop, and they turned to see the three employees had stumbled out from the smoke-filled store and were at the door, though still tied up.
"Hang in there, Mr. Parker!" the female employee called.
"We have faith in you, sir!"
"What's this?" Itsuki asked rhetorically, and for the first time since Ash had seen him, his smile faded. His head whipped to the side and he stared at Mr. Parker's store employees. "It seems as though the punchline was revealed a bit too soon."
"Mr. Parker!" the first employee yelled, and the superhero stared with an open mouth, though no sound came out.
"I'll save you, Gligarman!" a new voice spoke up. The source of this voice came from much higher up, and both Ash and Mr. Parker looked up on the top of the store. Though the sun was shining brightly in their vision, they could barely make out a female figure standing atop the roof.
"Who's she?!" Ash questioned.
"Newcomers are sprouting up like weeds," Itsuki said with annoyance.
As their eyes adjusted to the bright light, they could see the figure was also dressed as a Gligar, but instead of the dark blue parts of Gligarman's suit, this one had pink wings and claws. Brown hair fanned out from under the Gligar mask, and she crossed her arms in an x across her body. "Evil-doers will never prevail! Not as long as there's... Gligirl!" she said, and then posed with her arms and leg up – the Gligar pose.
"Who could she be?!" Ash questioned.
At that moment, Gligar had recovered its strength and came soaring out of the store and onto Gligarman's shoulder, but it noticed that everyone was looking up, and it followed their gaze to the girl. Much to its surprise, she spoke to it. "Gligar, it's time we teach these villains a lesson."
"Gligar..?" the FlyScorpio Pokémon murmured, cocking its head and looking closely at the girl.
"I need you... Help me..." Just then, recognition clicked on Gligar's face, and it leapt from Gligarman's shoulders and soared upward to the newly-revealed superhero. She raised an arm and the two clapped their claws together. "First things first, Gligar! Swoop down there and cut them out of those ropes!"
"Gligar!" it cried, and tucking in its wings, it dove back at the pair, but this time used the speed of its descent to its advantage and with one quick swipe, the ropes that bound Ash and its Trainer came apart. The pair cried a breath of relief from freedom, and Ash and Chikorita landed on the concrete on their feet, while the older Gligarman landed on his back.
"The ropes!" Itsuki shouted.
"We may not be superheroes, but you two are super-zeros!" Ash shouted. "Let's see how you like it! Chikorita, tie Xatu up with your Vine Whip attack!"
"Chikah!" Chikorita happily obliged, and jumped into the air before releasing a pair of green vines from the buds around its neck out at the Psychic and Flying Pokémon. Xatu barely reacted when the vines came toward it, but its eyes widened slightly when they tightened around it.
"Release the boss's Pokémon!" the red and black dressed clown ordered. "Koffing, get that Chikorita!"
"Koffing!" they both uttered, and soared at the now helpless Chikorita. The Leaf Pokémon's mouth opened in a silent yell, but Gligirl jumped from the roof, and with much more spring in her step than Gligarman had, she landed beside Ash gracefully.
"Gligar, stop them with your Poison Sting attack!" she commanded. Gligar swooped up and pointed its tail sting at the Koffing. The appendage began to glow white, and needles shot out from it at the two Koffing. A panicked look crossed their faces, and they stopped their attacks on Chikorita to run from the pink Pokémon, that was giving chase with its stinger out.
"What are you two running for?!" the clown shouted. "Fight back with your Psybeam attacks!"
"Koffing!" they sputtered, and whipped around before firing a rainbow-colored beam from their eyes up at Gligar. With the grace of an airplane, Gligar spun, tucking in one of its wings and barrel rolling through the air to dodge the Psychic attacks.
"Now Gligar, hit them with your Swift attack!" Gligirl cried, and as Gligar pulled up in the air, it waved one of its wings, and a barrage of glowing white stars came soaring out of it and hit the Koffing.
"Chikorita, toss Xatu into them!" Ash instructed.
"Chik...kah!" Chikorita cried, pulling its neck around and lifting Xatu off the concrete. It spun the Psychic Pokémon around a few times before unraveling its vines and making the Mystic Pokémon spin like a top through the air and colliding into the Koffing.
"Drat! Foiled again," Itsuki exclaimed dramatically, raking his fingers through his shaggy lilac hair. Just then, sirens sounded, and police cars on either side of the street they were on screeched to a halt in front of them.
"Itsuki, you're under arrest for the many crimes you've committed here in MarvelWood!" the voice of Officer Jenny called through a megaphone, and Ash turned to see that the turquoise-haired police officer stepped out of one of the police cars with Gary not too far behind.
"You say that every time, Officer Jenny! Get a new line! You know I'm as slippery as a Quagsire," the young man smirked, and snapped his fingers. Though they were on the ground, the Koffing began to use their SmokeScreen again, but because they were outside, it wasn't long until the smoke dissipated. However, when it had, both Itsuki, his clown sidekick, and their Pokémon were all gone.
"All right! Yeah!" Ash cheered. The bad guy hadn't been caught, but his plan hadn't been successful. Gligar was also cheering with her arms pumping in the air, and their Pokémon joined them in their celebration. They met eyes and smiled, and then looked out at the crowd.
"Go... Gligar!" they said at the same time, and lifted their arms and leg in the signature Gligar pose. Gligar joined them in posing, and Chikorita did as well, but only lifted its front leg. The crowd that had gathered all began to clap, and meanwhile, Gligarman stood off to the side, and with tears falling down underneath the mask, a proud smile curled his lips.
"That's some daughter I have..."
o 0 o
The sun was starting to set over the town of MarvelWood, and the crowd had long since dispersed. The employees were untied, and Mr. Parker and Latoya were out of their Gligar costumes. They were standing outside the store, having helped in the clean up of the inside that Itsuki had demolished.
"What happened, Latoya?" Ash asked. "What made you want to become Gligirl?"
"I don't know, Ash," she chuckled in response. "I don't really understand it myself. But when I saw my father in trouble, I automatically grabbed a costume."
"Must be hereditary!" her father said, his face a beam of honor. "She's got bravery in her blood!"
"And now that there's a new superhero in the family, Papa can hang up his cape and retire!"
"What d'you mean, retire?! I'm not ready to hang anything up yet!"
"Then what'll I do, Papa?"
"Hey, why don't the two of you work together?" Ash suggested.
"A father-daughter superhero team is not a bad idea..." Latoya murmured, and then reached up and scooped up Gligar from her father's shoulder. "As long as I'm the one who gets to keep Gligar."
"Oh no you don't!" her father protested, snatching up Gligar's claw and pulling it toward him.
"Hey, c'mon!" she pleaded, and the two began to pull the FlyScorpio Pokémon back in forth while its face twisted in pain.
"Did my little ear holes hear that right? Now I have to go up against two Gligar eye-sores?" a familiar voice asked. Instantly, everyone tensed up – aside from Mr. Parker and Gligar – and whipped around to see Itsuki standing with his hands on his hips and smiling at them. Standing beside him and staring blankly was his Xatu.
"Itsuki! Not you again!" Ash spat, and Chikorita growled on his shoulder.
"Don't you know when to give up?!" Gary added, pulling out a Poké Ball of his own.
"Now now, I know when I'm beaten," Itsuki told them, waving his open palms back and forth to get them to calm down. "And when to drop the act."
"Act..?" Latoya repeated, and her eyes lingered toward her father, who looked at Itsuki with a broad smile.
"You could have been a little gentler with us when you tied us up, you know," Gligarman said with a chuckle.
"Yes, well, it is hard for Xatu to limit its strength," Itsuki replied. Confusion hung in the air between Ash, Gary, Latoya, and even the store employees standing behind them that had been taken hostage by the masked man earlier that day.
"Mr. Parker, do you... know Itsuki?" Ash asked.
"I do – Ash, Gary, Latoya, I want to introduce you to Itsuki, or as he is more well-known, Will."
"Greetings," Will said, crossing an arm across his chest and bowing slightly.
"But... I don't get it, Papa," Latoya stated. "You've gone up against Itsuki many times in your days as a superhero! You two are sworn enemies!"
"No, we only pretend to be to create story lines and sell action figures," Mr. Parker corrected. "You see, Will and I have a mutual agreement. He helps me carry out the plots I've written for Gligarman."
"And I get the inside scoop on the actual thieves that Gligarman has flushed out," Will continued. "I'm part of an organization called the Pokémon G-Men. We take down criminals that misuse Pokémon, and with Gligarman's help, we've captured Venus Flytrap, and The Question and put them behind bars. My next target is Purr-loin, but she's a slippery one, and always seems to disappear as soon as she shows up."
"She usually makes an appearance a few days after a failed robbery," Gligarman told Will. "Why don't you stick around for a few days? I'm hearing talks of Double Team making an appearance again, and he is not happy from the last time I foiled his bank-robbing scheme."
"A fun team up would surely make it so I don't have to work with Bill for a while," Will said with a nod.
"Ash, Gary, you two would be interested in knowing that on top of being an agent of the Pokémon G-Men, Will is also a member of the Johto Elite Four," Mr. Parker told them, and their mouths dropped open.
"Elite Four?!" Ash and Gary exclaimed at the same time.
"Ah, are you two Pokémon Trainers?" he asked. "Actually, now that I look a bit more closely, I recognize this one as the winner of the Indigo Pokémon League."
"Will, I'd like to challenge you to a battle!" Ash piped up, jumping in front of Gary.
"No, Ash! You can have the small-fry – I want to battle him!" his rival argued.
"Unfortunately, I will not be battling anyone today," Will interrupted with a raise of his hand to silence them. "Though we significantly lower our battling ability to make believe we've been beaten, acting takes quite a bit of energy out of the two of us, doesn't it, Xatu?"
"Xatu," the Mystic Pokémon spoke up.
"Xatu, huh?" Ash asked quietly, and fished out his Pokédex. Now that there weren't hostages, it was a good time to find out more about it.
"Xatu, the Mystic Pokémon. Xatu is said to be able to foretell the future with a high degree of accuracy, but it is unknown whether its prophecies are correct."
"So Xatu can look into the future?" Gary questioned with his finger gliding across his chin.
"Hey, can Xatu tell if whether Gary or me will win the Pokémon League?!" Ash asked excitedly.
"Hm, I don't see why not," Will said, smiling and turning his head to his Pokémon. "Well, what do you see, Xatu?"
The green bird Pokémon stared in silence for a moment or two, and the whole street seemed to increase in gravity. Finally, Xatu looked up at its Trainer. "Xatu. Xa-xatu. Xaxatu," it said, and then looked at Gary, then at Ash.
"Interesting," Will replied.
"What did it say?!" Ash asked, almost jumping out of his pants in excitement.
"Xatu said... that we'll just have to wait and see when you get there." The big grin on Will's face showed that he wasn't telling the truth, but neither of them pushed the matter any further. Instead, they turned to look at each other, and each saw a fire burning in their rival's eyes.
Ash:
Party:
Blastoise (Poké Ball) (m)
Moves: Skull Bash, Dig, Hydro Pump, BubbleBeam
Bulbasaur (Poké Ball) (m)
Moves: SolarBeam, Vine Whip, Razor Leaf, Tackle
Heracross (Poké Ball) (m)
Moves: Horn Attack, Tackle, Endure
Chikorita (Poké Ball)
Moves: Razor Leaf, Tackle, Vine Whip
At Professor Oak's Lab:
Tauros (Safari Ball) x2 (m)
Moves: Fissure, Horn Attack, Take Down
Kingler (Poké Ball) (m)
Moves: Water Gun, Bubble, Crabhammer, Hyper Beam
Muk (Poké Ball)
Moves: Poison Gas, Sludge Bomb
Primeape (Poké Ball) (m)
Moves: Thrash, Mega Kick, Scratch, Seismic Toss
Pidgeotto (Poké Ball) (f)
Moves: Gust, Quick Attack, Whirlwind, Double-Edge
Stantler (Poké Ball)
Moves: Hypnosis
Training at Charicific Valley:
Charizard (Poké Ball) (m)
Moves: Flamethrower, Fire Spin, Skull Bash, Slash
Kanto Badges:
Boulder Badge
Cascade Badge
Thunder Badge
Marsh Badge
Rainbow Badge
Soul Badge
Volcano Badge
Earth Badge
Diamond Badge
Indigo League Rank: Top 4
Johto Badges:
Zephyr Badge
Gary:
Party:
Venusaur (Poké Ball) (m)
Moves: SolarBeam, Vine Whip, Razor Leaf, Mega Drain
Arcanine (Poké Ball)
Moves: Take Down, Fire Spin, Fire Blast, Flamethrower
Nidoqueen (Poké Ball) (f)
Moves: Rock Smash, Hyper Beam, Mega Punch, Double Kick
Nidoking (Poké Ball) (m)
Moves: Horn Attack, Earthquake, Tackle
Pinsir (Poké Ball)
Moves: Fury Attack, ViceGrip
Hoothoot (Poké Ball)
Moves: Foresight, Peck
At Professor Oak's Lab:
200+ Pokémon
Kanto Badges:
Boulder Badge
Cascade Badge
Rainbow Badge
Seven unknown Badges
Indigo League Rank: Winner
Johto Badges:
Zephyr Badge