Ash, Misty and Brock walked along the path towards route 17
on their way to Opal City.
"This path isn’t very worn down" said Misty
"I guess not to many people go down to Opal City this way."
"Maybe Misty," replied Ash "But this is the
only way to Opal City. Unless you go through the Psychic Zone."
"Psychic Zone?" asked Brock "What’s
that?"
"I don’t know," said Ash "I’ll ask
Dexter."
Ash flipped open his pokédex and pushed the button that said
‘map’ under it. When he pressed it, a map appeared in the screen.
Ash asked, "What’s the Psychic Zone?"
"The Psychic Zone," Dexter started "Is a Zone
that only Psychics can go through. No one knows why only psychics can enter the Psychic
Zone. Every time a non-psychic has entered it, they have disappeared and have not yet been
found. The Psychic Zone is full of psychic pokémon, and is rumored it contains Psy
Stones."
"Psy Stones?" Brock asked, "What are
those?"
"A Psy Stone will supposedly evolve a Pokémon into a
psychic Pokémon, if it is able to, that is."
"Wow!" sighed Misty, "To bad we aren’t
psychic, and then we could see some of those Psy Stones!"
"Yah, that would be really cool" said Ash.
"Hey Ash," said Brock pointing at the map,
"what about over here? You could get to Opal City by going through the Flying
Zone."
"Flying Zone? What’s that?" asked Misty.
"The Flying Zone is only for people that have flying
Pokémon. At the edge of the Flying Zone, there is a drop-off very steep; there is a 99.9%
chance of falling and killing yourself. The Flying Zone is full of Flying Pokémon and
contains Fly Stones."
"What are Fly Stones?" asked Ash.
"A Fly Stones evolves a Pokémon into a flying type, if
it is able to, and was just recently discovered."
"Now if only Pidget could carry all five of
us…" said Misty.
"Yah, oh well, at least we can still get to Opal
City." said Ash, continuing to walk.
"Yah," said Misty "at least-OW! What was that
for Ash?!"
Ash had somehow managed to step on Misty’s foot, even
though he was ahead of her.
"What?" said Ash, stopping and glaring at Misty.
"You just stepped on my foot, that’s what."
said Misty, starring back at him, "And it really hurt too!"
"Well, it wasn’t my fault I stepped on your stupid
foot, it must have gotten in the way!" protested Ash.
"It was not!"
"Was too!"
"Hey Misty, Ash, come here!" shouted Brock, who was
way ahead of them, "Look at this weird Pokémon!"
"Pokémon?" asked Ash, walking towards Brock,
completely forgetting about Misty and her foot.
"Yah. I think it’s a Porygon." said Brock.
"A Porygon?" asked Misty, rushing up to see,
"Oh, it’s so cute!"
Ash opened his Pokédex. It quickly responded and told them:
"Porygon, a virtual Pokémon. It is 100% made up of
computer code and can move freely in cyberspace."
"Wow" said Ash, "Do you think I should try and
capture it?"
"I don’t know Ash, it looks really tired."
said Misty.
"Yah, and look here, Ash," said Brock "it has
a tag. It says: ‘If I am found, please bring me to the nearest Pokémon Center. My
number is 03927 and my name is PORY.’"
"Oh, hi PORY," said Misty, stroking him
"we’ll bring you to a Pokémon Center as soon as we can, okay?"
"Pory, Pory, Gon, Pory, Porygon, Gon" said PORY to
Picachu.
"What?" exclaimed Ash, "PORY is being trained
to work at the Pokémon Center like a Chansey?"
"Pika" said Pikachu, nodding
"We better bring PORY to the nearest Pokémon Center,
like it says on its tag," said Brock.
"Yah, let’s go find one!" said Misty
"come on!"
Misty dragged Ash and Brock down the hill, while Pikachu and
PORY walked down it slower, talking.
"Pi, Picachu, Pi, Pika, Pi!" said Pikachu,
explaining to PORY what the five of them where doing.
"Por, Pory, Gon, Gon, Porygon." said PORY nodding.
Of course, Team Rocket is watching!
"There they go." Said James, looking through his
Team Rocket binoculars.
"Yes, and they have a beat-up looking Porygon with
them!"
"They’re probably looking for a Pokémon Center to
heal it," said Meowth "so let’s build one, and when they give us the
Porygon to heal, we just snatch it!"
"Great idea!"
"The Boss would LOVE one, I’m sure!"
"For once in Team Rocket history you’re being
useful," said Jessie.
"That’s not funny!" shouted Meowth, scratching
her face.
"YOU’LL PAY FOR THAT, YOU PATHETIC FELINE!"
Jessie said, whapping him with a huge mallet.
Meowth screamed while he flew out of sight and disappeared
with a "Ding!"
"Perfection is gone!" cried Jessie, looking at her
scratched up face in a mirror "It’ll never be the same!"
"It’s not that, bad," started James
"we’ve been scratched by Meowth tons of tim-"
He got cut off by Jessie whapping him with the same mallet,
and he disappeared screaming also, with a "Ding!"
"I don’t need them to help me," thought Jessie
"I’ll show them. I’ll capture Porygon and get ALL the credit!
So, with the help of Arbok and Likitung, Jessie got a
Pokémon Center built at the bottom of the hill, right before Ash, Misty and Brock came
down the hill.
"Hey guys," said Misty "I didn’t see this
Pokémon Center when we started down the hill, I wonder why?"
"Maybe it’s Team Rocket," said Ash
"they’ve tried that before."
"Yah right," said Brock "we beat them to good
with Onix, and anyways, they learned their lesson last time they tried that!"
"Yah, you’re right," agreed Ash.
"Hello?" said Ash, as he walked into the Pokémon
Center.
"Why hello!" said Jessie, dressed up as nurse Joy.
"Welcome to our Pokémon Center!"
"Oh, hello" said Ash " we came to give you
PORY back."
Ash handed Jessie PORY, who was trying not to be given away.
"What is it PORY?" Asked Ash, "Is there
something wrong?"
Just then, Meowth came crashing through the ceiling of the
Pokémon center. Jessie quickly threw him into a nearby room and then turned to Ash, Misty
and Brock.
"Uhh, that’s the Pokémon center Meowth, he likes
to fly on pidgeottos, and he isn’t to good at it, so that’s why he came crashing
through the-"
"AHHHH!"
James came crashing through the ceiling also, making a new
hole, right next to the one Meowth had already made.
"Jessie that hurt!" Cried James as she dragged him
into another room.
"And who was that?" Asked a confused looking Ash.
"A new nurse, she’s teaching the Meowth to fly on
the pidgeotto."
Jessie shoved a nurse Joy dress into the room with James in
it and whispered something in his ear.
"Uh, Ash?" Said Misty, "Come over here for a
sec."
She dragged him over to the enterance of the Pokémon center.
"Ash, I don’t think this is a real Pokémon
center," she began, "I think this is really just Butch and Cassidy again trying
to steal our Pokémon!"
Jessie looked at her furiously.
"Yah, good thinking," said Ash "Jessie and
James are to stupid to think of this plan, but this Pokémon center is definitely run by
Rockets."
Jessie got even madder at this remark, but at that moment,
James came out of the room he was in wearing a Nurse Joy costume, and whispered to Jessie.
"Jessie, these guys think we’re Butch and
Cassidy." James began. "They obviously think they are better Rockets, but if
they think we are Butch and Cassidy-"
"They think we are as good as them!" Jessie
finished.
"Meowth, that’s right! They don’t know it, but
they gave us a compliment!" Said Meowth as he walked out of the room he was in and
joined Jessie and James. Let’s tell the who they really gave the compliment to."
"Good idea, Meowth!" Said James as Jessie began a
new version of the Team Rocket motto.
"Prepare for surprise!"
"If you would open your eyes,"
"You would see who we are,"
"And just stare, from where you are!" Cried Meowth,
interrupting them. "Forget the new version, it sounds dumb. Try a new one."
" Prepare for… Um…"
James whispered something in her ear.
"Prepare for get in your place?"
"No, No, no, get in your place, act like you’re
Nurse Joy. Someone’s coming!" Cried James, pushing Jessie back behind her desk.
The doors of the Pokémon center slid open, and who should
walk in? Gary, with his fan club right behind him. Gary walked up to the desk where
Jessie/Nurse Joy was standing, ready to take his Pokémon.
"Ash," said Misty "You have to tell him its
Team Rocket. You may not like him, but still, it’s you duty as a trainer!"
"Yah," said Ash reluctantly "I guess
you’re right. Hey Gary! Don’t give her your Pokéballs, it’s Team
Rocket!"
"What?" Asked a very surprised Gary, (quickly
pulling back his Pokéballs, Ash observed.) "It’s little Ashy-boy. Well, I bet
you didn’t think you would have the honor to see me again! Oh, and look, now you have
a girlfriend."
"What?!" Cried Ash.
"You’ll pay for that, Gary Oak!" Yelled Misty,
at the same time, "Gary, I challenge you to a Pokémon battle!
"You sure?" Sneered Gary, reaching for one of his
healthy Pokémon. "I think you just have a big mouth!"
"Well, so what if I do, I still challenge you!"
Said Misty, reaching for her healthy Pokémon too, "Unless you’re chicken!"
This was too much for Gary. First, a girl who seriously
thinks she can win challenged him, and now she was calling him a chicken!
"Alright, you’re on!" He said,
"Where?"
"How about the meadow, right outside?" Misty
suggested, and dragged him out the door, without waiting for an answer.
All this happened with Ash and Brock looking from Misty, to
Gary, then back to Misty again.
"Do you think she can really win?" Asked Ash, as
Misty announced that they would use four Pokémon each.
"I think she has a pretty good chance, Ash, and anyways,
even if she doesn’t win, I think Misty is the first girl to ever battle him, other
then the Gym battles and League competition." Said Brock, as Gary sent out his
Farfetch’d.
Misty looked a little disappointed, as Farfetch’d
wasn’t weak against water.
"Man, Gary certainty isn’t as dumb as Ash when it
comes to choosing which Pokémon to use in a battle." Thought Misty, as she called
out Goldeen, who splashed into the stream running in between the two Pokémon trainers.
"He must have somehow known I train Water Element Pokémon."
"Farfetch’d, use your sand attack." Gary told
Farfetch’d, "Go!"
Farfetch’d sent a cloud of dust towards Goldeen and
Misty.
"G-Go-Goldeen," coughed Misty, trying not to breath
in too much sand, "dive underwater!"
Goldeen obediently dove underwater, right before the sand hit
the waters surface.
"Ha," thought Misty, "maybe he is as dumb as
Ash. Any decent trainer would know that Goldeen could easily dodge that attack.
Gary looked at Misty, who was now laughing at him.
"Well, she thinks she has me beaten, doesn’t
she!" Gary thought, "Too bad she doesn’t know what my strategy is!"
"Farfetch’d, go slash Goldeen. We can catch it off
gard!" Gary said out loud.
Misty saw the Slash attack coming, but not soon enough.
"Goldeen, get out of the way!" Misty shrieked, but
it was too late. Goldeen needed to rest, before fighting any more.
"Goldeen, return!" Misty thought quickly. Starmie
would easily beat Farfetch’d, she needed to save Satrmie for a harder opponent. She
felt Gary wasn’t taking her seriously.
"Okay then," said Misty getting her next Pokéball
out of her backpack, "Misty calls… Staryu!"
"Haya!" Cried Staryu, as Gary looked at Staryu like
it was a dead fly.
However, his expression changed when Farfetch’d fell
from the air after Staryus powerful Swift attack.
"Hey, no problem." Said Gary as he threw out a new
Pokéball. "This one won’t be so easy!"
"Magneton, Magneton." Said Magneton, as it popped
out of its Pokéball.
"Staryu, don’t be afraid." Said Misty, as it
started retreating towards Misty. "Just use your hydro pump before it can
attack!"
"HaYAAAAAAAA!" Said Staryu, as it launched its
powerful Hydro Pump, right towards Magneton.
"That’s a pretty dumb move Misty!" Yelled Ash
and from the sidelines.
"What?" Asked Misty, looking worried.
"You’ll see." Said Brock pointing at Gary who
was giving instructions to Magneton, who was dodging the Hydro Pump.
Magneton shot out an equally powerful Thunder Shock, aiming
it at the spout of water coming from Staryu. The Thunder Shock used the water as a guide,
making it even more powerful.
"Haaaaaaayaaaa…" said Staryu as it crumbled up
and fell over.
"Oh no!" Said Misty, recalling Staryu. "Which
Pokémon should I use now?"
"Use Horsea, Misty!" Yelled Ash, eager to give help
to anyone that could stand a chance beating Gary."
"You send out a Horsea?" Asked Gary, gasping for
breath, "Against a Magneton?"
"Well, it at least knows more techniques that don’t
include water, so your strategy won’t work this time!" Yelled Misty, who was
furious at having her Horsea made fun of. "Horsea, show him whose boss, use your
Bubble!"
Horsea let out a stream of bubbles, and Magneton fell down
with a "CRASH"
"What?" Cried Gary, shocked to see Horsea beat his
Magneton. "You MUST have cheated!"
"No," said Brock, who was acting as the referee of
the match, "Misty did not cheat in any way!"
"Humph." Grumbled Gary, as he searched through his
Pokéballs, "No water Pokémon of yours will beat this!"
Gary threw a Pokéball, and an Electrabuzz popped out.
"Electrabuzz, attack!" Yelled Gary.
Electrabuzz needed no further instructions. It Thunderpunched
Horsea into the air.
"Horrrrrrrrsea!" Screamed Horsea.
"Oh no! Horsea, come back!" Shouted Misty,
"Return."
Gary looked triumphant.
"You only have one more Pokémon," he said,
"Which one will be a worthy opponent?"
Misty thought. "If I use Starmie, I might win. I better
risk it."
Just as Misty was about to call out Starmie, PORY came
running up.
"Pory, por, por, Pory, Porygon!"
Said PORY urgently.
Pikachu translated to Ash what PORY had said.
"Misty!" Yelled Ash, "PORY wants you to
capture it and use him! PORY says that with a Starmie, you would never win."
"But, I thought it belongs to a Pokémon center,"
said Misty, "How would I explain that?"
"We can worry about that later!" Said Ash,
"Just capture it, it’s your best bet!"
"Well…I only train Water Pokémon, Togepi is my
only exception-"
"Just do it, we can worry about that later!" Said
Brock, "If you wait much longer, you will be disqualified, and Gary will win!"
"Okay, here I go," said Misty, throwing a Pokéball
at PORY, "Pokéball, GO!"
Misty easily caught PORY. After releasing him again, PORY
Used a Tri Attack on Electrabuzz. It wasn’t quite enough though, Electrabuzz
wasn’t beat yet.
Misty gasped, then smiled. PORY hadn’t been effected at
all!
"Good work, PORY!" Said Misty, "Keep it
up!"
PORY turned and winked at her.
"PORRRRY!" PORY shot out a Psybeam, and Electrabuzz
was defeated!
"No!" Yelled Gary as he got out his Pokéball.
"Ref!" He yelled, before recalling Electrabuzz,
"Is it legal to capture a Pokémon and use it in the middle of a battle?"
"I don’t see why not," said Brock, smiling at
Gary’s failure, "I read the rule books, and it didn’t say anything about
not being able to capture a Pokémon and use it."
"Oh, well." Said Gary, "You know I wasn’t
really tying to win. I always go easy on girls."
"What? Do you want to battle again?" Asked misty,
who was pretty sure Goldeen would evolve if she used it.
"Oh, no. Actually, I must be on my way now!" Said
Gary, backing away.
As Gary walked off, with his fan club behind him, (looking
depressed, Misty was happy to announce,) Ash, Misty and Brock heard a rustling in the
bushes. Suddenly, a girl, about Misty’s age, walked out of them.
"Hello," The girl said to Misty, "my name is
Amy. I am the leader of the Lavender Town Gym."
"There’s a Gym in Lavender Town?" Asked Ash,
suddenly interested.
"Yes. Almost every town, city and village has one, but
to enter the Pokémon league, you only need to earn eight of the badges. But that’s
not the point!" Said Amy, turning her attention back on Misty. "I watched you
defeat Gary. I can’t believe you won! Did you know that Gary re-entered the Pokémon
league after you, Ash, left? That time, he got up to the top ten, before losing against
some guy from Saffron City. You must be really talented as a Pokémon trainer to beat him!
Would you mind if I came with you on your journey, Misty?"
"Well, yah, Sure!" Said Misty, smiling,
"It’ll be nice to have another girl around."
"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" Said Amy.
At that moment in time, Team Rocket came running out of the
Pokémon center.
"You little twerps never even listened to our
motto!" Yelled Jessie.
"Prepare for…"
"Meowth, just use the old motto!" Cried Meowth.
"O.K. Prepare for trouble!"
"And 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 blast-Hey!" Said Jessie.
"You have to at least, at least, listen… To…
Ahhhh." Said James, falling
Asleep.
"Yes!" Said Misty, "Good job Amy,
Butterfree."
Amy had sent out a Butterfree to put Team Rocket asleep.
"Okay, good Butterfree!" Said Amy, "Now, Go
Beedrill!"
Amy threw out a Pokéball, and Beedrill came out, ready to
attack Team Rocket.
"Oh, boy." Said Meowth who somehow had dodged
Butterfrees sleep powder. "This is going to hurt."
Beedrill launch itself towards Meowth and used its Twineedle
attack, making Meowth fall over, with spirals in his eyes.
"Good." Said Amy, recalling Bedrill.
"Uh, Amy?" Asked Misty, "Do you train just bug
Pokémon?"
"No, and Yes." Replied Amy. "For my Gym
matches, I use a variety Team, not a certain element. The Pokémon I use in Gym battles
are: Chansey, Meowth, Dragonite, Togepi, Mew, and Moltres. In my regular training, for
fun, I collect Bug element Pokémon. Why do you ask?"
"Misty is afraid of bugs, Amy." Whispered Ash.
"Oh." Said Amy nodding, "Well then Misty, so
don’t worry. I won’t keep my Pokémon out of their Pokéballs while I am around
you."
"Oh, thanks Amy," said Misty sounding relieved,
"You said you have a togepi? What attacks does it know? I have one too. You can keep
yours out of its Pokéball, if you want."
"To tell you the truth, Misty," said Amy as she
switched her Metapod for her Togepi through the computer in the fake Pokémon center. (The
computer was not Team Rocket programmed, so it didn’t steal Pokémon.) "I
don’t really know, for sure. I usually just show it off to my opponent."
"Oh." Said Misty.
The two Togepi started talking, and soon they were playing
hide and go seek with each other.
"Oh, that’s so cute," said Misty, as she
watched the two of them playing.
"So where are you headed?" Asked Amy.
Misty explained about Liquiser, Professor Shadow and Opal
City.
"Well I have been to Opal city before, but I never heard
of Professor Shadow." Said Amy, when Misty finished explaining. "But let me tell
you, going on this road is very dangerous. It starts like this, then turns into a desert,
then a forest, you never know what it will turn into next!"
"Well, what choice do we have?" Asked Misty.
"Go through the Flying Zone, it is the easiest way to
get to Opal City." Said Amy, "I have a Dragonite and a Moltres that can carry
one person each."
"And I have my Pigeot." Said Ash, "Pikachu and
I can ride on it."
"Great!" Said Amy, "And there are sometimes
Aquarious (Ah-QWAIR-ious) flying around that would be glad to give someone a lift."
After trading her Dragonite and Moltres for her Caterpie and
Butterfree, Amy offered Brock her Dragonite.
"Here Brock," said Amy, handing him the Pokéball
with Dragonite in it, "You can borrow this. Misty can ride on an Aquarious."
"Oh, Thanks!" Said Brock. (The only reason he
wasn’t going crazy over Amy was because she was Misty’s age.)
The group took the left fork in the road, walked a little,
and found themselves on cliff. Amy looked down while Misty held her back, so she
wouldn’t slip and fall off.
"I couldn’t see anything, just the tops of the
clouds!" Said Amy, when Misty pulled her up, "Let’s get out our Pokémon
and go!"
Will Ash, Misty, Brock, Amy, Both Togepis, Pikachu,
Moltres and Dragonite make it across the Flying Zone? Will James ever get to use
Victoreebel? How will Team Rocket get to the group now? All the answers in the next
chapter!